Author Archives: The Voice

The Voice

Stephen Tall guests on Guardian Politics Weekly podcast – Tory EU referendum question: in hand or out of control?

By The Voice | Fri 17th May 2013 - 10:25 am

guardian politicsLibDemVoice co-editor Stephen Tall joined the panel for this week’s Guardian Politics Weekly podcast, hosted by Tom Clark and also featuring political columnist Melissa Kite and Guardian social affairs editor Randeep Ramesh. They discuss the Tories’ latest implosion over when to hold an in/out EU referendum and Theresa May’s proposal that life should mean life in prison for anyone convicted of murdering a police officer.

You can listen to it here online, or download it as an MP3 here.

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The Voice

Clegg v Bone: The Rematch

By The Voice | Wed 15th May 2013 - 10:52 am

Just so you all know, Nick Clegg is doing Prime Minister’s Questions today as David Cameron is in the US. He will face Harriet Harman and no doubt a fair few of the Tory right wing Eurosceptics.

I doubt Peter Bone will be as friendly as he was last time Nick did PMQs, in November. And Ms Dorries has restored from the wilderness.

Nick has usually performed very well at PMQs. I expect his weekly phone in and regular town hall meetings make a Commons full of baying MPs much easier to tame. I’m tempted to make a comment about the …

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The Voice

Battle of the Andrews over 5 Days in May: Lib Dem Stunell lambasts Labour’s Adonis for “spurious rubbish”

By The Voice | Tue 14th May 2013 - 1:10 pm

adonis stunellLord (Andrew) Adonis, a former SDP councillor and the very model of a modern Blairite New Labourite, has a new book out offering his assessment of those five heady days in May when the alternative Lib-Con and Lib-Lab coalition options were discussed.

In the main it confirms what was already known: that Labour had not given any thought to the fact they might have to work with the Lib Dems in the event of a hung parliament.

But his Lordship, having conceded how ill-prepared Labour was, is nonetheless mustard-keen to lay much of the blame for the failure of the Lib-Lab option at the door of Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems. Andrew Stunell, Lib Dem MP and one of the party’s five-strong negotiating team, is having none of this revisionism — as he points out punchily in a letter in today’s Guardian.

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The Voice

Paddy Ashdown: Liberal Youth are absolutely fantastic

By The Voice | Tue 7th May 2013 - 7:55 am

Liberal Youth’s Gold Guard effort during the local election campaign saw them campaign vigorously all over the country. There were action days from Berwick to Cambridge to Somerset and every night an hour was set aside to call for a specific candidate.

Some of the party’s most treasured figures put together this video to thank them, and it was emailed to their members last night. Well, Paddy said a little more than thank you, but he’s allowed, because we are obliged to obey his every instruction between now and 2015.

We thought you might like to see it.

Rumour has it, by the …

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The Voice

LDVideo: Nick Clegg and Simon Hughes comment on the Lib Dem performance in the local elections

By The Voice | Sat 4th May 2013 - 5:20 pm

The Lib Dem leader and deputy leader on the outcomes from Thursday’s elections…

Nick Clegg on the Lib Dems’ local election performance

Local elections: Simon Hughes defends Lib Dem result

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The Voice

Local elections 2013 live blog…..

By The Voice | Fri 3rd May 2013 - 9:57 am

09:56 Caron:

And we start off with some good news from Ashfield. Simon Hughes has just said on BBC Breakfast that it looks like we have held our seats and got the youngest councillor in the country elected.

10:10 Stephen:

10:26 Caron:

Congratulations to Lib Dem Voice’s Sara Bedford on her election as County Councillor for Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire.

10:29 Caron:

The Telegraph has its own spin on Tim Farron’s appearance on …

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The Voice

What you get from Liberal Democrat Councillors – a record of action

By The Voice | Thu 2nd May 2013 - 9:58 am

Liberal Democrats around the country are taking to the streets or phones to get out the vote. Here’s Lib Dem HQ in sunny Ludlow. Ludlow HQ

From the Liberal Democrat website:

The Liberal Democrats are building a stronger economy in a fairer society, enabling everyone to get on in life.

