Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: The Mecca Agreement

By Tom Arms | Sat 15th August 2026 - 9:51 am

It is time for another round of musical chairs—Middle Eastern style. The region’s countries are notorious for changing their friends and allies as often as their socks and the Mecca Agreement announced this week complicates the issue by throwing up a sandstorm of unresolved questions.

But start with history. The region’s first postwar security alliance was the British-inspired Baghdad Pact. Formed in 1955, it included the UK, Iraq, Iran,, Pakistan and Turkey. After the Iraqi revolution in1959, Iraq pulled out. At that time the Americans—who had been active non-members of the pact—became even more active non-members. Thus the Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO) was formed. It lasted until 1979 and the Iranian revolution.

But how did the Mecca Agreement come about. Well, according to Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan, the pact has been three years in the making. The two chief architects appear to be Fidan and Pakistani Defence chief Field Marshal Asim Munir. They kept their talks fairly quiet until this week’s announcement.

Fidan has been heavily involved in Turkey’s foreign policy for decades. He was head of the country’s intelligence services and President Erdogan’s national security adviser before his appointment as foreign minister. For Turkey, the Mecca Agreement is the culmination of Erdogan’s long-standing policy of shifting Turkey away from Europe and towards the Middle East and Islamic world.

Ankara brings a significant contribution to the alliance: a large NATO-trained military and an established and sophisticated defence industry.

Saudi Arabia lacks military muscle but it makes up for that with hard cash. The alliance’s secretariat will be based in Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan’s biggest contribution could be its nuclear arsenal of about 170 weapons. The most interesting thing about the Mecca Agreement is its NATO-style three musketeer clause that commits all the member states to come to the defence of any member state that is attacked. The agreement is ambiguous about the role of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and leaves open the question of whether Saudi Arabia now shelters under the Pakistani nuclear umbrella. The Saudis have for years spoken of acquiring a nuclear capability as a deterrent against attack by a possibly nuclear-armed Iran. Now it may have it.

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Joe Nutt

ALDC by-election report 13th August

By Joe Nutt | Fri 14th August 2026 - 2:45 pm

There were two principal authority by-elections across England, Wales and Scotland this week, both held on Thursday 13 August. The Liberal Democrats were not defending either seat, with Reform UK defending Almondbury on Kirklees MBC and Labour defending Honiton St Michael’s on East Devon DC.

It was an excellent night for the Liberal Democrats, with gains in both wards. In Almondbury, Paola Davies returned to the council just three months after losing her seat as Reform swept all three positions at the May local elections. In Honiton St Michael’s, Rhys Wallis took a seat which Labour had won in 2023 but which had subsequently become vacant after its former councillor left the party and sat as an Independent.

Kirklees MBC, Almondbury

Almondbury produced one of the clearest reversals of the May local elections.

The May 2026 election was fought on new boundaries, with three councillors elected and 15 candidates standing. Reform won all three seats, with Gill Floyd, Pip Harvey and Craig Wiles finishing ahead of the three Liberal Democrat candidates. Poala Davies was the strongest-placed Liberal Democrat, on 1,755 votes, while Reform’s three candidates polled between 2,060 and 2,224.

Just weeks later, Wiles resigned from the council, triggering this by-election. That gave Davies the opportunity to return to the ward she had represented previously, and she did so in emphatic fashion. Her 671-vote majority over Reform is particularly striking given that the party had swept the ward only three months earlier. The Liberal Democrat campaign was supported by a grant from ALDC’s Fighting Fund.

The result also provides an important reminder that May’s Reform breakthrough throughout Kirklees was not necessarily a settled realignment. It shows a continued trend of Reform UK not being able to retain seats which they have won recently. It may point to voters not being satisfied with their performance in office, despite big promises and an appeal to the fresh and new when they first stand.

Huge congratulations to Paola Davies and the team on a superb return to the council.

Liberal Democrats: 1,749 (43.9%, +14.5)
Reform UK: 1,078 (27.0%, -10.0)
Conservatives: 528 (13.2%, +4.4)
Green Party: 347 (8.7%, -8.0)
Labour: 181 (4.5%, -3.4)
Independent: 103 (2.6%, new)

Turnout: 29.5%

LIBERAL DEMOCRAT GAIN from REFORM UK

East Devon DC, Honiton St Michael

Honiton St Michael has a particularly interesting recent electoral history. The ward was a three-member ward at the 2023 election, when the Conservatives won one seat, Labour gained one from the Conservatives and the Liberal Party gained one from the Liberal Democrats. Neither the Liberal Democrats nor Reform stood in that election.

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Geoff Reid

Politics at School

By Geoff Reid | Thu 13th August 2026 - 3:22 pm

When I was a secondary school student at a single sex council Grammar School in Newcastle in the mid-sixties some subjects crept into staff-student conversations in unlikely ways. An enlightened Anglican priest decided to include some sex education in his Religious Education efforts. The English teacher had no worries about students looking at the world hrough current party political eyes. We could do that because we were not short of youthful activists. There was Henry, an old-style Conservative, who would struggle to find a home in today’s Tory party. Julian was what some would call soft-left Labour. Robert was Labour and Co-op (he worked at the Central Co-op on Saturdays, privy to the high levels of theft amongst workers). I had never discussed my party affiliation with the English teacher. He simply noted my attitude to events and out of the blue one afternoon he simply announced during a debate “Ah, but Reid’s a Liberal.”

This was not the only reason why I enjoyed sixth form life after being somewhat bored by my previous five years in the school. Someone had the bright idea of putting me in charge of the newspapers. Day by day I read the Guardian (continuing to do so to this day) and looked at the others. There were some options in the sixth form curriculum. I opted to take an extra A-Level  in religious studies, which I thought could reinforce the beginnings of my training as a Methodist Lay Preacher – yes, I know, probably ridiculously precocious! The price of this was missing the weekly “Civics” lesson. I reckoned that as a Young Liberal I could sharpen up my political awareness elsewhere.

That, of course is ancient history. Fast forward half a century to my stint as Lord Mayor of Bradford. This I saw as a prlvileged learning experience, which came with a temporary high profile, from which the only continuing status was getting your name carved on the wall some twelve months after the event. This was heretically minimalistic for some of my predecessors who thought it guaranteed being somebody special forever. Mind you, that was not the worst heresy I committed. Nothing compares with the chagrin of the council media office when I insisted on writing my own speeches!

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Caron Lindsay

Zack Polanski on the Fringe

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 12th August 2026 - 8:55 am

Iain Dale and Zack Polanski

My weekend at the Edinburgh fringe continued with Iain Dale’s All Talk event with the Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, Zack Polanski.

