Six Rochdale Liberal Democrats resign over leadership

Six Liberal Democrat councillors in Rochdale have resigned from the party in protest over its leadership nationally and locally.

Pat and Ted Flynn, Peter Davison, Doreen Brophy Lee, Barbara Todd and Naim Mahmood will sit as independents.

Councillor Pat Flynn said the party was "doing too many U-turns".

Councillor Dale Mulgrew, deputy leader of Rochdale Lib Dems, said the resignations were part of a dispute over the party's selection process.

Two of the councillors had been deselected by the party ahead of next year's local elections.

Rochdale Council is led by a coalition of Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.

'Dissatisfied for months'

Mrs Flynn said she expected other councillors to resign in the coming days - which could strip the coalition of its majority.

She said: "We didn't like the direction the leadership were taking us.

"There has been a lot of dissatisfaction for many months."

She said she and her colleagues were equally dissatisfied with the local and national leadership.

Nationally, she was unhappy with Nick Clegg's U-turn on tuition fees, she said.

"They are doing too many U-turns nationally," she said.

"Locally we feel the wrong things are being cut within the council. It should be at the top rather than on old peoples' homes, after schools clubs, etc.

"We don't feel this is the party we were elected to - that is the bottom line."

'Difference of opinion'

Mr Mulgrew said the councillors had given "many dedicated and loyal years of service" to the party.

"Unfortunately, there was a difference of opinion on the selection process that the party uses to select candidates, and, instead of exercising a right of appeal, a decision has been taken to leave the party," he said.

"This was the only reason that has caused for this to occur.

"It is also unfortunate that all of this has happened whilst the leader of the party (Irene Davidson) is in hospital having a major operation.

"Clearly, it is always sad that in such difficult circumstances there could not have been a reconciliation, but we will continue to try and talk to the councillors.

The Lib Dem resignations follow several others at councils in other parts of the country.

Sheffield Liberal Democrat councillor Ben Curran defected to the Labour Party in September.

He said his decision was made due to the "lack of resistance" shown by the Lib Dems locally to the cuts.

Two Lib Dem councillors in Exeter also defected to Labour in June, in protest over the coalition government.

BBC News - Six Rochdale Liberal Democrats resign over leadership

Cable denies breaking tuition fees pledge

By Daniel Bentley, PA

Sunday, 21 November 2010

Business Secretary Vince Cable has denied breaking promises on university tuition fees, insisting the Liberal Democrats' pre-election pledge to oppose any rise was not binding.

He acknowledged that signing the pledge might have been the wrong "political judgment" but maintained that the coalition's plans now to increase fees did not reflect badly on the Lib Dems' trustworthiness.

In a pre-recorded interview with BBC1's Politics Show, to be broadcast today, Dr Cable said the Lib Dems "haven't betrayed anybody" and that the coalition agreement struck with the Tories was their only binding commitment.

"We didn't break a promise. We made a commitment in our manifesto, we didn't win the election. We then entered into a coalition agreement, and it's the coalition agreement that is binding upon us and which I'm trying to honour," he said.

Asked whether it would have been better if he had not signed the pledge, he added: "From the point of view of political judgment it may well have been, but it's not an issue of trust.

"We and the Conservatives separately made a whole series of commitments in our manifesto and outside it.

"We haven't been able to carry all of them through, partly because we have a coalition and have had to make compromises and partly because we're still in the middle of this appalling financial situation."

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has also admitted that he "should have been more careful perhaps" about signing the pledge in common with other Lib Dem MPs. During the General Election campaign, Mr Clegg said raising tuition fees would be a "disaster".

Government plans to allow universities to charge up to £9,000 a year in tuition fees have been met with fury by existing students and those hoping to enter higher education in the future.

Millbank Tower, the home of Conservative Party headquarters, became a focus for anger and the scene of violent clashes during demonstrations earlier this month.

Amid expectations of further protests on Wednesday, Dr Cable suggested many of those involved did not grasp what the Government is proposing.

"I think a lot of the people who are protesting actually don't understand what's being proposed," he said.

"It doesn't actually affect them - we're talking about a system of graduate contribution that will only affect people who start going to university in a couple of years' time.

"If they are concerned for the next generation what I think they do need to understand is that we're making the system significantly fairer, making it much more attractive for part-time students and for graduates on low incomes."

Cable denies breaking tuition fees pledge - UK Politics, UK - The Independent

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I really don't know how the LD leadership thnks this sort of stuff is going to help them. Both Clegg and Cable are basically admitting that they were never really interested in this issue, but were simply pandering to what they thought were the interests of left leaning voters. How then does support any perception of their honesty? Plus, if the Lib Dem surge was based primariloy on defectors from Labour, which it seems to have been, then they are kicking their own new membership in the shins.

It doesn;t bode well for the Lib Dems come the next election. The coalition agreement may well have been the party's death warrant.