Joe Otten

Budget: No tax break for married couples

By Joe Otten | Sat 2nd February 2013 - 9:33 pm

The BBC and Comedy Central are carrying news that there will be no new tax break for married couples in this year’s budget. The measure is in the coalition agreement, with Liberal Democrat MPs free to abstain. The BBC also reports significant unrest on the Conservative backbenches where many are calling for a new tax break to sugar the “pill” of equal marriage. However there are still plans to introduce a limited transferability of the personal allowance between partners this parliament.

I find the idea that the government knows the best way for you to define your relationship supremely …

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Andrew Tennant

Opinion: We feel the handbrake of history on our Liberal reforming.

By Andrew Tennant | Sat 2nd February 2013 - 5:30 pm

I doubt it’s gone unnoticed, but there are rather a lot of Tories in parliament.

Some 306 Tory MPs were elected in May 2010 (47% of the total on 36.1% of the vote), compared to a meagre 57 Lib Dems (only 9%, despite the party actually getting 23.0% of the vote).

And so the Lib Dems in parliament have had quite a battle to achieve their successes so far in government.

First Past the Post is neither a fair, nor a kind system …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 45 Comments
Joe Otten

MPs call for recognition of Mary Seacole in the history syllabus

By Joe Otten | Sat 2nd February 2013 - 1:45 pm

Early Day Motion 919 is calling for the revised history curriculum to retain material on the Crimean war heroine, nurse Mary Seacole. You know, like Florence Nightingale, but better, braver and blacker.

If you haven’t heard of Mary Seacole, Horrible Histories, as usual, will tell you everything you need to know.

Was Mary Seacole long ignored by history because of her race? There is a backlash from some quarters suggesting that she is now being over-promoted as an exercise in

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Stephen Tall

Our congratulations to Mark Pack – and, alas, a farewell to him

By Stephen Tall | Sat 2nd February 2013 - 9:35 am

Mark PackCongratulations to my Co-Editor at Lib Dem Voice, Mark Pack, on his appointment as associate director at Blue Rubicon, ‘a consultancy that leads strategic thinking in corporate, financial, brand and behaviour change communications’. He departs MHP Communications, where he’s been since leaving the Lib Dems in 2009, at the beginning of March. In addition, he has recently been appointed a Visiting Lecturer at City University in the Journalism Department.

Add these professional activities to his extensive political campaigning — did you know he’s written a book on …

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Helen Duffett

The LDV Friday Five: 1 February 2013

By Helen Duffett | Fri 1st February 2013 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

  1. Has it all gone Jenny Tonge for David Ward? (87 comments) by Mark Valladares
  2. Labour party ‘gerrymandering’: recalling the only occasion in a century when a party has interfered with electoral boundaries (54 comments) by Simon McGrath
  3. Nick Clegg’s son’s schooling is none of your business (130 comments) by Nick Thornsby
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Mark Valladares

This week in Europe – 28-31 January(ish)

By Mark Valladares | Fri 1st February 2013 - 4:22 pm

Attempt to introduce the British model to European railways fails

Virgin trainGermany has succeeded in changing the content of a European Commission proposal on the liberalisation of railways before the proposal was even published. The intention, to introduce greater competition in rail passenger services by separating infrastructure owners from passenger service operators failed after stiff resistance from Deutsche Bahn and SNCF.

Ironically, SNCF is run as a separate entity already but it is intended to merge the two companies once more. Instead, vertically integrated rail companies will have to erect firewalls between their …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged , and | 7 Comments
Ed Fordham

Marriage for same sex couples, but not yet equal for all…

By Ed Fordham | Fri 1st February 2013 - 3:21 pm

In 2013 we celebrate 15 years of having been ‘going out’ together.  That’s a long time to be ‘going out’ – even for the decidedly commitment-phobic.

Over the last fifteen years we have attended many weddings, christenings, funerals of friends and family that mark out the great stations of life.

Apart from the occasional birthday bash and Eurovision party- we haven’t provided a similar opportunity for our friends and family to celebrate our life together.

On Tuesday the House of Commons will have a free vote on the Marriage (same sex couples) Bill – it’s not a perfect bill and in committee and …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 86 Comments

Israel/Palestine: trying to find some balance

By Charles Beaumont | Fri 1st February 2013 - 2:21 pm

Israeli children visit Palestinian village of Tuwani and participate in bilingual activities together - Some rights reserved by delayed gratficationWriting about Israel and Palestine is a bit like that bit in Great Expectations when Pip asked whether it was a good idea to lend money to a friend. The cynical Mr Wemmick responds “choose your bridge and pitch your money into the Thames over the centre arch”. Or put another way, don’t waste your time.

