David Hennigan

Opinion: Why Wrexham Labour Party should be ashamed: The curious case of Aled Roberts

By David Hennigan | Thu 7th July 2011 - 12:21 pm

It’s estimated that well over 30% of the Welsh population speak Welsh as their first language – that is growing year on year. Hundreds of thousands more across the world speak it – even in a distant corner of Argentina – the valleys of a Patagonia. My partner from Rhosllanerchrugog and her family speak Welsh. They are fiercely proud of their heritage and would be absolutely disgusted with the treatment of Aled Roberts AM. It appears that they don’t speak Welsh at the Electoral Commission!

Now let me declare an interest, I don’t know Aled Roberts, I know his mum …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , and | 21 Comments
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Mike Tuffrey

Mike Tuffrey writes… Housing: time to think big on the supply-side

By Mike Tuffrey | Thu 7th July 2011 - 10:25 am

Even a cursory look at the state of housing in London instantly shows that something is profoundly wrong. Rents outside the social sector are racing ahead, up 17% last year. House prices defy the laws of gravity, up 5% despite national economic trends.

And the really scandalous thing is that it has been this way under both Mayors of London, with no sign of any fundamental change. That’s why I’ve been arguing we must focus above all else on getting the supply increased. Without that, solving the affordability question gets harder and harder: ever-rising housing and land costs means ever …

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Posted in London and Op-eds | Tagged , and | 42 Comments
Helen Duffett

Adrian Sanders MP compares the PCC to a “fishnet condom”

By Helen Duffett | Thu 7th July 2011 - 9:26 am

Enduring image of the day, and, I’ll warrant, its first entry in Hansard*, goes to Liberal Democrat MP Adrian Sanders for his contribution to yesterday’s emergency debate on phone hacking at the News of the World:

…when one considers the Press Complaints Commission, the phrase “chocolate teapot”, or indeed the phrase “fishnet condom”, comes to mind.

Our 2007 inquiry had elicited a response from News International that it had carried out a full inquiry itself and was satisfied that the Mulcaire-Goodman case was isolated. That was patently untrue. Our second inquiry encountered more obstacles: Goodman and Mulcaire refused to present

…

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged , , and | 3 Comments
Helen Duffett

Lib Dem Aled Roberts reinstated to Welsh Assembly

By Helen Duffett | Wed 6th July 2011 - 7:24 pm

Aled Roberts, one of two Welsh Assembly members disqualified shortly after May’s election because they belonged to proscribed public bodies, has been reinstated after a vote by AMs today.

The BBC reports:

Members voted to reinstate Mr Roberts after an investigation found he was misled by out-of-date guidance for election candidates published in Welsh.

He said it had been a difficult period and he now wanted to represent voters.

AMs lifted his disqualification by 30 votes to 20 in the Senedd on Wednesday, with three abstaining after a near 50-minute debate.

Mr Roberts, elected for the North Wales region, was disqualified when it

…

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Posted in Election law and News | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
Helen Duffett

Nick Clegg emails Lib Dem members about phone hacking

By Helen Duffett | Wed 6th July 2011 - 5:37 pm

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has just emailed party members, appealing for their views on next steps following the allegations of widespread phone-hacking by the News of The World:

I’m sure like me you have been shocked and appalled by the allegations of widespread phone hacking by the News of the World. As I made clear at Deputy Prime Minister’s Question Time in the House of Commons yesterday the behaviour of those involved is grotesque and beneath contempt.
 
The PM and I have agreed, as he announced today at PMQs, that there will be inquiries into both the original police investigation and

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 23 Comments
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Michael Hall

Opinion: Public services and tax policy

By Michael Hall | Wed 6th July 2011 - 3:22 pm

Nick Clegg shocked me when he said that the UK fiscal deficit is increasing by £400m every day.

Since then we have had a broadly fiscally neutral budget from George Osborne, intended to stimulate the economy. True, VAT rose to 20% but in other ways, this was a give-away budget. VAT is a regressive tax, which we all have to pay, when we buy what we need, whether we can afford it or not. There should be lower rates for household essentials such as fuel. There should be no VAT on the first £1,000 of fuel bills.

