NCVO responds to Liberal Democrat Manifesto

Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats has launched the Liberal Democrat manifesto today.

Speaking at the launch, he said his policies, including raising the state pension and a tax cut for low and middle earners, combined "hope and credibility".

The four main themes of the 103-page booklet are fair taxes, more chances for children, a fairer and greener economy, and cleaning up politics.

Stuart Etherington, chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, said:

"We are disappointed it does not present a coherent vision for the role the voluntary sector plays in supporting and strengthening communities.

"However, there are a number of important commitments, in particular removing the restrictions on the right to protest and proposals for easy-giving accounts."

The main new commitments relating directly to our sector are:

• To create "easy-giving" accounts to allow people to operate charitable giving accounts alongside their current accounts.
• A commitment to protect free speech and the right to protest: they intend to reform the Public Order Act to safeguard lawful, non-violent protest.
• To reform Gift Aid at a single rate composite of 23%. The manifesto says this would give "more money to charity while closing down a loophole for higher rate taxpayers."
• Changing the way the National Lottery is taxed – moving to a gross profits tax.
• Reforming CRB checks so that volunteers need only one record that is portable, not multiple checks for each activity.
• Supporting mutuals, co-operatives and social enterprises, through legislative change to bring legal structures up to date.

You can read the full manifesto here.

There will be a full briefing on our website by the end of the week, and an easy ‘cut out and keep guide’ comparing and contrasting each of the three major parties manifesto commitments.

• Our reaction to the Labour manifesto
• Our reaction to the Conservative manifesto