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“The Government’s cavalier attitude towards DNA retention has put us in the ridiculous situation where people are being arrested just to have their DNA harvested.
“Ministers make no distinction between innocence and guilt and as a result everyone is treated like a suspect.
“Innocent people should be removed from the database and there should be a frank discussion about its effectiveness.”
"In view of today’s press reports about a balanced parliament, I thought it would be useful to provide the text of what Nick said on the Andrew Marr show on Sunday. As you will see, these comments do not indicate any preference between the other two parties in the event of no party having an overall majority:
'I think it is an inevitable fact, it is just stating the obvious, the party which has got the strongest mandate from the British people will have the first right to seek to govern.
'I start from a very simple first principle – it is not Gordon Brown or David Cameron or Nick Clegg who are kingmakers in British politics – it’s the British people.
'So the votes of the British people are what should determine what happens afterwards.
'Whichever party have the strongest mandate from the British people, it seems to me obvious in a democracy they have the first right to seek to try and govern, either on their own or with others.'"
“This decision is a major blow to many small charities who had been promised the money and made plans based on those promises.
“What is so appalling is the manner in which this has been done, with no warning or consultation. How does the Government expect to convince other public bodies to abide by the Compact when they treat charities in this way?
“The charity sector warned the Government that the Hardship Fund was too small when it was first set up. But to increase funding for one set of charities, by such a small amount, at the expense of so many other charities is shameful.
“The Government should reinstate these funds immediately.”
"Whatever the rights and wrongs of a particular strike action, the very fact that it has reached this point is a failure of Government.”
“The Government’s failure to assess the social and environmental impacts of its investments in RBS demonstrates stunning negligence.
“As a majority shareholder the Government should use its power to ensure destructive environmental investments are not made.
“World leaders must work towards a treaty that will outlaw tar sands extraction, in the same way they came together to ban land mines, blood diamonds and cluster bombs.”
“This shameful incident shows the disdain with which some companies treat sensitive personal data.
“Stiffer penalties for those involved in serious data breaches, whether in the public or private sector, cannot be introduced soon enough.
“This sorry episode questions the Government’s wisdom in getting communications providers to hoard increasing amounts of information about us.”
Government figures show that local authorities have more than doubled the amount of money raised from Council Tax in the past decade.
Frank Little, prospective Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Neath, challenged Plaid Cymru to say whether they still supported the move to fair local taxation, or whether they had abandoned the policy with which they entered the last two elections. "Is keeping on the right side of Labour, and therefore ministerial seats in Cardiff, more important than axeing a regressive tax?" he asked.
Liberal Democrat Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, Julia Goldsworthy said:
“Millions of families have struggled with Council Tax bills that have soared while Labour has tinkered at the edges.
“Both the Tories and Labour offer no serious alternative to a tax that has skyrocketed this decade.
“The Liberal Democrats would move to a fair system of local taxation based on people’s ability to pay.”
“The discredited ID cards scheme should be scrapped immediately and ministers spared from having to come up with ever more preposterous ways to promote them.”
But it does not stop there. The banking industry is unique in having the taxpayer acting as a safety net. Until the banks can be successfully broken up, the Liberal Democrats believe that they should pay for the explicit guarantee that they receive.
Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable has today proposed creating a new levy on bank profits at a rate of 10%, with all the revenue raised (estimated next year to be around £2bn) going towards tackling the structural deficit.
Commenting, Vince Cable said:
"One trillion pounds worth of taxpayer support has gone into keeping the British banking industry afloat.
"We must find a way to split the banks so that the British public no longer props up ‘casino’ banking.
"Meanwhile, it is only right for the taxpayer to get a fair deal for the guarantee that they provide to the banking industry.
"A 10% levy on bank profits would be used to pay down the structural deficit that they are partly responsible for creating.
"The Government should use next month’s pre budget report to put forward this proposal so that banks recognise the explicit guarantee that they currently enjoy.
The Liberal Democrats have formally asked the Home Secretary to apologise to the Commons for misleading statements concerning Professor David Nutt and the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and to apologise to Professor Nutt for the unfair damage done to his reputation for the incorrect and unjustified allegations made about him.
In a formal complaint to the Home Secretary, Liberal Democrat Science Spokesperson, Dr Evan Harris accuses him of misleading the Commons and calls for him to make a quick apology and correction.
Commenting, Evan Harris said:
“Lord Drayson, the science minister, has now publicly criticised the Home Secretary for not consulting him over the matter and signalled that the Government would endorse a Code of Practice for ministers under which Professor Nutt would still be in his position.
“Yet three days after writing neither Professor Nutt nor I have had a sniff of retraction or apology from the Home Secretary.
“I will now be raising this in the House tomorrow.”
Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:
“This letter sets out a series of errors that the Home Secretary made in his statement to the House on Monday. He needs urgently now to address those.”
Commenting on the news that organisers of the 2012 Olympics are putting £700m of contracts out to tender, Liberal Democrat Shadow Sport Secretary, Don Foster said:
“Increasing opportunities for businesses from across the UK is a key part of the Government’s Olympic Legacy plan.
“The information released today shows that so far a disproportionate number of contracts have been awarded to businesses based in London and the South East.
“It is great that so many contracts are still up for grabs but officials need to make sure that more is done so that all areas of the country benefit.”
Commenting on Government figures showing that £3bn in benefit expenditure last year was overpaid because of fraud and error, Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Steve Webb said:
“The Government’s failure to get to grips with the over-complex benefits system is appalling, especially when so much is down to official error.
“It is staggeringly unfair that the taxpayer is forced to stump up billions of pounds just because officials are unable to administer a system of their own creation.
“The benefits system is crucial to help people in a recession. It cannot afford to lose money because of poor administration.
“The benefits system needs to be much simpler, not least so officials can understand it properly.”
“This is a very unwelcome landmark and will do nothing to encourage people to travel by train.
“When you can fly half way across Europe for £30, the idea that you can end up paying £1,000 for a train journey in Britain is absolutely scandalous.
“Not only are passengers being encouraged off the trains and into their cars, some considering this journey may decide they’d rather fly to Australia and back for half the price.”
It should be noted that the Swiss government made a profit of over 20% when it returned its shares in UBS to the private sector.
“The most convincing recipe for bad policy-making – in the drugs area as in mad cow disease – is for politicians to insist on scientific advice that meets their prejudices rather than the facts. If Churchill had taken that view when listening to Lord Cherwell, we would have lost the war. Scientists must be able to tell truth to power.”
