Mark Valladares

28 August 2026 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Fri 28th August 2026 - 10:30 pm
  • Green responds to independence bill
  • Almost 500 repairs needed in Scottish police buildings
  • Cole-Hamilton responds to SNP’s first 100 days failure
  • Chamberlain responds to serial rapist police officer passing vetting checks

Green responds to independence bill

Responding to the Scottish Government publishing a draft referendum bill on independence, Scottish Liberal Democrat public service reform spokesperson David Green MSP said:

Yawn.

Almost 500 repairs needed in Scottish police buildings

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Yi-pei Chou Turvey MSP has today urged the SNP to “wake up” to the pressures facing the justice system, as she revealed that there are almost 500 repair works needed in police buildings across the country.

A Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request to Police Scotland asked for the detail of repair works raised in condition surveys.

These surveys outline the physical state of police buildings and any work that requires attention.

The request found that:

  • There are 460 works requiring attention in 175 police buildings across Scotland.
  • 57 of these works related to fire safety.
  • 33 related to security, while 28 related to roofing.
  • Police stations in Glasgow have some of the highest number of repairs requiring attention, with 10 needed at the London Road Station, 10 at Meiklewood Road Complex and 8 at Govan Police Station.
  • The Scottish Police College in Tulliallan has 17 repairs requiring attention

The 2026 condition surveys estimated that these works would cost £20,671,609.

The request also found that an investment of £510 million is required to maintain and upgrade the police estate in line with modern policing needs.

In 2024, Police Scotland shut down its Forfar HQ due to concerns around the building’s structural safety, water ingress and potentially dangerous airborne yeasts and moulds. Lying empty ever since, there are now plans to sell the building, but there is no indication of when it will go on the market.

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Joe Nutt

ALDC by-election report, 17th August

By Joe Nutt | Fri 28th August 2026 - 2:25 pm

Five principal authority by-elections took place across England on Thursday 27th August.

Labour were defending two seats (in Wandsworth and Sheffield), Reform UK were defending two seats (in Newcastle and St Helens), and the Conservatives were defending one seat in Dover.

The standout performance of the week for the Liberal Democrats came in Newcastle, where an extraordinary campaign saw us vault from 5th place all the way into a clear 2nd with a massive 24.3 percentage point surge in vote share. Elsewhere, Reform UK gained a seat from Labour in Sheffield while losing another to Labour in St Helens, and the Green Party unseated the Conservatives in Dover.

Newcastle City Council, Throckley, Walbottle and Newburn

In Tyneside, the Liberal Democrats delivered an exceptional result in the Throckley, Walbottle and Newburn ward on Newcastle City Council following a councillor resignation.

This result comes against the backdrop of a historic milestone on Newcastle City Council earlier this May, when the Liberal Democrats became the largest party on the council and formed a minority administration supported by confidence and supply from the Green Party.

Supported by a grant from ALDC’s Fighting Fund, Stephen Kelly and the local campaign team delivered a stunning campaign in what has historically been tough territory for us. We rocketed from 5th place straight into 2nd, boosting our vote share by a massive +24.3% to finish within striking distance of Reform UK, while pushing Labour down into 3rd place. This outstanding momentum sets up a fantastic springboard for the next set of local elections in this division.

A huge thank you and congratulations to Stephen Kelly and the entire campaign team in Newcastle for an inspiring result!

Reform UK: 901 (39.0%, -4.8%)
Lib Dem (Stephen Kelly): 670 (29.0%, +24.3%)
Labour: 534 (23.1%, -5.9%)
Green Party: 103 (4.5%, -9.2%)
Conservative: 101 (4.4%, -4.4%)

Reform UK HOLD

 

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Arthur Wu

Remember why we started: What the Hong Kong Alliance case means for Hong Kong’s future

By Arthur Wu | Fri 28th August 2026 - 12:19 pm

As I write this, I am looking at my small model of the Goddess of Democracy (民主女神像) on the shelf. It takes me back to my student activist years in Hong Kong, when democracy was something my generation argued about, organised around and fought for.

The original Goddess stood in Tiananmen Square for only a few days before it was destroyed in June 1989. Its image survived. In Hong Kong, one organisation kept that memory alive for more than three decades: the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (支聯會).

On 21 August 2026, the Hong Kong Alliance and its former leaders Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung were convicted of inciting subversion under the National Security Law. Albert Ho, another former leader, had previously pleaded guilty. Central to the case was the Alliance’s longstanding call to “end one-party dictatorship”. The court held that this sought to undermine the constitutional leadership of the Communist Party of China.

The Alliance organised the annual candlelight vigils in Victoria Park commemorating the victims of 4 June 1989. Its politics were always contested. The pro-Beijing camp opposed its objectives. As a member of the pan-democratic camp, I defended the tradition of June Fourth remembrance. Some right-wing localists opposed the vigil for very different reasons, questioning its focus on democratisation in China and arguing for a future centred more exclusively on Hong Kong.

Those arguments could be fierce. Looking back, what stays with me is that we were able to have them.

That was part of the Hong Kong I grew up in. Pro-Beijing politicians, pan-democrats and localists had radically different ideas about democracy, identity, China and Hong Kong’s future. Even the meaning of June Fourth was openly contested.

Much of that political space has disappeared. Political participation now operates under the principle of “patriots administering Hong Kong”, with national-security requirements shaping who can stand for public office. Pan-democrats and localists no longer participate in formal politics in anything resembling their previous form.

The Alliance case captures this change. Hong Kong once argued openly over competing political futures. Today, advocacy directly challenging the Communist Party’s monopoly on political power can fall within national-security law. It raises a basic liberal question: how much room remains for peaceful political disagreement?

