Author Archives: Caron Lindsay

Caron Lindsay

WATCH: Christine Jardine on the “mindless, vindictive” online attacks she endured on day of her husband’s funeral

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 14th September 2017 - 8:24 pm

One of the most awful points of the General Election was seeing Christine Jardine coming under attack from a whole load of people online. They’d accused her of breaking the campaign pause in Edinburgh West. She had, in fact, been at her husband’s funeral. Even when they were told the situation, they kept going and kept throwing even more abuse. It was shameful.

This afternoon, in a debate on online abuse in the House of Commons, Christine spoke very powerfully about those experiences. Sure, politicians were going to be subject to disagreement and comment but nobody signs up for intimidation and abuse.

I thought that she made some really sensitive and intelligent comments about mental health, too. She outlined how social media could be a force for good for those who suffered from mental ill health and how it could really help with isolation. I actually know that from my own experience. Back in 2009, Twitter kept me going when I was laid low for months by Glandular Fever. That was in the early days when it was a lovely place to be. I actually made some friends on there who became friends in real life. But social media also has a potential to do much harm to mental health if people were subjected to abuse and bullying.

Last year I wrote of my own experience of online abuse and how it came pretty close to breaking my spirit.

Here is Christine’s speech in full. The text is below.

Mr Speaker sir thank you for calling me to speak in a debate which, for me, has such personal resonance.

During the most recent General Election I was one of those who discovered just how easily an on line platform can be used to spread hurtful or personally abusive lies.

My experience – which is far from the worst example – actually started with something I originally put down to a genuine mistake or misunderstanding…. Before quickly realising it was actually an attempt to gain political advantage with no respect whatsoever for the personal impact… or the truth.

During the break in campaigning as a mark of respect following the Manchester attack I was accused, on social media, by an activist from another party, of ignoring that and going out campaigning.

I had, in fact, been at my husbands funeral.

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Caron Lindsay

Nick and Miriam talk publicly for the first time about their son’s successful Cancer treatment

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 14th September 2017 - 1:30 pm

About a year ago, I became aware that Nick Clegg and Miriam Gonzalez Durantez were going through the worst ordeal any parent can face. Their eldest son Antonio was going through brutal treatment for a life-threatening condition. They were very much in my thoughts as my family also faced months of medical trauma. That sort of thing is scary enough when it happens to an adult, but utterly heartbreaking and terrifying beyond anything you are ever likely to face when it comes to your own child.

It was pretty much an open secret, but, thankfully, the media respected  the family’s privacy nobody published anything about what was happening.

Yesterday, Nick and Miriam talked about their son’s illness for the first time on ITV’s Lorraine programme. They wanted to raise awareness of Bloodwise, a charity dedicated to funding research into blood cancers. The aspect that Nick and Miriam focused on was that of finding a way of making the treatments less horrendous to endure. They wrote a blog for the charity, saying:

Antonio, our eldest son, was 14 when we first spotted a small, entirely painless lump in his neck.
Although he had no other symptoms, we made an appointment with our local GP.  We were lucky: our brilliant doctor quickly recognised that the lump could be something more serious. And so it was that after an ultrasound scan and a biopsy Antonio was diagnosed in September of last year with stage 2 Hodgkin Lymphoma in his neck and his chest.

Like all parents who have a child diagnosed with cancer, our first reaction was an overwhelming, if irrational, wish to take the cancer away from him and take it on ourselves. But of course you can’t. You have no choice but to watch your own child battle through the heavy treatment, however much all your parental instincts wish you could take their place.

The treatment he received in the NHS at the teenage cancer unit at UCLH was superb. Every single person working on the ward – from the reception desk to the expert nurses – was friendly, professional and compassionate. We were especially fortunate that Dr Stephen Daw, Antonio’s Consultant Oncologist, is a specialist in childhood and teenage lymphomas and leads research into improving treatments and outcomes.

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Caron Lindsay

Caron’s guide to the craziness of Conference – updated for Bournemouth 2017

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 14th September 2017 - 8:49 am

Federal Conference is probably the best fun that you will ever have in your life. You will thoroughly enjoy every exhausting moment. If you’re new, it can be a bit overwhelming until you get used to the sensory overload. I had a long break from going to them and when I returned, in 2011, I spent the first day wandering round in a state of wide-eyed amazement,  like a child in a toy shop.

So, with that in mind, I thought I’d throw together a fairly random list of tips and hints for getting the best out of the annual cornucopia of Liberal Democracy. If you have any other Conference survival tips, let me know.

