Tag Archives: Jo Swinson

Jo Swinson thanks hospital staff for “keeping me alive”

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 5th May 2013 - 3:55 pm

In October 2010, I interviewed Jo Swinson for this site and she told me of the work she was doing to help children with allergies who were being bullied at school:

Basically, other kids had put the food that they’re allergic to in their pockets or bags. Worse, the kids had been held down and had the toxic food pushed towards their face. We all know that children can be cruel and all bullying is bad and needs to be addressed, but the specific issue with this

…

Posted in News | Also tagged anaphylaxis, featured, st john ambulance and the anaphylaxis campaign | 12 Comments

Jo Swinson MP writes…Consumers need to be protected from the predatory behaviour of payday lenders

By Jo Swinson MP | Wed 13th March 2013 - 9:28 am

Every MP has seen tragic cases of constituents struggling with debt problems.

Like Mrs S, whose daughter was granted hundreds of pounds of loans, despite not being in employment and suffering from mental health problems. That young woman is now in arrears with 2 different payday lenders. She is being charged high default fees and her situation is getting worse each day.

The Coalition Government is determined to make sure that consumers are properly protected and that payday lenders stop taking advantage of vulnerable people. The evidence of the scale of unscrupulous behaviour by payday lenders and the impact on …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged financial conduct authority, office of fair trading and payday lenders | 5 Comments

Conference Rally: Confessional, motivational and defiant

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 9th March 2013 - 8:29 pm

A conference rally without Tim Farron is a bit like strawberries without cream. When he wasn’t there telling his bad football jokes, I wondered if he’d been put on the Naughty Step for his interview earlier. But, no, he hadn’t even arrived in Brighton.

What we did have was a sense of almost cleansing, confessional, cathartic and heartfelt speeches tackling the pain of the last few weeks head on.

Nick Clegg made clear that he wanted to change the culture in the party. What he said is not new for him. He’s always been very pro equality, but this was a new …

Posted in Conference and News | Also tagged liberal youth, lynne featherstone, mike thornton, nick clegg, Sarah Yong and shirley williams | 2 Comments

Jo Swinson talks directly to Lib Dem members about her role in the Chris Rennard allegations

By The Voice | Sat 9th March 2013 - 10:45 am

Last night, Danny Alexander wrote this post for LibDemVoice explaining his role in the allegations concerning Lord Rennard, confirming he spoke directly to the party’s then chief executive to make clear any future conduct would have consequences: “These were not easy conversations, nor should they have been.”

Jo Swinson, whose only previous public statement on the issue was posted here on LibDemVoice, took to the stage at last night’s party conference rally to talk directly to members about how she’d handled the allegations which were …

Posted in Conference | Also tagged chris rennard and Danny Alexander | 2 Comments

Mike Thornton MP takes his seat in the Commons

By Helen Duffett | Wed 6th March 2013 - 3:55 pm

By-election winning Lib Dems. Photo by Helen Duffett, on Flickr.

From the BBC:

The newly elected Liberal Democrat MP Mike Thornton has taken his seat in the House of Commons after winning the Eastleigh by-election.

He took his oath of allegiance to the Crown earlier.

New MPs are not allowed to speak in debates, vote, or get paid,

…

Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged annette brooke, eastleigh by-election, jeremy browne, mike thornton and stephen lloyd | 4 Comments

Jo Swinson launches consultation on parental leave

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 28th February 2013 - 1:30 pm

One thing that would never have happened if the Liberal Democrats had not been in Government is the change towards shared parental leave. Yesterday on LBC’s Call Clegg, Nick Clegg talked about how the state should not dictate which parent took leave when a child was born. It should be up for parents to decide for themselves.