I think that, at our best, Liberal Democrats are fair-minded people who try to accept that most arguments have two sides. So what follows is not my opinion on who is right, but five things that have

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Nick T

Putting the party’s message in a distinctively liberal context – Part 3: a fairer society

By Nick T | Fri 1st February 2013 - 12:50 pm

Liberal Democrat badge - Some rights reserved by Paul Walter, Newbury, UKThis is the third of three posts looking at the party’s messaging. The introductory post was published here, and yesterday’s on the economic part of the message is here ; this last and final post concentrates on the second part of the message: social justice.

The second part of the party’s message is “building a fairer society”. Fairness was, of course, the theme of the party’s 2010 manifesto, linking the four key policy platforms on which we fought the election (fairer taxes, a fair start for every child, fairer politics and a fairer, more balanced economy).

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Mark Valladares

Next week in the Lords: 4-7 February

By Mark Valladares | Fri 1st February 2013 - 11:21 am

House of LordsStrangely enough, in the absence of a Lords Reform Bill to debate (and who’s sorry now?), things are relatively quiet on the red benches. Quiet, but not exactly dead, I’m delighted to say. And now that Paddy Ashdown has hit Twitter, life is going to be a bit more exciting. And talking of Twitter, don’t forget that our Parliamentary Party in the Lords has its own Twitter feed. And yes, those are real Peers tweeting, in live time. So, what might they be covering next week?

On Monday, …

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NewsHound

Liberalism, youth & the new Arab awakening: a Tunisian perspective

By NewsHound | Fri 1st February 2013 - 10:22 am

Student holds anti-violence poster at protest in Tunis - License Some rights reserved by Magharebia As part of a three year joint project between the Arab Partnership Fund, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the UK Liberal Democrats, a strategic roundtable will be held at our Party conference in Brighton to discuss a roadmap for advancing a progressive agenda in Tunisia and more generally across the Middle East. Youth and female members of liberal political parties have been invited to apply to participate in the roundtable discussion and, although the focus will be on Tunisia, people from all liberal parties across Middle East have been encouraged to apply.

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Richard Davis

EU’s Youth Guarantee to end “social emergency” of youth unemployment

By Richard Davis | Fri 1st February 2013 - 8:51 am

Recent economic announcements have been a true rollercoaster ride, with unemployment figures falling to one of the lowest levels, but then national output also falling. This disconnect between unemployment and GDP is still confusing economist, but the real worry is that youth unemployment is doing as expected, if not exceeding expectations. Youth unemployment in the UK now stands at just under 1 million, with over 1 in 5 young people now out of work. This has recently risen to the highest level since 2011.

Across the EU this picture does not improve with youth unemployment standing at 23.7% which equates …

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Mark Valladares

Welcome to my day… 1 February

By Mark Valladares | Fri 1st February 2013 - 7:52 am

Sea otterYes, it’s Friday once again, and whilst it’s a bit early for ‘Crackerjack’ (cultural reference for our older readers), there is some good news to start the day.

Swiss banks have paid HM Revenue & Customs £342 million in the first tranche of a ground-breaking agreement which will deliver around £5 billion of previously unpaid tax to the UK. Under the agreement between the UK and Switzerland, which came into force on 1 January, people with taxable assets in Switzerland have a choice of authorising their financial institution to disclose the …

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Jo Shaw

Jo Shaw asks… Is there a way out of the Secret Courts mess?

By Jo Shaw | Thu 31st January 2013 - 4:53 pm

It’s a strange and rare thing for a Liberal Democrat to be pinning her hopes for a civil liberties victory on a combination of government bad faith, Conservatives of principle voting the right way and Labour sticking to their guns. Yet that combination, combined with the votes of Lib Dem MPs, could offer a lifeline for those campaigning to defeat secret courts contained in the Justice and Security Bill.

The Bill is now in Committee in the Commons. At the last possible moment the government published its proposed amendments to the Bill. The government line is that these amendments clarify the …

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Celia Thomas

Baroness Thomas writes… Getting Personal Independence Payments right

By Celia Thomas | Thu 31st January 2013 - 3:53 pm

This afternoon the Department of Work and Pensions announces a significant change on the new Personal Independent Payments following significant Lib Dem pressure. Celia Thomas, the Lib Dem peer who has campaigned tirelessly on the issue, explains why it’s a major win.

