North East Hertfordshire Liberal Democrats

"I am delighted at Edward's re-election. He has proved a passionate, determined and highly effective campaigner for human rights and democracy.

"As the British Foreign Minister responsible for human rights and a fellow Liberal Democrat, I am greatly looking forward to working with Edward to pursue this agenda, which is so central to the enlightened interests of the UK and Europe as a whole.

"With the Arab Spring continuing and tentative steps towards political reforms in Burma, the presence of strong and credible voices, fighting for human rights and democracy at home and abroad, is absolutely essential.

"I am convinced Edward is the right man to help ensure that we maximise the collective weight of the European Union in defending and promoting human rights and democracy."

"Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government are committed to delivering a tax system which is fair and progressive for everyone, why should working people who are not married pay more tax?

"Our commitment to increasing the income tax threshold to £10,000 has already resulted in an extra £200 in take home pay for millions of workers last year, with an additional £130 coming this April.

"Tax breaks for married couples would only help 4 million couples to the tune of around £150 year.

"This year, thanks to the Liberal Democrats, over 1 million people will have been lifted out of paying any income tax, rising to 4 million by 2015.

"Giving low earners a tax cut is exactly the kind of policy the Coalition Government should and is prioritising at a time when money is tight and people are feeling the pinch."

Nick Clegg champions Youth Contract

Thousands of companies received a letter this week from the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg calling on them to play their part in getting young people earning or learning.

Nick is urging businesses to sign up to the government's flagship £1bn Youth Contract so that they are ready to offer the jobs to young people in April. He announced details of how employers can access cash to help cover the cost of taking on fresh talent through a 'wage subsidy'. The subsidy will be paid to companies for taking on young unemployed people and is designed to cover costs like National Insurance contributions.

The wage subsidy will pay £2,275 to employers for every 18 - 24 year old unemployed person they employ from the Work Programme and is open to all businesses, voluntary organisations and charities.

Payments for the majority of business will be made after the young person has been employed for 26 weeks. For smaller enterprises these payments will be staggered, with the first payment after eight weeks and the rest after 26. This recognises that smaller businesses need a boost to their cashflow to make the jobs viable.

The wage incentive will also be available for part time positions, with a rate of £1,137.50 if someone is employed between 16 and 29 hours.

Senior Liberal Democrat MEP and Vice President of the Parliament's Budget Committee, George Lyon, who is pushing for the EU budget to be radically restructured and independently evaluated to find further savings, commented after the vote:

"At a time when people across the country struggle to make ends meet, it is important that MEPs show some leadership in keeping the Parliament's costs under control.

"Freezing allowances and travel expenses is a good start. But I believe that we can make many more savings. In order to ensure that taxpayers are getting maximum value for their money, we need to have an independent evaluation of the EU budget to get rid of any inefficiencies and waste.

"I am very pleased that once again MEPs have also voted to push for a single seat of the European Parliament. It is an outrage that Member States still insist that the House travels between Brussels and Strasbourg each month. MEPs are quite right in calling for an urgent evaluation of this situation."

Commenting ahead of a vote on the 2013 EU budget guidelines in the European Parliament in Strasbourg tomorrow, Mr Lyon said:

"At this time of national austerity and budget consolidation, the EU budget needs to be shaken up and restructured to get rid of inefficiencies and waste.

"MEPs need to lead the way in identifying and making important savings. All MEP allowances should be frozen until 2014 and we must cap the travel budget at its present level. We must make our money travel further!

"It is also time we had an independent and thorough evaluation of the European Parliament's budget to make sure that it delivers value for money. For the time being, I want to see a freeze in administrative spending of all EU institutions."

The Staffordshire farmer and economic policy expert takes over from Liz Lynne who stood down from Parliament earlier in February after more than 12 years due to the extensive travelling required in the job. Phillip Bennion was elected to second place on the Lib Dem list of candidates at the last European elections in 2009.

Commenting on his new role, Phillip Bennion said:

Confident Ed stands firm

Strongly backed by Nick Clegg, newly appointed Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Davey was quick to make his mark in his new role when he confirmed his personal commitment to green growth, green jobs and the wider use of wind power technology. "I think that onshore and offshore wind power has a real place in a balanced mix of energy generation so I'm a huge supporter of renewables" he said.

