Shrewsbury Liberal Democrats

… to the new Shrewsbury Liberal Democrats website

Lib Dems claim:

• Knowingly misled parliament on the legality of the war. On 17 March, a day before MPs voted to authorise British involvement in the war, Straw told them: "There is no question about the legality of the action that we propose to take." The inquiry has heard that the two most senior Foreign Office legal advisers, Sir Michael Wood and his deputy, Elizabeth Wilmhurst, believed the war was illegal.

• Breached the ministerial code by preventing the cabinet from seeing Goldsmith’s full legal advice. At paragraph 2.12 the code says: "When advice from the law officers is included in correspondence between ministers, or in papers for the cabinet or ministerial committees, the conclusions may if necessary be summarised but, if this is done, the complete text of the advice should be attached."

• Abused his powers and failed to declare a conflict of interest when he vetoed a freedom of information request to release the minutes of the cabinet discussion about Iraq on 17 March 2003. The Lib Dems believe Straw gave a misleading account when, as justice secretary, he vetoed the FoI request last year. He described the cabinet as "the forum in which debates on the issues of greatest significance and complexity are conducted".

Ed Davey, the Lib Dems’ foreign affairs spokesman, said: "Jack Straw has tried to hoodwink the cabinet, parliament and then the British people in his cover-up."

Local GP, Dr Charles West commenting on today’s verdict on the death of David Gray said,

“The NHS needs to learn some lessons from this, and learn them fast. Quality care cannot be done on the cheap, and the government’s obsession with chasing competition from private firms is putting cost before patient care.

“The out of hours care service that killed David Gray, and was also involved in the death of nine month old Taylor Smith had some key features that should have rung the alarm bells.

• It is private company brought in by the Local Primary Care Trust (PCT) to provide out of hours care.
• It had been criticised by local GPs over mistakes in prescribing diamorphine in the weeks prior to the death of David Gray.
• It was know to be facing financial pressure.
• It employed fewer doctors than most out of hours services, sometimes as few as 2 doctors to cover 600,000 patients.
• It recruited doctors from outside the area. Dr Urbani who gave the overdose of painkiller to David Gray flew in from Germany, was not familiar with British General Practice and had poor command of the English language.

“In addition both the coroner in this case and the NHS Care Quality Commission criticised the supervision of this company by the PCT.

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In the last two years, more than £2m has been cut from the Council’s £9m roads budget leading to deteriorating roads and delays to repairs and that’s without taking account of  the costs of salt and snow clearance this winter.

"The Tories have had no Severe Weather Fund," said Lib Dem Peter Phillips. "So they have been caught unprepared by the floods and snow of the last two years. And the roads maintenance budget has been raided. It’s a story of four years fecklessness."

Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate Cllr Heather Kidd, added, "We’ve had a month of snow and ice this winter – with no money to pay for it. Already a quarter of next year’s roads money has been spent on this year’s winter. No wonder the condition of our roads is a constant complaint from residents.

The Liberal Democrats have announced a major funding commitment to boost education in Shropshire.

Nick Clegg has this week set out the Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment for a Pupil Premium that would invest around £9.5m of extra cash in Shropshire schools, raising the funding for disadvantaged pupils to private school levels.

The money will be invested through the Pupil Premium pledge, part of a £2.5bn manifesto spending commitment.

Dr Charles West, PPC for Shrewsbury and Atcham, said:

“It’s nothing short of a scandal that children in Shropshire continue to lose out under Labour.

"We have already seen Shropshire’s Tory Council threatening school closures. With the budgets proposed by a possible future conservative government we would see even more cuts in education.

“Under our plans, Shropshire schools would get a further £9.5m which they could use to cut class sizes and provide more individual support.”

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said:

“With this unfairness in funding it’s no surprise there is such a gap in achievement between children from the poorest backgrounds and those families who are better off.

“Only when we get education funding back on track will be able to give all our children the fair start they deserve.”

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Nick Clegg says his party would fund extra tuition and reduce class sizes in less advantaged areas
guardian.co.uk, Monday 1 February 2010 12.22 GMT

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, promised today to scrap tax credits for better-off families and channel £2.5bn more into schooling for the underprivileged.

The link between financial disadvantage and low achievement in the classroom was "as bad as it was" despite Labour’s investment in education, he said.

"I think what we want, as we try and get out of this recession and rebuild a country which is fairer, is a school system that gives every single child a chance to get ahead, to live out their dreams, to fulfil their potential, irrespective of where they live, irrespective of where they were born," he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Clegg said the Lib Dems would find £2.5bn for extra tuition and to reduce class sizes in less advantaged areas.

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“The Liberal Democrats have been arguing for some time that there should be five tests on when and how we start to cut. This must reflect the position of the economy rather than political expediency," said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor.

Commenting on today’s remarks by David Cameron and George Osborne on dealing with the deficit, Vince Cable said:

“George Osborne and David Cameron seem to be at sixes and sevens on the crucial question of how the deficit should be addressed.

“The Liberal Democrats have been arguing for some time that there should be five tests on when and how we start to cut. This must reflect the position of the economy rather than political expediency.

“The public must understand that we take the deficit very seriously. But it has to be addressed in a way that doesn’t put us back into another round of recession, resulting in job losses and an even larger deficit.

