Lib Dem Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has outlined a £1 billion pound Youth Contract to tackle youth unemployment. The aim is to ensure that all jobless young people are earning or learning again before long-term damage is done.
Over three years, the Youth Contract will provide at least 410,000 new work places for 18 to 24 year olds into work. Starting April 2012
Including 160,000 wage subsidies and 250,000 new work experience placements.
In addition, there will be at least 20,000 more incentive payments to encourage employers to take on young apprentices.
A new programme to help the most disengaged 16 and 17 year olds – getting them back to school or college, onto an apprenticeship or into a job with training.
Thousands of Liberal Democrats gathered for their annual conference in Birmingham this week. They discussed what has been achieved in the first 500 days of Government and policies for the future. Highlights include:
The Lib Dems are opposing calls for an immediate cut in the 50% tax rate paid by higher rate taxpayers.
Nick Clegg’s party instead wants to give more help to those on middle and low incomes who need it the most.
NIck Clegg: We need fairer taxes to help ordinary people, not tax cuts for the richest
Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said, “At a time when the whole country faces serious financial challenges, the priority needs to be people on low and middle incomes.”
A key part of the coalition agreement was the Lib Dem commitment to making taxes fairer. The Lib Dems are well on their way to delivering on their pledge that no one should pay tax on the first £10,000 they earn.
Nearly a million low paid workers are no longer paying income tax thanks to this. All basic rate tax payers are paying £200 less in income tax.
Each year more and more people on low and middle incomes will gain more thanks to the Lib Dem fairer tax plan.
Danny Alexander said, “Fairer taxes is our goal. I don’t see why, in the next parliament, we shouldn’t be trying to get to a situation where people in a full-time job on the minimum wage are paying no income tax at all.”
This would mean that no one would pay tax on the first £12,500 they earn.
The Lib Dems are continuing to work in Parliament to ensure NHS reforms deliver a better deal for patients.
Nick Clegg’s party won major changes to the reforms earlier this summer.
These included measures to ensure there will be no privatisation of the NHS and no special favours for the private sector.
Nick Clegg said, “With the Lib Dems, the NHS will always be free at the point of use and will deliver top quality treatment for patients. We want to deliver a better NHS that can cope with the increasing demand and rising health costs.”
The NHS reforms will cut waste and bureaucracy that costs billions of pounds. They will help the NHS cope with the costs of Britain’s steadily ageing population and the rising cost of many treatments.
By making the NHS more efficient and by protecting the NHS budget from cuts, more money can be spent on improving care for patients.
NHS faced disaster with Labour Had Labour won the last election, the NHS would have faced deep spending cuts. That along with Labour’s refusal to tackle waste and inefficiency would have been a disaster for our health services.
Labour rigged the market in favour of the private sector by giving contracts that were unfair for the taxpayer and for patients.
Over £250million of taxpayers’ money was handed over by the last Labour government to private providers for operations they didn’t even perform.
The Liberal Democrats have made sure that this kind of favouritism towards the private sector will now be illegal.
Lib Dem MP Simon Hughes has led a review of access to higher education. He spent six months traveling around the country to speak with thousands of young people about the changes to university financing and all other concerns they have about access to higher education
Last week he published his final report. It contains over 30 recommendations directed towards schools and colleges, universities, government and regulators on what they can do to encourage participation in higher education. You can download a copy of the report from the Cabinet Office website here: Hughes Report
Leader of the Lib Dems Nick Clegg talks to fellow Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert about the issues raised by the phone hacking scandal.
The phone hacking scandal has uncovered a crisis that strikes at the heart of our democracy, calling into question our trust in the institutions and individuals tasked with protecting our freedom and enforcing the rule of law.
Liberal Democrats have for more than a decade challenged the dominance of News International, with successive Parliamentarians raising the issue, from Paddy Ashdown in 1998 to Chris Huhne just before the General Election. We have time and again battled both the Conservatives and Labour to push for stronger laws on media plurality seeking to prevent the concentration of power in the hands of a few media moguls.
It is vital that we now build on the select committee hearings and cast a greater spotlight on what was clearly a murky relationship between the press, police and indeed politics. That is why the Liberal Democrats have made sure the inquiry is Judge-led and has the power to summon witnesses to give evidence under oath and sits in public.
David Sant and GLA candidate Bridget Fox inspect disused building at Angel
The battle to safeguard Islington’s high streets and independent traders has reached the House of Lords.
Islington has a long and proud tradition of distinct shopping parades with independent local traders. Streets such as Camden Passage, Upper Street, Goswell Road, Essex Road, Caledonian Road, Holloway Road, Fonthill Road and Highbury Barn have a wealth of ‘Islington’ stores serving the community.
The onward march of supermarkets, convenience shops and chain stores has endangered many of these independent traders and even put some out of business in the borough. The problem is nationwide and many councils are now uniting to fight back.
