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Politics UK and Ireland

• May 15, 2012
• 9:48

  Stephen Williams: Give RBS and Lloyds shares to the public

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Commenting, Stephen Williams said:
  
  “This is a very popular idea which would give the public something back for bailing out the banks.
  
  “I welcome the Treasury Select Committee’s review into what to do with the Government’s holding in RBS and Lloyds and hope that it furthers the case for giving the public their share.”
• May 11, 2012
• 13:10

  Liberal Democrat News 11th May 2012

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  
  
  Long lasting reforms
  
  Key Liberal Democrat initiatives were announced in the Queen’s Speech on Wednesday including banking reform, a single tier pension, energy reform, strengthening shareholder power and House of Lords reform.
  
  The Coalition government’s next term will focus on helping families, supporting growth and jobs, and delivering long-standing reform to our banking sector. Long lasting reforms are proposed to put the UK on a stable footing and offer help and support to families, small businesses and communities, protect the environment, as well as reaffirming the commitment to helping the poorest nations.
  
  The key themes from the 2012 Queen’s Speech are economic growth, justice and constitutional reform.
  
  Main Lib Dem initiatives include:
  

  • Banking Reform
  • Single tier pension
  • Shared parental leave and more help for SEN children
  • Energy reform
  • Social Care
  • House of Lords Reform

  
  Other Lib Dem led initiatives:
  

  • Green Investment Bank
  • Strengthening shareholder power in deciding directors’ pay
  • Grocery Code Adjudicator Bill – Fair trade for British famers
  • Water Bill to increase competitiveness and improve efficiency
  • Defamation Reform
  • Reform of community sentencing

  Overseas Aid
  

  “I’m confident we have secured a good outcome for both our party and the country,” said Nick Clegg. “Our challenge now is communicating our success in the Queen’s Speech, as well as in this government more widely, to voters everywhere.”

  
  
• May 09, 2012
• 13:54

  State Opening of Parliament: The Queen’s Speech 2012

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  These reforms will help build a sustainable future for our country. The Coalition Government’s plans will offer help and support to families, small businesses and communities, protect the environment, as well as reaffirming our commitment to helping the poorest nations.
  
  In 2010, Liberal Democrats joined the Coalition Government to act in the long-term national interest. Our most urgent task was to tackle the record deficit left to us by Labour and we’re continuing this work today.
  
  We have already made some tough choices, and we will continue to make sure we keep spending down so, unlike the rest of Europe, families can benefit from low interest rates and Britain is protected from the global debt storm.
  
  The key themes from the 2012 Queen’s Speech are:
  

  • Economic Growth
  • Justice
  • Constitutional reform

  1. Banking Reform
  This Bill reflects a longstanding record of Liberal Democrat action to reform the banking sector. It will deliver greater financial stability by finally separate retail banking, on which households and small business rely, from the more risky investment activity. This acts on the recommendations of the independent Vickers Commission. It will insulate personal finance from global financial shocks and make banks easier to resolve without taxpayer support.
  
  2. Single Tier Pension
  A flat-rate pension is simple, progressive and ensures women and low-paid workers in particular get a fair deal. Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for these reforms and they represent the most radical changes to the State Pension system in our lifetime: making it fairer and simpler for the next generation. Steve Webb’s Single Tier Pension Bill achieves this by combining the basic State Pension and State Second Pension in to a single tier state pension, currently worth around £140 a week.
  
  3. Parental Leave (Children and Families Bill)
  The Coalition Government have previously announced proposals for a new system of flexible parental leave and an extended right to request flexible working. These changes are necessary to reflect modern family life but they also serve solid economic purposes. By extending an individual's ability to combine work and family life, fewer people will drop out of the labour market, losing their skills and prospects in the process.
  
  4. Special Educational Needs (Children and Families Bill)
  This will put Sarah Teather’s work on improving support in schools for disabled children and children with special educational needs. The Bill will bring in a single, simple assessment procedure for 0-25 year olds. It will provide statutory protections up until 25 in further education, instead of cutting it off at 16 and give parents or young people the right to a personal budget. Lastly, it will require local authorities and health services to jointly plan and commission services for children and families.
  
  5. Social Care
  This is a draft Bill and will set out what support people could expect from Government and what action the Government would take to help them to plan, prepare and make informed choices about their care. These proposals will deliver on the Liberal Democrat commitment to modernise care, allow local authorities to fit services around needs and outcomes and give people greater choice by making it easier for people to plan for future care needs. This will finally bring together a patchwork of legislation dating back to the 1948 National Assistance Act, creating sustainable system for our ageing population.
  
  6. Energy Bill
  This Bill will support private sector investment in low-carbon power generation. This will help to provide greater security of energy supply, ensure lower consumer energy bills in the face of escalating world oil and gas prices and secure the Liberal Democrat commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. It will secure the estimated £110 billion of investment in power generation by 2020 creating thousands of jobs in all parts of the UK.
  
  7. House of Lords
  Reforming the House of Lords has been an historic commitment of the Liberal Democrats: our predecessors first proposed it when the Queen’s grandfather was on the throne. While the Government rightly focuses on growth, that doesn’t mean you can’t reform politics at the same time. The case for reform is clear: in a democracy people should have power over politicians rather than give party leaders the power to stuff a chamber full of supporters.
  
  The current situation is untenable:
  

  • The House of Lords is an overstocked chamber, where you’re more likely to be older than 90 than under 40.
  • Just fifteen countries worldwide use appointment as the predominant means of selection to the upper house, including Jordan, Belize, Trinidad and Tabago, and Burkino Faso.
  • The only other country in the world where the hereditary element still exists is Lesotho.
  • Each member is entitled £300 for each day they attend. If everyone attends, the current cost would be almost £1m a week.

  8. Grocery Code Adjudicator Bill
  This is a Bill to get a fair deal for British farmers and to target ‘Trolleygarchs’ and help small business and independent traders. The independent adjudicator will ensure suppliers are treated fairly and lawfully by supermarkets.
  
  9. Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill
  This Bill will deliver on a long-standing Liberal Democrat commitment by setting up the Green Investment Bank. It will also reform competition law by creating a single Competition and Markets Authority, take action on director’s pay and reduce burdens on business by repealing unnecessary legislation.
  
  10. Defamation Bill
  This Bill will strengthen free speech and delivers on our manifesto commitment to reform libel laws. The bill will prevent Britain becoming a haven for 'libel tourism' and ensure that the threat of libel proceedings is not used to frustrate robust scientific and academic debate, or to impede responsible investigative journalism. It will also create a balance in the law - ensuring that people who are defamed are able to protect their reputation, but that free speech is not trampled on.
  
  11. Justice and Security Bill
  The Bill will strengthen oversight of the security and intelligence agencies. Last year, we published a Green Paper with a range of options including extending the existing use of closed proceedings in civil damages cases. Those claims cannot currently be heard there because of the quantity of national security sensitive information involved. We have listened carefully to the consultation responses and will publish a Bill in due course.
  
  12. Draft Communications Data Bill
  This Bill aims to maintain the ability of law enforcement agencies to access vital communications data under strict safeguards. There will be full pre-legislative scrutiny on communications data proposals before anything final or concrete is introduced. Though the format is still to be decided, there will be the chance to fully examine the proposals, to ensure that they are both necessary and proportionate, and to call expert witnesses from industry and civil liberties groups. It will also look at the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to see if the protections we have around the use of communications data are enough and how we might strengthen them.
  
  13. Crime and Courts Bill
  In addition to setting up the National Crime Agency, this Bill contains a marker for any legislation needed as a result of the consultation into community sentences. Our intention is to reform community sentences so that they are a genuine alternative to custody. This 'rehabilitation revolution' will extend the use of restorative justice and improve treatment for people with alcohol or drug addictions, or other mental health problems. It will also allow us to improve the flexibility of community sentences so that offenders can maintain an education, a job, or childcare duties while undertaking their punishment. The Bill will also reform the judiciary - making it more flexible, more diverse and appointments more transparent.
  
  14. Draft Water Bill
  This Bill will implement the reforms set out in the December 2011 Water White Paper. This will reform the water industry and deregulate markets to enable consumers to negotiate better services from the water companies. It also includes environmental measures such as new controls on abstracting water from rivers.

• May 05, 2012
• 13:25

  A liberal Queen's Speech

   » ‎ Home

  

  7 May 2012

  Set out below are nine measures that CentreForum would like to see included in the Queen's speech to parliament on Wednesday 9 May. For comment on the actual speech, please call us on 020 7340 1161, or email tom.frostick@centreforum.org.

• May 04, 2012
• 14:36

  I want to pay tribute to all the great work Lib Dem councillors have done

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  “It’s been a disappointing and difficult night for the Liberal Democrats. I’m really sad that so many colleagues and friends, Liberal Democrat councillors, who’ve worked so hard, so tirelessly, for so many years, for communities and families in their local areas, have lost their seats. And I want to pay tribute to all the great work that they have done.
   
  “I’m determined that we will continue to play our role in rescuing, repairing, and reforming the British economy. It’s not an easy job and it can’t be done overnight. But our duty is to boost jobs and investment and restore a sense of hope and optimism to our country.
   
  “I believe that, over time, people will come to acknowledge our unique role, the Liberal Democrats, in this Government as the only party that combines responsibility on the economy with social fairness.”
• 9:48

  Liberal Democrat News 4th May 2012

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  
  
  Tim Farron says ‘Thank You’
  
  The polling stations have yet to open as I’m writing this. I’ve spent the last few days reminding postal voters to send their ballots in, mostly using the Connect phone bank.
  
  I’ve also been out with fellow campaigners delivering last minute messages to our supporters – reminding them of our track record of hard work and achievement.
  
  Wherever I go on the campaign trail, I am struck by the passion and determination of Lib Dem candidates and their teams, and by their dedication to their communities. I haven’t met a single Lib Dem candidate who doesn’t objectively deserve to be elected. But of course, not everyone will have won by the time you read this.
  
  Over the last few weeks, being out on the doorsteps with you – from Dundee to Dollis Hill and all parts in between – has been exhilarating. If I needed reminding why I am a Liberal Democrat, then being out with our activists, who live and breathe community politics would have done the job.
  
  All of us know that for the good of the country we have put ourselves in the political firing line – and made life really hard electorally. We have been given a precious chance in appalling circumstances to make this country greener, fairer and more liberal – we were right to grasp that chance.
  
  All the same, being in power at such a difficult time as this has not made us popular – many of those who identify themselves as Liberal Democrat supporters are confused or even angered by our role in government.
  
  So in our communities we have a chance to make a difference on the ground – whether we were successful this week or not. I often tell the tale of my dear friend and mentor Neva Orrell who lost her seat in Leyland, Lancashire no less than three times. Each time she lost, the Liberal group on the council was down to zero, but each time she carried on campaigning and each time she won her seat back next time.
  
  I hope that most of you reading this will have won in the elections, but if you didn’t, can I just say that I am utterly proud of you. Take the weekend off, and then on Monday, get out there and do a Neva.
• May 02, 2012
• 10:26

  Nick Clegg: Every vote for the Liberal Democrats is a step towards a more liberal country

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  A copy of the email is below
  

  This Thursday across much of England, Liberal Democrat councillors and campaigners will be standing for election to represent their communities on their local council. I would like to wish them the very best in those elections – every vote for the Liberal Democrats and every Liberal Democrat councillor elected is a step towards a more liberal country.
  
  Liberal Democrat councillors have a well-deserved reputation for dedication and commitment to their local communities. And our record on freezing council tax, protecting local libraries and giving pay rises for the lowest paid council workers shows the difference we make when we run local councils.
  
  Labour may choose to lie in what they tell people about our record in government, but I remain very proud of what we have achieved: raising the income tax threshold and cutting taxes for 23 million ordinary working people, implementing the Pupil Premium, creating record numbers of apprenticeships and delivering the ‘triple lock’ guarantee for pensions.
  
  We have only been able to implement these much-needed liberal policies because of the hard work of Liberal Democrats across the country. That hard work can make a difference again on Thursday.

  
  
• May 01, 2012
• 15:24

  Adrian Trett: Protection of Freedom Act major win for LGBT rights

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Commenting on the Protection of Freedoms Act receiving Royal Assent, Chair of LGBT+ Liberal Democrats, Adrian Trett said:
  

  “The Protection of Freedoms Act is a major win for the LGBT rights. Gay and bisexual men who were convicted for acts that are now perfectly legal will finally be able to get them deleted from their criminal records. It marks the end of the overhang from a bygone era when being gay was still criminalised.
  
  “It shows the determination of the Liberal Democrats and the Coalition Government to do the right thing. The march for equal rights is not over yet but with today’s news and the consultation on how to introduce equal marriage, we’re steadily chipping away at the final hurdles.”
  

• 13:49

  Tom Brake: Protection of Freedoms Act landmark achievement in fight for civil liberties

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  The Protection of Freedoms Act will:
  

  • stop councils snooping
  • end the storage of DNA of innocent people
  • reduce the bureaucracy of CRB checks
  • end 28-day detention
  • stop schools deciding on their own to take fingerprints of children
  • Make stalking a criminal offence
  • End wheel clamping on private land
  • Delete historical convictions for men who have had consensual gay sex with someone who was over 16

  Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for this piece of legislation, proposing a “Freedom Bill” more than four years ago when Nick Clegg was the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesman.
  
  Commenting, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Policy Committee on Home Affairs, Justice and Equality, Tom Brake said:
  

  “This is a milestone in the fight to claw back our civil liberties. Under the Labour government, our civil liberties were steadily eroded by an increasingly over-bearing security state.
  
  “Liberal Democrats have done the right thing to clear up Labour’s mess by ending these shameful practices with the Protection of Freedoms Act.
  
  “The Coalition Government has already scrapped ID cards and destroyed the National Identity Register and is now making another leap forward with this Act to end Labour’s surveillance state.
  
  “The Act stops councils snooping, ends the storage of the DNA of innocent people, reduces the bureaucracy of CRB checks, curtails 28-day detention without charge and bans schools from taking children’s fingerprints without parental permission.”
  

• 11:12

  Simon Hughes: Labour will waste your money locally just like they did nationally

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Liberal Democrat research published today shows that Labour are wasting millions of pounds on vanity projects, executive car services and corporate communications while slashing library services, closing dementia centres and ending support for the most vulnerable.
  
  Simon Hughes is calling on voters to stop Labour turning more of our councils into nearly bankrupt authorities, just like they did to the country.
   
  Commenting, Simon Hughes said:
  

  “When Ed Miliband said he had a special responsibility to show us that every pound that is spent by Labour, is spent wisely, he clearly forgot to tell his councillors.
  
  “Labour councils have failed their own leader’s test. Rather than spending money on essential services and supporting the most vulnerable, they want to waste money on executive cars, cabinets for silverware and oil paintings.
  
  “Liberal Democrats in councils across the country are making the best calls for local people. That is why Liberal Democrat-controlled councils are freezing council tax this year, are most likely to offer pay rises for the lowest paid and are still managing to open libraries instead of closing them.
  
  “A vote for Liberal Democrat candidates on Thursday is a vote to stop Labour wasting our money locally just like they did nationally.”

• April 27, 2012
• 13:32

  Dropping the bomb: a post Trident future

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• 9:44

  Simon Hughes: Harman should explain why Sheffield Labour are choosing waste over local services

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  The figures were revealed while Labour Deputy Leader, Harriet Harman, visited the city, attempting to defend Labour’s waste on Sheffield City Council.
  
  Local Liberal Democrat councillors are campaigning to save Sheffield’s weekly bin collections, vital recycling services and local dementia homes, placed under threat of closure by Labour councillors.
  
  Senior Sheffield Labour councillors have argued that no money is available but figure released today show a staggering £4.2m of wasteful spending.
  
  In the last 12 months Labour councillors have:
  

  • Approved £2.2m to refurbish Town Hall meeting rooms;
  • Agreed £400,000 to ‘communicate’ their plan to reduce bin collections;
  • Rejected a plan to save £1.2m by reducing the pay of senior officials;
  • Refused to reduce the £400,000 bill to fund full time Trade Union officials;
  • Scrapped Liberal Democrat plans which would have given the lowest paid council workers a permanent £250 pay rise both this year and next year.

  In addition to this, Labour councillors turned down extra funds from the Government to help save Sheffield’s weekly bin collections.
  
  Commenting, Simon Hughes said:
  

  “Labour needs to understand that elections are about priorities: protecting essential services and helping the most vulnerable. Whatever the financial circumstances, councils like Sheffield and others across the country run by Labour are making things worse by investing in the wrong priorities – spending millions refurbishing town hall meeting rooms whilst cutting dementia care.
  
  “Liberal Democrats across the country are standing on a record of making the right calls for their communities in difficult times while Labour is trying desperately to turn attention away from their own records because they can’t defend their terrible local record of slashing key services.
  
  “No Liberal Democrat-controlled council in England is closing their libraries and some are opening new ones. Every Liberal Democrat council has frozen Council Tax and our councils have given the lowest paid workers a pay rise more frequently than Labour’s. This comes on top of record rises in the state pension and giving nearly 25m basic-rate tax payers an Income Tax cut last year, this year and next year.
  
  “Labour accepts the need to cut the deficit, but nationally have come forward with no credible plans for what they would do. Their record locally can only demonstrate what a disaster for our country another Labour government would have been.
  
  “Instead of justifying plans to cut services unnecessarily, Harriet Harman should be asking her Labour colleagues what they are doing to tackle wasteful spending.”

   
  
  
• 9:39

  Tim Farron: UK has one of the most flexible labour markets in the world

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “The UK has one of the most flexible labour markets in the world and reforms to tribunals by Vince Cable have improved it even further.
  
  “I don’t believe that tearing up employment rights is going to pave the way for economic recovery.
  
  “People worrying they may be fired at will is only going to undermine consumer confidence at a time when we want people spending on their local high street.
  
  “Liberal Democrats believe the right way to sort out Labour’s mess is to get spending under control, get the banks lending, rebalance the economy away from the City through the £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund and invest in the future and skills of our young people as we have through the £1bn Youth Contract.”

• 8:00

  Liberal Democrat News 27th April 2012

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  
  
  Help us fight Labour lies says council chief
  
  Senior local government Liberal Democrats are going on the offensive after voters in many parts of the country where local elections are taking place received leaflets from the Labour Party containing blatant lies about the Liberal Democrats.
  The party is used to the usual strident propaganda put out by the opposition, but in this case senior Lib Dems believe it is time to fight back and rebut serious untruths.
  The Leader of the Liberal Democrats on the Local Government Association and Leader of Portsmouth Council,
  Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, is determined to take on this negative campaigning.
  

  “Have you seen the kind of lies and scares Labour are attacking local Liberal Democrat candidates with?” he asks.

  “I didn’t know that we had scrapped free prescriptions for pensioners. Not to mention axing free TV licences and bus passes too!”

  “That’s because it’s not true,” stresses Gerald.

  “Millions of pensioners who use these services every day can verify this! Gerald is urging members to help the party counteract these underhand tactics.
  

  “Our candidates need your help now to fight Labour’s lies and scares,” he says.

  “Because this kind of campaigning should not be allowed to succeed. With your support, we can elect more local Liberal Democrat councillors to fight for communities across Britain."

  If you have local elections in your area, here’s how you can help today.
  

  • Make 5 calls to our supporters to remind them to vote on Thursday ( [bit.ly] )
  • Donate £5 to help pay for 10 calls to remind our supporters to vote on Thursday
    
• April 25, 2012
• 10:43

  Members States can't have their cake and eat it on EU budget

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Commenting on the draft budget, Senior Liberal Democrat MEP and Vice President of the Budget Committee in the European Parliament, George Lyon said:
  

  "During tough economic times when households budgets are shrinking and people are worried about their jobs it is hard to justify any EU budget increase.
  
  "People expect the European budget to reflect the gravity of the economic situation we face.
  
  "However, this proposed budget increase has nothing to do with increased spending in Brussels. It is the direct result of increased demand for co-financed EU spending by Member States as they scramble to draw down EU funds before the end of this seven year financial planning period."

  Mr Lyon, who is in charge of a new working group set up to find savings in the administrative budget of the European Parliament, added:
  

  "MEPs are determined to find more savings and efficiencies from the EU administrative budget, which is around 6% of the total budget.
  
  "However, if we want to cut the budget back to the level that people across the EU demand then Member States must engage with Parliament to find savings out of the 94% of the budget that is spent directly in the backyards of EU Member States.
  
  "The Budget Committee would like to hear representations from national governments on which roads, bridges and other projects in their own countries they want scrapped or delayed."

• 7:00

  Tim Farron: No library closed under Lib Dem leadership

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Liberal Democrat-controlled Cardiff is opening five new libraries and Portsmouth and Bristol are also opening new libraries.
  
