Tim Ball

Vince Cable today accused his Tory counterpart George Osborne of “playing a hopeless game of catch up” over the financial crisis.

The Conservative frontbencher addressed his party conference today to set out his economic proposals, which included a proposal to freeze council tax rises for two years.

Dr Cable said: “Rather than making tough economic choices over tax and spending, George Osborne is simply passing the buck to local councils, expecting them to make arbitrary cuts.

“This false promise of freezing council tax will be entirely dependent on individual councils being able to cut their budgets, which is likely to leave the poorest areas with continuing council tax rises.”

Dr Cable also criticised Mr Osborne’s “vague aspiration of national tax cuts at some point in the future”.
He added: “This country needs a party that is willing to take the tough choices today to reduce the tax burden for people on low and middle incomes hit hardest by the financial crisis.”

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg has called for all bank deposits to be protected as the global financial crisis deepened. Speaking in the wake of the failed vote on the American bail-out package in the US Congress, Mr Clegg said the Government must temporarily guarantee for all deposits in the British banking system.

With share prices plummeting following the failed vote and the numbers of new mortgages falling sharply, Mr Clegg also called for cross-party talks on how to deal with the crisis.

Nick Clegg said:

“We are now in the eye of an economic storm.

“The financial system urgently requires some breathing space. British people need total reassurance that their savings are safe.

“The Liberal Democrats will support the Government in issuing a blanket guarantee for all deposits in the British banking system. We will co-operate fully with the Government in passing depositor protection legislation next week when Parliament reconvenes.

“But today a copper-bottomed guarantee that all people’s money and savings in British banks are safe must be the priority.

“Then, in the longer term, all parties must work together to find common solutions for a re-regulation of the City.

“We have seen the dreadful effects of the bonus culture in the City that has led banks to take unacceptable risks for short-term gain ahead of long-term stability.

“If we are going to reverse the greedy banking culture that went on for too long, we need to start at the top. This means an end to all bonuses for boards of directors in British banks that do so much to fuel short-term speculation. Giving them salaries, if necessary very generous ones, will create fewer risks in the future.”

Liberal Democrat members of the Safer Stronger Communities Overview & Scrutiny Panel meeting have reacted with disappointment at the outcome of the Panel’s consideration of the Bath Transport Package today.

Following a long debate involving Council officers and dozens of members of the public, Councillor Roger Symonds (Liberal Democrat, Combe Down) proposed the following motion to the Panel:

The Panel would like to refer this issue back to the Cabinet to consider involving the public in a thorough consultation on the route and alternatives, possibly through an independent review. More resources should be provided for these further examinations and consultations.

Unfortunately the four Conservative members of the Panel voted this motion down and substituted a motion which calls for little or nothing more than the status quo.

Councillor Symonds commented:

“Once again we have seen that the Scrutiny Panel has divided along party political lines. It was very disappointing to see that Conservative Scrutiny members all toed the Tory line of voting against the Lib Dem motion to have an independent review of the Bath Transport Package.”

Councillor Steve Hedges (Liberal Democrat, Odd Down) added:

“Liberal Democrat Panel members suggested an independent review because we don’t feel that residents have had a fair chance to put their views across. This was proved by the number of residents who attended and spoke at the meeting – many of them said the first they had heard about the plans was from other local residents, not from the Council.

Commenting on Alistair Darling's speech at the Labour conference, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said: "Talk about mood swings. We had a long period of complacency, followed by total despair a couple of weeks ago, only for the Chancellor to return to complacency in front of his party faithful."

Vince Cable continued, saying:

"The truth is that the British economy is in very serious trouble.

"It is certainly true that the Government's reaction to the HBOS crisis and short-selling has been sensible, but I'm amazed that Alistair Darling wants to take credit for management of the Northern Rock fiasco.

"While I welcome the early indication of a banking reform bill to restore confidence in bank deposits, it isn't clear that the Chancellor has understood the necessity for regulating bank capital to offset the boom and bust cycle.

"Nor is it clear how the Government proposes to use legislation to deal with the problem of the bonus culture, though clearly something drastic needs to be done.

"What the Chancellor doesn't say is whether or not he plans to follow the demands from the United States administration to play Fairy Godmother to the banking system. He must make it clear that the British taxpayer is not going to bail out financial institutions in the same way here."

In the lead up to next Tuesday’s public meeting on the Regional Spatial Strategy, Bath MP Don Foster has stressed how important it is that purpose built student housing should count towards the Government imposed target.

Don said, “I have been informed that there are at least 1500 properties within the Bath constituency that are exempt from Council Tax because they are lived in by students.  This is the same number as the Bath urban expansion that was agreed by the Council, although the Government has since put this up to 2000.

“If we could free up these properties by moving students into purpose built blocks, then we could almost negate the need to build an urban extension to Bath.  Of course, it isn’t that simple, but these figures clearly illustrate the point that Liberal Democrats in Bath have been making.”

The public meeting next Tuesday 30^th September, 7.30pm, Brunswick Room, Guildhall, will be a chance for residents to air their views on all aspects of the RSS.

