Linda Jack

Linda Jack writes: Public services – open for whom?

By Linda Jack | Sat 16th July 2011 - 12:20 pm

It seems extraordinary to me, that hot on the heels of conference having, so recently, resoundingly rejected the marketization of the NHS and the concept of outsourcing to “any willing provider” – Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander yet again embrace an approach to delivering public services in the Open Public Services White Paper that flies in the face of Lib Dem policy and values. What is deeply shocking to me and I am sure many of you, is the assertion in the introduction that:

We are not the first government to realise the power of open public services, others have

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 39 Comments
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Helen Duffett

End of term report for Lib Dem MPs’ Class of 2010

By Helen Duffett | Sat 16th July 2011 - 10:51 am

As the House of Commons rises this Tuesday, the BBC’s Gavin Stamp gives new MPs of all parties his end-of-term report.

Here’s what he has to say about the new Lib Dem intake:

New entrants were small in number but still accounted for almost one in six of the Parliamentary party.

No new MPs made it into the ranks of ministers or were asked to head up a series of backbench committees designed to help the party retain an independent voice on issues outside the coalition.

However, Gordon Birtwhistle and Duncan Hames became parliamentary private secretaries, the latter also finding time to

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Posted in Parliament | Tagged , , , , , , , , , and | 2 Comments
Chris White

Chris White writes: Approving Police Commissioner candidates

By Chris White | Sat 16th July 2011 - 8:55 am

Readers of LDV will have noticed that there is an announcement about Police Commissioner candidates – presumably placed by the English Party.

Of course, none of us want these elections (and most councillors in other parties don’t either) but it’s in the Coalition agreement and so we are to an extent stuck with a particularly silly bit of the Tory manifesto. Such, I guess, is the nature of Coalitions.

What is troubling, however, is the fact that the English Party has decided to play the centralist card: candidates need in essence to be approved like parliamentary candidates.

One of the main …

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Posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged , , and | 14 Comments
Helen Duffett

Nick Clegg’s reply to party members’ emails on phone hacking

By Helen Duffett | Fri 15th July 2011 - 7:37 pm

Last week, Nick Clegg emailed Lib Dem members to appeal for their views on next steps following the allegations of widespread phone-hacking by the News of The World.

Over at Richard Morris’s blog, you can find a copy of Nick’s reply:

This is clearly an issue that so many people in our party – myself included – feel strongly about. I received over 1000 emails within just 24 hours of my request and I think this is testament to our party’s democratic culture and willingness to engage with the issues that really matter. As you know, events are moving very

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 15 July 2011

By The Voice | Fri 15th July 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

  1. Opinion: Nick Clegg didn’t suck up to Murdoch – that’s why his minions tried to destroy him (28 comments) by James Percival
  2. Stephen Gilbert MP writes: UK housing policy in crisis (22 comments) by Stephen Gilbert MP
  3. In Praise of Nick Davies, the British Bernstein & Woodward to Murdoch’s Nixon (8 comments) by Stephen Tall
  4. Opinion: Liberal Democrats didn’t just avoid Murdoch, we tried to cut him down to size (37 comments) by James Percival
  5. Brian Paddick writes: The Lib Dem Guide to phone hacking (10 comments) by Brian Paddick

5 sample LDV Members’ Forum threads

  1. That old time zone issue
  2. Switching to renewable energy
  3. Generation Y – the key to community politics?
  4. News Corporation – Vince was Right – Dare we say it?
  5. Someone should send this guy a membership form…

5 from the LDV archive

(14-15 July, 2007-10)

  1. What a difference three months makes #nickcleggsfault (16 comments) by Stephen Tall, from 2010
  2. Opinion: With Liverpool in my mind (26 comments) by Ed Randall, from 2010
  3. CommentIsLinked@LDV: Chris Huhne – Fresh questions for the News of the World (0 comments) by the Voice, from 2009
  4. Channel 4 News: Zac Goldsmith has “questions to answer” about election spending (17 comments) by Stephen Tall, from 2010
  5. Nick gets the Twitter-bug (0 comments) by Stephen Tall, from 2009

5 top reader search returns to get to LDV

(excluding Liberal Democrat Voice or its variants)

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Helen Duffett

Council by-election result: 14 July 2011

By Helen Duffett | Fri 15th July 2011 - 3:48 pm

Norfolk CC, Old Catton
Con 664 (40.6; -8.2)
LD Bob Fowkes 414 (25.3; +11.8)
Lab 377 (23.0; +12.2)
UKIP 107 (6.5; -9.7)
Green 75 (4.6; -6.0)
Majority 250
Turnout 25.7%
Con hold
Percentage change is since June 2009.

