Liberal Democrat Voice

Lib Dem achievements, communicating peers and election timetables

By Mark Pack | Fri 3rd February 2012 - 12:50 pm

A trio of resources for your weekend’s delectation:

Electoral timetable for May’s elections: I’ve recently updated my May 2012 election timetable post with extra details

Posted in News and Online politics | Tagged twitter | 1 Comment

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Chris Huhne: the straight talking fighter faces his biggest battle

By Stephen Tall | Fri 3rd February 2012 - 11:54 am

It was in May 2011 that the allegation first surfaced that, eight years previously, Chris Huhne had allegedly asked his then wife Vicky Pryce to take the rap for speeding points that would have seen the aspirant Lib Dem MP for Eastleigh lose his licence. It’s a charge Chris has strenuously denied ever since, always saying he welcomes the police investigation as a chance to clear his name. When asked whether he would resign, he has previously only ever had to answer hypothetically, as here when questioned by Andrew Neil:

(Available on YouTube here.)

Posted in News | Tagged chris huhne | 55 Comments

Chris Huhne protests innocence as he confirms resignation from the Cabinet

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 3rd February 2012 - 11:16 am

Chris Huhne has just made the briefest statement outside his Central London flat. He has confirmed that he is stepping down as Energy and Climate Change secretary. He protested his innocence and stated that he was confident that a jury will find him not guilty.

His statement in full is:

The CPS decision to launch a prosecution is deeply regrettable. I am innocent of the charges and I intend to fight this in the courts. I’m confdent that a jury will agree. So as to avoid any distraction from my duties or my trial defence I am standing down, resigning as Energy

…

Posted in News | 10 Comments

Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce to be charged with perverting the course of justice

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 3rd February 2012 - 10:13 am

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, has just announced that Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne and his former wife VIcky Pryce will be charged with perverting the course of justice.

They will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 16th February.

It is expected that Chris Huhne will now step down from the Cabinet.

Keir Starmer emphasised that Huhne and Pryce have the right to a fair trial and that nothing should be said or reported that could influence that.

He said:

All the available evidence, including the new material, has now been carefully considered by the CPS and we have concluded

…

Posted in News | Tagged cabinet, chris huhne, cps, dpp and vicky pryce | 9 Comments

Paddy Ashdown’s eight steps to winning a Parliamentary constituency

By Mark Pack | Fri 3rd February 2012 - 8:25 am

In December 1976 Paddy Ashdown put to the local party in Yeovil a plan for winning the constituency for which he had been recently selected and where the party was third at almost every election. Thirty-five and a bit years on, it still reads as a pretty good plan.

Posted in News | Tagged featured and paddy ashdown | 5 Comments

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Opinion: What price democracy in the Lib Dems?

By Linda Jack | Thu 2nd February 2012 - 6:02 pm

Over the past 21 months I have had many moments when I have felt close to despair about the behaviour of our parliamentarians. Sometimes, like voting in favour of tuition fees, they can rightly point to the Coalition Agreement – endorsed overwhelmingly – as Nick Clegg observed at the time – by a North Korean like Special Conference. Other times, like voting against party policy on Legal Aid and Welfare Reform – there is no such defence. Last night calls into question the fundamental values and principles of our party, not just in terms of flying in the face of …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged benefits, federal policy committee, gareth epps, Joan Walmsley, legal aid, meral ece, Ming Campbell, paddy ashdown and welfare reform bill | 133 Comments

The IFS’s verdict on Labour’s deficit argument is in – and it ain’t pretty

By Nick T | Thu 2nd February 2012 - 3:54 pm

Yesterday saw the publication by the Institute for Fiscal Studies of its annual ‘Green Budget‘, which looks generally at the global and UK economic picture as well providing a detailed analysis of the UK fiscal position. The document is fascinating in many respects, but one of the parts that particularly caught my eye was its devastating take on Labour’s position on the deficit.

