Tag Archives: Danny Alexander

Tax and the Budget: which part of the government will win the upper hand?

By Mark Pack | Mon 7th February 2011 - 6:59 pm

David Cameron’s comments over the weekend that he wants to cut tax but now is not the time gives a very strong indication as to what the overall impact will be of any new measures in next month’s Budget – no net tax cuts. But no net tax cuts is not the same as no tax cuts.

Two different ideas were also floated over the weekend, from credible looking sources even if they were also both formally denied by the government. They were to move even further towards the planned £10,000 basic income tax allowance and also to tax non-doms …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged non-doms, tax and vince cable | 2 Comments

The Liberal Democrat challenges for 2011: the economy

By Mark Pack | Mon 20th December 2010 - 11:25 am

This is the first in a series of posts on the main Liberal Democrat challenges for 2011 we’re running over the festive season. You can find all the posts as they appear here.

The state of the economy is central to the fate of the Liberal Democrats, both because it is so important in shaping people’s perceptions of the government and also because the better the economy does the more scope there is to get public interest in Liberal Democrat achievements in other areas. No matter how wonderful the government’s green achievements, for example, they would get very little attention …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged economy, lib dem challenges 2011 and vince cable | 23 Comments

“Lib Dems plotting council tax hike for second homes”

By Mark Pack | Sun 28th November 2010 - 11:24 am

So reports the Independent on Sunday:

Owners of second homes could be stripped of their council tax discount under Liberal Democrat plans to raise millions of pounds for town halls.

Danny Alexander, the Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury, is among ministers who back ending rules that force local authorities to cut bills by 10 to 50 per cent for owners of weekend bolt-holes. In a Commons motion, the Lib Dem president, Tim Farron, suggested the cost of providing the discount could be spent on local services or cutting council tax bills for all…

Mr Farron, whose Cumbrian constituency has more than

…

Posted in News | Also tagged council tax and tim farron | 27 Comments

Federal Policy Committee elects its three Vice-Chairs

By Mark Pack | Thu 18th November 2010 - 8:44 pm

Last night Cambridge MP Julian Huppert, former Oxford West and Abingdon MP Evan Harris and Jeremy Hargreaves were elected to be the Federal Policy Committee’s three Vice-Chairs. Evan and Jeremy have long been high-profile figures in the party’s policy-making process and Julian has rapidly joined their ranks as his profile in the party has risen over the last couple of years.

So what is notable about the trio is not any of their presence in it, but that Danny Alexander, former FPC Vice-Chair and in charge of the 2010 manifesto team but now a Cabinet Minister, is no-longer one of the …

Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged evan harris, federal policy committee, jeremy hargreaves and julian huppert | 6 Comments

Nick Clegg wins Spectator’s Politician of the Year

By Helen Duffett | Thu 18th November 2010 - 12:09 pm

The Spectator’s annual Parliamentarian of the Year Awards ceremony took place last night.

Nick Clegg was named as the magazine’s Politician of the Year, while Danny Alexander and George Osborne were awarded Best Double Act.

The Mail has the photos, and Standard diarist Olivia Cole reports David Cameron’s topical joke:

Best was his line on the “spectacular” coupling. “I can’t believe,” he said, “that someone middle class, from the Home Counties, could get together with someone so wealthy whose family own a string of mansions.”

Not Kate … he was talking about his beautiful relationship with Nick Clegg. Touché.

You can read …

Posted in News | Also tagged david cameron, george osborne, kate middleton, nick clegg, olivia cole and the spectator | 15 Comments

Opinion: cuts in welfare are the hallmark of a selfish society

By Tom King | Fri 22nd October 2010 - 10:45 am

During the Conservative Party Conference, George Osborne announced a simple change to child benefit. He took a difficult and historic decision to remove payments to households with at least one higher rate taxpayer, saving an estimated £1 billion of public money from going directly to the highest paid 12% in our society.

In what turned out to be my last blog post, I railed – somewhat hysterically – against the reaction to this modest cut. It was clear that the right wing press would oppose such a move. But what was less clear, and more galling, was the way the …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged david cameron, george osborne, nick clegg, spending cuts and welfare reform | 44 Comments

Danny Alexander on the Spending Review: “We have done the right thing”

By Helen Duffett | Thu 21st October 2010 - 6:09 pm

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has just emailed Liberal Democrat members with a message about this week’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

Here’s the full text:

When we came into office, we inherited an economy that was on the brink. With the largest budget deficit in Europe and no plan for tackling it, Britain faced huge economic risks. These could only be dealt with by a clear plan to deal rapidly with the worst financial position this country has faced for generations.