Our councillors have proud records locally, standing up for local people:

  • No library will be closed in any Lib Dem-run or Lib Dem-led authorities this year
    • Northumberland County Council, Portsmouth and Stockport are opening new ones
  • Liberal Democrats are helping businesses and customers to get their economies

…

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The Voice

Good Morning! And best wishes to all Lib Dem candidates today!

By The Voice | Thu 2nd May 2013 - 7:30 am

Best of luck to all Lib Dem candidates in today’s local elections across England (and in the Ise of Anglesey).

Good luck, too, to Hugh Annand in today’s South Shields by-election; and to John Brown (Doncaster) and John Appleby (North Tyneside) in today’s mayoral elections.

And a particular shout-out to LibDemVoice’s ‘Libby Local’, the first-time candidate in ‘Libbyshire’ who’s been keeping LibDemVoice readers up-to-date with campaign progress over the past 6 months. You can catch up with all her experiences here.

goodmorning_ld

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The Voice

Clegg defends Coalition: “We inherited from Labour an economy teetering on the edge”

By The Voice | Wed 1st May 2013 - 8:58 pm

Nick Clegg was interviewed while on the campaign trail in Lewes today for Channel 4 News by Gary Gibbon — here’s a 6-minute excerpt in which Nick explains the steps the Coalition has taken to rescue the economy since 2010:

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The Voice

Nick Clegg grilled by Martha Kearney: Lib Dems “the voice of fairness” in government

By The Voice | Tue 30th April 2013 - 8:35 pm

Nick Clegg fared better than Ed Miliband in his pre-local election grilling today by Martha Kearney on BBC Radio 4′s World at One. You can watch the 18-minute interview here:

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The Voice

Former Lib Dem by-election candidate Elizabeth Shenton defects to Labour

By The Voice | Sun 28th April 2013 - 11:55 am

Newcastle councillor Elizabeth Shenton, Lib Dem candidate in the 2008 Crew and Nantwich by-election, has left the party to join Labour. Local paper The Sentinel reports:

A senior Lib Dem councillor and former parliamentary candidate has defected to Labour. Elizabeth Shenton said she had left the Liberal Democrats due to the coalition Government’s ‘damaging policies’. She has now joined the ruling Labour group on Newcastle Borough Council. Mrs Shenton, below, who was the Lib Dem candidate in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election in 2008, had been member of the party for 10 years.

Mrs Shenton, who has also served

…

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Posted in Local government | Tagged , and | 26 Comments
The Voice

LibLink: Edward McMillan-Scott – End the European Parliament’s “travelling circus”

By The Voice | Tue 23rd April 2013 - 3:14 pm

EU Parliament Brussels - Some rights reserved by PoetografieEdward McMillan-Scott MEP is the only British Vice-President of the European Parliament and has been leading the campaign for a single seat for the European Parliament. On the British Influence website he writes:

For four days each month, the European Parliament leaves its working base in Brussels, the EU’s political capital, and descends on Strasbourg, its official ‘Seat’ for debates and votes. In addition, half of the Parliament’s staff work in Luxembourg. This arrangement costs €180 million and 19,000 tonnes of C02 every

…

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The Voice

LibLink: Greg Mulholland – A day to celebrate England, Englishness, and all things English

By The Voice | Tue 23rd April 2013 - 11:58 am

st georgeToday is St George’s Day, and Greg Mulholland has marked the occasion with an article in Endeavour Public Affairs.  He writes:

St George’s Day is an occasion when we should celebrate England, Englishness, and all things English.  Yet how many English people actually take the time to celebrate, to commemorate the event, even by that most English of pastimes, by popping for a pint of England’s national drink, beer, in one of our most distinctive of English institutions, the public house?

