The Yes Campaign for the Fairer Votes referendum now has its new website up and running.
To mark the launch of the site, and the start of the six month countdown to polling day, they also organised activities at a range of bonfire night events.
Elwyn Watkins: Time to let the voters decide
Let the voters decide
On Friday, the High Court upheld the decision of the Parliamentary Election Court for Oldham East and Saddleworth and dismissed ex-Labour MP Phil Woolas’ appeal.
Commenting after the decision at the Royal Courts of Justice, Liberal Democrat candidate for Oldham East and Saddleworth, Elwyn Watkins, said:“This judgment makes it clear once again that if you knowingly lie in your election campaign and deceive your constituents you should be kicked out of parliament. This is a victory for the people of Oldham and Saddleworth.
“Once again, I am grateful for the sterling work and support my excellent legal team have provided throughout and for the considered verdict of the High Court Judges.
“Now it is time to move on and for the by-election to take place. The people of Oldham East and Saddleworth have been without an MP for long enough. They need to be able to choose a new Member of Parliament as soon as possible.
“With just 103 votes between Labour and myself at the General Election, it is going to be a very close contest. I hope that local people will back someone who has a track record for standing up for what he believes in.”
World AIDS Day
Today, 1st December, is World AIDS Day. Openly gay Liberal Democrat MP for St Austell & Newquay, Steve Gilbert, has sent the following message to mark the occasion.
“Today is a really important day to raise awareness, raise money of HIV/AIDS and to show our support for those with the illness.
“Despite recent medical advances, HIV/AIDS remains a life-limiting illness and we still have a huge way to go to tackle it.
“I urge everyone to join me today in support of the work of charities such as the Terrance Higgins Trust and RED to help those at home and across the world.”
There are vigils and events around the UK to commemorate the day. Lib Dems will be present at events in Manchester, London and elsewhere.
Tameside MEP warns Clegg on control orders
Warned - Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg MP
A Tameside Liberal Democrat Euro-MP has warned Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg that he must secure the abolition of control orders or face a backlash from his party. Chris Davies says that people suspected of terrorist offences should be charged and brought to court, rather than face indefinite house arrest at the whim of the Home Secretary.
The MEP has told BBC Radio 4’s ‘Week at Westminster’ programme that, to assist prosecutions, Liberal Democrats want juries to be able to hear evidence gained from monitored telephone calls.
He said: “Control orders represent a fundamental attack on the principles of liberty. Nick Clegg has to be seen to fight for their abolition and he has to win.
“If he does not, many Liberal Democrats will question the value of being in this party.”
Control orders were introduced by the Labour government in 2005. Critics claim that they undermine the presumption of innocence by requiring no evidence to be presented before severe restrictions are placed upon an individual.
While Liberal Democrats are committed to their removal, Conservatives are divided. Justice Secretary Ken Clarke is backing their abolition, while Home Secretary Theresa May wants them to be retained.
Challenged to explain how he would address public concern about terrorist incidents, Chris Davies pointed out that control orders are not allowed in the USA.
He said: “Terrorists wish to undermine our values of freedom, democracy and liberty. If we sacrifice these principles ourselves, the terrorists win.”
Fishing madness threatens Tameside food treats
Pizza eaters who like a tasty tiny fish on top of their melted cheese look set to be able to enjoy the flavour for a while longer. Proposed EU curbs on the size of the anchovy catch have been warmly welcomed by Tameside Euro-MP Chris Davies. But he has warned that Spanish fishermen are campaigning to have them weakened in ways that he believes threatens the future of stocks.
The major anchovy fishery in the Bay of Biscay has been closed for five years because of fears that it faced complete collapse. Scientists now claim that it can be safely re-opened so long as no more than 30% of the fish are caught in any one year.
An attempt by Spanish and French MEPs to raise fish catches to unsustainable levels was been beaten off in a key European Parliament committee by just two votes.
Chris Davies, who is campaigning for major reform to the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy, fears that the battle indicates the size of the challenge ahead. The Liberal Democrat MEP said: “Many politicians still insist on putting the short term interests of fishermen before the need to guarantee fish stocks for the long term.
“Unless we secure change, there will be no more fish left in our seas.”
Fishery collapse happens when so many fish are caught that they cannot recover by breeding. The most dramatic recent example occurred in the North Atlantic when the cod fishery of the Grand Banks was closed in 1992 due to fish stocks falling to 1% of their original level.
The fishery has still not recovered 18 years later.
Lib Dems are tackling the housing problems in this country
Andrew Stunell MP
“In spite of such trying economic circumstances, Liberal Democrats are getting on with the job of tackling the housing problem in this country that has fast become Labour’s hidden legacy.”
Commenting on the outcomes of the Comprehensive Spending Review on the Department for Communities and Local Government, Lib Dem Communities Minister Andrew Stunell said:
“These cuts are tough, but fair, and sadly necessary.