1. Plan your days

The Conference day starts with breakfast fringes as early as 7 and goes on until the small hours. There’s a comprehensive training programme alongside the debates in the hall. There are spokespeople Q & As. There are competing fringe choices to be made, even though the overall selection has reduced in recent years.  You can guarantee that you will never be bored and that several things you want to see will be on at the same time. If you want to go to the big fringe events with Vince or other VIPs, then you need to get there early.

Be aware as well that you can eat quite well for free by choosing the right fringe meetings – look for the refreshments symbol in the directory. I might add, because I wouldn’t be doing my job as editor properly if I didn’t shamelessly plug our own events, that you will get some lovely grub at the Lib Dem Voice meetings. There’s one on Saturday night on adult education with Vince, chaired by our Mary Reid at 8:15 in the Purbeck Suite at the Marriott. On Sunday lunchtime, the Alliance Party’s David Ford and others in Bayview 2 at the BIC at 1pm to discuss the effects of Brexit on Ireland and Gibraltar.

Believe me, it’s much easier if you sort out your diary in advance. The best laid plans will always be subject to a better offer or meeting someone you haven’t seen for years randomly in a corridor, but it’s best to at least try to get some order into the proceedings. The Conference App is a real help for this. You can download it from whichever App store you use (search for Lib Dem Conf) on your phone. It allows you to add events to your schedule and is pretty flexible. 

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Caron Lindsay

WATCH: Vince’s LBC phone in

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 12th September 2017 - 9:14 pm

Today Vince did the show formerly known as Call Clegg.

As I well know, a row with Nick Ferrari is a great way to start the day.

Here’s a clip.

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Caron Lindsay

Willie Rennie: Liberal Democrats have been at the forefront of devolution

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 11th September 2017 - 12:10 pm

I was still living in England at the time of the 1997 election. As the results came through, I nipped upstairs in the sports centre in Chesterfield where I was at the count to watch some results on the telly. There were was one other person in the room, Tony Benn, who was eating a white chocolate Magnum. Anyway, I was quietly blubbing with joy because I knew that this result would mean that we would get a Scottish Parliament.

A lot has happened since then. Some of the Lib Dems’ finest moments came during their 8 years in coalition with Labour at Holyrood. Free personal care, STV for local government, free eye and dental checks, the smoking ban (ahead of similar measures down south), right to roam, decent freedom of information legislation were just some of the things that we got done. The paucity of the SNP’s achievements in their decade in power do not compare well.

On this 20th anniversary of the devolution referendum, Willie Rennie said:

Liberal Democrats are proud of the part we played in bringing about the devolution voted for in 1997 and enacted from 1999. A decentralised United Kingdom, with decision making closer to people, with a pluralist approach at its heart, reflected decades of campaigning for Britain to become a modern democracy.

Liberal Democrats were part of the civic movement in Scotland, through the Constitutional Convention, that set down the clear path for a devolved parliament with real powers. And they were able to take up their places inside the newly elected Scottish Parliament after the first elections.

Liberal Democrats can be proud that the big difference made to people’s lives in Scotland –free personal care for the elderly and the revolution in renewable energy to name just two – came as a result of the work of Liberal Democrats in the first term of office. People even now still demand that governments of all stripes get as much done in their terms of office as we did back then.

The whole of the UK has benefited from devolution and the transfers of powers that have taken place since 1999.

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #488

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 10th September 2017 - 9:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 488th 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 (3-9 September, 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:

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Caron Lindsay

Have you got your Lib Dem Disco tickets yet?

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 10th September 2017 - 11:53 am

In recent years, the hottest place to be on the Saturday night of Conference is the Lib Dem Disco. This year it’s back for the fourth time.

This year, the organisers are being uncharacteristically cagey about their line-up, tantalising us by drip-feeding out the contestants who will be competing for the prized accolade of Best DJ. The title has been won for the last two years in fantastic style by Jo Swinson. The last time I spoke to her about it she was adamant she wasn’t going to go for the hat-trick.

So far, we know that Lib Dem Newbies co-founder and force of nature Daisy Benson and Lib Dem Peer and former MEP Sarah Ludford will be taking their turns at the decks.

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Caron Lindsay

Vince announces his Chief of Staff and Press Secretary

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 9th September 2017 - 3:21 pm

Those of us who had hoped of a return to Westminster for Sarah Olney will have to wait for a while because she has taken a job which will ensure she is there every day, but will not be able to stand for election.

Vince Cable has appointed her as his new Chief of Staff so she will have a key role in developing his strategy and liaising with the Party to get us all onside.

In many ways, this is an inspired appointment and sends out two very clear messages. First of all, it’s forward looking. Sarah wasn’t even a member of the party two and a half years ago. She joined us in the first post-Clegg surge in May 2015. She is a Lib Dem newbie who is going to be even more at the heart of developing party strategy than she was as an MP. That’s a nod to the members who has joined the party that the new leader may have been around for a while, but he is open to them.

