Crime: Labour tough on paper, not in fact

Labour is pinning its hopes on stemming the ebbing of their support in the May 1st council elections on frightening the electorate with anti-social behaviour.

Some points need to be answered:
"Remove licences or close down shops that persistently sell alcohol to under eighteens"
Will this include the major supermarkets, which Labour nationally has refused to challenge?

"Introduce local crime fighting strategies so that every area is kept safe [...] Work closely with neighbourhood policing teams to deal quickly with local hotspots for crime and anti-social behaviour"
We thought this was just what LibDem-led Swansea was doing?

"The Liberal Democrats opposed our tough action on crime."
How can a party which wants to put more policemen on the street (as opposed to cutting police budgets, which Labour has done) be described as not wanting to be tough on crime?

"[LibDems in Swansea have] wasted £80m on a failed IT project ... "
Initiated by Labour.

" ... failed to be straight with local people about the cost of the new leisure centre"
WLGA Labour group leader Derek Vaughan, who co-presented the launch of the manifesto, is also leader of Neath Port Talbot council. Last week, Cllr Vaughan announced two major construction projects: the rebuilding of the Gwyn Hall and a restructuring of Pontardawe. Both are uncosted.

The story of Liberal Democrats in Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham is of restoring financial competence to those councils after Labour mismanagement. It is no surprise that Labour is majoring not on value for money, but on their supposed competence on crime.

Meantime, the convicted terrorist Yassin Nassari has been let go under the Government’s early release scheme.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Justice Secretary, Chris Huhne commented:

“There is a huge discrepancy between the Government’s rhetoric on terrorism and its actions.

“Next week ministers will bring before Parliament unnecessary and draconian legislation on pre-charge detention in a desperate attempt to look tough on terrorism.

“People convicted of terrorist offences can be back in society having served less than half their sentence because of our desperately overstretched prison system.

“Measures to tackle prison overcrowding should focus on helping drug-addicts, inmates with mental health problems and non-serious offenders, rather than giving terrorists an easy ride.”

No Jobs for Midwives??

No more than three days have passed since Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council were forced to admit that they could no longer afford the number of teachers currently employed by the Local Authority, we recieve yet another blow from New Labour. The number of nurses and midwives who are unemployed six months after qualifying has increased, nationally, by over 80% in the last three years.

The figures, quoted by Lib Dem News and acquired by the Liberal Democrats Shadow Health Secretary Norman Lamb MP, show that six months after graduating:

• Almost three-quarters more nurses and midwives are now working in jobs outside of their profession than in 2002/3



• Nearly a third more doctors are unemployed than in 2002/3



• Over 1,000 nurses were unemployed in 2005/6, the most recent year that statistics are available

The Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb MP said:

"This is a disgraceful waste of human talent and a scandolous use of public money. Its no surprise that so many committed healthcare professionals have lost faith in the way that Labour has run the NHS."

Save Our Post Offices - Campaign Update

Thank You to all those residents of both Aberavon and Neath Constituencies who have supported our Save the Post Offices Campaign over the past several months. Many of you replied to the campaign by adding your signatures to the Focus Leaflets and mailing them back to us.

This petition has now been handed into Downing Street by the Liberal Democrat Party's Post Offices Spokesperson, Sarah Tether MP.

Over 50,000 signatures were presented calling on Gordon Brown to STOP Labours's Post Office closure programme now.

Liberal Democrats Lead Gurkha Protest

"Its quite simply a national disgrace" - Nick Clegg

Liberal Democrat News Report:

At a mass protest outside Parliament on Wednesday, the Liberal Democrat Leader was given a box full of medals by angry Gurkhas who have served in the British Army before 1997 and who are being denied a full pension and the right to British Citizenship.

"When I told people what you get from the Government in return for the years of brave, loyal, uncomplaining service, people simply don't believe it." Nick Clegg told the ex-servicemen. It is quite simply a national disgrace. I am simply saying you should be treated with the respect and honour you deserve as brave soldiers. I will do everything I can to end this unacceptable and immoral discrimination."

Nick Clegg later tackled Gordon Brown over the issue at Prime Ministers Questions. He said: " Two hours ago a retired Gurkha soldier handed over this medal to me in protest at the Governments refusal to grant him a British citizenship. Do you know what it means for a loyal British soldier to give up a medal that he won for his long years of service to this country? And can you explain to the Gurkhas why on earth you believe that Gurkhas who have served in the Army after 1997 are worthy of British citizenship but those who served before that date should be deported?"

Gordon Browns answer - that in 1997 the Gurkhas, who were then based in Hong Kong, moved to Britain - did little to pacify the ex-servicemen. Soldiers who retire after July 1997 recieve a pension on the same terms as the rest of the British Army. But those who retired before that date collect one-sixth of the amount recieved by a British soldier. It is believed that around 3,300 Grukhas who retired before 1997 are still resident in the UK and would be affected by the Legislation.

Gurkhas have fought for Britain since 1815 and served in conflicts including the Falklands and Afghanistan.

Liberal Democrat Defense spokesperson in the Lords, and former Defense Minister, John Lee tabled his Immigration (Discharged Gurkhas) Bill this week. " Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords are tabling a Bill which would allow all Gurkhas indefinate leave to remain on the same basis as Commonwealth soldiers," he said. "Having served our country with distinction, the threat of deportation hanging over thousands of Gurkhas and their families living in Britain is a national disgrace."

For more information and to follow the campaign go to:
Nick Clegg - Treatment of Gurkhas a National Disgrace
Retired Gurkhas Hand Back Medals
Gurkhas hand back medals in pension and citizenship protest

Tory councillor created hundreds of phoney voters

The full story is here.

The good news is that the man was tried and convicted. The bad news is that he nearly got away with it. As the law stands, Electoral Registration Officers have no power to reject an application for registration, provided the form is completed correctly, but must call in the police to investigate if suspicious.

Nor have the media in general given as much prominence to the Slough story as they should.

So far these scandals have been confined to England. There is no reason why voter fraud should not be attempted here, though, and we are sure that our EROs are not complacent.

Forces Focus

Nick Harvey and the Liberal Democrat defence team have launched a new web site. We feel, with Welsh men and women contributing proportionately more than England to the UK defence effort, that this is of particular relevance to Welsh Liberal Democrats.

Nick Harvey writes:

With increasing demands made of our Armed Forces and with continuing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, our Manifesto pledge has never been more pertinent: we should look after our Armed Forces so they can look after us.

Since this pledge we have repeatedly championed the concerns of the Armed Forces and remain distinct on defence. We opposed the unnecessary and costly war in Iraq, we have campaigned across the country for adequate recognition for personnel and for the rights for Gurkhas and we are the only party to have put forward our priorities for Forces welfare. I want us to continue in this vein and ensure defence remains at the top of the agenda.

It is for this reason that the Defence Team has launched this new website. We believe there should be a forum for us to discuss and debate how our liberal values should shape the defence agenda in light of the changing strategic landscape and international concerns, and highlight the work we, as a party, are doing on the whole gamut of defence issues; including disarmament, procurement, and welfare. It will also offer you the chance to keep up to date with the work of the Team in both Houses.

Please feel free to have a look and leave comments on the site.

Clegg calls for "broken politics" to be fixed

At the University of Sheffield’s Festival of Social Science last week, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg called for radical change to fix Britain’s ‘broken politics’.

He challenged the two establishment parties to abandon their vested interests to allow reforms of our political system to regain the trust of the British people.

Calling for a Constitutional Convention, led by a ‘citizens’ jury’ of 100 people, to build a new constitution for Britain, Nick Clegg also set out steps that can be taken now including:

· Adopting the Power Commission proposal of allowing every voter to donate £3 to a party of their choice via the ballot paper in a General Election

· Funding to support political parties to come from cutting the cost of politics in other ways, for example reducing the number of MPs by 150 and cutting the Government’s advertising budget

· Banning political donations over £25,000 and limiting political parties to spending less than £10m every year, not just election years

In his speech, Nick Clegg said:

“People care, they just don’t care about politicians. And that should give us hope.

“If we build a new kind of politics, that engages with people in a different way, we can harness the side of people that cares, that is interested, that is engaged with society around them.

“My party, the Liberal Democrats, is in a unique position. We’re on the outside of the system. So we’re the ones who can prise it open and drive the change we need. That’s why I’m in politics.”

