Rick Muir

The Independent View: Clegg’s Pupil Premium could be wasted

By Rick Muir | Tue 15th May 2012 - 8:56 am

Keen to move on from the poor headlines of the last few weeks, Nick Clegg has sought to re-focus attention on his flagship social mobility agenda with a speech on the Pupil Premium.

The Pupil Premium is the government’s main policy for reducing educational inequality in schools, meaning that schools get extra funding for every child on Free School Meals (£488 this year, £600 next year). IPPR has always welcomed the Pupil Premium but have expressed concerns that it will not be spent directly on providing extra support for the children who need it. Under the current model, schools are free to spend it on whatever they like – and the majority of heads say they are using it to plug gaps in existing budgets.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged , and | 15 Comments
Advert
Norman Lamb MP

Norman Lamb MP writes… Fairness: from the farm to the shopping trolley

By Norman Lamb MP | Mon 14th May 2012 - 5:05 pm

The Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill was announced in the Queen’s Speech on Wednesday. This is an issue which the Liberal Democrats in general, and Andrew George in particular, have campaigned on for many years. I can remember meeting with farmers shortly after I was first elected back in 2001, and hearing from them the difficulties they faced as suppliers for the biggest supermarkets. A commitment to introduce “a powerful independent regulator of Britain’s food market” featured in our last manifesto (in fact, …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 4 Comments
Simon Beard

Opinion: Corruption – We can do better than this

By Simon Beard | Mon 14th May 2012 - 3:54 pm

The UK is more corrupt than Qatar. That’s not my judgement, but that of the World Bank and their Control of Corruption Index. This places the UK 18th in the world, behind not only Qatar but Iceland, Chile and Liechtenstein.
 
It’s easy to sound jingoistic with this sort of comparison, and I really don’t mean to. So here’s an even more worrying comparison. In 2010, the latest year the World Bank has collated its figures for, the UK received a control of corruption score of +1.48 (on a …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 11 Comments
Mark Pack

Which of the five Lib Dem reshuffle options will Nick Clegg pick?

By Mark Pack | Mon 14th May 2012 - 2:23 pm

Five scenarios for your delectation:

The Lib Dem night of the long beards

The drastic, dramatic and painful option. Clegg says the Liberal Democrats need David Laws’s expertise and media savvy at the heart of economic decision making, restoring him to Chief Secretary to the Treasury and expressing tearful regret that Danny Alexander is off out of the Cabinet, with a resting place as a new Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Cabinet Office where he will not have to handle quite so many tricky TV interviews.

Education, education, education

Too problematic to bring back Laws in a tax and cut role? Bring him …

Continue reading »
Posted in Humour and Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , and | 45 Comments
Mark Pack

Police investigate electoral allegations in Hyndburn

By Mark Pack | Mon 14th May 2012 - 1:55 pm

The Lancashire Telegraph reports:

POLICE have launched an investigation into voting at this month’s local elections.

Labour officials have made a complaint about irregularities concerning proxy votes in Hyndburn.

A proxy vote is when votes are placed at the polling station on somebody’s behalf, usually when they are unable to leave the house or are on holiday and have chosen not to vote via post.

Police said they had also launched an investigation into claims constituency MP Graham Jones had intimidated voters.

They said this was not connected with the proxy votes allegations.

In three wards in Hyndburn there were more than fifty proxy …

Continue reading »
Posted in Election law | Tagged , , and | Leave a comment
Advert
Daniel Henry

Opinion: Could the Lib Dems back a Financial Transaction Tax within the EU?

By Daniel Henry | Mon 14th May 2012 - 12:54 pm

At Spring Conference we passed a tax motion that confirmed our manifesto pledge for support for a global Financial Transaction Tax (FTT).

The implication was that we supported the FTT but only if the entire world agreed. The usual reasoning for this stance is that if we, or Europe, unilaterally institute an FTT it would disadvantage banks within the EU and encourage them to move their operations outside our borders, losing us jobs and …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 22 Comments
NewsHound

Big Switch – ‘A victory for people power over the big gas and electricity companies”

By NewsHound | Mon 14th May 2012 - 11:23 am

The Independent reports:

Co-operative Energy emerged yesterday as winner of the much-heralded Big Switch campaign launched by Which? and 38 Degrees.

The collective bargaining scheme aimed to find cheaper energy deals for more than 280,000 people who signed up. But the Co-op – which won the auction by offering the lowest tariff – will offer its deals to 30,000 people on a first come, first served basis.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | 12 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Norman Lamb on the coalition – ‘It’s our national duty’

By NewsHound | Mon 14th May 2012 - 9:54 am

The new edition of House magazine features an extended interview with Norman Lamb, written by Sam Macrory.

Norman features on the cover, with the strapline “The business minister on why ‘flunking’ the coalition is not an option”.

