Liberal Democrat Voice

What are Lib Dem MEPs up to when it comes to money?

By Mark Pack | Mon 5th December 2011 - 11:55 am

I’ve been wondering for a little time what the Liberal Democrat MEPs are pushing for when it comes to the European Union’s budget, which makes London MEP Sarah Ludford’s latest email update particularly timely:

No pro-European LibDem can be other than fully committed to reform of the EU. Any flaws in the way it is run overshadow its good work on everything from research to roaming charges, not to speak of the area I am passionate about, justice and civil liberties. I’m pleased therefore that a deal has been reached for the EU’s 2012 budget which overall represents no real terms

…

Posted in Europe / International | Tagged european parliament, european union and sarah ludford | 2 Comments

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How many failed the conference security checks?

By Stuart Bonar | Mon 5th December 2011 - 10:24 am

Before conference there were lots of pieces here on Lib Dem Voice about the new security hurdles over which people wanting to attend conference would have to jump. There was the occasional piece defending the new arrangements, but most were pretty hostile.

I am not usually one to pick at scabs, but I thought that once the dust had settled on conference season I would ask each of the police forces responsible for security at the three main conferences for some hard numbers. Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act I did just that.

What were the figures for the …

Posted in Conference | Tagged birmingham 2011 conference | 32 Comments

Conference gets its wish – drug policy review announced

By Prateek Buch | Mon 5th December 2011 - 9:00 am

Liberal Democrats are always looking for distinctive ways to show that the party is making a difference in government – things we can proudly point to and say “look, we made this happen.” This week’s announcement that the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee is to launch a new inquiry into drugs policy is one that activists, MPs and Peers alike can rightly point to as an example of the positive influence Lib Dems have on public policy.

There is now widespread recognition that the UK’s drugs laws are ineffective and expensive, with MPs of all parties signing …

Posted in News | Tagged drugs, evidence-based policy, julian huppert and science | 7 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #250

By The Voice | Sun 4th December 2011 - 10:17 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 250th 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 (27 November – 3 December, 2011), 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:

Posted in Best of the blogs | 1 Comment

How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

By Mark Pack | Sun 4th December 2011 - 6:23 pm

Why not join hundreds of other Lib Dem Voice readers in getting our latest headlines by email?

Some people like regularly visiting a site to see if there’s new stories of interest. Some people like subscribing to its news feed (RSS) and checking that way. But if you prefer email, you can instead sign up to get a daily early morning email with a summary of the previous day’s posts from Lib Dem Voice, complete with a note of how many comments each post has got and convenient links to click on if any take your fancy and you want to take a read.

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“There is absolutely no chance of us winning there” – Conservative MP’s Feltham & Heston outburst

By Mark Pack | Sun 4th December 2011 - 3:42 pm

I headed over this morning to help Roger Crouch’s Parliamentary by-election campaign in Feltham & Heston, all of which went fairly smoothly (at least once I remembered to open my eyes) and it was good to see high quality literature that tied in well with other campaign activity, such as the local newspaper adverts for Roger Crouch.

It was also good to see an idea I helped pioneer at previous Parliamentary by-elections extended at this one – putting a feedback sheet on the back …

Posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged bob stewart, featured, feltham and heston, hounslow liberal democrats and roger crouch | 9 Comments

ELDR Congress: that’s another fine Mezzogiorno, they’ve gotten us into…

By Mark Valladares | Sun 4th December 2011 - 1:48 pm

Liberals from across Europe and, according to one vocal member of our delegation, beyond, gathered last week in the Sicilian capital, Palermo, under rather tighter security than usual, to discuss the gathering Euro crisis and the future of the European Union budget. As Liberal Democrats, we’ve grown used to meeting with rather depressing levels of security but, for a change, this wasn’t intended for us. Our hosts, Italia dei Valori, included the former Mayor of Palermo and current ELDR Vice-President, Leoluca Orlando, whose anti-mafia campaigning probably still makes him a potential target.

