Vince Cable on the FSA

[The Conservatives have proposed abolition of the Tripartite system, one leg of which is the FSA.] This is a secondary issue. But it has dominated the recent news and it needs to be dealt with sensibly. So far it is being dealt with very foolishly in the form of an old fashioned bureaucratic turf-dispute between the Bank of England and the FSA with Mr Darling and Mr Osborne egging on the two sides, like two schoolboys cheering on their heroes in a playground punch-up.

The Chancellor, who has evidently fallen out with the Governor and backs the FSA, appears to have set up a Financial Stability Committee based at the Bank of England in the Banking Act 2009, and then a Financial Stability Committee at the FSA and also a Council for Financial Stability, chaired by the Chancellor, in the White Paper. This is like setting up three Competition Commissions to investigate monopoly. There should be one Financial Stability Committee, led and chaired by the Governor of the Bank of England and with representation from the FSA and from the Bank.

Mr Osborne’s proposal is even more disruptive: moving the bank supervisors back from Canary Wharf to the Bank of England. City institutions which straddle bank and non-bank financial services despair at the idea of going back to separate, competing, regulators and at the prospect of endless office politics as desks are moved and jobs are reallocated after this quango war. Of course the Governor must have overall responsibility for systemic stability but he doesn’t need to oversee the accounts of Little Tidbury Building society. I would leave the FSA as a unitary regulator.

I won’t dwell on the structural issues since they are a side issue: the harness rather than the horse. My worry is that we are being deflected from the substance of what sensible regulation means. My party and I encouraged, indeed anticipated, the creative use of capital adequacy requirements to offset booms and busts and I note that this approach is being extended to manage risk across institutions as well as over time. But there is a danger of regulators becoming one-club golfers, albeit with a very adaptable club. Clever bankers will always be looking for ways round the rules. A number of investment banks have already been reported as engaging in the practice of securitising bank balance sheets in order to evade regulatory capital requirements. This type of innovative side stepping of regulations will have to be penalised heavily, otherwise the promised revolution in regulation will be stillborn.

Another significant by-election win

We are not only winning from Labour in affluent areas like Kensington & Chelsea, but also in the deprived north-east of England.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council (UA), Dormanstown ward
LD 805 (52.3;+27.2),
Lab 515 (33.5;-18.6),
BNP 145 (9.4;+9.4),
Con 73 (4.7;-18.0)
Majority 290.
Turnout 29.88%.
Lib Dem gain from Lab.

This, from last Thursday, is the third by election win in a row for Redcar and Cleveland Liberal Democrats, all wins from Labour.

LibDems good third in Norwich North

Chloe Smith will take over from Jo Swinson as youngest MP. The full result is:

Chloe Smith (Conservative): 13591

Chris Ostrowski (Labour): 6243

April Pond (Liberal Democrat): 4803

Glenn Tingle (UK Independence Party): 4068
Rupert Read (Green): 3350
Craig Murray (Put An Honest Man into Parliament): 953
Robert West (British National Party): 941
Bill Holden (Independent): 566
Laud Howling (The Official Monster Raving Loony Party): 144
Anne Fryatt (None of The Above Party): 59
Thomas Burridge (Libertarian Party): 36
Peter Baggs (Independent): 23

Turnout: 45.8%

The Green Party and UKIP also polled well, which must be worrying for the Conservatives. More satisfying was BNP down in seventh place, beaten by Craig Murray, who stands for the antithesis of racism.

LibDem by-election gain from Labour

The result in the Colville ward of the London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea was an overwhelming win for Liberal Democrat Carol Caruana. Labour, who originally held the seat, were pushed into third place.

Carol Caruana becomes the sole Lib Dem councillor on a predominantly Conservative council, but hopefully the first of many.

Lib Dem 634 46.9%
Conservative 330 24.4%
Labour 300 22.2%
Green 77 5.7%
Independent 10 0.7%

Vince Cable on banking reform

Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable yesterday delivered a speech to the London Stock Exchange.

In the speech, he listed the ways in which the current regulatory model could be improved, and called for:

• RBS and Lloyds to be broken up before they are returned to private ownership
• Highly paid bankers to publish details of their remuneration and confirm they are resident and domiciled in the UK
• The FSA to remain as a unitary regulator
• A long-term role for state banking, rather than the quick sale of state-owned banks
• The scrapping of the ‘woefully misconceived’ Asset Protection Scheme

Vince Cable said; "The Government has yet to grapple with the challenge posed by the Governor of the Bank of England: that if a bank is too big to fail it is too big. One approach is to make it easier for big institutions to fail. My approach to the City is not one of hostility, or of obsequiousness. I recognise its importance. But it needs ‘tough love’, not the freedom to run amok."

No to a national database

What has happened?

• On June 30th, Alan Johnson announced that ID cards would be voluntary for British citizens. This meant the ditching of a scheme that would have made it compulsory for airport staff and pilots at Manchester and London City airports to have them, as part of the ID cards trial.
• Previously, the Govt said they would be compulsory once 80% of the population had them.
• Johnson was also forced to admit that the Govt had previously wrongly presented ID cards as a ‘panacea’ for terrorism.
• Johnson did say he remained a supporter of ID cards and that the Govt was accelerating their role out. The pilot scheme currently being rolled out in Manchester (the city, not just the airport) will be extended across the North West next year.
• However, those applying for a ID card or a passport (after 2011 supposedly, though this keeps moving) will automatically have their details added to the National Identity Register (which is what a lot of people oppose).
• They are now selling ID cards as a cheaper, more convenient, voluntary alternative to a passport.
• IBM has contracted to supply technology for ID cards which will last seven years, despite the possibility that a change in government could scupper the scheme.

What did the Tories say?

• They accused the Govt of “an absurd fudge" and said it was “symbolic of a Government in chaos." They claim Johnson is against ID cards (and would scrap them) but that Brown is making him press ahead.
• They then called an Opposition Day debate in the Commons on July 6th.
• They had supported ID cards at the beginning but were now convinced that Labour couldn’t deliver the scheme. They had concerns about data security and said ID cards wouldn’t combat crime, terrorism or illegal immigration.
• They also confirmed their opposition to the National Identity Register, which we tried to smoke them out on with an amendment to the motion.
• They do, however, remain in favour of biometric passports.

What do we say?

• “This is another nail in the coffin for the Government’s illiberal ID cards policy, which will soon be so voluntary that only Home Office mandarins seeking promotion will have them.
• “Airport workers did not want to be guinea pigs for this deeply unpopular scheme, which has now been reduced to nothing more than a second-rate passport.
• “These expensive and intrusive plans should be ditched now. The vast amount of money would be far better spent on something that will actually fight crime and terrorism - ten thousand more police on the street.”
• We also oppose the register as well as ID cards themselves.
• We have described the cards and register as a “technological solution in search of a problem.” Just because we can do something, doesn’t mean that we should.
• It is telling that the Govt have ditched all plans for compulsory ID cards for anyone eligible to vote at the next election – we have described them in the past as having the potential to be a “laminated poll tax.”
• There is also the issue of thin end of the wedge/mission creep/future Govts argument. The Govt claim that only certain information will be held and that ID cards won’t be necessary to access public services. However, it does not take a huge imagination to see Govt one day arguing the need to put medical records, criminal records, financial records etc on your ID card and making you have one to go to the library; access benefits; visit your GP etc. Then to all intense and purposes, they would be compulsory.
• Our opposition to ID cards has been consistent and principled (unlike the Tories). People should not have to justify their identity to the state when going about their business. We would spend the money on 10,000 police.

