Award for Cornwall Lib Dems

Cornwall’s Liberal Democrats have been named ‘Opposition Council Group of the Year’ by the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors and Local Government Association Lib Dem group.

The award, announced at the recent party spring conference in Brighton, was handed over to the group by Party President Tim Farron during his visit to Cornwall yesterday, 20th March.

Receiving the award, Cllr Jeremy Rowe, Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Cornwall Council, said:

“The whole group was delighted to receive this recognition from the party. We are a close knit team of people determined to do our best for our constituents and the whole of Cornwall.”

“Liberal Democrat councillors work hard both in county hall and in their divisions all year round. We are continually out on the doorstep talking to local residents, community groups and businesses.”

“Over the past year we have successfully achieved a budget which delivers a council tax freeze as well as investment in the services that people rely on like anti-social behaviour and potholes. But we have also seen successes in areas like parking, devolution and adult care.”

“As an opposition group, it is often difficult to change things. But Cornwall’s Liberal Democrats have successfully saved 20 libraries that were earmarked for closure by the Conservatives and saved many bus routes from the axe as well. We have spoken up for residents when the Conservatives couldn’t empty their bins.”

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Cornwall Lib Dems launch election campaign 2013

Cornwall's Liberal Democrats today launched our campaign for the elections on May 2nd. We were joined at the launch in Bodmin by Tim Farron MP, the President of the Liberal Democrats.

This election provides a real chance for Cornwall to move away from the wasted years of the Conservative-Independent coalition. Instead, Liberal Democrats are offering a positive vision for Cornwall - cutting waste and investing in the services that the people of Cornwall want.

Our key messages in this election will be:

• We will cut waste and inefficiency, not the services that local people rely on;
• We will provide homes for local people;
• We will repair our roads and keep Cornwall moving;
• We will cut parking charges across Cornwall;
• We will keep our streets clean and collect your rubbish and recycling or give you money back;
• We will fight for Cornwall, lobbying the government to make life better for Cornish businesses and residents.

These campaign themes reflect the views of the thousands of Cornish residents who we have talked to over the course of the past four years. Liberal Democrat councillors and campaigners have been working hard all year round to get a fair deal for our local areas. It is all too easy to get wrapped up in the bubble of County Hall. We are determined to campaign for what residents think is important.

In the coming weeks, Liberal Democrats will be publishing a more detailed manifesto for Cornwall,  based on the themes outlined above

Tim Farron MP, President of the Liberal Democrats, said:

“Cornwall’s Liberal Democrats showed their courage and determination in winning with their budget alternative. As a result of the Liberal Democrats, Cornish residents will have a council tax freeze this year as well as seeing cheaper parking charges, more road repairs, action to tackle anti-social behaviour and a cleaner Cornwall.”

“Liberals and Liberal Democrats across the country have always looked to Cornwall for a lead. Since the days of David Penhaligon, Cornwall has led the way. At this election too, I and my colleagues will be looking forward to a very positive result from Cornwall.”

Cornish Guardian coverage of the launch is here.

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Cornish Lib Dems campaign for fair pay for Cornwall

Cornwall Liberal Democrats are seeking the backing of the council for the Fair Pay for Cornwall campaign in opposition to plans for regional or local pay agreements. The issue will be debated at the full council meeting at the beginning of next month.

The proposal for regional pay was first put forward by the last Labour government which introduced it for some civil servants. But Tory Chancellor George Osborne has followed this up by asking different pay review boards to consider it for their areas.

Regional (or local) pay schemes would be bad for Cornwall in many ways. It would almost certainly mean lower pay deals for public sector workers despite living costs being as high as most of the South East. House prices are high and the lack of decent public transport makes owning a car almost essential in most parts of Cornwall. Water bills and the high cost of accessing entertainment and leisure also mean families would struggle if wages were cut.

And the slightly higher level of public sector pay also ensures that private sector wages cannot fall too far - preventing a race to the bottom. Cornwall is already the only part of the UK which is in receipt of EU structural funding because our income levels are so low. Cutting public sector pay would exacerbate the situation.

I very much hope that we will get the support of both Independent and MK groups when this matter is debated at full council. I hope too that there will be sensible Conservatives who will also back it. Unfortunately it seems the Council Leader is a lost cause on this. When asked at a public meeting in Launceston about the subject, his only answer was that he "tends to be in favour of anything with the word local in it..."