EQUALITY COMMISSION MISSES ITS OWN DEADLINE

The Government had to change the law to prevent an anti-discrimination quango missing its own equality targets the Liberal Democrats have discovered.

After realising that the Equality and Human Rights Commission was set to miss the deadline for meeting internal equality regulations, ministers put down a statutory instrument extending the deadline.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Youth and Equality Spokesperson, Lynne Featherstone said:

“You have to question what authority this body will have in monitoring other public organisations if it cannot comply with its own rules and needs to be bailed out by ministers.

“Labour’s greatest concern has been to hush up this embarrassing delay, abusing parliamentary procedure in the process, rather than questioning why this top equality body is yet to lead by example.

“We need to send a message that equality is something that is taken seriously across the board.”

Cross-bench support for Members' Taxation Status Bill

All members of the House of Lords will be forced to pay full British taxes on all their income or leave under a Bill which received its second reading last Friday.

Speaking ahead of the debate, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson, Lord (Matthew) Oakeshott, said:

“Lords with millions stashed in tax havens from Liechtenstein to the Cayman Islands must not vote on laws for hard-pressed British families paying their full whack of tax.

“I have joined forces with Labour MP Gordon Prentice to get a Bill through Parliament this session, to make peers who dodge British taxes pay up or pack up.”

Labour MP Gordon Prentice has agreed to sponsor Lord Oakeshott’s Bill should it pass the Lords before his own similar Bill clears the Commons. Lord Oakeshott will return the compliment if the Prentice Bill reaches the Lords first.

Lord Oakeshott’s Bill will require Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to consider all members of the House of Lords as resident and domiciled in the UK for tax purposes.

Its supporters include Lord Strathclyde, Conservative Leader in the Lords and Baroness Helena Kennedy QC (Labour).

There is one openly non-resident member of the House of Lords, Lord Laidlaw (a Conservative donor), and one openly non-dom, Lord Paul (a donor to Gordon Brown's leadership campaign). Other members who refuse to confirm whether they are fully resident and domiciled in the UK for tax purposes include Lord Ashcroft, Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party.

Trouble ahead?

Peter Black quotes a Guardian report that the Establishment may support the Prentice Bill but not the Oakeshott one, in spite of Gordon Prentice's declared support for the Lords Bill.

It will be interesting to see whether this is purely down to party political spite, or whether the-powers-that-be find that the Prentice Bill affords more loopholes.

Probation, Natonal Offender Management services in trouble

Government claims that it is giving £40m more money to the Probation Service are ‘totally misleading’ the Liberal Democrats said.

A Ministry of Justice press release says that ‘The National Probation Service is to receive £40 million of additional funding to provide more tough and effective community sentences.’

However, just six months ago the Government announced that probation service funding was to be cut by five per cent for each of the next three years. (The details can be found here.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:

“The Government is spinning this as additional support for the probation service but in reality it only goes part of the way in restoring funding cuts announced just six months ago.

“Tough community punishments are more effective in cutting reoffending than short term custodial sentences and this is due in part to the sterling work of the probation service.

“Today’s funding commitment will thankfully stave off some redundancies in the probation service but it is totally misleading to describe it as an increase in support for the service when it is the Government taking with one hand and giving with the other.”

Later in the week, the Information Commissioner issued a press release criticising the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) for replying to Freedom of Information requests slowly, Liberal Democrat Shadow Solicitor General, David Howarth said:

“It is not surprising NOMS is failing to respond to such requests when its computer systems are so catastrophic.

“It is unacceptable that requests are taking this long to deal with. NOMS must get its house in order.”

The Information Commissioner's Office is the UK's independent authority set up to promote access to official information and to protect personal information.

Ffynnon Oer community fund: dramatic move

The county borough council is to set up a committee.

This is only two months after Labour AM Gwenda Thomas drew attention to the uneven distribution of the fund.

We commented on the situation in July last year and in June 2006.

County borough councillor Trefor Williams is reported as saying that they had been very proactive in the way they had handled this as a council.

Green light for non-green power generation

The Government has that it intends to approve the new Kingsnorth, Kent, coal fired power station.

Nick Clegg's comment: “At a time when the Government should be working to reduce the UK’s emissions, ministers seem determined to allow a huge new polluting power station. What planet is John Hutton living on?

“Without carbon capture and storage, clean coal is a total myth. This monstrosity will only emit 20% less than previous coal fired stations, and a massive 75% more than a gas powered plant.

“Kingsnorth should not be given the go ahead unless carbon capture and storage is part of it from day one.

“If ministers really want to take the lead on tackling climate change they must concentrate on promoting renewable power, increasing energy efficiency, and dramatically accelerating the development of carbon capture and storage.”

If anyone can point us to a power-station scheme which employers carbon capture and which is actually up and running, we would be grateful.

LibDem Conference resolves to improve banking regulation

At its Liverpool conference last weekend, in the light of the nationalisation of Northern Rock, passed a motion proposing reforms to combine genuine competitiveness in the banking sector with protection for depositors. It is also timely in view of the shakeout in world stock markets this week, triggered by the credit crunch in the United States.

Summing up in support of the motion, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable said the Government needed to decide whether to treat banks like a utility - tightly regulated but protected - or like a private company - which meant banks would need to operate in a genuinely competitive environment where there was the opportunity for new entrants to enter the market and for existing ones to go out of business.

To provide protection for savers in a competitive banking sector, the party is proposing to introduce a new Deposit Protection Scheme paid for by banks - as has proved successful in the United States - to provide 100% cover for personal deposits of up to £50,000. Depositors would have immediate access in the event of a bank failure. Effectively it would operate as a collective insurance scheme paid for by banks.

The full text of the emergency motion is -
Conference notes the nationalisation of Northern Rock on 18 February 2008.

Conference:
a) Recognises that confidence in the British banking system has been severely dented by:
i) Imprudent levels of bank lending in relation to both consumer credit and mortgage finance.
ii) The use of unsustainable business practices by some banks, which have achieved rapid growth in consumer lending based on commercial borrowing rather than deposits.
iii) The imposition of unreasonably high penalty charges for customers.
b) Notes the failure of bank regulation and supervision which led to the first run on a UK retail bank for over a century, and the Government’s use of taxpayer funds to bail out Northern Rock which are yet to be repaid.
c) Believes that the long period of time taken by the Government to nationalise Northern Rock after it became clear that no suitable private bidder was willing to buy Northern Rock and repay taxpayer loans in a timely fashion has caused considerable damage to the UK’s banking reputation.

Conference therefore calls on the Government to:
1. Ensure that all taxpayer loans to Northern Rock are repaid as quickly as is reasonably possible.
2. Introduce a new regulatory regime to address the inadequacies of the current tripartite arrangements on the Treasury, Bank of England and FSA and strengthen the supervision of UK banks with particular regard to liquidity adequacy, systemic risk and robust stress-testing of business models.
3. Confirm the Bank of England’s independence of market supervision, but revise present arrangements concerning their ‘lender of last resort’ responsibilities; in particular ensuring that any bank which receives credit from the Bank of England in its capacity as the lender of last resort does so on condition that if necessary the Bank of England can take management control.
4. Introduce a new Deposit Protection Scheme paid for by banks - as has proved successful in the United States - to provide 100% cover for personal deposits of up to £50,000 and if necessary allow immediate access for depositors in the event of a bank failure and to make the scheme widely known.
5. To ensure that there is greater banking stability, using capital requirements as a tool to reflect the state of the economic cycle and therefore deter prevent large fluctuations in lending particularly in the housing market.

New blow for Briton Ferry

Coming upon yet another street flood, towards which remedial work is only now getting under way, the further delay to the new health centre must come as a virtual kick in the teeth to Briton Ferry Residents.

It was clear at last year's AGM of the Health Board that the Briton Ferry centre was the top priority in the Neath Port Talbot area, and that necessary health service developments in other parts of the country borough were not being considered in any detail. It appeared that the plans were then set in stone, and that preparatory work was imminent.

Gun control

It is pointless having the tightest restrictions on guns without the willingness to enforce them. BBC Wales recently reported that illegal replica guns were still on sale in Wales. See the video here.

Earlier this year, Chris Huhne commented on government figures which showed that the rate of murder by guns and knives had gone up.

