Author Archives: Caron Lindsay

Caron Lindsay

REMINDER: Conference Early Bird Discount closes before the end of next mon

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 31st May 2017 - 10:55 am

Yes, I know you’re a bit busy right now, but this is important.

If you have just been paid, now is the time to register for Autumn Conference as the Early Bird discount will have expired by the end of next month.

A reminder of the post I wrote when registration opened:

An email from Andrew Wiseman, chair of Federal Conference Committee, announced that registration was open for Autumn Conference in Bournemouth.

The Dorset town is my favourite conference venue. Maybe I’m just biased because the weather was so gorgeous the last time we were there, and the Goat and Tricycle pub is one of the nicest and has fantastic beer, but I’d strongly recommend coming. Let’s hope that we have many more MPs to welcome, too.

The exceptionally good news is that the Early Bird Discount rate would normally run out before the election, but it has been extended until 23rd June. This shows that the Conference Office and Federal Conference Committee have listened to criticism they received (some of it from me) about previous events when the discount has expired at a time when it would have caused difficulties for people. So, well done to them for that. 

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #482

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 28th May 2017 - 9:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our xxxth 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 (-, 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

Alpacalypse

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 28th May 2017 - 10:55 am

It wouldn’t be an election without photos of Willie Rennie with cute animals.

This time, they even behaved themselves.

I thought that the election hadn’t had enough alpacas in it, so I was delighted when I heard that he was off to visit an alpaca farm. Here he is with Edinburgh West candidate Christine Jardine and Edinburgh South West candidate Aisha Mir:

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Caron Lindsay

Sarah Olney’s “festival of fun” and Stephen Lloyd’s t-shirt giveaway – just two of the things happening in Lib Dem target seats this weekend

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 26th May 2017 - 6:20 pm

A few weeks ago, we might have thought we’d be spending this bank holiday sipping gin and tonics in our back gardens in beautiful sunshine, but Theresa May had other ideas.

Never mind, though. Lots of Lib Dem target seat campaigns are pulling out all the stops to entice you in. I am sure that others will add details of their events in the comments, but here are two that caught my eye.

Sarah Olney has this lot to get rid off and a little bird tells me that they have all sorts of fun things planned to keep visitors happy in their work. Head here  – they still have the same office as the by-election.

In Eastbourne, Stephen Lloyd’s team is trying to tempt you with some fetching yellow t-shirts, promised to the first few campaigners who show up. Stephen lost by a whisker in 2015.  His campaign office at 100 Seaside Road) will be open 10-5 for you and on Sunday evening there is a campaign rally.

But, really, how could you resist these.

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Caron Lindsay

Kirsty Williams on the “divisive” political atmosphere

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 26th May 2017 - 3:55 pm

Former Welsh Lib Dem Leader Kirsty Williams has spoken out about the unpleasant divisiveness of our political atmosphere after one of her team was racially abused and she had the unsettling experience of a man making a shooting gesture and telling her Liberals should be shot.

From Wales Online:

Describing the change she has seen since the EU referendum, she said: “I think ever since the Brexit vote I think politics has become very divisive in a way I haven’t witnessed in all these years and I think in some ways that has unleashed something where the country is very, very, very divided and that’s to be regretted and unfortunately I don’t see how that divide is going to be healed.”

Acknowledging the responsibility of politicians to take care in the language they use, she said: “I think all politicians at all times need to be mindful about how they express their arguments.

“There are legitimate arguments to be expressed but words are powerful and the influence politicians have is powerful and therefore there is a responsibility on all of us to be very mindful about how we conduct ourselves and the language we use.

She described what had happened to her volunteer and the effect that has on people:

“Unfortunately it just seems that this kind of discourse is becoming the norm. We’ve had a volunteer racially abused this week.

“She feels that she can’t go and deliver any leaflets because she was racially abused while just out delivering leaflets.”

The volunteer was someone who wanted to “do her bit in support of the values she believed in and unfortunately feels she won’t be able to do that again”.

The AM fears such experiences will stop people from getting involved in politics.

