Tag Archives: gambling

27 April 2023 – the overnight press release

Gambling reforms: Stop dithering and implement now

In response to the publication of the long-delayed Gambling White Paper, Liberal Democrat Peer, Lord Foster said:

Reforms to protect people from gambling harms are long overdue. The families and communities affected need real action now, not another round of government consultations.

This Conservatives promised reform all the way back in 2019, but this white paper has been delayed again and again by their chaos and infighting. During that time, hundreds of problem gamblers have committed suicide and many thousands of lives have been devastated.

These proposals are important steps in the right direction, but

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It’s time for football to kick its relationship with gambling into the long grass

As liberals we often dislike the word ban, but at times bans are needed.  I along with many others in the party feel it’s time that gambling adverts in football were banned.

Football has a gambling problem.  A game shown on TV can reference gambling firms 800 times with stadium advertising, shirt advertising and tv advertising. There is simply no way of escaping gambling related promotions. 

In the UK,  gambling related harm costs the UK economy around £1.7 billion and it is believed that 450,000 people are considered problem gamblers.  The craziest stat in this

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23 November 2022 – today’s press releases (part 1)

  • Full Inquiry Needed into Gwent Police
  • Supreme Court decision: First year law student could have predicted this
  • Gambling: Conservative Inaction Leaving More People Vulnerable
  • Braverman is out of her depth

Full Inquiry Needed into Gwent Police

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have called for a full inquiry into misconduct in Gwent Police stating that the evidence that has come to light warrants a full independent investigation if trust in the Force is to be restored.

The Party has also questioned whether Labour’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Jeff Cuthbert, should still be in place.

Calls for a full inquiry come following an investigation by the Times that revealed a culture of misogyny, corruption, abuse and racism in the force.

Wiltshire Police Force is currently set to investigate the claims.

The latest scandal comes after three officers were dismissed from the Force over summer due to inappropriate behaviour. The Welsh Liberal Democrats had previously criticised how long this process took.

Commenting Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader and the only female party leader in Wales, Jane Dodds MS said:

Trust in the Force has clearly been undermined to a point where a full independent inquiry is required.

The failure to tackle this appalling behaviour on the part of some officers is failing the public and the majority of brave police who put their lives at risk to keep us all safe.

What has been revealed over the course of the last few weeks is deeply disturbing.

It has also not yet been made clear whether Labour’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Jeff Cuthbert was aware of any of these allegations before the story broke in the Times. If not, how was he able to oversee a Force with such serious problems without being aware?

It is difficult to see how he should remain in post.

With allegations of serious misconduct in a multitude of police forces, including the Met, I do not believe an investigation by another police force is sufficient.

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16 January 2020 – today’s press releases

  • Lib Dems call on PM to back automatic rights for EU citizens
  • Lib Dems: Tories have failed on knife crime
  • Lib Dems demand more action on gambling addiction

Lib Dems call on PM to back automatic rights for EU citizens

The Liberal Democrats have called on the Conservative Government to back legislation to guarantee automatic rights for EU citizens, as new official statistics show the number not granted permanent Settled Status has risen to more than 1 million.

Liberal Democrat peer Jonny Oates this week tabled amendments to the Government’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill to automatically guarantee EU citizens’ rights in law.

The latest EU …

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13 November 2018 – today’s press releases

We’ve had a deluge of press releases today, perhaps unsurprisingly, given events…

  • Moran: Isolation booths are a symbol of a broken education system
  • Davey: Brexodus already damaging NHS and social care
  • Lib Dems back move to defeat ‘craven’ Govt over FOBT delay
  • Brexit will derail the gravy train
  • Davey: Tory cuts make our borders less secure
  • Both Tories and Labour must be transparent about Brexit mess
  • Layla Moran: Botched Brexit can be stopped
  • Cable: Deal will be torn apart before ink is dry
  • MPs must now let people have final say on Brexit

Moran: Isolation booths are a symbol of a broken education system

Responding to a report by the BBC …

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29 October 2018 – today’s press releases (part two)

As promised, part two of today’s output from the Party’s Press Team…

Fiscal Phil’s sticking plaster Budget

Responding to the Chancellor’s Budget, Liberal Democrat Leader and former Business Secretary Vince Cable said:

This was all very modest stuff, with more in it for potholes than schools and the police. A standstill non-event.

With growth remaining stubbornly low and Brexit weighing down our economy, it is clear the big problems are still to be tackled. It was a sticking plaster Budget, when major surgery lies ahead.

If we are to see an end to austerity, then we need a proper injection of

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Why I’ve changed my mind on Fixed Odds Betting terminals

As a liberal I have some rather quaint ideas, one of which is that I generally don’t like the state banning things, because generations of governments have shown they don’t know better than the people, but I make an exception for Fixed Odds Betting Terminals.

The hard wall of my instinctive view has been destroyed by the cold reason of my personal experience, the very process that powered liberal progressiveness for generations.

I began a new, and comfortably the most prestigious, job of my life in July 2017, it was akin to being flung into a scalding vat of water such was the pressure.

My way of dealing with it was, at the end of the day, to adjourn to a betting shop between my workplace and the train station, where I bet tiny sums on the outcomes of horse races.

The amount I have bet in the last nine months is comfortably less than I have spent on being a member of the Liberal Democrats in that time, and I win more often.

But while those of us betting on horses have an easy after work camaraderie, a dull intensity pierces the betting shop in the form of those huddled over the terminals, feeding wads of cash into the machines, convinced they have cracked the game of chance

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The cost of a Lotto gamble doubles. Is this a tax hike on the poor?

Lottery ApologiesThe price of the National Lottery doubles today. The odds of winning the top prize remain the same: 14 million to one.

The price hike is being launched by floating giant balls under the world renowned historic Ironbridge. That’s as tacky as it comes. But the Lotto was always a tacky business that supported good charitable causes.

The BBC is finding itself in an awkward position this morning. On the one hand, it has been dragged into Camelot’s campaign to keep ticket sales up. But on local radio at least, there is coverage of why people gamble and gambling’s negative effects. Yet what I hearing and seeing across the news channels is mostly an unadulterated promotion for the lottery.

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Opinion: Urgent action is needed on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals

The Lib Dem message at conference this year is: “Stronger Economy, Fairer Society”. We wholly endorse this message, and our Campaign for Fairer Gambling is absolutely focused on this direction.

There must be sensible enforcement of sensible gambling regulation. The most addictive form of gambling is roulette machines in betting shops – Fixed Odds Betting Terminals, also known as FOBTs.

Because these machines are a very labour unintensive form of consumer spending, they result in a net loss of jobs in local communities and this has a negative impact on tax revenue generation.

In addition to the economic cost of FOBTs, there is the added social cost of FOBT addiction and each addict affects up to twelve others.

FOBTs expose inexperienced, young gamblers to a game that they will lose at several times faster than the real, casino variant.

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Don Foster declares war on betting shops

don fosterOne of the lower profile motions on the agenda for Federal Conference in Glasgow is entitled ‘High Street Gambling’. It is relatively short and contains just two recommendations:

Conference therefore calls on Liberal Democrats in government to push for:
1. Betting shops to be put in a new separate planning use class, allowing local authority planning committees to control them
2. The Gambling Act to be amended to allow council licensing committees to take into account the cumulative impact of a proliferation of gambling activities when considering applications.

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