I’m usually one of the younger people at Iain Dale’s shows. This time I felt positively geriatric. The audience was very young. The event didn’t have to be moved to the bigger theatre, like Nicola Sturgeon’s earlier that day, but the smaller theatre was full.

Polanski talked about his decision to change his name to one that reflects his Jewish heritage. He had thought originally that his family had changed their surname because of the persecution they faced in Nazi Germany. In fact, he said, it was because of anti-semitism in the UK.

He also talked about the tensions of his childhood and the impact of his parents’ messy divorce had on him.

I found it quite strange that someone who has barely been out of the public eye in the past year spent a good while whinging, Lib Dem style, about the Greens not getting decent media coverage. He said that he was frequently booked to appear on shows, cancelled at the last minute and the same stations would run stories about how he had disappeared.  He did say that Sky and LBC (two of the biggest broadcasters in the UK) were better at giving them a fairer amount of coverage, which feels like more than we get.

The impact of being in the public eye, though, had taken its toll on him and his partner. He talked about his housemates being worried for their safety because of his presence and his decision not to go on the electoral roll because he was worried about his address being circulated to all political parties.  It is awful that any politician should have that sort of fear and that those around them felt threatened.

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The Voice

Four ways you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

By The Voice | Tue 11th August 2026 - 12:59 pm

Liberal Democrat Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that’s fine, we’re grateful for people taking the time to read the site.

You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are four simple ways:

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Lib Dem Women

Enough is enough: Women and girls deserve better

By Lib Dem Women | Tue 11th August 2026 - 8:58 am

 We are sick and tired of being told by those in power that tackling violence against women and girls is a priority, while women and girls continue to be failed by the very systems that are supposed to protect them.

The case of Simon Levy is yet another devastating reminder of what can happen when warning signs are missed, information is not properly acted upon, and agencies responsible for protecting the public fail to learn from previous mistakes.

This cannot continue to be treated as a series of isolated incidents.

For years, women have been told that lessons are being learned. We have heard commitments to tackling violence against women and girls, improving police responses, strengthening the criminal justice system and better protecting victims. Yet too often, the same failures emerge again and again.

By the time Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman were murdered by a stranger in a London park, Levy had reportedly already been offending for years. By the time Sarah Everard was murdered by a serving Metropolitan Police officer, Levy had been offending for even longer. His first conviction came in 2021, yet further serious offences followed.

The question we have to ask is simple: when will enough be enough?

Women should not have to wait for another tragedy before institutions examine what went wrong. Nor should responsibility simply be passed between the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and probation services, with each failure treated as an individual mistake rather than part of a wider systemic problem.

The prosecution described Levy’s victims as vulnerable women, and told the court that Levy believed targeting women in these circumstances would make it more likely that he could get away with his crimes.

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Judy Abel

To paraphrase Shakespeare’ ‘something is rotten in the state of Britain’

By Judy Abel | Mon 10th August 2026 - 4:45 pm

In Hamlet, the Prince memorably says, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”. When looking at the economic mess we are in, I think we can safely say that about how much of big business and finance operates in the UK today.

Corporate life and responsibility – or the lack of it

We have seen, for decades now, a string of scandals which can only undermine our faith in how public and private corporations operate in our country. One of the most egregious examples is that of the, publicly-owned, Post Office, which saw ordinary people go to prison for crimes many in senior management knew they had never committed, in the infamous Horizon scandal. It took years of effort by the victims to clear their names. At the same time, postal services run by the sold-off arm, Royal Mail, have declined since privatisation, with fewer deliveries and sky-rocketing prices: the cost of a first-class letter has risen by more than 100% in the last five years! The HS2 gravy train is another example of mismanagement and even, potentially, some fraud. Something has clearly gone badly wrong if we are paying up to £100bn for a 150-mile stretch of railway.

The mergers and acquisitions system is also broken. Foreign companies are taking over UK businesses and then many are going to the wall. For example, Raleigh bikes, founded in 1887, has just started insolvency proceedings; the Dutch Company Accell bought the company in 2012 and then sold it on to a US private equity company in 2022, since when the business struggled. Private equity also bought the WH Smith chain, now also gone from our high streets. Let’s hope EasyJet fairs better as it has just been taken over by another US company, Apollo, which is reportedly loading it with £3bn in debt.

In the fossil fuels sector, oil company BP has also just reported record profits, despite the foreign wars affecting several oil-producing countries, some concluding it has been cashing in on these crises. And all this despite oil fuelling climate change, which is now costing lives and farmers millions in lost food production. Amazon, another US company – whose growth in delivery services has surely only hastened the demise of the British high street – paid only the equivalent of 7% tax on their UK profits in 2025. Why is this tolerated? And the involvement of private equity companies in providing social care in England – which Andy Burnham has at least said he will stop – has been a stain on our social care system. These companies have made good profits out of the most vulnerable in society – not always delivering a good level of service for it – in some cases quite the reverse.

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Dalila Henniche Maali

Born to be a Refugee…

By Dalila Henniche Maali | Mon 10th August 2026 - 1:30 pm

As a geoscientist, I spent years writing technical reports about sedimentary rocks, each one telling a story of millions of years old. My imagination travelled through time, reconstructing glaciers, seas, channels, deserts, and floodplains to understand how landscapes evolved. Yet nothing in my scientific work prepared me for writing a far more personal story, the story of my friend Iyad from Gaza, and the cause I have carried in my heart since childhood, across countries and continents.

I met Iyad more than twenty-five years ago in Paris at the Cité Universitaire Internationale, a beautiful residence where students from around the world lived among historic buildings representing different nations. It was a place where cultures mixed naturally, where ideas were exchanged freely, and where friendships formed across borders. We were part of what we jokingly called the “Arab elite,” young scholars from different parts of the Arab world completing PhDs in a wide range of disciplines. Many of us stayed in Europe or moved to North America to pursue careers in research and scientific innovation.

Iyad chose a different path. He wanted to return to Gaza and help his own people.

He was born in a refugee camp in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. His family had fled Jaffa during the Nakba in 1948. He studied in UNRWA schools and worked tirelessly to secure a better future for himself and his family. His academic success earned him a scholarship to France, where he completed an MSc and a PhD in Robotics at prestigious institutions including École des Mines de Paris and INRIA. His achievements were remarkable, but the war never stopped destroying the life he tried to build.

Since his return to Gaza, Iyad and his family endured every major conflict: 2008, 2012, 2014, 2021, and the devastating war that began in October 2023. Their days were marked by bombardments, power cuts, and constant fear for their children’s lives. Homes were hit, schools destroyed, and loved ones killed or injured.