“That’s the issue, isn’t it,” she said. “Why would people want to put themselves and potentially their families through this?

Read on to find out how she reacted to a Conservative sign being planted in her hedge.

I do agree with Kirsty that politics can be pretty vicious at the moment. I am not sure it’s any worse than when I started out back in the 80s, though. It did calm down for a while in the late 90s. It used to be Labour who were the worst. Power came too easy to them and they responded with an aggressive arrogance to anyone who tried to take it from them. 

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Caron Lindsay

Why I’ve always gone to help in target seats

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 26th May 2017 - 1:20 pm

This is the 9th General Election in which I’ve been politically active. Let’s not think about how old that makes me! You can also add 4 Holyrood elections to that. I missed out on the first one because I was living in England and just about to give birth. That didn’t stop me running a committee room in Chesterfield on polling day, though. Nor did it stop me doing stuff for the Newark by-election that never was.

I’ve just been reflecting on all these campaigns and maybe I should write about each one individually at some point.

In each election, I have made sure that my effort is concentrated on target seats, even if that has meant travelling on a daily basis. The reason for that is that I’ve always been very aware that I know that what matters the day after polling day is the number of bums we have on seats in whatever legislature we’re in. I could not have it on my conscience to lose a key target by a few hundred votes while I’d concentrated on getting single figures in percentage terms in my home seat. Believe me I have seen that happen several times.

Building that momentum throughout the campaign needs extra help. I will be forever grateful to the wonderful people from across the East Midlands region who travelled several times a week to Chesterfield in 1997, or the Lothian people who travelled to help us in Edinburgh South in 2001 and 2005. Martin Garnett, who’s our candidate in Erewash again today, was part of that Chesterfield support team in 1997.

That help from outside ensures that can establish ourselves as the challenger, that we can out-campaign the opposition and put ourselves in a winning position. It means that we can talk to more voters and build that all-important impression of a growing campaign. Every single day of the campaign, extra people are needed to boost local capacity and sow the seeds of victory.

I would go as far as to say that if you are spending the majority of your campaigning time in a seat that is not a target, you are actually doing the party more harm than good.

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Caron Lindsay

WATCH: Lib Dems replace Party Election Broadcast with personal message from Tim Farron about Manchester

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 25th May 2017 - 10:11 pm

Powerful stuff from Tim Farron tonight. We withdrew our scheduled Party Election Broadcast and replaced it with two and a half minutes of Tim talking about the Manchester attack and how it bringing people together, not creating the division the terrorists want.

He talked about the Manchester he loves and the experience of being at the vigil on Tuesday night.

It was a very heartfelt and moving monologue, an act of solidarity before the election campaign starts again in earnest tomorrow. It’s not going to win us seats, but it is a good thing for our country.

Watch it here. A transcript is below.

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Caron Lindsay

Online Champions – an election initiative from Your Liberal Britain

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 25th May 2017 - 10:25 am

Those nice people at Your Liberal Britain have already changed the way we do things as a party. Their initiatives  to help us create our vision of what a Liberal Britain could look like have been incorporated into the policy making process.

Now they are turning their hands to a new challenge for the General Election.

When you share something on social media, and it’s been liked by loads of people, have you had a look and seen whether it’s actually been liked or shared by someone who isn’t already a Liberal Democrat?

Social media can be a bit of an echo chamber. That’s why Your Liberal Britain has decided to tackle that to widen the reach of Lib Dem messages.

YLB’s founder Jim Williams told me:

The thinking behind the initiative is that thousands of Lib Dem supporters work hard every day to make the case for the Liberal Democrats online – but all too many struggle to break out of their echo chambers. And they often lack access to the party’s messages, not knowing which topic to best tackle at any one time.

The Online Champions community empowers these activists to break out of their echo chambers and speak directly to voters, not just to their friends.

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Caron Lindsay

Feeling appreciated

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 24th May 2017 - 9:40 am

My poor husband doesn’t get a lot in the way of post. It tends to be bills, or adverts for stair lifts or begging letters from the Liberal Democrats.

