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cash for peerages
March 22, 2015 9:00 AM
Rumours of ‘cash for peerages’ have long been rife at Westminster, and today's release by my two colleagues and I is an attempt to begin contributing some greater factual basis to the debate, rather than the usual “He said, she said” that such an important topic is usually reduced to.
By focussing on the ‘big picture’ and the numbers involved, rather than individual cases, our study made some startling discoveries, including the sheer improbability of so many people from the three parties’ small pool of big donors all being nominated to the Lords, which is equivalent to winning the National Lottery five times back-to-back. The relationship between donations and peerage nominations is statistically significant, and it looks spectacularly unlikely that something fishy isn’t going on. While the figures are not in themselves a ‘smoking gun’, and while none of the data should be used to reflect on any individual cases, the broader patterns are quite damning for how politics is done - and funded - in this country today. None of the three main parties comes out of this particularly well. -
Taking social liberalism in to general election campaigns
March 18, 2015 2:15 PM
Two SLF Council members are fighting hard to win seats that were until recently, held by Liberal Democrat MPs.
Helen Flynn, PPC for Harrogate and Knaresborough and Kelly-Marie Blundell, PPC for Guildford, share how they've been taking social liberal values to the heart of their election campaigns.
We wish them all the very best of luck. Please do help to get them elected. Details about their campaign headquarters and action days will be advertised in the next SLF weekly newsletter.
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4 Key Questions about the process of negotiations for government
March 16, 2015 9:05 PM
I’ve come back from the Party’s Spring Conference in Liverpool worried. My concern is about Party unity in the face of another unclear General Election result. The Party’s processes can be arcane but they really matter: Here’s why.
Article 15 of the Party’s constitution, sets out who needs to be consulted during negotiations to support a government. It is not clear whether or not this applies equally to confidence and supply arrangements as it does to coalitions or even to a one-off vote or abstention on government formation (I think it should).
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What's the bottom line, Nick?
March 09, 2015 5:18 PM
Liberal Democrats enter the impending general election campaign with a sense of foreboding. Battered and bruised from our experiences in coalition with the Tories, we can expect to face the wrath of those left leaning progressive voters who, with some justification, feel that we gave too much in exchange for too little.
The value of Liberal Democrat ‘currency’ is probably the lowest it has ever been in my lifetime. I’ve spoken to many people who bought into the Lib Dem vision in 2010 who feel they have been short-changed. The U-turn on tuition fees has almost become a cliché for what our target voters perceive to be broken promises, unpalatable compromises and illiberal decisions in government. There is little political capital to be made from the good things that we have done because they simply aren’t listening to that message.
Against this backdrop, we are preparing for the worst in May 2015. Another hung Parliament looms, our opinion poll ratings are dire and Nick Clegg is the most unpopular party leader of modern times. Party strategists are basing our general election campaign on the premise that voting Liberal Democrat will keep the worst excesses of either the Tories or Labour in check, arrogantly assuming that the party will be involved in another coalition.
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Budget Debate
March 05, 2015 2:57 PM
The Federal Policy Committee (FPC) motion on the economy proposes, among other measures:
“Balancing the cyclically-adjusted current budget by 2017/18, on time and fairly, protecting the economic recovery and bringing down Britain’s debt as a share of national income." (F6, 1 a)
The FPC’s present stance is that 60% of this balancing should be achieved by further cuts in expenditure and 40% by tax increases. SLF is supporting an an amendment by Mark Pack that says the ratio of cuts to tax increases should be 50/50.
Ouch.
No Liberal, least of all SLF members, should be supporting this at all, even if the 50/50 amendment is accepted. To compare it to rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic is too weak a comparison: arguing about the rules for marbles as the ship sinks would be closer.
The deficit is not an immediate problem. Accepting that it is is cravenly swallowing, alas along with Labour and most of the media, the very successful Tory PR spin. Frankly, it never was our most urgent problem, even in 2010. The comparison with Greece is and was ludicrous: their debt was mostly short-term and held abroad - ours is mostly long term and mostly held within our own economy, and our DEBT/GDP ratio was and is relatively modest. The deficit is certainly not our most urgent problem now.
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A love letter to Steve Webb
February 14, 2015 9:06 PM
The SLF blog has received the following Valentine’s day message from a secret admirer of the Pensions Minister…
Dear Steve,
Most of the other boys (and girls) in the coalition have been something of a disappointment, but you have been a real star. While too many other Liberal Democrat ministers failed to deliver (House of Lords Reform, PR, drugs law reform) or supported the opposite of what they should have (tuition fees, secret courts, bedroom tax), you alone have delivered a truly Liberal agenda.
No more will British workers be discouraged from saving for retirement because of complex means-tested benefits, nor will they lose huge chunks of their savings to ludicrously large 'management' fees. And when they get to the finish line, their pension pots will be there to do with as they please, not automatically swapped for bad value annuities.
If only all ministers could be like you Steve - this government could have been a shining example of what Liberalism can achieve.
Keep on, keeping on Professor Webb.
Yours,
A Liberal admirer
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moving closer to a social liberal economic policy
February 06, 2015 3:53 PM
The 2010 election was notable for the failure of the three main parties to spell out clearly how they would reduce the budget deficit. No-one wanted to scare the voters away. 2015 is already proving different. Nick Clegg has announced that Liberal Democrats would increase taxes by at least £8 billion and bring in a further £6 billion by tackling tax avoidance. There would still be up to £16 billion cut from expenditure, £12 billion from government departments and £4 billion from welfare. Whilst not exactly a return to Keynesian economics, this is nevertheless a huge step away from the Tory approach which seemed to have dominated coalition fiscal policy. The balance between expenditure cuts and tax increases under Tory plans for the next parliament would be 98:2 whereas we will be proposing 60:40.
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Two spells that need to be broken
February 03, 2015 1:53 PM
The days to come are going to be a severe test of the mettle and nerve of the party as we try to impress and connect with our voters. We are still a party of reasonable, idealistic souls set on improving our community, our nation in a way that balances individualism and free expression with the need to promote social harmony and the sheer joy of human togetherness. We are in a word still “Liberals”.
But we have been through some strange experiences that have scarred us and blurred the public view of who and what we are - so we fight under a burden. I am not talking about the perils of government and having to make tough decisions in severe financial circumstances. Nor am I talking about the misapprehension of those who formerly thought we were a brand of “Labour-lite”. I am glad people know we can make tough decisions and are not closet socialists. If our burden was just that, it would be not be heavy at all.
What slows our footsteps, weighs us down and holds us back in the polls is the result of the party falling under the spell of two dangerous enchantments or delusions.
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Five Big Social Liberal Ideas
January 27, 2015 3:51 PM
As we draw closer to the general election it is important to remember the big ideas of social liberalism. Here are five big social liberal ideas to inspire Liberal Democrats and social liberals over the next few months.
1. Land Value Taxation
Social liberals have long championed the taxation of accumulated assets. We often talk about the mansion tax but it is important to remember that for 100 years British Liberals have advocated land value taxation (LVT). At the heart of LVT is the transition of taxation from income to land.
David Lloyd George originally proposed land taxation in his famous People’s Budget of 1909. Liberal Democrats recall the great campaign for land taxation by singing the party anthem "The Land" at Glee Club.
In an age of vast economic inequalities, land value taxation will ensure that wealthy landowners are properly taxed and that the great wealth accumulated in land is redistributed and used to fund welfare provision and public services.