The income tax …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 33 Comments
Issan Ghazni

Opinion: The Government’s new Prevent strategy – a missed opportunity

By Issan Ghazni | Wed 6th July 2011 - 1:41 pm

The government has just launched a revamped version of the old failed and worn out counter-extremism strategy initiated by Labour whilst it was in power. Prevent was originally launched after the 7 July bombings in 2005 to stop the spread of home-grown terrorism. Labour’s approach failed, proved divisive and also led to inevitable alienation in Muslim communities. Can the new hardline approach succeed in preventing acts of Islamist violence on the streets of Britain?

The new framework runs counter to the liberal and sensible arguments proposed and hard fought for within Government by Nick Clegg and Andrew Stunell for …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
Paul Walter

PMQs: Cameron says government will hold inquiries into the phone hacking scandal

By Paul Walter | Wed 6th July 2011 - 12:41 pm

A comprehensive win for Ed Miliband today, I thought. He came to the Commons with a three point plan concerning the phone hacking scandal:

1. Hold a public inquiry under a senior figure, with the power to call witnesses on oath, to look in general at the culture and practices of the media in this country, to include relationships with the police.

2. Refer the News International BSkyB deal to the Competition Commission.

3. Call for the resignation of the Chief Executive of News International.

Cameron signaled, for the first time, that the government wants to hold inquiries into the whole affair. He refused to budge on …

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Posted in News | 9 Comments
The Voice

Revealed at last? Labour’s low carbon policy thinking

By The Voice | Wed 6th July 2011 - 11:41 am

There’s one less blank sheet of paper at Labour HQ as the party gets ready to reveal how its policy review is progressing.

Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary Meg Hillier is to give a keynote address to green executives and industry leaders which will “for the first time offer a detailed insight into the opposition’s low carbon policy thinking.”

Looking forward to finally hearing what Labour think, 9 months and 7 days after first appointed as Chris Huhne’s shadow!

Posted in News | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

A sideways look at a Liberal Democrat institution

By Mark Pack | Wed 6th July 2011 - 10:25 am

Chances are, if you’ve been to a Liberal Democrat event, you’ve bought a raffle ticket or two. Now don’t get me wrong. I like raffles. Some of my best friends run raffles. I’ve even won two raffle prizes in the last year. But for such a popular Liberal Democrat activity, we are often surprisingly poor at running them.

In perhaps three raffles out of five, by the time you get to the final few prizes, just about everyone in the room (if they are still paying attention) is impatient for the raffle to end, with too many prizes then exacerbated by …

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Posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged , , and | 8 Comments
Richard Flowers

Opinion: Nick Clegg should call for an independent inquiry into phone hacking

By Richard Flowers | Wed 6th July 2011 - 9:23 am

Yesterday, Nick Clegg called the phone hacking allegations “Grotesque” and “beneath contempt”. Today, he needs to tell the Prime Minister self-regulation by News International has failed and it is time for an independent judicial inquiry.

As Liberals, our first position has to be protection of the individual from an over-mighty vested interest. It is clear that individuals within News International in particular and the wider press in general have taken the power of the free media and abused it. That needs to be stopped.

If we cannot appeal to the Prime Minister’s moral values, we can at least appeal to his …

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Posted in Op-eds | 8 Comments
The Voice

Green Party called it wrong on phone hacking

By The Voice | Wed 6th July 2011 - 8:49 am

Just a month ago, London Green AM and Mayoral candidate Jenny Jones criticised the Metropolitan Police for spending too much time investigating phone hacking:

Jenny Jones, the Green Party member on the authority, said that the investigation, which is being handled by the Met’s serious crime directorate, was diverting officers away from more important crimes.

“Although this is not a victimless crime it is not something we should be spending a huge amount of time on,” she said.

