Liberal Democrat Voice

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Public sector procurement

By Michael Taylor | Thu 10th July 2025 - 5:05 pm

Both Peter Black and Lord Bonkers have referred to the problems of public procurement. It is a major problem and one that would have had our Victorian and Edwardian ancestors scratching their heads in bewilderment. Whenever they wanted to build say a railway, they would get an Act of Parliament passed authorising all the necessary work, the finance and land acquisition, appoint contractors and get on with it. This didn’t only apply to new undertakings. A recent TV documentary based round Leeds told us that a local building contractor was appointed to sort out the land and tracks round Leeds Station in the late 1800’s devastated by a fire in Dark Arches. The contractor gathered a huge workforce and had the railway back in business in 6 days. Can you imagine that ever happening today? Yet, when I was young, British Rail often got railways running again in a few days, even after serious crashes.

Just look at the mess surrounding major projects, like CalMac’s new ferries, HS2, Midland Mainline electrification and many more. Constant delays, huge price rises, cancellations. Why is this happening and why do both the UK and Scottish governments accept huge price rises often amounting to a doubling of the price?

Here a comparison with the private sector is apt. If someone wants a house/houses built or if a business wants new offices or a factory, professionals are employed to get the necessary permissions, raise the finance and employ a contractor to do the job. A price and timetable are agreed with the contractor and very often there are penalty clauses for not completing on time and to budget. If a contractor doesn’t do the sums right, then that’s their problem. They can’t, usually, go back and ask for more money. When I was in the USA in the early 70s, motorways had to be resurfaced overnight and there were huge penalties if they were not completed on time. Where is that sort of operation in the UK today?

Yet, somehow, with public contracts, this doesn’t apply. Contractors seem to have carte blanche to announce delays and demand more money, presumably on the basis that it’s only the state and their funds are bottomless. Why are contractors for public projects not held to the same rules as those working in the private sector?

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged government procurement and public procurement | Leave a comment

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Christine Jardine’s response in full

By The Voice | Thu 10th July 2025 - 3:26 pm

Following on from yesterday’s report of her sacking as the Party’s Spokesperson for Women and Equalities, and Scotland, Christine Jardine has published what can only be described as a classy response…

Dear Ed,

It is with sadness I am responding to your decision to remove me as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Women and Equalities, and Scotland following the Welfare Bill votes.

I wanted to thank you for all the support you have given me over the past 8 years. Please know I wish my successors all the best, and I will do anything I can to aid them in their

…

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged christine jardine | 1 Comment

Diary of a Returning Officer: Week 3 – why diary planning isn’t necessarily easy…

By Mark Valladares | Thu 10th July 2025 - 2:27 pm

There was a simpler time, when a Returning Officer turned up, ran a contest between whoever had put their name forward, and the members who had bothered to turn up made the decision. The administration was more onerous, given that things had to be posted to people, and more expensive to Local Parties as a result, but it was at least simple. It wasn’t necessarily fair, or consistent, and more often than not the prize for winner was to come a distant third in the subsequent General Election, so there wasn’t much harm done.

Now, it can be technically more complex, even though technology means that you can send mailings for free in the blink of an eye, and hustings meetings are often held online. A Returning Officer can deal with everything from his own computer at home most of the time. But there are more “moving parts” to deal with.

If you’re not the most technology friendly soul, you need an e-ballot administrator, so that’s one person you have to co-ordinate your diary with. You’ve got a Shortlisting Committee to deal with, possibly made up of members of multiple Local Parties, all of whose Executive Committees not unreasonably want to be kept up to speed with progress.

And, of course, you need answers from authoritative sources, your Regional Candidates Chair and your Regional Campaigns Manager, for example. They’re busy people, and might be waiting for answers themselves.

So, for example, the new English Selection Rules state that any decision regarding positive action must be signed off by either the Party’s Head of Compliance or the Head of Party Services on behalf of the Chief Executive. How do I know that this has happened? I could assume that all is well, but we all know what happens if you assume…

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Posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged candidate selections | Leave a comment

An apology to Chris Whiting

By Jack Meredith | Thu 10th July 2025 - 12:26 pm

In April of this year, I wrote an op-ed responding to Chris Whiting on the need for liberals and socialists to work together.

At the time, I opposed this idea, citing the ideological differences between socialists and liberals, and how we should reject cooperation.

In the following months, I’ve come to realise that I was wrong. In today’s political climate, cooperation is essential to combating extremism. The likes of Farage and Badenoch thrive on division among progressives, and my opposition to working with socialists only feeds into their desires.

I’ve also gone on a political journey, similar to Chris. The crossover between ideas such as ethical socialism, social democracy, social liberalism and centrism is strong, and cannot be denied. All ideas share the belief in promoting social justice, equality, liberty, and strengthening the democratic rights of citizens.

Much like many in our party, I support a mixed economy, strong ties to the EU, and federalism, and believe that the state has a responsibility to do more to help those who struggle to make ends meet, while also knowing when to step in and when to let people live their lives, free from government interference. I support freedom of enterprise and believe that no large national economy can thrive without big business playing a role. I support individual liberties and the right to express oneself, with the knowledge that it does not mean freedom from consequence.

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Posted in Op-eds | 4 Comments

The case for taxing the super-rich more

By Mark Corner | Thu 10th July 2025 - 10:46 am

Chris Perry is absolutely right to suggest in Lib Dem Voice that ‘Widening income inequality and increasing poverty are the great social evils of our time.’ But part of addressing the issue has to involve imposing an additional tax ‘burden’ on the very rich.

In the run-up to the General Election last year Ed Davey defended the Lib Dem proposal to raise an extra £5.2bn from capital gains tax, with a new rate of 45 per cent for gains of more than £100,000:

Most people will pay the same or less. If you are very, very wealthy — 0.1 per cent of the population — you will pay a lot more tax. Multimillionaires and billionaires will pay a lot more.

More recently, Lord Kinnock, who was Labour leader from 1983 to 1992, suggested that imposing a 2% tax on assets valued above £10m would bring in up to £11bn a year.

