BANFFSHIRE and BUCHAN COAST Liberal Democrats

June Column

Clegg launches reform challenge

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The new Government is now launched with the Queen's Speech duly read, debated and voted on.

It is an ambitious programme not only in terms of legislation but also in terms of executive commitment.

Nick Clegg, as Deputy Prime Minister, is in charge of a political reform agenda which is far reaching, ranging from electoral reform for Westminster, an elected House of Lords, recall of misbehaving MPs and legislating for fixed term Parliaments.

There are also proposals to implement the Calman Commission proposals devolving further powers to the Scottish Parliament.

The Labour Party is surprisingly nit-picking on these issues given they claimed to be in favour of them in Government - but it may be just because in thirteen years they failed to deliver.

The committee to progress House of Lords reform meets next week charged with consulting over draft legislation to be published before the end of the year.

There is to be a reduction in the number of MPs and a re-drawing of boundaries with recognition that geography should be taken into account. That may lead to some larger urban constituencies to allow for smaller remote constituencies such as Orkney and Shetland and the Western Isles.

As usually is the case with boundary reviews, Gordon is about on quota but that won't stop the boundary commission chopping it up to accommodate neighbouring constituencies.

The Opposition are getting very agitated about the proposal to require 55% of MPs to vote to dissolve Parliament for an early General Election. The thinking behind this is to prevent one party from unilaterally calling an election and hence to end the discretion of the Prime Minister to call an election at any time of his choosing.

It does not prevent a Government from losing a confidence motion by a single vote but this does not have to precipitate an early election. Nick Clegg confirmed however there would be a mechanism for calling an election if the alternative is a deadlocked or stalemate Parliament.

I get the impression that the wider public are quite supportive of the coalition and wish it to work. Much of the national media and the Opposition will do their darndest to discredit it.

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Canada model to secure public engagement on cuts

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On the executive side, the Government is preparing a far ranging strategy to cut the terrifying deficit it has inherited. It is to pursue what is described as a 'Canadian' strategy following the example of Canada when it set out to cut its deficit by securing widespread consultation and consensus.

There is growing recognition across the country of the need to do this but understandable apprehension as to how it will apply. The Liberal Democrats have secured agreement that some of the savings will be re-applied to assist the more vulnerable and unemployed.

At the same time the Government is committed to the Liberal Democrats' tax reform proposals - raising the level at which people start paying tax and ensuring taxes fall more fairly on the basis of ability to pay.

The Scottish Parliament has been exempt from the first round of cuts as the budget was already set. However, it would seem sensible for the administration in Edinburgh to start finding savings as soon as possible as it will otherwise mean deeper cuts later.

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Sorrow at departure of David Laws

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I was really sorry about the sudden departure of David Laws from the Government as he is a good friend I know well and was already proving himself to be a brilliant minister.

I first met David when he volunteered to advise me when I started out as the Party's Treasury spokesman in 1995. At the age of 28 David had retired from a successful career in the city. He has a double first in Economics and Economic History from Cambridge and for five years he occupied a desk in my office and was an enormous help to me.

With his help I was able to expose the irresponsibility of Kenneth Clarke refusing to grant independence to the Bank of England and manipulating interest rates for political benefit but economic damage.

After the election of the Labour Government we exposed a £5 billion black hole in Gordon Brown's first budget and the damage of implementing Tory spending plans which Ken Clarke admitted to me were 'for the birds'.

He fought Folkestone in 1997 before being adopted to succeed Paddy Ashdown in Yeovil in 2001. He ploughed much of his own money into his campaigns and gave up paid employment altogether for two years to secure election in Yeovil.

I assumed David was gay but equally knew that, close as we are, it was never something he wanted to acknowledge or discuss. He had a difficult relationship with his parents who were divorced and I suspect it was 'coming out' to them which was his greatest inhibition.

The trouble with the whole House of Commons expenses debacle is that it has evolved in an incoherent and unplanned way. Apart from the uncertainty of determining at what point a relationship becomes a partnership, renting from a partner or family member was only ruled out in the last two or three years.

To regularise his claim would have required David to move out or to declare his partner which would have forced him to reveal his sexual orientation which he felt unable or unwilling to do.

The end result is an MP who has real talent and made a great commitment to public service has been 'outed' in two senses. He accepted responsibility and resigned but I question whether the rules on expenses, which no out of town MP can manage without, should be applied in such an intrusive fashion.

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My pitch to reinforce Aberdeen's energy role

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I made my first speech of the new Parliament in the Queen's Speech debate on energy and environment day. It gave me an opportunity to highlight the crucial role and potential that Aberdeen and the North East still has to play in the energy sector.

The Secretary of State, Chris Huhne, visited Aberdeen in his first week and I was able to reinforce what he had learned, namely that the cutting edge technology associated with getting more oil and gas out of the North Sea is also relevant to developing offshore renewable technology.

I also made the point that Aberdeen's underdeveloped infrastructure could compromise future development and lead to jobs and investment going abroad.

Although it is the responsibility of the devolved administration to deliver on transport infrastructure and essential services, the UK government could be directly affected by its failure to do so in terms of lost jobs, investment, exports and tax revenue.

I will continue to press this issue with Ministers including Mike Moore, our Scottish Secretary.

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Delighted to be back in Chair of International Development Committee

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I am pleased that, unlike its predecessors, this Parliament has wasted no time establishing Select Committees and electing the Chairs and members.

I am especially delighted to have been returned to the Chairmanship of the International Development Committee which I had the honour to chair throughout the last Parliament.

It will be interesting to be in this role with my own party now in Government rather than opposition. I consider it especially significant as International Development is one of the few ministries without a Liberal Democrat Minister.

All parties are committed to raising our aid contributions to the UN target of 0.7% over the next three years but taxpayers will need reassurance, at a time of cuts or freeze across all other departments that our development assistance is really delivering.

It is the role of the International Development Committee to hold the department and the international agencies we fund to account on this and I will certainly be applying myself strenuously to the task.