Our place to talk – an independent website for supporters of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK.

The most-read independent website by and for Lib Dem supporters. Not paid for by trade unions or millionaires.

Advert

Tag Archives: Danny Alexander

Danny Alexander on Scotland Tonight: Currency union with post independent Scotland unlikely to work

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 24th April 2013 - 6:58 pm

Yesterday, the UK Government issued a 100 page report analysing an independent Scotland’s options for the currency it would use post independence. They also produced an infographic summarising its conclusions. Unsurprisingly, the report concludes that staying in the UK is the best option for Scotland. For the first time, there was a very clear warning that the Scottish Government’s preferred option of a currency union may not be achievable.

On the other hand, the Scottish Government produced its own report saying that a currency union could …

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged Scotland, scotland tonight and Scottish independence referendum | 16 Comments

Opening shortly: Autumn conference 2013 registration

By Andrew Wiseman | Wed 17th April 2013 - 5:54 pm

We are delighted to announce that members’ registration will open shortly for Autumn 2013 Federal Conference in Glasgow. We very excited that Conference is making a return to Scotland after many years’ absence.

The event will take place at the SECC (Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre), Exhibition Way, Glasgow, from 10am on Saturday 14th September to around 3:30pm on Wednesday 18th September. The conference hotel will be the Crowne Plaza.

In order to cut down on costs and be more environmentally friendly, there is a discount available for those who are content not to receive any papers …

Continue reading »

Posted in Conference | Also tagged conference accreditation, ed davey and glasgow | 9 Comments

LibLink… Danny Alexander: Coalition tackling housing crisis

By NewsHound | Wed 17th April 2013 - 3:27 pm

Danny Alexander writes in today’s Scotsman about the benefit reduction which has become colloquially known as the Bedroom Tax.

He argues that the Coalition had to take action after Labour mismanagement and failure to build houses:

However, they may not know that Labour also left a legacy whereby hundreds of thousands of families in Scotland are waiting for a house that is big enough for their family to live in. The government has a responsibility to make sure that we change housing benefit rules in a careful, sensitive and managed way. But we also have a responsibility to those families.

Housing benefit is

…

Continue reading »

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged bedroom tax and scotsman | 15 Comments

LibLink: Danny Alexander – The rich are paying more in tax under the Coalition, than under Labour

By NewsHound | Sun 7th April 2013 - 11:15 am

Over at the Telegraph, Danny Alexander follows up his piece in last week’s Sun on Sunday defending the Coalition’s benefits and tax changes — Bedroom blockers and tax dodgers will pay — but this time in less tabloid terms:

… cleaning up the mess left by Labour involves difficult decisions everyday that impact on people’s lives up and down the country. Few more so than some of the changes to our tax and welfare system that have come in this week. The welfare changes this week are difficult, but right and necessary to ensure that people are always better off

…

Continue reading »

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged tax cuts (Lib Dem) and welfare reform | 2 Comments

Danny Alexander rejects George Osborne’s comments on the Philpott case

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 6th April 2013 - 7:51 am

I told you the other night that Sarah Teather had condemned George Osborne’s comments connecting the Philpott case to the welfare system. Some people made comments along the lines that it was only a backbencher, and no Liberal Democrat minister had said such a thing. Well, yesterday, Danny Alexander did. The BBC has the story. Danny said:

George Osborne is clearly right that there needs to be a full debate about the future of our welfare system but the Philpott case is an individual tragedy. Children have died in

…

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged Philpott case, sarah teather and welfare reform | 24 Comments

LibLink: Danny Alexander – Bedroom blockers and tax dodgers will pay

By The Voice | Sun 31st March 2013 - 4:45 pm

Lib Dem chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander has published a robust defence of the Coalition’s welfare reforms in The Sun on Sunday. Here’s how it starts:

Last week a young woman came to talk to me about her housing situation. Her frustration was obvious. She was working hard in a low-paid job and was stuck in an overcrowded home with a young family and desperately needed to move to a bigger home. She couldn’t understand why she had to wait so long to get a home that was the right size for her and her family. It’s a story

…

Continue reading »

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged bedroom tax, mansion tax, tax cuts (Lib Dem), the sun and welfare reform | 50 Comments

Jo Swinson talks directly to Lib Dem members about her role in the Chris Rennard allegations

By The Voice | Sat 9th March 2013 - 10:45 am

Last night, Danny Alexander wrote this post for LibDemVoice explaining his role in the allegations concerning Lord Rennard, confirming he spoke directly to the party’s then chief executive to make clear any future conduct would have consequences: “These were not easy conversations, nor should they have been.”