On Wednesday, we set out that plan. And while the scale and pace of the action we need to take is unavoidable, we can choose how we do it. The Spending Review sets out those choices:

Posted in News | Also tagged comprehensive spending review 2010 | 91 Comments

Nick Clegg on the spending review

By Mark Pack | Wed 20th October 2010 - 11:04 am

Here is Nick Clegg’s email to party members about today’s spending review. What’s notable about the content is the strong continuation of the ‘love everything the coalition is doing in public’ line – rather than talking up what is being done differently because Liberal Democrats disagreed with Conservatives.

Notable also is the continuation of Nick’s strong emphasis on the importance of early years education. It is an issue that he has consistently spoken passionately about being one of his priorities even though, as recent events have shown, the party more widely has often preferred to place a great emphasis on other …

Posted in News | Also tagged nick clegg and vince cable | 30 Comments

A mixed press today for Danny Alexander

By Mark Pack | Sat 16th October 2010 - 6:20 pm

Paul Walter has picked up on some less than flattering comments, including from an anonymous Liberal Democrat “grandee”, about Danny Alexander:

Danny has gone completely native…He should be the Lib Dem man in the Treasury. But he has turned into the Treasury man in the Lib Dems. Perhaps Danny could look slightly less pleased with himself and wipe that smile off his face.

Paul’s full post is here but some better news is over in The Mirror, echoing a point also made in the report Paul quotes:

Cold weather payments to the elderly and the poor were saved yesterday in a

…

Posted in News | Also tagged paul walter | 10 Comments

LibLink: Danny Alexander – “People should judge me on what I deliver”

By Helen Duffett | Mon 11th October 2010 - 3:12 pm

Two very positive Liberal Democrat stories today in the Herald Scotland:

The first: Flourishing LibDems cast Scottish politics in a good light reports that Liberal Democrat membership in Scotland is up 18% this year and sees it as a sign that of public acceptance of the party’s role in the Coalition government.

The Herald also has an interview with Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, which charts his progress from childhood to the Cabinet, revealing his family’s deep Liberal roots:

“My mother tells the story of how she caught my grandad rocking me in the pram when I was six months old saying ‘repeat after me, I’m a member of the Liberal party’.”

Posted in News and Scotland | Also tagged charles kennedy, child benefit and coalition | 4 Comments

Nick Clegg averted the axe from over-16s’ child benefit

By Helen Duffett | Mon 11th October 2010 - 8:53 am

Paul Walter has spotted an under-reported point in the child benefit coverage of the past few days: that payments for children aged 16 to 18 were originally intended to be stopped, but that this plan was dropped after Nick Clegg intervened.

Paul spotted this in a “deep trawl” of the Telegraph:

The controversial decision to “pre-announce” the child benefit decision was made 10 days ago by the key Conservative power-broking trio of David Cameron, Mr Osborne and William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, it is understood.

A couple of days later they informed Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, and his party

…

Posted in News | Also tagged child benefit, david cameron, george osborne, iain duncan smith, nick clegg, paul walter and william hague | 9 Comments

How the media loves mixed messages (when they suit their own message)

By Stephen Tall | Sun 10th October 2010 - 1:25 pm

‘Conservative spending cuts are worse than Thatcher’s, says Alan Johnson’ shouts today’s Observer, reporting the paper’s interview with Labour’s incoming shadow chancellor.

If the election had turned out differently — if Labour had won, rather than suffering one of the worst defeats in its history — the headline could have read a little different… Imagine this headline:

Alistair Darling: we will cut deeper than Margaret Thatcher

But wait, we don’t have to imagine that headline: it already exists, and was used by the Observer’s stablemate The Guardian back in March when reporting the then Labour chancellor’s realistic appraisal of the …

Posted in News | Also tagged alan johnson, alistair darling, chris huhne, deficit, media, the guardian and the observer | 13 Comments

Conference: the full-time score

By Mark Pack | Sun 26th September 2010 - 9:20 am

Having blogged ten questions for Liberal Democrat conference, along with a conference half-time update, how do things look now the dust has settled from Liverpool for those ten points?

