UK Newswire Archive
Bristol's Green Roots Community Workshop
10-12-2010 09:22
A workshop to discuss the role of community in Bristol's Environmental movementBristol's Green Roots is a Heritage Lottery funded project to document Bristol's
history of social and environmental justice. As part of our work we would like to hear
from Bristol's community groups and what you think the role of the community has
been and is in Bristol's environmental movement. The workshop will run from
10.30am (registration and coffee at 10.00am) until 3.30pm, tea/coffee and lunch will be provided.
Through group discussion with members from Bristol's community groups we wish
to explore your thoughts on the role of community in Bristol, what you think about
Bristol's reputation as a 'green city', the achievements of Bristol's communities and
what you hope for Bristol's future.
We would like to film and record these discussions for the heritage archive. The
perspectives and opinions that you share will form an invaluable part of the project
and will allow you to discuss and document your own community's work.
As the archive will be stored with Bristol's museums it will be available as a research
tool for years to come and will also be available for the museums to use in
exhibitions about Bristol. You therefore would have to be willing for the material we
record to be used in this way.
If you would like to take part in this workshop and share your views on the role of
communities in Bristol's sustainability movement, please contact Emmelie Brownlee
on emmelie@schumacherinstitute.org.uk to ask any questions or register your interest.
The Tasks of the Proletariat and the Anarchists
10-12-2010 06:03
Our main theoretical task is to oppose the ‘‘theory of the revolution by stages’’, communist and social democrat based, by the ‘‘theory of integral revolution’’ (economic, political and social), characteristic of anarchism. Bakunin in the 1860s showed that the theory of revolution by stages of the Social Democrats represented a project of a ‘‘bourgeois revolution’’ and therefore opened the field for the alliance with the bourgeoisie and abdication of the very idea of revolution in the name of ‘‘reforms’’. Thus, defined itself in reality the whole field of oppositions between Bakunin and Marx.A sad day for democracy
10-12-2010 04:59
police/media lies - student protest pics & report
10-12-2010 03:25
the unelected coalition defies public opinion and pushes through the cuts vote, tearing the lib-dem party into power-hungry leaders versus backbench rebels. the media and police spin on today's events has gone into overdrive to misrepresent the causes of violence and property damage. here are a few key alternatives to the mainstream lies, and some pics from the day.
the mainstream media cite a police claim that a route for the march was agreed, but that students broke away from it. as can be seen from the photos, after one of the marches set off from malet street, by the time it joined the thousands of students already filling trafalgar square, they found their route to parliament square blocked by lines of police and police horses. far from allowing the march through, whitehall was turned into an empty wasteland, and students, sensing a trap, ran into st james' park and round a back route to parliament square.
the protesters then arrived at parliament square where it had been agreed they could protest, but they came against boris's ridiculous fences. (these were put there supposedly while essential works repaired damage done by the 'democracy village' during the summer - they have remained for nearly six months, spoiling the public's enjoyment of this heritage square to a much greater extent than the democracy village ever did). also police had cordoned off all of the square at the front of parliament instead of simply putting lines in front of parliament itself. thus, police had made the area available to protest completely inadequate for the numbers expected.
so, tens of thousands of protestors arrived near parliament square, and found their democratic right to protest was again severely hampered by police who had already shown they cannot be trusted when they kettled so many peaceful protestors in whitehall just two weeks ago. most students could hardly even see parliament, as they were only allowed into the two side roads and the back of parliament square, and many couldn't even get in to the square.
the mainstream lie is that police used containment reluctantly as a final measure, but actually police horses were already deployed and cordons set up at the exits to the square before violence erupted at the front. police were allowing people in through the cordon, but warning them they would not be let out. some police at one cordon told people that those wanting to leave were being let out elsewhere. this turned out to be a lie, as each cordon was operating a policy of arbitrary detention of anyone that looked like a protestor.
some police on the victoria street cordon told me they were only letting out 'vulnerable' people, but then let through a well-dressed businessman who certainly didn't appear 'vulnerable'.
