At this moment in time North East Lincolnshire is seeing a major impact of some very good partnership working and month on month since the middle of last year crime levels have fallen dramatically, and once again we have gone one better in February – outstripping Januarys’ best ever performance!

Last month, Chief Superintendent David Hilditch said:

“January’s figures come on top of excellent figures for October, November and December which made 2009 a very good year for us. February has got off to a good start as well. 

“I would hope that we would all want to see a safe and prosperous area with low crime levels and so I am disappointed that some people choose to assume that good results for North East Lincolnshire can’t be true. We’ve got something to celebrate here. 

“The story behind the figures is that we have relentlessly been targeting the top offenders and some of the prison sentences we have seen in the last year have been very pleasing. At the other end of the scale we have been working very closely with the Youth Offending Service and many other partners to keep kids out of trouble.”

The Chancellors’ Debate will take place on the 29th (Channel 4) March

We want to celebrate these debates and get people involved, meeting, discussing and debating. So why not set up your own ‘Debate Nights’ party for people to get together and watch the debates; whether this be a party at home, in your local town hall or pub, or online.

How to

It’s easy, find a place, set up a TV, get some food and invite people.

Promote your event

We’ve created a flyer to help you spread the word of your event: Click Here to download it.

We want you to take part by organising your own, whether just getting together with a group of friends, your local party or just throwing the doors open for any takers. Take part online too using the Twitter hashtag: #gonick or on comment here on ACT.

Let us know

If you want to advertise your debate night you can create an event here on Act or on Facebook. Let us know about your event whether you wish to advertise it or not and we’ll list all the parties happening across the UK.

The Leaders’ Debates will take place on the 15th (ITV), 22nd (Sky) and 29th (BBC) April 2010

The Chancellors’ Debate will take place on the 29th (Channel 4) March

We want to celebrate these debates and get people involved, meeting, discussing and debating. So why not set up your own ‘Debate Nights’ party for people to get together and watch the debates; whether this be a party at home, in your local town hall or pub, or online.

How to

It’s easy, find a place, set up a TV, get some food and invite people.

Promote your event

We’ve created a flyer to help you spread the word of your event: Click Here to download it.

We want you to take part by organising your own, whether just getting together with a group of friends, your local party or just throwing the doors open for any takers. Take part online too using the Twitter hashtag: #gonick or on comment here on ACT.

Let us know

If you want to advertise your debate night you can create an event here on Act or on Facebook. Let us know about your event whether you wish to advertise it or not and we’ll list all the parties happening across the UK.

This week politicians said that those opposing the bill are “web anarchists”, which is a convenient way for them to avoid the many concerns the public has about this bill, but the fact remains that many people have strong concerns that the government is forcing a complex bill through Parliament without addressing legitimate concerns from many people.

The government is planning to use a special ”fast track” process designed for the weeks before an election, that is intended to pass urgent and uncontroversial measures, to force thorough these controversial new powers.  This process is problematic at the best of times because it removes the normal democratic checks, and removing scrutiny and debate over such a complex bill that gives unprecedented new powers to the Government is deeply worrying.

The bill contains list of new powers that would (amongst many things) give the government power to disconnect millions of people, block websites, create the potential for back-door censorship and could mean the end of open WiFi.  Even  Schools and libraries could have their internet connection cut off if people infringe any copyright.

One group that is very keen on to see the bill approved is the music industry. Early this month it was discovered that parts of the bill have been copied word for word from a draft “suggestion” which was written by the music industry lobbyist group, the BPI.  

It was recently reportedin the Guardian that the same lobbyists admitted the only way to get the bill through would be to rush it through without any proper parliamentary debate.

Those opposing the bill are a growing and powerful movement of companies, libraries, consumer groups and of course us, the public. Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Virgin, Orange, eBay and BT who came together earlier this month to express their concern over this bill.

38 egrees have joined with the Open Rights Group (ORG) to oppose the bill.  As Jim Killock, ORG’s Executive Director says:

“At the fag end of this Parliament, disastrous laws to disconnect families from the internet and introduce web censorship powers that we haven’t even seen, could get passed into law without proper debate.

Serious laws, that would disrupt people’s freedom of speech and their daily lives, and potentially create new web censorship powers, deserve proper scrutiny and debate. Anything less is undemocratic and unaccountable, not to mention deeply irresponsible.

That is why 38 Degrees is joining the Open Rights Groups’ call for a proper open debate on this Bill. Please write to your MP now to demand that this Bill is properly debated.”

The Government is right to attempt to tackle the many issues surrounding the internet, but to rush these complex new measures through Parliament is wrong. To think that Labour might rush them through before a general election without anyone noticing is wrong. This law needs a proper debate and proper scrutiny. That’s why ten thousand people have written to theirr MPs.

If you haven’t done so already now is the time to write to your MP and tell them why we oppose the Digital Economy Bill: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/digital-economy-bill

Commenting on railway workers voting in favour of strike action, Norman Baker said:

“In all the political mudslinging over who is to blame for strike action by BA or railway workers, it is the passengers who are suffering the most.
 
“There is no need for any of these strikes to go ahead. Management at British Airways and Network Rail need to get back round the table with the unions to sort this mess out before people’s holiday, business and travel plans are ruined for no good reason.
 
“There is far too much macho posturing and cheap political point scoring going on all sides of these disputes. Enough is enough. Executives, unions and politicians need to start acting like grown ups and get this sorted before the public declares a plague on all their houses.”

Commenting on the Conservative’s Energy Security Green Paper, Simon Hughes said:

“Blindly pledging to build a new nuclear plant every 18 months is a recipe for disaster.

“Nuclear power has always required huge amounts of public money and David Cameron’s signal that the Tories are ready to turn on the taps of taxpayer support risks billions that we simply can’t afford.

“Nuclear energy is not clean energy. A new generation of nuclear power stations would leave us with a legacy of deadly radioactive waste that will take hundreds of years and billions of pounds to clean up.

“As David Cameron himself said only four years ago, not having a plan to deal with this toxic legacy is completely irresponsible.

