Central Government must recover local authority deposits in Icelandic banks

Commenting on the situation facing councils that have money invested in Icelandic banks, Liberal Democrat Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, Julia Goldsworthy said:

"The first priority has to be that the Government supports councils to recover as much of their money as possible. It must also look at the potential for the capitalisation of any remaining debts to avoid service cuts or immediate Council Tax rises at all costs.

"We need to know the extent of the risk and under what circumstance councils made these commitments. Some councils that deliberately avoided taking these risks should have their prudence acknowledged.

"The real issue here is making sure that front line services like fire and policing, social care and transport are protected.

"The answer isn’t for the Government to guarantee these loans. That would simply pass the buck from local taxpayers to income taxpayers, which would not be much comfort to those already struggling to pay their bills.

"It is ridiculous for the Government to try to wash its hands of this, given that in many cases it is revenues councils were collecting for the Government, such as business rates, which are now at risk. These councils were operating within Treasury guidance.

"The next question is how far the problem will spread. PFI schemes for new schools and hospitals could be under threat."

Westminster must not dump the problem on the Welsh Assembly Government, as it has done for Scotland. That was one inference which could be drawn from TV interviews with the Secretary of State, Paul Murphy, last night. He gave no commitments, but gave the impression that it was enough for him to represent Wales in talks about the crisis.

Update: Neath Port Talbot CBC has issued a statement.

Baglan: ex-Ratepayers respond

A recent leaflet issued by the two Labour councillors in Baglan concluded:

We want you to know what really went on.

Opposition parties have been implying that Baglan has been disenfranchised, up until now we haven't put anything in writing about what happened prior to the closing nominations on the 4"" of April 2008.

When we first joined the Ratepayers the focus of the group was, 'People Come First, your local needs and issues. We have never professed to be political animals, we go about the job from day to day because we care and are passionate about our children, environment and community. We have worked extremely hard and attended all meetings in order to gain an all-round knowledge of our duties as councillors and to gain more insight into the function of the council. We have made strong representation on issues affecting the community of Baglan along with issues of concern throughout the County Borough; and will continue to do so but subsequently we suffered lack of support and commitment from the Ratepayers on too many occasions.

After Cllr Paul Evans passed away the Ratepayers changed and after three years of trying to work with the new regime, we couldn't continue to do so because of the constant bullying from within the party which was solely directed at Juliet. Also, a member of the Conservative party attended Ratepayers meetings and dictated a pact between the Ratepayers/Tories/Plaid and Liberal Democrats so they could create safe seats for themselves and deny the voters a right to democracy. If we had stayed with the Ratepayers we would have been unopposed, therefore, you must ask the question, would the opposition parties have then stated in their leaflet that we were unwanted? Surely if the other parties were so worried about Baglan and how it was being represented, why then, didn't they submit candidates in the last election?

Yes, we did change to Labour just before the end of the nominations and it was a massive personal decision to make. But with very little time to make this decision we feel that it would have had greater consequences had it been made after the elections. We are still 100% committed to Baglan, 'our community, regardless of our status, and, as far as we are concerned, the People of Baglan still come first.

Our reply:.

We didn't imply that Baglan was disenfranchised. In our Baglan leaflet we boldly stated it right out.

We have never been dictated to by Conservatives or by any outside body.

If the then-Ratepayers in Baglan were unhappy about the way the party was run, why didn't they move to change it? Clearly it was in need of fresh leadership, something we had pointed out in our comments on council attendance before the election.

Frank Little says: “As leader of a small party, I make no apologies for placing our select group of candidates where they stood most chance of winning. I was entitled to assume that Ratepayers, who had once formed a minority group on the council along with independents and ourselves, had more similar views to Liberal Democrats than to Labour. I was therefore not going to undermine them by running candidates of our own. I have been involved in county council elections in the Neath Port Talbot area since the early 1990s. Every time, I have been fed information from various sources on the council about where opposition candidates would be standing and 2008 was the first year in which the information was genuine. There was no talk of Conservative plots in the years when we turned out to have been deceived."

Yes, we did change to Labour just before the end of the nominations

It would have been more honest to change earlier than 15 minutes before the close.

we feel that it would have had greater consequences had it been made after the elections
After the elections, the Baglan 2 would have formed 40% of the Ratepayer representation on the council and would hardly need to change allegiance. They would surely have been able to influence the way the party was run.

Secret plan to close all post offices

It seems that the government is only waiting to get the Glenrothes by-election out of the way before unveiling plans which will make all post offices unviable.

Good news, bad news, on the Irish government's bank guarantee

Good news: Allied Irish Bank, which is one of those institutions backed by the guarantee of the government of the Republic, provides financial products through UK post offices.

Bad news: the government is shutting post offices as fast as it can get away with it.

Nicholas Bourne too nice for the Tories

Peter Black's blog refers.

Bobby's back

Commenting on Gordon Brown’s cabinet reshuffle, in which Peter Mandelson is to return to a senior post, Chief of Staff to Nick Clegg, Danny Alexander said:

"Gordon Brown is deluded if he thinks that Peter Mandelson can help him convince the British people that his party still has what it takes to govern this country.

"Resurrecting ex-ministers from the political graveyard is not going to breathe new life into Gordon Brown’s zombie government."

Party gives qualified support to housing stock transfer ballot

At the special meeting of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council this morning, Liberal Democrat councillors went along with the rest of the council in accepting the cabinet's decision to comply with the Welsh Housing Quality Standard in respect of its council housing. On the recommendation to ballot tenants on the establishment of a community mutual body to take over council housing, we gave our support subject to scrutiny of the details as they were rolled out.

