Pain ahead for Whitehall as Treasury demands 10% cuts
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury has written to almost all Whitehall departments asking them to make savings of 10%.
Steve Coogan petitions Nick Clegg on press regulation
The actor Steve Coogan discussed the issue of press regulation with the Deputy Prime Minister at the Liberal Democrat conference today.
Liberal Democrats announce £100m for new nursery places
Town halls are to be given £100 million to spend on new nursery places to ensure poor families can take advantage of free childcare.
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Alexander: We are making lots of changes to tax system
Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander said ministers hoped that other countries would be prepared to create their own registers of beneficial ownership.
He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "It would be preferable for every country in the world to have such a register and then for that information to be shareable and shared openly between tax jurisdictions.
"There are a lot of changes that we are making to our own tax system to ensure that we can collect the tax that people owe.
"But we are also trying to make sure that, for the good of the UK but also for the good of the developing world too, that this information is shared and open so that every country in the world can get the tax that they are due."
Lib Dems will campaign to stay in EU
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has told the commons that the Liberal Democrats will "use all their influence" to ensure that Britain remains part of the European Union.
"The position of this Government was made very clear in the Coalition Agreement and confirmed again in the Mid-Term Review document published at the beginning of this year, which is that we wish to maintain British membership of the European Union" Mr Alexander said.
"During this parliament we will exercise our influence to the utmost to win the arguments in Britain's national interest in favour of jobs, investment and growth in this country."
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Alexander doesn't want to connect Philpott and welfare
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said he did not want to connect the Philpott case to the need for welfare reform.
Senior Liberal Democrats have not entered the row which has seen David Cameron back Chancellor George Osborne's comments that the case prompted "wider questions about our welfare system."
Mr Alexander said: "The Philpott case is an individual tragedy. Children have died in that case.
"I think that is where we should let that case lie. I would not want to connect that to the much wider need to reform our welfare system."
Exclusive: Mick Philpott's sister 'he deserves to die'.
Watch: Ed Balls - Chancellor's 'cyncial. nasty, divisive' Philpott link.
Pain ahead for Whitehall as Treasury demands 10% cuts
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury has written to almost all Whitehall departments asking them to make savings of 10%.
Read the full storyDanny Alexander rejects further welfare cuts
Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander has rejected calls for welfare to bear more of the burden of the coalition's austerity cuts.
The Liberal Democrat insisted there was no chance that benefits could be included in negotiations over the 2015-16 spending review.
The intervention has come after pressure from Defence Secretary Philip Hammond and Home Secretary Theresa May for their departments to be shielded from a new round of cuts.
Alexander has told the Daily Telegraph that only the NHS, schools and international development would be exempt.
"I have been very clear and this is the collective view of the Government, that we took decisions on welfare in the autumn statement, and that the spending round is coming from departmental expenditure," he said.
Treasury minister 'delighted' Lib Dem promise delivered
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said he is "delighted" to have delivered a Lib Dem manifesto promise in the Chancellor's Budget:
Delighted to have delivered Lib Dem manifesto promise of £10,000 income tax free allowance - helping 27 million people
From @dannyalexander on Twitter:Advertisement
Alexander: Conversations with Rennard 'were not easy'
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, has revealed more about his "not easy conversations" with the Lib Dems' former chief executive Lord Rennard over allegations of sexual impropriety.
In an article for Lib Dem Voice, Mr Alexander, who was then Nick Clegg's Chief of Staff in 2008, said that Jo Swinson told him about "deeply troubling" concerns expressed to her privately:
Having discussed the matter with Nick, I spoke directly to Lord Rennard.
I explained the nature of the concerns and warned him in strong terms that any such conduct would be wholly unacceptable and wrong.
Lord Rennard categorically denied the allegations, as he continues to do.
It is a fundamental liberal principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty, but I was clear that these were serious issues and that given what was being said he needed to avoid any situation that could possibly cause further concern.
These were not easy conversations, nor should they have been.
I reported this back to Jo and she spoke again to the women concerned, to tell them what had been done.
The feedback at the time was that we had done what was wanted.
I am unaware of any complaints that date from after those conversations.
Report: Alexander cancels by-election visit
Channel 4 News' chief political correspondent Michael Crick says that the Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has cancelled his trip to the Eastleigh by-election campaign as the party is engulfed the midst of the allegations over former chief executive Lord Rennard:
Danny Alexander's visit to Eastleigh this afternoon has been cancelled
From @MichaelLCrick on Twitter:He said he "did not know about specific allegations."
UK abstention on Palestine 'a historic misjudgement'
Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander said the government's decision to abstain in the vote on Palestine was "a historic misjudgement".
The UK Govt's decision to abstain on the UN vote on enhanced status for Palestinians is worse than a blunder. It is a historic misjudgement.
From @DAlexanderMP on Twitter:Vote for enhanced status for Palestinians at UN is an important non-violent legal and diplomatic step towards a negotiated 2 state solution
From @DAlexanderMP on Twitter:Danny Alexander samples 'namesake' GingerRodent beer
Danny Alexander MP has attended the launch of a new beer called GingerRodent, which shares the moniker that was once hurled at him by a Labour opponent.
The Chief Treasury Secretary tasted his namesake tipple at the Cairngorm Brewery in Aviemore, Scotland.
The deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman branded Mr Alexander "a ginger rodent" in a speech to the Scottish Labour party conference in 2010 and was later forced to apologise.
Mr Alexander later quipped on Twitter: "I am proud to be ginger and rodents do valuable work cleaning up mess others leave behind."
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