Sarah's bulletin: 25 June 2010

Published on Fri 25th Jun 2010

Dear friends,

The budget

On Tuesday, Chancellor George Osborne, less than 50 days after taking office, announced the coalition government's emergency budget. This government is being responsible and unlike Labour is actually dealing with our largest deficit in peacetime history. And as Vince Cable explained this week, the government has to do this now in order to avoid the risk of a sovereign debt crisis and sky-high borrowing costs.

But it is a budget that has fairness at heart, and contains many of the key policies the LibDems fought for in the election:

- £1000 increase in the personal tax allowance taking 880,000 low earners out of the tax system altogether; as the first step in our pledge of making the first £10,000 earned tax-free;

- a bank levy, based on the size of the balance sheet of a bank, to make sure that the banks pay back their fair share of the taxpayer-funded bailout and raising a £2.5 billion a year;

- capital gains tax increased from 18 to 28%, which will raise an extra £1 billion and put an end to the disgraceful situation of cleaners paying a higher rate of tax than the wealthy

These are all achievements to be proud of. Times are hard, but if we stick to our key principles of fairness and responsible government, we can make sure this is done in the best possible way. The Institute of Fiscal Studies - rebutting the common perception - also says that VAT rises hit the rich more than the poor. See Vince on last night's Question Time here.

EU air quality target breached in the City of London only six months into the year

It was announced yesterday that a key EU air pollution target has already, less than six months into the year, been breached in on Upper Thames Street in the City. For health reasons, EU rules stipulate that the daily average level of particulate PM10 pollution (which comes from diesel fuel, factories and central heating) should not breach a certain level more than 35 times in a calendar year. Upper Thames Street has recorded its 36th such day, more than the maximum allowed for the whole of 2010. This is yet another wake-up call for London and UK authorities that air pollution in London really is out of control and that we urgently need to implement measures to stop this invisible but dangerous public health emergency. See my comment here and a Guardian article quoting me here.

International day in support of victims of torture

Tomorrow is International Day in support of victims of torture, being the anniversary of the International Convention Against Torture which came into force over two decades ago. Although the 'War' on Terror is (officially) over, its victims continue to be held in prisons such as Guantanamo, which is still operational despite Obama's pledge to close it, and Bagram. Tomorrow will be an occasion to show our solidarity with these detainees.

I will be addressing a demonstration organised by the London Guantanamo Campaign outside the US embassy in Grosvenor Square, 2 pm to 4 pm. Do come along if you can: together we can send the strongest possible message to US authorities. One London resident, Shaker Aamer, is still incarcerated in Guantanamo, despite having been cleared for release 3 ago. I will call, again, for him to either be given a free trial or returned home.

Mayor of London's State of London debate

The Mayor of London this week had his annual "State of London" debate, where all 7 million Londoners have the opportunity to question him on his annual report and the work he is doing as head of the GLA. However this year he decided to change things a little: instead of having a public meeting in a big conference centre, they decided to conduct a debate in cyberspace! A small-scale speech and Q&A session in City Hall was broadcast live on the internet and radio and lots of people on twitter and online took the opportunity to ask questions about the environment, policing, transport and the economy. I think using technology like this is a great idea, as not only did it make the debate more accessible, it also significantly reduces costs!

And reducing costs is exactly what we need to do at the moment: research by London councils has found that local and regional government in London is set to lose at least £340 million as a result of the government's funding cuts. It is too early to tell yet what kind of impact cuts of this magnitude will have, but local councils of course need to do everything they possibly can to protect frontline services in these hard times.

Thames water

You often hear me go on about how polluted Thames water is, well I can now report that at least some of it is now going to be drinkable! Don't expect to dip a glass in the Thames, as this will only be once it has been processed by a new desalination plant in Beckton. This will provide a backup supply if London experiences drought or a long spell of dry weather: Even better, the plant will run on biodiesel from discarded cooking oil from the capital's restaurants.

While on the subject of water shortages, I must urge you if you can to get a water meter. Having one means that your water consumption is measured accurately instead of being a lump sum based on old rateable value. This makes your bill much cheaper (ours has dropped 80%!) as it means you only pay for exactly what you use. It's also good for the environment, motivating you to use less water. Thames Water will install one in your home for free, you can request one online here. I have to admit the process in our case was less than efficient, but do push them and try to get one installed if you can.

Data protection in the UK: the European Commission demands more

The European Commission yesterday stepped up enforcement procedures against the UK because our data protection watchdog - the Information Commissioner - lacks the powers and resources he needs to properly protect our privacy. I take some credit for this result as I have been pursuing this issue through parliamentary questions, see my comment and the questions here. He cannot perform random checks on persons processing personal data; cannot enforce penalties as a result of checks and cannot monitor third countries' data protection standards. On top of that, UK courts can refuse to have personal data rectified or erased if information has been used inappropriately. This is all in breach of the EU data protection directive, and the Commission is threatening court action and fines if the UK does not comply. Quite right too, our privacy is too important!

Best regards,

Sarah Ludford