Responding to the announcements that Persimmon's profits have topped £1 billion as it is under scrutiny over its continued involvement in the Help to Buy scheme, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable said:"Far from benefiting first time buyers, the major effect of Help to Buy is to drive up demand while having no effect on supply. Prices go up and buyers are forced off the housing ladder. The result is not help for those who need it, but a boost to the profits of big developers. "Liberal Democrats have set out how government could be delivering 300,000 homes a ...
Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine has secured assurances from the Home Secretary that he is 'open-minded' about her Bill which would loosen rules around asylum seekers' right to work. The Edinburgh West MP raised her campaign with Sajid Javid in a joint meeting organised by cross-party group, More United. Currently, asylum seekers can only work if they have been waiting more than 12 months for their claim to be processed, and only then if they can fill a role on the Government's very narrow 'shortage occupation list'. Ms Jardine's Bill would change the law to allow them to work after ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrats have announced Ryan Jones as their candidate for the Newport West Parliamentary by-election on April 4th.
You never know what treasures you will find.
When I heard last year that a site had been identified for a new coach park in the centre of Market Harborough I had a pretty shrewd idea where it would be. Sure enough, today Harborough FM reported that the council is to buy this derelict site near the market on Northampton Road. It has been in this pleasing state for 45 years to my knowledge, and over that time the town has improved to the extent that coach parties now stop here. Hence the need for a coach park. Fortunately, there are still other derelict sites to enjoy here. ...
I have done all the Work tasks I needed to do. I have prepped for all the things I need to prep for over the weekend. I have got a recalcitrant printer working. I have done a bunch of stuff to help out other people. OK, so, it's half past seven at night and I'm still in th office and haven't eaten since breakfast, but, you know, I've Acheived Things! ... might order pizza for tea. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Neville Masterman was the son my favourite Edwardian Liberal Charles Masterman and his wife Lucy. He died earlier this year at the age of 106. His son-in-law Richard Pepper has written an obituary of him for the Guardian. Masterman lectured in English at a Hungarian university in the 1930s, returning to England in 1940. He passed through Paris just before the Germans arrived and later worked on Japanese codes at Bletchley Park. After the war he lectured in history at Swansea until his retirement in 1978. Martyn Shrewsbury posted his memories of Neville Masterman last month: I remember Neville Masterman ...
So I was hesitant to get into ideological discussions but the argument often gets made that even if austerity is unpopular we must defend the small government "Classical Liberal" tradition. That argument needs to be answered- yes there has always been a laissez-faire strand of Liberalism, however, the idea that Liberalism only means small government and free markets is an idea that dates from around 1980. Liberalism has a quite complicated and wide-ranging history from being initially associated with generosity (as in the word Liberality, a liberal act meant a generous one), to the alternative association of the French revolution ...
The Welsh Liberal Democrats have announced Ryan Jones as their candidate for the Newport West Parliamentary by-election on April 4th. Ryan Jones, 32, lives in The Gaer, having been brought up in Cwmbran. He runs his own construction business in Newport employing 30 people in the city. As a local employer, Ryan is very keen on supporting young people who aren't fulfilled within the traditional workforce. Welsh Liberal Democrat Candidate for Newport West Ryan Jones said: It's an honour to be selected as the Welsh Liberal Democrat candidate for this Newport West by-election. I look forward to opposing our Conservative ...
Last night I met the Lib Dem Mayor of London candidate, Siobhan Benita, and by happy coincidence today I have news of three new posts the Liberal Democrats are recruiting for in London.
I've explained what I believe the prime minister should do at several points during her premiership. Although I have been wrong on many things since I started this blog (most notably being sure the Tories would get a massive majority after the 2017 general election was called), I can't look back and say any advice I've ever given to Theresa May wasn't correct. After she gave the Lancaster House speech in January 2017, I was asked what she should do next. "Resign immediate," I said. "She will never be able to come remotely close to achieving almost anything she has ...
Part 1 "Never point out your own mistakes" seems like a good political maxim, so why should we ignore it on this occasion? Of course, not everyone agrees that austerity was a mistake at all, and some say we should embrace our coalition record. That would be a monumental mistake. Trying to embrace austerity would be like Labour trying to embrace the Iraq war, it would be untenable. Many people point out that all the major political parties were pushing austerity at the time: during the coalition Labour boasted that the government had, more or less, kept austerity to the ...