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Caron Lindsay

Nicola Sturgeon talks to Iain Dale at the Edinburgh Festival

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 9th August 2026 - 10:55 am

iain Dale talks to Nicola Sturgeon in EdinburghIt’s that time of year again when Edinburgh transforms into one of the most exciting and occasionally bizarre places on earth.

You can be casually walking down the street and see people dressed up as genitals coming towards you. There are brilliantly creative street artists and ingenious living statues everywhere. It’s also absolutely hoaching with people and this year, with Princes Street remaining closed due to the awful fire last month, getting from A to B is even more frustrating – unless you walk.

LBC host Iain Dale is hosting his regular run of “All Talk” shows with politicians and media types and, as usual, I have tickets for a fair few of them.

His opening interviewee was former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. Opinions about her are very divided, even in this party. South of the border, Lib Dems often love her. North of the border, opinion can be more mixed. I love her. Always have. That’s not to say that I agree with her on everything – although if you take independence out of the picture, we have a lot in common.

Like her, I spent most of my childhood with my head in books. I could not get enough of them. Like her, the political bug hit me early and we both joined our respective parties when we were 16. Like her, feminism is (and always will be) one of the driving forces of my life.

Of course she made mistakes in Government. Who doesn’t? Failure is an integral part of being human. But she put in place the Scottish Child Payment which has at least prevented child poverty from getting worse in Scotland. That and the way she led the nation with clarity and reassurance during Covid (and before that Swine Flu as health secretary) will probably be her greatest legacies in office.

One of the reasons I have always liked her is that when she qualified as a lawyer, she went to work in a law centre, not for a swanky law firm. I always appreciate people who work to give access to justice to those who need it most.

Years ago, when a friend died, she showed me real kindness. She didn’t have to. I was a complete nobody from another political party. Things like that tell you a lot about what makes someone tick.

She tended to keep her sense of fun well hidden when she was First Minister, and nobody could ever accuse her of being lazy. I remember one of her friends saying that it was hard to get her to relax and finish up early the night before her wedding.

It was therefore good to see hungover, sweary Nicola Sturgeon yesterday. A skinful of red wine with friends after a few weeks off the booze had had a predictable effect. She started off by talking about the novel she is writing, a political thriller which is progressing slowly. She said she’d asked her friend the “Quine of Crime” Val McDermid, how to get through Writer’s Block. Val’s pithy response was “Stop faffing about on WhatsApp and write.”

She’s just finished filming War Games on Channel 4 which she enjoyed making. She plays the Deputy PM of the UK with a host of other former ministers and they make decisions, COBRA style, during a rapidly escalating crisis.

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 9th August 2026 - 8:55 am

Who is responsible for the mass migration of Moroccans into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta?

Some 72,000 migrants swam around a border breakwater to Ceuta beaches. Seventy thousand have been returned. 181 drowned. 1,100 unaccompanied minors have been taken to mainland Spain. A handful remain at large.

Some blame the Spanish Supreme Court which ruled that illegal immigrants arriving by sea should be treated differently. Others say it was simply another example of the power of social media. Some conspiracy theorists are pointing an accusing finger at Donald Trump and Europe’s far-right anti-immigration lobby.

The most credible—but far from certain—villain is the Moroccan government. For a start, it has form. In 2021, during a diplomatic dispute over Madrid’s decision to give medical treatment to Polisario leader Brahim Ghali, Moroccan border controls suddenly became extraordinarily porous. Up to 10,000 people entered Ceuta. The European Parliament subsequently explicitly accused Morocco of using migration as political pressure.

There is also the fact that Morocco claims the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla as well as cluster of Spanish-owned islands off the coast of Morocco. And although have moved close to an agreement on the former Spanish colony of the Western Sahara, Spain still officially recognises the UN designation of “Unresolved Territory.”

Trump and Europe’s far-right parties may not be the dark shadows behind the Ceuta crossing, but they were quick off the mark to exploit it. The most inflammatory statement came from Elon Musk who said the crossing “looked like World War Z.” He also added the wholly false claim: “Spain’s entire budget will be destroyed by illegal immigrants.”

Trump immediately dubbed the crossing an “invasion” and warned that the same thing would happen in America if the Democrats won the mid-term elections.

Within days of the crossing, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, launched its proposed “Operation Fortress” which called for the Royal Navy to be mobilised to stop small boats crossing the English Channel.

Seventy-two thousand people headed for the same stretch of water at roughly the same time. The question for Spanish investigators is whether social media created a stampede—or somebody fired the starting pistol.

You cannot bank on a Donald Trump promise. Ukraine’s Vlodomyr Zelensky discovered that this week—if he didn’t already know it.

Ukraine desperately needs America’s anti-aircraft Patriot missiles protection against Russian missiles. That is why Zelensky was ecstatic when Trump told him at the recent NATO summit that he would allow Ukraine to manufacture the missiles under license.

Trump repeated the offer when Zelensky flew to Washington for Senator Lindsey Graham’s funeral.

Then he changed his mind. On 30 July he told “The Financial Times” that he was “not sure” about the deal. The following day he told a Camp David meeting of the cabinet that nothing has been agreed. “We are talking about it.” He then added that America had to be “very careful” because advanced technology could one day be turned against the United States.

Back in Kyiv, Zelensky was left scratching his head and wondering: What happened?

No one knows for sure. How the presidential brain cogs turn. It is an international mystery. A hurried phone call from Russia’s Vladimir Putin appears to have been ruled out. A more likely explanation is that Trump spoke before he knew all the details such a deal involved.

The Patriot PAC-3 interceptor is among America’s most sophisticated missile technologies. Granting a production licence requires agreement from the Pentagon, export-control authorities and companies such as Lockheed Martin and RTX. Manufacturing the missile involves a network of around 400 subcontractors and the transfer of highly sensitive military technology.

Only one other country—Japan—currently produces Patriots under license and that deal took several years to negotiate and another four or five before Mitsubishi Industries could start production. Germany is likely to be the next country to produce the interceptors. It started negotiations in 2024 and hopes to start production in 2028.

No, the most likely scenario is simply that the president spoke out of turn–again.

Donald Trump may rue the day he decided to take on the BBC. His decision to sue the Beeb for $10 billion over the bad editing of a Panorama report could seriously backfire.

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The Voice

Conference Agenda is out!

By The Voice | Sat 8th August 2026 - 10:58 am

Front cover of Autumn 2026 Conference agenda with photos of Ed Davey and other MPs and Brighton seafrontIt’s just six weeks until Lib Dems gather in Brighton for our Autumn Conference. Yesterday afternoon, the Conference agenda came out.

