Green technologies should reduce environmental accidents

The recent events in Japan just show how dangerous nuclear energy can be when it goes wrong. Personally I am a supporter of using Nuclear if it is not funded by the tax payer to a great extent, but I want this energy to be as safe as possible. 

Britain does not suffer from tsunami or earth quakes but we could suffer from other forms of danger such as a terrorist attached or a simple accident. Nuclear energy accidents always seem much worse then other forms of energy accidents, therefore we need to take a step back and make sure they can be as safe as possible. This is because we can not just reply on green technology only at this point or other forms of power generation because of fuel security. Hopefully one day we can reply on green technologies but until then....
 
It's for this reason that greener forms of energy such as wind farms are more important than ever. But perhaps the best idea is local and domestic generation as well as more efficient energy usage. Which is why its important that money is directed to domestic use and not bigger commercial project, Bigger project should be self funding.

Of course the opposition to nuclear energy by the party I support (the Liberal Democrats and a position I didn't agree with myself at the time) is well know, as is the fact that Chris Huhne has decided that in a coalition that it is right to build new nuclear power stations, if they are not funded by public subsidy, this is a compromise of a coalition government.
 
This delay makes it even more important that the governments (and Liberal Democrat policy) Green Deal works. Domestic generation is a good way to protect yourself from the volatile energy market be that from world events effecting oil and gas prices and supply or doing your bit for climate change.

Even those that don't believe in climate change perhaps can see the worth in generating energy for themselves and saving bill by being more efficient with energy usage. Those that don't want wind farms on their doorstep also wouldn't want a coal fire or nuclear power station in it's place. Energy generation is not pretty, but we all use it and all need it.

So the coalition policy of feed in tariffs at fixed rates as per Lib Dem policy, smart metering, funding for apprenticeships and floor rates for carbon trading all help this aim. the more this can be done the less relient we will be on all forms of big power generation including Nuclear. So perhaps green technologies should reduce environmental accidents as our reliance changes.

I can’t support the coalition anymore

I never wanted to have to write this post, but I just can't do it any more. I can't go on while being kicked in the face by the government and still support it.

I have to admit, I'm not very happy with the coalition from a personal prospective. I earn just a few hundred pounds over the new 50% tax band threshold* (this was an error I meant 40%). Which in itself is fine, I don't mind paying 50% tax on this income. But this put me in the squeezed middle. The movement of the threshold will result in my partner from 2013 will no longer receive child support for my son, a loss of over £1,000. National Insurance is also going up above £35k.

The government have also cut the office where my partner worked. This means that I am the only income earner as we can't really afford to pay for childcare despite the support provided with child care vouchers which would cover about 10%-15% of the cost if working full time.

Also I only live in a one bed flat so I need to move however I don't have the equity for a 10% deposit (flat has gone down in value) so I will need to rent. That's fine I'm not asking for a council house (although I won't expect to get one if I tried, and if I did it would take too long). If the banks offered some better mortgage deals which accepted lower deposits then perhaps this would help. Why are the government not doing more to encourage the banks to lend at better rates?

Before you say it was my choice to have a baby. Actually due to a medical condition we thought that we could not have children. But low and behold we have had a son (Landon), a miracle baby. We won't have an apportion for us its not right (although I fully support the rights of other to have them) and we didn't know if we could ever have this chance again. So actually we had no choice and I'm extremely happy we had a wonderful son.

I also understand that I'm still lucky to live in Britain and not many countries where these benefits would not be paid. But as these benefits exist, should couples like us should not be encourage to live apart to get greater benefits for our son. Surely it is unfair to have one family earning £80k (£40k each) to still receive child benefit when a family earning just over £40k lose this benefit.

So I can no longer support the coalition as it is detrimental to the up bringing of my son. I blame the banks and the last government for the financial mess we are in as a country but I also blame the coalition for the way the taxes and cuts are being distributed. I still support the Liberal Democrats as I believe in what they/we stand for as an independent party. However many Tories or Lib Dems never voted for a child benefit cut which although progressive is essentially unfair to many families in similar positions and does not encourage families to say together.

* This was an error I meant 40%

John Leech MP told me he abstained from coalition agreement

Jonathan Calder at Liberal England is puzzled as to why John Leech MP for Manchester Withington declared at a Labour conference fringe that he abstained from the vote on the coalition agreement.

 

In a moment of blogger fail I missed a chance to break some exclusive news. I can reveal that John Leech did tell me and LibDemKitty at the Liberal Democrat conference that he did abstain from this vote.

 

I suspect John Leech was happy for this news to be gently discovered, after all the Lib Dem MP's already know who abstained. Now bearing in mind that I had a little to drink and cannot remember the full details of what John Leech said to me that evening. I do remember that even though he supports the coalition agreement he couldn't vote for it. He gave me the impression that he was being pragmatic, after all he is the MP for the South of Manchester a seat won of Labour. I believe that in his heart of hearts he just could not do it. John Leech understands why as he wrote on his blog but he does also understand his electorate. An electorate that has a large labour vote (Labour had 44.7% and Liberal Democrats 40.5% this year). His seat is at risk as it is a seat where he is fighting Labour (although I suspect his vote is pure Lib Dem and some soft Tories which should keep him in).

