Posts Tagged ‘News’

37 Labour Members defect to the Liberal Democrats in protest at Blair’s foreign policy

Written by Steve Guy on August 26, 2006 – 11:11 am -

Dozens of Labour Party members in Margaret Beckett’s constituency are to defect to the Liberal Democrats today in protest at her handling of the Lebanon crisis. They will announce their decision at 3.15pm today at the Pakistani Community Centre, Derby.

The defections, which come on the day Tony Blair returns from his holiday in Barbados, include a number of senior figures in Mrs Beckett’s Derby South constituency and numerous other Labour members and activists.

Sir Menzies Campbell, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said:

“The Liberal Democrats were the first and only major party to call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. These defections in the Foreign Secretary’s own seat are significant. The government’s position on the Middle East and Iraq shows just how out of touch it is with many in its party and the majority of the general public.”

Mohammed Rawail Peeno, who was Chairman of the city’s Arboretum branch Labour Party, said:

“We could not remain in the Labour Party after their mishandling of the Lebanon crisis.

“When Margaret Beckett refused to back a ceasefire and instead sided with George Bush it was the breaking point for us.

“New Labour have abandoned the beliefs that led me and thousands of others to join Labour in the first place. We have now joined the Liberal Democrats, whose policies of respect for international law and good quality public services have support across every community in Britain.”

Councillor Lucy Care, Liberal Democrat deputy leader in Derby said:

“These are people who for years were solid Labour but are now turning to us because they see that on the Lebanon crisis, the Iraq War and the delivery of everyday services it is the Liberal Democrats who are the progressive choice in British politics today.

“This mass defection in Mrs Beckett’s backyard shows that the whole New Labour project and the coalition of support they had is decaying away”.


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Prescott’s instincts on Bush preferable to Blair’s – Lamb

Written by Steve Guy on August 18, 2006 – 4:32 pm -

Commenting on reports that John Prescott called President George Bush ‘crap’, Chief of Staff to Sir Menzies Campbell, Norman Lamb MP said:lambnorman2.jpg

“John Prescott does not always use the most appropriate language, but if these reports are to be believed then his instincts on the Middle East are certainly preferable to Tony Blair’s.”George Bush’s foreign policy has made the region less safe and less stable. By attaching himself so closely to President Bush, Tony Blair is undermining Britain’s ability to act as a force for peace. He is also alienating more and more of his own MPs and his grip on power is becoming increasingly untenable.”

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The Green Switch

Written by Steve Guy on May 18, 2006 – 9:29 pm -

Chris Huhne

The Liberal Democrats have launched a green taxation paper, The Green Switch, aimed at curbing carbon emissions and halting global warming. The main policies unveiled include:

  • Increase green taxes as a share of national income. Green taxes have fallen from 3.6 per cent of GDP in 2000 to just 3 per cent of GDP. The revenue would be used to cut taxes elsewhere as this is a green tax switch, not a rise in taxes.
  • Raising Vehicle Excise Duty on the most polluting new cars to £2,000. The Chancellor has increased Vehicle Excise Duty on high polluting vehicles by less than half the cost of a tank of fuel. If it is to be effective as a measure to reduce emissions and encourage greener transport, VED will have to be radically redrawn to penalise emissions and reward clean cars.
  • Raising Fuel Duty in line with inflation. Duty on fuel should keep track with inflation. The freeze since 1999 has led to a rise in emissions.
  • Abolishing Air Passenger Duty, which taxes each passenger, and instead tax each plane that takes off on its emissions. This would reward full flights and penalise half-empty ones.
  • Restructuring the Climate Change Levy as a tax on carbon across the economy, so that the true cost of our impact on the environment is reflected in the prices we pay.
  • Tighten allocations in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, and auction 10 per cent of the permits. The recent fall in the price of carbon for industrial users reflects the unambitious overall cap set by the EU. We will press for both reforms and for auctioning the maximum 10 per cent of permits currently allowed for 2011.
  • Provide help where cars are essential such as sparsely populated rural areas that lack of public transport. We proposed introducing a 50 per cent discount on all but the top rate of VED for one car registered in such rural households.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary, Chris Huhne MP said:

“We want fairer and greener taxes, but not higher taxes. Green taxes can change our behaviour and safeguard our planet for our children in a way that hugging a husky cannot. This is about using taxes in a new way to change behaviour, not to raise money for the Government.