Over the four days we will see debates on such subjects as:

  • Ending Violence against women and girls
  • Mortality of children in temporary accommodation
  • Maternity care
  • Party strategy
  • Defending Democracy
  • Food security
  • Water companies
  • AI
  • Making music matter
  • Rural and coastal education

There will be keynote speeches from:

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Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat An Iranian Who’s Who

By Tom Arms | Sat 8th August 2026 - 8:30 am

America’s Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, recently told American television that the problem with negotiating with Iran is that the Iranians are hopelessly divided.

He was right. Nobody is certain that the Iranian sitting across the negotiating table can make the rest of Iran obey any agreement.

The diplomats and politicians who meet with J.D. Vance, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, et al, are generally pragmatists who want an end to war and sanctions. But back home they are being undermined by revolutionary ideologues prepared to embrace martyrdom.

The pragmatists are led by President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. 71-year-old Pezeshkian is a heart surgeon who entered politics as the Minister for Health. He has been president of Iran since 2024.

His religious credentials are sound. He supports the theory of the Islamic Revolution. He has to because all candidates for the presidency—and the Majlis—are vetted by the Council of Guardians for their religious credentials.

But at the same time, Pezeshkian’s chief loyalty is to the state rather than to the concept of the revolution. To that end he favours ending Iran’s international isolation; wants to revive the economy and end sanctions; and favours social freedoms.

Pezehskian’s main ally is Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, aged 63, who served as Iran’s ambassador to Japan and deputy foreign minister before becoming foreign minister in 2024. He is a professional negotiator and has led the Iranian delegation in talks with the US. Like Pezeshkian, Araghchi is a pragmatist committed to the idea of Iran as an Islamic state.

The chief opposition to the pragmatic wing is led by 61-year-old Saeed Jalil, leader of the Paydari (Stability) Front which directly holds 90 seats in the 290-seat Majlis (parliament). He can also usually count on about 30 other votes.

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Joe Nutt

ALDC’s by-election report – 6 August 2026

By Joe Nutt | Fri 7th August 2026 - 8:39 pm

4 parallel white vertical lines on orange background ALDC logoFive principal authority by-elections took place across England and Wales on Thursday 6th August.

The Conservatives were defending three seats (two in West Norfolk and one in Surrey), while Reform UK were defending one seat in South Tyneside and Plaid Cymru were defending one seat in South Wales. 

The Conservatives had a disastrous night, losing all three of their seats. The headlining story of the week for the Liberal Democrats came from West Norfolk, where we delivered stellar first-time performances in two coastal wards, shooting straight into second place in both, pushing the Conservatives into third, and coming within just 18 votes of winning in Snettisham. Elsewhere, the Green Party completed a clean sweep in Surrey, while Reform UK and Plaid Cymru logged uneventful holds in South Tyneside and Caerphilly, respectively.

England

King’s Lynn & West Norfolk – Double Coastal Contest

Two by-elections took place in adjacent coastal wards on the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, Heacham and Snettisham. Both seats were previously held by the Conservatives on a council currently under no overall control.

In both races, the Liberal Democrats fielded new candidates and achieved outstanding results, leapfrogging both the incumbent Conservatives and Labour into second place.

King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, Heacham

In Heacham, Reform UK picked up the seat from the Conservatives. However, the standout story was the impressive performance from Liberal Democrat candidate Rachel Windsor. Standing for the first time, Rachel secured 28.7% of the vote, pushing the Conservatives into third place and Labour down into fourth.

Thank you to Rachel Windsor for putting up a strong Liberal Democrat choice on the ballot paper and establishing a formidable baseline for future contests in the ward.

Reform UK: 289 (37.8%, new)
Lib Dem (Rachel Windsor): 219 (28.7%, new)
Conservative: 163 (21.3%, -3.8%)
Labour: 93 (12.2%, -11.4%)

Reform UK GAIN from Conservative

King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, Snettisham

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People's Commission on the Water Sector

The Independent View: Are mutuals the answer to the water crisis?

By People's Commission on the Water Sector | Fri 7th August 2026 - 2:05 pm

As public outrage at water companies disregard for the law, abuse of our money, neglect of our water systems, pollution of our waterways, continues to mount it is an extraordinary act of arrogance to see the water companies increase rewards for CEOs and Finance Directors rising to £25M this year (Guardian 2026).

Whilst the government has fallen into the trap of believing the problem of water pollution is complex, and the fault of regulation, the People’s Commission on the Water Sector undertook a truly independent review and found that the cause was commodification of water and the lack of national strategy. The shorthand is that privatisation has led to pollution for profit, but that same shorthand is leading to proposals for ideologically driven short-term fix solutions, for instance replacing water companies with mutuals, that do not address the root causes of the water crisis.

One solution being proposed is the move the water companies into Mutuals, companies owned by members (which could be the public) rather than shareholders. They vary enormously from charitable trusts to non-profit company, consumer co-operative, multistakeholder mutuals (all of which are being used to describe alternatives to for-profit, shareholder-owned private water companies). Whilst this looks an attractive solution with the possibility of the public owning the problem, on its own it is problematic as water remains a commodity rather than a public good, financing costs can be high, and the water system as a whole remains fragmented. 

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Lord William Wallace

William Wallace writes: We should talk more about Liberalism 

By Lord William Wallace | Fri 7th August 2026 - 11:55 am

We’re Liberals and we’re democrats. So we should be talking much more about Liberal and democratic values, in public: that’s what makes us distinctive, what drives us into politics – and what attracts new people to the party.  When I first joined the party, everyone from Jo Grimond down talked about redefining liberalism and its implications for our society, our economy and our foreign policy.  Now we are too shy about reaching beyond daily press releases and restating the principles on which our politics are based.

Others are not so shy.  I’ve read defences of neo-liberalism in the Times and the Financial Times in the past two weeks, and no doubt the Telegraph, the Spectator and Unherd have offered similar thoughts.  The case for shrinking the state, for contracting out public services to private companies (which may turn out to be owned by other states, which our free marketeers somehow seem to find acceptable), for loosening regulation of markets, continues to form the conventional wisdom of the British commentariat, and Labour has not yet found a way of redefining the central issues of relations between society, economy and state.  Can we do better?

