Author Archives: Caron Lindsay

Caron Lindsay

Ed and Jo on Chuka joining the Lib Dems

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 14th June 2019 - 10:25 am

Both the leadership candidates have warmly welcomed Chuka Umunna to the Lib Dems:

Ed said:

Stopping Brexit is my number one priority and I welcome Chuka to our benches as a key player in this fight. He has shown huge courage, and will make a major contribution to the Liberal Democrats.

Liberal Democrats are back in the game, and the only viable force for pro-Europeans across the UK. Join us.

Jo said:

I have said all along that growing a liberal movement means reaching out to bring more people into our party, and I am delighted that Chuka has decided to join the Liberal Democrats.

I have worked with Chuka on the People’s Vote campaign, and I know the passion, intellect, and energy he will bring to our party, and our campaign to stop Brexit.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 5 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Chuka: Lib Dems offer the best chance to improve the lives of the people I represent

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 14th June 2019 - 8:55 am

I am convinced the Liberal Democrats, as the spearhead of a broader progressive movement in civil society, offer the best chance to improve the lives of those I represent as well as countless other citizens across our country.

The time has come to put past differences behind us and, in the national interest, do what is right for the country. So I urge others to join the party too.

So says the newest Lib Dem MP Chuka Umunna in an article on the Lib Dem website. He’s also been on the Today programme this morning (at about 7:12 am if you want to catch him on catch up) knocking it out of the park, to be honest. It was a very strong and positive interview in which he described how, as a social democrat with liberal values and a passionate internationalist, his values matched up to ours.

In his article and interview, he tackled his prior criticism of the Liberal Democrats’ role in the coalition.

I found it hard to come to terms with the impact of the public spending cuts which were instigated by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government of 2010-2015.

I did not disagree with the need to reduce the public sector deficit and debt – indeed Labour’s last Chancellor Alistair Darling accepted this.

But I did disagree with the speed and severity of fiscal consolidation, and the extent to which cuts to public spending as opposed to tax increases were made to carry the burden.

Four years on from their time in office, things have changed.

The Liberal Democrats have voted against every Tory budget since 2015. They stood on an anti-austerity manifesto in 2017 with, for example, commitments to end the public sector pay cap, increase tax to pay for the NHS and reverse cuts to housing benefit and Universal Credit.

Senior figures – including Vince – have since said that, although they curbed George Osborne’s worst excesses, they should not have allowed measures like the bedroom tax to be introduced.

They also accept that a major mistake was made in making and then breaking a pledge on university tuition fees, which should never happen again.

Most importantly, the biggest impediment to ending austerity currently is pressing on with Brexit.

It is worth pointing out that many Lib Dem members were incredibly unhappy with some of the things we allowed to go ahead as part of the coalition – including me – even if we did see some of the good that we were doing.

His experience since leaving the Labour Party has taught him the importance of having an established party structure:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 58 Comments
Caron Lindsay

The Lib Dem Lowdown – a guide to the party for new members, Welcome Chuka edition

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 14th June 2019 - 6:55 am

Welcome to the 20,000 people who have joined the Liberal Democrats in the last few weeks, and a special mention to our newest MP.

At the time of writing, there’s no traditional Greg Foster gif to mark the occasion so here’s one he made earlier.

It’s actually been really heartwarming to wake up every morning for the last few weeks and see a whole rush of “I just joined the Lib Dems” posts on Twitter.

You might, by the way, have noticed the wee orange diamonds some people have on their Twitter posts to show that they are Lib Dems. Here’s how to get one:

You basically copy the code from here and then go into your Twitter profile paste it next to your name.

Every so often I roll out this post, which is basically a rehash of an article that I first wrote in May 2015 when many joined the party in the wake of the General Election result. I thought it might be useful to tell you a little bit about how our party works and give you a bit of an idea of the opportunities open to you. If you are not yet a member, if you like what you read, sign up here.

What do we believe?

Before we get into the nitty gritty of organisation, the best statement of who we are and what we’re about can be found in the Preamble to our Constitution which underlines how we believe in freedom, opportunity, diversity,  decentralisation and internationalism. Here’s a snippet:

The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity. We champion the freedom, dignity and well-being of individuals, we acknowledge and respect their right to freedom of conscience and their right to develop their talents to the full. We aim to disperse power, to foster diversity and to nurture creativity. We believe that the role of the state is to enable all citizens to attain these ideals, to contribute fully to their communities and to take part in the decisions which affect their lives.

