Tomorrow it’s a year since Willie Rennie became Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader. What have been the highlights of that first year?
Well, on his first day, I interviewed him for Liberal Democrat Voice and you can still listen to that here. He said that his priorities for his first hundred days were to work out what our message was, to sort out our organisation and to get out there and meet people, members and ordinary people on their doorsteps. So how has he done with these things and more?
MPs’ offices get stacks and stacks of mail. Every day all manner of things arrive, from invitations, to big glossy brochures from various organisations, to letters from constituents, to replies from letters written to various Government bodies on behalf of local residents, to thank you cards when problems have been resolved.
Today, Lynne Featherstone’s constituency office received a special surprise in the post. Ben and Jerry’s, in conjunction with Stonewall, had produced a specially designed ice cream tub, complete with the Equality Minister’s photograph and the title Lynne Honeycomb, to show the company’s support for Equal Marriage. Sadly for her office …
The Independent reports that Liberal Democrat MPs are trying to change the new assessment process for the Personal Independence Payments which will replace Disability Living Allowance. They believe that they may lead to blind people being denied the help that they need. This is a measure introduced by the Welfare Reform Act. The MPs are concerned that the new assessment process focuses on mobility and does not sufficiently take into account the ways in which being blind or partially sighted can affect everyday life.
People who have sight loss need the extra help to, for example, help with cleaning, ironing …
I was wondering how I could amuse readers on my own blog yesterday and I came up with this amazing idea of going back and finding out what I was writing about around this time in previous years. It was only later that I realised that Helen Duffett does this for Liberal Democrat Voice every Friday in the Friday Five . I hope she doesn’t mind me borrowing her idea and adding in a little extra spot.
What was good about my post yesterday is that a few other Liberal Democrat bloggers got in on the act and I spent …
So, here it is in the Guardian, the paper that’s been so critical of the Coalition in general and the Lib Dems in particular, these past two years. The announcement that many of us have wanted to see for as long as we’ve been politically active. That women who take time out of the labour market to care for children or sick relatives will not be penalised in their old age.
This is an example of the Coalition delivering a major benefit to mainly women. And although it’s Iain Duncan Smith who’s quoted in the article, make no mistake, it’s Liberal …
I read the Daily Mail every day. It’s worth it because in amongst the inaccurate, scaremongering bile, there’s quite often a wee gem which shows off the Liberal Democrat influence in the Coalition.
Today, it carries an interview with David Cameron in which he tells how these pesky Liberal Democrats have stopped him doing things like getting rid of human rights legislation, eroding people’s employment rights and stopping him introducing a tax break for married couples.
Nick Clegg MP sent out this e-mail to party members about the Queen’s Speech this afternoon. He is holding an exclusive web chat for party members only at 1:30 pm tomorrow. Places are limited but there is still space available. If you are a party member and want to take part, please e-mail party Internal Communications Manager and Lib Dem Voice Co-Editor Helen Duffett on giving your name, address and party membership number. Here is Nick’s e-mail in full.
Today’s Queen’s Speech has again shown that the Liberal Democrats are punching way above their weight – and we can be proud of
So, the Crown has headed back to the Tower, the Queen has left he building and all the pomp and ceremonial of the State Opening of Parliament is over for another year. It always strikes me that it must take ages to get everyone in their finery and yet the whole thing is over in less than an hour.
There is much to cheer Liberal Democrats in the planned measures.
Lords Reform
Green Investment Bank
Libel Reform
Giving shareholders a vote on directors’ remuneration
Flexible parental leave – the measure Nick Clegg’s championed to give families the choices that work for them by allowing parents to
Writing in today’s Financial Times, David Laws sets out his key priorities for the Coalition, discussing what needs to happen in the economy to ensure growth is achieved alongside deficit reduction. He writes about how crucial it is for the Government to get it right on the economy.
The coalition still has the potential to be one of the great reforming governments of the postwar era. The changes we are making in education, welfare and pensions are radical and right. The country will judge us over our full term and not on the basis of a turbulent few weeks of “here
There’s no getting away from the fact that the Scottish election results are heartbreaking and disappointing. Some very dear friends of mine, excellent, hard working Councillors, have lost. I’ve had a few very big sighs of relief as others managed to hold on. We now have just 70 councillors left. It’s not as bad as last year’s Scottish Parliament elections where we lost more than two thirds of our seats, but don’t let anyone tell you that there is anything remotely pleasant about it.