Getting the rules governing Personal Independence Payments right is vital. The new benefit, which will begin to replace Disability Living Allowance later this year, will have a huge effect on disabled people up and down the country.

I’m broadly in favour of the change to PIP, which seeks to clarify the eligibility of disabled people to this benefit, the purpose …

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Karen Wilkinson

Opinion: The hidden costs of pushing parents to conform

By Karen Wilkinson | Thu 31st January 2013 - 2:00 pm

I heard odd things yesterday.  Talk of getting women back into the workplace by subsidising childcare for all parents – and this after means testing child benefit.

Then someone proposed that all child carers should have good GCSE Maths & English whilst increasing ratios! How did the human race survive before academic qualifications? Here we have another narrowing of work opportunities for people who are not so hot at academic stuff.

To add to my indignation, I heard someone say on the radio that only working parents provide a positive role model  for children and that “non-working” parents don’t contribute to the …

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Nick T

Putting the party’s message in a distinctively liberal context – Part 2: the economy

By Nick T | Thu 31st January 2013 - 12:37 pm

This is the second of three posts looking at the party’s messaging. The first was published here yesterday; the last and final post will appear tomorrow.

The first half of our message emphasises economic competence: bringing back (as David Laws once put it) Gladstonian Liberalism to the Treasury and setting us up to be competitive in a fast-changing, globalised economy.

So far, much of the focus has been on our willingness to take “tough decisions”. Here, for example, is David Laws speaking to the Independent recently: “in the past people have known we stood for a fairer society but have …

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Paul Haydon

MEPs call for review of funding for European far-right

By Paul Haydon | Thu 31st January 2013 - 11:56 am

Last year, for the first time, the far-right Alliance of European National Movements (AENM) organised itself into a pan-European bloc, and has therefore recently been allocated almost £400,000 in public funding from the European Parliament. This group includes the BNP, the Front National in France and Jobbik, a far-right political party in Hungary renowned for its racist and anti-semitic views. Of particular concern is the possibility that public money could now end up being used to incite racial hatred.

Under EU regulations, parties must observe fundamental principles such as liberty, democracy and respect for human rights in order to …

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Caron Lindsay

Call Clegg 4: the return of #iagreewithnick

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 31st January 2013 - 11:29 am

Nick Clegg’s fourth half hour phone-in this morning was the first I had actually managed to listen to all the way through. It takes some guts for a senior member of the Government to take unvetted calls from members of the public every week. In just 30 minutes, he answered questions on subjects like youth unemployment, the threatened Lewisham hospital, childcare, stay at home parents, David Ward’s comments and HS2 and its role in providing prosperity for the whole country.

One man was very angry about the comments made by David Ward for which he apologised and was subsequently censured by …

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David Heath MP

David Heath MP writes… The future of our forests

By David Heath MP | Thu 31st January 2013 - 10:54 am

I was delighted when I was asked to take on ministerial responsibility for our forests. If I had any doubt about what forests offer, and I didn’t, I would have been even more convinced as I’ve had the opportunity to travel around the country. Our woodlands are places where people can get out in the fresh air and enjoy walking, bike riding and picnicking. But they’re also important for public health, preserving wildlife, storing carbon dioxide, and have huge potential to provide sustainable employment in some of our most rural areas.

That’s why I have worked hard over recent months …

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Nick T

Baroness Kramer: Focus on small businesses to get the economy moving

By Nick T | Thu 31st January 2013 - 9:17 am

Susan Kramer - Some rights reserved by David SpenderI have previously highlighted some of Baroness (Susan) Kramer’s excellent House of Lords speeches on the economy here on Lib Dem Voice. There follows, courtesy of Lords Hansard, an extract from another speech she gave on Tuesday to the House in a debate on economic growth, urging the government to focus on small and medium size businesses, by whom the vast majority of people are employed:

I would like to add something slightly different to this debate, because as a doer and deliverer I am going to ask him if he might

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Mark Pack

New university data shows everyone was wrong about tuition fees

By Mark Pack | Thu 31st January 2013 - 8:25 am

May I introduce you to my latest graph? It’s based on the new data just published about university applications in England and compares the application rate for university places from the most deprived parts of the country with those from the least deprived. As you might expect, the least deprived areas see a higher university application rate than the most deprived. But look what’s happened to that gap:

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Caron Lindsay

A sneak peek at a Scottish Conference agenda full of controversy…

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 30th January 2013 - 4:49 pm

The Agenda for this year’s Scottish Conference will be sent to members tomorrow but I’ve had a bit of a sneak peek. I’d better not give you the full list of timings and the like because Scottish Conference Convener Sheila Thomson would spank me if I did, but I can tell you that there is plenty of scope for controversy and debate.

