Liberal Democrat Voice | Our place to talk – an independent website for supporters of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK.

Opinion – NHS Reforms: It is not too late to pull back from the edge

By Issan Ghazni | Published 9th February 2012 - 6:56 pm

If the Party is still licking its wounds and reeling from the catastrophic loss of public support over student tuition fees and the kicking received in the May 2011 local elections, then please be in no doubt, that the punishment it will receive from the electorate for its perceived co-operation in, and reluctant endorsement of, the demise of a much loved and unified national health service, will be on another planet entirely! And that will be despite the valiant efforts and guerrilla warfare carried out by our Peers led notably by Shirley Williams and others.

Essential to Cameron’s election campaign was …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged NHS, nhs reform | 20 Comments

LibLink: Brian Paddick – London is increasingly policed by force not consent – thanks to its mayors

By Nick Thornsby | Published 9th February 2012 - 5:17 pm

Lib Dem London mayoral candidate Brian Paddick had a piece on the Guardian’s Comment Is Free website yesterday on what is his undoubtedly his strongest issue – policing.

Here’s a sample of what Brian had to say:

Crime will be far more of an issue in the election of the mayor of London on 3 May because the mayor is now the elected crime and police commissioner for London. He alone sets police priorities and the police budget and he alone will hold the Metropolitan police to account. Far from holding the police to account, to date

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged boris johnson, brian paddick, ken livingstone, london mayoral election, policing | Leave a comment

Ed Davey MP writes… Solar power for the many, not the few

By Ed Davey MP | Published 9th February 2012 - 4:27 pm

Some things in politics are symbolic. For dyed-in-the-wool environmentalists like the Liberal Democrats, solar power is one of these things – indisputably clean, green and cutting edge technology. The sort of thing Liberal Democrats in a government that aims to be the greenest ever should be unequivocally behind.

Our commitment to the environment was why I joined the party in the first place.

So I understand why many of you were confused and disappointed when the Government appeared to scale back the Feed in Tariffs that allow people to install solar panels in their homes and businesses, not least when our decision …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged department of energy and climate change, feed-in tariffs, renewable energy, solar power | 26 Comments

Opinion – Twitter: powerful campaign tool or waste of effort?

By Alan Muhammed | Published 9th February 2012 - 2:55 pm

The simple tweet “F*ck” at 10am with the reply “Agreed” last Friday was the only source and all the evidence I required to know that Chris Huhne had been charged. Two words tied emotion with cognition. I followed Nick Clegg’s tax cut speech live through the medium of 140 character paraphrase: a sort of Focus-speak reduction I can only imagine would have the speech-writers crying. The utterance “Borgen – Danish West Wing” was all the persuasion necessary to watch it religiously.

Twitter is free, fast and tragic. And if it wasn’t powerful in facilitating the fall of …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged connect, jamie matthews, julian huppert, Online politics, tim farron, twitter, victor chamberlain | 3 Comments

Lib Dem members launch group opposed to the coalition

By Nick Thornsby | Published 9th February 2012 - 1:51 pm

The Guadian reports:

The first Liberal Democrat group openly opposed to the coalition is to be launched at the party’s spring conference in Gateshead next month with a warning that the coalition has been a political disaster for the party, as well as a denial of its radical roots.

Launching a website on Wednesday, the group Liberal Left said it hoped to become a rallying point for members opposed to the coalition and those who see the party as a centre-left organisation seeking common cause with Labour, Greens and others on the centre left.

One

…

Posted in News | Tagged Liberal Left, linda jack, richard grayson | 22 Comments

LDVideo: Liberal Democrat peers rebel against coalition plans

By Stephen Tall | Published 9th February 2012 - 12:45 pm

More than 60 Lib Dem peers have rebelled against the Coalition government’s plans during this Parliament. Here Baroness (Susan) Kramer talks about how she and her colleagues attempt always to be constructive in their dissent.

* Warning: the following video contains scenes with Quentin Letts, which some viewers may find distressing.

(Available on the BBC website here.)

Posted in YouTube | Tagged house of lords, quentin letts, susan kramer | 1 Comment

Clegg signals new approach to individual voter registration in evidence to Parliamentary committee

By Nick Thornsby | Published 9th February 2012 - 11:28 am

Last Wednesday saw Nick Clegg return for his annual appearance before the House of Lords Constitution Committee. As one might expect, a whole range of political reform and constitutional issues were covered in the 90 minute evidence session.