We look forward to a world in which all people share the same basic rights, in which they live together in peace and in which their different cultures will be able to develop freely. We believe that each generation is responsible for the fate of our planet and, by safeguarding the balance of nature and the environment, for the long term continuity of life in all its forms. Upholding these values of individual and social justice, we reject allprejudice and discrimination based upon race, colour, religion, age, disability, sex or sexual orientation and oppose all forms of entrenched privilege and inequality.

We have a fierce respect for individuality, with no expectation that fellow Liberal Democrats will agree with us on every issue. We expect our views to be challenged and feel free to challenge others without rancour. We can have a robust debate and head to the pub afterwards, the very best of friends.

Obviously, our priority at the moment is to stop Brexit, but there is so much more to us than that. That bit about no-one being enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity shapes everything that we do.

Your rights as a member

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Caron Lindsay

ICYMI: Chuka Umunna joins the Lib Dems

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 14th June 2019 - 6:00 am

Embed from Getty Images

In case you had an early night last night and are wondering what’s going on, last night Chuka Umunna joined the Liberal Democrats.

Here’s the official announcement which came just after 10pm last night.

The Liberal Democrats are delighted to announce that Streatham MP Chuka Umunna has joined the party.

Chuka joins the Liberal Democrats, having held the seat since 2010. The Liberal Democrats recently topped the poll in London during the European elections and are extremely excited to gain this seat.

Commenting on his decision, Liberal Democrat MP Chuka Umunna said:

I have chosen to join the Liberal Democrats because it is at the forefront of a renewed, progressive and internationalist movement in British politics that shares my values.

Labour and the Tories are committed to facilitating Brexit, and Brexit makes ending austerity virtually impossible.  The Liberal Democrats are not – they were arguing for a People’s Vote and to remain in the EU from the very start.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 12 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems GAIN two Council seats in Broxtowe

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 13th June 2019 - 11:50 pm

It was a night of solid progress for the Lib Dems on the by-election front.

In Anna Soubry’s Broxtowe constituency, we regained two Council seats we’d lost in 2015.

And a good solid result from a standing start in North Devon, too.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | 9 Comments
Caron Lindsay

+++Breaking…Chuka Umunna joins the Liberal Democrats

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 13th June 2019 - 10:03 pm

 

https://twitter.com/LondonLibDems/status/1139276720354332672

 

In an interview with the Times tonight, Chuka Umunna announces that he has joined the Liberal Democrats and becomes our 12th MP.

Chuka said:

“Time and time again when I was speaking to voters around the country and in my constituency, people were saying, ‘Well, look, why don’t you just join the Liberal Democrats? Why don’t you all come together in the progressive centre ground?’ ”

So he has swallowed his pride and joined the effort to make the Liberal Democrats the spearhead of a “new progressive movement in this country”.

Urging others to join him, he said the party’s success in the European elections showed the potential: “I think we’ve got to grab the chance to fundamentally change the system for ever now. And if we don’t do so, I think history will be a poor judge of us.”

A hugely warm welcome to him.

I might be a little annoyed that the Mail on Sunday got it broadly right but I am happy to see Chuka join us.

Vince, who also took part in that Times interview,  said that more MPs could follow the Streatham MP to the Lib Dems:

There are lots of conversations going on, some more intimate than others,” the outgoing party leader added. “Chuka joining us today is a big event in itself but there may well be others. I’m not going to make commitments on others’ behalf, they will make their own decisions in their own time.

“We have a very, very good relationship with members of the independent group,” he added in a clear hint that other members of the breakaway outfit are considering joining his party.

He said that the approaching threat of a no-deal Brexit would drive as many as 20 MPs out of the Tories. “I think there are probably a dozen to 20 who have mentally crossed the Rubicon that they can’t stay in the Conservative Party in its current form.”

From what I’m hearing, the local Lib Dem party have been absolutely brilliant as all this has been unfolding. Helen Thompson, who was selected as PPC for Streatham earlier this year, has just tweeted:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 30 Comments
Caron Lindsay

A tale of two leadership elections

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 10th June 2019 - 11:00 pm

This has to be the tweet of the day for me. It fair summed things up.

I woke up to sunshine streaming through the window this morning and smiled.

And then I remembered that 100,000 or so of the most reactionary people in the country are about to choose the next Prime Minister.

That’s a spirit-dampening thought if ever there was one.

These are people who think climate change is a myth, who would remove hard won rights from women & LGBT people, who think workers’ rights have gone too far & who want to inflict the catastrophe of no deal Brexit on us. You wouldn’t want them voting on X Factor, let alone choosing our PM.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 22 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Chuka standing for the Lib Dems? Really?