Pluralism requires space for people with fundamentally different ideas to argue, organise and persuade. We can profoundly disagree with a political movement while defending its right to take part peacefully in public life. That freedom once allowed pro-Beijing politicians, pan-democrats and localists to argue over Hong Kong’s future. Its loss should concern liberals everywhere.

The Alliance also carried something beyond politics. For decades, candles in Victoria Park allowed Hongkongers to remember publicly what could not be openly commemorated in mainland China. A replica of the Goddess of Democracy stood at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) from 2010 until it was removed in December 2021. As political space narrowed, so did the space for public remembrance.

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The Voice

Welsh Lib Dems: Burnham must back Wales with more than words

By The Voice | Thu 27th August 2026 - 11:15 pm

Responding to Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s comments in Port Talbot today, Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesperson David Chadwick MP said:

Burnham says his visit to Port Talbot sends a powerful signal to the community, but he still hasn’t actually committed to Wales receiving its fair share of the £2.5 billion steel fund, the single biggest decision that could benefit Port Talbot and the wider economy.

Our priority is securing the powers that will make the biggest difference to people’s everyday lives, from rail and infrastructure investment to research and development funding to the Crown Estate.

Most fundamentally, Burnham is still refusing to look at

…

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Mary Reid

Happy Birthday to us!

By Mary Reid | Thu 27th August 2026 - 12:36 pm

Lib Dem Voice was launched 20 years ago today, on 27th August 2006.

In that time we have published 38,490 posts and 530,761 comments, and each has been lovingly read and edited by our team. Our Founding Editors were Mark Pack, Rob Fenwick and Will Howells and they were joined in by Stephen Tall and Richard Huzzey. You can see a full list of current and past editors here: The Liberal Democrat Voice team.

Over the years more than 3000 people have contributed posts. Our current Editor, Caron Lindsay, has penned an astonishing 4311 posts for LDV, just beating Mark’s 4106.

Here are a couple of memorable posts from the past:

Do add links in the Comments to other historic posts that readers might enjoy.

We have marked the passing of some great and interesting politicians.

April Fool’s posts have hoodwinked a surprising number of (presumably) rational Lib Dems.

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Mark Valladares

26 August 2026 – today’s (other) press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 26th August 2026 - 10:30 pm
  • Dunlop: What is the Scottish Government doing to stop care-experienced young people dying prematurely?
  • Harley responds to extension of GP walk-in centres
  • Burnham Wales Visit – Wales doesn’t need another Labour listening exercise, Wales needs action

Dunlop: What is the Scottish Government doing to stop care-experienced young people dying prematurely?

Following a UK Government review into deaths among young people with experience of the care system in England, Scottish Liberal Democrat children spokesperson Duncan Dunlop MSP highlighted that the scale of the tragedy is “no different” in Scotland.

An independent UK Government review estimates that young people who are leaving the care system in England are dying at three to four times the rate of other people their age.

More than a third of the deaths examined by the review were believed to be suicides.

The Liberal Democrat MSP used his maiden speech in the Scottish Parliament to tell the stories of young people in Scotland whom the state has failed.

He has also repeatedly pressed the SNP government to commit to publishing the premature death rates of all care-experienced people, ensuring that a mechanism is in place to monitor progress.

Duncan Dunlop MSP said:

I got into politics because I want to transform the lives and outcomes of Scotland’s care-experienced young people.

The findings of the UK Government’s review are nothing short of tragic, and the horrifying scale of that tragedy is no different in Scotland.

After leading a care charity for many years, I have seen first-hand the trauma experienced by young people in Scotland’s care system. I have also seen how they have been utterly failed by the SNP’s broken Promise.

I have repeatedly pressed the Scottish Government to sit down to work on this specific issue. As a bare minimum, I want to see them gathering a clear picture of the problem in Scotland, which is why ministers should commit to publishing the premature death rates of all care-experienced people.

By taking steps like this, we can start to reinvigorate efforts to transform care and ultimately save lives. The Scottish Government needs to get on with it.

Harley responds to extension of GP walk-in centres

Responding to the Scottish Government’s plans to extend the number of GP walk-in centres despite stubbornly low attendance rates among those that are already up and running, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Adam Harley MSP said:

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Caron Lindsay

Scottish Lib Dems object to huge Scottish Water bonuses

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 26th August 2026 - 8:30 pm

We’re used to hearing about bosses of English Water companies getting rewarded for failure, but north of the border, things are just as bad, if not worse. It’s particularly egregious to see  publicly owned Scottish Water pay out £250,000 in bonuses to senior management when the company’s record is far from unblemished.

Scottish Lib Dem Leader Alex Cole-Hamilton and Emvironment spokesperson Sanne Dijkstra-Downie have written to John Swinney to ask him how such bonuses could be justified. They said:

Dear John,

We are writing to you following the publication of Scottish Water’s annual report, which included the executive members’ renumeration for 2026.

The report shows that executive members have received more than £250,000 in bonuses over the past year. It comes at a time when billions of litres of sewage are being discharged into Scotland’s rivers, lochs and beaches every year. New research has also suggested that almost all raw sewage spills in Scotland could be illegal.

Meanwhile, ongoing pollution incidents at Portobello Beach, a designated bathing water, have led to the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) advising the public against entering the water. Indeed, analysis has found that Portobello Beach recorded E.coli levels ten times above the safe limit. Wardie Bay, a popular wild swimming spot in the north of the city, has also experienced problems with water pollution, with a sewage pollution alert issued this month.

The continued water-quality issues at Kinghorn Beach means that the site faces being stripped of its designated bathing water status if it receives a fifth successive “poor” SEPA rating. The watchdog said that the water could be a risk to human and animal health.

