Tag Archives: vince cable

Callum Morton

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 …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 36 Comments
Mark Pack

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.

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , , , and | 101 Comments
Stephen Tall

The Coalition’s Political Plan B, Mrs T, and TINA: what does this spell out for the Lib Dems?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 1st December 2011 - 2:15 pm

The political aftershock of George Osborne’s autumn statement is just beginning to sink in: the Coalition’s 5-year austerity programme, designed to end in 2015 by the time of the next general election, is now a 7-year programme straddling two parliaments.

This poses problems for the future of the Coalition, and for the Lib Dems in particular, encapsulated here by the FT’s Philip Stephens:

Here’s the paradox. The effect of sticking to economic plan A has been to shred the coalition government’s original political strategy. In the heady days after the 2010 election the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats signed up to

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 15 Comments
Munira Wilson

Feltham and Heston by-election – come and help Lib Dems’ Roger Crouch make an impact today!

By Munira Wilson | Wed 30th November 2011 - 7:55 am

At this time of year, Christmas lights start to be switched on in towns and cities across the country — but for a lot of Liberal Democrat activists Christmas celebrations won’t be starting so early! Many of my friends and colleagues are postponing Christmas shopping to join Roger Crouch’s campaign for Feltham and Heston.

In just over two weeks’ time the voters of Feltham and Heston will have a new MP. The last parliamentary by-election of 2011 takes place on 15th December and the only early Christmas present I’m asking for …

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Posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Also tagged , , and | 3 Comments
Paul Walter

Vince Cable sets out employment law consultation to establish ‘culture of dialogue – not confrontation’

By Paul Walter | Wed 23rd November 2011 - 3:24 pm

In a speech today to the Engineering Employers’ Federation in London, Business Secretary put forward a wide range of items for consultation aimed at reforming Employment Law. He said that the aim of the exercise is to change to:

A culture that establishes dialogue rather than confrontation as the norm between employers and employees. That trusts people to do the right thing rather than relying on regulation to deal with every single issue that arises. And that ensures businesses have the confidence to hire the talented and committed workforce they need in order to thrive.

There are well over a dozen …

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 43 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dems back High Pay Commission’s proposals to curb excessive executive salaries

By Stephen Tall | Wed 23rd November 2011 - 8:15 am

The High Pay Commission, an independent inquiry into top pay in the private sector, published its final report yesterday. Here’s how The Guardian reports its key conclusions:

The commission sets out 12 recommendations to tackle high pay. The main reforms include:

• Greater transparency in the calculation of executive pay to end the “closed shop” on pay decisions. At present, many people do not understand until it is too late how a vast salary – often composed of as many as seven different elements – is worked out.
• Putting employees on remuneration committees, a move included in the government’s own

…

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Mark Hofman

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 …

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Stephen Tall

How best to boost growth? Coalition debate sees Tories argue for supply-side reforms, Lib Dems pushing for new ‘pension infrastructure fund’

By Stephen Tall | Tue 15th November 2011 - 7:35 am

As the OECD forecasts a sharp slowdown in global growth, the Coalition is re-examining old and new ideas to boost the economy here in the UK. And, judging by this report in The Guardian, the likely approach illustrates the impact of Lib Dem thinking within government…

The Coalition choice: Tory supply-side reforms OR…

One area that has been looked at to boost growth is supply-side reforms to free up the labour market, such as those championed by Conservative adviser Adrian Beecroft. The ‘Beecroft Report’ has urged radical reform, most controversially advocating the government to stimulate private industry to hire workers …

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Sam Barnett

Opinion: Lib Dems should embrace the ‘Occupy’ spirit

By Sam Barnett | Mon 14th November 2011 - 12:20 pm

A small group of idealists, pitched up at a famous London landmark, arguing for radical change. Surrounded by hostile press trying to catch them out and making outlandish (or just plain false) accusations, they stay, grimly determined to make their voices heard by the public, the press and the powerful.

Yes, it’s Occupy London, but I could also be talking about the Parliamentary Liberal Democrats.

