A Much Happier Liberal Democrat

I didn't vote for Ming in the Lib Dem leadership election. There were three good candidates though, so I was taken aback by Ming's shaky start as leader. By the the finish of his first conference speech last year I was getting worried - where had the calm authoritative critic of Iraq and Guantanamo gone? It seemed like Ming was trying too hard to be funny and polished and succeeding at neither.

The 2006 conference itself was also disappointing, There was the loss of the policy to tax high incomes at 50%. Undefined savings in spending were supposed to fund key Lib Dem plans like free personal care for the elderly. Usually I can agree with most of the conference votes. 2006 was not the expected smooth ride.

Since then, Ming has gradually found his stride. The party kept the Tories firmly in 3rd place in both this summer's by-elections despite the Polling Days being in the middle of the Brown honeymoon. And (to an armchair viewer) we have had a great conference - big on liberal policy, big on environmental policy and to top it all, a speech from Ming that inspired.

This year, Ming just tried to be himself: good earnest delivery balanced by a few well-crafted jokes; positive about our green and taxation policies; critical of the Con/Lab consensus on eroding liberties and their lack of direction on the environment; seeing off the age issue that the media would like to pin on his leadership.

So now we can get on with telling voters about our policies.

As the General Election approaches, I am a Much Happier Liberal Democrat.

Harborough Results

I am putting these on the Harborough Lib Dems site as I get them from BBC Radio Leicester (sadly I can't be at the count)

Polling Day so far

Strange Borough elections for me this year as I am not a candidate this time - family and work take up most of my time at the moment

Typically, Thomas (5 and a half months) chose Polling Day to have a very rare lie-in and so did his dad (not deliberately - who sets an alarm clock when you have 2 children under 3 years old?).

10 am vote with Sarah - first time I've voted in person for many years but I don't have 100% confidence in the post or the postal vote system. There are reports that some postal ballots are being rejected because people wrote the date of signature on the form, not their date of birth - so it doesn't match with their original application.

Didn't the Labour Government pilot these things first?

At 10.15 I finally started doing my bit by putting our Polling Day leaflet through letter boxes. Cheered up by a voter from Sweden on our way to vote for us - apparently she had not had any other leaflets from other parties. That seemed a bit odd as the Tories have been active in parts of that ward.

Now parenting for 4 hours then back to fray with some door knocking of students, telling and the evening reminders to our supporters to vote.

Same old prejudiced Tories in the Lords

More Parliamentary voting patterns, this time from our unelected legislators in the Lords.

Last night a move to throw out the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 was defeated by 199 to 68. The Regulations prohibit discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation in provision of goods and services in Northern Ireland and have been in force since 1st Jan in the province.

The Regulations were opposed by some religious groups with a demo outside Parliament

Back on the red benches and 42 Tory Peers joined their "enlightened" colleagues from the DUP and UUP in trying to restore the "freedom" of NI businesses to discriminate against homosexuals.

Nice to know Cameron's "cuddly" Tories are in fact still at one with the Tebbit tendency.

In fact Norman himself spoke and joined 41 other Tories in voting against the Regulations. Those Tories in full were:

Lord Astor of Hever
The Earl of Caithness
Baroness Carnegy of Lour
Lord de Mauley
Lord Dixon-Smith
The Earl of Dundee
Lord Eden of Winton
Lord Elton
Earl Ferrers
Lord Fraser of Carmyllie
Lord Hamilton of Epsom
Lord Henley
Lord Kalms
Lord Kimball
Baroness Knight of Collingtree
The Earl of Lindsay
Lord Luke
Lord Lyell
Lord Macfarlane of Bearsden
Lord Mackay of Clashfern
Lord Marlesford
Lord Mawhinney
Lord McColl of Dulwich
The Duke of Montrose
Baroness O'Cathain
The Earl of Onslow
Lord Patten
Lord Pearson of Rannoch
Lord Pilkington of Oxenford
Baroness Seccombe
Lord Selsdon
Lord Shaw of Northstead
Lord Steinberg
Lord Stewartby
Lord Swinfen
Lord Taylor of Holbeach
Lord Taylor of Warwick
Lord Tebbit
Lord Trefgarne
Viscount Trenchard
Lord Vinson
Baroness Wilcox

Only 10 Tory Peers voted to keep the Regulations, joining 51 Lib Dems, 114 Labour Peers and a Bishop. 4 Bishops voted against the Regulations.

Iraq Division voting

We now know a little more about two absentee MPs from last week's Iraq Inquiry vote.

As I suspected, the Conservatives are not what you'd call united on the issue

Tory MP Quentin Davies abstained in the vote. The a former defence frontbencher described Conservative support for the motion as "absolutely crazy".

