A High Court appeal has been made by MPs to block the publication of MPs' expenses. They were due to be published after the Commons authorities lost a Freedom of Information case - but instead they have launched a High Court appeal. The appeal says MPs' addresses should not be published on security grounds. But Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg told the Today programme that that should not stop other details being revealed.
Liberal Democrats are rightly proud of the fact that we remain the only major party to be internally democratic. Unlike the other parties, party policy can only be decided by the democratic vote of the representatives of the party membership, after debate at the party conference.
The FOCUS team are helping to reduce anti-social behaviour in the Walkergate ward. Over the past few months we have worked with the police, wardens and council workers to tackle problems at the Trojan Avenue playing fields, near Walkerville Library, parts of Daisy Hill and parts of Eastfield Estate. Councillor Dave Besag said "The FOCUS team are actively working with the police, council officers and Your Homes Newcastle to solve problems across the ward."
Nick Clegg focused on the economy at Prime Minister's Questions today, calling on Gordon Brown to take action to prevent banks repossessing homes "at will". He said the situation was as bad as under the Tories in the first two years of the 1990s. Speaking after PMQs he accused the Prime Minister of being "both complacent and disingenuous in his response to the very real concerns that the housing market is now facing".
Local MP and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Hill Farming Tim Farron has today called on the Government to tighten up regulations on the importing of meat from EU countries, which has proved a major source of bluetongue outbreaks. Mr Farron is also repeating calls for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to press ahead in ordering more doses of the BTV8 vaccine.
Liberal Democrat MP and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Hill Farming Tim Farron today registered his outrage at the closure of 'Food from Britain.' Food from Britain is the government body responsible for promoting British food abroad. The decision to 'wind up' the body came after DEFRA announced that the public funding for the body of around £4.7m each year was to be phased out by 2010/11. DEFRA is currently in the midst of a funding crisis, with one of the Government ministers responsible for DEFRA recently admitting to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee that the animal welfare arm of DEFRA was to lose a third of its resources. Mr Farron has now launched an Early Day Motion in Parliament praising the work of Food from Britain and calling on the Government to act to safeguard the body in order to enhance British farm exports.