i asked whether, if for example they were ordered to only contain black people, they would consider that reasonable? missing the finer points of hypothetical argument one officer then called me a racist. this is why we need free education, so that idiots don't end up in uniform. the cop that said i was racist then excelled himself by telling a young greek girl that she should go home back to greece if she didn't like it here. you couldn't make it up!
as students became angry at once again being kettled in freezing conditions and having their rights trampled, some started to fight back. on victoria street, some protestors used a kettle-busting V formation of reinforced banners to try to force their way through the lines, and many burst through as the police lines gave way with the applied force (nice to see students using their physics to such practical use).
this use of a banner isn't particularly violent at all, generally pushing police out of the way and clearing a path to exit an unlawful imprisonment rather than lashing out or throwing objects. however, police replied by launching a frenzied attack on students wanting to get out of their arbitrary prison, and batons, fists and shields were used violently against students whose only offence was trying to run out of the cordon. i saw some bad injuries, and an arrest where someone was wrestled to the ground and repeatedly batoned, punched and kicked by thuggish cops.
suddenly police lines opened up to allow a charge into the crowd with police horses. this was highly dangerous as the police cordon was already squeezing the crowd so they had nowhwere to run from the galloping horses. protestors retaliated and also defended themselves, and one poor horse lost its rider and splayed around amongst the crowd before being calmed and led out. at the end of the day more than forty protestors have been injured, with nearly thirty taken to hospital by ambulance.
many mainstream news reports totally misrepresented the timeline of this process, claiming that police only cordoned the crowd after the scuffles and after a rider fell from a police horse. this is utterly untrue, but has pervaded the reports.
i did a little recce of the cordons, and at every one i was told people could go in but not be let out. at the top of whitehall, a sergeant told me his instructions were not to let anyone in at all, including accredited press. this is in direct violation of guidelines set by the ipcc investigations into the G20 kettles, which stated that press should always be allowed in and out of cordons unless there is serious immediate impending danger of violence. since the whitehall cordon was nowhere near the protests, it is hard to see this as anything other than a direct defiance of those guidelines.
outside the cordon at westminster bridge, UCU had an authorised campaign-bus across the road at the embankment, and there were speeches and music there. a crowd of several hundred protestors listened as the vote was announced shortly after 5.30, and they erupted angrily when they heard the cuts were intact. one of the speakers, alan whittaker, the president of the UCU, then started telling the crowd that 'we've done all we could, and now we want everyone to go home along the embankment to avoid confrontation'.
the response to this was amazing, a true grassroots awakening, and an anger at the impotence of elected leaders. easily half the crowd started shouting at mr whittaker, and he and sally hunt, gen secretary, looked visibly shaken by the response. a group at the front then pushed through lines of event security stewerds. predictably, these hired thugs (from SFM security) started lashing out, but were soon overpowered and stepped back. i asked their boss on what basis they were attacking and preventing people walking along the street - he replied they'd been told to by police.
confronted by an impenetrable wall of riot police and dozens of closely parked vans on the approach to parliament square, this crowd of hundreds then walked back round the embankment and again tried to break through police lines on whitehall. remember, this was an attempt at solidarity, these students weren't trying to break out of a kettle, they were actually trying to join the protests in parliament square, to go into the kettle in solidarity with others.
given there was a publicised candlelit vigil at 7pm and many people were arriving after work to show support for the students, any claim by the police that they were trying to facilitate lawful protest must evaporate in a puff of media lies. police swept up whitehall and baton charged groups of people to clear the area and scare off any peaceful protestors.
around this time, some people were finally being allowed out of the square, having been held without food, drink or toilet facilities for some six hours. as they left they were all individually photographed for the questionable police database of protestors.
with all the repression of the day, and with palpable anger that the vote had gone through, protestors gathered in trafalgar square, and a small group tried to symbolically set fire to the xmas tree there. as the base of the tree burst into flames, riot police charged across the square to clear it and the fire was extinguished.
others moved up to oxford street and targetted corporations that are known to owe huge amounts (billions of pounds) of tax while their tory friends turn a blind eye. mainstream media coverage of the attacks on phillip green's 'topshop' chain, blamed violence, thuggery, and mob mentality, without once mentioning the issue of taxes owed.