The theme for the Congress was the 2014-2020 EU …

Posted in Europe / International | Tagged eldr, graham watson, leoluca orlando and lymec | Leave a comment

The Independent View | Peter Tatchell writes… Lib Dems should stick to their principles and urge Lynne not to renege on equality pledge

By Peter Tatchell | Sun 4th December 2011 - 11:45 am

Bravo to the Liberal Democrat party conference. Two years ago, party members voted overwhelmingly to end the twin legal bans on same-sex civil marriages and opposite-sex civil partnerships. They committed a future Lib Dem government to scrap sexual orientation discrimination in marriage and partnership law. Well done. Thank you

Sadly, the Lib Dem Equality Minister, Lynne Featherstone, apparently with the support of the Lib Dem Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, is now actively backing discrimination. She plans to keep unequal laws, contrary to the Lib Dem’s election pledges.

Specifically, Lynne is vowing to retain the prohibition on heterosexual civil …

Posted in The Independent View | Tagged civil partnerships, equalities, gay rights, lynne featherstone and nick clegg | 18 Comments

When should election counts be held?

By Mark Pack | Sun 4th December 2011 - 9:54 am

The Electoral Commission has a new consultation paper out, returning to an old issue: when should election counts be held?

As the paper says:

The key issue is that many Returning Officers have considered that increasingly complex election counts would be better conducted the morning after the close of poll when staff are fresh and less likely to make mistakes, while governments, political parties and candidates have often pressed for counts in major elections to take place immediately after the close of polls. This has led to controversies in the public domain ahead of major elections.

Posted in Election law | Tagged electoral commission | 7 Comments

No, Stephen Tall, I’m certainly NOT Daily Mail!

By Lee Dargue | Sun 4th December 2011 - 9:00 am

In his latest blog, Stephen Tall argues that byseeing Jeremy Clarkson as un-beneficial to a modern society makes me somehow a right-wing *insert your own adjective for the Daily Mail here*.

Not in the slightest. I’m left-wing (so David Cameron doesn’t like me either, boo-hoo) and totally a liberal. I’ve never ever claimed Clarkson should not be allowed to speak, as that would be illiberal. I simply say that he is a loud-mouth oxygen thief (I use the same freedom of speech against him, that he should rightly be granted).

He’s claimed to be attention-seeking, I agree. And before you …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged daily mail, jeremy clarkson and stephen tall | 14 Comments

Opinion: We can’t refinance the economy from the meagre incomes of the poorest, only the wealth of the richest

By Tim Nichols | Sat 3rd December 2011 - 5:24 pm

It’s not the snow, the royal wedding or the eurozone crisis, it’s the lack of demand. We are probably already in recession now thanks to the major deflationary shock unleashed on the economy by the Coalition’s austerity cuts. And we still have the real hit from the eurozone slowdown on its way next year…

The Autumn Statement did little to depart from Plan A, the economic equivalent of letting blood. Businesses desperately in need of customers can only look on in despair as the disposable incomes of families are reduced by wage stagnation, welfare cuts and hundreds of thousands of public

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Posted in Op-eds | 48 Comments

Opinion: Our Parliamentarians must fight for our benefits policies

By George Potter | Sat 3rd December 2011 - 4:46 pm

It was rather disappointing last week reading Jenny Willot MP’s article on LDV last week about the Harrington report and about the motion on the Employment Support Allowance (ESA) which was unanimously passed at autumn conference.

The article seems to imply that, by accepting the Harrington recommendations, the government is complying with the ESA motion and that a big round of applause is in order. We spotted a problem, passed a motion about it and then our ministers and MPs fixed it. Job done right?

Well, no. Despite that being what the article seems to imply, the situation is far from resolved.

By fully …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged benefits, employment support allowance, jenny willott, legal aid, malcolm harrington, welfare reform and welfare reform bill | 11 Comments

Opinion: Oh, what is the point?

By Alex Marsh | Sat 3rd December 2011 - 3:28 pm

Having followed the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement and then watched Danny Alexander interviewed on Newsnight on Tuesday I have to say my initial reaction was “oh, what is the point?”. That was a reaction to both substance and process.

The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, as the IFS analysis demonstrates, hits the poorest hardest and those on middle and higher incomes less hard. Most would call that regressive. I’m sure some bright spark can come up with an argument that if you look at the data from a different direction – on the basis of expenditure not income, for example – then it isn’t …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged benefits, children's tax credit, deficit, george osborne and housing | 59 Comments

Opinion: Wednesday’s strikes – A Lib Dem trade unionist’s perspective

By Ian Wallace | Sat 3rd December 2011 - 12:58 pm

So, why am I striking?

