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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: steve dietrich who wrote (158841)	3/6/2005 7:26:03 AM
From: maceng2	Respond to of 281500

Lib Dems call for Iraq withdrawal news.bbc.co.uk British troops should be pulled out of Iraq by the end of the year, the Liberal Democrats have said. The party has backed a motion calling for the government to draw up an exit strategy which would see UK forces in Iraq return home by the end of 2005. The Lib Dem conference in Harrogate has also voted to oppose the government's anti-terror laws which would allow house arrest for suspected terrorists. The government says the laws are needed to prevent terrorist atrocities. But a Lib Dem emergency motion dubbed the powers "unlawful, illiberal and ineffective", and called for tighter safeguards to be imposed. The party wants the control orders, set to be introduced by the Prevention of Terrorism Bill, to be placed in the hands of judges not politicians. Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy gave a firm commitment to fighting the proposals in his keynote speech to the conference on Saturday. He will try to fire up the party faithful with an end of conference rally on Sunday. Mr Kennedy will say the Lib Dem front bench will take a different shape after the election featuring more women and younger MPs. He told delegates on Saturday that the Lib Dems would present themselves as "the real alternative" in the forthcoming general election campaign. 'Stand up' Unveiling the slogan at the party's spring conference, he said there was no "glass ceiling" to its ambitions. Labour had abused the public's trust while the Tories had failed to oppose them, he said. He said: "If you voted Conservative in 2001 ... what good did it do you? Your vote was wasted. "What people needed was ... a party which was listening to their concerns; a party which was prepared to stand up and say so; a party which said 'no' to the prime minister." Responding to the claims Tory Party co-chairman Liam Fox said: "Like Labour, the Lib Dems are soft on crime, support higher taxes, oppose controlled immigration and support giving Europe more control over our lives." Mr Kennedy also reiterated his party's plan to impose a 50% income tax rate on earnings over £100,000 a year. Fully costed The money would be used to help pay for key policies such as abolishing university tuition fees, scrapping council tax in favour of local income tax, and providing free care for the elderly, he said. Labour and the Tories claim the sums do not add up, and that working families would be hardest hit. But Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable insisted all the party's proposals were fully costed. He told BBC One's Breakfast with Frost programme the average family would be £450 better off if the council tax was replaced with a local income tax. But he acknowledged that three out of 10 wealthier households would have to pay more.