Earlier this week, Businesss Minister Jo Swinson launched a consultation on the Bill which is open for 12 weeks, until 20th May. She said:

Current workplace arrangements for maternity leave are old-fashioned and rigid. Our measures for shared parental leave and flexible working give us

…

Posted in News | Also tagged government consultations and shared parental leave | 5 Comments

Don Foster MP writes… The Integration Strategy: one year on

By Don Foster MP | Thu 21st February 2013 - 10:25 am

The Government’s Integration Strategy, Creating the Conditions for Integration was published a year ago on 21 February 2012. Since becoming a minister a few months ago, this is one of the areas about which I’ve had some of the strongest feedback from party members.

The views I’ve heard range from “the strategy is welcome, but not enough” to “it isn’t a serious substitute for a strategy to tackle racism and racial injustice”. Some have said that the document skates over the fact that integration is a two way process of mutual accommodation. Those with this view argue that there’s …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged andrew stunell, fiyaz mughal, joseph rowntree foundation, mo farah, multiculturalism, nick clegg, racism and sayeeda warsi | 8 Comments

Caron’s pick of the Federal Spring Conference agenda

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 13th February 2013 - 2:59 pm

It’s just over three weeks until Liberal Democrats gather in Brighton for our annual Federal Spring Conference. This morning the agenda landed on my doorstep and I thought I’d share my highlights with you.

If you can, it’s worth trying to get there for 3 pm on Friday 8th March for the consultation sessions. This is an important part of the policy making process, where ordinary party members can have their say as policy documents are being written. Most of them are on issues which apply to the …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged nick clegg, paddy ashdown, shirley williams and spring conference 2013 | 3 Comments

Ece, Pidgeon and Swinson nominated for Women in Public Life awards

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 6th February 2013 - 2:30 pm

Every year, Women in Public Life hold awards to celebrate female leaders across politics, journalism and business. As Dame Kelly Holmes puts it on their website:

Women are under represented in business, the arts and politics. These awards help to highlight and reward the achievements of women and encourage others to pursue leadership roles and to strive for greater representation. I encourage all

…

Posted in News | Also tagged Caroline Pidgeon, meral ece and women in public life | 2 Comments

Jo Swinson MP writes…Equality is about more than ticking boxes

By Jo Swinson MP | Thu 17th January 2013 - 11:14 am

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) would never have become a valued and respected national institution if it was allowed to continue on the path it was on. Labour’s tired old way of working was turning equalities into a burden. When people heard the word equality they also heard bureaucracy and red-tape. Instead of being about fairness it was more about frustration.

If Labour’s method of ticking boxes and filling out forms led to equality, then why did they leave behind a society with so much inequality across the board? Twenty percent wage gaps between women and men, nonexistent social …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged equality and human rights commission | 40 Comments

LibLink: Christine Jardine… Stop pressuring our children to be perfect

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 1st January 2013 - 11:15 am

It’s New Year and every single magazine aimed at women and girls will inevitably be full of the latest crash diet. Whether it’s claiming you’ll lose a stone in seven days, or banning carbs or suggesting you base your diet on cabbage soup or eggs, we are told that we should get rid of the excesses of the Festive Season as soon as possible with often drastic measures.

Jo Swinson recently wrote an open letter to magazine

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged body image, christine jardine and scotsman | 6 Comments

Scottish Liberal Democrats mourn ex Council Leader John Morrison

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 23rd December 2012 - 5:30 pm

Scottish Liberal Democrats were shocked to learn of the sudden death of former East Dunbartonshire Council Leader John Morrison at the age of just 50. The Sunday Herald reports that John was found unconscious as the result of an assault in a Glasgow Street early on Saturday morning and died later in hospital.

John was affectionately known as Hobbit throughout the Scottish party. He had acquired that nickname while at Glasgow University and bore it with his customary good humour. He’d been a leading …

Posted in News | Also tagged Alistair Carmichael, john morrison, Local government and Scotland | 1 Comment

Large-scale redundancy consultation period to be halved, says Swinson

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 19th December 2012 - 7:22 pm

Liberal Democrat Employment Minister Jo Swinson has announced that the formal consultation period employers must carry out by law when making more than 100 employees redundant will, from April, be cut from 90 days to 45 days.