The refusal of Keir Starmer to rule out a wealth tax in Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, July 9^th (whereas Rachel Reeves did rule out such a tax in 2023 before Labour came to power) suggests that it is at least being seriously considered by the government. It should be.

Opponents of such a tax stress that ‘wealth creators’ should be encouraged, not discouraged (but they will still keep huge amounts of money – and not all of them created their wealth), that if they are subject to higher taxes, they will flee the country and apply their talents elsewhere (Really? So all CEOs want to live in the USA?) and that if they are taxed too highly, they will find ways of avoiding tax altogether (they already do – which is why the Lib Dem manifesto last year put so much emphasis on dealing with tax evasion). It’s even been argued that cutting taxes on the very rich will supercharge the economy and lead to increased growth which can then be spread to all. Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ uses this argument, and we will see where that leads him when people cease to be distracted by his foreign policy ‘initiatives.’ Liz Truss tried it three years ago with her own tax-cutting budget. And we saw where that led her. It spooked the markets and effectively ended her tenure as Prime Minister.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged taxation | 5 Comments

Has Christine Jardine been sacked from Lib Dem Front Bench?

By The Voice | Wed 9th July 2025 - 9:15 pm

Patrick Maguire, the Times lead political commentator, has reported tonight that Christine Jardine has been fired from her positions as spokesperson on Women and Equalities and on Scotland for defying the Lib Dem whip and voting against rather than abstaining on a Tory amendment to the Universal Credit and PIP Bill.

He said:

Christine Jardine has been sacked from the Lib Dem frontbench for voting against Tory amendment to the welfare bill – Ed Davey whipped MPs to abstain

LD source: “We are not in the business of dancing to the tune of the Conservatives through symbolic votes and virtue signalling.”

— Patrick Maguire (@patrickkmaguire) July 9, 2025

The quote from the Lib Dem source was quite something:

Christine Jardine has been sacked from the Lib Dem frontbench for voting against Tory amendment to the welfare bill – Ed Davey whipped MPs to abstain LD source: “We are not in the business of dancing to the tune of the Conservatives through symbolic votes and virtue signalling.”

But Kait Borsay of Times Radio says that Christine had not been informed of this:

We’ve just spoken to Christine Jardine @TimesRadio who says she’d not been told she’d been sacked.. (or not read the email).. but was warned it was likely. Seemed to accept the punishment as expected.. https://t.co/1vGPWTtDkl

— Kait Borsay (@kaitborsay) July 9, 2025

We’ve just spoken to Christine Jardine

@TimesRadio

who says she’d not been told she’d been sacked.. (or not read the email).. but was warned it was likely. Seemed to accept the punishment as expected..

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Posted in News | Tagged christine jardine | 24 Comments

Government should stop using “working people” and audit income inequality and poverty

By Chris Perry | Wed 9th July 2025 - 10:25 am

When will the Government drop the phrase “working people” which excludes “retired people”, “children”, “people with long term illnesses or disabilities” and people who have had to give up work to become full time carers and adopt something more inclusive. Until they do, they will continue to shoot themselves in the foot.

Congratulations on the Lib Dem stand against cuts to disability benefit. In my experience most people who are off work due to sickness or disability would give anything within reason to be able to work. However, if Government wrongly believes that a financial incentive is required then the answer must lie in increasing their potential earnings and not the threat of increased poverty.

Widening income inequality and increasing poverty are the great social evils of our time. And unless Government addresses pay differentials within companies, chasing inward investment in search of growth will make the rich richer and create low paid jobs for the masses. It will increase income inequality and poverty: not reduce it. As did stopping the winter fuel allowance and cutting disability benefit which added to the hardship of the most vulnerable people in our society and, given the wealth of empirical evidence into the social determinates of health which have demonstrated the correlation between income and health, added to the winter pressures on the NHS at the very time Government was committed to reducing waiting times.

In 2022 / 23 there were 4.3m children in the UK being brought up in poverty – 2/3rds of whom had a parent in work. In March 2023 there were 107,317 children in the care of the local authority in the UK – the highest number ever. In December 2023, 112,660 homeless households were living in temporary accommodation in England, including 145,800 children. A record-high for both categories. Despite low detection rates the courts could not keep pace with demand and prisons were bursting at the seams. There was concern about rising knife crime amongst young people.

Two million older retired people were living in poverty in the UK in 2024. The state pension had fallen further behind average earnings (23% in 2025 from 24.5% in 2020). This was because the “triple lock” was suspended in 2022 /23 and the state pension increased by 3.1% instead of 8% had it been applied. Stopping the “winter fuel allowance” in 2024 represented a further cut of 3% in the income associated with the universal state pension having been part of older retired people’s income since 1999. It was restored for some in 2025 not, it would seem, because of the hardship it caused or because of the increased winter pressures on the NHS, but because of the opinion poll ratings and loss of votes in the local elections. Retired people got no benefit from the two pre-election cuts in National Insurance but do have to pay more income tax due to the freezing of the tax-free personal allowance and lost their free TV licence in 2022. Therefore, after ten years of catching-up due to the “triple lock”, introduced by the Coalition Government in 2010 to reverse the year-on-year erosion since the earnings link was replaced by a prices link in the 1980’s, older people were again being left behind.

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Posted in News | Tagged inequality and poverty | 10 Comments

What’s on at Bournemouth? FCC’s agenda selection report

By Nick Da Costa | Wed 9th July 2025 - 7:30 am

The Federal Conference Committee met on Saturday to review submissions and finalise the agenda for Autumn Conference in Bournemouth, taking place from 20 to 23 September 2025. We’re very much looking forward to returning to Bournemouth; a venue many members know and love.