  Commenting, Liberal Democrat Party President, Tim Farron said:
  

  “While Conservatives and Labour councils their budgets without regard for the most vulnerable, Liberal Democrat-controlled councils know how to protect essential services.
  
  “Encouraging and enabling reading is vital to the development of children and adults alike. If we don’t give our children the opportunity to practice and perfect their reading skills at a young age, they will struggle to catch up later in life.
  
  “Libraries are a life-line for local communities, especially for those who are less well off, and give people the opportunity to relax, learn new information and skills or to use the internet if they don’t have it at home.
  
  “Cutting services like Labour and Tory councils are doing will do long-term damage. Liberal Democrats are doing the right thing thanks to our financial competency in the councils we run. That is also the reason why not only have Liberal Democrat councils kept libraries open, but councils in England have also frozen council tax and are most likely to be giving the lowest-paid council workers a pay rise.”

• April 24, 2012
• 12:15

  Julian Huppert: Labour’s failed track record

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  The statement is a correction to an answer to a Parliamentary Question asked by Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Committee on Transport, Julian Huppert.
  
  Commenting, Julian Huppert said:
  

  “Today’s figures show that you can’t trust Labour with our railways. Their record is appalling: foisting yearly rail fare increases on to passengers while failing to use that money to invest in services.
  
  “Instead, they let inefficiency cripple our system, burdening taxpayers and passengers alike.
  
  “Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government are doing the right thing to clean up this mess by investing more in our railways than at any time since the Victorian era.
  
  “The Coalition Government has committed to electrifying over 800 miles in 5 years but electrification is just one part of our huge program of investment.
  
  “We’re delivering Crossrail, creating a national High Speed network, reopening old lines, lengthening trains and bringing down costs.

• April 20, 2012
• 8:00

  Liberal Democrat News 20th April 2012

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  
  Lib Dems push for equal marriage
  
  Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone and Party President Tim Farron are urging members to get involved in the government consultation on how best to deliver equal civil marriage. The consultation will lead to new legislation enacted in this Parliament.
  The party Conference agreed that the best way to do that is in the context of full equality of marriage and civil partnerships.
  

  “This party has always stood for individual liberty and the right to choose how we lead our lives,”

  said Tim.
  

  “That’s why we came into being in the 19th Century to protect the rights of religious minorities, it’s why we led the support for equality for women and why we decided before any other major party that civil marriage should be open to same-sex couples equally.
  “The Liberal Democrats in government are now delivering on that. But it’s important that as many people as possible respond to this consultation now.
  “We’ve waited to get clarification from the Home Office on some ambiguously-worded questions, which we’ve now received. Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transexual Plus (LGBT+) Liberal Democrats have prepared a guide to the consultation, what it means, and how to respond to support the Liberal Democrat policy of equality.

  More information is at www.abouttime.org.uk.
  
  Local parties can also order leaflets from LGBT+ Lib Dems to distribute around local venues - not just ones specific to the LGBT+ communities, since equal marriage affects everyone. For more detail on our LGBT+ campaigning, please see [lgbt.libdems.org.uk] or follow @lgbtld on Twitter.
  
• April 19, 2012
• 9:37

  Catherine Bearder MEP calls on UEFA to join fight against human trafficking

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  In a debate in the European Parliament, the long-standing campaigner against sexual exploitation of children, women and men said:
  

  "While UEFA should be commended for launching campaigns to tackle racism in the game, I believe it is not doing enough to raise awareness of human trafficking."
  
  Pointing out that many mega brothels opened in host cities at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Bearder disputed UEFA's claim that large football events are 'irrelevant' when it comes to trafficking.
  
  Ahead of this year's Eurocup in Poland and the Ukraine, strip clubs are already opening near the football stadiums in Kiev. Ms Bearder continued:
  
  "Where there is a spike in demand for sex workers, there will also be a spike in the number of women trafficked. This summer is a massive year for sport in Europe and millions of people will enjoy the games. We must ensure that such great events are not tarnished by trafficking."

  
  
• April 18, 2012
• 14:40

  Stephen Williams: Labour doesn’t understand the tax system

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “It is worrying that the two Eds don’t understand the fundamental principles of our tax system, despite having worked in the Treasury for many years as Gordon Brown’s backroom boys.
  
  “It took them 13 years to introduce a 50p rate and then they only did so shortly before a general election. Now that the local elections are coming up, suddenly they care about it again and put down ill-thought through amendments that remove the top rate altogether.
  
  “Labour’s biggest tax change was to remove the 10p tax rate hitting people on low and middle incomes while Liberal Democrats are giving nearly 25m basic-rate tax payers an Income Tax cut and have lifted more than a million people out of paying Income Tax altogether. At the same time, we’re making the rich pay their fair share by cracking down on loopholes and excessive tax relief.”

• April 17, 2012
• 12:32

  Tim Farron: Blencathra’s lobbying for tax haven astonishing

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “With all the controversy surrounding lobbying and tax at the moment, it’s astonishing that a Tory peer is now the lead advocate in Britain for one of the world’s biggest tax havens.
  
  “While the Coalition is trying to make the rich pay their fair share, this exposes an element of the Conservative Party which wants to keep helping their wealthy friends hide their money from the taxman.
  
  “If Lord Blencathra is using his very privileged position in the House of Lords to lobby for a government that wants to see money that should be for our schools, hospitals and our armed forces sailing off in luxury yachts to be stored on the Cayman Islands, it is yet another mockery of the Parliamentary system, and reinforces a need for an elected upper chamber.”

• April 16, 2012
• 11:54

  Tim Farron: No Liberal Democrat-run council in England has raised Council Tax

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “While Labour and the Tories fight over how many of their councils raised Council Tax, it’s clear that with the Liberal Democrats your money is safest: no Liberal Democrat-run council in England has raised Council Tax.
  
  “This stands in stark contrast to Tory and Labour-run councils which have been racking up the Council Tax in these difficult times. Ordinary working families are struggling already with paying bills, without their councils increasing the burden.
  
  “Liberal Democrat councils have not only frozen council tax but are also most likely to be giving the lowest-paid council workers a pay rise.
  
  “This comes on top of Liberal Democrat achievements in the Budget, which increased the number of people lifted out of tax to over a million and gave nearly 25m people a £130 tax cut this year.
  
  “The choice in next month’s elections is clear: vote Liberal Democrat for financially responsible councils that create jobs. Vote Labour and the Tories for waste, mismanagement and tax rises.”

• April 15, 2012
• 7:59

  Simon Hughes: Labour commitment to capping union donations welcome

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “We’re pleased that Labour has finally recognised that big money should be taken out of politics and that this includes trade unions. But questions remain over how committed Labour is to real reform.
  
  “Why does Ed Miliband still disagree with the Kelly proposals that people should have the freedom to opt-in to donating to the Labour party, rather than the complex system of opting out?
  
  “Over the years there has been much talk of cleaning up party funding, but this has failed to materialised under successive governments. It is now essential that all political parties work together to find a lasting solution to party funding.
  
  “Thanks to a commitment laid down in the Coalition Agreement, cross party talks are currently underway and Liberal Democrats will continue to lead the campaign to clean up party funding once and for all.”

  
  
• April 13, 2012
• 10:41

  Liberal Democrat News 13th April 2012

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  
  
  Cutting energy bills – saving the planet
  
  Nick Clegg announced this week that agreements have been secured with the big six energy companies that could cut energy bills for millions of people.
  
  The commitments will mean that EDF, E.On, British Gas, Southern, Scottish Power and Npower - who supply 99 per cent of British homes with energy - will now write to customers every year to specifically tell them what the best tariff is for them and how to get it. Many people are currently paying far more than they have to.
  
  Some vulnerable customers – those assisted by the Warm Home Discount scheme - will be contacted twice a year. Customers will also be offered the best tariff if their contract comes to an end and if they contact their supplier at any time to ask.
  
  There are more than 120 different tariffs. Currently, seven out of 10 people aren’t on the best tariff for them. The average customer tends to stay on theirs for years, despite the amount of energy they use varying over time. In 2010, 75 per cent of people did not change their tariff.
  
  The government wants people to save money on their bills whilst also becoming more switched on to the idea of saving energy through green measures to make further savings and protecting the environment.
  
  At a speech at ‘Canary Wharf’s greenest building’, the KPMG headquarters, the Deputy Prime Minister said: “We need to get bills as low as possible. I know that many families are struggling with rising energy bills. We can’t control volatile world energy prices. But we can still help people get their bills down. As of this Autumn, your supplier will have to contact you with the best tariff for your needs. And if you call them, they’ll have to offer you the best deal too.
  

  “As we learn to live within our economic means we can learn to live within our environmental means too. To do that, we have to stop treating the environment like an add on; an afterthought. We must show that, in so many ways, consumer interests, business interests and green interests are the same,” stressed Nick. “We have to give people the practical help to make more sustainable choices. We must do everything we can to ensure that the benefits and opportunities created by going green are clear.”
  “We’re also working with energy companies to put special barcodes on energy bills. You’ll be able to scan them with your smartphone to get quotes and switch tariff or supplier in a matter of minutes.
  “Plus we’re working with consumer groups to make it easier for people to club together and switch supplier. Consumers will be able to use their collective purchasing power to bring down bills.
  “We want to see consumers saving money and engage with the energy they use,” explained Nick. “Precisely the kind of thrift that is good for pockets as well as the planet.”
  

  (photo: Crown copyright)

• 8:52

  Hosepipe bans are not the answer: lessons from electricity markets

   » ‎ Home
  Tim Leunig April 2012

  At present, no domestic user is allowed to use a hosepipe when a ban is introduced. Under CentreForum's scheme, commercial users in a drought year will be offered compensation for reducing their consumption. The water saved could then be sold to domestic customers.

  "Water companies should not be encouraged to pick on any particular group. Instead we should be offering compensation to industrial and agricultural users who agree to use less water. The water saved could be offered to water meter households who want to use hosepipes. Since households pay more for water than industrial and agricultural users the price difference can be used to pay the compensation."

  - Tim Leunig, Chief Economist, CentreForum

  Download the report.

• April 11, 2012
• 11:01

  Nick Clegg: The myth - green versus growth

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  There is a myth doing the rounds in political debate today:
  That, here in the UK, environmentalism has hit a wall.
  That green is for the good times.
  We cannot up our efforts to protect our environment...
  While simultaneously growing our economy.
  That we have to make a choice.
  
  The story goes something like this:
  
  Up until just a few years ago, the green movement was approaching a kind of heyday.
  Europe had agreed a plan to combat global warming.
  In the UK, the major political parties had united behind the Climate Change Act...
  Enshrining our carbon reduction commitments in law.
  Al Gore's “An Inconvenient Truth” was a box office hit.
  In affluent societies, as sustained growth satisfied citizens' basic needs...
  Climate change was graduating from niche issue to mainstream concern.
  
  Then: the credit crunch happened.
  
  The global economy was plunged into unprecedented turmoil.
  And, ever since, economic recovery has overtaken every other social and environmental priority.
  The assumption is that cash-strapped citizens cannot be expected to live more sustainably:
  They have other, more urgent worries to contend with.
  Struggling businesses must be liberated from burdensome environmental regulations.
  And the upshot, we are told, is that our environmental ambitions must, temporarily, take a back seat.
  
  But this new wisdom, however widely held, is utterly wrong.
  Yes, right now climate change may be lower down some people' thoughts.
  Yes, we need to be sensitive to businesses' needs.
  But in so many ways, for so many consumers, for so many firms...
  Going green has never made so much sense.
  
  How can we relieve some of the pressure on hard-up households?
  By helping families use less energy to cut their bills.
  
  How can we rebalance our economy away from its overreliance on the City of London?
  By capitalising on our competitive edge in green industries...
  Generating jobs and wealth outside of London and the South East.
  
  How will we find the money needed to renew our infrastructure?
  By competing successfully in the global low carbon market...
  To attract billions of pounds worth of outside investment to the UK.
  
  And, as we make our way along this choppy recovery...
  How can we better shield bill payers from price shocks in oil and gas?
  By depending less on fossil fuels...
  By producing more clean energy ourselves.
  
  It is simply not true that you have to give up on the green economy if you want to grow.
  The countries powering away from the recession...
  Germany, China, Korea, Brazil...
  Are investing heavily in low carbon industries.
  
  Nor is it true that the best way to unleash growth is through a bonfire of environmental protections.
  That's why, for example, I was determined we get the balance right in our planning reforms - as many of you were.
  So not development-at-any-cost.
  But sustainable development, driven by local needs.
  
  Our dilemma is not choosing between green and growth.
  It's marrying the two.
  
  Lean times can be green times
  
  I won't pretend that is easy.
  While austerity need not be the death of environmentalism...
  It does create challenges.
  While greening our lifestyles and decarbonising our economy might be the right thing to do...
  For millions of people, it doesn't always feel like the easy thing to do, especially now.
  
  But, while sceptics say that it's all too difficult at a time of deep fiscal consolidation...
  That economic uncertainty poses too many challenges...
  I say that periods of economic reinvention force us to do things differently.
  I say that lean times can be green times too.
  
  Just think about today's Britain:
  
  A nation burned by its excesses.
  Paying the price for years spent living on borrowed time and borrowed money.
  
  A nation turning the page on a culture of reckless consumption...
  Where we sacrificed tomorrow to get-rich-quick today.
  
  A nation thriftier, more frugal, more careful than before.
  Determined to clean up this generation's mess and leave a better legacy for our children.
  
  We are undergoing a profound transformation within our economy.
  And for the first time ever our economic and environmental mantras are exactly the same:
  Waste not, want not.
  Whether it's waste of energy, waste of money, waste of our potential...
  We are focused on conserving our precious resources.
  Responsibility and sustainability are the watchwords of the day.
  
  And that creates a unique opportunity to put environmental thrift into the mainstream.
  As we learn to live within our economic means...
  We can learn to live within our environmental means too.
  
  To do that, we have to stop treating the environment like an add on; an afterthought.
  We must show that, in so many ways, consumer interests, business interests and green interests are the same.
  We have to give people the practical help to make more sustainable choices.
  Where the benefits of going green are clear.
  
  Of course, the environment contributes to our economy in a range of ways...
  Many we don't always appreciate.
  For example, anyone who's been on the Southbank this morning will have seen Friends of the Earth have turned it into a wildflower meadow...
  To publicise the importance of bees to UK GDP.
  Because bee populations are in decline and Friends of the Earth estimate it would cost farmers £1.8bn a year to pollinate their crops without them.
  I plan to say more about the importance of natural capital in the coming months.
  I'll be representing the UK at the Rio+20 Summit in the summer...
  Where I'll be pushing for greater global protections for our natural assets.
  
  But there are two specific areas I want to focus on today.
  Two areas where going green is in the clear interests of individual families and the wider economy...
  And where Government is doing everything we can to help consumers and businesses go green.
  
  One: through a radical new approach to energy efficiency to cut emissions and bills.
  
  Two: through building up the low carbon sectors on which our future prosperity depends.
  
  Going green is good for consumers: energy efficiency
  
  First, energy efficiency.
  
  The UK still has some of the most energy inefficient buildings in Europe.
  Fifteen million homes - more than half - are not properly insulated.
  That's costing us in carbon:
  A third of our emissions come from heating our homes.
  And it's costing us in pounds:
  Adding hundreds, every year, to bills for the most inefficient homes.
  
  So the case for saving energy is compelling.
  It fits perfectly with the waste not, want not mentality.
  But we can't just preach at people.
  We can't just demand everyone turns off their lights.
  That has never worked before and it certainly won't work now.
  Instead we have to understand and dismantle the obstacles that can put people off.
  
  One problem is the hassle factor.
  Of course, there's only so much Government can do here.
  And making home improvements can be temporarily disruptive.
  But there are ways to minimise that disruption...
  And we are working with business to test innovative solutions.
  
  For example, we've been working with B&Q and Sutton Council to see if offering a loft clearance service makes a difference.
  B&Q clear your loft for you;
  You go through your belongings while they install the insulation;
  They put back the things you want to keep;
  And everything else gets taken to Cancer Research shops to be sold for charity.
  
  The first trial found that people were three times more likely to go for this than straight insulation.
  
  [Awareness]
  
  Another problem is awareness
  Very few of us really know how much energy we use.
  So we have replaced extraordinarily confusing Energy Performance Certificates with a much clearer document...
  Showing, in simple terms, the cost of fuelling your home...
  And the potential savings of using less energy.
  
  From the summer, we'll be trialling a new project with First Utility and America's OPOWER...
  Where consumers are told how much energy other, similar households use.
  
  Working with US utilities, OPOWER has helped encourage American households to reduce consumption by around 2%.
  That may not sound a lot, but it soon adds up.
  In the States, they've helped reach around 11 million homes...
  So far saving people around $85m.
  We want to see what the same approach could achieve here.
  
  And, of course, the biggest barrier for many people is the prospect of expense.
  So that’s where we are providing most help.
  
  The Government's Green Deal, which we'll begin rolling out in the Autumn...
  Will offer businesses and homeowners energy saving home improvements...
  But at no upfront cost.
  Customers will have energy saving measures installed in their homes by trusted suppliers...
  From high street brands to local traders.
  

  • They will only begin paying for those improvements once they're complete.
  • Payment will be made through their bills, over a period of time.
  • And they shouldn't be out of pocket because their homes will be more energy efficient...
  • Allowing them to save on their energy bills each month.
  • We'll ensure customers are never charged more for the home improvements than we expect them to make back in cheaper bills.
  • Plus the charge is attached to the property, rather than the person.

  So if you move, you stop paying.
  
  That is maximum affordability, with savings that should more than cover costs.
  Where families still find it difficult to take up the Green Deal...
  They will get help with their home improvements.
  
  I can confirm today that we will be requiring the energy companies to provide at least £540m to fund energy saving improvements in the worst off homes:
  So for low-income and vulnerable homes, older people, people with disabilities.
  These are the households most at risk of fuel poverty.
  And there will be specific support for the most deprived areas.
  
  We expect the investment to help 180,000 fuel poor households a year...
  Delivering the lasting improvements that will make their homes cheaper to heat – for good.
  
  And, to help everyone with their bills...
  To get more people switched on to the energy they use...
  I can announce today that we have secured a landmark deal with the six big energy companies...
  Who cover 99% of customers...
  To give customers a guaranteed offer of the best tariff for them.
  
  Right now, 7 out of 10 customers are on the wrong tariff for their needs – so paying too much.
  Yet people rarely switch.
  Despite the fact some families could save over £100 a year.
  And there are currently over 120 different tariffs...
  Making it very difficult to know where to start.
  
  So, as of this Autumn, your supplier will have to contact you, every year, with the best tariff for you.
  And, if you call them, they’ll have to offer you the best deal too.
  
  We’re also working with energy companies to put special barcodes on energy bills.
  You’ll be able to scan them with your smartphone to get quotes and switch tariff or supplier in a matter of minutes.
  
  Plus we’re working with consumer groups to make it easier for people to club together and switch supplier...
  Helping consumers use their collective
  
  purchasing power to bring down bills.
  
  These are the kinds of changes that help people save money.
  That get us thinking about the energy we use.
  That promote the kind of thrift that is good for pockets as well as the planet.
  Going green is good for the economy: boosting low carbon industry
  
  And just as we help UK consumers reap the benefits of going green...
  We need to help more businesses seize the opportunities it presents too.
  
  This country is already a powerhouse in green industries.
  The sixth largest low carbon market in the world.
  Home to an unrivalled research base;
  With enviable natural resources for wind and wave energy.
  
  In just the last year £5.7bn worth of planned investment in UK renewables has been announced...
  In wind, biomass and energy from waste...
  Potentially supporting tens of thousands of new jobs.
  
  And we’re seeing traditional British firms excelling in new markets.
  I recently visited David Brown Gear Systems...
  A Huddersfield-based business that has successfully bid for Regional Growth Fund money.
  During the First World War they built propulsion units for warships.
  Now, by combining a tradition of British engineering with cutting edge innovation...
  They’ve secured a multimillion pound contract to help build wind turbines for Samsung.
  
  And yet, despite our clear strengths in these sectors...
  We are still not tapping all of our potential.
  
  When I speak to representatives from low carbon sectors...
  I am always struck by their optimism for their companies and this country.
  But I also hear time and time again that they have concerns about expanding;
  They’re finding it difficult to secure investment;
  They have to go elsewhere to source their supply chains because British firms can’t support their needs.
  
  It cannot be right that our competitors aggressively back their strengths...
  While we tread hesitantly around ours.
  Perhaps part of that timidity is a hangover from the 1970s.
  Where the attempt to back winners collapsed into huge state subsidies for losers.
  But, whatever the reason, we’ve swung too far the other way.
  
