We are planning on taking a Festive Break from now until 2 January, but don’t be surprised if I have some opinions I feel moved to inflict on you during this period. We won’t be publishing submissions before then but if you feel inspired to write something for us, please feel free to send it in.
Also, if you would like to send some Christmas cheer our way, you can donate here.
It’s been quite the year for the Liberal Democrats. We’ve come through an election where nothing went wrong, our bubble didn’t burst and we have more MPs than we’ve had for a century. Our leader is now well known and well liked and we’ve shown that we can offer strong opposition to Labour as well as the Conservatives. Here’s the party’s look back on a brilliant and happy year.
As always, I am incredibly grateful for the hard work of all the Lib Dem Voice team. Ryan, our technical guru regularly performs miracles to keep us on the internet. Alex keeps us on track financially and Mark, Paul, Mary and Charley are a never ending source of wisdom, sanity and fun. They put so much effort into supporting authors and producing their own material to keep this site going.
Ed Davey used the final PMQs of the year to ask the Prime Minister for more support for young carers. Keir Starmer’s response combined warm words with no promises of action and a bit of gentle teasing about Ed’s Christmas single.
At PMQs today, I urged the Government to provide more help and support for young carers.
And I’m glad that the Prime Minister had the chance to hear Love Is Enough performed live on his doorstep this week! pic.twitter.com/nFNLFtIRMG
You know when politicians stand there with pledge boards and cosy up to campaigning organisations promising certain things if they should get into government? And then don’t deliver on those promises? It doesn’t tend to end well. We in the Liberal Democrats know that more than most.
It took almost a decade of hard slog for us to recover from the damage to our reputation from the tuition fees debacle. We learned that voters have long memories when they feel betrayed. You can’t do something bad in the first few months of an administration and get away with it.
Hot on the heels of taking away the Winter Fuel Payment from millions of pensioners on low incomes, Labour have betrayed the WASPI women they have been courting over the past decade. We’ve all seen the pictures of half the Cabinet beaming beside WASPI women. And yesterday DWP Secretary Liz Kendall said that Labour would not be paying them a penny in compensation.
This is a generation of women who started work before the Sex Discrimination Act of 1976. Many were forced to give up work – even in the Civil Service – when they got married. Others were sacked for getting pregnant. They have been at the sharp end of the Gender Pay Gap for their working lives. As well as bearing the brunt of caring responsibilities for the previous and next generations. That hasn’t changed that much in the past half century either.
And now you have the spectacle of a Government admitting that mistakes had been made and maladministration had happened but there was to be no redress.
When you think that Labour was responsible for a derisory 75p pension increase for pensioners the last time they were in power, you could be forgiven for thinking that they really were not that keen on older people.
I don’t think that that is the case for most Labour MPs and I suspect many of them will be feeling incredibly uncomfortable.
Lib Dem MPs have condemned the Government’s announcement. “A day of shame” our DWP spokesperson Steve Darling called it.
Today is a day of shame for the government.
The new government has turned its back on millions of pension-age women who were wronged through no fault of their own, ignoring the independent Ombudsman’s recommendations, and that is frankly disgraceful.
The Conservative party left our economy in a shambles, but asking wronged pensioners to pay the price of their mismanagement is simply wrong.
For years, Liberal Democrats have pushed the government to fairly compensate WASPI women in line with the Ombudsman’s recommendations. Today’s heartless decision cannot be allowed to stand and we will be pressing ministers to give those affected the fair treatment they deserve.
In his response to the Statement in the Commons, Steve said:
First, and for the record, the Liberal Democrats played a significant part in government in introducing the triple lock for our pensioners—it is important that people acknowledge that.
The Government’s decision is nothing short of a betrayal of WASPI women. I know that, as in my constituency of Torbay, across the United Kingdom there will be millions of women who are shocked and horrified at that decision. That the Government have inherited an awful state for our economy is no excuse. That the women are being hit by the mistakes of the Tories and that the Labour Government are now using that as a shield is utterly wrong-headed. Will the Secretary of State reflect on the decision?
The matter went to the ombudsman for its considered review, and the Liberal Democrats have long supported the ombudsman’s findings. I am shocked that the Government are taking a pick-and-mix approach to those findings, and we therefore ask the Secretary of State to seriously reconsider the decision.
