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Michael Moore

Michael Moore MP’s Westminster Notes

By Michael Moore | Published Wed 18th January 2012 - 6:55 pm

Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore MP writes a regular column for local newspapers in his constituency. Here’s the latest edition, covering his busy week at Westminster and in the Borders.

Independence Referendum

Deciding on the future of our country and whether it remains in the UK or becomes independent will undoubtedly be the most important decision we Borderers make in our lifetime. Here in Berwickshire, we are very close to our English neighbours and enjoy the freedom of travelling and trading between the two countries. With questions which need answering on the SNP’s plans for an independent Scotland, …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

Campaign Corner: How do I deal with information overload?

By Mark Pack | Published Mon 16th January 2012 - 3:50 pm

The Campaign Corner series looks to give three tips about commonly asked campaign issues. Do get in touch if you have any questions you would like to suggest.

Today’s Campaign Corner question: Aarrgh! There’s just too much information online. How do I cope?

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Posted in Campaign Corner | Tagged | 1 Comment
Sid Cumberland

Has our police force been ‘completely transformed’ by the Lawrence case?

By Sid Cumberland | Published Fri 6th January 2012 - 1:15 pm
Like the summer riots, the Stephen Lawrence case provides us with yet another attitudinal Rorschach test; we screw our eyes up, peer closely, and conclude that what we have seen is just what we expected. At least, that’s my view, after hearing Paul Dacre’s astonishing self-congratulation on Tuesday.

For him, the verdict was ‘a glorious day’ for the Lawrences, the police, British justice, politicians, British newspapers (especially, of course, the Daily Mail, without whose ‘relentless campaigning’ none of this would have happened).

For me, it was a good day; but it was also a reminder of

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

By Mark Pack | Published Wed 4th January 2012 - 2:46 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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Jock Coats

Opinion: Liberating the land – prosperity through Rigorous Liberalism

By Jock Coats | Published Tue 3rd January 2012 - 4:35 pm

The central tenet of what I call “Rigorous Liberalism” is that a truly liberal state would seek to eradicate economic, social and class barriers to equal opportunity before creating more government programs to subsidise people at a disadvantage in markets distorted by decades or centuries of privilege and rent-seeking.

Nowhere is this need more obvious than in land, planning and housing policy. Artificially restricting land supply drives up land prices and drives down housing quality. If customers can only afford so much and most is sunk into land costs there’s not a lot left for competition to drive up …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , | 18 Comments
Mark Pack

Get your skates on and submit a motion to Liberal Democrat conference about wealth taxes

By Mark Pack | Published Tue 27th December 2011 - 9:25 am

Nick Clegg’s recent ‘open society’ speech confirmed that increases taxes on wealth in some form is very much on the political agenda. However, the default party policy option – a mansion tax – was highly controversial in the party when it was introduced (which is rather a polite term for the rolling lesson in how to bungle a policy launch, annoy MPs, irritate party members and feed negative stories to the media all in one fell swoop).

In other words – now is a very good time for the party to be debating what form of wealth taxes it favours, especially after the opportunity was missed at the party’s autumn conference. As I wrote at the time in Tax: The missing ingredient from the Liberal Democrat conference agenda,

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Posted in Op-eds, Party policy and internal matters | Tagged , , , , , , | 35 Comments
Liz Hutchins

The Independent View: FIT for purpose

By Liz Hutchins | Published Tue 20th December 2011 - 3:53 pm

Every day the economic storm clouds get darker and darker as the recession deepens and unemployment soars. Over the past two years one new sector has offered a glimmer of hope: the UK solar industry. But Government cuts to solar payments this month are set to devastate a home-grown economic success story and pull the plug on tens of thousands of clean energy jobs.

Today Friends of the Earth and two solar firms are taking the Government to court. Ministers are slashing cash-back for generating green energy through solar panels, ahead of plan.

Pulling the funding rug from under …

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Posted in The Independent View | Tagged | 10 Comments
Lorna Dupré

Opinion: MeRRRy Christmas!

By Lorna Dupré | Published Tue 20th December 2011 - 12:53 pm

Like many of us, I’ll be braving the supermarket aisles over the next few days, ready to feed visiting family. This year, however, in more straitened financial circumstances (aren’t we all?), I’m very aware of how much food I’ve wasted over Christmases past, and determined not to make that mistake again.

Research by environmental organisation WRAP shows that each year we throw away one third (6.7 million tonnes) of the food we buy, over a quarter of that still in its packaging. The average person will have thrown away their own weight in food between January and December. And …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 7 Comments
Prateek Buch

Lords Rennard, Carlile, and Lester, with Lynne Featherstone, defend rules on religious civil partnerships

By Prateek Buch | Published Fri 16th December 2011 - 10:20 am

The House of Lords yesterday dismissed fears surrounding new regulations allowing religious institutions to celebrate same-sex civil partnerships on their premises. Some campaigners hard argued that such rules could force them to do so against their will, an argument that was laid to rest by Peers. In doing so, they gave the green light to liberal religious organisations to allow same-sex couples to register their civil partnerships under their auspices.

