Tag Archives: social liberal forum

Opinion: There is one coalition that needs to last

By Paul Ankers | Published 8th February 2012 - 6:55 pm

I have been staring at the faces of Lib Dem councillors for days as part of a piece of work I have undertaken.  Although the highlight has been finding out Cllr Ken Ball has managed to wangle Deputy leader of Chorley Council despite leading a group of him and one other Councillor, my abiding thought is that I could have a stand up row with each and every one of you.  And I wouldn’t mind a bit of it.  That’s what being a LibDem is all about.

However, news of yet another splinter group from the left of the …

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Opinion: getting the welfare reforms right

By George Potter | Published 27th January 2012 - 9:00 am

Today an open letter, signed by well over forty of our parliamentary candidates from 2010, will be sent to Nick Clegg. And, on Monday, a meeting, organised by the Social Liberal Forum, will take place in the Palace of Westminster in Committee Room 18 (made infamous by the story about Sir Bob Russell MP allegedly pulling the door off of its hinges).

The subject of both the letter and the meeting will be the recent voting record of our peers on aspects of the Welfare Reform Bill ranging from sickness and disability benefits, to the household benefit cap and child benefits.

The …

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Social Liberal Forum (Scotland) plans busy year

By Norman Fraser | Published 25th January 2012 - 5:55 pm

On Saturday 21 January,  a dozen or so members of the Scottish arm of the Social Liberal Forum, including former parliamentarians Robert Brown and Elspeth Attwooll,  braved a bright but raw Scottish morning to meet in Partick Burgh Hall in the heart of Glasgow’s West End.  This steering committee’s job was to plan the advance of the Forum’s work in Scotland in the coming year and beyond.

Two hours of lively discussion ensued.  Discontent with some aspects of coalition policy was taken as a given.  A number of speakers gave examples from across the country of the loss of members from …

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Vince Cable – “we’re reforming UK’s banks, and we’re getting on with it”

By Prateek Buch | Published 19th December 2011 - 10:34 am

Liberal Democrat Business Secretary confirmed yesterday that the Government would accept, in full, the recommendations of the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) Chaired by Sir John Vickers (see this video to see for yourself).

Anticipating Chancellor George Osborne’s formal announcement today, Vince told the BBC’s Andrew Marr that the  separation of retail and investment banks –  ’something I and the Liberal Democrats have pushed on for a long time’ – will go ahead, indicating that the ‘angry heckling by banks’ (Marr’s words) had failed to blow the Government off-course.

Indeed Vince went as far as  to …

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LDV Caption Competition | Hugh Grant and Nick Clegg “one for the family album” edition

By Stephen Tall | Published 18th September 2011 - 6:45 pm

So Hugh Grant dropped into the Lib Dem conference in Birmingham today.

He met with Nick Clegg and then addressed the Social Liberal Forum’s fringe event on the issue of phone-hacking, privacy and libel. He wasn’t there to endorse the party, but as the BBC reports here Hugh did give us credit for our long-standing opposition to the murky practices of the tabloids:

“You, more than any of the other parties, have a good bill of health. You have never been in bed with these scumbags.”

Here’s the moment Nick met Hugh (I think it’s that way round rather than Hugh met Nick, yes?)… and as it’s been a while since our last LDV caption competition, what better moment for a reprise? Here you go then…

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Opinion: This is the Social Liberal moment

By Prateek Buch | Published 21st June 2011 - 4:25 pm

After months of planning, and not inconsiderate last-minute scrambling, the Social Liberal Forum’s first ever conference took place at City University on Saturday; envisioned by Hackney’s Geoff Payne and put into action by the outstanding team he led, the conference (#SLFconf on Twitter) was a massive success from so many perspectives.

Firstly, there was the interest generated by having two Cabinet Ministers and the Party’s Deputy Leader speaking – Vince Cable’s speech was carried live by the BBC and Sky news was also filming throughout the day. Of course the Ministers were a significant draw, but the packed-out audience was …

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Opinion: The Social Liberal Conference was a major success

By Lee Dargue | Published 20th June 2011 - 9:41 am

The SLF conference was a major success. Yes, it was “full” – David Hall-Mathews careful not to refer to the event as “sold out”. Yes, lots of people debated and tweeted like crazy on subjects ranging from NHS reforms to the history of the American fridge. But it wasn’t the numbers or amount of talking we did which was the most important. It was the fact that there is still a groundswell of progressives alive and well in the Liberal Democrats. In fact, since entering government with the Conservative party, and with a recent “win” (yet to see how it …

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Chris Huhne: we need smart regulation in the energy sector

By Mark Pack | Published 19th June 2011 - 1:25 pm

Yesterday Chris Huhne spoke at the Social Liberal Forum‘s conference on smart regulation for the energy sector:

It’s a pleasure to speak at the first conference of the Social Liberal Forum.

