Taxpayers should not be left with the scraps of Northern Rock

So, the European Union  has given its approval of plans for the nationalised Northern Rock to be split in two – so paving the way for a partial sale.    What concerns me is that the tax payer will end up with the less attractive bit of the deal – with the private sector getting the prime cuts – as Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable put it.    A sale should only go ahead when market conditions are right and the tax payer gets a good return on their investment.

Time to give our troops a better deal

I am calling on the Government to award a big pay rise to our military personnel – many of whom are risking their lives in conflicts overseas.

I am backing new Liberal Democrat policy to give the worst paid servicemen and women, who earn less than trainee police officers and firefighters, pay rises worth almost £6,000 a year.   New recruits to the police receive £22,680 basic pay and junior firefighters receive £22,038 basic pay.  More than 51,000 members of the Armed Forces (over a quarter) receive less than that – about 13,000 personnel receive £16,681 – the basic pay of the lowest paid private.

Every day young men and women are putting their lives on the line, fighting in terrible conditions.    This Labour Government has left them with shockingly poor pay that leaves them on the poverty line.    Liberal Democrat proposals would put a stop to this straight away.  We will raise the pay of the lowest paid troops by and extra £6,000 a year – the average basic pay across the ranks of private and lance corporal would rise to around £25,000.

I’ve pledged to do my bit for the whole Armed Forces family.   I met with representatives of The Royal British Legion at the recent Liberal Democrat party conference in Bournemouth where I was presented with a copy of the Legion’s manifesto for the next general election.   I was delighted to meet with The Royal British Legion.  They have a important role to play in highlighting the needs of the whole Armed Forces family.  I have pledged to do my bit and would encourage everyone to do the same by visiting their general election manifesto website http://www.timetodoyourbit.org.uk.

Local MP votes against 10:10 motion

I am disappointed that Mitcham and Morden’s Labour MP voted against the Liberal Democrat motion on 10:10 – which would have signed-up the government to the ambitions of the campaign.    If I’d had the opportunity to vote on this issue, I’d have supported the motion.

All public spending should be published

This Wednesday there will be a motion in Parliament that MPs will debate and vote on regarding the publishing of Local Spending Reports.  These reports will show a breakdown of how ALL public money is spent.    The motion is set out in Early Day Motion 1064 – which has cross party support.

The breakdown of public spending has never been available before, but the Local Spending Report is required under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 and the Government promised they would include a breakdown of all public spending – however, the work needed to publish this information has not yet been done by government officials.

The Early Day Motion is as follows:

Early Day Motion 1064

Local Spending Reports and the Sustainable Communities Act 2007

Sponsors:

David Drew MP, Labour

Nick Hurd MP, Conservative

Julia Goldsworthy MP, Liberal Democrat

“That this House welcomes the provisions of the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 requiring the publication of local spending reports; believes that people have a right to know how their money is spent by public bodies; especially welcomes the assurances given by the Minister for Local Government, the hon. Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth, that the local spending reports will include all public agencies; further welcomes the Minister’s assurance that the purpose is to achieve a report that identifies how much will be spent in each area by the authorities; is therefore very alarmed that the consultation now issued on the local spending reports proposes only to include local authorities, including fire authorities and police authorities, and primary care trusts, and to exclude all other public bodies despite the assurances of the Minister; believes it to be unacceptable that this document is now in blatant contravention of the expressed assurances of the Minister; and calls for proper local spending reports to be published, which give effect to those assurances.”

I have written to our local Labour MP to ask her to support this motion at the vote on Wednesday.

Short term headline grabbing but no long term solutions from Tories

It is a headline grabbing statement and  I am sure I heard in the announcement this morning that instead of cash (restricted to £2000) they want people to receive share options instead – so not cash immediately but value as shares.    Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable, said earlier today, that ‘The Tories have been deeply ambivalent on the much more fundamental question of what we do about the future of the banking system.   They have not given full backing to Mervyn King’s proposals in splitting up the banks and these bonus proposals are short term, stop gap solutions designed to stem public anger but which fail to get to the heart of the problem”.    The banks are making profits on the back of taxpayer guarantee.    I agree with Vince Cable – banks should be paying the taxpayer a premium for this guarantee – not paying themselves.