Mark Valladares

European Parliament’s 2050 low-carbon roadmap backs an interconnected European supergrid

By Mark Valladares | Thu 15th March 2012 - 6:14 pm

The European Parliament will today debate and vote on its report on the Commission’s Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy by 2050. The report establishes a policy framework for the EU to achieve a 80-95% reduction in its CO2 emissions by 2050, and it is expected that MEPs will endorse it by a large majority.

Sir Graham Watson MEP, who is the Chairman of a global network of MPs and MEPs from all mainstream political parties campaigning to increase government investment in renewable energy and electricity supergrids called the Climate Parliament, as well as a Liberal Democrat MEP …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged , , , and | 2 Comments
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Mark Pack

Paddy Ashdown: A Fortunate Life

By Mark Pack | Thu 15th March 2012 - 4:50 pm

It is a tribute to Paddy Ashdown’s varied and fascinating careers that even hardened politicos reading his autobiography, A Fortunate Life, do not express regret at how relatively briefly his British political career features in it.

Around two-thirds of the book document his times as a Royal Marine, in the Special Boat Service, then as a spy and finally, after time as an MP and leader of the Liberal Democrats, international peacemaker in the former Yugoslavia. Even if his time as leader of the Liberal Democrats had ended quickly in ignominious failure, Ashdown would have multiple impressive legacies to outweigh it. That in fact his time as leader saw remarkable success in rescuing the party from death’s door makes all but the most hardened reader end up feeling their life is just rather tame, straight-forward and under-performing compared to Ashdown’s.

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Tom Papworth

Opinon: Planning for a brighter future

By Tom Papworth | Thu 15th March 2012 - 3:56 pm

Yesterday, I set out the indictment of our current land-use planning system, which has created a housing crisis, is stifling our economy and leading to damaging environmental outcomes. That’s fairly widely acknowledged. It is far less simple to propose an alternative, but below I hope to outline some possible principles as mechanisms for a better planning system that empowers individuals and communities rather than bureaucrats and politicians.

The first thing we need to do is to restore the principle that those who suffer the secondary effects of development are compensated. The original Town and Country Planning Act (1947) did contain provision …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 13 Comments
James Sandbach

Opinion: Conference votes again on access to justice, Parliamentarians should follow

By James Sandbach | Thu 15th March 2012 - 2:53 pm

For the third Party conference in a row, Liberal Democrats  voted for a policy motion covering legal aid and access to justice directly contrary to the Government’s legal aid reforms – in the Legal Aid, Sentencing Punishment of Offenders Bill (LASPO) – reaching their final stages in Parliament. Gateshead conference voted to ensure that “the scope of civil legal aid covers appropriate legal help and assistance in categories of law where the issues raised are of substantial importance.. and which cannot be settled by alternative dispute resolution” but night after night I see our Peers voting to remove category after …

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Tim Farron MP

Tim Farron MP writes… Equal Marriage consultation: take part and spread the word

By Tim Farron MP | Thu 15th March 2012 - 1:03 pm

One of our fundamental values as a party is our firm belief in equality. This is why I am member of our party and why I am so proud to be your President. We have always stood for individual liberty and the right to choose how we lead our lives. That’s why we came into being in the 19th century to protect the rights of religious minorities, it’s why we led the support for equality for women and why we decided before any other major party that civil marriage should be open to same-sex couples equally. The Liberal Democrats in …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 7 Comments
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Pawel Swidlicki

The Independent View: How should Liberal Democrats respond to the views of their voters on Europe

By Pawel Swidlicki | Thu 15th March 2012 - 12:25 pm

In the polarised and often exaggeratedUKdebate on the EU, the Lib Dems have often been caricaturised by much of the press and Tory MPs as being unreservedly in favour of greater EU integration or even an ‘EU super state’. The truth is of course far more nuanced.

That’s why a new YouGov/Cambridge cross-country poll out today is so interesting. It shows that a majority of UK voters (53%) support either no further EU integration or a looser arrangement. Only 14% said they wanted more integration. These attitudes span the political divide, with 50% of Lib Dem voters saying they …

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Posted in Europe / International, Op-eds and The Independent View | 15 Comments
Matt Hemsley

Opinion: We shouldn’t be afraid to raise parking charges

By Matt Hemsley | Thu 15th March 2012 - 10:55 am

Boosting the local economy and local high streets, cutting carbon and making our transport system greener, more reliable and affordable are surely key aims of Liberal Democrats across theUK.