“Tory hot air will not cool the climate, while Labour is missing targets and ducking decisions. The green switch is about shifting taxes from good things, such as work, onto bad things, such as gas-guzzling cars and half-full flights that cause wasteful carbon emissions.”

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Power to the People Conference – 6 May 2006

Written by Steve Guy on May 8, 2006 – 11:39 am -

(report by Richard Groom)

The Power Commission was established by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust to take an independent look at democracy in Britain. The core of the investigation was to find out why the public does not engage in politics, as evident from declining election turnout. The commission took evidence across the spectrum of party activists, voters and non-voters. It came up with thirty recommendations to redress matters.

The conference attracted several hundred participants – far more than the organisers had expected – and two high profile speakers, David Cameron and Menzies Campbell. The two speakers shared much common ground. They agreed that:-

  • The power currently enjoyed by No 10 should be controlled by Parliament. The government abuses the Royal Prerogative.
  • Some or all of the constitution should be written to guard against abuse by the unscrupulous. Ming said that No 10, without reference to Parliament had removed many of the rights hard-won by our predecessors.
  • The House of Lords must become a substantially elected chamber.
  • That power should be devolved from central government to local government and indeed to individuals (Direct Democracy).
  • The whips should have less influence and there should be more free voting.

They disagreed on one vital point. David Cameron remains in favour of the First Past the Post electoral system. He argued that it is easier to remove a government under this system than Proportional Representation. He said that the link between an MP and his constituency is sacrosanct and would be weakened under PR. He said that the Conservative party would introduce a system of primaries to select party candidates and felt that this would engage the electorate in the case of safe seats where currently there is little point in the casting votes for the opposition parties.

Ming said that, as stated in the Power Commission’s report, Proportional Representation is a cornerstone of the reform. He also saw PR as a means of enriching the diversity of party politics which would stimulate the dissent and debate on which Parliament should thrive.

Both Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties will be setting up working parties / task groups to consider Power’s recommendations. In addition Ming announced that the Liberal Democrats would be running a virtual on-line conference on the Power proposals as a forum on the website, during the week running up to the Annual Conference.

In addition to the main speeches there were breakout sessions looking at specific parts of the Report. I chose the one on Direct Democracy. I assumed this would focus on email or text message voting but discovered that this subject is a good deal more complicated. Chris Huhne gave an excellent talk on the dangers and opportunities of direct voting by the people on particular issues.

There was a Question Time style session to round off the day. Helena Kennedy chaired, and Nick Boles, Saira Khan (featured on ‘The Apprentice’), Ed Milliband MP and Peter Tatchell fielded the questions.

For me, Peter Tatchell made the most important point in summing up the Commission’s report and the reactions of the politicians. The Commission had been clear in saying that all recommendations needed to be actioned and yet it is already evident that the Conservative party will not embrace PR and the Labour government reneged on its manifesto promise to review electoral reform. So how do we get the reforms implemented? The only way is a popular campaign to force the politicians to listen.

I can’t think of a better person to lead that campaign.

If you have time, the full report is worth a read. If not, I recommend the executive summary which you can download from http://powerinquiry.org/index.php


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Dazzling Achievements Still To Come

Written by Steve Guy on March 8, 2006 – 9:28 pm -

Ming Campbell MP began his leadership by saying the Liberal Democrats have “many dazzling achievements still to come.” In his speech closing the Spring Conference, he said the country needed a distinct liberal democratic party and that politics under New Labour had become “managerial, not inspirational.” He also endorsed the findings of the Power Inquiry saying that we needed “a shift away from the executive back to Parliament, and from central to local government.” He said we need to wage a war on poverty and to protect civil liberties from the illiberal laws of the Labour government“. “Our alternative is clear,” he said, “a greener, fairer, decentralised and democratic Britain – a Britain at peace with itself at home and admired abroad.”

Ming also promised to modernise the party’s internal organisation and campaigning techniques. “I’m going to ask a team of our leading campaigners to draw on the latest techniques to make sure we maintain our lead as the most innovative campaigning party in British politics. Raising money, selecting and training candidates and agents, building and maintaining local parties, involving and including our members, communicating through a 24-hour media, are all areas where we need new ideas.” He said he would set up a special trust fund to provide women and ethnic minority candidates with financial support, and ask every Parliamentarian to mentor a woman and an ethnic minority candidate, to give them the support and skills they need to get and elected.


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