Twelve other Lib Dem MPs spoke in the session on the statement:
It’s clearly Consultation Season in the Party because members have had an email inviting them to contribute to the Federal Policy Committee’s Policy review by 6 January.
In the email, Ed Davey says:
In July, millions of people put their trust in the Liberal Democrats, many of them for the first time. They have handed us an exciting opportunity and a humbling responsibility.
So now we must continue to lead the way, with big, bold policies to tackle the challenges facing our country in the years ahead. Not just clearing up the enormous mess left by the Conservatives, but building the fair, free and open society we all believe in.
That’s why our Federal Policy Committee (FPC) has set up a new working group to develop a strategic programme for renewing our policy in the years ahead.
We want to hear from you, to help chart our course towards a policy platform that serves us well as we tackle the priorities of the British people; be a responsible opposition to the Government; finish the job against the Conservatives; and paint a clear vision of the more liberal Britain we want to build.
As a first step, we want to hear from you what are the most important areas for us to focus on, to help guide our work over the coming months.
There is a truth universally acknowledged that if you want to go through the motions of consulting people, but you don’t really want to encourage them to respond to you, you slip out a consultation, say, in the second week in December when nobody is really thinking about the issue in hand and close it on 3rd January.
I’m minded of the consultation process for the destruction of earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass as outlined by the brilliant Douglas Adams in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”
But the plans were on display…”
“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a flashlight.”
“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.”
So this is a roundabout way of saying that the Federal Board has slipped out a consultation on the party’s Internal Election Regulations in the second week of December that closes on 3rd January.
By doing so, they give off vibes that they are going through the motions of consultation. They want to know whether we think a larger threshold of nominations is needed. They haven’t set a figure, but will look at the result of the consultation and bring a proposal to Spring Conference. That would mean the changes would be in place for the next elections in Autumn next year.
The margin of two votes has been significant several times in Lib Dem history – winning Winchester in May 1997, heartbreakingly not taking back North East Fife by two votes in 2017. Yesterday, we won a surprise vote in Parliament on the first stage of a Ten Minute Rule Bill on changing the electoral system for Westminster and English local government elections to Proportional Representation which was introduced by our Sarah Olney. Normally what happens with these Bills is that MPs hear the speech. The MP proposing the measure then does a carefully choreographed approach to the Speaker and hands it over to be buried with loads of other Bills on some sitting Friday months in the future. But the Tories forced a vote to try to kill it without, it seems, doing their sums first.
Interestingly more Labour MPs voted for it than voted against.
This Bill doesn’t have a hope in hell of becoming law as Keir Starmer has said repeatedly that Labour opposes PR, despite the wishes of many of its members. However, between now and its second reading on 24th January, we can talk up the benefits of PR. For me, it’s about giving people the Parliament they ask for.
As well as 62 Lib Dem MPs, 59 Labour backbenchers voted for Tuesday’s bill, including a number of those first elected in 2024. Last month it emerged that dozens of Labour MPs from the 2024 intake had signed up to a parliamentary group calling for the UK to move to a PR system.
Labour’s 2022 annual conference voted overwhelmingly for the party to back a proportional system, after trade unions that had blocked previous motions swung behind the idea. However, while Keir Starmer has previously expressed at least some support for electoral reform, his leadership team has ruled out any immediate change, at least in the first term of a Labour government.
In Tuesday’s vote, 50 Labour MPs opposed the motion, indicating the continued lack of agreement on the issue. None of the government frontbench took part in the vote. All of the Conservatives who voted, 78 of them, opposed the idea, including some frontbenchers.
After the vote, Sarah Olney said:
This is a historic day in the fight for fairer votes and I am grateful to all the MPs who backed it.
Trust in our political system is broken following years of the Conservative Party riding roughshod over standards in public life.
Fixing our broken electoral system, introducing fair votes, and making sure everyones’ voice matters is the best way to rebuild this trust.
Today, as we have done for a century, Liberal Democrats are leading the fight for fair votes and making sure that no one can be ignored in our democracy.
The government must now listen to the will of the House, make time for the legislation and make fairer a votes a reality and we will be holding their feet to the fire to make this happen.
So the first chart announcement since Love is Enough, the song by young carers featuring Ed Davey was released is out. It would melt even the most permafrosted heart.
