Northern Democrat No 60 December 2011

8/3/2019 Northern Democrat No 60 December 2011

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The NorthernDemocrat

no. 60no. 60no. 60no. 60no. 60DecemberDecemberDecemberDecemberDecember

20112011201120112011

The newsletter for Liberal Democrats in the North of England

Produced, printed and promoted by Jonathan Wallace, 7 Laburnum Grove, Sunniside, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE16 5LY

Lib Dem Conference at Sage, Gateshead, in March

Next stop:Tyneside

The next Lib Dem Spring Conference will be

held on 9th-11th March and for the first time it

will be held in the North East.

The Sage, Gateshead, will host the three-day

gathering. This will be a great opportunity to

showcase the region.

Liberal Democrats in NewcastleGateshead and

across the North East of England are delighted to be

hosting Spring Conference, said former Leader of

Newcastle City Council, Lord Shipley.

And he encouraged members to attend. This will

be the first time that we have welcomed our party

conference to this region and we hope you will bepart of it.

Online booking is now open at

www.libdems.org.uk/conference

Promoted and published by Jonathan Wallace, 7 Laburnum Grove, Sunniside, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE16 5LY


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3/9

The North East is set to benefit from a

share of billions of pounds in EU cash

aimed at bringing super fast

broadband to everyone.

The 8 billion investment announced by

the European Commission will help

eliminate the Internet black-spots which

blight parts of the North East.

Local Lib Dem MEP Fiona Hall

welcomed the news and said it would help

create and safeguard jobs in the region.

Fiona said, Despite recent investment,

parts of the North East are still stuck in

the Internet slow lane. This new multi-

billion pound plan will ensure everyone

has access to super fast broadband,wherever they live or work.

It is particularly vital for businesses

which increasingly rely on the Internet. It

will allow smaller villages and towns to

sustain businesses that have previously

been forced to relocate to secure faster

Internet connections.

And the work required to roll these

North East to benefit from broadband billions

improvements out will also help create jobs in the North East. In difficult economic times it is right that major

investment is aimed at encouraging growth and ensuring we have the infrastructure to remain competitive in the

future.

Fiona Hall MEP, centre, has welcomed plans to invest in

broadband in the North East.

Free early education will be extended to 140,000 disadvantaged two-yearolds,

and parents will be able to access the free entitlement more flexibly, under plans

published by the Coalition Government last month.

In the North East, nearly 8,000 two-year olds are expected to benefit from the

proposals.

Liberal Democrat Childrens Minister, Sarah Teather, announced a consultation today

on how this commitment will be implemented. The plans include proposals to helpparents and children alike by making the free entitlement of 15 hours per week of early

education more flexible, so it can be taken between 7am and 7pm across two days

instead of the current three days.

Berwick MP Sir Alan Beith said, Helping nearly 8,000 two-year-old children from the

Free early years education for two-yearolds in North East Alan Beith

poorest backgrounds in our area will benefit them for years to come.

High quality early education is the key to making a difference early on in a childs life and help make Britain a fairer

and more equal society. Improving social mobility is a Liberal Democrat priority in Government and early years

education is crucial to achieve this.

Targeting early education at those who stand to benefit most, is an important to achieve this goal. It will be an

integral part to disadvantaged childrens healthy development. This means theyre not falling behind before they have

even started primary school.

Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg said, I want us to give every child the best

possible start so free education for toddlers from the most disadvantaged homes will now be a right and not a

privilege.

Crucially the extra care will be flexible and easy to access. Parents across the country are bending over backwards

to balance work and home. The Coalition wants to help in whatever way we can.

Northern NewsDecember 2011

Sir Alan Beith -

welcomed free early

years education.


4/9

Stockton Liberal Democrats were somewhat surprised on the night before members left for the Federal

Conference in September. An email arrived asking for their Penhaligon Award Presentation. Hurried

communications later and they discovered that the message from Membership Department that they were

finalists had gone astray. They had just over 18 hours to produce a PowerPoint presentation showing ourstrategy for keeping our members, and that included a nights sleep and a morning of commitments!

The Penhaligon Award is named after David Penhaligon MP, a formidable campaigner in Cornwall who died suddenly

before he had a chance to reach his full potential in the party. Its usually awarded to the party which recruits the most

new members in a year as well as keeping as many as possible of their old ones. This year it was awarded to the party

which retained members recruited in the general election Cleggmania period and which could show that it had a

strategy for building up the party in the future.