The latter do not please him so I tend to intercept them so he doesn’t see them. He is of the not entirely unjustified opinion that his household has more than enough disruption because of his wife’s involvement in the party that they don’t need his money as well. The begging letters, 3 issues of Ad Lib a year and an absent wife sum up his membership experience. That and every five …

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Caron Lindsay

National campaigning to remain suspended tomorrow – but local campaigning can resume

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 23rd May 2017 - 9:41 pm

The party is advising candidates tonight that, while national campaigning remains suspended, local campaigning can resume tomorrow.

The  advice came in an email from Federal Campaigns and Elections Chair James Gurling who said:

 

Further to our advice this morning following the terrorist attack in Manchester, national campaigning will remain suspended tomorrow.

Like other parties we have agreed that local campaigning may resume with due sensitivity and at the discretion of local campaign managers.

We will continue to review the advice given on national and local campaigning.

So, take the lead from your local campaign manager and act accordingly.

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Caron Lindsay

Liberal Democrats react to Manchester bombing

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 23rd May 2017 - 8:46 am

Last night people would have dropped their kids off at Manchester Arena for the Ariana Grande concert. The kids would have been so excited. In the normal course of events, they’d have come out afterwards completely buzzing about the whole thing and would have spent hours reliving it and singing the songs.

They will certainly never forget the awful events of last night.

It is utterly impossible to comprehend what goes through the mind of someone who targets children and young people in this way.

One of my friends wrote on Facebook that we should think about what the terrorists want us to do – and then do the exact opposite.

They want us to turn on each other and change our lives to pander to them or fear of them. We can’t let them diminish us like that.

And in fact, we can see from the acts of kindness and solidarity from the people of Manchester that the generous, open-hearted spirit of that wonderful city will prevail.

Our hearts go out to all those who have lost loved ones, or who are going through the raw anxiety of not being able to track someone down, or who are waiting for news of an injured friend or relative.

All of us need to think about what we can do to make the world kinder, more open and gentle – and then go and do it.

Senior Liberal Democrats have been reacting to last night’s attack. Tim Farron said:

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Caron Lindsay

The SNP and the Tories are using the same playbook to delegitimise opposition and checks on their power

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 22nd May 2017 - 4:50 pm

There has been a very unfortunate trend in recent years of those in power condemning anyone who stands in their way. We all remember the failure of the Conservative Justice Secretary Liz Truss to stand up for the Supreme Court judges who upheld the law after the “enemies of the people” headline. However, that wasn’t the first time the judiciary had come under such attack. Back in 2011, Alex Salmond insulted Lord Hope, a judge who had found the Scottish Government to be wanting on human rights. As I wrote at the time:

Peter Cadder, whose case sparked the SNP’s casual quadrupling of pre-charge detention time in an afternoon last year, won his human rights case because, then a teenager, he had not had access to a lawyer before a police interrogation that led to his conviction for assault.  Now, to me, it seems eminently reasonable that people should have access to lawyers. A system that does not allow that is flawed. Rather than slag off judges and court judgements, surely the Scottish Justice Department would be better off comparing Scots law with European human rights law and sorting out where there could be problems. You could argue this should have been done years ago.

Alex Salmond is pandering to a Daily Fail type agenda with is comments and he needs to catch himself on.

The Tories and the right wing press are playing from the same playbook with their “saboteurs” and “enemies of the people” narrative as if they alone are the true diviners of the will of the people as if that is as immovable as Mount Everest. There’s a certain irony about those who claim to be all about enacting the will of the people zealously ensuring that the people don’t get a chance to mark their homework.

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Caron Lindsay

And the winner of the Scottish Leaders’ Debate is….a nurse

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 21st May 2017 - 9:57 pm

Yes, Willie was brilliant and we’ll come to that in a moment. But let’s hear it for this nurse who had Nicola Sturgeon on the ropes. Two weeks ago the First Minister led her MSPs to vote against an end to the pay freeze for Scottish nurses. The nurse in the audience spoke very movingly about having to use a food bank. She also talked about how demoralising working in the NHS was. Watch her here.

