John Hemming's Web Log

One area I have campaigned on in the past and would intend to campaign on after the election (whether I win or not) relates to the judicial system. There are particular problems within the Family Courts. As it currently stands the courts rely for public family law proceedings on expert opinion.  That expert opinion is provided mainly by employees of the local authority.  Additionally from time to time other experts are appointed who are theoretically independent, but in practice can be on real or effective retainers from the local authority. Inevitably the recommendations to the court are driven by the management priorities of the local authority.  Those management priorities are driven by Ofsted who are required by central government to get more children adopted.  Hence we have a system where a key priority is to remove children from one family (for whatever reasons) and place them with another. It may not seem rational, but that is the case. Parents shoul...

Norman Lamb has responded with anger to reports that more than five million people could be waiting for NHS treatment within two years, according to confidential documents reported in The Times. Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson Norman Lamb said: "This is further evidence of a health service facing impossible challenges. “The inevitable consequence of growing waiting lists is that those with the money will pay to go private, and who can blame them? But others will be left waiting often in desperate pain. “We are developing a two-tier system, based on ability to pay and not need. “This is what the Conservative stewardship of the NHS means for people up and down the country. “People are lying in trollies in hospital corridors, and Theresa May doesn't care. "Only the Liberal Democrats are prepared to make the bold decisions required to secure the future of the NHS and social care systems."

Responding to reports Theresa May plans to push through a vote to bomb Syria if she wins the elections, Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron said: "The idea that after months of disinterest and inaction Theresa May would back military intervention against Assad in Syria outside of a wider diplomatic strategy and without UN backing is deeply worrying. “Assad is a brutal dictator, and the use of chemical weapons is indefensible. “The action taken by Donald Trump earlier this month was a necessary and proportionate response to the horrific use of chemical weapons. However, we were absolutely clear that we disagreed with the way in which he conducted it- unilaterally, without allies, outside of a wider strategy. “That is why the UK must not rush headlong into supporting further unilateral military action in Syria by Trump. Undermini...

Responding to Labour's announcement it would halt NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs),  Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Norman Lamb said: “The original purpose of the STP process was a good thing – to bring fragmented parts of the system together. But it is based on the fantasy that there is enough money to deliver this vision, when the plans are now hundreds of millions of pounds short. “The real question is: which party is prepared to take the tough action to increase investment? Only the Liberal Democrats will make the case for increasing tax to guarantee the future of the NHS. “The Conservatives are re-organising the deck-chairs – while the good ship NHS is sinking because they are starving it of funds. “Hospitals under the Conservatives will close because they are being starved of money, not for clinical reasons. That is a disgrace.” 

Commenting on the latest untruth delivered from the stump in Bristol, a Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister is deliberately misleading the public.  She can keep on repeating this tired out cliché but it doesn’t make it true. “Liberal Democrats have ruled out a coalition with a pro-Brexit Corbyn run Labour Party time and time again, just like we have ruled out a coalition with Theresa May’s pro-Brexit Conservative Party. “The British public deserve the facts, not blatant untruths. “Lies like this degrade politics. One might have hoped it was beneath the Prime Minister to spread such disinformation but sadly, it seems she will do anything or say anything for a vote.

I did an analysis of the Labour leaflets in 2015 which can be seen here . It is clear that there are going to be questions about Labour's leaflets in the 2017 campaign. For example we have this in the 2017 Labour Leafet: Here is the leaflet we put out in 2014 once the work had gone into the autumn statement Another Labour Leaflet There are a number of things that can be argued about in a later Labour leaflet as to whether taxes on wealthy people were increased (which is true overall according to HM Treasury) or reduced in the last parliament (which Labour falsely claim) or whether the graduate finance system is fairer (because the subsidy goes to the poorer graduates) or not. However, there are other things which really are stretching the truth: At least the Lib Dem and Labour Campaigns can agree that the Yardley election is between Lib Dem and Labour. That, unusually, is a point of agreement. However, as John Hemming voted against his party 39 times in the last parliam...

The government is 'relaxed' about the crisis in general practice because it thinks Labour can't win the general election, Dr Phil Hammond  a former GP and health commentator has said. Commenting on the news, Shadow Health Secretary Norman Lamb said: “The Tories have acted with outrageous complacency by repeatedly failing to take action to tackle the crisis in our NHS and care services. Time and again, I have called on Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt to give the NHS and social care the extra funding they desperately need to keep pace with growing demand, but this has fallen on deaf ears. “This election is a chance to show the Conservatives that they cannot continue to put the future of our most essential public services in jeopardy. A vote for the Liberal Democrats will be a vote to give our health and care services t...