The Lords debated Conservative Peer Lady O’Cathain’s motion to have new regulations on civil partnerships delayed because of fears that equality campaigners could use the Equality Act 2010 or the Human …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments
Nick T

Nick Clegg leads business fightback in Europe

By Nick T | Published Thu 15th December 2011 - 6:55 pm

The FT reports:

Nick Clegg yesterday made a very public display of engagement with business over Europe as the deputy prime minister convened a business breakfast with Business For New Europe, a pro-single market group. Mr Clegg, flanked by Vince Cable, Danny Alexander, Chris Huhne David Laws, wanted to get the message across that he had dusted himself down and was ready to begin work on rebuilding relations on the continent after a bruising week for Britain.

But beyond the photo shoot and crafted media message lines, was a second, more exclusive meeting between Mr Clegg and the director-generals of key lobby

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments
Andrew Stunell MP

Andrew Stunell MP writes… Tackling empty homes is shaping up to be a Coalition success story

By Andrew Stunell MP | Published Tue 13th December 2011 - 12:45 pm

As some of you will no doubt be aware, last week was National Empty Homes week. It managed to garner a lot more attention than normal thanks to a week of action from the Empty Homes Agency, who worked together with Channel 4 presenter George Clarke on a series of programmes that focussed on tackling the housing crisis, and in particular on empty homes.

George’s campaign is a welcome one, and comes at an important time. I regularly describe the number of empty homes we have in the UK as a national scandal. We have enough long-term vacant …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments
Mark Pack

How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

By Mark Pack | Published 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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Mark Pack

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

By Mark Pack | Published 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 …

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Posted in News, Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments
Lee Dargue

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

By Lee Dargue | Published 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 …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , | 14 Comments
Norman Baker MP

Norman Baker responds to tar sands campaigns

By Norman Baker MP | Published 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 , , | 16 Comments
The Voice

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

By The Voice | Published 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 …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , | 30 Comments
Stephen Tall

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

By Stephen Tall | Published 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

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , | 15 Comments
Manmeet Kaur

The Independent View: 1 in 7 people go hungry every day. But you can help. Here’s how…

By Manmeet Kaur | Published Thu 24th November 2011 - 9:17 am

It is a shocking fact that whilst enough food is produced globally to feed everyone, one in seven people go hungry every day. Around half a billion of these hungry people are smallholder farmers who struggle to grow enough food from their land to feed themselves and their families. So Concern Worldwide has launched a campaign action for you to use your influence to help tackle hunger.

World leaders of the Group of 20 leading economies met in Cannes in November 2011 and promised to address the issue of hunger. However, despite some progress, the issue was largely …

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Posted in Europe / International, The Independent View | Leave a comment
Stephen Tall

And in other Lib Dem news…

By Stephen Tall | Published Sat 19th November 2011 - 6:35 pm

A quick round-up of four Lib Dem stories not otherwise covered here on Lib Dem Voice this week…

Lib Dem revolt on solar subsidies crackdown…

The Guardian splashes on how ‘Liberal Democrat councillors and MPs are preparing to revolt over the coalition government’s crackdown on solar subsidies, as a growing number have been greeted with stiff opposition from outraged householders and companies fearing swingeing job cuts.’ Lucy Care wrote about this topic here on LDV earlier this month.

Rochdale Lib Dem defects to Tories…

The Manchester Evening News reports: ‘Coun Jean Ashworth, who represents Smallbridge and Firgrove, resigned as a Lib …

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Posted in News | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

Clegg: the Coalition’s priorities must be “jobs and growth, jobs and growth”

By Stephen Tall | Published Thu 17th November 2011 - 8:10 am

The intertwined topics of the economy and Europe has continued to dominate the political scene this week. But as Europhobic Tories continue to froth at the thought of England’s the UK’s retreat from its neighbours, Nick Clegg has maintained a decidedly mainstream approach, and attempted to shift the focus back from constitutional niceties to economic reality. Here’s how The Guardian reports Nick’s words:

Nick Clegg has clashed with David Cameron over Europe as he warned that only “populists, chauvinists and demagogues” would gain from protracted negotiations on treaty change. The Liberal Democrat deputy hit out the day after Cameron used

…

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Posted in Europe / International, News | Tagged , | 18 Comments
Stephen Tall

Southwark Lib Dems face questions over Ministry of Sound donations: 3 important points to consider

By Stephen Tall | Published Tue 8th November 2011 - 1:30 pm

Southwark Lib Dem councillors and local MP Simon Hughes have been in the spotlight the past 24 hours following their decisio to oppose a planning application objected to by the Ministry of Sound, a prominent donor to the party. BBC News reports:

Political donations to the Liberal Democrats from a nightclub chain totalling almost £80,000 went undeclared as its councillors discussed a tower block development opposed by the firm, BBC London has learned.