What about foreign nationals?

• ID cards are still mandatory for foreign nationals and are currently being rolled out to that group.
• We oppose ID cards for foreign nationals. The Tories don’t. We don’t think that guests in our country should be treated differently from British citizens.
• They are not going to solve terrorism – the Madrid bombers all had valid Spanish identity documents. Neither will it solve the problem of ‘clean skins’ (people without a terrorist record, but with terrorist intentions). Or crime – the police generally have a problem catching criminals, not identifying them.
• Nor will it sort illegal immigration – employers are already required to do checks on worker’s immigration status but may unscrupulous ones do not. What we need is more spot-checks and prosecutions, not ID cards.

What does this all mean for costs?

• No one really knows. There is little more murky in public finance terms than the ID card costings.
• The Govt will charge people £30 for the card and for the cost of taking their biometric information (£28 is the rumour for that).
• The Govt claim the total cost of ID cards and biometric passports is likely to be £5 billion over 10 years. But they claim that only £1 billion of this is for ID cards. They also claim that this will be claimed back by charging people.
• However, as soon as the scheme becomes ‘voluntary’, then the cost of recouping the substantial overheads is spread among fewer people. They cannot surely now raise as much money as first thought.
• We have always maintained that the real costs will be far, far higher – they don’t include any costs incurred outside the Identity and Passport Service (such as for example installing card readers in other locations); the Government’s record with large-scale IT projects is they tend to be far over cost and over time; and no one really knows how much this is going to cost until the Govt get further down the line with it, the LSE estimated in 2005 that costs could be anything up to £19 billion.

---

Irene who?

The announcement of Irene James' retirement took many AMs by surprise, as they hadn't realised there was actually a member for Islwyn. Others felt that it was impossible to spend more time with her family and friends than she did already.

LibDems at Pontardulais & Pontardawe

South Wales West Liberal Democrats will be out in force at the Pontardulais Show and the Pontardawe Craft Fair. Details nearer the dates.

Unfortunately, a clash of diary dates has prevented us showing as we had hoped at Pencoed (the Bridgend County Show) next weekend.

Transfer of Housing Stock ballot may be delayed

We understand that the proposed ballot of transfer of Neath Port Talbot's council housing to a cooperative mutual has been postponed until the New Year. A special council meeting due to have been held on Friday 3rd July, which may or may not have been connected with the progress of the ballot process, was cancelled at ten days' notice.

On the one hand, this may allow the "No" campaign to build up a head of steam, especially if threats to haul councillors, who back it, up before the Standards Committee are carried out. It may also threaten some grants from the Welsh Assembly Government conditional on a ballot being held before a certain date.

On the other hand, it may push the date for a ballot beyond the next general election, after which a more intelligent and local government savvy Chancellor of the Exchequer will revise the borrowing rules, allowing Neath Port Talbot to hold on to its housing stock and meet the Welsh Housing Quality Standard.

Housing Stock Transfer: what is our party line?

The short answer is: there isn't one (writes Frank Little). I believe that if Anthony Taylor, who challenged me on his blog last Thursday to state the Liberal Democrat position, examines Labour Party national policy, he will find that this is true of his own party, too. (That is not to say that there haven't been Labour party conference votes against it, back in pre-Blair/Brown days.)

The more finessed answer is that the Liberal Democrats recognise Large Scale Voluntary Transfer (LSVT) as just one component of a flexible housing policy. What we have always (from the time of the Thatcher Housing Bill which introduced LSVT) objected to are the outdated, skewed rules on local authority spending and ridiculous public borrowing regulations which load the dice against council investment in public housing.

Some Liberal Democrat housing authorities in England certainly have embraced LSVT, usually as a result of taking control from a Labour council which left its housing in a mess, from which only injection of commercial capital could redeem it.

We are certainly not in favour of well-run and financially stable housing departments being disbanded for ideological reasons. We resent the government bullying councils into holding ballots by fiscal measures or (in the case of Wales) by setting too-high quality standards.

The former leader, Derek Vaughan, and the council's senior officers made repeated attempts at a financial compromise which would have enabled Neath Port Talbot to retain and still improve its housing stock. WAG was intransigent. It is disingenuous to blame this on a Plaid housing minister in the coalition government. It is clearly the Labour government in Westminster which is pulling the strings.

The alternative to holding a ballot this year was a loss of at least one central grant. The least bad alternative on offer to retaining council stock was a cooperative mutual. That was the clear message from the council leader last October, and that was reflected in the Liberal Democrat councillors' vote then. Note that we only signed up to the ballot process, and to the alternatives to be presented to the tenants. We did not promise to campaign for one side or the other, and we certainly reserved the right to question details during the process.

I used the term "conscience" of Cllr Keith Davies' choice to support the "No" campaign. It would be more accurate to state that the difference between us is one of "judgment", in particular that of how much it would cost the council to raise properties to the Welsh Housing Quality Standard and what financial penalties would be imposed by the government if we didn't achieve a "Yes" vote. I believe there will be a large financial downside, Cllr Davies does not.

Note that neither of our public stances conflicts with the vote we cast in council last year. Since there is no official Liberal Democrat policy on LSVT, for or against, there was no need for Cllr Davies to notify the party of his campaigning for "No", yet he did so out of courtesy.

I am pleased to see that Cllr Taylor is an enthusiast for the cooperative mutual model of housing corporation. This, if I remember correctly, emerged at the grass-roots in Liverpool, probably before Cllr Taylor was born, as a response to the failed central planning of Liverpool Labour's housing department (and, of course, the private rented sector of the time). I don't know that the prime movers were Liberals, but they were certainly acting in the "bottom-up" manner of Liberal politics.

Cllr Taylor's enthusiasm is not shared by several of his Labour colleagues. They are viscerally opposed to losing control of council housing, as private conversations and some of their pointed questions at seminars show. The difference between us and them is that we can express our differences in public without fear of retribution from a party "Star Chamber".

Stock transfer ballot - group position

Following Cllr Keith Davies's decision for personal and constituency reasons to support the "No" campaign, the Liberal Democrat councillor group decided today not to impose a "party line" on the issue. Members will be free to campaign according to their conscience.

Cllr Keogh joins Labour

Word-of-mouth has it that Councillor Dennis Keogh (Ratepayer, Port Talbot) has joined the Labour group on Neath Port Talbot CBC.

Aberavon AM to stand down

Dr Brian Gibbons has decided not to seek re-election to the Welsh Assembly in 2011. The BBC story is here.

Tory agrees with Hain on devolution

See Glyn Davies's blog.

Phone Nick Clegg

There is a phone-in on Radio 4's "You and Yours" tomorrow. More details on Liberal Democrat Voice.

Mick Bates AM to retire at next election

The Wales Online report is here. We understand that he wants to spend more time with his family and on his farm.

Frank Little writes: I hope this resigning from the cockpit of daily politics does not mean that Mick is lost to party activity altogether. His contributions to Liberal Democrat conferences are virtually guaranteed to liven proceedings. Although his enthusiasm for wind power generation goes farther than I would, there is no doubting that he has given a major boost to green politics in Wales from a time when it was not as main-stream as it is now.