on regent street a group of students chanced upon prince charles and camilla and damaged their car. this will be the main headline in the morning's papers as the mainstream goes into overdrive protecting this archane privileged and nonsensical family who are collectively the biggest welfare benefit scroungers ever known.
perhaps this was a little taster for the royal charade of a wedding next year, when even more people realise just how shafted we're all going to be by ideological and political cuts aimed at the poorest, while the rich and privileged carry on business as normal.
meanwhile, the thousand or more penned in parliament square inevitably turn to property destruction in their frustration at having their voices so repressed and unheard. they attack the two nearest buildings, left unprotected by police, the supreme court, and the treasury.
the square was finally cleared by a brutal push of ranks of riot police, and demonstrators were moved to the freezing middle of westminster bridge, and then finally released late in the evening as FIT teams 'processed' them all, taking photos of everyone as they were allowed to leave to the south of the river.
the breakdown of law and order on the streets of london can hardly be helped by the widespread lawless attitude of officers. when i was told to move away while trying to document a stop and search of some young asian lads, i explained to the police that i was only trying to make sure that they upheld the law. his reply? "we ARE the law".
meanwhile on sky news, reporter 'kay burley' gaffed by calling the students "insurgents". mark thomas made the point eloquently that this wasn't quite as outrageous as calling herself a 'journalist'.
European Calling: It Is Just the Beginning!
10-12-2010 01:22
…You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows: occupation of universities everywhere in Europe, blockage of the cities, manif sauvage, rage. This is the answer of a generation to whom they want to cut the future with debts for studying, cuts of welfare state and increasing of tuition fees.
The determination of thousand of students in London, the rage of who assault the Italian Senate house against the austerity and the education cuts, has opened the present time: this is because the future is something to gain that start when you decide collectively to take risk and to struggle.
The extraordinary struggles that we are living have the capacity to show a present with an intensity that exceed the linearity of the time, that refuse our precarity condition: it is an assault to the future!
We don’t want to get into debt, we don’t want to pay more fees to study in London as well as in Paris, Wien, Rome, Athens, Madrid, Dublin, Lisbon. This European movement is about refusing austerity policies, refusing to get into debt for these miserable politicians. Que se vayan todos!
What is happening nowadays in Rome first spread out in Athens and Paris, then in Dublin and London: it is the irruption of a movement who speaks a common language, the same young generation in revolt, who inhabits different cities but shares the same determination to struggle, «floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee».
We have to meet each other and invent a new political grammar against the weakness of the Nation-state and their strategy to face the crisis: their receipt is just austerity, cuts and debt.
In Italy we have occupied not only universities, but also blocked motorways and the mobility of the country in order to circulate struggles outside the national borders and coming in Europe and beyond. The circulation of struggles is living within the Book Block and the wild demonstration in London, Paris and Rome.
This autumn we are living a real European student movement, that is various and radical, really heterogeneous. Its common reclaim comes from a protest that is born in the middle of the crisis, and that represents the most courageous answer. It is a struggle composed by different struggles, heterogeneous temporalities that reclaim more scholarships for student and a public university for everyone.
Within the book block a new generation recognized and found itself in the protest. Today in lots of cities the Italian student movement is showing something more than just solidarity: this is because your struggle is our struggle and all around Europe students are against the increasing of fees, the privatisation of the university and the education cuts. You are not alone in UK: an European event, a new generation do not want to stop. We have the force whom want to change the world and we have the intelligence to do it. It is just the beginning!
We propose to students, researchers, precarious workers and PhD students to build up together an European meeting at the beginning of the 2011, to continue the struggle, to transform this wind in a tempest!
Uniriot Roma, Anomalia Sapienza
>> more info: www.uniriot.org
Student Fightback - another great anti-cop tactic brings rewards
09-12-2010 23:45
SchNEWS 751: Hacktion Stations
09-12-2010 23:39
A real (but largely virtual) war is being fought over control of information and your right to hear the truth - especially any truth unpalatable as far as the ruling elites are concerned. In their guise of 'The Authorities', the nod for a full on assault on WikiLeaks was given sometime ago; a not-so-covert campaign to shut the website shut down and trace and punish those responsible is well underway.