We Liberal Democrats have always prided ourselves as a party of ideas – and they’re needed more than ever now that we’re in government. Whatever your view of The Orange Book back in 2004, it did at least trigger a debate about Liberal ideology, about what it means to be a Liberal Democrat in today’s Britain. I was pleased to contribute both to The Orange Book and to its

…

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‘Renegades with a mission’ – the Sindy’s verdict on the Social Liberal Forum

By Stephen Tall | Published 19th June 2011 - 11:43 am

The Social Liberal Forum — a group of Liberal Democrat members who advocate ‘that a democratic and open state has a positive role to play in guaranteeing individual freedom’ — met yesterday for their first conference on a high note: their mobilising role at the party’s spring conference is widely credited with having strongly influenced the Coalition’s changes to the controversial NHS reforms.

Here’s how the Independent on Sunday, with an inevitable nod towards stereotypes, reports the gathering:

Welcome to the first annual conference of the Social Liberal Forum – the home of “proper” Liberal Democrats. Not the quasi-Tory,

…

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The Guardian cottons on to rise and rise of the Social Liberal Forum

By Mark Pack | Published 17th June 2011 - 1:53 pm

The Social Liberal Forum got a profile in The Guardian this week, rightly highlighting its growing influence in the party (something I particularly noted over the Sheffield health debate):

In a tribute to the forum’s growing influence, cabinet ministers Vince Cable and Chris Huhne will attend the SLF conference on Saturday, with party deputy leader Simon Hughes.

The group claims about 1,500 members, and has no full time staff. It has only just appointed a director – Mark Blackburn, a former Lib Dem candidate for Westminster.

The group was set up after the party leadership won a vote at the 2008

…

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Opinion: It shouldn’t just be about the NHS

By Helen Flynn | Published 16th June 2011 - 4:15 pm

As an education campaigner and someone who believes in the principles behind the NHS, I have been following the news about the changes we have managed to make to the health bill with interest, and, obviously, pleasure that we have made a difference.

But when are we going to get our collective heads out of the sand when it comes to the privatisation of state education, where “any willing provider” that we were all so horrified about when proposed in the health bill is already rampaging through the education sector?

It will not be long, believe me, where we are seen as …

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Opinion: We don’t need Labour’s Plan B – we need a Lib Dem Plan C

By Prateek Buch | Published 8th June 2011 - 10:44 am

Senior economists have expressed alarm at the Coalition Government’s economic strategy – coinciding with the publication of gloomy figures, criticism came from sources as varied as the likes of David Blanchflower, to Sunday’s warning over the direction of travel from a wide array of experts in the Observer. As we ponder the need for alternatives to the Coalition’s policies, a Plan B, let’s recap how Plan A came about.

The Conservative party have always equated this crisis with the government’s budget deficit. Their economic narrative, unchanged since well before the election, has been clear; public profligacy under Labour …

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The Independent View: What now for any progressive alliance?

By Neal Lawson | Published 11th May 2011 - 2:47 pm

Rounding off our trio of post-election views from the other parties (see here and here), we have Compass’s Neal Lawson.

So what now for any progressive alliance? Let’s start with an honest assessment of the hole we are in. Labour is now as divided between pluralist and tribalists as it is between those who think the markets needs come before those of society and those who turned social democracy on it head under New Labour. Labour did OK in the North but badly in the South, it did OK in Wales and atrociously in Scotland. The Greens have …

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Opinion: The Social Liberal Forum conference, Saturday June 18th

By Geoffrey Payne | Published 29th April 2011 - 3:24 pm

One of the dominant forces at the last federal conference of the Liberal Democrats was the Social Liberal Forum (SLF). In particular the SLF were responsible for the amendment to the NHS motion which the leadership of the party decided to support and has led to a rethink of the government policy on NHS reform. Not only was this a victory for the SLF, it demonstrated that ordinary party members can go to conference and have a direct say in the policy of our government – for the first time since the 1920s.

So who are we? Our members cover …

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Posted in Op-eds, Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged | 7 Comments

Grassroots pressure stepped up over NHS plans

By Mark Pack | Published 5th April 2011 - 12:27 pm

With yesterday’s holding announcement from Andrew Lansley – yes, the health plans might be changed but no, there are no details as yet – the future of the health White Paper is very much up for grabs. It’s not quite as simple as Liberal Democrats versus Conservatives, as although there are not many Conservatives who share the principled objections to parts of the plans from the Liberal Democrats, there are many who share concerns over the practical workings of the detail and fear the political impact.

In a smart move, which reinforces how the Social Liberal Forum is becoming one …

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