Maybe I’m naïve, but I see that we have more in common with Occupy than meets the eye. Let’s look at how our actions and beliefs match up with Occupy’s initial statement:

1. The current system is …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 39 Comments
Greg Mulholland MP

Greg Mulholland writes… Here is Lib Dem ministers’ chance to save the pub

By Greg Mulholland MP | Sun 13th November 2011 - 11:05 am

There has been much talk about the demise of the great British pub. People up and down the country are now sadly used to seeing boarded up pubs, many with rather optimistic to let boards outside.

There are many reasons given for the closure of pubs, but a closer look at the names on the To Let boards, often written in small writing, reveals the most fundamental. The names Enterprise Inns and Punch Taverns, the two largest pub-owning companies in the land, with around 12,000 pubs between them, are finding it harder and harder to find people to take their …

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Mark Pack

A trio of Tory / Liberal Democrat disagreements in government

By Mark Pack | Wed 26th October 2011 - 11:55 pm

Like London buses, Tory / Liberal Democrat disagreements are coming along all bunched together at the moment:

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has criticised “climate sceptics” and others who he argues are decrying the UK’s potential for renewable power … His comments are being interpreted by some as a riposte to Chancellor George Osborne who is believed to be more sceptical about the investment needed. (BBC)

Vince Cable rejects proposal to abolish unfair dismissal laws: Business secretary said plan devised by strategist Steve Hilton was unnecessary and unlikely to improve labour market flexibility (The Guardian)

In order to safeguard the NHS, free at

…

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Mark Pack

Can you guess who said what?

By Mark Pack | Tue 11th October 2011 - 7:10 pm

Take two people: one a successful female businesswoman and one a male Tory MP.

Then take two public statements: one calling female Cabinet members “an ugly bunch” and “I could not look at them”; the other calling for companies to be better at ending the male dominance of the boardroom.

Who do you think would have said which…?

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Mark Pack

What Liberal Democrat members think of different tax policies

By Mark Pack | Wed 5th October 2011 - 1:50 pm

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members responded, and we’re currently publishing the full results.

Cut income tax and VAT but raise taxes on property: that’s the message from Liberal Democrat party members in our latest survey. Some answers to our tax questions are unsurprising, such as the North Korean style (or, for older readers, the Albanian style) majority in favour of raising the personal allowance threshold for income tax to £12,500, approximately equivalent to what a …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged , , , , and | 8 Comments
Ed Randall

Opinion: Is the Chancellor ready to listen to the best economic brains in the Cabinet?

By Ed Randall | Tue 27th September 2011 - 12:28 pm

Having just left one party conference, where I was able to deliver my message on the shortcomings of the Coalition Government’s strategy to revive the UK economy and to promote my alternative take on the official Lib Dem approach to party policy development, in advance of the next General Election, (see Facing the Future ), I am now waiting to hear what George Osborne has to say at the Tory party conference in Manchester, in just a few days’ time.

Labour really is – as Alistair Campbell has recently put it – the third most interesting party in the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 9 Comments
David Merlin-Jones

The Independent View: One of Vince Cable’s greatest actions to date

By David Merlin-Jones | Sat 24th September 2011 - 2:50 pm

Sunday saw some good news. It was announced that Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is to set up a new engine plant factory in the West Midlands, creating up to 750 jobs. This coup was delivered in no small part thanks to the Business Secretary Vince Cable plucking up the courage to intervene directly and offer JLR government money. It could even be argued that this is one of his greatest actions to date.

What part did Cable play? He helped JLR secure a £10 million grant for the plant. Clearly, this was not the be all and end all of …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

A messaging mess: what Liberal Democrats are achieving in government

By Mark Pack | Fri 23rd September 2011 - 11:55 am

As I wrote in the immediate aftermath of Nick Clegg’s conference speech, the party was much better at saying what it was not and what it was against – not the Conservatives, not unhappy, against tax cheats, against overpaid under-performing company directors and so on – than what it was for.