“Today’s announcement has shown us yet again that for all of Cameron’s posturing, the Tories can’t be trusted to deliver on the environment.”

According to the National Audit Office, it is anticipated that the Student Loans Company will have to process twice as many applications this year, but there is no guarantee that it will be able to cope with the  demand.

Last autumn tens of thousands of students faced delays before receiving their grant and loan payments last autumn after the Student Loans Company struggled to keep up.

The National Audit Office’s report on last years shambles found less than half of applications (46%) were fully processed by the start of the academic term last year, compared with 63% in 2008.  Applications had been arriving faster than the Student Loan Company was able to process them, and by September 6 there were 241,000 applications that had not been fully processed.

When the start of term approached, the report found that calls from students enquiring about their applications rose, with four million made to the Student Loan Company last September, and in spite of having a target of no more than 14% of calls being abandoned, 87% were left unanswered during the month.

Between February 2009 and January this year, only a fifth (21%) of calls were answered in 60 seconds, and more than half (56%) were left unanswered.

The findings showed the SLC took 33% longer to process an application in the 2009/10 academic year, than it had taken local authorities in 2008/9, and on average, it took 12.4 weeks for an application to be processed in 2009/10, compared to 9.3 weeks in 2008/09.

The SLC took over processing applications by new students from local authorities for the first time in 2009, for the academic year 2009/10, but the report was criticised the Student Loans Company and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), saying they had underestimated the challenges of centralising the service.

This year, the SLC will handle applications from students starting university this autumn, as well as continuing to deal with applications from students who started last year.

The report concludes:

“The company expects to process at least twice as many applications in 2010, when it becomes responsible for applications from both first and second years, and it is unproven whether it has the capacity to provide a good service this year.”

A spokeswoman for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills said:

“We welcome this report which provides further background to the processing issues at the Student Loans Company (SLC) last summer. As soon as the department became aware of the problems, both ministers and officials acted immediately including making more resources available.

“Last year we commissioned Professor Sir Deian Hopkin to carry out an independent review of the lessons learned and the SLC and the Department fully accepted the recommendations in the report and are implementing them.”

Liberal Democrat Spring Conference 2010

If you didn’t make it to Birmingham last weekend, you can still watch all of the keynote speeches, including those from Chris Huhne and Vince Cable, as well as Nick Clegg’s inspiring closing speech. You can also access the full conference agenda with updated motions and policy. Find out more >

Election an opportunity to win back privacy

Nick Clegg yesterday said in a speech to Privacy International that the election this year is “an opportunity for the British people to vote to take their privacy back.”
Read more >

We’ll be the change that works for you

This week we made our conference soundtrack - ‘We’ll be the change that works for you’ - available for download on iTunes. It draws on our new slogan for the General Election, with all proceeds going towards our campaign. Download now >

Tory immigration policy worst of both worlds

The Liberal Democrats this week called for tougher immigration control in densely populated areas like London and the South East while allowing more migrants elsewhere. 
Read more >

Debate nights – be part of it

A major part of the campaign in 2010  will be the live televised debates broadcast on ITV, BBC and Sky.

Why not hold a party at your local pub, town hall or even at home to get your friends together. We’ve created a host of materials and ways to get involved both on and offline.

Find out more >

Anyone who has an interest in trying to make the Yarborough Ward of North East Lincolnshire a better place to live in, work in, or visit is welcome to attend.

The agenda for the meeting will include:

·         Progress report on issues raised at the last meeting

·         Any new issues

·         An assessment of neighbourhood policing priorities

·         A member of e factor will also be present to give information of the support available for anyone who is thinking of becoming self – employed

A record of the last meeting can be found by clicking here: yarborough-community-meeting-notes-110210.pdf

Commenting on William Hague’s admission of a “mistake” concerning Lord Ashcroft’s tax status, Chris Huhne said: “William Hague promised the Prime Minister that before Lord Ashcroft received his peerage he would pay “tens of millions” in British tax, but then never even checked whether the promise was kept. He has treated the taxpayer with total contempt.

It is utterly unbelievable to say, as William Hague did this morning, that he was not aware of the tax implications of these negotiations that dragged on for four months when he was kept informed by his closest loyalist, the Chief Whip.

Mr Hague is guilty of a cynical cover-up for a shabby decision which has cost British taxpayers more than £100 million.

William Hague is not fit for any role in Government, let alone that of Foreign Secretary. Lord Ashcroft must now meet his £100 million tax bill.”

Commenting on Ministry of Justice figures showing nearly half all criminals released from prison go on to commit further offences, David Howarth said:

“Prison clearly isn’t working to reduce reoffending and yet all Labour and the Tories offer are threats to lock up more people.

“We’re throwing billions of pounds at something that is creating future crime.

“We can cut crime if we start reducing the prison population by having a presumption against short sentences which don’t work and moving drug addicts and the mentally ill into more appropriate accomodation.”

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour’s energy spokesperson Lewis MacDonald is completely at odds with Labour’s Energy Secretary Ed Miliband over coal power:

• On Monday 15 March, Lewis MacDonald said: “If Scotland is going to make a significant contribution to cutting carbon emissions, it makes no sense to start by building a coal-fired power station […] If this goes ahead it will set back Scotland’s prospects of meeting our commitment on climate change”
• This is entirely at odds with Ed Miliband’s claim that “In order to ensure that we maintain a diverse energy mix, we need new coal-fired power stations”

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Scotland Secretary, Alistair Carmichael said:

“This shows the gulf between what Labour promise and what they actually do.

“It is hard to see how Labour can call for greener ministerial limos while Jim Murphy has doubled the number of cars he uses at the Scotland Office.

“Labour are also hopelessly split on energy, criticising coal power in Scotland while in Westminster they back new, dirty power stations.

“13 years of failure have shown that whatever Labour say during the election, they cannot be trusted to back it up with real action in Government.”

In his speech to Privacy International to mark their 20th Anniversary, Nick Clegg will say:

“Labour has spent 13 years trampling over people’s privacy. From allowing children’s fingerprints to be taken at school without their parents’ consent; to making us a world leader in CCTV; to wasting vast sums of taxpayers’ money on giant databases that hoard our personal details. And now we hear that ministers want pensioners to swap their bus passes for ID cards.

