Caron Lindsay

Michael Beckett chosen to fight Rotherham for the Liberal Democrats

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 14th November 2012 - 3:35 pm

Michael Beckett has been chosen as the Lib Dem candidate to fight Rotherham in the parliamentary by-election later this month. He was chosen from a shortlist of candidates by local party members.

In his professional life, Michael Beckett has helped businesses in Yorkshire grow, and has a good understanding of the problems the economic situation is having on companies in the area. Also, as a former manager for the Citizens Advice Bureau, he has many years helping the most vulnerable individuals with their problems.

Michael says that …

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Geoff Crocker

Opinion: Get real about corporate tax

By Geoff Crocker | Wed 14th November 2012 - 2:25 pm

Companies currently pay corporation tax in the country where they are incorporated. A campaign is under way, in the Guardian, and the Commons Public Accounts Committee, that companies should instead pay tax where they make their sales. The proposal has populist appeal, but is impracticable.

Many companies, including UK companies, make export sales without costly incorporation in each sales country. If a US coal producer sells 1m tonnes of coal to UK powerplants for £100m, and makes £5m profit, it submits accounts in the US for tax authority scrutiny, and pays US tax on the £5m. Should this profit be …

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Caron Lindsay

Sharon Bowles makes Bank of England governor shortlist

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 14th November 2012 - 1:15 pm

Sharon BowlesThe Telegraph reports today that Sharon Bowles, who is currently the  Liberal Democrat MEP for the South East of England has made it on to the shortlist for the next Governor of the Bank of England.

With her first hand experience of the Eurozone Crisis as Chair of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, she is a worthy contender for the position and, she argues, her appointment would send a powerful message of change.

“Just about everything about me is different. I’m an independent. I’m not from …

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Martin Petts

A letter from……Catalonia

By Martin Petts | Wed 14th November 2012 - 11:57 am

As the UK plans a referendum on Scottish independence, those of us watching from Spain can only look on in envy at the orderly and civilised process led by the Secretary of State for Scotland. Here in Catalonia, Northern Spain, similar demand exists for an independent state, but the two sides have chosen indignation and confrontation instead of a serious debate.

The last two years have been tough for all EU governing parties and Spain has unique problems, with its sky-high unemployment levels, corruption and a rickety banking system. But this month Catalans will go to the polls in a general

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Mark Pack

A simple way to improve party selection rules

By Mark Pack | Wed 14th November 2012 - 10:50 am

You may have noticed I have a thing or two about the party’s internal election rules (not to mention those of other organisations). There’s a reason and it reflects my wider view of the world – administrative details can have significant knock-on effects well beyond their own apparent immediate remit.

Details of how the paperwork for the Office of the Public Guardian is worded may seem a minor matter. But when unnecessary duplication and complication results in it being harder for people to take control over their own lives, the impact can be serious and even heart-rending. In other words, …

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | 15 Comments
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Michael Moore

Michael Moore’s Westminster Notes

By Michael Moore | Wed 14th November 2012 - 9:55 am

Every week Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore writes a column for newspapers in his Borders constituency. Here’s this week’s edition.

Mobile phone coverage

Mobile phone service ‘not spots’ across my constituency remain a huge frustration for local people and have a serious knock-on effect for businesses and Borderers going about their daily lives. As local MP, I have been working for many years to tackle this issue and I have welcomed the UK Government’s commitment, through the Mobile Infrastructure Project, to invest £150million to improve mobile phone signal in rural areas and on key transport routes.

Last week I …

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James Kempton

Opinion: Champions for London’s Children

By James Kempton | Wed 14th November 2012 - 8:52 am

The Liberal Democrat education policy, written before the General Election, detailed a strong strategic role for councils, including commissioning new schools and holding all schools to account whatever their status.

The question now is whether this is more than just a change in the mood music, and whether the Coalition is genuinely up for endorsing local authorities who seek to hold academies to account as part of a strong ‘champion for children’ role.  And moreover, whether they will give councils the teeth they need to do it properly.