According to the BBC, Mr. Davies "added the credibility of the party as an alternative government would be seriously damaged if it gave the impression of "cynically" shifting with the prevailing party political wind."

Another unnamed abstainer - described as a "senior" Tory - described David Cameron's decision to vote for an immediate inquiry as "intellectually and morally indefensible".

There does need to be an immediate inquiry into the run-up to Iraq, both looking at political decision-making and military preparations. The Tories would look more credible and lend more weight to the case if they hadn't hurried through the Nationalists' Division Lobby at the last minute. As it is Davies and his anonymous colleague are partially right - it just looks like they were trying to get one over on Labour for the sake of it.

Meanwhile Plaid Cymru leader Elfyn Llwyd who also abstained, stated that he was "paired" with a government minister and continued his visit to Spain.

Finally 4 Labour ministers and a PPS did not vote. Can we assume all of them were "paired"?

Until like Davies and Llwyd, MPs state why they were absent, speculation is all we have.

That Iraq Enquiry Vote in Full

So Labour won the vote to reject last night's motion in the Commons on whether to have an enquiry into the Government's conduct in the run-up to the Iraq war.

But Labour's majority of 25 disguises several interesting voting patterns.

Firstly, this was an Opposition Day debate. Labour MPs who do not agree with Blair are more reluctant to vote for a motion led by an opposition party. This was particularly applicable last night, with the SNP and Plaid Cymru moving the motion and the Welsh and Scottish Parliamentary elections due in 6 months. Potential Labour rebels were reluctant to vote in a way that would give credit to the Nationalists.

Next, the Tories have brass necks. Having joined Labour in 2003 in backing the Iraq war, they put a two-line whip on backing the enquiry last nght. This amounts to a "not quite pulling out all the stops" approach to getting their MPs out to vote. I rather think had the Tories been in power in 2003, they would have taken the same decisions as Blair and would be as obstructive to an enquiry now.

So the vote went 298 to 273. The Public Whip helpfully analyses the vote in a way that puts Hansard to shame. Looking at the Public Whip's data I find:

• 12 Labour MPs voted for the enquiry - well done to them for putting expediency aside and voting with principle;
• 1 Labour MP went through both lobbies (David Taylor of NW Leics) - this may have been to cancel out a mistaken vote or to register an absention;
• 41 Labour MPs were either absent or abstained;
• 14 Tory MPs were either absent or abstained;
• 59 Lib Dem MPs voted for the enquiry, the remaining 4 were either absent or abstained;
• 3 Democratic Unionist MPs were either absent or abstained;
• 1 Plaid Cymru MP was either absent or abstained (Elfyn Llwyd of Meirionnydd Nant Conwy).
  

What does this mean?

MPs may have abstained because they were ill, "paired" due unavoidable committments or because they chose not to vote. I suspect many of the 41 Labour non-shows and not a few of the 14 Tories fall into the latter category.

I haven't much time for those Labour MPs who want an enquiry but couldn't bring themselves to vote for a Nationalist- sponsored motion. What is more important? How things might appear to voters or the reality of the Iraq War?

The deliberate Tory stay-aways just reflect their muddle on this issue. They backed the government on Iraq whilst the Lib Dems, with access to the same information, chose to oppose. Now the Tories have no clear idea what to do about the situation: Back Labour's line? Call for an enquiry? They are rudderless on the issue.

The Lib Dems and the Nationlists put nearly all of their Parliamentary numbers behind the call for a much needed enquiry. The motion may have carried with half a dozen or so more Tories, a couple more DUP MPs and a dozen more Labour MPs putting their principles before perception.

Instead the Government is still not properly held to account for the deception of why Iraq was invaded. And we cannot learn the much-needed lessons that might stop the same mistakes being made again.

Those "rebels" & absentees/abstainers:

Labour MPs voting for the enquiry:

Harry Cohen	Leyton & Wanstead
Jeremy Corbyn	Islington North
Mark Fisher	Stoke-on-Trent Central
Roger Godsiff	Birmingham, Sparkbrook & Small Heath
Glenda Jackson	Hampstead & Highgate
Robert Marshall-Andrews	Medway
John McDonnell	Hayes & Harlington
Alan Simpson	Nottingham South
Peter Soulsby	Leicester South
Gavin Strang	Edinburgh East
Robert Wareing	Liverpool, West Derby
Mike Wood	Batley & Spen

Tories who didn't vote:

Michael Ancram	Devizes
James Arbuthnot	North East Hampshire
John Bercow	Buckingham
Alistair Burt	North East Bedfordshire
Patrick Cormack	South Staffordshire
Quentin Davies	Grantham & Stamford
Adam Holloway	Gravesham
Mark Lancaster	North East Milton Keynes
Julian Lewis	New Forest East
Ian Liddell-Grainger	Bridgwater
Michael Mates	East Hampshire
Laurence Robertson	Tewkesbury
Grant Shapps	Welwyn Hatfield
David Willetts	Havant