“There are murders, child abductions and rapes that these officers could be investigating. All these people have to do is not use the

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 7 Comments
Paul Walter

DPMQs: “Grotesque” and “beneath contempt” – Clegg on the Milly Dowler phone hacking allegations

By Paul Walter | Tue 5th July 2011 - 8:45 pm

The highest profile issue at Deputy Prime Minister’s questions today was the issue of press phone hacking in the light of the allegations concerning Milly Dowler and the News of the World.

Harriet Harman asked Nick Clegg to back Ed Miliband’s call for a general public inquiry into illegality in the newspaper industry. As someone has said, this is a bit like holding an inquiry into why we get bad weather. In a sign of divisions within Labour, Chris Bryant, in contrast, has called for a more narrow inquiry.

Nick Clegg stopped short of backing an inquiry but, instead, emphasised the importance …

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Posted in Parliament | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , and | 29 Comments
Helen Duffett

Lib Dem John Dixon will not return to the Welsh Assembly

By Helen Duffett | Tue 5th July 2011 - 7:38 pm

John Dixon, the Liberal Democrat Welsh Assembly member who was disqualified in May, will not be reinstated after an investigation said he had not read the relevant rules for candidates.

He will be replaced by the next candidate on the party’s regional list: Eluned Parrott.

From the BBC:

Liberal Democrat John Dixon stood down after May’s election when it emerged he was a member of a public body to which AMs cannot belong.

On Wednesday AMs will decide whether to reinstate fellow Lib Dem Aled Roberts who fell victim to out-of-date advice.

Mr Dixon was elected for the South Wales Central region, but had to stand down because he was still a member of the Care Council for Wales, which regulates social care workers.

On Tuesday, a report by assembly standards commissioner Gerard Elias QC said Mr Dixon had not read the regulations on proscribed organisations for candidates.

“Perhaps because he was lulled into a false sense of security by his experiences in earlier elections, he honestly believed that he was eligible to be a member of the National Assembly,” the report says.

Mr Dixon, 46, a graphic and web designer, has been a Cardiff councillor for 12 years and had been an assembly candidate at two previous elections.

The report states:

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Posted in Election law, News and Wales | Tagged , , , , and | 3 Comments
Nick T

LibLink: Lord Tyler – Restore teeth to the Lords

By Nick T | Tue 5th July 2011 - 5:21 pm

Lib Dem peer Lord (Paul) Tyler recently took to the Guardian’s Comment Is Free along with Labour’s Lord (Andrew) Adonis with a joint piece arguing that their fellow members of the House of Lords should back proposals to reform the second chamber.

Here’s a sample:

Any objection that reform is taking place with undue haste will not stand up to scrutiny. It is now 100 years since the passage of the Parliament Act, which states the intention to substitute the Lords with “a second chamber constituted on a popular instead of hereditary basis, but such substitution cannot be immediately brought into operation”.

…

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Chris White

Chris White writes: Policies or personalities?

By Chris White | Tue 5th July 2011 - 5:18 pm

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, described Pope Gregory IX as ‘a Pharisee seated on the chair of pestilence, anointed with the oil of wickedness’. The Pope replied that the Emperor was the forerunner of the Antichrist and the monster of the Apocalypse. (‘The Popes’, by John Julius Norwich, 2011).

Such was political debate in the 13th century, topped up by episodes of unspeakable violence.

At this distance it seems rather laughable that an Emperor and a Prelate (especially one considering himself the Vicar of Christ) should behave like that.

But while burning at the stake is now thankfully behind us, vitriol is not. …

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Julian Huppert

Julian Huppert MP writes: 20mph – A local say on local safety

By Julian Huppert | Tue 5th July 2011 - 10:25 am

Liberal Democrats are passionate about localism. We want decisions on local issues to stay where they belong. Giving towns and villages the ability to establish 20mph speed zones empowers local communities and allows them to set speeds that are best for local people.

Unfortunately, the system in place until recently focused much less on local government than on micromanagement from Westminster. The story of the parish council of Whiteshill & Ruscombe illustrates this well. The council representing these two Gloucestershire villages paid £1000 out of its own budget to have several “20 is plenty” signs set up. But Whitehall, working from …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 13 Comments
Helen Duffett

Lib Dem Welsh AMs await their fate as report delayed

By Helen Duffett | Tue 5th July 2011 - 8:53 am

John Dixon and Aled Roberts (the ‘dangling’ Lib Dem Two) may have to wait until next week to find out whether they will be reinstated following their disqualification in May.

