Tag Archives: nick clegg

Times: Lib Dems are right to maintain identity and policies in Government

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 21st December 2011 - 8:55 am

The Times published a leader on Monday praising Nick Clegg for publicly challenging David Cameron and the Conservatives on certain matters of policy.

Nick’s robust statements on the subject of a tax break for married couples were welcomed by the paper as it also highlighted other Liberal Democrat successes.

The principle of a State that provides for its citizens but does not coerce them in matters of conscience and judgment is a precious liberal inheritance. Mr Clegg should emphasise it. He should also reflect on the importance of the role that his party performs in government. He and his colleagues rightly took the

…

Posted in News | Also tagged the times | 1 Comment

Clegg: we will use Parliament Act to ensure Lords is reformed

By Mark Pack | Mon 19th December 2011 - 8:55 am

In a speech to the Demos think tank today, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will use some particularly robust language about seeing through House of Lords reform:

There is a typical Westminster village cynicism that Lords reform is never going to happen because it has not happened in 100 years. I have no doubt that the opponents in the House of Lords will use every wily trick in the trade to circumvent what is a perfectly normal and long overdue change to a legislature that is not transparent and not democratically accountable to the people…

There should be no doubt about

…

Posted in News | Also tagged constitutional reform, house of lords and lords reform | 9 Comments

Clegg repeats Lib Dem opposition about tax breaks for marriage, with added 1950s jibe

By Mark Pack | Sun 18th December 2011 - 6:41 pm

Via the BBC:

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has said the idea of tax breaks for married couples is wrong, and would not work.

The deputy prime minister told Sky News there were “philosophical differences” with the Lib Dems’ coalition partners, the Conservatives, over the issue.

He said there was a limit on what the state “should seek to do in organising people’s private relationships”…

Posted in News | Also tagged marriage and tax | 17 Comments

Opinion: The Liberal Democrats must lead re-engagement with Europe

By Ben Jones | Fri 16th December 2011 - 2:28 pm

Who killed the EU treaty? Was it pre-meditated murder or manslaughter? Some say David Cameron wielded the knife. It is suggested that he went to Brussels with every intention of wrecking the treaty. It was politically impossible for him to deliver his party, regardless of concessions. On this charge, the Prime Minister is either hero or villain, depending on which side you are on.

For others, the crime is one of gross negligence. The list of failings is long and painful; the side-lining of diplomats in the Foreign Office in favour of Treasury officials, a 4am “take it or leave it”

…

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged david cameron and europe | 8 Comments

Nick Clegg leads business fightback in Europe

By Nick T | 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

…

Posted in News | Also tagged business, chris huhne, Danny Alexander, david laws, europe and vince cable | 2 Comments

PMQs: Miliband 1 Barn Door 1

By Paul Walter | Wed 14th December 2011 - 12:53 pm

It was the last pre-Christmas Prime Minister’s Questions today and we saw the return of Nick Clegg loyally sitting at the PM’s right-hand side.

Ed Miliband started on the economy, and the news that unemployment is up again. He quoted David Cameron’s words when he came to office, saying that jobs would be “uppermost”. “What’s gone wrong?” asked the opposition leader.

Cameron’s main thrust during the 2010 election campaign was that new private sector jobs should lead the economic recovery and more than replace lost public sector jobs. Miliband did a good job of exposing that this bright idea has allegedly failed. …

Posted in PMQs | Also tagged adrian sanders, david cameron, ed miliband, european union, simon wright and unemployment | 10 Comments

Opinion: Individuality on EU is the start of the Liberal Democrat recovery

By Callum Morton | Wed 14th December 2011 - 8:55 am

Lib Dems would have winced when the news broke about Cameron’s EU veto, but it’s the biggest chance yet to express our party’s individuality.

Since the tuition fee rise and EMA’s abolition, I haven’t liked Nick Clegg. Although I agreed with the coalition being formed, I didn’t agree with the coalition negotiation team he chose. I haven’t agreed with a lot of what he’s done as leader. And I’ve sat grumbling about it for months. But over the past few days my respect for Nick has significantly improved.