“The increase in gun and knife killings is deeply alarming. Violent crime is still far higher than a decade ago and must be tackled much more vigorously.

“Police should devote more time to stop and searches for knives and guns, and there must be a major new effort from the Government to clamp down on gun and knife smuggling.

“Nine times more officials are allocated to tackling cigarette smuggling than gun smuggling, which is a crazy set of priorities."

Harvey launches 'Forces Focus' website

Nick Harvey, MP, has launched Forces Focus, a new website concentrating on the state of our armed forces.

Theme and Variations, by Vince Cable

Vince opened his speech to the Liverpool conference: "I don't want to overdo my Stalin joke. But I did, I think, capture the pathos of Gordon Brown’s sad decline: from ruthless to rudderless: bully to bumbler; from Brezhnev to Blackadder."

The speech in full should shortly be posted here along with the other platform speeches and summary of motions resolved.

However, it's worth quoting Vince's coda: "Liberal Democrats represent the millions of families ignored by this Government. Yes, we believe in enterprise. Yes, we believe in an open economy. But we don’t have to go down on our knees to the rich and powerful.

"We will stand up for fair taxes. We will stand up for green taxes.

"And we will fight for a more equal Britain."

Department of Work and Pensions: poor IT record

Department for Work and Pensions IT projects are running a total of 21 years late and £315m over budget, according to figures revealed by the Liberal Democrats.

One project, the Pensions Transformation Project, which aims to improve customer service and deliver efficiencies is running £169m over budget.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said:

“These figures confirm that Government IT projects are an utter shambles.

“Ministers seem completely incapable of delivering workable IT systems on time and on budget.

“Given the Government’s appalling track record on computer projects, it is essential that a full investigation is launched into this and other overruns.

“Gordon Brown is living in a dream world if he thinks larger IT projects like ID cards are going to be any different.”

Lembit says: Home Information Packs failing

The Liberal Democrats have said that the Government’s Home Information Packs (HIPs) are failing, following the publication of the scheme’s pilot studies report today.

The study found that:
- Almost 60% of buyers did not see the HIP early enough in the house buying process
- After their property had been sold, sellers were less likely to agree that their HIP had helped sell their property (fell than 44% to 22% of sellers)

- 58% of buyers did not agree that HIPs speed up the buying process
- Over three quarters of buyers said that the HIP had no effect on their decision to purchase their property

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Housing Spokesperson, Lembit Opik said:
“The Government has gone about this entire process the wrong way round.

“Even the Government’s own research shows that HIPs aren’t working as they should. Why weren’t these facts made public before the national roll-out?

“HIPs are now compulsory for all properties coming on the market but ministers have only now given in to our pressure and released the results of these pilot studies.

“I will be asking the Government whether they have any plans to suspend
HIPs until they can be proved to work.”

(Even the trumpeted energy assessment component appears to be too variable to be useful. A listener to BBC Radio's "Home Planet", who lives in a house heated almost exclusively by waste wood was told that is house is energy inefficient.)

Don't punish domestic violence victims by taking their children away

John Hemming MP, Chairman of Justice for Families and LibDem MP for Birmingham Yardley, has written to the Minister for Children, Kevin Brennan MP and Minister for Justice Bridget Prentice MP calling for the government to stop punishing women who are victims of Domestic Violence by taking their children away from them.

"The Government recently published," he said, "a report which looked at the reasons for care proceedings. If we ignore, for the moment, the fact that some concerns are not well founded when investigated properly, it is quite illuminating to see what the figures are. This report only covered 386 cases, but it does give a rare glimpse behind the secrecy of the Family Courts."

"The report reveals that 51.1% of women who have had their children removed had it done so in part because they were victims of Domestic Violence. The argument the authorities use is that the children are subject to "emotional abuse" because of seeing mother and father fighting. Without disputing the fact that there may be circumstances in which children may need to be in a place of safety because of this, it is wrong to take the children away permanently because mother is a victim of abuse. This creates a situation in which mothers are frightened to report Domestic Violence because if they do so then they will suffer the permanent removal of their children. We should be dealing with the abuser rather than punishing the victim."

"The report reveals some of the other reasons used for permanent removal of children. 58.7% - not doing what the social workers say, 59% inconsistent parenting/emotional abuse, 52.4% chaotic lifestyle (the dirty kitchen issue), 26.4% missing school, 37.2% not doing what the doctors say or missing appointments, 17.4% mum was in care"

"We need a better consideration of when it is appropriate for the state to intervene and remove children permanently from their parents. In essence the current interpretation of S31 a) of the 1989 Act allows intervention in a very large proportion of families and it is therefore the outcomes are pretty random. We should not just remove children, for example, because their mother herself was in care."

"One of the reasons greater openness about Family proceedings is needed is to work out exactly when the state should intervene. The danger in the current system which allows draconian intervention in a large proportion of families is that we end up missing the children at risk of significant physical harm whilst spending time with families who haven't done the washing up when the social worker visits."

Labour resists LibDem MPs clean government initiative

The Government last Friday blocked a Bill which would have forced public bodies
to disclose the money they spend on expenses.

Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker’s Expenses of Public Servants
(Publications) Bill was blocked by a government whip in the House of
Commons today.

Commenting, Mr Baker said:
“The Government has learned nothing. If they had backed my Bill, ministers
could have shown they were listening to the public, by making sure that
those spending taxpayers’ money were properly accountable.

“The public clearly want more openness and accountability when it comes to
expenses.

“At least MPs are elected. My Bill would hold to account those shadowy
figures who are unelected but are spending large sums of taxpayers’ money
on themselves.

“Some of the expenses, like SEEDA Chairman James Brathwaite’s £50,000 taxi
bills makes MPs look positively frugal.

“Why has the Government blocked this bill, whose side are they on? Are
they on the side of the taxpayer or on the side of bureaucratic quangos
wasting taxpayers’ money?”

The Cabin: "publish the report"

The leader of Neath Port Talbot CBC, Cllr. Derek Vaughan, says that the youth centre in Cwmgwrach only needs a lick of paint to make it fit for use. Mrs Chattington and the community council say that The Cabin is falling down and that total rebuilding would be necessary if youth activities were to resume on the site.

These views are based on the same report by council officials, which few members of the public have seen. Liberal Democrats say: publish the report, and let the public decide.

Post Office closures: Tory & Labour hypocrisy

Conservative (and Swansea emigrant) Nigel Evans has proposed an Early Day Motion (no. 997) which “regrets the proposal to close up to 2,500 post offices”.

As you will see by clicking the link, the EDM has been signed by both Labour and Conservative MPs. This is a bit rich, seeing as how that, under the previous Conservative government, over 3000 branches were closed, and that the closure programme continued unabated under Labour.

At the Blackpool Conference in 1996, which set Labour's course for election victory in the following spring, Gordon Brown made an impassioned 30-minute speech. In the course of this, he promised:

a Labour chancellor will not waste money on consultancy fees for the privatisation of the Post Office. The Post Office will remain as it is, run in the public sector as a public service.

You can judge for yourself whether the salaries and bonuses paid to the Labour-appointed managers of Royal Mail are a greater or lesser waste of money than consultancy fees. What is certain is that Gordon Brown in power has been true to his socialist dogma, and it seems our local MPs are with him on this.

No private money has been allowed to reinvigorate the post office network, as Liberal Democrats propose, and it has truly remained to run - or rather run down - in the public sector.

As a public service, though, it is a shadow of what it was. I have always found sub-postmasters and their staff friendly and helpful. They are better promoters of the post office than expensive TV campaigns. The trouble is that one is decreasingly certain of finding a post office in even large villages on ones travels. Moreover, the government is deliberately removing the post offices' ability to access government facilities.

Frank H Little

Labour drug strategy another paper tiger

Commenting on the Government’s 10-year drug strategy announced today, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:

“The Government has already been through one ten-year drugs strategy and a failed drugs tsar, but drug addiction is still the most significant contributor to crimes against property with 35 per cent of those arrested testing positive for opiates such as heroin or cocaine, including crack.

“Cutting benefits for addicts is a gimmick that is more likely to increase crime than reduce it, and the police already have the powers to freeze the assets of anyone who is arrested for serious crime.