According to this BBC report, a consultation showed “strong support” for the changes. I can only imagine this must have been amongst employers because, frankly, it would take a special employee to favour doing themselves out of six and a half weeks’ pay.

It is worth pointing out, though, that people who work for very small employers have the right to individual consultation, but …

Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged employmenet rights and redundancy | 52 Comments

Alistair Carmichael MP writes…Why I’ve put the whip away for the Equal Marriage vote

By Alistair Carmichael MP | Wed 12th December 2012 - 6:59 pm

Everybody knows that the first rule of Fight Club is that you do not talk about Fight Club.

I am no Brad Pitt but the same is also true of the Whips’ Office.

It is not normally my practice to discuss whipping arrangements for the parliamentary party, nor to discuss publicly the process by which decisions are reached. Today, however, I am prepared (exceptionally) to do so and to explain the decision taken last night to allow Liberal Democrat MPs a free vote …

Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged chief whip, equal marriage; house of commons, lynne featherstone and nick clegg | 67 Comments

Maria Miller, the Telegraph and Leveson: how statutory regulation begins & how the press is bringing it on itself

By Stephen Tall | Wed 12th December 2012 - 9:40 am

Now I’m more than a little sceptical about Leveson: I think he’s firing the wrong bullet (regulation backed by statute) at a target that’s moving out of range (the ‘dead tree press’). However, I’m also deeply sceptical about the press’s ability to report facts straight.

Which leaves me a bit conflicted at this morning’s report: The minister and a warning to the Telegraph before expenses story.

On the one hand, you have a clear signal of the danger of letting politicians anywhere near

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged joanna hindley, leveson inquiry, maria miller and mps expenses | 7 Comments

Jo Swinson ensures fair treatment for supermarket suppliers

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 5th December 2012 - 3:56 pm

It’s a key liberal principle that large, powerful organisations whether government or private companies, should not be allowed to abuse that power, to treat those they deal with unfairly.

That’s why the Liberal Democrats have been so keen to set up a Groceries Adjudicator to ensure that the large supermarkets give a fair deal to their suppliers. The Adjudicator will have the power to arbitrate between retailers and suppliers, and

Posted in News | Also tagged featured, groceries code adjudicator, mark williams and tavish scott | 3 Comments

Michael Moore’s Westminster Notes

By Michael Moore MP | Wed 21st November 2012 - 12:30 pm

Every week, Michael Moore MP, Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland, writes a column for newspapers in his Borders constituency. Here’s the latest edition in which he is too modest, however, to draw attention to the fact that he won Best Scot at Westminster in the Herald’s Scottish Politician of the Year awards,

Post Offices

In recent months a number of my constituents have written to me

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged featured, Michael Moore, parental leave, post offices and Westminster Notes | 1 Comment

A longer watch for the weekend: Mothers of Liberty

By Mark Pack | Sat 3rd November 2012 - 10:50 am

I blogged last month about the new pamphlet from the Liberal Democrat History Group, Mothers of Liberty: Women who built British Liberalism, a series of biographies of famous women liberals, which details the contribution of women to Liberal politics from the eighteenth century to the present day.

That was launched at a conference fringe meeting, chaired by Lynne Featherstone and featuring three excellent speakers:

Posted in YouTube | Also tagged Helen McCabe, history, Jane Bonham Carter, lynne featherstone and Violet Bonham Carter | Leave a comment

Lib Dems step up plans for more employee ownership

By Mark Pack | Thu 1st November 2012 - 7:25 am

A press release from BIS brings the news:

Responding to recommendations made by Graeme Nuttall in his independent review of the sector, the Government has approved plans for a range of activity that will help to grow the number of businesses that become or convert to the employee ownership model.