The government is continuing to persist in their unaffordable and unsustainable claims. The Hutton interim report published in October 2010 stated that as a percentage of GDP, the cost of public sector pensions will go from 1.9% to 1.7% by 2030 due to the reforms that happened in 2006 under the previous Government.

The government is deliberately being less than honest over the true impact of the pensions changes in order to meet their pre-election rhetoric. This is nothing more than playing games with people’s retirement plans.

The government is not negotiating. They are using classic bully-boy playground …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged pensions and strikes | 19 Comments

Annette Brooke MP writes… Decent start to Decent Homes Programme

By Annette Brooke MP | Sat 3rd December 2011 - 11:50 am

Hot on the heels of last week’s eagerly awaited Housing Strategy comes some more good news on housing. Most of the debate on housing is rightly focussed on the need to build more houses, or get the ones we have already brought back into use. We need more homes to ensure that we can keep up with the numbers of new households forming every year, and ensure that everyone can have a roof over their heads. But too often, the debate forgets to focus on the quality of houses with the same intensity. This is something that, as Liberal Democrats, …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged communities and local government and housing | 4 Comments

The weekend debate: Should the Government send a King James Bible to every school?

By Carl Quilliam | Sat 3rd December 2011 - 9:54 am

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

Michael Gove is planning to send a King James Bible to every school in the UK to mark the 400th anniversary of its translation, with a short introduction written by himself.

The National Secular Society has criticised the decision and believe that there are already enough bibles in British schools.

So, is this a worthwhile celebration of an important part of British history or is it a waste of money that could …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged education, michael gove and weekend debate | 43 Comments

Lib Dem Bloggers’ Christmas stocking fillers… Part V

By Stephen Tall | Fri 2nd December 2011 - 6:25 pm

What presents are you looking forward to giving or receiving this year? That’s the question LDV posed to a group of Lib Dem bloggers. All this week we’re revealing what they told us, with link-throughs to Amazon for your shopping convenience (and ‘cos the referral fees help support LibDemVoice: so get clicking and ordering). Part I is available here; Part II here; Part III here; and Part IV here. In part five, our final duo of bloggers – Alex Wilcock and, erm, me – give us the low-down on their Xmas faves…

Alex Wilcock

If you want

…

Posted in News | Tagged alex wilcock and stephen tall | Leave a comment

The LDV Friday Five: 2 December 2011

By The Voice | Fri 2nd December 2011 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment

Dan Rogerson MP writes… Welcoming help with water bills in the South West

By Dan Rogerson MP | Fri 2nd December 2011 - 2:56 pm

This week, as part of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, details of a Water Bills Rebate Fund were announced, with a £50 rebate to be provided on water bills for households in Cornwall and other South West Water areas from 2013-14. Along with fellow Liberal Democrats, I have long campaigned on getting a fair deal for bill payers in Cornwall after the botched privatisation under the Conservatives in the 1980s left us with the highest water bills in the country, and following 13 years of complacency about the issue under the last Labour government. As such, this rebate is fantastic news …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged cornwall, dan rogerson and water | 1 Comment

Andrew Stunell MP writes… New Homes Bonus is rewarding communities that go for growth

By Andrew Stunell MP | Fri 2nd December 2011 - 11:53 am

Councils across England will receive a cash boost today with the provisional allocations of this year’s New Homes Bonus money being announced by the Department for Communities and Local Government. Now in its second year, the New Homes Bonus is proving to be a powerful incentive for local authorities to drive development and build the houses that we so desperately need.

Councils are rewarded for building new homes, and bringing empty homes back into use. Council tax on each home is matched by the Government for six years, with extra money for every affordable home.

The key things Liberal Democrats need …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged communities and local government, housing and new homes bonus | 11 Comments

Can’t host the Olympics? Host Liberal Youth Conference instead!

By Harry Matthews | Fri 2nd December 2011 - 10:25 am

It’s an exciting time for political activists. The Eurozone is melting down, the economy is stagnating and people are getting angry about pensions. Well, that last one perhaps doesn’t affect Liberal Youth members as much, but Liberal Youth Conference is a chance for young people to meet up, discuss policy and (perhaps most importantly) have fun along the way!