In East Lothian, North Ayrshire, Stirling, Midlothian and Clackmannanshire we were wiped out completely. Large groups in …
As we settle down for our afternoon cup of tea, I thought it would be good to share an uplifting tale from the campaign trail.
The other day, Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury was canvassing in the Wimbledon Park by-election for candidate Dave Busby.
While he was there, he came across a woman who found herself locked in her flat. She was able to escape after she passed the keys to Danny through the letterbox so he could unlock the door for her.
Every Council seat in Scotland is up for grabs tomorrow. There are currently 152 Liberal Democrat councillors in 23 of the 32 local authorities, from the Highlands to Dumfries and Galloway. Liberal Democrats are participants in 13 coalition administrations.
Five years ago, there was some trepidation about how these coalitions would work. It was predicted that they would fall apart in months, but most have lasted the course. The naysayers were mainly from the Labour party, who had lost many of their traditional fiefdoms thanks to the introduction of STV, brought in at the insistence of the Liberal Democrats following the …
Well, it’s hardly been what you’d call a slow news week, has it?
In case you are frazzled by the ever changing headlines, I thought I’d bring one of the more bizarre Jeremy Hunt related stories to your attention.
Iain Martin in the Telegraph writes about the night in May 2010, the second week of the Coalition, when he went to attend a lecture given by James Murdoch.
The events he describes are farcical and are if you feel in need of a break, go and get yourself a cup of tea and a biscuit and simply enjoy the story.
Regular readers will be aware that Liberal Democrat Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone is currently carrying out a consultation on the issue of allowing civil marriage for same sex couples in England. Last week Party President Tim Farron urged party members to respond positively to the Consultation, saying:
We have always stood for individual liberty and the right to choose how we lead our lives. This is why I am member of our party and why I am so proud to be your President. It’s why we came into being in the 19th century to protect the rights of religious minorities. It’s why we led the support for equality for women and why we decided before any other major party that civil marriage should be open to same-sex couples equally.
The Liberal Democrats in Government are now delivering on that. There’s an ongoing consultation on how best to deliver equal civil marriage, which will lead to new legislation in this Parliament. The Government consultation asks about the best way to implement equal civil marriage, and our party conference agreed that the best way to do that is in the context of full equality of marriage and civil partnerships.
The Coalition for Equal Marriage has now released a video which is clearly designed to melt hearts – and I know I’m a big softie, but it certainly worked with me.
You may well be sitting at your desk, overwhelmed by midweek blues. I guarantee this will make you smile. Enjoy.
It’s not been an easy few weeks for the SNP. Even before yesterday’s revelations from Leveson, Alex Salmond was squirming when Willie Rennie confronted him over his close ties to Rupert Murdoch which led to him playing down the phone hacking controversy when writing for the Scottish Sun on Sunday.
They’ve also had to expel one of their MSPs, Bill Walker, who was accused of domestic violence against 3 former wives. Worse, last week’s Sunday Herald reports that Deputy Leader Nicola Sturgeon’s office, although not Ms Sturgeon directly, had been told of the allegations a full three years …
Today’s Guardian carries a report by Patrick Wintour which shows the frustrations of the News Corporation camp as they tried and failed to develop the same sort of close relationship with Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable as they had with Jeremy Hunt and Alex Salmond.
The article outlines several fruitless attempts from senior figures within News Corporation to arrange a meeting with Cable to discuss their proposed takeover of BSkyB. Vince at that time had quasi-judicial responsibility for that decision.
My favourite part of the article is the response of Giles Wilkes, Vince’s Special Adviser, on being asked “when would be …
Willie Rennie, Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, has said that First Minister Alex Salmond has been sullied by James Murdoch’s revelations at the Leveson Enquiry.
Amongst e-mails filed for the Enquiry to consider, one from Frederic Michel, News International’s Director of Public Affairs, about a meeting with Alex Salmond’s advisers on 15 June 2010.
Last Saturday, Federal Conference Committee chair Andrew Wiseman invited responses in an article on Liberal Democrat Voice from members on the controversial issue of an accreditation system for Conference. Sussex Police had requested that party members would have to submit their identity details and past addresses so that they could be checked out by the Police to keep out people who might cause security issues.
Unsurprisingly, the Liberal Democrat blogosphere has been vocal in response. If there has been a post out there in favour of such a system, then I’ve not been able to find it.
I realise that Parliamentary shenanigans and point scoring isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but it’s worth pointing out that Labour today squandered a relatively good position going into the first PMQs of the new Parliamentary term. Ed Miliband had an open goal ahead of him given controversy over the pensioners’ tax allowance, ”pasty tax” and charity tax relief yet he and his strategists still managed to misunderstand parliamentary procedure to a ludicrous extent. He’s just lucky that more excitable members of the Tory benches didn’t take their chance to have some fun.
