A retro greeting

and a good New Year to everyone!

Affordable housing, Tory-style

Tim Farron's response to the Autumn Statement

This was a deeply political budget from a deeply political Chancellor.  It looks good in the theatrics of the Commons, with Labour divided, weak and inept, but the budget will unravel.

It will unravel in schools next year when they see funding slashed; it will unravel when local councils have to cut services and increase taxes just to get by; and it will unravel when projects can’t be built because of the skills shortage caused by the attack on further education.

The brighter outlook has given Osborne room for manoeuvre, yet he continues an ideological crusade to slash spending and attack working families on welfare.

Today, was supposed to be a Long Term economic plan, but it was a short term economic scam.

Most popular Welsh Liberal Democrat autumn conference ever

The conference committee reported that more people had subscribed to the 2015 AGM and conference held in the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea yesterday than at any time in the Welsh Liberal Democrats' history.

There were lively debates on policies for next year's election on rented housing, agriculture, disability, mental health and economic policy, as well as inspiring speeches from federal president Sal Brinton, Westminster MP Mark Williams and Welsh party leader Kirsty Williams. Against a divided Labour party, a Conservative government which is revealing itself in its true colours and UKIP suffering a catastrophic loss of income there is a great opportunity to make progress, though all warned against complacency.

Welsh Liberal Democrats guarding the public purse

Eluned Parrott, Assembly Member for South Wales Central, writes:
Tomorrow I will be voting against the Assembly Commission's budget in protest at the proposed 20% pay hike for Assembly Members.

I cannot accept that, at a time while public services are being squeezed and public sector workers have had their wages held back, politicians should be treated differently.

Politicians from across the political spectrum have criticised this ridiculous increase - now is the time for them to put their money where their mouth is. I challenge the other parties to join us, and send the remuneration board back to think again.

Earlier, Kirsty Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, had agreed that more AMs were needed to cope with the increase in powers resulting from the Wales Bill 2015, but added that there should be fewer Welsh MPs as a result, because: "There is no appetite to spend more money on politicians."

Safe nurse staffing in Wales moves closer

As the Nursing Times reported yesterday, Welsh assembly members passed the motion on the financial resolution for the Safe Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Bill. It will now move on to the next part of the legislative process, which will see ministers consider amendments to the bill.

Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Kirsty Williams, who put forward the Bill at the end of 2013, said that the decision was a signal that ministers would agree for the law to be introduced.

She said the bill was a “golden opportunity” to combat negative media headlines about the Welsh NHS. She added:

The premise of this bill is simple – making sure there are more nurses on our hospital wards means each nurse will have more time to care for each patients.

This will lead to better care outcomes for those patients, and a more manageable workload which might stem the flow of nurses leaving the profession. Nurses in Wales have to care for more patients per head than any other part of the UK. We simply can’t allow this situation to continue.

We must avoid another snooper's charter

Home Secretary Theresa May outlined her intentions regarding investigatory powers last Wednesday in her statement on a draft Bill.

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams responded:

“In 2012 the Tories brought forward plans to force internet service providers to keep a record of all your texts, emails and every website you visited. It was an enormous intrusion into our privacy, and a staggering attempt to grab our personal data on a scale we have never seen before.

“The Liberal Democrats were clear then, and are clear now, a snooper’s charter has no place in Britain, so we blocked it. Theresa May’s revised plans that have been published today should not try and sneak these provisions back in again.

“Make no mistake the Liberal Democrats will fight any attempt to bring back the so-called Snooper’s Charter under a different name.”

Osborne must go back to the drawing-board, says Farron

Leader of the Liberal Democrats Tim farron said after last night's votes in the House of Lords

The Government has been forced into an embarrassing climb down. George Osborne must now go back to the drawing board and come back with plans to balance the books that don’t simply attack working families who are already struggling to get by.

We have sent a clear signal to the Tories that the British people will not accept this scale of attack on the vital support they need.

Tonight’s vote gives people hope, but the threat still looms large.

It is utterly depressing that Labour did not join with the Liberal Democrats to kill off the cuts to Tax Credits completely.

We support the delay in the proposals and the demand for transitional protection, but this alone won’t stop the Conservative’s attack on working families who rely on Tax Credits, or ensure that it really does pay more to be in work than remain on benefits.