100 Tory back-benchers have tabled a motion calling for a dramatic cut in subsidies for onshore wind farms but Ed is very clear where he stands. "Already we've seen through the subsidies that this government has invested in onshore wind that the price has come down to make onshore more competitive, so we've got money in all sorts of renewables because of the success of these investments.

"There may have been a change at the helm, but there'll be no change in direction or ambition. My priorities are very simple: green jobs, green growth and getting the best deal for energy bill payers."Ed and Nick Clegg were visiting the Building Research Establishment's Innovation Park near Watford, a testing site for green homes, where they met graduates considering moving into green construction jobs. Nick Clegg told them "The race is on to lead the world in clean, green energy. The savviest states understand that going for growth means going green. Low-carbon markets are the next frontier in the battle for global pre-eminence.

"We have every reason to be confident. The combination of enviable wind, wave and tidal power, a world-beating research base and a proud history of engineering give the UK a clear competitive edge. So we're already in pole position. But the reality is: we need to sharpen our elbows if we want to stay ahead." Ed Davey also announced that 155 community energy projects across the country have won a share of £5.1 million of funding from the Local Energy Assessment Fund. The winning bids include projects to demonstrate wall insulation to the public, schemes to check the energy efficiency of homes and events to promote energy efficiency in local communities.

While Ed was getting to grips with his new job, Norfolk North's Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb was taking up his new appointment as Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs in the Department of Business Innovation and Skills. Welcoming him Secretary of State Vince Cable said "Norman's professional background as an employment lawyer and experience as the Liberal Democrat's Trade and Industry Spokesman make him an ideal replacement. He pioneered our policy to privatise Royal Mail and establish employee share ownership in the business so it is fitting that he will be responsible for implementing that policy."

Norman, who was previously chief political adviser to Nick Clegg, expressed himself particularly delighted to be implementing the Post Office reforms he had pioneered in opposition. These would give employees a stake in the company.

Two other new appointments were announced in the mini-reshuffle. Cardiff Central MP Jenny Willott becomes an Assistant Government Whip and Dunbartonshire East's MP Jo Swinson becomes PPS to Nick Clegg.

Commenting on the ongoing crisis where Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey and Germany have experienced reductions of up to 30% in Russian gas supplies from Gazprom over the last few days, Sir Graham said:

"The freezing conditions across Europe highlight yet again the dangers of being so overly-reliant on Russia for a quarter of our gas. Gazprom has - understandably - diverted its supplies to keep Russian homes warm, leaving many European countries short and prices on the rise."

"And we just don't know what Gazprom will do next."

"But the wind is blowing harder than ever in the Scottish Hebrides and it is 15 C and sunny in southern Spain and Greece. If, instead of building gas pipelines, we were building electricity transmission infrastructure and switching from fossil fuels to wind and solar power, this week's energy outlook would be a different story. European renewables are the answer to our energy security."

"Indeed, the sun is also shining bright as ever in the Sahara. Importing electricity from North Africa would in fact be more secure than Russian gas, due to the larger number of potential trading partners and the fact that electricity cannot be switched off like gas. Electricity is the ultimate 'just in time' product: that which is not transmitted today is lost forever."

Following the agreement on the fiscal treaty by the heads of government of 25 member states, the heads of the three leading pro-Europe organisations have petitioned the European Parliament.

The petition by the Presidents of the Union of European Federalists (UEF), the Young European Federalists (JEF-Europe) and the European Movement International (EMI) asks the European Parliament to use its newLisbontreaty powers to initiate a further revision of the European Union treaties with the objective of creating a full fiscal union with a reformed financial system.

"The sheer hypocrisy of Labour to point the finger on bankers' bonuses is staggering. Labour presided over the biggest boom in bonuses this country has seen, from £3.1bn in 2001 to £11.5 billion in 2007. At the same time, they sat back and knighted the financial speculators who led this country to the brink of economic collapse.

"The Coalition Government inherited this economic mess from Labour and has taken decisive action to put the country back on track. We've capped cash bonuses at state owned banks to £2,000 and overall, the bonus pool is smaller than last year and considerably less than under Labour.

"In Government, Liberal Democrats are doing the right thing - implementing the Vickers' proposals to make banking safer in the future, continuing our fight to get the banks to lend more and introducing the banking levy which raises £2.5bn a year. All Labour can do is complain from the side lines.

"While Labour spent thirteen years being intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich, Liberal Democrats have made clear that our priority is lifting the lowest paid people out of paying income tax all together."