Stocktons strategy is best described as Communication, communication, communication. If you dont want to know

whats going on then dont join the party in Stockton. With over three quarters of our membership using email its easy to

keep them informed about progress and the remainder get letters about important items as well as the regular member

newsletters.

During the coalition negotiations there were 2 or 3 emails a day coming from Cowley St to tell party chairs what was

happening. They were all forwarded on to our members. Every time there was an important announcement a letter washand delivered to the people not on email. The coalition agreement went to everyone.

Since then, frequent emails and letters have kept people in touch with policy updates, ministerial announcements and

so on. Member meetings, though not frequent, have given the chance to discuss such things as conference motions and

policy proposals. At the same time, any major developments in Stockton Council are shared with all of the membership.

New members get a welcome letter from the Chairman followed by a personal visit from one of the executive.

As a result, only a very small number of people have left the party since the general election. A further number are

considering whether to renew at this stage, but most have stayed as members. What is more, several new people have

joined and one or two have become active. Some established members have taken on new roles and become more

involved.

The judges liked what they heard, though not quite as much as what they heard from St Albans who won the trophy.

Stockton had an honourable mention and are very proud of that. The judges felt that what they had done showed what

can be achieved by a small party. They were delighted to be part of putting the Tees Valley and the North East on the

map in the run up to the Spring Conference being held up here.

Stockton runners-up for top party award

Northern NewsDecember 2011

Support for North welcomed in Autumn StatementLib Dem Parliamentarians have welcomed the Chancellors Autumn Statement which offers support to the

North.

Measures announced include support for plans to expand the existing Enterprise Zone in the North East to include land

around the Port of Blyth, encouraging business investment to the renewables industry. Sir Alan Beith MP has been

pushing this proposal with Government Ministers since the announcement by Rio Tinto that the aluminium smelter at

Alcans Lynemouth plant.

Sir Alan said, I warmly welcome the Chancellors support for the plan to extend the North East Enterprise Zone intoNorthumberland which I put to Ministers last week and to which they have responded very quickly. It is one of the

measures which will help to build private sector jobs in Northumberland where we face over-dependency on public sector

employment and the potential loss of jobs at the Alcan smelter.

The extension of the North East Enterprise Zone is a direct result of meetings I have had with Ministers in response to

the proposed sale, and subsequent proposed closure, of the aluminium smelter at Lynemouth. The Government has

been ready all along to help ease the impact on Rio Tinto of carbon targets but the company were simply not interested.

The Government has also made it clear that they are prepared to talk to any credible potential buyer, but we do have to

prepare for the possibility that no buyer will come forward.

I also welcome improvements to the East Coast Main Line, the accelerated works on the Tyneside Metro and the plans

to make finance more widely available to small businesses.

Euro MP Fiona Hall said, The extension of the Enterprise Zone to Blyth as well as tax measures to promote thegrowth of industry in the North East shows the Government appreciates the urgent need for support to the region. We

desperately need to create more jobs and todays announcement will help do that.

In addition, the 250m package of assistance for energy-intensive industry will help businesses in the region with high

energy needs.


5/9

Liberal Democrats in the North East

gathered in Gateshead on 22nd

October for their autumn conference

and annual general meeting.

New MP, Gordon Birtwhistle from

Burnley, was the guest speaker. Mostmembers knew little about Gordon but he

gave a rousing, informative and

entertaining speech.

Various lunchtime events were held

including a look at the partys new

database system.

Parliamentary PanelA Parliamentary Panel answered

questions from members. The panel

consisted ofDiana Maddock, Alan Beith MP, John Shipley and

Gordon Birtwhistle.

The issues covered included:

Health and Social Care Bill Alan Beith said many of the concerns about the Bill are not based

on reality. The way opponents had conducted themselves caused

other important aspects to be shut out of the debate. There are no

cuts in the NHS budget but there are currently efficiency savings in

place which were brought in by previous Labour Government. These

efficiency savings will be ploughed back into the NHS.

Diana Maddock highlighted Labour hypocrisy in the Lords. She

referred to David Owens plan for a committee which collapsed. John Shipley pointed out that a 20 billion funding gap in NHS

needs to be bridged. The Bill guarantees access to services free at

point of delivery. This needs to be emphasised. The NHS is not

perfect. The recent publication of the damning report on NHS care

of older people illustrates this. Cancer care is behind European

average.

