Changing Course and Changing Pilot

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg's Tax Bombshell has initiated clear orange water between Lib Dems and Conservative Coalition Partners. It has merit because to a hard pressed middle and working class electorate who have seen Banker Bonuses and the transfer of wealth to the richest by Quantative Easing it seems fair that the government should pass the hat and ask the wealthiest, especially the Tory donor non domicile tax cheats to pay their fair share.

Liberal Democrats want an enterprise economy where those at the top, ie the Sunday Times Rich List pay a fair proportion of their wealth and income (which has risen greatly since 2008) but which rewards hard work, innovation and enterprise.

Lord Oakeshott has called for a focus on de-toxifying the Lib Dem brand, and it is clear that as a Party Leader Nick Clegg has become toxic to party members as well as the electorate and has been seen as too cosy with David Cameron and the Tories in particular. The imminent return of Tory Friend and Clegg ally David Laws will only play to this.

If the Party is to recover market share - ie the 50% of voters who deserted in 2010 following the betrayl of the students over tuition fees then, we need to change course and change leader. Nick Clegg should recognise he is toxic to the voters and that he needs to take a sabattical as leader and allow a more popular figure like Charlie Kennedy or Vince Cable to return to the leadership of the Party.

The Party owes Nick Clegg a great debt for taking it higher in the polls and into the heart of government. But Nick Clegg has made serious mistakes (shared by his party colleagues at the time) in agreeing to the Tuition Fee reversal (sellout), not thinking through the poor chances of the AV referendum, and becoming political hostages to unpopular tory stealth politics. Nick Clegg should stay on as Deputy Prime Minister and even augment his role in government but the Liberal Democrat Party needs a harder and more popular focus in the country which says look were honouring the situation the electorate put us in 2010 but we are actively working to counter Tory Stealth Politics rather than appeasing them. A sharper focus against Ed Balls is need to expose the hypocracy of Labour trying to capitalise on the effects of their mismanagement. Above all we need a fairness and competent growth plan which make necessary welfare reform allied to cutting government waste, and cuts in taxes for the many and rises for the few (super rich).
This might be achieved with Cable as Chancellor but Cameron is unlikely to lay down his friend to enable this, so he must lose his ally instead.

Always the Kingmakers, never the Kings

Liberal Democrats and before them Liberals have since they left Government in 1922 always been the Kingmakers of British Politics and never the Kings. The successful ruling party whether Conservative or Labour always relied on Liberal votes to keep the other party in opposition.

Not to be admired

Whether we like or not Maggie Thatcher couldn't have entered No.10 in 1979 without a split in the Progessive Vote between Liberal and Labour and she certainly couldn't have survived in power in 1983 and 1987 without the existence of the SDP. Of course by Labour is certainly as much to blame by antagonising moderate opinion from 1979-1997 by adopting left wing policies.

Did the SDP help keep the 1980's Tory?

For the many of us who lived through the 1980's it is a sobering thought. Now today we are in formal alliance with the old enemy and the public can see the reality.

No-one's laughing

With the demise of PR as a proposition should we progressive minded left of centre politicos give up on the long held illusion of a radical left of centre liberal party which could make a difference and recognise that only an alliance with socialists and trade unionists will bring a truly progressive outcome.

Why are we in alliance with the tories - an unthinkable proposition in the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's?

For many of us - the prospect of AV was a tantalising opportunity for real representative democracy. We had a duty to keep the country running at a time of national crisis.

Yet incredibly we Liberal Democrats hold the country by the preverbial by our control of the balance of the 2010 Hung Parliament - we are the masters, we are the Kings if we are prepared to rule.

Bring back Charlie

Dare Cameron oppose an assertive Liberal Democrat ultimatum founded on sound ideals and popular support?

Remember this?

The Key election issue of 2015 will be the economy - we must forge links with business groups and trade unions  to force through a Liberal Democratic Growth agenda which stands tall against the Radical Tory agenda to turn us into Little America.