 Commenting, Don said, “Residents need a chance to have their say on all aspects of the RSS – from where they feel houses should or shouldn’t be built, to what added infrastructure they think will be needed, to what they believe a realistic target actually is.  After all, we do need new affordable homes in Bath.

 “I will take the views of all residents forward to my meeting with Regional Minister Ben Bradshaw MP at the beginning of October.”

Britain only invaded Iraq because MPs voted for it. Liberal Democrat MPs were unanimous in their opposition to this intervention.

Five years on, over 170 British servicemen and women have been killed in Iraq, along with hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. British taxpayers have poured £6.5 billion into the conflict, and the Conservatives are trying to rewrite history by now calling for an inquiry.

It's time to hold the politicians who took us to war to account.

See our campaign: Iraq: Hold Them to Account and find out whether your MP voted for war.

Pensioners will miss out on hundreds of millions of pounds in benefits after ministers decided to reduce the time they are given to claim tax credits, the Liberal Democrats have revealed.

A Parliamentary Answer shows that pensioners will lose out on £240m in the first three years of the scheme, with the oldest and most vulnerable pensioners to be the worst affected.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Equalities Spokesperson, Lynne Featherstone said:

"Hot on the heels of the 10p tax fiasco, I am sure pensioners are starting to feel like this Government has a vendetta against them.

"These figures show the Treasury is in for a real windfall at the expense of some of the poorest people.

"Labour's raid on pensioners simply could not come at a worse time."

I agree with our local MP Don Foster when he Commented on Gordon Brown’s announcement of measures to tackle fuel poverty,

Bath MP Don Foster said,

“These measures will not do nearly enough to help the numerous residents of Bath who will struggle to heat their homes this winter.

“While these measures are baby steps in the right direction, the Government should have compelled the energy companies to go much further.

“The energy giants have profited to the tune of more than £9bn from the EU emissions trading scheme. They should be forced to use most of this money to properly insulate the homes of their most vulnerable customers and introduce social tariffs to cut energy bills.

“Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg has raised this issue at Prime Minister’s Questions more times than any other issue since becoming leader and every time the Prime Minister has told him that nothing more needed to be done.

“Gordon Brown has woken up far too late to the need for action.”

Crime hurts some of the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society, who are least able to withstand its effects. All the political parties want to cut crime. The only question is how.

Our approach, as Liberal Democrats, is fundamentally different to that of Labour and the Conservatives. We favour what works. Criminal justice policy has been buffeted by tabloid opinion for too long. It is time for hard evidence in cutting crime.

With the highest prison population in Europe, we rely on prison far too much. First, re-offending is appallingly high as prisons are colleges of crime. Secondly, the chances of being caught are far too low as only one in a hundred crimes leads to a conviction. Our plans emphasise catching criminals through more and better policing.

This means more police on the streets, gathering intelligence, encouraging witnesses and building relationships with the communities they serve. It means improving the standard of the average police unit to that of the professional best so that the chances of detecting crime go up. That would solve an extra 140,000 violent crimes every year.

Unlike Labour and the Tories, we will not duck the big issues in police reform. It is unfair on the vast majority of diligent and hard-working officers that less conscientious colleagues are not tackled. We will review the single point of entry at the level of constable, the 30 year lifetime career, and pay by seniority rather than effort and talent.

At the heart of our reforms is a radical decentralisation of power. Local police authorities will hold chief officers to account; set local priorities instead of following Whitehall targets; and set budgets and tax precepts.

These proposals were debated on Sunday at our Bournemouth conference, and you can read more details at http://tinyurl.com/crimeproposals.

Unlike Labour and Tory plans for elected sheriffs, all parts of the community, including women and ethnic minorities, would be fairly represented. The plans breathe life into our commitment to localism by ensuring that councils take control where possible, but that police authorities are fairly elected otherwise. And they set out a route march for a real attack on crime by focussing not on what sounds tough, but on what works.

Liberal Democrats have given their support at full the Full Council meeting of Bath & North East Somerset Council on Thursday to a strongly worded response to the government on the hotly debated issue of the housing requirements within the regional spatial strategy.

it is clear that a government which doesn’t listen to people will eventually get told where to go, and sooner rather than later. We will be submitting our own response to the government to raise issues, such as the need for student housing to be taken into account in the housing numbers, and we will be calling on residents to do the same.

It must be common sense that purpose-built student accommodation blocks should count towards RSS housing targets and could therefore help protect against building on green field sites and our green belt. It is crazy that new halls of residence for students do not count in the RSS figures.

At a meeting of B&NES Council last night Liberal Democrats called for an ad hoc debate on the Cabinet’s treatment of residents during last week’s Cabinet meeting, using the 10-minute debate rule in the Council’s constitution.

 The Conservative Group however refused to allow the debate to take place.

