John Pugh

Opinion: No economic case for regional pay

By John Pugh | Fri 13th July 2012 - 10:36 am

The clamour against regional pay received renewed vigour yesterday as 25 Liberal Democrat backbenchers endorsed a paper calling for the government to scrap any plans to link public sector pay to private sector earnings across the UK. The paper prepared in the office of John Pugh MP, analyses the evidence submitted to the Treasury and Office of Manpower Economics and concludes that there is no economic case for introducing regional pay.

The government has considered the introduction of regional pay in light of concerns that public sector pay premiums across the UK are ‘crowding-out’ the private sector. However statistics show that the private sector is not struggling to recruit staff, as vacancies in the public sector go unfilled for longer and a survey of business leaders shows that the majority have not struggled to compete with public sector wages.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 31 Comments
Advert
Mark Pack

Overnight counting, electoral fraud and the running of elections: a bounty of Electoral Commission reports

By Mark Pack | Fri 13th July 2012 - 9:40 am

The last few days have been busy ones for the Electoral Commission, with most of the headlines caught by their report into when election counts should take place (overnight or the next day):

The Electoral Commission has recommended general election counts should continue to be held overnight.

Before the 2010 election, a number of councils made plans to count votes the day after polling day.

But a campaign by MPs and others resulted in a change of the law requiring counts to start within four hours of the close of polls…

Chair of the Electoral Commission Jenny Watson said: “We are rightly proud

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Election law and News | Tagged , and | 7 Comments
David Thorpe

Opinion: Liberal Democrats must not apologise for cuts

By David Thorpe | Fri 13th July 2012 - 8:54 am

Occasionally Nick Clegg, or his speechwriters create a phrase which deserves to live on in the political lexicon long after the rest of the speech has been confined to the political dustbin. The pre-2010 General Election debates were transformed by Nick referring to the “two old parties” and asking voters to “do something different this time”.

While the phrases were memorable, they were hardly that effective. Voters did what they did the last time they faced a Labour government mired in staggering incompetence and a Tory party leadership tacking to the centre while the grassroots howled. That was in the 1970’s when voters gave Labour a kicking and the Tories the mandate of largest party in parliament but no overall majority. In 2010 the outcome was the same with Labour weakened and the Tories becoming the largest party, except that on this occasion, the Liberal Democrats, from MPs to ordinary members, voted by a huge majority for a coalition. But while the phrases used in the debates were clever and eye catching, it was another of Nick’s phrases which should help set the tone for the party in the future. Nick said there would be “savage cuts”, while Vince Cable joined his Tory and Labour colleagues in saying that post-election there would, under a Liberal Democrat government, be “cuts faster and deeper than Thatcher”.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , and | 38 Comments
Sam Fielding

A postcard from… Australia

By Sam Fielding | Thu 12th July 2012 - 6:59 pm

The coalition continues to hold relatively fast, despite the predicted fall out from June’s vote on the Jeremy Hunt affair. Down Under however, a more dubious coalition is not looking so chipper, and the Lib Dems would be wise to note the similarities, and differences, from the Australian experience.

Much has been said about the pros and cons of political coalitions. In Australia, the centre-right Liberal and rural-based National Party have been in coalition since 1922. Both parties hold similar conservative values and have historically …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International | Tagged and | 7 Comments
Nick T

LibLink: Stephen Williams – Where now for Lords reform

By Nick T | Thu 12th July 2012 - 5:45 pm

Over on his blog, Stephen Williams, Lib Dem MP for Bristol West, has penned his thought’s on Tuesday’s Lords reform result. Here’s a sample:

First the positive bit.  A vote of 462 – 124 in favour of a Bill that has a second chamber predominately elected by a proportional voting system is a major step forward.  This confirms the fact that there is a substantial majority of MPs who favour radical House of Lords reform.

But…the Bill may now be tripped up by petty party political games in the Commons.  The Bill will get nowhere without a timetable for consideration of 60

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 29 Comments
Advert
Nick T

Lords reform – what exactly have the ‘rebels’ achieved?

By Nick T | Thu 12th July 2012 - 2:28 pm

Here’s what I tweeted on Tuesday evening:

And I think this is still a pertinent question. There is one thing that the rebels clearly achieved, and that it to make Lords reform less likely to happen. Lords reform is by no means dead, but it would have been more likely had the programme motion been passed. But given that much of the rebellion wasn’t driven by hard principle (given …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 21 Comments
David Allen

Opinion: Kill the Euro before it kills Europe

By David Allen | Thu 12th July 2012 - 12:53 pm

The Euro was meant to secure the peace in Europe. Instead, it is the cause of conflict. Those who seek European harmony should now recognise that the Euro stands in the way. We need to understand why this is. Here is my take.