Desperate Loony Tories in an economic free for all

The Conservatives are now splitting every which way in a desperate bid to find supply side reforms to unlock economic growth.

• The Telegraph reports that Tory Transport Secretary Justine Greening is about to resign if the Tory aviation lobby wins it's attempt to get a third runway at Heathrow.
• The Indepedent (i) reports the CPRE study showing the 81,000 housing threat to Britain's Green Belt under the Tory deregulation of planning laws
• The Tories would like to scrap the Employment and Health and Safety Laws 
• Only Vince Cable seems to be holding back the Tory behemoth - vetoing attacks on employment law and permanent extension to Sunday Trading

Liberal Democrats need to make common cause to block lunatic Tory destruction of the quality of life - protections, green belt, etc and to steer the Conservatives into steps to get real growth going - by creating a million entrepreneurs, freeing up brownfield government land for development and ensuring that the construction industry gets properly funding and needed infrastructure projects like the severn barrage, wind farms, making britain's roads pothole free, earth shelter housing.

 Liberal Democrats are now beginning to wonder whether the Conservative Party can remain united in the run up to 2015 as thatcherite "Torch" right wing tories demand US style vandalism to Britain and centrist Conservatives try to hold the line on Sunday Trading, Green Belt and Environmentalism.
The New Right is even prepared to see the breakup of the Union and Britain out of Europe if this guarantees dominance in England for their lunatic politics.

Dodging the Iceberg

We can all see the 2015 "electoral ice berg" ahead and our very own Captain Clegg has at full steam ahead while he dines with the Tories in the Grand Dining Rooms of Westminster. 

Electoral Pundits have rightly predicted that 2015 could see the Party reduced to 10 MPs - a return to pre-1979 levels.

For us Liberal Democrats in steerage class and without prospect of a seat on a lifeboat - the band plays on!

Yet an analysis of the Titantic disaster shows that it could have missed the iceberg if it had steered away in time.
We can see the iceberg (10% in the polls - loss of 40-50 MPs) we need to steer a course away from danger whilst we need to mindful of Winston Churchill's famous maxim - when your going through Hell - keep going!

Not the time to drop the Captain but time to change course, proceedures and policy.

Liberal Democrats need to be mindful of this. An election in 2015 is certain, but the poll rating of the party in 2015 is not fixed , it may be 10% or it may be higher or lower. If domestic economic Growth can be increased, a major European Crisis averted, Mass Unemployment kept at bay and the deficit reduced in a fair way then the Coalition will have a defendable record.

Party Unity is key and team work essential. We are heading for the iceberg for sure on our present course and it would be wise to change course for safer waters. A Change of Captain? - better to have a meeting of the crew and the passengers and ask the captain to make the essential changes now.

• Vince Cable to take a more prominent role to promote economic growth - preferably as Chancellor or if not as Deputy Prime Minister and economic supremo with Clegg as Party Leader as Business Secretary.
• Rising Stars like Jo Swinson to enter the Cabinet (definately not pro-tories like David Laws!)

I believe that there is still common ground between radical Liberal Democrats and reforming Conservatives about the need for ending bureaucracy and government waste - which exploded under Labour. Yet so far the Conservatives have been too ready to use reforms to as a cover for ideological warfare - scapping bodies and stripping back worker rights.

Even on the questions of Lords Reform and Electoral Reform there is more consensus behind the scenes that evident. Conservatives do want to see moderate and evolutionary reform and would probably support a hybrid chamber with elected Lords and appointed Lords. Boundary Commission changes could be redone with a focus on reducing safe seats and increasing marginals and with the issue of proportionality of representation ie seats reflecting votes at the heart.

Liberal Democrats would support the creation of a new generation of entrepreneurs amongst the current lost generation of neets and older workers forced to work beyond pension age. Liberal Democrats believe in ordinary citizens owning their own property, running their own lives and not being dependent on the state or in the clutches of private landlords.