  So I am determined that this Coalition strains every sinew...
  To give these sectors the certainty and backing they need;
  To help more of our businesses move into these markets;
  And to help energy intensive industries make the transition...
  Securing their place in our low carbon markets of the future.
  
  That’s not the same as picking winners...
  The market has already done that – these sectors and firms are already a success.
  It’s government joining the dots to make the most of all our talents and skills.
  
  Whether by improving infrastructure...
  Where we’re setting up the Green Investment Bank...
  With UKGI beginning lending next month.
  
  Whether by making sure we have the right skills.
  For example through protecting science spending...
  And massively increasing investment in apprenticeships.
  
  We’re supporting green R&D.
  For example in low carbon cars...
  Encouraging companies like Nissan to build these vehicles here in the UK
  We’re working extremely hard to open up export markets...
  Using UKTI to identify high value, environmentally friendly infrastructure projects that can be supplied by UK companies.
  
  We’re creating better, smarter regulation... Crucially by overhauling our electricity market...
  And more detail on that will be coming in the Queen’s Speech.
  We’re using the tax system – with our Carbon Price Floor and the Climate Change Levy.
  
  And, because not all companies can change to low carbon overnight...
  We’re helping traditional industries become more sustainable.
  One of the first areas UKGI will look at, for example, will be industrial energy inefficiency...
  Making £100m available from this month.
  
  We need to be realistic about the time transition will take.
  Which is why we’re looking at how we ensure these companies aren’t disproportionately affected by some of our measures.
  Because, let’s be clear:
  It is in no one’s interests for these industries to pack up and go abroad.
  They are vital for UK jobs.
  Their products – steel, chemicals – are critical to green industry.
  And would we rather have them here, where we can help them cut their emissions?
  Or in countries with lower environmental standards and ambitions?
  
  So proper support. Real certainty.
  With Government sending a clear signal across the world:
  We want the UK to be the number one destination for clean, green investment.
  We want low carbon industries serviced by British supply chains.
  In waste not, want not Britain, we are going to play to all our strengths.
  
  So, to finish as I began:
  There is no choice between protecting the environment and growing the economy.
  Go green and you help hard-pressed families with their bills.
  Go green and you build up the businesses that will be generating jobs and wealth for years to come.
  
  I cannot remember a time when consumers, industry and environmentalists had so much in common.
  Those of us who believe in a more sustainable future must seize the opportunity that creates.
  
  Don’t believe the naysayers when they tell you environmentalism is off the agenda.
  And don’t be in any doubt of our commitment to being the greenest government ever.
  
  This is a Coalition that has committed to halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2025:
  The boldest target set, in law, by any government, anywhere in the world;
  And we’ll be pressing our neighbours to set much more ambitious EU targets at talks in Denmark next week.
  
  A Coalition leading the biggest shakeup of the electricity market in thirty years.
  
  A Coalition creating the UK’s first ever market in energy efficiency through the Green Deal.
  
  A Coalition investing in a series of world firsts despite the huge pressures on the public purse:
  
  The first ever national bank devoted to green investment.
  
  The first ever Carbon Capture and Storage project at commercial scale.
  
  In just four months, the greenest ever Olympic and Paralympic Games.
  
  Make no mistake: the economic situation creates challenges...
  But it has not weakened our resolve.
  It has only strengthened our ambition.
  
  
  Thank you.
  
  
• 10:43

  Cheaper Energy Bills and Green Growth

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Nick Clegg has announced that the big six energy companies – EDF, E.On, British Gas, Southern, Scottish Power and NPower, who supply 99 per cent of British homes with energy - will now write to customers every year to specifically tell them what the best tariff is for them and how to get it.
  
  ‘Going Green has never made so much sense’
  The Deputy Prime Minister made the announcement in a speech where he also hit out at people who believe you must dismiss the green agenda in order to deliver growth.
  In his speech Nick Clegg said:
  

  “There is a myth doing the rounds in political debate today; that here in the UK environmentalism has hit a wall; that green is for the good times; and that we cannot up our efforts to protect our environment while simultaneously growing our economy.
  “But this new wisdom, however persuasive, is utterly wrong. Yes, right now climate change may be lower down some people’s thoughts. Yes, we need to be sensitive to businesses’ needs. But in so many ways, for so many consumers, for so many firms, going green has never made so much sense.”

  You can read the full speech here.
  
  Cheaper Bills
  Currently there are more than 120 different tariffs on offer by the energy companies and seven out of 10 people aren’t on the best tariff for them. The average customer tends to stay on theirs for years, despite the amount of energy they use varying over time. In 2010, 75 per cent of people did not change their tariff.
  The Government wants people to save money on their bills whilst also becoming more switched on to the idea of saving energy through green measures to make further savings and protecting the environment.
  
  Nick Clegg said:
  

  “We need to get bills as low as possible. I know that many families are struggling with rising energy bills. We can't control volatile world energy prices. But we can still help people get their bills down.
  “We want to see consumers saving money and engage with the energy they use. Precisely the kind of thrift that is good for pockets as well as the planet.”

  Bills can be further reduced with energy efficiency measures such as installing loft and cavity wall insulation – which the Government requires the big energy suppliers to help households with and provide free to some of the most vulnerable consumers.
  
  //
• April 06, 2012
• 7:00

  Liberal Democrat News 6th April 2012

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  
  
  Working to protect services
  
  On a visit to Stockport on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg launched the Liberal Democrat campaign for local elections in England. There are 2,451 seats up for election on 3rd May – 814 Mets, 408 Unitary and 1,229 District.
  

  “Liberal Democrat councillors across the country are working to protect the services that people value most, while Liberal Democrats in the Coalition clear up the economic mess Labour left behind,” said the Party Leader. “Our priority is clear, in difficult times we must make sure we do all we can to help ordinary working people.
  “That is why, unlike Labour or the Conservatives, every Liberal Democrat council in England has frozen Council Tax. That is why Liberal Democrat councils are more likely to earmark funds for the lowest paid than any other. And that is why this month Liberal Democrats in government are delivering tax cuts for 25m working people.
  “Liberal Democrats have a strong record in local government and are committed to fighting for communities across the UK.”

  This month Lib Dem policies coming to fruition include:
  

  • A tax cut for 25m working people - £130 in 2012
  • The number of workers lifted out of income tax reaches 1m
  • The largest ever increase in the state pension - £5.30 a week
  • £1.25bn invested in schools through the pupil premium – increasing to £2.5bn by 2014
  • A £1bn investment to get every young person earning or learning

  Local Government Association research has revealed it is Liberal Democrat-run councils that are the most likely to earmark funds for the lowest paid, and give low-paid workers a pay rise.
  
  Regional manifestos for all regions can be seen on the Liberal Democrat website - except London’s manifesto, where the Liberal Democrats for London campaign will be publishing its manifesto soon.
• April 05, 2012
• 9:17

  Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference 2013 to be held in Glasgow

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said:
  

  “I'm delighted we are taking our Autumn Conference to Glasgow, particularly at such an important time in Scotland's and the UK's history.  Our party has always led the way in campaigning for devolution, and I hope coming to the city will remind Scots that we are committed to continuing that process and securing their future as part of the UK.
  
  “It will also allow us to recognise the contribution that the Scottish Party and our Scots Liberal Democrat Cabinet Ministers - Danny Alexander, Michael Moore and Alistair Carmichael - are making to repairing the economic mess that this coalition government inherited from Labour.”

  Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:
  

  “I am really pleased to welcome the Liberal Democrat Federal conference to Glasgow.
  
  “Glasgow is vibrant and welcoming city and the SECC is a great venue for our conference.
  
  “This is a really great opportunity for us to get our message out that Liberal Democrats are working hard in Government on the side of hard working people.”

  
  
  
• April 03, 2012
• 15:06

  Don Foster: Murdoch’s resignation must not act as barrier to the truth

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “James Murdoch will hope this resignation takes some of the pressure off News Corp’s bid for BSkyB. No doubt the other BSkyB owners will be breathing a sigh of relief that the bid, for now, seems to be on the back burner.
  
  “However, whether or not News Corp qualifies as a ‘fit and proper person’ remains to be seen, and there are still unanswered questions on James Murdoch’s knowledge of phone hacking.
  
  “It is essential that this resignation does not act as a barrier to finding out the truth.”

• 13:27

  Liberal Democrat councillors working to protect services

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “Liberal Democrat councillors across the country are working to protect the services that people value most, while Liberal Democrats in the Coalition clear up the economic mess Labour left behind.
  
  “Our priority is clear, in difficult times we must make sure we do all we can to help ordinary working people. That is why, unlike Labour or the Conservatives, every Liberal Democrat council in England has frozen council tax. That is why Liberal Democrat councils are more likely to earmark funds for the lowest paid than any other. And that is why this month Liberal Democrats in Government are delivering tax cuts for 25m working people.
  
  “Liberal Democrats have a strong record in local government and are committed to fighting for communities across the UK.”

• April 02, 2012
• 15:43

  Informed decisions: tackling information inequalities in higher education

   » ‎ Home
  Gill Wyness April 2012

  In this report CentreForum sets out five radical ways of getting information on universities into the hands of young people and parents.

  The five point plan is intended to boost the government's drive to unlock information about different courses and institutions. From September 2012 the Higher Education Funding Council for England will require all universities and colleges to place standard sets of data, Key Information Sets (KIS), on their websites to help applicants "find quickly and compare easily, the headline items which students consider most important".

  CentreForum welcomes this direction of travel but is concerned that the people most likely to look at the KIS will already be the best informed.

  The report urges the government to do more to ensure that information reaches those from non traditional backgrounds, who are generally less aware of the costs, experience and long term benefits of going to university..

  Download the report.

  Coverage in Times Higher and the Guardian

• March 30, 2012
• 10:11

  Sir Menzies Campbell: Home Secretary must take account of extradition report

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “This carefully framed report is a significant contribution to the controversial debate about extradition of British citizens to the United States.
  
  “Its conclusions, in so far as they relate to the standard of proof and the forum for trial are, unimpeachable.
  
  “The Home Secretary must surely take account of these valid arguments for change.”

• 8:42

  Liberal Democrat News 30th March 2012

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  
  
  Also inside Peter Arnold asks some questions about Scottish independence.
  
  This week Nick Clegg has been representing the UK at the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, which was attended by representatives from 53 nations. The Deputy Prime Minister had a number of one-to-one meetings with world leaders, including US President Barack Obama.
  
  The UK delegation, led by the Deputy Prime Minister, called for more vigilance about the spread of potentially dangerous information and discussed progress on attempts to ‘lock down’ vulnerable nuclear materials.
  
  During his visit to South Korea, he announced that a Free Trade Agreement between the EU and Korea had been agreed. The Agreement could bring £500m per year to the UK economy and create £2bn new export opportunities for UK businesses. He also unveiled a new Host2Host agreement which will help British firms win contracts for sporting events like the 2014 Asian Games, the World Student Games in 2015 and Pyeongchang Winter Olympics 2018.
  
  One leader he spent time with was President Pinera of Chile, who rose to prominence in the UK with his handling of the rescue of the 33, trapped miners in October 2010.
  
  They had a wide ranging discussion which covered, among other topics, the global economic situation; the upcoming Rio +20 environment summit (at which both Nick and President Pinera will be representing their respective countries) and tensions between the UK and Argentina over the Falkland Islands.
  
  Interestingly, President Pinera had a keen interest in Liberal Democrat tax policy. The clearly well-informed President was quick to ask - completely unprompted - whether the Budget had yet been voted on; when the personal allowance might be raised further and how many people had been lifted out of paying income tax. Nick was only too pleased to be able to answer his questions - particularly on lifting two million people out of tax.
  
  A clearly impressed Chilean President hailed the “excellent” tax policy before wishing Nick luck with his efforts to raise the threshold further. Extraordinary evidence of the global recognition that this policy is starting to enjoy.
  
• March 26, 2012
• 19:39

  Simon Hughes: Tonight's budget vote showed that Labour are all over the place

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  "Tonight's budget votes confirmed the resolve of the Lib Dems to give tax cuts to millions and to make sure that the burden of paying more is taken by those with the highest incomes.
  
  "But tonight's budget votes also showed that Labour are all over the place on financial policy and that their votes and actions do not match their words.
  
  "After five days of huff and puff from Ed Balls, and sustained protest about the proposal to lower the highest level of tax rate next year, Labour MPs were not in the chamber to vote against the change. This says all the public need to know about Labour's position.
  
  "A last minute increase in the higher tax rate before the election and no real commitment to continue the 50p tax rate while they are in opposition shows how they value rhetoric more than action."

  
  
• 19:24

  Stephen Williams: Treasury must deliver the best deal for the taxpayer in RBS deal

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  "It is of course right for the Treasury to explore all options before selling RBS. However, it is absolutely essential that any sale is done to deliver the best possible benefit to the tax payer.
  
  "The best way to guarantee a fair deal for taxpayers would be through the mass distribution of the stakes the Government owns in RBS and Lloyds. It is the fairest way of giving taxpayers a share of the rewards while ensuring the Treasury returns its investment.
  
  "If a sovereign wealth fund wants to buy shares in RBS they should be buying them direct from the taxpayer, so those people who bailed out the bank enjoy the greatest return."
  

• 18:23

  Guarding the guardians: towards an independent, accountable and diverse senior judiciary

   » ‎ Home
  Alan Paterson and Chris Paterson March 2012

  This report argues that senior judicial appointments including those to the Supreme Court are in need of significant reform.

  The emergence of a more powerful judicial branch of government provides an important check on executive power.  However, it must be buttressed by a constitutionally appropriate appointments system.

  A typical Supreme Court appointments process involves assessment of candidates by up to 26 individuals.  21 of these are themselves judges.  Yet in a democracy, no branch of government should have the potential to be effectively self-perpetuating.

  The Supreme Court is currently composed of 11 white men and one white woman.  The 8 new appointments to the Court have all been white men.  The most recent appointment process involved assessment of candidates by 24 white men and one white woman.  As the Chief Justice of Canada puts it, "Psychologists tell us that human beings have a tendency to see merit only in those who exhibit the same qualities that they possess".

  Report co-author, Professor Alan Paterson OBE of the Centre for Professional Legal Studies, said:

  "It is no reflection on the high calibre individuals appointed under this system to say that it is manifestly untenable as a system.  Democratic legitimacy requires that the appointment process contain a better balance between judges, laypersons and politicians."    

  Report co-author Chris Paterson said:

  "A strong senior judiciary is essential to the protection of individual rights, but it must be supported by an appropriate appointments system.  Diversity, as a basic component of the Supreme Court’s ability to deliver justice in modern society, must be integral to this."

  Download the full report.

  Coverage in the Times, Financial Times and Guardian

• March 23, 2012
• 10:35

  Julian Huppert: A green, reliable transport service for every community

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Julian Huppert MP, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Transport Committee, said:
  

  “That is a fantastic achievement. Low carbon public transport is critical if we are to wean ourselves off fossil fuels. So too is a cheap and reliable transport system, otherwise people will simply choose to drive.
  
  “The new spending announced today proves that Liberal Democrats in Government are dedicated to providing the quality local bus service which this country is so desperately lacking.
  
  “Local Authorities will be able to provide real time travel information, smart ticketing, extra buses, Wi-Fi, improved accessibility, new bus stops, bus lanes, junction improvements and better traffic management.
  
  “These reforms are exactly what local transport needs and they are exactly why Liberal Democrats in Government are committed to delivering on our manifesto commitment to meet our climate change goals and build a cheap, reliable transport service in every community”

  
  
  
• 8:45

  Liberal Democrat News 23rd March 2012

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  
  
  Victory for ‘further faster’ campaign
  
  Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander MP, writes:
  

  "Over 20 million working people will be better off next year after Liberal Democrats in the Coalition government delivered the biggest ever increase in the income tax personal allowance in the Budget.
  
  “The increase of £1,100 is worth £220 to 21 million working people – taking the total income tax cut for working people delivered over three years by the Coalition to nearly £550 a year. Two million people will pay no income tax at all. By going ‘further and faster’ as Nick Clegg promised, we getting real help to millions of hard-pressed people at a time when they need it most.
  
  “The £14bn tax cut means that the government is in ‘touching distance’ of delivering the most important promise we Liberal Democrats made in the 2010 General Election manifesto – that no one should have to pay any income tax until they earn more than £10,000.
  “With the allowance rising to an historic high of £9,205 next April, our aim will be to deliver the final step at the next budget – so that people get the full benefit over a year before the 2015 General Election.
  
  “This big tax cut for working people is paid for in part by a significant increase in the tax paid by the wealthiest. As part of the Coalition budget deal, we agreed to reduce the top rate of tax to 45p – but only after securing a series of new taxes on the wealthy that pay for it five times over.
  “Labour’s 50p rate turned out not to work effectively. By introducing taxes that do work, like a tycoon tax, raising stamp duty, blocking stamp duty avoidance, and getting non-resident companies to pay Capital Gains Tax on their residential property, we have secured real progress on the taxation of wealth. This is a Budget for the many, not the few.
  
  “All of this has been done while sticking to our tough but necessary plan to deal with this country’s financial problems. Britain can’t afford unfunded giveaways – unlike the last Labour government, we have made sure everything is paid for.
  
  “The Budget shows real progress on our commitments to infrastructure – on roads, railways, and renewable energy. Tougher green taxes on company cars will help cut emissions as well as raising money.
  
  “The Budget delivers other long fought for Liberal Democrat ideas. The government is now committed to delivering the ‘single tier pension’ – Steve Webb’s plan for a Citizen’s Pension that will mean a basic pension above the means test of around £140 per week.
  
  “Specific measures to support key industrial sectors like creative industries, technology investment, aerospace and university spin out, as well as further Business Tax simplification means that we have delivered a Budget for growth as well as fairness.
  
  “The negotiations on this Budget were friendly but hard fought. But Liberal Democrats should be proud of what we have achieved – not for ourselves, but for the millions of people who voted for us because they saw a party willing to stand up for the squeezed middle. Those people can see the difference we are making in government for them – and that gives us a very strong message for the elections in May and beyond.”

• March 21, 2012
• 13:20

  Nick Clegg: A Budget every Liberal Democrat can be proud of

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  “As Liberal Democrats, our clear priority has been to bring about tax cuts to millions of ordinary hard working families.
  
  “We said it, we promised it, today we’ve done it.
  
  “There are many winners and indeed losers in any Budget.
  
  “So who are the losers in the Budget? The millionaires who weren’t paying their fair share.
  
  “The winners are over 20m basic rate taxpayers who will be £220 better off because of what we have just announced in the Budget today.
  
  “This is a Budget every liberal can be proud of.
  
  “We’re proud of the fact that we have delivered the largest increase in the Personal Allowance ever.
  
  “We are proud of the fact we have halved the tax bill for people working on the minimum wage.
  
  “We are very proud that we are taking over 2m people out of paying Income Tax altogether.
  
  “We have delivered from the front page of our manifesto to the pay-packets of millions of ordinary working people.”
  
  
  
  
  The Liberal Democrats have ensured this is a budget for the millions not for the millionaires, delivering a £3.5billion tax cut to average working people. Read more here.
  
  
• 12:15

  For the many, not the few

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  
  

  • A £3.5bn tax cut for working people
  • Biggest single ever uplift in the tax threshold
  • 21 million working people getting an extra £220 tax cut

  The Liberal Democrats have ensured this is a budget for the millions not for the millionaires, delivering a £3.5billion tax cut to average working people.
  
  That’s why the biggest move in this Budget is a tax cut for ordinary workers, going further and faster towards the Liberal Democrat goal of making the first ten thousand pounds you earn tax-free. From the front page of our manifesto directly to the pockets of working people.
  
  Thanks to Liberal Democracts, people working full time on the minimum wage, will have seen their income tax bill cut in half.
  
  We have delivered on Nick Clegg’s pledge to go further and faster on the personal tax allowance. This means that 21m basic rate taxpayers will get an extra £220 cut in their income tax bills and a further 840,000 people will be taken out of paying income tax altogether.
  

  • This Budget brings the personal allowance to £9,205 in April 2013
  • This Budget brings the total tax cut for basic rate tax payers to £550.
  • This Budget brings the total number of people lifted out of tax to 2 million.

  Lib Dem Top Ten
  

  1. Biggest ever uplift in the tax threshold to £9,205
  2. 21 million working people getting an extra £220 tax cut
  3. Compared to cutting the 50p rate, new wealth taxes raise FIVE times as much from that super-rich
  4. Cutting corporation tax to help British business
  5. Stamp duty increased to 7% for multi-million pound homes
  6. Lib Dem tax cuts have saved average working people £550
  7. 2 million low paid no longer face income tax
  8. New 15% tax on companies buying property over £2m
  9. Child benefit protected for middle-class families
  10. Getting more money from the banks to loan more to British businesses

  Share this page on Facebook

  Share">[http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FGBVb5U">Share] this page on Twitter

  
  
• March 18, 2012
• 9:51

  Stephen Williams: Welcome move on stamp duty to tackle tax avoidance

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “The news from the Chancellor today that the Budget will include new measures to tackle stamp duty avoidance is extremely welcome.
  