There are more policy debates than for some considerable time – 9 in total with 6 coming from local parties or members. Scottish Conference will get the chance to have its say on the controversial secret courts legislation. Should …

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Caron Lindsay

Electoral Commission advises SNP to change Independence Referendum question

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 30th January 2013 - 1:30 pm

The Electoral Commission has published its advice on both the question for next year’s referendum on whether Scotland should leave the UK and spending limits. Both sides of the debate have been quick to accept the recommendations, which means that most of the issues on process should now be resolved.

This means that Scots will be asked next Autumn to answer:

Should Scotland be an independent country? Yes/No

This is different from the SNP Government’s proposed question:

Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?

And also from the rather cumbersome question drawn up by a panel set up by the parties who …

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Chris White

Opinion: Gove’s A Level reforms risk pushing many universities out of reach

By Chris White | Wed 30th January 2013 - 12:30 pm

I am not from the educational establishment and, having seen two daughters through state schools, I have plenty of zeal for major reform.

But that reform does not encompass sending a copy of the King James Bible to every school nor yet banishing the Arts from the nation’s principal academic qualification.

In so many ways Michael Gove uses the same techniques as his colleague Eric Pickles: pander to the right wing press, eschew evidence based thinking, make a splash.

The AS level announcement this week is just one more example. I didn’t have the option of AS levels. I sat O-levels in a …

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Nick T

Putting the party’s message in a distinctively liberal context – Part 1

By Nick T | Wed 30th January 2013 - 11:24 am

In my New Year review of the party’s position, I emphasised the need to get the basics right; political competence before all else. I touched on the party’s messaging only perfunctorily, because my view was (and to an extent still is) that there are more pressing concerns than the message itself (we can have the best message in the world, but if we are failing when it comes to the basics of political strategy and tactics it is next to useless). Here’s is what I did say, in my concluding remarks:

There’s already been talk over the Christmas break of

…

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Caron Lindsay

Paddy Ashdown finally starts tweeting

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 30th January 2013 - 9:56 am

Last year, I remember seeing somewhere that Paddy Ashdown was learning how to work Twitter. Sadly, nothing happened after that. However, yesterday, our favourite ex leader and new Chair of the General Election campaign actually sent his first tweet.

Paddy's first tweet

 

Needless to say, he immediately received lots of  replies asking what he did have for breakfast – including one from Ladbrokes which started offering odds on Paddy’s morning repast.

Paddy's breakfast betting

 

I have no doubt that some enterprising Liberal Democrat will tweet a …

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Caron Lindsay

Willie Rennie: No to independence doesn’t mean no to change

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 30th January 2013 - 8:55 am

Willie Rennie - Some rights reserved by Liberal DemocratsScottish Liberal Democrat Leader Willie Rennie sent an email to members yesterday outlining what he is trying to do as regards building a consensus around further powers for the Scottish Parliament in the event of no vote in next year’s independence referendum. If I had been him, given the proximity of Scottish Conference and how fabulously awesome it is going to be, with lots of controversy and debate, I would have put a link at the bottom enticing people to go and register.But seeing as he didn’t – you can find out all the information you need here.

Anyway, here is his email in full:

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Stephen Tall

Tories lose boundary review vote, Lib Dems vote against Coalition partners for first time

By Stephen Tall | Tue 29th January 2013 - 7:15 pm

The Boundary Commissions - book coverThe BBC reports this afternoon’s vote:

Plans to redraw constituency boundaries before 2015, backed by the Tories, have been defeated in the House of Commons. MPs voted by 334 to 292 to accept changes made by peers, meaning the planned constituency shake-up will be postponed until 2018 at the earliest. It was the first time Lib Dem ministers have voted against their Conservative coalition colleagues in the Commons. The two parties have been in dispute since proposed elections to the House of Lords were dropped last

…

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Mary Reid

LibLink: Paul Tyler on target practice

By Mary Reid | Tue 29th January 2013 - 3:43 pm

targetIn a recent post on Lord of the Blogs, Paul Tyler asks where the elusive Parliamentary rifle range is to be found.

For some years, while I was still an MP, there were regular requests for this apparently anachronistic  facility, somewhere in the basement, to be replaced with a creche for the children of staff and members of both Houses.  One Conservative MP naughtily suggested that the two roles could be combined.

Some years ago Nick Clegg said that it was absurd that parliament should have a shooting range and not a creche. …

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged , and | 4 Comments
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