Sarah Olney’s appointment also reaffirms the party’s increasingly vocal anti-Brexit stance. There will be no more equivocating and diffidence.

This should go some way to soothing the nerves of those in the party who were slightly nervous about Vince’s comments in the wake of the referendum about things like freedom of movement and a second referendum.

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Caron Lindsay

WATCH: Catherine Bearder and Vince Cable speak ahead of March for Europe #ExitfromBrexit

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 9th September 2017 - 11:28 am

There are times when living 400 miles from London is a right pain. I’d have loved to be marching with the Liberal Democrats in the March for Europe in London today but an extra trip the week before Conference is way beyond my budget.

“We continue to oppose Brexit” says Vince, describing the Government’s strategy as “train crash in slow motion.” His language on this is becoming stronger all the time. He’s also developing a very strong message for the party that is not about Brexit – putting the reduction of inequality front and centre of the Liberal Democrat agenda

Catherine Bearder talked about how we had consistently opposed Brexit before, during and after the Referendum.

Watch both their pre-march speeches below.

The full text of Vince’s remarks is below.

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Caron Lindsay

Scottish Parliament calls for rollout of Universal Credit to be halted

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 8th September 2017 - 9:26 am

Alex Cole-Hamilton was one of the MSPs calling for the rollout of Universal Credit to be halted during a debate in the Scottish Parliament today. Only the Conservatives defended the continued rollout.

We know that people are having to wait up to 6 weeks for any money at all. MSPs had some real horror stories to report which you can see in the full record of the debate here.

Alex’s speech was very well crafted – and it was candid, too. He both acknowledged and distanced himself from the Liberal Democrat role in the coalition government’s welfare reform. However, he was able to show that without us there, the Tories have done a great deal worse. Here’s his speech in full.

I often speak with hyperbole in this place about the various responsibilities that we as decision makers discharge both in this Parliament and at Westminster, but the safety net that we provide for those who, for whatever reason, cannot provide for themselves should be the measure of any civilised society. My party has a proud history in the genesis and introduction of the welfare state in the early days of the 20th century, with the first state pension introduced under Lloyd George. In the 1940s, that great Liberal William Beveridge was the catalyst for the advent of social security when he identified the original “giant evils”, as he described them, of ignorance, idleness, squalor, want and disease. It is a failure of progress that, if we strip out the antiquated language, many of those evils still hold sway in our society today.

We should remember that, until this decade, the systems of welfare in this country had not undergone significant reform since their introduction, despite generations of incremental modification. For decades, welfare reform was sought by poverty campaigners, third sector organisations and academics so that we could dispense with unneeded red tape and inject much-needed social mobility into the system.

It fell to my party, in its period of coalition government, to co-preside over that much-needed redesign. I would, however, that we had had different bedfellows in that task. There are elements of the system that underpins the process that I take no pride in at all, and there are aspects of the new system that I still find shameful. Nevertheless, I am glad that we were there, for I dread to think of the welfare system that our Conservative partners would have designed unencumbered. We all saw the measure of the ideological compass behind Conservative social policy in the ill-fated manifesto that Theresa May published in the spring.

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Caron Lindsay

Vince Cable on Lib Dem mission to reduce inequality

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 6th September 2017 - 8:30 pm

For me, the Liberal Democrats have always been about reducing the inequality that poisons our society, that holds people back from opportunities.

We have always talked about it, but perhaps in the last few years the language has been a bit different. I was really chuffed when Vince talked about the need to tackle inequality so explicitly in his leadership manifesto. Today, his first major speech since becoming leader is on this issue and you can watch a clip here.

The full text of the speech is below. It’s thoughtful, serious stuff as you would expect.

Yes, under his leadership we’ll be looking for the exit from Brexit, but our main mission as a party is to do something about this inequality.  That works for me.

Politicians talk at length about fairness and unfairness. Verbal confetti. Bland. Something almost everyone can relate to emotionally. And it can be defined in so many different ways that it can be applied in almost every situation, for about every audience. Inequality narrows the subject down a bit but, again, has a wide range of definitions and meanings.

Putting aside the health warnings and the academic qualifications there is however, in the UK in 2017, something stirring around the idea of inequality: something new and worrying. It starts from the observation, or the belief, that inequalities of income, wealth and opportunity, between classes, regions and generations, are getting worse; that Britain is becoming relatively as well as absolutely unequal when we look at comparable countries, especially in Europe; and that this inequality is not merely offensive to the sensibilities of progressive minded folk but is doing serious damage to the wider society and economy.