WalesOnline reports:

Members of all parties were due to receive a copy of an Assembly report yesterday afternoon into the case of Aled Roberts and John Dixon, who are accused of breaching rules by remaining affiliated to organisations whose members are barred from standing for office.

The report, by Gerard Elias QC, the Assembly’s Commissioner for Standards, was sent to party leaders over the weekend, and was due to go

…

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Posted in Election law, News and Wales | Tagged , , and | Leave a comment
John Hemming MP

John Hemming MP: Why I’m calling for a review of the smoking ban

By John Hemming MP | Mon 4th July 2011 - 3:11 pm

The smoking ban was a good example of how the UK tends to make bad law.

The debate at the time was whether or not to pass a smoking ban rather than how to handle the issue of smoking in public places – hence people were either for or against.

I supported, and still support, a general smoking ban. However, at the time it seemed clear to me that there was a strong argument for having ventilated smoking rooms.

What has developed is a situation where a number of pubs and clubs have lost custom with people drinking and smoking at …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 76 Comments
Chris Davies

Chris Davies MEP writes: Conservatives and climate change – Tuesday’s revealing vote in Strasbourg

By Chris Davies | Mon 4th July 2011 - 12:49 pm

While Energy Secretary Chris Huhne is at the fore of efforts in the European Council to raise EU ambitions for reducing CO2 emissions, Conservative MEPs are refusing to back the Government’s position, and look set this week instead to demonstrate their real views about efforts to curb global warming.

At issue is a vote due to take place in Strasbourg on Tuesday that will determine the Parliament’s stance on the European Commission’s strategy to promote a low carbon economy. The result is on a knife edge.

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Posted in Europe / International, News and Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , and | 21 Comments
Alex Marsh

Opinion: Distinctive positions on housing

By Alex Marsh | Mon 4th July 2011 - 10:21 am

There is no doubt some soul searching going on at the moment, in part as a consequence of the poor result at the Inverclyde by-election. I’m sure the leadership will seek to dismiss poor election results at this stage in the electoral cycle as to be expected when you’re “in government”. But that can hardly carry much weight, given the Tories aren’t doing anywhere near as badly. It seems to me that rather deeper reflection is needed. Is it clear any more what the Liberal Democrats stand for? Why would someone – beyond the most unwaveringly committed – vote for …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 41 Comments
Laura Willoughby

Liz Rorison passes away

By Laura Willoughby | Mon 4th July 2011 - 9:10 am

As many of you know, our dear friend and colleague, Liz Rorison succumbed to a short illness on the 24th of June.

Music was such an important part of Liz’s life it is no surprise that she is fondly remembered for giving melody to the party’s liberal enthusiasm at the annual Glee Club. Nearly everyone shares the memory of her at the piano playing with huge energy and with a great big smile on her face as Ralph Bancroft led the party faithful in a rendition of The Land.

She first played the piano at an informal singing gathering at the Scarborough …

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Posted in Obituaries | Tagged | 8 Comments
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #228

By The Voice | Sun 3rd July 2011 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 228th 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 (26 June-2 July 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:

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Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment
Lee Dargue

Opinion: Muscular liberalism works, but only if you exercise the muscles

By Lee Dargue | Sun 3rd July 2011 - 4:21 pm

Nick Clegg had a visit to Birmingham on Wednesday, and members had the chance to question him in a private location. He invited the “vitriol” of people, as well as hopefully some positive questions, as he accepted, as leader, he has to take the flak.

He gave some interesting responses to questions ranging from the interventions in Libya, education policy and what people should do to help hold and increase support for the party.