Labour leaders hanging on

Rhodri Morgan has given himself a get-out clause. He said at the Assembly Elections that he would retire on his seventieth birthday. He has changed his tune. In case of a "force majeure", he will stay on and Huw Lewis AM has begged him to stay on beyond Autumn http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8086310.stm.

Now former Neath Port Talbot council leader Derek Vaughan has announced that he will not give up his Neath North seat until there is a general election to "save tax-payer money" on polling costs. We say that the real reason is to save an embarrassing loss of a council seat in a period when Labour is under constant attack.

All the signs are that a tired and discredited Gordon Brown will hang on to power until the law forces him to hold an election. That will be in June 2010. Do the math. The hard-working people of Neath North will have a lame-duck councillor for twelve months. How can Derek Vaughan work for his constituents in Brussels where he will be on a steep learning curve in the Euro Parliament?

We say to Derek Vaughan: do the right thing by democracy and the people of Neath North. Go now!

Make votes count press release

"The Prime Minister's statement on democratic reform was not as bold as billed; in fact on electoral reform he has been far more timid than the circumstances demanded. There is a real urgency to implementing reforms, to restore public trust in MPs and in politics as a whole.

"Voters have shown they are impatient with the main parties, and want real change in the way we do politics. So why does the Prime Minister continue to dither on opening up the debate and on timescales for implementing electoral reform?

"Gordon Brown talks the language of quick change and ending the Gentleman's Club when it comes to expenses. But he fails to bring that approach to the other area MPs still self-regulate and is now under scrutiny - the way in which MPs are elected.

"Elections affect all of us. Decisions on how they are conducted certainly shouldn't be in the hands of the politicians, whether those on the National Council for Democracy or on the Opposition benches, whose jobs-for-life are at stake. Is it no surprise that David Cameron is leading the resistance to change: he and his party stand to benefit the most from the status quo. It is more of a surprise that Brown wasn't even willing in his statement to repeat the 1997 Labour manifesto promise of a referendum on the introduction of a proportional voting system.

"The Prime Minister talks about starting up the debate on electoral reform. But we've been having that debate for over ten years. In January 2008 the Government published as "a contribution to the ongoing debate" its long-awaited review of those proportional voting systems already introduced. The Alternative Vote Plus (AV+) was a system recommended by the Jenkins Commission back in 1998 after long and careful deliberations involving plenty of opportunities for public engagement and debate.

"There is still just enough time left for completing an open public debate and then holding a referendum before or at the time of the next election. The referendum would give voters the chance to register their feelings twice: once to get rid of a tainted MP in the General Election; and once in a referendum to choose whether to get rid of a rotten system and change things for good.

"Even after his statement [on Wednesday], Gordon Brown still has the opportunity to be bold and start exploring this referendum option; to show he is able to go beyond the self-interest of the political elite and give power back to the man and woman on the street."

MVC's Welsh campaigns officer, Owain Llyr ap Gareth, has an article in the Western Mail.

We still believe that STV is a better electoral system, in that it allows voters to choose between candidates of the same (or no) party. Nor do AV systems threaten "safe" seats. However, we can hardly object if the proposal of the Jenkins Commission is put before the electorate in a referendum. The commission was set up as the result of an agreement between Labour and the Liberal Democrats before the 1997 general election, and was chaired by a distinguished member in turn of both parties.

First thoughts on the European Parliament elections

Of course, the results for Liberal Democrats in Neath and Aberavon were disappointing. We were not alone, though. There was a small rise in the percentage vote in Wales but in England it was down, and, across Europe, Liberal parties suffered losses (though we don't seem to have lost MEPs in Britain). It looks as if ELDR no longer holds the balance of power in Brussels/Strasbourg. However, the rise in the size of the Green bloc means that the Conservative and Socialist groupings will still not have things all their own way.

In both our constituencies, the BNP came within one hundred votes of Liberal Democrats. This is not, I would suggest, due to my talking up the BNP by drawing attention to their dangers or mocking their electoral communications, but as a result of the party targeting Neath. Their two leafleting campaigns clearly achieved the desired publicity, including good coverage in the Evening Post, colour photographs and all.

Labour bucked the national trend by topping the poll here and pushing the Conservatives into third place, just ahead of UKIP. Plaid Cymru will draw satisfaction from being a very good second.

I hear Labour spokespeople blaming the exposure of MPs' expenses for their poor showing overall. Sorry, but that won't wash. Tories were just as mired in that scandal as Labour - indeed, the most headline-grabbing claims were by Conservatives - yet they topped the poll in Wales and did well in England.

And, finally, Welsh has a gender-balanced representation in the EP. Kay Swinburne of the Conservatives and Jill Evans of Plaid make up for Derek Vaughan for Labour and John Bufton of UKIP.

Frank Little

Update: The full figures are now available on the council's web-site as pdf files: http://www.npt.gov.uk/PDF/Elections_EPE2009_results_Aberavon.pdf for Aberavon, and http://www.npt.gov.uk/PDF/Elections_EPE2009_results_Neath.pdf for Neath.

Why do the Tories resist PR?

We in Wales already realise the benefits of even a nobbled system of proportional representation to the Conservative Party. Without the top-up list, they would have had no more than one representative in the first Assembly, when there was clearly widespread support for the party across Wales. The party can now point to five AMs elected directly from a constituency, but would it have achieved this success without the credibility which eight AMs elected from the regional list in 1999 gave them? One of those was, and continues to be, Nick Bourne, their leader.

Now comes a beautiful example from last week's English local elections of first-past-the-post benefitting Liberal Democrats to the detriment of the Tories. This table shows the results from Cambridge City wards:

June 2009	Candidates
Party	Stood	Elect	U/O	Votes	%
Conservative	14	0	0	7153	21.7
Labour	14	2	0	6930	21.0
Liberal Democrat	14	11	0	12121	36.7
Green	14	1	0	5159	15.6
UKIP	3	0	0	475	1.4
Independents and Others	2	0	0	1181	3.6
Totals	61	14	0	33019	37.4

I reckon that means that LD have 0.91 seats per 1000 votes, Labour 0.29, Green 0.19 and UKIP & the Tories zero.

Look at it another way: in Cambridge it takes only 1,102 voters to put a Liberal Democrat in, but nearly 3,500 for Labour and infinity for the Conservatives!

Frank Little

Labour finish behind Monster Raving Loonies in Cambridgeshire

All Cambridgeshire > Huntingdonshire

St Ives

Result summary

Candidate	Party	Votes	Share
Reynolds, Kevin Antony	Conservative	2553
Pegram, Dennis Roy	Conservative	2307
Hodge, David Frederick	Liberal Democrat	1543
Waters, Robin Sherwood	Liberal Democrat	1412
Jug, Lord Toby	The Official Monster Raving Loony Party	566
Allen, Richard John	Labour	362
Richards, Angela Louise	Labour	343

Dennis Roy Pegram (Conservative) and Kevin Antony Reynolds (Conservative) have been elected to serve the St Ives Electoral Division

Swing per Party

Conservative: +9.18%Liberal Democrat: -0.27%Labour: -8.5%

[From http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/democracy/elections/elections2009/candidatesandresults/ ]

Huhne claims Tory MEPs endanger UK citizens

The Conservative's attitude to the European Arrest Warrant, and to the interchangeability of criminal records within the EU, would threaten the safety of UK citizens, according to Chris Huhne.

Chris writes: "Conservative MEPs voted against the establishment of the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS), which standardises the format of criminal records in Europe and allows them to be exchanged quickly between police forces and high risk employers, such as airports.