Since the Autumn Statement, when figures for the estimated size of the budget deficit in future years were revised upwards, one of Labour’s main arguments has been that by cutting “too far, too fast” the government has …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged economy, ed balls, ed miliband, featured, IFS and labour party | 7 Comments

Influence of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party drops off

By Paul Walter | Thu 2nd February 2012 - 2:54 pm

In the New York Times, Michael D Shear reports that the influence of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party has waned during the US Republican Presidential primaries:

In October, Sarah Palin announced that she would not run for president in 2012, ending the media frenzy around her potential candidacy even as she vowed to remain politically active and influential.

“I will continue driving the discussion for freedom and free markets,” she wrote in an e-mail to her supporters.

Just over three months later her attempts to wield influence in the presidential campaign the way she did during the 2010 midterm elections have

…

Posted in News | Tagged usa | Leave a comment

Opinion: No economic growth? Here’s what to do

By Paul Reynolds | Thu 2nd February 2012 - 12:57 pm

To summarise the current UK position, ‘demand management’ is out (no money left and anyway it didn’t work), so growth must come from supply-side measures (excluding subsidies or protectionism), and from ‘natural’ private sector growth (born of financial stability and debt reduction).

With the peculiar separation in the UK which has evolved between the ‘real economy’ and the civil service, media & political elites, this has left the political system scratching its head over how to achieve ‘fiscally sustainable quality growth’. The result has been a series of ad-hoc programmes – some designed to substitute for an ailing banking sector (growth funds, loan guarantees), some …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged economy | 5 Comments

Andrew Stunell MP writes… The Building Regulations: Taking the next step towards zero carbon homes

By Andrew Stunell MP | Thu 2nd February 2012 - 10:53 am

As some of you may know from my previous postings, one of my responsibilities in Government is the Building Regulations. So far, so dull, right? On the face of it, you might be forgiven for thinking so, but the building regulations offer a number of key tools and levers to tackle the carbon emissions produced from our buildings. Yesterday, I announced a Government Consultation on the latest proposals for upgrading the building regulations, and they contain a number of key proposals to significantly improve the sustainability of our built environment.

The upgrading of the building regulations

…

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged building regulations, climate change and green deal | 6 Comments

Why I (still) read the Daily Mail

By Mark Pack | Thu 2nd February 2012 - 8:25 am

Four years on, I’m still a Daily Mail reader (even if they think I’m a foreigner). Here’s an updated explanation.

I once rang the Daily Mail to mildly complain about a story I had a connection with. The journalist I spoke to put me on hold while he conferred with a colleague. At least, he thought he put me on hold. But courtesy of him hitting the wrong button, I got to hear what they were saying. And it wasn’t exactly a master class in concern for accuracy. Yet I still read the newspaper regularly.

Why? Because it would be foolish not …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged daily mail and journalism | 16 Comments

Opinion: 29 Days to save the UK

By Bill le Breton | Wed 1st February 2012 - 6:55 pm

We are lucky it is a leap year. It gives us an extra day to save the country.

Here are two graphs, both from the Financial Times. This one shows the UK’s Nominal Gross Domestic Product. It shows the development of the double dip recession we are facing.

The figures are up to October 2011. The next will be published in February, but expect the trend lines to continue ‘south’.

Then, here’s a chart of a measure of the supply of money in the economy. It is a broad …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged centreforum, economy and money supply | 19 Comments

Lord Ashcroft, Panorama and a herbivorous Liberal Democrat Peer

By The Voice | Wed 1st February 2012 - 4:26 pm

Yesterday’s Press Gazette highlights that the Panorama programme broadcast, entitled Secrets of the Tory Billionaire, on Monday night may help the Independent defend the libel case brought against it by Lord Ashcroft.

In a development that you couldn’t make up, the Independent, in its own coverage of the programme, referred to Lord Ashdown when talking about the Conservative Party’s major benefactor.