The Liberal Democrats will continue to do all we can stop tax credit changes that disproportionately hurt low-earning families, and urge others to do the same.

Welsh NHS performance "not good enough"

Walesonline reports the worst performance in the NHS in five months - nearly 2,000 patients spent more than 12 hours in Welsh A&E departments during September, though figures also showed there was an improvement in the proportion of patients spending less than four hours in emergency units.

Kirsty Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, said the latest figures were not good enough .

She said: “The Welsh Labour Government’s own target is that only 5% of patients should spend more than four hours in all emergency care facilities from arrival until admission, transfer or discharge, yet in Abertawe Bro Morgannwg over 22% of people waited longer.”

“It is also very worrying indeed that there has been a huge jump in the number of people waiting over 12 hours in A&E. Being in the accident and emergency department is an incredibly stressful time for a person and these extremely long waits will only add to that stress.”

The EU is about opportunity

The Vote Leave and Leave EU campaigns are "male, pale and stale," writes Catherine Bearder MEP. The board of the Stronger In campaign "represents all sections of society – students, the arts, business and trade unions – and almost half its members are women".

She goes on: "Young people in particular are historically the least likely to vote, but the latest polls show 83% of them want to stay in the EU. [We should emphasise] that the EU is all about opportunity. Whether it is a ski season in Austria or a summer working in a bar in Spain, being in the EU has made it easier than ever before to start a new life almost anywhere in Europe. Since 2007, 100,000 British students have received Erasmus grants to study abroad, giving them a chance to expand their horizons and make friends from all over the continent. Thousands of young people currently live and work around Europe, from Barcelona to Berlin. Many of us now take it for granted, but one central achievement of the EU is that opportunity no longer ends at our national borders. As EU citizens we have easy access to opportunities in 28 different countries.

"This includes the chance to come out and work in Brussels (which unfortunately young Brits don’t often take advantage of!). There are paid traineeship schemes at the various EU institutions [...] which provide an excellent way to get your foot in the door and gain some international experience."

Erasmus also offers a chance to avoid the student loans scheme.

Read more of Catherine's article here.

Welsh LibDem leader outraged by advice session snooping charter

Liberal Democrat politicians have reacted with alarm to yesterday’s ruling on the Wilson Doctrine The Investigatory Powers Tribunal basically shrugged off Harold Wilson’s declaration in 1966 that MPs’ phones would not be intercepted without him knowing, saying that it had no basis in law.

This comes on top of two Police forces abusing their powers to try to find journalists’ sources. If an MP, or a lawyer, or a journalist is investigating the Government for doing something it shouldn’t, the idea that the Government could snoop on that investigation is alarming.

This is why Liberal Democrats from across the UK have been quick to demand appropriate protections.

Kirsty Williams, the Welsh Lib Dem leader said it was outrageous that it was considered acceptable to spy on members of devolved parliaments:

It’s a huge concern that there is no legal basis for the convention limiting intelligence services from tapping the phones of MPs and Peers. However, it would seem that convention doesn’t even apply to parliamentarians outside of Westminster.

People need to trust that when they contact their Assembly Member they can do so securely. Day in, day out, we deal with private and confidential issues on behalf of our constituencies. That trust must never be jeopardised.

It is completely outrageous that it is considered acceptable to spy on elected politicians in devolved legislatures.

The UK Government must ensure the Wilson Doctrine applies for legislatures across the UK.

Liberals and Democrats in Europe success

Although only the fourth largest grouping in the European Parliament, ALDE was the most successful in winning votes in the plenary session just ended. The UK's Liberal Democrat representative, Catherine Bearder, is a member of this group.



More about the make-up of the various groups at http://www.votewatch.eu/.

Hospital waiting list figures in Wales rise again

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-34475863 refers.

Welsh Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams said Labour had "lost control of our NHS".

Ms Williams accused Labour of "failure" on public services and a "poverty of ambition".

"NHS staff are working around the clock to offer the very best treatment they can," she said. "Sadly they are having to work in very trying circumstances which is making their job incredibly difficult."

