LIBERAL DEMOCRAT RECORD IN PARLIAMENT
There are 63 Liberal Democrat MPs in the House
of Commons and 77 Lib Dem Peers in the House of
Lords. We are the strongest Liberal Democrat or Liberal force in the UK
Parliament since the 1920s.
EFFECTIVE
OPPOSITION
In Parliament, the Liberal Democrats provide
the most effective opposition to the Labour government. Our leader Ming Campbell
was the first person to highlight Gordon
Brown’s tax con trick in the March 2007 Budget, which the
Conservative leader failed to spot. Since Mr Brown took over from Tony Blair as
Prime Minister he has challenged him over issues including:
- the increasing gap between the rich and the poor in Britain today,
- the billions of pounds wasted by the incompetent way the government have run the tax credits programme,
- the need for an urgent review of how well water treatment plants and power stations are protected against flooding,
- the need for a timetable for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq
Menzies Campbell and the Liberal Democrats have led the way in calling
the government to account over their decision to terminate the fraud
investigation into the deal between BAE Systems and Saudi Arabia, which has done
serious damage internationally to the reputation of British business and to the
credibility of the government’s campaign against corruption in the developing
world. We have also consistently highlighted the threat posed to civil liberties
by measures such as the fingerprinting
of children in schools.
The Liberal Democrats are the only major
party to have consistently opposed the introduction of compulsory ID cards. We were the only
major party to oppose the premature renewal of Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent. We were
the only major party to vote against the Iraq war.
CAMPAIGNING
The issues we campaign
on in Parliament are the same as those we campaign on across the country. Climate change, crime,
health
services, the
police, rail
services, reducing
waste and unfair bank
charges are just a few of
the subjects we have highlighted in recent Lib Dem-led debates in the House of
Commons.
We don’t just oppose. Wherever we can we put forward positive
alternatives to the government’s agenda. We have used recent opposition days -
all-too-rare occasions when we get to set the day’s agenda - to put forward
positive proposals to cut
crime, to make the tax system fairer and greener, and to protect and support the vital post office
network, under threat from the
government’s closure plans.
Our most
recent opposition day debate, in July 2007, put forward proposals for
closing tax loopholes used by the very rich (the ones that mean private equity
bosses can pay lower rates of tax than their cleaners) and using the money to
cut income tax rates for everyone.
IMPROVING LEGISLATION
In the House
of Lords, where there is no government majority, the 77 Liberal Democrat peers
hold the balance of power for most practical purposes, and we have been able to
remove some of the more offensive proposals in the government''s legislative
programme, and to add in a number of our own improvements.
We were
instrumental in blocking the government’s plans to restrict the right to trial by jury. It was a Liberal
Democrat amendment that defeated the government’s plans to push through their super-casino plans without proper
scrutiny. We were crucial to winning the vote that persuaded the government to
back down over the unpopular merger of local police
forces.
During the passage of the 2007
Pensions Act we pressed the government hard over a range of issues, winning
votes on a number of amendments in the House of Lords. Some of these were
reversed in the Commons, but government concessions were won on the purchase of
annuities (so people with broken contribution records can qualify for a full
basic state pension), possible additional help for the 125,000 members of failed
occupational pension schemes not covered by the Pension Protection Fund (though
not enough) and a commitment for the Government to review how the Act is working
by 2014 at the latest.
Other improvements to legislation achieved during
summer 2007 included getting the government to include deaths in custody within
the scope of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act (albeit three
years after the rest of the Act comes into force), and a number of improvements
to the bill
giving greater independence to government statistics.
PRIVATE MEMBERS' BILLS
Lib Dems
regularly put forward constructive legislative proposals in both the Commons and
the Lords. Our Peers have already this session introduced important private
members bills on such subjects as forced
marriages, the right to peaceful
demonstration, international business corruption, and
helping reduce domestic
carbon emissions.
In the Commons, Lorely Burt, while she was
our spokesperson for women and equality, proposed a Bill to extend the right for
parents to request flexible working hours. Our MPs are
also giving strong support to the Sustainable Communities Bill, which
was introduced in the 2005-6 session of Parliament by Julia
Goldsworthy.
The most high profile private member's bill in the 2006-7
session of Parliament was the bill proposed by Conservative MP David Maclean,
aimed at giving MPs and peers an exclusion from freedom of information laws. An
unholy alliance of Conservative and Labour MPs, including whips and frontbench
spokesmen, backed this attempt to water down public access to freedom of
information. The Liberal Democrats, with Norman Baker and Simon
Hughes in the lead, strongly opposed it and have sought to defeat
it. The controversial bill now seems almost certain to fail
as, following the bad publicity it has gained, no peer has
been willing to sponsor it in the Lords. But the Liberal Democrats are not
content with seeing laws on FOI stay the same. We want to extend the public
right to information to areas currently excluded. Tom Brake MP has
proposed a bill to do this.
This page was
last updated by George Crozier, Liberal Democrat Political Communications
Unit, 10/08/07