"It beggars belief that anyone would want to make it more difficult for us to check whether people coming to this country are dangerous criminals."

In South-West Wales we have already seen the effect of the lack of background information on a worker from Poland, who committed a serious sexual offence here.

And, as Nick Clegg argues, in an article by Nik Cohn, "so instinctive is Tory antipathy that Cameron would rather be soft on crime than friends with European allies.

"The Europol police agency has helped break up paedophile rings in the UK, Clegg says. The European arrest warrant allowed the fast-track deportation to Britain of Hussain Osman who had fled to Rome after trying to blow up a tube station. Ordinarily, Tories are against paedophilia and terrorism, but the 'Euro' prefix is enough to make them damn both the agency and arrest warrant."

See more here and here.

The Observer backs LibDems for Euro elections

The closely-argued leader column is at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/31/european-elections-liberal-democrats.

Lib Dems say: Take Back Power

[Shamelessly pinched from richardbaum by Frank Little]

Nick Clegg has taken a strong stand on cleaning up Parliament and leading the call for a complete overhaul of our political system. Last week at Prime Minister’s Question Time he challenged Gordon Brown to reform our electoral systems. Now even Brown’s own ministers are echoing Nick’s call.

Nick is making the case to:
- Give people the right to sack MPs
- Stop all big party political donations
- Elect the House of Lords
- Make the voting system fair - so that governments can’t just get all that power and all that money with only a minority of you voting for them
- Put an end to self serving politics and put you back in charge
- But Nick can’t do it all on his own. He needs our help.

Labour councillor misuse of the Web

Before local Labour activists complain too loudly about their opponents making use of World Wide Web pages to attack them, they should consider the activities of David Boothroyd, a Labour councillor in London, who has been using various aliases in a deception aimed at Wikipedia among others. He has now been found out and action taken by Wikipedia. Mark Pack has the story and links.

Liberal Democrat Euro candidates commitment to glasnost

Liberal Democrat MEPs are already the best at revealing their expenses and allowances. More of them, in proportion to their numbers, reveal their claims on their web-sites than any other UK-based party MEPs.

All candidates have now gone one stage further, and made the following commitment:

LIBERAL DEMOCRAT CODE OF CONDUCT FOR MEPs

The Liberal Democrat European Parliamentary Party (LDEPP) is committed to the highest standards of public service.

Each of its Members undertakes to ensure strict observance of the European Parliament’s Rules governing the Payment of Expenses and Allowances to Members (PEAM).¹

In addition, they agree to meet a common measure of transparency in order to ensure their accountability to the European Parliament, to the UK Liberal Democrats and to their electors.

This Guidance Note shall be appended to the Standing Orders of LDEPP.

Declaration of Interests

In their official Declarations of Financial Interests, LDEPP Members will declare whether they are members of the Parliament’s Voluntary Pension Scheme.

Members will declare whether they employ as assistants, or pay as service providers or paying agents, members of their family. In such cases, the level of payment shall be shown within bands of € 10,000.

General Expenditure Allowance

As specified under PEAM Article 13, the Allowance is a monthly lump sum intended to meet expenditure resulting from 'activities in their capacity as Members not covered by other allowances'. Inter alia, the Allowance covers the following items:

• Travel and ancillary expenses within the UK

• Office management and running costs

• Purchase or rental of office equipment

• Telephone and postage

• Office supplies

• Purchase of publications

• Internet

• IT hardware and software

The allowance may not be used to cover personal expenses or to finance subsidies or gifts of a political nature. It may not be used to contribute towards the Voluntary Pension Scheme.

An annual account shall be made of Members’ use of the Allowance. This account shall be certified by an independent, professionally qualified accountant, who shall have received a copy of this Note and of Parliament’s Rules. The audit statement must demonstrate compliance with the Rules of the Parliament, and will be filed with the delegation's Whip. A summary of the account shall be published on each Member’s website.

Secretarial Assistance Allowance

PEAM Article 14 establishes the rules for the employment or engagement of assistants.

All staff employed by LDEPP Members must have a contract of employment in accordance with the law of a Member State.

The names of assistants and their job titles should be published, with their consent, on each Member’s website.

The names and functions of service providers should be published on Members' websites.

Travel Allowance

Under PEAM Article 10, Members are entitled to an allowance to meet expenses incurred in connection with travel (outside the UK) undertaken in the performance of their official duties. Members shall publish on their website the total claimed in the preceding year.

Daily Allowance

Under PEAM Article 11, Members are entitled to a subsistence allowance for the days or part days on which that they are present in the Parliament. Members shall publish on their website the total amount they claimed in the preceding year.

1 Shortly to be published on the European Parliament's website.

Spontaneous voter endorsement

Thanks to Liberal Democrat Voice for posting the picture of the endorsement which local council candidate David Kendall found when campaigning in Brentwood, Essex. The note begins: "I would rather remove my nipples with a rusty tin opener than vote Labour or Conservative".

A similar message appears to be reaching our people campaigning to achieve a Welsh Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament.

Motions to Council

It seems that Rhondda Cynon Taf ruling group does not like too much expression of views across the chamber at full council - when, of course, the press is likely to be present. Non-Labour groups will henceforward be restricted to only two motions per year, reports Cllr Mike Powell.

There is no such restriction on questions and motions* to Neath Port Talbot council, but perhaps our ruling Labour group, basking in the glory of so many quango-written congratulatory reports, feels more secure than the embattled RCT people.

*Constitution, PART 4, RULES OF PROCEDURE 9. and 10., if anyone wants to check.

Telegraph now on dodgier ground

Frank Little writes:

Apparently, the Telegraph is now trying to pin charges of misuse of expenses on Liberal Democrat MPs Sir Alan Beith (because he has declared he is interested in the Speaker's chair) and Jo Swinson (because she is in the forefront of moves to modernise Parliament. According to Stephen Tall on Liberal Democrat Voice:

Sir Alan Beith

The Telegraph’s story about Sir Alan relates to a rented flat in London he shares with his wife, former fellow Lib Dem MP [and former president of the party] (now a Lib Dem peer) Baroness (Diana) Maddock. You can read the story here. I assume the Telegraph is publishing now because Sir Alan is one of the early favourites to occupy the soon-to-be-vacant Speaker’s Chair.

The couple point out that they have tried to stick to the spirit and letter of the expenses rules by Sir Alan claiming only half the rent, and Baroness Maddock claiming only half her Lords allowance. She notes: “We have tried to claim half and half. I have always claimed half of what I could claim for and Alan only claims for half the rent. It isn’t an exact science. We tried to solve the rent issue by claiming for half in a system that isn’t perfect. We could have sat down and we could have worked out the half much more accurately perhaps, but we did our best. We have always been in favour of everything being out in the open.”

More to the point, at least as far as I’m concerned, this is a rented flat - so any improvements made will not benefit them financially, a stark contrast with some of the Telegraph’s genuinely serious allegations.

Jo Swinson

There seems (at least to my eyes) to be even less of a story here, as featured in the Express. Apparently some cosmetic items – for which Jo did not claim – appear on receipts alongside other items for which Jo has made expenses claims. This is all the excuse the Express needs to make the usual casually sexist swipes about Jo being “known at Westminster for the attention she pays to her appearance”. As Jo has long published her expenses in full on her website, I think we can safely file this story in the file marked ‘Desperate’.