Fairness John Shipley said we need to demonstrate fairness as a key factor

in our distinctiveness.

The Labour Party All the panel members referred to the low morale of Labour MPs.

They realise they are not likely to win the 2015 election if they dont

sort themselves out. Alan said Labour are more worried about Prime

Ministers Questions than the Conservatives because of their

leaderships poor performance.

The Tory Right Gordon said there were not enough on the lunatic right to force the

governments hand. The Cabinet steers away from rightwing issues.

Generally, the Right is controllable by the Tory leadership

Lib Dem influence Alan said that Liberal Democrats have rolled back Labour

incursions into civil liberty.

Gordon explained that the Health Bill had been changed due to the

Lib Dems but we need to communicate this better.

Gordon Birtwhistle talked to the

Conference about how he fought to be

elected. He took Burnley from Labour

in 2010 even though they had a 17,000

majority in 2001.

Gordon also talked about his view of

the way ahead. He was critical of the

Labour government for destroying the

manufacturing base of country which was22% of our economy when Labour come

to power but only 15% when they left. He

said, We need to get back to making

things. That is the way forward. We need

to export manufactured goods to sell

abroad. We will struggle until we are

exporting more.

The Government realises this. We need

more apprenticeships and relevant

degrees. Companies often cant get

qualified staff. For the past 25 years, we

have not been training people for the jobsthat are available.

He called on Lib Dems to get onto

doorsteps to speak directly to the people

who vote for us. We need to take up local

issues that affect people directly.

L to R Diana Maddock, Alan Beith, David Freeman

(chair), John Shipley and Gordon Birtwhistle

Regional Conference report


6/9

Frank retires as regional chairmanAfter three years as Chairman of the North East Liberal

Democrats, Gateshead Councillor Frank Hindle hasretired from the post.

Frank, who was elected Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on

Gateshead Council earlier this year, led the campaign to re-elect

Fiona Hall as our Euro MP in 2009.

He also led the party in the region during the 2010 general election

that saw the Lib Dems gain Redcar and hold Berwick.

Frank was thanked for his work when the regional party met for his

last conference as chairman at Gateshead Civic Centre on Saturday

22nd October.

The Deputy Prime MinisterNick Clegg also sent thanks. Nick said,

Thank you Frank for all your hard work as Chair of the North East

Regional party. You have done a great job in what havent always beenthe easiest of circumstances.

You will be missed as Regional Chair, but I know you will continue

to serve the party in so many other ways.

Party President, Westmoreland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron

said, Frank is a true servant of the party - as a councillor, PPC,

Agent and Regional Chair. Liberal Democrats in North-East have a lot

to be proud of and Frank can take a huge amount credit for leading

many of those achievements over the last three years.

Regional Party President Suzanne

Fletcher thanks Frank Hindle for his work

as Chairman at the recent North East Lib

Dem Conference.

Regional Conference report

Redcar Local Party won

the Alistair Wardlow

Trophy for their

campaigning activities.

MP for the Constituency,

Ian Swales, and his wife

Pat collected the award.


7/9

Liberal Democrats have announced the appointment of Tim Gordon

as the Partys new Chief Executive. Tim will take up this position on

9 January 2012.Tim brings to the role a lifetime of commitment to the Party, as a

volunteer, campaigner and candidate, but also a strong commercial

background and clearly demonstrated leadership qualities.

Tim has been a Party activist since his teens, when he first volunteered

for the SDP Yes to Unity campaign, and has since campaigned in every

major election. He stood as parliamentary candidate in Rotherham in

2005. He worked as a researcher for David Steel when he was Foreign

Affairs spokesperson, and has been a member of several policy working

groups over the years. He is currently an active member in Islington.

Tims professional career has been shaped in the world of strategic

business management. He started at the Financial Times, before working

at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and most recently as GroupDevelopment Director at European Directories, a large European media

Lib Dems appoint new Chief Exec

company. Through this career Tim has demonstrated strategic thinking, use of online technology to deliver change,

fundraising ability, an understanding of internal organisation dynamics and experience of building alignment around

common priorities.

Tim takes over from Chris Fox, who leaves to take up a new role as Director of Group Communications at a

FTSE100 engineering company.

