Reading Liberal Democrats

We would like to say thank you for all the support from both the Reading East and West communities during Election 2010.  The energy and enthusiasm of both our members and other supporters and activists was an inspiration that helped sustain our campaigns.

In both East and West Reading our support grew during the campaign and this in turn translated into a growth in our percentage of votes at the ballot box.  Increasing numbers of people in Reading are sending us the message that they share the Liberal Democrat vision of a different, fairer Britain.

We have been analysing the figures and we think that we have had a staggering result in terms of our vote share and we are proud that we have had such a strong team to present to the electorate. It may not get reported by the press but in the local elections across Reading we managed 26% of the vote which is 3% above the current national average for Lib Dems. We should be a national good news story.

Locally our share of the vote increased in every single ward and have learnt so much. Now that the 2010 campaign is over, we will be starting on the 2011 local election campaign straight away and your support will be welcomed.

At the launch of the election campaign YouTube and Facebook users submitted questions for the UK’s first election Digital Debate. More than 5000 questions were submitted and there were more than 180,000 votes on the questions. The most popular questions from different categories were put to the part leaders and their responses have been recorded and made public on YouTube.

Why don’t you take part in the Digital Debate?

The manifesto sets out four clearer steps to a fairer Britain:

• Fair taxes that put money back in your pocket: the first £10,000 you earn tax-free, and a tax cut for £700 for most people, freeing 3.6 million low earners and pensioners from income tax completely
• A fair chance for every child, investing £2.5 million (and millions of pounds in Reading East) tackling educational inequality, ensuring children get the attention they need, and phasing out university tuition fees;
• A fair future; creating jobs by making Britain greener, offering young people ways out of unemployment;
• A fair deal by cleaning up politics; putting trust back by putting power back into people’s hands and completely overhauling Westminster with fair votes, an elected House of Lords and all politicians paying full British taxes.

The manifesto, unlike those of either Labour or the Conservatives, does not promise something for nothing; each spending commitment is fully costed in a published appendix to the document. Cuts are set out such as scrapping the Government’s ID Cards scheme, abolishing like-for-like Trident replacement and cutting bureaucracy on things like local government inspection.

The manifesto is available on the Liberal Democrat national web site.

Gareth was a member of Vince Cable’s Tax Commission which did the preparatory work to set out the party’s tax proposals, and was involved with the production of the 2001 and 2005 manifestos. Gareth says:-

“This is a manifesto for the people – who want to be able to trust politicians. It is an emphatic rejection of the failure of 65 years of Labour and Conservative politicians who reduce people’s expectations to the bare minimum and then break even the limited promises they make.

“It sets out answers to the issues being raised by people on the doorsteps all across Reading East.

“It sets out proposals for fairer taxes that will take thousands of local people out of paying tax altogether, and put £700 a year back in many people’s pocket, paid for by closing loopholes and green taxes. And it sets out exactly how it is paid for.

“The manifesto is also the only one to have a green spine running right the way through. For Britain to come out of the recession and face the future does mean we must tackle an environmental crisis, seen in poor air quality affecting much of our area.

“Only the Liberal Democrats have had the honesty to face up to the budget crisis facing the country. You can’t get something or nothing – yet the Conservatives offered more of the same. That is a gross deception and the people I’ve been speaking to aren’t fooled by it. Labour are out of the race in Reading East, but they offered little difference to the Conservatives.

“The message is: if you want honesty, vote Liberal Democrat. If you want to see change in Liberal Democrat. If you want fairness, vote Liberal Democrat. And if you do that, you will have a Liberal Democrat MP in Reading East because we can win here.”

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate Cllr Gareth Epps has launched the General Election campaign in Reading East with a direct challenge to his Conservative opponent to face the electorate at forthcoming public meetings in Reading.

The Reading East constituency is likely to be a close contest between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. At the last election, the Liberal Democrats reduced the gap to fewer than 5,000 votes, after a 5.7% swing in their favour. At this election, Gareth Epps needs a 5.7% swing to beat the Conservatives and win. The seat includes a large student population, with most University of Reading students living in Reading East alongside students from Thames Valley University’s Reading campus. The Lib Dems are set to profit from their policy of scrapping tuition fees – a policy Gareth Epps helped to engineer back in 1997. The Conservative candidate has refused to sign a National Union of Students (NUS) petition committing candidates to oppose further increases in tuition fees.

The Labour Party has continued to decline in Reading East after its vote fell by over 10 per cent in 2005. From having 16 councillors in the constituency in 2005, it has lost seats in Caversham, Church, Park, Redlands and Katesgrove wards – the latter to the Liberal Democrats, who now have 11 councillors to Labour’s 5.

The Conservative candidate for Reading East has refused to attend a hustings being organised by Reading environmental groups under the banner of GREN (Greater Reading Environment Network) on 13 April, and a student hustings organised by Reading University Students’ Union on 26 April. In both cases the Conservatives are sending a councillor as a substitute. Gareth Epps has written to Rob Wilson to ask why he refused to attend the GREN meeting, despite being offered a date of his choice on which the meeting could be arranged.

Gareth Epps has also revealed he is to launch a contract with the electorate, to demonstrate how Members of Parliament should form a bond of trust with the people electing them after the scandals of recent years.

The General Election comes at a good time for the Liberal Democrats. They are up 4% in the most recent ICM polls for the Guardian from 19% to 21% and 23%. And the Lib Dems’ Vince Cable is widely seen has having won the “Ask the Chancellors” debate on Channel 4 last week. The Independent newspaper gave Vince Cable 4 stars, the Conservatives’ George Osborne, 1 star.

