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Archive for 2010

Labour can help with Chinese democracy

07/11/2010, 10:30:41 AM

by James Watkins

THE FEAR of China continues to dominate debate in Britain – from its portrayal as a fire-breathing dragon on the cover of this week’s Spectator to David Cameron’s bizarre claim during the election campaign that Britain may need nuclear weapons because of China. This is not the ideal backdrop for the prime minister’s forthcoming visit to Beijing.

The list of worries laid at China’s door is manifold: from human rights abuses to currency manipulation and from poor working conditions to obstructing climate change talks. At the heart of them all is the fear that a lack of political reform in China will make things even worse.

But if the British government were to take a new approach to China, the prime minister’s visit could be the start of a new direction for Chinese democracy.
At first glance, such a view may seem overly rosy. Since the dissident, Lin Xioabo, won the Nobel peace prize in October, a crackdown on dissidents has been reported. But there are also signs that the Chinese political elite now recognise that political reform is needed. In early October, prime minister Wen Jiabao told CNN that “the people’s will for, and need for, democracy and freedom is irresistible”. (more…)

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Sunday News Review

07/11/2010, 08:03:33 AM

Norman Tebbit mark two

Iain Duncan Smith will tomorrow unveil ‘compulsory community placements’ in an attempt to stop people living on benefits for years without bothering to look for work. The ‘Workfare UK’ project will be targeted at tens of thousands of people suspected of sabotaging attempts to make them work. But Labour MPs condemned the scheme. One said: ‘This sounds like slave labour.’ The scheme is also likely to run into fierce opposition from some Liberal Democrat MPs.

Under Mr Duncan Smith’s anti-scroungers blueprint, employment office chiefs will be given the power to order the long-term jobless to take part in four-week mandatory work schemes. The Government has not decided how much people on ‘community placements’ will be paid but it is understood the figure will be between £30 and £40 a week – the equivalent to £1 an hour, one sixth of the minimum wage. – Mail on Sunday

Last night the shadow work and pensions secretary, Douglas Alexander, suggested government policy on job creation was reducing people’s chances of finding work: “The Tories have just abolished the future jobs fund, which offered real work and real hope to young people. If you examine the spending review then changes such as cuts to working tax credit are actually removing incentives to get people into work. What they don’t seem to get about their welfare agenda is that without work it won’t work.” – Observer

Coulson on the brink

David Cameron faced renewed pressure over his decision to retain Andy Coulson as his communications chief last night after the former tabloid editor was questioned by police over allegations of phone-hacking at the News of the World. Labour raised the stakes when the party’s deputy leader, Harriet Harman, said it was now time for the prime minister to take a detailed interest in the controversy, rather than brushing aside claims about one of his closest aides. Downing Street confirmed that Coulson attended a meeting with Metropolitan police officers voluntarily on Thursday and was interviewed as a witness. He was not cautioned or arrested. – Observer

The Met’s attempt to help David Cameron’s chief spinner, Andy Coulson, in his brave battle to overcome amnesia (mercifully limited to the phone hacking that went on when he was editor of the News of the World) has not impressed Tom Watson. The stalwart Brownite MP smells a rat. “People will think it curious that the story [of his interview by the police at his solicitor’s office] was put out by Downing Street late on a Friday night when the BBC was on strike,” he observes. – Independent

Farrelly to face charges

A man involved in a brawl with Labour MP Paul Farrelly is to make an official complaint to police. Newspaper seller Bjorn Hurrell was left ‘bloodied and bruised’ after the incident in which he was allegedly hit by Mr Farrelly in a late-night tussle near a packed Commons bar.

Last night it was claimed the MP told Mr Hurrell ‘if we weren’t on the parliamentary estate, I’d punch you in the face’ moments before the fight. Speaking publicly for the first time about the incident, Mr Hurrell last night told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I am intending to make a complaint to the police and to instruct lawyers to pursue civil damages. I wish to make no further statement until I have obtained legal advice.’ – Mail on Sunday

The incident took place on Thursday evening as Mr Farrelly was entertaining guests from the Parliamentary Rugby Club at the Sports and Social bar, in the Palace of Westminster. The MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme claimed he was confronted by a man in a corridor near the club at around 10pm on Thursday, after reprimanding him about his behaviour. Mr Hurrell, who delivers newspapers in the Palace of Westminster and has had a full parliamentary pass for more than 20 years, told friends he had been enjoying a karaoke night he helped his mother organise in the Sports and Social bar when Mr Farrelly assaulted him. – Telegraph

Miliband to the rescue

Ed Miliband has leaped to the defence of a DJ sacked from a Scottish radio station for taking part in a naked prank Robin Galloway and his producer Barrie Hodge parted company with Real Radio after the presenter filmed Hodge streaking naked behind Miliband while the politician was being interviewed in the Glasgow studios.

