12.26pm: Labour's Jim Sheridan asks about the government's position on inheritance tax. The Lib Dems claim that, if the Tories were in government on their own, the Tories would be cutting inheritance tax. Is that true?Cameron says the government's position is set out in the coalition agreement.12.28pm: Cameron says there is "growing evidence" that Iran is supporting Syria. Hezbollah are also backing the Syrian regime, he says.12.29pm: Gavin Barwell, a Conservative, asks about changing the law to make drug-driving an offence. What is the government doing on this issue?Cameron says the government is committed to giving the police drug-testing equipement. He thinks the case of a drug-driving law has "great strength".
Co-operation and mutuality is an idea whose time has come back. In the year when the whole world celebrates the co-operative model we should look at every possible way to put co-operatives on a level playing field with other forms of business.1.14pm: The Labour party has sent out a 17-page document claiming David Cameron's claims to be championing responsible capitalism are bogus. It's called "Who is he trying to kid?". I can't find it on the web, I'm afraid, but here's an extract.When Ed [Miliband] talked about responsible capitalism in his Labour Party Conference speech last September, the Conservatives attacked him. George Osborne said it was "frankly ridiculous" and "completely unworkable".
Those laws, which carry prison sentences and are enforceable through the police, did not stop the dreadful actions of certain individuals in the first part of this century.It is also wrong to judge self-regulation in 2011 based on the legitimate condemnation of practices that took place some time ago.It is right to use this terrible moment in British journalism as a catalyst to improve the reach and range of the PCC ...Needless to say, we will be requiring News International to answer publicly in response to these allegations as soon as the police investigation will allow us to do so.Our phone hacking review has the broadest remit to ensure that the public can have confidence that wrongdoing has been exposed and illegal and unethical practices have been stamped out.
What made me spill my coffee the other day was hearing the historian Ruth Dudley Edwards explaining to an English radio audience that Sinn Féin and the IRA are well-organised and hierarchical – reflecting their Catholic heritage – while the unionists and their working-class loyalist colleagues are divided. The culture of presbyterianism, in particular, was the opposite of hierarchical – no one in in charge, and proud of it – she added. So there have been days when east Belfast has been engulfed in petrol bombs and plastic bullets while the Shankill Road, historic centre of militant loyalism, has been tranquillity itself,
cnnhkids.com, so it's reported.True or exaggerated? I don't know. But it struck a chord.
"This is the bank tax that likes to say 'yes'," Cameorn said. "No wonder the shadow chancellor [Ed Balls] stopped saluting and started crying." ? Unions have reacted angrily to the government's proposed reform of employment laws. Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, said: "Ministers are hell-bent on removing long-established rights at work, making dismissal easier and promoting a culture of fear in the workplace. These proposals are a charter for rogue employers and bullies." Bob Crow, the RMT general secretary, said: Not content with opening up the widest gap between rich and poor since Victorian times, Vince Cable and the ConDems now want to drag us back to days of hire and fire where workers have to grovel to the boss for the right to earn a day's pay.
He says he is considering setting up a securitised market for small business lending. It is difficult, because investors do not have all the information they need. But he is "trying to crack that nut".3.04pm: Labour's John Mann says the price of petrol has gone up by ￡1 a gallon since Osborne since he became chancellor.Q: Is it true you are taking an extra ￡10m a day in petrol duty?Osborne says the extra duty he is receiving is offset by the amount he is losing from people buying less petrol.Q: Draw-down pensions. A pensioner couple with draw-down pensions have seen the value of their pension fall from ￡30,000 to ￡13,000. Is this morally acceptable? And is it practically acceptable?Osborne says Mann is suggesting that interest rates should be higher, and that gilt rates should be higher.
3.30pm: Andrew Stunell, the communities minister,
cnnhkids, delivers his speech to the conference.3.50pm: Delegates debate a motion calling for the establishment of a national institute of wellbeing.5.20pm: Delegates debate motion urging the Lib Dems to make a renewed commitment to the principles of "community politics".As usual,
ytcgzx, I'll be covering all the Lib Dem conference news, as well as looking at the papers and the best politics on the web. I'll post a lunchtime summary at around 1pm and an afternoon one at about 6pm. After that my colleague Paul Owen will take over the blog and keep it going into the evening.8.14am: Nick Clegg is on the Today programme now. Justin Webb is interviewing him.Q: You said the government would not approve of "gratuitously offensive" bank bonuses.
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