  "For far too long the wealthiest in society have been able to get away with avoiding thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of pounds. It is simply not right that average working people playing by the rules face high tax bills when buying a home, yet time and time again we are seeing the rich and famous use clever accounting to get away without paying.
  
  "This announcement is a good strong sign that the Budget this week will deliver on key Liberal Democrat demands to ensure the main benefits got to those on low and middle incomes, and that it is a budget for the many not the few."

• March 16, 2012
• 18:23

  Taxing decisions: the debate between tax credits and personal tax allowances

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  Thomas Brooks with Chris Nicholson and Howard Reed (Landman Economics) March 2012

  The government has committed itself to increasing personal tax allowances to £10,000 by 2015. At a time when low to middle earning households are being squeezed, this policy has been promoted as progressive - supporting "millions" not "millionaires". But are tax allowances or tax credits the best way to support working families? This report offers detailed analysis of both approaches.

  It begins by outlining amendments to the tax and benefit system which would raise almost £12 billion in a progressive manner. Tax reliefs for the most affluent should be cut, and emphasis is placed on taxation of unproductive wealth rather than income. The revenue raised can be spent on our separate personal tax allowance and tax credit proposals.

  CentreForum offers personal tax allowance proposals to increase the personal allowances for both income tax and national insurance to £10,000 alongside a reduction in the higher rate threshold to ensure that higher rate taxpayers do not benefit.

  Landman Economics then propose immediate amendments to the Working Tax Credit (WTC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) systems, to increase the child element of CTC and the basic element and childcare element of WTC.

  Download the report.

• 10:04

  Jo Swinson: Ed’s plan does not provide jobs that last

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “Labour have found yet another new use for their bankers’ bonus tax, a seemingly endless fund of money. But their proposals do not stand up to scrutiny.
  
  “The Real Job Guarantee is a pale comparison to the Youth Contract launched by Nick Clegg and shows Labour still doesn’t understand how the economy works.
  
  “Just like with previous job schemes which Labour dreamt up while driving the economy towards a cliff edge, Ed’s plan does not provide jobs that last. As soon as a Government stops paying the full wage, employers would have no incentive to keep someone on.
  
  “The Youth Contract provides a helping hand with real, private sector jobs and gives young people the skill needed for a lifetime of work through placements, apprenticeships and other additional support.
  
  “Labour still can’t be trusted with the economy and now they can’t be trusted with helping young people into work either.”

  
  
• 5:00

  Liberal Democrat News 16th March 2012

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  
  
  Fighting for a liberal Britain
  
  In his speech to the party’s Spring Conference last weekend, Nick Clegg said the party, and the nation, must pull together. “We must pull together as one nation, a liberal nation - because that is the spirit of Britain.
  
  “Our biggest challenge is to rescue our economy. We need a new economy that serves not one square mile, but one nation. Not creative accounting, but creative industries. Not the City, but all our cities.”
  
  On jobs, he said: “Our Regional Growth Fund is investing £2.4bn, creating more than 300,000 jobs in the areas that need them most. And we will bring sanity and responsibility to our banking sector. That’s why we’ve put up the bank levy and why we are protecting high street banks from risky investments.
  

  “We will free our biggest cities, giving them new powers and new opportunities, to be the engines of growth again. And we will rebalance power in the workplace. That’s why I want us to build a ‘John Lewis’ economy, where workers have a real stake … an old liberal idea to build a new liberal economy.”

  On the environment, Nick said: “Some say we have to choose between boosting growth and being green. What a load of rubbish. Going for growth means going green. The race is on to lead the world in clean energy.”
  
  And on welfare reform: “...in these hard times, we have to look out for each other. “Unemployment benefits are benefits for people who fall on hard times and hard times are not the moment to slash them. But if you are on benefit, you owe it to the nation, to yourself, and to your family to strain every sinew to find a job.
  

  “That is why, I will be launching the new Youth Contract .. a £1bn scheme to get every jobless youngster earning or learning ... because there is nothing liberal about leaving our young people to waste away on the dole.”
  
  Taxation: “...the sight of the wealthiest scheming to keep their tax bill down to the bare minimum is frankly disgraceful. So, we will call time on the tycoon tax dodgers and make sure everyone pays a fair level of tax. A philosophy of tax as old as our party … tax wealth, not wages.
  
  “That is why we will raise the income tax threshold to £10,000. Help we promised, help we must deliver in government, today. …I want the Budget to show how we are anchoring this government in the centre ground. Credible - but fair.
  
  “I am proud of this Coalition Government. We have shown that two parties, two very different parties, can govern together. Take NHS reform ... the Health Bill was stopped in its tracks and rewritten because this is a coalition government.
  
  “This is a bill for patients not profits. It is not a Liberal Democrat health bill but it is a better bill because of us, a better bill because of you. A better bill because of Shirley Williams. So, I am proud of how Coalition is working but I am even more proud of us, of you.
  
  “I may be Deputy Prime Minister but let me tell you: I am as much of a radical as ever … we are in politics to change things. We are the pioneers of British politics: with our eyes on the horizon. By 2015, we will have done a lot but we will have plenty left to do …
  
  “But 2015 is not the destination, it is a staging post … we will just be getting started on making this nation: stronger, fairer, greener, freer and a more liberal Britain with every passing year. That’s the prize - let’s get out there and fight for it.”

  (The full text of Nick Clegg’s speech to Spring Conference can be found on the party’s website: www.libdems.org.uk).
• March 15, 2012
• 10:20

  Chancellor’s Budget should help those who are struggling

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  They were joined by the Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Willie Rennie and Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, Kirsty Williams.
  
  In letters to the Chancellor, Liberal Democrats urged the Chancellor to move further and faster on raising the Income Tax threshold so ordinary working people do not pay income tax on the first £10,000 they earn. This will ensure more than 2.5m people will be lifted out of paying tax all together and give millions £60 back in their pockets each month, compared to under Labour.
  
   
  
  
• March 12, 2012
• 15:58

  Stephen Williams: Labour fails to take responsibility again

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “Yet again, Labour fails to take responsibility for the mess it left the nation’s finances in.
  
  “The Coalition’s emergency budget cut the amount you can get pension tax relief on by over £200,000. If Ed Balls thinks £200,000 cut is a tax break, he should borrow Alan Johnson’s economics primer.
  
  “The Liberal Democrats are lobbying hard for the budget to go further and faster in raising the income tax threshold. This will give hard-working people up and down the country a well deserved tax cut. That’s £60 each month back in the wages of workers, paid for by taxing the wealthy.”

• 15:22

  How to be an effective junior member of a coalition

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• 15:22

  How to be an effective junior member of a coalition

   » ‎ Home

  

• March 11, 2012
• 12:05

  Jullian Huppert: Liberal Democrat vision for a free and open society

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Conference also called for the Coalition Government to do more, including:
  

  • Going further to protect the right to free speech
  • Restoring the right to protest
  • Restoring individual freedom through changes to stop and search legislation, a reduction in the use of civil orders such as ASBOs for criminal activity and a ban on mosquito devices

  Commenting, Julian Huppert MP, who proposed the motion, said:
  

  “The Coalition Government is doing the right thing by working to restore our civil liberties. Labour’s legislative assault on our liberties has been very damaging for our society and has been disastrous for the reputation of the police who enforced it.
  
  “Thanks to Liberal Democrats, the Protections of Freedoms Bill, the scrapping of ID cards, the changes to the DNA database to protect innocent people and bringing an end to ‘snooping powers’ for councils show a clear break with our recent past.
  
  “We have done well so far, but there is still much more to do. I am delighted that Conference today endorsed the Liberal Democrat vision for a free and open society which supports individuals, their rights and freedoms.”

• 11:53

  Tom Brake: Making the police more trusted, professional and effective

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  • More trusted – listening to local people and making policing much more responsive to communities’ priorities.
  • More professional – setting up the new police professional body with a key responsibility to recommend detailed national minimum recruitment standards for the police.
  • More effective – making evidence based policing the defining feature of 21st century policing by establishing the world’s first Institute for Policing Excellence.

  The proposed reforms including measures to:
  

  • Make Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) more accountable to the public between elections
  • Create safeguards against the expansion of the role of PCCs
  • Create an Institute for Policing Excellence
  • Create a Police First development scheme based on the success of Teach First
  • Encourage Police and Crime Panels to veto plans to cut police numbers unless all measures to cut bureaucracy have been exhausted.

  Commenting, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Policy Committee on Home Affairs, Justice and Equalities, Tom Brake said:
  

  “As an organisation, the police suffer from a lack of confidence and trust despite the fact that we have fantastic police officers who are dedicated, able and trying to do their best by the community they serve.
  
  “Labour’s legislative assault on our civil liberties has been disastrous for the reputation of the police who enforced it. The Coalition Government is doing the right thing to undo the damage Labour did and restore public confidence.
  
  “But we must do more. It is essential that we clear up Labour’s legacy and end people’s feeling that they are both over-policed and under-protected. Conference has today backed the Liberal Democrats’ vision on what is the right thing to do to restore public confidence in our police services.”

• 11:21

  Nick Clegg’s speech to Spring Conference

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  This year will show the best of Britain. The Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee, a nation proud of our past, but with our face to the future. A nation that treasures liberty, honours hard work and values fair play and fair chances. That is the character of our country: strong, confident, united.
  
  And our character as a nation is being tested, because even in this year of celebration families are under pressure, worrying about paying their bills, about keeping their jobs, about the future.
  
  The road to full recovery for our economy will be long, and it will be hard. Anybody who says there is a quick or easy way out is kidding themselves. So the Coalition Government is working hard to clean up after the financial storm of 2008. Sweeping up Labour’s mess and keeping our economy safe.
  
  At times like these, we must pull together. Not let ourselves be pulled apart. Pull together as one nation. A liberal nation because that is the spirit of Britain.
  
  Some people think there is something slightly un-British about liberalism. But this country, our country, is the home of liberty. And we Liberal Democrats are heirs to the great, British liberal cause. I am proud that now, in this Coalition Government, Liberal Democrats are repairing Labour’s industrial-scale destruction of liberty.
  
  Reversing 28 days of detention without trial, destroying the DNA records of innocent people held by the state, ending the illiberal nonsense of ID cards.
  
  British liberties restored by British liberals.
  
  Before 2015, because of us there will be:
  
  the first gay marriage - and an end to child detention
  
  the first bank levy - an end to huge tax loopholes for the rich
  
  the first elections to House of Lords - an end to Control Orders
  
  the first coalition government in our lifetimes
  
  and an end to the myth that Liberal Democrats can’t govern.
  
  We are governing to fix our economy. We are governing to fight for fairness. We are in government - and we are on your side.
  
  So yes, these are hard times. But this will be a good year for a great nation. A good year for Britain.
  
  But let me tell you, this will be a good year for British liberalism too.
  
  Our biggest challenge is to rescue our economy. We need to sort out the financial mess Labour left us. But we need economic reform too. We need a new economy that serves not one square mile, but one nation. Not creative accounting, but creative industries. Not the City, but all our cities. Healing the divide between North and South. That’s why our Regional Growth Fund – that Ian Wrigglesworth has helped to lead – is investing £2.4 billion. Creating more than 300 hundred thousand jobs in the areas that need them most.
  
  And we will bring sanity and responsibility to our banking sector. That’s why we’ve put up the bank levy. And why we are protecting high street banks from risky investments.
  
  We will free our cities. That’s why we are striking deals with our biggest cities:
  
  Sheffield and Manchester
  
  Liverpool and Leeds
  
  Bristol and Birmingham
  
  Nottingham and Newcastle
  
  Giving all of these great cities new powers and new opportunities, to be the engines of growth again.
  
  And we will rebalance power in the workplace. That’s why I want us to build a ‘John Lewis’ economy, where workers have a real stake. Not capital versus labour, bosses versus workers but modern enterprises built on shared endeavour and shared profit.
  
  An old liberal idea to build a new liberal economy.
  
  And a sustainable economy, one that protects the environment. Tackling climate change, green jobs for the future, green apprenticeships and a Green Deal to cut energy bills.
  
  Some say we have to choose between boosting growth and being green. What a load of rubbish. Going for growth means going green. The race is on to lead the world in clean energy. The new economic powerhouses - China, India, Brazil - are competing.
  
  So the choice for the UK is simple: wake up, or end up playing catch up. Going green is not a luxury for the good times. It is the best road out of the bad times.
  
  Our party is the green party of government. We have always been a green party. And let me tell you this: we always will be a green party because we need an economy fit for the future to pull us out of this economic downturn.
  
  And in these hard times, we have to look out for each other. That’s why I fought so hard for benefits to be increased fully in line with inflation. The biggest cash rise ever in the basic state pension because we promised to look after pensioners. And we will.
  
  Benefits for the unemployed were protected, too. Not everyone agreed with me on this, if you believed some of the stories. You would think these benefits are unlimited handouts for so-called “scroungers’’. But these are benefits for ordinary people. Many of them laid off through no fault of their own and who strive to get back into work.
  
  Most people who claim Job Seekers Allowance are off benefits within three months. They don’t all sit there waiting for the next welfare cheque. That is a dangerous myth, that dishonours those down on their luck.
  
  A friend of mine recently shared his memories of his father becoming unemployed. His Dad signed on but every day, he set the alarm for the same time as he had done for his job. He got up, shaved, put on a shirt and tie and sat at the kitchen table, working to get a job. And my friend said: “I’ve never been more proud of my Dad”.
  
  So let’s never forget. Unemployment benefits are benefits for people who fall on hard times and hard times are not the moment to slash them. But if you are on benefit, you owe it to the nation, to yourself, and to your family to strain every sinew to find a job. To get up every day, just like my friend’s Dad at the kitchen table and work at finding a job.
  
  That’s why I am such strong supporter of the basic idea driving the Coalition’s welfare reforms to make work pay, boost independence and give real help finding a job rather than leaving people stuck on the dole, enslaved by poverty.
  
  That is why, in a few weeks time, I will be launching the new Youth Contract. A Liberal Democrat drive for youth jobs: 20,000 more apprenticeships, 160,000 new jobs and 250,000 work experience places. A £1 billion scheme to get every jobless youngster earning or learning, getting all our young people earning or learning.
  
  Because no matter how hard things may be we will never, ever leave our young people behind.
  
  That includes encouraging work experience. There’s been some controversy about this policy but I make no apology for it because we are doing the right thing. Labour’s benefit rules actually penalised unemployed youngsters for getting work experience. So thousands of them ended up on the sofa, glued to the TV, cut off from the world of work, wasting time and losing hope. Our policy means young people can get up and get on, keep their skills alive, keep up the habits of a working life and improve their chance of landing a job.
  
  Because let me tell you this: there is nothing liberal about leaving our young people to waste away on the dole.
  
  So: we all have a part to play, a duty to the nation, and this duty is greatest of all for those with the greatest means. Those with the broadest shoulders should carry the heaviest burden – that is basic justice, Liberal justice. But that is not how it feels today.
  
  Too often, rather than paying their dues the wealthy pay their accountants to get them out of it. Avoiding tax, minimising the amount they have to contribute – that’s the name of their game. Boasting about the latest wheeze for moving an asset here, a property there and a loophole everywhere. All to make the tax bill lower.
  
  Let me tell you, few things make me angrier as the unemployed struggle to find work, as ordinary families struggle to make ends meet, as young people struggle to get on the housing ladder: the sight of the wealthiest scheming to keep their tax bill down to the bare minimum is frankly disgraceful. Multimillionaires avoiding tax by moving their money around.
  
  So: we will call time on the tycoon tax dodgers and make sure everyone pays a fair level of tax. We’ve already raised capital gains tax, cut tax reliefs for the wealthiest, clamped down on tax avoidance at the top and we will go further because the Liberal Democrats have a crystal clear approach.
  
  A philosophy of tax as old as our party, described by Mill, pursued by Gladstone, implemented by Lloyd George: tax wealth, not wages. That is why we will raise the income tax threshold to £10,000. A radical tax policy. Our tax policy.
  
  From next month, 25 million people will have more money in their pocket and over a million low-paid workers will have stopped paying income tax altogether. Just think about that for a moment: a million more workers with no tax bill because of us, because of you.
  
  That’s what it means to be a Liberal Democrat: real tax cuts at a time of real need. But we have to do more. That is why the Budget in ten days time and must offer concrete help to hard-pressed, hard-working families: a big increase in the income tax threshold, further and faster towards £10,000.
  
  Help we promised, help we must deliver in Government, today.
  
  I want the Budget to show how we are anchoring this Government in the centre ground. Credible - but fair. The last Labour budgets led our nation to the economic precipice. Fantasy budgets issued by a party in denial – out of ideas – and abdicating responsibility.
  
  This month’s Coalition budget will show the determination of both parties in Government to repair the public finances. Keep our economy safe and help working families.
  
  The last big tax-cutting budget was in 1988. Nigel Lawson cut billions from the tax bills of the highest-paid workers: a budget for the few, not for the many. But this year’s Coalition Budget must be a budget for fairness – not an 80s Lawson budget but a modern liberal budget.
  
  Because we need a tax system for a nation pulling together: not being pulled apart. More important now than ever, when the forces of division are so strong. In dark economic times, people can turn inwards, close their doors, look for scapegoats. Fear can breed resentment and division: divisions between north and south between the nations of the UK, between different races or religions, between rich and poor, between the generations. Britain has a proud record of diversity and tolerance but we cannot be complacent. When the economy weakens, prejudice can breed.
  
  So let’s fight it, in every corner of our nation.
  
  We are bringing forward proposals for gay marriage, already provoking debate. Let me just say, if you are a young gay person, your freedom to love who you choose is a
  
  fundamental right in a liberal society - and you will always have our support.
  
  Let’s also fight for liberalism in London where just one more Liberal Democrat member of the Assembly would ensure the BNP gets kicked off. What a great moment for British tolerance that would be.
  
  Let’s wipe away the ugly face of racism and reaction. I call on all Londoners – vote for Brian Paddick, vote Liberal Democrat and kick out the BNP bigots.
  
  And let me also say a word or two about Scotland. I want the Scottish people to have much more power for over Scottish affairs. The Liberal Democrats are, after all, the party of home rule. But I also know that, as nations in a United Kingdom, we are better together than we would be apart: richer, safer and stronger
  
  Alex Salmond wants to break up the nations of the United Kingdom. I want to keep them together. He says this is a time for division – I say it is a time for unity. He wants to split us apart – I want us to pull together.
  
  It is our job, as liberals, to fight against the forces of division. Fight for our vision of an optimistic, open and tolerant nation: a nation confident enough to face outwards to the world. Arguing, as I will be, at the Rio+20 Summit for green growth to create jobs, engaging with emerging nations to drive free trade, supporting President Obama’s drive, in Korea this year to keep nuclear material out of the hands of terrorists and becoming the first major economy to hit the UN’s 0.7 per cent target for foreign aid.
  
  Real help for the poorest in the world, promised by us and the Conservatives in opposition – delivered by us together in government. This is a time that demands a better politics. A politics of the national interest.
  
  That’s why I am proud of this Coalition Government. We have shown that two parties, two very different parties, can govern together. Never again will the political Luddites be able to say that coalitions don’t work. Coalition is working, it is has been tested and it has passed the test.
  
  Take NHS reform. Controversial, yes. Difficult, yes. But the value of coalition has been proven because this is a coalition Government. The health bill was stopped in its tracks and rewritten because this is a coalition Government. Competition will be the servant of health care, not the master because this is a coalition government.
  
  This is a bill for patients not profits. It is not a Liberal Democrat health bill but it is a better bill because of the Liberal Democrats, a better bill because of you. A better bill because of Shirley Williams – Shirley: thank you.
  
  So: I am proud of how Coalition is working but I am even more proud of us, of you. The Liberal Democrats are once again a truly national party of government. The only party of the centre ground, not of the left or right, of north or south, rich or poor but doing the right thing for the whole nation.
  
  The other parties are bound and gagged by vested interests. We are not. The other parties are hemmed into certain parts of the country. Look at the electoral map: blue seats in the south, red ones in the north. Look at where the money comes from: trade unions on one side, City financiers on the other. That is why we can say today: the Liberal Democrats are the only true one nation party.
  