As you will be aware, the bonuses paid to Scottish Water are only to be payable if the organisation meets its performance targets, which includes measures like customer satisfaction and a reduction in incidents. It is extremely difficult, therefore, to understand why such high bonuses continue to be paid when sewage discharges are consistently high and popular beaches are being forced to close.

Indeed, these bonuses will simply seem unjustifiable, especially for the many people who have been directly impacted by sewage problems and pollution at some of the country’s most beloved bathing spots. It is not at all clear how Scottish Water, a public body, is being properly held to account when these bonuses persist despite consistently disappointing performance.

Will you, therefore, explain why such high bonuses continue to be paid out and what, if any, consideration is given to significant factors like sewage dumps and beach closures in the decision to pay them?

We look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Alex Cole-Hamilton

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and MSP for Edinburgh North Western

Sanne Dijkstra-Downie

Scottish Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson and MSP for Edinburgh Northern

I suspect we may have seen the subject of Alex’s first First Minister’s Question of the new session next week.

Christine Jardine MP used a recent Scotsman column to criticise the bonuses too:

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The Voice

Ed Davey on “unfair mean and nasty” attacks on Jason Arday

By The Voice | Wed 26th August 2026 - 7:23 pm

Ed Davey has spoken to Politics Home about the death of Jason Arday following an extended period of vicious press coverage.

Davey told PoliticsHome that parts of the media had seemed to “focus in on it and attack him in a way which seems awfully disproportionate, unfair, mean, and nasty”.

What it shows is that we have to push back against this Trump-like attack on liberal values where we embrace everybody equally and respect everybody.

“There seems to be a movement, particularly on the right, to move away from the liberal progress I thought we made, where we respect people, we judge them on their merit, and we celebrate the contribution that everybody made.”

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Mark Valladares

25 August 2026 – yesterday’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 26th August 2026 - 9:36 am
  • Police submit first charge file relating to Mohamed Fayed
  • Rennie urges Dalzell investigation amid reports of misuse of taxpayer money
  • Almost 10,000 waiting on care package or assessment
  • SNP urged to change course to get 770,000 Scots treated
  • Harley: Pause GP walk-in centres as low attendance rates persist
  • Chou Turvey responds to recorded crime increases
  • Green: SFC report shows public sector reform falling short

Police submit first charge file relating to Mohamed Fayed

Commenting on the update from the Metropolitan Police that Operation Cornpoppy detectives have submitted a file to the Crown Prosecution Service for a Charge decision, Dave Robertson MP and Wendy Chamberlain MP, Co-Chairs of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Survivors of Fayed and Harrods – the cross-party campaign in Parliament – said:

This will be a huge moment for many survivors – whether this first charging decision relates to them or not.

As a group they have been waiting years, and in some cases decades, for justice.

We are pleased to see the Metropolitan Police pushing ahead in its investigation by referring this charging decision to the Crown Prosecution Service.

We recently met with the force, who assured us that progress on the investigation is accelerating, and we will keep supporting survivors to be heard by the all the institutions involved in this case.

They deserve certainty that every aspect of the abuse they suffered at the hands of this trafficking network will be pursued to the fullest extent possible.

Rennie urges Dalzell investigation amid reports of misuse of taxpayer money

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie has today written to Cabinet Secretary Stephen Flynn urging him to investigate significant allegations about the operation of the Dalzell steel plant, including misuse of taxpayer money, non-payment of pension payments, theft, collapsing maintenance standards and the sourcing of steel slab from Kazakhstan, after he was approached by a number of sources at the plant over recent goings on.

Mr Rennie’s letter is as follows:

Dear Stephen,

I am writing with regard to the Dalzell steel plant.

This is an issue that I have taken an interest in over the years as I wish to see Scotland maintain domestic steel capacity.

At this stage you will be familiar with the travails of the site’s present owner Sanjeev Gupta and his GFG Alliance business empire. I understand from recent media coverage that the Scottish Government are now investigating misuse of loans provided in respect to the Lochaber aluminium plant, also part of Mr Gupta’s network.

I have recently been contacted by a number of sources at the Dalzell plant who raised a number of concerning issues and I am now writing to you to seek confirmation as to the following points and to ask what action your government will now take to ensure fair treatment for Scottish taxpayers and the workers at the plant:

• Whether it is correct that rather than sourcing steel slab from British steelmakers, the Dalzell plant has been sourcing raw materials from Kazakhstan?

• What engagement the Scottish Government has had with bosses at the Dalzell plant given that the plant has been effectively mothballed for the past twelve months with workers on reduced payments?

• Whether it is correct that payments into the employees pensions have stopped as Aviva will not accept the payments that the plant’s operators are forwarding due to concerns over the source of these payments?

• Whether the Scottish Government assesses that there are major issues that will stop the plant from running in the very near future? My contact is warning that the furnaces that heat the slabs are on their knees due to lack of maintenance and investment.

• Whether it is accurate to say that there is now a shortage of fitters and electricians?

• What action the Scottish Government has taken in response to reports that the plant was ransacked and nearly every piece of copper stolen from it preventing the installation of key equipment?

• My contacts have also warned that the £7 million owed to the Scottish Government was not spent on the Dalzell plant but was in fact transferred elsewhere.

In my previous exchanges with Scottish Government ministers on this matter, I have been left concerned that no one has ever been able to explain whether or when government loans are likely to be paid back, whether Mr Gupta’s businesses are in breach of their deals with the government and what this could all mean for Scottish taxpayers.

I hope you will be able to furnish me with some answers,

Yours sincerely,

Willie Rennie

Almost 10,000 waiting on care package or assessment

Responding to new figures that show, 9,736 people were waiting to receive a social care package or to be assessed for one at the beginning of July, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Adam Harley MSP said:

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Veronica-Mae Soar

Are the Liberal Democrats invisible?