Party strategy

Love your coalition partner all the time in public: that was the clear line taken by Nick Clegg, reinforced by other senior party figures and not challenged directly in any high profile way during conference (save for one question during the Nick Clegg Q&A). And yet… whether or not the party should let its strong debates with the Conservatives within the coalition show a little more in public was …

Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Also tagged andrew sparrow, av referendum, jennie rigg, nick clegg, stuart bonar, susan kramer, tim farron and trident | 9 Comments

LDVideo conference edition (3): Hughes, Huhne, Alexander and Browne

By Stephen Tall | Sat 25th September 2010 - 12:45 pm

Anyone starting to get conference withdrawal symptoms? For those of you who were there, here’s a few videos from the Lib Dem conference in Liverpool to help you catch up with what you missed by, erm, being there. And for those of you who weren’t there and saw it all on telly anyway… well, here’s another chance to enjoy some of the highlights.

(Please note, as these are BBC videos it’s not possible to link to them: they will therefore only be visible to readers viewing Lib Dem Voice directly through your web browser.)

Is Simon Hughes on the political left or right?

Chris Huhne’s ‘green deal to offset budget cuts’

Posted in Conference and YouTube | Also tagged chris huhne, jeremy browne and simon hughes | Leave a comment

PODCAST: Cabinet Minister Q&A

By Alex Foster | Wed 22nd September 2010 - 5:14 pm

Our final podcast from the conference floor was the penultimate session, a Q&A with cabinet ministers Danny Alexander, Chris Huhne, Michael Moore and Vince Cable.

The last session at Lib Dem conference is usually reserved for the Leader’s Speech – but that was not possible this time as Nick Clegg had to fly out to the UN.

It’s quite a shock for Liberal Democrats to get to quizz cabinet ministers, but it’s something they took in their stride with relative ease. This was taped from the reserved press section – and it’s interesting that over a dozen journalists had stayed till this …

Posted in Conference and Podcasts | Also tagged chris huhne, lorely burt, Michael Moore and vince cable | Leave a comment

Conference: the half-time score

By Mark Pack | Mon 20th September 2010 - 2:27 pm

At the start of conference, I blogged the ten issues that I thought would shape conference. Half-way through, how are things looking on the ten?

Strategy: the party’s official line of loving our coalition partners in public has been firmly stuck to by the party’s senior figures, and argued for by Nick Clegg during Q+A at the weekend. Bubbling under the surface are many questions about whether this is the right strategy and if the party could and would be better if it more often made public its disagreements, such as over the opting out of the EU directive

…

Posted in Conference, Op-eds and Party Presidency | Also tagged nick clegg and trident | 3 Comments

Danny Alexander: £900m to fight tax avoidance and evasion

By Mark Pack | Sun 19th September 2010 - 3:56 pm

Sunday lunchtime saw Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander address Liberal Democrat conference. The packed nature of the hall, the fullest it had been so far save for the rally on Saturday night, reflects both the importance of Danny’s role and the interest from many members in hearing direct from him.

What’s really happening with the cuts? How much is fairness figuring? And can Danny present the message successfully? Not being David Laws is a burden that has hung over his early days in office and this speech was his opportunity to establish himself in party eyes as his own …

Posted in Conference | Also tagged tax, tax avoidance and tax cuts (Lib Dem) | 31 Comments

Tax cuts vs Public spending: Danny Alexander’s comments flag up the Coalition arguments to come

By Stephen Tall | Sun 29th August 2010 - 4:37 pm

I’ve been critical these past few weeks of the news media’s obsessional search to put a cigarette paper between Coalition politicians: mostly these have been the product of journalists’ desperation to fill space.

But today’s interview in the Observer with Lib Dem chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander is, I think, significant for the future of the Lib/Con partnership.

… Alexander makes clear that total tax revenue will have to remain at least at current levels throughout the parliament to put the nation’s finances back in order.

“I think the tax burden is necessary as a significant contribution to

…

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged coalition, economy and tax cuts (Lib Dem) | 21 Comments

What Nick told Gordon (according to Peter) when asking him to quit: “Please understand I have no personal animosity whatsoever.”

By Stephen Tall | Mon 12th July 2010 - 1:20 pm

The first of the post-New Labour memoirs, Lord (Peter) Mandelson’s The Third Man, begins its serialisation in The Times today.

Those who pay for the paper, in print or online, will have the joy of relishing its every detail. If like me you’re reliant on the Press Association’s fillet, it seems the big splash is what we knew already: that Nick Clegg told Gordon Brown he would have no option but to resign if there were to be any chance of Labour and the Liberal Democrats cutting a deal.