Between 2007 and 2010 I worked for the party in Bath.  During that time I helped to lead a campaign against increased evening parking charges that the then Conservative-run council was bringing in.  I also helped to put together an 8-point plan to boost the local economy during the recession. Included in it was a call for free parking on one day a week to encourage shoppers into Bath.  Unfortunately, I was …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 18 Comments
Stephen Tall

Q: What links the AV referendum, boundary changes & Lords reform? A: The Coalition Agreement

By Stephen Tall | Thu 15th March 2012 - 9:57 am

It appears the Tories are attempting a sneaky re-write of some very recent, and well-documented, history. What prompts me to say this? Let’s look at the FT’s Kiran Stacey’s report of Nick Clegg’s feisty performance at yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions:

asked why he was so focused on House of Lords reform when there were so many other more important issues to tackle. Clegg’s response was very telling:

There are other issues like changing the boundaries which I know are close to his party’s heart…

The Tories will absolutely hate that. They say the original agreement between the two parties was

…

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged , , , , , and | 6 Comments
Joe Bourke

Opinion: Let’s raise tax threshold to £10,000 for all taxpayers

By Joe Bourke | Thu 15th March 2012 - 8:57 am

To keep the cost down, the increase of £1,000 in the personal allowance this year excluded higher rate taxpayers and over 65’s. Also, the higher rate threshold was reduced to bring more people and income into the 40% tax band.

The 2011 budget announced an increase in the personal allowance for under 65’s by £630 in April 2012, with the higher rate threshold unchanged. The freezing of the higher rate threshold brings more people and a greater proportion of existing earnings into the higher rate band – so-called fiscal drag.

This process seems consistent with the aim of increasing the personal allowance …

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Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members think of the impact of the Coalition

By Stephen Tall | Thu 15th March 2012 - 7:52 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 500 party members responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Party members give Lib Dems 7 out of 10 for influence within the Coalition

How would you rate the extent of the Liberal Democrat influence within the Coalition Government, where 10 is highly influential, and 1 indicates no influence.

    1: 0%
    2: 3%
    3: 11%
    4: 8%
    5: 9%

Lacking influence = 31%

    6: 18%
    7: 26%
    8: 17%
    9: 4%
    10: 2%

Achieving influence = 67%

This is the first time we’ve asked the party members …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 5 Comments
Paul Walter

PMQs: Your boys took a hell of a beating

By Paul Walter | Wed 14th March 2012 - 8:49 pm

I’m looking forward to the comments this week.

We saw a newly confident Nick Clegg at Prime Minister’s Questions today.

I’ve written before that Nick’s early Dispatch Box appearances were a bit like bear bating. He stood there, red-faced and growling as Labour MPs jabbed at him from all angles.

But, today, we saw an assured and relaxed Nick Clegg who was convincingly combatative. Most impressively, he discharged the session with barely a single reference to a piece of paper. Not for him the “chained to my indexed folder” look of David Cameron. In short, Nick Clegg was Prime Ministerial. “Best ever” was …

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Posted in PMQs | Tagged , , , and | 19 Comments
Ruth Bright

Conference heroes and heroines

By Ruth Bright | Wed 14th March 2012 - 6:59 pm

Shirley Williams – for rejecting the title of living deity with characteristic common sense in her Sabbath day speech to conference.

Evan Harris – for cutting through the cynicism of christening motions after national treasures by teasing conference with his “William Beveridge” amendment speech on the Shirley Williams motion. What next – the Conrad Russell memorial welfare reforms or the John Stuart Mill cuts in Sure Start? That’s enough naming stuff after deities living or dead thanks very much.

Pamphleteers Prateek Buch (Plan C – social liberal approaches to a fair, sustainable economy published by Social Liberal Forum) and Jo Ingold (Challenges …

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Posted in Conference and News | Tagged , , , , and | 13 Comments
Tom Papworth

Opinion: the ongoing disaster of British land-use planning

By Tom Papworth | Wed 14th March 2012 - 4:56 pm

Britain’s planning system is generally defended on environmental grounds. Yet far from keepingBritain“green and pleasant”, the Town and Country Planning Acts have led to the creation of dormitory towns, required the building of extensive infrastructure, and have increased urban density at the expense of urban green space.

In a new report released by the Adam Smith Institute, I argue that we need to do away with the old, top-down planning system. In this first article, I will lay out the indictment of the system. Tomorrow, I will make some proposals for how we can liberate the land and empower individuals …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 24 Comments
Mark Pack

A story, a story, my kingdom for a story

By Mark Pack | Wed 14th March 2012 - 3:50 pm

Neil Stockley has often, and rightly, written about the power of stories in conveying a political message. A dry recital of bullet points and decimal points may make for a good conference motion or a useful background briefing document. What it does not make for is a message that will move and convince people. It needs a story to bring it to life.

Last week I heard Norman Lamb talking to Twickenham and Richmond Liberal Democrats, at a fundraiser for Munira Wilson’s GLA campaign. His speech neatly illustrated the point. As he was getting into the flow, he veered …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Lib Link: Nick Clegg – my mission to make the ultra rich pay

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 14th March 2012 - 2:27 pm

Nick Clegg was interviewed in the Telegraph at the weekend. On the train journey to Gateshead, he covered how he wants to make the rich pay their fair share in tax, economic policy beyond the deficit, support for equal marriage and his relationships with his cabinet colleagues.

