http://derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk/articlearchive.php Recent Press Articles from Derbyshire Dales Liberal Democrats en-GB Derbyshire Dales Liberal Democrats http://derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk/ Prater Raines Ltd http://www.praterraines.co.uk/ (c) 2010 Derbyshire Dales Liberal Democrats 2010-03-12T13:47+00:00 United Kingdom http://derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk/articles/000101/local_and_european_elections_thursdays_choice.html Labour will do badly this Thursday, in local and European elections, and deserves to do badly. Can anyone who shares ideals of progress and reform summon up anything more than sullen tolerance of the party at the moment? The expenses scandal has hit the Tories deeply too, but a week in which the chancellor (a decent and busy man) finds himself writing cheques to his own department to repay accommodation claims cannot be anything other than depressing. The prime minister made a simple statement yesterday, "I am in the best position to clean up the political system," he told the BBC. That promise has not been matched by action. Today the government will set out plans for the constitution. Voters ought to ask why it has taken so long, and how serious the commitment to change is. 2009-06-02T00:00+01:00 http://derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk/articles/000097/ive_seen_enough_of_my_predecessors_being_led_up_the_garden_path_and_then_disappointed.html Politicians' nicknames are seldom flattering, but the joke going round Westminster for the last year about "Invisible Clegg" had seemed particularly cruel - chiefly on account of ringing true. When we met a fortnight ago, at Waterloo station, I'm pretty sure I was the only person on the concourse to recognise him - and on the train journey to his home in south-west London, he drew not so much as a flicker of interest from other passengers. For the leader of a third party struggling to make an impact, invisibility is an ominous quality. 2009-06-01T23:18+01:00 http://derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk/articles/000099/throw_out_bad_councils_and_vote_for_lib_dems_in_europe__dont_use_local_polls_to_throw_stones_at_national_parties_but_do_reward_the_most_principled_proeu_party_we_have.html It may take more than a truckload of nose pegs to get voters to the polls this week. But abstention is a dereliction of citizenship: always cast a vote, if only to cast stones at the most hated. On Thursday those with two votes should be looking at each carefully in its own light. 2009-06-01T00:00+01:00 http://derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk/articles/000098/the_great_unwashed_are_vaguely_annoyed_they_need_stirring.html Something is missing, something it's difficult to put your finger on. Public anger and even hysteria about MPs' expenses is all around us. At least this is what the media keep telling us. But are you feeling it? Or am I sleepwalking through a revolution? Well it is half-term, so it's just possible that I am. 2009-06-01T00:00+01:00 http://derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk/articles/000096/its_time_to_get_personal_just_go_mr_darling.html The future of Britain's car industry now seems a sideshow compared with the sordid details of the Great Expenses Scandal. One MP's claim for refurbishing his servants' quarters and another's creative approach to family living arrangements fan the flames of public indignation. But my worry is that Parliament fiddles while the economy burns. 2009-05-31T12:05+01:00 http://derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk/articles/000094/disaster_for_gordon_brown_as_labour_falls_below_lib_dems_in_new_poll.html Gordon Brown has suffered a devastating blow with a new opinion poll showing Labour's support in a general election falling behind the Liberal Democrats for the first time in 22 years. 2009-05-31T11:22+01:00 http://derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk/articles/000100/on_europe_one_party_is_showing_the_way.html Usually it is lack of public interest in politics that sabotages European and local elections. But this week's polls suffer from the opposite problem. Waves of outrage over the expenses scandal are washing over the country, thrusting other issues aside. 2009-05-31T00:00+01:00 http://derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk/articles/000093/labour_on_red_alert_as_derbyshire_tories_scent_victory_at_county_council.html It's hard now to picture local Derbyshire politics as I found them on arriving as a prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate in 1978. 2009-05-30T00:00+01:00 http://derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk/articles/000092/revealed_mps_expense_claims.html REVEALED: MP's expense claims 2009-05-28T16:24+01:00 http://derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk/articles/000091/mp_defends_his_expenses_claims.html WEST Derbyshire MP Patrick McLoughlin's expenses have been made public this week with payments including £3,000 towards new windows and thousands more for redecoration work on his second home. 2009-05-20T00:00+01:00 http://derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk/articles/000090/voters_trust_in_democracy_is_shattered_we_must_restore_it__people_must_feel_that_they_have_more_power_than_the_politicians_writes_the_lib_dem_leader.html We are in the eye of the perfect storm: an economic crisis followed by a total collapse of public faith in politicians. One way or another, MPs' self-serving expenses will now, thankfully, be changed for good. 2009-05-17T00:00+01:00 http://derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk/articles/000089/tributes_paid_to_town_councillor.html Tributes have been paid to a Matlock councillor who died on Saturday. 2009-04-09T18:46+01:00 http://derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk/articles/000088/lib_dems_drop_vow_to_reduce_tax_burden.html Nick Clegg yesterday abandoned the Liberal Democrats' short-lived pledge to go into the next election promising net tax cuts, urging his party to confront the painful reality that the state will have to shrink. 2009-03-27T19:54+00:00 http://derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk/articles/000087/third_son_for_nick_clegg.html Lib Dem leader's wife gives birth to boy, named Miguel. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's third child has been born, the party said today. 2009-02-23T00:00+00:00 http://derbyshiredaleslibdems.org.uk/articles/000086/it_doesnt_take_much_for_people_to_be_forced_over_the_edge.html From first-time buyers to those facing arrears, the credit crunch is having a huge impact on families outside towns and cities 2009-02-11T00:00+00:00