Posted in News | Also tagged employee ownership, Graeme Nuttall and nick clegg | 5 Comments

A snapshot of Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 31st October 2012 - 7:47 pm

Scottish Liberal Democrats met for a busy annual Autumn conference in Dunfermline last Saturday. The day started with the most delicious sliced sausage ever. Subjects debated by members (all of whom have a vote), include reverse vending machines, honest lets, cuts to student funding, affordable childcare and the Home Rule Commission chaired by Sir Menzies Campbell. Charles Kennedy also took part in that debate.

There were keynote speeches from Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore, new Business and Equalities Minister Jo Swinson and leader Willie Rennie. Danny Alexander did a question and answer session on the Mid Term Review and …

Posted in News | Also tagged donald gorrie, Michael Moore, Ming Campbell, nikki thomson, Scottish liberal democrat conference and willie rennie | Leave a comment

Opinion: Clegg’s cock-up over Page 3 – he should sign the “No More Page Three” petition now

By Daisy Cooper | Tue 16th October 2012 - 2:22 pm

In a BBC Radio 5 Live interview last week, Nick Clegg declined to back “the campaign to ban page 3 girls from the Sun,” on the grounds that the state should not dictate the content of newspapers. But the campaign in question- entitled Take the Bare Boobs Out of The Sun but better known by its twitter handle “@NoMorePage3” – ISN’T calling on the government to ban page 3. It is appealing directly to The Sun’s editor Dominic Mohan to stop printing it, on the basis that it simply isn’t appropriate to “show the naked breasts of young women in a widely read ‘family’ newspaper” for the purpose of the reader’s gratification.

Posted in News | Also tagged lynne featherstone, nick clegg and page 3 | 67 Comments

Next week in the Lords: 15-18 October

By Mark Valladares | Fri 12th October 2012 - 10:52 am

It looks as though this column may be going down in flames, now that the Lords have appointed a new Media & PR Officer, but until we do…

Days 7 and 8 of the Committee Stage of the Financial Services Bill dominate the week. And, as I still don’t understand it, I’m going to see if I can get an explanation. Watch, hopefully, this space… However, Amendment 197, to be moved by Lord Flight, requires banks to transfer accounts to a new institution, if requested, within ten working …

Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged anthony lester, bill bradshaw, claire tyler, Danny Alexander, derek ezra, house of lords, kishwer falkner, robin teverson and sally hamwee | Leave a comment

Conference: Calm and determined in the face of headwinds

By Dinti Batstone | Fri 5th October 2012 - 1:19 pm

The atmosphere in Brighton was stormy. Not, as journalists would have you believe, inside the hall but on the Brighton seafront.

It had started well. On Saturday, with temperatures soaring into the 20s, delegates debated early years, schools and House of Lords reform – all solid Lib Dem territory. Excellent speeches from a succession of mothers and grandmothers highlighted how childcare costs skew the economics of working, and delegates overwhelmingly backed investment in free early years education when finances allow. Debating Lords reform, Conference endorsed Nick Clegg’s withdrawal of support for constituency boundary changes, and Lord Tyler put forward a popular …

Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Also tagged jo shaw, nick clegg, steve webb and vince cable | 5 Comments

Conference: the good, the bad and the ugly

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 30th September 2012 - 2:39 pm

Now that I’ve had some sleep and recovered from the fun of Federal Conference in Brighton, I thought I’d share with you some of the highs and lows of a thoroughly enjoyable five days.

The Good

When Shami beat Paddy: You don’t often see Paddy Ashdown being completely bested in an argument, but Liberty director Shami Chakrabati managed it with aplomb. Paddy said in his speech to a packed Liberty fringe meeting that secret courts were fine as long as everything was overseen by a Judge. Shami went for him. She said she knew she was abusing the chair, but it was her meeting and …

Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Also tagged Alistair Carmichael, jo shaw, nick clegg, peter andre and shami chakrabati | 28 Comments

Jo Swinson becomes Platform 51′s Woman of the Week

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 30th September 2012 - 11:15 am

Charity Platform 51, which works towards a world where “women and girls are in control of their lives”, is highlighting an MP from each party during Conference season who has made a stand for equality and inclusion.

