The 10:10 Campaign is calling on individuals and organisations to commit to trying to cut their carbon footprint by 10% in 2010. Bath Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster has already joined.
Last week (Wednesday 21st October) Don supported moves for the House of Commons to join the 10:10 campaign. Speaking in a debate on the issue he criticised the Labour Government for failing to back the proposal.
Don said, “The 10:10 campaign has so far been a real success, with many individuals and organisations signed up. The Government should be taking a lead, not just lecturing others on what they should be doing.
“That’s why I asked the Minister why she thought everyone else should sign up for 10:10, but not the House of Commons. Sadly I got no answer and most Labour MPs voted against the measure.
The debate was called by the Liberal Democrats, who were the first political party in this country to put climate change on the national agenda.
Don said, “It is disappointing that the government failed to give their support. The government needs to provide strong leadership on climate change, particularly in the run up to the Copenhagen Summit, and signing up the House of Commons to the 10:10 would have been a significant step in doing so.”
Showing posts with label Liberal Democrats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liberal Democrats. Show all posts
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Monday, 19 October 2009
Local students could face £7,000 tuition fees
There is now less than eight months to save a new generation of young people from huge increases in university tuition fees, according to Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, Don Foster
Don was speaking after the Conservatives suggested they will increase tuition fees to £7,000 if they take power at the next general election, which has to be held by next June.
That will see tuition fees for undergraduates more than double. Currently there is a cap of £3,300 in England and Wales.
Peter Mandelson has already suggested that Labour will allow universities to charge more than at present if re-elected – though the party is too scared to push through the changes it wants before June.
Only the Liberal Democrats will scrap tuition fees. The party believes university education should be free and everyone who has the ability should be able to go – and not be put off by the cost.
Bath MP Don said: “I look around Bath and I see people return from university with no job and a bank balance tens of thousands of pounds in the red. What sort of message is that?
“Labour and now the Tories are showing their true colours. They don’t care about young people – they just want to saddle them with staggering amounts of debt.
“The choice is clear: the people of Bath can vote for a politician who will condemn a generation of youngsters or for the Liberal Democrats who will make education free again, giving young people the best possible start.”
Don was speaking after the Conservatives suggested they will increase tuition fees to £7,000 if they take power at the next general election, which has to be held by next June.
That will see tuition fees for undergraduates more than double. Currently there is a cap of £3,300 in England and Wales.
Peter Mandelson has already suggested that Labour will allow universities to charge more than at present if re-elected – though the party is too scared to push through the changes it wants before June.
Only the Liberal Democrats will scrap tuition fees. The party believes university education should be free and everyone who has the ability should be able to go – and not be put off by the cost.
Bath MP Don said: “I look around Bath and I see people return from university with no job and a bank balance tens of thousands of pounds in the red. What sort of message is that?
“Labour and now the Tories are showing their true colours. They don’t care about young people – they just want to saddle them with staggering amounts of debt.
“The choice is clear: the people of Bath can vote for a politician who will condemn a generation of youngsters or for the Liberal Democrats who will make education free again, giving young people the best possible start.”
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Department for Transport will look to support Sat Nav scheme
The Department for Transport will be sending a representative to the next meeting of the South West Regional Freight Forum, following Bath MP Don Foster’s request that they support a local pilot scheme which will see local authorities provide appropriate routes to Sat Nav companies.
In reply to Don’s letter, sent on the 12th August, Paul Clark MP the Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Transport states that the work undertaken “sounds potentially very promising”.
Lib Dems in Bath have been backing calls for more appropriate routes for traffic, especially HGVs, and encouraged Bath & North East Somerset Council to start sending a representative to the Freight Forum. Now the DfT will be represented at the meetings and will “consider what support [they] can provide.”
Bath MP Don said, “I am pleased that the Department for Transport are showing a keen interest in this project. I have highlighted a number of areas in Bath where HGVs are using totally inappropriate routes and getting these routes removed from Sat Nav maps will be a big step to helping resolve the problem.
In reply to Don’s letter, sent on the 12th August, Paul Clark MP the Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Transport states that the work undertaken “sounds potentially very promising”.
Lib Dems in Bath have been backing calls for more appropriate routes for traffic, especially HGVs, and encouraged Bath & North East Somerset Council to start sending a representative to the Freight Forum. Now the DfT will be represented at the meetings and will “consider what support [they] can provide.”
Bath MP Don said, “I am pleased that the Department for Transport are showing a keen interest in this project. I have highlighted a number of areas in Bath where HGVs are using totally inappropriate routes and getting these routes removed from Sat Nav maps will be a big step to helping resolve the problem.
‘Tackling the Fiscal Crisis: A recovery plan for the UK’
Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable launched a pamphlet today published by the independent think tank Reform setting out proposals for tackling the fiscal crisis.
In this pamphlet, he argues that there should be no “ring fenced” areas of spending and that all existing spending should be justified.