This prompted our own Paddy Ashdown to write to the paper with, The Voice suspects, his tongue firmly wedged in his cheek

“It is one thing to misrepresent my position on the benefit cap as you did last week,

…

Posted in News | Tagged bbc, lord ashcroft, paddy ashdown, panorama, Press Gazette and the independent | 4 Comments

Opinion: Reflection on half a century of Liberal life

By Elspeth Attwooll | Wed 1st February 2012 - 2:56 pm

What follows is all, I admit, very self-indulgent. It is just that when I was delivering leaflets the other day – from one of our councillors protesting against the potential closure of local rail stations – my thoughts went back to my first time out on the stump. This was well over fifty years ago and for a council election in Esher, Surrey. To my shame, I cannot remember who was standing or the result (perhaps someone out there will be able to tell me?). I have a suspicion we took the seat – if so, that was no …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged europe, history, liberal party, merger, parliamentary by-elections and Scotland | 5 Comments

Pack & Tall Debate… Tuition fees: what should Lib Dem party policy now be?

By The Voice | Wed 1st February 2012 - 1:50 pm

In the week of the publication of university application figures, LibDemVoice co-editors Mark Pack and Stephen Tall debate what it means for the Lib Dems’ future policy…

Stephen Tall: The publication of the University application figures for 2012 — the first year of the new £9k maximum fees regime — has something for everyone. Those who have always claimed the prospect of huge debt would deter potential students can point to the headline 8.7% decline in applications. Those who say the new fees repayments system …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged featured, higher education, tuition fees and university | 30 Comments

Opinion: Lib Dems should promote Somaliland’s case for international recognition

By Willis Pickard | Wed 1st February 2012 - 12:56 pm

While Scottish Liberal Democrats are playing a full part in the debates about the country’s constitutional future, they should not forget problems facing other less fortunate small lands. The plight of Somaliland is a case in point and is exercising the Scottish branch of Liberal International.

The first problem Somaliland confronts on the world stage is that people confuse it with lawless Somalia. It is an immediate neighbour and shares Somali culture but is largely peaceful and enjoys a recent record of solid democratic progress. So are its achievements in the troubled Horn of Africa lauded? Not a bit of it, …

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged africa, liberal international and Somaliland | 7 Comments

Haringey Liberal Democrats show two ways to make use of new legal powers

By Mark Pack | Wed 1st February 2012 - 11:50 am

I am currently putting together a new book for ALDC which has at its heart ways that councillors and local campaigners can make use of the new legal powers heading their way under the Localism Act and other devolving legislation. Many of the powers are very effective for getting local issues sorted and local communities improved, but will sit on the shelf achieving nothing if active campaigners do not pick them up and put them to use.

It is good to see that Haringey Liberal Democrats are already well ahead of me putting into practice two of the ideas which the book will include.

Posted in Local government | Tagged haringey liberal democrats, localism bill and richard wilson | 1 Comment

LibLink: Jeremy Browne MP on the Government’s actions to prevent torture

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 1st February 2012 - 10:58 am

Liberal Democrat Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne in the Guardian about the Coalition’s strategy to prevent torture throughout the World and about the independent enquiry which will investigate whether Britain was implicated in torture after 9/11:

We know that we face a long and difficult road ahead. But our vision is for people to be treated fairly and able to speak freely in every country. We should never be comfortable with a world where journalists, lawyers and activists endure ill treatment for criticising their governments. This is a core part of what this coalition stands for, and we will continue to

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Posted in Europe / International, LibLink and News | Tagged amnesty uk, europe, jeremy browne, torture and un | 2 Comments

Michael Moore MP’s Westminster Notes 1 February 2012

By Michael Moore | Wed 1st February 2012 - 9:59 am

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

Jobs

Economic recovery and jobs remain the most important issues for people here in the Borders and last week was tough in terms of unemployment news. There has sadly been an increase in unemployment since the summer and these figures are a reflection of problems in the Eurozone and the tough economic climate here at home and in the wider global economy.