Parliament Riot Book Block Stands Firm
09-12-2010 23:01
Ratcliffe Trial Day 11 Defence Concludes its Case
09-12-2010 22:27
8 December 2010
Mr Rees for the defence says that there will be no more ‘live’ evidence presented.
A number of expert reports, summaries on previous evidence, and written submissions are read to the jury. These are presented in some detail with a view to demonstrate the effects and advance of climate change. Reference being made to the effects on the atmosphere, oceans and the ecosphere at large. The consequences are inferred and reported on human health, on populations and migrations. Reference is further made to many of the climate effect to be expected, here in Nottinghamshire.
Additional witness statements are read to the jury. The Judge directs them that they should be treated with the same weight as if they had been calling in person to court and that they were under oath.
These include more expert evidence on climate change effects. A rather frightening statement from a resident of Boscastle in Cornwall. In 2004 the site of one of the worst [and sudden] floods in recent history. A prime example of a ‘concentrated precipitation events’ previously referred to as becoming more likely by Dr. Geoff Meaden. There were other statement from people who had personal experiences and suffered other extreme weather event in the UK and the effects on their lives at the time and since.
Concluding this section of the evidence, there was a statement from a resident of the Tuvalu Islands in the Pacific, these are loosing land to the ocean rather rapidly, and describing their environmental alarm and the effects on their lives, society’s cohesion and their economy. Then another statement is read from a resident of Tamil Nadu, India. He describes the impact of coastal erosion and influence on his livelihood as fishing declines.
The court rises early. Closing speeches will be started tomorrow
The case continues …. And is now in closing stages ….
Environment Agency Boscastle Flood Findings
http://www.boscastlecornwall.org.uk/Regenminutes/regenfindings.htm
Tuvalu Islands
http://www.tuvaluislands.com
Tuvalu and Global Warming
http://www.tuvaluislands.com/warming.htm
Tamil Nadu : Global warming, climate change pose threat to coral reefs in Gulf of Mannar
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article419957.ece
++
2010 Nottingham Ratcliffe Conspiracy Trial Begins [Feature]
http://notts.indymedia.org.uk/articles/701
2010 Nottingham Ratcliffe conspiracy to trespass trial opens today
http://notts.indymedia.org.uk/articles/693
2010 Nottingham Ratcliffe Trial Day 2 - Prosecution’s Opening
http://notts.indymedia.org.uk/articles/702
2010 Nottingham Ratcliffe Trial Day 3 - Prosecution case continues
http://notts.indymedia.org.uk/articles/710
2010 Nottingham Ratcliffe Trial: Prosecution Opens [Feature 2]
http://notts.indymedia.org.uk/articles/714
2010 Nottingham Ratcliffe Trial Day 4 - Prosecution case concludes
http://notts.indymedia.org.uk/articles/716
2010 Nottingham Ratcliffe Trial Day 5 – Defence case opens
http://notts.indymedia.org.uk/articles/735
2010 Nottingham Ratcliffe Trial Day 6 – The Defence Continues
http://notts.indymedia.org.uk/articles/744
2010 Nottingham Ratcliffe Trial Day 7 ‘Snowed off’
2010 Nottingham Ratcliffe Trial Day 8 – Defence Calls MP's
http://notts.indymedia.org.uk/articles/765
2010 Nottingham Ratcliffe Trial Day 9 – Defence Calls More Experts
http://notts.indymedia.org.uk/articles/786
2010 Nottingham Ratcliffe Trial Day 10 – Defence Calls more Defendants
http://notts.indymedia.org.uk/articles/788
Ratcliffe on Trial Blog http://ratcliffeontrial.org/blog
Onwards ... >
____________________________________________
ALAN LODGE
Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham. UK
Email: tash@indymedia.org
Web: http://digitaljournalist.eu
Member of the National Union of Journalists [NUJ]
____________________________________________
"It is not enough to curse the darkness.
