Reading Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg has announced a £1 billion pound Youth Contract to tackle youth unemployment, which aims to ensure that all jobless young people are earning or learning again before long-term damage is done.

In Reading 935 18-24 year olds are currently in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance and would stand to benefit from the Youth Contract.

Starting next April, the Youth Contract will provide at least 410,000 new work places for 18 to 24 year olds into work over the next three years. This includes 160,000 wage subsidies and 250,000 new work experience placements.

The Youth Contract is a new programme to will help 16 and 17 year olds who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs).

This will helps young people not currently in education, employment or training (NEET) get back to school or college, onto an apprenticeship or into a job with training.

In addition, there will be at least 20,000 more incentive payments to encourage employers to take on young apprentices in England.

Commenting, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Reading Borough Council, Cllr Daisy Benson said:

“Although youth unemployment in Reading is lower than many other areas and has fallen recently, the number of young people out of work in our area is still too high.

“Young people are our future and we need to do everything we can to help young people in Reading who are currently out of work to find work.”

“The Youth Contract, announced by Deputy PM Nick Clegg will help those who need it most through advice, support, training and by giving people in Reading the experience necessary to be successful in the work place.

“This is another example of Liberal Democrats in government taking action on the issues that matter and working to give all youngsters a chance to succeed.”

“As someone who campaigned to highlight the shocking rise in youth unemployment under Labour and as a Liberal Democrat, I am proud that the Coalition Government is doing all it can to prevent another lost generation.”

Commenting further, Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg said

“Youth unemployment is an economic waste and a slow-burn social disaster.

“We can’t lose the skills and talent of our young people – right when we need them most. We can’t afford to leave our young men and women on the scrap heap. We need the next generation to help us build a new economy.

“The aim of the Youth Contract is to get every unemployed young person working or learning again before long-term damage is done.

“This is a £1bn package and what’s different about it is that it gets young people into proper, lasting jobs in the private sector.”

Liberal Democrats on Reading Borough Council have today written to Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Climate Change Chris Huhne calling on him to rethink the government’s decision to cut solar feed-in tariffs.

In a letter to Mr Chris Huhne, Cllr Ricky Duveen, Lib Dem Environment Spokesperson, speaking on behalf of the Lib Dem Group on Reading Borough Council writes:

“We are writing to protest in the strongest possible terms at the changes proposed by the government to Feed In Tariffs.

In doing so we are writing in support of colleagues in Friends of the Earth, the LGA Liberal Democrat Group, and Green Liberal Democrats in raising serious objections to the proposals led by your department.
This is double whammy for sustainable energy and for green jobs here in Reading and elsewhere. In turn it risks undermining David Cameron’s pledge that this will be the ‘Greenest Government ever.’

Cllr Duveen continues:-

“Last year, Liberal Democrat councillors on Reading Borough Council (part of a Coalition administration) instructed officers to work up a programme based on the Feed in Tariff scheme and budgeted for a major investment in solar energy by the Council, both as something that would benefit council tax payers and as an exercise in leading by example.

“A delay to our scheme, caused by the incoming Labour administration, has meant that it has fallen victim to the reductions you announced and the premature ending of the tariff on which our scheme was based. As a result of these it is now not possible to proceed with this important Liberal Democrat initiative because of the guillotine imposed on commissioning.

Cllr Duveen concludes:

“The plans unveiled by the new administration in August to install large numbers of environmentally-friendly solar panels on a number of council owned buildings which attracted cross-party support would have produced green energy and cut energy bills, passing on significant savings to the public purse and the Reading taxpayer.

Whilst we understand that the scheme may have been too successful in the government’s view and the effects of the falling costs of installation, it could have been reduced much more gradually and preserved an industry and many schemes, like ours, which were at an advanced stage of planning. We therefore urge you to review the end date and allow schemes that are already well advanced to still qualify for the tariff.

As Liberal Democrats and local councillors we urge you to reconsider these drastic changes to FITs and allow Reading Borough Council to complete the ambitious programme initiated by us which will deliver real benefits for residents in Reading.”

An open letter to Tony Page, Lead Councillor for Transport & Planning from Councillor Ricky Duveen:

Tony,
I understand that you, as Lead Councillor, have agreed the increase in car park charges in the two car parks in Tilehurst run by NCP on behalf of the council.

I am not sure whether you realise the precarious nature of retail trade at the moment but Tilehurst shopkeepers are irate at the potential affects on their trade, not from increasing existing car park charges but from withdrawing the free first hour. When the charges were first introduced, the reason given was the necessity to prevent day commuters from filling up the then very heavily used car parks. We ran a campaign on behalf of the shopkeepers to allow a minimum free period for shoppers to use the shops along School Road without paying a parking charge. We were very grateful when the council agreed to waive charges for the first hour and this has enabled the car parks to be run for the shoppers they were intended for rather than for the benefit of commuters.

We cannot understand why you would now want to to depress trade in Tilehurst even further in the current poor trading conditions. Shopkeepers, and their customers, are angry at the introduction of this charge and fearful of the effects on shops in Tilehurst.