  A one nation party of the radical centre, representing all regions and nations. Seeing not what divides us - but what unites us. Sound on the economy, passionate about fairness: doing the right thing and battling vested interests. Challenging the status quo
  
  For this is the timeless liberal mission: taking on the establishment when it fails the people. A more urgent challenge today than for generations because the old establishment has failed.
  
  The two square miles - the City and Westminster have failed. Failed the ordinary people of this country and must not be allowed to fail them again. Now that we’re in Government, people might ask if we can still be the party that challenges the establishment. The answer to that is an emphatic yes.
  
  I may be Deputy Prime Minister but let me tell you: I am as much of a radical as ever.
  
  Jo Grimond decried the conservatives of all parties, those who he said showed a ‘sentiment in favour of things as they are’:
  
  Things as they are means an economy for executives not ordinary workers
  
  Things as they are means a bank system that bankrupts our economy
  
  Things as they are means life chances being crushed by the fortunes of birth
  
  Things as they are means a tax system that hurts ordinary working families
  
  Things are they are means a House of Lords stuffed with machine politicians
  
  Things as they are means political parties kow-towing to media moguls
  
  Things as they are just won’t do any more
  
  And we are in politics to change them. We are the pioneers of British politics: our eyes on the horizon. By 2015, we will have done a lot but we will have plenty left to do.
  
  Take education – a touchstone issue for this party. We will have changed the landscape by the end of this parliament, spending £2.5 billion a year on our pupil premium to strengthen our schools and create new opportunities for our children.
  
  But that is just the beginning.
  
  So I want our ambitions for education to be at the very heart of our manifesto in 2015. Education that delivers on the liberal promise: that every child can go as far as their talent will take them. That is what we Liberal Democrats will fight for.
  
  So: 2015 is not the destination. 2015 is a staging post. This country will be a more liberal nation but we will just be beginning to tackle the deep problems that cramp the lives of our citizens and hobble our economy.
  
  Because let me tell you this: in 2015 we won’t be looking back, asking people to thank us for what we have done. We will be looking forwards and asking for their support for what we can do together in the future.
  
  We won’t have finished the job in 2015. We will just be getting started, just getting started on making this nation.
  
  Stronger
  
  Fairer
  
  Greener
  
  Freer
  
  A more liberal Britain with every passing year: that’s the prize.
  
  Let’s get out there and fight for it.
• March 10, 2012
• 17:01

  Liberal Democrats call for Coalition to be greenest government ever

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  The motion welcomed the Coalition’s Green Deal, Green Investment Bank and ambitious carbon reduction targets.
  
  It also called for improvements in energy efficiency and support for green infrastructure, transport and technologies.
  
  Commenting, Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Davey said:
  
  “The Liberal Democrats were campaigning for the environment long before it was fashionable.
  
  “This is the greatest challenge of our age and the Liberal Democrats will not back down in the fight against climate change.
  
  “Making this the greenest government ever won’t be easy, but it is the right thing for Britain and the planet.
  
  “We are building a new economy from the rubble of the old, an economy with green jobs and green technologies at its heart.”
• 14:23

  Don Foster: ‘Fit and proper’ test for BSkyB welcome

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  ‘‘The regulator has been too silent so far and it is a relief to see it finally flexing its muscles.
  
  “James Murdoch has fled to New York and no longer has his hands directly on British papers, but Liberal Democrats have established in Parliament that the whole company can still be held accountable.
  
  “It’s about time we showed that hacking phones on an industrial scale and corrupting public servants is not fit and proper behaviour for any person or company.”

• 13:57

  Brian Paddick: I am fighting to win in London

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “I want to change London for the good and that is why I want to be Mayor of London and that is why I am fighting to win. 
  
  “People said to me you won’t succeed if you’re open about your sexuality – yet I became the highest ranking openly gay police officer in the UK.
  
  “People said I couldn’t tell my officers not to arrest people for cannabis, so they could concentrate on what was really important to local people – it’s now police policy nationally.
  
  “People are saying I can’t be Mayor of London – watch me!
  
  “We honestly believe we can deliver the best ever result in the Greater London Authority elections, Mayor and Assembly.
  
  “We want a Liberal Democrat Mayor and Assembly, and with your help and support, on the streets, on the phones, on fundraising, on 3 May we really can achieve the best result the London Liberal Democrats have ever had.”
  
  …
  
  “We used to have five London assembly members and we can have five assembly members again. 

  “Last time we only got three and a member of the BNP got in instead.
  
  “I don’t know about you but I don’t want the BNP in the London Assembly.  I don’t want UKIP in the London Assembly. 
  
  “That’s how important every single vote cast for the London Liberal Democrats is in this election.”

• 13:46

  Jo Swinson: Putting young people at the heart of the Coalition’s growth strategy

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Commenting, Jo Swinson MP, who proposed the policy motion said:
  
  “Liberal Democrats are committed to putting young people at the heart of the Coalition Government’s growth strategy.
  
  “That’s why last year Nick Clegg outlined a £1bn Youth Contract to get unemployed young people earning or learning before the long term damage is done.
  
  “Today Liberal Democrats asserted our commitment to giving every young person a fair start in life, calling for the Youth Contract to be extended and for greater support for young entrepreneurs and apprentices.
  
  “We also want to see more emphasis on career guidance and mentoring for students so school leavers can make well informed choices.
  
  “Youth unemployment is a slow burn social disaster so it’s right that despite money being tight the Coalition Government is prioritising getting young people back into work, education or training.
  
  “We simply can’t afford to lose the skills and talent of a generation.”
• 13:20

  Martin Horwood: An accountable and growth-focused EU

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Conference also called for a number of reforms aimed at improving the democratic accountability of the EU, such as:
  
  

  1. Ending the wasteful maintenance of the second seat of the European Parliament at Strasbourg
  2. Respecting the principle of subsidiarity
  3. Effective oversight of EU funds spent by national governments

  
  Commenting, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Policy Committee on International Affairs, Martin Horwood said:
  
  “Liberal Democrats believe we are stronger together and weaker apart. In an increasingly globalised world, the voice of the UK is stronger when we are standing with our European allies.
  
  “The EU is not a perfect organisation and it needs reform to be more effective. It is clear that the EU needs to be more focused on jobs and prosperity and improve its democratic accountability.
  
  “Liberal Democrats believe that the UK needs to be at the forefront of this movement for reform to improve the EU. It is in our national interest to have a strong, vibrant economy as our neighbours as millions of jobs depend on it.”
• 12:26

  Liberal Democrats call for personal allowance to rise beyond £10,000

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  The motion set out a range of measures to pay for this, including the introduction of a Mansion Tax, a crackdown on non-doms and a General Anti-Avoidance Rule.
  
  Commenting, Co-chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Treasury committee, Stephen Williams said:
  
  “Nick Clegg has made clear the Liberal Democrats want to go further and faster when it comes to cutting taxes for working people.
  
  “These are tough times and we know people are feeling squeezed. That's why we want to do the right thing and put money back in people’s pockets.
  
  “Liberal Democrats have always been clear our priority is tax cuts for people on low and middle incomes, not the rich.
  
  “That's why we put this policy on the front page of our manifesto and it’s why we want to go further and faster, raising the point at which you start paying tax beyond £10,000.”

• March 08, 2012
• 14:40

  Employee ownership: unlocking growth in the UK economy

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  Patrick Briône and Chris Nicholson March 2012

  In this report, CentreForum shows how greater employee ownership and share ownership boosts business performance, reduces inequality within firms, and increases innovation, long term thinking and employee well being. CentreForum believes this should be the at heart of the coalition government's growth strategy.

  The report comes amid growing political interest in measures to tackle 'crony capitalism'. David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband have all said they want to encourage 'responsible capitalism' and curb 'fat cat' pay.

  In his 'John Lewis economy' speech to CentreForum, Nick Clegg went a step further by promoting employee ownership. The deputy prime minister said that giving individuals "a real stake in their firms" not only discourages short termism and unfair bonuses but is also "a hugely underused tool in unlocking growth".

  CentreForum's proposals set out in the report include giving a single minister responsibility for promoting employee ownership and share ownership, and giving employees of firms that employ over 250 people a 'right to request' shares.

  Download the report.

  Click here to read the response of the Employee Ownership Association.

  See also: 'Employee empowerment: towards greater workplace democracy' (January 2012)

• 13:38

  Simon Wright: Liberal Democrat policy strengthens rail reform

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “These proposals deliver on Liberal Democrat priorities by putting the passenger at the heart of the system and allowing investment in the long term future of the railways.
  
  “For too long the railways relied on ever increasing public subsidy, yet under Labour, train fares rocketed by an astonishing 66% in cash terms.
  
  “The Coalition Government’s proposals set out how we can drive down ticket costs by improving efficiency across the network, and work towards the Lib Dem policy of ending above inflation hikes to train fares.
  
  “Liberal Democrats have long championed many of the proposals in this paper including expanding rail electrification, devolution of control over railways, increasing the role of Passenger Focus, and more freight transported by rail.”

• March 06, 2012
• 12:22

  Child Benefit: what to do about higher rate taxpayers

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  Tim Leunig
  March 2012

  The government has announced that child benefit will be taken away from higher rate taxpayers in order to show that (pensioners excepted) we really are "all in this together".

  But linking child benefit to the income of the main earner, rather than to household income, has odd effects. A family with two earners, each just below the higher rate threshold, will not lose out. In contrast a family with one earner just above the threshold will lose out, even though the family is not as well off. The sums involved are large: £2,500 a year for a family with three children.  

  In this short report, CentreForum's chief economist Tim Leunig looks at how best to address the dilemma over higher rate taxpayers.

  Download the report.

• March 02, 2012
• 17:08

  Dropping the bomb: a post Trident future

   » ‎ Home
  
  Toby Fenwick March 2012

  In this report CentreForum urges the government to cancel its nuclear deterrent programme and use the savings to shore up conventional military capabilities.

  The report warns that Britain is sleepwalking into replacing its Trident missiles at a capital cost of over £25 billion. It points out that this is happening at a time of deep cuts to the UK's conventional forces, two decades after the collapse of the Soviet threat that Trident was designed to deter.

  CentreForum proposes that Britain should retain the capability to design and build nuclear weapons if they were required in future. It also recommends that the expertise at AWE Aldermaston in Berkshire could be used to develop verification technologies, which are necessary for global nuclear disarmament.

  Download the full report. 

  Select media coverage: BBC News Online, BBC R4 Today, Guardian, ConservativeHome

  "A must read contribution to the debate on whether there are alternatives to Trident. I have long argued that  more serious thought needs to be given to a long warning 'just-in-case' option, and this paper should help provoke such a debate."

  - Professor Malcolm Chalmers, Director, UK Defence Policy, RUSI

• 15:35

  Liberal Democrat News 2nd March 2012

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  
  
  Party’s tax policy gets popular vote
  
  The Liberal Democrat policy of lifting more low and middle-income people out of paying tax altogether is resonating strongly with the general public.
  In an opinion poll conducted by Opinium between February 21 and 23, voters were asked whether they were more or less likely to vote for the Liberal Democrats based on the current tax policy of raising the income tax threshold to £10,000.
  

  • One fifth of all voters (21 per cent) say they are more likely to vote for the Liberal Democrats based on the party’s current tax policy
  • 19 per cent of Conservative voters are more likely to vote Liberal Democrat
  • 21 per cent of Labour voters are more likely to vote Liberal Democrat
    

  The Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Treasury Parliamentary Policy Committee Stephen Williams said: “Nick Clegg has made clear the Liberal Democrats want to go further and faster when it comes to cutting taxes for working people.
  “These are tough times and we know people are feeling squeezed. That’s why we want to do the right thing and put money back in people’s pockets.
  
  “Liberal Democrats have always been clear our priority is tax cuts for people on low and middle incomes, not the rich. That’s why we put this policy on the front page of our manifesto and it’s why we want to go further and faster.”
  The policy is most popular in the West Midlands (29 per cent now more likely to vote Lib Dem) and the East Midlands (28 per cent). But this plays well in every region. In Scotland, where we did badly in 2011, 18 per cent of people are now more likely to vote Lib Dem.
  
  The issue is also very popular with young people (30 per cent of 18-34yos say they are more likely to vote Lib Dem).
  Other polling has also shown the policy to be popular, with YouGov recently reporting 83 per cent support. They reported: “The majority of Britons favour an increase in personal tax allowance, saying that workers should not pay tax on the first £10,000 of their earnings.”
  
  “83 per cent support an increase on personal tax allowance, so that people do not pay tax on the first £10,000 of their earnings, eight per cent oppose the increase.”
• 14:00

  Nick Clegg speech to Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Liberals from the Highlands and Islands have always been at the heart of our party. From the late great Jo Grimond and Russell Johnston, great leaders like Bob Maclennan, Charles Kennedy and Jim Wallace in Scotland, to our current team at Westminster, Highland and Island voices have shaped who the Liberal Democrats are.
  
  In Danny Alexander and Alistair Carmichael, I have Liberals from the Highlands and Islands with me right at the heart of British Government. At Holyrood too Highlanders have made their voices heard. And on the Highland Council we’ve boosted our numbers with Carolyn Carrick’s stunning by-election win before Christmas.
  
  SCOTTISH PARTY
  
  The last time I was here in the Highland capital we were looking ahead to the Scottish parliamentary elections. They didn’t quite turn out the way we had hoped, indeed it was a painful experience. As a party we lost a lot of excellent people from the Scottish Parliament. And a few weeks later we had the hardest loss of all – the sad passing of Andrew Reeves. These elections will be our first in Scotland without Andrew and to say he will be sorely missed is a huge understatement. His humour, commitment and sheer force of personality have been steering us through election campaigns for many years. But what Andrew would have wanted is for us to put last May behind us and move on. 
  
  That’s exactly what Willie Rennie has done at Holyrood. And with his team of Alison, Tavish, Liam and Jim he is more than making up for in quality what we lack in numbers. Doing what Liberal Democrats do best – punching above our weight. Whether it’s on defending the right of Scots to go to the Supreme Court. Being prepared to speak out against restrictions on free speech contained in bad law on sectarianism. To the campaign to protect the Scotland’s colleges; to increase affordable housing; to promote equal marriage; Willie and his team have been holding the SNP to account and running rings around Labour and the Conservatives.
  
  And we have a proud record of achievement in councils up and down Scotland. In Edinburgh, where Liberal Democrats have cut crime by a fifth thanks to real, community-based neighbourhood policing. In Fife, where Liberal Democrats have improved recycling rates and made it one of the greenest councils in Scotland. And in Aberdeen, where Liberal Democrats know a thing or two about clearing up Labour’s mess. They brought the budget back from a cliff edge and are now held up as an example to follow by Audit Scotland. Our councillors don’t get the same recognition as our MPs, MSPs and our MEP but they are the unsung heroes of politics here in Scotland. The work they do and the commitment they show to their local areas is crucial. Liberal Democrats have always understood that politics is local. Across Scotland, Liberal Democrat councillors are fighting for the things that matter most to their communities. Our councillors are the lifeblood of this party. Without their good work we would not be able to make the difference we are making in Holyrood or Westminster.
  
  INDEPENDENCE
  
  But that election last May altered more than the balance of power at Holyrood. The SNP victory changed the landscape of Scottish politics and it presented us all with a new and formidable challenge. The SNP now has a mandate to ask the people of Scotland whether they want to be separated from the rest of the United Kingdom? Do the Scottish people want to stay within the family of the UK or break up the longest and most successful political and social partnership of nations in history?
  
  My hope, and that of our party, is that the people of Scotland choose to stay in the UK. As an Englishman I believe that our countries are much stronger together than they would be apart. That Scotland, like the other parts of the UK, has fared better in this global economic crisis than many of our European neighbours because we are part of one of the world’s strongest economies. That we have all been protected from the worst of the recession by the credibility and low interest rates the UK government has been able to secure and maintain.
  
  But the question of Scottish independence shouldn’t be a numbers game. Too much of the debate over independence is about what divides us, not what unites us. The people of the United Kingdom have a rich shared heritage. We share a culture, a history and an identity. We live side by side in towns and cities across the British Isles. Scottish, English, Welsh and Northern Irish people are together every day, in offices and factories, school classrooms and playing fields. We have rallied together in hard times. Our forefathers fought together and died together, just as brave Scottish, English, Welsh and Northern Irish service men and women are fighting side by side in faraway lands right now. For centuries we have crossed each others borders, married each other, raised families together. What Scot doesn’t have any English, Welsh or Northern Irish in their family tree? I believe the bonds that bring us together are stronger than the forces that would tear us apart.
  
  But it is not for me to tell the people of Scotland what they should think. The debate over Scotland’s future is one for the people of Scotland. The referendum - which our excellent Secretary of State for Scotland Mike Moore is doing such a great job ensuring will be legal, fair and decisive – must be made here in Scotland for the people of Scotland. And I hope all of you will support Mike and Danny, and Willie and all of our team in Scotland in making the case for staying in the UK.
  
  DEVOLUTION
  
  Liberal Democrats believe Scotland is stronger when its two governments are working together. And we also believe in making Scotland stronger still. We have always been a party that is committed to devolution. For Liberal Democrats devolving power is in our DNA and we are delivering that in Government. The Scotland Bill which Mike Moore is leading through Parliament is the biggest single transfer of power from the UK to Scotland since the Act of Union. More power for Scotland because Liberal Democrats are in power in Westminster.
  
  But don’t think we’re stopping there. That’s why we have set up the Home Rule Commission to look at the next stage in the relationship between Scotland and the rest of the UK. And who better to lead that process than Ming Campbell, a statesman who commands such huge respect on both sides of the border. We need to settle the independence question first. But if the Scottish people decide they want to remain in the United Kingdom, then we can get on with the business of giving Scotland more power.
  
  ECONOMIC VISION FOR SCOTLAND
  
  Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government don’t believe in simply throwing a few headline measures at Scotland and hoping that is enough. We have a real vision for Scotland’s future. I want nothing short of a green economic renaissance for Scotland. A Scotland where green jobs fuel a thriving economic future. Dockyards reopened as wind farm factories. Wind and wave power providing the green energy of the future. Scottish universities developing new green technologies for Scottish companies to export around the world. With Scotland’s young people trained in the skills they need to be at the heart of our green economy.
  
  It is early days, but we are seeing the start of this green energy revolution already. Between April last year and January this year, more than half a billion pounds was invested in renewable energy in Scotland, creating more than 2,500 jobs. And there is much more in the pipeline because Liberal Democrats have a vision for Scotland’s economic future. A nation with vast natural resources. A nation of thriving businesses with skilled, motivated workers. A nation at the heart of a green energy revolution.
  
  We don’t believe in putting Scotland in its box. We believe a strong Scotland is good for the United Kingdom and a strong United Kingdom is good for Scotland. Four strong countries pulling together as one United Kingdom.
   
  WHAT LIBERAL DEMOCRATS HAVE DONE FOR SCOTLAND
  
  Nonetheless these are anxious times. I know how families are feeling. And I know how people worry about paying their bills. If you haven’t had a pay rise for two years or more. If you can’t plan for the future because you look around and you worry about what might happen if you lose your job or if your partner does. And all the while things are getting more expensive. One day you come back from the supermarket and wonder why your weekly shop costs more than it did. The next your gas and electricity bills arrive and they’ve gone up again, just like they did last time and the time before. You fill up at the petrol station and the price has gone up again since the last time you filled your car. If you’re young and you don’t own a home you wonder if you ever will. You get up early, you work hard, you never ask for anything and yet everything is getting harder.
  
  We are coming out of a crisis, an economic heart attack, and there is no magic wand that will make everything better overnight. But as we build a new economy from the rubble of the old, Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government are giving you real, practical help in tough times. That’s why we have cut your taxes, even as we’ve had to take difficult decisions to raise money elsewhere. Thanks to Liberal Democrats, by raising the point at which you start paying income tax, we put £200 a year back in your pockets last year and another £130 from next month. And we want to go further and faster, lifting millions of the poorest workers out of tax altogether by raising to £10,000 the amount you can earn tax-free, putting £60 a month back in your pockets. Already we have lifted 72,000 Scottish workers out of paying tax altogether and two million Scottish workers have received a tax cut. Liberal Democrat tax cuts for the many – not the few.
  
  This Coalition Government is standing up for the culture of work that is such a proud part of Scotland’s history. By making sure that work always pays. By making sure people can keep more of the money they earn. And by making sure our young people have the skills they need to enter the world of work. And for those of you whose working life is over, Liberal Democrats are on your side too.
  
  Thanks to our pensions triple lock, a million Scottish pensioners will receive the most generous rise in the state pension for a generation. From next month, you will receive an extra £5.30 a week. No more of Labour’s insulting 75p pension rises. Liberal Democrats are giving you real help.
  