On taxing the rich he had this to say:

“It makes people so incredibly angry when you are getting up early in the morning, working really hard to try to do the right thing for your family and for your community, you are paying your taxes and then you see people literally in a different

…

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Posted in LibLink and News | Tagged and | 8 Comments
Chris Rennard

Chris Rennard writes… Who will win the debate between Shirley Williams and Polly Toynbee?

By Chris Rennard | Wed 14th March 2012 - 1:51 pm

I spent some of last Saturday morning in the briefing session at the Lib Dem Conference with the Lib Dem parliamentary health team sitting just in front of Andrew Sparrow and Patrick Wintour (both of the Guardian) as Shirley Williams laid into Polly Toynbee’s account in their paper of a key amendment on the Health Bill. For those of us who are fed up with Toynbee’s ‘tribal’ attacks on the Lib Dems it was a joy to listen to.

Andrew Sparrow wrote a great account of Shirley’s clear rebuttal of the Toynbee attack. He tweeted that, “It …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 23 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg does PMQs – my tweets

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 14th March 2012 - 1:16 pm

As always, Paul Walter will be along later with his imitable account of PMQs, but I thought that seeing as our own Nick Clegg was standing in for David Cameron today, we could have a bit of a bonus.

I tweeted my way through a session that could have been a tough one for our leader – but he managed to deal with the predictable Labour attacks on unemployment and the Health and Social Care Bill thoughtfully and without aggression or rancour.

Here is a link to my tweets – with apologies for the spelling mistakes. My fingers had trouble keeping …

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged , , , , , and | 1 Comment
Michael Moore

Michael Moore MP’s Westminster Notes – Scotland better off in Union

By Michael Moore | Wed 14th March 2012 - 11:55 am

Every week, Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore writes a column for local newspapers in his constituency. These are the highlights of the last two editions. 

Afghanistan

 The loss of six young soldiers in Afghanistan last week shocked and saddened the whole country and was a grave reminder of the huge sacrifice made by our armed forces in one of the most dangerous places in the world. The work of our men and women in Afghanistan is absolutely vital for the security of the UK and the freedom of the Afghan people and the deaths of these young men remind us …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , and | 2 Comments
Sean Davey

Liberal Youth storm Spring Conference

By Sean Davey | Wed 14th March 2012 - 10:56 am

Last Friday night Liberal Democrat conference was blown away by 19yr old Londoner Yahaya Kiyingi’s heartfelt and incredibly delivered rally speech about Liberalism, opportunity and the next generation.

Yahaya talked about his family moving from Uganda to London, growing up in one of the poorest areas of his borough, but aspiring to where he is today through the principles of opportunity and empowerment which define our Liberal identity.

Everyone, starting with Nick Clegg wanted to meet him and sing his praises afterwards, and as Simon Hughes told conference “You are why we are in politics Yahaya”.

But Yahaya’s narrative wasn’t just a …

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Martin Horwood

Martin Horwood MP writes… Why Nick Clegg’s response to Jenny Tonge was right

By Martin Horwood | Wed 14th March 2012 - 9:23 am

The controversy surrounding Jenny Tonge’s resignation from our party in the House of Lords has attracted a lot of comment online. I’m co-chair of the parliamentary party’s international affairs committee (although writing here in a personal capacity) and I think the stance which Nick took as leader was right.

Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine – for whom I have a great deal of time – have suggested that Jenny’s ‘intention was to imply that Israel’s wilful failure to uphold and respect the human rights of Palestinian Muslims and Christians is behaviour which is likely to lead to its …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , and | 16 Comments
Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members think of the Coalition & its record

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

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 500 party members responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

81% of Lib Dem members support the Coalition

Do you support or oppose the Lib Dems being in the Coalition Government with the Conservatives? (Comparison with February 2012’s figures)

    81% (-3%) – Support
    14% (+1%) – Oppose
    4% (+1%) – Don’t know / No opinion

Support for the Coalition remains high, at 81%, in spite of the difficulties its endured in recent weeks as a …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem bloggers have been saying about the NHS Bill after Lib Dem conference

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th March 2012 - 8:25 pm

Unsurprisingly, there’s been plenty of post-conference reaction to the weekend’s events.

A quick recap of what happened: on Saturday, Lib Dem conference representatives narrowly voted not to debate a motion that called for the NHS Bill to be dropped. Then on Sunday, Lib Dem conference representatives narrowly voted following a debate not to support part of a motion that called for Lib Dem peers to back the NHS Bill.

