Author Archives: Caron Lindsay

Jane Dodds is the new leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 3rd November 2017 - 7:33 pm

Congratulations to Jane Dodds on her election today as Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats. She won 53.15 of the vote over Ceredigion’s Liz Evans.

ICYMI – @DoddsJane is the new leader of the @WelshLibDems! Read more here: https://t.co/WrDNvv0WM9 pic.twitter.com/LvFd63SJb2

— RhI Cymru (@rhicymru) November 3, 2017

Jane tweeted:

Honoured to be leader @WelshLibDems – thank you to all especially @liz4ceredigion. Falch i bod arweinydd Dem Rhydd a Diolch.Ymlaen/Onwards

— Jane Dodds (@DoddsJane) November 3, 2017

Jane told the County Times:

It is an honour to have been elected as the next leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats – to focus my energy on bringing like minded people together to rebuild our party and to re-establish the Welsh Liberal Democrats as the radical, progressive force of Welsh politics.

“I’d like to thank Liz Evans for running an excellent campaign and giving members a vital opportunity to discuss our next steps as a party.

I”’d also like to pay tribute to Mark Williams and Kirsty Williams for their unwavering commitment to our party.

“Wales needs the Welsh Liberal Democrats now more than ever.

Wales needs the progressive, pragmatic, and reforming voice of Welsh Liberal Democrats in the Assembly and in Westminster to give us an exit from Brexit, a fresh look on creating more and better paid jobs, protecting our environment, and delivering on Kirsty Williams’ education reforms.

“We have been down, but we aren’t out, and I’m confident of what lies ahead for my party.”

Good wishes have been coming in:

Congratulations @DoddsJane, elected new Leader of the @WelshLibDems pic.twitter.com/j6TMyTQ6wQ

— Vince Cable (@vincecable) November 3, 2017

Congratulations, @DoddsJane & @WelshLibDems! Great news. https://t.co/hyGBrxzScy

— SalBrinton (@SalBrinton) November 3, 2017

Posted in News | Tagged featured, jane dodds and welsh liberal democrats | 3 Comments

Scottish Conference to discuss WASPI women, Exit from Brexit, mental health and gender neutral school uniform

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 3rd November 2017 - 8:55 am

Scottish Lib Dem Autumn Conference takes place next Saturday, 11th November, in Dunfermline.

There are keynote speeches from Willie Rennie and Jo Swinson and a dazzling array of debates and policy motions.

The Scottish Young Liberals have provided some excellent motions on getting young people more involved in shaping public services and on civil education. Also, a young member has independently put forward a motion calling for gender neutral school uniform.

Christine Jardine MP and Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP put forward West Edinburgh’s motion to support women affected by changes to the State Pension age.

Housing standards and mental health provision for rural areas will also be debated.

Posted in News | Tagged Scotland and scottish liberal democrats autumn conference. | 1 Comment

Former MP Pugh elected to Council in a night of Lib Dem gains and holds

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 2nd November 2017 - 11:56 pm

Congratulations to Cllr John Pugh. Southport’s former MP who retired from the Commons at the General Election has had a cracker of a win in a by-election for the Dukes Ward of Sefton Council.

Duke's (Sefton) result:

LDEM: 56.0% (+28.4)
CON: 26.3% (-9.4)
LAB: 13.9% (-2.3)
UKIP: 2.3% (-13.5)
GRN: 1.5% (-3.1)

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) November 2, 2017

That great result was upstaged by a 25% swing from the Tories in Arun.

Brilliant result for Martin Smith in Arun District. 25% swing from Tories. pic.twitter.com/xQuQTExGrf

— ALDC (@ALDC) November 2, 2017

Aldwick West (Arun) result:

LDEM: 52.7% (+34.2)
CON: 35.2% (-16.7)
LAB: 8.2% (+8.2)
GRN: 4.0% (+4.0)

LDem GAIN from Con.

