What the Lib Dems say about MP expenses

Gordon’s premiership is unravelling.

We now hear that the Prime Minister has made a U-turn on his hastily drafted MP expenses proposals.

MPs voted on these issues in Westminster today.

The Prime Minister, earlier in the week, sensing that he would lose the free vote, changed tack, and asked Sir Christopher Kelly (of the anti-sleaze watchdog) to outline an alternative scheme before the summer.

It is of vital importance that we get these changes right, because the system as it stands is doing untold damage to any vestiges of trust and confidence that the electorate retains in our political system.

On Monday, Nick Clegg wrote to Gordon Brown and David Cameron outlining Liberal Democrat proposals for reform of the system.

Within our proposals, I am most pleased to see our commitment to MPs being prevented from making capital gains out of owning second homes.

This is something that Norman Baker – the Lib Dem MP for Lewes – has campaigned on for some time, and I have long supported him.

Here are the key bits of the letter:

‘[These are] the three principles that I believe are essential in the reform of the MPs second home allowance: first, that any reform should be at lower overall cost to the taxpayer; second, that reform must be transparent with money paid in return for evidence of costs genuinely incurred; and, third, that MPs should not be able to profit from the sale of properties they have bought on the back of subsidies from the taxpayer.

‘That is why I have proposed that we should simply stop MPs from buying properties altogether, providing support for rental and associated costs only instead.

‘However, in our discussion on Wednesday, it was clear that both yourself and David Cameron believe that MPs should continue to be able to own second homes for which they claim public support. Given this, I would like to suggest a slight change in my original proposals so that we can reach a consensus as soon as possible.

‘I propose that:

1. Personal additional accommodation expenditure is reduced and is only claimable against basic utility bills, council tax and either rent or mortgage interest on production of the necessary receipt or agreement (all of which should be in the public domain);

2. But MPs should be banned from making any capital gains from that part of a mortgage paid for by the taxpayer (i.e. if it is an interest only mortgage, the taxpayer would get 100% of the capital gain; if it is a capital and interest mortgage, the taxpayer would get the capital gain in proportion to the share of total mortgage costs paid);

3. Personal additional accommodation expenditure should be restricted to members of parliament representing constituencies outside Greater London;

4. There is a mechanism set up for the independent validation of the designation of first and second homes.

‘This would meet your objective of allowing home ownership to continue, but would still meet my key test that MPs should not be able to make profits by using taxpayers money to make investments in the property market rather than simply as a support for the ongoing costs of doing their jobs as MPs.

‘Whilst I’m prepared to make this change to my proposals in order to secure agreement, I should reiterate once again my strong opposition to a system of daily allowances. Such a system – in almost any form – means taxpayers will have almost no idea what their money is being spent on by MPs.

‘Any reforms must be durable, transparent, reduce the cost of our politics and not merely constitute an interim fix that falls apart under public scrutiny.’

These are sensible and honourable proposals.

I hope Sir Christopher will make use of them.

More money in your pocket

Wednesday was Budget day.

In the run-up, it was billed as one of the most important Budgets since the Second World War.

Whilst the three main parties are now in agreement that, due to the scale of the debt that bailing out the banks has created, there will need to be cuts in public spending, there are clear differences between the parties in respect of their fiscal priorities.

Nick Clegg and Vince Cable unveiled the Liberal Democrat alternative Budget on Monday.

The centrepiece of our proposals is a move to raise the personal allowance for Income Tax to £10,000.

For those earning more than £10,000 this will offer an immediate uniform tax cut of about £700.

The proposal will take 4 million people out of tax altogether, and will be paid for by closing tax loopholes for the very wealthy, and clamping down on tax avoidance.

The clear message from the Liberal Democrats is that people on low and middle income simply pay too much Income Tax.

As Nick Clegg said on Monday,

“This proposal is not a net tax cut, it is a tax switch. Unlike recent Tory tax policy this tax switch is not dependent on growth; it is simply switching the burden away from those on low and middle incomes and on to the wealthiest…

“Even during a recession companies still dodge corporation tax and stamp duty, HMRC itself has estimated that it loses anywhere between £10bn and £40bn in revenue through tax avoidance each year. Moreover with stock markets and the housing market currently low we will likely see strong Capital Gains Tax revenue as markets recover.

