Friday, January 23, 2015

Broadcasters' proposal disadvantages Liberal Democrats

Caron Lindsay explains why the scheme adopted by BBC, Sky, ITV and Channel 4 for televised party leader debates during the general election campaign favours the other parties.

Nick Clegg will have approximately 18 minutes (over two debates)  to defend a record of 5 years in government, while Cameron will have an hour more. That’s simply not fair to either the Liberal Democrats or the public.
Can you imagine how tortuous it is going to be to watch Cameron and Miliband debate on their own for 2 hours? For a clue, watch Prime Minister’s Questions. I can’t imagine either of them rising to the occasion. Cameron was very poor in 2010 and Miliband is really not suited to that kind of environment. Giving them the stage to themselves, though, allows them to set the agenda. Cameron will likely spend half the time passing off our policies as his own and the other half telling the country we’re an untamed bunch of hippies who are soft on Europe and terrorists. Miliband will be trying to equate us with the Tories and nobody will be there to make our case.


Thursday, January 22, 2015

Urgent call from LD4SOS

Lib Dem MPs have reacted quickly and well to an appalling Home Office
decision to make all asylum seekers, wherever they live in the UK, who
have been refused leave to remain and are appealing, to have to travel to
Liverpool to submit fresh evidence. The detail is in this pdf.

Please write to your MP (Hywel Francis for Aberavon or Peter Hain for Neath) to sign the EDM below, and ask organisations that you know of who will be concerned of to write to their MP and circulate.

LD4SOS have worked hard this week and there is now an Early Day Motion,
tabled by Julian Huppert MP and already signed by MPs of all parties,
urging the Home office to change the rules on submitting new evidence in
asylum cases.  The Early Day Motion is set out in:
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2014-15/714

Sarah Teather MP has put down a parliamentary question as follows :
“To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons
her Department decided that further submissions on asylum and human rights
cases must be made in person in Liverpool; with which bodies her
Department consulted before making this decision; and what assistance her
Department will provide to help individuals travel to Liverpool to make
such submissions.”

There is an article in this morning’s Independent here :
http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/asylum-seekers-set-to-be-forced-to-tr
avel-hundreds-of-miles-to-submit-documents-to-home-office-9993667.html

LD4SOS have written two articles here :
http://www.ld4sos.org.uk/archives/349
http://www.ld4sos.org.uk/archives/351


Thursday, January 15, 2015

Welsh LibDems aim to boost Welsh NHS

Wales could be the first UK country to ensure 'enough nurses'.

Kirsty Williams, the Welsh Liberal Democrat leader, is to present her 'More Nurses' Bill to the Health and Social Care Committee today.

She said: "Safe nursing levels are a bedrock for effective care. Nurses provide round the clock care for patients, and work in every kind of healthcare setting. Quite simply, nurse staffing levels are too important to be left to 'guidance'.

"Making safe nursing levels a statutory responsibility will provide a legislative basis for patients and staff to challenge poor levels of nurse staffing."