By Veronica-Mae Soar | Tue 25th August 2026 - 9:37 am

The Liberal Democrats are currently a significant force in British politics, attracting millions of votes. We hold a substantial number of parliamentary seats, control local councils across the country and have a loyal base of support. Yet, listening to the news or watching political programmes, you could often be forgiven for thinking there are only two major parties. Is this something we should worry about?

I have voted Liberal and Liberal Democrat for around 60 years, and in all that time I have never had my own candidate win. That is quite a sobering thought. It also makes me wonder how much of the problem is the way our electoral system works, rather than simply how well we communicate. What do others think?

At present, so many people vote tactically. They may support us but decide that they need to vote for someone else to prevent another candidate from winning. When we eventually get PR, will that change? And will it be enough?

This is not simply a question of getting more publicity. It is also about voters understanding what we stand for.

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Mark Valladares

24 August 2026 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 24th August 2026 - 10:30 pm
  • Almost 1,500 Scottish Water investigations into potential dry weather sewage spills
  • Chou Turvey responds to Rape Crisis report
  • Chou Turvey calls for better police officer support amid shoplifting rise
  • SNP must swap centralisation for reform to improve public services

Almost 1,500 Scottish Water investigations into potential dry weather sewage spills

Scottish Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Sanne Dijkstra-Downie MSP has today revealed new figures showing that Scottish Water have conducted nearly 1,500 investigations into potential dry weather sewage spills.

Sewage dumping typically occurs when the sewage system is overburdened, often as a result of excessive rainfall. Sewage dumping on dry days is considered to be more damaging to the environment because discharges will not be diluted by rainfall. In England, releasing raw sewage into waterways during dry spells is illegal.

New figures obtained by Scottish Liberal Democrats using freedom of information legislation show that 3,867 alerts have been triggered for a potential dry weather sewage spill, and of these alerts 1,496 required maintenance or investigation in person, across 521 different sites.

Previously the scale of dry weather sewage spills in Scotland had not been known, although Environmental Standards Scotland reported that it believed Scottish Water and SEPA were underestimating the scale.

In his report into sewage dumping in Scotland ‘sewage sleuth’ Peter Hammond, portrayed by Jason Watkins in the Channel 4 TV show Dirty Business, found incidents of dry weather sewage dumping occurring at 3 sewage treatment works:

  • 302 days where dry weather sewage spills occurred between 2018 and 2023 at Helensburgh WWTW
  • 18 days where dry weather sewage spills occurred between 2018 and 2020 at Kilmory STW
  • 96 days where dry weather sewage spills occurred between 2018 and 2019 and Tighnabruaich STW

Sanne Dijkstra-Downie said:

We already knew from Environmental Standards Scotland that dry weather sewage spills were being underestimated, but the number of potential incidents being shown here is very concerning.

Dry weather sewage spills are especially dangerous to the environment because sewage discharges will not have been diluted by rainwater. That’s bad news for people, pets and wildlife.

We need to see the Scottish Government finally start taking the sewage crisis more seriously. We have now had both the government’s own environmental watchdog and renowned sewage sleuth Peter Hammond call out the state of sewage dumping in Scotland but SNP ministers don’t seem interested.

Scottish Liberal Democrats want to see a Clean Water Act to take the sewage scandal seriously, track down and report every sewage dump, and replace outdated standards with modern enforceable regulation.

Chou Turvey responds to Rape Crisis report

Responding to a new report by the Scottish Rape Crisis Alliance that by 2028 almost 2,000 women and girls could be forced to wait months for specialist support after experiencing rape and sexual violence, Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Yi-pei Chou Turvey MSP said:

With reports of sexual violence now at their highest level in over 50 years, much more is needed to prevent these horrific crimes and support survivors.

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Chris Nicholson

Being a Councillor – 35 years on

By Chris Nicholson | Mon 24th August 2026 - 10:00 am

On May 7th I was elected as a Councillor on Lambeth Council – 35 years after standing down as a Councillor in Kingston after a 9-year spell.

So, what have I found is different – and what is the same?

The first big difference is the amount of casework – it is far greater – I would estimate 5-10 new items per day, plus the follow up on existing cases.

I think the big difference here is emails and mobile phones/WhatsApp. They have made it far easier to contact a Councillor with associated increased expectations of speed of response.

The outgoing Labour Councillor prided herself on responding to emails within half an hour! The other Labour candidate made a public pledge to respond to residents within an hour throughout his 4-year term!

Residents have come to expect that – within 3 weeks I had an email on Wednesday at 8.05am complaining that I had not responded to an email sent at 9.40pm on the Monday evening. Such expectations make it difficult for anyone who has a full-time job and/or caring responsibilities to fulfil the role. That to me is a real concern about how representative Councillors can be of their local community.

Secondly, the shift to a Leader/Cabinet model means that a backbench Opposition Councillor has relatively little power compared to a committee system. Even though we hold the balance of power on the Council the only power Full Council has is to set the Budget, the Borough Plan which is the policy framework for decisions and to elect the Leader. When I was previously the Leader of a No Overall Control Council the Opposition Councillors had real decision-making power. The Leader/Cabinet model in local government in my view is fundamentally undemocratic.

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Roz Savage MP

Roz Savage MP writes: Liberalism is having a Moment. But does it have a future?

By Roz Savage MP | Sun 23rd August 2026 - 10:58 am

Liberalism seems to be going through an identity crisis. Within a few months, three very different thinkers have published books asking the same question: what has happened to Liberalism, and what would make it relevant again?

Adrian Wooldridge has given us Centrists of the World Unite!, David Howarth Being Liberal, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu What Happened to Liberal Democracy?