Unlike every other Labour MP except James Purnell, however, Nick did …

Posted in News | Also tagged gordon brown, james purnell, nick clegg and peter mandelson | 23 Comments

LibLink: Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander on the Budget

By NewsHound | Sun 27th June 2010 - 9:19 am

Writing in The Observer Danny Alexander says,

Labour’s approach of denial and complacency would bring higher interest rates, fewer jobs, less growth, more debt. It exposes us to much greater risks of financial irresponsibility – being forced by others to cut harder, with less care and control. That is the position of some European countries – it must never be Britain’s. There is nothing progressive about the consequences of denial and delay.

The coalition has chosen responsibility. We are restoring order to the nation’s finances, credibility to our position internationally, and confidence in our economy that is essential for growth. Having chosen

…

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged andrew george, budget 2010, nick clegg and vat | 9 Comments

LibLink: Mark Pack – Telegraph’s attack on Danny Alexander is rich

By NewsHound | Fri 4th June 2010 - 6:45 pm

Over at The Guardian’s Comment is Free, LDV Co-Editor Mark Pack notes that the behaviour of the new Lib Dem chief secretary to the treasury, Danny Alexander, wasn’t a patch on the sort of tax avoidance measures the Telegraph repeatedly recommends. Here’s an excerpt:

… a piece by Ian Cowie, from May 2010, lays out in detail how Telegraph readers can avoid paying capital gains tax. It even says: “Do as MPs do and ‘flip’ your home … large potential CGT liabilities can be avoided quite legally in this way.” The story goes on to urge a full exploitation of expenses

…

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged Mark Pack | 7 Comments

Nick Clegg – working partner; working parent

By Helen Duffett | Wed 2nd June 2010 - 9:20 am

The Independent today features a relationship-focused interview with Nick Clegg. It looks mainly at two areas for balance: work/family and his working partnership with David Cameron:

Mr Clegg… insists he is determined to keep family life and government work as separate as humanly possible.

In this aim he has found an ally in the Prime Minister, who is also the father of small children. Both agreed to change the timing of a cabinet meeting to fit in with the school run. “I try – I haven’t entirely succeeded yet – as much as I can to take the kids to school,”

…

Posted in News | Also tagged cabinet, david cameron, nick clegg and PMQs | 4 Comments

LibLink: Mark Pack – Why do we demand such high standards of politicians?

By NewsHound | Tue 1st June 2010 - 11:30 am

Over at The Independent, Lib Dem Voice Co-Editor Mark Pack takes a look at the Telegraph’s pursuit of David Laws and Danny Alexander.

On David, Mark notes:

… for me, the dividing line between reprimand and resignation in matters of personal financial affairs should be whether or not you have personally gained from a breach of the rules. … in this ironic situation where a politician gets into trouble for claiming less money than he could have done, I regret that he has decided to resign.

And on Danny, he writes:

It’s an odd form of morality to criticise someone for paying no

…

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged daily telegraph, david laws, Mark Pack and mps expenses | 22 Comments

Media attacks are in full flow – what do we do now?

By Iain Roberts | Mon 31st May 2010 - 4:20 pm

A couple of weeks ago I wrote that Lib Dems should get used to constant attacks and scrutiny. Everyone used to it now?

Enoch Powell may not have said a great deal I agree with, but he certainly had a point with his oft-repeated quote that:

For a politician to complain about the press is like a ship’s captain complaining about the sea

This is what the press do. We can point out the errors when they’re particularly egregious or complain to the rather-toothless PCC.

Parliament might even want to take one of its occasional looks at changing the law. …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged david laws and lynne featherstone | 41 Comments

Danny Alexander & the Telegraph: not paying something that’s not due is not a story

By Mark Pack | Mon 31st May 2010 - 10:40 am

So here are the facts as we know them (and see his statement that Helen blogged):

In 1999 – 2006 he and his wife owned one property (in London)
In 2005 he became an MP
In 2006 he bought a house in his constituency. That house has been designated his main home for Parliamentary expense purposes.
In 2007 they sold their property in London and bought another one. They haven’t paid capital gains tax on the sale.