  In November Danny Alexander announced that the Scottish Government was to receive £103m from the Fossil Fuel levy to invest in renewable energy. That is real investment in Scotland by Liberal Democrats in Government. Last week this government’s policies led to a reduction in fuel prices on the islands through the Rural Fuel duty derogation scheme. Labour didn’t do it. The SNP said we wouldn’t do it. Now we have done it. Liberal Democrats in Government delivering for Scotland.
  
  So we go into this May’s elections with our heads held high. A record of fighting for local communities in councils up and down Scotland. A record of holding the SNP’s feet to the fire in Holyrood. And a record of delivering real help for Scottish people in Westminster. Putting more money in your pockets. Making work pay and giving our young people a fighting chance. And putting Scotland at the heart of the new, green economy that will fuel Britain’s future. From our grassroots to our Government ministers, Liberal Democrats are building a freer, greener and more liberal Scotland in a fairer, greener and more liberal United Kingdom.
• February 29, 2012
• 14:28

  Don Foster: Murdoch’s leaving must not be barrier to getting answers

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “James Murdoch’s resignation has all the appearances of being bundled in a car, away from the scene of the crime.
  
  “There still are unanswered questions on James Murdoch’s knowledge of phone hacking at the News of the World.
  
  “He must make clear that his move to New York will not be a barrier to getting answers and his taking responsibility for what happened on his watch.”

  
  
• 14:03

  Lib Dems launch 'Think Small First' campaign across Europe

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Europe's approximately 23 million SMEs make up to 99% of all businesses and provide two-thirds of all private sector jobs in the EU. A study presented by the Commission in January revealed that six in ten new jobs are created by small enterprises. More than half of the value creation of European companies is attributed to SMEs.
  
  Commenting ahead of the event, the Leader of the UK Liberal Democrat delegation in the European Parliament, Fiona Hall MEP, said that Lib  Dem MEPs would take this campaign to the UK to help boost local businesses in a bid to create and safeguard jobs. She added:
  

  "Small businesses are the main driving force for economic growth, innovation, employment and social integration. That's why we must ensure that with every law we pass SMEs are at the forefront of our minds. Each piece of legislation must be subjected to a SME test and impact assessment that takes account of the specific needs of micro-entities."
  
  "This initiative is all about creating and safeguarding local jobs. Lib Dem MEPs will be visiting and listening to local businesses and entrepreneurs to learn what needs to be done to free their potential and to give them a strong voice at the European level. Let's put SMEs at the top of the political agenda." 

  The ALDE SME initiative has been welcomed by the European business community.
  
  Gerhard Huemer, Economic and Fiscal Policy Director at UEAPME, the European craft and SME employers’ organisation, commented:
  

  “The vast majority of the legislation affecting SMEs comes from Brussels nowadays. That is why we welcome the campaign launched by the ALDE Group, and we hope that it will contribute towards better lawmaking for SMEs in the EU. The concrete measures in the ALDE SME Manifesto are spot on: red tape reduction, access to the single market and access to finance top the list of our members’ concerns.”

  Tina Sommer, chairman the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) for EU and International Affairs, commented:
  

  “It is the cumulative effect of legislation and the constant changes made to regulations that impose the burden on businesses. We therefore welcome the increased focus on reducing this burden on small businesses in these harsh times. However, a sweeping culture change among all policy makers to ‘Think Small First’, resulting in lighter regulation or exemptions such as the accountancy rules for micro businesses, is yet to be seen.”

  Patrick Gibbels from the European Small Business Alliance (ESBA) said:
  

  "ESBA wholeheartedly welcomes the ALDE group's campaign to boost growth and local jobs. The phrase 'SMEs are the backbone of the economy' has become standard issue within the institutions' rhetoric, yet far too little is still being done in practice. The European Commission praises small companies as Europe's number one employer, it is time to act accordingly by improving SMEs' access to finance and, most importantly, by stopping to impose regulatory and administrative burdens on small companies."

  Arnaldo Abruzzini, Secretary General of the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry (EUROCHAMBRES), added:
  

  “It is clear from the Chamber network’s daily contact with SMEs across Europe that the economic crisis is hitting them hard.  Unfortunately, many policy makers continue to acknowledge the economic and social importance of SMEs in one meeting and impose burdens on them in the next.  This is why EUROCHAMBRES welcomes the unequivocal message of ALDE’s ‘Boost SMEs’ campaign and endorses the concrete measures to cut red tape, support cross-border trade and facilitate access to finance."

• February 28, 2012
• 15:30

  Food for Thought

   » ‎ Green Liberal Democrats News Stories

  Food is part of all our lives - whether it is concerns about the cost of eating or about getting the right nutrition for elderly relatives or fussy youngsters. It is part of our cultural experience - sharing meals with loved ones to celebrate special occasions and local delicacies reflecting the interplay of people and land like Bakewell Tarts, Lancashire Hotpots & Yorkshire Puddings. Given its centrality to all our lives it is important that the policy framework to support the provision of food is right.

  The environment in which we produce food is changing. The world's population could reach nine billion by 2050, with many people wealthier, creating demand for a more varied, high-quality diet requiring additional resources to produce. At the same time the effects of climate change and competition for land, water and energy will intensify. Couple those pressures with over a billion people hungry and over a billion people over-consuming, creating a public health epidemic and you see the challenges of a global food system.

  It adds up to Liberal Democrats needing to think afresh about how we can supply food in the future which is healthy, affordable and environmentally sustainable. I have been asked by the Liberal Democrats DECC & DEFRA Parliamentary Party Committee to draft a paper on food policy in time for Autumn Conference. I would welcome party members' views on some of the key questions:

  Firstly, how we can increase productivity sustainably? Meeting the challenge to reduce the footprint of the food system and which minimises the release of greenhouse gases. We need to be clear what 'sustainable intensification' means and what the animal welfare impacts of the drive to American style mega farms are. Weighing up the value of new technologies such as genetic modification and the use of cloned livestock and ensuring that the voice of the public is adequately reflected in decisions about their introduction. And with estimates that up to a third of food is wasted, ensuring waste reduction is a priority above technological solutions. Raising the profile of innovative schemes and initiatives encouraging food growing in local communities up and down the land.

  Secondly, how can consumers be helped to make better food choices? Can we define a sustainable diet, reflecting a healthy diet which also delivers resilience in the face of environmental pressures? How acceptable might it be to recommend a meat free day once a week in the way the Government has recently stepped up its advice about alcohol? As Liberal Democrats we believe in the freedom of the individual but is a combination of education, labelling and promotional activity delivering the step change needed in our nation's diets? What role might fiscal measures, such as taxation of sugary drinks, have to play in influencing consumer demand?

  Thirdly, how we can support food businesses that meet our food goals? Positive reform of the Common Agricultural Policy offers the opportunity to support food businesses that recognise the natural capital of the land. But what more could we do? Are farming cooperatives a model that should be encouraged to flourish in the United Kingdom as they do in much of mainland Europe?

  And finally how Government can lead from the front. Despite welcome changes in school food purchasing in recent years, Government has been unwilling to support positive food choices throughout the range of public services they fund, including hospitals. Is it time to look at the true costs and opportunities of central procurement?

  Our commitment to fairness, our commitment to protecting and respecting the earth's finite resources and our commitment to individual freedom will all impact on our thinking about food. If you have views that you would like to share with me on this subject, please email me on parminterk@parliament.uk or come to the Green Liberal Democrats fringe meeting on food policy at Spring Conference.

  Published and promoted by Green Liberal Democrats, 8-10 Great George Street, London SW1P 3AE
  
  Printed (hosted) by Prater Raines Ltd, 98 Sandgate High Street, Folkestone CT20 3BY

• 14:05

  Tom Brake: Restoring public confidence in the police

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  It proposes a number of changes to police forces in England around three key areas, which will change the culture of police for the better:
  

  • More trusted – listening to local people and making policing much more responsive to communities’ priorities.
  • More professional – setting up the new police professional body with a key responsibility to recommend detailed national minimum recruitment standards for the police.
  • More effective – making evidence based policing the defining feature of 21st century policing by establishing the world’s first Institute for Policing Excellence.

  The proposed reforms including measures to:
  

  • Make Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) more accountable to the public between elections
  • Create safeguards against the expansion of the role of PCCs
  • Create an Institute for Policing Excellence
  • Create a Police First development scheme based on the success of Teach First
  • Encourage Police and Crime Panels to veto plans to cut police numbers unless all measures to cut bureaucracy have been exhausted

  Commenting, Tom Brake said:
  

  “We have fantastic police officers who are dedicated, able and trying to do their best by the community they serve. Yet as an organisation, the police suffers from a lack of confidence and trust.
  
  “Many of the criticisms relate to a perceived lack of fairness in the way people have been treated. Labour’s legislative assault on our civil liberties has been disastrous for the reputation of the police who enforced it.
  
  “It is essential that we clear up Labour’s legacy and end people’s feeling that they are both over-policed and under-protected. This paper demonstrates how the Liberal Democrats would do the right thing to restore public confidence.”

  
  
  
• 13:49

  Fiona Hall: A Green Deal for Europe

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  The Leader of the UK Liberal Democrat MEPs and energy expert Fiona Hall, chief negotiator for the Parliament's Liberal and Democrat Group on the Energy Efficiency Directive, said that the new bill was necessary to get the EU back on track towards the 20% target.
  
  She went on to highlight the influence that Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government had had on the Commission's proposals. She added that the new Energy Company Obligation and the Green Deal both introduced by the Coalition Government inspired some key provisions proposed in the new bill, including an obligation on energy utilities to assist their customers with energy saving measures.
  
  Commenting after the vote, she said:
  

  “Saving energy is the easiest way to offset the effects of higher energy prices. It is also the least costly way to cut carbon emissions whilst creating skilled local jobs and driving economic growth.
  
  “The less energy we need, the less we depend on energy imports from politically unreliable sources such as the Middle East and Russia."

  Hall added that knowing how much energy will be needed in 2020 would also facilitate infrastructure planning and avoid costly over-investment.
  
  Commenting on the relationship between the Energy Efficiency Directive and the Emissions Trading Scheme, she continued: “The Commission must come forward with proposals to adjust the EU’s Emission Trading System to take account of the Energy Efficiency Directive’s impact on the carbon price. This needs to be restored to its original level in order to provide strong incentives for low-carbon investments.”  
  
  Informal negotiations on the Energy Efficiency Directive will now take place between the Parliament and Council with the aim of achieving a first reading agreement under the Danish Presidency.
  
  
• 13:42

  Fiona Hall: MEPs resume fight to end roaming rip off

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  The European Parliament’s Industry Committee voted to replace current rules, which expire in June 2012, with even lower price caps to move further towards a levelling of domestic and cross-border mobile phone charges. The new regulation will also for the first time impose caps on data roaming – fees which incur when customers surf the internet while abroad.  In addition to the price caps, the new bill introduces a set of structural reforms aimed at attracting new operators to the market and at lowering prices by stimulating competition. 
  
  Fiona Hall, the leader of the Liberal Democrat MEPs and industry spokesperson for the delegation, commented after the vote:
  

  “People travelling on leisure or business are rightfully outraged by the rip-off charges for cross-border mobile phone calls and data transmission. Worse, at a time when we are all promoting the single market in Europe with a particular focus on freeing the potential of the digital market, data roaming fees are almost prohibitively expensive.  
  
  “The new measures will ensure that more and especially smaller operators will be able to enter the market and stir competition. However, until the measures bear results, we must protect consumers and indeed companies by capping prices at a sensible level that allows us to do business across borders and boost economic growth.”
  

  
  Negotiations between the European Parliament and national governments in the Council on a final agreement on the new roaming regulation will start in the next week.

• February 27, 2012
• 14:15

  CentreForum at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference 2012

   » ‎ Home

  

• 13:56

  Nick Clegg and Shirley Williams: The bill now going before the House of Lords deserves our support

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  Dear Colleague,
  
  The Health Bill currently in the House of Lords is now undoubtedly a better Bill because of the Liberal Democrats. A number of people deserve credit for improving this Bill. Firstly, and most important, are our Party members who made it clear at our conference in Sheffield in March last year that we would not accept a Bill that puts profits before patients. We secured a “pause” in the legislation, which led to a number of substantial changes to the Bill, for instance that competition could only be on quality and not on price. Since the “pause”, there have been further changes, which owe a great deal to the hard work of our Health Minister, Paul Burstow and our parliamentary health committee led by co-chairs, John Pugh and John Alderdice. Second, our Liberal Democrat peers in the House of Lords, led superbly by Judith Jolly, have done an outstanding job scrutinising the Bill line by line.
  
  With the help of the House of Lords Constitution Committee, several eminent Conservative peers, Labour’s Lords team led by Baroness Thornton and Lord Hunt, and a determined group of cross-benchers, many members of the medical professions, an all-party consensus has now ensured that the Secretary of State will remain responsible and accountable for a comprehensive health service financed by taxpayers, accessible to all and free at the point of need.
  
  This should guarantee the future of the NHS, one of Britain’s greatest social achievements. In addition, led by Phil Willis and others, arrangements have been put in place to make the UK a world leader in medical research, to raise the status and protect the independence of the Public Health service, and to ensure that all profits from the treatment of private patients in Foundation Trust hospitals must benefit the NHS.
  
  The Bill has now undergone more than 200 hours of scrutiny and had more than 1,000 amendments made to it, amendments that have put patients and the people who know them best at the very heart of the legislation. This is not the Bill that we debated as a party last March. Crucially, some elements of Labour’s 2006 Health Act, which opened up the possibility of a US-style market in the NHS, have been radically changed, such as the gold plated contracts for the private sector, which allowed a Labour Government to pay private providers a total of £250million for operations that weren’t even performed. We can also take pride in the fact that it was the Liberal Democrats who changed this Bill to ensure that no government will once again be able to favour the private sector over the public sector like the last Labour government.
  
  The Bill also now has in place safeguards to stop private providers “cherry picking” profitable, easy cases from the NHS, and we have made sure that private providers can only offer their services where patients say they want them. We are also clear that no one should be allowed to spend public money without telling us how they are going to use it. That is why we have insisted that decisions about patient services and taxpayers’ money must be made in an open, transparent and accountable way.
  
  We now have a Bill that delivers on the issues that Liberal Democrats have campaigned on for years. For the first time, there will be real democratic accountability in the NHS through new Health and Wellbeing Boards that will give councils a real role in shaping local health services. Public health will finally be returned to its rightful place in local government. Integration between health and social care will become the norm rather than the exception.
  
  However, given how precious the NHS is, we want to rule out beyond doubt any threat of a US-style market in the NHS. That is why we want to see changes made to this Bill that have been put forward by our Liberal Democrat team in the House of Lords to make sure that the NHS can never be treated like the gas, electricity, or water industry. First, we propose removing the reviews by the Competition Commission from the Bill to make sure that the NHS is never treated like a private industry. Second, we want to keep the independent regulator of Foundation Trusts, Monitor, to make sure hospitals always serve NHS patients first and foremost. Third, we will introduce measures to protect the NHS from any threat of takeover from US -style healthcare providers by insulating the NHS from the full force of competition law. We will also insist that anyone involved with a commissioning group is required to declare their own financial interests so that the integrity of the clinical commissioning groups is maintained. Finally, we will put in place additional safeguards to the private income cap to make sure that Foundation Trusts cannot focus on private profits before patients. These changes are needed, not just because of this Bill, but also to plug the holes left by Labour’s 2006 Health Act that allowed private providers to make profits at the NHS’ and taxpayers' expense. It was that Act that started the process of the marketisation of the NHS by allowing private providers to be paid on average 11% more than the NHS. These changes will ensure that competition and diversity in the NHS will always be done in the interests of patients and not profits.
  
  Next month we will return to where this process all began a year ago when we meet at our party’s Spring conference. Once these final changes have been agreed, we believe conference can be reassured that it has finished the job it started last March and the Bill should be allowed to proceed. We believe these changes will appeal to those in the House of Lords and the House of Commons who share our commitment to the NHS, and believe it can now embark on the reforms that matter: putting patients at the centre, working with local communities, and responding to the financial challenges of an ageing population.
  
  That will demand a united effort not only from the NHS but from all of us who cherish it. Then the essential work will begin to ensure that the necessary changes are introduced as smoothly as possible in full collaboration with everyone who works in the NHS. The real test will be to demonstrate tangible benefits to patients. After all, in the end, it is the interests of patients, which should count most of all.
  
  Best wishes
  
  
  Nick Clegg
  Baroness Shirley Williams
  

  
  

• February 25, 2012
• 19:09

  Lord Heseltine speaks at launch of 'Getting better value from Public Sector Research Establishments'

   » ‎ Home

  22 February 2012

  

  Image courtesy of and copyright Rex Features

• February 24, 2012
• 8:28

  Liberal Democrat News 24th February 2012

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  
  
  Getting young lives back on track
  
  Nick Clegg unveiled a pioneering scheme this week to get 16- and 17-year-olds who are out of work and not in education, earning or learning again.
  
  As the next part of the Deputy Prime Minister’s £1bn Youth Contract, for the first time funding will be targeted to this group of teenagers through tailored support on a payment-by-results system.
  
  Help will focus on at least 55,000 young people – those 16- and 17-year-old NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training) with no GCSEs at A* - C at the highest risk
  of long-term disengagement. In England, the government is making £126m of new money available to give teenagers opportunities to train, work and get their lives on track.
  
  Charities and businesses with expertise in supporting young people are being invited to bid for contracts worth up to £2,200 for every young person they help. Support will be tailored to suit individuals’ needs, and will include basic skills training and interview practice.
  
  Unlike any past schemes for this age group, payment will depend on results. Organisations will receive an initial payment for taking young people on, followed by subsequent payments when they show progress – including sticking with training programmes, undertaking apprenticeships, or holding down jobs.
  
  “Sitting at home with nothing to do when you’re so young can knock the stuffing out of you for years,” said Nick. “It is a tragedy for the young people involved - a ticking time bomb for the economy and our society as a whole. This problem isn’t new, but in the current economic climate we urgently need to step up efforts to ensure some of our most troubled teenagers have the skills, confidence and opportunities to succeed.”
  
  “Many of them will have complex problems: truancy, teenage pregnancy, a lack of GCSEs and health problems. So helping them onto their feet will not be without challenges and government cannot do this alone. But we all have a duty to reach out to the young people who can be hardest to reach. That’s why I am calling on charities and other organisations at the coalface to work with government to help tens and thousands of lost teenagers onto a brighter path.”
  
  Funding will be awarded to organisations across England with a proven track record in getting young people into work, apprenticeships, or training. Three areas – Liverpool, Leeds-Bradford-Wakefield and Newcastle-Gateshead – will be able to allocate their own pot of money as part of the Government City Deal agenda, aimed at giving more autonomy to England’s core cities.
  
  To read more and subscribe to Liberal Democrat News, click here.
  
• February 22, 2012
• 11:13

  Jeremy Browne: Re-election of Edward McMillan-Scott excellent news

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “I am delighted at Edward’s re-election. He has proved a passionate, determined and highly effective campaigner for human rights and democracy. 
   
  “As the British Foreign Minister responsible for human rights and a fellow Liberal Democrat, I am greatly looking forward to working with Edward to pursue this agenda, which is so central to the enlightened interests of the UK and Europe as a whole.
   
  “With the Arab Spring continuing and tentative steps towards political reforms in Burma, the presence of strong and credible voices, fighting for human rights and democracy at home and abroad, is absolutely essential.
   
  “I am convinced Edward is the right man to help ensure that we maximise the collective weight of the European Union in defending and promoting human rights and democracy.”

• February 18, 2012
• 13:18

  Stephen Williams: Why should people who are not married pay more tax?

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government are committed to delivering a tax system which is fair and progressive for everyone, why should working people who are not married pay more tax?
  
  “Our commitment to increasing the income tax threshold to £10,000 has already resulted in an extra £200 in take home pay for millions of workers last year, with an additional £130 coming this April.
  
  “Tax breaks for married couples would only help 4 million couples to the tune of around £150 year.
  
  “This year, thanks to the Liberal Democrats, over 1 million people will have been lifted out of paying any income tax, rising to 4 million by 2015.
  
  “Giving low earners a tax cut is exactly the kind of policy the Coalition Government should and is prioritising at a time when money is tight and people are feeling the pinch.”

  
  
  
• February 17, 2012
• 8:01

  Liberal Democrat News 17th February 2012

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  
  
  Nick Clegg champions Youth Contract
  
  Thousands of companies received a letter this week from the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg calling on them to play their part in getting young people earning or learning.
  
  Nick is urging businesses to sign up to the government’s flagship £1bn Youth Contract so that they are ready to offer the jobs to young people in April. He announced details of how employers can access cash to help cover the cost of taking on fresh talent through a ‘wage subsidy’. The subsidy will be paid to companies for taking on young unemployed people and is designed to cover costs like National Insurance contributions.
  
