ID cards scrapped

Identity cards were officially scrapped last night when the Identity Documents Bill was granted Royal Assent. Liberal Democrats have consistently campaigned against ID cards, a scheme introduced by the previous Labour Government. All existing ID cards will be cancelled within one month, and the National Identity Register will be destroyed within two months. The move has saved £845m in planned future investment over the next ten years.

Nick Clegg interviewed about tuition fees

http://nickthornsby.wordpress.com/2010/12/10/video-evan-harris-and-nick-clegg-on-university-fees/

Statement on Mick Bates

Commenting on the conviction yesterday of Mick Bates AM for public order offences, Kirsty Williams, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats said:

“Mick Bates has been a dedicated and effective voice for Montgomeryshire over many years. This judgement is a personal tragedy for him and his family but it is one we must respect.

“The Welsh Liberal Democrats are clear that this conviction for a public order offence is incompatible with the high standards we expect of our elected representatives. Proceedings have begun to terminate his membership of the party.”

"Ill thought out, lacking in detail and irresponsible shadow Welsh budget" says Peter Black

Commenting on Conservative proposals to impose further cuts on top of those already proposed by the Welsh Government, Peter Black, Welsh Liberal Democrats Shadow Finance Minister said:

“The Conservative shadow budget is ill thought out, lacking in detail and irresponsible. They have chosen to turn a blind eye to wasteful bureaucracy and over-management in the health service and instead pay for the inflated salaries of directors. That is not responsible budgeting.

“They are prioritising slashing public services and not dealing with waste and inefficiency in government spending.

“They also don’t realise that throwing money at the NHS and then have it misspent is not the way to have a healthier nation. Social housing, education, social care and improving people’s general wellbeing is the way to get a healthier nation. If you cut the social housing budget, for example, people will continue to live in poorly maintained houses which will, in turn, have a detrimental effect on their health. The Conservatives just don’t get the old maxim that prevention is better than cure.”

On the massive cuts in economy and transport budget, Peter Black added:

“While we were disappointed that the Labour and Plaid Government were making substantial cuts to the economy and transport budget, the Tories would decimate the budget by making even further cuts. The Welsh economy is in a very fragile position at the moment. Just yesterday, it was confirmed that Wales was the poorest nation, in economic terms, in the UK. Now is not the time to be taking a machete to the economy and transport budget.”