Finding work for the unemployed is therefore top of the Government’s agenda, and we are taking action …

Posted in News | Tagged big energy week, Michael Moore, Scotland, Westminster Notes and youth contract | Leave a comment

E-petition backing up Nick Clegg’s wish to raise tax threshold

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 1st February 2012 - 8:55 am

Readers may be interested in an e-petition on the HM Government website which calls on the Government to implement the tax cuts for the people on low and middle incomes which Nick Clegg called for last week. It says:

Please sign this to persuade George Osborne to fast track the Lib Dem policy to increase the income tax threshold to £10,000 in the next budget, and hence take thousands more people out of tax and put £700 back in people’s pockets. There are measures that can be taken to pay for this including the clamp down on tax avoidance and

…

Posted in News | Tagged e-petitions, nick clegg and tax | Leave a comment

New LDV members’ survey now live: your views on benefits cap, tax, Europe, Scottish independence and life in government

By Stephen Tall | Tue 31st January 2012 - 7:20 pm

The new LDV members’ survey is now live. So if you are one of the c.1,300 registered members of the Liberal Democrat Voice forum — and any paid-up party member is welcome to join — then you now have the opportunity to make your views known.

Questions we’re asking this month include:

what you think of the Coalition’s £26k benefits cap;
whether you back the NHS reforms;
your views on Scottish independence;
what you think about Nick Clegg’s speech on tax-cuts for the lowest paid, and about tax-rates for the wealthiest;
how you think Nick Clegg and David Cameron

…

Posted in LDV Members poll | Leave a comment

The other issue Lib Dem peers can win on tomorrow

By Mark Pack | Tue 31st January 2012 - 4:25 pm

Moves in the House of Lords to amend the health and welfare bills have been getting the lion’s share of recent coverage, but this week sees a quartet of Liberal Democrat peers leading the charge on a different topic – the Legal Aid Bill.

Lib Dem Lords Thomas, Carlile, Clement Jones and Phillips have a set of amendments down for debate tomorrow to put right what Ken Clarke hasn’t got right in his zeal to end the so-called ‘compensation culture’. The amendments look to tighten up and improve the plans to ban so-called ‘referral fees’ in personal injury cases. Its these fees which …

Posted in Op-eds and Parliament | Tagged alex carlile, ken clarke, legal aid, lord (martin) thomas, lord andrew phillips and tim clement-jones | 5 Comments

Have your say on our Rural Policy paper

By Tessa Munt MP | Tue 31st January 2012 - 3:53 pm

It is my firm belief that local people know the area they live in best, village to village, town to town.

I have been asked to have a think about what policy changes should be made so that people in rural areas get a fairer deal and the resultant rural policy paper will be presented at Autumn Conference. Clearly, we must be realistic – none of us expects to have major services (such as hospitals) on our doorstep. However, it seems to me that there are some areas of Government policy which could reflect rural needs more effectively.

I chose …

Posted in News and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged rural and tessa munt | 16 Comments

Paul Burstow MP writes… Let’s talk about poo

By Paul Burstow | Tue 31st January 2012 - 2:24 pm

I never really thought I’d be giving interviews on the topic of poo, but that’s exactly what I was doing yesterday.

It’s all part of a drive to encourage more people than ever before to spot the signs of bowel cancer. So on Monday I launched the Government’s first ever national bowel cancer awareness campaign, in the hope that we can save lives across the country.

Of course, nobody actually wants to talk about poo, but we need to get over that little bit of embarrassment and make that trip to the GP.

At the moment, most of us …

Posted in News | 6 Comments

Gender Equality and MPs – is our performance as bad as it looks?

By Mark Thompson | Tue 31st January 2012 - 11:38 am

I am very unhappy with the number of female Lib Dem MPs. 7 out of 57 is not good enough and we need to improve. The leadership programme which assists those from underrepresented groups to become candidates will hopefully help.

7/57 = 12.3%. So, less than an eighth of our MPs are women. The Conservatives have 48/307 = 15.6%, Labour 81/258 = 31.4%. Activists from the two other parties have pointed this out to me on numerous occasions. They are right to. It is embarrassing. We definitely need more female candidates. In 2010 we only had 134 (21.3%). The Conservatives had …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged candidate selection rules and gender balance | 32 Comments

Council Tax – why not a premium for second homes?

