Big Money Politics Beware!

For many decades the two biggest parties in British politics have had a financial edge over their opponents. There is a clear link between the achievement of power and the ability to receive vast sums of money from party political donations. The very concept of big money politics is arguably quite regressive to a modern liberal democracy, because the party that has the best policies should win the election not the one with the biggest bank balance. Also it's worth noting that big money politics is linked to the corrosive effects of lobbying with the party more concerned about their next big donations and not what is in the best long-term interests of the country. Furthermore, the political parties become so reliant on big money donations that they do not strive to create a party with a mass membership; hence party politics suffers as a result. The Conservative Party has been in the pocket of big business and corporate Britain for over the past 40 years. While the Labour Party on the other hand, has been in the pocket of the trade unions literally since its creation in 1900 and has been exclusively in the receipt of trade union donations since the 1920s. Big money politics has been a factor in Britain for decades (if not centuries) and it seemed like this big money consensus between Labour and the Conservatives would go unchallenged with big business and the trade unions eagerly funding their preferred party. However could this be about to change?

Today the Independent reports that Nick Clegg is intent on tackling the big money politics that has dominated our political discourse for so long. The Liberal Democrats are Britain's third-largest party and currently the junior partner in the ruling coalition. They have never been reliant on the support of big business or the trade unions; they have just been dependent on private donations from supporters and party members; much like all the other smaller parties. Mr Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister is putting forward some radical plans that would see the wide scale reform of party political donations. Amongst the Deputy Prime Minister's ideas are to cap individual donations to political parties at £50,000. He is also considering whether small donations to political parties should qualify for tax relief, similar to the current situation for charities.

Naturally, the vested interests in both Labour and the Conservatives are concerned about Mr Clegg's plans. This would seriously curtail the financial clout that the trade unions and big business have over British politics. Although this may have a positive effect on party politics as parties will need to go out of their way to recruit new members to ensure that they receive adequate income, hence parties being more focused on the concerns of their members than the concerns of their donors. In this Independent article, it also outlines recent donations made to the main political parties. Between April and June this year, the Labour Party received £3.2 million in donation, £2.7 million of which came from trade unions. In the same period the Conservatives received £4.2 million in donation, a million pounds of which came from wealthy companies and £2.4 million in donation came from wealthy individuals. The Liberal Democrats received just short of £1 million in donation of which over half a million came from wealthy companies. Here is the link to the Independent article: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-worried-by-cleggs-plan-to-cap-party-donations-2343467.html.

I for one hope that Nick Clegg succeeds in tackling big money politics in our country. It has been a long-held aim of the Liberal Democrats to tackle big money politics and I sincerely hope that they succeed in doing so. Should Mr Clegg and his Liberal Democrat party be successful it will be a good day for British democracy with the tarnish of big money politics removed and hopefully our democracy and our political parties will be strengthened as a result; without the albatross of big money financial interests hanging around their necks.

Great Simon Hughes Comment Piece

There’s a great comment piece by the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Simon Hughes for today’s Observer. The comment piece comes as a response to the recent English riots. Read the comment piece here:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/14/profits-top-simon-hughes?intcmp=239.

Please Vote Lefty Liberal Paul

A few months ago I started this blog to advance ‘Lefty Liberal’ and Social Liberal viewpoints within the Liberal Democrats and beyond. Also I thought it was important to advance centre-left politics more generally. Now it’s that time of the year again when Total Politics wants people to vote for their favourite blogs. Can I ask everyone who supports centre-left Social Liberalism or who just likes this blog to vote for Lefty Liberal Paul in the Total Politics poll. Here is the link to the poll:

http://www.totalpolitics.com/surveys/total-politics-blog-awards/

Please show your support for centre-left Social Liberalism!

People with Hopes and Opportunities don’t Riot

Over the last few nights, many riots have occurred in British cities. The riots were disgraceful and all the people responsible for them deserve to be brought to justice. Shops have been looted, windows have been smashed and buildings burnt to the ground; these are truly disgraceful acts and display the worst of humanity creating anarchy on the streets of the UK. Now there are many reasons why such people would resort to such criminality and looting and over the next coming days politicians from the left and the right will try to bring some clarity and understanding to the causes behind the riots. However it is worth saying that regardless of the causes that may have led up to the disturbances they in no way justifies them whatsoever.

