And now people stop believing in Ming

Clearly Dan's blog isn't convincing every single Lib Dem - Jeff Clarke, the former candidate for Wirral West, has joined the Conservative Party.

The arrival of David Cameron at the helm of the Tory party has precipitated a shift in the direction and political atmosphere within the party. Politics is suddenly dynamic and interesting again. Crucially, it now offers - arguably for the first time since 1997 - the only potentially achievable opportunity for 'regime change' at the next election.
That possibility would gather more credence if the joined-up forces of compassionate conservatism and genuine liberal democracy were to combine to ensure the departure of our current presidential, autocratic and authoritarian government

So despite stabbing Charles Kennedy in the front it's clear that the Lib Dems still need to raise their game. Are they all doomed?

Sutton is in London NOT Surrey !!!

Daniel Snowdon claims that "Sutton is in Surrey NOT London!!!" Yet Sutton Borough Council, which has been run by his own Liberal Democrats for twenty years, has a standing policy introduced by them to never to put "Surrey" on any mail it sends out. Perhaps he's like to point out where Sutton is on these modern maps of Surrey?

1,000's of Hotels and Guest Houses in the UK and Worldwide - Surrey Hotels:

A1Tourism.com Surrey hotels and guest rooms:

National Allotment Register for Surrey:

Victim Support Surrey:

Surrey Police:

The next one only shows one half of the county, but it's the half in contention. East Surrey Rural Transport Partnership:

And finally here's one showing how the borders of Surrey have changed over time, and how some places used to be in Surrey but are no longer. The Harry Potter Lexicon - Essays - Surrey: Showing the Location of Little Whinging

Welcome to the blogosphere

My friend and fellow Queen Mary student Daniel Snowdon has just started a blog. You can find more about Dan himself on his introductory posting. Unfortunately he's a Liberal Democrat, and is based in Tower Hamlets, so I'm sure many of the regular readers of this blog will enjoy debating with him!

The ULU election results are in

Some of you may have noticed that I was recently a candidate in the University of London Union elections. Tonight the results were declared.

First off a huge congratulation to Vicki Slater, current President of Queen Mary Students' Union, who was elected as President with a huge 783 votes. This election attracted hundreds more votes than any other and Vicki's result is nothing short of spectacular.

Congratulations also especially to Rob Park (Chair of Council), Daniel Snowdon (Welfare & Student Affairs) and Laura Purll (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Trans Students' Officer) - all good mates, as well as to Jim Hunkin (Finance, Services & Operations), Michael Neville (Sports & Societies), John Kenchington (London Student Editor), Jennie Cowan (Environment & Ethics Officer), Matthew Mak (Medical Students' Officer), James Juggapah (Men's Officer), Chris Heathcote (Officer without portfolio), Sanchia Smithson (Racial Equaliy Officer), Nicky Grant (Students With Disabilities Officer) and Joanna Fried (Women's Officer).

No doubt over the coming months there'll be more about the team, either on this blog or else in London Student.

The full results are as follows:

President

Tony Percy 272
Joe Robertson WITHDRAWN
Vicki Slater 783 ELECTED
Re-Open Nominations 78

TOTAL 1133

Finance, Services & Operations

Jim Hunkin 378 ELECTED
Razual Karim 311
Re-Open Nominations 47

TOTAL 736


Welfare & Student Affairs

Daniel Snowdon 455 ELECTED
Re-Open Nominations 144

TOTAL 599


Sports & Societies

Round 1

Louis Appiah 136 ELIMINATED
Mike Neville 251
Sebastian Slater 260
Re-Open Nominations 46

TOTAL 693

Round 2

Mike Neville +56 307
Sebastian Slater +39.00 299 ELIMINATED
Re-Open Nominations +11.00 57

