Tag Archives: scrutiny

Scrutiny to become more powerful in Liverpool?

The concept of scrutiny in Councils isn’t something that sets the adrenalin flowing. However recent events in Liverpool have shown that for all councillors outside the Cabinet or committee chairs it is the most important thing that they can do.

That’s why I’m pleased that my Lib Dem colleague, , Kris Brown, become Chair of the new independent Audit Committee Labour and Lib Dem Parties should be a sign that the scrutiny process will become more important in in all the work of the City Council.

I find that immensely satisfying. Over the past decade I have raised issue after issue as have my Lib Dem colleagues. Faced with a granite wall of resistance from both officers and members in the past we have been unable to expose the many problems which were manifest within the Council.

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16 September 2020 – the overnight press release

Bill introduced to restore scrutiny of international aid

The Liberal Democrats have secured cross-party support for a Bill being introduced today which would create a new select committee to scrutinise Overseas Development Assistance expenditure by the Government.

The move, supported by former International Development Committee Sarah Champion and former DFID Minister Harriett Baldwin, follows the Prime Minister’s decision to abolish the Department for International Aid and rumours the Chancellor now intends to scrap foreign aid.

Liberal Democrat MP Wendy Chamberlain, who is bringing in the Bill, has stressed the need to ensure “that where UK aid is delivered, it …

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LibLink: Chuka Umunna: Dark and dangerous threats against MPs like me are a sign that No 10 and Cummings are getting utterly brazen

The Government is reportedly investigating MPs who have had dialogue with representatives of foreign governments. It also intends to introduce legislation to stop MPs talking to foreign governments. In an article for the Independent, Chuka Umunna said that this had a whiff of the 1930s about it.

However, the right-wing nationalists running the government are now taking things to an altogether different level – this is quite frightening, particularly if they were to get a majority at the general election whenever it comes. They are seeking to persecute and harass MPs by falsely accusing them of colluding with EU governments over Brexit. It is an absurd proposition given that the EU27 and the UK government are all working to ensure the withdrawal agreement Johnson has negotiated with the EU is delivered, and he himself wrote to them over the weekend urging them to ignore parliament’s desire for article 50 to be extended.

This, he said, was a brazen attempt to suppress dissent.

These accusations are made to call into question our loyalty and patriotism. Former Conservative backbenchers and ministers Oliver Letwin and Dominic Grieve, and Brexit Select Committee chair and former Labour minister Hilary Benn are reportedly under investigation.

This has a strong whiff of the 1930s about it – it is a brazen attempt to suppress dissent and persecute political opponents in parliament by this right wing, nationalist government.

One foreign office official put it well today when they said: “Threatening MPs with investigation is something you would expect the government to be stopping abroad, not encouraging at home.”

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Opinion: NHS reform on right track

I am a GP and Executive Member for Care and Health on Bristol City Council. I have been a GP for nearly 30 years, but I took on the Cabinet role on Tuesday 11th May 2010 – the day the astonishing Coalition was formed between Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs in London.

That Coalition has made some bold proposals for our NHS, and for the way that the NHS works with patients, public health, and local authorities. These proposals drew together themes that Liberal Democrats have been campaigning on for many years such as putting patients at the heart of the …

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