Who better to rise to this challenge and make the case persuasively to government …

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Stephen Tall

Majority of Lib Dems support ‘No more page 3’ campaign (but big differences between women/men’s views on issue)

By Stephen Tall | Wed 14th November 2012 - 7:50 am

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

44% of party members back ‘No more Page 3’

LDV asked: The ‘No more Page 3’ campaign was recently launched urging The Sun’s editor to drop pictures of topless women from the newspaper. What is your view?

    10% – I support the ‘No more page 3’ campaign and would also support government regulation (either an outright ban or restrictions on the sale of

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged | 30 Comments
Norman Lamb MP

Norman Lamb writes: A landmark for the NHS – and a line in the sand for mental health

By Norman Lamb MP | Tue 13th November 2012 - 5:55 pm

The first mandate between the Government and the NHS Commissioning Board was published today, setting out the priorities for the health service over the next two years. It reaffirms our commitment to a comprehensive and universal NHS, available to all based on need rather than on your ability to pay. Its overriding aim is to make the NHS work better for patients.

The Mandate was drawn up following widespread consultation over the summer. Key goals contained within it include:

  • Improving standards of care, especially for the elderly
  • Better diagnosis,

…

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Miranda Whitehead

Opinion: Shared Parental Leave? Why Bother?

By Miranda Whitehead | Tue 13th November 2012 - 5:00 pm

Nick Clegg’s announcement today may be overshadowed by various rows in the media, but this is an historic moment. Parents will soon be able to share 50 weeks of the 52 weeks maternity leave entitlement, and everyone will have the right to request flexible working.

Why does this matter?

Because we are wasting the talent of our women workers to such an extent that when women start a family they often take a drop in their pay, lose the opportunity for promotion or even can find themselves locked out of the labour market. About one million women are missing from the …

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David Thorpe

Opinion: Now is the time to re-nationalise the railways

By David Thorpe | Tue 13th November 2012 - 4:10 pm

Virgin trainAs the 2015 General Election approaches, the principle challenge for Liberal Democrat policy makers will be to come up with distinctive policies which don’t trade in our party’s radicalism while allowing us to trade on our experience as a serious party of government.

One policy which we can be confident won’t be pursued by either of the other two parties is that of re-nationalising the railways.

Readers familiar with my previous posts on this site would be surprised to see me advocating nationalisation as a policy.

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Mark Pack

Not all is quite so new in the world of political messaging and behaviour change

By Mark Pack | Tue 13th November 2012 - 3:05 pm

On my way to windmill spotting in Lincoln recently, I happened across this example of an 19th century election leaflet for the City of Lincoln’s local elections:

It’s a neat example of a point I’ve made before, that what can seem new and exciting in the world of communications often is really long-established ideas in slightly new clothes.

In this case, note two particular features of the message. First, the reference to electors having previously elected Mr Page four times before. In other words, …

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Stephen Tall

Two years on from the tuition fees U-turn – what do Lib Dem members think now?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th November 2012 - 2:15 pm

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

7-in-10 say new fees system is fairer than old


LDV asked: Overall do you think the new tuition fees system introduced by the Coalition Government is fairer or less fair than the system it replaced?

    70% – Fairer
    21% – Less fair
    10% – Don’t know

A substantial majority of Lib …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged and | 24 Comments
Mary Reid

Nick Clegg announces the arrangements for flexible parental leave

By Mary Reid | Tue 13th November 2012 - 1:02 pm

Another radical Lib Dem proposal is being implemented today as Nick Clegg announces the arrangements for flexible parental leave.

In essence, parents of new babies will be entitled to a year’s worth of parental leave that they can share between themselves to suit their own circumstances. He says:

From 2015, the UK will shift to an entirely new system of flexible parental leave. Under the new rules, a mother will be able to trigger flexible leave at any point – if and when she feels ready. That means that whatever time is left to run on her original year can be

…

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Mary Reid

LibLink: Simon Hughes – This water tax trickery in the corporate sector is unacceptable

By Mary Reid | Tue 13th November 2012 - 12:30 pm

Simon HughesOver in the Observer, Simon Hughes is making his views on tax avoidance perfectly clear.

Every pound lost to tax avoidance, tax planning, tax efficiency, or whatever other euphemism is used, by people who simply don’t want to make their contribution is a pound that cannot be spent on vital services. At a time when we are asking individuals and households to make great financial sacrifices, behaviour of this kind from the corporate sector is simply unacceptable.