The interview took place on election day, so Norman had thoughts for those facing tough polling fights, while defending the coaltion:

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 32 Comments
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #273

By The Voice | Sun 13th May 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 273rd 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 (6-12 May, 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:

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment
Stephen Tall

In other news… (In which defectors & rebellions loom large)

By Stephen Tall | Sun 13th May 2012 - 6:15 pm

Here’s a round-up of stories we haven’t had time to cover on the site this past few days…

Lord Owen attacks coalition over Lords reform ‘farce’ (Telegraph)

Lord Owen was one of 43 of the peers polled who said the Upper House needs to be reformed, even though he disagreed with the changes devised by Nick Clegg and other senior Liberal Democrats. “There does need to be change,” said Lord Owen. “You look around the chamber and you can see the person who is a friend of George Osborne. You can see the person who was a big donor. And you

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 8 Comments
Mark Pack

A trio of very welcome election law changes on the way

By Mark Pack | Sun 13th May 2012 - 4:55 pm

Postal ballot paper being postedThe Queen’s Speech mentioned a Bill to introduce individual electoral registration (see this post if you’re not sure why individual electoral registration is a good thing). It also made vague reference to other electoral administration reforms. Now I’ve read the proposed Bill and seen what they are, I’m rather pleased – as they include three things I’ve often raised in previous election law consultations and on this blog.

First, extending the timetable for Parliamentary by-elections. As I’ve written before about this …

Continue reading »
Posted in Election law and News | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

Another Mail headline to savour… Lynne ‘slaps down’ Tory minister for opposing Coalition support for equal marriage

By Stephen Tall | Sun 13th May 2012 - 2:15 pm

At this rate the Daily Mail will soon become Lib Dems’ favourite reading… A few days after its front page proclaiming David Cameron’s lament ‘I’d govern like a true Tory if it wasn’t for the Lib Dems’, the paper reports:

Tory Minister is slapped down by Lib Dems after criticising gay marriage

Two Ministers in the Coalition clashed last night over David Cameron’s plan to allow gay marriages.
Tim Loughton, Tory Minister for Children and Families, came under fire from Liberal Democrat partners after he said he was totally opposed to same-sex marriage and that the Prime Minister would do better

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 17 Comments
NewsHound

Police probe launched into anti-Lib Dem electoral fraud in Richmond

By NewsHound | Sun 13th May 2012 - 1:00 pm

A couple of days ago Mary Reid, one of LibDemVoice’s day editors, reported the news of the fake election leaflets distributed in Richmond with the seeming intent of misleading voters about the views of local Lib Dems:

A number of local voters have admitted that they were taken in by the leaflets, decided not to vote Lib Dem as a result and voted Conservative in protest. This was a seat that we were hoping to take back from the Conservatives, but Jane Dodds lost by 146 votes.

The BBC now reports that the police are investigating the allegations of electoral …

Continue reading »
Posted in Election law | Tagged and | 3 Comments
NewsHound

‘Nick Clegg sets out plans to break private schools’ grip on establishment’

By NewsHound | Sat 12th May 2012 - 5:33 pm

Nick Clegg has long championed the pupil premium, new money allocated to schools to help boost the educational chances of children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. Today’s Guardian reports how he plans in a major speech on Monday to emphasise its importance in improving social mobility in the UK:

Nick Clegg will next week set out long-term plans to break the grip of private schools on the British establishment when he publishes proposals for a surge in social mobility based on the “pupil premium”. … Clegg, launching a two-week drive on social mobility, which he sees as one of the

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 42 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Liberal Democrats deliver fair pensions for women

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 12th May 2012 - 3:28 pm

So, here it is in the Guardian, the paper that’s been so critical of the Coalition in general and the Lib Dems in particular, these past two years. The announcement that many of us have wanted to see for as long as we’ve been politically active. That women who take time out of the labour market to care for children or sick relatives will not be penalised in their old age.

This is an example of the Coalition delivering a major benefit to mainly women.  And although it’s Iain Duncan Smith who’s quoted in the article, make no mistake, it’s Liberal …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 18 Comments
Nick T

The Weekend Debate: Bank of England independence – an economic success story or a well-intentioned failure?

By Nick T | Sat 12th May 2012 - 12:27 pm

Here’s your starter for ten in our weekend slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate…

The Liberal Democrat 1997 manifesto said the following:

We will turn the Bank of England into a UK Reserve Bank, free from political interference. We will charge the Bank with keeping inflation low and make it accountable to Parliament for achieving this goal.

Of course after Labour’s landslide victory in that election, one of Gordon Brown’s first decisions as chancellor was to borrow this Lib Dem policy and essentially transfer responsibility for monetary policy to the Bank of England.