Quantitative easing - the Con of the Century

The song goes "We're living in a Gangsters Paradise" - and so it seems. Major British Banks accused of Laundering Money for Terrorists and Drug Barons. How much did the humble British Tax Payer fork out to bailout the Bankers? How much did the Bankers charge Small Businesses to redress the balance? How much did interest do we now pay for the whole mess? 
All those cuts - tuitition fees, defence, care, education , local government etc. What about the Libor fixing scandal?
Now we have another massive scandal which seems to be dwarfing even these - the Con of QE or quantitative easing.
To keep the economy afloat we are told - the Bank of England was authorised to literally print money - and give it to (guess who - the Bankers) by the occult dark magic which is "quantitative easing". Nobody really understood what was going on but we trusted once again the Groaning Gnome of London, aka Bank of England Boss - Eddie George.

What happened - nothing. Growth stalled and we went back into recession. So they did it again and again.

Now finally someone has worked out what happened and where the money went - and yes you have guessed it - straight into the pockets of the Rich and Super Rich.

 Now a study by the Bank Of  England itself  published in the Independent shows the Superich have gained 240 times more than the poorest

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/banks-stimulus-plan-has-lined-pockets-of-the-rich-8076938.html

Imagine the Tories suggesting a grant of £350,000 to Millionaries and financing this by cutting interest for old age savers and by printing money.

No wonder the Times Rich List  have seen a rise in the fortunes of the Super Rich. Whilst in the real world, living costs have been rising sharply and real wages falling.

Historians will view the years 2005-2015 as the Decade of Deception when ordinary people saw their wealth and income shrink in a wealth transfer to the super rich and elite who control the economic levers.

It's all Balls (fault)

Labour's Ed Balls has been correct in his diagnosis of the problems of the British Economy, but then he should know he is mainly responsible for them. As his part in the cabal around Gordon Brown he oversaw the selling of Britain's Gold reserves for a pitance, the light touch regulation of the Bankers and the ramping up of Public Spending beyond our means to pay, and finally giving a blank cheque to the Bankers having bailed out the Banks with our hard earned money.

Labour trully presided over a fantasy economy which saw Gordon Brown declaring the age of boom and bust over. Instead we saw boom, boom, boom CRASH.

Now the Labour architects of our ruin are riding high in the polls, crowing and weeping the crocodille tears of opposition for the misfortune they have manufactured. 

Ball's analysis that PLAN A (for Austerity) as advocated by the "trainee Chancellor" George Osborne is self defeating by reducing growth and tax take. His PLAN B would spook the markets and see debt rising even faster.

We need sound heads and cool analysis - step forward Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable. The Man who IS a trained economist (rather than jumped up Special Advisors made good like Osborne and Balls) and who predicted the Credit Crunch and warned against Gordon Brown and Ed Ball's neronian economic mismanagement.

Who will forget Labour Liam Byrne's negligent leaving letter to the Coalition:  "The Money's Gone"  and Who's laughing about that now as the Cuts bite ordinary and the vulnerable.

Ideas for Rescue

• Unlocking Growth - ending Whitehall regulations which limit growth and enterprise - for example which keep budding entrepreneurs on the dole for 6 months because of the regulations of the New Enterprise Allowance . (Keeping essential and sensible HR & Heath and Safety rules)
• Raising Trillions by selling unwanted and expensive and costly to run government assets to the private sector - eg London Government buildings costing £1000 per sq ft versus £8 per sq ft for office space in Yorkshire.
• Give Money to real people and to SME's instead of Banks by QE.
• Force Nationalised Banks to lend to businesses.
• Make Companies contemplating Redundancies carry out a full risk assessment on the potential for health impacts on those affected - ie  stress, illness and suicide (extra 1,000 people per year since the recession started)
• Billet the unemployed on companies to sign on instead of labour exchanges - help them find work by signing on in the workplace and pay private companies for doing it.
• Encourage Regional Powers like China and Iran to take a positive role in Afghanistan by replacing British Troops in Afghanistan with a combined Iranian/Chinese Peacekeeping force. This might encourage a more positive dialogue with Iran in particular.
• Lower Fuel duty on petrol and diesel which acts as a tax on growth, consumer and business activity and is inflationary.
• Increase Road Tax on gas guzzlers to pay for this and a tobin tax on Bankers.
• Cut Taxes on growth and jobs - eg VAT, NI and Stamp Duty
• Increase Taxes on the Super Rich 
• End Tax Breaks for the Rich/Super Rich - ie Pensions, Winter Fuel, Child Benefit