Full by-election info and commentary at the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors.

Posted in Council by-elections | Tagged and | 5 Comments
Alex Foster

Is John Healey as dumb as a bag of spanners?

By Alex Foster | Fri 15th July 2011 - 2:51 pm

In the grand scheme of things, not a lot of people know the rules MPs are subject to when it comes to using parliamentary stationery.

If you were an MP with a boatload of postage-paid envelopes, you could probably abuse them with impunity, and send them out unsolicited to 95% of your constituents without getting any redress.

But there is one group of people who are much more likely to know the rules: people who work in politics. A subset of those are councillors. And if you are really keen on getting shopped to the House authorities, who best to …

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Posted in Parliament | Tagged | 7 Comments
Kirsty Williams AM

Kirsty Williams AM writes: Getting down to business in Wales

By Kirsty Williams AM | Fri 15th July 2011 - 2:37 pm

The long running saga of the ‘Welsh Lib Dem two’ has now been resolved but not without some pain. While Aled Roberts was able to re-take his seat as an Assembly Member, it was clear in the National Assembly that John Dixon did not have the same support.

I would like to pay tribute to John Dixon. He has served the public diligently and with distinction on Cardiff Council. He would have been an enormously effective and hard working Assembly Member. He has paid a very high price and I would like to pay tribute to him for the dignity with which he has handled the situation over the past two months.

Aled Roberts too has had a difficult couple of months but he is now back in the Assembly where he belongs and we have wasted no time in getting down to business and I have been able to announce the team that will hold the government to account.

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Posted in Wales | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , and | 1 Comment
Mark Valladares

House of Lords Reform: the Joint Select Committee calls for evidence

By Mark Valladares | Fri 15th July 2011 - 1:41 pm

Whilst the News of the World scandal has drawn virtually all of the attention, the clock has started ticking on the work of the Joint Select Committee on the Draft House of Lords Reform Bill. Comprising twenty six members appointed from both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, it is charged with considering the draft Bill and reporting by 29 February 2012.

At its first meeting, which took place on Monday, such decisions as how often it would meet were discussed, but the key decision was to proceed with a Call for Evidence. This represents your …

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Helen Duffett

How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

By Helen Duffett | Fri 15th July 2011 - 12:53 pm

Why not get our latest headlines by email? Hundreds of Lib Dem Voice readers already do.

Some people like regularly visiting Lib Dem Voice to see the latest stories. Others like to look out for us on Twitter. And some like to subscribe to our RSS feed and check that way.

But if you prefer email, you can sign up for our daily early morning email with a summary of the previous day’s posts from Lib Dem Voice. It has convenient links to click through to the full article, and a note of how many comments each post has got.

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Richard Morris

So, Rebekah Brooks has finally resigned

By Richard Morris | Fri 15th July 2011 - 10:53 am

This is obviously a good thing, and the right thing. Her position was untenable, and as I’ve blogged before – whether she knew what was going on in the newsroom when she was editor of the News of the World is irrelevant. She was in charge, and needed to take responsibility.

However, I can’t help but worry that this is a still all part of a bigger tactical game being played by News Corp. Wait til Friday to resign – fewer journalists working over the weekend, less time to make more of the story. Time it for the morning the …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , and | 18 Comments
Helen Duffett

Police and Crime Commissioners: Lib Dem candidates start here

By Helen Duffett | Fri 15th July 2011 - 9:26 am

The Liberal Democrats are inviting potential candidates for the new Police and Crime Commissioner posts, which, if the legislation is passed, are expected to be elected in May 2012.