Most Labour politicians look back on …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 12 Comments
Tim Oliver

Opinion: Ideology is not a dirty word

By Tim Oliver | Sat 12th May 2012 - 11:19 am

It has been a year since I first joined the Liberal Democrats. In that time, I’ve slowly learnt but a few of the ropes of a Liberal Democrat member and campaigner; time-limited by my studies, I’ve only been able to savour the joys of leafleting and a couple hours of telling last week. Yet the reasons I joined – my personal Liberal beliefs and a feeling that this party is by far and away the best vehicle for Liberals in Britain to carry their beliefs into action – remain as strong as ever.

I firmly believe this party has managed to …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 17 Comments
George Kendall

The best tonic for those post-election blues

By George Kendall | Sat 12th May 2012 - 9:12 am

Let's face it, we all need a pick-me-up. And what better way to raise our spirits than free food, lots of time to chat, and, of course, some invigorating campaigning?

This May and June, you're spoilt for choice. We've not one, not two, but three Regional Action Days coming up, in Brent, North Norfolk and Berwick-upon-Tweed.

The days will follow the successful formula followed earlier this year in Colchester, Carshalton and Wallington, and Cambridge.  We will meet in the morning for hot drinks, with a morning campaigning session, a simple free lunch, and an afternoon session.  Then, as a thank you, the local ...

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
Mark Pack

Leveson: it’s a good thing Nick Clegg was there

By Mark Pack | Fri 11th May 2012 - 8:25 pm

Today’s latest revelations from the Leveson Inquiry are a reminder of how wise it was to create a judge-led inquiry with wide terms of reference and powers. And who was it who did that when the Coalition Government was drawing up the plans, rejecting the talk of a lesser inquiry? Step forward, Nick Clegg.

PS I should have added that it was of course Lib Dem MP Adrian Sanders who was the first in the party to be calling for a judicial inquiry, following his experience on the DCMS Select Committee.

Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 12 Comments
Andy Atkins

The Independent View: Energy Bill – time for Lib Dems to show their true colours

By Andy Atkins | Fri 11th May 2012 - 3:32 pm

Our electricity system is broken – soaring fuel bills, an over-reliance on overseas fossil fuels and an urgent need to tackle climate change highlight the severe energy crisis the nation faces.

So the inclusion of an Energy Bill in this week’s Queen’s speech to overhaul the UK’s failing electricity market was long overdue.

The Bill is a once in a generation opportunity to secure our long-term opportunity to make our power system cleaner, more affordable and less reliant on increasingly imported fossil fuels.

Such a move would be popular, too. A recent YouGov poll Friends of the Earth published to mark the …

Continue reading »
Posted in News and The Independent View | Tagged , and | 11 Comments
George Potter

Opinion: The future of the CAP – general Liberal Democrat aims for reform

By George Potter | Fri 11th May 2012 - 2:22 pm

Last week I wrote about reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the work of two Liberal Democrat MEPs, Phil Bennion and George Lyon, in successfully driving that reform.

At the moment the CAP is going through another round of reforms ahead of the EU’s next financial precept.

Phil Bennion explained to me what the priorities of George Lyon and himself and other Lib Dems were when approaching these negotiations.

In his 1987 paper on the CAP Phil Bennion looked at ways of cutting payments to the largest farms on the basis that they had considerable economies of scale. …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Mary Reid

From today’s Lib Dem News

By Mary Reid | Fri 11th May 2012 - 12:52 pm

Lib Dem News cartoon

Posted in Humour | 1 Comment
Paul Rowen

Opinion: Lessons from the Rochdale sex abuse scandal

By Paul Rowen | Fri 11th May 2012 - 11:25 am

There are painful lessons from the Rochdale sex abuse scandal for those of us from Rochdale who are concerned about the welfare of looked-after children or good community relations.

We need to have a full and frank discussion, unafraid of the strictures of the politically correct brigade or the far right.

While it is definitely not a religious issue the attitude of a significant percentage of men from a South Asian background towards women is a matter of serious concern that needs addressing.

I say women in general, rather than an attitude to white women in particular, because my case load regularly dealt …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 13 Comments
Antony Hook

Enjoy Europe Day? Churchill would have done

By Antony Hook | Fri 11th May 2012 - 9:55 am

Last Wednesday, 9 May, was Europe Day.  If celebration of this day here in Britain passed you by then you might enjoy Winston Churchill’s Zurich Speech in 1946, calling for a United States of Europe.

You can read the full text here and can listen to the former Liberal Home Secretary delivering the speech in two parts here and here.