Jo Swinson, whose only previous public statement on the issue was posted here on LibDemVoice, took to the stage at last night’s party conference rally to talk directly to members about how she’d handled the allegations which were …

Continue reading »

Posted in Conference | Also tagged chris rennard and Jo Swinson | 2 Comments

UK loses its triple-A rating – George should’ve listened to Danny

By Stephen Tall | Fri 22nd February 2013 - 10:40 pm

The BBC reports tonight’s predictable news:

UK’s AAA credit rating cut to Aa1 by Moody’s
The UK has had its AAA credit rating cut by Moody’s, based on its expectation that growth will “remain sluggish over the next few years”. The ratings agency became the first to lower the UK from its highest rating, to Aa1. … The UK’s net sovereign debt was the equivalent of 68% of the country’s annual economic output, or GDP, at the end of last year. All three major credit agencies last year put the UK on “negative outlook”, meaning they could downgrade its rating if

…

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged credit agencies, economy and george osborne | 54 Comments

Eastleigh by-election: your essential round-up of the week’s campaign news

By Stephen Tall | Fri 15th February 2013 - 3:45 pm

It’s only just over a week since the Eastleigh by-election was called. But this first Lib Dem / Tory by-election battle of the parliament has attracted a lot of interest. One aspect that hasn’t been noted much in the media is the level of enthusiasm within the Lib Dems to fight this by-election, and fight it to win.

As the party’s weekly briefing itself noted, Mike Thornton’s campaign has broken the party’s by-election records, with “more volunteers, more money raised and more campaign literature delivered in the opening days of the Eastleigh by-election campaign than any other”.

Here a few of the stats:

Well over 1,000 Lib Dem volunteers have visited the by-election HQ since it was officially opened on Saturday morning.
On Thursday alone, 2,200 phone calls were made to prospective voters and activists knocked on 1,700 doors.
More than 650 individual donations have been received through the party’s website and through email appeals in the last six days.
21 of the party’s 57 MPs have already visited: Nick Clegg, Danny Alexander, Ed Davey, Vince Cable, Sir Malcolm Bruce, Sir Nick Harvey, Tim Farron, Jo Swinson, David Laws, Duncan Hames, Andrew Stunell, Simon Wright, Sir Robert Smith, Stephen Gilbert, Tom Brake, Roger Williams, Don Foster, John Leech, Tessa Munt, Mark Williams, John Pugh and Adrian Sanders.

Huge amount of action this morning at our HQ! Amazing turnout. #eastleigh instagr.am/p/VtMPkhhtpR/

— Mike Thornton (@Mike4Eastleigh) February 14, 2013

Continue reading »

Posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Also tagged andrew sparrow, eastleigh by-election, ed davey, featured, julian huppert, liberal youth, matt downey, mike thonrton and vince cable | 11 Comments

Danny Alexander tells Guardian: Like for like Trident replacement “not financially realistic”

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 23rd January 2013 - 1:55 pm

In an interview with the Guardian, Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has said that it’s neither financially possible nor strategically necessary to replace the Trident nuclear missile system with a similar set up. He added that any new deterrent would have to be paid for out of the existing Ministry of Defence budget as there was no “magic pot of money” in the treasury to pay for it.

He questioned whether the current set up met Britain’s needs in a

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged guardian and trident | 14 Comments

Danny Alexander fronts… a Liberal Democrat policy

By Mark Pack | Sun 13th January 2013 - 7:41 pm

Danny Alexander sometimes attracts a bit of criticism from party members for the number of times he’s done media appearances where he’s ended up spending much of the time defending Coalition policies which are predominantly Conservative. So good to see him out in the TV studios this morning fronting up a policy that the Liberal Democrats have strongly pushed for – and thereby emphasising the Liberal Democrat contribution:

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged pensions | 3 Comments

Which Lib Dem minister had the worst year? Here’s what party members think…

By Stephen Tall | Fri 28th December 2012 - 4:55 pm

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 500 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

The Lib Dem half of the Quad top our members’ poll for the worst 2012

LDV asked: In your opinion, which Lib Dem government minister has had the worst year?

