Paul Walter

PMQs: Bits start to fall off Cameron’s wagon

By Paul Walter | Wed 22nd June 2011 - 7:53 pm

After last week’s Miliband success at Prime Minister’s Questions, this time we started off with Ed Miliband in softly softly mode. He asked about Libya and the service chiefs’ concern about an extended campaign. Displaying a becoming measure of gravitas, he also asked whether the defence review should be revisited in the light of the “Arab Spring” which William Hague has described as more important than 9-11. That’s a good question given that the review didn’t mention Libya, Tunisia or Egypt.

David Cameron said he has been assured by the military grand fromage that we could keep the campaign going as …

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Posted in Parliament and PMQs | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , and | 9 Comments
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Paul Strasburger

Lord Paul Strasburger’s maiden speech

By Paul Strasburger | Wed 22nd June 2011 - 3:47 pm

In recent months, LDV has been bringing its readers copies of our new MPs’ and Peers’ first words in Parliament, so that we can read what is being said and respond. You can find all of the speeches in this category with this link. Last night, Baron Strasburger, of Langridge in the County of Somerset made his maiden speech in the House of Lords during a debate on the House of Lords Reform Draft Bill. His words are reproduced below.

My Lords, it is a very great honour indeed to be making my first speech in your Lordships’ …

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Posted in Speeches | Tagged | 3 Comments
Jo Shaw

Opinion: Opportunity knocks for Nick Clegg and UN Women

By Jo Shaw | Wed 22nd June 2011 - 1:53 pm

In January of this year, I appointed myself a Godmother. Not of a child (I’m already a godmother to one of them, and she’s fabulous, plus I was asked!), but of an organisation – UN Women. As part of the campaign to assist the launch of UN Women, VSO is campaigning for Godmothers (of both sexes), to ensure that UN Women gets the support, financial and moral, it needs for its vital work.

Women have been at the heart of the world’s events over the past few months. Whether it’s campaigning against the driving ban-or-is-it-a-ban in Saudi Arabia, the …

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Mark Pack

The Liberal Democrat influence on government… in David Cameron’s own words

By Mark Pack | Wed 22nd June 2011 - 12:26 pm

From David Cameron’s Radio 2 appearance this week:

If I was running a Conservative-only government I think we would be making further steps on things like immigration control or making sure that our welfare reforms were absolutely making sure that if you’re not prepared to work you can’t go on welfare.

That’s a very broad hint as to the extent of Liberal Democrat success in altering what he would like to do to the immigration and welfare systems.

Hat-tip: Politics Home.

Posted in News | Tagged | 10 Comments
Julian Huppert

Julian Huppert MP writes: Under-18s must have the right to choose their future

By Julian Huppert | Wed 22nd June 2011 - 10:54 am

Our constitution has many interesting anomalies, but to me one of the most obvious has always been the way we treat the ‘nearly-adults’ in our society. Our 16 and 17 year olds are subject to a whole set of rules that are thrown out of the window when they turn 18; similarly, they are unable to do a whole set of things that they are suddenly allowed to on that most auspicious day. We don’t let these nearly-adults vote, have credit cards or bind themselves into a credit agreement. They can, however, commit themselves to an extended period in the …

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Mark Pack

Campaigning in your local community

By Mark Pack | Wed 22nd June 2011 - 7:42 am

In the latest edition of ALDC’s Campaigner I previewed their next publication, written by myself and Shaun Roberts:

UPDATE: Campaigning In Your Community has now been published and is available for purchase.

In communities across the country there are improvements just waiting for a successful campaign to bring them about. Yet there are also people – far too many people in far too many places – who do not believe they and their neighbours have any power to change the streets around them, let alone the wider world.

Helping bring about those changes and helping people realise their own power should be at the …

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Helen Duffett

“It was a virtuoso performance” – Viscount Astor on Lord Ashdown on Lords reform

By Helen Duffett | Tue 21st June 2011 - 11:17 pm

Reading tonight’s Lords Hansard at bedtime (as you do), I’ve just found Paddy Ashdown’s speech from this evening’s debate on the House of Lords Reform Draft Bill.

Viscount Astor (Conservative), who spoke next, said:

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Ashdown, has just given a speech that I am sure will be used by every Liberal Democrat candidate who wishes to stand at an election to this House in the future. It was a virtuoso performance. I am afraid that my contribution will be somewhat more modest.

If you do wish to stand at a future election to the House of Lords, I’m reproducing Paddy’s speech below so you can get memorising right away.

What did Baroness Boothroyd say that Paddy found so bloodcurdling? Why would he happily exchange wisdom for legitimacy? How would history have been affected if the House of Lords had been constructed differently?