There are many explanations going round as to why people can act in such a vile and unlawful manner. One train of thought advocated by the Prime Minister today was that there was a lack discipline and family responsibility from the households of the youngsters committing the acts of crime. Another thought was advocated by the former Labour Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone who associated the austerity cuts, the scrapping of EMA and the rise in tuition fees with the recent violence. On the one hand, David Cameron might be partially right when he says that these youngsters lack a sense of family discipline; however I don't think this is the beginning and the end of the reasons behind the rioting, since many adults also took part. Nor do I take the view that the rioting comes as a as a response to any particular policy enacted by any particular government. It is more likely to be the case that these people riot because for successive generations their communities have lacked sufficient hope and opportunity. Although, some of the people involved would have just been taken advantage of an opportunity and the only issue behind their motives was criminal greed.

In the 1980s, Britain saw similar inner-city riots and although the reasons behind the 1980s riots were different from the reasons behind the riots of 2011 there remains a significant group of people who are devoid of having any aspiration, hope or opportunity. Some may refer to this group of people as "the underclass." The underclass are those people who spend their days in relative squalor, living off the proceeds of benefits and who have fallen out our society and out of what our society deems to be acceptible. It's the same people who are often referred to in the media as being "dole spongers" and "chavs." For over 30 years these people have been neglected by successive governments from across the political spectrum, who focus on the most desirable constituency of support and representation that of Middle England. If we are to ensure that these riots never happen again, governments will have to open a strong dialogue with community leaders and young people will need community role models who they can aspire to be like. Governments will have to acknowledge that Britain doesn't start and end with Middle England and that at all times governments will have to address the grievances within the poorest communities of the UK. Whether this is ensuring that a sufficient number of people get a good education or that a sufficient number of jobs are available or that there is a strong dialogue between members of our communities and local government.

Now no matter what the grievances of people are it is never a justification to commit acts of criminality. But if we are to ensure that Britain's streets remain safe in the future we will have to tackle the root causes that leave many members of the so-called underclass in a situation where they deem it acceptable to rob, loot and destroy. If politicians from all parties forget this constituency of the British people (no matter how undesirable it may be) and just focus on Middle England; we will see similar acts of criminality and destruction in the decades to come.

I agree with Tim!

There’s a very interesting piece on the Independent website, with calls by the Liberal Democrat Party President, Tim Farron to distance the party from the Conservatives in the Coalition. So that party members can ‘hold their heads up high.’ Give the article a read it is very agreeable from a centre-left prospective.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nick-clegg-faces-calls-to-distance-his-party-from-the-conservatives-2334134.html

Please Sign The Anti-Death Penalty Petition

The death penalty has been a very serious and divisive subject since its abolition as one of the main social reforms of Harold Wilson's Labour government in the 1960s. Following the social reforms in the late 1960s the only act that was punishable by death was treason. Since then almost every parliamentary term has had a vote on whether or not to bring back the death penalty. The last vote occurred in the early 1990s. In 1998, Parliament passed the Human Rights Act which incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into British law; this act of Parliament once and for all abolished entirely any notion of the death penalty in the United Kingdom.

This week, the Coalition Government has launched a new program of e-petitions on the Internet. The right-wing blogger, Guido Fawkes announced that he would launch a petition calling for the return of the death penalty and if the petition is successful this will be debated and voted upon in Parliament. The death penalty is a barbaric and authoritarian measure whereby the state can legitimately murder its own citizens. As Mahatma Gandhi once said ‘an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.’ Britain would be morally blind if it allowed the return of the death penalty. That is why I encourage everyone to sign the anti-death penalty petition. This petition has been submitted on the government’s e-petition website by the chair of Liberal Youth, Martin Shapland. This petition submitted by the youth wing of the Liberal Democrats seeks to counter the calls made by Guido Fawkes to bring back the death penalty.

Please show your support and sign the anti-death penalty petition: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/1090