We are halfway through this parliament, barring Andy Burnham calling an early election. So it’s a good time to search our collective Liberal soul in a quest for clarity of purpose. 

We have 72 MPs, our largest parliamentary party in a century, yet remarkably little influence over the national conversation. If people still struggle to say what Liberal Democrats are for, perhaps we haven’t told a sufficiently compelling story.

I approached Wooldridge’s Centrists with some scepticism. To me, “centrists” implies the mushy middle between left and right, administered by nice people who want to be everybody’s friend/tactical voting choice.

Fortunately, that isn’t Wooldridge’s Liberalism. His is restless and insurgent. Historically, Liberals challenged aristocratic privilege, monopolies and inherited hierarchies. His complaint is that this bold tradition became associated instead with a cautious, managerial establishment.

His challenge is worth hearing. We are good at being reasonable, evidence-led and practical. But competence is not a destination. Liberalism should feel radical.

David Howarth’s Being Liberal explores the Liberal disposition: open-minded, suspicious of abuses of power, uncomfortable with hierarchy, treating people as individuals rather than categories, and accepting that reasonable people can disagree.

It captures something policy programmes miss. Liberalism isn’t only about what government does. It is about how we treat other people – and how we behave when given power ourselves.

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Joe Nutt

ALDC by-election report, 20th August

By Joe Nutt | Fri 21st August 2026 - 6:02 pm

There were four principal authority by-elections across England on Thursday 20 August. Labour were defending two seats, Reform UK were defending one and there was one vacancy in Huntingdonshire where Reform had won one of the ward’s three seats at the May elections.

The Liberal Democrats were defending no seats this week, but produced the standout result of the night by gaining St Neots Eynesbury from Reform UK with a commanding swing of almost 30 percentage points. Elsewhere, Labour regained a Reform seat in Barnsley, Reform gained from Labour in Carlisle’s Harraby South, and Nottingham’s crowded six-way contest demonstrated how fragmented local politics has become in parts of the country.

Huntingdonshire DC, St Neots Eynesbury

The headline result of the week came in St Neots Eynesbury, where the Liberal Democrats overturned a Reform UK gain made only three months ago. In May’s district elections, Reform had won two of the ward’s three seats after the collapse of the long-standing St Neots Independent Group representation, while the Liberal Democrats finished third. This by-election represented an immediate opportunity to test Reform’s breakthrough here.

The wider political context made the contest even more significant. At the 2026 elections, the party won 20 seats to become the largest group on the council, overtaking the Conservatives, but remained short of an overall majority on the 52-seat authority. Since then, the minority administration has faced additional pressure after the Green Party just this week left the governing arrangement, leaving the Liberal Democrat and Independent administration operating on a knife edge. This gain lifts the administration’s combined strength to 26 seats, exactly half the council, which marginally strengthens its position.

St Neots itself has become one of the Liberal Democrats’ strongest parliamentary success stories too. The town sits within the St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire constituency won by Liberal Democrat MP Ian Sollom in 2024, and Eynesbury has seen significant housing growth over recent decades, creating an electorate that has become increasingly competitive between several parties.

Against that backdrop, Ian Taylor delivered an outstanding victory. His 1,024 votes and 47.9% share represented a remarkable 29.8-point increase on the previous Liberal Democrat performance, while his 377-vote majority over Reform UK sends a powerful signal about the value of sustained local campaigning.

Huge congratulations to Ian Taylor and the team on an exceptional gain that strengthens the Liberal Democrat administration in Huntingdonshire.

Liberal Democrats: 1,024 (47.9%, +29.8)

Reform UK: 647 (30.3%, +3.1)

Conservatives: 143 (6.7%, -3.8)

Green Party: 118 (5.5%, -12.5)

Labour: 104 (4.9%, new)

Independent: 102 (4.8%, new)

 

Turnout: 24.0%

Liberal Democrats GAIN from Reform UK

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Geoffrey Payne

Social Liberal Forum heading to Brighton i360 for high-flying pre-Conference event

By Geoffrey Payne | Fri 21st August 2026 - 12:39 pm

The Social Liberal Forum (SLF) has unveiled a pair of high-profile keynote speakers for its signature Pre-Conference Social ahead of the Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference in Brighton.

Taking place on Friday, 18th September 2026, at the iconic Brighton i360, the evening will feature guest appearances from Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Energy Security and Net Zero Pippa Heylings MP, alongside former Cambridge MP David Howarth, who will be launching his new book, Being Liberal: The Liberal Disposition in Contemporary British Politics.

A High-Altitude Start to Conference Weekend

Set 450 feet above the Sussex coastline aboard …

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Ben Edginton-Thomas

Reinvigorating the Royal Navy

By Ben Edginton-Thomas | Fri 21st August 2026 - 9:30 am

On the 20th July this year, a Russian Navy frigate conducted live-fire exercises approximately 40 nautical miles south of Plymouth, in the English Channel. The vessel was shadowed by a Royal Navy ship and a French military aircraft. A week earlier, a separate Russian frigate had fired warning shots at a British yacht south of the Isle of Wight.

These are not distant signals picked up by intelligence. They are warships firing guns off the English coast. And the Royal Navy response required a French aircraft because we did not have enough of our own to spare.

Welcome to the state of the Royal Navy in 2026.

In 1991, the picture was very different. The Senior Service had 50 destroyers and frigates. Today it has only 11. Six Type 45 destroyers and five Type 23 frigates, most of which are ageing. Combine that with the two hilariously unreliable aircraft carriers the UK has, which spend more time in maintenance than at sea, and you wind up in our situation, where the UK had zero deployable carrier strike capability at points this year.