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Don Foster MP

Don Foster MP writes… Hear the views of Lib Dem councils on planning issues

By Don Foster MP | Tue 13th November 2012 - 11:48 am

Everyone benefits from a planning system that is efficient and effective – enabling the homes, jobs and facilities that communities need while minimising uncertainty for those promoting or affected by development.

The development of the National Planning Policy Framework, reducing 1,300 pages of planning policies in 44 separate documents to just 50 pages, has been widely welcomed. It will ensure that every area has a clear local plan which sets out local people’s views of how they wish their community to develop, consistent with the Framework, and against which planning applications for planning permission will be judged.
Less popular, among Liberal …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 17 Comments
The Voice

PoliticsHome: ‘New Cyril Smith abuse claims’

By The Voice | Tue 13th November 2012 - 11:28 am

Paul Waugh at PoliticsHome has published an in-depth article publicising allegations of child abuse against former Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith:

Sir Cyril Smith became the latest public figure to be accused of abuse today after residents at a boys’ hostel described how he made youngsters strip, fondled them and smacked their bare bottoms for punishment.

Two former residents of Cambridge House hostel in Rochdale have gone on the record for the first time to tell PoliticsHome.com how former Liberal MP Smith treated them as teenagers in the 1960s.

Barry Fitton, who was 15 at the time, said that the former Rochdale MP

…

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Mark Pack

Want to learn about political campaigning? 5 books for Christmas

By Mark Pack | Tue 13th November 2012 - 10:50 am

Looking forward to some festive season reading or wondering what books to get some of your politically-minded friends?

Here are my top five books which will tell the reader about how political campaigning really works. Not the starry-eyed fun fiction of the West Wing but real politics and real campaigning.

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Posted in Books | Tagged | 3 Comments
Simon McGrath

Opinion: Liberal Reform response to ‘Shares for Rights’

By Simon McGrath | Tue 13th November 2012 - 9:45 am

Liberal Reform has responded to the BIS Consultation on ‘Employee owner’ status. Like most Lib Dems we do not see that there is any need for this and it is noticeable that no evidence has been presented that this reduction in employee rights would make any difference to growth. We are also concerned that an association in people’s mind between owning shares and losing rights will put people off owning shares in their employers, through well established plans like Save As You Earn .

We believe that there are two additional questions which need to be asked:

  • How will the legislation

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 8 Comments

Opinion: Lord Patten should not go

By Andy Boddington | Tue 13th November 2012 - 8:36 am

Lord PattenVultures are circling above Lord Patten’s head – he must not resign.

George Entwistle may or may not have made a good director general of the BBC. He took over from the maverick Mark Thompson, who had wreaked havoc across the BBC with his Delivering Quality First cuts. Entwistle might just have provided a steady pair of hands to guide the BBC and rebuild its confidence after the Thompson era. But coping with the Savile crisis proved beyond him and his fate became inevitable.

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Paul Walter

Does Don Foster like his new government job?

By Paul Walter | Mon 12th November 2012 - 4:23 pm

The current edition of The House magazine features our very own Don Foster in full colour on its front page. There’s an interesting article on the legend that is “The Don”, but this little passage, about his job in government, caught my eye:

“One of the fantastic things I did for the first two-and-a-half years of this Government was to represent the Liberal Democrats at film premieres, at football matches, at rugby matches, at plays, at the BAFTA awards, and so on. It was hardly a big sacrifice to lose out first time round. I loved representing the

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Alex Marsh

Opinion: Housing – winding the clock back

By Alex Marsh | Mon 12th November 2012 - 2:53 pm

Friday 9th November 2012 could well come to be seen as a landmark date in the history of English housing policy. A key change introduced by the Localism Act 2011 came into effect. The Liberal Democrats are part of the Government presiding over the change. Is it a change we can be proud of?