Statement by Lord Rennard

First, I’d like to thank all members for everything that you are doing to
help our candidates in the European and local elections (if you have local
elections in your area). I am sure that they appreciate your support at a
difficult time in politics. If you are standing yourself, then obviously
I wish you the best of luck!

My reason for writing is that I have decided to make the current election
campaigns my last as Chief Executive. I discussed this with Nick some
time ago and I have given notice to the Party President that I will stand
down as Chief Executive at the end of the Summer.

I want to be able to work more flexibly in future whilst of course
continuing to help our party advance. I believe that I will be better able
to do so without the administrative burdens of being Chief Executive and
running the party's day to day organisation.

For family and health reasons, I have needed to change the way in which I
work. My wife Ann has supported me enormously in all my work. But since
she retired a few years ago after more than 35 years teaching, we wanted
to have something of a more normal life outside the Westminster bubble.

This has become more important to me as I have struggled to maintain good
diabetic control with the rigours of a very demanding lifestyle. This has
proved to be increasingly difficult whilst carrying out the role of Chief
Executive at HQ and around the country.

I decided that this Summer would be the best time for me and for the party
to make a change. I am letting the party know this now, so that it can
take the necessary steps to appoint a new Chief Executive in the Autumn.

My major work as Chief Executive in recent years has been to help create
new structures for the party organisation and help to recruit an extremely
strong professional team to work for it. The role of Chief Executive has
therefore changed significantly since I undertook this role six years ago.

By the Summer, we will have had crucial local and European elections and I
believe that we will do well in them. I am also confident that Nick Clegg
will prove to be the most successful Leader that we have ever had. I am
immensely proud of the roles that I have played so far in securing the
steady advance of the Liberal Democrat cause. Our values and beliefs have
never been more important than they are today. I will, of course,
continue to support the General Election campaign, but not as chair.

Finally, I would just like to thank all members personally for all the
support that I have had whilst working for the party and I look forward to
continuing to work with you in future.

With all best wishes,
Yours sincerely



Chris Rennard

PS I thought about letting you know this after the current round of
elections, but having taken the decision and informed the Leader and
President, I wanted you to hear directly from me and to fully understand
why I have been trying to make lifestyle changes and will make an even
more significant one later this year.

Gurkha success

The BBC story is here. Presumably the fulsome praise for the Prime Minister and Home Secretary was the price Joanna Lumley had to pay for making the announcement.

Ms Lumley has been a splendid ambassador for the Gurkhas, but let us not forget the sterling work which was done by Peter Carroll of Shepway Liberal Democrats before Ms Lumley came on board. (See also our previous posts starting here.)

Euro event & Vince Cable at Hay Festival

We have just had the following letter from William Powell of the Brecon & Radnor party:

Hello

Tomorrow evening at The Guardian Hay Festival, there will be a Euro Election Hustings, sponsored by the European Movement in Wales and attended by Wales' only MEP to recontest her seat~ Jill Evans of Plaid Cymru. There will also be the Conservative No 1 candidate Kate Swinburne, Labour's No 2 Lisa Stevens and John Bufton of UKIP.

However, as Alan Butt Philip has spent a lifetime studying, learning and teaching about Europe and has the best chance ever of leading the Lib Dems to claim one of the Welsh Euro seats, I thought that you might like to have your chance to show your support. The event starts at 7:30pm at the Guardian Stage on the Festival site, which is located on a tented village on Brecon Road, Hay on Wye.

And, with a bit better notice, you might be interested to know that the Liberal Democrat European Group is sponsoring a talk by Vince Cable on the last day of the Festival, Sunday, 31st May at 1:00 pm. His sales have been surging and he has now been reallocated to the largest of the Festival venues- capacity 1,200 - The Barclays Wealth Tent, where past and future speakers have included Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Desmond Tutu, Gordon Brown, William Hague and Kirsty Williams. As this event is said to be heading for sell out, you may wish to book via the Festival website.

Very best wishes,

Bill

Change of leadership of council group

Councillor Keith Davies was elected as leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council for the year 2009-10. His deputy will be Frank Little.

Speaker Martin to go

13:05 BBC News is announcing that the Speaker is to announce his retirement this afternoon. No doubt Peter Black who has for some time said that the Speaker should go will comment in due course.

One thing (which I have commented elsewhere) needs saying: that the pressure on Michael Martin to go has been building up for some time, and the fact that he has defended the present system of MPs expenses is only the final straw. He must not be a scapegoat for that; the demand for reform of paying MPs continues.

For me, the expenses issue in itself was not the deciding factor. It was his denigration, publicly, of Kate Hoey MP and, particularly, Norman Baker MP for taking a principled stand on the matter. Before that, he had failed to defend the rights of an elected member, Damian Green, against an invasion of his office in Westminster by police.

At no time have I joined in the snobbery of some Conservative members over Michael Martin's origins as a working man from Glasgow. Let us not forget that this showed itself over previous Speakers, George Thomas (a working man from South Wales) and even one of their own, Bernard Wetherill, who was a tailor before he became a full-time politician. Though there were occasional suggestions of minor partiality on the part of both, neither lost the confidence of the House. Snobbery was not the reason for the widespread dissatisfaction with Speaker Martin among MPs, and it is disingenuous for Labour to suggest that it was.

Frank Little

Open Letter to the Speaker From Lib Dem PPCs

It is not just sitting MPs that are being affected by the fallout over MPs' expenses and the Speaker's poor handling of the whole scenario, it is also those that are seeking to stand as an alternative.

Therefore the letter that follows from 56 Lib Dem PPCs in an election year is unprecedented, but shows that we need to clear this whole shambles up now, or as soon as possible, so that those who will be standing in the next General Election are not being tarnished by the sins of their forebears.


Dear Mr Speaker,

As Parliament continues to be dragged down by the allowance system, and
its rules, the role of those in public service across the country is
being undermined.

We are Liberal Democrat candidates seeking to be elected to Parliament
and yet we find ourselves disappointed, and frustrated, at the way in
which this matter is being handled. Every day our residents are telling
us loudly that this must stop and this must stop now.

Three things stand out:

- The resistance to the releasing of these documents and the attempt to
exclude Parliament from the Freedom of Information requirements

- The way in which Norman Baker and Kate Hoey were treated when they
sought to raise legitimate concerns

- The fact that, through you, Parliament could now release the
information into the public domain and cut short this parade of drip-fed
news and empower MPs and citizens through a new transparent relationship.

It is vital that Parliament must become transparent and accountable now.
We call on you, as Speaker of the House, to do everything within your
power to force the full publication of all expenses immediately. We also
call on you to accept the independent review of MPs expenses and
salaries chaired by Sir Christopher Kelly.

If you are unable to do this we then ask you to consider your position.
Time is running out for politicians of all parties to repair the damage
to our democracy.