For the Liberal Democrats, it’s Jo Swinson who has been given the accolade of women and the week after her keynote speech in Brighton. They also recognise her decade of work on issues relating to equalities.

Platform 51 say:

Jo has also chaired the Liberal Democrats Women’s Policy Working Groupwhich focuses on tackling some of the key areas that Platform 51 works with women and girls. These include money (pay,

…

Posted in News | Also tagged equality and platform 51 | 1 Comment

Alistair Carmichael becomes Deputy Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 27th September 2012 - 10:25 am

To Liberal Democrat activists across the UK, chief whip Alistair Carmichael is one of the most popular parliamentarians. His sociable nature, wise head and sense of humour make him ideally suited for the challenges of being chief whip, but it means that one of our best media performers has been largely confined to the shadows of Westminster for the past two and a half years.

Now the MP for Orkney and Shetland has partially emerged from those shadows to take over as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, succeeding Jo Swinson who stepped down after her promotion in the reshuffle.

Alistair’s …

Posted in News | Also tagged Alistair Carmichael and scottish liberal democrats | Leave a comment

Jo Swinson appointed new Equalities Minister

By Nick Thornsby | Tue 11th September 2012 - 8:41 pm

In an email to party members this evening, Nick Clegg delivered the following news:

Tonight I’ve been hosting a reception to celebrate the Coalition’s commitment to equal marriage, an issue I’m very proud that Liberal Democrats are delivering on in Government.

I was delighted to be joined at the reception by Jo Swinson MP – who I’m pleased to announce is our new Equalities Minister, in addition to her role as Minister for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs.

This news, I suspect, will be greeted with a very deep sigh of relief by many Lib Dems, not only because it means a Lib Dem …

Posted in News | Also tagged equalities | 19 Comments

Opinion: After the reshuffle: how can we still claim internationalism?

By Harriet Ainscough | Fri 7th September 2012 - 2:21 pm

The reshuffle: the talking point of the last few days. I’m sure we all feel a bit angry and flustered after the Tory side was announced – Hunt at health, Miller as equalities. It really could not have been much less liberal. Our side, though, may at first appear entirely less interesting, and far more acceptable. There were some great moves in the reshuffle, sure. Jo Swinson as an Undersecretary of State. David Laws is back. This reshuffle, though, has cut out something essential to the Liberal Democrats: our internationalism. Lib Dems gone from FCO. No Lib Dems in the MOD. One minister, Lynne Featherstone, in DFID. And Lynne’s briefing (at the time of writing) has still not been an announced. This reshuffle represents an almost complete retreat from international affairs.

Internationalism is one of the things the Lib Dems pride ourselves on: our attitude to the European Union is really quite distinctive amongst mainstream politics, we work closely with our sister parties, and our opposition to the Iraq war was certainly amongst the most vocal. Foreign Affairs is not a fairly ‘non-partisan’ area, as I had it put to me. There are huge divergences in Liberal Democrat and Conservative policy here, and now we have absolutely no one fighting our corner, it seems. Even Lynne in DFID isn’t really going to have much of a say: when behind-closed-door discussion takes place on the European Union, the Eurozone crisis, our involvement in NATO, renewal of Trident, and our relationship with the US, particularly with the upcoming Presidential elections, and other big issues at the moment, DFID are hardly the most involved.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged david laws, european parliament, internationalism, lynne featherstone and reshuffle | 20 Comments

Rehsuffles, reasonable Liberal Democrats and Jo Swinson’s rising star: Guardian podcast

By Mark Pack | Fri 7th September 2012 - 8:56 am

This week’s Politics Weekly podcast from The Guardian features, ahem, myself alongside Dan Sabbagh, Juliette Jowit and Tom Clark. Amazingly, we talked reshuffle, then reshuffle and a bit more reshuffle, including how Jo Swinson is now one of the party’s main rising stars.