Motion Submissions and Agenda Planning

As ever, we received a strong volume of submissions, reflecting the wide engagement across the party. In total, we received:

36 policy motions
3 business motions
4 constitutional amendments
2 standing order amendments

Following detailed discussion and several rounds of selection, the FCC agreed to include:

20 policy motions
1 business motion
All 4 constitutional amendments (as they were in order and must therefore appear on the agenda)
All 2 standing order amendments (as they were in order and must therefore appear on the agenda)

We are extremely grateful to all the members, local parties, SAOs, and AOs who submitted motions. The time and effort put into drafting and submitting policy ideas is deeply appreciated.

As always, it’s never easy to narrow down such a strong field of proposals. We wish we could include more; but time at conference is limited. We’ve done our best to include as many debates as possible within the available space. In addition, there are a number of mandatory business items, such as constitutional and standing order amendments, which, when in order, must be taken and therefore reduce the time available for policy debates.

Themed Days and Upcoming Announcements

This year’s Conference will include two themed days — one focused on Climate Change, and one on Youth and Skills. These will provide a wider thematic thread across debates and other events during the Conference. More details will follow when we publish the agenda.

The Conference Agenda and Directory will be published in the coming weeks.

If you haven’t yet registered, you can do so here.

Drafting Advice and Amendment Deadlines

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged 2025 autumn conference and federal conference committee | 7 Comments

Book review: The Men Of 1924

By Paul Walter | Tue 8th July 2025 - 11:00 am

Embed from Getty Images
Most of us, who are interested in politics, would be able to answer that evergreen pub quiz question: “Who was the UK’s first Labour Prime Minister?”

Ramsay MacDonald, I hear you cry.

But when pushed to say more about the truly ground-breaking Labour government of 1924, most of us would probably be reduced to mumbling “um er”.

Peter Clark’s book “The Men Of 1924” is an exceptionally informative and readable account of that stunning change in British politics.

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Posted in Books | Tagged Labour government 1924 and Ramsay MacDonald | 5 Comments

This week is SEND week: we have an opportunity to get reform right

By Callum Robertson | Tue 8th July 2025 - 9:00 am

An overwhelming majority of those who interact with the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system are deeply concerned about the quality of provision that young people are getting relative to the ever-spiralling cost of the system.

In policy terms, we have the worst of both worlds, SEND is expensive and delivers inadequate outcomes for those the system is designed to help. Like current welfare reform, there is an implicit systematic failure that means the cost rises exponentially but we have no actual success for the children trapped in a system that spectacularly fails to deliver for the people who need it.

That dire state of existence is why I am cautiously optimistic that Labour have decided to bring reform forward for our young people. That being said, it would be remiss of me to not caution against falling into the same pitfalls that education policymakers have for years. -Namely putting emotion over well-evidenced interventions that raise outcomes for young people with SEND.

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Posted in Op-eds | 2 Comments

Mathew on Monday – Social Insecurity: A right, not a handout!

By Mathew Hulbert | Mon 7th July 2025 - 7:45 pm

On Saturday I spent the day just outside of Coventry, at the beautiful University of Warwick, at the Amnesty International UK Amplify Summit (incorporating its AGM and national conference). It was a fantastic day, full of fantastic speeches, workshops, and networking opportunities with hundreds of people who care passionately about the dignity and the human rights of all.

By far the most impactful session that I attended was called ‘Social Insecurity: Everyday Rights in 2025.’ This wasn’t about a situation in some far off place, which you may care a great deal about but doesn’t necessarily affect your own community. This was a session about the impact of government policies on some of the poorest and most vulnerable people right here at home.

Amnesty International UK have produced a truly damning report, entitled ‘Social Insecurity: The devastating human rights impact of social security system failures in the UK.’ It reminds us something which we often forget and that government ministers certainly don’t want people being reminded of: that social security is not a benefit, it is a right.

The report states:

The right to social security is outlined in Article 9 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), ratified by the UK in 1976 (by the then Labour government, it’s worth remembering).

It is also recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and other treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 102 (1952).

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged action on poverty, josh babarinde and NHS | 10 Comments

Game, Set, Match: Why Liberal Democrats Must Prepare for Labour’s Autumn Tax Squeeze

By Jamie Dalzell | Mon 7th July 2025 - 5:37 pm

Rachel Reeves has just painted herself into a corner, and Liberal Democrats must be ready to offer the escape route Britain needs.

As Wimbledon reaches its climax, there’s a lesson for Liberal Democrat strategy: the greatest players don’t just react to their opponent’s shots, they anticipate them. With Labour’s recent U-turn on disability benefit cuts, their retention of the two-child benefit cap, and their “triple tax lock” commitment, an autumn tax squeeze is now inevitable. The question isn’t whether it’s coming, but whether we’ll be ready with better alternatives.

Reading the Court

Labour have served themselves into a corner. Having pledged not to raise income tax, National Insurance, or VAT rates. the three taxes that generate £520bn annually, two-thirds of all government revenue, while facing mounting spending pressures, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is rapidly running out of options. The disability benefit U-turn alone adds £3bn to her fiscal gap, while winter fuel payment cuts save just £1.5bn.

This isn’t speculation. The Treasury Select Committee’s 2021 report “Tax after coronavirus” mapped out exactly this scenario, warning that the Conservative “triple tax lock” would come under severe pressure and force governments toward regressive alternatives.

The Treasury Committee’s Prophetic Warnings

What they predicted in 2021:

✅ “Triple tax lock” would become unsustainable
✅ Governments would resort to fiscal drag through frozen thresholds
✅ Capital taxes would be targeted for “quick wins”
✅ Pension tax relief would face restrictions
✅ National Insurance increases would damage employment (Sunak ignored this, and later reversed)

Every warning is now Labour’s reality.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged featured and taxation policy | 13 Comments

Beyond Neoliberalism: Rethinking freedom to create a post-growth liberalism fit for the 21st Century

By Rodrigo Palmer | Mon 7th July 2025 - 1:37 pm

The year is 1906. With the Conservatives failing to implement social reforms, people were desperate for change. Life under the Conservative government had significantly worsened – Booth’s study found that at least 30% of London’s population was living in poverty. Therefore, the British electorate responded with a landslide Liberal victory. But what sort of change would the New Liberal government bring?