It often seems to me, surely strangely, that the answer is fewer than the number of people who live in England and celebrate St Patrick’s Day.  It is not only the Irish Diaspora communities who celebrate this, so why is it that not more English residents, whether born and bred or not, choose to celebrate our national day?

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The Voice

Lloyd George among Royal Mail’s latest 1st Class ‘Great Britons’

By The Voice | Sun 21st April 2013 - 4:15 pm

Royal Mail this week announced the launch of its latest set of special stamps, ‘Great Britons’, a set of 1st Class stamps celebrating the achievements of 10 distinguished individuals from the realms of sport, journalism, music, politics and the arts.

lloyd george stampDavid Lloyd George, the last Liberal Prime Minister, is the chosen politician. Here’s how Wikipedia describes him:

Lloyd George is best known as the highly energetic Prime Minister (1916–22) who guided the Empire through the First World War to victory over Germany and its allies. He was a major player at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 that reordered Europe after the Great War. As an icon of 20th-century liberalism, he is regarded as the founder of the British welfare state. He made a greater impact on British public life than any other 20th-century leader, thanks to his leadership of the war, his postwar role in reshaping Europe, and his introduction of Britain’s social welfare system before the war.

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The Voice

Kirsty Williams on criticism of the Coalition: “It knocked my confidence.”

By The Voice | Sun 21st April 2013 - 12:00 pm

nick clegg kirsty williams - 1It’s the Welsh Lib Dems’ conference this weekend and Kirsty Williams will take the opportunity to argue that a “crucial turning point” has been reached, reports BBC News:

At the conference in Cardiff, Ms Williams will claim the fact the Lib Dems retained third place in the Cardiff South and Penarth by-election last November, albeit with a much reduced share of the vote, was a “sign post that things were changing” for the party.

“Eastleigh was a turning point,” she will say. “Yes, the criticisms of our

…

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The Voice

Win 2 free tickets to see Lembit Opik at Matt Forde’s ‘The Political Party’ TONIGHT

By The Voice | Wed 17th April 2013 - 8:45 am

ALL-NAMES-FINAL- (1)Yes, you read that headline right. The Voice is offering 2 FREE tickets to our readers to see Lib Dem luminary Lembit Opik be interviewed on ‘The Political Party’ with Matt Forde. The event takes place TONIGHT, Wednesday 17th April, 8pm at London’s St James Theatre in Victoria.

As it’s short notice, this is simply a first-come-first-served offer: simply email [email protected] First two readers to reply will get the tickets (please only reply if you know you can attend). And if you want to attend even if you don’t …

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The Voice

How would you use £600? Last night’s Liberal Democrat Party Election Broadcast

By The Voice | Wed 17th April 2013 - 7:29 am

Last night’s Party Election Broadcast by the Liberal Democrats concentrated on the significant raising of the tax threshold that comes in this month. The “stronger economy in a fairer society enabling everyone to get on in life” mantra was repeated heavily. The work of local Liberal Democrat councillors in creating jobs and protecting services was also mentioned.

The Broadcast had earlier been trailed to members in an email from Elizabeth Jewkes, the party member who had proposed its inclusion in the manifesto. She said:

Just a few years ago, in 2009, I attended our conference in Bournemouth as an ordinary party member

…

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The Voice

Simon Hughes says that Lords reform is still on the Liberal Democrat agenda

By The Voice | Mon 15th April 2013 - 2:25 pm

The Financial Times website carries an article suggesting that senior Liberal Democrats are preparing to make the issue of Lords reform a deal breaker in any future coalition negotiations. It quotes Deputy Leader Simon Hughes as saying:

If the time did come for more coalition negotiations, the experience of coalition the first time will be clearly taken on board when we think through what we would do a second time. The constitutional reform agenda and particularly reform of the Lords would have to be a part of the package.