“This is a medical and social problem which must be addressed with effective treatment programmes, yet the Government is lamentably failing to fund programmes that can cut reoffending rates by half. The Department of Health and the Home Office do not coordinate their efforts, and the result is a continuing public health and crime crisis.”

The situation is no better in Wales. A member was recently appalled to see illegal drug transactions taking place openly in the centre of Swansea, in a supposedly tightly-policed zone.

The Home Office's own figures show that between a third and a half of all acquisitive crime is estimated to be drug-related, and that 35 per cent of those arrested tested positive for opiates or cocaine.

Winter Fuel payment losing its value

Gordon Brown boasted at Prime Minister's Questions this week of Labour's introduction of the Winter Fuel Payment. What he neglected to mention was how far its original value has been eroded by inflation and recent extreme price rises.

In fact, it now it only just pays for a quarter of a pensioner’s fuel bills.

The amount of the Winter Fuel Payment has been frozen at £200 for
five years.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Danny
Alexander said:

“As fuel bills rise, thousands of older people won’t be able to afford to
heat their homes this winter.

“While the cost of heating homes has rocketed and the value of the basic
state pension has plummeted, the Government has frozen the Winter Fuel Payment at £200 for five years.

“The Liberal Democrats would restore the earnings link to pensions to ensure older people would be better off.”

Government knew for years of council tax overcharging

Commenting on the reports that ministers and officials might have known for years that tens of thousands of householders were paying too much council tax, Liberal Democrat Shadow Communities Secretary, Julia Goldsworthy said:

“Many people are already struggling to pay for their council tax bills, and this comes as a bitter blow to those people whose homes have been placed in the wrong tax bands.

“If the situation were reversed, you could guarantee these people would have had the taxman breathing down their neck demanding the money to be repaid.

“The Lyons Review made it perfectly clear that the current council tax system was not fit for purpose, yet Gordon Brown has done nothing more than kicked the report into the long grass.

“This makes it clearer than ever that we need to replace the unfair council tax with a local income tax based on people’s ability to pay.”

Prison system heading for meltdown

A series of revelations highlighted the current crisis caused by prison overcrowding:

· The Government has ordered that dangerous criminals on
indeterminate sentences be moved to lower-security prisons

· Figures from a ministerial written statement show that the
Government is asking for an extra £35m to cope with the costs of Operation
Safeguard (Previous parliamentary questions by the Liberal Democrats revealed that
the Government spent £28 million on Operation Safeguard in 2007)

· A report published today last Wednesday by the BMA says that ‘prisoner safety is being put at risk by the Government’s inhumane, expensive and overstretched use of temporary prison accommodation’

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Justice Secretary, David Heath said:

“This marks a new low in the Government’s mishandling of our penal system. Britain’s mismanaged prisons are in a state of complete disarray and the Government is having to take increasingly desperate measures to prevent a complete meltdown.

“The decision to move dangerous criminals into lower security prisons highlights how the Government introduced indeterminate sentences in a blaze of publicity but with scant regard for how they would work in practice.

“The Prison Service is having to take drastic action now because Government legislation has driven prison numbers to record levels.

“Holding prisoners in police and court cells has left forensic physicians
unable to cope, prisoners at risk, and contributes directly to reoffending. The answer is not to further burden the police or court services but to take people out of prison who should not be there, such as those with mental health problems and drug addictions, and move them to more appropriate accommodation.

“We used to say that the Government was spending more on keeping prisoners in police cells than it would cost to have them stay at the Ritz. But now Jack Straw could have used the £35 million extra he’s been given for Operation Safeguard to buy his own chain of hotels.”

New Labour wants doctors to join the social police

Commenting on Alan Johnson’s speech today in which he set out plans to change Britain’s ‘sick note culture’ into a ‘well note culture’, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary for England, Norman Lamb said:

“This serious issue deserves a more sophisticated approach, but we should
be wary of moving to a system where doctors find themselves policing the
benefits system rather than treating the sick.

“If Alan Johnson is serious about helping the large number of people on
long term sick leave back to work, he should focus on providing better
access to effective treatment for the huge numbers of people on incapacity
benefit with mental health problems.”

We await Edwina Hart's take on this. While Westminster controls both the benefits system and doctors' contracts in England, the Assembly Government has responsibility for health matters in Wales.

Belated Northern Rock nationalisation the right decision

Responding to the Chancellor’s announcement that Northern Rock bank is to
be temporarily nationalised, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince
Cable said:

“Belatedly the Government has made the right decision.

“This is the option the Liberal Democrats have argued for from the outset,
unlike the Tories who have no alternative to offer.

“In an issue of such major national interest the focus must now be on the
next steps.

“The first priority must be to work out the seriousness of the problems at
the bank with an independent audit of its loan book. This must be
conducted under the auspices of the Bank of England, not the FSA.

“Secondly, the bank must stop irresponsible lending at more than the value
of property, and aggressive deposit-taking.

“Thirdly, there will be difficult times ahead, especially for the
employees, as the bank is downsized. However, there is now hope for the
long-term future of the bank when it is eventually sold in more
satisfactory conditions.

“There are a lot of unanswered questions, about who for example is paying
the expenses for the long detour exploring the Branson bid, but at least
the Government has now made the first move towards tackling this mountain
of a problem.”

Frank Little adds: “George Osborne's knee-jerk reaction is evidence that the Conservatives are still dominated by Thatcherite thinking. He should realise that Brown & Darling's decision, late though it is, is a pragmatic one on a par with Edward Heath's action to keep Rolls-Royce Engines viable.

“These decisions were taken in the long-term interests of the country, can only be taken by government, and cannot be left to the short-term mechanism of the market. RR's position, having been returned to private ownership, as one of the two top aero-engine manufacturers in the world, vindicates Heath's action. One anticipates that Northern Rock will return as one of the top five mortgage lenders in the UK, in rather less time than the sixteen years it took Rolls-Royce”.

Coroner's remarks sum up treatment of armed forces

Commenting on today’s remarks by Coroner Andrew Walker, accusing the
Ministry of Defence of breaching soldiers' trust by sending them to
Afghanistan without basic equipment, Liberal Democrat Shadow Defence
Secretary, Nick Harvey said:

“These stinging comments sum up the way our armed forces have been
consistently betrayed by the Government.

“For years soldiers have been left overstretched and under-equipped. How
many more tragedies like this must there be before ministers stop
rewarding bravery with incompetence?”

A Real Referendum

In the next few weeks Parliament will be voting on whether to hold a European referendum. The Conservatives are proposing a restrictive referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. My colleagues and I are campaigning hard for the British people to be given a real choice through a referendum on our membership of the European Union as a whole:
http://ourcampaign.org.uk/europe

In British politics, only the Liberal Democrats have argued consistently that Britain's place is at the heart of Europe.

While Labour and the Tories have torn themselves apart over the issue, we have been steadfast for decades in our support for Britain's membership of the European Union.

Why then, you may ask, are the Liberal Democrats now alone among the main parties proposing a referendum on whether to stay in the European Union or get out?

The answer is because the European debate has poisoned British politics for too long. If we as a nation are to stride forward confidently into the 21st century and tackle all the new global issues like climate change and terrorism we need to decide once and for all whether that future lies within the European Union, or outside it.

Like most people, I want to see a reformed, liberal Europe where decisions are taken at the most appropriate level. That is why the Liberal Democrats are in favour of the Lisbon Treaty. It will make the EU more effective, more efficient and more accountable, enabling us to cope better with enlargement. It will help us to tackle issues such as cross-border crime and climate change and it will give the EU a stronger voice on the world stage.

The old, abandoned Constitution would have scrapped and replaced all the previous treaties. The Lisbon Treaty is just an amending treaty. So our proposal is closest to the commitment made by all three parties at the last election for a referendum on a European constitution.

Over the next few weeks we will be stepping up our campaign to demand that the government honours that commitment to the British people:
http://ourcampaign.org.uk/europe

The Conservatives are conspiring to deny the public a real choice over Europe. Over the years their Euroscepticism has hardened into outright hatred of everything to do with the European Union. In Government they denied the British people a referendum on really important Treaties like Maastricht and the Single European Act. In opposition they call for a referendum on even the smallest change.

We must not let the Tories con the British people again. Their call for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty is a side show to the real debate on Europe which they are afraid to have with the British people.