The preamble to our party constitution commits us ‘to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.’  The fundamental challenge for liberals is how to maintain such a balance in the face of rapid social and economic change, and against the background of international turmoil that threatens the liberal ideal of a peaceful world.  Community was far easier to maintain when most people lived and died within a few miles of where they had been born, and most worked for employers similarly local.  Liberty for the wealthy and educated has always been easier than for the marginal and poor.  Equality is a worthy principle, but very difficult to reconcile with liberty and with a market economy, let alone to promote at a time of rapid technological change.; practical liberals talk more of equality of opportunity and of limits to inequality.  Globalisation – the endpoint of the market economies and open borders that our Liberal predecessors worked to create – makes the preservation of stable communities and the prevention of a widening gulf between ultra-wealthy and struggling masses harder and harder to maintain.  Globalization concentrates power in multinational companies and private equity, far from the concept of ‘responsible capitalism’ with which liberalism grew.   Some liberals are now talking about wealth taxes; but that is only scratching the surface of the economic inequalities we face and will be well beyond the reach of American trillionaires and Russian oligarchs.

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Edward Marsh

The future of war has arrived: It’s the Navy

By Edward Marsh | Thu 6th August 2026 - 5:30 pm

The character of warfare is undergoing a profound transformation. While the fundamental nature of war – competition, coercion and violence remains unchanged, the methods by which states pursue strategic advantage have evolved dramatically. Conventional military forces remain essential, but the decisive battles of the twenty-first century are increasingly fought beyond traditional frontlines. The new centre of gravity lies in the resilience of a nation’s Critical National Infrastructure (CNI). Energy grids, telecommunications networks, transport systems, financial institutions, water supplies and digital connectivity have become both strategic assets and prime targets. The future of conflict is increasingly focused on disrupting, degrading and manipulating the infrastructure that underpins modern societies.

Recent conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine have demonstrated this shift. Military success is no longer measured solely by territorial gains but by the ability to paralyse an adversary’s essential services. Attacks on energy facilities, communications networks and logistics hubs aim not only to destroy physical assets but to undermine political legitimacy, economic stability and public confidence. Modern warfare has become multidimensional, combining kinetic strikes with cyber operations, electronic warfare and information campaigns to generate strategic effects far greater than the weapons themselves might suggest. Infrastructure has become both the battlefield and the weapon.

The war in Ukraine has reinforced this reality with exceptional clarity. Russia’s sustained campaign against Ukraine’s electricity generation, transmission networks and energy distribution systems has demonstrated the strategic value of targeting CNI. Missile and drone attacks have sought to deny electricity, heating and communications to civilian populations while constraining Ukraine’s military capability. These were not simply tactical operations but part of a broader strategy of societal attrition intended to erode resilience, impose economic costs and weaken national morale. Ukraine has also demonstrated the offensive potential of this approach, conducting strikes against Russian economic targets, including major retail infrastructure, bringing the effects of war directly to the civilian population and illustrating how infrastructure attacks can generate strategic pressure without territorial conquest.

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Tanya Park

The law has never told you which door to use

By Tanya Park | Wed 5th August 2026 - 9:00 am

The EHRC’s Code of Practice for services came into force this week. Single-sex services are now offered on the basis of biological sex, and providers may ask a person to confirm theirs. 167 MPs signed Nadia Whittome’s motion to disapprove it, the majority of Liberal Democrat MPs among them. It was never debated.

One fact has been almost entirely absent from the argument, and it changes the shape of it.

The law has regulated lavatories and changing rooms since the 1890s. Every one of those provisions regulates what must be provided. Not one regulates who may …

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Nigel Lindsay

Lincolnshire – a flawed reform of local government and why it matters

By Nigel Lindsay | Mon 3rd August 2026 - 12:15 pm

In the excitement of appointing a new Prime Minister, the Manchester Mayoral election, and Count Binface’s adventures in Clacton, the government’s proposals for local government reform in England have been overlooked by the media. This is a pity, as the implications of the changes will stay with us for a long time. How local government is organized affects how efficiently services are delivered to residents, and what they cost. Mathew Hulbert pointed out eloquently in LDV a fortnight ago that the government’s proposed changes are not a technical administrative reform, but a profound political change.

The motive behind current government policy is to replace two-tier local government with unitary councils. Fair enough, fashions change. The process started when Angela Rayner was Minister. She aimed for unitaries with a population of around 500,000. When Steve Reed took over, he favoured smaller councils. What neither of them favoured, unfortunately, was an impartial, evidence-led way of deciding what council boundaries should be. This has led to political manipulation almost to the extent of gerrymandering, and proposals for councils with no roots in community. Local councils with absurd boundaries have caused political ructions in many counties. One of the craziest examples is in Lincolnshire.

There are two obvious ways of establishing unitary authorities in the area. One is to have a unitary Lincolnshire County Council based on the present authority. This would have a population around the size Angela Rayner originally wanted for unitaries. The other is to return to the pre-1974 pattern of three unitary councils based on the historic “Parts” of the county: Lindsey, Kesteven, and Holland, with a separate council for the city of Lincoln. That would provide more compact unitaries, of the size Steve Reed seemed to favour.

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Mark Valladares

Welcome to my day: 3 August 2026 – some thoughts on migration…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 3rd August 2026 - 7:30 am

I read the piece by Oliver Jacques earlier this week with some interest. As a second-generation migrant myself, you might not be surprised to find that my views on migration are relatively liberal. I tend to the view that migration can be a good thing, which in turn tends to put me amongst that group that right-wing campaigners describe mockingly as “open door liberals”.

But migration is like free markets, in that nobody really believes in an unfettered free market in the same way that nobody really believes in open borders – there have to be rules and limits. Indeed, even that small minority who claim to believe in unfettered free markets or open borders, when pushed, have caveats.

My family story is no different to many others, an exodus from the homeland in search of a better future. They were not persecuted in the sense of being threatened, and they played by the rules of the countries that they applied to. Points systems were navigated, choices made based on probabilities and opportunities.

For most non-imperial countries, that was a straightforward choice as to what migrants they wanted, and in what numbers. It is a bit more challenging for those countries who had empires, because of the flows of population from their colonies, but the principle is generally the same. Economic migrants tend to follow the opportunities – why go to a country with high unemployment or low wages?

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 2nd August 2026 - 9:42 am

Donald Trump

Trump loves a winner. He is less keen on anyone blocking his objectives.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used to be the former and is now the latter. Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky used to the be latter and is now the former.

This was apparent to anyone watching the visits to Washington this week of Zelensky and Netanyahu. Zelensky and Trump were all smiles. Zelensky described the talks as “a good meeting” and the White House used the term “cordial.”  The bilateral summit was in stark contract to the February 2025 Oval Office showdown when Trump and Vice President Vance set out to publicly humiliate the Ukrainian leader.