“Despite reductions in spending, Liberal Democrats in government will this year deliver more new social homes than in any year under the previous Labour government.
“We will also deliver a bigger net increase in affordable housing in this Parliament than Labour managed in their 13 years in power, for considerably less money.
“In spite of such trying economic circumstances, Liberal Democrats are getting on with the job of tackling the housing problem in this country that has fast become Labour’s hidden legacy.”
Nick Clegg announces £7bn fairness premium
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg MP
“I can announce today that in the Spending Review we will provide extra funds – a total of over £7 billion over the spending review period – for a “fairness premium”, stretching from the age of two to the age of twenty: from a child’s first shoes to a young adult’s first suit. This is more than £7 billion spent on giving the poorest children a better start in life.”
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg this morning announced that the Coalition Government will spend an extra £7bn on giving the poorest children a better start in life.
The “fairness premium” will come in three parts:
First, all disadvantaged two year-olds will have an entitlement to 15 hours a week of pre-school education, in addition to the 15 hours already available to them at three and four years of age. By offering more help at an earlier age to the most disadvantaged children, we will directly tackle the gaps in attainment that open up in the critical early years of life. This additional early years investment will amount to £300 million a year by 2014-15.
Second, a Pupil Premium to help poorer pupils wherever they live in the country. Schools will receive additional funds to offer targeted help to every pupil eligible for free school meals and reduce educational inequalities. By the end of the Spending Review period, this pupil premium will grow to an additional £2.5 billion of investment each year.
Third, we must make sure that bright but poor children grow up believing that a university education is not out of reach. So we are looking now at what can be done to remove the obstacles to aspiration that hold back bright boys and girls from deprived backgrounds. Alongside reforms to Higher Education, we are proposing to provide a form of “student premium” for the least advantaged students, representing a commitment of at least £150 million a year by the end of the spending review period. Our goal is clear: to tear down the barriers that prevent poorer young adults from entering university. We will be consulting with universities and students on the most effective way of achieving that goal.
MEP welcomes language support for Brits in court
British citizens accused of crimes elsewhere in Europe are to gain the right to free interpretation services.
Tameside Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies believes that the EU measure will help ensure fair trials and make it easier for British citizens to protect their liberty.
Said Davies, “Being accused of a crime while in a foreign country is a frightening experience for anyone but it is many times worse when you can’t speak the language.
“The EU is adding value to the role of national governments. Free translation and interpretation is a vital safeguard to protect innocent people from having their rights trampled on in the rush to bring criminals to justice.”
Shark law needs more bite
Sharks may have a reputation for causing harm more than being harmed, but a Tameside Euro-MP says that measures to protect them need more bite. Liberal Democrat Chris Davies is campaigning to curb the practice of shark
finning from killing off some of the ocean’s largest predators.
Finning involves slicing off a shark’s fins and discarding the carcass at sea. It is driven by high demand prices paid by Chinese buyers in order to make shark fin soup. Often the shark is still alive after being finned and either drowns, is eaten by other fish, or starves to death.
Chris says that shark numbers have in some case fallen by 90% over the past two decades and is seeking the support of his fellow MEPs to end the practice in EU waters.
His “written declaration” is cosponsored by MEPs from France, Finland and Romania has been signed by 78 MEPs in the first few days.
Said Davies, “Not only is shark finning wasteful, it is cruel.
“Many species of shark are in real danger of extinction but they are being hunted for the sake of one body part that doesn’t even taste of very much.
“It is time we stopped letting one of the oceans most successful predators die in agony just so people can show off that they can afford shark fin soup.”
If more than 369 MEPs sign the Davies declaration by 20th December, the European Commission will have to look at a proposal to strengthen current laws and end legal loopholes that allow EU fishing fleets to fin sharks.
Rat plague fears calmed
Fears that towns and cities could be overrun by a plague of rats have been calmed after MEPs defeated EU plans to ban the use of killer chemicals. Pest control experts had warned that European Commission proposals to severely restrict anticoagulant rodenticides could lead to an explosion in Britain’s rat population.
But changes in the draft law were made after Tameside MEP Chris Davies brought together EU officials and industry advisors to discuss its implications.
And now he has helped secure the defeat in the European Parliament of attempts by Green MEPs to have the most widely used product immediately taken off the market.
The new law on the use of biocides now looks set to restrict future use of the highly toxic rodenticides to pest control professionals, but EU governments will each have flexibility to determine how the rules will be applied.
Chris Davies said the products used to kill rats were “nasty, cruel, but sometimes necessary.”
“These chemicals kill in a horrible way. If pet animals were treated like this there would be public outrage, but because the targets are rats and not cats the complaints are rare.”
The law will encourage pest controllers to try and find less cruel ways to deal with the problem of rat infestation, but if this is impossible the rodenticides will still be available.
Final details of the new law are still to be determined but the MEP said that so far it had proved a good example of the way in which the EU law-making process is supposed to work, but sometimes does not.