It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"
___________________________________________
<ends>
Parliament Square Demo 9 December
09-12-2010 22:25
Demo in Parliament Square over raise of tuition fees, London, 9th December.
The anti-cut movement needs be radicalised
09-12-2010 22:22
The movement is now stuck in visible violence but lacks ideology. It is worrying that student elitism and insufficient understanding of the capitalist system will bar the working class from joining the struggle and end the movement badly.On the other hand, the leftists fail in radicalising the movement by mistaken strategies.How to join the Anonymous Hackers Payback Operation for beginners
09-12-2010 22:21
An introduction to the Anonymous group currently organizing the attacks against Paypal, Mastercard and other perceived enemies of Wikileaks. Freedom fighters sign up here!Police film Police Horse rider fall from his Police Horse on Sky News
09-12-2010 21:43
Police film Police Horse rider fall from his Police Horse being declared as an Exclusive!Anyone interested in nuclear disarmament read this cable #08PARIS245
09-12-2010 21:36
P3 MEETING ON NONPROLIFERATION AND DISARMAMENT (2008) - Google 08PARIS245Particularly note the tone of the cluster munitions section: they do not want to stop using them
"Unfortunately, once cluster munitions are declared to be unacceptable, it is hard to argue that we still need to use them for awhile."
Dayx3: Demo leaves Malet Street
09-12-2010 21:22
Short video of the Dayx3 demonstration leaving Malet Street towards Russel Square.
Dayx3: Short video from Parliament Square 2pm
09-12-2010 21:22
A short video from Parliament Square around 2pm, people have broken through the police lines and are all over the square, heavy police presence protects the parliament.
Bristol City Council gives go ahead for Tesco in Cheltenham Road by 4 votes to 3
09-12-2010 21:22
Councillors voted by 4-3 in favour of allowing Tesco to open. The remaining barriers, according to our planning system were the noise assesment to the rear, where Tesco intend to install huge freezers and chiller rooms. The detail of the shop fronts were also in dispute, and it was also considered by the Anti- Tesco group that there had been no impact assessment over servicing of the proposed retail unit, and that this should be a material consideration.Councillors voted by 4-3 in favour of allowing Tesco to open. The remaining barriers, according to our planning system were the noise assesment to the rear, where Tesco intend to install huge freezers and chiller rooms. The detail of the shop fronts were also in dispute, and it was also considered by the Anti- Tesco group that there had been no impact assessment over servicing of the proposed retail unit, and that this should be a material consideration.
Councillors, who voted in favour of Tesco were, Cllr. Mark Bradshaw, Cllr. Kent, Cllr.Clark, and Cllr. a.n.other…
Councillors who voted against were, Cllr. Chris Windows, Cllr. Derek Pickup, and Cllr. and Chairperson Alex Woodman. In his summing up, Alex Woodman said that “In the back of his mind that Tesco would probably go to appeal”, and that BCC would have to foot the legal bill…
The meeting was well attended, and the speeches submitted were universally against permission being given to Tesco. Most poignant of these speeches was that of Richard Fox of Radford Mill Organic Farm Shop in Picton Street, whose business will be directly affected. He questioned what the planning process was for, suggesting that it should be about delivering what is good for the Community and, indeed, the planet. Claire Milne, who heads up the No Tesco campaign, had succeeded in drawing together a vast array of relevant information, which clearly gave our elected councillors sufficient leeway to refuse planninng permission had they been so minded to do…
Chris Chalkley of PRSC attempted to expound clearly what had happened over the last 12 months, and what was at stake. His speech is reported below:
Councillors,
At this late juncture, I think it is perhaps appropriate to review the journey that has brought us to this point, because this will help us to see more clearly.
The applicant, Tesco PLC, applied for change of use in the name of an agent, with a Bath address, fulfilling the minimum legal requirement for consultation. ie. a small ad in the Evening Post, one A4 poster in the street, and 50 letters to locals, to which there were no replies to the Planning Dept.