“Perhaps most importantly though, this recession has shown that people simply won’t accept that big business and the very wealthy can dodge tax when ordinary people pay a third of their income in tax. This recession give us the opportunity to fundamentally rethink our tax system and make it permanently fairer.

“The current economic crisis has shown more than ever that while millions of people on normal incomes who pay their taxes are struggling to get by, big business and those with savvy accountants can use and abuse tax loopholes to treat tax as optional. This simply isn’t fair and must change.

“Neither Labour nor the Conservatives will change this. We will.”

Couldn’t have put it better myself.

Nick congratulates Council and campaigners as communal bins plans scrapped

Nick Perry, the Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner for Hastings & Rye, has welcomed the report from Hastings Borough Council on the recent communal bins consultation.

The report is to be discussed by the Cabinet on Monday 27 April and recommends that the Council does not proceed with the scheme.

Paragraph 16 states, ‘The Steering Group has considered the detailed report and supports the view that at this stage the implementation of a communal bin scheme over the whole of the consultation area would not be supported by the community. The partial implementation of the scheme in those areas most supportive of the proposal is, however, considered practicable. More work is required to ensure that this proposal would be financially viable as well as practicable however.’

Nick says, “I was delighted to read the report and to see that the Council has listened to all the local people that have put up posters in their windows, and carried banners against imposing bins in areas of the town where it would have been plain crazy to do so.

“Those of us that have opposed the plans have said all along that this kind of waste management system is perfectly acceptable for large-scale multiple occupancy accommodation, but it would have been a disaster for areas such as Bohemia and the West Hill.

“I am concerned to read that Hastings Borough Council has a general aim to reduce bagged recycling due to the handling charges from the Conservative County Council. Mixed recycling bags, with increased numbers of recyclates, collected from the doorstep, is the surest way to increase recycling rates in our area.

“I’m afraid that, as with many things in life, you get what you pay for.”

Nick backs UAF campaign to encourage voter registration

Nick Perry, Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner for Hastings & Rye, has backed the Hastings Unite Against Fascism campaign to encourage as many people as possible to register to vote in the elections on 4 June, and to use those votes to keep out the British National Party from Hastings and St Leonards.

Nick said, “People of different political parties and none have been working together to raise awareness about the dangers of voting for the BNP.

“I was very pleased to help out on the stall in Hastings Town Centre. The UAF got a very good reception from local people.

“I hope our local media organisations will also encourage its readers and listeners to register for their vote, and to use it on 4 June.”

MEP ramps up pressure on UK Government over fishing quotas

Liberal Democrat MEP for the South East, Sharon Bowles, has joined forces with local fishermen to get the Government to honour a recent change in quota percentages, which would have given a fairer deal to fishermen in the under-10 metre sector.

Speaking after meetings on Thursday with representatives from the Rye Fishermen’s Association, and Hastings Fishermen’s Protection Society, Sharon said,

“I will be writing to the Fisheries Minister to raise my own objection to the U-turn the Government appears to have made, after initially promising an acceptable settlement in respect of the quota for the newly designated fisheries area in the Channel. I am appalled that after what seems to have been strong lobbying from the producer organisations, the UK Government has capitulated to strong commercial interests, and sold our under 10 metre sector down the river.

“This is serious. This is people’s livelihoods and families at stake,” she said.

Ms Bowles added, “I am also asking the European Commissioner for Competition, Neelie Kroes, to look into the situation, as I am concerned that our local fishermen may not have been given a fair opportunity to form producer organisations of their own.”

Local parliamentary campaigner Nick Perry said, “These were crucial meetings. We heard from the experts just how close they are from being driven out of business altogether. We are rightly proud of our fishing industry in 1066 Country. Liberal Democrats will do all that we can to highlight the plight of our fishermen, and just how badly they are being treated by the UK Government.”

Stuart Murphy, Lib Dem candidate for the Old Hastings & Tressell County Council division said, “It is a national disgrace that the under-10 metre sector has been allowed to decline in this way.”

