Parliament

Local Liberal Democrat MP's

Although we are not yet lucky enough in Hackney to be represented by Lib Dem MPs, there are many in the surrounding areas.

Kingston
Edward Davey MP

Hornsey and Wood Green
Lynne Featherstone MP

Sutton and Cheam
Paul Burstow MP

Richmond Park
Susan Kramer MP

North Southwark and Bermonsdey
Simon Hughes MP

Brent East
Sarah Teather MP

Carshalton and Wallington
Tom Brake MP

Twickenham
Vince Cable MP

The Liberal Democrats Website
www.libdems.org.uk

Lib Dems outline radical police and criminal justice reforms

The Liberal Democrats today accused both Labour and the Conservatives of ducking the hard decisions on police reform in favour of a sentencing arms race, as they launched their proposals for fundamental reform of the way the police are run.

The ideas, outlined in the paper Cutting Crime: Catching Criminals With Better Policing, highlight the urgent need to move the criminal justice debate away from what sounds tough to what actually works, with a shift away from prison towards policing and detection.

The main proposals include:

Reviewing the police contract including lifetime employment for 30 years, the single point of entry and pay levels
Annual fitness tests for frontline officers
Decentralising the force by scrapping counterproductive central targets, introducing the local setting of priorities and budgets and the direct election of the majority of police authority members
Creating a National Crime Reduction Agency to assess police and criminal justice policies on evidence and to spread best practice
Respecting police pay awards from the Police Arbitration Tribunal
10,000 extra police on the streets, paid for by scrapping ID cards

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:

"For too long, policing and criminal justice policy have been decided by what sounds tough, rather than what works.

"Prison, a sentencing arms race between Labour and the Tories, and Labour’s legislative diarrhoea in creating 3,600 new criminal offences since 1997, have been used as a proxy for real action on crime.

"The radical proposals outlined by the Liberal Democrats today are designed to shift the debate away from posturing on penalties and towards catching criminals.

"Labour and the Conservatives have repeatedly ducked the difficult decisions on police reform. Only the Liberal Democrats are committed to a review of outdated working practices in the police."

To download a copy of the paper click here.

Clegg: 'Apollo Project' to secure UK's energy

Visiting an offshore energy farm in the North Sea today, Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg will warn that Britain’s energy security is under severe threat as a result of the Government’s disintegrating energy policy, which will lead to an ever-increasing dependence on vulnerable foreign energy supplies.

Setting out Liberal Democrat proposals to secure energy independence for Britain, Nick Clegg will argue that politicians of all parties need to demonstrate the kind of vision, application and political will behind the Apollo Project that succeeded in putting man on the moon, in order to head off the threat to the security of our energy supply.

Nick Clegg said:

"The Government has been looking at energy from the wrong end of the telescope.

"The scale of its failure to plan for Britain’s energy security has been brought into sharp relief by the Georgian crisis, which underlines the risks of increasing dependence on foreign energy sources as North Sea oil supplies run down.

"Rather than use its period in office to reduce Britain’s dependency on vulnerable supplies from unstable regions, Labour has dithered and flip-flopped for over a decade. Instead of an energy policy, we have a potential economic, environmental and national security disaster waiting to happen.

"But we have an enormous opportunity to create real energy independence for the UK, freeing ourselves from the shackles of foreign oil, coal and gas.

"Renewable energy is no longer a pipe-dream. It is realistic and achievable. All it requires is the leadership and vision that has been lacking under years of tired Labour thinking.

"That’s why today I am setting out Liberal Democrat proposals to become energy independent by 2050. This will require the kind of ambition and political will that succeeded in putting man on the moon.

"We need an ‘Apollo Project’ for British energy independence.

"Just as Britain invested in the North Sea in the 1970s to transform our energy prospects through oil production, we must today make similar investment in renewable technologies to harness Britain’s vast renewable energy resources, combined with major reductions in energy consumption."

To read the policy paper click here.

Liberal Democrats outline youth crime proposals

Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne, today accused both Labour and the Conservatives of ‘falling over each other to be tough on crime’ as he promoted his party’s new plans for stopping young people from committing crimes.

The ideas outlined in the document A Life Away From Crime also highlight how to stop children who have been found guilty of minor offences from committing more serious crimes.

The main proposals include:

Making young people pay back the damage caused to communities without involving the criminal justice system
The formation of a Youth Volunteer Force to engage young people in activities that benefit local people
Running nationwide restorative justice programmes, with a particular emphasis on early intervention in schools and care homes
Creating a dedicated PCSO youth officer in every area to work with teenagers most at risk of offending
Targeting guns and knives through intelligence-led stop and search, hot-spot policing and action in schools

Chris Huhne said:

"If we want to tackle the problem of youth crime, we need to take action early to stop kids from embarking on a life of crime before it’s too late.

"The old parties are falling over each other trying to be tough on crime, but nothing is being done do stop young people getting sucked in to a cycle of crime.

"Ministers know that programmes to divert kids away from crime work, and are even happy to promote such projects. However, they have failed to fund them properly in favour of punitive policies that grab headlines but achieve little.

"It is time for a new approach to youth justice which both prevents crime and confronts young people with their actions if they do break the law."

To read the paper click here.

IRP decisions ignore local wishes - Lamb

Commenting on news that the Independent Regulatory Panel (IRP) is recommending that cardiac and A & E units be scrapped in hospitals in London and Yorkshire, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said:

"Local wishes are being ignored and decisions on vital patient care are being centrally imposed.

"The Government doesn’t seem to realise the consequences that its policies are having on patients and families.

"Closing wards and downgrading services without allowing local people to have a real say is a betrayal of the founding ideals of the NHS.

"What should be a people’s health service has fallen into the hands of unaccountable bureaucrats.

"The Liberal Democrat proposals for elected local health boards would mean that people and not central government would be responsible for deciding what services they need."

Huge dividends to energy shareholders wrong while hiking up prices - Clegg

Commenting on today’s [Friday] LGA report, which shows that energy firms gave dramatically increased pay-outs to shareholders last year, Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg said:

"There is something seriously wrong when energy companies are giving higher and higher pay-outs to their shareholders while hiking up prices for their customers.

"I’ve no objections to shareholders benefiting from the success of their companies, but public consent is equally important for the long-term future of any business.

"That is why it would be in shareholders’ own interests not to pocket these dividends now whilst millions of families are facing such an uncertain winter.

"The most vulnerable customers must be protected, which is why we have said the energy companies must be forced to invest in insulating the homes of their poorest customers. We welcome the fact that the LGA shares our view."

Health inequalities Labour's shameful NHS legacy - Lamb

Commenting on today’s ONS statistics which reveal the most deprived parts of England have lower survival rates for cancer, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said:

"The health inequalities that scar the NHS are totally unacceptable.

"In the last decade, ministers have achieved little more than broken promises on reducing health inequality. Too much vital investment has been wasted on top-down bureaucracy.

"Widening health inequalities will be Labour’s most shameful NHS legacy."

House price fall shows stamp duty cut to be pointless - Oakeshott

Commenting on the steep drop in house prices revealed by Halifax today, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson, Lord (Matthew) Oakeshott said:

"With house prices falling by 1.8% in the last month, the Government’s pointless 1% stamp duty cut will be wiped out in just 16 days for home buyers.

"Trying to prop up a market in free fall only prolongs the agony. What matters now for first time buyers, and for unfreezing the market, is that house prices get back to affordable levels as soon as possible.

"First time buyers must not be sucked into negative equity by Government stunts.

"The Government must give councils and housing associations the freedom to build and buy more homes to rent."

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