Sometimes an event crystallises this feeling. The Grenfell Tower disaster wasn’t just a horrific accident with a large loss of life but illustrates in a graphic way that relatively poor people were not listened to by those in authority and attracted a casual approach to life threatening risk. And close by geographically, but light years away socially and economically, lived London’s super-rich.

What motivates me personally and politically is the way this this new Britain contrasts with the more egalitarian culture and mobile society that I grew up with: parents who progressed in 20 years from being factory workers living in a terraced house with an outside loo to being part of the professional class living in a detached house; from parents who left school at 15 progressing though ‘night school’ to a son at an elite university. There were of course ‘posh’ people in post-war Britain but they were few and largely inconspicuous; and there were poor people on the council estates but they were distant relatives or friends and we played and watched football together. A provincial British city, even today, does not have the jarring contrasts of London; but my sense is that even there, big differences in living standards and opportunities have opened up.

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Caron Lindsay

Is this any way to treat a work colleague? Layla Moran jeered as she questions PM about childcare

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 6th September 2017 - 7:25 pm

Layla Moran became the first of the Lib Dem newbie MPs to question the PM today. She asked a very reasonable question on underfunding of childcare and was met with the usual boorish jeering from Conservative MPs.

Layla took it all in good spirit as she retweeted an article in The Independent which commented on their behaviour.

There are now 208 women in the Commons, more than ever before. Yet instead of focusing on the barracking and bullying of women MPs in this instance, Bercow instead chose to convince his colleagues why Moran was worth listening to.

Imagine if Bercow had jumped to the defence of a male MP. “He has deplorable views but excellent manners so Jacob Rees-Mogg will be heard!”, or, “He actually remembered his briefing today so Boris Johnson please ask your question!”

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Caron Lindsay

Willie Rennie’s programme for government: Better schools, mental health care, more democracy in police

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 6th September 2017 - 10:25 am

Yesterday the Scottish Government unveiled its Programme for Government for the coming year. It wouldn’t have to go far to beat last year’s which saw precious little legislation. However, there is some stuff that we can welcome, so long as it delivers what it says on the tin. Lib Dems pardons for those convicted of consensual same sex activity, consultation on gender recognition and more inclusive sex education, presumption against prison sentences under 12 months, free personal care for people under 65 with seriously disabling conditions and raising the age of criminal responsibility from 8 to 12. This last measure is one which they shamefully and resolutely refused to do during the last Parliament despite pressure from the then Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson Alison McInnes.

There is still precious little investment in mental health. The warm words doesn’t match up to the facilities available on the ground. One real pinch point is the transition from child to adult mental health services. Young people have to wait up to a year and more to even be seen by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. Once they have managed to be seen, the treatment is good – but when they hit 18, there is very little for them and the services are arranged in a very different way. A child can go from fairly intensive support to nothing.

Below is Willie Rennie’s full speech in response to the Government’s programme in which he sets out Lib Dem priorities of using the tax powers to invest in education and to provide more and better mental health services.

He also suggests that the Lib Dems are sceptical about Holyrood voting against the European Withdrawal Bill because he thinks that the SNP are using it to drive a wedge between Scotland and England. Certainly the issue is more complex – both Scotland’s governments are letting it down in this regard.

“On Saturday afternoon, together with Alex Cole Hamilton, I joined a group of breast cancer survivors called the Port Edgar Dragons.  We were on their magnificent dragon boat Isla May on the River Forth.  They are a wonderful group of women who show gutsy human spirit to improve their health.

We had an alternative view of the Queensferry Crossing whilst thousands of lucky people enjoyed a stroll over the magnificent new structure.  The engineers and workers should be proud of their achievement.

“Those who argued it was not necessary only need cast their mind back to the winter of 2015 when the old bridge was forced to close or a little further back when it was discovered that the main cables were corroding.

“As with any project of that scale it has not been without its problems but it was a necessary investment to guarantee one of the major arteries down the east of the country.

“The summer recess should have allowed us all to reflect on one of the most turbulent periods in politics for some time.  With nine sets of elections and referendums in the last six years people have had their fill.

“People want elected politicians to deliver real improvements to their lives. They are fed up with the endless focus on independence. To give credit to the First Minister she recognised that in June when she signalled that she was cooling on independence.  I was sceptical at the time and will always be suspicious but for now we have a chance to focus on real change.

“And today’s announcement on a presumption against prisons sentences of twelve months or less is a start.  We have been calling for this for some time.

“After opposing it twice I am pleased to see the SNP are now prepared to raise the age of criminal responsibility. These are real liberal measures which we will support. Yet the problems our country faces are significant.