 

John does agrees with the coalition given the circumstances, but he does understand that he will have a fight on his hands to keep his seat.

 

John Leech has done well to keep his seat this time round and indeed increase his majority. I do remember during the election some from Labour claiming they will win this seat back after all in 2005 John Leech only had a majority of 667.

 

John Leech certainly won't have a problem with any future coalition with Labour, after all he did say "The door is not shut on the Liberal Democrat and Labour parties working together.  Labour need to re-think the mistakes they made over the last thirteen years and get out of this immature opposition mentality that they appear to be so comfortable in now". (perhaps possible with Ed Miliband at the Labour helm given his speech at Labour conference).

 

So in summary, perhaps John Leech should of told his electorate first but it is now history. I do think he should let his electorate know now he has revealed this information through the local press or on his web site.

Ideologically It''s not just the Tories who are a 'bad fit'‏

In this article for the BBC 'Coalition a poor ideological fit, says Lib Dem MP'. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/politics/10395602.stm Tim Farron MP, who recently ran for Lib Dem deputy leader said that the coalition is "ideologically a poor fit". Well it is not a perfect fit, natually but I nor is the Labour party.

However I would like to correct Tim Farron on an issue. Lib dems did campaign or at least Vince Cable did on freezing public sector pay see here. Personally I don't agree with big government. Big government equals waste and inefficiency, high taxes and lots of Red tape and is the way to run a country. It ca also lead to the government having too much power as it becomes involved in more of our lives. There is a happy medium between big and small government where good services are provided efficiently which the right amount of necessary admin.

But I did like Mr Farron and Mr Hughes idea that the Lib dems should have "shadow" ministers for Whitehall departments where only the Conservatives are represented in cabinet. Now that I think would provide suitable party lines arguments and scrutiny.

Todays link is to Stephen's Liberal Journal 'Simon Fires First Warning Shot 'Cross Coalition Bows'

Is this a coalition or a wing

I'm not so sure this is a coalition. It seems looser than a coalition to me. I know this sounds odd but let me explain.

Nick Clegg has the space to make speeches which include some Tory policys as shown yesterday in his political reform speech because this is strong Liberal Democrat territory.

Also afterwards Teresa May speech on giving powers back to the police (showing trust) included aspects of Lib Dem policy.

It seems that this coalition is providing the space for the parties to express themselves as Tories or Liberal Democrats as well as coalition partners. I would be very impressed if they can continue to carry this off.

I think the Ministers are trying to edge out space which should allows enough room to move within a coalition and then allow it to stay together. Just like a plane wing a coalition needs flexibility to move under pressure otherwise it will snap under the pressure.

One problem could be the Human Rights Act. I expect if it was scraped not only members would leave the party but MP's too. Lib Dems may not want the act replaced by a British Bill of Rights but I think people may be surprised by how the Lib Dems can compromise after the review. The review may be a way of kicking this subject into the long grass but at some point the review will be done and it will have to be tackled then. The Human Rights act is extremely important but I do not believe it is perfect. This will continue to rear its head if we do not have agreements with countries who are indeed members of th commonweath and Allies.

So will Lib Dems and Tories have the space to talk about their feelings on the Human Rights Act. I think they will once they get used talking about subjects which the two parties do not agree on.

Todays link is to Charlottle Gore who covers recently these to interesting articles;Human Rights Act already under fire andDear Bubble World, Meet Reality

I almost agree with Nich (Norfolk Blogger) But...‏

Frankly im gutted that the Norfolk Blogger and Broadland District Councillor Nich Starling disagrees so fundamentally with the Liberal Democrat Federal Executive decision to work with the Conservative party in a coalition. I have great respect for Nich as he is well know in his community and a hard working councillor and is highly principled and a critical believer in Liberal Democrat policies (he is not a fan of the EU for example). I also enjoy reading his blogs about nation politics but I also really like the way he covers Norfolk politics, this has been an inspiration for me covering both national and local politics.

If you had political fights with the Tories for 20 years how would you feel. Many would feel and react the same as Nich. Frackly its not easy to swallow and I'm not looking forward to getting our hands dirty. Nich reasons to not sit with the tories are all reasons I agree with and all reasons why I find it difficult.

I have already argued why I was not concerned about a hung parliament or a coalition with the party with the most votes. I also think that no matter which way the Liberal Democrats went we would of been lambasted and people would of left the party or stopped voting for us. I'm not going to try an persuade Nich Starling. He a much more articulate debater and writer than I am and I do not believe I could change his mind anyway. He has made his mind up and I can fully understand why hes not happy.

I can't disagree with Nich on some of the points he raised. for example AV is not proportional and the right wing press will do its damnist to ensure AV itself does not come in let alone a fully proportional system. The Tory party will campaign against it. Although I would be very interested in seeing how Labour handle this referendum. However AV I believe is better than FPTP as at least an MP can claim to have 50% of the vote. Then again we have to win this referendum first.