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) November 2, 2017

Posted in News | Tagged john pugh and local government by-eections | 26 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #494

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 29th October 2017 - 9:15 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 494th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (22-28 October, 2017), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment

Miriam says she and Nick knew about Jared O’Mara’s comments but he refused to go negative

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 29th October 2017 - 8:23 pm

Miriam Gonzalez Durantez was on Peston this morning as one of the panel of 3 guests who are there throughout the programme.

The subject of Jared O’Mara’s appallingly racist, misogynist and homophobic comments came up and Miriam said something very interesting instead. She said that Labour must have known about his past because she and Nick did.

That, of course, begs the question that if we knew why on earth didn’t we use it during the campaign. She answered that one as well, saying that Nick refused to run a negative campaign.

She pointed out the hypocrisy of Labour allowing someone with such deeply regressive views to present themselves as a progressive candidate.

It is very typical of Nick to take the high road and not the low one. He is, sometimes to his detriment, an idealist at heart who has always behaved with integrity.

Would it have made a difference if he had used what he knew about O’Mara? Well, let’s look at the change in vote share since 2015. The Labour vote only went up by 2.6%. It was an advance by the Tories of 10.2%, Tories who had hitherto voted tactically for Nick. They unsqueezed themselves presumably to give Theresa May the strong hand she craved in the Brexit negotiations.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged general election 2017, miriam gonzalez durantez, nick clegg and sheffield hallam | 24 Comments

LibLink: Miriam Gonzalez Durantez: Catalonia and Madrid drift towards extremes

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 28th October 2017 - 11:35 am

The situation in Catalonia is incredibly worrying. I can’t help but think about what this would be like if it were happening in Scotland and am grateful for the wiser heads (i.e. ours) in the Coalition that facilitated a legal referendum that settled the issue at least for then.

Both the Madrid and Barcelona governments escalate this situation in a text book “what not to do” approach. Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, writing in the FT, looks at this polarisation at the extremes and sees a need for reconciliation and moderation. Both are wrong. Someone has to do something right, and soon.

The paradox

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged catalonia and miriam gonzalez durantez | 46 Comments

LibLInk: Paul Scriven: Jared O’Mara’s comments are “the most disgusting I’ve seen in 30 years of politics”

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 28th October 2017 - 9:31 am

Paul Scriven has been writing for Politics Home about the behaviour and comments of Sheffield Hallam MP Jared O’Mara. He says that they are the most disgusting he has seen in politics. I have to say that’s quite a high bar, remembering what I do about the negativity of the Labour Party in Sheffield when I lived in that area.

He makes the point that O’Mara was going for elected office not long after the comments were made and there are recent episodes which suggest that the journey he says he has been on is pretty short.

hese outbursts are not of some teenager sat in their bedroom. In 2004 O’Mara was a Labour party candidate for Sheffield City Council. He stood in multiple council elections for the Labour Party, never making much progress. Pretending he was new to the party, someone unknown who they had just come across, is a weak excuse the doesn’t hold up. They should be called out at every opportunity for clinging to it.

More recently, only seven months ago, he has been accused of sexist and aggressive language to a woman in a nightclub in Sheffield. The Labour Party have themselves now admitted that they didn’t do any background checks when they selected him.

He suggests that the people of Sheffield Hallam are getting a raw deal.

Posted in LibLink | Tagged jared o'mara, paul scriven and sheffield hallam | 21 Comments

Don’t forget to have your say on the General Election campaign

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 25th October 2017 - 10:25 am

After every General Election, the party conducts a review of the campaign so that we have a written record of what worked, what didn’t work and what we need to learn for the future.

The ink was barely dry on the huge number of recommendations from the 2015 campaign when we were off again.

There is a difference in the process this time. In 2015, it was the job of the Campaigns Committee to run the review. This time, though, party structures have changed. The Governance Review ensured that the Campaigns and Elections Committee runs the election so they can’t be allowed …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged general election review and gerald vernon jackson | 6 Comments

Lib Dems offer to vote for EU Withdrawal Bill

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 25th October 2017 - 8:55 am

The Government seems to be suffering a bit of a lack of votes for the EU Withdrawal Bill.