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Caron Lindsay

A review of this year’s Conference app

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 4th September 2017 - 11:55 am

Well, this must be some sort of record. It’s 11 days before I go to Conference and I’ve actually downloaded the Conference App and filled in my schedule so I know roughly where I’m supposed to throughout Conference. That’s not strictly speaking true because there are still times when I’ll be required to split myself in three or even four. If anyone has a Hermione Grainger time-turner I could borrow, I’d be ever so grateful.

This year’s Conference app (available by searching Lib Dem Conf on your chosen app store) is the best yet. There were no problems with using My …

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #487

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 3rd September 2017 - 9:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 487th 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 (27 August – 2 September, 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:

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Caron Lindsay

Why are Lib Dems trying to find common ground with Eurosceptics?

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 3rd September 2017 - 1:25 pm

Tom Brake calls on Eurosceptic MPs to back  Parliamentary Sovereignty screams the press release from LDHQ.  What’s that all about? The Tory hardcore aren’t going to listen to a damn thing a Lib Dem says. Not while the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

Basically, he’s saying to them – you spent the referendum banging on about our Parliament getting its powers back, now it’s up to you to make sure it does.

In a letter to the 21 Brexiteer signatories of this pre-ferefendum missive in the Telegraph who are still MPs, Tom says:

I am writing to you regarding the European Union Withdrawal Bill.

I am sure that we are in agreement that this Bill is of the utmost importance for the future of the UK and its relationship with the European Union. This Bill will affect a wide range of policy areas and lead to the incorporation of hundreds of pieces of EU law into UK law.

It is therefore imperative that Parliament is given full sovereignty and scrutiny over this process. This opinion is widely supported, with the Law Society stating that the Bill ‘must respect parliament’s role in making and approving changes to UK law’ and Anand Menon, Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King’s College London, stating that the Bill ‘isn’t simply cut and paste’ for transferring EU laws to UK law.

You may remember the letter you co-wrote and signed in the Daily Telegraph on 31st January 2016 regarding parliamentary sovereignty. In this letter you stated, ‘Whatever one’s views on the EU debate, many will agree that parliamentary sovereignty should be the key focus in any renegotiations.’   I am certain therefore that you will agree with me that parliamentary sovereignty should be the key focus also when considering a Bill of such importance to our future outside the EU.  To deny the importance of parliamentary sovereignty in relation to this Bill would be hypocritical and inconsistent with your previous stance.

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Caron Lindsay

Cable on North Korea: Unilateral military action must be ruled out

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 3rd September 2017 - 12:36 pm

Vince Cable has called for a parliamentary debate on the situation with North Korea as the country conducts its sixth nuclear missile test.

He said:

This alleged advancement North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme only strengthens the need to for an urgent diplomatic response to the crisis.

There is no military solution that does not risk the lives of millions, and no doubt that Trump’s war of words with Kim Jong-un has only served to heighten tensions.

Liberal Democrats are clear that the way forward requires engaging with China and other countries in the region to deescalate tensions. The government must urgently schedule time in Parliament to discuss this issue, and any unilateral military response must be ruled out.

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Caron Lindsay

Vince Cable hits Snapchat

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 3rd September 2017 - 8:51 am

Vince Cable is certainly getting out there on social media at the moment.

He’s tweeting several times a day. He’s on Facebook  and, like everyone else these days, on Instagram

It was his latest post on Instagram that surprised me – announcing that he’s going to be on Snapchat, a medium most commonly used by the young people I know, from 15th September.

The post announces:

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Caron Lindsay

Waste of public money and adventures in foreign journalism – an evening at the Edinburgh Book Festival

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 2nd September 2017 - 9:20 am

Jim Naughtie introduces Margaret Hodge

My spiritual home in August is usually Charlotte Square in Edinburgh at the heart of the Edinburgh Book Festival.

This year, I didn’t manage to get there at all until the very last night.

I showed up at 6pm after work without much hope of getting tickets for anything at that late stage. How wrong could I be?

I managed to buy returned tickets for both Margaret Hodge, the former Chair of the Public Accounts Committee and the amazing foreign correspondent John Simpson.

Margaret Hodge was there to talk about her book, Called to Account, and she  told us about an encounter with her predecessor just after she was elected PAC Chair. David Davis, before he became a fully paid up member of the establishment,  told her to go after Vodaphone on tax.

Keen to track down evidence of a deal between HMRC and the corporate giant, she summoned a senior HMRC official who denied everything. A suggestion from a committee colleague that the official be put on oath led to a 20 minute hunt for a Bible.

She outlined a few areas where public money could be better spent. The MOD apparently spends a fortune on polo lessons. That’s the charging around on horses clunking balls with mallets, not the mint with the hole.