The party wants to encourage the widest possible range of applicants so the membership can select from the best possible choice of candidates.

So if you’re interested in applying, you need to be an approved Parliamentary candidate:

The Bill to create directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners is currently before Parliament. The first elections of Police and Crime Commissioners are expected in May 2012.

The English Regional Parties will be inviting applications to be candidates

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters and Selection news | Tagged , and | 19 Comments
The Voice

“Liberal Way Forward for the Press: Free, Accountable, Plural” – Nick Clegg’s speech in full

By The Voice | Thu 14th July 2011 - 3:15 pm

This morning Nick Clegg gave a speech on freedom, accountability and plurality of the media at the Institute for Government in London.

Here’s the full text:

This has been one of those weeks in which it really feels like something big has changed. Pillars of the British establishment have been put under the spotlight – the media, politicians, the police – with public confidence in each crumbling before us.

As the Prime Minister explained yesterday, the Government has set up an Inquiry into these events. A two-stage, judge-led Inquiry looking, without delay, at the culture, ethics and practices of the British

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Posted in News and Speeches | Tagged , and | 12 Comments
Brian Paddick

Brian Paddick writes: Housing is the most important issue facing London

By Brian Paddick | Thu 14th July 2011 - 11:52 am

When I told the BBC’s John Sopel, minutes after the result of the last London Mayoral election was announced, that my second preference vote had gone to the ‘Left List’ candidate Lindsey German, he would not believe me. There were many of her policies I did not agree with but her party was passionate about building more social housing in London. In every debate during the campaign I found myself in agreement with her and disagreeing with the other candidates on that issue.

I believe housing is the single most important issue facing London and this is why.

Quite rightly a priority …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 22 Comments
Paul Burstow

Paul Burstow MP writes: Keeping competition in its box

By Paul Burstow | Thu 14th July 2011 - 9:06 am

Mention the words “competition” and “the NHS”, and you will often get the same two responses. A misapprehension which confuses competition with privatisation. But also an instinctive desire to reject new providers in order to protect the NHS. We understand this reaction, and we understand why people are cautious about competition.

The creation of the NHS is a cherished part of the liberal story. It was a liberal, working in a Coalition, who first imagined the NHS and its values of healthcare available to all, free at point of delivery, based on clinical need, not ability to pay. That’s why Nick Clegg has consistently made it crystal clear that we will never privatise the NHS. And why you will never have to pay for your NHS care under our watch.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 25 Comments
Mark Littlewood

Mark Littlewood writes: Sharper axes, lower taxes

By Mark Littlewood | Wed 13th July 2011 - 4:02 pm

Today sees the Institute of Economic Affairs publish its own version of the Comprehensive Spending Review. The research report – Sharper Axes, Lower Taxes: Big Steps to a Smaller State – calls for a radical downsizing of the public sector and sketches out the colossal tax cuts which would become possible. Accompanying opinion poll research, conducted by ComRes, shows overwhelming public support for such a strategy.
 
For all the sound and fury surrounding the coalition’s fiscal retrenchment, its proposals are actually amazingly modest. In real terms, public spending will fall by a mere 3% or so between now and the …

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Posted in Op-eds | 59 Comments
Helen Duffett

LibLink | Reforming public services puts power with the people – Alexander and Letwin

By Helen Duffett | Wed 13th July 2011 - 2:35 pm

After Nick Clegg’s HuffPo debut yesterday, Danny Alexander has co-written a piece with the Conservatives’ Oliver Letwin on the Government’s Open Public Services White Paper:

Our society is blighted by the persistent failure to extend equal opportunity, dignity and worth to all. Inequalities in access to good schools, high quality healthcare, safe places to play, culture, sporting opportunities, decent homes and so much more leave our society less free, less fair and less united.

In order to ensure that every citizen is given the opportunities they deserve this Coalition Government has already moved quickly to lower taxes for the

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged , and | 10 Comments
Paul Walter

PMQs: The tectonic plates shift

By Paul Walter | Wed 13th July 2011 - 1:06 pm

Oh, what a joy to be Leader of the Opposition at times like these!