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged , , , , , and | 16 Comments
Paul Walter

PMQs update: Cameron faces allegation of ‘misleading’ the House of Commons

By Paul Walter | Tue 21st June 2011 - 6:23 pm

In my PMQs review for May 18th, I paraphrased this answer from David Cameron as recorded here in Hansard as follows:

I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for allowing me to clear this up. When I read about Mr Britnell being my adviser, I was slightly puzzled, because I have never heard of this person in my life, and he is not my adviser. However, I did a little research, and it turned out that he was an adviser to the previous Government. Oh, don’t worry, there is plenty more. He helped to develop Labour’s

…

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Posted in News | Tagged | 4 Comments
Prateek Buch

Opinion: This is the Social Liberal moment

By Prateek Buch | Tue 21st June 2011 - 4:25 pm

After months of planning, and not inconsiderate last-minute scrambling, the Social Liberal Forum’s first ever conference took place at City University on Saturday; envisioned by Hackney’s Geoff Payne and put into action by the outstanding team he led, the conference (#SLFconf on Twitter) was a massive success from so many perspectives.

Firstly, there was the interest generated by having two Cabinet Ministers and the Party’s Deputy Leader speaking – Vince Cable’s speech was carried live by the BBC and Sky news was also filming throughout the day. Of course the Ministers were a significant draw, but the packed-out audience was …

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Kirsty Williams AM

Kirsty Williams writes: Slow progress in Wales

By Kirsty Williams AM | Tue 21st June 2011 - 3:25 pm

We are six weeks from the elections and the Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Government getting on with the job they were elected to do – governing and legislating. The Scottish Government is demanding more fiscal powers and they are rocking the constitutional boat. Whether you agree with the SNPs policies or not, they are doing something. The story in Wales is different.

The first major government announcement in Wales came on Tuesday when the First Minister rose to his feet to outline his Welsh equivalent of the Queen Speech. This should have been a momentous occasion since the people …

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Posted in News, Op-eds and Wales | Tagged , and | 3 Comments
Andrew Cook

Opinion: Bombardier – the end is nigh?‏

By Andrew Cook | Tue 21st June 2011 - 1:41 pm

Just over a year ago, I wrote on Lib Dem Voice that the future for the Bombardier train building plant at Derby looked precarious. At that time, my fears were around the deep spending cuts that we were being forewarned of. Happily those cuts have not so far seriously affected transport spending. But last week, the same Derby Litchurch Lane Bombardier plant suffered a severe blow when the Department for Transport announced that the order for new trains to work the Thameslink service in London is likely to go to Siemens in Germany. Siemens builds fine trains (although, as …

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Mark Thompson

Opinion: The progressive case for aligning pension ages across the public and private sectors‏

By Mark Thompson | Tue 21st June 2011 - 11:17 am

The government is pressing ahead with plans to align pension ages across the public and private sectors. By 2020, both men and women in the private sector will have their retirement ages aligned at 66. But if the public sector is left unreformed, many people working within it would still be able to retire with their public sector pension available from the age of 60 or 65 (depending on whether they are male or female).

There is a progressive case to be made for aligning the public and private sector in this respect. Recent research has shown that currently the …

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Stuart Bonar

Opinion: Taxpayer foots £6.7m NO 2 AV leaflet bill

By Stuart Bonar | Tue 21st June 2011 - 10:26 am

We all remember the supposed concern the NO 2 AV campaign had for the British taxpayer. You’ll remember – who could forget? – their claim that the Alternative Vote would cost £250m, and that this’ll kill babies and soldiers. You might also remember David Blunkett’s polling-day admission that that was all nonsense, but, hey, all’s fair in love, war and politics, and I guess they were just really concerned about saving taxpayers’ money. After all, TaxPayers’ Alliance founder Matthew Elliott headed up their campaign.

Just to underline how much they cared about the public purse, they …

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Mark Pack

Stinging rebuke for Great Ormond Street’s management in The Lancet

By Mark Pack | Tue 21st June 2011 - 8:23 am

Writing in the latest edition of The Lancet, one of the world’s most respected medical journals, its editor Richard Horton says,

If GOSH’s management team had been in Wigan they would almost certainly have departed by now. Perhaps GOSH is just too important to be seen to fail. Even when a child dies. (The Lancet – free registration required)

The reason for his comment that had it been another hospital, the management team would have been sacked or resigned by now is the criticisms levelled at the hospital not only for its role in the death of Baby Peter but …

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Nick T

David Laws interviewed in the FT

By Nick T | Mon 20th June 2011 - 4:55 pm

This weekend’s Financial Times magazine featured (registration required) a lengthy interview with Liberal Democrat MP for Yeovil, David Laws, by the paper’s political editor, George Parker.