Yours sincerely

56 Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidates

Ed Fordham, Hampstead and Kilburn
Sal Brinton, Watford
Andrew Simpson, Northampton North
Bridget Fox, Islington South & Finsbury
Duncan Borrowman, Old Bexley and Sidcup
Steve Goddard, Oxford East
Adrian Collett, Aldershot
Adam Carew, East Hampshire
Gareth Epps, Reading East
Sally Morgan, Central Devon
Sue Doughty, Guildford
Rebecca Hunt. Chatham & Aylesford
Sarah Carr, Hereford and South Herefordshire
Guy Voizey Canterbury and Whitstable
Jo Shaw, Holborn and St Pancras
Liz Leffman, Meon Vallley
Merlene Emerson, Hammersmith
Sandy Walkington, St Albans
Richard Burt, West Worcestershire
Caroline Pigeon, Vauxhall
Kevin Lang, Edinburgh North & Leith
Andrew Dakers, Brentford and Isleworth
Andrew Duffield,Hexham
David Kendall, Brentwood and Ongar
Ann Haigh, Epping Forest
Simon Wright, Norwich South
Liz Simpson, Tonbridge and Malling
Sam Webber, Bromley and Chislehurst
Rabi Martins - Luton North
Greg Stone, Newcastle East
Theo Butt-Philip, Bridgwater and West Somerset
Dave Radcliffe, Birmingham Selly Oak
Richard Clein, Sefton Central
Mike Cox, Uxbridge and South Ruislip
Andy Stamp, Gillingham & Rainham
Stephen Lloyd, Eastbourne & Willingdon
Mark Blackburn, Westminster North
Denis Healy, Hull North
Robin Lawrence, Wolverhampton South West
Alex Feakes, Lewisham and West Penge
Andrew Falconer, Brighton Pavilion
Dave McBride, Orpington
Nigel Quinton, Hitchin & Harpenden
Alan Beddow, Warwick and Leamington
David Goodall, Southampton Itchen
Ryk Downes, Leeds Central
Chris Took, Ashford
Peter Wilcock, Saffron Walden
Karen Hamilton, Birmingham Perry Barr
Qurban Hussain, Luton South
Keith Angus, Hackney North and Stoke Newington
Stephen Robinson, Chelmsford
Mike Bell, Weston-super-Mare
Dave Raval, Hackney South and Shoreditch
Fred Mackintosh, Edinburgh South
Munira Wilson, Feltham and Heston
Paul Zukowskyj, Welwyn Hatfield

Jo Swinson in travel expenses hike shock

Jo Swinson, LibDem MP for East Dunbartonshire, revealed in last Friday's Liberal Democrat News that her travel expenses skyrocketed after a mere year in the House of Commons. But it was not down to troughing. It was just that her young person's railcard expired!

Jo is Britain's youngest MP and was just 25 - therefore qualifying for the railcard - when she was elected in 2005.

Seriously, she reveals some more background to the exposure of Snoutgate on her blog.

Liberal Democrat MEP calls for energy diversity and security

Graham Watson, ALDE leader and editor of Making the Green Energy Switch at a Time of Crisis, a cross party policy pamphlet published in February 2009, has warned European leaders against not developing green energy sources in Europe. “Energy diversity and energy security must be Europe's goal, and that means there are real benefits to new gas routes…” said Mr. Watson on the eve of a meeting in Prague between the Turkish Prime Minister and the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Georgia. “A European super grid supplied by solar, wind and tidal power offers Europe the chance to wean itself off dirty fossil fuels.” The promotion of competitive, clean and secure energy and the liberalisation of energy markets and the completion of the internal market for energy have always been key objectives of ALDE group. Graham Watson (http://www.watsonforpresident.eu/) is also running for the Presidency of the European Parliament, following the upcoming EU elections from 4-7 June.

Liberals in European Parliament defeat Internet censorship

Under the initiative of the ALDE Group, on 6 May, the European Parliament rejected legislation that would have restricted internet access of users without adjudication. Marking a clear victory for those who advocate free access to the internet, this ruling has marked a clear division in the hegemony of the Socialists and Conservatives in the European Parliament. Liberal co-rapporteur Alexander Alvaro (FDP-Germany) said 'Internet users must not be denied access to what is today one of their main sources of information and social interaction.” The parliamentary majority blocked a wide-ranging reform of EU telecom laws by rejecting an earlier compromise with member states over the protection of Internet users' rights. Many members of the ALDE group have also added their names to the “Stop Internet Censorship” Campaign, a cross-party initiative. With their statues at the 3rd largest force in the European Parliament, the Liberal group remains poised to add their voice to legislation that advocates the fundamental liberal value of safeguarding individual freedoms.

MPs expenses: Nick Clegg's proposals

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has published his proposals in full here.

Expenses: the LibDem shoe has fallen

Andrew George is the only LibDem MP in the Geoff Hoon class, it seems, though Nick Clegg himself, Menzies Campbell, Chris Huhne, Lembit Opik and Julia Goldsworthy are all fingered by the Telegraph. Most of these involve minor amounts compared with the wholesale troughing of Tory grandees and Labour ministers previously revealed by the Telegraph. (I can't see Glyn Davies getting too hot under the collar over Lembit's £40 fine, for instance.)

Nick Clegg announced tonight that he will require our MPs to repay to the taxpayer any profits made on sale of subsidised homes. He thus joins Tory leader David Cameron in taking a hard line against abuse of the system.

We know about Alex Salmond's food bill and Sinn Fein's use of expenses. Are there no skeletons in the cupboards of the other nationalists, or have they just slipped under the Telegraph's radar?

Frank Little

Plaid, we can't hear you on the Gurkhas

Our local nationalists have been keeping their heads down over the Gurkha issue.

We know that there is a long-standing anti-British Army streak in Plaid Cymru, evidenced recently in Neath at the ceremonial march through the town centre by the Royal Welsh Regiment, when only the leader of the Plaid Cymru group and one other councillor represented the nationalists. There was no sign of the Plaid Cymru AM nor of the candidate for the Neath parliamentary seat. They also criticised Charles Kennedy for supporting our forces in Iraq, even going so far in some quarters as to call for a mutiny.

The nationalists want to dismantle the very thing that the Gurkhas fought for and
hold so dear - the British state! Where would an independent Wales leave the Gurkhas, and their hopes for settling in "Britain"? We remind Plaid that the Gurkhas have strong links with Wales, especially with Brecon and the Neath valley. There is mutual respect between Welsh and Gurkha soldiers.

At least the Scottish Nationalists backed the call for settlement.

What happens if nationalists have their way over independence, and what is left of the "UK state" (i.e., England) continues to follow a restrictive policy? Does this mean that Gurkhas in Wales and England can rely on settlement in Scotland?

Euro candidates Q&A

Stop Climate Chaos Cymru has organised a hustings event next week. From their Web pages:

Stop Climate Chaos Cymru invites you to a question and answer session with some of the candidates for the European Union Parliament elections.

Tuesday 12 May at 7.30pm
The Environment Centre, Pier Street, Swansea (near the Marina)

Speakers:

• Evan Price (Conservative)
• Lisa Stevens (Labour)
• Alan Butt Philip (Lib-Dem)
• Jill Evans, MEP (Plaid Cymru)

Chair:
Phil McDonnell, former Environment Centre Manager and now independent environment consultant.

All are welcome, tea and coffee will be available.

Organiser: Peter K Jones 02920 353 013 (peter.jones@rspb.org.uk)

Back Gurkhas now say local Liberal Democrats

Welsh Liberal Democrats are calling for local Labour MPs to support the Gurkhas after they voted against proposals to allow those who had fought for Britain to remain in the UK.

The vote on a Liberal Democrat motion was held in the House of Commons on 29^th April and resulted in a shock defeat for the Government. Both Peter Hain (Neath) and Hywel Francis (Aberavon) sided with the Government, despite the overwhelming popular support for the Gurkhas.

“I was greatly disappointed to hear that Mr Hain had voted for thousands of Gurkhas to be deported from the UK,” said former Welsh Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate for Neath Sheila Waye. “But the Government was defeated because a few brave Labour MPs defied their party bosses and backed the Gurkhas who have so bravely fought for Britain.

