After the first step of Westminster freeing up the process from any possible referral to the monopolies and mergers commission yesterday the shareholders of Lloyds-TSB voted overwhelmingly to go ahead with the proposed acquisition of HBoS. The vote was backed by 95.98% at a meeting in Glasgow yesterday, which drew two groups of protestors – the Scottish Liberal Democrats, who want HBOS to...

I don’t want to get into a debate as to the rights and wrongs of whether people should agree to donate their organs, although I am willing to state, for the record, that I support the organ donor programme. What concerns me is when government, in spite of advice to the contrary, determines that it knows best. The UK Organ Donation Taskforce have stated that they do not believe that ‘presumed consent’ would boost organ donation rates. In fact chair of the taskforce, Elisabeth Buggins said: “We found from recipient families and donor families that the concept of gift was very important to them and presumed consent would undermine that concept.” This was not what the government wanted to hear and Alan Johnson was said to be disappointed by their findings,...

In quite the reverse to those magnificent men in their flying machines, that self proclaimed custodian of the world's economic future Gordon Brown has said that while taxes will be cut next week expect them to rise again after. David Cameron in response did come out with the rather good line: "Tax cuts should be for life, not just for Christmas." For it does seem that despite calls from the...

I read a post on the British Politics blog which referred to the statement by an unamed bank official, on Channel 4 News, that “banks were not charities”. Now I agree with the original posting, that it is a bit rich that the same people who came with their begging bowls for a bailout, should now, having received what they wanted, make such a statement. On top of that, they threaten not to pass on any further interest rate cuts, even though they must know that the economy needs this type of monetary stimulus. This had me thinking, under current rules, the banks are set for another win at the taxpayers expense. At the moment, the banks are making massive write-offs, this means that the government and therefore the taxpayer, will not receive any corporation taxes from the...

Yesterday Yousuf criticised the Lib Dems based on how things have gone before. The fact is we all overstretched and overreached globally. Brown is determined to spend, spend, spend his way out of this without learning the lessons that brought us here in the first place. Yesterday Nick Clegg outlined the details of a new way to provide fiscal stimulus when he addressed the Commonwealth...

It looks like Maidstone Borough Council's Tory run cabinet are going to ditch the previous 'Primrose Promise' of carbon neutrality by 2010 agreed by the Lib Dems in favour of year on year carbon reduction targets of 3%.Carbon neutrality, as any real green will tell you, is a farce. It is like paying someone in Africa not to smoke cigarettes so that you can continue to. I welcome MBC's change of direction (of course the LibDems are furious...), but it doesn't go any way near far enough.The scale of the climate challange is such that we need to kick the carbon habit by around 9% per annum in this country. Furthermore simply reducting the council's footprint will achieve very little, the target should be borough wide and include all households and business as well as local government.9% is...

So it seems that everyone wants tax cuts now.Let us not quibble about the fact all the major parties (and the Lib Dems too) have been arguing that we can't afford tax cuts for the last 10 years, now they are all the rage.It won't surprise you to know that I am not an economist. I can't even argue to be the economics specialist in my own household. Partially this is due to the fact that Linsay got a 1st in her economics degree (winning a prize along the way for being the best economics degree in her year) and partially because the whole thing bores the backside off me.All I can surmise is the following:1) Labour want tax cuts to help the poorest (and think they can get away with it as Barack Obama has announced a similar proposal). They think they can cut taxes without cutting public...

So what news do the Lib Dems need to cheer them up from the fact that their dead beat party can't even inspire their own party members to engage with them anymore?I'm guessing seeing their biggest donor go on trial for alleged fraud wouldn't help.You may remember Michael Brown (who has made this blog on more than one occasion) and the embarrassment he has caused the Lib Dems - and let's fact it, if you can embarrass them more than Lembit, then that is a real achievement!Fortunately for Lib Dems they won't actually see Michael Brown on trial for fraud, due to the fact he has done a runner and is being tried in his absence. ;-)Nice revelation today that the main person Brown allegedly defrauded seems to have been former Manchester United Chairman Martin Edwards.So that £2.4m he gave to...

Well I have argued that there needs to be a combination of monetary and fiscal cuts in order that the economy can receive a well needed stimulus, although I am not naive enough to believe that it will stave off a recession. This country is already in a recession, even if the official measures used to determine a “real” recession have not yet been met, all we can do is try to lessen the impact on people, jobs and business. Gordon Brown has indicated over the weekend that he believes fiscal policy should include tax cuts and rumours abound as to the extent of such cuts, with estimates of £480 per person through to an annual estimate of £15bn in tax cuts. Whatever the case, there are two things which I am wary of. The first, that Gordon Brown has a habit of double counting...

