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Election 2010: Who's important in the LibDems?
In this article we profile some of the key figures within the Liberal Democrats who could be influential in the setting of future policy affecting the sector.
Name: Jenny Willott
Current role: Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Constituency: Cardiff Central
Margin: Liberal Democrat 49.8 per cent; Labour 34.3 per cent
Biography: Jenny Willott has a close association with the voluntary sector. Before being elected to Parliament in 2005, she worked for Barnardo’s, Unicef UK and a charity in Northern India. In her personal biography on her website she says: “My work within these various charities really spurred me on to want to change things. That is why I began to get even more involved in politics, until I got elected to Parliament.”
Most recently she has spoken out publicly against charity exemptions for academies and the government decision to scrap cheques, asking the Office of the Third Sector to assess its impact on the voluntary sector. She’s also tabled or signed early day motions against the government’s decision to scrap the campaigning research fund and opposing the consolidation of charity funds within NHS budgets.
She also criticised the government’s support for the sector in its pre-budget report, complaining that progress on reforming gift aid was as “sluggish as ever” and that there was no mention of creating a level playing field for the third sector to effectively compete with private companies for public sector contracts.
Committees: Willott is a member of the Public Administration Committee and the Work and Pensions Committee.
Voting record: She voted very strongly for the smoking ban, for equal gay rights and for laws to stop climate change, and very strongly against ID cards, anti-terrorism laws and replacing Trident.
Name: Vincent Cable
Current role: Deputy leader and shadow chancellor
Constituency: Twickenham (Liberal Democrat 51.6 per cent, Conservative 32.4 per cent)
Biography: Dr Vincent Cable has become a popular economic commentator in the charity sector. He was keynote speaker at the CFDG annual fundraising dinner in 2008 and addressed NCVO’s annual conference last year. At the NCVO event, Cable warned delegates that voluntary and community organisations are paid great lip service by politicians from all political persuasions as they all “have an interest in talking you up”. But, he cautioned, there is danger in listening too closely to praise of the sector, as organisations are facing a “scissors crisis” in which increasing need is rubbing up against diminishing income – and potentially diminishing government funding.
Cable also wrote the foreword to the Charity Finance Yearbook 2010 where he proposed a High Pay Commission that would restrict the “absurdly high” pay of many in the private and public sectors and help to steer the brightest talent towards civil society organisations.
Voting record: Cable voted very strongly for the smoking ban, the hunting ban, for equal gay rights and for an investigation into the Iraq war. He voted very strongly against ID cards, foundation hospitals and student top-up fees. And he voted moderately for laws to stop climate change.
Others to watch:
Martin Horwood
Shadow minister for the Environment, Energy, Food and Rural Affairs since January 2009, is a member of the all-party parliamentary group on the sector. Aged 48, he worked for Oxfam for five years and became the first director of fundraising at the Alzheimer’s Society; the team he led won Tesco’s Charity of the Year, earning £2.5m for the charity nationally. Horwood is involved with a variety of campaigns, ranging from stopping climate change to protecting animals - he is president of Cheltenham’s RSPCA.
Paul Burstow
The LibDems’ chief whip has been the parliamentary ambassador to the NSPCC since 2001. He was an active supporter of the NSPCC’s campaign for a Children’s Commissioner for England and the removal of the defence of reasonable chastisement. Working with another Ambassador and fellow Liberal Democrat MP Baroness Walmsley, Burstow was instrumental in getting the Liberal Democrats to adopt reform of the law on physical punishment as party policy in 2003. In July 2002, Burstow introduced a Private Member’s Bill to push for the creation of a Children’s Commissioner. Burstow worked particularly closely with the NSPCC during the Victoria Climbie Inquiry and was the key speaker at three fringe meetings at Liberal Democrat autumn conferences on this subject.
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