Tag: Liberal Democrats

Lib Dems vote to ban fracking

Fracking.JPG
The Liberal Democrats Spring Conference in York has voted for an outright ban on fracking – the extraction of shale gas using the high-pressure hydraulic fracturing of underground rocks.

 

Liberal Democrat parliamentary spokesperson for Cheltenham voted for the successful motion: “Fracking poses really significant risks to the local environment wherever it is allowed” said Martin, “from the millions of litres of water pumped below the water table and lost to local water systems, to the pollution and disruption caused by the thousands of trucks transporting water and gas to and from the wells. I’m horrified that the Conservatives even plan to allow fracking in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty like the Cotswolds.”

“It’s also a crazy energy strategy. We’ve just committed to a low-carbon future for the planet in the Paris Climate Change Agreement. So why put direct investment into a new fossil fuel industry instead of energy efficiency and renewables? Fracking for gas won’t even displace coal because dirty coal will be on the way out anyway by the time fracking delivers any significant supply in the 2030s.”
During the General Election campaign last year, Alex Chalk – now Cheltenham’s Conservative MP – promised to oppose fracking in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. But in December 2015, he voted to support it.

Martin champions Lib Dem mental health campaign

Martin Horwood has strongly welcomed the Liberal Democrats’ new commitment to mental health services, which has been outlined in the new publication Manifesto for the Mind, and has backed equal treatment for mental and physical health in Cheltenham and Gloucestershire.

Martin, Cheltenham’s MP since 2005, understands the importance of proper funding to mental health services, having met with many mental health charities and organisations over his ten years as MP, including the Suicide Crisis and Gloucestershire Beat (Eating Disorder) Support Group.

Speaking in Cheltenham today, Martin said “One in four of us in Britain will experience mental health problems in our lives, and for too long it has been stigmatised by society and ignored by successive governments. I am proud of the work Liberal Democrats have done in government to address this historic problem, including the first ever waiting time standards for mental health which will take effect tomorrow (1 April).

“I strongly welcome my party’s Manifesto for the Mind which sets out an even more ambitious vision for mental health services, and know that many organisations and charities in Cheltenham and Gloucestershire will benefit from the proposals, which include plans to ensure all front line public service professionals, including in schools and universities, get better training in mental health – helping them to develop their own mental resilience as well as learning to identify people with mental health problems.”

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said “Liberal Democrats believe that no matter who you are, where you come from and what your circumstances, you should not be denied the opportunity to fulfil your potential. Yet, in Britain today, millions of people are denied the opportunity to get on and live happy, fulfilling lives because they live with mental health issues.

“In the coalition government’s final Budget we secured more than a billion pounds to revolutionise services for children and young people, alongside the first ever waiting times standards and a plan to roll out talking therapies across England. But we cannot and must not rest there. Equality for people with mental health issues is a liberal mission.

“That’s why I am so immensely proud that we are the first party to put equality for people with mental health problems on the front page of our full General Election manifesto.”

NOTES

Fairer society

Liberal Democrats in government locally and nationally have worked hard for a fairer society as well as a stronger economy, including tax breaks for those on low pay, delivering the pupil premium now worth a million pounds a year to Cheltenham schools and targeted at the least well-off kids, more free childcare, the first net increase in British social housing in 30 years – and the first new social housing in Cheltenham for decades.

In coalition government at national level between 2010 and 2015, the Liberal Democrats were the champions of fairness.  Many of these successful LibDem policies would never have been implemented if the Conservatives had won seats like Cheltenham and an overall majority in 2010 as they did in 2015:

  • The first £11,500 you earn is now tax-free.  By raising this allowance during the coalition, Lib Dems took 4,000 of the lowest paid Cheltonians out of income tax altogether (they had paid tax under the previous Labour government on an income of just £6,475 a year), and gave a tax break worth £800 a year to nearly 50,000 more.  LibDems still want the government to go further and make at least the first £12,500 you earn tax-free.
  • The LibDem pupil premium now pays money to schools to spend as they wish on helping the least well-off kids.  Schools facing the biggest challenges in Cheltenham now have the help they need to succeed: a quarter of a million pounds each to All Saints Academy in Hester’s Way and to Pittville School and hundreds of thousands each to primary schools like Springbank Primary, Oakwood School, Rowanfield Infants and Juniors and St Thomas More. The money has been spent on extra teaching, special support for struggling pupils, parental outreach, behavioural support, breakfast clubs and much more.

    Martin shares a healthy drink with Oakwood School pupils – just one of the many Cheltenham schools now benefitting from the Lib Dem pupil premium
  • Nick Clegg personally championed extending free childcare to 15 hours a week for all 3 and 4 year olds and least well-off 2 year olds
  • The ‘triple lock’ on the state pension increases it by earnings, prices or 2.5% whichever is the greatest.  This policy led directly to the biggest ever cash rise in the state pension and restored the link with earnings broken long ago by Mrs Thatcher.
  • Equality under the law for gay and lesbian citizens, including equal marriage.
  • The first net increase in UK council and housing association homes in 30 years – up 47,000 compared to a net loss of social housing of 420,000 under Blair & Brown’s Labour government, and a net loss of a million under the previous Tory government.
  • The historic achievement of the 40 year old target of spending just 0.7% of our national income on helping the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world.  This helped millions of Syrian refugees, a million people threatened with Ebola, 77 million kids vaccinated against measles and rubella, 120 million against polio, millions more sleeping under 9 million anti-malarial bed nets.  The 0.7% goes up or down with what the economy can afford  and right now we’re legislating for it to be fixed in law.

And not just that – we stopped the Conservatives from:

  • Introducing fire-at-will rights for employers as recommended by the Beecroft Report
  • Ditching the Human Rights Act
  • Raising the inheritance tax threshold to £1 million, giving a tax break to wealthier families
  • Introducing profit-making schools as advocated by Michael Gove
  • Introducing lower regional pay for public sector workers in regions like the west of England
  • Implementing a worse tuition fees deal for students which could have meant unlimited fees, payback at a lower pay threshold for graduates and less well-off graduates paying more
  • Making even more drastic cuts in public services and benefits

Locally, the LibDems have promoted a fairer Cheltenham too:

  • LibDem-led Cheltenham has seen the first new social housing for decades in Brighton Road and St.Paul’s and over 80 former garage sites across town – and there’s more new affordable housing planned at the Brewery and North Place and more at St.Paul’s too.
  • The LibDem council has invested over decades in neighbourhood and community projects in Hesters Way, Springbank, Whaddon and St.Paul’s, helping local regeneration and providing hubs for local clubs, services, residents’ organisations and small businesses
  • Despite big cuts to its budget, Cheltenham’s Lib Dem council froze both council tax and local car park charges for five years in a row, helping everyone’s daily cost of living
  • Martin and his casework team took up thousands of individual cases over the years as well, helping people challenge unfair laws and rules or poor decisions or treatment at the hands of companies, regulators, hospitals, councils, government ministries, colleges, schools or hospitals. All for no charge.