Why? Well I’m starting to see something different from Nick and our party. I’m …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged eu, paddy ashdown, sharon bowles, tim farron and vince cable | 36 Comments

Labour’s rapidly warming official attitude towards the Liberal Democrats

By Mark Pack | Wed 14th December 2011 - 7:50 am

Over on the Spectator website, Peter Hoskin neatly summarises the latest warming in the Labour Party’s official attitude towards the Liberal Democrats:

Remember when MiliE described them as a ‘disgrace to the traditions of liberalism’? Since then he has said that, actually, he’d work with the Lib Dems so long as they ditched Clegg; that he’d work with them even if they kept Clegg; that … oh, you get the picture. And now this : the closest that Labour have come, in spirit at least, to matching the ‘big, open, comprehensive offer’ that Cameron made at the end of

…

Posted in News | Also tagged douglas alexander, ed miliband, labour party and peter hoskin | 19 Comments

“An inept negotiating strategy placed in the hands of an inexperienced prime minister” – behind the scenes of Cameron’s ‘veto’

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th December 2011 - 7:45 am

“An avoidable disaster”: that is the verdict of the Financial Times’s Philip Stephens in a must-read article examining what went on behind the scenes of the Coalition’s strategy for approaching last week’s failed European summit. And his verdict on the Prime Minister and his advisers could scarcely be more scathing:

There was no great plan for a rupture. What some Tories now see as Mr Cameron’s Churchillian moment was rather the result of an inept negotiating strategy placed in the hands of an inexperienced prime minister.

So what did happen? On last night’s Newsnight former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown set …

Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged david cameron, featured, financial times, george osborne, jon cunliffe, paddy ashdown and philip stephens | 38 Comments

LDVideo: Nick Clegg on the Euro summit, Coalition & why he missed today’s Commons debate

By Stephen Tall | Mon 12th December 2011 - 7:16 pm

Here’s Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg explaining his position on Europe, his disagreement with David Cameron on the outcome of the summit, and why he missed today’s Commons debate:

Posted in Europe / International and YouTube | 12 Comments

Nick Clegg – Europe: Britain is stronger, better, greater when we lead

By Helen Duffett | Mon 12th December 2011 - 3:17 pm

Nick Clegg has emailed party members this afternoon, following the EU summit last Thursday:

Support for Europe has always been a cornerstone of what our party stands for. Recent days have been tough for pro-Europeans in our country, but I am clear that it is in Britain’s national interest to remain at the heart of Europe.

As I have made clear since Friday, I am bitterly disappointed by the outcome of last weeks summit, which ended with the UK in a minority of one. There is now a real danger that over time the UK will be isolated and marginalised within the

…

Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged conservative party and european union | 22 Comments

David Cameron’s a hostage to his party and the right-wing press. Thank goodness for Nick Clegg

By Stephen Tall | Mon 12th December 2011 - 7:35 am

The shockwaves from David Cameron’s decision to reject the proposed ‘Merkozy’ EU treaty is still shaking politics. The UK stands isolated from the other 26 member states. Tory Eurosceptics and, early polls suggest, a majority of the British public think the Prime Minister has played a blinder, ‘sticking up for Britain’.

This is difficult territory for the Lib Dems. Our October survey of party members suggested a more Eurosceptical attitude than traditionally associated with the party, with 51% rejecting a move towards ever closer union.

However, there is nothing more guaranteed to put up liberals’ backs than the full-throated, …

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged andrew rawnsley, david cameron, europe, featured and Mark Pack | 42 Comments

Fashion industry faces intern crackdown

By Mark Pack | Sat 10th December 2011 - 1:47 pm

Good to see Nick Clegg’s push to sort out internships reaching another industry. After public relations, now it is the turn of the fashion industry to face the spotlight, as Vogue reports:

HMRC has warned fashion labels against exploiting their interns and treating them as employees – but without pay. The organisation sent cautionary letters to 102 fashion houses that exhibited during London Fashion Week in September, who they have not named…

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg today showed his support for the HMRC’s announcement.

“I strongly urge fashion houses and designer labels to make sure they are treating interns fairly,” Clegg us

…

Posted in News | Also tagged internships | 4 Comments

Europe: what Liberal Democrats have been saying today

By Mark Pack | Fri 9th December 2011 - 7:02 pm

Nick Clegg:

I have said for months that it would be best to avoid arcane debates about treaty change altogether and if we had to proceed down that road, it would be best to do so in a way that did not create divisions in Europe.