He claims that the situation is very probably more serious than the Government’s proposals for a fiscal tightening of 6.4% of GDP over eight years suggest. He argues that a fiscal consolidation of 8% of GDP over five years is more realistic, with the emphasis on controlling public spending, not higher taxes.
Nine specific areas of potential savings are identified as a start to a radical programme of reform. The main proposals are:
*
Zero growth overall for public sector pay (saving £2.4bn a year), a 25% reduction in the total pay bill of staff earning over £100,000 and a salary freeze and end of bonuses for the civil service (saving £200m a year)
*
Tapering the family element of the tax credit – saving £1.35bn
*
A radical review of public sector pensions with the view to moving to higher employee contributions and later retirement ages. There is currently a £28bn subsidy to unfunded schemes
*
Scrapping several major IT systems including the ID card scheme (£5bn over 10 years), Contactpoint (£200m over five years), the NHS IT scheme (£250m over the next five years) and the proposed ‘super database’ (£6bn)
*
Curbing ‘industrial policy’, including scrapping Regional Development Agencies (£2.3bn annually) and ECGD subsidies (£100m annually) and reducing (by at least half) the Train to Gain and Skills Councils budgets (£990m together a year)
*
Reforming the National Health Service, by reducing the centralisation and over-administration - starting by scrapping Strategic Health Authorities (£200m a year) – by strengthening commissioning and with ‘supply side reform’ - in particular tariff reform could save around £2bn a year
*
Curbing the centralisation in education, by cutting national strategies and scrapping quangos – saving around £600m a year
*
Reducing the amount of waste in the defence procurement process, including scrapping the Eurofighter and Tranche 3 (£5bn over 6 years), the A400M (total cost £22bn), Nimrod MRA4, the Defence Training Review contract (£13bn over 25 years) and the Trident submarine successor (£70bn over 25 years)
*
Examining possible future public sector asset sales, including some aspects of the Highways Agency (land value of £80bn) and intangibles such as spectrum, landing rights and emissions trading
Commenting, Vince Cable said:
“The time for generalities is over.
“Instead, we need serious proposals for cutting public spending and tackling the UK’s budget deficit.
“The priority is to move the economy out of recession but there is also a need to restore fiscal credibility and to allow Government to focus its resources where are they are most needed.
“We need to debate when, how and where the cuts will come.
“Undoubtedly more are required to meet the exacting fiscal disciplines but asking the British public for their vote at the next election means being upfront from the outset about what Government should and should not be spending its money on.”
In this pamphlet, he argues that there should be no “ring fenced” areas of spending and that all existing spending should be justified.
He claims that the situation is very probably more serious than the Government’s proposals for a fiscal tightening of 6.4% of GDP over eight years suggest. He argues that a fiscal consolidation of 8% of GDP over five years is more realistic, with the emphasis on controlling public spending, not higher taxes.
Nine specific areas of potential savings are identified as a start to a radical programme of reform. The main proposals are:
*
Zero growth overall for public sector pay (saving £2.4bn a year), a 25% reduction in the total pay bill of staff earning over £100,000 and a salary freeze and end of bonuses for the civil service (saving £200m a year)
*
Tapering the family element of the tax credit – saving £1.35bn
*
A radical review of public sector pensions with the view to moving to higher employee contributions and later retirement ages. There is currently a £28bn subsidy to unfunded schemes
*
Scrapping several major IT systems including the ID card scheme (£5bn over 10 years), Contactpoint (£200m over five years), the NHS IT scheme (£250m over the next five years) and the proposed ‘super database’ (£6bn)
*
Curbing ‘industrial policy’, including scrapping Regional Development Agencies (£2.3bn annually) and ECGD subsidies (£100m annually) and reducing (by at least half) the Train to Gain and Skills Councils budgets (£990m together a year)
*
Reforming the National Health Service, by reducing the centralisation and over-administration - starting by scrapping Strategic Health Authorities (£200m a year) – by strengthening commissioning and with ‘supply side reform’ - in particular tariff reform could save around £2bn a year
*
Curbing the centralisation in education, by cutting national strategies and scrapping quangos – saving around £600m a year
*
Reducing the amount of waste in the defence procurement process, including scrapping the Eurofighter and Tranche 3 (£5bn over 6 years), the A400M (total cost £22bn), Nimrod MRA4, the Defence Training Review contract (£13bn over 25 years) and the Trident submarine successor (£70bn over 25 years)
*
Examining possible future public sector asset sales, including some aspects of the Highways Agency (land value of £80bn) and intangibles such as spectrum, landing rights and emissions trading
Commenting, Vince Cable said:
“The time for generalities is over.
“Instead, we need serious proposals for cutting public spending and tackling the UK’s budget deficit.
“The priority is to move the economy out of recession but there is also a need to restore fiscal credibility and to allow Government to focus its resources where are they are most needed.
“We need to debate when, how and where the cuts will come.
“Undoubtedly more are required to meet the exacting fiscal disciplines but asking the British public for their vote at the next election means being upfront from the outset about what Government should and should not be spending its money on.”
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