All three of the Guardianistas are their own people with their own views, yet I was struck how between them they didn’t particularly paint the reshuffle as a lurch to the right – more a nudge of a few points – and also how they were relatively kind to the Liberal Democrats too. Not quite the collective Guardian …

Posted in News and Podcasts | Also tagged Dan Sabbagh, Juliette Jowit, maria miller and tom clark | Leave a comment

Transfer deadline day: Laws, Brake, Foster & Swinson in, Burstow, Teather, Harvey & Stunell out, Clarke loan finishes

By James Percival | Wed 5th September 2012 - 1:32 pm

I love reshuffle days, they’re just like transfer deadline day. You sit there at your office computer pretending to work while secretly updating the Guardian live blog to see who your side has brought in and let go.

So, have we strengthened the side for the second half of the season or left gaping holes in our defence?

Well, we have managed to hold on to all our big players – Cable, Alexander, Davey and Moore – and, despite losing his place to Alexander after his suspension early in the season, we now have a fighting fit Laws back and ready …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged andrew stunell, Danny Alexander, david heath, david laws, don foster, ed davey, jeremy browne, ken clarke, lynne featherstone, Michael Moore, nick clegg, nick harvey, norman lamb, paul burstow, sarah teather, tom brake and vince cable | 3 Comments

"Mad, swivel-eyed loons": a top Tory on the Tories

Ed Davey: Helping consumers to get cheaper energy bills

That EU vote: Stephen Tall's 6 thoughts on what it means

Same Sex Marriage Bill: Lib Dem MPs to be given free vote

Tag Archives: Jo Swinson

Jo Swinson thanks hospital staff for “keeping me alive”

Jo Swinson MP writes…Consumers need to be protected from the predatory behaviour of payday lenders

Conference Rally: Confessional, motivational and defiant

Jo Swinson talks directly to Lib Dem members about her role in the Chris Rennard allegations

Mike Thornton MP takes his seat in the Commons

Jo Swinson launches consultation on parental leave

Don Foster MP writes… The Integration Strategy: one year on

Caron’s pick of the Federal Spring Conference agenda

Ece, Pidgeon and Swinson nominated for Women in Public Life awards

Jo Swinson MP writes…Equality is about more than ticking boxes

LibLink: Christine Jardine… Stop pressuring our children to be perfect

Scottish Liberal Democrats mourn ex Council Leader John Morrison

Large-scale redundancy consultation period to be halved, says Swinson

Alistair Carmichael MP writes…Why I’ve put the whip away for the Equal Marriage vote

Maria Miller, the Telegraph and Leveson: how statutory regulation begins & how the press is bringing it on itself

Jo Swinson ensures fair treatment for supermarket suppliers

Michael Moore’s Westminster Notes

Post Offices

A longer watch for the weekend: Mothers of Liberty

Lib Dems step up plans for more employee ownership

A snapshot of Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference

Opinion: Clegg’s cock-up over Page 3 – he should sign the “No More Page Three” petition now

Next week in the Lords: 15-18 October

Conference: Calm and determined in the face of headwinds

Conference: the good, the bad and the ugly

The Good

Jo Swinson becomes Platform 51′s Woman of the Week

Alistair Carmichael becomes Deputy Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats

Jo Swinson appointed new Equalities Minister

Opinion: After the reshuffle: how can we still claim internationalism?

Rehsuffles, reasonable Liberal Democrats and Jo Swinson’s rising star: Guardian podcast

Transfer deadline day: Laws, Brake, Foster & Swinson in, Burstow, Teather, Harvey & Stunell out, Clarke loan finishes

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"Mad, swivel-eyed loons": a top Tory on the Tories

Ed Davey: Helping consumers to get cheaper energy bills

That EU vote: Stephen Tall's 6 thoughts on what it means

Same Sex Marriage Bill: Lib Dem MPs to be given free vote

Tag Archives: Jo Swinson

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