The demands Britain made for safeguards, on which the Coalition Government was united, were modest and reasonable. They were safeguards for the single market, not just the UK.

There were no demands of repatriation of powers from the EU to Britain and no demands for a unilateral carve-out of UK financial services.

Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged chris davies, david cameron, european union, sarah ludford and vince cable | 101 Comments

Opinion: One year on from Tuition Fees: why I’m still a Liberal Democrat

By Harry Matthews | Fri 9th December 2011 - 12:51 pm

It’s one year on from the vote on Tuition Fees, so I thought I would lay out some reasons why I, as a student, am still a Liberal Democrat after our great ‘betrayal’.

Although our ministers are having to make tough choices, Liberal Democrats have won a major victory – having a tax cut for the low paid, rather than the very rich, as the Tories would have preferred. Raising the income tax threshold to £10,000 is a good way to correct the disaster Gordon Brown created when he scrapped the 10p tax band. Plus it is a tax cut …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged alternative vote, gordon brown, kirsty williams, pupil premium, tuition fees and youth contract | 25 Comments

Opinion: Lobbying scandals strengthen Lib Dem calls for reform

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 7th December 2011 - 1:27 pm

The Independent’s expose of the tactics used by the lobbying firm Bell Pottinger to impress potential clients shines the spotlight again on the lobbying industry.

A team from Bell Pottinger was filmed pitching to journalists posing as representatives of the Uzbekistan Government, a regime which, as Amnesty’s 2011 report shows, has an atrocious human rights record. The lobbyists boasted of virtually instant access to the Prime Minister and other members of the Cabinet.

If I were James Dyson, I would not be happy that my PR company were citing access to the Prime Minister on my behalf as part of …

Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged bbc, Bell Pottinger, geoff hoon, James Dyson, lobbying, patricia hewitt, stephen byers and the independent | 8 Comments

Spring Conference 2012: registration now open

By Andrew Wiseman | Tue 6th December 2011 - 1:21 pm

I am pleased to announce that registration for Spring Conference 2012 is now open.

For the first time, conference will be hosted by NewcastleGateshead. The Liberal Democrats have a proud history in the North-East. We control Northumberland County Council and Ian Swales MP, Sir Alan Beith MP and Fiona Hall MEP represent the Region in London and Brussels respectively.

Fiona said, “Conference is going to be a great boost for the area ahead of vital local elections in May. The region is gearing up to make it a fantastic weekend for everyone. I hope representatives also take …

Posted in Conference | Also tagged alan beith, fiona hall, ian swales and newcastle | 4 Comments

The Independent View | Peter Tatchell writes… Lib Dems should stick to their principles and urge Lynne not to renege on equality pledge

By Peter Tatchell | Sun 4th December 2011 - 11:45 am

Bravo to the Liberal Democrat party conference. Two years ago, party members voted overwhelmingly to end the twin legal bans on same-sex civil marriages and opposite-sex civil partnerships. They committed a future Lib Dem government to scrap sexual orientation discrimination in marriage and partnership law. Well done. Thank you

Sadly, the Lib Dem Equality Minister, Lynne Featherstone, apparently with the support of the Lib Dem Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, is now actively backing discrimination. She plans to keep unequal laws, contrary to the Lib Dem’s election pledges.

Specifically, Lynne is vowing to retain the prohibition on heterosexual civil …

Posted in The Independent View | Also tagged civil partnerships, equalities, gay rights and lynne featherstone | 18 Comments

Opinion: Nick Clegg and Scarman

By Lester Holloway | Mon 28th November 2011 - 2:27 pm

We have grown used to politicians approaching the issue of ‘race’ in the context of immigration, crime, or the aftermath of a tragedy.

So it was enormously refreshing to hear Nick Clegg offer up a well-informed speech on the quest for true race equality, without a negative backdrop.

Delivering a Scarman Lecture on the 30th anniversary of the ground-breaking report into the 1981 Brixton riots, Clegg gave arguably the best speech on race equality by a Cabinet minister.