With rumours circulating in Whitehall that the Bill has now been pushed beyond the November recess, our Tom Brake has written to David Davis, offering him a wee bit of a helping hand. .

Mr Brake will be willing to work with the Secretary of State to smooth the Bill’s passage through Parliament. However, there are strings attached. He wants Government support for a number of critical Liberal Democrat amendments.

These include:

Maintaining EU citizens’ rights
Ensuring the Good Friday Agreement is not undone
A referendum on the final deal

Tom said:

It is clear the Government no longer have a majority on this Bill. To ease the Government’s pain and to provide some direction to their Marie Celeste of a Bill, I will be willing to work constructively with David Davis to improve the Bill.

This would be in return for the Secretary of State supporting some critical Lib Dem amendments, including providing for a vote on the final deal and enhanced scrutiny of the Bill.

The full text of Tom’s letter to David Davis is:

Dear David

I am writing to you regarding the Amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill which have been tabled by the Liberal Democrats.

As I am sure you are aware, the Liberal Democrats are greatly concerned that the EU Withdrawal Bill in its current form grants ministers control over legislation with little scrutiny and signals an extreme Brexit on the horizon for the UK, bringing with it economic chaos and confusion for businesses, EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU.

The Liberal Democrats however want to hold out an olive branch to the Government and your department and offer to work constructively with you on the Bill to smooth its passage through Parliament.

The Amendments cover a number of the most pressing issues which have arisen as a result of the Government’s policy towards Brexit and this Bill. I have set these issues and the Amendments out below.

Amendment 120 – Referendum on the deal

This Amendment would ensure that the people, not the Government will have the final say on the future of the UK’s relationship with the EU. A referendum on the terms of the deal would give people the opportunity to support the Government’s deal or state that the UK should remain a member of the EU.

Posted in News | Tagged brexit, eu withdrawal bill and tom brake | 4 Comments

Layla to May: Sack “witch-hunt” whip

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 24th October 2017 - 8:02 pm

It’s not surprising that an MP for a university town is horrified at the actions of a Government whip in writing to universities demanding to know who is teaching what about Brexit on their campuses.

It was reported today that Chris Heaton-Harris, a leading eurosceptic MP and a senior government whip, wrote to vice-chancellors at the start of this month asking for the names of any professors involved in teaching on Brexit and the content of their lectures.

Layla who is also Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson said:

This chilling letter could have come straight out of a dystopian novel.

Conservative Brexiteers know

…

Posted in News | Tagged brexit, education, layla moran and universities | 12 Comments

The building blocks of #metoo

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 24th October 2017 - 12:17 am

Jared O’Mara is hardly the first MP to have been caught out expressing prejudiced views. It just goes to show that if you are known to have said something dodgy on the internet over a decade ago, it is likely to find its way into the hands of your political enemies.

For Liberal Democrats, though, it’s all a bit galling. O’Mara beat our Nick Clegg in a particularly cruel twist of fate in June’s General Election. His victory meant that Parliament was deprived of the most expert voice on Brexit. Where Nick fought for equality, O’Mara’s views as an adult have been far from civilised.

My first thought was to write a piece saying that he must stand down from the Women and Equalities Committee in Parliament. Thankfully pressure was brought to bear on him and he resigned this evening as our Paul Scriven had demanded. Sadly that committee still has Philip Davies on it. He, you might remember, thinks that he and other men are voiceless and being drowned out by these feminist types.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged #metoo, equalities, harassment and sexism | 24 Comments

Lib Dems step up attack on Universal Credit

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 22nd October 2017 - 9:59 pm

Liberal Democrats have played their part in making sure that the inadequacies of Universal Credit have been highlighted. In the debate on Wednesday, Christine Jardine said:

We hear that, instead of it helping, as many as 1 million children could be pushed into poverty by 2020. That surely cannot be the legacy that my Conservative colleagues would want to leave for future generations. They surely cannot be content with what they are hearing in this Chamber from constituents and even their own Back Benchers: that families are facing rent arrears and the threat of losing their homes; that there is anxiety about missed payments; and that people are choosing between making those payments or feeding their families.

