Tag Archives: chris huhne

Andy Mayer

Opinion: A lucky escape from the graduate tax?

By Andy Mayer | Mon 26th July 2010 - 4:35 pm

If the BBC is correct there is sufficient opposition within the Coalition to stop a graduate tax seeing the light of day and instead come up with a system that is like fees, but not fees, and retains some kind of link between student and university. On that we will have to wait and see what it is before commenting.

I do not though fully understand why a reputable economist like Vince Cable gave the National Union of Students’ graduate tax proposal serious consideration. Apart from the clear inconsistency and hypocrisy, Vince presided over a party tax …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | 17 Comments
Colin Challen

The Independent View: The government must go further on climate change

By Colin Challen | Tue 20th July 2010 - 11:50 am

Colin Challen was Labour MP for Morley and Rothwell 2001-2010 and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group:

I am living in hope that Chris Huhne has not been handed a poisoned chalice. From my time in parliament I know Chris to be a dedicated environmentalist who understands the issues as well as being open minded. Of course, as a former Labour MP I had differences of opinion, but on the substantive issues like the need for a proper global framework on climate change or the uselessness of nuclear power we were agreed. It is also true that on legislation …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Also tagged | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

One from the archives … Chris Huhne slams the Alternative Vote

By Stephen Tall | Sat 17th July 2010 - 4:20 pm

Actually, I’ve not trawled back that far – just five months, February this year, when the Lib Dems’ Chris Huhne launched a salvo on The Guardian’s Comment is Free against the Alternative Vote as a means of electoral reform:

is very similar to first-past-the-post in two key respects. Because it is based on single constituencies – a virtue for its proponents, who say they prize the constituency link – the parties continue to select one candidate each, and the voters only have one choice for each party. …

Conservative opposition to electoral reform gives the lie to David Cameron’s pretence that

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 10 Comments
The Voice

Huhne to end ban on councils selling green electricity

By The Voice | Wed 7th July 2010 - 7:30 pm

A news release says…

A ban on councils selling green electricity into the national grid is to be overturned, Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said today as the carbon footprint of every local council in England was published.

In a speech to today’s Local Government Association annual conference, Mr Huhne will say that he wants local councils to be allowed to sell electricity they produce from renewables to the national electricity grid.

Mr Huhne said:

“It’s ridiculous that the 1976 Local Government Act prevents councils from selling electricity from local wind turbines, or from anaerobic digestion.

“I want to see this repealed and by the …

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Posted in News | 4 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Chris Huhne and Vince Cable – The green economy is still viable

By NewsHound | Mon 5th July 2010 - 9:45 am

Over at The Independent today, Lib Dem cabinet ministers Vince Cable and Chris Huhne argue that the Coalition Government’s plans to set up a Green Investment Bank, announced in the Budget, are of huge significance for establishing a successful green economy in this country. Here’s an excerpt:

… there is much to be decided about how this might work. Bob Wigley’s comprehensive review of the issue, published last week, sets out one possible model – a commercially independent bank given clear overarching goals for green investment in new technologies and infrastructure. Innovative green financial products could give an opportunity for individuals,

…

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Mark Pack

Government moves right, political agenda moves elsewhere

By Mark Pack | Mon 28th June 2010 - 9:20 am

Whether driven by circumstance or long-term plan, the reaction of David Cameron to the general election result has been an attempt to realign British politics around the centre-right, using the need to strike – and then keep an agreement – with the Liberal Democrats as a way to drag his party away from its more right-wing elements. Doubtless future biographers will spill much ink over what might have been had he got closer to the winning post on his own, or even past it, just as the question of how pluralistic Tony Blair would have been had he not got …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 77 Comments
Iain Roberts

Daily Mail descends into fantasy over Huhne

By Iain Roberts | Sun 20th June 2010 - 2:20 pm

The right wing press has, once again, shown itself to be brazen in their vindictive hounding of Lib Dem MPs over their private lives, the latest victim being Chris Huhne who’s split from his wife of 26 years after a year-long affair with another woman.

The correct response is, of course, to ignore it – politics, like journalism, is a high pressure business and – regretably – politicians are no more immune to these things than the rest of us.  If we were to demand everyone who ever had an affair stood down from their job, the queues to sign on …

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 46 Comments
The Voice

Chris Huhne confirms he is separating from his wife

By The Voice | Sat 19th June 2010 - 6:19 pm

From the BBC:

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne has confirmed he is separating from his wife and is in a relationship with another woman.