Most economic areas have a successful centre and struggling periphery. Think of London versus Northumbria in Britain, Germany versus Greece in Europe. How do winning and losing regions establish competitive equilibrium?

Within a sovereign nation, political pressures ensure large resource transfers from rich to poor regions. Taxes raised in the prosperous centre

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 67 Comments
Paul Walter

PMQs: Balls! Balls! Balls! Balls!

By Paul Walter | Thu 12th July 2012 - 10:53 am

By golly by gosh, I think Ed Miliband has finally got in the swing of this Prime Minister’s Questions thing. While Cameron reeled from his Tuesday night beating by a right Jesse, the leader of the opposition appeared poised, relaxed and skilful. He’s learnt the knack of brevity and humour, as his first question demonstrated:

At this last Question Time before the recess, may I remind the

Continue reading »
Posted in PMQs | Tagged , , , , and | 6 Comments
Nick T

LDVideo: Anne Marie Morris demonstrates her unique Commons speaking technique

By Nick T | Thu 12th July 2012 - 8:50 am

No comment required:

Continue reading »
Posted in YouTube | Tagged | 10 Comments
Chris Sams

Opinion: Time to take a stand on “Boris Island”

By Chris Sams | Wed 11th July 2012 - 7:01 pm

Local politics in the south-east of England, especially in North Kent and London, has been dominated by the proposed HUB airport, it was a key issue in the Mayoral debate, especially for residents of the Medway towns. London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson is pushing for a new airport either on the Isle of Grain where there is an RSPB sanctuary on marshland that was portrayed in Dickens’ Great Expectations or in the middle of the estuary itself.

It is a story that is hardly out of the local press or local Politicians blogs which is why I was reading a

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 16 Comments
Sean Davey

Opinion: could the Armed Services help run schools?

By Sean Davey | Wed 11th July 2012 - 3:57 pm

First of all it is no exaggeration to say that the British public are hugely proud and supportive of our armed services, and so we should be of the men and women who dedicate their lives to national service. But in modern times the military is facing a number of challenges which are rapidly changing the function they serve.

With a Conservative Defence Secretary enacting the biggest round of cuts since the end of the …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 18 Comments
Tim Farron MP

Tim Farron MP writes… Pledge me 10!

By Tim Farron MP | Wed 11th July 2012 - 2:24 pm

I want you to make a pledge. Don’t worry; it’s got nothing to do with fees or abstinence from alcohol. I want you to make a pledge to do something you know you ought to be doing any way.

Will you pledge to recruit 10 people to join the Lib Dems this summer? They could be 10 completely new members, 10 lapsed members or a mixture. But I need you to make me that pledge today and to fulfil it before we get to our Brighton conference in September.

The most important thing to me is that our Party grows and thrives …

Continue reading »
Posted in Party policy and internal matters | 13 Comments
Paul Burstow

Paul Burstow MP writes… Radically reforming social care

By Paul Burstow | Wed 11th July 2012 - 12:55 pm

Most of you will have a friend or family member who needs some kind of care and support to help them get through the day.

In fact, more than 80% of us will need some form of care once we turn 65 – which is why getting social care right is so important.

It’s important because it touches upon some of the most essential things in life, like being healthy, happy and independent.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 12 Comments
Michael Moore

Michael Moore MP’s Westminster Notes

By Michael Moore | Wed 11th July 2012 - 11:55 am

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

Diamond Jubilee service of Thanksgiving

A number of church services and events last week marked the Scottish celebrations of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and it was a privilege to take part in my role as Secretary of State. I was especially pleased to be able to attend the Thistle Installation Service in Edinburgh which was followed by a procession down the Royal Mile led by Lothian and Borders police pipe band and featuring the Scout Fellowship band …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 1 Comment

Liberal Youth: It’s time to think about Freshers

By Callum Morton and Ben Richards | Wed 11th July 2012 - 10:25 am

As the academic year draws to a close, most young people are thinking about the summer ahead – not us though. At Liberal Youth we’re already planning for the next academic year and we want this year’s Freshers (the inaugural party / join-a-society week at the start of the academic term) to be the one that puts us back on the map.

The Freshers period is incredibly important to our organisation, more so now than ever. We’re not naive, we know the Liberal Democrats’ reputation on campus isn’t the same as it was a few years ago, but we’re working hard …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , and | 8 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Blast from the past: Paddy Ashdown on principled opposition

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 11th July 2012 - 9:01 am

As I’ve watched the shameful shenanigans in the House of Commons this week over Lords reform, one event from our not so recent past kept popping into my head. Those of us of a certain age can remember the eventful passage of the Maastricht Bill through Parliament in 1992/93.  Even though they agreed with the principles of the Maastricht Treaty, Labour teamed up with Tory Eurosceptics to try to undermine the Government.