Citizens Advice Scotland has already seen more than 100,000 people, one in five of whom have waited more than six weeks for payments—and only 14 areas in Scotland have UC. We stand at an important crossroads: the Government have the opportunity to pause UC, address its many flaws and say to those coping with the cruel reality of this botched benefit reform, “We hear you. We recognise the problem and we will fix it.”

Stephen Lloyd caught Iain Duncan Smith out one of those economic with the truth moments:

Secondly, the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), a former Secretary of State, said that the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has supported universal credit. I was a bit surprised by that, so I did a quick check. The JRF actually said that it would support universal credit if it was properly funded—I just mentioned the £3 billion—and if payment and waiting times were reduced, which is exactly what many people have been saying today.

The media reports yesterday that the Government is ready to make changes on the amount of time people are waiting for money, but that isn’t the only problem with Universal Credit. It’s interesting that Labour now accepts the principles behind Universal Credit – that it should end the poverty trap. Until the Tories got a majority, that’s exactly what it would have done. There was enough money in there to ensure that people could move into work and not lose their benefits. Then May 2015 happened and George Osborne took billions out of the system.

So, our Work and Pensions Spokesperson Stephen Lloyd and Leader Vince Cable have written to the the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to ask him to sort this out in the budget. They said:

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged christine jardine, stephen lloyd, universal credit and vince cable | 3 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #493

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 22nd October 2017 - 9:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 493rd weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (15-21 October, 2017), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

Posted in Best of the blogs | 2 Comments

Brake: Labour Brexit Bill intervention “Too little, too late”

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 22nd October 2017 - 2:55 pm

Today’s pronouncements by Keir Starmer that Labour might, if it feels like it, work with Tories to secure some moderate changes to the EU Withdrawal Bill are hardly earth-shattering.

I can’t find the words “single market” anywhere in his red lines. Perhaps the people’s red lines are, like the Glee Club song, slightly pink. I certainly don’t think that Labour should be expecting gratitude any time soon. They are barely managing the minimum you would expect from an opposition.

Lib Dem Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake is similarly unimpressed:

It’s entertaining to see the Labour front bench attempting to have a backbone,

…

Posted in News | Tagged brexit, labour and tom brake | 19 Comments

Julian Huppert won’t stand again in Cambridge

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 22nd October 2017 - 12:55 pm

Sad news for Julian Huppert’s many fans. He announced on Twitter this weekend that he won’t be standing for Parliament again.

It was an honour to represent my home town as MP & to make a positive difference locally & nationally. However, I will not be standing again

— Julian Huppert (@julianhuppert) October 21, 2017

I remain passionate about many issues & will continue to try to make things better, in different ways. We need fairer, more liberal society

— Julian Huppert (@julianhuppert) October 21, 2017

While I understand that he might want his life back after seven years of ceaseless campaigning, I am very sad to see this. Julian was on the same side as me on practically every argument the party has had. It was fantastic to have such a prominent figure in the party campaigning so strongly against replacing Trident.

Julian was such a credible voice on matters of science and technology and riled the less knowledgeable to the extent that they greeted him with derision every time he got up to speak. He played a crucial role in making sure that the party stopped the Tories introducing the Snoopers’ Charter during the coalition years.

Posted in News | Tagged cambridge, civil liberties and julian huppert | 8 Comments

WATCH: Vince Cable talking about the Brexit Bill and how it undermines Parliament

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 21st October 2017 - 8:55 am

Here’s Vince talking on the Daily Politics the other day about Theresa May’s offer to EU nationals, trade and how the EU Withdrawal Bill in its current form undermines democracy.

He emphasised that the British Government is in a very weak negotiating position with the EU.