Plus ça change for McBride

I was totting it up this afternoon.  It has been about thirteen years since Damian McBride, recently resigned aide to Gordon Brown, sent me an abusive letter after beating the candidate whose campaign he managed in our college elections.

This piece in the Daily Mail tells you just about all you need to know about the man they call McPoison.

You won’t be surprised that I don’t always agree with the Mail, but they are right about one thing: this certainly does not reflect favourably on the Prime Minister.

That Gordon Brown had this man as one of his most trusted advisors will paint a picture for the electorate.  And it’s not a pretty one…

Lib Dems learn from Icklesham booters

Big thanks to Roger and Viv Weeden and Tricia Kennelly for all their efforts last Sunday at Icklesham car boot sale. 

As we don’t rely on big business or the trade unions for our funding, the Liberal Democrats are often out trying to peddle our bric-a-brac so that we can continue to post those leaflets though your letterbox!

Anyone reading this who is moved to send us a massive donation, please contact me via the button above!

Damn the Meon Valley

Well well well. Sounds like my Conservative counterpart’s stamina is faltering a little.

In her column last week, the irritation about Gordon Brown not calling an election until the very last gasp was palpable.

But, I detect that this was not entirely on behalf of the electorate.

At a glance, Amber’s piece may have read as though her primary concern was how the lack of a General Election this year (as well as the state of the economy) will affect ordinary people.

But the subtext, if I may do a little psychologising, appeared to me to say, this is tough this politics lark; I do wish they’d picked me in the Meon Valley…

The Meon Valley? Great Scott, what is he talking about now?!

Well the Meon Valley is near Winchester. And for those of you who weren’t aware, it was Amber’s first choice of parliamentary seat.

Hastings & Rye came up a few weeks afterwards, at the back end of 2006.

Whilst, like Amber, I am no fan Gordon Brown, I do not criticise him for his performance at G20.

Certainly I do not believe that David Cameron would have done any better.

It is important that we understand that our own domestic problems are located in, and will only be improved by, a wider set of mutual, international relationships.

It is in this sense that, on a smaller scale, I believe the Hastings & St Leonards Town Conference was such a success last week.

Held at Azur, it offered the opportunity to think laterally and in a partnership-oriented way about the area’s future, as well as to locate our problems in the national and international economic context.

Coming from St Helens, I am all too aware of how towns can have a tendency to introspection. It may not be a popular thing to say, but I believe Hastings & St Leonards can at times fall victim to this too.

The conference offered a number of ideas in respect of how best to weather the economic storm.

There were ideas in respect of sustainability, eco-tourism and using green and digital technologies (in partnership with our FE and higher education sector) to create specialisms, and more importantly, jobs.

It was all music to the ears of a Liberal Democrat.

Our ‘Green Road out of the Recession’ plans are very much in the same vein.

We brainstormed at the end of the day about how to improve the Hastings & St Leonards community strategy.

My own view is that, at every stage, we need to prioritise hearing the voices of our most disadvantaged, so that we have a true picture of how well our most vulnerable residents are being served by our policies, and protected in these turbulent times.

Whilst I can imagine them nodding, I haven’t heard anything from the Conservatives to convince me that they are committed to this too.

Nick gets stuck in with Hastings’ Unite Against Fascism

I attended my first planning meeting for Hastings UAF last night.  It was a refreshing change to be working alongside (instead of against) Labour Councillors Jay Kramer and Trevor Webb.

It is so important that there are cross-party initiatives like this one – which is aiming to raise people’s awareness of the dangers of the BNP, and the importance of registering to vote.

The political parties need to work together wherever possible for the good of the community.

I will report back on progress!

Hastings & St Leonards community strategy is steeped in Lib Dem thinking

I was pleasantly surprised that the Hastings & St Leonards Town Conference, held at Azur yesterday, was so interesting and potentially useful for the Borough.

There were some excellent presentations – helping to locate Hastings and St Leonards in the wider picture of the current recession, and giving guidance as to what should be done to weather the economic storm.

What was most pleasing from my perspective, was that the ways in which various different speakers suggested the Borough should prepare for the future, sit so happily with Liberal Democrat policy – particularly our ideas in the Green Road out of the Recession plans

It is this as much as anything that convinces me that the Liberal Democrats are the party of the future for our constituency.