In theory the answer should have been found in the conference packs handed out to people on arrival at the Birmingham ICC, for inside them was not only an “In government – on your side” leaflet but also three others from different Liberal Democrat ministers, all promoting the party’s …

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Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | 14 Comments
Mark Pack

Nick Clegg’s speech to LibDem Conference

By Mark Pack | Wed 21st September 2011 - 3:51 pm

During Liberal Democrat conference someone watching it from home texted me: “I now know what the Lib Dems are against – bankers, top rate taxpayers, tax cheats generally, overpaid directors and energy companies But, with the single exception of gay marriage, I’ve got no idea what the Lib Dems are for.”

Some will – rightly – quibble over the ‘against’ list in that but the essential point is a fair one. Liberal Democrat conference has been a lot about what won’t happen or isn’t the case: the coalition isn’t going to end early, the Liberal Democrats are not the same as …

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Posted in Conference | Also tagged , , , , , and | 16 Comments
Mark Pack

Vince Cable does gloom

By Mark Pack | Tue 20th September 2011 - 4:25 pm

The public’s attitude towards gloomy politicians is a curious one: only too happy to mock politicians who only talk up the positive but also frequently going off politicians who talk up the negatives. It happens across all parties, as we saw in the last Parliament where both Alistair Darling and George Osborne tried talking gloomily about the country’s economic difficulties and, far from being met by public support for their frankness, saw widespread criticism and slipping poll ratings. Journalists may love knocking politicians for not having been gloomier during the 2010 general election, but all the nearly all the signs …

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Posted in Conference | Also tagged and | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

The significant part of Tim Farron’s speech

By Mark Pack | Tue 20th September 2011 - 12:55 pm

Tim Farron is probably the Parliamentary Party’s best funny speech maker (though I’d pay good money to see him head-to-head in a laugh off with Alistair Carmichael), so it’s not a surprise that Tim’s speech to Liberal Democrat conference caught the headlines mostly for his humour and his stress-testing of political marriage analogies to destruction.

Yet there was a significant section about how Liberal Democrat ministers act and his own role:

There are 18 Liberal Democrats who don’t have the luxuries that I do.

They can’t just sound off if they don’t like government policy or trot through the no lobby on

…

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Posted in Conference | Also tagged , , , , and | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

Liberal Democrats Conference round-up and preview: Monday/Tuesday

By Mark Pack | Tue 20th September 2011 - 7:19 am

What happened on Monday in Birmingham at Liberal Democrat conference and what to watch out for today, Tuesday:

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Posted in Conference | Also tagged and | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

LDVideo at Conference | Clegg & Cable on the economy; Andrew Neil’s take on the conference; and the power of Lib Dem conference reps

By Stephen Tall | Tue 20th September 2011 - 7:10 am

At Birmingham and so missing out on how the Lib Dem conference is being reported? Not at Birmingham and so missing out on seeing Lib Dem MPs and government ministers up close and personal? We hope these videos will help re-connect you…

Clegg welcomes Jaguar jobs boost; Cable warns of economic equivalent of war


(Available on the BBC website here.)

Andrew Neil’s Liberal Democrat conference report

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Vince Cable

Vince Cable’s speech to LibDem conference

By Vince Cable | Mon 19th September 2011 - 4:39 pm

You can watch Vince’s speech to the Lib Dem conference here…


(Available on the BBC website here.)

Or you can read the text in full here…

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Posted in Conference | Also tagged , , and | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

Liberal Democrats Conference round-up and preview: Sunday/Monday

By Mark Pack | Mon 19th September 2011 - 8:21 am

What happened on Sunday in Birmingham at Liberal Democrat conference and what to watch out for today, Monday:

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Mark Pack

Nick Clegg on the top tax rate

By Mark Pack | Sat 17th September 2011 - 10:45 am

Nick Clegg’s interview in today’s Independent is rather more subtle on tax than the headline “I won’t let Osborne cut 50p tax” suggests. For in fact the story goes on to say:

Mr Clegg made clear that the Liberal Democrats would back abolition of the 50p rate in the long run only if it is not raising much revenue and if it is replaced by new taxes on “unearned income”. These could include a 1 per cent annual “mansion tax” on homes worth more than £2m, a land tax, and restricting tax relief on pensions to the basic 20p rate.