The Liberal Democrats, enthusiastic about closer European partnership, played no such games. I would be lying if I said I had taken this entirely calmly at the time. After …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 19 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg’s e-mail to party members on Lords reform

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 11th July 2012 - 7:55 am

In the aftermath of last night’s vote (and non vote) in the Commons, Nick Clegg sent a remarkably temperate e-mail to party members. Calm though the language may have been, his message to David Cameron, that he needs to sort his MPs out, is clear. Here’s the e-mail in full:

This evening we overwhelmingly won an historic vote on the Second Reading of the House of Lords Reform Bill – a Bill that will finish something our party started a century ago.

This is a huge triumph for our party, and a clear mandate to deliver much needed reforms to the House

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 60 Comments
Stephen Tall

My reaction to Lords reform stalling by Tory/Labour MPs in 8 tweets

By Stephen Tall | Tue 10th July 2012 - 7:20 pm

It’s been a “day of drama” at Westminster much-beloved by the Village, with the Coalition Government deciding in the end to shelve a vote on its programme day motion to introduce House of Lords reform in the face of concerted opposition from rebel Tory MPs and the Labour party.

It’s the first time the Government has backed down in implementing one of its own Coalition Agreement policies. So does that mean Lords reform is lost? Not necessarily, as Unlock Democracy’s Peter Facey makes clear here. However, the repercussions of the Conservative party’s decision to renege on their last …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 37 Comments
Robin McGhee

Opinion: Liberal Democrats must not defend this appalling bill

By Robin McGhee | Tue 10th July 2012 - 5:09 pm

The British constitution is primarily the result of accident or, at best, short-term political compromise. From the existence of a Prime Minister to the electoral system, chances are some aristocrat you’ve never heard of blundered across it by accident a couple of centuries ago. The current bill to reform the House of Lords continues this unfortunate tradition.

I am almost alone in the Lib Dems in opposing an elected second chamber. As it stands, the bill is not about to make me change my mind.

The bill proposes an electoral system which uses list PR. This system puts powers …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 42 Comments
Mark Pack

The best reason for House of Lords reform is one almost nobody mentions

By Mark Pack | Tue 10th July 2012 - 4:05 pm

My post from last year is rather relevant again, so here it is with some slight updates:

The voters have cast their verdict and an MP is out of office. What should happen to them next? Most people’s answers are somewhere on the spectrum from the polite (let them tidy up their affairs and see their staff properly treated as their contracts end) through to answers best not published before the watershed.

But our political system has a remarkable answer.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 28 Comments
Mark Pack

Why doesn’t Theresa May want mandatory tracking of all cars?

By Mark Pack | Tue 10th July 2012 - 2:25 pm

Because it is an absurd idea may well be your answer to that question even before you’ve reached the end of it. But bear with me a moment.

Imagine a government policy to have mandatory tracking devices in all motor vehicles, which would record all the journeys and store the data. The data would normally be private but could be accessed by the police and others if they subsequently discovered a reason to suspect someone. (You may be able to guess where I am going with this…)

It would cost a fair …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 14 Comments
Mary Reid

LibLink: Charles Kennedy – Lords reform: we’ll defeat the rebels

By Mary Reid | Tue 10th July 2012 - 1:13 pm

In the Guardian yesterday evening Charles Kennedy challenged Labour to restore faith in Parliament today by supporting Lords Reform.

He writes:

For 100 years progressives in British politics have tried to bring democracy to one of the most important but arcane institutions in our country – the House of Lords. And for 100 years, the establishment has resisted, blocked or talked out those who argue for change at every turn. But today we have an historic opportunity to finally bring about that change – and it is in Labour’s hands.

…

Labour politicians for

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 14 Comments
Nick Tyrone

Opinion: Exploding the tuition fees polling myth

By Nick Tyrone | Tue 10th July 2012 - 12:03 pm

It is generally assumed knowledge – within the Liberal Democrats as well as in the wider political world – that our party’s poll numbers took a big nosedive right after the coalition government voted (excepting rebels) to change the way tuition works in England by raising the limit on what universities can charge students per year to £9,000.

For instance, a common answer I get when I ask fellow Lib Dems how many points they think we lost post tuition fees is “about 8%”.

What I want to do here is not to discuss the pros and cons of the 2010 Higher …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 35 Comments
Peter Facey

The Independent View: House of Lords Reform – The Way Forward

By Peter Facey | Tue 10th July 2012 - 11:15 am

It’s fair to say that last night’s debate on the House of Lords Reform Bill will not go down in history as the Common’s finest moment.  There was more cant on display than the entire run of Play Away.  Many of the speeches appeared to be against a different bill entirely and you could be forgiven for thinking the bill bore no resemblance to the one which Labour had proposed in its own White Paper in 2008 (in fact, the proposals are remarkably similar).