Posted in News | Tagged daily politics and vince cable | 4 Comments

Cole-Hamilton: Children must have equal protection from assault

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 20th October 2017 - 1:30 pm

Well, this will probably be a controversial one as the issue over whether parents should have the right to hit their children for some peculiar reason always causes a big argument in liberal circles. My own view has always been that there are no circumstances in which it is justifiable to hit a child and that there is always a better way. Having children grow up thinking that it’s fine to hit someone smaller and defenceless to get your own way really isn’t a good look. Some children will grow up emotionally scarred from the experience of what some people …

Posted in News | Tagged Alex Cole-Hamilton, Scotland and smacking | 5 Comments

WATCH: Jo Swinson talking about her political comeback

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 20th October 2017 - 11:55 am

Lib Dem Deputy Leader Jo Swinson was on the Daily Politics this week talking about her two years out of politics after her defeat in 2015 and what motivated her to come back. She cited the threat to liberal values posed by Brexit and Trump and the unwelcome prospect of another divisive referendum on Scottish independence as the driving forces which spurred her to contest her seat again.

Watch her discusser own comeback – and whether Nick Clegg could do the same, here:

Posted in News | Tagged Jo Swinson | 3 Comments

Question Time is going to be worth watching tonight

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 19th October 2017 - 7:20 pm

Most often these days, I can’t even force myself to watch Question Time and I’m interested in politics. It’s become such an unbalanced, thoughtless shouting match which rarely yields intelligent observation. The liberal viewpoint is rarely represented and the frequent presence of the most unpalatable voices from the right wing tabloids or extreme right wing politics just makes me want to weep.

Tonight, though, we are in for a treat.

Not only are we going to get our amazing Sal Brinton, but also on the panel, fresh from Strictly, is the one and only Reverend Richard Coles. He will no doubt bring a bit of good humour and thoughtfulness to the proceedings.

Lisa Nandy was one of the editors of The Alternative, the book advocating a progressive alliance.

We might see a spat between brexiteers Chris Grayling and Tory Peer and Next CEO Simon Wolfson, too. Wolfson isn’t showing any sign of “bregret” but he has been critical of the Government’s approach to Brexit.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged question time and sal brinton | 8 Comments

John Leech slams Manchester Council on homelessness

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 18th October 2017 - 8:55 am

Labour today have an opposition day debate on Universal Credit. They are rightly calling out the huge flaws in the system and the misery its botched implementation is causing.

What’s interesting is that they now accept that the principles behind Universal Credit – as an end to the poverty trap – were sound. It is the huge cuts post 2015 when the Tories were governing on their own, and the implementation which leaves people without money for six weeks as standard which must be stopped. They raise the issue of homelessness and evictions caused by Universal Credit, too.

Unfortunately, Labour’s council in …

Posted in News | Tagged homelessness, john leech and manchester | 20 Comments

WATCH: Alex Cole-Hamilton and Scottish Young Liberals President speak at Edinburgh Rally for Europe

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 16th October 2017 - 1:55 pm

On Saturday the Royal Mile erupted in a sea of dark blue and yellow stars as hundreds of people attended a rally at Edinburgh’s City Chambers run by the Scottish Young European Movement.

Awesome @LibDems turn out for #EU rally in Edinburgh today, calling for #exitfrombrexit pic.twitter.com/31nEmg34bd

— Alex Cole-Hamilton (@agcolehamilton) October 14, 2017

There were two Liberal Democrat speakers – Edinburgh Western MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton and new Co-President of the Scottish Young Liberals Christopher Wilson.

The videos below are brought to you courtesy of SYL’s Tristan Gray. I did try to film them but my phone threw a strop at the crucial moment, so thanks to Tristan for letting me use this.

But before all that, you need to see my new favourite thing.

My new favourite thing – Ode to Joy on the bagpipes #rallyforeurope #thinkagain #exitfrombrexit pic.twitter.com/jOMQPBXPFY

— Caron Lindsay (@caronmlindsay) October 14, 2017

Here’s Alex.