“The Government’s staggering record on losing private data – leaving it in pub car parks and on commuter trains – just makes matters worse.

“And there’s an even bigger issue at stake: Labour’s flagrant disregard for our privacy flies in the face of hard won British liberty. It betrays a deep distrust of the British people, as well as an obsession with controlling every aspect of everyday life from Whitehall.

“Those same reflexes underpin this Government’s obsession with law-making. Since 1997 they have flooded the statute books with nearly 4,300 new ways of making us criminals. Some of them are completely bizarre, like ‘disturbing a pack of eggs when directed not to by an authorised officer’, and ‘causing a nuclear explosion’, as if we needed a new law for that.

“And where do all these new laws get us? Only one in a hundred crimes ends in a conviction in court.

“The Conservatives talk a good game on privacy, but scratch beneath the surface and it’s clear they can’t be trusted to roll back Labour’s surveillance state. Just look at their plans to make it even easier for the police to watch and record people getting on with their daily lives, all in the name of cutting red tape.

“Only the Liberal Democrats will bring an end to the endless snooping on innocent people.”

Commenting on the Government’s announcements of cuts to university budgets, Stephen Williams said:

“Universities and young people are bearing the brunt of Labour’s economic failure.

“There is a real fear that these cuts are preparing the ground for tuition fees to be raised.  It would be totally unfair for young people, the innocent victims of the financial crisis, to be punished in this way.”

Commenting on the findings of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia’s inquiry into the funding of the National Dementia Strategy (NDS) released today, Norman Lamb said:
 
“This report makes for depressing reading and reveals that Labour’s dementia strategy is failing.
 
“We urgently need to improve services for people suffering with dementia and make sure that funding is available to provide carers with valuable time off.
 
“Dementia has a crippling effect on families across the country and this problem is only going to get bigger as people continue to live longer.
 
“If we want to ensure this money gets to the people who need it we must give local people the power to hold their local health service to account.”

This week’s panel features a Conservative MP, a Labour MP, a right-wing pundit and a Green candidate – but no Liberal Democrat.

The story has been covered at http://bit.ly/ldvu0317 - and it includes details of how you can make a complaint to the BBC.

Although the BBC never directly admits “we’ve got it wrong”, the overall level of pressure does make a difference - so please do lodge a complaint and share the post with others.

There’s a link to all the different ways of making a complaint (phone, letter, web) at http://bit.ly/ldvu0317

The Yorkshire and Humber Improvement Partnership (YHIP), which is coordinating the regional response to the National Dementia Strategy (published by the Department of Health in 2009), hosted a launch event earlier this month. ‘The Big Event’ showcased regional innovations in dementia care.  

The CTP was represented by all five innovative services, with one service holding an informative workshop, two others holding desktop discussions and two others having marketplace displays. 

Jeanette Logan, head of older people’s mental health services for the CTP, said:

“We are proud that locally we are striding ahead in terms of improving the quality of local services for local people, especially at a time when reports are disappointing around the national response to the challenges of the National Dementia Strategy.

 “We are developing and designing services that offer new solutions which not only enhance the quality of care for people with dementia and their carers but also go some way to addressing challenges posed by the rising numbers of local people with a type of dementia.   

“This is and has to be a multi agency approach and we are fortunate to have built a local network of key individuals and agencies that enables us to ensure services will be commissioned and provided according to the specific needs and demands of the local area.” 

The CTP is currently developing its commissioning strategy for dementia services and commissioners have been instrumental in terms of support and backing for the both the dementia care mapping and Haverstoe initiatives as well as supporting proposals for the development of the dementia academy. 

The five services have also been included in the soon to be published Yorkshire and South Humber innovations in dementia care directory and are among other services that have been identified as part of a baseline assessment of PCT/CTP positions against the National Dementia Strategy.

Andrea Parr, strategy coordinator, older people’s mental health services, said: “A significant amount of hard work by a number of people has gone into designing and delivering services of this standard. 

“The shared goal of the health and social care community within NE Lincs should be to enable people to maintain their independence and remain in their own homes for as long as possible.  There still remains a significant amount of work to be done, but having our efforts recognised in this way makes us feel proud of our achievements and spurs us on with other developing projects.” 

Project details:

The Gardens – acute inpatient and assessment suite. An innovative design and staffing structure which allows for the highest quality of care provision both while in hospital and on discharge.  A new element to the staffing means that care and support can also be offered in the home to prevent an admission where possible. 

The Haverstoe Suite – a specially designed and staffed unit at Huntleigh Lodge in Cleethorpes which caters for people with dementia with more complex needs, providing intensive input from specialist OPMHS services and preventing out of area placements.  

The dementia academy – a joint project with the local independent and third sector as well as other key partners which will establish North East Lincolnshire as a centre of excellence for dementia care. Offering training, advice and support to anybody delivering care or interacting with somebody with dementia from specialist staff to members of the public. 

Dementia care mapping – a method of assessing the impact of one to one or group care provision on a person with dementia.  Feedback allows for individuals and teams of staff to identify areas of good practice as well as areas for improvement. 

Admiral nurses – The CTP is fortunate to have two of 80 national Admiral nurses.  Working in partnership with the charity For Dementia, the CTP is able to offer specialist support and advice to the carers of people with dementia and to work on developing and rolling out programmes of information and training for carers.

Here is the full text of the prime minister’s letter:

Commenting on the UK’s £15.9milliuon fine for failing to comply with Common Agricultural Policy rules, Tim Farron said:

“The British taxpayer is now stumping up for the Government’s incompetence but British farmers have already paid a high price.

“The Government’s failure to issue payments promptly in 2005 pushed many farmers to the brink.

“The chaotic handling of the Rural Payments Agency has now cost the British taxpayer £90million in fines to the EU.
 
“It’s absolutely staggering that Defra is throwing money down the drain at a time when all Government departments are being asked to tighten their belts.
 