“The Government has a moral duty to support those who have put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms and fight for our country. I am sorry that Mr Hain voted the opposite way.

“The Government must take notice of the will of Parliament and bring back new proposals that will allow Gurkhas to stay rather than have them kicked out of the country. I hope Mr Hain undergoes a change of heart and presses the Minister to bring forward new proposals as soon as possible.”

Aberavon Labour MP Hywel Francis has been asked to explain a “shameful” u-turn after announcing his support for Gurkhas to remain in the UK but then voting to boot them out of the country.

Angry Welsh Liberal Democrats are demanding Mr Francis writes to Gurkha organisations to explain his change of mind.

Parliamentary records show that an “Early Day Motion” (EDM) supporting the right of Gurkhas who had served in the British Army to stay in the UK was signed by Mr Francis on 29^th April. No debates or votes are held on EDMs but they are used by MPs instead to show their support for a particular cause.

“Hywel Francis sided with the Gurkhas in the EDM,” said former Welsh Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Aberavon Claire Waller. “Then on the same day, according to the parliamentary record, he had betrayed them by voting for the Government’s policy of deporting most of them.

“Dr Francis has performed a rapid and shameful u-turn. He owes the Gurkhas an apology and his constituents an explanation.”

Neath Port Talbot Labour leader election

We are told that there were four candidates for the leadership and seven for his deputy going in to tonight's meeting. Who will be Snow White?

Thursday morning: A little bird tells us that the new leader is the current deputy, Alun Thomas. He represents Onllwyn. His deputy will be Arwyn Woolcock of Brynamman. These are the choices of the Labour Party, so they will be a shoo-in at the annual meeting of the council later this month.

Sustrans doubts Darling's green credentials

Green Liberal Democrats quote the sustainable transport pressure group as describing Budget 2009 as a series of missed opportunities.

Jason Torrance, Sustrans' Policy Manager, said: 'The measures announced in the budget will deepen the nation's reliance on car travel, and do nothing to improve local environments, health, road safety or travel choice.

'The scrappage scheme is a catastrophic knee-jerk reaction to the recession, which ignores congestion and climate change and could amount to nothing more than a large hand-out to car manufacturers overseas.

Sustrans has already suggested alternative ways for the scrappage money to be spent that would bring about substantial, long-term benefits to the environment and health.

These include redesigning public space in ways that encourage people to use their cars less, developing safer routes for walking and cycling, and providing travel advice to make it easier for people to switch to greener, healthier ways of travelling when and where it suits them best.

A £250 million investment in electric cars announced in the budget is equally misguided, say Sustrans, and will further embed car-based travel in our society.

Council by-election win in Tory target seat

Staple Tye ward, Harlow District Council

Thursday 30 April 2009

LD 604 (+ 48) 39.145% (+ 5.971%) John Strachan ELECTED
Con 544 (-304) 35.256% (-15.341%)
Lab 329 (+ 57) 21.322% (+ 5.093%)
UKIP 66 (+ 66) 4.277% (+ 4.277%)
Turnout 30% (-2.26%) 133 less valid votes

LIB DEM GAIN (from Con) - MAJ 60

Local activist Lorna Spenceley points to a massive drop in the Tory vote: a huge blow to the party in one of its very top national target parliamentary seats.

Also significant is the poor showing of UKIP.

Nick Clegg states position on paying MPs

Nick Clegg has written to Gordon Brown and David Cameron to continue to seek a cross-party solution to the issues of MPs pay and expenses.

In his letter, Nick Clegg proposes to ban MPs from making any profit from the selling of properties whose mortgages have been paid for by the tax payer. Nick Clegg also reiterates his opposition to a system of daily allowances. The full text is here.

Call for Gurkha justice

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg tabled the following motion for debate in the House of Commons today:
That this House condemns the Government's recent statement outlining the eligibility criteria for Gurkhas to reside in the United Kingdom; recognises the contribution the Gurkhas have made to the safety and freedom of the United Kingdom for the past 200 years; notes that more Gurkhas have laid down their lives for the United Kingdom than are estimated to want to live here; believes that Gurkhas who retired before 1997 should be treated fairly and in the same way as those who have retired since; is concerned that the Government's new guidelines will permit only a small minority of Gurkhas and their families to settle whilst preventing the vast majority; further believes that people who are prepared to fight and die for the United Kingdom should be entitled to live here; and calls upon the Government to withdraw its new guidelines immediately and bring forward revised proposals that extend an equal right of residence to all Gurkhas.

Frank Little writes:
On behalf of the local party, and as parliamentary candidate for Neath, I wrote to both our local MPs pointing out the disparity between Labour's commitment to even-handedness in race relations and Borders and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas's apparently discriminatory action. Fijian and Jamaican servicemen are given rights of residence in the UK denied to Gurkhas.

Their replies are broadly sympathetic, but without any commitment to challenge the decision. I hope that they will attend at least part of the debate and put conscience ahead of party loyalty when it comes to the vote.

** Update ** The Liberal Democrat motion won by 21. Aberavon MP Dr Hywel Francis and Neath's Peter Hain voted against it. Labour members who voted for the motion included Dianne Abbott, Andrew Mackinlay and Bob Marshall-Andrews.

Chris Huhne led for the party. His speech is in Hansard here (column 890).

Blaenau Gwent Labour candidate quits party

Martin Shipton in the Western Mail has confirmed that John Hopkins, who was defeated by Trish Law, the widow of Peter Law, in the Blaenau Gwent by-election, has resigned from the Labour Party after 44 years as a member.

You lose some, you win some

A LibDem prospective parliamentary candidate defects to the Conservatives in London.

However, Chris Huhne's position in what was once seen as a very marginal seat has been strengthened by his prospective Labour opponent in Eastleigh resigning the party and deciding to vote for Chris instead. He says: "Time and again, I have found myself thinking that Chris Huhne is right on issues as varied as Trident, climate change, the economy and civil liberties whilst the government is wrong on them."

"Titan Prisons" abandoned

Although there has as yet been no government confirmation, BBC News has heard whispers that the super-prison programme has been abandoned.

We are glad that sense has been seen. Prisons to be effective in reforming criminals must be local and well-staffed.

Only one hundred Gurkhas will benefit from new rules

Gurkha representatives condemned today's government announcement.

It is significant that the announcement was made by Phil Woolas, Immigration Minister. It seems that Labour has done the bare minimum which they estimate would satisfy the recent High Court judgement in order to appease the BNP and its sympathisers.

Update: the BBC story is here.

See also "Clegg will lead attack ... in Parliament".

Update 2009-4-25 - Gareth Epps, Liberal Democrat candidate for Reading East added: "'It's staggering that any Minister from a party that claims to believe in equality can sign up to such a decicion.

"The Labour Government is now allowing settlement rights to former soldiers from Jamaica or Fiji, but treats Gurkha veterans as somehow less worthy. This is a shameful decision and I will do everything in my power to back the ongoing campaign for Gurkha justice."

The Gurkha Justice campaign site is at www.gurkhajustice.org.uk and you can also follow @gurkhajustice at Twitter.

Clegg: "a pick-and-mix budget"

The Liberal Democrat leader described Wednesday's Budget as "a pick and mix Budget of recycled announcements from a government skilled in raising people’s hopes but incompetent at actually delivering help."
His full text, and links to comments by Steve Webb, David Laws, Simon Hughes and Norman Baker are here.