By Caron Lindsay
| Wed 27th November 2024 - 10:30 pm
Well that headline is a sentence I never thought I’d write.
And I have to admit that when I first saw the press release announcing it, I rather involuntarily invoked the name of the person we celebrate at this time of year at volume. Then I thought “No, please, not Sweet Caroline.”
However, I remembered that generosity is key to the spirit of Christmas and when I looked into it some more, I discovered that, actually, Ed’s collaboration with Bath Philarmonia’s Young Carers’ Choir is pretty decent. “Love is enough” falls into the category of heartwarming Christmas songs rather than the crazy ones. Though given some of the things Ed did during the General Election, I could be forgiven for fearing it would be the latter.
The song has been written by the young carers themselves to celebrate the bond between themselves and those they care for.
The result is uplifting and festive, and perhaps just the right side of saccharine to appeal to Christmas listeners. It does not, however, feature much audible input from Davey, whose contributions are slightly buried in the glossy mix.
This Parliament, anything less than 3 Lib Dems at PMQs is a disappointment – a benefit of having 72 MPs.
For the third time since the General Election it was a Lib Dem who kicked off proceedings. Daisy Cooper took the opportunity to ask the PM about her local hospital:
Today, I called on the PM to finally give the green light for a new hospital in West Herts 🏥
The last Conservative govt promised it but failed to deliver it – despite my asking close to twenty times.
West Hertfordshire teaching hospitals NHS trust has eliminated 65-week waits and has now met all three national cancer standards. Those remarkable achievements by the staff are happening despite their working in terrible buildings that are life-expired and crumbling. If the Government are looking for a project that is high-performing and shovel-ready, that is it. Will the Prime Minister give our trust the green light to build a new hospital without further delay?
The Prime Minister
I thank the hon. Lady for raising that issue, which is of importance to her constituents and beyond. The new hospital programme we inherited was a failure of the previous Government. We are committed to delivering, and we are reviewing to ensure that we can deliver. The Health Secretary will set out further details, but I am very happy for her to have a meeting with the relevant Minister if she wants to follow up on the specifics.
Then came Ed Davey with two hard-hitting questions on ending the Winter Fuel Payment and the hike in employers’ National Insurance contributions for hospices:
At PMQs today, I challenged the Prime Minister to address the cost of living crisis and restore winter fuel payments.
With energy bills set to rise yet again, millions will struggle to make ends meet this winter. pic.twitter.com/LTDMcfR6WK
May I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks about the terrible impact of Storm Bert and all the flooding? Our thoughts are with all those affected, with thanks to our amazing emergency services.
Christine’s father was told that he needed end of life care, but after a few days it was removed due to funding cuts. He was told that he would not get it, and he died a few weeks later in excruciating pain. Christine says that it was terrible to watch him suffer. Does the Prime Minister agree that, whatever the House decides on Friday, it is urgent that we improve access to high-quality end of life care? Will he make that a key focus of the 10-year NHS plan, and will he now commit to protect hospices from the national insurance rise?
The Prime Minister
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising that case, and I am sure the thoughts of the whole House are with the family involved. Obviously there is a very important vote on Friday, but whichever way that vote goes, we must invest properly in care across our health service. That is why, in addition to putting the NHS back on its feet, we are putting forward a 10-year plan to make sure that the NHS can give the care that everybody would expect across the spectrum, including end of life care.
Ed Davey
I thank the Prime Minister for his reply. I hope that we will hear more from Ministers, particularly on hospices and national insurance, in the days to come.
I turn to the cost of living crisis. On Friday, Ofgem said that energy bills will go up again in January, after last month’s 10% rise. Millions of people are really worried about how they will make ends meet this winter, not least hundreds of thousands of pensioners who are in poverty but above the pension credit limit, who will now lose winter fuel payments. With energy bills going up again, will the Prime Minister reconsider and restore winter fuel payments?
The Prime Minister
Obviously the whole House is concerned about energy bills, which are actually lower this year than they were last year. The long-term way to deal with this issue is to have clean power by 2030, to make sure that we drive energy bills down on a permanent basis, and that is what we will do. On the winter fuel allowance, the right hon. Gentleman knows very well what the Government’s position is; indeed, I have rehearsed it with him many times.
The fact that Keir just can’t be bothered defending himself any more makes Ed’s repeated returns to this issue all the more potent.