Part of the explanation is simple: In February 2025, Ukraine was on the defensive, if not losing. By the summer of 2026 it had regained the initiative and for the first time in many months, was looking capable of improving its position, if not winning the war outright.

Netanyahu, on the other hand, won no favours when he refused to endorse Trump’s latest plans for Gaza. Trump ignored him and announced that Hamas had agreed to disarm. The Israeli leader also hurt his cause by having what were described as “frank discussions” in a private meeting with Vance – diplomatic shorthand for almighty row.

There is also the fact that Netanyahu is widely reported as having persuaded Trump to join him in an attack on Iran. It would be over quickly, he assured the president. It isn’t and Trump, America and rest of the world are suffering because of it.

The changing mood is reflected in Congress.  Support for Ukraine has become broader and more enthusiastic. Israel still commands considerable backing, but Netanyahu’s actions in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran has created fissures in its previously rock-solid bipartisan support.

Israel

Israeli West Bank settlers don’t have much time. There is a good chance that the complexion of the government  may change after elections on October 27 and the orthodox parties that back their West Bank land grab will be out.

So, they are seizing more territory and provoking more confrontations with Palestinian residents, calculating that this will lead the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) to deploy more troops to the area and facilitate more land grabs. “We are definitely initiating friction and we’re proud of this,” Elisha Yered, an outspoken settler leader, said in a recent interview.

The IDF claims to be enforcing order. But it has overseen a steep rise in violence against Palestinians. In the first six months of 2026 there were 660 “nationalistic” attacks in the West Bank, up from 405 in the previous six months, according to the Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency.

In some cases, soldiers have tried to restrain settlers, who have responded with violence. But in many more cases soldiers, either acting on their own initiative or as part of organised units, have been seen taking part in attacks against Palestinians or protecting settlers carrying them out.

The IDF has set up protective cordons around new settlements and built roads to dozens of them. In many cases the work destroyed swathes of orchards and vineyards owned by Palestinians.

The surge in violence seems likely to reap more violence. For the past three years, the war in Gaza has occupied Palestinian militants. But events in the West Bank have made an armed backlash or a more widespread Palestinian uprising there a distinct possibility.

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Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: Gaza Sceptic

By Tom Arms | Sat 1st August 2026 - 9:34 am

Pardon my scepticism, but I do not think Trump’s recent announcement about Hamas’s disarmament is the diplomatic breakthrough that some commentators are claiming.

For a start, there is Trump’s well-known tendency to jump the diplomatic starting line before the starter has entered the stadium. It is a tendency that has scuppered several delicate diplomatic negotiations.

Usually, Trump’s over-egged statements are designed to deflect from his failings elsewhere. Success in Gaza shifts focus away from the Iran War, confirmation hearings and the rising price of petrol. Or he may be trying to push either Hamas or Israel into a deal.

In this respect, it is important to note that neither Qatar nor Egypt—key members of the negotiating team—have said anything about Hamas, disarmament or Trump’s announcement.

Next, there is Hamas’s statement on the issue which is not that different from its previous statements. Yes, we will disarm as stipulated in phase two of the ceasefire agreement, when and if Israel fulfils its obligations under phase one of the agreement.

Those obligations were to withdraw Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) so that they occupied 53 percent of Gaza. Under phase two it would be reduced to 40 percent and phase three would leave the IDF in control of a 15 percent security perimeter which would eventually disappear.

At the  moment, the IDF controls nearly 70 percent of Gaza. It has built defensive bunkers, established communications systems and knocked down buildings to improve firing sight lines. Army engineers do not build permanent fortifications if they are planning to leave in a few weeks.

Phase one also called on Israel to allow the resumption of humanitarian aid to at least pre-war levels. Before the war there were 700-730 trucks laden with humanitarian aid trundling past Israeli-controlled checkpoints into Gaza. Today there are just over 500. This at a time when the need is far greater with hundreds of thousands of displaced persons living in beachfront tents and receiving all their meals from communal kitchens.

Finally, the ceasefire agreement explicitly said that all fighting would stop immediately. Since the agreement was signed 1,168 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health officials. In the same period, according to the IDF, four Israeli soldiers died.

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Joe Nutt

ALDC by-election report 30th July

By Joe Nutt | Fri 31st July 2026 - 6:26 pm

Five principal authority elections took place across England and Wales on Thursday 30th July.

The Liberal Democrats were defending one seat in Hampshire, while Plaid Cymru were defending one seat in North Wales. Localist group Residents for Uttlesford (R4U) and Independents were defending one seat each in Essex and Lincolnshire, respectively. Four results have been declared so far, with the final result being counted today.

 

Eastleigh BC, Hedge End South

In Hampshire, the Liberal Democrats were seeking to defend Hedge End South on Eastleigh Borough Council. Eastleigh has been under solid Liberal Democrat control for decades, with our party holding 35 of the 39 council seats prior to this vote.

Despite a five-party field, we successfully held the seat with an increased vote share of 46.1%—up 2.7 points from the previous election. We built on our strong local campaign to extend our lead over the second-placed Conservatives to over 21 percentage points, while Reform UK saw their vote share fall back.

Huge congratulations to the new Liberal Democrat Cllr Jim Paine and the Eastleigh team on a fantastic win!

Lib Dem (Jim Paine): 1,086 (46.1%, +2.7%)
Conservative: 589 (25.0%, +4.1%)
Reform UK: 443 (18.8%, -8.2%)
Green Party: 199 (8.4%, -0.3%)
Labour: 41 (1.7%, new)

Turnout: 27.4%

Liberal Democrat HOLD

 

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The Social Liberal Forum, a strategy for relevant liberalism

By Roger Hayes and John Shreeve | Fri 31st July 2026 - 4:38 pm

I think we can agree that public confidence in our political system is at an all-time low. It comes to a pretty pass when Count Binface is considered to be a best alternative to a national party leader in a by-election, or that the party of government feels the need, mid parliament, to regularly change its leader (and our PM) supposedly for the benefit of all.

This sorry state of affairs has been growing, across the spectrum, for a long time of course as the desire of politicians to win replaced a desire to serve. Essentially its roots emanate from the Tory party as Thatcher moved our politics economically to a system built on free market deregulation and personal advantage. The result, after 40 mismanaged years, is a divided, fractured, unequal, angry society ripe for the populists to trigger. Where the targeting of a sleeping non-voter base has the capacity to change the political landscape entirely, from Brexit to the rise of the rabid-right.  Its little surprise then that after two wasted years from Labour, and the continuing Lib Dem obsession with winning based on quantity of activity rather than relevance of message that we are where we are. Strong in a core heartland, largely invisible everywhere else.