Non-transferable 30

TOTAL 693

Round 3

Mike Neville +203.00 510 ELECTED
Re-Open Nominations +24.00 81

Non-transferable +72 102

TOTAL 693

London Student Editor

Round 1

Chaminda Jayanetti 263 ELIMINATED
John Kenchington 312
Re-Open Nominations 50

TOTAL 625

Round 2

John Kenchington +148 460 ELECTED
Re-Open Nominations +41.00 91

Non-transferable +74 74

TOTAL 625

Chair of Council

Rob Park 372 ELECTED
Re-Open Nominations 104

TOTAL 476


Environment & Ethics Officer

Jennie Cowan 333 ELECTED
Rees Howell 194
Re-Open Nominations 45

TOTAL 572


Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Trans Officer

Laura Purll 383 ELECTED
Re-Open Nominations 99

TOTAL 482

Medical Students' Officer

Simon Lammy 205
Matthew Mak 265 ELECTED
Re-Open Nominations 36

TOTAL 506


Men's Officer

James Juggapah 349 ELECTED
Re-Open Nominations 90

TOTAL 439



Officer without Portfolio

Chris Heathcote 338 ELECTED
Re-Open Nominations 86

TOTAL 424



Postgraduate Students' Officer

Tim Roll-Pickering 359 ELECTED
Re-Open Nominations 87

TOTAL 446


Racial Equality Officer

Sanchia Smithson 372 ELECTED
Re-Open Nominations 84

TOTAL 456

Students With Disabilities Officer

Nicky Grant 370 ELECTED
Re-Open Nominations 60

TOTAL 430

Women's Officer

Joanna Fried 423 ELECTED
Re-Open Nominations 82

TOTAL 505

Council Tax exemption

As a doctoral student, I'm all too aware of how essential the student exemption from Council Tax is. However it seems not everyone has noticed it. It is especially shocking that the Liberal Democrats make a great virtue of being a student friendly party and yet their proposals for replacing the Council Tax would abolish the student exemption in the process! This whole matter just shows the true Liberal Democrat colours as a tax & spend party.

There are some Lib Dems who do not agree with the policy, such as Daniel Snowdon who argues against it. But will they be listened to?

This issue has not received much attention yet, not least because both main parties have not pledged to replace the Council Tax. But with both due to have new leaders by the next election if not much sooner, it is possible that this could happen much sooner.

Below is the motion I am submitting to the next general meeting of Queen Mary Students' Union next Thursday on this:

Students and Council Tax

This Union Notes

1. Local government elections for the London Boroughs are due to take place in May 2006.
2. Currently local government in Great Britain is financed by a combination of locally set Council Tax, centrally set business rates, grants from central government, local fines and other streams.(Hale, Rita and Associates "Who pays for local services? The balance of funding between government and councils" (Local Government Association, 2005), copy at http://www.lga.gov.uk/Publication.asp?lsection=0&id=SX1135-A781FC66 accessed 2005-11-22)
3. Council Tax raises approximately 26% of local government income but is one of the few streams a local council can vary. Consequently, an increase in spending often requires a proportionally greater increase in council tax.
4. In recent years, the level of Council Tax has received much media attention and a high level of protest. Very recently, the Local Government Association of England and Wales predicted that Council Tax could rise by as much as £100 a year.
(Metro November 22, 2005, page 2 columns 3-4)
5. Full-time students are exempt from paying Council Tax until they have “completed their course.”
(Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Council Tax (Discount Disregards) Order 1992 (SI 1992 No 548) (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1992/Uksi_19920548_en_2.htm), as amended by the Council Tax (Discount Disregards) Amendment Order 1996 (SI 1996 No 636) (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1996/Uksi_19960636_en_1.htm) , defines a full time student as:
“A person is to be regarded as undertaking a full time course of education on a particular day if-
(a) on the day he is enrolled for the purpose of attending such a course with a prescribed educational establishment within Part I of Schedule 2 to this Order, and
(b) the day falls within the period beginning with the day on which he begins the course and ending with the day on which he ceases to undertake it, and a person is to be regarded as ceasing to undertake a course of education for the purpose of this paragraph if he has completed it, abandoned it or is no longer permitted by the educational establishment to attend it.")
6. There is ambiguity over what exactly constitutes “completed their course” for research students in the writing up and beyond phase.
7. Currently the Council Tax is one of the most controversial charges of all and there are many calls for it to be amended or scrapped.
(E.g. IsItFair – The Campaign for the Reform of Council Tax at http://www.isitfair.co.uk/)
8. One of the most common proposed alternatives is to have a Local Income Tax and some political parties have taken this up.
9. The exemption for students is not explicitly retained in some proposals for local government taxation reform.
10. The current weekly threshold for starting to pay income tax for most student jobs (approximately Tax Codes 471-500) is between £90 and £95.
(Tables A – Pay Adjustment Tables (Inland Revenue, 1993), Week 1 (Apr 6 – Apr 12))
11. Due to the way in which Free Pay works and the juxtaposition of the tax year and university vacation dates, the effective threshold is even lower for those only working during vacations.

This Union Believes

1. Students are presently financially overburdened and it would be monumentally unfair to give them the additional burden of local government taxation.
2. If the Council Tax is to be replaced, the alternative must include an explicit continuation of the student exemption.
3. The definition of a full-time student should be modified to explicitly incorporate research students in the writing up phase.

This Union Resolves

1. To lobby and campaign for the student exemption to be retained at all times, but to especially do this when there is high profile public debate on the future course of local government finance.
2. To write to relevant bodies and individuals, including but not limited to, the major political parties, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and any successor holding the Local Government portfolio, the Local Government Association, the Greater London Assembly, the Mayor of London, Tower Hamlets Borough Council and the local MP, setting out the Union’s position and concern.
3. To encourage a high level of registration and voting by students in the forthcoming local government elections to show that the student vote cannot be ignored.