The New Liberal government recognised that the only way to move the country forward was to embrace radical change. Thus, New Liberalism was born. It was a philosophy which for the first time recognised that the state could have a positive role, acting as a safety net for the most vulnerable. New Liberalism laid the foundations for one of our country’s proudest achievements: the welfare state. Free school meals in 1906, National Insurance in 1911 – these welfare reforms were only possible thanks to New Liberalism.

Liberalism laid the foundations for a new paradigm before, and it is now time for Liberalism to do so again. Climate change is the biggest issue that humanity has ever faced, and such a pressing issue requires a radical response. Just as New Liberals realised that classical liberalism was failing them, we must realise that neoliberalism is failing us. If neoliberalism had the answer, then why is inequality the highest it has been in 30 years, why are ecosystems being pushed to collapse, and why are global temperatures still rising? The only way we can progress is if we recognise the obvious – neoliberalism is dead. It must be stopped dead in its tracks and consigned to history.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged future of liberalism | 18 Comments

Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine strongly oppose the Government’s chilling extension of terrorism powers to deal with protest groups like Palestine Action

By The Voice | Mon 7th July 2025 - 11:48 am

Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine have issued the following statement about in response to the Government’s decision to proscribe “Palestine Action”.

The Liberal Democrats are the party of civil liberties. We oppose government overreach and seek to defend the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. The UK Government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation poses a grave threat to these fundamental rights and represents a dangerous expansion of counterterrorism
powers.

The definition of terrorism is intended to cover acts that cause death, serious personal injury or hostage taking. Palestine Action is a non violent direct-action group targeting companies complicit in the Israeli military-industrial complex. Its methods include occupying premises and damaging factory or military equipment. The persons accused of the actions at Brize Norton
were not charged with terrorism offences. LDFP believes that existing criminal legislation more than covers their actions and any offences should be dealt with as a criminal matter.

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Posted in News | Tagged politics of protest | 10 Comments

5-6 July 2025 – the weekend’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 7th July 2025 - 10:07 am

People waiting over a year for Access to Work support as Lib Dems call on Government to scrap “gutted” welfare legislation
Phillipson on Kuenssberg: Govt must give families reassurance on SEND support
Baroness Maclean: Badenoch must confirm if she agrees with aide or apologise
McMurdock investigation: Reform must come clean about what they knew
More than 10,000 ferries cancelled due to technical faults

People waiting over a year for Access to Work support as Lib Dems call on Government to scrap “gutted” welfare legislation

Someone waited 393 days for a decision on their Access to Work application which offers support to help people into employment a Liberal Democrat Written Parliamentary Question reveals.

It comes as the Government has announced a series of concessions on their controversial welfare bill after a major backbench rebellion. The original reforms would have cut the level of support for new PIP claimants which the Liberal Democrats said would create a two-tier system between old and new claimants, while still making it harder for disabled people to stay in work.

The cuts would have also risked thousands of carers losing their Carer’s Allowance as the person they care for needs to be eligible for PIP to receive the support. Although the Government said it will now entirely remove the PIP cuts from the bill following last minute concessions to Labour rebels, the text of the legislation voted on this week still included them.

The Written Parliamentary Questions by the party already revealed failings in giving people the support they need through the Access to Work scheme. They revealed that someone waited 393 days for a decision to be made on their application for into-employment support with the average wait for a decision being close to two months (57 days).

The WPQs also found that of the 157,000 applications for support in 2024/25 close to 20%, or 29,000, had not received a decision by the end of the financial year.

Access to Work helps people get or stay in work if they have a physical or mental health condition or disability. It can include a grant to help pay for practical support with work, support managing mental health at work or money to pay for communication support at job interviews. These delays disincentivise employers from offering jobs to disabled people as they can hire non-disabled people into roles faster.

The Lib Dems have said that the Government’s handling of this bill was “no way to make legislation let alone run a country”, with the bill rushed through and the full impact assessment of the changes not published. The party said that they would continue to oppose the bill, pointing out that this chop-and-change approach is no way to run our country or reform the welfare system.

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Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Tagged access to work, conservatives, daisy cooper, ferry service, jamie greene, munira wilson, reform uk and SEND | Leave a comment

Emma Macdonald to fight Shetland in Scottish Parliament election

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 6th July 2025 - 6:11 pm

Earlier this year, Beatrice Wishart announced that she wouldn’t seek re-election to the Scottish Parliament to the Shetland seat she won in the 2019 by-election and defended in 2021.

This week, Shetland Liberal Democrats announced that Emma Macdonald will stand for the seat at the Scottish Parliament elections in May.

Emma Macdonald has lived in Shetland most of her life after moving over as a child. Emma now lives in Voe and is married with two children and a grandson. In recent years she has owned and operated Emma-Louise’s The Coffee Shop and worked in social care.

She first joined Shetland Islands Council in 2017 as member for Shetland North, becoming deputy leader a year later. During her first term as a councillor Emma also chaired the Integration Joint Board. In 2022 she was re-elected and appointed Leader, also taking on membership of the Health Board for the Council.

In 2024, she won LGIU’s Cllr Award for Leader of the Year. During her time on the council she has worked on a number of key issues including funding for ferries, making the case for fixed links, reliable broadband and the challenges facing the community over the higher cost of living.

Emma Macdonald said:

I would like to thank local party members for selecting me to be their candidate for the Scottish Parliament election. I would also like to wish Moraig well and offer my commiserations, but I know she will continue to deliver for Shetland in her role in the council.

In my time as council leader, people have seen that I can make a real difference. As your prospective next MSP, I want to ensure that Shetland is at the front of the queue and I will be a strong voice standing up for the issues that matter the most, like replacing the Gilbert Bain hospital and delivering on the promise of fixed links.

Delivering tunnels for Shetland is, ultimately, about future-proofing our island population. Transport connectivity is central to creating sustainable islands which provide good homes and good jobs for our people, and which can reverse decades of depopulation.