A telling moment was when she changed her mind on the Private Finance Initiative which her party saddled us with. She thought they were a good idea but now sees them as a complete con, with NHS trusts having to pay off their debt before they pay a single doctor.

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Caron Lindsay

WATCH: Christine Jardine on the challenges facing Generation Y

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 1st September 2017 - 9:02 pm

BBC Scotland tonight held an online debate to end a week of special features on Generation Y. The theme was to discuss why millennials were likely to be poorer than their parents.

Subjects such as education, employment, housing and life after Brexit were covered.

I was particularly moved by Charlotte’s experience in the workplace – being made to work a trial shift with no training and no pay. It’s all too common in retail and hospitality these days and should be outlawed.

Our Christine Jardine MP was on the panel. The audience overwhelmingly agreed with a point she made – that the Government had failed to get the balance right on education. She added that university was not the only route to success and nor was leaving school and going to uni the only way you could get a degree.

She highlighted her dislike of the phrase “affordable housing,” saying that all housing should be affordable.

On employment, she emphasised that people need to be guaranteed a certain number of hours of work because they have financial commitments to meet. Watch the whole thing here. It’s pretty disgraceful that neither the Scottish nor the UK governments sent anyone along. Enjoy.

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Caron Lindsay

What happens at Lib Dem Conference? Do you want to ask Vince a question?

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 1st September 2017 - 10:38 am

One of the best things about Lib Dem Conference is the Leader’s question and answer session. Members attending will be able to question Vince on anything they like. That will not have quite the same novelty value given that he’s just done about 14 of these around the country over the last month or so, but, still, it’s a good opportunity for the leader to have a bit of interaction with party members.

There is a catch, though. You have to submit your questions in advance – by this coming Monday (4th September) at 1pm. If it’s picked, you will get a follow-up that he won’t know  about.

It’s not just Vince you can question. A hugely important part of accountability in this party is being able to scrutinise the party committees. If you want to put down a question to any of the Federal Committees or the Parliamentary parties,  it has to be done by the same deadline. You will also get a follow-up and your question will be published in Conference Extra.

And don’t forget that if you want to amend any motions, you need to find a local party, or 10 members, or an SAO like Lib Dem Women or Young Liberals to support it and get it in by the same time.

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Caron Lindsay

Linda’s last day

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 31st August 2017 - 8:15 pm

I can’t quite imagine Clifton Terrace without Linda

What will we do without Linda?

An utter legend

Variants of the above have been said so many times in Scotland in recent weeks, ever since it was announced that our much-loved Party Manager Linda Wilson was leaving us.

For the last 8 and a half years, Linda has been the heart and soul of our headquarters in Edinburgh, running the party with incredible efficiency, with a tremendous capacity to sort stuff out.

She’s run our conferences so that they are enjoyable for media, members and exhibitors alike.

Everyone who has anything to do with Conference or HQ has something nice to say about her.

Apart from her ability to Get Stuff Done, she has a wicked sense of humour and has constantly made us laugh with her pithy observations about life and the universe. She has no reservations about telling people exactly what she thinks when they deserve to hear it.

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Caron Lindsay

Remembering Donald Gorrie

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 28th August 2017 - 10:00 am

I think it is always important to remember those people who built strong foundations for the party during the exceptionally lean times of the 50s and 60s – and look to what we can learn from them right now.

This weekend, Facebook reminded me that it was 5 years since Donald Gorrie died. A councillor for quarter of a century, then MP and MSP, he built the foundations for our strength in Edinburgh West today.

At the time, I wrote this on my own blog:

Sadly, I never knew him that well, although, of course, I admired from afar his work on issues like sectarianism, alcohol, third party right of appeal in planning decisions and showing how STV would work in the Scottish Parliament.

He was a good role model of how to behave  when you’re in a coalition you’re not really happy with. He was never destructive, but he spoke up when he wasn’t happy and spent his time developing ideas. He had that winning combination of the sharpest of minds, the most liberal of hearts and the most determined of mindsets.

There are many other tributes to him in that post as well.

I put some of them into a Storify thingy.

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #486

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 27th August 2017 - 9:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 486th 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 (20-26 August, 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:

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Caron Lindsay

Liberal Democrats would end the benefits freeze – but Labour aren’t sure

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 27th August 2017 - 10:55 am

As prices go up in a Brexit-induced inflationary spiral, spare a thought for the poorest in our society. People who are having to rely on state benefits don’t get any cushioning thanks to George Osborne’s benefit freeze. As prices go up, benefits, already at a meagre level, stay the same making it even harder for people to survive.