Mext up, Manuela Perteghella made her PMQ debut by raising the issue of a constituent of hers who is campaigning to end knife crime after her son was killed:
Today is the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls which kicks of the annual 16 days of activism against gender based violence which goes through until International Human Rights Day on 10th December.
Every 10 minutes, a woman is killed by an intimate partner or family member.
Violence against women and girls must end.
We all have a role to play in preventing it.
More from @UN_Women on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. ⬇️ #16Days
The theme this year is #noexcuse. Because there is no justification, ever.
One of the good things about this Labour Government is that Jess Phillips, who has been fighting against violence against women and girls for her entire life, is now a minister and there has been a definite positive change in the tone of communications from the government and its view of the importance of these issues than we have seen in the past five years. To give Theresa May her due, she was key to getting the Domestic Abuse Bill through when she was Prime Minister.
In the Commons today, two Liberal Democrat MPs questioned Jess Phillips. Monica Harding asked about coercive control:
Today is White Ribbon Day which calls for the elimination of violence against women and girls. In parliament I asked about the assessments needed around the policing of domestic violence “Coercive control is a criminal offence but it is often overlooked”. pic.twitter.com/rlHCEysIls
The last week in November is, for me at least, packed with signifiant anniversaries and birthdays. Doctor Who and occasional Lib Dem Voice contributor Stephen Harte (come to think of it has anyone actually seen them in the same room together?) on 23rd, Christine Jardine on 24th and, on 25th our much missed Charles Kennedy.
Today would have been Charles’ 65th birthday. So many of us will have memories of him that are special to us. He was someone who the people of this country respected and listened to. He was one of the few calming voices during the torrid Scottish Independence Referendum a decade ago and it’s so sad that he wasn’t around to influence the Brexit vote.
He had the political courage to stand firm against the Blair Government’s actions in Iraq. And all the while he still remained firm friends with Blair’s right hand man Alastair Campbell.
A few weeks ago, I chanced upon his voice, sampled on Liberate, a Valtos and Project Smok production inspired by him. His words sum him up: “Ive always believed you have to put the people first” “the independence of spirit which has to be highland tradition:”.
Valtos, a duo who fuse electronic and celtic music, come from Skye, which Charles represented for most of his years in Parliament, was formed in 2021. They released Liberate last year, as Radio Skye announced at the time:
Scottish electro duo Valtos, comprising Skye natives Martyn MacDonald and Daniel Docherty, have teamed up acclaimed neo-trad trio Project Smok for the new single ‘Liberate’ which will be released on Friday 3rd February.
The upbeat record celebrates the independent spirit of Highlanders, using vocal samples from the late Charles Kennedy to drive home the poignant message.
Mr Kennedy who died in June 2015, served as member for Ross, Skye, and Lochaber for 32 years and was much loved by his constituents.
In the single the Highlander can be heard passionately speaking about championing Scottish tradition and putting the people first.
This is fused with the unmistakably skilled and infectious whistle-playing of Project Smok’s Ali Levack and driving guitar rhythm and a banging electronic beat on the track, which brings a late-night club sound to music rooted in place and traditional.
I’ve had this on repeat a lot recently. It makes me smile. Enjoy.
This time last week we were all celebrating the news of a stonking by-election win in Colinton/Fairmilehead in Edinburgh. We jumped from fourth place to first to elect Louise Spence after an intense campaign which saw activists from all over the city basically give up their lives for four months. This came just after the General Election, too. We are a party that prides ourselves in campaigning all year round, but we know that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. We’ve been sprinting now for 6 months. And it’s not over yet.
We’d known Louise well for years. She’d fought the ward in 2022, narrowly missing out on a seat.
On Tuesday came the shock that there was to be another by-election in the ward, which we had just won. SNP Councillor Marco Biagi, a former MSP, had taken up a role in the Scottish Government and resigned his Council seat.
That was nothing compared to the shock that hit Edinburgh Liberal Democrats just yesterday afternoon. A statement from Louise Spence explains:
I have had a sudden change in personal circumstances which meant I couldn’t in all conscience fulfil my role as a councillor.
At this time, my focus must be with my family. I have informed my Liberal Democrat colleagues of my changed circumstances and offered my resignation.