For the Social Liberal Forum, our approach up until now, has been to act as a platform for discussion and advocacy of Socially Liberal values. With events, fringe meetings and publications we have looked at economics, we have discussed the role of liberalism in a divided society, and some of our members have worked tirelessly to challenge and improve party policy. The aim of this being to encourage the party to adopt a more socially liberal stance.

We will always be campaigners, but being able to change lives at scale requires electoral success, without it it’s a slow and frustrating plod. But, with our effectiveness so localised and party strategy centred on weight of leaflets delivered, rather than a moral passion for a relevant national message across the country all that’s left for us to offer is a national party of independents in the guise of ‘Local Champions’.

The big question then is, if we really do see ourselves as a true national liberal party, has to be the creation of a ‘Clear Liberal Objective’. What is the Lib Dem Vision for the society we seek to create?  That when you vote Lib Dem you do so because our vision and moral passion inspires your support. We must be so much more than, ‘not the other party’! Why have we remained a substantially feudal society centred on perceptions of class and the desire for assets. Where is the vital importance of community and mutual support. Where is equality, freedom and community.

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Oliver Jacques

We need to send a message “We hear you” on illegal immigration

By Oliver Jacques | Fri 31st July 2026 - 3:00 pm

What is immigration? Immigration into the UK falls broadly into three categories; legal (authorised), humanitarian and illegal (irregular).

Legal immigration is supported by many well-known routes such as work, student and family visas, business investment schemes and special temporary schemes such as the Ukraine scheme.

Humanitarian immigration follows a long history of welcoming people fleeing persecution and conflict, into this country. Proud to help those who need it find sanctuary here while also honouring obligations under international law.

Support for humanitarian immigration aligns closely with our own LibDem beliefs in compassion, internationalism and the rule of law. We also believe Britain is stronger and richer when it is open to the talents and creativity of people from other countries.

Indeed, many Conservatives and, dare I say, some Reform supporters, welcome people arriving in this country on legal or humanitarian routes.

Where we differ sharply however, is in our public messaging and policy position surrounding the third category; irregular immigration.

There are many examples where right-wing populists in Reform lazily conflate all types on immigration in their rhetoric, using terms such as “mass immigration”, “millions coming into Britain” and “invasion”. To do so suits their divisive narrative, as it did throughout the Brexit campaign.

In addition, I believe that there are those on the political left, and possibly in our party, who conversely promote the belief that all who come to our shores, legally or otherwise, should be accepted and treated the same.

Both conflations are wrong.

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Sarah Olney

Why Andy Burnham would be foolish to turn his back on London

By Sarah Olney | Fri 31st July 2026 - 12:50 pm

The much-vaunted “Manchesterism” of our new Prime Minister is starting to take its national shape, with his early policy pledges and the appointment of his Cabinet. It’s a relentless focus on the cost of living – cuts to VAT on energy bills and a £2 cap on bus fares – paired with a jaunty wardrobe and a flair for social media. Burnham wants the public to see him as somehow more ‘real’ and more ‘in touch’ than his aloof predecessor.

But Burnham’s diagnosis of the ills of the nation – and the action needed to address them – amounts to a great deal more than just improving how the government communicates. His early statements include some fairly significant repudiations of not just the outgoing Starmer administration, but a great many of its predecessors. He specifically talks about the “wrong turn” of the 1980s.

His statements point to a very particular view of history – that the deindustrialisation of the 1980s, together with the centralisation of political power, undermined working class communities to such an extent that they have not recovered. The Burnham protocol references ‘reindustrialisation’ and ‘devolution’ as the answer for these communities. It’s a strikingly retrogressive view. Our pop culture Prime Minister would probably enjoy a Doctor Who comparison – he’s a Time Lord, travelling back to the 1980s to right a historic wrong and save the country from the Evil Neoliberals! – but being compared to a sci-fi fantasy isn’t perhaps as complimentary about Burnham as he would like.

But it is also a statement about geography. The implication is that the Cities of London and Westminster have jointly wreaked this damage on the rest of the country – specifically northern cities and towns – and that it is time for a reversal. I’m not the only Londoner who worries about what the Burnham view of the British economy and society mean for our city.

I know that many LDV readers will struggle to find much sympathy for privileged metropolitan snowflakes, weepingly forgoing their matcha lattes and gochujang popcorn to help fund a £2 bus fare cap that Londoners won’t even benefit from (because our bus fares are already only £1.75!). Many will share the Burnham diagnosis of the impact of Thatcherism on the UK’s social fabric and every good Liberal Democrat will welcome the warm words about devolution. As the party’s Business spokesperson, I’m enthusiastic about the prospect of growing our manufacturing base, especially for the career opportunities it would offer to our young people. Although we also need to see much more support for small and high street businesses, with policies that will boost employment, such as reversing the Employers’ NI increases, introduced by the now ex-Chancellor, Rachel Reeves.

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Jonathan Brown

From Britain’s Mandate to Gaza’s Board of Peace: when others decide Palestine’s future, Palestinians pay the price

By Jonathan Brown | Fri 31st July 2026 - 9:42 am

The failure of the Gaza peace process reflects a recurring problem in the international approach to Palestine: powerful actors repeatedly claim the authority to shape Palestinians’ future, make sweeping yet undeliverable promises… and when those promises fail to materialise, Palestinians face the consequences.

In January, President Trump’s son-in law Jared Kushner unveiled an ambitious plan for a “New Gaza” filled with gleaming high-rise towers, a revitalised coastline and tourist-packed beaches. Six months later, no meaningful reconstruction has taken place, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians continue to live in cramped, unsanitary tents that have become breeding grounds for disease and rodent infestations.

Earlier this month, it was quietly announced that the scope of reconstruction plans has been dramatically reduced to a small pilot project in southern Gaza. The contrast between the scale of the original promises and what has actually been delivered could hardly be greater, despite the centrality of this project to the ceasefire deal.

There has been little acknowledgement of this from Trump and his cronies, who despite being quick to present themselves as the architects of Gaza’s reconstruction have shown little interest in overseeing its implementation.

This lack of accountability is hardly surprising given the composition of the ‘Board of Peace’ (BoP) tasked with overseeing Gaza’s future. The board includes external figures with powerful business interests, some with known pro-Israel sympathies, but excludes Palestinians.

