By-election update

Big gains in the English South-West this week. This is where the Tories made biggest inroads into the Liberal Democrat vote in 2015's general election after throwing huge amounts of money at it (still under investigation). In a new IpsosMORI/Evening Standard poll, Liberal Democrat ratings have gone up from 10% to 14%.

Tories 'cannot be trusted' on devolution

Conservative MP for Brecon and Radnorshire Chris Davies has called for Westminster to have the power to place the Welsh Government in “special measures”, withdrawing powers from Welsh politicians.

This comes following the recent announcement on Wales' 2015 PISA results.

Baroness Jenny Randerson, Welsh Lib Dem spokesperson for Government relations said;

“I’m astounded that Chris Davies MP has the audacity to suggest that politicians in London know better than the Welsh teaching profession.

“Welsh Lib Dem Education Secretary Kirsty Williams is committed to our national mission of educational reform to raise standards for all our children and schools in Wales, working with teachers and educational professionals in doing so.

"The OECD have said that Wales is now on the right path and that we should stick with Kirsty's plan for our schools.

“The Welsh Liberal Democrats believe that the best people to make decisions about our schools and our children’s education are the people of Wales, not bureaucrats and politicians in London. The Tories clearly cannot be trusted not to roll back the tide on devolution."

What Liberal Democrats believe

A high-res single poster incorporating the panels above is available here (6 Mb pdf). It is A3 sized and suitable for printing out.

Pro-European? Labour has given up on you.

Radical overhaul of student funding in Wales

Independent proposals for students to receive the equivalent of the National Living Wage during term time have been accepted by Welsh Lib Dem Education Secretary Kirsty Williams.

The Welsh Lib Dems were clear during the election that they would overhaul the current funding arrangements to make students’ daily living costs the central focus of any new funding system.

The Welsh Government will implement, with only minor modification, the Diamond package, meaning that the average Welsh student could receive up to £7,000 a year in grant support, which will also be available for part-time students, from September 2018.

Cadan ap Tomos, the Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesperson for young people, added:

“The Welsh Liberal Democrats have consistently argued that the high cost of living is the number one barrier to accessing university. It should be your ability to learn, not your ability to pay, that determines whether you can study.

“Far too many students are struggling to make ends meet. I’m proud that the Welsh Lib Dems not only listened to students by putting living costs front and centre of this debate, but that we’re now using our influence to deliver on our promise to students in May.

“With Kirsty Williams in Government, the Welsh Lib Dems will secure much-needed reforms for all students, making sure that a parent’s bank balance won’t hold any young person back from succeeding at uni.”

Welsh Lib Dem Education Secretary Kirsty Williams said:

“We are looking to introduce the most generous and progressive system anywhere in the UK. These plans will deliver the first system in the UK that is consistent, progressive and fair in its support for full and part-time undergraduates and for post-graduate students.

“I am clear that Wales needs a sustainable and progressive higher education funding settlement that supports students when they most need it, and, importantly, enables our universities to compete internationally.

“Our proposals are a fundamental shift so that Wales can develop a higher education funding and student finance system that really does provide for all.”

Something the Brexit campaigners forgot to mention when railing against bureaucracy

Motes and beams department

A German couple sits on a couch in front of the telly. He, with his eyes glued to the box, says "How stupid are the Yanks to vote for Trump?" while she looks out of the window to the hordes of neo-Nazis and AfD supporters waving "Foreigners out!" and similar banners.

Liberal Democrat MPs will vote against Article 50

Tim Farron MP, leader of the Liberal Democrats in Westminster, says:

"We will vote against Article 50 unless it allows the people a vote on the deal, because the will of the people must prevail – both on departure and destination.

"The government has no plan and their haphazard approach is leading us towards a disastrous version of Brexit which risks jobs, communities, security and the economic health of the nation."

What Welsh students could miss out on after Brexit

The organisation ColegauCymru / CollegesWales posts:

Erasmus+

ColegauCymru / CollegesWales succeeded in its Erasmus+ application once again for half a million Euros to support overseas opportunities for learners and staff.  This latest success brings the total amount of funding acquired by ColegauCymru / CollegesWales for learners since 2011 through Erasmus+ and Leonardo da Vinci (the European Union’s predecessor programme) to just over €1.2million.