There is also national Liberal Democrat support for the campaign. During his visit to Cornwall last week, party president Tim Farron MP joined the campaign and, when I asked him about it at a conference on Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg also said that he would not be backing regional pay.

UPDATE (19/6) - Coverage of Nick Clegg's latest comments in the Mirror and the local angle in today's WMN.

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Lib Dem President leads fight to scrap Air Ambulance VAT

Tim Farron MP, President of the Liberal Democrats, is leading the fight to scrap VAT paid by air ambulances. He wants the service put on the same footing as the RNLI and mountain rescue teams.

Tim is MP for Westmoreland and Lonsdale in the North West. Their air ambulance service currently pays about £24,000 per year in VAT - enough for an extra 10 missions.

As Tim told the local newspaper, it is quite right that the RNLI and mountain rescue services are exempt from VAT, but it is time that air ambulance services were given the same dispensation. The excuse from the government - that EU law doesn't allow such a change - was the same as was trotted out by the last government over VAT for mountain rescue teams. That was proved to be false and mountain and cliff rescue teams are now VAT free. RNLI has been VAT exempt since 1977.

The Cornwall Air Ambulance - the first in the country - would obviously benefit hugely from such a change. Good luck to Tim and his campaign.

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Tim Farron: "Our ministers are selling the coalition, someone has to sell what the Lib Dems are for"

Whilst I was at conference, I got the chance to talk at greater length with Tim Farron, MP for Westmoreland and Lonsdale and a candidate for the Presidency of the Liberal Democrats. Tim is also someone I have campaigned alongside for many years as we entered the Party at about the same time. Here is what he had to say for himself.

The Presidency has changed massively because we are in power and have the Deputy Prime Minister running the country. We need someone who can get out there, inspire people and sell our message. We need to counter the Labour narrative that we are somehow a bunch of soft southern Tories. I have 24 years of activism in the Lib Dems and I’m someone who is active and progressive and on that wing of the party, but also someone who is a team player and a loyalist.

The job of being Party President is totally different now. It’s not about being a mayor and it’s not about fiddling about in Cowley Street too much. It is about getting out there and inspiring people to support the Liberal Democrats. I want to make the hairs on the backs of peoples’ necks stand up because they believe we are saying the right things. Our ministers have to sell the coalition. Someone has to get out there and sell what the Liberal Democrats are for.

I think I have belonged to the party for longer than the other three candidates put together. I’ve been a member since I was 16, I’ve been a councillor, I’ve been a student activist. I’ve been a failed candidate in rubbish seats and I’ve been a failed candidate in a seat that I should’ve won. I am the grassroots candidate and I am the non-establishment candidate. The way I’ve been able to put forward a narrative in Westmoreland is because I haven’t been part of the Westminster bubble. I want to be a representative of the party within the Parliamentary Party to make sure their voice is heard.

All these roles are what you make of them. The Deputy Leader is Deputy Leader of the Party in Parliament and Simon is doing a superb job of that. The President’s job is to lead the party in the country and be the public face of the party in the country but also be the voice of the members and plugged into the grassroots, totally and utterly without grandstanding so that if the party thinks that the leadership are not doing the right thing that they are flaming well told. I’ve got the access to do just that and to make sure that they know what the party is thinking and if they are making compromises in Parliament then they know if they are not taking people with us.

I don’t want to overstate it, but unless we are incredibly sharp, inspirational about our politics and distinct about what we are for, rather than the coalition, then we do risk having our identity completely blurred and our electoral standing severely threatened.

The Chairman of the Conservative Party gets a seat in the Cabinet, but being the President of the Liberal Democrats would rule out a ministerial post for you. Does that bother you?

I’ve kind of made that choice. I don’t want to sound arrogant or presumptuous but there might be a reasonable chance that I might become a minister at some point. I made the choice that this would be a better use of my skillset, inspiring activists to action, making people feel good about being Liberal Democrats and leading people from the front than I am sat behind a desk talking to civil servants. So yes, I am making the sacrifice of not being a minister - at least for the duration of my term as President.

Do you think that this is a stepping stone to becoming Leader of the Party?