I still also believe that we have to prove to the Tories that coalitions can work and to the public which would support our argument for a PR system if the Tories and the Lib Dems can hold together a coalition government.

I also agree that we do not have the most powerful cabinet positions althought I would argue that Home Secretary is a dead end job (always leads to tears). I do wish Paddy Ashdown received the Defence minister post. I think if we had more MP's we would of received one of the more powerful ministerial positions. I also agree with Nich that education should of been a Lib Dem position.

Nich does mention that the Lib Dem MP's were tempted by ministerial cars. Well I'm not so sure about that, Liberal Democrats don't become MP's for power if they did they would join one of the other two big parties. Liberal Democrats genuinely believe in the values of the party and it's so much harder for Lib Dems to win a seat because people believe that we can't have any power. Surely if Lib Dems are to be more than a pressure group at national level we need to get our hands on power. Yesterday the Labour MP for Bolton East Yasmin Qureshi on BBC Five Live accused Lib Dems of wanting power. OK I admit it we do want power. Did labour not want power? Surely Lib Dems should want power to get some Lib Dem policies life in the real world.

As I see it all of our options would of lend to Lib Dems being lambasted

1.Not a full coalition: Lib Dems would still be seen as 'supporting the devil' and to of wimped out. Lib Dems could still be blamed for Conservative policy.

2.No deal with anyone - Right Wing press would of claimed that we wimped out and others would say what's the point of a party that bottled power. We would lose credibility as a party that is scared of power.

3.Rainbow Coalition: The SNP would of loved this more power to them then anyone, holding parties to ransom on any Scotland cuts, this would not of lasted. Labour just think the Lib dems are a political arm of Labour with some crazy Liberals to boot. Labour were not prepared to give us anything.

I also believe that under FPTP (which is designed for a two party system) There will always come a time when the 3rd party gets to a critical mass where it takes votes away from the other two main parties. When this happens it has too make a decision to move it forward. This could of happened during the leaders debates, but it was not to be. That moment won't happen again. So this is it, this is the only way. In a Hung parliament is the only chance the Liberal Democrats are going to get. I would support the Liberal Democrats in a coalition with Labour or the Conservative party because this is the only chance. Liberal Democrats can't seem to increase their support beyond the current percentages until they can be seen to govern.

I don't want to be in a protest party. I don't want to be in a party where people only vote for us because we are not Labour and they want Labour out or we are not Tory and they want the Tories out. I want people to vote Liberal Democrat because we have values that they believe in that they want to see in power. I also want people to vote for their party and to not have to vote tactically. Its time Liberal Democrats stopped trying to get the tactical vote and started to get a genuine built up support for its ideas. I want people to vote positively not negatively. In Bracknell the Liberal Democrats came from 3rd to 2nd using arguments not bar charts.

Lets take a risk because this is the only way Liberal Democrats will get to change through crisis management and risk taking. I just hope the Liberal Democrats come out the otherside. It's certainly too late now. I also hope the Norfolk Blogger can stomach the decision for a full coalition.

So how is it for you Tory and Liberal Democrat government

I know many Liberal Democrats won't be happy but Lib Dems always said they would work with whoever gained the most votes. Labour did not want to compromise and many Labour MP's spoke openly against a coalition with the Lib Dems. Many in Labour knew that it couldn't work when they had so few seats it couldn't work. Labour was ready for opposition.

Personally I'm pleased and optimistic.

I don't see that there was any other way of getting some Lib Dem policies into government under the current voting system.

Could the Lib Dems really say no to such a deal. Tories have given a lot of ground as have the Lib Dems. It's dangerous and some people who voted for us won't be happy, but over time we need to prove that it can work. I think when the £10,000 allowance comes in (yes it's phased a compromise I know) this will be a clear Lib Dem policy that people will know the Tories have taken on board from the Lib Dems. If people like this government then Lib Dems will be ok.

This risk is required for all parties.

1. Labour need a spell in opposition to help them rebuild their party. find their feet on what kind of party they want to now be and select a new leader and come up with new ideas. they can also call the other two parties the opposition.

2.Tories could not be running a government without us or at least one that was a highly disadvantaged minority government. Work with the Liberal Democrats will hold back some of their right wing tendencies and this will keep them in government.

3.Liberal Democrats need to prove that they can not only be a pressure group and a critic but can also help run a government. We need to prove to the Tories that PR doesn't; just work against them. We also need to get in voting reform even if it's really a first step.

People do want politicians to work together and they wanted real change let see if they accept it. The coalition will produce better and more though out policy because the parties will have to discuss it and compromise on the more radical right wing ideas or the more radical liberal ideas, thereby producing better policy.

Better Tories with the Liberal Democrats then on their own. Especially when a minority would not of help Britain out of this financial crisis. Lets also not forget how illiberal the Labour party was and I for one want to see more Liberal values.

This move has taken some nerve on behalf of the both party leaders, but you only make change by taking risks. Something Brown didn't do when he bottled calling an election.

Todays link is to Charlotte Gores Blog who blogs about how Labour are blaming the Liberal Democrats on Traitors! Turncoats! Liars!