Miliband, who had his back to the incident, was not aware of what was going on at the time, and said the pair should not have lost their jobs. A spokesman for Scottish Labour said: “Senior staff from Ed’s office yesterday spoke to the station manager to say he thought they should not lose their jobs. – The Scotsman

Brown to battle on

Gordon Brown has quashed speculation that he will quit as an MP. The former PM has told allies he will stay in Parliament at least until the next election in 2015. He has already turned down new Labour leader Ed Miliband’s offer of a peerage and several lucrative jobs to concentrate on constituency and charity work. He told the Sunday Mirror: “Since the election I have been spending a lot of time with my constituents so it felt quite natural that I’d be talking about a Fife issue. But it was a surprise to me so many MPs were there.” – Mirror

Another selection goes wrong

A police probe has been launched into a complaint about fraud in the run-up to the selection in a Middlesbrough ward of Labour candidates for local government elections next year. The Labour Party has also launched an investigation into allegations of irregularities. The party has suspended the selection process for candidates in the ward as a result of the investigations. The police and Labour Party investigations are both focused on the town’s University Ward. – Middlesbrough Gazette

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In Florida, as in the rest of the country, Democrats “took a shellacking”

06/11/2010, 02:00:57 PM

by Dave Roberts

Now that I’m back home in cold, damp Wiltshire, the heat and humidity of Florida seem along way off, as do the frenetic last days of the US midterm elections. My endeavour to help rescue the Democratic congressional seat of Ron Klein failed spectacularly, and the Republicans have taken firm control of Floridian politics.

Republican candidates won all the marginal congressional districts, took the governor’s mansion, the Senate seat and the top three positions in the state legislature – attorney general, chief financial officer and agriculture commissioner. The Democrats, as President Obama said “took a shellacking”.

Last Tuesday was a horrible night to be a Democrat. I was in the Ron Klein campaign “boiler room” as results began to come in from across the country. There were a few bright moments when extreme Tea party candidates Sharron Angle in Nevada and Christine O’Donnell in Delaware failed to win, but on the whole the mood was down beat. Our own campaign in Florida district 22 had failed and the Tea party and Fox News favourite Republican Allen West won the seat. The race for the Florida Senate seat was always going to be a shoe-in for the Republican favourite Marco Rubio, and Rick Scott narrowly beat Democrat Alex Sink to take the keys to the governor’s mansion. (more…)

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The government’s silence on legal loan sharking is putting families at risk

06/11/2010, 10:00:59 AM

by Stella Creasy

LAST WEEK I wrote that loan sharks are circling Britain’s poorest families, excited by the likely effects of the Government’s spending review and lying in wait to prey on people’s increased financial vulnerability. This week, thanks to the hard work of campaigners and opposition MPs, the sharks are now starting to come under threat themselves.

My consumer credit (regulation and advice) bill, which seeks to combat exploitation in the payday and doorstep credit market, passed through its first reading this week. The bill pushes for a range of measures including a cap on the total cost of borrowing money, an expansion of credit union access points through the postal network and a levy to provide funding for debt counselling services to help those in financial difficulty.

It was supported through its first reading by a large number of Labour MPs who believe if the government is intent on pushing their budget on Britain, it will raise the number of families living with the daily misery of debt. We want them to take responsibility for the consequences of their policies– and judging by the growing public concern we are not the only ones.

According to the association of business recovery professionals, four in ten people are worried about their current level of debt, with three million fearing redundancy and two million having taken on more debt in recent months. (more…)

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Saturday News Review

06/11/2010, 09:22:46 AM

Woolas woes

The former immigration minister Phil Woolas was ejected from parliament today after two high court judges ruled that he lied about his Liberal Democrat opponent during the general election, in a judgment that is likely to have profound implications for all future campaigns.

Woolas claimed the ruling – which also triggered a byelection and barred him from standing again for three years – would “chill political speech”, but the Lib Dem who challenged his 103 majority welcomed the decision, saying lying should play no part in democratic elections. – Guardian

Two High Court judges made the historic decision to overturn the result of May’s ballot in Mr Woolas’s constituency, the first such ruling for 99 years, and order a by-election. The ruling means Mr Woolas will be barred from standing for public office for three years, and he could face criminal charges after a file on the case was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions. – Telegraph

Prescott… no, Farrelly

Paul Farrelly, MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, said he became embroiled in the brawl in a House of Commons corridor after chastising Bjorn Hurrell, a newspaper vendor, for being “lary” at the Sport and Social Club bar. The 48-year-old said he acted in self defence after Mr Hurrell, 46, followed him outside the pub and attempted to “land a haymaker” on him. “Like John Prescott a few years ago, I was under attack and I took steps to ensure he couldn’t punch me again,” Mr Farrelly said. – Telegraph