Unusually for our Voice surveys, this question allowed an unprompted, free-text response, which …

Continue reading »

Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged featured and nick clegg | 9 Comments

Paddy Ashdown: “The time for action is imminent”

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 19th December 2012 - 9:29 am

If you thought Paddy Ashdown had been a bit quiet since he was appointed General Election chair, then I can confidently predict that our time of peace is soon to come to an end. Have a good break this Christmas, Liberal Democrat activist, because if our energetic peer has his way, it’ll be the last chance you get until May 7 2015.

He emailed members yesterday to let them know 3 things.

Continue reading »

Posted in General Election and News | Also tagged Alistair Carmichael, general election 2015, kirsty williams and paddy ashdown | 2 Comments

Danny, Don and Nick stand up for Local Government in a way that Pickles never has

By Gerald Vernon-Jackson | Fri 7th December 2012 - 12:51 pm

The Autumn Statement has announced no further cuts to local government in the next financial year, with a 2% cut the following year.

We’re grateful to Danny Alexander, Don Foster and Nick Clegg for stepping in and saying “no” to further cuts to local services over the next year – in a way we just haven’t seen from the DCLG Secretary of State, Eric Pickles.

Liberal Democrat Ministers have stopped an across-the-board cut of 1% to local government next year. That means up to £240m extra that will be in council budgets every year which will help fund youth services, streets, parks, …

Continue reading »

Posted in Local government and News | Also tagged communities and local government, don foster and nick clegg | 1 Comment

Danny Alexander: “We are delivering on our number one election pledge”

By The Voice | Wed 5th December 2012 - 3:12 pm

Danny Alexander has just emailed Liberal Democrat members about the Autumn Statement, emphasising that the Liberal Democrats have delivered on their key election pledge, to raise the tax threshold to £10,000. From next April, workers will be able to keep the first £9440 they earn, meaning that someone on the minimum wage has had their tax bill halved by the Liberal Democrats.

Danny asks members to share the picture on your right on Facebook. Already the Voice’s timeline is full of them.

The Autumn Statement set out the tough decisions Liberal Democrats are taking in government to build a stronger economy and fairer society.

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged featured and tax cuts (Lib Dem) | 18 Comments

Vince Cable criticises Starbucks over ‘tax dodging’

By NewsHound | Tue 4th December 2012 - 12:32 pm

In the Guardian today, Vince Cable says that he understands why people are boycotting Starbucks.

The business secretary, when asked by the Guardian if he would consider boycotting their products, said:

I don’t shop at Starbucks so this doesn’t apply to me, but I can fully understand why people would vote with their feet as a result of their tax dodging.

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged starbucks, tax avoidance and vince cable | 13 Comments

Alexander: We’ll get under the skin of tax avoiders

By NewsHound | Mon 3rd December 2012 - 5:40 pm

Danny Alexander has announced £154 million of extra funding for HMRC to “get under the skin” of multinationals who are not paying their fair share of tax.

Some media sites are reporting that he may boycott Starbucks.

There is one slight snag with that claim.

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged tax avoidance | 12 Comments

Danny Alexander: Your money, back where it belongs, in your pocket

By The Voice | Wed 28th November 2012 - 4:56 pm

Continue reading »

Posted in Lib Dem TV | Also tagged income tax | 3 Comments

Next week in the Lords: 15-18 October

By Mark Valladares | Fri 12th October 2012 - 10:52 am

It looks as though this column may be going down in flames, now that the Lords have appointed a new Media & PR Officer, but until we do…

Days 7 and 8 of the Committee Stage of the Financial Services Bill dominate the week. And, as I still don’t understand it, I’m going to see if I can get an explanation. Watch, hopefully, this space… However, Amendment 197, to be moved by Lord Flight, requires banks to transfer accounts to a new institution, if requested, within ten working …

Continue reading »

Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged anthony lester, bill bradshaw, claire tyler, derek ezra, house of lords, Jo Swinson, kishwer falkner, robin teverson and sally hamwee | 1 Comment

Danny Alexander: fairer taxes, with everyone playing by the same rules

By Mark Pack | Tue 25th September 2012 - 12:55 pm

Fairer taxes, crack down on tax avoidance, an emphasis on the mansion tax and a low-key, getting on with the work in hand delivery: that’s Danny Alexander’s conference speech in a nutshell.

"You can move your money offshore. You can't move your mansion" – @DannyAlexander calls for mansion tax #ldconf

— Mark Pack 🔶 (@markpack) September 25, 2012

Although not quite up there with his GMB speech (still well worth a read), it was an effective one as the delivery style matched the message.