We want that real debate. We want a referendum on Europe that really matters. In that referendum we will argue long and hard for Britain's vital place in the EU, and, I believe, defeat the Eurosceptics for a generation.

I would relish the chance to lead the Liberal Democrats at the forefront of that campaign.

Please support our campaign for a real referendum by clicking here and signing up to our petition:
http://ourcampaign.org.uk/europe

Best wishes,

Nick Clegg
Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Sending Welsh Children to Prison Fails to Cut Reoffending

Claire Rayner once said that statistics showed that crime rates could be halved by the simple expedient of locking up the male population between the ages of 18 and 25.

It seems from Jenny Willott's latest research that the government has already embarked on this scheme. The next stage is to lock children up for longer. ;-(

The alternative may be more expensive in the short term, but will surely save money and contribute to a better society in the long. As Jenny says: "We should focus our efforts on restorative justice programmes where communities have the powers to establish panels which would require offenders to face up to their crimes and engage in community work as reparation.

"We need to provide more effective non-custodial punishments and preventative work based in the community. Young offenders should be given full access to education and training opportunities so that they have the skills to break out of the cycle of reoffending."

Government only talking tough on Northern Rock

Responding to reports that the Treasury has told the Virgin-led consortium
that it is the frontrunner to take control of Northern Rock but
nationalisation is currently regarded as the better outcome for the
taxpayer, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said:

“I would like to believe that the Government has finally seen sense and
recognised that in the current market conditions temporary public
ownership is the best way to safeguard taxpayers' interests.

“I fear however that the Government is determined to make a private sale
to Richard Branson's consortium and may just be talking tough in order to
extract some last minute concessions.

“These will then be used to camouflage a bad deal in which the Virgin
consortium takes the profits and the taxpayer is left with most of the
risks.”

Those of us who signed a petition, headed "No City Bail-Out", to 10 Downing Street last year received a dry and rather sparse reply. However, it did contain the important sentence:

It is not the role of taxpayers to protect directors and shareholders from the consequences of their decisions.

Vince Cable and the parliamentary party will be holding the Chancellor to that.

Non-Doms: Cable derides government proposals

Responding to the Government’s clarification this afternoon of their
policy towards non-domiciled residents, Liberal Democrat Shadow
Chancellor, Vince Cable said:

“The Government has made an unholy mess of this issue and is being made to
look thoroughly foolish, now it has been demonstrated that ministers
haven’t thought through the implications of their own policies.

“However, there has been some outrageous special pleading from the City
with wildly exaggerated accounts of the damage that would be done by
taxing non-domiciled residents.

“British taxpayers do not understand why they should pay 40% top rate tax,
while the super-rich may pay little more than council tax on houses worth
tens of millions.

“The Liberal Democrats have argued that non-domiciled status does provide
some unjustified tax loopholes, but the flat-rate charge proposed by the
Government and the Conservatives is not the way to end this scandal. It
will hammer many useful non-doms of moderate means, whilst super-rich
Russian tax exiles will regard it as no more than a fleabite.

“We believe that the best way forward is to allow non-dom status for seven
years, but after that treat them in the same way as all other British
residents.”

Incapacity: Labour & Tories just as rigid

James Purnell is following in Peter Hain's footsteps as Work and Pensions minister in more ways than one. His approach to incapacity benefit is equally prescriptive, no doubt dictated by the Treasury.

Commenting on last week’s Public Accounts Committee report, "Helping
people from workless households into work", Liberal Democrat Shadow Work
and Pensions Secretary, Danny Alexander said:

“This report highlights problems that have been evident for a long-time:
the Government’s one-size-fits-all programmes are ignoring hard to reach
groups that must be supported back into work.

“A fifth of Incapacity Benefit claimants suffer mental health problems,
yet the Government has done nothing to support this group back into work.
Ministers seem content to leave them stagnating on sick pay for six months
before getting involved.

“Rather than threatening to evict people from workless households, the
Government should start by getting its own house in order.”

The Conservatives also proceed from the assumption that people on benefits are scroungers. But when was the last time a Tory knocked on a door in Croeserw?

Fluoride

Peter Black has long been known as a campaigner against fluoridation of our water supply. (See his entry "The fluoride state" for February 9th on his blog)

He is not alone. One of our own members wrote recently:
Once again, I have read that there is a call from some politicians, and so-called “professors” to introduce fluoride to the water supply, but only in deprived areas. This is a quote taken from this BBC link

Of course this isn't for everyone - it won't be necessary in the wealthier home counties for instance.

I am extremely concerned about this proposal, as I have done extensive research into the affects of fluoride in children. The fluoride that’s added to the water supply is a highly toxic waste product from the fertilizer industry, and its affects on children can be devastating. (But, hey, as long as they die with no cavities, what’s the problem?)

"Faceless Britain" campaign

Are you happy with dealing with Job Centres, Tax Credit or other public service queries over the phone?

Or would you prefer to sort out your problem face to face?

Why not browse the campaigning pages just launched by Julia Goldsworthy and Danny Alexander?

90 years of women's suffrage

Never mind that we were 25 years behind New Zealand, and that the franchise was limited to those women over 30 with a certain standing in the community, we - under Liberal PM, David Lloyd George - gave the vote to women the vote in 1918.

The trouble now is over equal representation. The Liberal Democrats in Wales can take satisfaction from the 50/50 split, right from the start, in the Welsh Assembly. But more needs to be done in Westminster and in local councils. The message needs to go out that this party has always insisted on equal treatment of the sexes in its selection processes, right up to the final short-list.

Women who subscribe to our principles, and want to make a difference to their communities by standing for council (in May this year) or for the UK parliament (whenever Gordon Brown dares to call a general election), will find that they are pushing at an open door with the Liberal Democrats.

Splitting

This blog has drifted into too much of an ego-trip for me. My excuse is that it has been necessary to keep the thing going, and it is so easy to fill the space with personal reflections.

However, things have come to a head with an interchange, on the subject of the future of power generation, with Councillor Ioan Richard. My own views are not entirely on-message. I don't want to embarrass fellow-moderators by arguing them here, nor be constrained. Therefore I have revived an old internet nickname, ffranc sais, for a more personal and wide-ranging blog.
Frank Little

Targetting the vulnerable

Elected representatives (councillors, MPs) have recently noticed an increase in their postbag from parents claiming disability living allowance. It seems that allowances which have been paid without quibble for many years are now being abated or cut completely.

This target-driven government has clearly set target reductions to each of its spending departments across the board, in an attempt to fill the huge hole in its finances. DWP has cut where it is easiest, which unfortunately means hitting those who are least able to fight back.

Sentenced to death for an interest in women's status

The greatest enemies of organised religion are those who feel uniquely qualified to interpret their sacred writings, usually imposing their interpretation with violence. Christianity and Judaism are not blameless, but few will contest that Islam currently carries the heaviest burden.
Frank Little

Paul Murphy is a part-timer, after all

At Prime Minister's Questions today, it was revealed that Paul Murphy has a number of other jobs, including minister for digital inclusion.

Does this mean that he is responsible for the government putting its finger in?

First Minister denies capping policy, ignores 101 problems

In reply to a question from Jenny Randerson (LibDem, Cardiff Central) today, Rhodri Morgan denied that minister Dr Brian Gibbons had done more than request that councils keep their tax increases below 5%.

The Welsh Local Government Association had warned of massive cuts to services as a result of a below-inflation local government settlement for 2008/9.

Jenny Randerson also suggested at First Minister's Questions that by allowing the police precept to rise by about 1%, the 101 general enquiry number, which had proved so successful in pilot programmes, could be rescued. Mr Morgan ignored this point.

A bank run averted

We are grateful to Ken Palmerton, a liberal resident in the Channel Islands, for drawing our attention to a more recent historical parallel to the Northern Rock crisis than the 1866 one usually quoted. In 1914, on the outbreak of war, a Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer took swift action to prevent what would have been a ruinous run on the banks. For a short period, he effectively nationalised UK banking.

From Thomas Johnston's "The Financiers and the Nation":

WHEN the whistle blew for the start of the Great War in August 1914 the Bank of England possessed only nine millions sterling of a gold reserve, and, as the Bank of England was the Bankers' Bank, this sum constituted the effective reserve of all the other Banking Institutions in Great Britain.

