Letter from Westminster
March 20, 2006 3:07 PM
By Stephen Williams MP in Clifton Chronicle
By Stephen Williams MP in Clifton Chronicle
Are the wheels coming off Tony Blair's wagon? My week in Westminster saw several crunch votes and ended with another scandal over party funding.
We have now had several votes on the Terrorism Bill and the ID Cards Bill. The House of Lords are pressing their amendments, which mean that the two Houses are engaged in 'ping-pong' as amendments pass between MPs and Peers. The Terrorism Bill certainly has some important points of principle but it is the ID Cards Bill that will profoundly affect all of us.
The government promised at the last election that the initial take up of the cards and the provision of information for the database would be voluntary. Compulsion was probably a decade away. But now they are making it clear that whenever anyone renews their passport they will have to supply all the personal information needed for the huge new database. Their argument is that you don't have to own a passport or travel abroad so when you ask for one you are doing so voluntarily. This means Labour are not breaking their promise!!
The other big vote of the week was on the Education Bill. Political manoeuvring also comes into play here as the Conservative Leader pledged to support the Bill, knowing Mr Blair did not have enough support in the Labour ranks. The Liberal Democrats are worried about schools being able to control their own admissions. Research shows that the more influence a school has over admissions, the more unbalanced is their social intake.
In the end fifty two Labour MPs voted against the Bill, which led to jibes that this is a "Tory Bill" as it would have fallen if the Tories had not supported Mr Blair. It was quite clear from speeches by several Conservative MPs that they would like to see a return to selection and grammar schools.
This week it was confirmed that Ming Campbell has appointed me as the party's Shadow Minister for Further and Higher Education. This is a great opportunity and I am lucky that in Bristol I will be able to draw upon the experience and knowledge of our universities and colleges.
The week ended with revelations that the Labour Party and the Conservatives had been accepting huge loans running into millions of pounds. Both parties have been accused of granting peerages to the lenders. You might think this is a bit smelly but what really makes it stink is that such loans don't have to be made public knowledge, whereas donations must be disclosed.
The Liberal Democrats have long called for a clean up of party funding and the creation of a level playing field. Democracy needs fairly resourced political parties in order to give voters real choice in elections. In the past Labour could rely on the unions for funds and the Tories had their wealthy friends. The Liberal Democrats have been the church mice of British politics. My biggest worry in the last two general elections in Bristol West was how to find the funds necessary to ensure a fair competition.
I think it is now inevitable that there will be some form of state funding for political parties. I know that's not going to be massively popular. But I'd rather that politicians concentrated on producing fresh ideas than cosying up to wealthy donors.
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