I do not have the figures from NCP about the expected income from charging for the first hour, but I do not believe that in the grand scheme of things this amounts to a large amount of income. If you do have the figures then I would very much like to see them.

I was shocked when I visited the local hardware store yesterday to be told by the shop assistant that new car park charges were being introduced without any form of consultation. A petition has already been drawn up and will be presented to the council at the first opportunity.

In short, can I ask you to reconsider your decision to do away with the free first hour in the interests of Tilehurst’s local shopping centre which we would all like to encourage rather than depress even further.

Regards
Ricky

Cllr Daisy Benson, Group Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group has welcomed the announcement today by the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg that the Coalition Government is set to allow councils to keep business rates.

Commenting on the news, Cllr Daisy Benson said:

“It is very good news for Reading that this longstanding Liberal Democrat policy is being implemented as it will help give the local economy a real boost and increase accountability over spending.”

“As the Centre for Cities recently noted Reading has a thriving private sector and this move will help stimulate growth even futher.”

“At the moment, business rates paid by businesses in Reading go straight into Treasury coffers and often end up being spent in other parts of the country – as a result of decisions taken by bureaucrats in Whitehall not the Civic Centre.”

““This reform will give Reading Borough Council a genuine incentive to actively encourage business growth and create jobs which is good for residents and businesses.”

“If more taxes raised locally are spent locally people and businesses will be able to see how their money is spent and hold councillors to account more effectively for decisions.”

Lib Dems in Reading have welcomed news that the pledge by the Coalition Government to deliver 50,000 additional apprenticeships has been substantially exceeded, official statistics reveal.

Statistics published by the Coalition Government today show over 103,000 additional adult apprenticeship starts over the 2010-11 financial year.

Reading Borough Council recently confirmed that under Coalition administration Reading led the way on apprenticeships in the South East.

Cllr Daisy Benson, Group Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Reading Borough Council said:

“Expanding the number of apprenticeships was a key component of the Liberal Democrat manifesto at the last General Election and we are delighted to see this longstanding Lib Dem policy now becoming a reality locally as well as nationally.”

“By the end of this Parliament, the Government is committed to supporting an additional 250,000 apprenticeships, compared to the previous Government’s plans – this will be the  biggest increase in UK history.”

“Hundreds of young people in Reading have already benefited from access to an apprenticeships and this news illustrates the real commitment from Business Secretary Vince Cable and the Coalition government to help young people on to the career ladder.”

“The previous coalition administration of the Council helped deliver an addition 310 apprenticeships for local youngsters. We will be calling on the Labour administration maintain and extend these opportunities for young people.”

Liberal Democrat Councillors in Reading were today welcoming the news that due to changes in the national tax system, implemented by Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government, 1,680 of Reading’s poorest residents have been lifted out of the personal income tax band altogether.

A further 66,200 residents will also find their tax situation better off, when the changes are implemented in April this year – paying up to £200 less per year in income tax.

When the coalition was formed the two parties agreed to implement a key Liberal Democrat policy that the personal allowance for income tax should be increased in order to help lower and middle-income earners.

The change is being funded with the money that would have been used to pay for the increase in Employee National Insurance thresholds proposed by the Conservatives, as well as revenues from increases in Capital Gains Tax rates for non-business assets.

After pressure from the Liberal Democrats the two parties also agreed to a longer-term policy objective of further increasing the personal allowance to £10,000, making further real terms steps each year towards this objective. Achieving this would provide much more tax fairness towards the poorest in our society, something Liberal Democrats are committed to.

Speaking about the great news Cllr Kirsten Bayes, Liberal Democrat Spokesman for Finance said,

“This is great news for thousands of Reading residents, especially for the 1,680 residents who are being lifted out of the threshold for paying income tax. This will be a really positive bit of news for those people, who are amongst the poorest in our communities, at a time when many are struggling. Liberal Democrats are continuing to push for yearly increases to the allowance until we reach £10,000 as the threshold. This would provide much more tax fairness towards the poorest in our society.”

In Reading the changes proposed to lift the threshold for paying income tax by £1,000 in April to a figure of £7475 means that approximately 1,680 residents in Reading will pay no income tax at all, while a further 66,200 will pay less. The figures have been calculated on publicly available statistics and are not exact numbers.

The Labour Government’s flagship mortgage rescue scheme has – it was confirmed on Tuesday (13 October) – helped nobody at all in Reading since its launch in January.

Liberal Democrat campaigner Cllr Gareth Epps has slammed the failure of the Labour scheme that – while 40 households within Reading Borough saw their homes repossessed in the last quarter for which records are available, and 34 households applied for assistance under the scheme- none at all were found by the Council to be eligible under the scheme. The figures were released by Reading Borough Council at the Credit Crunch Summit and were published at the Full Council meeting.

On being questioned by Gareth about the reasons for this failure, Labour council leader Jo Lovelock admitted that the scheme was based too heavily on tackling negative equity – which is not the reason for the current wave of repossessions. The Lib Dems have demanded that more effective action be taken to tackle repossessions, by reforming mortgage law to allow courts to reduce repossessions. Lib Dems also called for a review of whether more effective steps can be taken by the Council to avoid Reading families losing their homes.