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 9th June 2019 - 11:00 pm

The Mail on Sunday  seems very certain that Chuka Umunna, having left Change UK, is going to stand for the Lib Dems in Streatham.

This has about as much fact as anyone reading this site would expect from a Daily Mail story.

Let’s dial it back a little.

In order to stand as a Lib Dem candidate, you have to be a member of the party. Chuka isn’t. I suspect that if he wanted to join at some point in the future, we wouldn’t stand in his way.  I certainly wouldn’t be averse to that, as I said the other day and I quite like the idea of arguing against his suggestion that young people should have to do national service on the floor of conference.

There is also process to go through to be able to stand as a Lib Dem candidate.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 6 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Brussels, meet Lib Dem MEPs

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 9th June 2019 - 11:18 am

It’s been quite an emotional week.

There have been a few moments when I have actually burst in to tears.

The first one was when I saw this from Scotland’s Lib Dem MEP, Sheila Ritchie.

It was worth the pain and the tiredness for everyone who delivered leaflets and knocked on doors to ensure that everyone in Scotland now has a Liberal Democrat representing them at one level. The same goes, of course for most other places in the country. It’s so sad that we missed out in Wales and the North East – by tiny margins.

And here she is, at yesterday’s Edinburgh leadership hustings, with Scotland’s first LIb Dem MEP, Elspeth Attwooll, who served for 10 years from 2009.

It’s been great to see our MEPs tweeting photos and videos of their orientation in Brussels.

Antony Hook sets off on his new commute – which is a little easier than Sheila Ritchie’s:

Luisa Porritt is right to point out that 75 years ago, Europe was at war. Thanks to the EU, the continent is at peace.

Caroline Voaden did a video diary:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | 18 Comments
Caron Lindsay

23 minutes left to have a say in Lib Dem leadership election

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 7th June 2019 - 11:36 pm

Next month it will be 36 years since I signed up to the Liberal Democrats on my 16th birthday.

My parents thought it was a phase.

I’m still here and I’ve long since given up caring what they think of my political beliefs, however much I love them.

This party, with its establishment busting, planet saving, freedom loving, poverty bashing ethos never fails to give me a reason to get out of bed in the morning and to try to make the world better and kinder and friendlier for everyone.

It absolutely warmed my heart to see 16 year old Emma  sign up to the party this morning.

This party has, over the years, infuriated and inspired me, provided me with most of my friends and found-family and basically is part of the basic infrastructure of my life.

And I found out today that one of the people who had first inspired me in politics died last night.

Chris was a leading light in Edinburgh SDP in the 80s.

I first met her on a training day in 1985. My first ever conference speech was in a debate on drugs in 1986. She proposed the motion and, as the hall emptied, I remember her ironically pointing out that people were leaving for their fixes of nicotine and caffeine.

She was a passionate internationalist, feminist and advocate for social justice. Her career was spent making life better for the most vulnerable, from Scotland’s voluntary sector to Bangladesh.

She actually left the SDP in 1986 to rejoin Labour. I couldn’t go with her but I was always going to be friends with her, wherever she was.  I never lost touch with her. However it was only in the last few years that Facebook reconnected us. It was brilliant. One Messenger chat and the years melted away.

She joined the Liberal Democrats to fight for our place in the EU after the referendum. But she was diagnosed with Cancer shortly afterwards. She couldn’t go to the People’s Vote march last October but she was there in spirit and her name was on a placard.

She’s one of the wisest and kindest people I ever knew and I am missing her very much tonight.

If you believe in the kinder, more compassionate politics, if you believe that our country is crying out for radical reform, if you believe that we need to throw the kitchen sink and more at saving our planet, if the thought of ensuring that no-one is enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity, then you might want to join us because those things are what we are about.

And if you do so within the next 20 or so minutes you can help choose our next leader. 

And Greg’ll be happy.

That will be not a million miles off 20,000 since the local elections.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 11 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Your last chance to vote in the Lib Dem leadership election – and yet another reprise of the Lib Dem Lowdown

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 7th June 2019 - 9:55 am

Only those people who are members of he Liberal Democrats at 23:59 tonight will be able to vote in the leadership election.

It has been a hell of a month for Lib Dem recruitment.

In the five weeks since our local election success, 17000 people have joined the party. This creates a hell of a lot of work for our amazing membership team, led by the brilliant Greg Foster, so huge thanks to them.