New Chief Exec Tim Gordon

National NewsDecember 2011

Lib Dems launch Youth ContractOn 25th November, Deputy Prime Minister Nick

Clegg launched the Youth Contract, a 1bnprogramme to get every unemployed young

person earning or learning again before long-term

damage is done.

When Labour left office, they also left behind nearly

one million unemployed 16-24 year olds. The economic

slowdown has resulted in that figure rising now to over

over 1 million.

Main features of the Youth Contract There will be 160,000 job subsidies available worth up to 2,275 each for businesses who take on an 18-24 year-

old from the Work Programme.

This is more than enough to cover an employers National Insurance contributions for a year and exceeds therecommendations by the CBI in their recent report on youth employment.

An extra 250,000 Work Experience places over the next three years, with an offer of a Work Experience place for

every 18 to 24 year-old who wants one, before they enter the Work Programme.

At least 20,000 extra incentive payments worth 1,500 each for employers to take on young people as

apprentices, taking the total number of payments available to 40,000 next year.

Extra support through Jobcentre Plus in the form of weekly, rather than fortnightly, signing-on meetings, more time

to talk to an adviser and a National Careers Service interview.

The measures differ from previous schemes over the last decade, as they are focused on equipping young people

with the skills and opportunities to gain long-term sustainable employment in the private sector.

Speaking at the launch of Youth Contract, Nick Clegg said, Young people have been hit particularly hard in the

recession, but even in the boom years, Labour failed to tackle the issue. During Labours 13 years, youth unemploymentrose by 40%.

With Liberal Democrats in Government, we wont allow the children brought up in the boom to bear the brunt of the

bust. The next generation must not pay the price for my generations mistakes. So the Coalition Government wont sit on

our hands and let a generation fall behind.


8/9

At Labours Conference, a so-called Five Point Plan for Jobs and Growth was launched. This pulled together

some statements previously made by Labour on economic policy and it now forms a key feature of Labours

message.

The policies are, however, riddled with contradictions, uncosted spending commitments, proposals they previously

rejected when in Government and would lead to a major loss of confidence in Britains ability to tackle the debt crisis.

This section of the Northern Democratanalyses the Labour proposals - use them to argue against Labour if they are

campaigning on the so-called Five Point Plan on your patch.

Labours Five Point Plan

1) A 2 billion tax on bank bonuses to fund 100,000 jobs for young people and build 25,000 more affordable homes.

2) Bringing forward long-term investment projects (e.g. schools, roads and transport) to get people back to work and

strengthen our economy for the future.

3) Reversing of the Governments damaging VAT rise now, for a temporary period. This will give a 450 boost for a

couple with children, giving immediate help for our high streets and for struggling families and pensioners.

4) A one-year cut in VAT, to 5%, on home improvements, repairs and maintenance to help homeowners and small

businesses.

Labour debunked - the so-called Five Point Plan

5) A one-year national insurance tax break for every small firm that

takes on extra workers helping small businesses to grow and

create jobs.

But!1)Labours proposals for a tax on bankers to pay for 100,000 young people to come off the dole whilst building

tens of thousands of houses dont add up. The proposals would cost 3 or 4 times the funding allocated to it.

Labour are playing at being Merlin the Magician, conjuring up money from nowhere and waving a magic

wand to create instantly an army of skilled workers.

Alistair Darling, as Labours last Chancellor, argued that the bank bonus tax would only work once as the

banks would find a way to avoid it. Thats why Labour themselves introduced it as only a one off, windfall tax in

2009/10. Labour have failed to explain their calculations as to how they have arrived at the figure of 2 billion theyclaim this tax can raise.

Many Labour members argue that the bank bonus tax can pay

for any cut or favoured spending proposal. Keep a record of

spending commitments your local Labour MP or candidate claims

can be paid for by this tax and send it to Northern Democrat

editor Jonathan Wallace at

[email protected].

Even if 2 billion was raised by a bank bonus tax, it would

struggle to provide 100,000 jobs because:

Sharing 2 billion amongst 100,000 employees would mean

only 20,000 per job. This would have to cover pay,

employers NICs and pension contributions. This would mean pay would be less than 16,000 a year forhighly skilled workers.

Once the 100,000 jobs had been funded (at a low wage level) there would be no money left to buy any

building materials. Labour claim that 25,000 houses could be built under their plan. The cost of building

materials for a single house would be about 40,000. Thats 1 billion for the full number they can claim to

build. Where is that money to come from? Labour does not explain.