Posted in News | Tagged Alex Cole-Hamilton, brexit and rally for europe | 3 Comments

Lib Dems should question detention of political activist under terror laws

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 16th October 2017 - 8:45 am

The Sunday Herald carries a very disturbing story about the detention by Police Scotland of a political activist, Eleanor Jones, under the same controversial law that was used to detain David Miranda four years ago.

Ms Jones was heading to Germany from Edinburgh Airport in the Summer when she was detained. She had been in the city attending her grandad’s funeral.

She made her way through security and, after walking towards her gate, was met by two plain-clothed police officers.

She recalled: “It was clear they had expected me and came there to get me – they had a copy of my flight bookings.”

Jones said she was detained for several hours – missing her flight – and was “interrogated” about the political views of her and her family.

She said she was quizzed about her opinions on the UK Government, adding: “They asked about Hamburg as well.”

Jones also said the officers asked her to hand over her iPhone and laptop: “They scanned my data to see if there was anything to prove I was a terrorist. They were going through all my information.

“Once they had scanned and copied my phone’s data they gave it back to me. My laptop was posted back to me in Germany.”

While Ms Jones was released without charge, she missed her flight and has still not been reimbursed for the cost of its replacement by Police Scotland.

I think that there are questions here for both the Scottish and UK Governments. No doubt the Scottish Government will deny all knowledge and say that it is an operational matter for the Police because that’s what they always do, but Scottish Lib Dems should press them as they are accountable and it does seem that the Police have acted without any reasonable grounds.

Posted in News | Tagged civil liberties | 8 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #492

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 15th October 2017 - 9:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 492nd weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (8-14 October, 2017), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment

So Labour’s against a no-deal Brexit. Are we supposed to be grateful?

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 15th October 2017 - 2:10 pm

Labour’s Shadow Brexit Spokesperson Keir Starmer has been all over the media this morning proclaiming with great certainty that Labour is against a no-deal Brexit.

He actually said that with a straight face. You’d never have thought that Labour could have headed the prospect off at the pass by ensuring that the Article 50 Bill had a parachute attached to it so that we didn’t fall off the edge of a cliff. They could have ensured that we continued to stay in the single market and the customs union way back in January.

And don’t get me started on their lack of spirited campaigning during the referendum.

What is worrying me is that whenever the predicament we are in as a country starts to become clear, both Tories and Labour start trying to shift the focus onto No Deal in the hope that anything that eventually emerges from the negotiations will seem better in comparison. There is no better. There is only less horrendous. There is no satisfactory outcome other than staying in the EU.

As business gets seriously worried and it starts to dawn on the public that this Brexit idea is an absolute shambles, it looks very much like Labour is going to find itself on the wrong side of public opinion if it doesn’t actively look for a way to drag the country off the ledge.

Nothing we are hearing from Labour at the moment gives me any sense that the leadership is shifting its position.

John McDonnell might wring his hands on the sidelines all he likes. What Labour needs to do is pull a shift at actually opposing the Government.

In a tweet this morning, Vince gave them a good telling off:

For goodness sake end #brexitshambles. Find #exitfrombrexit. When in a hole stop digging. @YouGov shows public now see #Brexit as mistake. https://t.co/PCI89QdOmG

— Vince Cable (@vincecable) October 15, 2017

Meanwhile, Tom Brake called on Labour to agree to an “exit from Brexit” referendum:

Posted in News | Tagged brexit, tom brake and vince cable | 36 Comments

Alex Cole-Hamilton calls for continence strategy

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 15th October 2017 - 10:49 am

When I was on holiday, I listened to an interesting article on Women’s Hour about a fringe show centred around pelvic floor exercises. It was both hilarious and mildly disturbing. And for a few days afterwards I was particularly diligent, as I expect many people were, before forgetting about it all again.

Elaine Miller, the person behind that show, wrote about it in the Guardian.

Anecdotally speaking, using humour as a health promotion tool works well. Proving that is tricky – the only established fact is that comedy is subjective, so, conducting a random controlled trial is fairly challenging. However, getting the public to comply with simple lifestyle changes and health behaviours has always been difficult, so, perhaps an irreverent approach is worth a shot?