The article goes on to say that sources close to Nick Clegg …

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The Voice

What’s on at Welsh Liberal Democrat Conference this weekend?

By The Voice | Mon 15th April 2013 - 9:55 am

A public service announcement from the Welsh Liberal Democrats follows…

With record numbers of delegates attending and five Lib Dem Government Ministers taking part, the Welsh Liberal Democrat conference taking place this weekend already looks as if it’s going to be a memorable one.

Highlights on the agenda include:

  • Keynote speeches – Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will be opening Conference, with speeches later on in the weekend also come from the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander and Welsh Liberal Democrat party Leader Kirsty Williams.
  • Gala dinner –Vince Cable MP will be guest speaker at the Conference Dinner. Unsurprisingly, tickets for this

…

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The Voice

Chris Davies MEP reveals how Strasbourg isn’t always good for your health

By The Voice | Sun 14th April 2013 - 1:15 pm

chris daviesChris Davies reveals one of the unexpected problems of the European Parliament shuttling between Brussels and Strasbourg at great expense: bed bugs. Here’s an excerpt from his latest notes:

I went to the medical centre in the European Parliament in Brussels. “I’ve had these itchy spots on my arms and legs for 6 weeks or so,” I told the doctor. “They started off like insect bites but they won’t go away.” She looked at them and asked if any new spots had appeared since the Parliament was

…

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The Voice

LibLink: Michael Moore – Scotland is stronger within the United Kingdom

By The Voice | Wed 10th April 2013 - 4:31 pm

michael-moore-mp-secretary-of-state-for-scotlandMichael Moore has been sharing his thoughts on the referendum on the US version of Huffington Post.  He writes:

Scotland is facing an historic decision in 2014: whether to remain as part of the United Kingdom or to leave and go it alone. Scotland’s nationalist First Minister Alex Salmond is in America this week and will seek to persuade Americans that Scots want independence, that it is our destiny and that U.S. relations with Scotland will only improve should it happen. On all counts, I believe that this analysis is flawed.

…

With

…

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The Voice

Nick Clegg launches local election campaign

By The Voice | Tue 9th April 2013 - 12:32 pm

Nick-CleggThe launch of our local election campaign yesterday was rather overshadowed by some other news.

Here is an extract from Nick Clegg’s speech:

Next month, in wards across the country, people will be confronted with the same choice. Despite all their stated differences, a vote for Labour or the Tories will be a vote for the same thing.

Their record in local government shows that, even when millions of families are feeling the pinch, they’ll both squander taxpayers’ money on waste, inefficiency and their own vanity projects.

A vote for the Liberal Democrats, on

…

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The Voice

Liberal Democrats pay tribute to Lady Thatcher

By The Voice | Mon 8th April 2013 - 4:22 pm

Several senior Liberal Democrats have already shared their thoughts on the passing of Lady Thatcher. We’ll collate further comments on this page as they come in.

Nick Clegg, currently on a visit to Cornwall, had this to say:

Margaret Thatcher was one of the defining figures in modern British politics. Whatever side of the political debate you stand on, no one can deny that as prime minister she left a unique and lasting imprint on the country she served. She may have divided opinion during her time in politics but everyone will be united today in

…

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The Voice

RIP Margaret Thatcher

By The Voice | Mon 8th April 2013 - 1:35 pm

margaret-thatcherThe BBC and other outlets are reporting that Margaret Thatcher has died following a stroke. She was Britain’s first and only female Prime Minister and one who changed the political landscape. While we in the Liberal Democrats often have disagreed with her, there is much to reflect on in her lasting legacy.

Our thoughts are with Lady Thatcher’s friends and family at this time. Comments are open below for tributes only, please.