Moving away from the problems in the Lib Dem ranks at the moment, I heard something quite funny in church today.We had a visit from an African Children's Choir who are over from Uganda at the moment. Apparently they are visiting the Prime Minister to sing for him whilst they are here, so I feel quite honoured to have been present for their performance today.The thing that made me chuckle though was when the founder of the children's centre, where the choir is based, remarked about how in England we have a somewhat different attitude to worship than they do in Africa."Of course, we all know in England that God has to finish on time." He said looking at his watch, making sure he didn't over-run.Absolutely. The Lord may be alive and moving in UK churches, but only during specified service...

I know one Presidential election a week is probably enough for anyone, but did you see the election result for the Lib Dem Presidency?Nope, can't say I was that interested either, but all you need to know is:a) Simon Hughes is no longer Presidentb) Some Baroness you've never heard of called Ros Scott wonc) Lembit Opik lost.Now I don't know which of those points is most important in the scheme of things, but the fact Lembit got absolutely hammered by what an unkind person, not me obviously, might describe as a non-entity on the political scene (even the non-entity Lib Dem scene) is quite funny.Also interesting is that only 47.8% of Lib Dem members voted in the contest.When you realise that over half the Lib Dem party members can't be bothered with the leadership of the Lib Dems, that is a...

That’s the percentage of the vote that Ros Scott got in the Liberal Democrat Party President election and I am astonished that she won by so much.  Despite Ros running a brilliant campaign, I assumed the election would be close simply because Lembit will be so well known amongst armchair members when compared with Ros Scott.  It just shows that if you run a brilliant campaign you can win no matter how high profile your opponent. Despite voting for Lembit, I was happy with either him or Ros getting elected.  I think Ros will do an excellent job. We will now have to see where this leaves Lembit.  I feel a bit sorry for him for not winning.  Lembit is clearly talented and so we will have to see what he chooses to do as he is too good to simply be a backbench MP....

One of my last duties as Chair of the Executive Committee of Epping Forest Liberal Democrats was to chair the Annual General Meeting last night. After the branch meetings Peter Welch, number 4 on the East of England Lib Dem list, spoke to our members about what we can learn from the Obama campaign. Peter's message was clear. If we don't learn from these campaign techniques and the...

posted by Ctpn An artist’s impression of what the Torquay Innovation Centre looks like . South West MEP Graham Watson is in Torquay today to open the fillip to business that is the new state-of-the-art Innovation Centre. Some £680,000 from the European Union Regional Development Fund was thrown into the pot of budget for the centre. Mr Watson told the PRSD: “It will be great to see this development - I am looking forward to meeting some of the companies who have already signed up to occupy this facility. It shows how local businesses here in Devon are being helped by EU investment, allowing local enterprises to develop and thrive.” The leader of the European Lib Dems (that’s Graham Watson) will be joined by Juliet Williams, chair of the South West Regional Development...

Congratulations to Lindsay Roy. An amazing result in the circumstances, fantastic stuff.The fact Labour got more votes tonight than in 2005 really says something.Alec Salmond's bubble has well and truly burst and Nicola Sturgeon is guttedness personified. A good week for elections for the progressive left then.Labour has also won two Council by-elections tonight (in Glasgow Baillieston and Edinburgh) as well as the Parliamentary seat in Glenrothes, so at last we seem to be getting our act together North of the Border.It would be churlish of me not to mention another "great result" for the Lib Dems, losing their deposit in 4th place behind the also deposit-less Tories, with a stunning 947 votes. Well done on that achievement.I've always liked Lin(d)says, but I think this one is going to...

Until the current party president vote, I have never been completely undecided in a Liberal Democrat internal election before.  Normally I don’t need a campaign to help me decide as I know straightaway who I want to vote for or won’t under any circumstances vote for.  It’s like party committee elections, I always start with the top preferences and the bottom preferences, it’s only the middle that I find hardest.  But this time, it has taken me to the final week for me to make up my mind, and now I have finally voted.  So how did I make my decision? Chandila Fernando I knew early on that I wouldn’t vote for Chandila Fernando.  Firstly, I do want a president who has a good number of years experience in the party.  To be able to do the job of president...

They say that copying is a sincere form of flattery. Well the local Tory party are obviously rattled by the Liberal Democrats. Coming only a few weeks after Lembit Opik helped launched our cost of living survey with our PPC Ann Haigh, the local Conservatives have now 'created' their own survey. Looking at the Conservatives' policies. Yes the Conservatives do seem to have some. None of them...

A press release from Caroline Pidgeon, London Assembly Member (via the top up vote, natch), hot off the wire:"Caroline Pidgeon...is calling on all major retailers to re-consider their “buy one, get one free” offers on fireworks. Caroline says: “I think it’s really irresponsible of these large, high street names to be selling fireworks in this way. Of course there’s legislation in place to hopefully stop children buying them but marketing them like this and selling them so cheaply is surely asking for trouble.”Left it a bit late, hasn't she? I also wonder why she is only concerned by large / major retailers. Doubtless selling at half-price would be A-OK.....I look forward to her slamming BOGOF drink, food etc merchants...

