Human Trafficking and Student Visas

There have been two quiet, but significant, wins for the Lib Dems in government in the above areas. These are that Britain will cease to opt out of the EU directive on Human Trafficking and there will not be a cap on the number of Student Visas granted. Both of these policies are Liberal Democrat in origin.

I'm not going to go into detail as thas been done better elsewhere. Specifically:

• Politics Home
• Nick Thornsby's blog (and h/t to him for the tweet that's prompted this post)
• Caron's Musings
• Mark Pack's blog

Andrew

No withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights

You know what it's like, you wait ages for a post to come along and then two come along at once...

The Guardian reports today that withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights will not be an option for consideration by the convention the Government is establishing to explore a UK Bill of Rights despite this being an aim of the Tory right. The commission will also report to Justice Secretary Ken Clarke and Nick Clegg, rather than the Home or Foreign Secretaries.

"Clegg won his battle largely because the coalition agreement, negotiated in haste in the immediate aftermath of the general election, makes it clear that the coalition should not seek to withdraw from the convention. It states: 'We will establish a commission to investigate the creation of a British Bill of Rights that incorporates and builds on all our obligations under the European convention on human rights, ensures that these rights continue to be enshrined in British law, and protects and extends British liberties.'"

 The article also points out that this will 

"effectively [leave] prime minister David Cameron with the option of preparing his own party's proposals for the 2015 general election manifesto."

...and for the Liberal Democrats to develop their own policies also.

You can read the article in full here.

Andrew

P.S. Hat-tip to @NickThornsby on Twitter for the link.

Lib Dem Gains... in the words of Nick Clegg

I know posts here are sporadic but that doesn't meant that I don't believe the Liberal Democrats aren't achieving things in this government. It merely means that my focus has been on other things and that I've not used previous posts in quite the way I anticipated - e.g. as providing a brief digest of coverage on various issues elsewhere.

Anyway, this post comes on the heals of Nick Clegg's closing speech to the Spring Conference, which has garnered much coverage elsewhere. I therefore invite you to visit the party website for the text of the speech, Nick Thornsby's blog for his excerpt and brief analysis of the achievements of the past year and Lib Dem Voice for a summation of key points. 

Also worth a visit are Caron's Musings who has published excerpts with the promise of more analysis later - if you don't already follow her blog, you probably should - and Spiderplant Land where you'll find the text of Nick's opening speech to conference.

Andrew

Update: Virtually Naked also now has a brief assessment of Nick Clegg and the speech.

Much done, much to do.

In common with every other Lib Dem blogger, here's the party's latest video on the achievements of the past year and ambitions for the next four. 

Featuring Lady (Floella) Benjamin OBE, Party President Tim Farron, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Chris Huhne and Pensions Minister, Steve Webb, it focuses on policies for a fairer, greener, more liberal country.

Andrew

Equality of Marriage

Today Lynne Featherstone, Home Office Parliamentary under Secretary of State responsible for equalities and Liberal Democrat MP, announced that the government is to drop the explicit ban on Civil Partnerships in religious settings. This will allow those religious bodies (in England and Wales) that do wish to hold partnership ceremonies to do so.

The bigger announcement, however, is that the government will look at addressing the differences between Marriage and Civil Partnerships.

While a commitment to look at the issue is a long way from legislation allowing for same-gender marriage or mixed-gender Civil Partnerships, I think we can be reasonably certain that had the Conservatives (or, of course, Labour for that matter) been governing alone, this would not be on the agenda at all.

Full equality of access for marriage and Civil Partnerships was only adopted as Liberal Democrat policy adopted at the autumn conference.  Today's announcement means that the party is not now influencing government thinking just in those areas covered by the manifesto or coalition agreement but also in the development of future policy.

As we move towards the first anniversary of the government there will increasingly be issues and policies which were not in either manifesto or the coalition programme. It is reassuring therefore to see that a Liberal tone is being adopted in relation to this issue and this will hopefully apply  to other subjects too.

You can read Lynne Featherstone's blog here and you can read more on the announcement on the Government Equalities Office website.

Andrew

Protection of Freedoms Bill

Today the government unveiled it's Freedom Bill. As is tradition with these posts, I'll quote from both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Manifestos... and the Coalition Programme for government:

First the Conservative Manifesto:

"To protect our freedoms from state encroachment and encourage greater social responsibility, we will replace the Human Rights Act with a UK Bill of Rights."

Now the Liberal Democrat Manifesto:

"Restore and protect hard-won British civil liberties with a Freedom Bill"

"Introduce a Freedom Bill. We will regulate CCTV, stop councils from spying on people, stop unfair extradition to the US, defend trial by jury, and stop children being fingerprinted at school without their parents’ permission."

"Remove innocent people from the police DNA database and stop storing DNA from innocent people and children in the future, too."

"Ensure that everyone has the same protections under the law by protecting the Human Rights Act."

And finally the Coalition Agreement:

"We will introduce a Freedom Bill."

While the Conservative idea of a UK Bill of Rights sounds attractive on some levels, repealing the Human Rights Act and (potentially) leaving the European Convention on Human RIghts would have been a retrograde step. Now we have a bill which has the following statement on its very first page:

"Secretary Theresa May has made the following statement under section 19(1)(a) of the
Human Rights Act 1998:
In my view the provisions of the Protection of Freedoms Bill are compatible with the
Convention rights."

While it may not (quite) cover all the areas listed - although it also covers a number of other areas - the Protection of Freedoms Bill would not have happened without Liberal Democrats in Government.

Here's a video of Nick Clegg addressing the issue of criminal record checks for those working with children, courtesy of the BBC:

Caron's Musings , Richard Baum , and Duncan Stott have more and if you're so minded, you can read the bill here.

Andrew

An End to 28 days Detention Without Charge

It has been announced today that the Government will end the provision for detention without charge for up to 28 days. The limit will now be 14 days although allowance will be made for "very exceptional circumstances" when 28 days may be required.

This measure wasn't in the Coalition Agreement nor was it in the Conservative Manifesto. It sounded familiar, though...

"Reduce the maximum period of pre-charge detention to 14 days."

Liberal Democrat Manifesto 2010, page 95

Hat-tip to Virtually Naked for this. Further information can be found on the BBC News site and on the Home Office website.

Andrew