Prime Minister’s Questions today was certainly one of the most important this year. David Cameron has been in a sort of partial purdah for the last few days, no doubt preparing his answers. What we got was quite a substantial exposition of the response to what I’ll call, for the purposes of brevity, “Murdochgate”.

The exchange between Cameron and Miliband started with a large degree of agreement. Indeed, it was almost as if the PM had pulled the rug from under the Leader of the opposition by …

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Posted in PMQs | Tagged , , , , , , and | 12 Comments
Mike Tuffrey

Mike Tuffrey writes… My kinda campaign … working towards success in 2014

By Mike Tuffrey | Wed 13th July 2011 - 11:53 am

Ol’ blue eyes himself, Frank Sinatra, used to sing about “My kinda town…” Rest assured, I won’t be singing. But let me tell you about London – my town – and the kind of campaign I intend to run as our candidate to be Mayor of London.

The test of success in the 2012 campaign isn’t just the number of votes we win in the Mayor contest – it is how many Assembly members we get elected and how many councillors, councils and MEPs we get elected in 2014.

Our very best London-wide campaigning in the past – such as that led …

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Posted in London and Op-eds | Tagged , and | 4 Comments
Rachel Coleman Finch

Opinion: Schools should suit working parents

By Rachel Coleman Finch | Wed 13th July 2011 - 10:18 am

Like many parents of four-year-olds right now, I’m preparing for the big move to primary school this September. Our new school is doing a great job of easing the transition from nursery for our son; but as full-time working parents the difference between nursery and school is deeply stressful.

Nursery is run for working parents: open 8-6, three meals a day provided, flexible arrival and departure time, and one itemised monthly bill. School is very different: closed 14 weeks of the year, and finishing around 3pm the other 38. A whole mini-industry of breakfast clubs, after-school clubs, holiday clubs and summer schools has grown up to fill the gap for families who can’t have an adult at home so much of the time. Each one has its own waiting list, hours, costs, payment methods and reputation for quality … or not. Even school dinners are paid for separately. With less than 2 months to go, we’ve a lot of arrangements still to sort out.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 46 Comments
Helen Duffett

The cheque bounces back

By Helen Duffett | Wed 13th July 2011 - 8:54 am

The government said yesterday that it would scrap plans to abolish cheques after strong opposition from a variety of groups representing tradespeople, the elderly and disabled, and charities.

From the FT:

A controversial plan to abolish cheques has been scrapped, after banks were warned in parliament that they had “scared the pants off middle England”.

Worried members of the public sent more than one thousand letters and emails to MPs after it was announced that the 350-year-old payment system was to be phased out by late 2018.

The U-turn came after the government indicated it would intervene unless a suitable alternative was found.

The

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
Helen Duffett

Hughes, Farron and Foster write to Rupert Murdoch – full text of letter

By Helen Duffett | Wed 13th July 2011 - 6:53 am

Simon Hughes, Tim Farron and Don Foster have written to Rupert Murdoch about the proposed take-over of BSkyB by News International.

They ask Murdoch to respond to public opinion by changing his commercial strategy in the UK: withdrawing his News Corporation bid for BSkyB and concentrating all his efforts on cleaning up News International.

The letter in full:

Proposed take-over of BSkyB by News International

Ever since the report of our Information Commissioner ‘What Price Freedom?’ and the conviction and imprisonment of Goodman and Mulcaire in 2006, there has been growing concern about the policy and practices of UK newspaper titles owned

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , , , , and | 3 Comments
The Voice

“Yates must go” – Dee Doocey exposes News International and Met Police’s cosy relationship

By The Voice | Tue 12th July 2011 - 5:18 pm

A Freedom of Information Request has revealed that the then Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman and Assistant Commissioner John Yates had lunches and dinners with News of the World and executives of News International while investigating alleged criminal allegations against the News of the World.

