Tag Archives: reddit

Caron Lindsay

Paddy on power, pacts and poultry

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 22nd July 2015 - 9:04 am

On Monday night, Paddy Ashdown took to Reddit to take questions from Liberal Democrat members and supporters. Here are some of the highlights:

Power to the people:

Hi Paddy, How do you think the State should be reinvented? Which parts of the State would you shrink, and which part would you grow? Which Departments and bodies should the party seek to abolish, and which ones should we expand or create? An Example would be the Scotland Office. Should we abolish it or should we merge it with the Wales and Northern Ireland Offices? And what about Departments such as BIS ot Quangos like Tech City UK?

Paddy’s response:

Take power and devolve it closer to the people. The state should deal only with this things at national level (our Defence, Foreign Affairs, Macro-economics). Westminster would do much better of it did much less. All decisions which turn on the delivery of public services (health Education, welfare etc) should be taken, within a framework of national entitlements, at the lower level closer to the citizen. This is what Liberals back to Gladstone have always believed. The fundamental difference between us and Labour and the Tories is that we believe in a state based on powerful citizens, not strong state dependent on powerless subjects.

Pacts:

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Caron Lindsay

Stephen Williams doing a Reddit Ask Me Anything tonight at 6:30 pm

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 30th October 2014 - 9:25 am

Stephen Williams MPEarlier this year, we featured Communities Minister and MP for Bristol West Stephen Williams’ Reddit questionnaire where he invited constituents to “Ask me anything.” And they did, too. 

Here’s a wee snippet:

First of all, I tweeted you support on the day of the Marriage Act vote and you replied. Thank you for that, you made my day on both counts.

Now for a question: I initially supported a boycott of Starbucks and Amazon for non-payment of UK tax. After a year, however, I feel that the blame

…

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