Nadine Dorries

Lest people accuse us of a vendetta against Labour in drawing attention to their misuse of their parliamentary positions, (see posting about Keith Vaz and Bridget Prentice), we should point out that Conservatives are at it too.

Gordon Brown's speech

Most of the comment has been on the style of the speech. Would it reveal the private man, the warm jester, who we were assured by people close to Number 10, lurked behind the dour, vindictive, public face?

Would it be a tour de force which would put an end to the speculation in the media about his future? Well, we now have much opinion - most of it surprisingly favourable - to draw on.

Few have commented on the substance of the speech. For instance, who contrasted Brown's understanding of the word fairness, with that of Nick Clegg? What sense was there of Brown addressing the widening gap between the richest and poorest in Britain? (See an economist's analysis of negative wages here.)

Or how about his misunderstanding of the metaphor of mending the roof when the sun was shining? The point was not about spending on public services, necessary though that may have been, but about building up reserves.

Finally (for now - I'm sure we'll come back to this), one of his trumpeted initiatives seems to be flawed. I refer to the provision of broadband.

He said:

Jim Knight is announcing that we will fund over a million extra families to get online, on the way to our ambition of Britain leading the world with more of our people than any other major economy able to actively participate in our broadband and internet future.

Most of us know that the major factor limiting broadband take-up in the UK is the provision of high-capacity cable. Wales suffers more than England in this respect.

It has been estimated that it will cost almost £30bn to optically-cable every home. There is a cheaper option, of carrying the optical fibre just to the street cabinets, leaving a short length of existing metal to complete the connection. That would cost just over £5bn. BT has committed to a £1.5bn upgrade which will bring the total of homes with access to high band-width to ten million, but there is no indication that they will provide universal access from their own resources.

Look at the official briefing which followed Gordon Brown's speech, and you will see that only £300m is to be allocated to the government initiative (and what's the betting it has been pared from some other programme?). This is enough only to favour a few, unless there has been a surprising change of heart on the part of the telecomms companies.

Frank Little

Commonwealth citizens joining British Army direct

No apologies for returning to the Gurkhas' case (see Monday posting).

The Gurkhas' legal team urgently (by end of Wednesday 24th September) need to find an example case of a soldier recruited directly to the British Army from a Commonwealth country to disprove statements being made by the Home Office.

Peter Carroll says:

“We need to find a person who joined the British Army between 1962 and 1997 who was a citizen of a Commonwealth Country and joined the Army directly from his own country - that is, they had not entered and settled in the UK before applying to join the Army.

“The reasons behind this requirement are complex. However, our legal team say that the finding of even one such instance would fundamentally improve the chance of victory in this case.”

If you can help, visit Peter’s site for details of how to get in touch.

We are grateful to Mark Pack and Liberal Democrat Voice for bringing this to our attention.

Gurkha ex-soldiers' citizenship

Dave Simpson of City of Chester Liberal Democrats asks:

"Please sign this petition.

"The current situation is a joke - the Gurkhas (who are some of our best, most loyal and bravest soldiers) are being turned away from British Citizenship.

"It's a disgrace and I feel quite strongly about it, having worked with some superb Officers whilst
with P&O.

"If you too feel strongly, please add your signature to this official Number 10 petition."

More Labour MPs accused of misusing their position

Following the revelations in the Daily Mail about Keith Vaz, Labour MP for Leicester East, there is news that the Labour MP for Lewisham, Bridget Prentice, may have misused part of her parliamentary allowance. The accusation concerns funds made available for constituency work, which Ms Prentice has used to promote herself to people living elsewhere.

Hard facts

You can read all the press releases there are about the housing crisis, but it's not until you come up against hard facts that the message sinks in. Hard facts like work being stopped on new builds or a statistic like this: that brick production in the UK is set to drop to its lowest levels since the 1940s.

Back in the Assembly next week, Welsh Liberal Democrats have chosen as a motion for debate: "To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

Notes the current lack of affordable housing in Wales.

Calls on the Welsh Assembly Government to:

1. Develop the HomeBuy scheme into a fully funded key workers' scheme.

2. Begin a limited trial of urban housing enablers"

Fair voting

Make Votes Count have started a new campaign. There is a deadline of 26th September.

Nick Clegg speech

Tremendous - his best performance yet. BBC Parliament will be repeating it this afternoon and evening.

Labour's Glenda Jackson misuse of expenses

The MP for Hampstead has been forced to repay part of her parliamentary allowance used to gather canvassing data for the Labour Party.

Peter Black's blog continues to win awards

The full winners of the Liberal Democrat gongs are here.

Federal conference, Bournemouth

View conference reports and videos here.

Nick Clegg's great repeal

In 2006, Nick Clegg inaugurated the Great Repeal Act campaign. He sought a: "single act to roll back a generation of illiberal legislation and illiberal regulations". He went on:
"Over the coming weeks, we will consult the public to help draw up a comprehensive list of the laws that should be repealed. Today I am launching a website where anyone can submit the details of a law they think should be scrapped – greatrepealact.com

" And then we will bring forward the most comprehensive set of proposals to pare back unnecessary laws and regulations a political party has ever produced. "

The web site is no longer active, but suggestions may still be posted as questions to the leader.

How to tackle crime

Crime hurts some of the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society, who are least able to withstand its effects. All the political parties want to cut crime. The only question is how.

Our approach, as Liberal Democrats, is fundamentally different from that of Labour and the Conservatives. We favour what works. Criminal justice policy has been buffeted by red-top opinion for too long. It is time for hard evidence in cutting crime.

Chris Huhne is leading the debate at our federal conference in Bournemouth next week.