One interesting answer by the Deputy Prime Minister which caught my attention was on the topic of individual voter registration. Asked by Liberal Democrat peer Lord (Chris) Rennard whether there would be changes to the government approach as set out in the earlier White Paper when we see legislation on the issue soon, Clegg had the following to say:

The short answer is ‘yes’….We

…

Posted in Election law, News | Tagged chris rennard, constitutional reform, electoral registration, nick clegg, political and constitutional reform committee | 7 Comments

Opinion: Labour’s embracing of economic liberalism is to be welcomed

By David Thorpe | Published 9th February 2012 - 9:28 am

The first sign that man is moving from the reckless abandon of late youth to the windswept comfort of early maturity can be found in his reaction to the sight of falling snow. Where once it would have been an excuse to declare the days schedule defunct, this year it signalled only the onset of boredom.

Consequently I dusted down my new year’s resolution to ‘laugh a lot more’ and began thinking about Labour’s attitude to economics. I propose to look at the Labour leadership’s deeper economic instincts to provide a guide as to how they might actually run the economy.

Ed Balls

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged economic liberalism, economy, ed balls, ed miliband, orange book, vince cable | 21 Comments

NHS reforms: Lib Dem members opposed by 2-to-1 majority

By Stephen Tall | Published 9th February 2012 - 7:45 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 570 party members responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

LDV asked: The Health and Social Care Bill which will implement radical reforms to the NHS was passed by MPs last September. From what you have seen or heard about the Coalition’s plans for the NHS, do you support or oppose them?

So, by a two-to-one margin, Lib Dem members in …

Posted in LDV Members poll | 11 Comments

How the Guardian makes the news, then reports the news

By Mark Pack | Published 8th February 2012 - 7:58 pm

A nimble two-step from The Guardian:

1. Polly Toynbee sends tweet encouraging all and sundry to take part in an open-access online poll being run by the BMJ.

2. The Guardian reports result of said BMJ poll.

Then only thing missing, alas, is:

3. The Guardian then realises that reporting a voodoo poll which its own staff have been encouraging people to take part on is low grade self-referential journalism and pulls poll report.

Hat tip: Anthony Wells

Posted in News | Tagged journalism, polly toynbee, the guardian | Leave a comment

Lembit does an impression of the Angel of the North

By Caron Lindsay | Published 8th February 2012 - 4:25 pm

Seriously, he does.

And he doesn’t care what anyone thinks, either, as he said to Sky News yesterday.

Thing is, as we all watch the uncomfortably inappropriate close ups, his dad dancing and numerous other cringeworthy snippets, we are compelled to listen to what is actually quite a good song by the Good Suns. A very clever marketing ploy, I think.

Enjoy, or whatever. Just don’t charge the Voice for any post traumatic stress counselling you might need.

Posted in News | Tagged humour, lembit opik | 3 Comments

Labour MP Docherty brands local Community Council as snobs and nimbys

By Caron Lindsay | Published 8th February 2012 - 2:25 pm

Thomas Docherty has courted controversy since he was elected as Labour MP for Dunfermline and West Fife in 2010. He certainly has a novel approach to winning friends and influencing people.

First of all, he had a go at certain of his fellow MPs whose attire, he felt was too casual for the Commons.

Then he was a leading voice in the campaign to have a statue of Tony Blair at Westminster.

During my four years working for Willie Rennie when he was Dunfermline’s MP, I can safely say that neither of these issues were ever raised with him by one …

Posted in Opposition watch | Tagged Dunfermline, labour, thomas docherty | 1 Comment

EXCLUSIVE: Majority of Lib Dem members back Coalition’s benefits cap

By Stephen Tall | Published 8th February 2012 - 1:20 pm

59% of Lib Dem members back benefits cap at £26,000 or lower

LDV asked: Under the Coalition government’s proposal the cap on benefits will apply to the total sum of all benefits a household receives, including income support, jobseekers allowance, child benefit and housing benefit. The government is setting the maximum at £26,000, the average earnings of a British family after tax. What do …

Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged benefits, house of lords, paddy ashdown | 20 Comments

59% of Lib Dem members back benefits cap at £26,000 or lower

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