The US-backed BoP rightly criticises Hamas when it fails to abide by the agreement, but then fails completely to use its considerable influence to prevent Israeli violations. Israel continues to kill civilians on an almost daily basis. It continues to obstruct the entry of aid, reconstruction materials and even the Palestinian technocrats assigned to administer Gaza. And despite agreeing to gradually withdraw from the territory, the Israeli army has steadily entrenched its presence, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announcing in May that he had ordered the army to seize 70% of the strip.

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Joe Wright

Let’s fix social care

By Joe Wright | Thu 30th July 2026 - 1:16 pm

Andy Burnham has rightly made fixing social care a top priority and seems, on the face of it, to be genuinely interested in reaching a cross party consensus. Social care has been a priority for Liberal Democrats for a long time as well – I shed more than one or two tears when I first saw some of our election broadcasts from Ed Davey talking about his experiences.

The good news is that we don’t need to wait for the Casey Review to conclude in several years – the answers are already out there. In 2019, the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee published a landmark report calling for £8bn investment in social care, followed by the introduction of free personal care in England. The committee at the time was chaired by the very right-wing Lord Forsyth – this is not a lefty fringe idea, but one that makes practical sense.

It was wisely adopted as our party’s policy in 2023 and a major plank of our manifesto in 2024.

Of course, post-Covid and an ever aging population would mean you need more than £8bn today – some estimates as much as £18bn for transformative social care by 2036.

Frankly, Liberal Democrats need to be a bit less squeamish about asking people to pay more tax. Real substantial taxes rather than fiddling with the Digital Services Tax which is paying for seemingly everything (incidentally widening its base to cover more products like user data sales and streaming services as France and Denmark do or expanding it to AI companies would generate substantially more revenue than upping the headline rate).

The main beneficiaries of making personal care free are people like my family – a fair amount of wealth and assets (a 3 bed detached house in Berkshire and investments) but not necessarily cash rich. The fairest solution is to look at taxing wealth more, rather than working people during a cost of living crisis, so the main beneficiaries are the main contributors. Equalising Capital Gains Tax with Income Tax, and removing some of the egregious loopholes would raise upwards of £11.3bn a year as well as removing distortions which would promote economic growth. It is also backed by the IFS.

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Chris Perry

It is not just about paying for social care

By Chris Perry | Thu 30th July 2026 - 10:53 am

Thirty years after the then Government established the “Royal Commission on Long Term Care”, five years after the 2021 Health and Social Care Act was to sort out social care once and for all, social care is still in crisis and, at long last. moving up the agenda of Government.

The NHS and social care need radical reform, restructuring and cultural change based upon a whole systems approach to liberate the hardworking professionals from the constraining contract culture into an enabling leadership one. Taking out functional divisions along patient / user pathways to create “whole task, right sized, multidisciplinary, inter-agency teams” aligned behind outcome, These teams need to be able to “plan do and evaluate* their own work which completes the learning cycle of constant improvement.

A survey by The Times found there were on average 13,600 people a day in hospital awaiting social care. To enter long term residential care is one of the few irreversible decisions in life and is not to be taken lightly or without an assessment of need and verification of wishes. And there are many more older people not receiving the help they need in the community.

Social care needs to move from a “minding” to a “mending” service. Social Work is under-valued and social workers misused.

Given the wealth of empirical evidence into the social determinants of health which has demonstrated the correlation between low income and health unless Government addresses the widening income inequality and increasing poverty in our society the NHS will not keep pace with demand and will always be playing catch up. Governments cannot go on throwing more money at the first aid camp at the bottom of the cliff without building a fence at the top. Treating the symptoms not the cause.

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Vince Cable

Hidden meanings in social care

By Vince Cable | Thu 30th July 2026 - 9:15 am

Andy Burnham has promised to ‘fix’ social care and to ‘use some of his political capital on the issue’. The first steps are expected this week. Ed Davey, who has campaigned strongly on the issue, promises to work with him on a cross-party basis.

All good. The problem is that people mean very different things by the ‘social care’ problem.

The obvious priority is to help unpaid carers – around 6 million people, 1.7 million of whom provide care for over 50 hours a week – and those they care for at home. There are rather meagre carers’ benefits but, for the most part, carers make a financial as well as emotional sacrifice – while keeping their loved ones out of hospital and as part of the local community.

There is potential help in the form of local authority domiciliary care but the service has to be paid for since social care -unlike NHS health care – is not free, but means-tested for those with assets over £23,000 (and very expensive for -say- a live-in carer costing up to £50,000 a year). Moreover, the domiciliary care service is severely over-stretched and highly dependent on low paid, immigrant, care workers.

If funding were available it could be used to relax the eligibility criteria which keep around 2 million, mainly elderly people, from receiving the social care they need; or to improve the quality of service. Based on the Scottish model (where social care is free) the cost of a fully funded care service could be around £8 billion. That is a minimum.

But others are clamouring for ‘social care’ funding for a different reason. Many relatives with frail relatives, especially those suffering from dementia, choose not to assume caring responsibilities but to put them in a care home. Good care homes are expensive: upwards of £60,000 a year even without nursing care. Some residents are being forced to sell their family home to pay costs. Disgruntled relatives can see their inheritance disappearing in care home costs.

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Samuel Jackson

What should the Liberal Democrats say about compulsory voting?

By Samuel Jackson | Wed 29th July 2026 - 7:57 pm

Last week, Andy Burnham became Labour leader and thus Prime Minister. Labour hope that his leadership will reverse the party’s political misfortunes and poor polling under Keir Starmer, while many hope that his new policy priorities and governing style would bring about vital change. Electoral reform advocates hope that such change will include Proportional Representation, given his past and recent vocal support for it and the proposal of an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill calling for a National Commission on Electoral Reform. However, the latest speculated change, as reported by several outcomes, may come in the form of compulsory voting.

Compulsory voting, otherwise known as universal civic duty or mandatory voting, is the requirement that all registered voters must participate in elections. At present, twenty-one countries have compulsory laws, from free multiparty democracies such as Australia to the one-party dictatorship of North Korea. It may or may not be enforced, with potential penalties (outside the DPRK) including fines, loss of the right to vote, the denial of licenses or passports, or nothing. Registered voters may be exempted because of age, illiteracy, illness, disability, religious objection, occupation, housing status or force majeure (circumstances beyond personal control).

The proposed introduction of compulsory voting under Burnham is disconcerting due to the actions of past Labour Prime Ministers, notably Tony Blair and Starmer himself. They endorsed PR while in opposition, whether during their leadership campaigns or as part of their party’s policy platform. However, once they got into power with huge majorities granted to them by First Past the Post, they either failed to deliver on it citing other priorities or launched make-work activity such as the Jenkins Commission to give the impression that change was coming.

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