The 56-year-old Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh, Hampshire, has been married to Vicky Pryce for 25 years. They have five children and one grandchild.

“I am in a serious relationship with Carina Trimingham and I am separating from my wife,” he said in a statement.

Ms Trimingham works in PR. Downing Street did not comment.

You can read the full report here.

Posted in News | 57 Comments
Mark Pack

Chris Huhne launched Wind Week 2010

By Mark Pack | Tue 15th June 2010 - 11:20 am

His comments about becoming a net energy exporting nation particularly caught my ear:

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 6 Comments
Mark Pack

Independent on Sunday profiles Chris Huhne

By Mark Pack | Sun 13th June 2010 - 8:35 pm

The paper reports:

This is a man who was “turned on” – yes, turned on – to the green agenda during a visit to Tanzania with The Economist more than 30 years ago. Ten years later, in a book of his published articles, he declared that it “was going to be the dominant issue in our time, in terms of the potential threat to our existence”.

“I can genuinely say that I’ve been committed on the green and climate change agenda for a long time,” he explained. “I’ve always thought what we desperately need to do is combine the commitment which so

…

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Posted in News | 4 Comments
The Voice

Nick Clegg’s message to Lib Dem members: Reforming politics & restoring civil liberties

By The Voice | Wed 9th June 2010 - 8:44 am

On Tuesday, Nick Clegg sent the following message by email to party members:

Yesterday I was proud to be at the Government Dispatch Box in the House of Commons moving a motion in support of a Queen’s Speech that committed to delivering long cherished Liberal Democrat policies.

Over the coming months we will bring forward legislation for much needed political reform and the restoration of our civil liberties. We will bring in a proportionally elected second chamber, strengthen the role of parliament, increase devolution to Scotland and Wales, regulate party funding and lobbysists, introduce the power of recall for corrupt MPs and give people a chance to vote to end First Past the Post elections for the House of Commons. All huge leaps forward in reforming our politics.

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

Deputy Leadership contest latest: Huhne backs Farron

By Mark Pack | Wed 2nd June 2010 - 9:15 pm

A news release from the Tim Farron campaign says:

Tim Farron today announced that Secretary of State for DECC, Chris Huhne, will be supporting Tim’s candidacy for Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Mr Huhne’s support comes on the same day as candidates for Deputy Leader put forward their nominating signatures to the Parliamentary Party. Other MPs who have now confirmed their support for Mr Farron include MP for Cheltenham, Martin Horwood and newly elected MP St Austell and Newquay, Stephen Gilbert.

Commenting Mr Huhne said:

“Tim Farron has the passion, experience and energy to be highly effective as deputy leader. Working alongside Nick …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 1 Comment
Duncan Brack

So, what does a Special Adviser do?

By Duncan Brack | Tue 1st June 2010 - 1:25 pm

Special advisers (or “spads” for short) tend to have a bad press. Alastair Campbell was a spad, as was Jo (“good day to bury bad news”) Moore; Andrew Blick’s book on the topic was called People Who Live in the Dark; and a contributor to a recent Lib Dem Voice exchange observed that “We made so many breaks with New Labour, why did we have to adopt their spad culture?”

Actually special advisers have a much longer history than that. One can trace their origins right back to Lloyd …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , and | 18 Comments
Mark Pack

The coalition agreement: energy and climate change

By Mark Pack | Thu 27th May 2010 - 12:45 pm

Welcome to the seventh in a series of posts going through the full coalition agreement section by section. You can read the full coalition document here.

The ultra-quick summary of this section: a long list of Liberal Democrat policies – and then a bit about nuclear.

The longer version is that however questionable the Conservative Party’s commitment to green issues looked at times before polling day (particularly when Conservative Party conference was expressing its opposition to green taxes), out of the negotiations has come a firm commitment from the Conservatives to back a long, long list of green measures. Many of …

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 8 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Chris Huhne – This is a crisis. A coalition is the only way

By NewsHound | Mon 17th May 2010 - 9:40 am

Over at The Independent yesterday, the secretary of state for energy and climate change, Chris Huhne, argued that a half-hearted deal between the Lib Dems and Tories would have appeared fragile and short-term. Our economic problems, he argues, call for tough decisions and certainty. And the constituional changes the Lib Dems have negotiated will endure:

… we face a prolonged period when we will be relying on the financial markets to lend the Government the money to bridge the largest peacetime gap between taxes and spending in our history. A fiscal problem of this scale is not resolved overnight. Indeed, no

…

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Posted in LibLink | 6 Comments
Helen Duffett

Dee Doocey: London Mayor should not take over the Metropolitan Police Authority’s role

By Helen Duffett | Fri 14th May 2010 - 2:59 pm

Commenting on the statement by Theresa May, the new Home Secretary, that she intends to push through plans for directly elected police commissioners, Dee Doocey, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly policing spokesperson and a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority said:

For ten years the Metropolitan Police Service has been accountable to Londoners through a police authority. To now place all that accountability in the hands of one person would be a serious mistake.