Islington Liberal Democrats have now joined the campaign to give local authorities legal powers for the local community to promote the shops they want and resist those that they believe will harm local neighbourhoods. Liberal Democrats have now tabled an amendment to the Localism Bill in the House of Lords to make this law.
Essex Road and Angel Town Centre residents David Sant said:
“One of the best things about Islington is its very diverse mix of retailers so the range of goods on sale is very wide. They serve an area which is very diverse and the shops are mostly in small units which suit independent traders.
“But we’ve all seen local traders go to the wall over the years while the number of supermarkets and convenience stores grows all the time. It is vital that Islington has the power to keep its diversity through these changing and challenging times.
“We need legislation to be able to protect the individuality and character of our streets. We want to be able to choose, with our communities, who should have a place in our shopping centres. We don’t want identikit, clone high streets in Islington looking the same as everywhere else.”
Fact File
Under the Liberal Democrat amendment to the Localism Bill in the House of Lords, councils could produce a retail vitality and diversity scheme for an area in consultation with local communities that would set out what mix of independent and multiple traders was desirable, as well as the range of unit sizes and classes of use.
Councils would be required to consider this plan when considering applications for retail use or change of use in the area where it applied.
Liberal Democrat Leader Terry Stacy with his local police team
Moves by London Mayor Boris Johnson to axe four Islington police sergeants and by the council to cut fourteen police community support officers have been condemned by local Liberal Democrats.
The loss of four sergeants is part of a London-wide review by the Metropolitan Police to cut costs which will see 150 fewer police sergeants across the capital. The remaining Islington police sergeants will be expected to double up in eight parts of the borough.
There are also fears that new ‘flexibility’ will mean each of Islington’s sixteen local areas being left with just one police constable and one police community support officer on the beat. Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly voted against the Mayor’s plans.
Labour councillors nodded through cuts to the council-funded police community support officers. Fourteen PCSOs have now been laid off and no longer walking the streets of Islington.
St peter’s campaigner David Sant, said:
“We have already lost officers on the beat when the council axed fourteen community support officers. Now the Mayor is taking another four police sergeants off the streets of Islington and St.Peter’s will have to share its sergeant.
“The moves to give the police extra ‘flexibility’ are especially dangerous. This could mean local areas being left with just one police officer and a community support officer. This is not acceptable when fear of crime is residents’ number one concern in Islington.
“Liberal Democrats are calling on the council to monitor the impact of these changes and if necessary plug the funding gap to ensure each area of Islington has enough police officers.”
Fact File
Safer Neighbourhood policing was introduced in Islington in 2005 as a localised approach to tackling crime and community safety issues.
There are 16 Safer Neighbourhood Teams in Islington each based on council wards.
Each Safer Neighbourhood Team consisted of 1 police sergeant, 2 constables and 3 police community support officers.
The Metropolitan Police Authority carried out a review of the Safer Neighbourhood Teams. The proposals were agreed in June 2011.
The eight areas of Islington which will share a police sergeant across two wards are: Mildmay/Highbury East; Barnsbury/Caledonian; Junction/St.George’s; Canonbury/St.Peter’s.
In July 2010 the Labour council axed all 14 council-funded Police Community Support Officers.
The council-funded PCSOs were introduced by the then Liberal Democrat council as a direct result of the fatal stabbings of Martin Dinnegan and Nassirudeen Osawe in 2007.
Calls by local disabled campaigners for the council to get a grip on Islington’s ‘obstacle course’ high streets have been backed by local Liberal Democrats.
Disabled, elderly groups and parents using pushchairs and buggies have complained that some local businesses are making walking and mobility difficult by placing advertising boards on the pavement – sometimes even in the middle of the footway.
Islington Liberal Democrats are now calling on the council to carry out proper inspections of problem areas and work with traders to remove potential hazards. In the longer term, campaigners want to see keeping the pavement clear to be part of future licensing conditions for Islington businesses.
Local resident, Phil Stevens, said:
“Disabled people find these boards a real menace. It’s impossible to get along the road easily when you have all these obstructions in the way.
“It’s difficult enough when you have a disability but all these advertising boards blocking your path make it almost Mission Impossible. The number of boards plonked in the middle of the pavement is getting out of control.
“The council needs to get a grip and clear the pavements of clutter. They now have the powers to take action and they should work with community groups to sort this problem out in partnership with local businesses.”
Islington Liberal Democrat Equalities Spokesperson, councillor Terry Stacy, said:
“Trying to walk down some of Islington’s high streets is like navigating an obstacle course.
“We all know local businesses are struggling in the recession and they need to advertise but this needs to be done sensitively.
“The disabled, elderly and parents with buggies deserve better than feeling like they’re on a racing track chicane dodging these boards.”
Fact File
Transport for London was, until recently, responsible for the enforcement of street furniture along roads it manages such as Upper Street and Holloway Road red routes.
Powers were transferred to Islington Council on April 1st to allow local enforcement action along these streets.
Calls by local disabled campaigners for the council to get a grip on Islington’s ‘obstacle course’ high streets have been backed by local Liberal Democrats.