Adding to the general embarrassment, the Royal Navy has only 60 active and commissioned ships total. To command these, we have 134 admirals and flag officers, a ratio that would embarrass any organisation, and much higher than any of our allied partners such as France or the US. The Ministry of Defence also employs 57,445 civil servants, which is nearly twice the number of people serving in the entire Royal Navy.

We are top-heavy and underperforming. What rarely gets told alongside these defence statistics is that we did not just lose the ships. We lost the factories, the engineering expertise, the apprentices, the supply chains, the institutional knowledge and the communities that built them. The decline of the Royal Navy and the decline of British manufacturing are the same story told from different angles. In trying to save money through privatisation and outsourcing, we achieved neither defence efficiency nor industrial growth.

The Royal Ordnance Factories, publicly owned, were privatised in 1987 and subsequently acquired by BAE Systems. It is one of many. Defence Electronics, shipbuilding, aerospace design, one by one these sovereign capabilities were sold or allowed to atrophy on the grounds that the private sector does these things better. The private sector then consolidated, reduced competition, and settled into a comfortable arrangement of monopoly, returning significant profits to shareholders whilst delivery programmes run late and over budget. BAE Systems returned £1.5bn to shareholders in 2024, the very same year they were managing UK programmes years behind schedule. The MoD, as a captive customer, simply absorbed the cost overruns and you and I, as taxpayers, paid for both.

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Peter Chambers

Global Power or Euro-Atlantic leader?

By Peter Chambers | Thu 20th August 2026 - 10:56 am

What is Defence for?

Recent governments seems reluctant to define national security goals. There are needs around the Home Islands, the Falklands, Cyprus, Ascension, Diego Garcia, Gibraltar, the Caribbean, and various nations that the government has given “iron clad” security guarantees.  There are also commitments to NATO and the Northern Group, in Europe.

For a politician there is a large and vocal demand for defence, but we are told there is no more money. And industry will want certainty – for investment – to start large capital investment and skills pipelines. People around government talk of there being no headroom.

So is there headroom by reducing the requirement? Is government trying to defend Europe, create an Atlantic Bastion, police the Caribbean, hold the Falklands, give guarantees in the Indian Ocean, maintain a presence in Cyprus, provide a US base in Diego Garcia, have a shipyard in Gibraltar, maintain an air-link via Ascension, and other things?

So can we look at the defence needs and remove some to find headroom? The current tasks seem to fall into two categories: Global Power and Euro-Atlantic, and the government gives signs that it wants to do both. But not to fund both to the point of credibility.

Who are these categories for? The Global Power side seems to support a vision of a lost Empire that has not found a role. The needs here include the major centres mentioned above and a large list of “lily-pads” that can be rapidly reinforced by military mass that no longer exists. It may also include the role of riding to help US power, on request.

The Euro-Atlantic category is easier to explain to the public. It includes the UK home islands, the associated airspace and economic zone. It also includes support to all the nations who stand between us and the main regional threats.

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems at the Edinburgh Festival

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 19th August 2026 - 11:22 am

If you happen to be visiting Edinburgh in the next few days, you’ll find that choosing the Fringe show you want to go to is even more challenging than working out your Conference diary.

Over the four weeks, 3649 shows take place over 268 venues, for a total of 53000 performances in the biggest cultural festival in the World. And that’s before you start on the Book Festival.

Two Scottish Lib Dems are performing in shows this week and beyond.

Fife Council candidate Eliza Twaddle appears in The Real Housewives of the Zombie Apocalypse.

The dead have risen! But that won’t stop our seven housewives from serving high-camp drama in the most high-body-count reunion episode yet! Can our favourite OG queens of reality TV survive the hordes – and each other – and manifest their way to the end? Clydebuilt Theatre Company’s original musical returns! ***** (MusicalTalk’s Pick of the Fringe 2025, podcast). **** (Scotsman).

The reviews refer to technical problems on one performance but these are easily resolved.

Elsewhere, Charles Dundas, the Scottish Party’s Campaigns and Candidates Convener, is appearing in a whole load of improv shows between now and the end of the Fringe. He has very usefully listed them all here.

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Caron Lindsay

Let’s celebrate: LDV turns 20 next week

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 19th August 2026 - 8:57 am

On 27th August 2006, LDV burst onto the blooging scene with a post suggesting that Simon Hughes was “certain to be challenged for the party presidency.”

Word reaches the Voice that weeks before the position had been advertised in Lib Dem News, party officials in Cowley Street received a call requesting a copy of the nomination papers for party President – the caller was not acting on behalf of Simon Hughes.

Word also reaches us that one potential candidate is positioning himself to blitz Autumn Conference with an army of supporters bearing nomination papers, to seize the momentum.

A Presidential contest is no bad thing – though there is an argument that there are better ways to spend the money. The Voice has been told that a proposal is being put to the Federal Executive to double the campaign expenditure limit – to  £5000 per candidate.

Clearly this put off any rival as a month later...

Multiple unofficial, but reliable, sources tell the Voice that Simon Hughes will not face an election for the post of Party President.

PS This time I am assured the Voice is right, unlike the other time. I really am right this time. 100%. There’s a press release coming, and everything.

UPDATE: The party’s official announcement is here.

For other elections (Federal Executive, FCC etc) the timetable now is as follows:

  • The final opportunity for candidates to withdraw their nomination has passed

  • The final opportunity for candidates to submit manifesto artwork has passed

  • Ballot papers will be sent out on 16 October

  • They should be returned by 3 November

  • The results will be announced on 6 November

Well, at least we were noticed. By September 2006, LDV was  posting several times a day and since then has been there through the tension of leadership elections, the anxiety and rage of the coalition years, the dark days that followed and the rebuild to our best ever General Election result in 2024.