  The wage subsidy will pay £2,275 to employers for every 18 – 24 year old unemployed person they employ from the Work Programme and is open to all businesses, voluntary organisations and charities.
  
  Payments for the majority of business will be made after the young person has been employed for 26 weeks. For smaller enterprises these payments will be staggered, with the first payment after eight weeks and the rest after 26. This recognises that smaller businesses need a boost to their cashflow to make the jobs viable.
  
  The wage incentive will also be available for part time positions, with a rate of £1,137.50 if someone is employed between 16 and 29 hours.
  

  “Getting young people earning or learning is my top priority, and that’s what the Youth Contract is going to do,” said Nick. “This is a long-term boost to help businesses get young people into jobs before long-term damage is done. Employers have a huge part to play in this and the subsidy we’re announcing benefits business and young people.
  
  “I have written to thousands of employers of all sizes – from global corporations to small local firms – calling on them to look at what we’re offering through the Youth Contract and sign up to offer jobs from April. This is a significant moment and a call to arms for businesses to offer long-term opportunities to young people who are out of work.”

• February 16, 2012
• 11:18

  MEPs vote to tighten their own belts

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Senior Liberal Democrat MEP and Vice President of the Parliament's Budget Committee, George Lyon, who is pushing for the EU budget to be radically restructured and independently evaluated to find further savings, commented after the vote:
  

  "At a time when people across the country struggle to make ends meet, it is important that MEPs show some leadership in keeping the Parliament's costs under control.
  
  "Freezing allowances and travel expenses is a good start. But I believe that we can make many more savings. In order to ensure that taxpayers are getting maximum value for their money, we need to have an independent evaluation of the EU budget to get rid of any inefficiencies and waste.
  
  "I am very pleased that once again MEPs have also voted to push for a single seat of the European Parliament. It is an outrage that Member States still insist that the House travels between Brussels and Strasbourg each month. MEPs are quite right in calling for an urgent evaluation of this situation."

  
  Liberal Democrat MEPs have been on the forefront of the Single Seat Campaign which calls for the European Parliament to be permanently set up in Brussels. Liberal Democrat MEP and Vice President of the Parliament, Edward McMillan-Scott, who co-chairs the Single Seat Campaign and is launching an EU-wide public petition against its controversial 'travelling circus' added:
  

  "The pollution, cost, inefficiency and remoteness of this travelling circus are indefensible. The 1.27 million people who signed up to the OneSeat petition in 2007, calling for the EP to be located only in Brussels, have been ignored by the EU. But Europe's public today cannot be ignored against a backdrop of economic crisis and pressing environmental concerns."

  
  

• February 15, 2012
• 17:13

  AAA to GGG?

   » ‎ Green Liberal Democrats News Stories

  Britain's triple 'A' credit rating is now in doubt. This, if nothing else so far has, should raise concern in the mind of George Osborne that a new approach to Britain's economy, and future, is needed.

  Can he be persuaded to take a new approach that aims for a triple G rated economy? An economy triple rated as Great Going on Green Issues?

  Fears around the severe weakness of Britain's economy are due to the reality of the unsustainable nature of many of our business practices. An economy that is dependent on oil, a finite resource, cannot be a strong economy. We need to stop investing in the past and invest in the future. Time and again advice has been offered urging the need to look at increasing our production and manufacturing sectors and not just relying on a service sector.

  Despite it not being healthy to measure a country's progress just by its GDP, significant improvements in output could be made just by altering what we produce and how we produce it. The most sustainable products and services that we could provide would be those that are environmentally driven and ethically made.

  An economic strategy that truly considers and plans for the future has to be environmentally minded.

  "Peak Oil has come - we are in a race to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, and need to recognise that the economy will not recover until we do." says Simon Oliver, Vice Chair (organisation) Green Lib Dems.

  We call on the government to take this opportunity to:

  • Strengthen our economy, by developing and encouraging institutions that will ensure sustainability and security through enabling energy, water, and food to be available and accessible in the future.
  • Reduce unemployment and pursue the delivery of Green Jobs, particularly by promoting Renewable Energy technologies and companies; to provide jobs and increase employability through improving the nation's knowledge and skillsets.
  • Be a world leader in the coming Energy Revolution. These are not just moral imperatives but also ways to financial well-being.

  A GGG rating would boost our chances of retaining our AAA rating too!

  Published and promoted by Green Liberal Democrats, 8-10 Great George Street, London SW1P 3AE
  
  Printed (hosted) by Prater Raines Ltd, 98 Sandgate High Street, Folkestone CT20 3BY

• 9:55

  Lib Dems call for a freeze of MEP allowance and travel expenditure

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Commenting ahead of a vote on the 2013 EU budget guidelines in the European Parliament in Strasbourg tomorrow, Mr Lyon said:
  

  "At this time of national austerity and budget consolidation, the EU budget needs to be shaken up and restructured to get rid of inefficiencies and waste.
  
  "MEPs need to lead the way in identifying and making important savings. All MEP allowances should be frozen until 2014 and we must cap the travel budget at its present level. We must make our money travel further!
  
  "It is also time we had an independent and thorough evaluation of the European Parliament's budget to make sure that it delivers value for money. For the time being, I want to see a freeze in administrative spending of all EU institutions."

  
  
  The Lib Dem MEP went on to argue that a major saving within the European Parliament's budget would be the adoption of a single seat for the House in Brussels. He added:
  

  "I urge all MEPs to vote for a cross-party amendment for a single seat of the European Parliament. We need to send a strong signal to Member States that it is time to end the travelling circus between Brussels and Strasbourg. It is down to national capitals that we are still spending around £180m a year on pointless trips between those two cities. This wasteful practice must end now."

  
  
• February 14, 2012
• 9:27

  New Lib Dem MEP for West Midlands takes up seat in European Parliament

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  The Staffordshire farmer and economic policy expert takes over from Liz Lynne who stood down from Parliament earlier in February after more than 12 years due to the extensive travelling required in the job. Phillip Bennion was elected to second place on the Lib Dem list of candidates at the last European elections in 2009.
  
  Commenting on his new role, Phillip Bennion said:
  

  "I am determined to fight for the vital interests of the whole of the West Midlands region in the European Union and for a more prosperous and democratic Europe. From the shire counties to the manufacturing heart of the nation in Birmingham, this region's economic and environmental future will be shaped by our relationship with the EU.
  
  "Literally hundreds of thousands of local jobs depend on it, so I will do my best to make sure we punch our weight in the corridors of power, whether in Brussels or London.
  
  "I have always been pro-European. I am a strong supporter of a more liberal and democratic EU that concentrates on what it should be doing as simply and efficiently as possible. We are stronger together and would be much poorer apart.
  
  "In our inter-connected world, the financial crisis in all western nations shows that we cannot bury our heads in the sand. If we listen to the siren sceptic voices we will be sleepwalking to disaster.
  
  "Every European country is vulnerable to economic and environmental challenges which individual governments cannot control. Britain cannot tackle these challenges alone but must forge strong alliances with our neighbours. We have to be a strong voice for reform with a seat at the top table.
  
  "I will use my experience as a farmer and independent businessman to work for EU rules that enable European businesses to take on the competition from Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRICS) and other developing nations. Pointless red tape has to go and pro-active action taken to stimulate investment, trade and new jobs.
  
  "I am committed to doing all that I can to further food, energy and material security in the long term in a way that conserves biodiversity and addresses climate change.
  
  "Liz Lynne did a tremendous job as our MEP. Following her is a huge challenge but I am looking forward to getting to work."

  
  The leader of the Liberal Democrat delegation in the European Parliament, Fiona Hall MEP said:
  

  "Phillip Bennion has been a very active Lib Dem member and campaigner in the West Midlands over many years. He not only knows the region very well, but also has first hand experience of working at a European level through his involvement with the European Liberal Democrat Party (ELDR) and as chair of the Liberal Democrat European Group (LDEG).
  
  "With his background as a councillor, farmer and businessman, I am sure that he will be a valuable addition to the Liberal Democrat team in the European Parliament and we are looking forward to working with him."

  
  
• February 10, 2012
• 14:25

  Liberal Democrat News 10th February 2012

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  
  
  
  Confident Ed stands firm
  
  Strongly backed by Nick Clegg, newly appointed Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Davey was quick to make his mark in his new role when he confirmed his personal commitment to green growth, green jobs and the wider use of wind power technology. “I think that onshore and offshore wind power has a real place in a balanced mix of energy generation so I’m a huge supporter of renewables” he said.
  
  100 Tory back-benchers have tabled a motion calling for a dramatic cut in subsidies for onshore wind farms but Ed is very clear where he stands. “Already we’ve seen through the subsidies that this government has invested in onshore wind that the price has come down to make onshore more competitive, so we’ve got money in all sorts of renewables because of the success of these investments.
  
  “There may have been a change at the helm, but there’ll be no change in direction or ambition. My priorities are very simple: green jobs, green growth and getting the best deal for energy bill payers.”Ed and Nick Clegg were visiting the Building Research Establishment’s Innovation Park near Watford, a testing site for green homes, where they met graduates considering moving into green construction jobs. Nick Clegg told them “The race is on to lead the world in clean, green energy. The savviest states understand that going for growth means going green. Low-carbon markets are the next frontier in the battle for global pre-eminence.
  
  “We have every reason to be confident. The combination of enviable wind, wave and tidal power, a world-beating research base and a proud history of engineering give the UK a clear competitive edge. So we’re already in pole position. But the reality is: we need to sharpen our elbows if we want to stay ahead.” Ed Davey also announced that 155 community energy projects across the country have won a share of £5.1 million of funding from the Local Energy Assessment Fund. The winning bids include projects to demonstrate wall insulation to the public, schemes to check the energy efficiency of homes and events to promote energy efficiency in local communities.
  
  While Ed was getting to grips with his new job, Norfolk North’s Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb was taking up his new appointment as Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs in the Department of Business Innovation and Skills. Welcoming him Secretary of State Vince Cable said “Norman’s professional background as an employment lawyer and experience as the Liberal Democrat’s Trade and Industry Spokesman make him an ideal replacement. He pioneered our policy to privatise Royal Mail and establish employee share ownership in the business so it is fitting that he will be responsible for implementing that policy.”
  
  Norman, who was previously chief political adviser to Nick Clegg, expressed himself particularly delighted to be implementing the Post Office reforms he had pioneered in opposition. These would give employees a stake in the company.
  
  Two other new appointments were announced in the mini-reshuffle. Cardiff Central MP Jenny Willott becomes an Assistant Government Whip and Dunbartonshire East’s MP Jo Swinson becomes PPS to Nick Clegg.
• February 07, 2012
• 15:06

  Graham Watson: European renewable energy is answer to Gazprom gas crisis

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Commenting on the ongoing crisis where Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and Germany have experienced reductions of up to 30% in Russian gas supplies from Gazprom over the last few days, Sir Graham said:
  
  "The freezing conditions across Europe highlight yet again the dangers of being so overly-reliant on Russia for a quarter of our gas. Gazprom has - understandably - diverted its supplies to keep Russian homes warm, leaving many European countries short and prices on the rise."
  
  "And we just don't know what Gazprom will do next."
  
  "But the wind is blowing harder than ever in the Scottish Hebrides and it is 15 C and sunny in southern Spain and Greece. If, instead of building gas pipelines, we were building electricity transmission infrastructure and switching from fossil fuels to wind and solar power, this week's energy outlook would be a different story. European renewables are the answer to our energy security."
  
  "Indeed, the sun is also shining bright as ever in the Sahara. Importing electricity from North Africa would in fact be more secure than Russian gas, due to the larger number of potential trading partners and the fact that electricity cannot be switched off like gas. Electricity is the ultimate 'just in time' product: that which is not transmitted today is lost forever."
• 11:37

  Lorely Burt: Labour hypocrisy on bankers’ bonuses

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “The sheer hypocrisy of Labour to point the finger on bankers’ bonuses is staggering. Labour presided over the biggest boom in bonuses this country has seen, from £3.1bn in 2001 to £11.5 billion in 2007. At the same time, they sat back and knighted the financial speculators who led this country to the brink of economic collapse.
  
  “The Coalition Government inherited this economic mess from Labour and has taken decisive action to put the country back on track. We’ve capped cash bonuses at state owned banks to £2,000 and overall, the bonus pool is smaller than last year and considerably less than under Labour.
  
  “In Government, Liberal Democrats are doing the right thing – implementing the Vickers’ proposals to make banking safer in the future, continuing our fight to get the banks to lend more and introducing the banking levy which raises £2.5bn a year. All Labour can do is complain from the side lines.
  
  “While Labour spent thirteen years being intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich, Liberal Democrats have made clear that our priority is lifting the lowest paid people out of paying income tax all together.”

• 9:10

  Julian Huppert: Coalition cycling investment comes at a crucial time

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS

  “Promoting cycling and green transport is the right thing to do and I am delighted Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government are taking action.
  
  “This comes at a crucial time. Just five days ago The Times launched a cycle campaign in response to the shocking increase in fatalities among cyclists on our roads.
  
  “It is absolutely essential people should be able to walk to work or cycle to school in a safe environment. The extra £8m for Sustrans will go a long way to achieving this.
  
  “And the £7m for improved rail-cycle links will ensure that we continue to build a transport network which puts passengers first.”

• February 06, 2012
• 17:11

  The Work Programme: keep calm and carry on

   » ‎ Home
  Chris Nicholson February 2012

  In this short research note CentreForum urges the government to stand firm on its flagship scheme to get unemployed people back into work.

  Since its launch in June 2011 the Work Programme has faced considerable criticism; most recently from the National Audit Office which said that the government had over estimated the likely performance of the scheme.

  CentreForum acknowledges that in certain areas of the Work Programme a different approach would have been beneficial. But its report warns that changing course would undermine efforts to tackle long term unemployment, and threaten future government contracting for services.

  Download the full report.

• February 03, 2012
• 13:37

  Green Liberal Democrat Statement on the Resignation of Chris Huhne

   » ‎ Green Liberal Democrats News Stories

  The Green Liberal Democrats are saddened to hear of the resigination today of Rt Hon Chris Huhne MP from the role of Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

  Chris was an excellent advocate for the environmental agenda within both the coalition government and the Liberal Democrat party. There is much he can feel proud of from his 20 months in the role - like his leadership role at the Durban Climate Conference, the huge growth in renewable energy during his tenure, and putting the UK Economy on track to meet its carbon targets.

  Chris is a Vice-President of the Green Liberal Democrats, and despite the heavy demands of his position, we found him at all times to be supportive, engaging and accessible. We would like to register our gratitude for that and we hope he is able to clear his name swiftly.

  We also hope that the Coalition will continue to ensure that tackling environmental issues and reducing the nation's carbon emissions remains at the heart of all government policy. These issues are not only our greatest challenges, but also key opportunities for securing jobs and a sustainable future.

  Steve Bradley
  
  Chair, Green Liberal Democrats
  
  On behalf of the Green Liberal Democrat Executive

  Published and promoted by Green Liberal Democrats, 8-10 Great George Street, London SW1P 3AE
  
  Printed (hosted) by Prater Raines Ltd, 98 Sandgate High Street, Folkestone CT20 3BY

• 9:52

  Liberal Democrat News 3rd February 2012

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  
  
  Clegg calls time on unfair tax system
  
  At the Institute for Government last Friday, the Deputy Prime Minister gave a major speech on tax and supporting working families.
  
  “The tax system,” said Nick Clegg, “should be designed to reward effort, enterprise and innovation... and bear down on those things which are bad for our society.
  “Attitudes to tax are a good proxy for our deepest political instincts and the three major political traditions in the UK – conservatism, socialism and liberalism – have very distinct approaches.”
  
  “The liberal approach, put most simply, is based on a profound commitment to the value of paid work. Citizens are empowered when they can keep the fruits of their own labour. And fiscal liberalism supports taxes on unearned wealth... precisely to lighten taxes on the incomes of hardworking people.
  
  “So the Coalition is calling time on our unfair and out-of-whack tax system.
  We’ve put up Capital Gains Tax; we’ve reduced tax breaks on pension funds for the very rich; we’ve clamped down on avoidance – the steps taken already will raise an extra £7bn every year by the end of this parliament. And our priority in government - from the front cover of the Lib Dem manifesto to the pages of the Coalition Agreement - is freeing the lowest-paid from income tax altogether... and cutting income tax for millions of ordinary workers.
  
  “Whether you call them the ‘squeezed middle’, ‘hard-working families’, or, as I have, ‘alarm clock Britain’… it’s the people who whose incomes are too high to qualify for welfare benefits but too low to provide any real financial security who need this extra help. Over the last few decades wage rises have outpaced the increase in the allowance... so that more people have been sucked into the income tax net.
  
  “At the last election my party promised to raise the personal allowance for ordinary taxpayers to £10,000 and I am extremely proud that the Coalition has committed to doing so over the course of this Parliament. I want to make clear that I want the Coalition to go further and faster in delivering the full £10,000 allowance.
  Because the pressure on family finances is reaching boiling point … these families cannot be made to wait.
  
  “Delivering the £10,000 personal allowance more quickly will need to be fully funded. But to those who say: we cannot afford to do this. I say: we cannot afford not to do this.
  
  “It is often said that to govern is to choose... and, in particular, to choose whose side you are on. That is especially true when there is no money around. My choice – the Liberal Democrat’s choice – is clear: I want to help hard-pressed and hardworking families. If that means asking more from those at the top – so be it.
  
  “We are committed to eliminating the deficit... and eliminate it we will. But I am determined that we do so in a way that is fair...that rebalances our economy...that gives the right people the right rewards.
  “People look to the Liberal Democrats to keep this Coalition anchored in the centre ground. They want economic competence, but they want compassion too.
  It is our job to make sure this government delivers both.”
  
• February 01, 2012
• 8:33

  ASA bans ‘misleading’ L’Oréal advert featuring Rachel Weisz

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  The ASA ruled that the image used in an advertisement for L’Oréal Paris’ Revitalift Repair 10 was altered to change Rachel Weisz’s complexion, making it appear smoother and more even. It was judged to be in breach of industry code and “misleadingly exaggerated” the performance of the product.
  
  The advertisement has been banned in its current form and the ASA has warned L’Oréal not to use digital retouching to misrepresent the effect of their products.
  
  Commenting, Jo Swinson said:
  

  “The beauty and advertising industries need to stop ripping off consumers with dishonest images. 
  
  “The banning of this advert, along with the previous ASA rulings banning heavily retouched ads featuring Twiggy, Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington, should act as a wake-up call. Thankfully the advertising regulator has again acknowledged the fraudulent nature of excessive retouching.
   
  “The Royal College of Psychiatrists has spoken out about the harmful influence of the media on body image and has highlighted the airbrushing and digital enhancement used to portray physical perfection as an area of concern.
   
  “There needs to be much more diversity in advertising – different skin colours, body shapes, sizes and ages.  Studies show that people want to see more authenticity from brands.  Images can be aspirational without being faked.
  
  “The Campaign for Body Confidence challenges the narrow ideal of beauty perpetuated by the media and other industries. Tonight the All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image is hosting a screening of the documentary Miss Representation which explores the impact on society of such an intense focus on women’s appearance, instead of their achievements. 
  
  “The film shows how media misrepresentation and under representation of women results in a leadership gap and the silencing of difference.”  

• 7:44

  Julian Huppert: Yearly MOT tests right decision

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  “In 2010 there were 1,850 deaths and more than 200,000 injuries on our roads. That’s some 600 every day. With mechanical failure already contributing to a significant number of these, the Coalition Government has made the right decision to keep frequent MOT-tests.
  
  “This will also see the system strengthened through a combination of open public data and stronger regulation.
  
  “Liberal Democrats strongly believe road safety should be central to the Coalition Government’s transport strategy. I look forward to working with the Secretary of State to further this agenda.”

• January 31, 2012
• 12:51

  CentreForum's response to the drop in university applicants for 2012 entry

   » ‎ Home

  31 January 2012

  On Monday UCAS released figures showing an 8.7 percent drop in university applicants for 2012 entry. CentreForum's education researcher Gill Wyness said the figures were "disappointing, but to be expected. We saw similar trends in 1998, when fees were first introduced, and in 2006, when they were increased to £3,000 per year. Application numbers were up in 2011 as many students sought to avoid the tuition fees hike. The test here will be whether applications recover in 2013."

• January 30, 2012
• 14:49

  Simon Hughes: Young people have not been put off university

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  “Today’s figures show that on the whole young people have not been put off by the changes in the student finance system. 
  
  “This is due in no small part to the serious effort put in by the Coalition Government and many others in making sure that each young person and their parents knew all the facts about funding higher education. 
  