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The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #320

By The Voice | Sun 7th April 2013 - 7:30 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 320th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (31 March – 6 April, 2013), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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The Voice

Greg Mulholland to propose “complete separation of state marriage and religious weddings”

By The Voice | Sun 7th April 2013 - 4:00 pm

Greg MulhollandLib Dem MP Greg Mulholland was one of seven Lib Dem MPs to abstain from the vote on same-sex marriage in February. He explained his reasons for doing so here:

I do agree unequivocally that all adults must be treated equally in terms of legal recognition of their relationship and the rights that they convey; the question is how best to deliver that at the same time as protecting freedom of conscience. These are two important rights and must both be delivered simultaneously. The problem is that as currently drafted, the Marriage Bill delivers neither of these. It is a confused and flawed piece of legislation that does not actually deliver equality as it proposes different definitions of marriage for heterosexual and same sex couples; nor does it sufficiently protect freedom of conscience for people with religious and other differing views of marriage. This is why I was unable to support the Bill at second reading, however nor did I want to vote against it or what would be misinterpreted as my being anti equal legal rights, which I am very clearly not.

Greg now has a proposal, though it’s far-reaching legislative changes may not be well-received at Westminster:

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The Voice

LibLink: Sarah Teather – Grubby Osborne’s crude opportunism is capitalising on fear

By The Voice | Sun 7th April 2013 - 12:35 pm

teather_cleggFormer Lib Dem children’s minister Sarah Teather unleashes something of a broadside not just against the Coalition, but against all three political parties for their policies on the poorest in society, both benefit claimants and also immigrants and asylum-seekers:

There is nothing like insecurity to bring out the temptation to scapegoat. Instead of offering a bit of statesmanlike leadership, Conservative ministers have engaged repeatedly in crude opportunism, capitalising on fear. And so the battle is drawn: good against evil. Those without benefits against those who claim. Strivers against shirkers. The deserving against

…

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The Voice

Secret Lib Dem-UKIP talks revealed

By The Voice | Mon 1st April 2013 - 10:45 am

farageEven before the Eastleigh result was announced it had become clear that strong Liberal Democrat and UKIP campaigning has the potential to crush Conservative support from both sides. Many Conservative seats throughout England could fall to one party or the other given the right co-ordination of UKIP and Liberal Democrat strategy. Even where the Liberal Democrats could not win, the Conservatives could be sufficiently weakened to hand a seat to UKIP, and vice versa.

While of course UKIP and the Liberal Democrats have big policy differences, most notably on Europe, if there …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 19 Comments
The Voice

LibLink: Danny Alexander – Bedroom blockers and tax dodgers will pay

By The Voice | Sun 31st March 2013 - 4:45 pm

Lib Dem chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander has published a robust defence of the Coalition’s welfare reforms in The Sun on Sunday. Here’s how it starts:

Last week a young woman came to talk to me about her housing situation. Her frustration was obvious. She was working hard in a low-paid job and was stuck in an overcrowded home with a young family and desperately needed to move to a bigger home. She couldn’t understand why she had to wait so long to get a home that was the right size for her and her family. It’s a story

…

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The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 29 March 2013

By The Voice | Fri 29th March 2013 - 10:15 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock (ahem, ish). Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

  1. Nick Clegg’s illiberal hat-trick: now immigration joins ‘secret courts’ and media regulation on the pyre (134) by Stephen Tall
  2. Boris has a right Mair in live BBC interview (18) by Stephen Tall
  3. Opinion: Taking minimum wage work out of tax would deliver the Living Wage (15) by Adam Corlett
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    How on earth Matthew Huntbach can claim, in comment after comment on this site, to have been 'silenced' is beyond me. Opposition to same-sex marriage...
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    Jedi, Since we have no idea what state Europe will be in in 2017, or at any other date in the future, we cannot possibly...
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    Interpreter by day and Al Qaeda by night. Discuss.
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    Religion should never be used as a barrier to human rights and equality. Full stop!
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    Hear Julian Huppert speak on the Trans amendments and agree he made the best speech. Unfortunately didn't catch the vote on that section so disappointing...