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The Coalition: Taking Liberal Democrat Policies into Government

Ray_BRACK

Ray Earwicker who stood as your Lib Dem PPC for Bracknell

For the first time in nearly 100 years the Liberal Democrats are in Government and putting into practice the ideas and policies that we have long campaigned for. In the space of just a few short months we have negotiated a comprehensive policy agreement with the Tories, which has the support of most of the country, and made a huge impact on the Coalition Government's agenda for the rest of this Parliament.

We could have stayed on the sidelines as an opposition party and may be offered support to a minority Conservative government on individual issues where we had a common interest but this would probably not have advanced our cause very much or even found favour with the electorate.

Going into the General Election the Liberal Democrats made it clear that we had four key priorities; fairer taxes; a fair start for children with extra funding for disadvantaged pupils; a comprehensive clean up of our politics, including a fairer voting system; and a greener, more sustainable economy.

Thanks to our involvement, the Government is now beginning to deliver on each of these objectives. There are also a large number of other Lib Dem policies and pledges that will start to make a real, positive difference to peoples' lives because of the role we are playing in the Coalition.

These include everything from rolling back the surveillance state and giving people back their civil liberties, to prison and and NHS reforms, fairer pensions, the ending of child detention and the scrapping of the third runway at Heathrow. There will also be a referendum on the Alternative Vote and a commission on long-term reform of social care.

Inevitably, there will be Conservative policies that we find difficult to accept but each Party had to make concessions in order to produce a workable agreeament. This does not mean however we cannot try to amend such policies, nor will it mean a loss of our own identity.

The next few months will be particularly important as the Coalition Government seeks to deal with the budgetary crisis and the structural deficit inherited from Labour. By joining in such a coalition the Liberal Democrats provided the best chance for the country to change course and generate the conditions necessary for future long-term growth. It also provides an unique opportunity to show what we can do in government!

Ray Earwicker

Former Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Bracknell

Recent updates

  • A budget for the many not the few
    Budget 2012: For the many, not the few
    Article: Mar 21, 2012

    Over 20 million working people will be better off next year after Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government delivered the biggest ever increase in the income tax personal allowance in the Budget.

    The massive £3.5bn tax cut for working people delivers:

    • The biggest ever single uplift in the tax threshold
    • A personal allowance of £9,205 in April 2013
    • 21 million working people getting an extra £220 tax cut
    • Brings the total tax cut for basic rate tax payers to £550
    • Brings the total number of people lifted out of tax to 2 million.
  • Nick Clegg at NewcastleGateshead conference 2012
    "A more liberal Britain with every passing year" - Nick Clegg's speech to Lib Dem Spring Conference 2012
    Article: Mar 11, 2012

    Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg used his speech to the Party's Spring conference in NewcastleGateshead to call for the forthcoming budget to be a "budget for fairness" and pledged that it would help working familes.

    The Deputy Prime Minister pledged that by 2015 Britain would have seen an end to control orders, the first gay marriages and the first elections to the House of Lords.

  • What the Liberal Democrats are achieving in government
    Article: Mar 9, 2012

    Fairer taxes, promoting green jobs, protecting your civil liberties - these are just some of the achievements of the Liberal Democrats in government.

    We're building a freer, greener and more liberal country - and stopping some of the worst excesses of the Conservatives. Find out more in this infographic.

  • Tory rebels
    Article: Jan 16, 2012

    In the absence of an effective opposition, it would seem the ruling Conservative group on Bracknell Forest Council has taken to falling out within itself. The suspension of three long-standing members of the group for failing to support the party line on future housing planning policy (Standard, 5 Jan) was the first public sign of any disaffection within the group since it won control of the council under Cllr Bettison's leadership in 1998.

  • Bracknell's Housing Crisis
    Article: Nov 24, 2011

    The housing measures being introduced by the Coalition Government to help first-time buyers and persuade local authorities to provide more council homes is both very welcome and long overdue.

    The record of Bracknell Forest Council in helping to provide more affordable homes in this area has been pitiful.There are still over 3000 people on its housing waiting list and yet only a handful of affordable homes are being built.

  • BRACKNELL IN A PICKLE OVER WASTE!
    Article: Oct 18, 2011
    Communities' Minister puts Council Leader on the spot over ABC
    Cllr Paul Bettison, Leader of Bracknell Forest Council and the public face of the Local Government Association's longstanding campaign in favour of charging for household waste collections, according to the Parliamentary Communities and Local Government Select Committee, has been put on the spot by the unexpected Coalition Government's decision to set up a £250m fund to discourage councils such as Bracknell from operating a system of fortnightly alternate bin collections (ABC).
  • Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg
    Nick Clegg's Speech to Lib Dem Conference: "Our home. Our children. Our future."
    Article: Sep 21, 2011

    In his keynote speech to the Liberal Democrat Conference, Party Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has outlined his goals for the Government and the country over the coming years. He reiterated his commitment to liberal values on the environment and human rights and his determination to ensure a fair chance for every child, saying "every child can do good things, great things, if only we give them the opportunities they deserve."

  • Dr Lee MP
    Article: Jul 18, 2011

    A recent article in 'Private Eye' suggests Dr Phillip Lee, MP for Bracknell, is spending more time supplementing his Parliamentary income than many might have hoped or dared to expect.

    Since he won his seat in 2010 (after coming a poor fifth in Blaenau Gwent in 2005), Dr Lee has made 113 separate payment claims totalling £40,000 acting as a freelance GP in Maidenhead, Slough and elsewhere. Most of these claims covered periods when the House of Commons was sitting.

  • BRACKNELL'S MP KEEPS THE DAY JOB!
    Article: Jul 5, 2011

    Dr Phillip Lee remains a locum GP in Maidenhead and Slough

    Despite claims during his 2010 election campaign that he would 'need to roll up [his] sleeves and really serve the people of Bracknell, Crowthorne, Finchampstead and Wokingham Without', it would seem that Bracknell's MP, Dr Phillip Lee, is spending more time outside his constituency than in it!

  • LOCAL ISSUES TAKE BACK SEAT IN BRACKNELL
    Article: May 9, 2011

    Tories' dismal record of failure allowed to succeed yet again!

    Bracknell Forest Conservatives can once again thank their bedrock support for being re-elected to run Bracknell Forest Council for another four years. Regrettably, despite the need to also vote on the AV referendum, most electors failed to vote and the other parties either failed to attract sufficient support or were unable to get their vote out.

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