A few years ago, a friend of mine who’s a nurse really struggled to manage on her salary as a single parent so I know that what tonight’s nurse says rings true.

I also spent 51 days last Autumn watching exactly how hard and stressful work is for nurses. No matter how short-staffed they were and how rushed off their feet they were, they still managed to give my husband fantastic care. I was worried then about the effect that it was having on their health. Giving at 120% all the time is simply not sustainable.

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #481

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 21st May 2017 - 6:30 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 481st weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere, a little earlier than usual because of the Scottish Leaders’ Debate … Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (14-10 May, 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

Willie Goodhart’s son writes about his father’s Dementia

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 21st May 2017 - 12:45 pm

When Willie Goodhart died in January, in our tribute post, we put in a link to a wonderful piece written by his son Benjie during the 2010 election.

In it, he talked about what it was like growing up in a very political household.

It is one of those pieces that enrich your life.

Benjie has done it again with a beautiful article, written with so much love, about the progress of his father’s Dementia. It first became clear that something was wrong during a Today programme interview.

For us – my sisters, my mother and me – the door closing on Dad’s career marked the beginning of a new era: one that was by turns agonising, baffling, heartbreaking and, I must confess, comedic. Alzheimer’s affects everyone differently, including those around them – but the ability to laugh at its quirks and peculiarities sustained us all in the darkest times.

For almost 50 years of married life, Dad got up in the morning and brought Mum a cup of tea in bed. This came to a rather abrupt halt the morning her cup of tea consisted of orange juice, milk, and some potted shrimps all stirred together. My mother demurred, though Dad consumed his with alacrity and chided her for being fussy. At times like that, it is easier to laugh than to cry.

On another occasion, two years ago, Dad took me and my wife to the opera. An opera devotee, it was his last visit: as the lights went down for act three of a rather lengthy German comic opera, he called out in despair, “Oh God.” A few minutes later, he heckled (I suspect a first for the rarefied audience): “Get on with it!” My wife and I, being of reasonably sound mind, were inclined to agree. That was also the evening Dad looked at his diary, which he did every five minutes, for reassurance, and read “To opera with Benjie.” Then he looked up at me. “Are you Benjie?”

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Caron Lindsay

Edinburgh West profile: Labour candidate accepts that voters will vote tactically to defeat the SNP

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 21st May 2017 - 10:58 am

Radio 4’s PM programme covered Edinburgh West the other night and the profile was surprising in some ways. The Labour candidate, Mandy Telford, was pretty candid about tactical voting to stop the SNP:

Labour is out there fighting for every vote but ultimately we are dead set against the SNP and their desire to have an unwanted second divisive independence referendum. That’s the message we are getting back on the doorsteps very strongly. People will use their votes in whatever way they want to defeat the SNP.

It’s a cleverly crafted comment. She’s obviously not endorsing any other candidate but she’s summed up the reality of the situation on the ground pretty well.

People want a decent MP who will champion what is important to them and fight their corner. In Edinburgh West they know that Lib Dems deliver on that score. They are also highly motivated to get the SNP and to do whatever it takes to do so. Here and elsewhere I have been staggered by the intensity of people’s desire to see the back of the nationalists for all sorts of reasons. It’s primarily independence, but they are also sick fed up of falling school standards and an NHS lurching from one crisis to another.

Our Christine Jardine had this to say.

People are looking for the party who are more likely to beat the SNP and in this election stopping that independence bandwagon is the most important thing.

Conservative and Labour voters recognise it’s the Liberal Democrats who can beat the SNP.

That was certainly backed up by two Tory voters who were interviewed saying that they were voting Lib Dem.

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Caron Lindsay

Jo Cox tribute: Election campaigning to be halted for an hour in her memory

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 21st May 2017 - 8:09 am

Batley and Spen is a gathering of typically independent, no-nonsense and proud Yorkshire towns and villages. Our communities have been deeply enhanced by immigration, be it of Irish Catholics across the constituency or of Muslims from Gujarat in India or from Pakistan, principally from Kashmir. While we celebrate our diversity, what ​surprises me time and time again as I travel around the constituency is that we are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us.