Today, the Lords Select Committee on International Relations has published a report on UK policy in the Middle East which argues that UK should distance itself from Trump; recognise Palestine as a state and support the Iran Nuclear deal. Responding Shadow Foreign Secretary, Tom Brake MP said: " The Conservatives have shown a willingness to pander to Donald Trump, turn their back s on international commitments and give little thought to international security.  "This report is damning of the Tory government's record, but also makes clear recommendations that PM Theresa May must now heed.  "The British people deserve a government that stands up for what is right, while seeking to create a more stable and united international community. Only the Liberal D emocrats are fighting for a UK which is open, tolerant and united." John Hemming said: "I agree entirely with my colleague on this. It is interesting that a Lords Select Committee which h...

The Labour Party spent most of the last election criticising me for being a successful businessman (aka millionaire). That is business in the private sector employing over 250 people. It is worth looking at the situation for the Labour Candidate now: For the year 2016-7 Annual Income from Parliament 74,962 Specifically for her book 51,250 Other media income etc 5,322.82 Total declared income 131,534.82 Traditionally anyone with an annual income of over £100,000 has been considered to be a millionaire. I did not use my position in parliament to increase my income. I have been asked for sources for this. This BBC piece looks at how one should define rich. It was written in 2011 so the figures will be slightly out of date. There are perhaps 2 relevant pieces: "In 1880 a rich person would have had £100,000 in assets or an income of £10,000 a year, he says. About a hundred people a year died leaving £100,000 and by 1910 this was 250 - "a microscopic fraction of ...

I have been concerned about the impact of technological disruption for some time as you can see if you click on the link.  More recently the Bank of England have started to share my concerns Technological developments enable human societies to run with much less human work.  However, they have a number of hazards.   Although we cannot change things over night to deal with this we must make some progress working out how to respond. As I see it the issues are 1.   Finance and Equality One of the reasons why we are developing a more unequal society is the impact of technology.  There are low paid jobs essentially boosted by the living or minimum wage and then there are jobs that require rarer skills that don't.   We do need to work to avoid growing inequality here. 2.   Security Peoples lives were much more secure after the second world war and moving into the 1990s.  However, with technological change lives have become less secure.  ...

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has made an audacious bid to replace Labour as the main opposition, in an interview with the i newspaper. Tim Farron said: “I want to be the leader of the opposition. Jeremy Corbyn is a perfectly nice man, but is demonstrably the worst leader in British political history in terms of effectiveness. “As things stand, a feeble Labour opposition will mean the Conservatives will have untrammelled power. "Britain needs a decent strong opposition and I'm asking the British people to give that job to me."

I am often ridiculed by the Labour Party for my concern about rubbish and fly tipping. It is, however, important to note that research performed by the university of Groningen has proven that the presence of litter, graffiti and fly tipping has wider effects. They did research by testing whether or not people committed crimes when an area was tidy and graffiti free against when it was very messy.  One of the tests, for example, was to leave a 5 euro note in an envelope sticking out of a letterbox. They discovered that when the area is messy more people stole the letter.  This obvious has wider ramifications.   My campaign to make sure that ordinary people have the facilities to force local authorities to follow the law has continued now until the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee of the UN.  They have agreed that the UK has a case to answer. If you are interested in more information about this best look at their website where all the case papers can b...

There will be a debate about how MPs operate during this election. Because both of the candidates that can win have been MP for the same seat it is possible to compare how they operate. I, for example, ran a weekly advice bureau in the same place every Saturday (apart from bank holidays).  That took 1/2 hours and I saw at a peak 35 people or groups of people.  When people visit the bureau they normally come either on their own or with someone.  It was normally 20-25 groups.   That enables identifying what their issue was about and potentially enough to resolve it. More complex issues then were given an appointment on Fridays (note that is is a Friday when my labour opponent planned to go to Bristol to promote  her book). I also used my own finances to ensure that there was a specialist welfare rights advisor.  My office was good at handling such issues, but some require specialist support.  Although I myself have a lot of experience in this area...