The bank managers at the outbreak of War were seriously afraid that the depositing public, in a panic, would demand the return of their money. And, inasmuch as the deposits and savings left in the hands of the bankers by the depositing public had very largely been sunk by the bankers in enterprises which, at the best, could not repay the borrowed capital quickly, and which in several and large-scale instances were likely to be submerged altogether in the stress of war and in the collapse of great areas of international trade, it followed that if there were a widespread panicky run upon the banks, the banks would be unable to pay and the whole credit system would collapse, to the ruin of millions of people.

Private enterprise banking thus being on the verge of collapse, the Government (Mr. Lloyd George at the time was Chancellor of the Exchequer) hurriedly declared a moratorium, i.e. it authorized the banks not to pay out (which in any event the banks could not do), and it extended the August Bank Holiday for another three days. During these three or four days when the banks and stock exchanges were closed, the bankers held anxious negotiation with the Chancellor of the Exchequer. And one of them has placed upon record the fact that 'he (Mr. George) did everything that we asked him to do.' When the banks reopened, the public discovered that, instead of getting their money back in gold, they were paid in a new legal tender of Treasury notes (the £1 notes in black and the 10s. notes in red colours). This new currency had been issued by the State, was backed by the credit of the State, and was issued to the banks to prevent the banks from utter collapse. The public cheerfully accepted the new notes ; and nobody talked about inflation.

Not since 1697 had the State itself issued paper money.

Gun crime

If it had not been for Peter Hain, and Société Générale, headlines last week would have been dominated by the increase in firearms-related offences. This in spite of the promises made by Tony Blair and Jack Straw in 1997, and the passage of the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997.

Burns' Night

Apparently, the haggis, which is traditionally consumed tonight, is under threat. But Scottish Liberal Democrats are alert, and have put down an early day motion in the House of Commons, BBC News reports.

I shall restrict myself to the liquid part of the commemoration of the bard, but wish all participants in Burns' Suppers a braw nicht.

Frank Little

Ambition undoes Peter Hain

The news that Peter Hain has quit the Cabinet, after his deputy leader campaign donations are referred to the Met Police, should give pause to those who place personal ambition over concerns about influence-peddling.

It also means that politicians should take more care over the choice of people to run their administrations.

There did seem to have been a trend towards US-style big money campaigns in British politics. Nick Clegg's and Chris Huhne's combined spending of over £160,000 on the recent leadership campaign may be less than US equivalents, but must be well over what was considered seemly for previous Liberal and Liberal Democrat contests. (It should be added that there is no whiff of impropriety over the donations to either the Clegg or Huhne campaigns.)

Two immediate questions come to mind as a result of today's news: who is going to be the new Welsh Secretary?; and will Mr Hain's resignation be the first domino in a sequence of leading Labour figures whose careers have been threatened by allegations of sleaze?

17:30The new Welsh Secretary will be Paul Murphy, MP for Torfaen, who has filled the post before. Although he is said to be not totally enthusiastic about the Government of Wales Act, he was the unsung hero of the talks in Northern Ireland leading to the Good Friday Agreement. His diplomatic skills will be much needed at Gwydr House.

Frank Little

Let's get back to some old politics

I'm fed up with the constant sloganising about "change", and "new politics". It seems to go along with more scraping away of our powers as voters. As Lord Greaves put it in a letter to the Independent last Saturday:

the key must be the revival and re-establishment of local democracy.
The Victorians invented multi-purpose local authorities, elected
democratically and accountable to local people, because that is the best
way to organise services at a local level, provide a strategic vision
for local communities and represent their needs to government. Unless we
achieve a massive renaissance of local democracy, dismantling national
bureaucracies and sweeping away the confusion of quangos, all the rest
is pie in the sky.

We must reverse the trend to treat local councillors as elected employees of the state, submerged in paper.

Frank Little

Barack Obama

Rarely, if ever, do I post an item on American Politics but after listening to this speech I just wanted to share it - for those who are interested.




Posted by Richie Northcote

Sustainable Communities Bill is now law

After more than 5 years of campaigning, there is now a Sustainable Communities Act on the statute book. Although Liberal Democrat MPs, with the party's tradition of community politics, were prominent in pushing the Bill through, it has been a cross-party effort. Here we should acknowledge the support given by Dr Hywel Francis, the MP for Aberavon.

As a result, the government is now committed to make local communities work. By October of this year, it will have to ask every council, like Neath Port Talbot CBC, to submit suggestions of ways that it can help you and your council make your community more sustainable. Neath Port Talbot council must ask your opinion of what these suggestions should be.

This will be done through citizens panels, drawn from all sections of the community.

This is a new bottom-up process. The policies to create sustainable communities will be driven by us, as citizens, not by bureaucrats in Cardiff or Westminster.

More details on how the Act will work will appear on the Unlock Democracy web site.

In the meantime, the Local Works campaign is asking for support for a Private Members Bill which will enable local decision-making in the field of energy conservation. Michael Fallon's Planning and Energy Bill would allow councils, after involving their communities, to set high energy efficiency standards for new developments and to require them to generate energy by local on-site technologies.

The government is not yet backing the Bill. Our MPs should be asked to be present in the House of Commons next Friday, 25th January, when the Bill reaches its next stage, and to support it.

We should also write to the minister for local communities, Rt Hon Yvette Cooper, House of Commons, LONDON SW1A 0AA, demanding that the government back the Bill and not talk it out.

Severn Barrage is going ahead

Amidst all the kerfuffle about Peter Hain's undeclared receipts, it was not noticed that the Welsh Secretary virtually confirmed that the government was committed to building the Severn Barrage. At Welsh Questions in the House of Commons last Wednesday, the following interchange took place:

Gregory Barker (Bexhill and Battle) (Con): What recent discussions he has had with the First Minister on the environment in Wales. [177789]

The Secretary of State for Wales (Mr. Peter Hain): I have regular discussions, for instance on our joint support for the Severn barrage, which will be by far the biggest renewable energy project in Britain.

Note the "will be".

This in spite of significant opposition, summarised here, and before the viability of tidal lagoon schemes, as proposed by Peter Black and supported by Jane Davidson, has been assessed.

Yellow school buses

Congratulations to First Group on keeping the need for specialised school buses before the public. Admittedly, the company will be looking for a commercial return on their investment, but it is open to other bus companies to do the same.

The Evening Post featured the campaign last week.

Richard revived?

The Western Mail reports that Sir Emyr Jones Parry, chairman of the pre-devolution referendum convention, wants the size of a future Senedd to be part of his terms of reference.

The paper's correspondent, Martyn Shipman, recalls that:

The all-party Richard Commission, which reported in 2004, recommended that the National Assembly should get full legislative powers, that the number of AMs should increase to 80, and that all AMs should be selected by Single Transferable Vote (STV).


However, Peter Black foresees conflict over just how powerful the convention is to be.

Capita and Neath Port Talbot

The Capita-supplied payments system has been running in Neath Port Talbot for six months, without a peep from Unison. When a LibDem-run council installs a third-party IT system, we never hear the end of it in the local press.

It would be interesting to know how much the installation cost, now that budgets for next year are being considered.

Frank Little

Technology doesn't control crime, people do

silicon.com reports that an ambitious IT scheme to integrate prison and probation records has been pared down after costs soared from an original estimate of £234m to £512m.

What is the cost of employing a probation officer these days - perhaps £30,000 p.a.? £510m would pay for 1,700 at that rate for ten years.

It is not the lack of technology which is failing the probation service; it is the shortage of dedicated staff. People make sure that probation is being observed, that job placements are fulfilled and that problems are attended to, not IT systems.

It reminds me of the super-duper farm payments system in England which drained the DEFRA accounts while not reimbursing farmers on time, while a simpler system in Wales fulfilled its purpose.

Frank Little

Political Donations

Hard-pressed treasurers of local political parties manage to complete their PPERA returns correctly, while the campaign of a minister of the crown, members of a well-funded national party which brought in the rules in the first place, suffers from cock-ups.

Later Guido Fawkes believes that Peter Hain's campaign was well-run until his first campaign manager was replaced. He also reports that one of the donations came from the sort of loan company that consumer programmes advise potential customers to look at very carefully.

"Guido Fawkes" is an avowed traditional Tory, but he is also a well-informed journalist. One cannot dismiss his allegations out of hand.

