Medway Lib Dems Spring Conference News

Medway Lib Dems Spring Conference News

By Tony Jeacock Medway Liberal Democrats

Medway Liberal Democrat members, including Paul Chaplin (Treasurer), John Castle (Membership Development Officer), Viv Parker (Secretary) and myself (Campaign Committee Chair & Social Secretary) attended the three-day LibDem Spring Conference in York (at our own expense) over the weekend of 7th; 8th and 9th March.

Late Friday afternoon and evening was essentially a 'meet-and-greet' occasion. We quite by chance met up with fellow local LibDems from Maidstone and Tonbridge & Malling as well as bumping into a number of LibDem MP's and MEP's. We talked briefly with Nick Clegg, Catherine Bearder, Liz Lynn (ex-Rochdale MP), Danny Alexander (Chief Secretary to the Treasury), each of whom availed themselves most readily, as did many more, thus demonstrating their accessibility to the common man (quite unlike the higher echelons of other political parties).

Saturday was primarily spent in attending numerous training sessions throughout the day to widen and improve our knowledge and skills, rather than attending the main hall to listen to the, no doubt, magnificent speeches of many prominent LibDem MP's. They would have been most informative and I'm sure, entertaining, but we felt better use of our time should be spent getting the basic practicalities right before embarking on the rally-cries and rhetoric often associated with main platform speeches.

Saturday evening was rounded off by attending some very interesting fringe meetings which generally had three speakers apiece, looking at a specific subject from three different perspectives, thereby presenting a well-balanced view. I particularly enjoyed my fringe meeting with a platform comprising Gordon Birtwhistle (LibDem MP for Bury), Liz Lynn (ex - MP for Rochdale and ex-MEP for West Midlands) and Vince Cable (Business Development Secretary/Cabinet Minister) on the subject of "Has the Coalition succeeded in Rebalancing the British Economy?"

Sunday was spent on nitty-gritty proposed wording amendments to policy, with one or two other fringe meetings, eventually culminating in the Leader's Speech, when Nick Clegg produced a great rallying cry in preparation for the extremely important EU election on the 22nd May.

This was followed by a very long journey home which was successfully, though exhaustingly accomplished.

Throughout the weekend we were reminded of our achievements in coalition government, among which were the following:

Jobs & Apprenticeships

Lib Dems are creating jobs and building a stronger economy, helping people to get on

• LibDems have helped businesses create over one million new private sector jobs
• 1.6 million Apprenticeships have started under the LibDems. We are also giving 40,000 businesses £1,500 each to take on young apprentices
• Help for 'job-creators', giving £2,000 cash back on the tax they pay on their employees, so a business could employ 4 more people on the minimum wage or one person on £22,400 without paying any more tax

Economy

Lib Dems are fixing the deficit, boosting manufacturing and supporting growing businesses across the UK

• Cleaning up Labour's mess, we have cut the deficit by a third and kept interest rates low for families and businesses.
• Boosting manufacturing, we are building a new hi-tech economy by:

Protecting the science budget from cuts

Giving tax-relief to inventors

Increasing research & development (R&D) tax credits for small businesses

Putting £5.5 billion extra into science, renewable energy and manufacturing

• Helping businesses grow by giving millions of pounds to growing businesses through our £3.2bn Regional Growth Fund, creating and protecting thousands of jobs in England.

Fairer Taxes

Lib Dems are making the tax system fairer, cutting taxes to help people get on in life.

• £700 Income Tax cut to 24 million people by making sure nobody pays any income tax on the first £10,000 that they earn. We are also pushing to make sure nobody pays income tax on earnings below the level of the minimum wage, about £12,500.
• Making the rich pay their share by putting a tax on private jets; a Mansion Tax on tax dodgers and are campaigning to create a full Mansion Tax on all properties worth over £2 million. Under this Coalition, someone earning £1m will pay £381,000 more tax than under Labour.
• £9bn back from tax-dodgers! We are cracking down on tax-avoidance, bringing in an extra £9 billion per year by 2015. We have set up agreements with other countries to stop people hiding their money - bringing in extra tax on top of the £9bn. And last year we brought criminal convictions against 400 tax dodgers, clawing back £1bn.