Local authorities can now discharge their statutory homelessness duty by allocating households a tenancy in the private rented sector rather than in social housing. This has been an option for years. But until now to

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 9 Comments
The Voice

The Independent View: Hope yet for parity esteem for mental health issues

By The Voice | Mon 12th November 2012 - 1:23 pm

Mihir Magudia is Head of Strategy & Public Affairs for St Andrew’s Healthcare, the UK’s largest mental health charity that provides more services to the NHS than any other charity. On his blog, Spotlight, he praises Norman Lamb for signalling “parity of esteem” between mental health and physical health treatment at a recent conference:

…Norman Lamb went further than his predecessors. After rightly pointing out that people with mental health problems suffer from an institutional disadvantage in the health system (mentioning how they have been ignored by the reforms on waiting times, choice and payment by results) he went on to call

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Mark Pack

Romney’s polling day technology meltdown: Orca

By Mark Pack | Mon 12th November 2012 - 11:53 am

The usual post-electoral defeat search for explanations and people to blame has an added edge for the Republicans after Mitt Romney’s defeat earlier this month. Not only did Romney lose, he lost in all the states that were picked as being in serious contention, the Republicans actually lost ground in the Senate (when they had hopes of making gains) and the initial voting analysis shows the Republicans with a big problem: the parts of the electorate that are growing are the parts which vote against them the most heavily.

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Posted in Campaign Corner and Online politics | Tagged , , and | 6 Comments
Steven Haynes

Opinion: Let’s end the smoke filled rooms and make the party truly democratic

By Steven Haynes | Mon 12th November 2012 - 10:53 am

When Tim Gordon sent out an email announcing the results of the Federal Committee Elections he said:

The Liberal Democrats are a democratic party to the core, and your voting representatives have returned a set of committees which will ensure that members’ voices are heard at all levels of the party.

However, I look at the results as someone who is a member of Liberal Democrats for Electoral Reform, a democracy activist who

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Posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged and | 32 Comments
Paul Walter

Can you believe in free speech and moderate comments?

By Paul Walter | Mon 12th November 2012 - 9:53 am

The Telegraph’s assistant comment editor, Tom Chivers, has written a thought-provoking article about moderating comments on web sites. In it he tackles the apparent mismatch between a website advocating free speech while disallowing some comments under its articles:

It’s a funny thing. You write a piece saying that the state shouldn’t outlaw rudeness and insults, and about one

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Posted in Online politics | Tagged | 8 Comments
Stephen Tall

Majority of Lib Dem members favour reform of party’s own voting rules

By Stephen Tall | Mon 12th November 2012 - 8:55 am

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

56% support reform of party’s internal democracy

This weekend saw the publication of the Lib Dems’ biennial internal elections to the party’s federal committees. Here’s what our survey of party members says about opening up the electorate to the whole membership, and/or allowing all members to vote at the party’s federal conferences.

LDV asked: Currently Lib Dem local parties elect voting representatives …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 9 Comments
Paul Walter

BBC: Let’s get this in proportion

By Paul Walter | Mon 12th November 2012 - 7:53 am


Michael Portillo was on ITV Daybreak this morning talking about a “disaster” and, even, a “catastrophe” at the BBC.

I think it’s time for us all to lie down in a darkened room for a few hours with some smelling salts.

Newsnight made a mistake. It seems to have occurred because the replacement management structure (pending the Jimmy Savile enquiry) was rather weak. This mistake was in a similar league to the newspapers hounding the entirely innocent Chris Jeffries in Bristol, for which I don’t remember any resignations. Making inferences …

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The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #299

By The Voice | Sun 11th November 2012 - 9:30 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 299th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (4-10 November, 2012), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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Stephen Tall

In other news… Alexander’s ‘Ginger Rodent’ beer, Huppert’s new appointment, Moore’s push for new Scottish powers

By Stephen Tall | Sun 11th November 2012 - 4:45 pm

A round-up of stories we didn’t have chance to cover on the site this week…

Danny Alexander helps launch Ginger Rodent beer after redhead jibes (Metro)

The new alcoholic beverage shares the same name as an insult once fired at him by Labour rival Harriet Harman at the Scottish Labour party conference in 2010. … Ms Harman was forced to apologise for the controversial jibe at the time, while Mr Alexander responded with a message of his own on Twitter. ‘I am proud to be ginger and rodents do valuable work cleaning up mess others

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    Over my 25ish years in the party I was always of the view that Neil was the most sensible person I ever knew and the party would be much better off just doing w...
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