 Dozens of residents made a particular effort to attend last week’s Cabinet meeting to protest against the Cabinet’s adoption of compulsory purchase powers for the Bus Rapid Transit route; however the Leader of Council refused to allow a proper debate and prevented ward councillors and residents from speaking. Once again the Conservatives have shown they are frightened of debate – what have they got to hide?

 This Cabinet meeting was another bad day for democracy in Bath and North East Somerset. In my view it put this Council and therefore all of us as members in a bad light. The Cabinet should make a public apology to residents, and should convene a Cabinet debate to allow open debate, rather than hiding behind the O&S process.”

 With the reduced numbers of meetings there are now fewer opportunities for us to represent our residents. The Leader of Council seems to change the rules on who may and may not speak at Cabinet according to her whim.

 The Cabinet meeting at which Councillors were prevented from speaking and at which no debate took place, was completed in just over one hour. When this issue is debated at overview and scrutiny on September 25^th residents and councillors will give this subject the debate and time it deserves even though, as the decision makers, this should be the duty of the Cabinet.

 One might wonder whether Councillors and residents should waste their time attending Cabinet meetings in the future if it is only to watch the Cabinet rubber stamp decisions.

Is it no wonder that our residents say that they do not trust councillors if this is the way that our childish Conservatives act.

With all of the political infighting going on I nearly forgot one of the most important things that most but not all people in this area agree on and that is a sound thrashing of Bristol on the Rugby field and that is just what Bath Rugby gave Bristol in the opening league game of the season.

The Result for those of you not following Rugby was Bristol 20 Bath Rugby 33 if you want to read the highlights of the game then follow this link to the Bath Rugby Webb site.

Bath Rugby

Bath MP Don Foster is inviting residents to come and have their say on the Government’s Regional Spatial Strategy, which is calling for 21,300 new homes for Bath and North East Somerset.  Don is meeting with Regional Minister Ben Bradshaw MP at the beginning of October, and wants to be able to accurately represent the views of his residents.

Commenting Don said, “While most of the new homes are planned to be built outside of Bath, the ‘barking mad’ target the Government has set will still have a massive impact on the City.  The Government is forecasting up to 20,000 new jobs for the Bath area.  Our infrastructure will need major improvement if it is to match that forecast.

“Add to that we are being asked to build 6,000 new dwellings within the City, which is a tough target, and provides a unique challenge with Bath being a World Heritage City.

“We also have the bizarre situation that purpose built student housing cannot count towards the target.

“Residents need to have the chance to air their views about these plans, and I want to make sure I accurately reflect the feeling of the people of Bath when I meet with the Minister.”

The public meeting will take place in the Brunswick Room at the Guildhall on Tuesday 30^th September, from 7:30pm until 9:30pm.  Everyone is welcome to attend the meeting and air their views.

Liberal Democrats on Bath and North East Somerset Council have tabled a motion to this week’s Council meeting backing the campaign by The Royal British Legion: “Honour the Covenant”.

The term “military covenant” describes the mutual obligation between the nation, the Armed Forces and each individual service people: an expectation of personal sacrifice and the forgoing of some personal rights and freedoms on one hand, fairness, respect and appropriate terms and conditions on the other.

The British Legion and several former Chiefs of Defence Staff have stated that not enough support is given to the military and their families and have set up a campaign calling upon Gordon Brown to honour the Military Covenant.

Councillor Cherry Beath Liberal Democrat (Combe Down) who will move the motion on Thursday commented:

“Liberal Democrats believe the government is not keeping its side of the deal on the military covenant.

“In terms of medical care and support, accommodation, equipment, compensation for injury and back to back tours, the government is letting our military and ex-military personnel and their families down.

“In supporting The Royal British Legion’s campaign, this motion calls for a just compensation scheme to recognise the commitment and sacrifices made when serving the nation; for greater commitment to support for the well-being of service people, ex-service people and their families; and more support for bereaved service families.

“A local example of the way the government has let down the armed forces is the story of Bristol’s Jamie Cooper who was the youngest British soldier wounded in Iraq and who has been campaigning for more support from the government for wounded personnel.”

The draft motion has been approved by The Royal British Legion’s head office and is expected to gain the support of the Council. A number of other Councils across the country have passed similar motions.

Bath MP Don Foster will be chairing a summit on alcohol in Bath on Wednesday 24^th September.  The summit will be looking both at health issues relating to binge drinking, as well as anti-social behaviour issues, and how we can tackle these problems in Bath.

 Commenting, Don said, “Following a number of meetings I had earlier this year about the situation in Bath, I felt that bringing together all the key players to talk about the issues surrounding alcohol in Bath could really help us progress.

“I’ve been delighted by the support I’ve received from Council Officers and those at the Community Safety & Drugs Partnership who have really grabbed the bull by the horns to make this event happen. 

“We are bringing together licensees, off-license holders, local charities, the police, the PCT, local politicians and residents to have a discussion about what we do now and to come up with sensible ideas for tackling these issues in the future.”

The “Thinking about Drinking” summit will be at Bath Racecourse between 9:30am and 4pm. It’s an invite only event but any organisation not currently invited but wishes to be should contact Don Foster’s office.