Welfare

We're making the benefits system fair, giving people opportunities to find work, but making sure they take responsibility for using those opportunities.

• We are making work always pay more than welfare. We are giving 24 million working people a £700 income tax cut and capping benefits at £26,000 so that people out of work don't get more than the average working family
• We are ending Labour's benefits trap by introducing a fairer system, replacing 30 different benefits with one simple 'universal credit', which withdraws benefits gradually, so it always pays to work. This will end Labour's benefit trap where someone who tried to work more could actually be worse off financially.
• We have created a jobseekers' contract, which says the government will work hard to help people get a job, as long as they take responsibility for finding one. Most people on benefits want a job but often need a bit of extra help. Instead of demonising them, we are giving them the right support to find work.

Cost of Living

LibDems are helping with the cost of living in these tough times, enabling everyone to get on.

• We are giving a £700 tax cut to 24 million people by making sure nobody pays any income tax on the first £10,000 they earn. This means we have cut the income tax bill for an average working family by a third since 2010
• We have frozen fuel duty, making it 13p per litre less than it would have been under Labour, saving motorists around £170 a year. We have also funded a 3-year council tax freeze, saving the average family £600 since 2010 (although Medway's Conservative Council has elected to increase Council Tax for the year 2014/2015), and frozen TV licence fees, saving £110.
• We are giving working families up to £1,200 per child towards the costs of childcare.

Immigration

We're building a firm but fair immigration system. Highly-skilled immigrants can help us build a stronger economy, but the system must work.

• We have cut immigration by a third and we are ensuring we get the best and brightest migrants, like scientists and engineers, to help us build a stronger economy
• We are cracking down on the abuse of the system, shutting bogus colleges that let students work instead of study and toughening English tests so migrants can participate in British society. We are also introducing exit checks at borders so we can check that people are leaving the country on time.
• No more child detention. We have ended Labour's disgraceful practice of routinely detaining innocent children for immigration purposes.

Jobs & Trade

LibDems are making Britain stronger in the world economy, creating jobs and opportunities for British businesses

• A stronger economy in Europe: The UK economy is stronger as part of the EU. 3 million jobs, 51% of exports and thousands of British businesses depend on Europe. LibDems are the only party working with other countries to reform the EU so it works for Britain, tackling challenges like cross-border crime, terrorism and the global economy.
• Making Europe stronger: We are working with EU countries to increase trade across the whole of Europe. We are setting up Free Trade Agreements with the USA, Japan, India, South Korea, Canada and Singapore, creating millions of jobs.
• Trade with new economies: We are helping businesses sell British goods abroad - for the first time since the 1970's, we are exporting more cars than we are importing. We have also boosted exports to new economies and created a scheme to promote British businesses around the world.

Environment

LibDems are building a stronger, greener economy, creating jobs now and protecting our environment for the future.

• Tackling rising fuel bills: We are making energy companies put people on the lowest tariff and have introduced collective switching, allowing people to use their 'buying power' to get the best energy deals. We are also ensuring people are compensated directly when an energy company breaks the rules.
• Green jobs by improving homes: Our Green Deal lets most people insulate their homes for no up-front cost. This will cut fuel bills, reduce carbon emissions and create 60,000 jobs.
• Green jobs from renewables: We are creating up to 200,000 new green jobs by investing in renewable energy and high-tech green manufacturing, including through our UK Green Investment Bank - the first of its kind in the world.

Children & Families

We're giving every child a fair start and making it easier for parents to balance childcare with work.

• Shared parental leave: We are introducing shared parental leave, so mothers and fathers can share maternity and paternity leave as they see fit.
• 15 hours free early education: We have given all three and four-year olds 15 hours of free early education per week for the first time ever, and are giving 40% of two-year olds the same entitlement.
• We are giving working families up to £1,200 for every child to help with childcare costs

Young People

LibDems are building a stronger economy, creating jobs and apprenticeships to help young people get on in life.

