Showing posts with label New Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Politics. Show all posts
Friday, 21 May 2010
Coalition
We now have the full details of the coalition government and what it hopes to deliver. As a Lib Dem I am really proud to see some of our key policies lined up to be delivered in government. I believe that the compromises that have been made on both sides are sensible and pragmatic. It looks to me that the needs of people have been put ahead of rivalry and tribalism. One of the key things for me is the transfer of power from central to local level. Coupled with the work Nick Clegg will be doing on reforming our politics, I hope we can get to the point where people feel they can have real influence and affect change in their local area. I hope too that trust can be restored in politics, an it is once again seen as something that can deliver for the common good. There will be testing times ahead for the coalition partners, but I know from talking to colleagues that Liberal Democrats are approaching the future with optimism, and a determination to make Britain a fairer, greener and better place to live!
Thursday, 8 April 2010
Washed Up
The process of sorting out what legislation will still be passed after an election is called is called the 'wash up'. Basically the parties horse trade to agree what can and cannot get through. Despite claims from Labour and the Tories that they want to clean up and reform politics, they have chucked out some of the straightforward reforms that were due to be debated.
The Lib Dems said the two main parties had been in cahoots to dilute proposed reform of the House of Lords. Measures permitting peers to resign or be expelled and the repeal of restrictions on demonstrations outside Parliament were dropped, in addition to commitments to hold a referendum on the voting system and to phase out the remaining hereditary peers. Our retiring Justice spokesman David Howarth, who I campaigned alongside in 2005, said "The process of 'wash-up' is now washed up. The way in which the two front benches of the larger parties colluded and then got it wrong and ended up with this disaster is something they need to reflect on." Once more, after blocking Lib Dem attempts at many reforms from banning lobbying to making expenses transparent, we can see that the two old parties want to keep the cosy system and have no commitment to reform. Lib Dems will clean up our political system, and only us.
The Lib Dems said the two main parties had been in cahoots to dilute proposed reform of the House of Lords. Measures permitting peers to resign or be expelled and the repeal of restrictions on demonstrations outside Parliament were dropped, in addition to commitments to hold a referendum on the voting system and to phase out the remaining hereditary peers. Our retiring Justice spokesman David Howarth, who I campaigned alongside in 2005, said "The process of 'wash-up' is now washed up. The way in which the two front benches of the larger parties colluded and then got it wrong and ended up with this disaster is something they need to reflect on." Once more, after blocking Lib Dem attempts at many reforms from banning lobbying to making expenses transparent, we can see that the two old parties want to keep the cosy system and have no commitment to reform. Lib Dems will clean up our political system, and only us.
Monday, 11 January 2010
Nick Clegg Launches Our Campaign
Nick Clegg is this morning setting out our key messages for the general election campaign. He is outlining what our priorities are and what we stand for. The Liberal Democrats are different because we’re the only party that believes in fairness: we’ll bring change that works for you, instead of just those at the top.
Our four key pledges to deliver a fairer society are:
Fair Taxes: We will make the first £10,000 you earn tax-free. People earning £10,000 or less will not pay any income tax and those on the basic rate of tax will have a tax cut of £700 per year. We’ll pay for it by making sure the rich pay their fair share by introducing a mansion tax on the value of homes over £2m, by taxing income and capital gains at the same rate, and switching tax from income to pollution.
A fair start for all our children: We will cut class sizes and give every child a fair start in life by introducing a pupil premium. This will provide an extra £2.5 billion to our schools allocated according to the number of disadvantaged pupils on their rolls. It will allow schools to reduce class sizes, recruit more teachers to improve discipline and provide more one-to-one tuition to help pupils who are struggling. This will be paid for by stopping tax credits for higher earners and scrapping Labour gimmicks in the Department for Education.
A fair and sustainable economy that creates jobs: We will make Britain the world leader in the green economy - investing to create tens thousands of new jobs that last. We will use at least £3.5 billion of savings that we have identified from current expenditure in the first year of a new government to invest in public transport, a national programme of home insulation and new social housing. Our nation’s finances need to be sustainable too - we will be honest about where savings must be made to balance the books and will break up the banking system to ensure financial gambling can never again bring our economy to its needs.
Fair, transparent and more local politics: We will introduce a fair voting system to end safe seats so all MPs listen to people; we will ensure MPs can be sacked by their voters if they break the rules; we will return powers to local councils and local communities so they can take more decisions that affect their local areas and we will stop tax avoiders from standing for parliament, sitting in the House of Lords or donating to political parties.
We also have the following commitments:
· Protect NHS services from cuts: Paid for by diverting planned efficiency savings to frontline services like cancer care, dementia, and mental health. Unlike the other parties our detailed deficit reduction plans also mean that we will be able to avoid unplanned cuts.
· Recruit 3,000 more police officers to keep our streets safe: Paid for by scrapping the ID card scheme.
· Scrap student tuition fees to reduce burden of student debt immediately and eliminate it within 6 years: Paid for by stopping unnecessary spending across government including abolishing the Government Offices of the Regions.
· A pay rise for our brave service men and women: Paid for by cutting back on senior bureaucrats in the MoD.
· Uprate the basic state pension in line with earnings immediately: so that pensioners do not continue to fall behind earnings when the economy starts to grow again.
Our four key pledges to deliver a fairer society are:
Fair Taxes: We will make the first £10,000 you earn tax-free. People earning £10,000 or less will not pay any income tax and those on the basic rate of tax will have a tax cut of £700 per year. We’ll pay for it by making sure the rich pay their fair share by introducing a mansion tax on the value of homes over £2m, by taxing income and capital gains at the same rate, and switching tax from income to pollution.
A fair start for all our children: We will cut class sizes and give every child a fair start in life by introducing a pupil premium. This will provide an extra £2.5 billion to our schools allocated according to the number of disadvantaged pupils on their rolls. It will allow schools to reduce class sizes, recruit more teachers to improve discipline and provide more one-to-one tuition to help pupils who are struggling. This will be paid for by stopping tax credits for higher earners and scrapping Labour gimmicks in the Department for Education.
A fair and sustainable economy that creates jobs: We will make Britain the world leader in the green economy - investing to create tens thousands of new jobs that last. We will use at least £3.5 billion of savings that we have identified from current expenditure in the first year of a new government to invest in public transport, a national programme of home insulation and new social housing. Our nation’s finances need to be sustainable too - we will be honest about where savings must be made to balance the books and will break up the banking system to ensure financial gambling can never again bring our economy to its needs.
Fair, transparent and more local politics: We will introduce a fair voting system to end safe seats so all MPs listen to people; we will ensure MPs can be sacked by their voters if they break the rules; we will return powers to local councils and local communities so they can take more decisions that affect their local areas and we will stop tax avoiders from standing for parliament, sitting in the House of Lords or donating to political parties.
We also have the following commitments:
· Protect NHS services from cuts: Paid for by diverting planned efficiency savings to frontline services like cancer care, dementia, and mental health. Unlike the other parties our detailed deficit reduction plans also mean that we will be able to avoid unplanned cuts.
· Recruit 3,000 more police officers to keep our streets safe: Paid for by scrapping the ID card scheme.
· Scrap student tuition fees to reduce burden of student debt immediately and eliminate it within 6 years: Paid for by stopping unnecessary spending across government including abolishing the Government Offices of the Regions.
· A pay rise for our brave service men and women: Paid for by cutting back on senior bureaucrats in the MoD.
· Uprate the basic state pension in line with earnings immediately: so that pensioners do not continue to fall behind earnings when the economy starts to grow again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