The Liberal Democrats rightly set high standards in terms of the service their local councillors provide. I myself argued that Colinton & Fairmilehead needed a local champion. While it would have been legally possible for me to continue as a councillor, I don’t believe it would be right to do so with my focus elsewhere.
This is why I have made the difficult decision to resign my council seat. With another by-election already due in the ward in February because of the SNP councillor’s resignation, my decision means this new vacancy can be filled at the same time; at no extra cost to the taxpayer. This is clearly the right thing to do for Colinton & Fairmilehead.
However, I know my decision will be deeply disappointing and frustrating for those who voted for me, for my council group colleagues and for all the Liberal Democrats who fought so hard to win the by-election. I am truly sorry at what has happened.
“OBR figures suggest that the increase in NICs will cost more to social care providers than the money that the government has announced for that sector in the budget.”@libdemdaisy has implored the government to protect health and care providers from the NIC hike. pic.twitter.com/ywt7qWuZK1
Scottish Conference took place in Perth on Saturday. The 300 year old Salutation Inn near the river has been putting up weary travellers for over 300 years and has been holding Lib Dem events for just about as long. I don’t think the decor has changed in all the time I’ve been going there since we moved back to Scotland in 2000 so it’s a wee bit dated but it serves decent pub food and the staff can’t do enough to help you. And the big win for me is that they make the toast for you at breakfast. You don’t have to stand for ages and watch helplessly as the slow moving toast machine burns your bread.
I shall cover the controversial debates – and there were a couple where we disagreed really well with excellent speeches – in another post, but I wanted to tell you about an innovation or two.
You know how quite often we get motherhood and apple pie motions which state the obvious Lib Dem position on an issue and nobody is ever going to vote against? Rather than give them half an hour’s debate, they have a party spokesperson present them in a report, speak for five minutes or so about the ideas and then have Conference vote. Housing spokesperson Paul McGarry, also the Conference Convener, was the first to trial this. His policy proposals were:
Ed Davey’s performance at PMQs today was described by New Statesman journalist Rachel Cunliffe as “devastating” to Keir Starmer. She compared and contrasted Kemi Badenoch’s mis-steps with Ed making Starmer “awkward” when faced with questions about the NI rise for GP practices.
At the very start of PMQs, Jardine set up the topic of the NI rise with a straightforward question on support for GP practices. Ed Davey then picked up the theme once Badenoch was finished, asking for a further commitment that GPs, pharmacies and other healthcare providers would be protected from the tax rise. His tone was mild, his question factual rather than aggressive. But it made Starmer more awkward than he had been at any point facing Badenoch. After the Prime Minister had answered, Davey said quietly: “I think patients and GPs listening to that will want more reassurance”. It was devastating.
Christine Jardine asked the very first question at PMQs today, on that NI rise, having spent last week meeting worried GP practices in her Edinburgh West constituency.
Changes to employers' National Insurance threaten the ability of GPs to deliver patient care. I asked the Prime Minister to explain to GPs, and others in my constituency, how they are meant to cope without extra support. pic.twitter.com/2Q9Ux3O9zF
In the two weeks since the Budget, several GP practices in my constituency of Edinburgh West, including my own, have contacted me with their genuine fears that the impact of the changes to national insurance employer contributions will threaten their ability to continue to offer the public the same standard of health service that they currently receive. And they are far from the only ones struggling, particularly in the health and social care sectors. Can the Prime Minister explain to me—perhaps he and his Chancellor would like to come to my constituency and explain to GPs, charities and others—how they are meant to cope without extra support from the Government?
The Prime Minister
Because of the tough decisions that we took, we have put forward a Budget with an extra £25.6 billion for the NHS and for social care. That includes an increase to carers’ allowance and £600 million to deal with the pressures of adult social care. We will ensure that GP practices have the resources that they need, and the funding arrangements between the NHS and contractors will be set out in the usual way.
Ed followed up with his first question
“Will the government at least exempt GPs, community pharmacists and other health and care providers from this tax rise?”@EdwardJDavey pushed the government to rethink the NI hikes on GP surgeries which could see millions struggling even more to secure an appointment. pic.twitter.com/C78JugqAfB
His second was on the importance of working with European leaders to support Ukraine given the impending Trump administration:
Today, I questioned the Prime Minister on his plan if Donald Trump abandons our brave Ukrainian allies.
