A Fresh Start – Conference Highlights
Posted by Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, at 15:25, Mon 28 September 2009:
I thought I would take a short break from my usual local updates to briefly share with you some highlights of the Liberal Democrat conference. This year more than ever were policy decisions relevant to us here in Haringey.
SAFER CHILDREN A key decision was reform of child protection. As the crisis continues in Haringey we adopted a comprehensive policy addressing the serious gaps in child protection. Measures include professionals seconded between services to promote better cooperation – a significant problem in Haringey. My contribution to the debate was to argue for more accountability. To see full policy agreed visit http://tinyurl.com/y9rbqsq
FAIRER TAXES I warmly welcomed our renewed commitment to fairer taxes - no-one who earns less than £10,000 should pay income tax. Making budgets balance is equally important and one proposal (and it is a proposal at this stage) would be a new charge on high-value properties – 0.5% on value over £1m. In the ongoing debate I will argue for the special treatment of London because of the distorted property values. It is also extremely important that people on low incomes such as pensioners but living in higher value homes do not pay. Vince and his team have already confirmed this and in the same way there is council tax benefit, there would be a special benefit for this charge. I am sure the debate will continue before our final manifesto is published.
FIGHTING FOR EQUALITY As my party's national spokesperson on equality I was fortunate enough to be given an opportunity to set out my stall. As a liberal and a representative for one of the most diverse communities in the country, I am passionately committed to keeping equality top of the agenda in a recession. I outlined why I think tacking inequality is good for everybody, not just women and minorities. I also had a swipe at BBC bosses for sacking Strictly’s Arlene Phillips! To find out more you can read the speech here http://tinyurl.com/y87nhy7
I hope you don’t mind my slight digression but as you can see our discussion in Bournemouth helps tackle issues here in Haringey. From my postbag/inbox I know many of the topics have sparked local people’s interest and comment. That is the great thing about our conference – we have our debates in public, not behind closed doors. If you would like to get more involved get in touch.
Best regards,
Lynne. MP for Hornsey & Wood Green (Lib Dem) 020 8340 5459
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