URGENT - Conference Motion: Unfinished business

Jock — Tue, 20 May 2008 08:32:17 +0000

As many of you will know, tomorrow at noon is the deadline for conference motions for autumn Federal conference. I've been a bit behind the game recently, but would like to submit the following motion. If you are a conference rep and feel you can support this (I'll accept friendly amendments too - via the comments if you like) could I ask you to let me have your details (email address, name, membership number and local constituency) as soon as possible. I need nine more before tomorrow - it is being circulated in other forums as well though.

Unfinished business: the Liberal reform agenda post-1909

Conference celebrates:

the recent hundredth anniversary of the development of the old age pension
the recent sixtieth anniversary of the birth of the National Health Service

which were the inspiration of Liberal thinkers, economists and politicians, even if not always implemented by Liberal governments.

Conference notes that:

in the next few months we will be celebrating the hundredth anniversary of Lloyd-George's 1909 "People's Budget"
in the century since then the dominant ideological and political battles have been between socialism and corporate welfarism
Liberals have throughout promoted distinctive and superior alternatives such as:
i. shifting the burden of taxation away from economically productive and beneficial processes such as work and trade and onto the unearned advantage gained through monopoly, externalities and the exploitation of finite natural resources, including land
Ii. the post-war "ownership for all" policies which emphasized that it was through a more equitable distribution amongst workers of the capital assets they help to create that the problems of poverty are most likely to be defeated
many of the problems that Asquith, Lloyd-George, Beveridge and others sought to address appear to be as intractable as ever
successive Labour and Conservative governments, through their respective socialist and class warfare or corporate welfare and protectionist policies, have signally failed to address the root causes of inequity and deprivation at home or abroad so begun by our Liberal forebears a century ago.

Conference therefore: read more »

reaffirms the superiority of the Liberal tradition of political economy in offering uniquely sustainable mechanisms to address the ongoing root causes of poverty and deprivation whilst allowing the maximum freedom for individuals to pursue their ambitions and achieve their fullest potential on a level playing field.
calls on Liberal Democrat policy makers to rediscover if necessary and embrace the still very relevant ideas and policies of that Liberal economic tradition and to work towards the completion of the "work in progress" begun by the Asquith's pioneering government a century ago frustrated by the vested interests that continue hold considerable influence today to the detriment of the majority.

Conference motion: Local devolution, autonomy and innovation

Jock — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 16:50:00 +0000

It's that time when people try to get motions in through local parties for spring conference, and Oxford East Lib Dems have asked for some suggestions. So, following on from my "Abolish DCLG" petition, and acknowledging that you can't really have proper devolution and localization without freeing up areas like Health, Education and local Policing from central control, here is an expanded version in all its daft draft glory.

Local devolution, autonomy and innovation

A. Conference believes that:

i. a defining principle of a functioning democracy is that government is legitimate only with the consent of the people governed expressed through regular elections,

ii. that in the United Kingdom, the people give their mandate in respect of local governance issues to local councillors,

iii. competition between local government areas and the innovation this will foster is a significant catalyst for strengthening local democracy and improving the working and cost effectiveness of local government,

iv. since the early twentieth century governments at Westminster of all political parties have imposed increasingly more conditions on local government bodies and centralized increasingly more of their powers and functions,

v. in many respects local government now only functions on the sufferance of Whitehall and Westminster politicians, and as such is enslaved by conformity,

vi. but that notwithstanding v) above, Westminster tends to place the blame for problems in local government on the elected local representatives who have so little control over what they are able to do,

vii. that this fundamentally undermines public confidence in and respect for local government and elected local representatives and is an affront to democracy;

B. Conference notes that:

i. the Liberal Democrats have made a strong start in redressing the issues of inappropriate centralization and regulation with our policy of abolishing the Department of Trade and Industry and more recently our pledge to repeal much business and law and order related legislation,

ii. the Liberal Democrats aim to position ourselves as champions of localism and devolution and against overbearing regulation at whatever level of government;

C. Conference resolves that:

the party should extend its policies around freedom from excessive regulation, particularly in respect of functions that are included in the mandate given to local elected representatives, by adopting policy to

i. abolish the Department of Communities and Local Government

ii. slash the powers of the Department for Education and Skills in respect of primary and secondary education for which accountability lies with local government and local school governors,

iii. slash the powers of the Department of Health in respect of management of health facilities and services that need to respond to needs of local people rather than national targets,

iv. slash the powers of the Home Office in respect of management of police forces,

v. localize many social security benefits and pay policies that impose universal entitlements regardless of need and cost of living in different parts of the country

vi. (...insert further clauses for pet Whitehall functions that could be localized here...)

vii. and allow local elected representatives and their communities to devise their own constitutional arrangements, including but not limited to electoral systems and cycles, tax and finance raising powers and mechanisms, and governance structures, including further devolution to other local bodies and co-operation between local government bodies, to be enshrined in a renewal of their individual local government charters independently of Whitehall regulation and interference (and subject primarily to peer review through a strengthened Local Government Association).

Jock Coats, 30th November, 2006 read more »