Monday, June 20, 2011
Battleground switches from NHS to the Environment
Having won a significant victory on reforms to the NHS, the new battleground for the Liberal Democrats appears to be the environment. According to the Guardian, Chris Huhne used the Social Liberal Conference at the weekend to attack his Conservative colleagues in government as "rightwing ideologues" and "deregulation zealots" for placing environmental regulations on a list of red tape to be considered for scrapping:
In comments made at the weekend to a conference of social democrats in his party, Huhne made it clear he is opposed to environmental protection laws such as the Climate Change Act, the Wildlife and Countryside Act and the National Parks Act being included in the government's review of regulations in force in the UK.
His views are thought to reflect a range of opinion within Liberal Democrats in government. A source close to Huhne said he was supported by the business secretary, Vince Cable, and Lib Dem ministers were braced to do battle over hundreds of regulations they believe their Tory colleagues will be inclined to discard. The move is part of a Lib Dem strategy to fight their corner more aggressively that has been evident in the party leadership's successful opposition to the NHS changes.
Huhne said: "Between the obsession with micro-management and target-setting displayed by the Labour party, and the fixation with deregulation and scrapping rules just because they are rules on offer from some rightwing ideologues, we Liberal Democrats have a real chance to define an evidence-based, intelligent and distinctive approach."
This is yet another useful distinction between the Liberal Democrat position in Government and that of our Conservative coalition partners. Personally, I would encourage this sort of public debate on ideological priorities as a means of asserting the differences between the two parties and underlining the level of influence that the Liberal Democrats are exercising in Government.
I would however take issue with the Guardian in describing the Conference as being for Social Democrats. It was not. I would describe myself as a Social Liberal and I came into this party from the Liberal tradition. The distinction between the two no longer exists in our party. What we have instead are two different views of Liberalism that owe more to William Gladstone and David Lloyd George than to George Brown.
In comments made at the weekend to a conference of social democrats in his party, Huhne made it clear he is opposed to environmental protection laws such as the Climate Change Act, the Wildlife and Countryside Act and the National Parks Act being included in the government's review of regulations in force in the UK.
His views are thought to reflect a range of opinion within Liberal Democrats in government. A source close to Huhne said he was supported by the business secretary, Vince Cable, and Lib Dem ministers were braced to do battle over hundreds of regulations they believe their Tory colleagues will be inclined to discard. The move is part of a Lib Dem strategy to fight their corner more aggressively that has been evident in the party leadership's successful opposition to the NHS changes.
Huhne said: "Between the obsession with micro-management and target-setting displayed by the Labour party, and the fixation with deregulation and scrapping rules just because they are rules on offer from some rightwing ideologues, we Liberal Democrats have a real chance to define an evidence-based, intelligent and distinctive approach."
This is yet another useful distinction between the Liberal Democrat position in Government and that of our Conservative coalition partners. Personally, I would encourage this sort of public debate on ideological priorities as a means of asserting the differences between the two parties and underlining the level of influence that the Liberal Democrats are exercising in Government.
I would however take issue with the Guardian in describing the Conference as being for Social Democrats. It was not. I would describe myself as a Social Liberal and I came into this party from the Liberal tradition. The distinction between the two no longer exists in our party. What we have instead are two different views of Liberalism that owe more to William Gladstone and David Lloyd George than to George Brown.
Comments:
<< Home
The NHS Reform Bill doesn't look like any kind of victory to me, except maybe for the private medical companies. Your MPs will still be handing the NHS over to them. Thankfully devolution protects us from that but it's clear your MPs are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
“… opposed to environmental protection laws such as the Climate Change Act, the Wildlife and Countryside Act and the National Parks Act being included in the government's review of regulations in force in the UK.” Huhne needn’t worry, UK heavy industry is already moving manufacturing capacity to S.E. Asia. Seems Huhne does not understand that forcing British heavy industry to move out of the country will only lead to more pollution entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Chris Wood
Post a Comment
# posted by 
: 3:37 PM
: 3:37 PM<< Home