Frank Little

Let's be traditional ...

What sort of Christmas message is this?

According to statistics just released, the UK is now a more Catholic country than an Anglican one. It's not conversions like Anne Widdecombe's or Tony Blair's which has tipped the balance, but the high proportion of church-goers among the people from Poland who have come here to work.

This sense of Christian solidarity does not extend to the authorities, who are quite prepared to force the Williams family of Swansea to return to virtually certain violent recrimination in Pakistan, because of their faith.

The episode illustrates the inhuman inconsistency in Britain's immigration policy. The Home department has targets of repatriation to meet. It is understaffed and short on skills, so it is the "low-hanging fruit" which is plucked. People who have set down roots in the community, and therefore have a fixed address, are grabbed in dawn raids. Those illegal immigrants, with no genuine concerns about persecution, who are less traceable, including a criminal element, are not successfully pursued.

Frank Little

Our desktop

This refers.

Does anybody recognise the scene?

New leader to visit Wales

Nick Clegg, in one of his first interviews after being elected leader of the Liberal Democrats today, made the welcome announcement that he intended to hold a series of "town meetings" to engage with ordinary voters away from the Westminster village. He confirmed to BBC Wales that he had already spoken to leading members in Wales about this. Mike German and Peter Black have been quick to respond to Nick's victory.

It should be noted that Nick chose to launch his Welsh campaign for the leadership not in the Cardiff village, but in Swansea. This precedent clearly means that we can take him at his word.

And the "curse of Lembit" has finally been broken!

Some justice for ASW pensioners

At last, thanks to pressure from the trade unions and from LibDem MP, Jenny Willott, the government has bowed to demands for improvements in their compensation for pensions lost when Allied Steel & Wire went bust.

John Benson, a leading campaigner and spokesman for the ASW workers, was bitter about the lack of support from Labour MPs, when he spoke on BBC-2's "Working Lunch" today. He suggested that their loyalty to Gordon Brown took precedence over their concern for their constituents.

Aberdeenshire disgrace

In the face of a sustained and occasionally vituperative campaign in the local press, Aberdeenshire planning committee turned down an application from US billionaire Donald Trump to build a golf course which would have altered the character of a section of the coast and affected a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Now the forces behind the development have taken their revenge, the main victim being the Liberal Democrat chairman of the planning committee. Liberal Democrats Iain Dale and Bernald Salmon, in their blogs, tell the story better than I can.

If the Scottish Nationalist government has its way, yet another blow against localism will have been struck and the day when local councillors become no more than paid rubber stamps (see also Peter Black's comments on Councillors Unlimited) comes ever closer.

Frank Little

Cwmgwrach youth need more activities and fewer ASBOs

It seems hypocritical for Neighbourhood Watch in Cwmgwrach to object to youths riding motor cycles in the local woods, and riding jet skis on the local lake, while at the same time arranging to bulldoze a popular youth facility, the Cwmgwrach Cabin Club - see the removal Neath Guardian story.

Local Liberal Democrats object to the elimination of a facility for acceptable youth activities, while condemning anti-social behaviour.

"Green energy": tories rip off more LibDem policies

David Cameron has announced some policies aimed at encouraging micro-generation - only 18 months behind policy agreed by Welsh Liberal Democrats, on the initiative of its younger members.

Cameron proposes to abolish the grant scheme - but Labour has effectively done this already, by reducing the pool of money and cutting the maximum grant. What neither has done is to provide a means of poorer people, who would benefit most, of finding the money to install micro-generators and solar heating. What is surely needed is a system of soft loans.

- Frank Little

DVLA now owns up to data butterfingers

News is just coming in that DVLA has admitted that it sent 1200 personal driver licence details - including name, address and convictions - to the wrong people.

If one of the better-run government agencies can make such a slip, then one is more than ever convinced that carelessness with people's personal information is systemic.

The Evening Post has more details.

- Frank Little

Peter Hain, fund-raising and the Royal Mail

Mr Hain has been concerned to wipe the slate clean after he found that his deputy leadership campaign team had received an undeclared donation from Jon Mendelsohn.

He has now retrospectively declared a fund-raising function at a Cardiff restaurant, sponsored by Huw Roberts, Director of Welsh Affairs, Royal Mail Group.

It is for others to judge how far these declarations were voluntary and how far they were pre-empted by journalists like Guido Fawkes. It is for the authorities to decide how far Mr Hain is culpable under the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000. On the evidence in the press and the blogosphere so far, it seems that, if he is guilty, then at least half-a-dozen other Labour politicians are in the dock with him.

What is much more concerning is the involvement in party political affairs of the head in Wales of what is still a public-sector organisation.

Your life details in their hands

It seems that the police have given up hope of recovering the Tax Credit disks in their unexamined state, and are now searching rubbish dumps.

Now there is confirmation of a careless attitude to data security in the Department of Work and Pensions. The revelation that a contractor took personal copies of sensitive information, over a year ago, might not have been made if journalists had not been following up the story of the Tax Credit disks.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Danny Alexander MP has written to Peter Hain calling on him to act to restore confidence in his department.

Danny Alexander said:

“This latest shocking revelation suggests that the culture of carelessness with personal data exists across the whole Government.

“There is a real concern that if some of the most vulnerable people lose confidence in the Government’s ability to look after their personal data, they will not claim money to which they are entitled.

“It is very surprising that Peter Hain has not spoken publicly about his department data practices since the HMRC scandal broke. He needs to speak up now or risk further undermining public confidence in the benefits system.”

Later: The government is offering a £20,000 reward to anyone who finds the missing HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) discs containing 25 million child benefit records, after the initial police search failed to find them.

The search for the missing CDs has been led by a core team of 47 detectives and computer experts from the Metropolitan Police's Specialist and Economic Crime Command.

Now that the main search has finished without finding the CDs, the Met has appealed to all staff at HMRC, the National Audit Office and the Treasury to check at work and "other locations" for the discs. HMRC courier TNT will also ask its staff to help with the search for the CDs.

In addition to the police appeal, HMRC is now offering a reward of "up to £20,000" for information leading to the safe return of the CDs - despite the fact acting Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable last week claimed the data on the discs could be worth up to £1.5bn to criminals on the black market.

[From Andy McCue, writing for silicon.com]

You remember just one sheep ... !

I must have sent over a dozen emails to BBC Radio Wales' "Good Evening, Wales!" about subjects as diverse as, say, government structures in Wales and the management ethos of the Labour Party, but do they broadcast them? Do they thump.

However, in a weak moment last week, inspired by the story of Lottie, the fugitive Swansea sheep, and Felicity Evans (I think it was) commenting on the name of one of Lottie's family, I wrote to say that I remembered an earlier ovine Letitia. She was the sister of Larry the Lamb in the Toytown stories from "Children's Hour" long ago. Needless to say, this was broadcast.

- Frank Little

Zero Carbon Britain

For a rare picture of Lembit without an adoring female on his arm (jealous? moi?), visit CAT's zero carbon pages.

Seriously, it's great news that we have swiftly signed up to the Centre for Alternative Technology's manifesto. This follows Mick Bates's consistent championing of green policies in the Senedd.

It's ironic that CAT - well worth a visit, by the way - is just outside the Montgomery constituency. However, to be fair to Plaid, Nia Griffith was in on the discussions which drew up the agenda. There is as yet no sign of the peripolitan Tories.

- Frank Little

Christine Humphreys new president of Welsh LibDems

Former Assembly Member Christine Humphreys, who was narrowly defeated by Mike German for leadership of the party in 1998, has been elected the new President of the Welsh Liberal Democrats. Christine takes over from Rob Humphries of the Swansea and Gower party.

Rob will be remembered as the President who guided us through a difficult period in the party's history with firmness tempered with good humour and ready wit.

The official announcement continues: "Christine, who was AM for North Wales between 1999 and 2001, said: 'I’m delighted to have been elected President by the membership and look forward to representing their interests over the next two years.

"'One of the most important duties of President is representing the views of our members within the NEC. Doing that effectively means travelling to as many constituencies as possible to talk to, and most importantly, to listen to, members in their own communities.

"'Having done most jobs in the party – from making tea to making policy – I’m looking forward to playing a full role in the next stage of the party’s development.'

"Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Mike German offered his congratulations.

