Cable: Philip Green knighthood should be stripped if allegations are correct

Responding to the naming of Sir Philip Green in connection to recent allegations in the Telegraph newspaper, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable said:

He narrowly and luckily escaped losing his knighthood over the pensions scandal.

If these allegations are correct, he should certainly be stripped of his knighthood.

Government wasting hundreds of millions on short term sentences

Responding to new statistics on the number of people going to prison on short-term sentences, Liberal Democrat spokesperson Ed Davey said:

The Justice Secretary has admitted that short-term sentences don’t work, and yet we are still spending hundreds of millions of pounds to lock people up for a matter of months.

Even worse, the Government is now trying to create new mandatory short-term sentences, which will tie judges’ hands and worsen prison overcrowding while failing to actually prevent crime.

The Liberal Democrats demand better. We are opposing the Government’s new mandatory sentences, and calling for a presumption against short prison sentences and greater use of tough community sentences, which have been shown to be more effective at reducing reoffending.

Campbell accuses Tories of “a facile misunderstanding of the EU”

Former Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Menzies Campbell, will today [25/10/2018] lead the first stand-alone debate in Parliament on the case for a ‘People’s Vote’ on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations.

Menzies Campbell will use the debate to accuse the Conservative Government of “displaying a facile misunderstanding of the European Union, its origins and its priorities.” The former Party Leader will also warn the Prime Minister that she cannot “pick and choose advantages of EU membership if the UK leaves the EU”.

The debate follows last weekend’s ‘People’s Vote’ march in London which saw nearly 700,000 protesters take to the streets to show their support for a final say on Brexit.

Speaking ahead of the debate, Menzies Campbell said:

The Brexiters never told the country that a decision to leave would result in the depreciation of the pound, an increase in inflation and a rise in the cost of living. But sadly the public have been failed by an incoherent and incompetent Tory Government whose divisions and internal strife undermine the United Kingdom.

We do not know what, if anything, the final package will be that is put before Parliament. However, the chances of it being approved by the Commons melt by the hour as bitterness and abuse replace loyalty and respect.

If ever there was a need for pause for thought it is now. That is why nearly 700,000 members of the public marched through the streets of London last Saturday calling for the people to have the final say on any deal.

Moran reveals Raab has failed to visit Irish border

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran has today revealed that Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has failed to visit the Irish Border since his appointment in July 2018.

The Liberal Democrats accused the Government of trading “the lives of the communities on the Irish border for their ideological Brexit” after Ms Moran’s parliamentary questions revealed only one current Brexit Minister has visited Northern Ireland in the last 12 months.

The confirmation from the Government follows a series of Liberal Democrat freedom of information requests which revealed 182 ambulances and 270 fire engines crossed into the Republic of Ireland during 2016-17 in response to 999 calls, highlighting how a hard border could potentially leave people with far slower emergency responses if the UK leaves the EU in a no-deal Brexit.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran said:

It is shameful that the whole withdrawal agreement hinges on the Irish border yet the Secretary of State responsible hasn’t even bothered to visit Northern Ireland at all.

The Tories seem happy to trade the lives of the communities on the Irish border for their ideological Brexit. Liberal Democrats demand better.

The Tories are clearly incapable of finding a solution to the Irish border. The people must have a final say on the deal, with an option to remain in the EU.

Cable: UC’s practical problems are being ignored, creating real hardship

In a pre-Budget speech to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation this morning, Liberal Democrat Leader Vince Cable will call for a series of reforms to Universal Credit.

These include the reversal of cuts to the work allowance, worth around £3bn a year, and ending the benefits freeze a year early.

Vince Cable is expected to say:

The problems stem from conflicting objectives: providing minimum family income; providing incentives to work; simplification; and saving money. Simplification, saving money and work incentives have taken precedence over the first, crucial, priority.

Practical problems have been ignored creating real hardship, payment delays in the switchover, penalties for the self-employed; use of a single bank account for divided families; barriers to work from lack of childcare; monthly payments for those on weekly or casual wages; technical complexities in establishing online payment; and the use of Universal Credit to facilitate debt collection…

[But] the fact that UC is becoming loathed and is being implemented incompetently and harshly does not invalidate the reasoning behind it. I strongly repudiate the Labour Party’s suggestion that Universal Credit should be scrapped without being clear what the replacement is: a classic case of soundbites taking precedence over thought-through policies.

Starmer must make People’s Vote Labour’s Brexit priority – Brake

On his programme this morning, Andrew Marr challenged Keir Starmer over the number of “hurdles” the Shadow Brexit Secretary was putting in the way of Labour fully backing a People’s Vote.

Responding, Liberal Democrat Brexit Spokesperson Tom Brake said:

The People’s Vote march was genuinely cross-party and one of the striking features was the number of Labour voters who attended. This backs up authoritative academic research showing that around four in five Labour members want a final say on any Brexit deal.

Yet the Labour frontbench refuses to get off the fence. They have set too many hurdles until they will back a People’s Vote.

Starmer, Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell must be clear in making supporting this vote, including the option of staying in the EU, their main Brexit priority. They should have been on the march.

With Labour frontbench support we can get that vote – and then win it.

Government defeated on death penalty assurances

The Conservative Government has today been defeated in the House of Lords, with peers voting for a Liberal Democrat-backed amendment that will prevent the death penalty being used in cases where the UK has provided electronic data.

The Government’s “Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Bill” would give courts new powers to require internet companies outside the UK to provide electronic data that law enforcement agencies need to investigate and prosecute serious crimes, but only once new international agreements have been signed.

The amendment, passed at report stage in the House of Lords today, will require those agreements to include assurances from other countries that the death penalty will not be imposed in cases where electronic data from the UK is used.

Following the debate, Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Hamwee said:

The death penalty is one of the greatest affronts to fundamental human rights. It is cruel, inhumane and irreversible. The UK must oppose its use anywhere in the world.

The Home Secretary’s decision earlier this year not to seek death penalty assurances from the US undermines that opposition. If the UK is seen no longer fully to oppose the death penalty, it weakens our ability to persuade others to abolish it.

I am therefore pleased that we have successfully amended this Bill to ensure that death penalty assurances must be part of data-sharing agreements with other countries.