Here’s how Lib Dem bloggers have responded to these events:

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 31 Comments
Stephen Tall

Coalition defeats rebel Lib Dem backbench MPs’ attempt to stop the NHS Bill

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th March 2012 - 7:48 pm

The Coalition Government has just now defeated by 314-260 votes an attempt by five backbench Lib Dem MPs — Andrew George, John Pugh, Adrian Sanders, Greg Mulholland, and David Ward — to halt the controversial Health & Social Care Bill.

Their move came in the form of an amendment to this Labour motion:

That this House notes the e-petition signed by 170,000 people calling on the Government to drop the Health and Social Care Bill; and declines to support the Bill in its current form.

The Lib Dem 5 proposed the following amendment, which was accepted by Labour:

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Posted in News | 21 Comments
Mike Bird

Opinion: bashing bankers the economically liberal way – risk and responsibility

By Mike Bird | Tue 13th March 2012 - 3:23 pm

Just before conference I caught some largely unreported news on a Private Member’s Bill, put to the Commons by Steve Baker MP, founder of the Cobden Centre, and one of the Conservative 2010 intake.

My usual response to scant coverage of a Conservative backbencher’s bills would be thankful, but in this case, the bill highlights something that has received astonishingly little attention: reforming the personal liability of directors. We’ve rested on the important points of how to discharge shares in effectively state-owned institutions, and how to increase lending to struggling businesses. On these issues Stephen Williams …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 11 Comments
Lee Dargue

Opinion: #KillTheBill – but not for a reason you may be aware of…

By Lee Dargue | Tue 13th March 2012 - 1:52 pm

This weekend saw the LibDems argue both for and against the Health and Social Care Bill. It may be a cliché, but whilst I’m in the #KillTheBill camp, I am still proud of our democratic system that allows votes on both sides of the argument to be counted (interestingly, I had to explain to supporters of the bill that those of us arguing against don’t want NO bill, just not THIS bill – for some reason they seemed surprised at that).

I spoke to both Paul Burstow and Judith Jolly about some of the concerns I have, and I pay tribute …

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Posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 21 Comments
Mark Valladares

Coming up in the Lords: 19-28 March

By Mark Valladares | Tue 13th March 2012 - 12:52 pm

Welcome back to Liberal Democrat Voice’s coverage of the House of Lords, where the denizens of the red benches are now at the sharp end of the legislative agenda for the parliamentary session. With sixteen votes taking place last week, Peers can expect no let up in the race to complete the Government’s programme for its first session. And with the Queen’s Speech now scheduled on 9 May, and the Lords due to go into recess for three weeks after business ends on 28 March, time is running …

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Opinion: even football supporters have civil liberties… don’t they?

By Gary Shearer | Tue 13th March 2012 - 11:52 am

There I was with a couple of mates when a group of police officers appeared and started filming us.

None of us had a criminal record, nor were we doing anything remotely suspicious. We were not drunk, we were in a public place and there was nothing untoward going on around us either.

Our only crime was to have visited a football stadium to watch a match.

To rub it in even further, not only was one of the officers recording video for almost the entire 90 minutes another stood right next to her and took dozens of pictures.

At first I thought the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 14 Comments
Mark Pack

Plan C: The Social Liberal Forum’s economic prognosis

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

There has been a very welcome recent revival of policy thinking in the Liberal Democrats, despite the large cuts to the party’s official policy research staff. This has included a new think tank (Liberal Insight) and good work by Richard Kemp and the local government sector in encouraging imaginative plans for making use of the new legal powers going to local government.

Added to this is the Social Liberal Forum’s further foray into economic policy-making, following up on some of their successful events with their first policy pamphlet. Prateek Buch’s “Plan C – social liberal approaches to a fair, …

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Posted in Books | Tagged , , , , , , and | 7 Comments
Scott Hill

Opinion: the way forward – with Clegg at the helm

By Scott Hill | Tue 13th March 2012 - 9:22 am

As soon as the Liberal Democrats bravely stepped in to coalition with David Cameron’s Conservatives we knew tough times may lie ahead. Whilst the coalition’s majority party has sailed through relatively unscathed, the junior partner has suffered an incessant flow of unfair and unjust criticism. Just as we thought this was beginning to wane, this month has witnessed an increase in anti-Clegg rhetoric.

First to weigh in was the Lib Dems’ very own Lembit Opik (as eccentric and publicity-seeking as ever), who has outlined in his new book a plan for a Lib Dem resurrection. He states that Clegg must …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 26 Comments
Stephen Tall

Revealed: What Lib Dem members think of Ed Miliband and David Cameron

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th March 2012 - 7:55 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 500 party members responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Miliband rating slips back again, to -84%, among Lib Dem members

LDV asked: Do you think Ed Miliband is doing well or badly as leader of the Labour party?

    0% – Very well
    7% – Well
    Total well = 7%
    47% – Badly
    44% – Very badly
    Total badly = 91%
    3% – Don’t know / No

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged and | 15 Comments
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