Nine FE colleges, Tata Steel and Isa Training will be part of this exciting project. The funding will enable 215 vocational learners and apprentices from 11 curriculum areas to undertake work placements in Europe.

There is a petition to save Erasmus here: http://www.libdems.org.uk/erasmus

CETA signed

Cecilia Malmström writes on signing the Comprehensive Economic and Trade agreement at the summit between the EU and Canada:
This agreement is an important achievement, for many reasons. First of all, it clearly demonstrates that when Europe comes together, we can shape globalisation according to our values and our standards. We reached an agreement on the EU side after some tumultuous discussions. Sometimes we need to make things a bit complicated first, in order to make them better as a result - it has always been the crises that foster progress in our European Union.

There is much skepticism about both globalisation and trade these days – across Europe as well as in North America and elsewhere. In recent years we have been engaged in a very passionate European debate on trade. This is important, because it helps us improve our EU trade policy. As a Swede, I know for a fact that openness to trade and stringent social standards are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary - we need open and fair rules on trade to support, maintain and improve our welfare states. Trade agreements are not the silver bullet to solve all our problems, but it is an important tool that Europe has at its disposal to strengthen economic growth and foster jobs.

Pound has lost 21% against the US dollar since the general election

https://www.poundsterlinglive.com/best-exchange-rates/british-pound-to-us-dollar-exchange-rate-on-2015-05-20

John Alderson

The "thinking man's copper", one of the last candidates for the old Liberal party, and a pioneer of community policing, died five years ago today.

The ECHR Mrs May does not trust

Click on this link for more.

Boundary Commission recommendations

These are the recommendations regarding Wales of the Boundary Commission set up as as result of the government decision to reduce the number of Westminster constituencies to 600 at around 75,000 electors each. The proposals affecting Neath, Port Talbot and adjacent areas are shown below.

It seems to us that the Boundary Commission has paid insufficient attention to one of its rules, namely special geographical considerations, including in particular the size, shape and accessibility of a constituency; local government boundaries as they existed on 7 May 2015 and any local ties that would be broken by changes in constituencies.

Local Liberal Democrats have consistently opposed the break-up of natural communities purely in the interest of electoral arithmetic. At the previous Boundary Commission review we asked for the Coedffranc wards (including Skewen) to be moved back into the constituency of Neath of which they naturally form part. On that occasion we were unsuccessful, but at least Coedffranc remained within a constituency contained within the same (Neath Port Talbot) local council area. It seems to us that the current proposals unnecessarily break the local government/constituency link (e.g.
Skewen merged with Swansea East, Port Talbot and Margam with Ogmore).

Kirsty Williams rules out grammar schools for Wales

Wales’ Education Secretary Liberal Democrat Kirsty Williams ruled out a return to 11-plus in Wales and said: “It seems that some terrible ideas just won’t go away.

“The Tories in England and Wales seem determined to bang this tired old drum. For them, this is all about dogma and doctrine, rather than looking at what actually works for our young people.

“The facts show that grammar schools do nothing to improve social mobility. The Sutton Trust found that less than 3% of grammar school pupils were on free school lunches, compared with 20% across the country.

“The Welsh Liberal Democrats believe in opportunity for all, which is why under no circumstances will Wales be seeing an expansion of grammar schools.

“As Education Secretary, I will be guided by evidence so that we have a schools system that is modern, innovative and rooted in optimism about the potential of all our children.”

Save Erasmus

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Farron: we must have a referendum on final Brexit terms

Leader of the Liberal Democrats Tim Farron writes:

This morning I’m setting out our party’s plan for Britain in Europe. Our key demand is simple – we demand the British people have their say on the final deal in a referendum.

Read the plan ➤

The simple fact is, voting for a departure is not the same as voting for a destination. The British people deserve a real choice over what comes next, to guarantee that it is the right decision for them, their families, their jobs and our country.

In the meantime, our party has another vital task, to fight for an open, tolerant and united country, to hold the Conservative Brexit Government to account and the guarantee the best possible deal for Britain.

We will hold Theresa May’s Government to account over Brexit, expose the lies that Boris Johnson, David Davis and Michael Gove told during the referendum and make sure any deal they do is good for Britain.