It was Liberal Democracy at its best, bravely shattering the conspiracy of silence on one of the biggest issues of the day – the …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged equalities, lord scarman and lynne featherstone | 9 Comments

Kirsty Williams writes… The Welsh Pupil Premium

By Kirsty Williams AM | Mon 28th November 2011 - 11:51 am

Last week I announced that the Welsh Liberal Democrats will be voting with the Welsh Labour government for the budget on the 6th December.

We have agreed to support the 2012-2013 budget on the basis that we will be introducing a Welsh Pupil Premium. This means that from April 2012, every child in Wales on free schools meals will recieve an extra £450 of funding – no matter where they live, or what school they go to. This is a total Pupil Premium spending of £32 million, of which £20 million is brand new money for the education budget.

Some …

Posted in Op-eds and Wales | Also tagged education and pupil premium | 2 Comments

Opinion: Why Liberal Youth is worth funding

By Tom Wood | Fri 25th November 2011 - 4:53 pm

On Saturday morning the English Council will debate their budget for the year ahead which, for the first time in at least ten years, will not include a rebate for Liberal Youth membership.

The English party is the Youth party’s single largest source of funding. Immediately cutting off this funding with such short notice will leave our organisations unable to meet its most basic operating costs and permanently cripple our youth party.

I know, like everyone else, these are tough times financially for our party; however Liberal Youth performs a vital role for young people and for the party

…

Posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged english council, Jo Swinson, liberal youth and tim farron | 16 Comments

Opinion: What right do politicians have to decide rules on their own jobs?

By Phil Ling | Thu 24th November 2011 - 2:25 pm

The party funding report by the Committee for Standards in Public Life was barely off the printers and politicians from all parties were saying they were broadly supportive, but more importantly could not back the main suggestion that state funding of political parties be increased.

Party funding will always be tough to square given the reliance of Labour on union money and the Conservatives (and increasingly the Liberal Democrats) on major donors. State funding is inevitable to reduce sleaze, real or inferred, and trust in politics. It only costs the equivalent of a couple of first class stamps a year, …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged christopher kelly, committee on standards in public life, party funding and tim farron | 2 Comments

The party’s back to front: why our political messaging is wrong

By Mark Pack | Thu 24th November 2011 - 10:55 am

Hearing both Danny Alexander and Nick Clegg speak several times at local Liberal Democrat events over the summer, something not quite right about their speeches was nagging away at the back of my mind.

It was not the delivery, for both have speaking styles which are excellently suited to the semi-formal audience of between 20 and 100 which is common at such events.

Nor was it about the consistency of message: without either lapsing into robotic repetition of the sort that served Ed Miliband so badly in his notorious public sector strikes interview, both in their different ways were echoing the …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged community politics, Danny Alexander and featured | 27 Comments

Was there a Clegg coup? Review of The Clegg Coup – Britain’s First Coalition Government Since Lloyd George by Jasper Gerard

By Mark Pack | Wed 23rd November 2011 - 9:54 am

Many book titles reveal little about what their book contains, either providing but a banal name for its contents or a clever, clever name which obscures rather than reveals. However, The Clegg Coup – Britain’s First Coalition Government Since Lloyd George by Jasper Gerard has a title which is revealing in two aspects. First, the way general accuracy in the book is marred by detailed slips – for whilst the general point of the title is true, with the May 2010 coalition being the UK’s first peacetime coalition in Westminster since before 1939, the title does not use the …

Posted in Books | Also tagged charles kennedy, chris bowers, chris rennard, Danny Alexander, david laws, duncan brack, featured, jasper gerard, matt chorley, Ming Campbell and paul marshall | 25 Comments

Clegg and Farron on party funding: yes to action now, no to more taxpayer contributions

By Stephen Tall | Wed 23rd November 2011 - 6:20 am

Sir Christopher Kelly’s report for Parliament’s Committee on Standards in Public Life was published yesterday, Political Party Finance – Ending the big donor culture: you can read it and the evidence considered by the inquiry here.