Welcome to you all and a special mention to the 1000 who joined yesterday.

It’s actually been really heartwarming to wake up every morning for the last few weeks and see a whole rush of “I just joined the Lib Dems” posts on Twitter.

Every so often I roll out this post, which is basically a rehash of an article that I first wrote in May 2015 when many joined the party in the wake of the General Election result. This is, I think, it’s fourth outing this month. I thought it might be useful to tell you a little bit about how our party works and give you a bit of an idea of the opportunities open to you. If you are not yet a member, if you like what you read, sign up here.

What do we believe?

Before we get into the nitty gritty of organisation, the best statement of who we are and what we’re about can be found in the Preamble to our Constitution which underlines how we believe in freedom, opportunity, diversity,  decentralisation and internationalism. Here’s a snippet:

The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity. We champion the freedom, dignity and well-being of individuals, we acknowledge and respect their right to freedom of conscience and their right to develop their talents to the full. We aim to disperse power, to foster diversity and to nurture creativity. We believe that the role of the state is to enable all citizens to attain these ideals, to contribute fully to their communities and to take part in the decisions which affect their lives.

We look forward to a world in which all people share the same basic rights, in which they live together in peace and in which their different cultures will be able to develop freely. We believe that each generation is responsible for the fate of our planet and, by safeguarding the balance of nature and the environment, for the long term continuity of life in all its forms. Upholding these values of individual and social justice, we reject allprejudice and discrimination based upon race, colour, religion, age, disability, sex or sexual orientation and oppose all forms of entrenched privilege and inequality.

We have a fierce respect for individuality, with no expectation that fellow Liberal Democrats will agree with us on every issue. We expect our views to be challenged and feel free to challenge others without rancour. We can have a robust debate and head to the pub afterwards, the very best of friends.

Obviously, our priority at the moment is to stop Brexit, but there is so much more to us than that. That bit about no-one being enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity shapes everything that we do.

Your rights as a member

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Leave a comment
Caron Lindsay

Peterborough by-election – Lib Dem recovery on track

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 7th June 2019 - 8:11 am

In the last two elections, Lib Dems have barely scraped 3% in Peterborough. Had the by-election happened 5 years ago, we’d have lost our deposit with no question.

This was not a seat where we have historically been a challenger. Going back to the 70s, our vote has been mid teens – 20%.

So the only way we would have had a chance of competing is if we’d thrown the kitchen sink at it. And we’d already used up our supply of kitchen sinks during the European campaign. We can’t, yet, do everything and it made sense to save our resources for something more winnable.

Our campaign was spirited, we had a great candidate in Beki Sellick and we quadrupled our vote. So it was a solid result for us. Thank you so much to the team who achieved a huge amount, led by Andy Sangar from Sheffield.

The result in full:

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 56 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Well that’s one hell of a by-election gain…

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 7th June 2019 - 12:59 am

Wow!

Well, it’s technically a postponed election.

Congratulations to Cllr Chris Bartrum and team.

Dan Schmeising is always around with an inspiring graphic.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | 5 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Good luck to Beki Sellick in the Peterborough by-election

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 6th June 2019 - 12:01 am

Peterborough makes history today. It’s the first parliamentary constituency to hold a by-election following the successful recall of an MP.

Lib Dem candidate Beki Sellick has been working hard. People who have been to Peterborough have said what a brilliant candidate she is and how you can’t walk down the street without loads of people stopping her because she has such a high profile there.

She talked about her plan for Peterborough in an interview with the Parliamentary Review:

Sellick’s plan is based around three key areas: the economy, the environment and public services. As a business owner herself, working as a sustainable transport engineer, she sees these three issues to be linked.

Identifying Peterborough’s economic growth, she warned of the low skilled nature of many new jobs and their risk of being automated. To combat this, she stated that “a priority will be building up Peterborough’s economy and skills, supported by the independent university.”

The second key priority is the environment, particularly focusing on congestion and air quality. By reducing congestion, she hopes to improve transport, health and sustainability in one.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 17 Comments
Caron Lindsay

A must read on the Change UK drama

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 4th June 2019 - 11:42 pm

It was obvious before the election that there was trouble in the Change UK camp. The extraordinary interview Heidi Allen gave to Channel 4 News on tactical voting where she admitted she had offered to resign showed the tensions.

Last week, I was hearing rumours of an impending major split, with six leaving and five staying.

This is what happened today. We learned that Anna Soubry will lead the remaining five while Heidi Allen, Sarah Wollaston, Luciana Berger, Angela Smith, Gavin Shuker and Chuka Umunna are going to sit as independents.

