Tim Farron attacks Government’s plan on foreign workers

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Commenting on plans unveiled by the government that businesses will be forced to reveal how many foreign staff they employ, Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron said:

“The Government’s plan on foreign workers is a nasty little policy that deserves to be thrown out on the rubbish heap. This threatens to further stoke the resentment that has seen increases in hate crime across our country. Only the Liberal Democrats are fighting to keep Britain open, tolerant and united.

This policy has also shown that Conservatives are now not the party of business, the Liberal Democrats are. But this issue is about more than that, it’s about what sort of society we are.

Instead of backing away from the fight, the Liberal Democrats will oppose this plan and stand proud in our belief that immigration benefits our culture, our economy and our communities.”

Lib Dems secure all-party support for Green Belt

Liberal Democrats in Bury have secured all-party support for a motion at Bury’s Full Council outlining the support of councillors to the principle of ‘Green Belt’.

Green Belt, introduced in various areas of Britain from 1955, as a planning policy to protect countryside around the countries largest urban areas.
· To check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas
· To prevent neighbouring towns from merging into one another
· To assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment
· To preserve the setting and special character of historic towns
· To assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land

For Bury this is very significant – 60% of Bury MBC has been designated as Green Belt land.

However we are concerned that this Green Belt land is under threat from the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework being developed by the ten Greater Manchester Councils to identify land for homes and jobs to 2035 – ultimately to provide land for another 225,000 homes in Greater Manchester over the next 25 years.

Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Tim Pickstone said:
“Green Belt as an important Planning Policy which should be retained around our major urban areas going forwards.”
“In Bury we are very lucky, of not only having six great towns and many smaller communities, but also very lucky to have great green spaces between our built up areas. We do need more houses, but we believe that we should be looking first to the use of brownfield land for housing and jobs as a first priority.”

The motion proposed by the Liberal Democrat councillors received the support of Conservative and Labour councillors and is now the Council’s policy. Although the motion states the support of councillors to the principle of green belt, there is much more campaigning to be done on the issue when the proposals from Greater Manchester Council are published in the Autumn.

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

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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.

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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

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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)

Bury Lib Dems welcome new intern

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I am delighted to welcome our new intern Louise Bowe to the team.

Louise (pictured above, in orange) was recently appointed to be ALDC’s new Campaigns and Communications Intern, and is paid two days a week by Bury Lib Dems to work here in Bury.

Louise is an activist from Wigan and is Secretary of Wigan, Leigh & Makerfield Lib Dems. She rejoined the party in April 2015 and since then has been a key part of the team helping to rebuild Wigan local party. Louise has also been involved in the Oldham by-election campaign, the EU referendum campaign and attended Kickstart in 2015 as a ‘future leader’.

Congratulations to Louise on her new role and we look forward to working with her over the next 12 months!

Grammar Schools block rather than aid social mobility, says Tim Farron

Prime Minister Theresa May has announced proposals to bring back more Grammar Schools. Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron explains why he feels that Grammar Schools block rather than aid social mobility:

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There are currently only 164 grammar schools left in England but none in Wales or Scotland
I get why grammar schools seem an easy solution. Too many parents are understandably concerned about the standard of education their children are receiving. With school budgets squeezed to breaking point, class sizes growing, teachers feeling overworked and an increasingly narrow curriculum, it is little wonder some parents look for alternatives.

But the answer is not to pick out a few “gifted” children at age 11 while ignoring the needs of many millions more. Instead, we should seek to give every child the excellent education they deserve.

Yes, there are inspiring stories about children from deprived backgrounds thriving in selective schools but overall the picture Conservatives paint of grammar schools as engines of social mobility is not borne out by the facts. Saying, “I went to grammar school and did well” is dodging the issue of what happens to those who don’t get a place and, crucially, how we make sure all children, not just the lucky few, are given the opportunity to “do well”.

What is a grammar school? Why does May want to bring them back?
A child from a poor family trying to get into grammar school faces a challenge similar to a football team playing uphill. By 11 only 75 per cent of the poorest children reach the Government’s expected level compared with 97 per cent of the wealthiest children.

Conservative MP Graham Brady says successful local education authorities tend to contain grammar schools. But selective areas also tend to be richer, which boosts exam results. They also cream off bright children from nearby areas.

It is now so competitive to get into grammar schools in west Kent it has been reported that a third of pupils attended a private prep school first, where children benefit from smaller classes and other advantages. Even where grammar pupils have been to state primaries, those from poorer backgrounds miss out on private coaching for the entrance exams, which is enjoyed by wealthier friends.

Comprehensive schools admit all pupils regardless of their academic ability
Overall, grammars block rather than aid social mobility. I would not try to solve problems in our schools by building entirely new grammars. Where there is money to create more schools – and they are much needed – these should be open to all children, including those from poorer backgrounds.

I want middle-class children to succeed but I want working-class children to have the same chance because it is fundamentally fair and because it makes no economic sense to marginalise huge swathes of the population purely due to the chance of birth.

And then there is the impact on the wellbeing of children themselves. What about those judged not to have shone sufficiently to make it to grammar, courtesy of tests taken aged 11? However unfairly, such children can be made to feel they have failed, with stark consequences for the rest of their lives. Confidence hit, friendships broken and siblings bused vast distances to different schools.

Eleven is very early to decide futures. Studying was not my main interest at that age. I grew up in a terraced house on a busy road in Preston, Lancashire, raised by a single mother. She worked at a check-out but went back to night-school to better herself and eventually became a lecturer. Her success inspired me and showed me how education can be a route to a better life for all.

I went to a comprehensive and I want my children to succeed at their comprehensives. Rather than harking back to grammars and focusing only on those already thriving educationally let’s increase opportunities across society.

While in Government Liberal Democrats introduced free early learning, free school dinners and the pupil premium, giving schools extra cash for children from poor backgrounds. We also introduced an apprenticeship scheme.

These are the measures we should put more money behind – because, unlike more grammar schools, this increases opportunity for all.

This article appeared originally in the Daily Express.