• More apprentices than ever: We have created more new apprentices than ever before. So far, 1.6 million people have started an apprenticeship. We are also giving 40,000 businesses £1,500 each to take on young apprentices.
• Tackling youth unemployment: We are helping young people get off the dole and into work through apprenticeships, training or work experience. So far we have helped 100,000 find work experience.
• Higher Education: We have made the new system of student finance as fair as possible:

Nobody pays anything until they have graduated and earn over £21,000

The poorest 30% pay less overall than under the previous system

All graduates pay less per month

Education

We're giving every child a fair start in life, putting extra money into schools and giving schools and teachers the freedom they need to teach.

• Our £2.5 billion Pupil Premium: We are raising standards in schools through our £2.5 billion Pupil Premium, which targets extra money at pupils who need the most help.
• We have reformed Labour's flawed academies programme and slimmed down their restrictive national curriculum, giving schools and teachers more freedom to design lessons to suit individual children.
• Ambitious for every child: We are reforming school league tables so that schools are rewarded for the progress made by every student - not just those on grade boundaries.

HEALTH

LibDems are increasing the health budget every year and making sure people get better care and faster treatment in the NHS

• Better care in the NHS. We're improving care and services across the board:

5,268 more doctors

MRSA superbug infections now lower than ever

Outlawed mixed-sex hospital wards

28,000 accessed cancer drugs they weren't allowed under Labour

• Mental Health: We believe mental health should not be ignored or stigmatised, but should be taken as seriously as physical health. We are using £400 million to help people with mental health problems get the right support early on, such as through talking or psychological therapies. (We are very unhappy with the Tory Health Secretary's decision to close mental health wards at Medway Maritime Hospital and will endeavour to fight this).
• Capping social care costs: We are protecting people from high and unpredictable care cost by introducing a cap for the first time ever and helping people with costs earlier on. This will ensure that nobody has to sell their home to pay for care.

Older People:

Lib Dems are making sure pensioners get a fair deal in these tough economic times.

• £650 for today's pensioners: Our 'Triple Lock' on the State pension means it will always rise with inflation, earnings or 2.5% - whichever is highest. This new system meant pensioners received the biggest ever cash rise in their pension last tax year, now worth an extra £650 since Labour.
• Protected pensions for the future: We are introducing a single, simple and decent state pension, increasing it from £107 to £144 per week. We are also guaranteeing 11 million workers an automatic workplace pension that their employer and the government contribute to, giving everyone the confidence to save.
• Making age discrimination illegal: We have ended the scandalous situation under Labour, where employees could be sacked just for turning 65. Now everyone over 65 can choose whether they work or not, regardless of their age.

HOUSING:

We are investing in house-building, helping us build a stronger economy and a fairer society.

• Building more homes: We are creating up to 340,000 construction jobs through a £10bn scheme to help house builders build more homes, as well as a commitment to build 190,000 new affordable homes.
• Helping first-time buyers: We are helping 84,000 first-time buyers purchase their own home b giving them access to cheap mortgage deals.
• Empty homes back into use: We are bringing 70,000 empty homes back into use through a £160 million scheme and by rewarding councils that bring back empty homes.

CRIME:

Lib Dems are letting the police focus on cutting crime, not ticking boxes.

• Cutting Crime: We are cutting crime across the country and giving communities more power to tackle anti-social behaviour. Crime is now at the lowest point since records began.
• Protecting Women: We have introduced new laws against stalking and forced marriages, and allocated £28 million to support victims of rape and domestic violence.
• Tackling reoffending: We are breaking the cycle of reoffending. We are tackling drug addiction in prisons and putting prisoners to work, with their wages going towards a Victims' Fund, and giving them skills they can use to say out of trouble.

FREEDOMS:

Lib Dems are creating a fairer society by restoring hard-won civil liberties.

• Protected people's privacy: We have scrapped Labour's intrusive and expensive ID card scheme, stopped government permanently storing the DNA of innocent people and ended the fingerprinting of children in schools without parental consent.
• Restored British freedoms: We have restored common sense to he legal system. We have:

Scrapped the law where you could be arrested for being "insulting"

Restored the right to protest

Stopped councils snooping

Reformed bureaucratic criminal records checks for ordinary people.