“Boris Johnson struggled to even chair the Metropolitan Police Authority, so the idea that he, or indeed any Mayor, could now do the

…

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Posted in London and News | Also tagged , , and | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

Don’t wake up on May 7th and say ‘I wish I’d done more’

By Mark Pack | Sun 2nd May 2010 - 2:20 pm

So says Chris Huhne:

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Posted in General Election | 4 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Chris Huhne – Voters should not give in to Tory blackmail

By NewsHound | Sat 24th April 2010 - 6:25 pm

Writing for the Financial Times, Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne exposes the Tories’ scaremongering that a hung parliament will be a disaster for the economy. Here’s an excerpt:

is to scare the voters witless about the prospect of multi-party democracy and a real change in our corrupt political system. All manner of pestilence is threatened to befall the British people if they vote other than Tory. … Of the 14 countries that enjoy the top AAA rating for creditworthiness with all three rating agencies – Fitch, Moody’s, and Standard and Poor’s – 10 have coalitions or minority governments

…

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Posted in General Election and LibLink | Also tagged | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

In praise of Chris Huhne

By Mark Pack | Thu 22nd April 2010 - 4:20 pm

As we get ready for tonight’s second TV debate, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on one of the reasons why Nick Clegg did so well in the first debate and also why the party was poised in a happy and strong position such that Nick’s debate victory boosted the party to first place in many polls. That reason? Chris Huhne.

Not only did Chris Huhne play the role of Gordon Brown in the debate preparations, but the very fact that a closely defeated leadership candidate was used in such a role reflects on how closely and how well Nick …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 9 Comments
The Voice

Harris and Huhne question legality of Labour’s ‘meow meow’ ban

By The Voice | Thu 1st April 2010 - 11:25 am

With just a fortnight until the Government’s mephedrone ban comes into effect, Lib Dem MPs Chris Huhne and Evan Harris have challenged the legality of the move (though the party has supported the ban itself). Today’s Guardian reports:

Dr Evan Harris, the Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, said the six resignations from the government’s advisory council on the misuse of drugs had left it inquorate and legally unable to issue formal advice to the home secretary. He also questioned how a decision to ban mephedrone without first publishing the council’s report on its potential harms complied with

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 9 Comments
Mark Pack

Pro-Lib Dem bias at the BBC shocker

By Mark Pack | Tue 9th March 2010 - 10:51 pm

Of course, I read that caption from earlier today as a mark of praise rather than of exasperation:

Chris Huhne on BBC TV

Posted in Humour | Also tagged | 4 Comments
Helen Duffett

Parties select their “star performers” for General Election campaign

By Helen Duffett | Tue 9th March 2010 - 6:22 pm

From the FT:

The Liberal Democrats will centre their campaign on joint appearances by Nick Clegg, leader, and Vince Cable, Treasury spokesman, in an attempt to project a blend of youth and experience.

A clutch of former Lib Dem leaders will be deployed in the regions. Paddy Ashdown is taking a hands-on role directing the Lib Dem’s defence of the south-west heartlands. Sir Menzies Campbell and Charles Kennedy will be touring seats in Scotland and the north.

The article also lists Chris Huhne (“pugnacious, quick-footed”) and Lynne Featherstone (“sound media performer”) as ones to watch in the Liberal Democrat campaign.

Read the …

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Posted in General Election and News | Also tagged , , , , and | Leave a comment
NewsHound

LibLink: Chris Huhne answers Indy readers’ questions … on non-doms, leadership ambitions and best friends

By NewsHound | Mon 8th March 2010 - 8:50 pm

Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne answers Independent readers’ question in today’s paper. Here are three which caught NewsHound’s eye:

Why are you sticking it to Lord Ashcroft when your own leadership campaign was part-funded by a “non-dom”?