As soon as Tesco’s possible arrival became common knowledge, there was furore. 2500 complaints were sent to the planning dept. 93% of locals who were surveyed said that they did not want a supermarket in the former Jesters Comedy Club. On top of this, the building was squatted by locals who started to use the buildings as a community space. These squatters were evicted by bailiffs in March at a reported cost of £60,000. It is still not clear who footed that bill.
It is difficult to imagine that Tesco PLC did not expect resistance…
Since then, five security guards have guarded the property 24hours a day, seven days a week. Barricaded front and rear, the property resembles a military encampment. Can this supermarket that claims that “Community is at the Heart of everything we do” really be in such fear of the community they intend to serve?
It is our contention that the Community was hoodwinked: Because the local community forfeited the right to make its opinions felt from the beginning, we have been forced to fight this campaign on narrow grounds. Today we are notionally here to discuss shop fronts, congestion and probable noise levels. The proposed retail shop front, which will permanently combine what was originally three shop fronts, makes a mockery of the notion of conservation of traditional streetscape. Furthermore,The No Tesco campaign has clearly shown that the likely amount of servicing by large delivery lorries required by the proposed supermarket will cause serious and prolonged traffic congestion on a main arterial road, and on a bus lane. The proposed refrigeration units to the rear will be noisy, and though the noise report submitted is slick, it is clearly misleading.
Even on the narrow planning grounds where the No Tesco campaign has been forced to fight, it is abundantly clear what the applicant is attempting to do: By seeking to cram as much as possible into a space that is clearly not designed for such an operation, Tesco have shown that their goal is retail conquest by any means possible. This will certainly be damaging to the fragile but enduring local economy, and this is not acceptable. Net local employment would be certain to fall.
I would remind you that Stokes Croft and Montpelier are both designated Conservation areas, both defined by their independent local businessesand by their alternative culture, characteristics which are treasured to the extent that Stokes Croft now defines itself as “Bristol’s Cultural Quarter”. The proposed incursion of a ubiquitous supermarket chain represents the very antithesis of our Community’s aspirations.
It falls to you today, councillors, to decide where you stand. The incredibly hard working and diligent No Tesco campaigners have given you sufficient reasons to back the aspirations of our communityand to refuse Tesco’s application. It is up to you now to make your choice.
There is a clear change in the way the political wind is blowing.
I quote from Our own Government.’s Community and Local Govt. website, published on Dec. 6th, just two days ago : http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1788684
Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said :
“For far too long local people have had too little say over a planning system that has imposed bureaucratic decisions by distant officials in Whitehall and the town hall. We need to change things so there is more people-planning and less politician-planning, so there is more direct democracy and less bureaucracy in the system. These reforms will become the building blocks of the Big Society.”
Greg Clark, Minister for Planning and Decentralisation, added:
“Most people love where they live, yet the planning system has given them almost no say on how their neighbourhood develops. The Coalition Government will revolutionise the planning process by taking power away from officials and putting it into the hands of those who know most about their neighbourhood - local people themselves. This will be a huge opportunity for communities to exercise genuine influence over what their home town should look like in the future. It will create the freedom and the incentives for those places that want to grow, to do so, and to reap the benefits. “
Our own Central Government has finally recognised the failure of our planning system to deliver decisions that make sense, and will soon cede decision making to local community groups.
I urge you to heed the winds of change, indeed to be in the vanguard of this change. Take courage, back the local community and refuse to allow any supermarket chain into our community, by all means possible.
Unfortunately, our councillors were not listening…were not listening to the people who elect them to act in their interests. The meeting ended in uproar. Cries of “Shame” rang around the room, and severl people were physically ejected by security, including Mr. Chalkley.
Stokes Croft has been blighted by poor planning decisions for decades. This is another of these, and clearly calls into question the legitimacy of the planners and our Councillors to act on our behalf.