Having often heard Danny Alexander talk in the past about action needing to be taken on tax avoidance and tax evasion, I noticed a change in emphasis this time, with more talk about what has been done. That’s a good sign of progress, …

Continue reading »

Posted in Conference and News | Also tagged 2012 Brighton Conference and tax | 13 Comments

Telegraph’s annual list of 50 most influential Liberal Democrats is out…

By Mark Pack | Mon 24th September 2012 - 5:58 pm

It’s Liberal Democrat conference, so it’s time for the latest Iain Dale / Daily Telegraph list of the 50 most influential Liberal Democrats. Of course our interest in covering the story on Lib Dem Voice is in no way related to two of the team appearing in the list…

In less than shocking news, Nick Clegg still tops the list at #1. Up to #2 is Vince Cable, followed by Tim Farron, Danny Alexander and then Nick Clegg’s Chief of Staff (and former double winning general election agent) Jonathan Oates.

Going further down the rankings finds the double blogger appearances:

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged iain dale, jonny oates, nick clegg, stephen tall, tim farron and vince cable | 1 Comment

Cable: no to regional pay; Clegg: yes to taxes on wealth; Alexander: tougher tax rules

By Mark Pack | Sun 23rd September 2012 - 12:45 pm

News snippets from today:

Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show this morning, the Liberal Democrat leader ruled out the possibility of the Government filling the gap in public finances through cuts to the welfare budget – something reportedly being mooted on the Conservative benches.

He said the Government would “start at the top and work down”, and was optimistic about his chances of persuading his Conservative colleagues to agree to a so-called ‘wealth tax’.

Cable said that introducing regional pay was “completely unacceptable” and “terrible economics”. He said that although the Lib Dems were prepared to contemplate a measure of public sector pay

…

Continue reading »

Posted in Conference and News | Also tagged 2012 Brighton Conference, nick clegg, regional pay, tax, vince cable and wealth taxes | 3 Comments

Liberal Democrats to veto plan for benefits freeze

By Mark Pack | Sat 22nd September 2012 - 8:20 am

From The Independent:

Nick Clegg will veto George Osborne’s demands for a two-year freeze in most state benefits from next April and a further £10bn of welfare cuts…

The Deputy Prime Minister revealed he will block the Treasury’s demand for more cuts before the 2015 election to compensate for lower-than-expected growth. “Not a penny more, not a penny less,” he declared.

The message is reinforced Danny Alexander in The Guardian:

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Also tagged benefits, featured, nick clegg and vince cable | 7 Comments

Conference preview: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

By Mark Pack | Fri 21st September 2012 - 9:20 am

This year, the Liberal Democrat autumn conference has one day per theme, covering jobs, education, environment and tax.

Monday is jobs, with policy motions on creating jobs and policy papers on both sustainable prosperity and also on mutuals, employee ownership and workplace democracy. The first of these (F23) may generate some lively debate around an amendment that would delete the reference to keeping to the government’s “fiscal mandate”.

Continue reading »

Posted in Conference | Also tagged 2012 Brighton Conference, featured, julian huppert, paddy ashdown, steve webb and vince cable | 2 Comments

Gordon Birtwistle MP writes: Liberal Democrat Campaign for Manufacturing launches

By Gordon Birtwistle MP | Wed 12th September 2012 - 8:56 am

As someone with a long-standing interest in manufacturing, based on having over 50 years’ experience as an engineer and employer in industry, I am very excited to be a member of the newly formed Liberal Democrat Campaign for Manufacturing Group.

This much-needed group aims to promote and develop manufacturing in the UK in both existing and new areas. Whilst we have a manufacturing sector to be proud of, it does require investment. Energising this sector is key to getting the economy back on track in the current difficult economic climate.

The Liberal Democrats have already delivered a number of key policies to support …

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged liberal democrat campaign for manufacturing and manufacturing | 8 Comments

Transfer deadline day: Laws, Brake, Foster & Swinson in, Burstow, Teather, Harvey & Stunell out, Clarke loan finishes

By James Percival | Wed 5th September 2012 - 1:32 pm

I love reshuffle days, they’re just like transfer deadline day. You sit there at your office computer pretending to work while secretly updating the Guardian live blog to see who your side has brought in and let go.

So, have we strengthened the side for the second half of the season or left gaping holes in our defence?