We’ve reported on births, deaths, marriages, party controversies, policy ideas, conferences, speeches. We’ve showcased Lib Dem achievements at all levels of Government. We’ve tried to encourage our party to be the best it cam be. We’ll be looking back on our two decades as part of the Liberal Democrat community over the next, well, for as long as we feel like it.

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BLAC Liberal Democrats

Diversity, standards, and the treatment of Professor Jason Arday

By BLAC Liberal Democrats | Tue 18th August 2026 - 1:10 pm

An Open Letter from BLAC Lib Dems

The tragic story surrounding Professor Jason Arday has left many of us deeply troubled. Let us be clear: plagiarism is unacceptable. Academic standards matter, and allegations of academic misconduct must be investigated properly and fairly.

But we also need to ask a bigger question about the culture in which this controversy has unfolded.

There is a growing anti-inclusion movement in Britain — one that has imported much of the American culture war and increasingly portrays diversity, equality, and inclusion as threats to standards rather than essential parts of a healthy society.

At its heart is an ugly assumption: Black people who attain prominent positions must somehow have got there because standards were lowered, because of preferential treatment, or because their background mattered more than their ability.

We have seen versions of this narrative repeatedly. In sport, figures such as Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford have been targeted. In media and culture, Ed Enninful and Misan Harriman have faced attempts to diminish their achievements and attribute their prominence primarily to diversity initiatives.

This is not an argument against scrutiny. Public figures should be scrutinised, universities should uphold rigorous standards, and institutions should be accountable.

But scrutiny is not the same as suspicion.

If there were legitimate concerns about Professor Arday’s academic work or his readiness for a senior role, those concerns should have been identified and addressed through proper processes. If Cambridge failed in that responsibility, it should acknowledge it.

What we should not do is turn one Black academic’s difficulties into evidence for a wider ideological argument against diversity.

We are particularly concerned by the way some critics have celebrated what they regard as the exposure of a supposedly corrupt diversity agenda. Nathan Cofnas, described by the BBC as a “self-defined race realist” and who left Cambridge in 2024, has publicly claimed credit for exposing Arday. Whatever one’s views of Cofnas, his reaction illustrates the wider ideological context in which this controversy has been seized upon.

We should be wary of allowing American racial politics and culture-war narratives to become normalised in Britain.

There is another uncomfortable truth.

We failed Professor Arday too.

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Pawel Urbanski

Labour has the promise on business rates – We have the plan

By Pawel Urbanski | Tue 18th August 2026 - 9:32 am

What just happened

The new Prime Minister has put business rates at the heart of his first Budget on 28 October: 20 per cent relief for pubs and clubs, and a promise to “look at business rates more broadly for high street businesses“.

An uncomfortable truth first: ask on any high street who stands up for the shopkeeper, and few will say the Liberal Democrats. Yet on business rates we have carried the best answer for eight years. Labour is now campaigning on ground that has been ours for years, though the message has never reached most voters.

Why this is liberal ground

A high street is not just an economy. It is where a community sees itself: the baker who knows your order, the salon giving a teenager her first job, the pub where the ward hears its own news. It is also liberalism in practice: hundreds of people running their own lives, answerable to their customers rather than a head office, with power spread along a street instead of held by one chain or one landlord.

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Edward Marsh

Redirecting the funds to the jobs Britain cannot do without

By Edward Marsh | Mon 17th August 2026 - 4:30 pm

Britain has developed a curious contradiction in the way it values essential work. We routinely express admiration for soldiers, nurses, care workers and other public servants whose labour sustains the functioning of society, yet the material rewards attached to many of these professions frequently bear little relationship to their social importance. At the same time, the state commits substantial resources to supporting people outside employment.

This raises a fundamental question about the architecture of welfare and public policy: should a proportion of welfare expenditure be reconceived not merely as a mechanism for supporting people outside employment, but as an investment in making socially indispensable work more economically attractive?

The objective should be to construct a sufficiently compelling economic and social proposition that moving from welfare into essential employment becomes an attractive choice rather than merely an obligation.

This would require us to think more imaginatively about the concept of a “core service profession”. Certain occupations possess an importance that extends beyond their immediate economic function. A nurse does not merely provide a service to an individual patient; the profession is integral to the resilience of the entire health system.

These occupations could therefore be recognised as a distinct category of employment: professions in which the state and society have a strategic interest in recruitment, retention and long-term participation. Recognition, however, should amount to more than ceremonial appreciation.

The state could construct a comprehensive package of fiscal and social advantages for designated core-service occupations. These might include substantial income-tax relief, preferential access to affordable housing, heavily discounted public transport, enhanced pension contributions, subsidised childcare, training opportunities and other employment-related benefits.

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Andy Daer

Israel and the West Bank

By Andy Daer | Mon 17th August 2026 - 12:45 pm

Please note that, in accordance with our established policy on this particular area of international politics, comments will be moderated prior to publication.

Last Friday, we heard David Mencer, an official Israeli spokesman, defending the Israeli government on the BBC Today programme, after increasing settler violence in the West Bank had been condemned by the British Foreign Office.

It was put to him that failure to protect the West Bank Palestinians was a breach of Israel’s legal obligation to protect people in territory where they were the occupying force. Mencer denied that Israel was failing to protect the Palestinians from violence, but went on to say that although he thought the violent settlers were a minority (a few juvenile delinquents), the invading settlers were in effect the true owners of the West Bank, because Abraham had lived and died in Hebron many thousands of years ago, and that conferred on all Jews ownership of Judea and Samaria for all eternity.

I accept, as an atheist, that there are people with very deep belief in the divine intervention in human affairs described in the Bible, and there are no doubt many Israelis who think the way David Mencer seems to. However, it does seem surprising that God intended such open-ended support to people like the Russian immigrants to Israel and the West Bank, who are converts, not descendants of biblical Jews, and are unrelated to Abraham.