The Ministry of Sound, in Elephant and Castle, south London, was fighting to prevent developer Oakmayne building a residential tower block nearby. The club feared noise complaints from

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , | 11 Comments
Mark Pack

How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

By Mark Pack | Published Sat 5th November 2011 - 1:15 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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Paul Walter

PMQs: Tim Farron asks “Question of the week” – Ed Balls signals four runs

By Paul Walter | Published Fri 4th November 2011 - 7:53 pm

In my ever-earnest toil to prepare this review, this week I have been reviewing web sites which explain cricket umpire signals. I also checked the umpire signals for netball, American football and baseball.

There is no doubt about it. Ed Balls was signalling a four at Prime Ministers’ Questions. His hand was a bit lower than normal, but it would pass to signal a boundary at Morley Cricket Club.

For a change, I’m going to stand this review on its head this week and concentrate on questions from backbenchers, starting with Liberal Democrats.

Question of the week came from Tim Farron:

The world population

…

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Posted in Parliament, PMQs | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments
Marc Oxley

Opinion: How to tackle over-population for the sake of our planet

By Marc Oxley | Published Mon 31st October 2011 - 5:15 pm

Monday, 31st October 2011, is ‘7 billion Day’, the day chosen by the UN to represent symbolically the world’s human population reaching 7,000,000,000.

In 1800, the world’s population was approximately 1 billion. We ‘achieved’ 2 billion in 1927, 3 billion in 1960, by 1999 it had doubled to 6 billion, and it has taken 12 years to reach 7 billion. By the middle of the century the best estimates are that it will be around 10 billion. (You can find the UN’s figures here.)

Medical advances and public health measures have led to much lower infant mortality and much greater longevity. …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , | 9 Comments
Nick T

LibLink: Paddy Ashdown – Libya’s path to democracy

By Nick T | Published Thu 27th October 2011 - 10:28 am

Lord (Paddy) Ashdown recently penned a piece for the Guardian with some thoughts on how Libya should now move towards a functioning democracy following its liberation. The rule of law, in the short term at least, is more important than elections, according to Paddy.

Here’s an extract:

If there is one thing more fraught, more attended by failure and more difficult to do than fighting a war, it is building the peace which follows. Our modern wars are fought in weeks or months – but building the peace is measured in decades. Wars are violent and swift. Building peace is long, painful

…

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Posted in Europe / International, LibLink | Tagged , | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Lynne Featherstone vs Steve Hilton on maternity pay

By Mark Pack | Published Mon 17th October 2011 - 7:25 am

From yesterday’s Observer:

In a wide-ranging interview with the Observer, Featherstone said it was vital the coalition delivered on its family-friendly rhetoric … In a forthright attack on some of the advisers shaping government policy, she criticised the role of Adrian Beecroft, a venture capitalist tasked with reporting to the prime minister on how to cut regulation on business. Beecroft is understood to have recommended a U-turn on government policies on shared parental leave and flexible working.

The proposals, outlined in a white paper, would allow couples greater freedom to co-ordinate maternity and paternity leave. A separate proposal would make it

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Independent View: Evidence that candidates make a difference

By Jo Silvester | Published Fri 14th October 2011 - 10:23 am

The Liberal Democrats in England took an important step in 2007 when they decided to review the approval process for parliamentary candidates. The aim was to develop a modern system capable of identifying, supporting and developing the best possible political talent in order to ensure the Party could field candidates with the qualities, skills and values needed to build public support and win seats.

Although change can take a long time in politics, four years on it is hard not to be impressed at what the Party has achieved.

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters, The Independent View | Tagged , , | 3 Comments
Ruth Bright

Opinion: None shall be enslaved by….maternity?

By Ruth Bright | Published Wed 12th October 2011 - 3:54 pm

Nick Clegg bemoans the maleness and paleness of the Lib Dems and his sense of shame that our parliamentary party is 88% male seems genuine enough.

What is it about the culture of Lib Dems that has brought about this striking gender imbalance?

My own experience as a councillor and candidate is that being a (young, childless, solvent) woman is a huge advantage. When I was approved and selected in 2001 you could almost smell the desperation of the party to promote women. The glass ceiling – what was that?

But then I did what women do and I had children and …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , | 29 Comments
Mark Pack

How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

By Mark Pack | Published Tue 4th October 2011 - 11:55 am

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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Mark Pack

Someone likes Liberal Democrat conference…

By Mark Pack | Published Sun 2nd October 2011 - 9:50 am

Over on Dale & Co Gareth Knight writes:

Any Conservative, including Iain Dale who attends the Liberal Democrat conference, remarks how impressed they are with the mere fact the conference is where party members openly and robustly confer on policy. The exhibition stands at the Liberal Democrat conference include dozens of party groups as well as the recent deluge of large companies and organisations desperate to suck up to the party they’ve proudly ignored until now. The agenda for conference is focused on policy papers with speeches for and against where the party leadership will frequently get involved in the

…

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Posted in Conference | Tagged , | Leave a comment
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