There’s been some discussion on whether some or all of the breakaway will eventually come to the Lib Dems, and do we want them?

My view is that we need to work with others to achieve our liberal goals, but we need to be wise to the idea that some might be trying to undermine us and protect ourselves accordingly.

At Conference in York, I spoke against the proposals that would have given registered supporters a vote for leader. I think I was right to. It was a process rabbit hole and, actually, in the European elections, we saw what a pithy message could do for our performance.

Choose vision, not process, I said. That’s how you build a movement. And I think I’ve been proved right since.

But I’m very aware that we need to check ourselves if we get too tribal.

Let’s be welcoming to others who might want to join us. People like Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston are not a million miles away from us. I know that the pitch battles in Liverpool between us and Labour have been pretty bitter, but Luciana Berger is a decent MP we could work with. And we could happily vote down  Chuka’s proposals for national service at Conference while agreeing with him on a whole lot of other stuff. These are good people.

One of the best things I saw today was a twitter thread by the ever-wise Alex Wilcock, who suggested that being in a liberal party might free people up to be more liberal. I smiled when he mentioned Bob Maclennan as someone who surprised him with his liberalism. Bob had been a Labour MP who had joined the SDP, yet he was a passionate liberal. Bob was the first MP I ever really knew and his crucial first election as a member of the SDP in 1983 was the first I ever worked on.

Go and read this whole thread.

Alex remembered the times in the 90s when people joined us because we were where they were at on Europe.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 43 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Vince Cable and Humaira Ali on Eid

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 4th June 2019 - 9:22 pm

As always, my admiration knows no bounds for those who manage to cope with the Ramadan fast during the long northern days of Summer.

I hope that everyone celebrating Eid today has happiness and peace.

Vince Cable gave his last Eid message:

And over on the Lib Dem website, Humaira Ali wrote about Islam as a liberal religion:

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | Leave a comment
Caron Lindsay

Support your chosen leadership candidates – and the Lib Dem presence at Prides

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 4th June 2019 - 11:55 am

Going to a Lib Dem event and wondering what to wear?

Want to show which leadership candidate you are supporting?

Well, the people who brought you the Bollocks to Brexit t-shirts have brought out a new range for the leadership campaigns.

You can buy your Team Jo and/or Team Ed t-shirts in a range of colours and sizes here. I should probably point out that these are unofficial and not merchandise of either campaign.

Jennie Rigg, who designs most of the t-shirts on behalf of the Awkward Squad writes here about how any profits go to LGBT+ Lib Dems to fund Pride packages. 

This will help to build our presence at the growing number of Pride events across the country. I absolutely love Pride. And I am kind of thrilled that the all day meeting in London I had on the day of Pride in Edinburgh has been cancelled. Nor do I have to work, like I had to last year, so I can immerse myself in the colourful, joyful events. Liberal Democrats have been at the forefront of LGBT+ rights for so long and it’s fantastic that both leadership candidates are enthusiastic supporters.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
Caron Lindsay

Vince: Trump is damaging our traditional alliance with America

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 3rd June 2019 - 11:55 pm

I’m proud of Vince for not going to the State Banquet in honour of Donald Trump tonight.  I am horrified that the biggest welcome our country has is being given to this racist misogynist who has the absolute nerve to slag off London’s mayor as he comes in to land. Trump is an utterly graceless individual.

Vince Cable set out why he opposes Trump’s visit in an interview with BBC News.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 5 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Not in my name – the Trump State visit is a disgraceful spectacle

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 2nd June 2019 - 11:15 pm

Back in 2017, Vince Cable called Donald Trump evil and racist.

The love has not grown since then.

Vince tweeted about Trump’s imminent state visit:

And on Marr today, the US Ambassador said that the future of the NHS could be threatened by a US trade deal

Tomorrow this country will give Donald Trump the tightest standard of hospitality at our disposal. A state visit.

The Queen will entertain someone who has insulted her granddaughter in law.

That, of course, is the least of his misdemeanours. He has glorified sexual harassment. He has discriminated against women, muslims, transgender people, immigrants. He has separated refugee children from their parents and locked them up in cages. He has appointed judges to the Supreme Court who will roll back decades of progress on gender equality and workers’ rights.

