Anthony Butcher

http://www.libdems.org.uk/index.cfm/...e/article.7451
Obviously these are just headlines and so shouldn't be taken entirely at face value. Having said that, it is probably worth discussing each in turn.

The ‘Top Ten’ Liberal Democrat manifesto pledges are:

1. Put patients first - Free doctors and nurses from Whitehall meddling
I think that this pledge is very much in line with UKIP's own stance on the NHS. Hospital staff need to be relieved of the constant form filling and blame-avoidance culture that puts patients in danger and dramatically reduces efficiency.

2. Free personal care when you need it - No one forced to sell their home to pay for care
This policy in fact refers to people going INTO phpbb_care homes during old age. I genuinely don't see the problem with people selling their homes to pay for care in their retirement. Surely this is why we put money INTO phpbb_savings, houses and pensions - so that we can pay for care when we need it. I would have thought that the money that the Lib Dems have allocated for this purpose could be better used perhaps by doing a pound for pound match on money spent during care, or even simply improving the existing care homes.

3. No tuition fees, no top-up fees - University affordable for every student
Having come out of university with a considerable amount of debt, probably equivalent to today's debt levels, I can understand the burden that this places on graduates. However, repayment is flexible and based on reasonable minimum salary levels.

I know that when I had to pay the fees for my MSc it was something of a motivator to ensure that I got something out of the course. Students who are paying for their course are likely to take it more seriously and give genuine consideration to what they will use their degree for.

If there is money available for supporting university courses, why not use it to subsidise courses in the areas where we are short of graduates, such as medicine?

4. More investment in children's early years - Spend the £1 billion Child Trust Fund when it matters most
This is something of a misleading pledge, IMHO. What they are actually suggesting is abolishing the government's Child Trust Fund and putting the money INTO phpbb_pre-school and primary school education.

5. 10,000 more police on the streets - Cutting crime and the fear of crime
This one looks very much like a headline grabber. Without reform to the way we police, simply putting more bobbies on the beat won't actually make any significant difference to crime levels, I would think. OTOH, if we could put 20,000 officers INTO phpbb_genuine community level policing, with dedicated officers for dealing with minor offences, this might make a difference.

6. £25 more on the pension every week at 75 - A million pensioners off means testing
I imagine that most people will see this number and think that it simply can't be done. What has happened to the social security crisis? Has this simply disappeared? Increasing the pension payment by such a huge amount sounds completely infeasible and would simply magnify the long term problem of affordability as the average age in Britain increases.

My thought on this is that it is a blatant attempt to buy the vote of the pensioners. I don't think that the Lib Dems actually can think that this is either afforable or sensible.

7. Free off-peak local transport - for all pensioners and disabled people.
Again, I think this is simply targeted at buying the OAP vote. If we are already giving them an extra £25 per week, why would they need free transport as well? How does this help OAPs or people on disability who already have adequate transport or don't want it? I think that the money should simply be put INTO phpbb_the pension, thus saving a huge amount of implementation time and cost.

8. Axe the Council Tax - Local Income Tax is both fair and affordable.
I would certainly argue with the words "fair" and "affordable" being used here. Higher income earners already pay a muich higher percentage of their earnings to government. At a local level, the services received are the same for everyone. Is it actually fair for me to pay 3 times as much as the person next door for exactly the same services?

Combined with the LibDem proposal to increase Income Tax by 10% for really high earners, we could end up with some people paying more than 60% of their earnings to the government. What we will actually see if the Lib Dems actually brought these new taxes in is an exodus of the wealthy and high paying businesses. If you were a business owners, earning £300,000 per year and had the choice of paying £200,000 of tax in the UK or £150,000 of tax abroad, which would you choose?

The Lib Dems seem to have forgotten that business owners already pay something like 55% to 57% tax if they are earning over £100,000 (Corporation tax + Income Tax + National Insurance). Adding a further 10% and a local income tax on top of that is grossly unfair, in my opinion.

9. We should not have gone to war in Iraq - It' time to restore trust in the Government
I think, more accurately, that really we shouldn't have gone to war without UN backing. They are of course correct that there is now very little trust in the Government.

10. Take the environment seriously - Cut pollution, cut congestion, boost renewable energy
I do like their idea of a dedicated Environmental Court with the sole responsibility of enforcing strict environmental standards.