Eric Avebury

Eric Avebury writes … Caste discrimination in the UK

By Eric Avebury | Fri 22nd February 2013 - 10:43 am

When the Equality Bill was going through the Lords in 2010, I moved an amendment with LibDem support, giving the Government power to add caste to the list of ‘protected characteristics’, making it unlawful to discriminate on grounds of caste in employment, education and the provision of services.

Baroness Thornton, the Minister dealing with the Bill for the Labour Government, accepted the amendment. But the Government decided that further research was needed, and they gave the job to the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR). It reported in December 2010 that there was indeed evidence of caste discrimination in …

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The Voice

Chris Rennard steps aside from party roles to avoid “embarrassment” to Lib Dems

By The Voice | Fri 22nd February 2013 - 10:40 am

Further to the allegations broadcast on last night’s Channel 4 News that former Lib Dem chief executive Lord (Chris) Rennard behaved sexually inappropriately towards women working for the Liberal Democrats, he has announced he’s stepping aside from his current active roles within the party — as a Lib Dem peer and a member of the party’s federal policy committee — to avoid “embarrassment” to the party. Here‘s the Telegraph report:

The top Lib Dem official official will temporarily stand down from his party duties to avoid “embarrassment” to the party, after several women made accusations about his conduct on

…

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Mary Reid

By-election news

By Mary Reid | Fri 22nd February 2013 - 10:04 am

andreas yiasimiOne of the pleasures of editing Lib Dem Voice on a Friday is the opportunity to cheer everyone up with news of by-election victories.

Today we can congratulate Lib Dem Andreas Yiasimi on gaining a council seat in Cromer from the Conservatives. He polled 558 votes, beating the Conservatives into fourth place.  The local newspaper reports that Andreas is a local celebrity chef and owner of a Greek restaurant.

Let’s hope that next Friday brings more heartwarming results.

 

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George Kendall

Missing out on history

By George Kendall | Fri 22nd February 2013 - 8:57 am

mike thornton eastleigh jon aylwinIn 1990, I always intended to help in the Eastbourne by-election.  But I was busy, so I kept putting it off from one weekend to the next.  And then, it was too late.

Like all Liberal Democrats, I celebrated the stunning victory.  Like most of the country, I was relieved by the following resignation of Margaret Thatcher.  But my failure to help left a hint of bittersweetness.

Of the by-elections I have attended, the one I remember most is far from famous.  The West Derbyshire by-election of 1986 was held on the same day we won the Ryedale by-election.  A double-victory, one year before the 1987 General Election, would have been a massive boost to our credibility.

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The Voice

Party launches investigation over C4 News allegations

By The Voice | Thu 21st February 2013 - 7:52 pm

The party has launched an internal investigation, headed by Party President Tim Farron, in response to allegations aired on tonight’s Channel 4 News.

The party released this statement in response to the report:

In view of the serious allegations put to us by Channel 4 and the concerns raised about how such issues have been handled in the past, Nick Clegg has asked Tim Farron, the Party President, to establish an immediate review into all our procedures for dealing with these issues, including a thorough examination of how allegations made in the past have been handled. This review group had its

…

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Alex Paul Shantz

Opinion: Jury duty: in need of some government assistance?

By Alex Paul Shantz | Thu 21st February 2013 - 4:28 pm

When the trial of Chris Huhne’s ex-wife Vicky Pryce collapsed on Wednesday, the judge felt moved to declare that the jury had, in his opinion, demonstrated “a fundamental deficit in understanding” in the task that was required of them, an occurrence which “in 30 years of criminal trials (he) had never come across”. He was, of course, referring to a list of 10 questions submitted to him by the jury, a list which is now quickly gaining notoriety across the blogosphere and which has prompted one commentator to even label the jury as the worst “in the history of …

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Graeme Henderson

The Independent View: Clegg is right to worry about the North

By Graeme Henderson | Thu 21st February 2013 - 3:27 pm

The North once again compared fairly unfavourably to the south in yesterday’s unemployment figures. It’s safe to assume it will do so again in next month’s figures, and the month after that. While political commentators note the UK’s slide towards a triple dip, most people outside London don’t need clinical economic definitions to tell them that money is tight.

But let’s be clear, this disparity is not a consequence of idleness, nor has it happened by chance. Public policy and investment decisions have made it all but inevitable. London has vast infrastructure spending exemplified by Crossrail, a Government proactively …

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Lynne Featherstone

Lynne Featherstone MP writes…the Aid budget and the Ministry of Defence

By Lynne Featherstone | Thu 21st February 2013 - 2:55 pm

Despite extensive media coverage this morning, the aid budget is not about to be slashed to fund the Ministry of Defence.