Hosting Liberal Youth Conference is a great opportunity for your local party: 30, or even more, willing young activists to get out there and help you on a delivery round (at the last Liberal Youth Conference in Colchester, delegates delivered 2000 …

Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged graham watson, helen duffett and liberal youth | 3 Comments

Norman Baker responds to tar sands campaigns

By Norman Baker MP | Fri 2nd December 2011 - 9:00 am

Over the last week or so, visitors to the Lib Dem Voice may have seen articles purporting to outline my position, and that of the government’s, on the EU Fuel Quality Directive and the treatment of tar sands within it. These articles have been misleading to say the least. We in the Lib Dems have a proud history of fighting climate change and campaigning for environmental causes. This is no different in the coalition and no different to the approach I am taking on the Directive. I wanted to take this opportunity therefore to provide some facts which

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Posted in News | Tagged climate change, norman baker and tar sands | 16 Comments

Pack & Tall Debate… What’s the Lib Dem economic narrative now?

By The Voice | Fri 2nd December 2011 - 8:15 am

In the week of the Chancellor’s autumn statement, LibDemVoice co-editors Mark Pack and Stephen Tall debate what it all means for the Lib Dems…

Stephen Tall: So we now all know the painful financial reality. With growth forecasts revised down by the Chancellor in his autumn statement, austerity is here to stay.

Both Lib Dems and Tories had hoped and expected that three years of painful cutbacks would be followed by a year or two of pre-election giveaways — the Lib Dems would press for a balanced mix of increased public spending …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged alistair darling, Danny Alexander, economy, featured, Mark Pack and stephen tall | 30 Comments

Brightening up our high streets

By Mark Pack | Fri 2nd December 2011 - 7:47 am

Having high streets which look pleasant rather than grotty should be an aim for local politicians others active in their community. There is the economic reason – businesses tend to do better. There is the safety reason – as the broken windows theory argues and evidence backs up – dealing with grime and grot helps cut crime. There is also a third reason which politicians in particular are often a bit wary of saying, but quite simply having our communities look more pleasant is a desirable end in itself. You do not have to immerse yourself in aesthetic theories to appreciate …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged featured | 5 Comments

First Jewish ambassador to Israel has divided loyalties, says Labour MP

By Nick T | Thu 1st December 2011 - 7:28 pm

The Jewish Chronicle reports:

A Labour MP has caused outrage by suggesting that Britain’s first Jewish ambassador to Israel has divided loyalties because he has “proclaimed himself to be a Zionist”.

Challenged by the JC to clarify his comments about Matthew Gould, who took up the post last year, Paul Flynn, the Labour MP for Newport West, said ambassadors to Israel had not previously been Jewish “to avoid the accusation that they have gone native”.

Britain needed, he said, “someone with roots in the UK can’t be accused of having Jewish loyalty”.

The Foreign Office and MPs from across the political spectrum

…

Posted in News | Tagged alistair burt, israel, matthew gould and paul flynn | 27 Comments

LDVideo: David Laws interviewed by Mark Littlewood

By Nick T | Thu 1st December 2011 - 5:57 pm

Last week, the Director General of the Institute of Economic Affairs, Mark Littlewood, spent an hour talking to David Laws at the IEA’s Westminster headquarters. Before a packed room, Mark and David touched on a whole range of issues – taxation, Europe, the formation of the coalition, just exactly how liberal the Liberal Democrats are, and many more.

The hour-long exchange, which you can see below, is well worth a watch:

Posted in News and YouTube | Tagged coalition, david laws, european union, institute of economic affairs, mark littlewood and tax | 2 Comments

Paul Burstow MP writes… Give carers a break, not a breakdown

By Paul Burstow | Thu 1st December 2011 - 4:52 pm

Whenever I meet a carer I am humbled by their dedication and touched by the love they show in the face of daily adversity. To be a carer you have to be a pretty special person. It is also likely that you feel your tireless efforts to care for a family member or friend generally go unnoticed.

But the Liberal Democrats want to make sure this silent army of carers is recognised. Every year unpaid carers save our national services an estimated £119 billion a year, which is why we included a manifesto pledge to provide guaranteed respite care for …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged carers | 11 Comments

Liberal Democrats Police Policy Review – have your say

By James Kempton | Thu 1st December 2011 - 4:18 pm

What is the role of the police in society? Does it go beyond simply cutting crime and acting as law-keepers to include working with local communities in ways that are sometimes characterised as acting more as “social workers” or “youth workers”?