Labour's e-cigarette myth evaporates

WalesOnline reports that a recent survey cannot find a single e-cigarette user who has not smoked before.

Kirsty Williams, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, said: “If Labour’s claims that e-cigarettes were a gateway to tobacco were correct, we should be seeing people who have never smoked a cigarette before using e-cigs now.

“In fact, the opposite is true: Labour’s survey couldn’t find a single e-cigarette user who’s never smoked a cigarette before.

“Welsh Labour Ministers must be pretty embarrassed that their own report is undermining their own argument for a vaping ban.

“It’s about time they listened to the evidence, and the thousands of people who have supported the Welsh Lib Dems’ campaign against their proposed ban, and scrapped these illiberal and illogical proposals.”

We challenge Andrew RT Davies to disown Theresa May's Little Englandism

Federal party leader Tim Farron and Scottish and Welsh leaders Willie Rennie and Kirsty Williams were swift to challenge their Conservative counterparts to disown Theresa May’s “borderline xenophobic” comments in her conference speech earlier this week.

Kirsty said:

Andrew Davies must speak out against Theresa May’s outrageous speech or we must assume that he shares her views. He was right last month to call for extra help for refugees fleeing the crisis in Syria, but his position is at odds with the borderline xenophobia we heard from the Home Secretary.

Britain is socially, culturally and economically richer for our outward looking, tolerant approach. Yet this Conservative government is whipping up fear and mistrust.

The battle for a better Europe started in Bournemouth

http://www.libdemvoice.org/the-battle-for-a-better-europe-starts-in-bournemouth-47790.html

Pause in local government reorganisation

The Local Government Bill was meant to have been voted through on Tuesday but has been pulled from the Assembly agenda

Welsh Lib Dem shadow local government minister Peter Black, LibDem AM for South Wales West,  added: “This is the sign of a Labour Government that’s running scared, afraid of being left red-faced by the loss of a vote. I can’t help but think that if Labour’s minister hadn’t acted so arrogantly on this from the beginning, he wouldn’t have been left with no-one willing to work with him.

“Welsh Liberal Democrats have laid our cards on the table right from the very start: we will not support this bill without fairer votes for local council elections. I sincerely hope that the other parties won’t back down for any less.”

Great Swansea Bay renewable power project under threat

South Wales West AM Peter Black said he is concerned that investors could take their money elsewhere following a green subsidy decision delay from the UK Government

He said: "“I am a big supporter of the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, but it is quite clear that the failure of the UK Government to agree the price for the electricity it will generate within the original timetable has led to this delay.

"The danger now is that the project will lose momentum and that investors will take their money elsewhere.

“More seriously, the fact that the UK Government is dragging its heels over the feed-in tariff suggest that they may not be prepared to pay the price the company needs to make the project viable.

"I am concerned that the government’s lack of commitment to the lagoon and to renewable energy generally could kill it off completely.

“The Conservative Secretary of State for Energy needs to give some assurances that this will not be the case and accelerate the decision-making process so that Swansea, and those who want to invest in this project can have some certainty about the lagoon’s future.”

Welsh Lib Dems attack 'colossal waste of money' on Williams Commission

A Freedom of Information request by the Welsh Liberal Democrats found that a total of £130,332.51 was spent on the Williams Commission, not including staff costs funded from core funds. Peter Black AM, the Welsh Liberal Democrat shadow local government minister, said: “For Labour Ministers to spend over £130,000 to set up a Commission, only to then completely ignore its recommendations, is a colossal waste of money. Why go through the effort and expense of a full consultation if the response is just going to be ignored? “Labour Ministers have been stubborn on this issue from the outset – it’s their way or else. Sometimes they seem to forget that they failed to get a full mandate at the last election, and that they don’t have the right to rule like a majority Government with only half the seats. “Welsh Liberal Democrats are trying to give this Bill a purpose by introducing a much-needed change to the voting system for local council elections. “If Labour Ministers decide that protecting their dominance in County Halls is more important than voters being able to cast a fair vote at election time, the Welsh Lib Dems will have no choice but to vote down this Bill. I hope other parties will join us in doing so.”

What did you think of THE speech?

http://www.markpack.org.uk/134668/what-did-you-think-of-tim-farrons-debut-conference-leader-speech/