Here are the main proposals:

A cap of £10,000-a-year on donations from any individual or organisation — including trade unions — to any political party with at least two MPs or two representatives at the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies. Trade union affiliation fees could be counted as a collection of small individual payments, but only if members are required to

…

Posted in News | Also tagged christopher kelly, committee on standards in public life, party funding and tim farron | 14 Comments

Opinion: Do Banks Rule the World?

By Mark Hofman | Sun 20th November 2011 - 2:05 pm

Last week many of us may have witnessed the sickening spectacle of watching a city trader declaring that Goldman Sachs rules the world… among other insights, such as how he lays awake at night fantasising about another economic depression.

If money rules the world, then surely whoever rules the world controls the money supply?

Many of us would, therefore, assume that the Bank of England creates money and regulates its supply to the economy, thereby controlling inflation and interest rates. However, whenever we look to finance a house, car, business project, etc, we invariably turn to the banks (in the …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged bank of england, banking, goldman sachs, green investment bank, regional growth fund, technology innovation centre, vickers commission and vince cable | 9 Comments

LDVideo: Nick Clegg – “It is time we knew whether the Labour party can think for itself.”

By Stephen Tall | Sat 19th November 2011 - 2:25 pm

Lib Dem Voice contributor Paul Walter noted here Nick Clegg’s strong response in this week’s Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions to the Labour party’s aim of protecting its cosy financial relationship with the trade unions — but for those who missed it here’s that exchange in full:

Posted in Parliament and YouTube | Also tagged paul walter, sadiq khan and trade unions | 10 Comments

Op-eds

Putting Liberal values into practice in the heart of London (Victor Chamberlain)
Sanctions against Israeli settlers welcome – but inadequate (Jonathan Brown)
Protecting children shouldn’t mean abolishing their right to privacy (Tara Foster)
AI and Liberal Democracy (Robin Ashby)
The chaos dividend: Why the ultra-rich thrive on an unstable world, and why that’s rational in the short term and suicidal in the long term (Tanya Park)

Advert

Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy

Alison Suttie writes: Thank you to our volunteers

What’s going on with party strategy?

A strange but welcome feeling

Tag Archives: nick clegg

Times: Lib Dems are right to maintain identity and policies in Government

Clegg: we will use Parliament Act to ensure Lords is reformed

Clegg repeats Lib Dem opposition about tax breaks for marriage, with added 1950s jibe

Opinion: The Liberal Democrats must lead re-engagement with Europe

Nick Clegg leads business fightback in Europe

PMQs: Miliband 1 Barn Door 1

Opinion: Individuality on EU is the start of the Liberal Democrat recovery

Labour’s rapidly warming official attitude towards the Liberal Democrats

“An inept negotiating strategy placed in the hands of an inexperienced prime minister” – behind the scenes of Cameron’s ‘veto’

LDVideo: Nick Clegg on the Euro summit, Coalition & why he missed today’s Commons debate

Nick Clegg – Europe: Britain is stronger, better, greater when we lead

David Cameron’s a hostage to his party and the right-wing press. Thank goodness for Nick Clegg

Fashion industry faces intern crackdown

Europe: what Liberal Democrats have been saying today

Opinion: One year on from Tuition Fees: why I’m still a Liberal Democrat

Opinion: Lobbying scandals strengthen Lib Dem calls for reform

Spring Conference 2012: registration now open

The Independent View | Peter Tatchell writes… Lib Dems should stick to their principles and urge Lynne not to renege on equality pledge

Opinion: Nick Clegg and Scarman

Kirsty Williams writes… The Welsh Pupil Premium

Opinion: Why Liberal Youth is worth funding

Opinion: What right do politicians have to decide rules on their own jobs?

The party’s back to front: why our political messaging is wrong

Was there a Clegg coup? Review of The Clegg Coup – Britain’s First Coalition Government Since Lloyd George by Jasper Gerard

Clegg and Farron on party funding: yes to action now, no to more taxpayer contributions

Opinion: Do Banks Rule the World?

LDVideo: Nick Clegg – “It is time we knew whether the Labour party can think for itself.”

Most Read

Op-eds

Recent Comments

Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy

Alison Suttie writes: Thank you to our volunteers

What’s going on with party strategy?

A strange but welcome feeling

Tag Archives: nick clegg

Subscribe

Most Read

Search

Op-eds

Recent Comments