Our trains on the Liverpool St. - Shenfield line were for many years Type 315, which dated from the 1980s. An eight-coach train is made of two four-coach units, each carriage with 2 sets of sliding doors per side. When TfL Rail took over the line a few years ago they made improvements to the [...]
As Brexit Day approaches, it seems fair to look back and conclude with a reasonable amount of certainty that the British political system was either not built or at least not ready to handle a project this complex and all-encompassing. Whitehall is drowning in preparations for all possible scenarios, the Commons are tearing themselves apart, [...] The post What Brexit has done to the British media appeared first on Radix.
Thu 7th
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The future of Shropshire is Place Plans - The plan for Ludlow proposes relocating all health service...
On 21 March, parish, town and unitary councillors meet to discuss the Place Plan for the Ludlow area. It is dry stuff but Shropshire Council leader Peter Nutting made it clear at the last council meeting that money will be pumped into Shrewsbury and Oswestry but the only way that towns like Ludlow will get money is through the Place Plan. This money will mostly, come from developers or grant funding. Shropshire Council is not proposing to chip in a penny. This is one of the worst prepared documents I have seen in and around public service over decades. It ...
Wed, 12:20: RT @nick_gutteridge: Commission spokesman: 'Barnier informed Commissioners that while the talks take place in a constructive atmosphere dis... Wed, 12:56: The Making of the Fox News White House https://t.co/ZggcU1Imr4 Grimly fascinating. (Long read from The New Yorker.) Wed, 14:36: RT @APCOBXLInsider: The #EU2019 transition raises many questions. Luckily #apcoworldwide provides insights on matters such as #Brexit, #pop... Wed, 15:26: Holy shit. https://t.co/1SLRLncE86 Wed, 16:05: "Parliament is a weird place to be a working class woman. You have to work twice as hard to be heard" https://t.co/1t3Vmr05ej Great piece. Wed, 16:18: Oh yeah? https://t.co/a4TIMDdZ4V Wed, 17:09: RT @Peter_G_1: @nwbrux ...
PM fails to stand up for rural communities over bank closures Cable: Catastrophic no-deal would push economy into recession Davey: Britain must be far more ambitious on offshore wind Lib Dems: Yet another embarrassing rejection of May's Brexit PM fails to stand up for rural communities over bank closures Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron today used Prime Minister's Questions to urge the Prime Minister to properly compensate communities that have been abandoned by the banks and forced to use online banking instead. According to the consumer group Which? around 3,000 bank branches have closed over the past three years. Meanwhile ...
I think I mentioned a while back that Lydiate Parish Council had put some money towards this booklet which was produced to look at the impact of WW1 on the farming village of Lydiate, and how children today are remembering the young men from their community who gave their lives. Local author and historian Pam Russell was the guiding light together with Kath Coyle – WW1 Lydiate project coordinator. 24 young Lydiate men died while serving in WW1 24 young men from Lydiate (or with strong links to it) died while serving in WW1 and the booklet celebrates the life ...
The Independent finally catches up with the rest of us reporting that a study has found culling badgers may help to spread TB further because it disrupts local populations and drives them into previously uninfected areas. The study they are referring to focused on a cull conducted between 1998 and 2005 to protect British cattle from TB. It was one of the largest of its kind ever conducted, resulting in the death of 11,000 badgers. While some locations saw infections drop, the trial led to the disease spreading further into previously uninfected cattle and badger populations. It is a study ...
Tomorrow is International Women's Day. And today, in advance of IWD 2019 our Lib Dem MP Wera Hobhouse will introduce a Bill to improve mental health care for new mothers. I welcome this legislation. As a mother of three, I am well aware of what is currently offered to new mothers. It is not enough. This campaign will tackle one aspect which could be improved: introducing the requirement that the current routine NHS post-natal check-ups given six weeks after having your baby must include mental health checks and support. It is called the Postnatal Check-ups (Mental Health) Bill, and the ...
Residents in Clovis Duveau Drive raised with me the faded whote lining in the street. I raised this with the council's Roads Maintenance Partnership and have received the following positive response : "An order to refresh the white lining for Clovis Duveau Drive has been raised. It will be done as soon as resources are available."