A New Chapter - The London Spirit

The Summer is nearly over, and following a National Party lasting 4 months covering a Diamond Jubilee and a Golden Olympic Games of National Success - the Public have at last something to cheer about. Forgotten the Murdochgate and the Phone Hacking Scandal and the Coalition squabbles over Lords Reform. The public want the party to continue and growth return and the country to pull together in a new Olympic spirit. Whether Gold medals will boost the Coalition in the same way capturing Port Stanley saved Margaret Thatcher in 1982 remains to be seen but a change of tone is detectable in the public mood and this represents a new chapter. A yearning for the end of austerity but a stoic determination to put up with the privations of the hard economic conditions, to work together and pull together in a semi-wartime spirit.
Liberal Democrats need to work together in a similar olympic fashion to put out a positive message and positive programme and work harder to shoot down bonkers tory back of the envelope plans and avoid falling into to trap of looking for a big idea ourselves and back Nuclear Power Stations or another London Airport.
Simple Ideas - A Small Business Economy (not laissez-faire), with strong competition regulation and safety and employment protection for all, unlocking creativity and enterprise in the 16-24 and 55-75 by getting people into enterprise and innovation networks.

Getting creative on Constitutional reform - get the boundary commission to address the issue of constituencies which are more politically balanced, more marginal and fewer safe seats which are the modern day equivilent of rotten boroughs.

Europe will be the big challenge and declining UK exports to Europe show that European Consumers and Businesses are downgrading Britain because we are not part of the European Team trying to solve the Eurozones problems. Liberal Democrats need to point to the parallel between British isolation in Europe and the folly of British isolation in 1912 and 1938. We need to portray David Cameron as Pontias Pilate washing his hands of Europe and put forward practical assistance to Europeans, failing that Britain ought not be gloating at European trouble.

It may well be that this new Chapter in the public mood may burst Labour's self righteous and hypocritical politics, they had a major hand in creating the 2010 mess and it is vital that the deficit is reduced whilst a growth strategy (fiscal boost) is achieved - ie Plan C. It may well be that a new consensus with the Conservatives will need to be reached which will switch resources out of government spending which does not contribute to economic growth and there will be a need to sell off state assets which restrict growth - eg Move Government out of London and sell the £ Trillion Pound Property Portfolio - eg the National Gallery, Tate, Imperial War Museum, Ministry of Defence, MI6, MI5, Whitehall.

There is clearly a need to restore the housing market and employment market by ending stamp duty and reducing National Insurance and to lower inflation and boost growth drastically cut the petroleum tax on fuel. To counter this, the Road Tax on Gas Guzzling 4x4 needs to rise and a financial transaction tax on city speculators needs to be introduced to end short term commodity, futures and currency speculation, and this can be done with Europe who want to do this.

Lib Dem own goals like the Solar Panel Tax Fiasco and the Student Fees Disaster will need to be put right. We know that the Conservatives have failed to deliver on their promises (Lord Reform) and been shown to have been treacherous in promises made (eg AV) but we are gaining the moral high ground and can begin to press and advantage which will see the party start to restore our fortunes. The key over the next 6 months will be party unity, and holding the Conservatives to the fire as the events try and blow them off course - eg Europe. We can expect the Conservatives to prepare for a UKIP Coalition in 2015 which will see them in opposition, our goal will be to deliver honest, straight forward, principled and  stable government which will see the public want to see a strong Lib Dem voice in parliament in 2015.