Incontinence interferes with every single thing a person wants to do, and, helping someone to live a life unrestricted by their bodily functions is wonderfully satisfying, far more so than helping someone win a medal for being marginally faster than someone else. Being part of huge sports events was glamorous and fantastic, but, I am happiest on stage, at conference or in clinic proclaiming that that everyone deserves to have a decent pelvic floor.

Now it turns out that Elaine s a mate of Alex Cole-Hamilton’s and the two have teamed up to call for the Scottish Government to launch a National Continence Strategy.

Posted in News | Tagged Alex Cole-Hamilton and continence | 4 Comments

Liz Evans and Jane Dodds meet in Welsh Lib Dem leadership hustings

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 15th October 2017 - 8:55 am

Lib Dem Voice is always neutral in leadership elections of any sort and so we will be for the Welsh Liberal Democrat Leadership election which culminates in 2 weeks’ time. The two candidates are former Assembly candidate for Ceredigion and local Councillor Liz Evans and former candidate for Montgomery Jane Dodds.

The only thing I will say is that having met both Jane and Liz, I think that they are both absolutely amazing and either would be a worthy successor to Kirsty Williams who has resumed the leadership temporarily. This election is unusual in that it is being fought between two non parliamentarians. The Welsh Party’s constitution was changed earlier this year to allow this because of the unfortunate circumstances in which it found itself.

The Welsh Party has, despite some spirited campaigning and inspiring leadership from Kirsty for most of the last decade, suffered huge setbacks in the last couple of years. The coalition legacy and the rise of UKIP has cost the party dear. While they have the one Lib Dem Cabinet minister in the country at the moment, she is their only parliamentarian. Unfortunately Mark Williams lost his Ceredigion seat by a heartbreaking 150 votes in the General Election in June.

Posted in News | Tagged jane dodds, liz evans and welsh liberal democrat leadership election 2017 | 1 Comment

Cole-Hamilton: Defeating Brexit is our Everest

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 14th October 2017 - 12:00 pm

If you head to the Royal Mile at about two in the afternoon, you’ll be in for a big surprise. Our Alex Cole-Hamilton is one of the speakers at a Rally for Europe but he won’t be delivering the Europe stump speech many of us have heard many times. In fact, I’m probably more word perfect on it than I am the Sound of Music or the words of Abba Gold.

Today a new version of the Cole-Hamilton Euro speech takes centre stage and it’s just as good.

Here’s an extract.

Now I heard that Boris Johnson said that if we had to, in the event of no deal we could live without our EU workforce, that they only make up 3% of our health and social care workforce so we could probably tough it out. Boris, your spinal column makes up 3% of your body mass, try functioning without that.

“You all know my party’s policy. The Liberal Democrats believe that a process begun by the will of the British people must be concluded by the will of the British people.

“That we must put the final terms of the Brexit deal or the reality of no deal to them in a referendum, and on that ballot paper they should have an unambiguous choice to reject Brexit and remain in the EU.

“I believe that when credited with the facts, the people of this country will reject the lunacy of Brexit and return to the fold of what has become quite simply the most important project for peace and freedom in the whole of human history,

“So when the full hideous calamity of Brexit is laid bare, we should ask the people of this country, in the solemnity of the polling stations where this first started, is this really what you want? Is this what you imagined taking back control would look like? And if it isn’t then you should exercise your democratic right to stay.

“We meet in extraordinary times, historic times and you will each look back on this period and ask yourself, did I do my part? Don’t leave that question unanswered, it’s time to dig in and fight, it isn’t just a mountain we have to climb, this is our Everest.

Posted in News | Tagged Alex Cole-Hamilton, brexit, edinburgh and rally | 8 Comments

Lib Dems gain in Three Rivers and forge ahead in Sheffield

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 13th October 2017 - 7:59 am

Some very promising Council by-election results overnight.