We should not be honouring this man.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | 24 Comments
Caron Lindsay

How to get the little orange diamond by your Twitter name 🔶

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 2nd June 2019 - 10:45 am

One of our neighbours turned 16 last night. He had a party. His mum, who I’d met earlier while we were walking our dogs that there was going to be no alcohol at this party. As I listened to a large group of teenagers making a hell of a racket in our street at 11pm last night, it seemed that they had taken no notice.

Anyway, I took advantage of that disturbance to finally do something I had been meaning to do for ages.

For a wee while now, a growing number of  Lib Dems have put an orange diamond next to their Twitter name.

I’ve been wondering how to do it but have never had a clue how to do it, nor the time to look into it.

It didn’t take me long to work it out.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 9 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Four years

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 1st June 2019 - 6:25 pm

It’s four years today since we lost Charles Kennedy who died at the heartbreakingly young age of 55.

We miss his wit and wisdom so much.

It says so much about him that during the horrible atmosphere of the 2014 independence referendum in Scotland, he was respected by both sides. We can only wonder what impact he would have made on the EU referendum.

He had the courage to do what was right – leading the opposition to the Iraq war in 2003, even when he was vilified in the Commons for doing so.

Just as the polls closed on EU Election day last week, Christine Jardine played Darren Martin’s tweet below to the assembled team in Edinburgh West.

There weren’t very many dry eyes.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 7 Comments
Caron Lindsay

ICYMI: The Lib Dem Lowdown – get to know the party.

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 1st June 2019 - 9:58 am

Welcome to the 11,000 who have joined the Liberal Democrats in the last few weeks, and a special mention to the 1500 who joined yesterday.

It’s actually been really heartwarming to wake up every morning for the last few weeks and see a whole rush of “I just joined the Lib Dems” posts on Twitter.

Every so often I roll out this post, which is basically a rehash of an article that I first wrote in May 2015 when many joined the party in the wake of the General Election result. I thought it might be useful to tell you a little bit about how our party works and give you a bit of an idea of the opportunities open to you. If you are not yet a member, if you like what you read, sign up here.

What do we believe?

Before we get into the nitty gritty of organisation, the best statement of who we are and what we’re about can be found in the Preamble to our Constitution which underlines how we believe in freedom, opportunity, diversity,  decentralisation and internationalism. Here’s a snippet:

The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity. We champion the freedom, dignity and well-being of individuals, we acknowledge and respect their right to freedom of conscience and their right to develop their talents to the full. We aim to disperse power, to foster diversity and to nurture creativity. We believe that the role of the state is to enable all citizens to attain these ideals, to contribute fully to their communities and to take part in the decisions which affect their lives.

We look forward to a world in which all people share the same basic rights, in which they live together in peace and in which their different cultures will be able to develop freely. We believe that each generation is responsible for the fate of our planet and, by safeguarding the balance of nature and the environment, for the long term continuity of life in all its forms. Upholding these values of individual and social justice, we reject allprejudice and discrimination based upon race, colour, religion, age, disability, sex or sexual orientation and oppose all forms of entrenched privilege and inequality.

We have a fierce respect for individuality, with no expectation that fellow Liberal Democrats will agree with us on every issue. We expect our views to be challenged and feel free to challenge others without rancour. We can have a robust debate and head to the pub afterwards, the very best of friends.

Obviously, our priority at the moment is to stop Brexit, but there is so much more to us than that. That bit about no-one being enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity shapes everything that we do.

Your rights as a member

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 12 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems top Westminster voting intention poll

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 30th May 2019 - 10:41 pm

If I were the sort of person who used profane language, the air would be royal blue around me tonight.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 25 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Video fun as Jo Swinson prepares to appear on Question Time

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 30th May 2019 - 9:51 pm

Jo Swinson is on Question Time tonight on BBC One at 10:35 pm.  Here she is having a bit of fun beforehand.

And her colleague Christine Jardine drops a pretty heavy hint about Jo’s future intentions…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 7 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Meet our new MEPs – Bedtime edition

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 27th May 2019 - 9:55 pm

What a night! Thanks to Mark for his excellent coverage overnight.

The results surpassed my wildest expectations. And the media can just stop with this “triumph for the Brexit Party” narrative. They are effectively a repackaged UKIP which, in 2014, got 27.5% of the vote. They’ve only gained 4.1% on top of that to end up with 31.6%. UKIP’s 3.3% on top of that gives unequivocal Leave 34.9%.  The combined total of Liberal Democrats, Greens, Change UK,  Plaid Cymru and SNP who are all committed to Remain is 40.4%.