John Hemming believes that an MP should represent everyone in their constituency.  This should be regardless of their race, religion, gender, abledness, sexual orientation or anything else.  It should be everyone. When he was an MP he worked on issues relating to men, those relating to women and those relating to non-binary people. Everyone. For example here is John Hemming on a demonstration outside the courts with the campaign group Women Against Rape (it related to the case of a mother who had her child removed from her because the mother was raped). Jess Phillips, who campaigns on women's issues, notwithstanding the questions asked about her appointments in her parliamentary office, had the following response when asked for a debate on issues specifically relating to men:

Responding to Theresa May's refusal today at PMQs to guarantee the triple lock for pensioners, introduced by the Liberal Democrats in coalition, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Susan Kramer said: "Theresa May is preparing to raid pensions to pay for her hard Brexit. "The Conservatives must clarify their position now to pensioners across the country. "The triple lock was one of the Liberal Democrats' biggest achievements in government, lifting many pensioners out of poverty. Now this progress risks being undone.

It is important that people are paid fairly for the work that they do.  It is, of course, possible to compare the appointments to the Labour Candidate's Office and my parliamentary office. Extract from another blog: By comparison my office manager was a woman that I did not know before she was appointed to her initial role working for me - she applied directly from university and was not actually a member of the party when she applied.  She was the highest paid member of parliamentary staff. My view is that people should be treated equally regardless of their gender.  However, when it comes to walking the walk on equal pay Ms Phillips seems to have appointed men to the senior high paid roles and women to the junior low paid roles. Update Ms Phillips has responded it appears: Sadly this is a sort of Donald Trump style response "fake news". What is Fake? Is John O Shea really not working for her office. Is her husband really not working in the office. Who is t...

There is quite a bit of confusion about the UK constitution.  The last revolution was in 1688.  It was a popular revolution and the new constitutional document (the Bill of Rights) was created as a document outside parliament. Hence there was not really any legal continuity between the previous parliaments and that parliament.  It was key because it created a constitutional monarchy. Other constitutional statutes such as Magna Carta 1297 and other statutes were adopted, but the Bill of Rights underpins all of that.  That all comprised the constitutional settlement of 1688. That is why it is my view that referenda are not alien to the UK constitution and that there is a role for referenda particularly in dealing with constitutional issues. We do not have a parliamentary system which has direct continuity from 1251 not least because of the revolution of 1688, but also previously. Where, therefore, there is a poplar demand for a referendum on a constitutional ma...

"800 young people face losing housing benefit under government plans.   We oppose this cut.  There are already people living in tents in this city and I believe that the estimate of 55 rough sleepers is an underestimate." "The government don't understand that not all 18-21 year olds can stay with mummy and daddy.  Sometimes they fall out with their parents or end up without parents.  Sometimes they are leaving care.   If the governments plans continue we could end up having hundreds more rough sleepers.  The government don't seem to understand that not everyone's life is that easy. " "I dealt with rehousing a young person who was 18 a couple of weeks ago where he faced living on the streets.  Under the governments plan he would end up on the streets." "I did not, however, photograph him unlike my Labour opponent - who photographed homeless...

An interesting press release from the Lib Dems The Communist Party are fielding no candidates for the first time since 1920. The party has said members will be 'campaigning for a Labour victory', commenting on the news, Alistair Carmichael MP said: “From 1920 to 2017 the Communist Party of Great Britain elected 5 MPs. They have obviously concluded they can continue in that tradition by backing Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party. I think that they are probably right about that.” Ends Notes to Editors - Communist Party MP’s elected are as follows: 1946 - Willie Gallacher (West Fife) and Phil Piratin (Mile End)  1935 - Willie Gallacher (West Fife) 1924 - Shapurji Saklatvala (Battersea North) 1922 - Walton Newbold (Motherwell)

Over the past few months I have been working on bringing the software I used to run my parliamentary office up to date. As part of this I have been putting in real time communication systems. I am pleased that I now have a test system that links Web Browsers (only really Chrome at the moment) to the phone system. If this is the sort of thing that interests you you are welcome to try the test system here . It only really works with Chrome on a desktop at the moment and is not really even in beta test. However, people who are interested in WebRtc and SIP will perhaps find it interesting. Because it is on a test server the server is often switched off so don't be surprised if it doesn't work when you try.