First of all, there was a gain from the Conservatives in the Lib Dem stronghold of Three Rivers. Good to see the majority of one being boosted.

It’s a GAIN in Oxhey Hall & Hayling Ward, Three Rivers District Council.
LD Keith Martin 672
Con 461
Labour 428
UKIP 35
Green 31 pic.twitter.com/hkd3IaH1ZN

— ALDC (@ALDC) October 12, 2017

Congratulations to Keith Martin and the fabulous team in the area.

In Sheffield there was a solid 21% increase in the vote, even though Labour held the seat.

Beighton (Sheffield) result:

LAB: 48.6% (+5.2)
LDEM: 26.6% (+21.0)
CON: 16.3% (-0.8)
UKIP: 6.3% (-19.2)
GRN: 2.2% (-3.1)

Labour HOLD.

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) October 12, 2017

Another interesting result was this from Ashfield:

Hucknall North (Ashfield):

ASHI: 51.1% (+51.1) GAIN from Con.
LAB: 24.2% (-6.5)
CON: 20.4% (-10.6)
UKIP: 2.5% (-15.7)
LDEM: 1.8% (+1.8)

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) October 12, 2017

We did put up a candidate here, which is a really good thing. It is so important that we continue to fly our flag there and try to recoup the ground lost in that area. The winning Ashfield Independents, though, were formed by the previous Council-dominating Liberal Democrat group. Their literature looks strikingly familiar.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged local government by-elections | 14 Comments

A couple of observations about Vince’s reshuffle

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 12th October 2017 - 5:27 pm

So Vince Cable reshuffled his top team today.

There’s a very interesting change of language. No longer are they called the Shadow Cabinet. That probably makes sense for a team of 12 MPs out of 650. They will henceforth be known as spokespeople.

So who has the top jobs? A full list is here.

The team is gender balanced. In fact there is a majority of women – 15 out of the 29. That includes long time Vince ally Dee Doocey who is coming in with a Spokesperson without Portfolio. This would certainly enable her to obtain a profile over a wide range of subjects. I don’t even know if this has been thought of, but it crosses my mind that she could be a contender for party president when Sal Brinton comes to the end of her constitutionally allowed terms in 2019. If it happens, remember that you heard it here first.

As requested in the comments, for those of you who don’t know Dee, she’s had a very long history in the party and the Liberal Party before it. Back in the day she was the Finance Director of the Liberal Party. She has been a Richmond Councillor and Greater London Assembly Member who was appointed to the House of Lords back in 2010. She’s been running Vince Cable’s elections for 25 years. You can read more about her here.

Vince has a job

The Leader doesn’t normally have a job in these circumstances but when you are the most credible voice on the economy in the House of Commons or not the country, it would be daft if he didn’t speak up on these issues. Susan Kramer will reprise her role on this in the Lords.

More experience than Corbyn’s front bench

While they may not be called the Shadow Cabinet any more, they are more entitled to call themselves that than the Labour front bench. There are no fewer than, by my reckoning, seven former ministers, including Vince, Alistair and Ed as former Cabinet ministers.

Where’s Norman?

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged featured, liberal democrat spokespeople, reshuffles and vince cable | 15 Comments

Tim Farron explains how the Government’s cuts to supported accommodation will harm most vulnerable

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 11th October 2017 - 1:55 pm

One of the (many) hugely worrying things about the Government’s plans for Housing Benefit is the cap being applied to supported accommodation.

Across the country, people are given the chance to live as independent lives as possible in accommodation which comes with its own support network. Government cuts threaten this – and the human cost is appalling.

This was discussed in a Westminster Hall debate yesterday in which Tim Farron took part.

From my experience of the supported housing provided for constituents with autism and learning difficulties, I know that the LHA rent cap will mean that they simply will not be able to afford the support that they get in their current setting. They will end up in institutions or hospitals, which will actually cost the taxpayer far more money.

On Facebook, he went into a bit more detail:

Posted in News | Tagged housing and tim farron | 4 Comments

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