I hope that you will lend me your vote in next year’s election and look forward to speaking to as many of you as possible on the campaign trail.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

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Posted in News | Tagged 2026 holyrood elections, emma macdonald and shetland | 1 Comment

Littleborough and Saddleworth by-election – 30 years on

By Howard Sykes | Sun 6th July 2025 - 4:02 pm

In 1995, literally thousands of Liberal Democrats came to help Chris Davies win a parliamentary by-election that was seen as a test as to whether the party could sustain a determined attack from Tony Blair’s New Labour.

The political skills of our campaign manager, Chris Rennard, were pitted against those of Labour’s Peter Mandelson, and we triumphed. The victory paved the way for the number of elected Lib Dem MPs to more than double at the general election that followed less than two years later.

The Littleborough & Saddleworth constituency disappeared then, but Chris Davies was soon after elected to represent the North West of England in the European Parliament. At the time of Brexit in 2020 he was the last British (male) MEP to be chair of a major European Parliament committee.

By way of thanks to those who have given their support over the years, on Sunday, 27 July 2025, Chris and Carol Davies will be hosting from 5.00-8.00pm a gathering for supper at their home in Saddleworth, Oldham.

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Posted in News | Tagged littleborough and saddleworth by-election | 3 Comments

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 6th July 2025 - 10:05 am

Donald Trump

It has been a great week for Donald Trump. Perhaps his best ever. His “Big Beautiful Bill” has passed Congress. There is nil blowback from Trump’s decision to bomb Iran and the US Supreme Court has handed him another useful decision.

But within his success could be the seeds of failure. Starting with the “Big Beautiful Bill” which, among others, cuts MedicAid to an estimated 10-15 million Americans. These are the least financially advantaged (aka poor) members of society who cannot private health insurance. Many of them voted for Trump.

These voters will not be entirely cut off from hospitals. All hospitals are required to treat emergency cases such as a broken arm. But if you have cancer or a chronic condition which requires regular hospital attention and you don’t have private health insurance, then you will be in trouble without MedicAid.

But the MedicAid cuts will affect not only America’s indigent. Someone will have to cover the increased use of accident and emergency clinics. This will have to come out of either local taxes or increased health insurance premiums for the middle classes. So everyone loses and it won’t take long for them to figure out who is responsible.

As for Iran, there has been virtually nil reaction from Tehran. They bombed a US base in Qatar but warned the Americans of the incoming missiles. Then they accepted a ceasefire. There were no more attacks on Israel. No terrorist attacks on Europe or the US. No closure of the Straits of Hormuz.

Trump’s strategy of attack hard and fast, exit quickly and propose a ceasefire appears to have worked—for now. It is still early days. We don’t know how much enriched uranium the Iranians rescued, or what they will do with it and they are certainly aren’t about to tell anyone. So Iran could still blow up into a “forever war” of the type that Trump has pledged to end.

Finally, there is the Supreme Court which ruled that the lower American courts cannot block Trump’s executive orders as they have been doing. On the surface, this is a major triumph for the president. But one needs to read the written opinion of Trump-appointed Justice Amy Comey Barrett to realise otherwise.

Justice Barrett supported the majority which ruled against the lower courts. Then she laid out a blueprint of how Trump’s opponents could block him without using the courts. Furthermore, the Supreme Court made a deal with the White House than it would accept without question any future rulings of the court.

Ukraine

Good news and bad news for Ukraine. First the bad news. The US is cutting back its supply of weaponry. The reason? Because America has supplied so many howitzer shells and patriot missiles that its own arsenal is dangerously low. It is true. The US does need to replenish stocks.

The Europeans will be able to pick up some of the slack, especially Germany. But not all.

Now the good news. The Russian summer offensive appears to be faltering. Not only that, but 50,000 Russian troops are trapped in Sumy Oblast by Ukrainian forces.

The Russian summer offensive started at the beginning of May and concentrated on north and northeast regions. It was initially successful, capturing some 173 square miles of Ukrainian territory.

But then the Ukrainian counter offensive came. The country’s top general reported this week: “Based on the results of May June, we can say that this year’s wave of the enemy’s summer offensive has failed.” He added that the Ukrainian forces had not only stopped the Russians but were now attacking and had isolated an estimated 50,000 Russian troops.

In other Ukrainian news, Russian and Ukrainian diplomats meeting in Istanbul negotiated another POW swap which took place this week. Most of the Ukrainians that were released had been in Russian captivity since 2022. All of them were severely wounded or seriously ill.

Finally, according to the South Koreans, the North Koreans will be sending another tranche of troops to help the Russians.

Israel

It is clear that Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu is hoping for an Iran bounce. After all, he has been calling for an attack on Tehran’s nuclear facilities since 1993 and the American attack is clearly popular with Israeli voters.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged benjamin netanyahu, donald trump, israel and ukraine | 8 Comments

Observations of an Expat: Scary Thoughts

By Tom Arms | Sat 5th July 2025 - 9:19 am

JD Vance is the bookie’s choice to be the next president of the United States. Tech billionaire Peter Thiel is the all-important money man behind JD Vance.

But just as important as the money behind the cash are ideas. Vance may be the political cart wagon. Money from Thiel and other Silicon Valley Billionaires provide the dogged mule to pull it. But the wagon needs to filled with ideas if the journey is to have any meaning. And the fresher the better.

The ideas are coming from 51-year-old American Curtis Yarvin and 63-year-old British Academic Nick Land. Their political plans are truly scary.

The two men cloak their thinking in a convoluted jargon which includes phrases such as “accelerationism,” “dark enlightenment,” and “speculative realism.”

But basically they reject the ideas of the 18th century Age of Enlightenment which are the philosophical bedrock of the US constitution and current liberal Western democracies. They are also racists, ultra-capitalists and autocrats.

They advocate using technology to “accelerate” capitalism in such a way that destabilises existing social and political structures and creates a new strong man rule guided by a handful of technocrats. Democratic equality, in their opinion, is a parasitical brake on world order.