“It is time for a simpler, more cost-effective system which helps farmers get their payments efficiently, effectively and on time.”

Commenting on Gordon Brown’s announcement that he is writing to the Iraq Inquiry to clarify evidence he gave on defence cuts, Nick Harvey said:

“Gordon Brown should do more than simply clarify the matter with the Iraq Inquiry.
 
“He should apologise for the fact that under his watch our troops have not had the equipment they need to do the job.
 
“They have struggled without sufficient helicopters for too long.
 
“It is a scandal that it has taken so long to get the Snatch Land Rover out of service in Afghanistan.”

Commenting on today’s Princess Royal Trust for Carers report, which reveals that next year Primary Care Trusts only plan to spend 25% of the £100m they have been allocated to increase services for carers for this purpose, Norman Lamb said:
 
“This report makes clear that Labour has completely let down millions of hardworking unpaid carers across the country.
 
“Yet again we see that ministers have chased headlines with grand spending commitments but completely failed to make sure the money gets through to the people who really need it. This is tantamount to a fraud on vulnerable people.
 
“The Liberal Democrats will guarantee that a million unpaid carers who work the longest hours get a week’s break every year – to be taken in whichever way they choose. Only a guaranteed right will stop vital funds for respite being diverted into other parts of the NHS.”

Commenting on today’s unemployment figures, Steve Webb said:

“Today’s figures show that the number of people in work has actually fallen. The sad story is that people are giving up on looking for work instead of finding jobs.
 
“A fall in the jobless figures hides the surge of people who have lost hope and resigned themselves to long-term unemployment.
 
“Ministers cannot afford to gloat. It’s especially important to support those who have been out of work for a long time. They need extra help to get back into work and avoid a life on benefits, the fate which so many faced under the Tories as a result of the last recession.”

Commenting on today’s Government announcement that 3000 new after school clubs offering Olympic and Paralympics sport will be provided for young people, Don Foster said:

“We have been calling for more after school sport provision for a long time. Giving children a greater choice of sports will increase sporting take up and decrease drop outs.
 
“Currently fewer than a third of children do the five hours of sport each week this Government promised. This one-off sum won’t be enough to produce the huge boost in sports participation needed.
 
“Grassroots sport has lost out because of lottery money being diverted to pay for the Olympics. By changing the way the national lottery is taxed, we could produce long term dividends for all good causes, including grassroots sport.”

Commenting on new figures which show Scottish unemployment is still rising while overall UK unemployment falls, Alistair Carmichael said:

“The Government’s claim that their action is ‘making a difference’ clearly doesn’t extend to Scotland.

“Yet again it looks like Labour is taking Scotland for granted.

“Only the Liberal Democrats will provide the investment in green jobs we need to get Scots back into work.”

Commenting on the legal drug methedrone following the deaths of two teenagers, Chris Huhne said:

“The failure to classify methedrone is a direct consequence of the Government’s interference in the independent advice of its scientific advisers.

“If the Home Secretary hadn’t meddled in the work of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs we would already have had their advice and the Government would be able to act.”

The Government has been forced to make a U-turn on their JobCentre closure programme after a huge rise in unemployment placed unexpected pressure on the network. As part of its closure programme, over 500 JobCentres were closed, even as the recession took hold last year.

Unemployment skyrocketed by up to a third in the areas affected in just one year while the JobCentres were closed.

The Government spent £336,000 closing the JobCentre in South Northfield, Birmingham and another £758,000 closing one in Broadway, Bexleyheath, answers to Parliamentary Questions show.

Between January 2009 and January 2010, the claimant count shows that:

• Unemployment increased 33% in South Northfield, Birmingham, from 2,472 (7.3% of the working age population) to 3,292 (9.5%)
• Unemployment increased by 25% in Broadway, Bexleyheath, from 1,386 (3.4%) to 1,732 (4.2%)

The Government also closed JobCentres only to re-open them again in Great Moor Street, Bolton and Erdington, Birmingham. While the JobCentres were closed, the number of people out of work rose by 28% and 22% respectively.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Steve Webb said:

“It is good to hear that ministers have finally backed down and started reopening Jobcentres in areas where unemployment has wreaked havoc during the recession.

“Jobseekers need all the help they can get and shouldn’t have to travel miles to get it.
 
“The Government was arrogant and short-sighted to close more than 500 jobcentres at a great cost to taxpayers, it is a shame they didn’t realise their mistake sooner.”

Clare Moody, who is a national officer for the union that is involved in the BA cabin crew strike, has been given a desk in the Prime Minister’s political office that deals with policy development and government relations, and although she works in the heart of the Government her salary and pension are being paid for by the union.

The revelation has been made amid growing concern amongst Labour supporters about the growing influence that the Unite union has over the Labour party, and the four days delay before the Prime Minister eventually criticised the union over the British Airways dispute.

Lord Mandelson is known to be worried that the union is using Labour candidate selection meetings to control the next Labour MPs, and he has made a point of helping a Blairite moderniser onto the shortlist in James Purnell’s old parliamentary seat, in defiance of Unite officials who had blocked the choice.

The Standard is reported to have telephoned Ms Moody this morning. She answered with her name at her desk in the political office, and when she was asked if the union paid her salary, she replied:

“Can I get back to you. This has come a bit out of the blue. I will come back to you.”

M/s Moody works at No 10 with Joe Irvine, the Prime Minister’s political secretary, who is a former Unite national official, whose salary is paid by the Labour Party.

Ray Collins, Labour’s general secretary, also used to work for the union and is described as “extremely friendly towards Unite”.

It also emerged today that a number of members of Unite, including leader Tony Woodley and Political Director Charlie Whelan, have been given security passes to the House of Commons.

The passes give the union barons a free run of the Commons estate, including access to bars and lobbies where they can approach MPs. They could also use Commons facilities like the library researchers if they were listed as a researcher to an MP.

Tory MP Ben Wallace said:

“Union bully boys like Charlie Whelan and Tony Woodley strut around Parliament like they own the place.