Those were the words of Jo Cox in her maiden speech to the House of Commons

Looking at that just now, I’ve just realised that her maiden speech took place just after the House had paid tribute to one of its former members, our Charles Kennedy, who had died two days before. What extraordinary talents those two people were.

Election campaigns are about the debate of different ideas. At their best they should be inspiring and uplifting and full of vision. But political activists of all parties have a lot in common – the dedication, the determination and the exhaustion for a start.

Tomorrow, though, there will be a pause in campaigning in Jo’s memory, a chance to reflect on the things that unite us rather than divide us. From the Guardian:

Party leaders will halt political activity and instead visit community projects. The parties have asked all their candidates to do the same.

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Caron Lindsay

What do you make of the “Vote her, get him” poster?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 20th May 2017 - 10:45 pm

Vince Cable launched a new Lib Dem campaign poster today.

This is how he explained it:

This week has been about manifestos

To understand what is going on you have to listen to the voices of the people who are Mrs May’s cheerleaders and admirers.

Nigel Farage. He purrs like an elder statesman, his job done.

He said of the Prime Minister “she is using exactly the words and phrases I have been using for 20 years. I’m thrilled”

He should be. She has adopted wholesale the UKIP model of Brexit. No half measures. Out of the Single Market. Out of the customs union. Out of all the sensible cooperation around science and environment. The agenda of the hard right.

And not just on Europe. Do you remember the man who smiled with President-elect Donald Trump in a gold-encrusted lift? Who used his good offices to secure a meeting for our Prime Minister. Her hand-holding. Backing for the Trump administration. The close bonding. The treat of a state visit to come. Not that it achieved anything. The tough American trade negotiators have made it clear that economic size, not sentiment, determines priorities: the EU before the UK.

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Caron Lindsay

Farron: I am determined to protect decent people from being taken for granted by a heartless Conservative Government

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 18th May 2017 - 11:11 pm

Well, I certainly chose a fine two days to be sent to the Highlands campaigning. I mean, I’ve barely been able to catch up with the manifesto launch yesterday and the leaders’ debate tonight. I’ve been in the most wonderful places on the planet as far as I am concerned, but have been experiencing the broadband and connectivity problems first hand.

I will be back home tomorrow night. I haven’t yet seen the Leader’s Debate, but by the magic of technology, I can bring you Tim Farron’s opening and closing statements.

He kicked off with a powerful and personal appeal:

I got into politics to fight.

To stand up to those who take you for granted.

I grew up in Preston in the 1980s.

I saw what happens when decent people are taken for granted by a heartless Conservative government.

I am determined to stop that happening again.

The decent Britain I love is under threat.

Theresa May – backed by Nigel Farage and Jeremy Corbyn – is going for an extreme Brexit deal that will damage our future for generations.

Don’t give up.

The Britain I love is not lost yet.

No matter which way you voted in the referendum:

If you care about our children, do not cut our schools.

If you care about our elderly, don’t leave them on trollies in corridors.

If you want Britain to lead the world, do not turn your back on it.

A brighter future is possible.

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Caron Lindsay

Brake: May and Farage’s claim of an easy post-Brexit trade deal left in tatters

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 16th May 2017 - 2:55 pm

So, for long enough, the Brexiteers have been telling us that the EU would be pretty much begging us for a trade deal and we’d easily get one within two years.

Theresa May said last month that the deal could be done in two years , despite all sorts of evidence to the contrary.

Paul Nuttall said that it would all be so easy.

Well, in a sobering reality check, the European Court of Justice, who make the rules on this stuff, said today that all EU governments and national parliaments would have to agree such a deal. Remember how the Canadian EU deal was held up by a regional parliament in Belgium?

Tom Brake said:

Theresa May and Nigel Farage’s claims of an easy trade deal with the EU after Brexit have been left in tatters.

People don’t have to accept a bad Brexit deal that will mean fewer jobs, higher prices and less money for public services.

The Liberal Democrats want you to have your choice over your future.

You should have your say on the Brexit deal in a referendum, and if you don’t like the deal you should be able to reject it and choose to remain in Europe.

