In our latest party political broadcast, Tim Farron speaks about his background, his upbringing and what drives him.
You can watch Tim’s speech at the end of Lib Dem Party Conference here:
Join us here.
Comment: Jeremy Corbyn is wrong on the Single Market
In recent speeches Jeremey Corbyn has showed his true colours – he wants Britain out of the single Market. Here’s eleven reasons he’s wrong:
Britain may have voted to leave the European Union, but this doesn’t mean we want to leave the ‘single market’ free trade area. The single market means it as easy to trade between London and Berlin as it is between Edinburgh and London. Within the Single Market, goods, people, services and capital can move freely, meaning there’s no lengthy customs checks, borders to cross and goods can move freely and cheaply.
Giving up our membership of the Single Market would be catastrophic for our economy and put millions of people’s livelihoods at risk. Even if we agreed a deal to allow access to the Single Market it would mean less investment, fewer jobs and no say over the laws that government our access, compared to remaining fully-fledged members.
Here are eleven reasons Jeremy Corbyn’s wrong to want to take the UK out of the single market.
1: The Single Market means our economy is bigger, benefiting everyone.
According to The Institute for Fiscal Studies, losing our membership of the Single Market could mean we lose up to 4% of our GDP. Membership means “higher living standards and [is] likely to be distributed across income levels.” That means a stronger economy benefiting people on the lowest incomes as much as those at the top.
2. The Single Market means more money in your pocket:
According to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills working people in the UK’s income is 6% higher because of the extra trade enabled by being a member of the Single Market.
3: The Single Market helps create jobs.
More than 3 million jobs in the UK are linked with EU trade and some estimates say that by staying in the Single Market, we could create almost 800,000 new jobs by 2030.
4: The Single Market means holidays are cheaper and easier:
Rules governing the price of flying and travelling within the EU mean that, thanks to the Single Market, travelling abroad is much cheaper. You have the same consumer rights in Britain as you do in Italy and there are no limits on what you can buy and bring back for personal use.
5: The Single Market means you can buy what you want, from where you want
Membership of the single market means that you can order, online or in person, any goods from anywhere else in Europe and have them delivered without paying any customs charges. Soon, thanks to the Digital Single Market, this will even apply to items downloaded or streamed online.
6: The Single Market means a greater choice of goods and services
The single market means companies have to produce goods to the same standard – that means a toaster made in the UK is just as safe as one made in France – and nobody can get a competitive edge by working to looser regulations.
7: The Single Market means lower prices for you:
We also benefit from cheaper prices at home thanks to the European Single Market, and the competition it promotes. One study has estimated that the average consumer is £450 a year better off thanks to lower prices caused by greater competition across Europe.
8: The Single Market means less red tape
The Single Market replaces a large number of complex and different national laws with a single framework, this means less bureaucracy and lower prices.
9: The Single Market is massive
Any business in the EU automatically has close to 500 million potential customers on its doorstep. This means big businesses can be more efficient and means small- and medium-sized businesses can export across Europe easily.
10: The Single Market means more trade. Lots more trade.
Access to the single market means a huge increase in trade – 44% of the UK’s exports in goods and services went to other countries in the Single Market in 2014 and trade within the EU has risen by 30% since 1992.
11: The Single Market means getting a good deal across the world
As part of the biggest trading bloc in the world, we are able to negotiate trade deals that work for the UK and other EU countries. Other countries want access to the Single Market. It means we can’t be pushed around by bigger countries who want good terms for trade with the UK without giving us a good deal in return. The EU is our biggest trading partner and the Single Market means it’s cheaper and easier to trade – it’s absolutely vital for the success of the UK economy.
The EU is the largest economy in the world, the biggest exporter and importer and the leading investor and recipient of foreign investment. It’s a no-brainer that we want to keep our access to the Single Market – even Boris Johnson can see that.
That’s why in our Plan for Britain in Europe, we’ve made protecting the UK’s access to the single market one of our top priorities (you can read more about our plan here). It’s just a shame Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t see it.
Liberal Democrat Federal Conference overview
This weekend the Liberal Democrat Federal Conference gets underway in Brighton, running from Saturday 17th to Tuesday 20th September at the Brighton Centre.
It promises to be a busy and exciting event, with plenty of policy motions, fringe meetings and training sessions on offer.