By Annette Brooke MP | Tue 31st January 2012 - 9:23 am

In addition to the Government’s proposals to allow councils to charge full council tax on second homes, other Liberal Democrat MPs and I have tabled an amendment to the Local Government Finance Bill to give councils the discretion to introduce a Second Home Premium. Second home owners often ask why they should be ‘punished’ in this way just because they choose to spend their money on a second home or because they need a second home for work purposes. They may add, ‘we spend money in the area and we do not have the same call upon services as …

Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged annette brooke, council tax and second homes | 24 Comments

LibLink: Simon Hughes MP – Students are not being put off university by tuition fees

By Helen Duffett | Tue 31st January 2012 - 8:53 am

Simon Hughes MP writes at Comment is Free, following the publication of the latest UCAS figures.

He acknowledges the top-line 8% decline in applications and the mass protest that followed the original decision, but points out that applications from students in deprived areas have barely declined at all:

…a more objective analysis of the data shows a clearer picture. Although applications were down by a significant number, the total number of 18-year-olds in England this year is significantly down as well. If you adjust the figures to take account of changes in demographic, the application rate in England – which

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged simon hughes, tuition fees and ucas | 2 Comments

Understanding the university application figures

By Mark Pack | Tue 31st January 2012 - 8:10 am

Ahead of the preliminary university application figures late last year, I posted five questions by which to judge them when they were published. The gist of all the questions was, “what do the figures really mean if you scratch beneath the surface?”. In particular, the big spike in applications in the last year before the new fee arrangements, coupled with the declining teenage population, means that crude headline number comparisons can be very misleading. As it turned out, the five questions were a pretty good guide to what the university application figures really meant.

Now that we have the …

Posted in News | Tagged featured, stephen tall, tuition fees and university | 6 Comments

Op-eds

Observations of an Expat: When Donald met Xi (Tom Arms)
Conference from the other side of the barrier (Barry Rhodes)
Proper Grimond liberalism (Jack Meredith)
Is Conference still supreme? (John Kelly)
Ed Davey’s Conference speech (Hugh Andrew)

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What does a Lib Dem “trans activist” look like?

Caron’s kitchen table diary

Victoria Collins MP writes.. The ask that changes everything

To get Britain growing, we must cut business costs

Lib Dem achievements, communicating peers and election timetables

Chris Huhne: the straight talking fighter faces his biggest battle

Chris Huhne protests innocence as he confirms resignation from the Cabinet

Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce to be charged with perverting the course of justice

Paddy Ashdown’s eight steps to winning a Parliamentary constituency

Opinion: What price democracy in the Lib Dems?

The IFS’s verdict on Labour’s deficit argument is in – and it ain’t pretty

Influence of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party drops off

Opinion: No economic growth? Here’s what to do

Andrew Stunell MP writes… The Building Regulations: Taking the next step towards zero carbon homes

Why I (still) read the Daily Mail

Opinion: 29 Days to save the UK

Lord Ashcroft, Panorama and a herbivorous Liberal Democrat Peer

Opinion: Reflection on half a century of Liberal life

Pack & Tall Debate… Tuition fees: what should Lib Dem party policy now be?

Opinion: Lib Dems should promote Somaliland’s case for international recognition

Haringey Liberal Democrats show two ways to make use of new legal powers

LibLink: Jeremy Browne MP on the Government’s actions to prevent torture

Michael Moore MP’s Westminster Notes 1 February 2012

E-petition backing up Nick Clegg’s wish to raise tax threshold

New LDV members’ survey now live: your views on benefits cap, tax, Europe, Scottish independence and life in government

The other issue Lib Dem peers can win on tomorrow

Have your say on our Rural Policy paper

Paul Burstow MP writes… Let’s talk about poo

Gender Equality and MPs – is our performance as bad as it looks?

Council Tax – why not a premium for second homes?

LibLink: Simon Hughes MP – Students are not being put off university by tuition fees

Understanding the university application figures

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What does a Lib Dem “trans activist” look like?

Caron’s kitchen table diary

Victoria Collins MP writes.. The ask that changes everything

To get Britain growing, we must cut business costs

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