You can’t really say with confidence what the Conservative and Labour votes mean. I suspect much of the Labour vote did so with gritted teeth so you could probably add another 10% to Remain which would take the total for Remain to over 50%.

So, enough with this Brexit Party victory narrative.

But enough of that for now. Let’s meet our new MEPs.

As of now, we have 15 new ones – 16 in total and . And they are a diverse bunch – a majority (9) women and two BAME candidates elected.

Two are Newbies who have joined the party since 2015 and one more joined in 2014.

And as Jo Swinson pointed out, we came within 30,000 votes of two more – Sam Bennett and Fiona Hall narrowly missed out in Wales and the North East respectively.

Making up my LIb Dem MEPs Twitter list was pretty satisfying.

So who are our new MEPs? Here are extracts from their biographies on the party website and a few more notes. 

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 7 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Meet our new MEPs – Breakfast edition

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 27th May 2019 - 7:30 am

What a night! Thanks to Mark for his excellent coverage overnight.

The results surpassed my wildest expectations. And the media can just stop with this “triumph for the Brexit Party” narrative. They are effectively a repackaged UKIP which, in 2014, got 27.5% of the vote. They’ve only gained 4.1% on top of that to end up with 31.6%. UKIP’s 3.3% on top of that gives unequivocal Leave 34.9%.  The combined total of Liberal Democrats, Greens, Change UK,  Plaid Cymru and SNP who are all committed to Remain is 40.4%.

You can’t really say with confidence what the Conservative and Labour votes mean. I suspect much of the Labour vote did so with gritted teeth so you could probably add another 10% to Remain which would take the total for Remain to over 50%.

So, enough with this Brexit Party victory narrative.

But enough of that for now. Let’s meet our new MEPs.

As of now, we have 14 new ones – 15 in total so far. And they are a diverse bunch – a majority (8) women and two BAME candidates elected.

We hope that the Fabulous Fifteen will become the Sensational Sixteen at about 11 am this morning once the Western Isles has finished counting. Two are Newbies who have joined the party since 2015 and one more joined in 2014.

Making up my LIb Dem MEPs Twitter list was pretty satisfying.

So who are our new MEPs? Here are extracts from their biographies on the party website and a few more notes.  I will update this later if, as projected,  we win in Scotland but do not want to tempt fate.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 46 Comments
Caron Lindsay

European election results: What do we think will happen?

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 26th May 2019 - 5:00 pm

On Thursday night when every part of my body hurt like hell and my eyes were melting with exhaustion, I couldn’t sleep. My body expected to be at a count and couldn’t understand why I was in my bed.

The three day wait to know whether our advance in the polls has been confirmed is excruciating.

By the time you read this, I’ll be on my way to the count in Edinburgh. We won’t know the Scottish result tonight because the Western Isles don’t count on a Sunday. That means that our result will be declared in a dramatic Royal Mile ceremony by noon tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed that Sheila Ritchie makes it. Some polling suggests that, in equal second, we could be contesting the third or fourth seat, but it is more likely to be a scrap between us, the Brexit Party and the SNP for the last place.

In the rest of the country, the outlook looks a lot sunnier. Support was coalescing around us as the Remain alternative to the Brexit Party. By the end of the campaign, we were polling 20%. This is way beyond anything we have ever polled in a European election before if it is realised. Everyone I know has stories of friends and acquaintances who had never supported us before turning out for us on Thursday.

Election Maps UK has a prediction which is equally stunning and sobering:

https://twitter.com/ElectionMapsUK/status/1132622260613931008

While it would be fantastic to have 13 MEPs, the thought of 30 Brexit Party representatives is not pleasant.

This gives us 3 in London, 2 each in the South East and East of England, 1 each in Scotland, East and West Midlands, South West, Yorkshire and the Humber and North West. It would be disappointing not to get a seat in Wales. These MEPs would also be joined by Naomi Long for the Alliance Party.

That, if it came true, would be incredible. It would mean that we would have come first in London which would be unheard of.

This is the first time I’ve been to a European count since PR came in. In 2009, I was lying in bed with my days old baby as the results came in and we learned that Nick Clegg had won to become the first Liberal parliamentarian in the East Midlands in nearly 70 years.

To put in perspective, here is how we’ve polled in every European election since 1999.

1999 12.10% 10 seats out of 77

2004  14.9% 12 seats out of 78

2009  13.7% 11 seats out of 72

2014 6.87% 1 seat out of 73

You can see the effect of PR when you consider that in 1994, we actually polled 16.7% and got just 2 seats under first past the post.

So anything more than 15% is our best result in 20 years.