So far the philosophy of Land and Yarvin has been confined mainly to America, and US-based Yarvin has become the more prominent advocate of the Dark Enlightenment. Through his work as a blogger (under the pseudonym of Mencius Moldbug), he has influenced not only Thiele and Vance but is also said to be the guiding inspiration behind Michael Anton, Trump’s Director of Policy Planning.

Yarvin is particularly controversial on the subject of race. He claims that he is not a racist but insists that White people have a higher IQ than Blacks. “IQ is real,” he wrote. “Race is real. Their correlation is real. Deal with it.”

Yarvin also goes out of his way to defend the slavery of America’s Ante Bellum South. “It was neither cruel nor inefficient,” he wrote. “In fact it may have worked well in its time. Certainly the slaves were treated better than industrial workers in the industrial north.”

As for the abolitionist movement, Yarvin says it was not “a moral crusade but a self-righteous liberal crusade which was less about justice and more about power and ideological control.”

Perhaps more controversial are Yarvin’s views on liberal democracy and how to deal with it. He argues that democracy is “inherently corrupt, inefficient and prone to decay. Public opinion is shaped by the media and academia (A combination which he and Land call the “Cathedral”) which creates an illusion of consent.”

Countries should not be governed as states responsible to their citizens but as a private company headed by an all-powerful CEO. “A country” writes Yarvin,”is not a family. It is a business.”

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged jd vance | 12 Comments

4 July 2025 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Fri 4th July 2025 - 11:47 pm

One in five GPs nearing retirement in some areas as Government’s 10 year plan risks “not touching the sides”
Lib Dem Bill passes in Commons – MP says animal welfare will be “transformed”, bill will end pet mutilation
Jardine secures government progress on supporting bereaved children
Chamberlain: Vote Lib Dem peach to get Scotland back to its best
Greene warns investment needed after litany of failures at Ferguson Marine

One in five GPs nearing retirement in some areas as Government’s 10 year plan risks “not touching the sides”

Thousands of GPs are nearing retirement age with some areas seeing close to a quarter aged over 55, research by the House of Commons Library commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

The party has said that the Government’s 10 year NHS plan risks “not touching the sides”.

The Government’s 10 year plan for the NHS includes the recruitment of thousands more GPs in the coming years but the analysis shows that this may not be enough to replace the number of GPs set to retire over the next decade.

The data shows that 5,717 GPs are aged over 55 at the end of 2024/25 with that number having risen by 150 since March 2023. It represents around one in seven of the full time equivalent GPs in England, including trainees.

The analysis also found that in some areas almost one in four GPs are approaching retirement. In North West London and Mid and South Essex, 24% of the GP workforce is aged over 55, the highest rates in the country. They were followed by North East London on 21%. Overall, 17 of the 42 Integrated Care Boards had seen a rise in the proportion of GPs nearing retirement age.

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to boost GP numbers by 8,000 through incentivising more experienced GPs and nurses to return, including more opportunities for junior doctors and increasing training facilities.

This would be geared towards giving patients a legal right to see their GP within seven days or 24-hours if in urgent need.

Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper MP said:

The Government’s plans for GP recruitment risk not touching the sides in the face of this retirement ticking time bomb. With an ageing population and many GP practices already at breaking point these plans could simply be treading water rather than delivering the change that people are desperately crying out for.

Botched IT roll outs under the Conservatives have dashed people’s faith in the Government’s ability to actually deliver on these kinds of projects and Labour has provided little detail on how they can actually make this happen.

These plans also risk putting up barriers to digitally-excluded older and vulnerable people accessing the health care they need, if there is no additional appropriate support made available to them.

By plonking the social care crisis in the too hard basket once again, this is not a plan to save the NHS, instead it is the most expensive sticking plaster in history.

Lib Dem Bill passes in Commons – MP says animal welfare will be “transformed”, bill will end pet mutilation

Liberal Democrat MP Danny Chambers’ Private Members’ Bill has passed through the Commons today , with the Government backing the Bill. The vet MP said the move will “eradicate” dangerous puppy smuggling and end “serious public health worries” about the spread of disease associated with imported pets.

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Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Tagged animal welfare, child bereavement, christine jardine, daisy cooper, danny chambers, GP shortage, industrial policy, jamie greene, shipbuilding and wendy chamberlain | 1 Comment

ALDC by-election report, 3rd July

By Liam Yip | Fri 4th July 2025 - 4:34 pm

This week, there were two Wednesday by-elections, both in North Tyneside. Reform UK secured a seat from Labour in Killingworth, whilst the other by-election saw Labour hold their seat in Longbenton & Benton. Thank you to Emma Vinton, David Nisbet and the team for flying the Lib Dem flag.

North Tyneside MBC, Longbenton & Benton
Labour: 739 (39.6%, -16.8)
Reform UK: 602 (32.3%, +19.3)
Green Party: 259 (13.9%, -7.8)
Liberal Democrats (David Nisbet): 183 (9.8%, new)
Conservative: 83 (4.4%, new)

Labour HOLD

North Tyneside MBC, Killingworth
Reform UK: 771 (38.5%, new)
Labour: 639 (31.9%, -22.7)
Conservative: 441 (21.4%, -3.5)
Green Party: 85 (4.2%, -16.3)
Liberal Democrats (Emma Vinton): 81 (4.0%, new)

Reform UK GAIN from Labour

In Consett, we managed to secure victory against Reform UK, after their previous councillor was forced to resign due to his undeclared council employment. Well done to Terry Rooney and the local Liberal Democrat team for ensuring victory and gaining another seat in Durham.

Durham County Council, Benfieldside
Liberal Democrats (Terry Rooney): 824 (28.3%, +17.3)
Labour: 800 (27.4%, +0.8)
Reform UK: 747 (25.6%, -6.6)
Independent: 459 (15.7%, -8.0)
Conservative: 76 (1.6%, -5.0)
Green Party: 40 (1.4%, new)

Liberal Democrat GAIN from Reform UK

In Powys, there was a missed opportunity for Reform UK in a closely-fought fight against us. Well done to Fleur Frantz-Mogans and the local team for ensuring we were able to hold the seat and remain the largest party in Powys.