Well, we have managed to hold on to all our big players – Cable, Alexander, Davey and Moore – and, despite losing his place to Alexander after his suspension early in the season, we now have a fighting fit Laws back and ready …

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged andrew stunell, david heath, david laws, don foster, ed davey, jeremy browne, Jo Swinson, ken clarke, lynne featherstone, Michael Moore, nick clegg, nick harvey, norman lamb, paul burstow, sarah teather, tom brake and vince cable | 3 Comments

Mid Term Review: not much to show for it in the end

By Mark Pack | Mon 3rd September 2012 - 4:25 pm

As I predicted, the Mid Term Review is peetering out into a Q&A session as the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton. As the report from the party’s Federal Policy Committee explains, glossing over a little how the plans have changed from the original ambitions:

The Coalition Government has stated its intention to have a Mid Term Review of its programme, which will be published in Autumn 2012. However, this will not be a general re-opening of the Coalition Programme for Government. Instead, it will essentially be a progress assessment exercise to identify which of the goals set out in the

…

Continue reading »

Posted in Conference and Party policy and internal matters | 7 Comments

What do we Lib Dems want from a reshuffle?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 20th August 2012 - 9:45 am

While the massed ranks of the mostly right-wing political commentariat obsess about the imminent Cabinet reshuffle, Lib Dem interest has been relatively muted.

In one sense this isn’t surprising.

As it stands, 18 of the party’s 57 MPs are on the government payroll, so Nick Clegg has little room for manouevre even among the middle ranks of government. And with only five cabinet positions (four if you exclude Nick himself as Deputy Prime Minister) there’s even less wiggle-room at the top table. Nonetheless, this reshuffle will most likely be …

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged coalition agreement, featured, fraser nelson, lynne featherstone, nick clegg, nick harvey, reshuffle and steve webb | 39 Comments

Independent View: Danny Alexander’s green line

By Liz Hutchins | Fri 17th August 2012 - 1:49 pm

Danny Alexander is right to recognise Liberal Democrats will not be forgiven for delivering George Osborne’s attacks on the environment. Alexander’s ‘Generating Growth and Jobs in a Time of Austerity’ conference motion is pretty bold and we hope it is an opening salvo in a serious re-adjustment in the Liberal Democrats’ environment agenda in Government.

Alexander’s intervention is needed. Osborne has seized the environment as an issue and is using it to play to the Tory right in an attempt to save his political skin. This has involved much tilting at wind turbines and charming his friends and relatives by proposing …

Continue reading »

Posted in The Independent View | Also tagged energy, energy policy and friends of the earth | 12 Comments

The Conference agenda – media roundup

By Mary Reid | Thu 16th August 2012 - 3:15 pm

The agenda for Autumn Conference has been online for five days, and has already attracted attention from the media. It is instructive to see which stories are picked up by whom.

The Guardian focuses on the Housing Policy paper under the headline: Liberal Democrats propose major housebuilding programme.

The Independent homes in on the motion proposed by Danny Alexander on ‘Generating Growth and Jobs in a Time of Austerity’: Liberal Democrats slam Osborne over green policies.

Our opposition to airport expansion, and the motion from Watford, are also of interest to the Independent: Lib Dems to oppose South East airport expansion plans. This is also picked up by the BBC, by ITN.

Continue reading »

Posted in Conference and News | 17 Comments

Most Read

Op-eds

Mathew on Monday: “We need to be bold” (Mathew Hulbert)
As a party we must be better defined for the 2029 general election (Chris Bowers)
From national averages to local realities: inequality in our communities (Tom Walker)
We do have a two tier system, Part 2 (Neil Hickman)
A Federal Britain: 3. Fiscal Federalism and a complete constitutional settlement (Iain Donaldson)

Advert

Recent Comments

FS People
Expats If we are being “fair to the police” we need full facts: A neighbour called 999 saying someone had been stabbed, The brothers call contains signif...
Peter Martin
@ Peter Davies, " you don’t really own anything unless you have the option to consume it" ??? I'm struggling to understand this. Am I missin...
expats
David Raw 8th Jun '26 - 6:27pm..“After all George Formby paid 19/6d in the £ on his income and still remained the greatest entertainer ever”. David, the...
Peter Martin
@ Kira, I asked Google's AI two questions: "is government spending higher per person in Scotland than England?" Ans: Public spending per pe...
Rif Winfield
When the Liberals were at our most successful in the 1970s and 1980s, it was because we were then the insurgent party, taking on both Conservatives and Labour a...