Miliband looked not to Labour big hitters of the …
Willie Rennie being interviewed by the press at campaign launch in Inverness. Credit: Karen Fraser
Every Council seat in Scotland is up for grabs on May 3rd and Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Willie Rennie was in Inverness on Monday to launch the party’s Local Elections campaign. He outlined four main priorities that the party’s councillors would be fighting on over the next five years. These are:
I guess there always has to be some humility when you see that an opposition candidate has had a bit of a proof-reading failure. After all, it could just as easily happen to you.
That said, Labour candidate for the Spotland and Falinge ward of Rochdale Council Shefali Begum will no doubt be very embarrassed after reading her pitch on the Rochdale Online website in which she says:
I believe to make a prosperous thieving borough we need united and strong communities which are dedicated and passionate about where they live and their future generations will reside.
This Election Broadcast by Brian Paddick and the London Liberal Democrats has just been shown on the BBC. Even from 400 miles away, it’s blatantly obvious to me that Paddick is the most professional and capable candidate for mayor. What impresses me most is that he is innately liberal in his approach, hence the mention of abuse of stop and search powers. He knows how to keep people safe without trampling all over your civil liberties.
Writing in today’s Times, former leader Paddy Ashdown, a key ally of Nick Clegg, has condemned Government’s proposals to increase internet surveillance and warned that we must not “part company with our principles.”
He wrote:
The Government claims that it will have unfettered access only to “data” (ie, sender, recipient, time and duration) rather than content, so this does not constitute “a communications interception”. That is sophistry.
It is one of our rights as free citizens to talk to whom we wish, when we wish and wherever we wish without the State knowing about it, unless there is good cause for it to
Nick Clegg has been promoting his new deal with the six biggest energy companies which will mean that every consumer will receive a statement every year telling them if they’d be better off on a different tariff and how to change things. It’s part of what seems to be a strategy to debunk the idea put about by George Osborne and the Tory right that you can’t be green and have a growing economy at the same time. It makes sense that if we use our resources carefully, costs come down and that benefits everybody, business, consumer and the environment. …
We’re not so used to the Guardian saying nice things about Liberal Democrats these days, but Dave Hill is full of praise for the London Liberal Democrat Manifesto for the Mayoral and Assembly elections which was launched yesterday, calling it liberal, progressive and bold. This is what he has to say about policing and transport proposals:
Mayor Paddick would give each London neighbourhood its own “plan for policing,” with local residents and businesses having input into policing priorities in their areas. His “Paddick patrols” of community groups and residents associations would act as the “eyes and ears” of the police on
Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has just been on BBC Breakfast talking about the deal that the Government has reached with energy companies which will save many households £100 a year on their bills. Under the plan, consumers would be written to annually and told if a different tariff would save them money.
Nick explained that seven out of ten households were paying too much because they were on the wrong tariff and this idea would save them money. He acknowledged that this alone would not solve all the problems in the energy market but he said …
Another glimpse into what a Tory Britain would look like comes in today’s Independent which reports that the Liberal Democrats in the shape of Business Secretary Vince Cable have fended off an attempt by the Prime Minister to erode the rights of employees. Adrian Beecroft, a venture capitalist who has donated almost £600,000 to the Conservative Party, produced a report last year which has so far not been published, which is believed to include proposals to allow employers to fire unproductive workers and cut entitlement to maternity leave.
The Tories, says the Independent, from David Cameron down, wanted to implement this …
Alex Sabine17th May - 3:11am If the reports are to be believed, IDS has already dismissed this apparently back-of-the-envelope costing by Steve Hilton. That is hardly surprising since he has...
Elliot Bidgood17th May - 1:42am Thanks for the information about the govt consultation, Carol, hadn't heard about that. Just filled it out.
alistair17th May - 12:37am Where does Cameron get his advisors from, Coulson, Hilton? It's like some parallel valueless universe.
Richard Dean16th May - 11:49pm I wonder if we might all appreciate a bit of light entertainment at this stage of the debate? Here are the lyrics of “Visions of...
Nicola Prigg16th May - 11:21pm Was his first speech to conference as leader recorded and put online anywhere?
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Alex Sabine 17th May - 3:11am
Elliot Bidgood 17th May - 1:42am
alistair 17th May - 12:37am
Richard Dean 16th May - 11:49pm
Nicola Prigg 16th May - 11:21pm