“As BA passengers struggle to make alternative holiday plans, the Labour Party engages in buying votes and twisting the truth with union money.”

Mr Woodley has a pass from Labour MP Rob Marris while Mr Whelan’s is sponsored by the Labour Party HQ.

Ms Moody also has a Commons pass, courtesy of Labour select committee chairman Terry Rooney. She is listed in the Commons records as an officer for Amicus, Unite’s predecessor union. She flew to America in 2008 on behalf of the union to study the presidential elections and learn lessons for Labour’s campaign for a fourth term. She has also stood for Parliament in 2005 in Salisbury.

A Downing Street spokesman would not confirm who paid her salary but said it did not come from public funds, and neither No 10 nor the Labour Party would confirm or deny that Ms Moody was unique in being paid by a trade union rather than a party.

The National Union of Students (NUS) has launched the Vote for Students campaign to encourage candidates to pledge to protect student interests by opposing attempts to lift the cap on student top-up fees.
Details can be found on the NUS website http://www.voteforstudents.co.uk/

The Vote for Students funding pledge states:

“I pledge to vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament, and will put pressure on the Government to introduce a fairer alternative.” Greg Mulholland said:

“I am fully behind the NUS and their commitment to keep higher education affordable for all.

“In these times of economic uncertainty it is even more important that we recognise the importance of education and continued investment in the countries future.”

NUS President Wes Streeting said:

“The vast majority of the general public is against higher fees, and although this review has been set up to report after the general election, voters deserve to know where their MP stands on this highly emotive issue.

“I am delighted that Greg he is standing up for students and their families in Leeds North West by signing up to this pledge. He has demonstrated his determination to give every young person in Leeds North a fair chance to go to university.”

A recent YouGov poll commissioned by NUS revealed that 88% of the public does not think the review should even consider increasing fees, while a majority believes that it should look at alternatives. Last year, research by Opinionpanel showed that a political party’s position on tuition fees would affect how 79% of students would vote in a general election.

According to a Parliamentary report,Benefit claimants owe an £1.85 billion in overpaid money, but the Department for Work and Pensions is recovering less than £300 million a year.

The cross-party Commons Public Accounts Committee said the DWP needs to “significantly improve” the way it pays out benefits and should make greater efforts to recover any overpayments.

Among the 1.6 million people who have received overpayments are over 30,000 people who owe sums of more than £10,000 and over 100,000 people who have four or more different debts.

About 8,600 of these people owe sums in excess of £20,000 and their average debt of £30,581 will take more than 60 years to repay with the maximum £9.75 a week that can be taken from people still on benefits.

The report said the DWP has had some success in improving debt recovery procedures, and has increased the amount recovered from £180 million in 2005-06 to £281 million in 2008-09, but the total debt is still rising, and will has reached £1.85 billion by March 31, 2009, an increase of 11% over the previous two years, because the cost of overpayments were still greater than the amount recovered.

The committee warned the situation is likely to get worse as the recession makes people less able to repay money they owed.

Income Support claims were found to account for more than 70% of all debts, and £9.3 million of overpayments that were less than £65 were written off during 2007-08 because they were considered too small to justify the cost of recovering them.

Committee chairman Edward Leigh said:

“An immense amount of money, currently £1.85 billion, is owed to the Department for Work and Pensions by claimants who have been paid too much benefit.

“The size of the debt is increasing, moreover, as the amount of overpaid benefit being clawed back is outstripped by the amount referred for recovery action. The current economic malaise is only likely to make worse the rate at which debt can be recovered.

“If the department is to deal with this rising trend in benefit debt, then it has to improve the way it approaches the prevention of debt. It should also review its procedures for validating claims for Income Support, a benefit which is particularly susceptible to big overpayments.”

Shadow work and pensions secretary Theresa May said:

“Labour need to get a grip. It is unforgivable that while taxpayers are tightening their belts, the Government is racking up more debt through poor administration.”

The document has no formal status, although the policies summarised within it have all been passed by local party representatives at party conference.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:

“It is appalling that the Electoral Commission has had to go to four different lawyers, on top of its own legal team, at a total cost of £81,000 before they got the answer that they wanted, which was to give the all clear to Lord Ashcroft’s dodgy donations.
 
“The Electoral Commission should now publish all the legal advice so that others can make a judgement about whether to challenge this decision in the courts.
 
“This smacks of the sort of legal tourism we saw in the Government over the illegal war in Iraq and at Lehman’s before it collapsed, where some lawyers wouldn’t give the opinion they wanted so they moved on until they found one who would.”

Commenting on Gordon Brown’s announcement that expectant mothers will be given new rights about where they give birth, Norman Lamb said:
 
“Gordon Brown is living in a fantasy land. Labour promised mothers a choice over where to give birth at the last election but they simply haven’t delivered.
 
“Mothers aren’t being given a choice because there simply aren’t enough midwives to handle the growing birth rate. Nothing that Labour is proposing will address that problem.
 
“Rather than reeling off even more undeliverable pledges, Labour should concentrate on delivering on the promises they’ve already made. Recruiting extra midwives so that everyone can have a safe birth should clearly be the number one priority.”

Liberal Democrat research has found that:

• Not one project has yet received funding from the UK Government’s £42m Marine Renewables Deployment Fund
• Not one project has yet received funding from the Scottish Government’s Saltire Prize, although over £77,000 has been spent on advertising it 

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Scotland Secretary, Alistair Carmichael said:

“Governments in London and Edinburgh have delivered little more than rhetoric on renewables so far.

“Today’s announcements are welcome, but this is the start of a process rather than the end.

“Both Labour and the SNP’s flagship marine energy funds have paid out nothing to technologies crying out for support.

“The politicians falling over themselves to welcome these announcements must now make sure they deliver on their earlier commitments to ensure we see real progress.”

Commenting on today’s King’s Fund report on social care, Norman Lamb said:

“Today’s report supports the Liberal Democrat view that the fairest way to fund social care in the future is through a partnership between individuals and the state.

“While everyone agrees that the social care system is in urgent need of reform we have to be realistic about the state of the public finances. That’s why it’s so important that all the major parties sit down together and work this out.