So, you’d think that Jeremy Corbyn’s lefty Labour Party would be all about ending the freeze. Well, that’s what they briefed reporters on Friday morning ahead of a Corbyn visit to Cambridge. Remember that until 2015, Cambridge was represented by a Liberal Democrat who voted against many of the most contentious elements of the Coalitions social security reforms.

Anyway, Jezza rolls up and, weirdly, gives a much more timid message than his advisers had briefed. From Politics Home:

Party officials briefed journalists that Mr Corbyn would make the promise during a visit to Coatbridge in Lanarkshire yesterday.

A trail of his speech quoted the Labour leader saying: “We will lift the freeze on social security, using part of the billions we set aside for reform in our costed manifesto, by recycling social security savings made by introducing a real Living Wage of £10 an hour, and by building the affordable homes we need.”

But when he came to make the address, Mr Corbyn only said: “We are confident that we will be able to end the benefits freeze.”

A Labour source told The Times: “In his campaign speeches… not everything is said, but the intention was to say that. It’s in line with our policy.”

A party spokesman said: “We are confident that we will be able to end the benefits freeze.”

It’s the sort of caution that strikes resignation and frustration into the heart of anyone that actually wants to sort stuff out.

Just as a matter of interest, what is the Liberal Democrats’ policy on this? Pretty unequivocal, from the 2017 manifesto

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Caron Lindsay

Don’t get too excited about Labour’s Brexit baby step

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 27th August 2017 - 9:11 am

The Observer headlines Keir Starmer’s announcement that Labour might be prepared to back a longer transitional arrangement to keep us in the single market for longer as a “dramatic shift.”

That editor must have lead a really sheltered life if they think that reversing the tank a few metres back from the cliff edge in the middle of a storm is actually going to help that much.

The claim that Labour is now the party of soft Brexit is laughable. Soft Brexit means staying in the single market and the customs union in a Norway style arrangement. Labour’s position is the same as some Tory hard Brexiteers who support a two year transitional period before leaving the single market and customs union altogether.

Labour’s so-called shift is nothing but a baby step and it’s not even in the right direction. Any transitional period will come to an end and we will end up out of the single market and suddenly much poorer.

If you want a party that is willing to be honest about the very dangerous territory we are now in and which is prepared to offer people a way out of the mess, you have to go with the Liberal Democrats. Labour will not help. Some of them may want to go further, but Corbyn is holding them back.

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Caron Lindsay

Cable calls out May on inflated estimates of overseas student numbers

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 25th August 2017 - 12:00 pm

For years the Tories told us overseas students were outstaying their welcome to the tune of 100,000. Thanks to border exit checks implemented at the insistence of the Liberal Democrats, those estimates have been proven to be not even on the same planet, let alone the same ball park. Only 4,600 students stayed after their studies were complete according to official Home Office figures.

Vince Cable said that the Tories should stop harping on about cracking down on foreign students.

This debacle happened on Theresa May’s watch at the Home Office. I spent five years in coalition battling her department’s bogus figures on this issue but she responded by erecting a wall of visa restrictions on an entirely false basis.

Cabinet Brexiteers fought a referendum campaign on a flawed prospectus, scapegoating foreign students who weren’t even here, and demonising EU citizens who are now leaving the country voluntarily.

No wonder the government has announced a review into the impact of foreign students because its economically disastrous policy was based on figures that were out by 96%.

As we argued repeatedly with Theresa May, overseas students bring huge economic benefits to universities and the broader economy. It makes no sense for students to be included in official immigration statistics.

Higher education is one of Britain’s most successful export industries, we must not let it be destroyed by the Conservatives’ short-sighted obsession with immigration targets based on spectacularly wrong data.

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Caron Lindsay

So what happens at Lib Dem Conference? #1 The debates

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 25th August 2017 - 10:00 am

in just three weeks’ time, thousands of Liberal Democrats will descend on the wonderful seaside town of Bournemouth for four days of debating, networking, discussion, dancing and singing.

I thought it might be a good idea to give first-timers a bit of a flavour of what happens at Conference.

One of the main things we do at Conference is decide the party policy. Every party member who is registered for Conference is entitled to vote. This year we will be discussing topics ranging from Brexit to terrorism and civil liberties to climate change to small business to gun and knife crime.

Members will be asked to vote on motions which are published in the agenda. If you have a read of the motions and think that there is something that you would change about it, you can submit an amendment, with the support of a local, state or regional party, federal committee, SAO or 10 memebers. You have to do this by 1pm on 4th September.

A debate starts with a speech proposing the motion. The next speeches will be proposing any amendments to the motion. Then speakers for and against motion and amendments will be called to argue out the issues. Finally, at the end of the debate, someone will sum up for each amendment in turn. The last speaker will sum up for the motion as a whole. Those summing up will rebut the arguments made against their motion or amendment and highlight good points made in their favour.