Nick Clegg's budget response: a BBC excerpt

You can read the full text over at the party’s website HERE.

Former Tory A-lister defects to the Liberal Democrats

A West Midlands businesswoman, who had been placed on the Conservative party's list of preferred parliamentary candidates, has decided that her future is with the Liberal Democrats. More at Liberal Democrat Voice.

Liberal Democrat spring conference

Affordable housing speech, Nick Clegg and Kirsty Williams videos are all on Peter Black's blog.

Sir Clement Freud dies

Sir Clement died last Wednesday evening at the age of 84. There is a BBC tribute here, which naturally concentrates on his contributions to Radio 4. However, his career as a Liberal MP is also significant, from winning Isle of Ely in a by-election against the odds in 1973, to his part in the downfall of the Callaghan government six years later. I have the impression that cash-strapped Liberal HQ would not or could not give any assistance in that 1973 campaign, preferring to concentrate on the by-election in Ripon on the same day, which makes Freud's success all the more remarkable. Freud also survived boundary reorganisation in 1983 and served as MP for North-East Cambridgeshire until 1987.

Frank Little

Kirsty Williams let down by Ieuan Air

Liberal Democrat News reports that Kirsty Williams was the honoured guest at an all-party charity ball hosted by Anglesey Chairman Aled Morris Jones at the beginning of this month. Unfortunately, her flight north was cancelled at short notice. LDN goes on: "She decided to act like Lloyd George and enlisted the help of two women passengers to commandeer a taxi and catch the train. She finally arrived just in time to make her speech, but missed the delicious, gourmet dinner."

Putting MPs' travel expenses in perspective

We are grateful to Liberal Democrat Voice for drawing attention to a useful map* which is a great example of how you can use maps to make statistics clearer. Mark Pack of LDV writes: "In this case, the big issue is that MPs do have genuinely different legitimate travel needs depending on where they live. It’s only reasonable for an MP from Scotland to have much higher travel expenses than one who lives in London, for example.

"Putting the sums on a map helps show the patterns which are reasonable. And it also highlights those which are a bit more surprising, such as Margaret Moran, Labour MP for Luton South who has claimed £80,000 more in expenses than another Labour MP living in the same street. She is the green blob in a sea of blue and purple just north of London.

"The other one that particularly caught my eye was Conservative MP Chris Grayling, a frequent Conservative Party attack dog, who also stands out as a green blob in a sea of blue and purple - in his case, just south west of London.

"The map doesn’t reveal everything by any means. For example, it doesn’t pick up the issue of Malcolm Rifkind (constituency: in London, location of Parliament: in London) claiming regular travel expenses for going back and forth between London and Scotland. But it is a useful extra perspective on what is and isn’t reasonable to claim."

One might also point out the abstemiousness of Labour's Alan Williams (Swansea West, £3711) compared with some fellow Labour Privy Councillors further east, and therefore closer to London. However, Liberal Democrat member for Cardiff Central, Jenny Willott, must take a prize for not claiming any travel expenses for 2007/8.

*Warning - it's not so useful if you have only a dial-up or other slow internet connection.

Calling Time on Tax Havens

I was intrigued to hear that one of the outcomes of this weeks G20 meeting was that all those Tax Havens are now to be named and shamed. More interesting to note is that the Liberal Democrats have been calling for this for some time. Moreover, the Liberal Democrats went a stage further than this well before the G20 Summit and challenged the Government over this issue in the House of Lords on 30 March 2009.

Click here for more.

Preamble to the Liberal Democrat Constitution

Not the most conventional of posts, i agree, but I don't think enough is made of this "Ethos" let alone publicised. After all, it encompasses the overarching principles which guide our policy making and which seeks to define what the Liberal Democrats stand for - it is also what convinced me to join the Liberal Democrats.

Time and again, I hear from people on the doorsteps "Well, what are the Lib Dems for?" "What do you represent?"

So, here it is......

The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity. We champion the freedom, dignity and well-being of individuals, we acknowledge and respect their right to freedom of conscience and their right to develop their talents to the full. We aim to disperse power, to foster diversity and to nurture creativity. We believe that the role of the state is to enable all citizens to attain these ideals, to contribute fully to their communities and to take part in the decisions which affect their lives.

We look forward to a world in which all people share the same basic rights, in which they live together in peace and in which their different cultures will be able to develop freely. We believe that each generation is responsible for the fate of our planet and, by safeguarding the balance of nature and the environment, for the long term continuity of life in all its forms.

Upholding these values of individual and social justice, we reject all prejudice and discrimination based upon race, colour, religion, age, disability, sex or sexual orientation and oppose all forms of entrenched privilege and inequality. Recognising that the quest for freedom and justice can never end, we promote human rights and open government, a sustainable economy which serves genuine need, public services of the highest quality, international action based on a recognition of the interdependence of all the world's peoples and responsible stewardship of the earth and its resources.

We believe that people should be involved in running their communities. We are determined to strengthen the democratic process and ensure that there is a just and representative system of government with effective Parliamentary institutions, freedom of information, decisions taken at the lowest practicable level and a fair voting system for all elections. We will at all times defend the right to speak, write, worship, associate and vote freely, and we will protect the right of citizens to enjoy privacy in their own lives and homes. We believe that sovereignty rests with the people and that authority in a democracy derives from the people. We therefore acknowledge their right to determine the form of government best suited to their needs and commit ourselves to the promotion of a democratic federal framework within which as much power as feasible is exercised by the nations and regions of the United Kingdom. We similarly commit ourselves to the promotion of a flourishing system of democratic local government in which decisions are taken and services delivered at the most local level which is viable.

We will foster a strong and sustainable economy which encourages the necessary wealth creating processes, develops and uses the skills of the people and works to the benefit of all, with a just distribution of the rewards of success. We want to see democracy, participation and the co-operative principle in industry and commerce within a competitive environment in which the state allows the market to operate freely where possible but intervenes where necessary. We will promote scientific research and innovation and will harness technological change to human advantage.

We will work for a sense of partnership and community in all areas of life. We recognise that the independence of individuals is safeguarded by their personal ownership of property, but that the market alone does not distribute wealth or income fairly. We support the widest possible distribution of wealth and promote the rights of all citizens to social provision and cultural activity. We seek to make public services responsive to the people they serve, to encourage variety and innovation within them and to make them available on equal terms to all.

Our responsibility for justice and liberty cannot be confined by national boundaries; we are committed to fight poverty, oppression, hunger, ignorance, disease and aggression wherever they occur and to promote the free movement of ideas, people, goods and services. Setting aside national sovereignty when necessary, we will work with other countries towards an equitable and peaceful international order and a durable system of common security. Within the European Community we affirm the values of federalism and integration and work for unity based on these principles. We will contribute to the process of peace and disarmament, the elimination of world poverty and the collective safeguarding of democracy by playing a full and constructive role in international organisations which share similar aims and objectives.

These are the conditions of liberty and social justice which it is the responsibility of each citizen and the duty of the state to protect and enlarge. The Liberal Democrats consist of women and men working together for the achievement of these aims.

Prison administration in a mess

On top of the release of figures by Welsh Liberal Democrats which show that the prison population of Wales is rising, even though increasing numbers of convicts are being released early, comes news that inspectors have criticised Parc in Bridgend for not having enough resources to carry out its role as the only training prison for Wales.