There is no explanation as to where the land for these 25,000 houses would come from. Is it donated

by public or private owners, or would it have to be bought? If the land had to be purchased, how is this to be

paid for? The biggest single element of the cost of a new house is the

2)Labour can be debunked on capital spending plans because:

The Government is already bringing forward capital spending plans. Labour are behind the times.

The last Labour Government took the decision to slash capital spending by two-thirds by 2014.3)Labour can be debunked on VAT as their plans are a vast, uncosted spending commitment at a time when

there is an international debt crisis. Labour have failed to say how they will pay for this 12.5 billion a year spending

commitment They would seriously harm the perception of Britain as being a nation getting to grips with its Deficit, leading

to higher interest rates for the Government which would lead to an even bigger squeeze on public spending. The claim for

what a typical household would save are an enormous exaggeration.


9/9

To save 450 a year, a family would have to spend 18,000 on goods that are fully rated for VAT. Thats 1500 a

month. This is far in excess of what the overwhelming majority of households spend on such goods. Labour have

illustrated their policy with the savings made by a family with a gross income of around 50,000, well in excess of

what most households earn.

Most households spend more on non-rated or low rated goods such as mortgage, gas,

electricity, newspapers, childrens clothes, much of their food, rent, bus or rail fares, books etc

than on goods that are fully rated. There will be no VAT reduction on these products - which form

a higher share of expenditure of lower income households.

Amongst the biggest beneficiaries of Labours tax plans would be the wealthy buying high value

goods. For example, someone buying a new Porsche currently costing 120,000 would save

2,500.

A temporary reduction in VAT would not lead to a reduction in important basic items such as

gas, electricity, bus fares, childrens clothes and so on but form a larger part of the expenditure

of people on lower income. A VAT reduction will benefit the better off rather than struggling

families.

Labour give no explanation whatsoever as to how long a temporary VAT reduction would last. A

reduction of 2.5% in VAT would cost 12.5 billion a year. A temporary reduction in VAT until the

end of this Parliament would cost 40 billion. Labour do not explain how this lost revenue would be covered. It is

therefore a massive, uncosted commitment on the public finances.

If Labour believes that the lost revenue should be made up from borrowing, the effect of such a massive increase in

the Deficit would lead to a loss of confidence in the UKs willingness to reduce its Deficit. The result would be an

immediate increase in interest paid by the Government on new borrowings, therefore requiring cuts, tax increases or

further borrowing.

Labour planned to increase VAT to 19% if they won the General Election last year, not decrease it.

4)Labour can be debunked on reducing VAT on home repairs because:

The proposal was rejected by Alistair Darling when Labour were in office in in 2009.

It is completely uncosted and Labour have failed to say how they will pay for this cut. What other services will be cutor taxes raised to pay for this commitment?

Businesses that are registered for VAT will get no direct benefit as they will simply reclaim any VAT they have paid,

regardless of its rate.

5)Labour can be debunked on reducing employers National Insurance contributions because:

The last Labour Government had approved plans to increase employers National Insurance contributions. This was an

increased tax on jobs, making it more expensive to take on staff.

One of the first actions of the Coalition Government was to scrap Labours employers NIC increase.

Labour debunked - the so-called Five Point Plan

Keep reminding people about the mess Labour left behind The Labour Government ran out of money. Liam Byrne, Labour Chief Secretary to the Treasury, left a note for his

Coalition successor saying Im afraid there is no money. Labour Ministers note to the Government

Im afraid that there is no money left Alistair Darling admitted before the General Election

that Labours cuts would be deeper and tougher than

those under Mrs Thatcher.

Planned cuts of 44 billion in expenditure from 2011 onwards

National Debt stood at 22,400 for every single person in the UK.

120 million was being paid out every day by taxpayers just on the interest in the National Debt - thats 2 every day

for every single person in the UK. Thats 730 per person per year.

A quarter of the money spent by Labour ministers was borrowed - thats 400 million every day.

A million more working age adults in poverty than in 98/99

Income inequality is at its highest since comparable records began in 1961

2.8 million children in poverty

Nearly 2 million children grow up in households where no one works (roughly one in six)

More children growing up in workless households than almost any other European country

1.8 million pensioners living in poverty (nearly 1 in 5)

Unemployment 900,000 higher than it was when Labour came to power

Documents

Northern Democrat No 60 December 2011