Powys, Llanidloes
Liberal Democrats (Fleur Frantz-Mogans): 557 (35.5%, +5.2)
Reform UK: 551 (35.1%, new)
Plaid Cymru: 225 (14.3%, +1.9)
Conservative: 118 (7.5%, -7.7)
Labour: 112 (7.1%, -4.8)
Independent: 6 (0.4%, new)

Liberal Democrat HOLD

In Somerset, we were able to hold onto our seat with an overwhelming victory. Well done to Simon McCombe and the local team for ensuring victory and remain the largest party on Bath and NES council.

Bath and North East Somerset Council, Mendip
Liberal Democrats (Simon McCombe): 496 (57.1%, -18.2)
Reform UK: 191 (22.0%, new)
Conservative: 84 (9.7%, +6.7)
Green Party: 57 (6.6%, +2.0)
Labour: 40 (4.6%, +0.9)

Liberal Democrat HOLD

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Posted in News | Tagged aldc local government by-elections | 3 Comments

A great way to celebrate your first anniversary as MP

By The Voice | Fri 4th July 2025 - 2:43 pm

Today, most of our MPs celebrate the first anniversary of the General Election which saw them elected to Parliament.

For one of them, Danny Chambers, MP for Winchester, it was a double celebration as his bill to ban the import of puppies, kittens and ferrets cleared all its Commons stages with Government backing. It now heads to the Lords. The Bill bans the import of animals younger than six months old and also heavily pregnant animals who may be shipped back and forth, at great harm to their welfare.

Danny said:

I’m so proud that this Bill has passed in the Commons. It will stop pet mutilation in Britain once and for all. This legislation will transform animal welfare in the UK and eradicate cruel practices that should have been wiped out years ago.

We are now one crucial step closer to closing the loopholes that allow that kind of animal abuse to happen in this country. Mutilated animals can face horrendous injuries, infections, and psychological issues, which vets like myself see each and every day.

Even more worryingly, the illegal smuggling of puppies has long caused serious public health worries that dangerous diseases could be brought back into the UK. This bill will curb those concerns – stamping out savage practices that endanger animals everywhere.

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Posted in News | Tagged animal welfare, danny chambers and private members bills | 1 Comment

We can both sympathise with Reeves and not excuse the cuts

By Jack Meredith | Fri 4th July 2025 - 12:41 pm

On Wednesday, 2nd July, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves was seen crying during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). Reeves has stated that the reason for her tears was a personal issue, which she would rather not discuss in public. A perfectly reasonable request that I’m sure everyone can relate to.

I’ve had people close to me mock the Chancellor for displaying her emotions, calling it “unprofessional” and, in some cases, question whether Reeves is up for the job. These same people, to my knowledge, did not say anything when DUP politician Jim Shannon cried when questioning then Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Downing Street parties during lockdown.

These situations are markedly different, presumably, but the fact remains that there is a disparity in the treatment of politicians here, despite both displaying emotion.

I’m prefacing my article with this statement as I want to stress a rather important point that I’m seeing being written off on social media: you can feel empathy for someone, even a public figure, and still hold them accountable.

The government’s welfare reforms, as I previously covered, are set to plunge 430,000 people into poverty by removing their access to Personal Independence Payments (PIP). It is a cruel policy that was meant to save £5.5 billion, which has now been shown not to be the case.

And Rachel Reeves, along with many other Labour MPs, has supported this policy, with Reeves arguably being a driving force behind it due to her strict self-imposed financial rules, which require government departments to make savings wherever possible.

But that leaves us with the question: SHOULD we feel bad for Rachel Reeves? Some have argued that this is not the case, as she is in a position of power and has used those powers to approve cuts to welfare for those who need it most. I struggle to abide by this view.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged disability, emotion, empathy, pip and rachel reeves | 1 Comment

Hina Bokhari urges London mayor to do more to tackle Islamophobia

By Mary Reid | Fri 4th July 2025 - 8:53 am

A couple of weeks ago Hina Bokhari AM (our Leader on the London Assembly) wrote: “Britain is a tinderbox and our efforts to confront Islamophobia are not good enough“.

She has now followed that up with a letter to the Mayor Of London, which has caught the attention of the BBC: “London mayor urged to do more to tackle Islamophobia“. In her letter she wrote:

The threats we face as Muslim Londoners are not abstract or hypothetical – they are immediate, real, and growing.

For many of us, this is not merely about perception or politics. It is about safety. Muslims today live in legitimate fear. Whether walking down the street, engaging online, or simply existing visibly as Muslims, we find ourselves bracing for abuse, harassment or worse.

Hina calls on Sadiq Khan to set up training on Islamophobia.

We need to eradicate Islamophobia, and that will only happen through training. I don’t think people really understand what Islamophobia is, or believe it exists. Some of the attacks I’ve been getting online have been about the fact that people think there is no such thing as Islamophobia.

If we had training then at least people would know what we mean by Islamophobia.

She has been doing the rounds of the TV studios highlighting the issue, even though it is obviously difficult for her.

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A post shared by BBC London (@bbclondon)

Some of the reactions to this on social media have been disgusting and totally prove her point.

Hina Bokhari is a hero and needs all the support and love we can give her.

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Posted in News | Tagged hina bokhari | 5 Comments

Three Lib Dem MPs nominated for Political Purpose Awards

By The Voice | Wed 2nd July 2025 - 5:30 pm

Three Lib Dem MPs have been shortlisted in the Political Purpose Awards.

From the Nature 2030 website:

The Political Purpose Awards recognise the efforts of UK politicians who have supported and championed environmental causes over the last year, incentivising more MPs to devote their time to protecting nature.

The awards return for their third edition in 2025, in partnership with Ecotricity. This year’s awards celebrate eight categories, including two new awards: Wildlife Crime Prevention and Rewilding and Restoring Nature.