David is extremely open about his personal life in the interview, talking about the effect of what he calls the “triple bashing” he underwent (having his previously-much-guarded personal life exposed by The Daily Telegraph during the course of an expenses story for which he later received a Commons suspension, as well as losing his newly-found Cabinet career).

Here’s a sample:

Laws looks back on the 44 years before May 28 2010 as if it was another life: “Your

…

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 7 Comments
Colin Green

Opinion: The Unpalatable Truth – Pensions Have To Change

By Colin Green | Mon 20th June 2011 - 3:21 pm

Pensions are again in the news. This time concerning the public sector. For a number of years now, private sector pension schemes have been closed or have changed from defined benefits into simple money purchase schemes. Why is this happening and what can we do?

In 1900, average life expectancy was just 50 years of age. Few people lived long enough to retire. By the 1950s, average life spans had reached 70. The state pension was introduced at age 65 giving 5 years of retirement after 50 years of work. Since then life expectancy has risen to 80, yet we still …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 16 Comments
Mark Pack

Vince Cable on equalities

By Mark Pack | Mon 20th June 2011 - 1:54 pm

As part of the Social Liberal Forum conference last weekend, I took part in a blogger interview with Vince Cable and took the chance to ask him about his attitude towards equalities issues. My reason for asking is that I’ve always viewed Vince as a firm liberal on such matters (perhaps in part because of his own personal history) but there have been plenty of murmurings that his department are rather keen on abolishing regulations in this field.

His answer was very …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 10 Comments
Jenny Willott

Jenny Willott MP writes: Calling for a fair rise in the State Pension age

By Jenny Willott | Mon 20th June 2011 - 11:17 am

In 1970 a person reaching 60 could expect to live a further 18 years. Last year, they could expect to live another 28 years. Advances in healthcare, living standards and technology mean that people in the UK are living longer and life expectancy is rapidly increasing.

This is something we should celebrate, but it is also something for which we must plan. We cannot expect people to work until they drop but the longer people spend in retirement, the more strain this puts on public services and, in particular, on the Government’s ability to pay people a decent pension.

Last year around …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 16 Comments
Nick T

Where next for Lib Dem ‘muscular liberalism’?

By Nick T | Mon 20th June 2011 - 10:25 am

Over on the BBC News site, BBC political correspondent Norman Smith has written a piece looking at how the Liberal Democrats will continue to exert their influence in a more public way within the coalition after the combined effect of the AV referendum, the local election results and the success of the party’s push to re-think the NHS reforms.

As Norman says:

From the top to the bottom of the party, there is a hankering for clear yellow lines running through government policy.

However, where those lines should be drawn to best reassert the Lib Dems’ independence, is much harder to agree.

There …

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Lee Dargue

Opinion: The Social Liberal Conference was a major success

By Lee Dargue | Mon 20th June 2011 - 9:41 am

The SLF conference was a major success. Yes, it was “full” – David Hall-Mathews careful not to refer to the event as “sold out”. Yes, lots of people debated and tweeted like crazy on subjects ranging from NHS reforms to the history of the American fridge. But it wasn’t the numbers or amount of talking we did which was the most important. It was the fact that there is still a groundswell of progressives alive and well in the Liberal Democrats. In fact, since entering government with the Conservative party, and with a recent “win” (yet to see how it …

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Mark Pack

News in brief: The disappearing alarm clock, Vince Cable’s favourite moment and more

By Mark Pack | Mon 20th June 2011 - 8:55 am

The police have returned the paperwork related to David Laws’s expenses – which suggests that they have not found anything in it worthy of legal action.

Asked by me at the weekend what his favourite moment had been since last year’s election, Vince Cable said it was getting drive an Aston Martin DB9 at 150mph. He swiftly added that this was on a racetrack rather than a road…

On a more substantive issue – he was also hopeful that a mutual buyer could be found for Northern …

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 4 Comments
Dominic Mantle

Opinion: Cable’s GMB speech encapsulated coalition tensions

By Dominic Mantle | Sun 19th June 2011 - 7:56 pm

The Business Secretary Vince Cable’s speech to the GMB annual conference last Monday received significant attention. Some media coverage would have us believe that the senior Lib Dem had brazenly threatened trades unions with serious curbs on their strike powers. In fact, Cable had qualified his brief hint of this possibility with the admission that present circumstances merited no government action.

Within the context of unions’ criticism of government cuts to jobs and services, Cable’s introduction to the table of the possibility of changes to strike law may have been a strategic manoeuvre intended to dissuade industrial action planned …

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The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #226

By The Voice | Sun 19th June 2011 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 226th 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 (12-18 June, 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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Iain Roberts

Thank you EARS, but the VAN is coming

By Iain Roberts | Sun 19th June 2011 - 3:20 pm

Back in March, Mark Pack reported on a momentous move in the Lib Dems: from the EARS election software to Voter Activation Network, or VAN, which is used by Democrats in the US and the Canadian Liberal Party, amongst others.