All parties take contributions from non-dom taxpayers, but the Liberal Democrats do not put them into the House of Lords where they can make law for the rest of us who pay full taxes. Nor do our Lords break solemn and binding commitments to become permanently resident and pay full taxes. Nor do our Lords fail to tell our leaders that they have

…

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Posted in LibLink | 8 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Chris Huhne – Tough on crime? Jail’s not the answer

By NewsHound | Sun 7th March 2010 - 4:05 pm

Over at The Guardian’s Comment Is Free website, Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne argues tht locking up more people is a populist ploy that doesn’t cut crime. Instead, he says, we should focus on rigorous community sentences instead. Here’s an excerpt:

It should be a given that important matters of public policy are based on evidence and research, rather than political whim. Why, then, is the field of criminal justice uniquely and scandalously divorced from this obvious rule? … Both continue to try to frighten the public into the arms of their party. It is this politics of

…

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged , and | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Ashcroft finally admits, “I’m a non-dom”

By Stephen Tall | Mon 1st March 2010 - 10:10 am

The BBC reports:

Conservative donor and deputy party chairman Lord Ashcroft has admitted he is “non-domiciled” for tax in the UK. He said he agreed with David Cameron that anyone sitting in the Lords must be “resident and domiciled” in the UK.

He said he expected “to be sitting in the House of Lords for many years to come”, suggesting his status would change if the Tories win the election. Mr Cameron said, in another statement, he was “pleased” that Lord Ashcroft had decided to clarify his position.

Lord Ashcroft has donated millions of pounds to the Conservatives in recent years, much

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 10 Comments
Stephen Tall

Daily View 2×2: 1 March 2010

By Stephen Tall | Mon 1st March 2010 - 9:50 am

It’s Monday morning. It’s the 1st March, and the question everyone’s asking is, “Where the hell did January and February go?”. For our Welsh readers, meanwhile, may we wish you a very happy St David’s Day. On with the day’s main news …

Result of LDV poll on Tories’ evaporating lead

Yesterday LDV ran an insta-poll asking our Twitter followers and site readers what you thought was the main reason why the Tories’ opinion poll lead has shrunk so fast. Here’s what the 147 of you who voted told us:

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Posted in Daily View | Also tagged , , and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Conservative MP disowns leaflet in immigration row

By Mark Pack | Sun 28th February 2010 - 11:11 pm

From today’s Observer:

David Cameron’s Tories were accused last night of dog-whistle politics after the Conservative leader appeared on the front of flyers saying the floodgates had been opened to mass immigration. Critics say the flyers are alarmist and misleading because they imply limits could be imposed on entrants from EU countries such as Poland.

Last night, the party’s frontbench was forced to distance itself from the hard-hitting material, which was put out under the name of Cameron’s home affairs spokesman, Andrew Rosindell …

The Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, said: “These flyers play to people’s worst fears in an

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

“Report blows a gaping hole in the News of the World’s line that only a sole rogue reporter was involved in illegal hacking of phones”

By Mark Pack | Wed 24th February 2010 - 12:14 am

Reacting to the DCMS select committee report on “Press standards, privacy and libel”, which has just been published, Chris Huhne has said:

This report blows a gaping hole in the News of the World’s line that only a sole rogue reporter was involved in illegal hacking of phones, and reveals enormous worries about the feeble response of the Metropolitan Police in investigating what was clearly widespread illegal activity.

There are very serious issues at stake here for the privacy of the citizen and the report highlights deep concern at the weak reaction to these illegal intrusions by News International, the Press Complaints Commission ,

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 3 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Chris Huhne – The alternative vote is not the solution

By NewsHound | Tue 9th February 2010 - 4:20 pm

Over at The Guardian’s Comment Is Free site, Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne argues Labour has got it wrong in proposing a referendum on the Alternative Vote: only the Single Transferable Vote will remedy the unfairness of the present system. Here’s an excerpt:

is very similar to first-past-the-post in two key respects. Because it is based on single constituencies – a virtue for its proponents, who say they prize the constituency link – the parties continue to select one candidate each, and the voters only have one choice for each party.

That means that in the majority of parliamentary

…

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged , , and | 12 Comments
Iain Roberts

Are the Tories resigned to pushing lobby fodder?

By Iain Roberts | Tue 9th February 2010 - 10:24 am

Look at a Lib Dem election campaign, whether it’s a sitting MP or target seat challenger, and you’ll invariably find a hard working local campaigner, a local champion, and leaflets full of local stories.

That’s not at all what you see in Conservative literature. Across many seats the Tories have all but given up promoting their local campaigning credentials, or selling their candidate as the best person to be the MP. True, you’ll always find a few token stories, but the vast majority of material hitting doormats promotes Cameron, and Cameron alone.

Most of their firepower pushes the message that …

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Posted in General Election, News and Op-eds | 6 Comments
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