Tahir Maher

South Central Region have discussed (or is it more appropriate to say disgusted) and passed a motion against Pay Day Loans at our Regional conference in the autumn of 2012. The notion of such loans is valid: provide a small short term loan for those in need to help them through immediate financial hardship. Unfortunately, exploitation is what we get.

Here are some facts about these loans:

• Which estimates over 800,000 UK households have taken out payday loans;

• The Consumer Credit Counselling Service says over 2,000 of their clients in 2012 have had five or more payday loans, compared to 716 for 2009;

• Some payday lenders are charging APR of over 4,000%;

• A charity that helps such lenders said the number of people seeking help with payday loan debts soared from 6,491 in 2009 to 17,414 in 2011 and in 2012 this had exceeded 22,000;

• Citizens Advice Bureau says that the checks to ensure borrowers can pay back their loans, are only carried out about 35% of the time; This is a pretty desperate situation.

I am not advocating banning of these companies (as they have in some states in America) but I do advocate that we should restrict the maximum APR that they charge. In our motion we advocated an upper limit of 50% APR and to limit loan providers from using extra charges for late payment or administrative costs to recover the income lost from these extortionate rates.

People on low pay should not be vulnerable to these legalised loan sharks. As a party that works to emancipate society from unfair conditions, prejudices and strives to ensure a fair and level playing field for all, we cannot fail those who are suffering disproportionately under the current economic climate and are clearly fodder for these objectionable companies who in reality are making life more difficult for them.

Cllr Tahir Maher Vice-Chair – South Central Region

In 1997 labour inherited a balanced budget from the Tories and for well over the 10 years we had Gordon Brown telling us that he had got rid of the boom and bust cycle. From 2009 the deficit had ballooned to £171b. This deficit was higher than the recessions of the 80’s, the 90’s and even when the Labour party went to IMF cap in hand in ’76 (another fine mess they got us into).

Economic orthodoxy maintained by labour and Tories for the 40 odd years ensures: – the same economic models, over reliance on an unbalanced economy, poor regulation and over reliance on financial and service sector. Failure to manage the housing stock massively increased personal debt.

Labour and Tories ignored manufacturing which meant it dwindled over the decades. Rarely have we seen from the mid-1980s ‘made in Britain’; we have increasingly relied on imports that further unbalanced the economy. All this failed spectacularly in 2007, the fact the British economy is still contracting is a clear evidence of this failure.

This was followed by under capitalised banks that stopped lending to SME who have always fuelled true growth in the British economy. Today we have poor exports, high unemployment, negativity equity, high personal debt and a lingering unbalanced economy which all badly hits the Treasurer. That is why the government is borrowing more than ever and why we are still in a debt crisis.

Other than Tony Blair no Labour Government has ever reduced unemployment in their term in office. Eventually they revert to high borrowing and high taxes to pay for it. This is Labour’s orthodoxy.

The Tories are no better. Their answer seems to be to cut against market led recovery.  Tories in this coalition are locked into this mind-set; they can ignore Labour the opposition but we are part of a coalition and we can’t be so easily ignored. I believe that we signed up to this coalition to help the British people and get the country out of the mess labour left us in, in 5 year (which is now not going to happen). We didn’t sign on to help the Tories toddle along pushing old Thatcherite policies – their Economic orthodoxy.

We as a party need to be more pragmatic. We are borrowing £1 in £7, there is room to borrow for “good investment” (and this is the time to borrow with such low interest rates). INVESTMENT in infrastructure / manufacturing / housing / transport will generate revenue for the Treasurer, will create jobs (reduce the debt burden), will provide an opportunity for export and will help us to correct this unbalance economy especially if the recovery and investment is pushed regionally.

Investment that gives added value. Genuinely pushing banks to lend to SME’s, tax breaks for new start-ups, help with training, investment in areas and sectors where growth will drive up revenue and unemployment down. These are the area that Government need to push.

To reduce the deficit we need to grow the economy. A growing economy will generate revenues that will pay off the deficit. Once we clear the deficit can we reduce the debt. We as Liberal democrats need to move away from traditional economic orthodoxy and focus on what will work to grow our economy and expand our export base. Our allegiance is not specific to the labelled working or upper classes but to the British public.

Go for Growth

The Coalition Government has today announced how much Pupil Premium money each school in England will receive in 2013/14.

The cash targets extra money to schools depending on the number of children from disadvantaged backgrounds they have. The Pupil Premium is a major Liberal Democrat priority that is being delivered by the Coalition Government.

The Pupil Premium will be worth a total of £1.65bn, or £900 per child, in 2013/14. It covers any primary or secondary school pupil that has been registered for Free School Meals in the past six years.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Schools Minister, David Laws said:

“Liberal Democrats are building a strong economy and a fair society where everyone can get ahead. Education is absolutely at the heart of that.

“The Pupil Premium is extra support for the children who need it the most, whether it is catch-up classes, one-to-one tuition, extra IT support – whatever the school thinks best.

“Helping the most disadvantaged children helps every child. Fewer children falling behind means less disruption in class and a better education for everyone.”

You can find details of how much each local school in England will gain from the Lib Dem Pupil Premium, by visiting this website: http://bit.ly/TyVK6D

Image Copyright: Flickr/Educationgovuk

You can help Liberal Democrats keep cutting your taxes by supporting our Fairer Tax campaign at http://www.fairertax.org/