Our Central Government is on the verge of publishing a new Localism Bill, which is at the heart of the Coalition’s new shiny plans for Mr. Cameron’s Big Society. Perhaps this decision will be the catalyst that kickstarts the process whereby our local areas demand real autonomy.
http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1788684
As Claire Milne writes on the bottom of all her e-mails:
“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day I can hear her breathing”
Arundhati Roy
Sri Lanka War-Crimes Accountability The Tamil Perspective 15/01/2010 10Colombo32
09-12-2010 21:13
## "Responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country’s senior civilian and military leadership" ## "...[Tamil] vulnerable to political or even physical attack if they raise the issue of accountability publicly...[if] the international community push...[it] would seem to play into the super-heated campaign...that there is an international conspiracy against Sri Lanka and its “war heroes.”" ##Violence against student elected uwesu by met police
09-12-2010 19:40
elected represented of uwesu hospitalised by met police in london during tuition fee protest. Paddy Besiris, st Matts Chair of UWESU has been admitted to hospital after a head injury inflicted by excessive force by the MET police. 24 hours ago at an event hosted by centre forum David Cameron, prime minister, praised uwe professor Steve West current vice canceller of Samantha Cameron's alumina. Today popular representative lies in hospital following police brutality propping up Cameron's coalition.Government Votes for Tutition Fee Increases
09-12-2010 19:23
So the vote is in: The government has won by 21. MPs voted by 323 to 302So how did our local reps do? Stephen Williams abstained. Don Foster voted for the Government.
Fail on both counts. Williams for trying to have his cake and eat it - either you stand by your pledge or admit you're shifting to get closer to power and Foster for voting with the right wing.
LibDem credibility = Zero.
Resignation now is their only hope...
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Here are the figures for how the Lib Dems voted. Some 21 Lib Dems voted against the government. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2010/dec/09/tui...-live
The rebels were: Annette Brooke (Dorset Mid & Poole North), Sir Menzies Campbell (Fife North East), Michael Crockart (Edinburgh West), Tim Farron (Westmorland & Lonsdale), Andrew George (St Ives), Mike Hancock (Portsmouth South), Julian Huppert (Cambridge), Charles Kennedy (Ross, Skye & Lochaber), John Leech (Manchester Withington), Stephen Lloyd (Eastbourne), Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West), John Pugh (Southport), Alan Reid (Argyll & Bute), Dan Rogerson (Cornwall North), Bob Russell (Colchester), Adrian Sanders (Torbay), Ian Swales (Redcar), Mark Williams (Ceredigion), Roger Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire), Jenny Willott (Cardiff Central), and Simon Wright (Norwich South).
The 27 Lib Dems who voted for the government were: Danny Alexander (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey), Norman Baker (Lewes), Sir Alan Beith (Berwick-upon-Tweed), Gordon Birtwistle (Burnley), Tom Brake (Carshalton & Wallington), Jeremy Browne (Taunton Deane), Malcolm Bruce (Gordon), Paul Burstow (Sutton & Cheam), Vincent Cable (Twickenham), Alistair Carmichael (Orkney & Shetland), Nick Clegg (Sheffield Hallam), Edward Davey (Kingston & Surbiton), Lynne Featherstone (Hornsey & Wood Green), Don Foster (Bath), Stephen Gilbert (St Austell and Newquay), Duncan Hames (Chippenham), Nick Harvey (Devon North), David Heath (Somerton & Frome), John Hemming (Birmingham Yardley), Norman Lamb (Norfolk North), David Laws (Yeovil), Michael Moore (Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk), Andrew Stunell (Hazel Grove), Jo Swinson (Dunbartonshire East), Sarah Teather (Brent Central), David Ward (Bradford East), and Steve Webb (Thornbury and Yate).
The government whip Mark Hunter (Cheadle) acted as a teller. That means he supported the government, but that his name will not appear as a "yes" in the division list.
And the eight Lib Dems who did not vote were: Lorely Burt (Solihull), Martin Horwood (Cheltenham), Simon Hughes (Bermondsey & Old Southwark), Chris Huhne (Eastleigh), Tessa Munt (Wells), Sir Robert Smith (Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine), John Thurso (Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross), and Stephen Williams (Bristol West).
Huhne and Horwood did not vote because they are at the climate change conference in Cancun. Huhne would have backed the government, and Horwood would have voted against.