Commenting on the doorstep reception in recent days, Gareth Epps says:-
‘Knocking on doors in recent days, I have found huge disillusionment with both Conservative and Labour. After 65 years of failure, we are dubbing them the “Labservatives” – each as bad as the other. People want to see a stronger Lib Dem presence in Parliament.

‘The days where Labour dominated politics in this area are now long gone, with them reduced to activity in a handful of wards in Reading East. Commentators and local residents are acknowledging the Reading East election this time will be a fight between the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives. Many Lib Dems who were helping in other constituencies last time will be spending more time in Reading East now we can win.

‘I will be campaigning at this election for a fair deal for local people. Fairness in taxation – a £700 tax cut for the average earner. Fairness for schools – millions of pounds extra for local schools’ through the Lib Dems’ pupil premium, to tackle the gaping divide in educational chances between children from the wealthiest and worst-off backgrounds. Fairness in jobs – a “green road” out of the recession through investing in renewable energy. And fair and accountable politics. All MPs share some responsibility for the problems that grew up over expenses; we must now reform the political system to restore trust as a whole.

‘This is the best chance for 100 years for us to elect a Liberal Democrat in Reading East. We start fewer than 5,000 votes away with the Labour Party continuing its rapid decline. We go into this election with very great confidence.’

Commenting on his challenge to the Conservative candidate, Gareth said:-
‘It is simply not good enough for a candidate who wants to be re-elected as our local MP to hide behind his councillors on some of the biggest issues facing us all. People do not want to know the views of a councillor on whether he or she believes in man-made climate change. They want to know what their prospective Member of Parliament thinks.

‘Rob Wilson was offered a date of his choice for this meeting. A similar event in Reading West was well-attended. To refuse to attend in the manner he has done demonstrates contempt for the electorate – or begs the question, what do the Conservatives have to hide?’

The Liberal Democrat agent has written to the Labour Party accusing it of libelling his candidate in Reading West.

Councillor Warren Swaine, who is acting as agent for Cllr Daisy Benson standing in the General Election in the constituency, has written to his opposite number in the Labour Party Robert Owen making the complaint.

He accused the party of spreading “negative comments and smears”.

His complaint is based on an article in the Labour Party’s Reading and Woodley Banner under the headline ‘Liberals “too busy” to care’.

Although the article does not refer to Cllr Benson by name it is clearly about her.

It said: “Having failed to deliver an important scrutiny report on children’s health in Reading she failed to turn up at the meeting due to discuss it.”

It goes on: “What kind of MP is she likely to be if she is already ‘too busy’ to do her job as a councillor?”

Cllr Swaine, referring to a report on the subject in the Reading Post, said in his letter: “In this case the Reading Post was quite clear in its reporting. ‘Cllr Benson is not a member and was not present at Tuesday night’s meeting’.

“By making the statement: ‘She failed to turn up at the meeting due to discuss the report’ you have clearly sought to libel my candidate in the eyes of the electorate by implying that she was expected to attend the children’s panel which as the Post correctly reported, she is not a member.”

He calls on the Labour Party to withdraw both the Reading West and Reading East Banners from circulation with immediate effect.

He added: “Failure to do so will be taken as a sign that you are continuing to disseminate the libel.”

Cllr Pete Ruhemann, responding on behalf of the Labour Party, said: “The scrutiny report on children’s health was on the agenda of the education and children’s health scrutiny panel in February and there should have been joint recommendations from the two chairs for forwarding to cabinet.

“It would have been all right for Cllr Benson not to be at that meeting had she and Cllr Ralph had the time to get together to draw up joint recommendations to their two panels, but in fact that has still not been done six weeks later.

“We regard the article in the Reading Banner as fair comment.

“The Lib Dems are very ready to attack other parties, it is sad that they can’t take it.”

Reading West Tory candidate Alok Sharma said: “I believe it is incredibly important, especially at a time when politicians generally are held in such low regard by the general public, that we demonstrate by our actions that politics need not be a dirty game.

“Nasty, negative campaigning turns off voters and I hope that going forward in this campaign candidates will refrain from making personal attacks against, or misleading statements about, other candidates in written literature or verbally.”

Original story from getreading

The Liberal Democrats have announced they will fight the General Election on four key principles, designed to make Britain a fairer place.

Prospective MP for Reading East, Cllr Gareth Epps has today set out his campaign priorities: fair taxes; a fair start for every child; fair, clean and local politics and a fair, green economy with jobs that last.

Gareth said:
“People in Reading East have been let down by politicians. There is frustration and anger about the airbrushing, the broken promises and the spin. I am going into the election with a clear direction and a manifesto that is short, direct and to the point.

“We will introduce fairer taxes by closing loopholes for the richest, introducing a tax on mansions and tax cuts of £700 for everyone else.

“For those with children at school, we can promise investment to help reduce class sizes, improve discipline and develop one-to-one tuition. This will benefit those from the poorest backgrounds the most, ending the disgraceful failure of Labour in Reading to give every child an equal chance in life.

“We would also give you the right to sack your MP. The Liberal Democrats are the only party committed to real change of our political system; it’s time we flushed out big money and corrupt donors and reduced the number of MPs by 150.

“And we will rebuild the economy in a way that promotes green technology and creates lasting jobs. We will put an end to casino banking, bring back competition and support local entrepreneurs in every part of Britain to make sure businesses in Reading East can find the money they need to grow.

“The coming months are a crucial time for politics. I will be using them to focus on these four priorities and delivering real change for people in Reading, Caversham, Woodley and Earley.”

In his recent speech (11-Jan), Leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg said:

“David Cameron and Gordon Brown are playing the politics of the airbrush and the focus group.

“One doesn’t know what he believes. The other doesn’t know what to do with the power he clings to so desperately.

“I believe the country wants something different. The Liberal Democrats are different. We offer credibility where it’s needed. And hope for our common future.”