“The time to cut the deficit is when the private sector is ready to take the lead in growth and job creation. We are clearly not at that point yet.”

“A lasting and sustainable recovery can only be achieved if we correct these fundamental imbalances," said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor.

Responding to David Cameron’s comments on public spending at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Vince Cable said:

“The Tories’ confused statements about cuts show that they don’t really know what to do about the economy.
“In their desperation to sound tough on public spending, the Tories didn’t take economic reality into account.

“It is of course necessary to cut public spending but this must be done calmly and rationally when the economy is strong enough to cope with it.

“The economy remains dependent on artificial money creation and a Government running a massive deficit, but with growth of just 0.1%, immediately slashing government spending would be disastrous.

“Our economy is too reliant on consumer spending and debt and a failing financial services industry. 

“A lasting and sustainable recovery can only be achieved if we correct these fundamental imbalances.”

“The threat of enforced retirement at 65 is totally unacceptable," said the Liberal Democrat Equalities Spokesperson.

Commenting on today’s Equality and Human Rights Commission proposals to scrap the default retirement age and introduce more flexible hours, Lynne Featherstone MP said:

“The Equalities Commission has got it right.

“The Liberal Democrats have tabled an amendment to the Equality Bill that would end this arbitrary injustice – now the Government must act.  

“The threat of enforced retirement at 65 is totally unacceptable and the sooner it is scrapped, the better.”

The Liberal Democrats have been consistently calling for the breaking up of the banks since November 2008.

November 2008 – Vince Cable: “To be sure, it is difficult for banks to raise money but the government should, for a start, insist that they get rid of their investment banking casino operations, which are underwritten by a taxpayers’ guarantee, in order to concentrate resources on their mainstream lending.” (Read in full here)

December 2008 – Vince Cable: “In the New Year the Government may have to take more direct control of the banks; to restructure them, stripping out their casino operations; and ensuring that banks do their job of lending to sound businesses and households.” (Read in full here)

February 2009 – Vince Cable: “I have one final question about what the Prime Minister said in the paper on Sunday about the proposal, which a growing number of people on all sides accept, that in the long term the low-risk high street lending activities of the banks have to be separated from the high-risk casino-type activities with which they have been associated. The Prime Minister seems to have capitulated to pressure to abandon that proposal altogether. I can understand why the banks want to hang on to the operations that generate their bonuses, but why on earth should the Government be giving a long-term guarantee for gambling activities on a global scale? It is incomprehensible and completely without justification.” (Read in full here)

March 2009 – Vince Cable: “Split off low risk high street banking from the global, casino-type operations – in other words, run the banks on safe, traditional lines.” (Read in full here)

July 2009 – Vince Cable: "The central issue is that these big, global banks, which do ordinary banking in Britain and are global casino operations, have to be split up so that if they do get into serious trouble in the future, the British taxpayer is not underwriting them." (Read in full here)

September 2009 – Vince Cable: “The principles should be clear. Full compulsory disclosure of all pay, bonuses and perks for those earning more than the Prime Minister. The break up of the big banks which are currently too big to fail so that the taxpayer is no longer underwriting casinos. Casinos belong in Las Vegas not in banking. We want straightforward, simple banks which do the basics well; not laboratories for financial rocket scientists.” (Read in full here)
The Tories’ ‘commitment’ to breaking up the banks

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A West Midlands MEP has urged ministers to publish the detailed report from HS2 on a £60 billion high speed link from London to the region as soon as possible, to allow for public debate on the proposals well before a general election.

Lib Dem Euro MP Liz Lynne welcomed news that the report had been submitted by HS2 Ltd on time but said the proposals needed to be published quickly. The government is due to release details only when it publishes a White Paper on high speed links, which is not expected until March.

Liz Lynne has been a longstanding supporter of extending high speed rail to the regions, including conventional Eurostar services. She said:

"I welcome news that the HS2 report for this vital project has been submitted, but it would be a shame if the proposals only emerge during an election campaign.

"It is very important that the cross party agreement which now exists for high speed rail links in principle is maintained. This plan is absolutely vital to the economic future of Birmingham and the West Midlands – we need to be plugged into the economic centre of gravity in Europe without needing more airports or motorways.

"I urge ministers to publish the report with its proposed route as soon as possible – an initial response short of a full White Paper would be reasonable.

"We need a proper and full public debate to build a consensus on the way ahead. With the best will in the world a general election campaign is not the ideal time for that.

"I very much hope the HS2 plan includes a proper link to the Channel Tunnel and the rest of Europe, but of course until it is published no one can be sure."

Liz Lynne also repeated her call for the existing Eurostar service from London to Paris and Brussels to be extended to the West Midlands.

"A dedicated north of London high speed line is essential, but it will take at least 15 years to build. But Eurostar could now link Birmingham International with Brussels in three hours using the West Coast main line and High Speed 1 route beyond London.

"They need to snow proof their trains of course. The chaos before Christmas was a disaster for Eurostar’s reputation for customer service but the experts say there is nothing basically wrong with the trains, it is a simple matter of fitting better snow screens."

"Even without the dedicated high speed route that we need, a through Eurostar service to Birmingham could divert significant traffic from air to rail, with huge savings in carbon emissions."