This is a job in its own right. The Presidency has evolved and now we have a Leader in Government, occupied with doing his own things, there is a role for someone, I say humbly, of my skillset to do what I want to do to sell, inspire and lift the party and to recruit people to the party. Believe it or not, I am not all that personally ambitious. I’d be very happy for all sorts of reasons if Nick Clegg led the Party for so long that by the time the post became vacant I was far too decrepit to even think about it.

Are you happy with the way Cowley Street is working at the moment?

As someone who worked in the public sector for 13 years before I became an MP, I know that restructuring is something that happens when anyone comes in at the top and frankly that is a vain thing to do. Every time you restructure you bleed as an institution and as individuals. My job is to make sure we have a period of calm within Cowley Street and to make sure that people there are supported and feel wanted, led and encouraged.

What there will be is an energising of the Campaigns Department and the Press Office so that they are able to go on the attack and not the defensive. My job is to lead from the front and particularly send us on the attack.

Is what we really need a decent by-election?

A by-election would do us no harm. I wish no one any ill - apart from perhaps Phil Woolas. Many of us remember that great night in Littleborough and Saddleworth in 1995 - Blackburn won the League and then we won the by-election. This would be our chance to recreate that. It is a seat we should have won in the General Election and we were unfortunate to miss it. The literature put out against our candidate was appalling. There has got to be a good chance we win the case. If so off we go and work our socks off.

Who is the bigger challenge now, Labour or the Conservatives?

It depends where you are. My honest answer is that whatever you might feel personally, if you are in a seat where 97% of the electorate has voted for one of the two parties in the coalition then you are probably getting a relatively easy ride. I do have constituents who are concerned about it but basically the coalition is quite popular in places like Westmoreland. It’s only people like me who get anxsty about it, even though I’m sure we are doing the right thing.

If you are defending a Liberal Democrat seat against a Labour challenge then it must be much much harder. But we have to be positive about it and not defensive.

I think our threat is going to come from Labour at the moment but if you are up against the Tories and you are in second place, why would you vote for us rather than the other coalition party. That’s why we need to be being incredibly distinct about what we stand for and what we have done which is different.

There are lots of big and little things that we are doing in Government that we are getting no credit for. I use the example of Steve Webb tripling discretionary housing benefit. Nobody knows that, but he did. These are things that we have achieved and there is a whole list of things that we have stopped the Tories doing like tax cuts for millionaires. I think we have to be bold without being rancorous about saying those things and putting them into the simple Focus leaflet format that we are used to.

90 seconds with Tim Farron

In the third of my interviews with the candidates for the Party Presidency, here's Tim Farron on why he thinks he should be the next President.

Should the Lib Dem Deputy Leader be chosen by all members

With the resignation of Vince Cable as Deputy Leader of the Lib Dems in order to concentrate on his role as Secretary of State for Business, a new person needs to be elected to fill the post.

Traditionally, the Deputy Leader has been a relatively peripheral figure. With the Party struggling to get even the Leader noticed in the media, the Deputy has had a mainly Parliamentary focus - standing in for the Leader at PMQs on occasion and helping to organise MPs and peers. Vince changed that. He was and is achknowledged by the public as a major figure and a sage when it comes to all things financial. He added credibility and gravitas to aspects of the Party and very ably worked alongside Nick Clegg in the run up to and through the recent general election. Indeed, his face appeared next to Nick's on the cover of the manifesto and in much of the campaign literature.

But with five cabinet and many junior ministers, the role will now be of the senior backbench MP and, de facto, joint head (with the Party President) of the rubber chicken circuit.

So it is time, in my view, for a serious look at what we want this person to achieve.

As we have seen from the coalition negotiations and votes, the role of the Party President has become more vital and will no doubt remain so. I believe that Ros Scott is doing an excellent job of this.

The Deputy Leader needs to complement that role but can no longer be seen as a substitute for Nick Clegg. Instead, he or she will have to take on many of the tasks that the Leader used to perform - travelling the country, buoying the troops and helping to lead the development of policy.

So far there are two candidates for the role - Tim Farron who I have known since my time as a student Lib Dem and is one of the best speakers and campaigners that we have and Simon Hughes who I worked closely with during my time in Southwark and has been a ceaseless campaigner since he was elected in the early 1980s.

Given the huge change in the job, I think it is time to consider whether this post should continue to be chosen simply by a vote of MPs. Surely it is time to give the wider membership a chance to express our opinions and to make the vote an all-member ballot.