Nice one Nigel

Nigel Farage has launched an attack on Prime Minister David Cameron as he returned as leader of the UK Independence Party. The MEP and former leader beat David Campbell Bannerman, Tim Congdon and Winston McKenzie in the members’ ballot. Mr Farage, who received more than 60% of the vote, used his acceptance speech to criticise the Government and call on disillusioned voters to switch to UKIP. He said the Conservatives’ policy in Europe could be summed up as: “Surrender, surrender, surrender.” – Sky News

Mr Farage, who led UKIP from 2006 to 2009, took just over 60% of votes in a ballot of party members. He beat fellow MEP David Campbell-Bannerman, economist Tim Congdon and former boxer Winston McKenzie. He will take over from Lord Pearson of Rannoch, who stood down after only nine months in the job. The leader of the party in the European Parliament, Mr Farage was injured in a light aircraft crash on 6 May – the day of the general election. – BBC News

Calamity Clegg

Students have called on Nick Clegg to attend a rally next week against tuition fees and funding cuts, to explain his U-turn on lifting the cap. The Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats signed a pledge before the general election promising to vote against any fee hike. But the coalition government confirmed on Wednesday that from 2012, students would be charged up to £9,000 per year for a university education. Next Wednesday, students and lecturers will take part in a march through Westminster, followed by a demonstration, in protest against higher education funding cuts and plans to triple fees. – Press Association

C’mon Labour

Labour gained two marginal seats from Conservatives in the latest council by-elections. Its candidate Jenny Millin won at Moredon in Swindon Borough giving a morale boost to the party in a town where it lost both its parliamentary seats in the General Election. Analysis of five comparable results, with all three major parties standing both times, suggests a projected nationwide line-up of C 38.4%, Lab 38.2%, Lib Dem 13.5%. – Independent

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We’ve had dissent and discipline, it’s time for debate and dialogue

05/11/2010, 03:00:08 PM

by Jessica Asato

This week I did something 99.9% of the population didn’t. I took part in a Labour party branch discussion about reform of partnership in power (PiP) – the party’s policy-making process introduced in 1997.

Liam Byrne has been put in charge of leading the review process which will conclude in June next year and changes to policy arrangements will be agreed by party conference. As Pat McFadden states at the start of the consultation document, “now, in opposition, the time is right to have a fundamental review of our policy making process”. Actually, I don’t quite agree with that. We should have reviewed and improved policy making when we knew the top of the party was failing to communicate with the membership and nipped it in the bud. If your footsoldiers are unhappy about the direction of the top brass they will be less willing to do their best in the fight on the ground.

In fact, a number of things about the document don’t quite make the grade. It states “Partnership in Power has in most people’s eyes been considered a success”. What, seriously? No one at my branch meeting seemed to think it had. Even its assertion that PiP helped to “deliver election winning manifestos in 2001 and 2005” is pushing it a bit far when a) most of the new policy in those manifestos were formulated in the Downing St policy unit and b) PiP also helped to procure an election losing manifesto in 2010. (more…)

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Never underestimate the Lib Dems’ capacity for survival

05/11/2010, 12:00:56 PM

by Paul Richards

THERE’S Labour jubilation at the news that the Liberal Democrats have slumped to single figures in the latest opinion polls. Their current nine per cent standing would give them just 11 seats in the Commons – a return to the old jokes about taxicabs and telephone boxes. It reflects the proper sense of outrage at the behaviour of Nick Clegg and his colleagues – ditching any policy necessary to stay in the government, and revelling in the perks and trappings. It reflects too Cameron’s Saddam-like use of the Lib Dems as human shields (‘after you, Danny…’), fronting up every piece of Tory thuggery and vandalism. The unknown perpetrator of what the Wandsworth Guardian calls a ‘campaign of hate’ against the Putney offices of the Liberal Democrats, daubing ‘whores’, ‘fakes’ and latterly ‘Tory Fags’ (no sniggering at the back) on their windows, speaks for tens of thousands of people who voted Lib Dem.

All those students, or well-meaning people in the voluntary sector, or teachers, who voted for the Liberal Democrats have watched their cherished policies torn into little pieces by Huhne, Clegg, Cable, Alexander and the rest. People in independent-minded Lewes, who believed they were voting for a radical maverick, ended up with a junior minister in a government prosecuting a war in Afghanistan, cutting local voluntary groups, and putting rail fares up. Yes, even Norman Baker, the man who believes Dr Kelly was murdered, has swapped his high horse for a ministerial car. (more…)

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Phil Woolas is our fall guy

05/11/2010, 09:00:44 AM

by Dan Hodges

JUDGMENT day for Phil Woolas. Though not for his accusers in the liberal mob – their verdict was passed long ago. “He is guilty. Those leaflets pandered to prejudice. They have no place in the new politics”.