• A freer, fairer politics: We have introduced fixed-term parliaments for the first time ever, meaning prime ministers can no longer change the timing of an election to suit their own political agenda.

EQUALITIES:

Lib Dems are working towards a fairer, more equal society, enabling everyone to get on.

• Equal marriage: We are introducing Equal Marriage for all couples and stopping the unfair situation where transgender people had to get divorced even if they wanted to stay married.
• Race equality: We aim to build strong, united communities, regardless of people's background. We are tackling racism including anti-Muslim Hate Crime and Anti-Semetic incidents and boosting English lessons to help non-native speakers achieve their full potential.
• People with disabilities: We are making workplaces more accessible through the 'Access to Work' scheme and have introduced an Access to Elected Office Fund to ensure support for disabled people wanting to stand for election.

Britain in the World:

Lib Dems working towards a fairer world, protecting those most in need.

• Tackling Female Genital Mutilation: We are breaking the taboo on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), pledging up to £35million to reduce FGM by 30% in 10 countries within the next 5 years - and end it worldwide within a generation. 140 million women and girls globally have undergone FGM and 3million more are at risk - including 24,000 in the UK.
• Helping the world's poorest: The UK will meet its pledge to spend 0.7% of income on aid, helping to:

Save the lives of 250,000 babies and 50,000 mothers

Educate 11 million children

Support 50 million people work their way out of poverty

Immunise 55 million children against preventable diseases

End polio within a generation, protecting 360 million children

• No Trident replacement: Because of the Lib Dems there will be no, like-for-like replacement of the expensive and out-of-date Trident nuclear weapons system in this Parliament. We are also examining more efficient and up-to-date alternatives to Trident.

AND WHAT ABOUT THOSE POLICIES THE LIB DEM'S HAVE SUCCESSFULLY BLOCKED?

Conservative Record:

The Conservatives cannot be trusted to build a fairer society.

• INHERITANCE TAX CUT FOR MILLIONAIRES: The Conservatives planned to give the super rich a £270,000 inheritance tax cut. Lib Dems have blocked this proposal and instead given 24 million ordinary workers a £700 income tax cut.

• LET SCHOOLS BE RUN FOR PROFIT: Some Conservatives want private companies to be able to take over schools and run them for a profit. Lib Dems have ensured this will never happen while the Lib Dems are in Government.

• ALLOW BOSSES TO FIRE STAFF AT WILL: The Conservatives planned to scrap workers' rights by letting bosses fire people for no reason. Liberal Democrats stood up for workers' rights and blocked these unfair plans.

AND LABOUR'S RECORD:

Labour cannot be trusted to build a stronger economy.

• "THERE'S NO MONEY LEFT". When Labour left office, they left a note in the Treasury, saying that there was no money left. Labour cannot be trusted to manage our finances. In their last 5 years they increased debt by £336.5 billion, nearly bankrupting Britain. We are clearing up their mess.

• LET THE BANKS RUN WILD: Labour spent 13 years cosying up to the banks, recklessly gambling the UK economy by deregulating the City of London and encouraging risk activity. Labour then left the taxpayer with a huge bill as the banks had to be bailed out when they inevitably failed.

• NUMBERS THAT DON'T ADD UP: Labour can't get their numbers right on the economy. Their extra spending and unfunded tax cuts would break their own debt rules and add £201billion* to the UK's debt for our children and our grandchildren to pay off.

*According to the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies.

All in all that is quite some achievement on the part of the Lib Dems, especially as we are the junior partner of the Coalition Government. Very interestingly, these achievements in government are primarily the Lib Dem's policies, a number of which the Conservatives are trying to lay claim to. Even Labour is now talking in terms of introducing the Lib Dem policy of imposing a full Mansion Tax on properties worth over £2million.

Our next big fight is that of winning for Britain and saving British JOBS. Over 3 million British jobs rely on our continued membership of the EU Single Market. The Lib Dems are the only major British political party that is the party of IN. Over 14,000 jobs in the Medway Towns alone are reliant on our EU membership, so come 22nd May, make sure you vote for Lib Dem MEP candidates and save those jobs.