There can be a few surprises. If you like a motion but can’t live with one particular clause, you can ask for a separate vote on that particular line.

Also, if you think that we need policy on something but the motions and the amendments miss the point in some way, you could ask for it to be referred back to some party body, most often the Federal Policy Committee, to have another look at. There is a special procedure for dealing with that request.

If you want more detail about how Conference works, you would be well advised to read the Standing Orders.

There’s nothing like actually sitting in a debate to get a flavour of how it works and thanks to the wonders of You Tube, you can do just that. Below is the recording of the Sunday morning session of last year’s Conference in Brighton. There are debates on combatting racism, a policy paper on the Liberal Democrat vision for 2020 (when we thought the next election would be, silly us) and European research. There is also a keynote speech from Alistair Carmichael and a question and answer session on education.

If you watch nothing else, go to 1 hour 28 in and watch the wonderful Alex Wilcock eviscerate the Agenda 2020 policy paper with a typical establishment busting, radical analysis that we all need to hear. Enjoy.

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dem Job Watch

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 24th August 2017 - 5:37 pm

Looking for a job? Fancy working for the Liberal Democrats?  There are plenty opportunities at the moment, but you will need to act quickly, as some of them close tomorrow.

Over at W4MP, there are opportunities available from Edinburgh to York to London

Christine Jardine MP is looking for a Parliamentary Assistant to work in Edinburgh with some travel to London.

This is an exciting opportunity based in the constituency and will require some travel to London. The successful candidate will be someone who enjoys the challenges and flexibility of working in a small team, be organised and have a strong desire to help constituents.

In York, there are two jobs going with our ruling Council group.

Firstly, they want a political assistant to the Lib Dem Group:

The post holder will work closely with the Group Leader who is the Deputy Leader of the Council and members of the Group, including those who are Executive Members. The postholder will be expected to:

  • identify current and forthcoming local, regional and national issues of political relevance;
  • prepare press releases and liaise with the media;
  • understand the role of social media in an age of modern communication;
  • undertake specific research;
  • provide written and oral briefings on emerging issues;

This is a politically restricted post governed by the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and Local Government Restrictions Regulations 1990.

An Executive Assistant to the Deputy Leader of the Council is also sought:

Due to the specialist nature of this role you will have a working knowledge and understanding of the Council’s responsibilities and of the role of the Deputy Leader and his Group within the Council. You will be a team player who is highly organised, works well under pressure and have at least two years’ relevant local government experience or of working in a similar role.

You will need to be confident, adaptable and flexible in your attitude and be able to work on your own initiative. You will have proven written and oral communication skills, and an excellent knowledge of IT packages. You will be a highly motivated individual capable of prioritising workloads and able to work to high standards.

If you think you could shape the future of the Liberal Democrats, you have just 24 hours left to apply for the two major jobs in Vince Cable’s team – chief of staff and Press Secretary. I suspect the two who recently lost these jobs in the White House need not bother applying.

Tim moved the Leader’s Office over to Lib Dem HQ but Vince is taking it back into Parliament. The challenge for these post holders will be to stay engaged with the party. You don’t need to be in LDHQ to keep abreast of the party – it’s more about attitude than physical location – but there has to be an acceptance that the party is important.

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Caron Lindsay

ERS General Election report shows that Liberal Democrats are heavily under-represented

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 24th August 2017 - 9:39 am

It doesn’t matter what the result of a Westminster election, the Liberal Democrats are usually under-represented. Our 23% in 2010 should have brought us 140 MPs. At this election, according to an Electoral Reform Society report, we could have had 29 or 39 MPs under a proportional system.  Given that Labour and the Tories are doing generally all right out of the system at the moment, we shouldn’t hold our breath waiting for reform.

If the election had been conducted under the Alternative Vote, which we campaigned for and squandered too much  political capital on in the coalition negotiations in 2010, we’d have had even fewer MPs than with First Past the Post. Only 11 Liberal Democrats would have been elected.

The report is generally a depressing read, highlighting how divided we are as a nation. They highlighted the number of wasted votes and pointed out that this was not a good thing for legitimacy:

In the end, we have a system that recognises the geographical location of a voter and nothing else. It is where voters are – rather than their choices – that matters. This must change if we are to restore legitimacy to our political institutions.

It says that First Past the Post has had its 3rd strike after failing to deliver decisive results in the last 3 elections. I beg to differ with that one. At least in 2010, we had a Government which had the support of more than half of the electorate for the two parties. Those of us who have been around for longer can attest to the fact that it has always been unfair. In my first election a quarter of the votes for the Alliance resulted in just 23 seats.

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