Council of Europe

In this seminal speech, Churchill said,

“If Europe were once united in the sharing of its common inheritance, there would be no limit to the happiness, to the prosperity …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged , and | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

More election fraud claims – and the TV show which set up a fake polling station

By Mark Pack | Fri 11th May 2012 - 8:25 am

In the London Borough of Camden, Hat Trick productions ran into hot water after setting up a spoof but official looking polling station immediately outside a real polling station, encouraging members of the public into coming to vote before revealing to them that the polling station was part of a prank for a political satire show.

Hat Trick also sent someone out door knocking, claiming to be a Liberal Democrat activist but really setting people up for more spoofs, to be caught on a hidden camera.

One Liberal Democrat supporter was called on at home by the fake Liberal Democrat activist, who …

Continue reading »
Posted in Election law, Local government and News | Tagged , , , , , , and | 4 Comments
Joe Bourke

Opinion: Land Value Tax – an old idea with lots of modern supporters

By Joe Bourke | Thu 10th May 2012 - 5:56 pm

Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations (1776) was an early proponent of land taxes as was that great radical Tom Paine.

John Stuart Mill was an advocate and Henry George put the case in ‘Progress and Poverty’ (1879).

The economist David Ricardo gave us the concept of economic “rent” – that land or property derives its value from scarcity rather than investment.

In the debates before and after the peoples budget of 1909 both Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George argued strongly for the introduction of a land tax.

The economists John Kenneth Galbraith and Milton Friedman recommended Land Value Tax (LVT) for …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , , , and | 258 Comments
Mary Reid

Mystery of fake leaflets in North Richmond

By Mary Reid | Thu 10th May 2012 - 4:03 pm

The leaflet below appears to be normal Lib Dem election literature. It was one of three distributed widely over night on May2nd/3rd for the council by-election in North Richmond, in the London borough of Richmond upon Thames. You may wonder why it is titled Comments instead of Focus, but that is what Lib Dems have always called their leaflets in Richmond.

Indeed, the layout and photos are exact copies of earlier Lib Dem election leaflets. The bar chart, grumble sheet and contact details all look authentic. The writing style is credible.

But a closer inspection reveals something very worrying. The main story …

Continue reading »
Posted in Election law and News | Tagged and | 21 Comments
Paul Reynolds

Opinion: A bad election result – what now ?

By Paul Reynolds | Thu 10th May 2012 - 2:23 pm

The Liberal Democrats took another slap round the chops from the electorate on the May 3rd local elections. Yes, there were a few bright spots, especially those ably pointed out by Jeremy Browne MP, but the overall picture was still grim.

Of course it was not unexpected, and neither has the leadership’s response been – hold the course, reiterate what we have achieved and will achieve, compare our policy successes with those of the Conservatives, and emphasise that it was Labour who got us into the financial mess we are in. And so on. All good stuff, and well executed. …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 26 Comments
Mark Pack

A five point plan to reform the media post-Leveson

By Mark Pack | Thu 10th May 2012 - 12:55 pm

As investigative theatre goes, the Leveson Inquiry has been top-notch. As a route to embarrassing individuals for their past performance, it has excelled. As a way of unearthing previously secret information, it has been gripping.

But as a route for reforming the media? That’s a rather different story.

Some things have already been achieved. The Press Complaints Commission has already been sent to the retirement home for failed regulators and politicians have already been shamed into distancing themselves from newspaper moguls. It will be a long time before Ed Miliband repeats this sort of photo op, for example.

There is, however, an awful lot left to do, especially as Lord Leveson has not been looking at the underlying causes. As I wrote much earlier in the proceedings:

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , and | 5 Comments
Simon Rix

Opinion: Lib Dem communications must improve to capitalise on our successes in government

By Simon Rix | Thu 10th May 2012 - 11:28 am

Lib Dem poll ratings have plummeted. We are not winning some crucial arguments within government. Many of our best councillors have lost their seats. It certainly doesn’t feel good being in this vicious circle.
 
The answer is not to panic, but equally we shouldn’t stick our heads in the sand either. That means recognising that whilst it’s way too early to say our time in government has been a failure, it’s not too early to say our communications have failed to hit the mark.
 
Some people think our polling slump is due to people punishing us for forming a coalition with the …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | 23 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Tristan Ward
    @ Expats "The idea that Daily Telegraph readers are a viable source of future LD votes made me choke on my coffee." I give you my in-laws who: 1 read the...
  • Leon Duveen
    Thank you Rodrick for raising this. To the categories you list of people who can't attend Conference, I would also add those with health issue that stop them t...
  • Jana
    Let’s be honest… Apart from coming to Glasgow before and after the Scottish independence referendum (2013 and 2014), conference has not been held in Scot...
  • David Warren
    Roderick makes some excellent points here, federal conference is only really accessible to those with an income above a certain level or a decent amount of mone...
  • Deborah Newton-Cook
    We absolutely do need to see the Party to produce literature- and social media content- aimed at the 5 million + Brits living overseas. Also, at the next Gen...