All aid spending from the Department of International Development (DFID) is in line with internationally agreed guidelines. There is a strict definition of what can count as Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), which was established by the OECD. For example, aid cannot be spent on combat operations nor on military equipment.

It can be (and is) used to train another country’s security forces in human rights awareness, including gender-based violence issues – something I’m sure all …

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Alex Meredith

Opinion: Rational energy policy must be central to 2015 manifesto

By Alex Meredith | Thu 21st February 2013 - 2:25 pm

The alarm raised by the Chief Executive of Ofgem earlier this week over a looming energy ‘near crisis’ will not have come as a shock to most people. This is not the first time we have heard how our islands will struggle to support increasing energy demands in a carbon constrained world.

However, the major insight that Ofgem has provided relates to timing. Ofgem’s analysis points very clearly to 2015 as being the critical year when our reliance on imported gas could lead to a major spike in bills.

Lest we forget, 2015 is also the year of the next general election. …

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David Hennigan

Opinion: Planning in Rochdale descends into farce

By David Hennigan | Thu 21st February 2013 - 11:30 am

I know many current and former councillors would agree with me that being on a municipal planning committee is a thankless task. Explaining the quasi-judicial element of the role to residents can be a nightmare. Every council contains councillors of different shapes, sizes and abilities. That is why the role of a planning officer is critical – to help you through complex planning law. We may not agree with their advice but we need concrete planning reasons on which to base our decisions. Or do we?

The recent BBC programme The Planners certainly brought back memories for me about my time …

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Don Foster MP

Don Foster MP writes… The Integration Strategy: one year on

By Don Foster MP | Thu 21st February 2013 - 10:25 am

The Government’s Integration Strategy, Creating the Conditions for Integration was published a year ago on 21 February 2012. Since becoming a minister a few months ago, this is one of the areas about which I’ve had some of the strongest feedback from party members.

The views I’ve heard range from “the strategy is welcome, but not enough” to “it isn’t a serious substitute for a strategy to tackle racism and racial injustice”. Some have said that the document skates over the fact that integration is a two way process of mutual accommodation. Those with this view argue that there’s …

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The Voice

Eastleigh Tory candidate “running scared” from hustings

By The Voice | Thu 21st February 2013 - 9:52 am

Missing Tory candidateThe Conservative candidate has pulled out of the BBC Radio 5 Live hustings this morning, and is facing accusations of running scared of voters.

From The Guardian:

There is growing concern within the party that with a week to go before polling day her no-nonsense and frequently off-message approach is damaging its chances of seizing the seat from the Liberal Democrats.

Candidates from the other major parties were attending the debate – chaired by Victoria Derbyshire – on Thursday morning for 5 Live, a major set-piece of the week. But Conservative

…

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Stephen Tall

Eastleigh by-election: your essential round-up of the latest campaign news (21 Feb)

By Stephen Tall | Thu 21st February 2013 - 8:35 am

It was another day when more than 200 Lib Dem volunteers had signed-in by lunchtime to help Mike Thornton’s by-election campaign in Eastleigh. It really is quite amazing to see the party’s by-election campaign in full swing.

The big push will come this weekend, the final one before polling day — you can sign up to help here:

Eastleigh: The BIG weekend
So far our campaign in Eastleigh has broken all attendence records in recent memory – the challenge this weekend is to go even further. Can YOU help us beat the all-time by-election attendence record, and give local campaigner Mike Thornton the best possible boost just before polling day?

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Caron Lindsay

Call Clegg 20 February: E-cigarettes, London NHS, taxes, special needs and Arsene Wenger

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 20th February 2013 - 8:17 pm

This week and next, Call Clegg, Nick Clegg’s weekly phone-in is happening on Wednesday rather than Thursday. Today’s questions ranged from a new EU directive on e-cigarettes which Nick had never heard of to special needs to fair  tax to the problems of the NHS in London. Today, a few of the questions  were so long that it didn’t flow as well as usual. However, when Nick got the chance, he really chatted properly with people as if there weren’t millions of people listening.

Mansion Tax

The first question was from a man who bought his house in fashionable St John’s Wood …

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Mark Pack

How Ofsted outperforms the Department for Education in the email stakes

By Mark Pack | Wed 20th February 2013 - 5:55 pm

Yesterday I blogged about how only a third of emailed newsletters and circulars sent out by the Department for Education to schools and teachers are read by the recipients.

I also mentioned that you could choose who to blame for the low readership rate:

Who is to blame for this? If nothing else I suspect these figures are a good test of your political instincts: are you already thinking the blame lies with Michael Gove and the Department for Education for not making their messages more compelling or with the teachers who aren’t reading them in greater numbers?