None of this is a surprise to the Liberal Democrat team. Their competent, credible and authoratitve statements have proven time and time again to be correct and Nick Clegg’s Brexit Challenge papers provide a comprehensive and accurate analysis of the complexities of all aspects of the risky course we are being dragged on by an incompetent government that hasn’t got a clue what it’s doing.

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Caron Lindsay

Inflation sign of Brexit squeeze – Lib Dems

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 16th May 2017 - 11:55 am

Inflation has gone up to 2.7% today.

This confirms long-held Liberal Democrat warnings about the impact of Brexit, with businesses struggling to contain rising costs and consumer demand being squeezed.

Susan Kramer said:

These worrying levels of inflation show the Brexit squeeze is hitting shopping baskets across the country.

This is the reality of Theresa May and Nigel Farage’s extreme Brexit agenda: higher prices in the shops, the cost of holidays going up and less money for our schools and NHS.

A brighter future is possible. We will give people a choice over their future through a referendum, so they can reject a bad Brexit deal and choose to remain in Europe.

Willie Rennie underlined this point:

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Caron Lindsay

May doesn’t care about disabled people losing their benefits – Farron

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 16th May 2017 - 10:28 am

Theresa May was confronted over disability benefit cuts yesterday, during a rare encounter with ordinary people.  Cathy Mohan, who lives in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, berated the Prime Minister over cuts to service and social security for people with learning disabilities.

Watch the encounter here.

Tim Farron said:

Theresa May has shown she just doesn’t care about people like Cathy who are seeing their benefits slashed and prices rise.

Instead of addressing concerns over learning disabilities – she tried to change the subject to mental health.

Theresa May isn’t listening and is taking people for granted.

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Caron Lindsay

WATCH: Tim Farron say he’ll reinstate student nurses’ bursaries, give nurses a pay rise and invest in NHS

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 16th May 2017 - 8:49 am

“I will not have it.” said Tim, saying that the Tories treat nurses like dirt.

He was talking to the Royal College of Nursing conference.

Watch this clip here:

He told them:

The Government’s decision to abandon bursaries for nursing students was clearly wrong.

The evidence has shown a drastic fall in the number of people applying to study nursing following this dangerously short-sighted cut.

We should be supporting more people into these vital professions – but instead this Government are putting up greater barriers.

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems to fund £300m a year extra for the police

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 16th May 2017 - 12:01 am

Today’s big Lib Dem policy is an extra £300m a year for the police over the next Parliament.

Under Theresa May at the Home Office, and now as Prime Minister, the police have suffered over £2.2 billion worth of cuts in real terms. This represents a 22% real terms reduction.

As of 31 March 2016 the total strength of the 43 police forces in England & Wales reached just over 124,000 FTE officers. This is the lowest number of police officers recorded under the current strength measure.

Commenting on the announcement Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesperson, and former Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the …

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Caron Lindsay

Cole-Hamilton challenges Ruth Davidson to disown Tessa Munt’s Tory opponent for foul mouthed independence rant

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 15th May 2017 - 4:45 pm

The chair of the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ election campaign Alex Cole-Hamilton has today called on Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson to disown the Conservative MP for Wells who has been caught in foul-mouthed tirade against a young person.

The Sunday People has the details:

A Tory MP blasted a Scottish girl who said she would vote for independence in a second referendum, saying: “Why don’t you f*** off back to Scotland.”

James Heappey, 36, fighting to stay MP for Wells, Somerset, has apologised, insisting he was joking.
He asked sixth-formers at nearby private Millfield school how they’d vote in a new Scottish referendum

When one Scots girl said she’d back independence, he lashed out.

Over the weekend, Conservatives in Midlothian complained (justifiably) about the behaviour of SNP activists who were basically obnoxious. When anyone on whatever side uses unhelpful language, it just ramps up the tension some more and it’s not fair on those of us who want to see a civilised political environment.

Alex said:

Ruth Davidson needs to immediately disown the actions of her Conservative MP colleague.

Once again a senior Conservative manages to help the SNP by being obnoxious.