For all that, however, it is fair to say the Lib Dems have not exactly covered …

Continue reading »
Posted in The Independent View | Tagged | 8 Comments
Issan Ghazni

Opinion: Fear-mongering, negative stereotyping and abuse, even in polite society

By Issan Ghazni | Tue 10th July 2012 - 10:39 am

Why, in a supposedly modern civilised liberal society, are some of our journalists having to put up with alarming levels of personal abuse?

Mehdi Hasan

It is not often that I agree or sympathise with the comments of Mehdi Hasan, a vehemently tribal Labour party supporting journalist previously working for the New Statesman and now with the Huffington Post UK.

But here, he talks about something I concur with – an issue which is not written about often due to the fear of public reprisal. It is an issue of real importance …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 18 Comments
Ewan Hoyle

YouGov poll shows huge support for Lib Dem drug policy

By Ewan Hoyle | Tue 10th July 2012 - 9:06 am

Last year’s drug policy debate at conference ended with near-unanimous endorsement of the policy motion “protecting individuals and communities from drug harms“, but since then Liberal Democrats seem to have been passing up every opportunity to publicise our new policy.

When Theresa May dismissed the advice of the chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, Lib Dems were silent. When Ken Clarke said the War on Drugs was failing but that decriminalisation wasn’t the answer… Lib Dems were silent. When an audience member of question time last week asked if it was time to control, regulate and …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 10 Comments
Helen Duffett

LibLink: We can’t sit in our golden chamber resisting democracy – Paddy Ashdown responds to attack on reform

By Helen Duffett | Tue 10th July 2012 - 6:55 am

In the Mail on Sunday this week, Lord Ashdown responded to Lord Carlile’s article from the previous week, which had opposed Nick Clegg’s plans for Lords reform:

If ever there was a time for a strong democratically based second chamber to buttress our democracy, it is now. Whatever view you take of the Cameron/Clegg proposals, nobody can seriously call them ‘ill-considered’. They were preceded by a Royal commission, four white papers and three joint committees. Every party called for it in their manifestos at the last Election.

The Cameron/Clegg reform Bill does not ‘trash’ the Lords, as some claim

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

The 15 words that mean the Coalition won’t fall, no matter what happens to Lords reform

By Stephen Tall | Mon 9th July 2012 - 10:45 pm

There’s a very simple reason why — even if enough Tory MPs inflict the Coalition’s first defeat on a key plank of the Coalition Agreement which appeared in their last three manifestos — the Government will not fall tomorrow. It’s these 15 words from the May 2010 Programme for Government:

The deficit reduction programme takes precedence over any of the other measures in this agreement.

There is also, of course, the small matter of the current opinion polls: neither the Tories nor the Lib Dems will relish a rush to the ballot box at the moment. A Coalition once held together by radicalism and conviction is now bound together by a pact of mutually assured destruction.

The inconsistencies in Tory backbenchers’ position on Lords reform are legion. I won’t unpick them here, as Nick Thornsby has already highlighted six examples on his blog here.

What the Lords fracas reveals about the Tories’ mood

More interesting than trying to pick through the rubble of Tory excuses is to try and understand why a policy on which the two Coalition parties officially agree should be showing up so clearly David Cameron’s inability to lead his party.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 38 Comments
The Voice

Industry takes advantage of government supply chain funds

By The Voice | Mon 9th July 2012 - 5:53 pm

Thirty-two manufacturers have successfully applied for £90 million of government funding to help British suppliers compete in the global economy and attract foreign investors, Vince Cable has announced.

Vince commented:

Building up the supply chain and encouraging new suppliers to manufacture here is one of the steps we’re taking to strengthen

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | 4 Comments
The Voice

How to fund care and support for the elderly

By The Voice | Mon 9th July 2012 - 5:23 pm

The Institute of Fiscal Studies has published a detailed paper on how the proposals of the Dilnot Commission on care and support for the elderly can be funded:

The Dilnot Commission proposed changes which would involve a degree of co-payment between individuals and the state, and a much less harsh meanstest on assets than in the current system. The

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 2 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Roland
    @Jeff - I didn’t say resources were scarce, just that they are in short supply. So whilst there might be decades of fossil fuels in the ground, you may have n...
  • Paul R
    It might be better to spend the money on increased assistance to help people switch to EVs instead. Otherwise motorists will always be dependent on the next war...
  • Michael BG
    Nigel Jones, “When we debated FPC’s planned program last year, some said we should have included tax issues in that program” Indeed. I didn’t s...
  • Suzanne Fletcher
    Far too late for me to comment, but just skimmed through the replies and I agree with most. Most important is that as Caron says, it was announced where hundre...
  • Robyn Peel
    A key difference between the Liberal Democrats and other parties is that members go in their own right, not as representatives of their local party; we have att...