How should forces work together following the introduction of the new Police and Crime Commissioners? How do we break down barriers between forces to encourage the sharing of best practice and increased cooperation? What needs to happen to ensure that the new Police and Crime Panels (PCPs) act as a check on the power of the Commissioner and are effective …

Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged elected police commissioners | 2 Comments

Jenny Willott MP writes… Protecting a lifeline – Lib Dem success in battle for DLA Mobility Component

By Jenny Willott | Thu 1st December 2011 - 3:21 pm

With all the headlines and discussion this week about the Autumn Statement and public sector strikes, people would have been forgiven for missing an announcement from the Minister for Disabled People, Maria Miller MP, that proves once again the Lib Dem influence in Government, and fulfilling yet another Conference motion.

Maria Miller has today announced that the Government is dropping the proposals to remove the Mobility Component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) from people in residential care homes.

The reversal answers the calls our Party made last Spring in Liverpool, where we passed a motion calling for the plan to be dropped. …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged disability living allowance, duncan hames, maria miller, steve webb and welfare reform bill | 12 Comments

The Coalition’s Political Plan B, Mrs T, and TINA: what does this spell out for the Lib Dems?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 1st December 2011 - 2:15 pm

The political aftershock of George Osborne’s autumn statement is just beginning to sink in: the Coalition’s 5-year austerity programme, designed to end in 2015 by the time of the next general election, is now a 7-year programme straddling two parliaments.

This poses problems for the future of the Coalition, and for the Lib Dems in particular, encapsulated here by the FT’s Philip Stephens:

Here’s the paradox. The effect of sticking to economic plan A has been to shred the coalition government’s original political strategy. In the heady days after the 2010 election the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats signed up to

…

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged ed bals, george osborne, margaret thatcher, philip stephens and vince cable | 15 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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Christine Jardine to stand down as MP at next election

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

Caron’s kitchen table diary

Victoria Collins MP writes.. The ask that changes everything

What are Lib Dem MEPs up to when it comes to money?

How many failed the conference security checks?

Conference gets its wish – drug policy review announced

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #250

How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

“There is absolutely no chance of us winning there” – Conservative MP’s Feltham & Heston outburst

ELDR Congress: that’s another fine Mezzogiorno, they’ve gotten us into…

The Independent View | Peter Tatchell writes… Lib Dems should stick to their principles and urge Lynne not to renege on equality pledge

When should election counts be held?

No, Stephen Tall, I’m certainly NOT Daily Mail!

Opinion: We can’t refinance the economy from the meagre incomes of the poorest, only the wealth of the richest

Opinion: Our Parliamentarians must fight for our benefits policies

Opinion: Oh, what is the point?

Opinion: Wednesday’s strikes – A Lib Dem trade unionist’s perspective

Annette Brooke MP writes… Decent start to Decent Homes Programme

The weekend debate: Should the Government send a King James Bible to every school?

Lib Dem Bloggers’ Christmas stocking fillers… Part V

Alex Wilcock

The LDV Friday Five: 2 December 2011

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

Dan Rogerson MP writes… Welcoming help with water bills in the South West

Andrew Stunell MP writes… New Homes Bonus is rewarding communities that go for growth

Can’t host the Olympics? Host Liberal Youth Conference instead!

Norman Baker responds to tar sands campaigns

Pack & Tall Debate… What’s the Lib Dem economic narrative now?

Brightening up our high streets

First Jewish ambassador to Israel has divided loyalties, says Labour MP

LDVideo: David Laws interviewed by Mark Littlewood

Paul Burstow MP writes… Give carers a break, not a breakdown

Liberal Democrats Police Policy Review – have your say

Jenny Willott MP writes… Protecting a lifeline – Lib Dem success in battle for DLA Mobility Component

The Coalition’s Political Plan B, Mrs T, and TINA: what does this spell out for the Lib Dems?

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Christine Jardine to stand down as MP at next election

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

Caron’s kitchen table diary

Victoria Collins MP writes.. The ask that changes everything

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

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