It was this last point that struck a chord with me, because Nick espoused a view that I’ve held for months – we cannot allow …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 24 Comments
Ruthe Isden

The Independent View: Social care and the Dilnot Commission

By Ruthe Isden | Sun 3rd July 2011 - 2:19 pm

Last year’s Liberal Democrat manifesto promised that “We will establish an independent commission, with cross-party support, to develop proposals for long-term care of the elderly.” The new Government took swift action on this manifesto call, setting up an independent commission chaired by Andrew Dilnot in July last year. This week, the Commission on the Funding of Care and Support will present its recommendations on how social care funding can be reformed to ensure a sustainable and affordable care system for the future.

Age UK’s recent report, Care in Crisis, highlighted the serious issues plaguing our care system. At …

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Posted in The Independent View | Tagged , , and | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem MPs set to rebel over ‘back-door’ nuclear power subsidy

By Stephen Tall | Sat 2nd July 2011 - 4:15 pm

‘Liberal Democrats have long opposed any new nuclear construction. Conservatives, by contrast, are committed to allowing the replacement of existing nuclear power stations provided that they are subject to the normal planning process for major projects (under a new National Planning Statement), and also provided that they receive no public subsidy.’

So declares the Coalition Agreement. However, as the Guardian reports, the finance bill due to be debated this coming week introduces a form of subsidy, and it’s attracted opposition among the party:

A large group of Lib Dems are concerned about clause 78 of the bill, which MPs will consider

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , , , and | 26 Comments
Paul Burstow

Paul Burstow MP writes: Social care’s little secret – it’s never been free

By Paul Burstow | Sat 2nd July 2011 - 2:43 pm

None of us know if we will need care in the future, or how much it might cost. But we do know that 1 in 4 of us will face care costs of more than £50,000. What’s more, 1 in 10 will be unlucky enough to face care costs of more than £100,000 in our older age. This is social care’s nasty little secret.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 10 Comments
Andy May

Opinion: Unfair and unbalanced – the scandal of print media referendum coverage

By Andy May | Sat 2nd July 2011 - 1:37 pm

Buried amongst the furore caused by #harigate this week was a pretty damning ruling by the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) against the Sun and the Daily Mail. The complaint in question was made in relation to the AV referendum nearly two months ago by Electoral Reform Services – the business arm of the Electoral Reform Society (ERS).

The Sun and Mail were asked by the PCC to print letters apologising for some articles run during the AV referendum campaign. The article which ran on page 2 of the Sun and the front page of the Mail quoted George Osborne after he stood up in Parliament to claim that the ERS, one of the major funders of the Yes campaign would benefit financially from a ‘yes’ vote. This story was then re-run by Sky News and the BBC – subsequent rebuttals gave the story legs across a range of national media outlets.

You can be forgiven for not noticing since few journalists like to turn the spotlight on their own profession’s sometimes questionable practices.

Let’s just think about the context in which this fallacious claim was printed:

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 14 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV doesn’t do statporn, but if we did (June 2011)

By Stephen Tall | Sat 2nd July 2011 - 12:05 pm

… We’d say a big thank you to the 39,604 ‘absolute unique visitors’* who read Liberal Democrat Voice in June. This brings our absolute unique visitor readership for the last year to date (1 July 2010 – 30 June 2011) to 522,590.


The 5 top-read stories during the month were:

  1. Andrew Reeves passes away (38) by Mark Pack
  2. Response: Chair of Federal Conference Committee on increased security measures (153) by Andrew Wiseman
  3. Why Simon Kelner is wrong to defend Johann Hari (27) by Stephen Tall
  4. Opinion: Why you should be taking Lembit Opik seriously (61) by Richard Clare

…

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Posted in Site news | Tagged | 2 Comments
Caron Lindsay

What does the Inverclyde result mean for the Scottish Liberal Democrats?

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 1st July 2011 - 6:51 pm

As Helen Duffett reported early this morning, the Inverclyde by-election saw Labour holding on to the seat, but with a dramatically reduced majority over the SNP. This was always going to be a tight fight between those two. You would think that Labour would be the likely victor, but the SNP came within 500 votes of unseating them in May’s elections. With the SNP in majority control at Holyrood, how would they fare in this first electoral test?

Scotland has felt very different since the Holyrood elections. The political environment feels a lot darker. In the run up to the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 25 Comments
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