  “In particular, many families clearly now understand that all graduates will pay less each month towards the cost of their university education than they did before.
  
  “There has been a larger drop in the number of older students applying to university. The Government will have to take a serious look at why this has happened, particularly as part-time students for the first time also do not have to pay for their university education  in advance.
  
  “However, because mature students have more flexibility in when they apply, there are still good opportunities for people looking to start university this year to put in an application.”

• January 27, 2012
• 12:15

  Tier 4 tears: how government student visa controls are destroying the private HE sector

   » ‎ Home
  Chris Nicholson January 2012

  In this report, CentreForum calls for the reversal of student visa controls which prohibit international students enrolled on HE courses at private colleges from working part time to support their studies.

  Since these controls were introduced in 2011, enrolment numbers are estimated to have dropped by around 70 percent. One private institution, Cavendish College London, has already closed, while others face being taken over by public universities.

  CentreForum had previously warned government about the adverse impact of the Tier 4 student visa reforms. It is now concerned that the impact has been "swift and probably even more devastating than was predicted."

  Download the full report.

  See earlier CentreForum publications 'Tier 4 Fears: why government student visa proposals are unfair' (June 2011) and 'Pathway to prosperity: how to make student immigration work for universities and the economy' (February 2011)

• 11:41

  Liberal Democrat News 27th January 2012

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  
  
  More power for Scotland
  
  The Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore, is determined to move Scotland forward towards greater devolution.  As well as delivering the Scotland Bill, he is paving the way towards Home Rule.
  
  In an interview with Liberal Democrat News he said: “These are exciting times for Liberal Democrats. We are leading the charge. The central issue at the moment is the independence referendum, which was in the SNP manifesto at their victory last May. We are clear, however, that they do not have the legal powers necessary [to instigate independence]. We are looking carefully as to how that referendum takes place. My job is to work with the Scottish Government to make sure we can devolve powers that are legal, fair and decisive.
  
  “The referendum must be overseen by the Electoral Commission. On timing, we believe that a referendum needs to take place as soon as possible, as the uncertainty is extremely unhelpful to business.”
  
  Combining questions on a ballot paper is complex, and devolution is a separate issue to independence. So, while the Secretary of State is consulting the Scottish people on this, the Coalition government’s view is that there should be a simple, straightforward, ‘yes-no’ question on independence.
  
  “The suggestion of a third option, ‘Devo-max’ question would not resolve the issue and may well end up in the courts,” explained Michael. “For instance, 55 per cent of the people could vote for full independence and 75 per cent plus vote for Devo-max. Alex Salmond believes if that was the result, then full independence would carry the day. Most democratic people would strongly disagree.”
  
  “This party has always been in the forefront of the debate for Home Rule,” continued Michael. “The Liberal Democrats in the Coalition are delivering greater powers in the Scotland Bill. But the Liberal Democrats are not stopping there. Willie Rennie has asked Ming Campbell to set up a Commission to look at what powers Scotland should have within the UK. This would be similar to the Constitutional Convention, the Scottish Parliament and the Calman legislation for the Scotland Bill. In that way you get common ground and consensus before legislation.”
  
  There are a number of important questions the SNP has left unanswered: What regulation would be applied to Scottish banks and who would enforce it? Would they be prepared to buy out the UK Government’s stake in RBS? Which currency would Scotland adopt? What would happen to Scottish membership of international organisations (including the EU), our armed forces, pension liabilities? What are the bottom line costs of independence?
  
  As Nick Clegg said last Sunday on BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show, “You would have thought for a party whose sole purpose in life is to advocate independence, they [the SNP] would have been able to provide answers about what it means for defence, for taxation, for investment, the currency, and that’s what I think we should focus on.”
  
  
• January 26, 2012
• 10:19

  Nick Clegg's tax cut speech at the Resolution Foundation

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Today I want to make clear that I want the Coalition to go further and faster in delivering the full £10,000 allowance.
  
  Because the pressure on family finances is reaching boiling point.
  
  Yesterday's GDP figures remind us that the road to the UK’s economic recovery will be long and progress will be uneven.
  
  Those GDP figures remind us that we cannot simply ride out these troubles.
  Waiting for the good times to roll around again, nor can we return to business as usual.
  
  The financial crash and the recession that followed were unprecedented, and they were global. But the UK’s weakness in the face of those events was a damning indictment of the way our economy had been run.
  An economy that became closed, elitist, driven by vested interests. Where we prized recklessness and short-term gains, and undervalued stability and hard work.
  
  So picking ourselves up for good means fundamental reform. Hitting the reset button to ensure that not only does prosperity return, but, this time, it’s properly shared and really lasts.
  
  The first part of that is clearly deficit reduction.
  Filling the black hole; wiping the slate clean;
  Preventing years of higher interest rates and fewer jobs;
  Ensuring that the next generation does not pay for this generation’s mistakes;
  Creating the sound public finances, the macroeconomic stability that we know is a prerequisite for lasting growth.
  
  But, beyond that, we must also rebalance our economy: ending our overreliance on financial services and the South East;
  Shifting from consumption to investment;
  From debt-driven bubbles to sustainable growth.
  
  And there is another element of rebalancing.
  Rebalancing our tax and benefits system, because both need to be rebuilt with work at their heart, restoring some sense to the assistance and rewards the state provides.
  
  We cannot pin all our hopes on the traders or the bankers. It will be the millions of hardworking Britons who deliver the nation from these difficult times. So we must now make the most of all of our human capital. And we must help struggling families stand on their own two feet.  That means a benefits system that gets more people into work and a tax system that ensures work pays.
  
  Today I want to say a word on each.
  
  First, benefits.
  
  I have always believed in a welfare system that helps those in need - those who cannot work must be protected. And those who have jobs must be confident that, should they lose them, there is a safety net in place.
  
  That is precisely why, in the Autumn Statement last year the Coalition committed to the full uprating for pensions and out-of-work benefits from April - 5.2%, in line with inflation. Not everyone agreed that “the unemployed” should receive the full uplift, certainly not in the current climate. And, if you believed everything you read, you would think that these benefits are, essentially, unlimited handouts for the ‘idle poor’.
  But that just shows what is so often wrong with this debate.
  
  For one thing, for decades now benefits have been uprated in line with prices while earnings have generally increased at a faster rate. So the value of benefits such as Jobseekers Allowance have actually shrunk over the years compared with the incomes of those in work.
  
  But, even more importantly, abuse of the benefits system by a minority has obscured the needs of a deserving majority.
  The older people who have contributed to our society for their whole lives.
  Those who cannot work due to disability or serious illness.
  And - the group most often forgotten - working people who have been laid off, through no fault of their own. And, most often, for short periods of time.
  
  Yes, sometimes the system is exploited - and that cannot be accepted.
  But the majority of people who claim JSA are off benefits within three months.
  People who pay their taxes, support their families, but are temporarily down on their luck. So we need a benefits system that helps those who can work into work.
  
  And it is that simple principle that drives the Coalition’s welfare reforms. From the Universal Credit, to the benefits cap, to the Work Programme and the Youth Contract.
  
  While the economy was booming. We saw four and a half million people stuck on out-of-work benefits.
  
  The number of young and unemployed hardly changed. There are now 2.6m people on incapacity benefits. 900,000 of them have been parked there for 10 years or more. And where children grow up in homes where no one works they are twice as likely to experience long spells of unemployment themselves.
  
  It isn’t right; the country can’t afford it.  The Coalition is determined to see it change.
  
  Nearly 70 years ago, when William Beveridge designed the welfare state he imagined a system that would give people protection from cradle to grave. Not one that would act as a crutch every day in between. The state must offer security in hard times.
  But it should not, he warned, ‘stifle incentive, opportunity, responsibility’.
  In the words of another great liberal, John Stuart Mill, ‘assistance should be a tonic - not a sedative’. I couldn't agree more.
  
  Tax - the different traditions
  
  And it is those same values, that same belief in the potential of ordinary men and women to flourish that needs to be instilled in our tax system too.
  
  My philosophy on tax is simple: The system should reward effort, enterprise and innovation and bear down on those things which are bad for our society.
  
  That sounds like a proposition with which most people would agree. But attitudes to tax are a good proxy for our deepest political instincts.  And the three major political traditions in the UK – conservatism, socialism and liberalism – have very distinct approaches.
  
  For those on the philosophical right, taxes are necessary but there is an understandable fear that tax-done-badly can threaten entrepreneurialism and business, strengthening the hand of an intrusive state. That wariness means the right can be less inclined to promote tax as a way of redistributing wealth and opportunity, putting less of an emphasis on using the tax system to tackle inequality, for example, between those who earn their income and those who are asset rich. 
  
  For the traditional left, on the other hand, taxes are the principal means of redistribution. Socialists will support a penal rate of tax on the highest earners, simply because it makes them poorer.
  
  For them, tax is a badge of socialist success: the more, the better. They would rather draw money in through the state and then hand it back to people rather than letting them keep more of their earnings in the first place. 
  
  The liberal approach, put most simply, is based on a profound commitment to the value of paid work.
  
  Citizens are empowered when they can keep the fruits of their own labour. As Gladstone said, it is better for money to ‘fructify in the pockets’ of the people who earn it, rather than in the Treasury and fiscal liberalism supports taxes on unearned wealth, precisely to lighten taxes on the wages of the hardworking. 
  
  A simple choice
  
  Those principles could not be more important today. Because, in developed economies around the world, in every country now seeking to get back on the right path, where money is scarce, where every day families are tightening their belts, the biggest question we face is this: how is that burden shared?
  
  That’s why, this week, we heard President Obama devote his State of the Union Address to greater fairness in the American tax system. It’s why tales of tax avoidance are filling our newspapers everyday. And every politician now has a simple choice: do you support a tax system that rewards the hard-working many? Or do you back taxes that favour the wealthy few?
  
  I know which side of the line I stand on: The UK’s tax system cannot go on like this.
  With those at the top claiming the reliefs, enjoying the allowances, hiring other people to find the loopholes, while everyone else pays through the nose.
  
  So the Coalition is calling time on our unfair and out-of-whack tax system.
  
  We’ve put up Capital Gains Tax - Ending the scandal, under Labour, of a hedge fund manager paying less on their shares than their cleaner paid on their wages.
  
  We’ve reduced tax breaks on pension funds for the very rich.
  
  We’ve clamped down on avoidance and taken steps to raise an extra £7bn through closing the tax gap.  
  
  And our priority in Government, from the front cover of the Liberal Democrat manifesto to the pages of the Coalition agreement, is freeing the lowest-paid from income tax altogether and cutting income tax for millions of ordinary workers.
  Raising the personal threshold to help the squeezed middle
  
  Over recent weeks you will have heard a great deal about fairness at the top, through Vince Cables’ reforms to curb excessive executive pay.
  
  You will have heard a great deal about fairness at the bottom, through reform of our welfare system to ensure benefits are fair and reasonable, and to get more claimants into work.
  
  This is about fairness in the middle. More money in the pockets of the people who need it.
  
   Whether you call them the ‘squeezed middle’, ‘hard-working families’, or, as I have, ‘alarm clock Britain’, cutting income tax is one of the most direct tools we have to ease the burden on low and middle earners. The people whose incomes are too high to qualify for welfare benefits, but too low to provide any real financial security. The group whose plight the Resolution Foundation has done so much to highlight.
  
  The working mum whose bills keep rising but whose wages do not.
  
  The father kept awake in the dead of the night, worried tomorrow the company will be laying people off. 
  
  The young couple who used to look forward to the holiday they would book or the car they would buy, but who now know that if the boiler breaks or the washing machine packs up, the money just isn’t there.
  
  Go back 50 years or so and many more working people were exempt from income tax thanks to a more generous tax-free threshold. But over the last few decades wage rises have outpaced the increase in the allowance. Sucking more and more people into the income tax net. And, while in the early 70s, the Personal Allowance was worth around 28% of average earnings. By 2010 that had dropped to around 20%.
  
  At the last election my party promised to raise the personal allowance to £10,000 for ordinary taxpayers. And I am extremely proud that the Coalition is on track to do so over the course of this Parliament. We’ll make sure that anyone earning £10,000 or less will pay no income tax at all and for those on middle incomes, the first £10,000 they earn will be tax free.
  
  For millions of basic rate taxpayers – ordinary, hardworking people – that means paying £700 less in income tax each year, around £60 a month.
  
  In the 2010 Budget we increased the tax allowance from £6,475 to £7,475. This year we have already announced a planned rise of an additional £630 - meaning that a total of 1.1 million more people will no longer pay income tax at all.
  
  But today I want to make clear that I want the Coalition to go further and faster in delivering the full £10,000. Because, bluntly, the pressure on family finances is reaching boiling point.
  
  Compared to those at the top, these families have seen their earnings in decline for a decade and that’s got worse since 2008, with lower real wages and fewer hours at work.
  
  Ongoing consolidation in the UK public finances has meant necessary increases in taxation, reductions in spending, restrictions on public sector pay, and higher contributions on pensions.
  
  Last year brought much higher world inflation, some food prices have doubled, some energy prices have gone up by 50%.
  
  And, yes, we are now seeing some moderation in inflation.
  
  But, in just three years, real household disposable incomes have fallen by some 5 per cent, one of the biggest squeezes since the 1950s, since the records began. These families cannot be made to wait.
  
  Household budgets are approaching a state of emergency. And the Government needs a rapid response.
  
  Delivering the £10,000 personal allowance more quickly will need to be fully funded. We cannot just cut taxes by raising borrowing – that is just extra taxation deferred. And it would undermine our success in restoring stability and credibility to the public finances. So we need to find the money. And that will not be easy, of course. 
  
  But to those who say: we cannot afford to do this. I say: we cannot afford not to do this. And it is because of the pressure our economy is under that there is now an urgent need to give families more help; an urgent need to rebalance our tax system so it rewards work and encourages ordinary people to drive growth. And that means those who are better off paying their fair share.
  
  In its recent excellent report Divided We Stand, the OECD noted how the incomes of the richest 1 per cent have soared away from everyone else over the last 20 years and showed that these people could be making a bigger tax contribution.
  
  They also made clear that the right way to do this is not to increase marginal tax rates on work any further. This would simply drive many of the rich away to other countries.  Or encourage them to use tax avoidance mechanisms more aggressively.
  Instead, they suggest, governments need to look at tackling industrial-scale tax avoidance.
  
  As well as at the allowances and reliefs which favour those on very high incomes that is how we can raise the average taxes paid by the very rich, without any further rise in marginal rates.
  
  To that end the Coalition set up the Aaronson Review to look at a General Anti-Avoidance Rule on tax so that the tax industry cannot spend all its time creating ever more contrived schemes, undermining the principles and intentions of the system.
  
  There are a range of other, specific areas where we need to be tough too, not least stamp duty avoidance, particularly on higher end property sales and the transferring of assets and income abroad to avoid UK tax.
  
  We need to look at what more can be done to “green” the tax system. Not just because we care about the planet we leave our children - although that would be reason enough. But because, when the decision is between taxing pollution or taxing hard-graft, the right impulse is obvious.
  
  And, there is another big part of the tax system where I believe we need to be much more ambitious: Serious, unearned wealth.
  
  The eye wateringly lucrative assets so often hoarded at the top. We still live in a society where, for so many people. How much you earn can never compete with how much others own. Our tax system entrenches that divide. And we need to be bold enough to shift the burden right up to the top.
  
  I know the Mansion Tax is controversial, but who honestly believes it is right that an oligarch pays just double the Council Tax of an average homeowner even if their house is worth one hundred times as much?
  
  And who seriously thinks we would kill aspiration through a levy on the 0.1% of the population who own £2 million pound homes? The Mansion Tax is right, it makes sense and the Liberal Democrats will continue to make the case for it. We’re going to stick to our guns.
  
  So, to finish as I began: we are living in tough times. And many families are feeling the pinch. We need more of those who can work in work, and real rewards and incentives for those who are.
  
  It is often said that to govern is to choose and, in particular, to choose whose side you are on. That is especially true when there is no money around. My choice – the Liberal Democrat’s choice – is clear:
  
  I want to help the hard-pressed and the hardworking. If that means asking more from those at the top – so be it.
  
  We are committed to eliminating the deficit, and eliminate it we will. But I am determined that we do so in a way that is fair.
  
  That rebalances our economy.
  
  That gives the right people their dues. 
  
  People look to the Liberal Democrats to keep this Coalition anchored in the centre ground. They want economic competence, but they want compassion too.
  It is our job to make sure this Government delivers both.
  
  
  Thank you.
• 4:00

  More money back in your pocket

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  Between now and the Budget, Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats in Government will be arguing for faster tax cuts for hard-working families, promoting work and growth, and rewarding innovation, paid for by increasing the amount paid by the richest.
  
  And the Liberal Democrats in Coalition are already making the difference:
  

  • More than 800,000 working people no longer paying income tax
  • 23 million working people have been given a £200 tax cut
  • In April this year every worker will be given a further income tax cut of £130
  • And by the local elections in May this year, 1.1 million of the lowest paid workers, will no longer be burdened by income tax

  Imagine a mum who works 3 days a week as a teaching assistant - earning £10,000 a year or just over £190 a week. Under Labour she paid more than £1,000 in income tax and national insurance. Although she wanted to work more days a week she knew it was not financially worth it. Under Labour; once tax, tax credits and housing benefit has been deducted, for every extra pound she earned she was able to keep just 10.5p.
  Under our plan she would see her income tax bill cut to zero making her £700 a year better off.

  
  The Liberal Democrats are committed to delivering a fairer economy, turning our tax promise into cash in your pocket. It was on the front page of our manifesto and is being implemented because of Liberal Democrats in Government.
  
  As part of this Coalition, Liberal Democrats are calling time on our unfair and out-of-whack tax system.
  

  • We’ve clamped down on tax avoiders – targeting an extra £7bn every year
  • We’re taxing the banks by an extra £2.5bn every year
  • We’ve stopped inheritance tax cuts for millionaires
  • We’ve put up Capital Gains Tax
  • We’re ending the scandal, under Labour, of a hedge-fund manager paying less tax on their shares than their cleaner paid on their wages
  • We’ve reduced tax breaks on pension funds for the super-rich
  • We have retained the 50p rate
  • And our overall priority is freeing the lowest-paid from income tax altogether and cutting income tax for millions of ordinary workers

  You can read Nick's speech to the resolution Foundation here.
  

• January 25, 2012
• 15:14

  Don Foster: BBC should not harm local and regional broadcasting

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  “Lord Patten gets the final word and with it he says what we’ve all been thinking.
  
  “The BBC won’t improve itself by stripping away some of its most valued work. Seven million people listen to BBC local radio across the UK and it is a lifeline for older people and the disabled.
  
  “We can’t expect easy solutions to the BBC’s challenges but it should be possible to meet them without harming local radio and regional TV.”
• January 24, 2012
• 14:10

  Lorely Burt: Post Office deal will secure its future

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  “This is very welcome news for both the Post Office and Royal Mail and demonstrates our commitment to ensure a sustainable future for both.
  
  “Post Offices are a vital part of our communities and are the lynchpin of our towns and villages. More than 20m people visit a Post Office every week to send letters to loved ones, to manage their finances or to renew passports for holidays and hundreds of thousands of pensioners rely on them every day for their pensions.
  
  “Labour left Royal Mail in a terrible mess and it is Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government who have stopped closures and put Royal Mail and the Post Office on a secure footing. Our plans mean that we will never see the kind of planned closures that devastated local communities under the previous Government.
  
  “Labour said our plans would lead to more closures as the Royal Mail moved away from using the Post Office network. Today’s announcement proves that they were, once again, wrong.”
  

• January 23, 2012
• 14:41

  CentreForum chief economist warns over benefits cap

   » ‎ Home

  23 January 2012

  CentreForum's chief economist Tim Leunig has issued a warning over government plans to cap benefits at £26,000 a year.

  Writing in the Guardian, Tim argues that the cap will force claimants to live on as little as 62p per person per day after rent, council tax and utilities. His analysis applies to a family with four children, living in private rented accommodation in Tolworth, the London Borough of Kingston.

• 13:57

  Liberal Democrats right to shine light on executive pay

   » ‎ Liberal Democrats RSS
  “This announcement shows the Liberal Democrats’ commitment to tackle out of control executive pay.
  
  “Liberal Democrats have no problem with people being highly paid but there should not be rewards for failure.
  
  “This problem can only be solved by companies and their shareholders.  It’s not government’s role to micro-manage company pay but there are things we can do to address what is a clear market failure.
  
  “With millions of people experiencing pay freezes and uncertainty about their jobs, the right thing to do is to shine a light on the murky world of executive pay and boardroom behaviour.”