“Older voters won’t be fooled by Labour and Tory attempts to win their votes with piecemeal policies. Both parties need to agree to a cross-party Commission designed to reach agreement within a year.”

In a keynote speech to Policy Exchange today, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne will say that an overall national limit of the sort proposed by the Tories would be too lax in London and the South East and too tough in Scotland.

Commenting, Chris Huhne said:

“Immigration is vital to our economy but lots of people are worried by the issue because of Labour’s catastrophic mismanagement of the system.

“If we are to make the case for a liberal immigration policy, we have to give the public confidence that the flow is properly managed and the pace of change is reasonable.

“The Liberal Democrats are the only party offering a hard-headed assessment of the needs of different regions and parts of the economy.

“We need a system that makes migrants go to those areas that most need them.

“The Tory policy of pulling up the drawbridge because we have reached an arbitrary national limit would bring in the worst of all worlds.

“Immigrants would continue to crowd into the most populous parts of the country – making the policy too lax for the South East of England and too tight for Scotland.”

Something big is missing from the public debate about the deficit.
The public.
Politicians, economists and business leaders have been firing pot-shots at one another for well over 18 months on this issue.
But so far it has been a process largely confined to a political and economic bubble in Westminster, Whitehall and the City of London.
The debate has been cut off from the realities of people’s everyday lives.

We have had groups of economists trading letters in the newspapers about the best time to begin fiscal contraction.
We have had Alistair Darling and George Osborne, Gordon Brown and David Cameron using these disparate economic analyses to score points off one another in TV studios and the House of Commons.
We have had lists of demands from the CBI and the Institute of Directors.
We have had commentary from the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Half of the debate has been political posturing, and the other half elevated economic theorising.

There is an enormous risk ahead.
In a democracy, dramatic change cannot be imposed from above or it will fail.
It has to be led by a process of political engagement.
You only have to look at the scale of industrial unrest in Greece to see that it is impossible to reduce a public deficit quickly if you do not find a way to persuade people to go along with the process.
And you only have to look at the success of the fiscal contraction in Canada, where a purposeful attempt was made to engage the public, to see that it is possible to rally support for deficit reduction, and it makes it easier to achieve the necessary cuts.

My point is simple:
If we do not find a way to take the people of Britain with us on this difficult journey of deficit reduction…
We will not be able to make the journey.
We will instead follow Greece down the road to economic, political and social disruption.

In my view, regardless of the outcome of the next election…
It is unrealistic to presume that this level of change can be driven through by the standard procedures of Westminster politics.
Our current government was elected with the support of just 22% of eligible voters.
How can a government elected without majority support ever command majority support for something as painful as deficit reduction on the scale required?

If a government tries to ram through major change to public spending solely through the usual Westminster combination of machismo and threats from the Whips, it will not only fail…
It could find itself torn to pieces.

The debate on public spending has been too narrowly focused on timing.
It has forgotten the biggest and most essential ingredient of all: how to win public support.

Economists and politicians alike need to remember what public spending is.
Yes: your approach to public spending says a lot about your political identity.
But no: that doesn’t mean the sole purpose of public spending is for ideological positioning.
Yes: the big numbers and the economic trends are important.
But no: that doesn’t mean public spending is just numbers on a balance sheet that can be increased or decreased at will to fit with an economic theory.

Public spending is not just numbers.
Public spending is nurses’ and doctors’ salaries.
It is text books and computers in the classroom.
It is police on the streets and judges in the court room.
It is the difference between decent tanks and soldiers dying from roadside bombs.
Public spending is the difference for millions of families between making ends meet and having to go without.
Reducing it is going to be extremely difficult.
And it will be painful.

The scale of the deficit we are dealing with at the moment is enormous.
£175bn this year.
12 and a half percent of GDP.
A deficit of which the Government thinks up to £80bn is structural, meaning it will not be eliminated by anticipated economic growth.
One of the worst myths being peddled by some within both Labour and Conservative parties at the moment is that the deficit can be eliminated simply through better management, efficiency drives and waste reduction.
As if we can reduce public spending by as £80bn or more a year without anyone noticing.
That is not true, and it is wrong to pretend otherwise.
Even efficiencies usually mean redundancies, and that means more people out of work.
The truth is that to eliminate the deficit, we are going to have to look in detail at everything the government does…
And some of them will simply have to stop.

This is an unprecedented challenge in the modern era.
We need to bring about the biggest fiscal contraction in post-war political history.
This will mean enormously tight spending rounds for many years to come.
Liberal Democrats will be setting out in advance of the election a full plan for £15bn a year of savings that can be delivered by 2012…
Assuming the economy is in a strong enough position by then to bear this level of fiscal restraint.
But we are the first to admit that our plan does not yet go far enough.
Even by end of the next Parliament, there will be another £10-15bn of savings to find over what we have announced and the Government has already found.
With another £40bn of savings in today’s prices that need to be identified by 2018.
And those figures, enormous though they are, are all built on the presumption of decent growth and that the government’s proposed 8-year timetable for deficit reduction remains appropriate.
Liberal Democrats believe we may need to revisit both the timetable and the level of savings required…
If borrowing conditions worsen dramatically, if growth does not match up to Treasury expectations or if the structural element of the deficit turns out to be larger than estimated.

Let’s be absolutely straightforward about this.
There is no serious doubt that at some point in the next eight years…
The government is going to have to stop spending as much as 10% of what it spends today.
This is not just a huge challenge for the mandarins and the politicians who will have to pore over the books of every department in search of cuts to make…
It is a huge challenge for every citizen of the United Kingdom…
All the millions of people who have to adjust to a new kind of environment for public spending.

We have to ease the pain.
We have to make sure people are bought into, not alienated by, the process of deficit reduction.
And ensure that cuts do not undermine fairness, but strengthen it.
I have identified three principles on which the process of deficit reduction should be based.
They are timing, consultation and fairness.
By sticking to these three principles, I believe we can buy people into the process of governmental change ahead.

