Gareth's answers for FCC are
( below the cut )
Gareth's answers for FPC are
( here )1, Which of the following activities do you consider the most dangerous and why?
- taking a single ecstasy tablet
- taking an advanced motorcycle riding test
- giving birthI’m not entirely sure whether this is a trick question, a test on how thoroughly someone can research evidence, or a question about approaches to harm reduction – or none. The test for Liberals making policy, surely, should be about whether any of them can do harm to others. And having candidates for party elections gather the evidence may not lead to the most robust evidence base....
Taking an ecstasy tablet contain risk, not least whether it actually contains the correct active ingredient. Compared to many other currently illegal drugs, the harm to others is negligible unless done in conjunction with a dangerous activity, such as driving a car. The latter should remain illegal, the former not (subject to changes to international law, as set out in excellent existing Liberal Democrat policy). The evidence of the harm done to the user, however, remains hotly disputed.
Taking an advanced driving test is not in itself dangerous, as it should minimise harm (again, an evidence base would help). Having been brought up in Oxfordshire, many of whose roads are occasionally used by people who have lots of money to buy powerful bikes without having trained how to use them safely, this is not necessarily a bad thing.
Depending on where you live in the world, giving birth can be dangerous. However, it does not cause harm to others unless mitigated by other circumstances.
3, What four pledges would you put on the front of the next Lib Dem manifesto?- More fair taxation: raising the tax threshold further, raising the NI threshold and taxing wealth and land instead
- Fairer politics: reforming party funding to get vested interests out of politics
- Get the country back to work: green growth to make us world leaders in being fit for the future, principally green energy and green housing
- Fairer Government: the principle that policies should enhance opportunities and not increase the gap between the richest and poorest.
3, A genie appears and tells you that you can remove one law and make one law; what would you remove from the statute book and what would you add to the statute book?Oh, goodness me, the choice, the choice! This is the most difficult question of the lot.
The repeal would probably be a portmanteau Freedom Act to get rid of a swathe of illiberal legislation starting with the 1994 Criminal Justice Act and taking in assorted repressive and discriminatory legislation on asylum, so-called ‘criminal justice’ and measures that posture at being anti-terrorism. But the genie won’t allow me two Acts, so I’ll start with RIPA, a problem to which repeal is the only solution.
The addition would probably have to be a Voting Systems Act to introduce the Single Transferable Vote for all UK elections (well, you did say the genie would add it straight to the statute book!).
4, What balance should the committee give to the views of the leadership, the parliamentary panels and the membership in setting policy priorities?FPC has a majority (of 1) of directly-elected members, which is absolutely right. Setting priorities for the manifesto, for example, has to involve the views of Parliamentarians. Getting the messages right needs the input of campaigners. However, the views of the membership, as expressed through Conference, must come first.
The Parliamentary panels (or, confusingly, PPCs) are still at the formative stage and their success is mixed. The single thing that has made FPC’s job harder since 2010 is the discovery of Ministerial announcements with significant impacts that have come as a total surprise to FPC, members, or indeed Parliamentarians. If at least the PPCs can be better plugged into that process, a significant amount of angst would be removed and co-ordination improved.
I’ll also link, as Prateek has, to the SLF pamphlet which takes up this subject in much more detail, at
http://socialliberal.net/slf-publications/liberal-democrat-party-policy-making-in-coalition-a-social-liberal-forum-review/.
Another answer to this is what I have done in the past, which is to ask our Parliamentary panels to work to fill gaps in policy that are topical, as I did with the DWP Committee following the rows on the Welfare Reform Act.
5, How would you change the party’s procedures on gathering and analysing evidence when formulating policy?Firstly, it would help to have some. Seriously! Policy working groups are rather left on their own, and with less support in this Parliament. There is no model process for gathering evidence (on which we are actually very good), nor for consulting the wider party beyond the narrow and rather antiquated process of the Conference consultation session. Attempts in the last two years to get FPC to go into this have largely been squeezed by ‘events’. However, most working groups will go out and identify groups to invite to give evidence. Spokespeople’s papers (such as the recent one on food), some of which are sent to FPC for comment but not approval, can also be a problem. In general terms we could do with a set of principles ensuring all the above is based on evidence.
Within the party, we should use technology (based possibly on the webinar concept) to hugely open up consultation sessions to the wider membership. We need to make much better use of our members’ skills and expertise – goodness knows how many people there are who are UK or world experts who we simply don’t ask.
6, Which is more important - freedom from ignorance, poverty or conformity?All are equal. Liberals often undervalue freedom from conformity, but it goes to the heart of what we are about. Without freedom from poverty, however, the other two are significantly more difficult: the grammar schools down the road from me gave me the information that the proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals was significantly less than 1%.
7, Are you a member of any (S)AOs or other pressure groups which might give us an insight into your policy priorities?I’m currently Co-Chair of the Social Liberal Forum. For 15 years I have been a member of the Liberator Collective. Other key pointers are my membership of the Green Liberal Democrats, ALDC, ALTER (Action for Land Taxation and Economic Reform) and outside the party, CAMRA. When I could be, I was active in Liberal Democrat Youth & Students (and, I think, still have a standing order which I hope Liberal Youth puts to good use).
8, Which external bodies would you like to see audit the manifesto to see if our policies are workable?They will do it anyway! The IFS, Friends of the Earth, the FSB and the Resolution Foundation (for its impact on lower-income households) are three that come to mind.
9, What proposals do you have to improve the process of negotiating policy priorities for a coalition agreement in the event of another hung parliament?Step 1 – Involve FPC, unlike last time!
Step 2 – Ensure that the negotiators do not give away the policy singled out at our manifesto launch and on which the majority of our candidates have signed a pledge.
Step 3 – Be much, much clearer and firmer on red lines – and then stick to them.....
10, If elected, how do you plan to engage with the wider party?In the last two years I have worked closely with my Regional Party to ensure wider discussion of key issues that affect our members and activists. I will always try and respond positively to invitations from local parties to lead policy discussions (something there is far too little of). I am always accessible, through Facebook, email [garethepps – at – gmail.com] or via my website www.garethepps.org.uk. I am also determined to lead the development of an active members’ policy discussion forum.
11, Are you standing for any other committees, if so which ones, and if elected to more than one how do you plan to divide your time?I’m also standing for FCC, and have spent five years standing on both: there are obvious links and benefits. I have served on more than one party committee in the past, and in general they do not clash. The biggest problem was judging Federal committee commitments with council meetings, but since I stood down from Reading Borough in 2011 that has not been a problem.
You can find links to all the other candidates' answers
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