Save your breath. Woolas was never anything more than a patsy. The fall guy. Ritual sacrifice to our conscience.

His campaign was “toxic” according to the Telegraph. Made him “unfit to sit on the front bench” said Liberal Conspiracy. Even Trevor Philips found himself moved to describe the leaflets as “unhelpful”.

In the eyes of the law, Woolas stood charged with misrepresentation, not inflaming racial tensions. Sharp political practice. Not racism. But that was always a detail.

Yes, we can take our positions. Swap stories from Oldham with similar tales of electoral skulduggery in marginal seats the length and breadth of the land. Debate the constitutional implications of the judiciary imposing their judgment over that of the electorate.

It would be an exercise in irrelevance. This case was not about clumsy photo shopping mixed with a few equally crude allegations. It was about the politics of immigration, religion and race. Or more accurately, about the Labour party’s shameful failure to adopt a coherent, let alone moral, stance on any of these issues. (more…)

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Friday News Review

05/11/2010, 07:35:05 AM

Osborne under fire for “misleading the public”

The chancellor, George Osborne, came under fire today from MPs on the Treasury select committee, charged with “misleading the public” for claiming the UK was near bankruptcy in the weeks after he took office. He was accused of using inflammatory language to justify massive public spending cuts. The committee chairman, Tory MP Andrew Tyrie, said Osborne’s claim that Britain had been “on the brink of bankruptcy” was “a bit over the top”. He also challenged the chancellor’s claims that his emergency budget had been progressive, accusing him of “over-egging it a bit”. Tyrie’s comments followed heated exchanges during which Osborne was tackled over his handling of plans to cut central and local government spending. The chancellor has repeatedly justified the cuts as a reasonable response to unprecedented debt levels and the threat from credit ratings agencies to downgrade the UK’s blue-chip AAA rating […] “I think there is something there to look at when making these remarks, which do look to me more like the language of opposition than government. Tell it as it is.” – The Guardian

Mr Osborne, who appeared before a Commons committee yesterday, was criticised by its Conservative chairman, Andrew Tyrie, for exaggerated claims that his recent budget was progressive – affecting the rich more than the poor, despite strong declarations from the respected independent think tank the Institute of Fiscal Studies that it would have exactly the opposite effect, particularly after 2012. Equally, Mr Tyrie was unhappy that Mr Osborne had exaggerated the dangers facing the UK earlier this year by saying that the country was close to bankruptcy. Mr Osborne should be more statesmanlike now that he holds senior political office, said Mr Tyrie. However, the chancellor was unrepentant: “The situation I found myself in May this year was incredibly serious for this country. The largest bond investor in the world said UK gilts were a no-go area.” – Irish Times

Cable vs Cameron: round 26

David Cameron has moved to head off a damaging row with Vince Cable by allowing companies based in London to transfer employees from abroad to the capital without falling foul of the Government’s new immigration cap. The Business Secretary has been at loggerheads with the Prime Minister over the issue and warned that companies were considering moving jobs abroad because they could not recruit the staff they needed. Mr Cameron said yesterday that new limits on non-European immigration would not mean a change to existing “inter-company transfers”. It will be criticised by some Conservative MPs who will see it as a further “sop” to the Lib Dems that waters down tougher Tory measures. – The Telegraph (more…)

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The real battle for the future of the English regions is just beginning

04/11/2010, 03:00:36 PM

by Kevin Meagher

THIS time of year, as the bonfires blaze and the fireworks bang, many keen regional devolutionists will commemorate waking up to find a different political revolution (albeit one with more modest aims) had bitten the dust. Tomorrow is the sixth anniversary of the ill-fated referendum on an elected regional assembly for the north-east of England.

As you may recall, back in 2004, Labour promised referendums would be held in the north-east, north-west and Yorkshire and Humber regions about whether each should have an elected assembly.

The powers on offer were not vast. At that stage, frankly, neither should they have been. This was never a call for mini-parliaments. Or regional prime ministers. Or declarations of UDI. It was about creating small, strategic bodies to democratise decisions taken by unaccountable public officials and act as all purpose galvanisers, instigators and cajolers for northern interests.

In the end, just the north-east, long thought to be the likeliest harbinger of regional devolution, was given the go-ahead. The government had got cold feet, fearing the message about “creating another tier of bureaucracy” was too potent. So it cancelled the other two votes. The entreaties of campaigners in those regions counted for little. For a government hooked on winning things, the prospect of a triple whammy defeat was too much to bear, so they sought to minimise the political fallout. (more…)

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