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Caron Lindsay

Getting ready for Conference – Directory now out

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 16th August 2026 - 2:42 pm

Front cover of directory Autumn 2026There are two ways you can prepare for party Conference.

Six weeks out, when the agenda and the directory come out, you could sit down with a nice cup of tea and work out a tentative plan for how you are going to spend the 4 and a bit days in Brighton.

If you are new to Conference, the agenda has all the motions up for debate – (you can read more about that here) so you can start to plan whether you might like to put in an amendment or a request for a separate vote before the deadline on Monday 7th September at 1pm.

The directory has all the details of things like the exhibition, the fringe and the marvellous array of training on offer. There will be at least five things in every time slot that you want to do and that’s before you even think about catching up with your friends.

The other way of doing it is to follow my all to often example. Leave it all to the last minute and end up filling in your schedule in the excellent Conference app on the way down while you are trying to write speeches and fill in speaker’s cards.  Ditto with packing. Rather than plan what I’m going to wear and travelling light, I usually end up throwing every piece of clothing I possess into a big suitcase half an hour before I leave the house. Or I panic that I don’t have enough to wear and buy things I really don’t need on next day delivery.

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The Voice

Wendy Chamberlain highlights Afghanistan “gender apartheid”

By The Voice | Sun 16th August 2026 - 12:42 pm

There’s been a lot of coverage about the fifth anniversary of the fall of Kabul to the Taliban. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the desperate sight of people trying to get out while there was still a chance. The vast majority of them never did or could.

The Taliban originally tried to say that it was all fine and women would still be able to continue their education. The reality is that women have little legal status and fewer rights, and are essentially counted as property of the men in their lives.

Wendy Chamberlain chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Afghan Women and Girls which put out a statement this week.

 

APPG on Afghan Women and Girls Statement

The statement describes the “gender apartheid” faced by women and girls in Afghanistan:

For five years, millions of Afghan women and girls have lived under a system deliberately designed to erase them. They have been denied education, excluded from work, stripped of basic freedoms and silenced simply because they are women. This is not discrimination of isolation. It is the systemic oppression of half a population. It is gender apartheid.

As we mark this moment, we must also acknowledge that the international community has failed to reverse this trajectory. Afghan women and girls have shown extraordinary courage and resilience, continuing to resist despite immense personal risk. Yet they cannot be expected to shoulder this burden alone.

The United Kingdom must continue to stand firmly against any attempt to normalise or legitimise the Taliban while this system of gender apartheid remains in place. Recognition cannot come while the Taliban continue to deny the Afghan people their fundamental rights and freedoms. Whilst women and girls are the primary targets of the Taliban’s gender apartheid policies, all Afghans, including men and boys, continue to suffer under a totalitarian regime.

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 16th August 2026 - 9:55 am

West Bank

The actions of Israeli settlers in the West Bank must be truly horrific for Mike Huckabee, Trump’s ambassador in Israel, to call them “terrorists” and denounce their actions in Qusra as an “horrific act of terror.”

In the past, Ambassador Huckabee, has been the chief American cheerleader for Israeli settlement of the West Bank. In 2017, before his ambassadorial days, Huckabee said: “There is no West Bank. It’s Judea and Samaria.” Later he added: “I think Israel has the title deeds to Judea and Samaria.”

After he was nominated ambassador in 2024, Huckabee was asked if Israeli annexation was possible in Trump’s second term. “Well, of course,” he replied.

It is quite possible for Huckabee to approve of West Bank annexation while disapproving of the tactics being used to achieve that end. But it is unusual.

Those tactics are indeed the tactics of terrorists. Settlers lay siege to a Palestinian home; cut off the water and electricity; pelt the property with stones and threaten to kill the occupants. When the terrified Palestinians flee for their lives, the settlers simply move in and occupy the home.

Their actions are illegal under international law. In fact the Israeli settlements are illegal and almost every country in the world has called for their withdrawal. The Israeli government, however, is committed to supporting the 600,000 West Bank settlers. In fact, some of the Cabinet are settlers themselves.

But the violence is growing. Some observers believe that the settlers are increasing the pressure on the Palestinians—and the Netanyahu government—because they fear that an anti-settlement government may emerge from the October general election and this is their last chance to establish facts on the ground.

The United Nations has reported that in recent months the number of attacks on Palestinians has grown to six a day.

The Israeli government has ordered the army into the West Bank, allegedly to try and reduce tensions and restore order. But Palestinians are reporting that, in some instances, the army appears to be helping the settlers. In one instance, the IDF ordered a besieged Palestinian family out of their home and then occupied it themselves.

What does Ambassador Huckabee have to say about that?

US water supplies

No one is dead—yet. They are, however, seriously worried that hackers have hacked into computers controlling the water supplies in at least a dozen American states. Even more worrying is that the FBI’s lead suspect is Iran.

In theory, control of the company computers could enable the hackers to poison water supplies. One thing the computers do is regulate the chemicals used to treat drinking water. So far, there has been no sign they have done so, but one Minnesota water authority reported some flooding and loss of water pressure.

America’s water supply industry is a hacker’s dream. It is comprised of tens of thousands of separate companies and water authorities—all hooked up to the internet. There is no federal law governing cybersecurity at these companies. The Environmental Protection Agency  tried to impose one in 2023 but was blocked in the courts.

Neither, does it seem, that any federal authority responsible for the cyber security of the country’s critical infrastructure. At the moment a fistful of Washington acronyms –led by the FBI—are involved in investigating the breach.

There is, however, a wider and potentially more dangerous issue at stake. NATO has explicitly said that a cyberattack constitutes an “armed attack” for Article 5 purposes. Article 5 says an attack on one member is an attack on all.

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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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