One way of helping …

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Caron Lindsay

++Breaking News: Jury in Vicky Pryce trial discharged after failing to reach a verdict

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 20th February 2013 - 2:27 pm

The BBC reports that the jury in Vicky Pryce’s trial for perverting the course of justice has been discharged after failing to reach a verdict. This comes after almost 4 days of deliberation. This morning they handed the judge a list of ten questions which the BBC have reported here.

A retrial with a new jury will start next Monday.  It’s likely that sentencing of her ex husband, Chris Huhne,  will be delayed until after this new trial.

As this matter remains sub judice,  personal comments about either Vicky or Chris won’t be published at least until the trial has concluded …

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Michael Moore

Michael Moore MP’s Westminster Notes

By Michael Moore | Wed 20th February 2013 - 1:55 pm

Every week, Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore MP, writes a column for newspapers in his Borders Constituency. Here is the latest edition. 

Scotland analysis

As the debate surrounding Scottish independence gets underway, the UK Government published its first in a series of ‘Scotland analysis’ papers last week to look at the legal implications of Scottish independence. The paper set out that, according to experts, a ‘Yes’ vote would make Scotland the ‘successor’ state and the rest of the UK the ‘continuing’ state. This rejects the First Minister’s idea that Scotland and the UK would both be regarded as …

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Posted in Op-eds, Parliament and Scotland | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Good news from Chelmsford: Liberal Democrat Graham Pooley wins Council by-election

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 20th February 2013 - 12:30 pm

Chelmsford winYou would think Eastleigh was the only by-election in the world at the moment, but yesterday Liberal Democrats in Chelmsford saw the reward for their hard campaigning efforts when Graham Pooley saw off the Tories to win a Council by-election. He increased the Liberal Democrat share of the vote by 17.7%. TheConservatives saw their vote fall by 3.5%.

The result, from the Chelmsford Liberal Democrats website, was as follows:

Graham Pooley (Lib Dem)     543

Conservative                               …

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Caron Lindsay

LibLink..Lord Lester QC: Five days to save free speech

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 20th February 2013 - 11:15 am

Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Lester writes in today’s Sun about amendments which could derail the long awaited reform of England’s libel laws. He says that Labour’s Lord Puttnam is leading attempts to introduce a “draconian version” of the Leveson proposals. He warns that if these amendments are passed, the whole attempt at libel reform could fall when the Bill reaches the Commons.

First, he set out  what the Bill is trying to do:

The Bill creates a Serious Harm Test to prevent frivolous claims. It makes user-friendly the defences of honest opinion, truth and qualified privilege, and introduces an important public interest

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Caron Lindsay

“Bedroom Tax” – should social landlords be doing more to encourage swaps?

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 20th February 2013 - 9:36 am

The “bedroom tax” which is not actually a tax, but a cut in Housing Benefit if a tenant in social housing has more bedrooms than they are deemed to need, has caused much anxiety and disquiet in recent weeks. Its introduction in April means that tenants in social housing will need to find around £60 a month on already hard-pressed budgets. If they are unable to pay the extra, then they face eviction. Even ifsocial landlords decide not to evict and merely to pursue rent arrears, the stress of that debt and its impact on a family’s ability to keep …

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Stephen Tall

Don’ forget #CallClegg on at 9am today

By Stephen Tall | Wed 20th February 2013 - 8:45 am

In a change to the usual schedule, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will be taking questions from listeners around the country at 9am this morning, Wednesday (not tomorrow, Thursday):

With any luck, he’ll get the chance to differentiate himself from David Cameron’s ill-judged attack on Hilary Mantel for her article on the Duchess of Cambridge.

And a bit of good cheer for Lib Dems this morning. …

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Stephen Tall

Eastleigh by-election: your essential round-up of the latest campaign news (19 Feb)

By Stephen Tall | Tue 19th February 2013 - 10:20 pm

thornton hughes browneIt’s been another record-breaking day for Mike Thornton’s team in Eastleigh — well over 200 party volunteers had arrived by lunchtime today, with many more arriving later on.

This follows the 530+ who visited this weekend, and the 1,000+ who campaigned during the first week. The party’s poll ratings may not be sky-high, but the determination of Lib Dem activists to prove wrong those who argue the party’s doomed has rarely been more resolute!

This Lib Dem enthusiasm has been picked up by the press this week:

Tories sniff defeat

…

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Mary Reid

A hole in his sock

By Mary Reid | Tue 19th February 2013 - 4:44 pm

The Telegraph has a lengthy profile of Rachel Smith, Vince Cable’s wife.

If cows can be considered to have a casting vote, then Hopeful and Caramel have done their bit to make sure Rachel Smith sees more of her husband in the future. The wife of the business secretary, Vince Cable, is a farmer with a dwindling beef herd in the middle of the New Forest. For months she has been trying to get these two Dexters in calf. The bull has visited; the artificial insemination man has

…

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Mary Reid

Job shares for MPs?