Labour MPs who didn't vote:

Diane Abbott	Hackney North & Stoke Newington
John Austin	Erith & Thamesmead
Vera Baird	Redcar
David Borrow	South Ribble
Lyn Brown	West Ham
Martin Caton	Gower
Ben Chapman	Wirral South
David Chaytor	Bury North
Frank Cook	Stockton North
David Crausby	Bolton North East
Claire Curtis-Thomas	Crosby
Frank Dobson	Holborn & St Pancras
Paul Flynn	Newport West
Hywel Francis	Aberavon
Linda Gilroy	Plymouth, Sutton
Nigel Griffiths	Edinburgh South
Dai Havard	Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney
David Heyes	Ashton-under-Lyne
Kate Hoey	Vauxhall
Kelvin Hopkins	Luton North
Brian Jenkins	Tamworth
Lynne Jones	Birmingham, Selly Oak
Gerald Kaufman	Manchester, Gorton
Peter Kilfoyle	Liverpool, Walton
Tony Lloyd	Manchester Central
John MacDougall	Glenrothes
Judy Mallaber	Amber Valley
Ian McCartney	Makerfield
Michael Meacher	Oldham West & Royton
Julie Morgan	Cardiff North
Paul Murphy	Torfaen
Gordon Prentice	Pendle
Mohammad Sarwar	Glasgow Central
Angela Smith	Sheffield, Hillsborough
Geraldine Smith	Morecambe & Lunesdale
John Smith	Vale of Glamorgan
Graham Stringer	Manchester, Blackley
Dari Taylor	Stockton South
Emily Thornberry	Islington South & Finsbury
Shaun Woodward	St Helens South
Tony Wright	Cannock Chase

Lib Dems who didn't vote:

A J Beith	Berwick-upon-Tweed
Evan Harris	Oxford West & Abingdon
Paul Rowen	Rochdale
Jennifer Willott	Cardiff Central

DUP MPs who didn't vote:

Jeffrey M Donaldson	Lagan Valley
William McCrea	South Antrim
David Simpson	Upper Bann

Chips 'n' bins: liberals and environmentalism

I have been a little taken aback at some dissenting voices from fellow liberals on environmental policies such as:

• charging people for the weight of recyclable waste they produce;
• taxing high polluting cars;
• introducing a system to discourage a wasteful "standby" mode on electrical appliances
  

Liberals need to position themselves somewhere on the divide between allowing people to become voluntarily environmentally responsible and using compulsion.

We need to start by making it easy to be environmentally responsible. Once these measures in place we need to use tax to penalise polluters and those who generate excessive un-recyclable waste.

Looking at the landfill/incinerator waste issue, helpfully sensationalised as a Bugs in Bins story by the Mail on Sunday, we still need to:

• bring kerbside collection of all recyclables to all houses that currently have a landfill waste collection;
• legislate to reduce unnecessary waste packaging, encourage the use of recyclable packaging and ensure all recyclable packaging is clearly identified. Most of my landfill waste is unrecyclable plastic nowadays (my local council collects types 1 to 3 but a lot of packaging does not display the type of plastic).

Once these are in place then we can look at charging people by the amount of non-recyclable waste that they produce. This would assume that a workable system could be found. For a starter it would have to be an individual allowance rather than a household one. There are plenty of practical problems that might arise - increased fly-tipping, neighbours using each others' bins. I thought some EU countries had systems in place but cannot find anything on the net.

So my concerns about weighing rubbish are more practical than liberal. Can all householders easily recycle waste and compostable material? Are manufacturers being forced to reduce packaging and use recycleable materials? And finally, can a weighing system work?

"Liberal" arguments against weighing rubbish or a tax on polluting cars or taxing those manufacturers who insist on keeping a wasteful "standby" button on your TV do not impress me. In fact, I'd class these as more coming from a libertarian perspective - an argument for small or non-existent government overriding environmental concern

Mill wrote, "the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others." This is often seen as shorthand for modern liberalism.

By unsustainably polluting the planet, we are all harming each other. This needs to be tackled by compulsion as well as enabling people to be more environmentally responsible. The devil in the environment is in the detail: 3 or 4 appliances left on standby in one home may add up to hardly anything in the UK's energy budget but multiply that by tens of millions of homes....

Calling a chip in a bin a "bug" is a good old Wail sensationalism. It's no more a bug than getting your pet microchipped. Like your pet, the chip in the bin stores which property the bin comes from. It does not transmit weight, sound or other dynamic data.