On Saturday, highlights from the main hall include Safe and Free (liberty and security policy paper), An End to Homelessness policy motion, consultative sessions on nuclear weapons and sex work and a policy motion on adopting Pre-exposure Prophylaxis.
Sunday sees policy motions on Combatting Racism, UK and European Collaborative Research and Erasmus, Restoring Access to Justice and the Campaign to Save Parent Governors. On Monday there are policy motions on Europe, the Green Economy, and Mending the Net (a social security policy paper).
The final day of conference features a motion on Future Transport and speeches from party President Sal Brinton and the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron.
Don’t worry if you can’t make it to conference this year – you can keep up with all the news on twitter using the hashtag #ldconf. You can also watch coverage at home on BBC Parliament, starting Monday at 9:00am.
For more information about Federal Conference visit the Lib Dem website, or to view the full agenda please click here.
Reporting Back: Bury Council heading for £6.5 million overspend
Last week was the regular meeting of Bury Council’ Cabinet. A key point on the agenda was Bury Council’s financial outlook, which at present shows the Council heading for a £6.4 million overspend in the current financial year.
This summary actually hides an even more worrying picture, with overspend in various areas totalling over £10.5 million but addressed partially met by savings or other income elsewhere.
The Council has drawn up an ‘Action Plan’ to partially address the issue (recruitment freeze, no new spending, etc etc), but this only amounts to around £1.5 million. The remainder of the overspend would need to be covered by spending the vast majority of the Council’s ‘free reserves’ (roughly £5 million, leaving the council with under £1 million left in ‘free reserves’ at the end of the year.
The point we raised at the meeting was whether the Council was ‘too optimistic’ when it set the budget back in February. Much of the overspend relates to:
– changes in the way services are delivered (e.g. changes are either taking too long to happen, or they are not delivering the savings that were expexted)
– income not as much as expected (for example income from parking, from leisure centres, from comercial rents are all down on budget)
– demand driven areas, such as adult care, or children in care, where costs are expected to be over budget.
The impact of this projected overspend could well be very significant. What it means for the Council is that for next year (2017-18) the starting position is that an extra £6.4 million of cuts will need to be found (it was going to be £11 million, now add £6.4 million to that). We are very worried on the impact this will have on services for residents.
A full copy of the report is here.
The Liberal Democrat plan for Britain in Europe
Today Tim Farron has set out the Lib Dem plan for Britain in Europe. At its heart, it demands that the British people should have their say on the final deal in a referendum.
In a message to members earlier today the Lib Dem leader wrote:
“The simple fact is, voting for a departure is not the same as voting for a destination. The British people deserve a real choice over what comes next, to guarantee that it is the right decision for them, their families, their jobs and our country.
In the meantime, our party has another vital task, to fight for an open, tolerant and united country, to hold the Conservative Brexit Government to account and the guarantee the best possible deal for Britain.
We will hold Theresa May’s Government to account over Brexit, expose the lies that Boris Johnson, David Davis and Michael Gove told during the referendum and make sure any deal they do is good for Britain.
Nobody else will do this job for us. Labour cannot be trusted to do their job as the opposition.
Our policy on Europe is simple: we want to stay. We wanted that the day before the referendum and we still want it today. We want to stay because Britain is stronger, safer and more influential at the heart of Europe, than outside it.”
You can read more about the Liberal Democrat plan for Britain in Europe on the Lib Dem website.
Increase in Missed Bins across Bury
Figures obtained by Bury’s Lib Dem councillors have revealed a noticeable increase in the number of reported ‘missed bins’ in the last few years.
The figures identify the number of bins reported as not collected by bin type. This includes instances where it is not the Councils fault such as access problems due to parked cars, snow and floods etc, contaminated bins, bins not out and bins too heavy.
Missed Bins 2013/2014
Grey 2230
Brown 1847
Green 1146 B
lue 799
Missed Bins 2014/2015
Grey 1829
Brown 1262
Green 503
Blue 552
Missed Bins 2015/2016
Grey 2227
Brown 1583
Green 816
Blue 869
Lib Dem Group Leader Councillor Tim Pickstone said:
“Missed bins is one of most frequently reported problems to us as local councillors. The Council does provide additional bags in the event of a missed bin, but people are understandably concerned about their bin being missed when the collections are only every three weeks.”
“There has been a noticeable increase in 2015-16 and we’re hoping that the Council take whatever urgent action needs to be taken get this number down.”
(Photo Bury Times)