By Mary Reid | Tue 19th February 2013 - 2:46 pm

reformIt seems that journalists in the national media now make time to read Liberal Democrat policy consultation papers, even before they are discussed at Conference.

Following the Mail’s rant about the so-called ‘jewelry tax‘ (from the Tax Policy consultation paper), we now have a more reasoned appraisal by the Guardian of one of the proposals in the consultation paper on Political and Constitutional Reform.

This major consultation is very wide ranging, and begins thus:

Our recent policy on constitutional and political reform has tended to focus on altering the democratic structures of the United Kingdom. We have sought pluralism in our electoral system, strength and legitimacy in our Parliament, and radical decentralisation of power to national, regional and local institutions.

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Tony Dawson

Opinion: Iraq War, one year on

By Tony Dawson | Tue 19th February 2013 - 12:28 pm

Just over ten years ago, I was one dot in a crowd of one million people in London calling for the Labour government of Tony Blair to stop the Iraq war. We all knew that Saddam Hussein was a murderous dictator who was much-hated in his own country but we knew equally well that the case for invasion of Iraq (it was never a ‘war’) was a gigantic deceit, cooked up by the Blair and Bush governments for their own purposes. We knew that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction. We knew that far from being a friend of Al Qaeda and the Islamicists, Saddam was their sworn enemy and near the top of their death list. But these were ‘inconvenient truths’.

As I walked alongside Charles and Sarah Kennedy, Donnachadh McCarthy and Simon Hughes at the front of the Liberal Democrat contingent in the march, I thought to myself: “Wow! This is the biggest gathering of humanity in the UK since the Isle of Wight Pop Festival in 1969:and we haven’t even got Jimmy Hendrix or Joni Mitchell as a ‘draw’ . How can they ignore something as huge as THIS?”

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Mark Pack

Two-thirds of email newsletters sent to teachers and schools by the Department for Education are not read

By Mark Pack | Tue 19th February 2013 - 10:55 am

Email inboxOnly a third of emailed newsletters and circulars sent out by the Department for Education to schools and teachers are read by the recipients according to new figures I have secured following a Freedom of Information request to the Department.

In 2012 the Department sent out 148,182 such emails, with their systems recording 49,504 of them as having  been read at least once (33%).

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Jeremy Hargreaves

That ‘jewelry tax’ proposal

By Jeremy Hargreaves | Tue 19th February 2013 - 8:55 am

Jewellery shot for RK Jewellers 01“Now they want to tax jewellery: New Lib Dem wealth plan to target ALL assets” screamed a headline in the Mail on Sunday yesterday, warning their readers of the latest appalling imposition that Lib Dems in government were about to put upon the public.

“Families will be forced to pay tax on jewellery and other heirlooms under controversial new plans drawn up by the Liberal Democrats. Under the scheme, tax inspectors would get unprecedented new powers to go into homes and value rings, necklaces, paintings, furniture and other family treasures.” they said. If you really want to, read the full article here.

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Stephen Tall

Half a defence of John O’Farrell’s comments on Margaret Thatcher

By Stephen Tall | Mon 18th February 2013 - 8:50 pm

OFarrell-things betterI wonder if Labour HQ wish they’d read John O’Farrell’s 1998 book, Things Can Only Get Better, a little more carefully before he was selected to fight the Eastleigh by-election?

First there was his call for Labour voters to vote tactically for the Lib Dems to beat the Tories, as uncovered by Mark Pack here: Should Labour supporters vote tactically to beat the Tories? “Go for it” said John O’Farrell. (Incidentally, the Telegraph then ran the story here without any credit.)

And then yesterday, the Mail ran with …

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William Townsend

Opinion: Why do the government tax people on the value of their home?

By William Townsend | Mon 18th February 2013 - 2:23 pm

View from Launceston CastleI am not a politician or economist, nor am I some great thinker of our age. I am just a normal man, single, living in rented accommodation, in a well-paid job, for my part of the world. Yet I still have to rent out my second bedroom to afford normal things like the internet, satellite TV and the occasional visit to a good restaurant. I have to pay out £830 a month just for my Council Tax, rent, petrol and energy before I even eat, let alone pay for the internet or satellite TV!

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Rebecca Hanson

Opinion: Radioactive waste consultation – a loss of public trust

By Rebecca Hanson | Mon 18th February 2013 - 12:53 pm

Sellafield - some rights reserved by dog on wheelsOn Wednesday 30th January Cumbria County Council voted not to proceed with a consultation to explore Cumbria being the host of a high level radioactive waste repository. This left Ed Davey with a problem.

The problem is very substantial and urgent as there are facilities at Sellafield full of decaying and highly toxic waste including B30 and B38, which are considered to be the most hazardous buildings in Western Europe. These structures are in a deteriorating condition

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