First: timing.
This has, at least, been the subject of extensive debate, but good economics has been crowded out by political dogma.
My approach is simple:
We must get the timing right because if we cut public spending too quickly, we risk undermining a nascent recovery…
And undermining the growth in tax receipts that is so desperately needed.
It’s like cutting back a tree – do it at the wrong time of year, and you will kill the tree.
Do it at the right time, and you help it to grow strong.

That is why Vince Cable and I have set out five objective economic conditions that we will assess when judging when public spending should begin to be cut.
These are: the rate of growth; the level of unemployment; credit conditions; the extent of spare capacity in the economy and the cost of Government borrowing.
Our working assumption is that the conditions will be right for cuts from 2011-12, but not before.
So in our first year of office, we will recycle the money from any cuts we can identify…
Like taking the top 20% of claimants out of the tax credit system…
Into an economic stimulus and job creation package…
To help kick-start the economy on a greener footing.

This jobs plan will be fiscally neutral…
But it will get up to 100,000 people back into work.
Demonstrating a clear commitment from government to put jobs and growth first.
Ensuring there is a clear benefit to individuals from the initial cuts we make…
And helping win public support for change.

The second principle on which deficit reduction plans should be based is consultation.
It would be completely wrong for officials and ministers of whatever government is elected on May 6 to lock themselves in a room for a few months and announce a plan.
The outcome would be instant anger and alienation.
Imagine it:
Knowing nothing for week after week about whether your job was secure…
Your benefits were protected…
Or your school was safe…
Waiting for the announcements, unclear about the future and unable to influence the outcome.
And when the announcements came…
It would be like twenty Budget days come all at once.
Everyone desperately trying to work out from the small print how they will be affected.

You simply cannot cancel one in ten pounds of government spending without asking people – the people who run public services and the people who use them – how best to do it.
I believe Britain must learn from the approach taken by the Liberal government in Canada in the 1990s.
At that time, Canada had an annual budget deficit a tenth the size of its economy…
Almost as large as the UK’s is today.
Rather than making cuts behind closed doors, the Liberal Government realised that if people were to understand what needed to be done they had to talk to them.
They held a massive consultation.
About every last line of public spending.
Asking the people who really knew: what to cut and what to protect.
And they managed to eliminate that vast deficit in four years…
Taking the people with them.

Liberal Democrats will follow Canada’s lead.
After the election, we will hold an emergency budget and interim spending review which will put in place cuts which could be realised within the financial year, such as scrapping the Child Trust Fund or restricting tax credits, to release money for our job and infrastructure package.
Subject to our five economic tests being met, that interim spending review will also put into place the cuts for 2011-12 identified in our manifesto.
Then, throughout the summer and early autumn…
We will hold a comprehensive spending review of all departments…
Consulting for three or four months with people in every part of Britain…
In every industry…
Of every age.
Not just to win support…
But to seek ideas.

The people who use public services and the people who run them know far better than ministers and mandarins what is needed and what is not.
Last autumn I set up a website called Ask the People in the Know, where I sought ideas from public servants about how and where to cut.
We were flooded with hundreds of suggestions.
From wasteful procurement practices to unnecessary projects.
People out there in the country are full of ideas.
We just need to harness those ideas, using the innovative capacity of everyone in Britain to tackle this unprecedented national challenge.

The third essential principle is fairness.
It’s a fundamental British value.
It’s something everyone instinctively understands.
It must be right at the centre of our minds when we look for savings that can be made.
Not just because it is right in principle…
But also because it is the only way to maintain solidarity…
And ensure continued public support for deficit reduction.
No-one will support cuts to public spending that seem to have an unfair impact on the people most in need of help.

So we need to choose cuts that have a fair impact.
We need to keep the door open to limited new spending, where it is essential for fairness.
And we need to put fairness into our tax system, too.
So people do not feel they are being forced to pay through the nose for disappearing services.

Identifying cuts that have a fair impact is challenging.
But possible.
Our proposal for restraint in public sector pay, for example.
Instead of proposing a blanket freeze, like the Conservatives, or a 1% pay rise like Labour…
We propose a cash limit on pay rises of £400.
That will ensure the lower your salary, the higher percentage pay rise you are eligible for.
For an NHS manager on £90,000, £400 is a tiny increase.
But for a janitor on £12,000, it would be a substantial 3% pay rise.
This proposal is not only right in principle, because it means those with the broadest shoulders take the greatest strain…
It is also right for practical purposes because it is fair, and will therefore secure broader support for pay restraint that may have to last for several years.

In other areas, it is only possible to make cuts fair if you redirect some of the money into alternate spending.
Liberal Democrats will not, for these reasons, put every penny we can save into deficit reduction…
We will use one third of that money for alternate spending…
To really enshrine fairness in our society.
We propose a pupil premium, worth £2.5bn a year for our schools, targeted at helping children from the most deprived backgrounds, but making it possible for schools to cut class sizes and increase one-to-one tuition to the benefit of everyone.
We propose 3,000 more police on the beat
We propose a pay rise for our troops, especially those at the more junior ranks.

If all people hear is austerity and cuts…
They will lose hope.
If people see that there are choices being made…
That some cuts are being used to improve their lives or the lives of those in tremendous need…
They will be readier to support the process.
And rightly so.

Fairness must not just be constrained to what government spends money on, however.
We need to put fairness into our tax system, too, to win support.
That is where our fair tax package comes in.
Liberal Democrats propose the most radical reform of our tax system in a generation.
We will ensure no-one pays tax on the first £10,000 they earn, paid for by closing loopholes that unfairly benefit those at the top and increasing taxes on polluting aircraft.
That means complete freedom from income tax for 3.6m low earners and pensioners.
And £700 in the pockets of tens of millions more.

This is the right thing to do for the sake of fairness, correcting the imbalance that has long meant the poorest pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than the richest.
It is the right thing to do for economic recovery, too, as it will put money back in the pockets of millions of people who are currently struggling…
And the evidence suggests a high proportion of that money will be spent, circulating in the economy and driving consumer demand.
But our tax changes are also part of a grand bargain between a future government of whatever composition…
And the British people who want to see they are being looked after and supported even as the deficit is reduced and public spending falls.