Over to Stockport now where a Lib Dem councillor has been arrested, charged and convicted of racially abusing a policeman.Now I have some experience of a Tory candidate being convicted of racial abuse, but a sitting councillor abusing an officer of the law is quite an achievement - even for the Lib Dems.Of course, Christian Walker is not just a councillor, he is a Lib Dem researcher who until recently was employed MEP Chris Davies.So I am sure Mr Davies would like to completely condemn such actions, wouldn't he?Davies said:"If he was still working for me, my position would be that he's a young man, he got drunk and acted foolishly. Let those who are free of embarrassment cast the first stone. He's not the first man to have behaved stupidly."Er, how about those of us who are free from ever...

One of Liberal Democrat candidate Harry Wills' campaigns in the Glenrothes by election has been about the unfair fares that the people of Fife face on the train. They pay greater fares that the people of Perth pay to get to Edinburgh for example. However, the people of Markinch now face greater unfairness as their 9:04 train into Edinburgh looks set to disappear off the winter timetable....

After my initial joy at the news that the SNP are looking to localise their Local Income Tax (LIT)proposals I was a little shocked about some of the apparent revelations that have emerged. John Swinney had said that he had raised the issue of LIT with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), it is the least one would expect 17 months into an administration that had this proposal as one of...

John Swinney the SNP Finance Minister has finally announced plans for a Local Income Tax, letting the local authorities set their rates rather than controlling it all from his Edinburgh office. After my ranting on Friday about the Nats not respecting local authorities, this is welcome news. Some are accusing Swinney of making a U-Turn but he is merely realising the problems he created for...

I like half term. It gives me an opportunity to catch up on the jobs that I have put to one side during term time. Once such job is voting in the Lib Dem Presidential election. So far as Chair of the local party I thought it was my duty to stay neutral, although in private I have told a few Lib Dems who I was backing. I have invited all three candidates to join us in Epping Forest...

In August, after yet another data loss scandal engulfed the Government, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg said,"I'm just gobsmacked, like everyone else is, that the government can be so systematically incompetent in failing to keep our data safe. Frankly the Keystone Cops would do a better job running the Home Office and keeping our data safe than this government, and if this government cannot keep the data of thousands of guilty people safe, why on earth should we give them the data of millions of innocent people in an ID card database?""Absolutely Cleggy!" you might think, but the important thing to remember here is that whilst the Government have been shown to be incompetent at protecting data on numerous occassions, the Liberal Democrats have instead actively breached...

Dear Stuart....Violent crime is on the rise. Post offices are being closed. Older people have seen the value of their pensions sink.Older people deserve a fair pension.Peter CarrollLiberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate for MaidstoneI received the above words in a mail shot letter from the LibDem PPC this morning. It is letters like this that make me ashamed to be involved with politics:Violent CrimeViolent crime in Maidstone fell from 2006/07 to 2007/08, and I could find only one district in Kent where is rose during that period. From 2002 to 2006 an upward trend was seen, however this coincided with the introduction of recording standards by the police - so as the police had been counting differently the data is far less reliable. Police records have been considered poor...

Although it's in my blogroll, I don't actually look at the Light Blue Touchpaper blog very often. It's from security research scientists at the Cambridge University Computer Laboratory. But I did have a look this week and what do I see? " Liberal Democrat leader visits our lab This week, Nick Clegg, leader of the UK Liberal Democrat Party, and David Howarth, MP for Cambridgeshire, visited...

When I was about 16, Rayleigh Liberals invited Clement Freud to our town to speak and I wandered along to listen. Only about 15 people turned up, but Clement spoke at ease and with aplomb, and I asked a question (though I can't remember what it was). He shook my hand after the meeting and I took his photo. I was still a young Heathite Conservative back then.... it took a while for me to...

Lembit Opik does himself no harm (ahem) in his campaign for the presidency of the Liberal Democrats with this intervention in the debate last Friday in the Commons on the Broadcasting (Television Licence Fee Abolition) Bill:Richard Younger-Ross (Teignbridge) (LD): ... Blue Peter was important to me as a child ... I remember those wonderful moments with the elephant, the gentleman sniffing, John Noakes, the dogs — what were their names? Lembit Opik: The Blue Peter dogs since the inception of the programme were called Petra, Patch, Shep, Goldie, Bonnie, Mabel and Lucy. There was also a dog called Meg, but it was not an official Blue Peter dog. It belonged to Matt Baker and frequently appeared on the show, so including that one, there were eight dogs. Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Alan...