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems send out strategy briefing to members

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 15th May 2017 - 3:49 pm

One of the things that Lib Dem members really liked about the last General Election was the strategy briefing that came out a couple of months before. In it, the party’s high command explained what they were trying to achieve and how they were going to do it. They also gave suggestions on what members could do to help them achieve our common aims.

We had years to prepare for that election. We had two weeks between Theresa May’s announcement and Parliament being dissolved and we had the local elections going on at the same time. Surely there wouldn’t be time …

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #480

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 14th May 2017 - 9:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 480th 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 (7-13 May, 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

Rennie reveals “appalling” child mental health waits

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 14th May 2017 - 8:55 am

There are five key elements to the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ main themes for this General Election. We plant ourselves firmly on the side of the majority of people in Scotland – pro EU, pro UK and progressive. And we say that our priorities for any extra money coming to Scotland are education and mental health. None of this is particularly surprising as Willie Rennie has been banging on about it for years.

The SNP is in charge of health and education in Scotland and has failed miserably on both. This week very poor literacy figures came out. Given every child under 15 has received their entire education under the SNP.

One barrier to being able to make the most of education is poor mental health. Willie has been talking for some time about a constituent whose child had to wait a year for mental health treatment. If you think about it, that’s a sixth of their secondary education. Once proper support begins, it’s not a quick job to restore good health so the impact on children’s lives is real and damaging.

New statistics acquired by the party through freedom of information requests have shown that five big Scottish health boards, including Lothians, Fife and Highland, recorded cases of children waiting over a year for mental health treatment in 2016/17 or on their current waiting lists.

They include children and young people waiting:

666 days in Lothian before starting treatment in 2016/17
623 days in Highland before starting treatment in 2016/17
611 days in Fife currently
448 days in Ayrshire and Arran currently
385 days in Grampian before starting treatment in 2016/17

After publishing the new figures, Willie commented:

It is appalling to learn that children and young people are still waiting almost two years for the mental health treatment they need. Waiting more than 600 days for help must feel like a lifetime. SNP ministers should hang their heads in shame.

These new statistics show why SNP Government was so wrong to reject the opportunity to invest to transform mental health services in its budget. It shows the damage caused by its letting the mental health strategy expire for 15 months. Its replacement has finally been published but charities and pressure groups have rightly declared it lacks ambition, detail and investment.

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Caron Lindsay

How the Lib Dem Press Office spent Eurovision

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 13th May 2017 - 10:43 pm

The Lib Dem Press Office’s work rate at the moment is nothing short of phenomenal. They are putting out so many press releases and comments. It’s all good stuff.

Despite working even more flat out than usual for pretty much a moth, it’s been good tonight to see that they haven’t lost their sense of humour.

Eurovision is a bit like Lib Dem Christmas and whoever was running the press office’s Twitter account was certainly in the festive spirit.

It’s nice to know that they are thinking ahead, too. Although heaven help us…

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Caron Lindsay

Tributes to Emily Price

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 13th May 2017 - 7:16 pm

The Aberystwyth Liberal Democrats and particularly its strong and close-knit branch of Young Liberals are in shock today after learning that the incoming Vice-Chair of the Welsh Young Liberals (IR Cymru) Emily Price died in hospital last night.

She had been taken ill after being elected as a Town Councillor in Aberystwyth last week.

On social media, I see her described as beautiful, gentle, kind, funny, someone who was going places – clearly someone who was a popular and well-loved member of her community.

Last Monday she handed in her university dissertation. She had been going to do her Masters in the town next year.

Mark Cole, who’s an Honorary President of IR Cymru, paid tribute to Emily:

Emily’s sudden and tragic loss is incomprehensible.

Emily was a real character and she was a beloved member of the Aberystwyth University students group of which she was until recently the President.

She had helped lead a revitalised society that put so much effort into recent Parliamentary, Assembly and Council campaigns. But she also led a renaissance in the social activities of the group – I haven’t known such a close-knit and family-like group of liberal students in Aberystwyth for many years and Emily was very much the happy matriarch of this growing brood of young liberals.

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