EARS has done sterling service for the party over the years. I first used the DOS version of the software in the mid-nineties, when it had already been around for a few years. Younger readers may not have encountered the joys of the paper “Shuttleworths” that were used before EARS: sheet after sheet of knock-up lists, laboriously …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 54 Comments
Mark Pack

Chris Huhne: we need smart regulation in the energy sector

By Mark Pack | Sun 19th June 2011 - 1:25 pm

Yesterday Chris Huhne spoke at the Social Liberal Forum‘s conference on smart regulation for the energy sector:

It’s a pleasure to speak at the first conference of the Social Liberal Forum.

We Liberal Democrats have always prided ourselves as a party of ideas – and they’re needed more than ever now that we’re in government. Whatever your view of The Orange Book back in 2004, it did at least trigger a debate about Liberal ideology, about what it means to be a Liberal Democrat in today’s Britain. I was pleased to contribute both to The Orange Book and to its

…

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Stephen Tall

‘Renegades with a mission’ – the Sindy’s verdict on the Social Liberal Forum

By Stephen Tall | Sun 19th June 2011 - 11:43 am

The Social Liberal Forum — a group of Liberal Democrat members who advocate ‘that a democratic and open state has a positive role to play in guaranteeing individual freedom’ — met yesterday for their first conference on a high note: their mobilising role at the party’s spring conference is widely credited with having strongly influenced the Coalition’s changes to the controversial NHS reforms.

Here’s how the Independent on Sunday, with an inevitable nod towards stereotypes, reports the gathering:

Welcome to the first annual conference of the Social Liberal Forum – the home of “proper” Liberal Democrats. Not the quasi-Tory,

…

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Stephen Tall

Does Labour have a ‘Plan B’ for the economy at the next election?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 19th June 2011 - 9:15 am

The question is repeatedly asked of the Coalition and its economic policy of deficit reduction: do you have a Plan B? (It is, by the way, a ludicrous question to ask — Steve Richards, the left-leaning Independent commentator, has acknowledged as much: ‘The debate is silly because no Chancellor can acknowledge an alternative route in advance.’)

But if the question’s going to continue to be asked, let’s at least do it the justice of turning it round: does Labour have a Plan B? The thought was in particular prompted by this excellent post — unambiguously titled, Labour must stop …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 8 Comments
Stephen Tall

Cable and Alexander on union strike threats: there’s got to be pensions reform, but we want to negotiate

By Stephen Tall | Sat 18th June 2011 - 8:25 pm

With trade unions threatening “sustained and indefinite” strike action if the Coalition goes ahead with its aims to reform public sector pensions in line with Labour peer Lord Hutton’s recommendations, Lib Dem cabinet ministers have been sticking to a simple message to calm the situation: there has to be reform, but we’re very hapy to engage in constructive negotiation.

Here’s Lib Dem business secretary Vince Cable speaking today:

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Stephen Tall

“Delivering this is going to be very difficult” – Tory peer Strathclyde’s verdict on Lords reform

By Stephen Tall | Sat 18th June 2011 - 6:10 pm

Let’s start with the good news — Lord Strathclyde, the Tory leader in the Lords is a self-styled “long-term supporter” of reform of the Upper House. Now for the bad news — he’s pessimistic that the Coalition will actualy deliver elected senators by 2015, the deadline set by deputy prime minister Nick Clegg.

Here’s what m’Lord Strathclyde (who inherited a seat from his grandfather at the age of 25) has to say in an interview in today’s Financial Times:

“To me the dream scenario would be . . . getting in place by the end of the next session and then going forward

…

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged , , , , , and | 7 Comments
The Voice

Top Cornwall Conservative councillor defects to Lib Dems

By The Voice | Sat 18th June 2011 - 4:25 pm

Jeremy Rowe’s blog has the news:

Jan Powell, the widely respected Chair of Cornwall Council’s Health Committee, has joined the Liberal Democrat Group at County Hall. This has been as a result of the continuing disintegration of the Tory-led administration at the Council and also the work the Lib Dems have been doing locally and nationally to protect the NHS from Andrew Lansley’s controversial ‘reforms’.

Jeremy reproduces Jan’s letter explaining her decision, which concludes:

There has to be openness and transparency in everything we do and consultation must mean exactly that. Over the last 12 months there has been a marked contrast

…

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Posted in Local government | Tagged , , and | 2 Comments
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