In …

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Nick Clegg MP

Nick Clegg’s speech on the economy – text in full

By Nick Clegg MP | Wed 14th September 2011 - 1:23 pm

DPM-LSE-14Sept11_8846

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg delivered a speech on the economy at the LSE this morning. Here’s the full text:

Good morning. Today I’m going to talk about the economy. I’m certainly in the right place. For more than a century LSE scholars have been at the forefront of every major economic debate asking – and answering – the most pressing questions of the day.

Today, the big question facing governments is this: Given the unprecedented pressures in the global economy, what can we do to restore stability and encourage growth?

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Mark Pack

MP conference fringe league table 2011: Vince is the new Simon, Simon is the new Vince

By Mark Pack | Tue 13th September 2011 - 10:25 am

Back for its third year (see 2009 and 2010) is my conference fringe meeting league table, showing how many fringes each MP will be speaking at. As ever, this is based on the information from the official fringe listings in the printed conference directory.

The Simon Hughes Memorial Prize for Multiple Simultaneous Fringe Booking award this year was tightly contested. After Simon Hughes winning in 2009 and then in 2010 the honours being split fourways between Burstow, Cable, Featherstone and Teather, 2011 saw a tight contest again.

There were numerous MPs who managed one, or more, double bookings. Special mention …

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Posted in Conference | Also tagged and | 5 Comments
Dick Newby

Dick Newby writes… Banking – a Lib Dem win

By Dick Newby | Mon 12th September 2011 - 10:41 pm

As I write this, the top headline on the BBC online news reads Acclaim for Bank Shake-up Plan. The report states that there is broad support for the Vickers’ report’s proposals to separate domestic retail banking and global wholesale and investment banking operations. This support extends to the Chancellor and the Prime Minister.

What the BBC doesn’t point out is that this a complete victory for the Liberal Democrats – particularly Vince Cable. When the banking crisis broke , we quickly decided that we had to ensure that the state couldn’t be put in the position again where it …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 12 Comments
Mark Pack

Monday: politicians and bankers learn their possible fates

By Mark Pack | Sun 11th September 2011 - 9:50 am

A quirk of the political calendar means Monday sees both politicians and bankers learn of their possible future fate. For English MPs it is when they get embargoed copies of the Parliamentary Boundary Commission’s draft proposals, which get published on Tuesday. Monday is also the day when the Vickers Commission publishes its banking reform recommendations.

There is a widespread expectation in Whitehall that the Vickers Commission will recommend isolating retail banking from other banking activities, but without demanding that companies be split up. Internal firewalls and the like will be demanded instead.

It is also widely expected that the Vickers Commission will …

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Stephen Tall

LDVideo | George Osborne’s GQ award embarrassment: when political jokes go bad (and when they go right)

By Stephen Tall | Sat 10th September 2011 - 8:45 am

The Chancellor George Osborne has been left red-faced by his controversially potty-mouthed acceptance speech at the GQ awards when picking up a gong.

His references to the magazine’s adult content, and use of the word ‘wankers’, has attracted widespread criticism for crudeness, and conduct unbecoming the dignity of his office — even his usual supporters in the Tory party, such as ConservativeHome’s Tim Montgomerie, have turned on Mr O. See what you think here:

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Chris White

Chris White writes: It’s nice to be hated again

By Chris White | Wed 31st August 2011 - 11:53 am

I don’t suppose many readers spend much time on the Daily Express. Most people don’t. But a quick glance at yesterday’s editorial rant finds that they have it in for the Lib Dems.
 

At a time when the tax burden and cost of living are rising and families are being squeezed ever more with each passing day the Lib Dems are fighting the Conservatives not for a tax cut but a tax rise.

This is a reference to the re-emergence of the mansion tax.
 
Not many Express readers live in £1 million homes. But they aspire to. And just to raise their fears …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 24 Comments
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