Most people recognise that paying taxes is a social obligation, by which we contribute to shared services that we depend on as a community.
But how can anyone feel positive about paying taxes when they see the wealthiest people getting out of paying their dues?
And how much anger will it create if people feel they are paying too much tax at the same time as losing public services on which they depend?

Our tax package offers a way forward: the means by which public support for his long and difficult process can be won and maintained.
Tax cuts for millions will sweeten the very bitter pill of the largest fiscal contraction in modern history.
If we do not implement these changes…
It will be impossible to rally people behind public sector spending cuts…
And any serious attempt to cut the deficit will fail.

By making the tax system fair…
We can ensure people see the benefit of change…
We can ensure that cuts to public spending do not hurt individual families who cannot take the strain.
And we can ensure that the process of reducing the deficit carries public opinion instead of alienating already disenfranchised voters from the political process.

Reducing the deficit will be one of the biggest challenges for the next government, whatever its complexion.
With several public sector unions already campaigning against government proposals for spending restraint…
While business organisations campaign for tax cuts…
It is clear that the political challenge will be as large, if not larger, than the practical challenge.

Deficit reduction will take the best part of a decade.
It will take great courage and effort to maintain public support for restraint and austerity for such a long period of time.
One-off bribes such as those Labour is predicted to include in the budget will not sustain support over the long term.
But I believe if fairness is put first in identifying cuts…
If tax reform is brought forward to put money back the pockets of the millions of people who depend on public services…
If government makes the effort to ask the people who run public services and the people who use them for their ideas on how and what to cut…
And if growth is nurtured by maintaining public spending for one more year, while recovery is still fragile…
It will be possible.
We will be able to reduce the deficit…
Protect the nation’s financial position…
And build a stronger, fairer and more united Britain.

Commenting on new rules on the cost of credit card borrowing announced by the Government today, John Thurso said:

“Credit card interest rates have been hiked to their highest levels since June 2006 despite the fact that interest rates have bottomed out at 0.5%. We need a maximum interest rate put in place to end this profiteering.

“It’s right that the most expensive debt should be paid off first but the Government’s lack of action on minimum repayments means that credit card debt will still take decades to repay.

“On average, a £10,000 debt repaid at the minimum rate will still take more than 35 years to pay off.

“Credit cards will remain a very expensive way to borrow. The Government must do more to provide financial advice to all consumers to allow them to make informed lending decisions.”

Commenting on the Chief Medical Officer’s report released today which calls for fitness tests for children in secondary schools, Norman Lamb said:
 
“Sir Liam Donaldson is right to raise concerns about the state of our children’s health but routine ‘bleep tests’ won’t by themselves solve the obesity crisis facing the country.
 
“Labour has failed when it comes to our children’s health. Gordon Brown claimed three years ago that every child would get the chance to do five hours of sport each week but less than a third are doing it.
 
“It’s hardly surprising that physical activity has declined and obesity soared when ministers spend all their time obsessing about targets, process and surveys.

“Physical activity should be a central part of our children’s lives, not an optional extra. This means protecting playing fields, ensuring lottery money is spent on facilities and improving links between schools and community clubs so kids have somewhere to keep playing sport once they leave school.”

Commenting on the Government’s launch of a consultation on the future of schools funding, David Laws said:
 
“This is a pretty desperate attempt from Ed Balls to re-package existing deprivation funding for schools.
 
“What is missing is any suggestion of additional money.

“Since it would be politically impossible to cut the budgets of some schools to shift money to others, what Ed Balls is talking about is political posturing not serious policy.”

Responding to the Bank of England’s latest quarterly bulletin and its warnings of job market uncertainty, Vince Cable said:

“This is strong confirmation from the Bank of England that the British economy is still weak.

“Although unemployment is not as bad as it could have been given the extent of the economic collapse, there is still worrying uncertainty.

“The clear implication of the Bank’s analysis is that if any Government tries to cut back too soon, it will aggravate unemployment, making the deficit worse and compounding the country’s problems.

“Each party must set out a clear process of what and how it will cut to tackle the deficit, but when this starts must be guided by economics, not political dogma.”

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said the planned seven days of industrial action could put the future of the airline at risk, calling the walkouts “totally unjustified.”

Unite hit back at the minister, saying he was “badly informed” about the long-running dispute, adding that he should be urging the airline to reinstate an offer it withdrew last week.

It is understood that the union has made representations to 10 Downing Street about the minister’s intervention, and it is now expected that the Prime Minister will directly intervene.

Lord Adonis appealed to Unite to return to the negotiating table in an attempt to avert the industrial action planned to begin with a three day strike from next Saturday, followed by a four day stoppage from the following weekend.

Lord Adonis told BBC1’s Andrew Marr show:

“The impact this will have will not only be deeply damaging on passengers, it will … threaten the very existence of British Airways.

“The stakes are incredibly high in this strike. I absolutely deplore the strike, it is not only the damage it is going to do passengers and the inconvenience it’s going to cause - which is quite disproportionate to the issues at stake - but also the threat it poses to the future of one of our great companies in this country.

“It’s totally unjustified, the strike, on the merits of the issues at stake. I do call on the union to engage constructively with the company at this late stage.”

A Unite spokesman said:

“Lord Adonis appears badly informed. We all want to avoid strike action and Unite is always ready to negotiate. Unite was preparing to put BA’s offer to our members. Had they accepted it, there would be no strikes.

Unite is a major Labour Party donor and critics have claimed the Government is unwilling to condemn the union’s actions.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary, Norman Baker said:

“BA and the Unite union are behaving like spoilt children in the playground and as usual it is innocent passengers who will suffer. They should call off their strike immediately and find some other way to make their point.

“The fact this strike is due to occur at roughly the same time as the Network Rail dispute looks suspiciously like co-ordinated union action. The unions are trying their best to wind the clock back to the 1970s and create a Spring of Discontent.

“The consequences for the Labour Party will be the same as they were in 1979.”