The thought of the Brexit Party doing well is pretty horrible, though. However, if the turnout is higher than expected, this might dilute their vote share.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | 9 Comments
Caron Lindsay

UPDATED: The Lib Dem Lowdown – European elections surge special

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 26th May 2019 - 1:59 pm

Welcome to the thousands of people who have joined the Liberal Democrats in the last few weeks, and a special mention to those of you who joined this morning. You were noticed by our Head of Membership.

It’s actually been really heartwarming to wake up every morning for the last few weeks and see a whole rush of “I just joined the Lib Dems” posts on Twitter.

Every so often I roll out this post, which is basically a rehash of an article that I first wrote in May 2015 when many joined the party in the wake of the General Election result. I thought it might be useful to tell you a little bit about how our party works and give you a bit of an idea of the opportunities open to you. If you are not yet a member, if you like what you read, sign up here.

What do we believe?

Before we get into the nitty gritty of organisation, the best statement of who we are and what we’re about can be found in the Preamble to our Constitution which underlines how we believe in freedom, opportunity, diversity,  decentralisation and internationalism. Here’s a snippet:

The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity. We champion the freedom, dignity and well-being of individuals, we acknowledge and respect their right to freedom of conscience and their right to develop their talents to the full. We aim to disperse power, to foster diversity and to nurture creativity. We believe that the role of the state is to enable all citizens to attain these ideals, to contribute fully to their communities and to take part in the decisions which affect their lives.

We look forward to a world in which all people share the same basic rights, in which they live together in peace and in which their different cultures will be able to develop freely. We believe that each generation is responsible for the fate of our planet and, by safeguarding the balance of nature and the environment, for the long term continuity of life in all its forms. Upholding these values of individual and social justice, we reject allprejudice and discrimination based upon race, colour, religion, age, disability, sex or sexual orientation and oppose all forms of entrenched privilege and inequality.

We have a fierce respect for individuality, with no expectation that fellow Liberal Democrats will agree with us on every issue. We expect our views to be challenged and feel free to challenge others without rancour. We can have a robust debate and head to the pub afterwards, the very best of friends.

Obviously, our priority at the moment is to stop Brexit, but there is so much more to us than that. That bit about no-one being enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity shapes everything that we do.

Your rights as a member

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 8 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Lib Dem leadership timetable in full

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 25th May 2019 - 7:55 pm

Here is how we get from here until the announcement of our new leader on 23rd July.

The most important date in that is 7th June. If you aren’t a member then, you won’t get a vote. So join here if you like what we are doing.  And share that link around, too. It’s a special one for us.

12th May Nomination forms available

22nd May Opening of nominations

7th June Closing date for delivery of completed nomination papers
Closing date for membership registrations

8th June (4pm) Deadline for withdrawal of candidature
Release of membership lists

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | 4 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Were you denied the right to vote on Thursday? Let us know

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 25th May 2019 - 6:14 pm

Two Lib Dem MPs expected to stand for the leadership of the party have called for action after EU citizens were denied the right to vote on Thursday because local authorities hadn’t properly processed their applications. The Guardian reports that the Government may face action:

The government is facing calls to launch an urgent investigation into the treatment of EU citizens in the European elections after many people reported being denied their democratic right to vote.

Voters across the country told of their devastation at finding their names crossed off the register due to clerical errors by local councils. Experts said the situation was a “scandal we knew was coming” and that the government may have a case to answer in court.

The affected voters said they felt they were being “silenced” as this was the only election they had a right to participate in, being ineligible to vote in the referendum or general elections.

Our two as yet undeclared expected leadership candidates have had strong words to say on the subject.

Ed Davey put out a call for evidence from those affected.

And Jo Swinson called for an investigation:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Peter Wrigley
    I think it helps to look at the parties in terms of their major objective, or usp if you prefer. The Liberal Democrats' major objective is to preserve, prote...
  • James Hill
    @David Allen There is 0% chance that the result of the next election is a Tory-Lib Dem coalition. And the tax cut proposed by Ed has also been proposed by the t...
  • James Hill
    @Rob Heale The problem with VAT, is generally when rates are lowered, the savings are not passed on to consumers and instead pad out profit margins. This has me...
  • James Hill
    @Peter Davies I agree, I think higher rates of pension credit should be looked at – would be a much more effective, targeted and cheaper way to reduce pension...
  • James Hill
    @ David Evans I’m not saying that those two tax proposals would magically change our standing, or that they specifically need to be adopted. But that when we ...