Dee Doocey, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly policing spokesperson and member of the Metropolitan Police Authority said:

Such a cosy relationship between the News of the World, News International and senior Met police officers who were leading an inquiry into the News of the World phone hacking allegations goes to the very heart of the

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Posted in London and News | Tagged , , , , , and | 2 Comments
Helen Duffett

LibLink Nick Clegg: Regulating media, empowering citizens

By Helen Duffett | Tue 12th July 2011 - 4:37 pm

Nick Clegg has a piece in Huffington Post UK today, on media regulation, responsible reporting and replacing the Press Complaints Commission.

He calls new news outlets, such as the newly-launched UK version news and comment website Huffington Post, “a welcome breath of fresh air” at a time when public confidence in the media establishment is being rocked by phone-hacking allegations.

Here’s an excerpt:

The hacking scandal throws up an array of insights. But one in particular stands out to liberals: information is power. It always has been. When elites deploy secretive and opaque practices, it is nearly always to protect their own

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged , , , , and | 7 Comments
Mark Valladares

Opinion: Liberal Bureaucracy – Killing Your Party With Its Song?…

By Mark Valladares | Tue 12th July 2011 - 3:13 pm

This is quite a hard post to write. After all, I’ve been a party bureaucrat for more than a quarter of a century, from my embryonic days as Secretary General of the Young Liberals, via incarnations as a Returning Officer, a member of the English Candidates Committee and stints as Regional Secretary in both London and now the East of England.

Once upon a time, I took the view that, if I couldn’t, or wouldn’t, campaign, what I could do was do the boring, yet necessary stuff that enabled the Party to fulfil its organisational obligations, thus freeing up people …

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Posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | 15 Comments

Opinion: Liberal Democrats didn’t just avoid Murdoch, we tried to cut him down to size

By James Percival | Tue 12th July 2011 - 1:53 pm

In my last post for Lib Dem Voice, I pointed out that Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems had never courted Murdoch and his cronies.

Actually, that was just the half of it.

We didn’t just avoid him. We have tried, in different ways over a number of years, to cut the media mogul down to size and clamp down on the sort of abhorrent media practices that have been exposed of late.

As far back as 1994, the year before Tony Blair chose to fly to Oz to lick Rupert Murdoch’s boots, we were calling for the OFT …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , , , , and | 38 Comments
Helen Duffett

London Mayoral candidate shortlist and revised timetable published

By Helen Duffett | Tue 12th July 2011 - 12:18 pm

London Region Liberal Democrats have announced the shortlist of four for the selection of the party’s Mayoral candidate for 2012:

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Posted in London and News | Tagged , , , and | 10 Comments
David Boyle

Opinion: Time to publish the magical ratio

By David Boyle | Tue 12th July 2011 - 10:21 am

A week is a long time in politics, but it also sometimes seems to move at a glacial pace.

It is now two decades since Bill Clinton won the presidency on the slogan that ‘trickle down economics’ doesn’t work. Yet even a couple of years ago, there was Labour’s Peter Mandelson being ‘relaxed’ about people getting ‘filthy rich’.

Well, finally things seem to be shifting. Even Max Hastings, of all people, writes in the Financial Times that “gross disparities seems likely sooner or later to promote an upheaval, perhaps graver now than most western societies can now envisage.”

It certainly seems to …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 18 Comments
Helen Duffett

Vince: Liberal Democrats will approach BSkyB takeover deal “without fear or favour”

By Helen Duffett | Mon 11th July 2011 - 5:47 pm

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 7 Comments
Nick T

LibLink: Tim Farron – The phone-hacking stench will linger

By Nick T | Mon 11th July 2011 - 5:27 pm

Yesterday’s Independent on Sunday featured an op-ed by Liberal Democrat party president, Tim Farron, on the ongoing phone-hacking scandal. Tim makes the point that while both Labour and the Conservatives (Labservatives, anyone?) spent much time and effort ingratiating themselves with News International in all its guises, the Liberal Democrats resisted any such activity.

Here’s a sample:

Labour and the Conservatives spent decades cosying up to Rupert Murdoch and his cronies in the hope of an endorsement or a favourable headline. The Liberal Democrats did not.

What David Cameron, Tony Blair or Gordon Brown knew about the practices of the newspapers they sought to

…

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged , and | 10 Comments
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