"He said: 'I congratulate Christine on her election and look forward to working with her again in the months to come.

"'Christine has a strong record in the party, and is a well known figure across the political, charity and media sectors in Wales. She brings a wealth of campaigning experience as well as a fresh perspective on the opportunities ahead.'

"Christine Humphreys was elected AM for North Wales in the first Assembly. She retired due to ill health in 2001. A former English teacher, she is now a part time Welsh tutor at Bangor University. She is Chair of Aberconwy Local Party, and acting vice chair of North Wales Regional Committee."

Notes:

The President’s role is to be “the principal public representative of the Party at large”.

The post is filled by election by an all-member ballot. MPs, AMs, MEPs and Lords are not eligible for this post.

A Review is Under Way

With acknowledgments to Liberal Democrat News

William Blake

Wednesday, 28th November 2007, is the 250th anniversary of William Blake.

It would be easy to claim him as a fellow-fighter for liberty. However, he would be an uncomfortable companion today. He railed against all authority and would no doubt campaign against elected governments and councils, as he used to against the tyranny of kings. There is no certainty that he would be satisfied with a constitutional monarchy as a substitute for a republic.

He revelled in the French Revolution and despised education. "The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction."

He trusted his own personal vision of God rather than the insights of scientists (or the teachings of any organised religion):
"The atoms of Democritus
And Newton's particles of light
Are sands upon the Red sea shore,
Where Israels' tents do shine so bright."

But it would be good to have him on our side in the resistance to a national identity database, to illegal wars, to forms of slavery and to corruption in high places. He was exercised by the 18th century equivalents of all these.

- Frank Little

Local councillors should have more responsibility

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published its findings on the involvement of ward councillors in their communities.

The paragraphs:

"# Community engagement: councillors need to be more actively engaged with all parts of the community if they are to be effective leaders. They need to be empowered and supported to engage with residents and community groups using a range of different tools.
# Advocacy: councillors need to be able to speak freely and openly challenge the executive."

jump out at one from the wish-list of the councillors giving evidence to the Foundation.

There is much to be mulled over in the report generally. We would be grateful for any informed comments.

You can't keep Paul Flynn MP down ...

... though, no doubt, many in the Establishment would like to.

Seriously, we were sorry to hear of his recent illness and glad to know that he is practically fully recovered.

Sustrans Connect2 wants your support

Please visit the Sustrans Connect2 web page to endorse the Connect2 campaign for Big Lottery support for new walking and cycling networks throughout the UK.

Online voting opens on Monday 26th November at www.thepeoples50million.org.uk.

(And thanks to Paul Hulbert for correcting a mis-typed link to the Connect 2 site.)

The tax credit scandal

People should be worried about the probable revelation of their tax credit records, and the associated personal details. The government assurances are worth nothing. The fact that no fraudulent activity has been detected so far means nothing.

The rogues who would know what to do with the data would also know to take their time in making use of them. They have already had weeks to decide what to do with them. At worst, they may already have been sold abroad and are sitting on one or more databases in the South-East Asia.

So, take the advice given by reputable authorities - for instance, see the BBC and the banks' UK Payments Association.


The Blame Game

Not only the current New Labour administration, but also the Conservatives, bear some responsibility for the systemic failures.

The Conservatives, because under Mrs Thatcher and Michael Heseltine, bodies which had begun to build up professionalism in management and IT in government service - The Civil Service College, the Central Computer Agency and the National Computing Centre - were swept away, reduced or privatised.

The Tories also privatised functions within the public service. Thus the internal mail system, which used to be directly accountable to a civil servant, is contracted out - currently to TNT, it appears.

Labour, because they made desperate across-the-board cuts in civil service establishment at the same time as merging the Revenue with HM Customs. (The Conservatives would also have made swingeing cuts in the service, as their 2005 manifesto made clear. I am even a little concerned about the vagueness of both our leadership contenders' references to "efficiency savings".)


Commerce is more trustworthy?

Something I've heard in a couple of vox pops today is that, if such a débâcle occurred in private industry, the chairman, managing director and probably the board would have been compelled to resign.

I doubt it. Top jobs are under threat only if "shareholder value" is affected. Nobody resigned over the data leaks at TKMaxx, BT or several banks and building societies.


But there are no excuses for Gordon Brown's failure to heed the warnings.

- Frank Little

Historic green belt saved

We were among the many people supporting the Bryncoch Farm Action Group in their fight to avoid this significant piece of countryside being built over.

Now it seems that the Group has been successful as planning officers of Neath Port Talbot CBC are to recommend refusal of consent for the development.

The provision of new homes at Llandarcy and the housing market slowdown may have been factors in the officers' decision, but it is not certain that Bryncoch Farm would have been saved without determined local action.

Congratulations to all concerned.

Micro-generation: government failure

As predicted, the cuts in government grants have resulted in a reduction in fossil-fuel saving domestic schemes. LibDem MP Jenny Willott highlights the effect on a fledgling Welsh industry.

Thanks, Richie

Richard Northcote set up this blog (and did a lot of other things for the liberal and independent-minded citizens of Resolven and the Neath constituency in general). At times he has seemed to be cramming 36 hours into a day, juggling a demanding day job (which involved regular long-distance travel) and service to the country in the Territorial Army with the secretaryship of Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats.

Something had to give, and his selection for a course leading to possible promotion in the TA has forced the issue. Richie sees this as incompatible with continuing to be an activist and is consequently giving up his officerships in the local party, including editing this blog.

Thanks Richie, congratulations on the likely future captaincy, and do you want to contribute any thoughts before you go into political purdah?

- Frank Little

More broadband at last

It is surprising that the bold move to link up over a dozen North Wales business parks, from Wrexham to Anglesey, with a high-speed fibre optic trunk network has attracted little attention outside the Daily Post and the technical media.

This is a real all-Wales decision, one which I trust the Rainbow Alliance would also have taken if it had come to power. If the new network is swiftly shown to attract new businesses and improve existing ones, as it should, one hopes that the network, or a similar facility, is extended to mid-Wales.

Aberavon leisure attraction delay

The Evening Post is reporting that there are further difficulties at the 10-pin bowling alley development at Hollywood Park.

Is this going to be, like Swansea, a case of another Labour fiefdom, another leisure centre crisis?

UK teenagers world-ignorant - but Welsh youngsters better than most

British schoolchildren are bottom of the class when it comes to international awareness, according to a report today.

The British Council survey scored children in ten countries round the world, on a series of questions. On a scale of 1 to 7, Nigeria came top with 5.15. Not unexpectedly, US teenagers turned in a miserable 2.2. However, they were kept off the bottom of the table by the UK with 2.19.

The relatively reassuring news for Wales is that the nation's schoolchildren beat even the Scots within the UK. (Wales 2.43, Scotland 2.35, Northern Ireland 2.25 and England 2.17)

London takes £3.76 million of our money

BBC Wales news is reporting this morning that the Welsh Office in London is taking nearly £4 million extra each year for the foreseeable future. This will come from the money allocated to Wales under the Barnett formula and will be spent on filling vacant civil service posts in Whitehall. It is apparently necessary to fund the Westminster end of the complicated process of preparing Welsh legislation.

Read the story and Jenny Randerson's reaction here. See also Peter Black's take under "Spin or substance" on his blog.

The messy compromise between granting full law-making powers and maintaining the status quo always seemed likely to lead to duplication and increased expenditure, and so it has proved.

Leadership electon - Cardiff hustings

If anything, the Cardiff hustings held yesterday evening emphasised the similarities rather than the differences between two excellent candidates.

Whether Chris Huhne or Nick Clegg is elected as our leader, that man is going to carry the fight for Liberal Democrat values. Both were determined to have our difference from the increasingly indistinguishable other two parties recognised in the media. Both also promised to do more to engage with ordinary voters, and to encourage more women, people with disabilities and those from ethnic minorities to come forward as candidates.

Click on the candidates' names above to go to their web-sites. If any member wants to know how to join in the internal on-line hustings, please email us.

Centenary of political milestone for women

In this year of anniversaries, it is easy to overlook the 1907 Qualification of Women (County and Borough Councils) Act which enabled women to stand for election to local councils for the first time. It was yet another instance of progress under that great Liberal government.

More details on the Chipping Sodbury and Three Rivers blogs.