This year’s shortlist was judged by an esteemed panel of campaigners, NGOs, and journalists, all of whom are deeply involved in environmental causes and are therefore exposed to the very best (and the worst) work by our elected representatives.

So, who are the three Lib Dem nominees:

Danny Chambers

Up for the Animal Welfare award, because of his Bill to restrict the import of puppies and other small animals, including ferrets. His citation says:

Danny Chambers has been a vocal supporter of legislation to combat puppy smuggling and improve animal welfare. In November 2024, Chambers supported the Puppy Smuggling Bill, which aims to strengthen regulations on dog imports to prevent illegal trading and improve welfare standards. The bill includes measures to raise the minimum age for imported puppies from 15 to 24 weeks, introduce stricter requirements for rabies testing, and limit the number of dogs that can be transported by a single person.

Tim Farron

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Posted in News | Tagged nature, political purpose awards 2025, roz savage danny chambers and tim farron | Leave a comment

Jo Swinson talks to the Observer about a new approach to economics

By NewsHound | Wed 2nd July 2025 - 3:30 pm

Jo Swinson has long been interested in challenging the conventional way of determining economic success. She’s a graduate of the London School of Economics and when she was a Lib Dem MP, and leader, she promoted the idea of measuring wellbeing and not just GDP.

She has spent the past five years as the Director of Partners for a New Economy. This week she was interviewed about the work of PANE in the Observer.

She had some important observations to make about the timidity of some centre-left governments:

We are in this moment of rupture, where the old economic consensus around neoliberalism has lost credibility and is going away but the new economic paradigm has not yet become clear,” says Jo Swinson.

“The irony is that the defenders of the neoliberal status quo seem to be centre-left governments in different parts of the world.” That, she argues, is one reason the left is struggling: “People have sussed out that this economic system doesn’t work.” By contrast, “the part of the right that is being successful has stopped defending neoliberalism, because they know that it’s not popular and that defending it is not going to win them votes.”

She was positive about the direction Mark Carney might take in Canada:

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Posted in News | Tagged economics, Jo Swinson, partners for a new economy and wellbeing economics | 7 Comments

Diary of a Returning Officer: Week 2 – some thoughts about diversity…

By Mark Valladares | Wed 2nd July 2025 - 9:05 am

So, having asked a bunch of questions designed to smooth the selection process, a Returning Officer’s mind turns to what the various parts of the Party want to see.

And that’s a particularly relevant consideration given the debates we’ve had about candidate selection this year. The debate in Harrogate revolved around two core themes:

Diversity – by including the Vice President responsible for working with ethnic minority communities, this would be built into the process and made a key priority. In addition, action would be taken to encourage greater representation of women amongst the candidate pool.

Scheduling – a co-ordinated, planned timetable for selections would enable better use of volunteer time to help run them, enable more action to be taken to improve the diversity of our candidates and better planning for and provision of training for newly selected candidates.

I admit that the detail was a bit vague – I may be being a bit diplomatic here – but the basic premises were pretty unarguable. The catch is that the new structures designed to deliver these things have no authority yet, given that only the Welsh Party have ratified the required constitutional changes.

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Posted in Op-eds, Party policy and internal matters and Selection news | Tagged ppc selections | 10 Comments

1 July 2025 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 1st July 2025 - 10:30 pm

FIRS scheme has a “China-shaped hole”, say Lib Dems
Welfare concessions: Govt should “put this bill out of its misery”
Davey: Welfare Bill “no way to run a country”
Carmichael challenges EDF on imposed inferior tariffs for RTS customers
Cole-Hamilton: Delayed discharges another SNP broken promise
Operations activity stagnating below pre-pandemic levels

FIRS scheme has a “China-shaped hole”, say Lib Dems

Responding to the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS)’s publication today, Calum Miller MP, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, said:

It’s clear that there’s a China-shaped hole in today’s FIRS announcement. Labour’s failure to include China on the enhanced tier sends a terrible signal to pro-democracy Hong Kongers and Chinese activists living in the UK, and undermines our security.

The government has offered no reasons why China – which poses similar threats to our interests and ideals – is excluded when Iran and Russia are rightly on the enhanced tier.

As we mark the anniversary of the Hong Kong handover today, it’s astonishing the Government has chosen now to broadcast its lax approach to Chinese interference here at home.

With reports also that the Chinese ‘mega-embassy’ is about to be greenlit, the Government needs to get serious about the threat posed by China – or risk mirroring the Conservatives’ utterly incoherent response to Beijing while in power.

Welfare concessions: Govt should “put this bill out of its misery”

Responding to reports that the Government is offering further concessions on the welfare bill to the Labour rebels, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

The Government should stop tying themselves in endless knots and put this bill out of its misery.

This has been a mess from start to finish and it’s clear that this legislation is not fit for purpose. Ministers are asking MPs to vote on a bill on which the ink hasn’t dried before it is blotted out once again.

The Government needs to go back to the drawing board and pull this bill. The Liberal Democrats are clear we cannot support this legislation that puts up more barriers to work and strips away vital support from disabled people and those who care for them.

Davey: Welfare Bill “no way to run a country”

Following the news that the Government’s Welfare Reform Bill has passed, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

This is no way to run a country.

The Government should scrap this failed bill altogether and work cross-party to actually bring down the welfare bill by getting people into work.

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Posted in News, Press releases and Scotland | Tagged Alex Cole-Hamilton, Alistair Carmichael, calum miller, china, daisy cooper, discharge delays, ed davey, nhs operations, radio teleswitch service and welfare reform bill | 2 Comments

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Op-eds

Public sector procurement (Michael Taylor)
Diary of a Returning Officer: Week 3 – why diary planning isn’t necessarily easy… (Mark Valladares)
An apology to Chris Whiting (Jack Meredith)
The case for taxing the super-rich more (Mark Corner)
What’s on at Bournemouth? FCC’s agenda selection report (Nick Da Costa)

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