Read the plan ➤

Nobody else will do this job for us. Labour cannot be trusted to do their job as the opposition and Plaid are only interested in using Brexit to push for independence.

Our policy on Europe is simple: we want to stay. We wanted that the day before the referendum and we still want it today. We want to stay because Britain is stronger, safer and more influential at the heart of Europe, than outside it.

So let me be clear: I don’t believe there is any deal that Theresa May can do that will be better for Britain than being a member of the European Union. So when people are given that choice, we will make the case loudly and clearly that we believe Britain should stay in the European Union.

Thank you,

Tim

Tim Farron MP
Leader of the Liberal Democrats

The EU does something which single states cannot

From the EU Commission's press release:

The European Commission has concluded that Ireland granted undue tax benefits of up to €13 billion to Apple. This is illegal under EU state aid rules, because it allowed Apple to pay substantially less tax than other businesses. Ireland must now recover the illegal aid.

Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: "Member States cannot give tax benefits to selected companies – this is illegal under EU state aid rules. The Commission's investigation concluded that Ireland granted illegal tax benefits to Apple, which enabled it to pay substantially less tax than other businesses over many years. In fact, this selective treatment allowed Apple to pay an effective corporate tax rate of 1 per cent on its European profits in 2003 down to 0.005 per cent in 2014."

Following an in-depth state aid investigation launched in June 2014, the European Commission has concluded that two tax rulings issued by Ireland to Apple have substantially and artificially lowered the tax paid by Apple in Ireland since 1991. The rulings endorsed a way to establish the taxable profits for two Irish incorporated companies of the Apple group (Apple Sales International and Apple Operations Europe), which did not correspond to economic reality: almost all sales profits recorded by the two companies were internally attributed to a "head office". The Commission's assessment showed that these "head offices" existed only on paper and could not have generated such profits. These profits allocated to the "head offices" were not subject to tax in any country under specific provisions of the Irish tax law, which are no longer in force. As a result of the allocation method endorsed in the tax rulings, Apple only paid an effective corporate tax rate that declined from 1% in 2003 to 0.005% in 2014 on the profits of Apple Sales International.

This selective tax treatment of Apple in Ireland is illegal under EU state aid rules, because it gives Apple a significant advantage over other businesses that are subject to the same national taxation rules. The Commission can order recovery of illegal state aid for a ten-year period preceding the Commission's first request for information in 2013. Ireland must now recover the unpaid taxes in Ireland from Apple for the years 2003 to 2014 of up to €13 billion, plus interest.

In fact, the tax treatment in Ireland enabled Apple to avoid taxation on almost all profits generated by sales of Apple products in the entire EU Single Market. This is due to Apple's decision to record all sales in Ireland rather than in the countries where the products were sold. This structure is however outside the remit of EU state aid control. If other countries were to require Apple to pay more tax on profits of the two companies over the same period under their national taxation rules, this would reduce the amount to be recovered by Ireland.

How it worked:

Clean up Neath Port Talbot Streets

For years now, Neath Port Talbot Council has allowed our streets and our residential areas to look more and more shabby and unkempt.

The build-up of rubbish and weeds that choke our streets and lanes makes our communities look and feel decaying and unloved. We used to have regular patrols to deal with problems like litter and weed growth. That seems to have been allowed to drift over recent years. For a county with the second highest principal council tax rate in Wales, that is just not good enough.

It is not only bad for the people who live here, it is bad for the economy of the county borough, too. How can we persuade people that Neath and Port Talbot are good locations in which to invest, to start a new business or to call their home in the midst of this neglect?

We want Neath, Port Talbot and their towns and villages to fulfil their potential and we want them to be good places to live in. That won’t happen while our Labour Council sits back and watches as the mess piles up around us.

Please support our petition calling on Neath Port Talbot Council to clean up our streets. Please help to take good care of our community.

Sign our petition here: http://www.peter-black.net/cleanupnpt

LibDem net gains in council by-elections

Liberal Democrats made net gains of four seats in principal council by-elections in the three-month period up to 5th May. The next quarter, which includes post-Brexit successes like these, is expected to show further improvement.