Commenting, Cllr Gareth Epps said:-
“It is clear the mortgage rescue scheme has utterly failed. It has been shown as little more than a publicity stunt that may have raised false hope for residents in the most difficult circumstances.

The Government’s own figures say that some 6,000 households are supposed to benefit from this scheme, but only 15 households nationwide have so far been found to be eligible. Repossessions are a ticking timebomb in the current economic climate. In the last recession I saw the effects repossession has on people; I would not wish it on anyone.

The Government should be reforming mortgage law to give courts the opportunity to resist pressure from lenders aggressively pursuing families. I hope the Council can work with Reading’s excellent advice services to outline what practical steps can be taken to prevent Reading families from losing their homes.”

Editor’s Notes:
The Mortgage Rescue Scheme “has been operational across the country since January 2009, aiming to prevent some of the most vulnerable families losing their homes and experiencing the trauma of repossession. The Mortgage Rescue package has two elements: (1) the ‘Government Mortgage to Rent’ option which involves an RSL purchasing the homeowner’s property, enabling the household to remain in the property as a tenant on an assured short hold tenancy, paying an intermediate rent; and (2) the ‘Shared Equity’ option which involves a RSL providing a loan to the homeowner to enable the homeowner’s monthly mortgage payments to be reduced.”

The impact assessment costs of implementation are available from the Impact Assessment Library here

Announced by the Government in November last year, the Mortgage Rescue Scheme was designed to help those most deeply affected by the ongoing recession. However, limits imposed by the Government’s own ministers mean that only 6,000 homes across the UK are protected by the plans, meaning that many in Reading will be left without support.

863 repossession claims, 66% higher than the South East average, were issued in Reading in 2008, whilst many more are expected in 2009 as the recession takes hold. Under current Government limits, the scheme will mean that only 35 (4%) of these local claims would be covered or offered any support.

Under the flagship scheme, only 1 in 25 households facing repossession will be able to receive any help or assistance, but despite this Reading Borough Council’s Labour councillors have decided to give this scheme number 1 priority in its ‘Credit Crunch Action Plan’.

Local Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Reading East, Gareth Epps said:
“Although the Mortgage Rescue Scheme was launched with a great fanfare by the Government in the autumn, this scheme is totally inadequate and simply cannot deal with the reality that many local residents are facing.

This council cannot continue to blindly adopt whatever the latest and disastrous Government policy is that comes along. The people of Reading deserve much better than slapdash Labour policy schemes.

The threat of repossession is a truly terrifying prospect and it is facing far too many people in Reading. I’m regularly meeting residents who are being threatened with the loss of their home – and they know that the Government scheme as it stands is useless. The Mortgage Rescue Scheme must be effectively expanded urgently or else thousands of local residents could face being thrown onto the streets.”

Editor’s Notes:

In 2008, 142,000 repossession claims were issued by the courts. Whilst most of these claims did not lead to homes being repossessed, this figure indicates the number of households that are in serious mortgage arrears and therefore would benefit from this scheme. However, the scheme is being restricted to only 6,000 households by the Government. In effect, only 4% of those who are vulnerable to repossession will be assisted by this scheme.

Lib Dems have welcomed the revised Budget agreed at a meeting of the Council on 2 March which contains a number of wins for local people including:

• Funding for the creation of a new ‘green hit squad’ targeting fly tipping hot spots across the borough
• Reduction in bulky waste charges to help Reading’s poorest residents
• Communications support for Reading’s network of Neighbourhood Police Action Groups (NAGs)
• The purchase of ‘speed guns’ to improve road safety

The Lib Dem plan which won Labour support also saw a minimum of £200,000 put back into the Council reserves.

Spending was made possible by savings in Labour’s budget identified by the Lib Dems, including:

• A freeze of councillors’ allowances
• Reducing the amount the Council spends on refreshments at Council meetings
• Reducing spending on non-essential items such as marketing and PR and consultants.

Labour politicians also agreed to the creation of a cross-party Budget Review Group, proposed by the Lib Dems. This Group will identify areas where savings can be made this year.

Lib Dem Group Leader, Cllr Gareth Epps commented:

“The budget agreed tonight containing a package of measures put forward by the Lib Dems which represents a better deal for Reading residents: cutting spending on spin and costly consultants, and focusing resources where they are needed most – helping to make the town cleaner, greener and safer.”

He added:

“What has been agreed tonight is a massive improvement on what had been proposed by Labour.

The cross-party Budget Review Group the Lib Dems put forward will be crucial to identify waste in the Council and ensure next year’s Budget is based on a firmer footing.”

Labour’s plan raided reserves and left nothing for a rainy day. As things stand the forecast for public sector funding looks ever bleaker.”

The approach taken by the Conservative Group was a disgrace – without a single positive idea. Had we followed their approach, the job of everyone working for the Council would have been put at risk. The Conservatives have proved themselves incapable of setting a budget.

It was left to the Lib Dems to stand up for the people of Reading – the only group to come forward with a plan for a lower Council Tax rate.”