Capital Gains Tax rules says that you don’t have to pay Capital Gains Tax when you sell your main home. If that was all they said then …

Posted in News | Also tagged daily telegraph | 116 Comments

Danny Alexander issues a statement on his Capital Gains Tax affairs

By Helen Duffett | Mon 31st May 2010 - 12:36 am

Danny Alexander has made a statement, following an article in the Telegraph on Sunday night, which reported that he had avoided paying Capital Gains Tax on a south London property in 2007:

My wife and I bought our property in Elspeth Road in 1999, we sold it and moved to the current property in June 2007.

Until the spring of 2006 this was the only property we owned. I had rented a place in Aviemore until then, we subsequently bought a place there and moved into it.

I have always listed London as my second home on the basis set out in

…

Posted in News | Also tagged capital gains tax and daily telegraph | 97 Comments

+++ David Laws resigns, Danny Alexander takes over as Chief Secretary

By Stephen Tall | Sat 29th May 2010 - 8:00 pm

The BBC reports:

Liberal Democrat David Laws has resigned as Chief Secretary to the Treasury after admitting he claimed expenses to pay rent to his partner.

Mr Laws said he would be standing down with immediate effect in a statement given at the Treasury.

He had earlier apologised and said he would pay back the money which the Daily Telegraph said totalled £40,000.

The Yeovil MP said he wanted to keep his relationship with James Lundie private.

Mr Laws said he had informed both David Cameron and Nick Clegg, but it had been “his decision alone”.

Explaining his decision, he said: “I do not see

…

Posted in News | Also tagged david laws | 69 Comments

Details of Cabinet Committees published

By Mark Pack | Sat 22nd May 2010 - 12:20 pm

The Cabinet Office website has details of all the Cabinet Committees and who sits on which.

What’s notable from the Liberal Democrat perspective is the depth of both Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander’s involvement in them. Danny sits on eight of the eleven committees whilst Nick is Chair, Co-Chair or Deputy Chair of five.

The role of Cabinet Committees has varied greatly over the years, but in a government where negotiating policy agreements is at the the heart of its day-to-day work, the committees will be more than just talking shops passing the time until the Prime Minister decides.

Posted in News | Also tagged nick clegg | 2 Comments

Re-elect Danny Alexander to bring real change

By Iain Roberts | Wed 12th May 2010 - 8:44 pm

Private Eye’s Electionballs has this entry

The Conservatives weren’t the only ones using the “change” mantra whether it made sense or not. Highland Lib Dem Danny Alexander’s “local news” sheet made the bizarre plea: “Re-elect Danny to bring real change”.

Before Thursday, Danny’s constituents had a Labour government. Danny is now Secretary of State for Scotland, having been a member of the Lib Dem negotiation team that brought about the first government with Lib Dem or Liberal ministers in over sixty years.

Yep, I’d say that counted as “real change”.

Posted in Humour | Also tagged private eye | 15 Comments

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Tag Archives: Danny Alexander

Tax and the Budget: which part of the government will win the upper hand?

The Liberal Democrat challenges for 2011: the economy

“Lib Dems plotting council tax hike for second homes”

Federal Policy Committee elects its three Vice-Chairs

Nick Clegg wins Spectator’s Politician of the Year

Opinion: cuts in welfare are the hallmark of a selfish society

Danny Alexander on the Spending Review: “We have done the right thing”

Nick Clegg on the spending review

A mixed press today for Danny Alexander

LibLink: Danny Alexander – “People should judge me on what I deliver”

Nick Clegg averted the axe from over-16s’ child benefit

How the media loves mixed messages (when they suit their own message)

Conference: the full-time score

Party strategy

LDVideo conference edition (3): Hughes, Huhne, Alexander and Browne

PODCAST: Cabinet Minister Q&A

Conference: the half-time score

Danny Alexander: £900m to fight tax avoidance and evasion

Tax cuts vs Public spending: Danny Alexander’s comments flag up the Coalition arguments to come

What Nick told Gordon (according to Peter) when asking him to quit: “Please understand I have no personal animosity whatsoever.”

LibLink: Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander on the Budget

LibLink: Mark Pack – Telegraph’s attack on Danny Alexander is rich

Nick Clegg – working partner; working parent

LibLink: Mark Pack – Why do we demand such high standards of politicians?

Media attacks are in full flow – what do we do now?

Danny Alexander & the Telegraph: not paying something that’s not due is not a story

Danny Alexander issues a statement on his Capital Gains Tax affairs

+++ David Laws resigns, Danny Alexander takes over as Chief Secretary

Details of Cabinet Committees published

Re-elect Danny Alexander to bring real change

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