If the US won't support Ukraine in its fight against Putin's war machine, the UK and Europe must – and we should use frozen Russian assets to do it. pic.twitter.com/GrmA6rehn1
In recent weeks, we’ve had a steady trickle of emails from people who have found themselves hit with a 403 error when they have tried to access Lib Dem Voice.
We are sympathetic to this, given that this has affected several members of the team, including me.
We’ve found that the solution is generally to clear out your cookies and cache. I’ve found that doing it for the last hour has got be back on the site quickly.
Our tech guru, Ryan, has been working hard to stop this happening. It’s not particularly easy to track down what is going on and he’s been trying various things to try to fix it. We are really grateful to him for the time and effort he has put in to this. We’re hopeful that he’s found the culprit and booted it into oblivion.
Today at PMQs, Ed used his questions to challenge Keir Starmer on the UK Government’s approach to the incoming Trump administration.
Today, I asked the Prime Minister about how he plans to address President-elect Trump’s troubling praise for Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and his reckless stance on NATO.
The UK must lead in Europe to ensure strong support for Ukraine and uphold our shared security. pic.twitter.com/8BorWlxXhV
Ed Davey has called on the Government to fix our broken relationship with the EU in his first comments since Donald Trump won the US election. And he did not mince his words about the President-Elect, referring to him as a dangerous, destructive, demagogue.
He said:
This is a dark, dark day for people around the globe. The world’s largest economy and most powerful military will be led by a dangerous, destructive demagogue.
The next President of the United States is a man who actively undermines the rule of law, human rights, international trade, climate action and global security.
Millions of Americans – especially women and minorities – will be incredibly fearful about what comes next. We stand with them.
Families across the UK will also be worrying about the damage Trump will do to our economy and our national security, given his record of starting trade wars, undermining NATO and emboldening tyrants like Putin.
It’s not officially over yet, but it looks very much as though Donald Trump has won the US Presidential election and that the Republicans have won the Senate. And with Supreme Court Justices likely to retire, Trump has the chance to reinforce the already iron grip of conservatives on the Supreme Court.
It’s a very bleak morning. This is the result I have feared for a long time but allowed myself to hope that Kamala Harris might just pull off a victory.
In the 3 months since she became the Republican nominee, she has barely put a foot wrong as a candidate. She’s run a positive, optimistic campaign. She did not repeat the mistakes of 2016 when the Democrats withdrew from the key battleground states because they thought they had won.
If there was anything she could have done better, it was land a hopeful economic message. She also didn’t land the blame on Trump and the Republicans for blocking measures which would have improved people’s economic situation like a child tax credit and paid family leave.
She had to contend also with the Middle East situation. That undoubtedly lost her some votes – and probably from both sides.
Anyway, senior Lib Dems have started to process the news. This is what they are saying on social media:
Layla Moran, until recently our foreign affairs spokesperson:
Votes not yet all in but looks like hate is winning. The implications for security across the globe cannot be underestimated. Ukraine. Middle East. China. The UK will need to reevaluate its geopolitical centre of gravity.
Tim Farron:
Oh well!! 🇺🇸 😱 First thoughts…. The UK now needs to do one thing the left/liberals won’t like (establish strong early relationships with the Trump administration) and one thing the right won’t like (scrap all barriers to trade with Europe/increase military co-operation).
Mike Martin:
The UK immediately needs to:
– Increase defence spending rapidly (rather than shrinking its army)
– Focus its military strategy on deterring Russian aggression in Europe (rather than confronting ‘global threats’)
– Work with European allies to defend Europe under a NATO that doesn’t have US support (rather than assuming that America guarantees European security).
Chris Coughlan:
With the geopolitical shock of a likely Trump win the UK needs to move immediately back closer to our European allies- including reopening the issue of the single market
Freddie Van Mierlo
As the results of the US Presidential election still come in, the U.K. must urgently consider its position in Europe and our security. Slava Ukraini
Vikki Slade
This is just devastating – the world is moving in a scary way & I fear for all those vulnerable groups in USA but across the world.
Why would a country fall for such a con?
Since my last update at the back of 4, the outlook for Kamala Harris has become a lot bleaker. Trump is ahead in all of the battleground states and it looks like he is on course to win the popular vote.
It’s not over yet, but it’s not where anyone of a liberal disposition would want us to be at this stage of the count.
What’s worse is that it looks like the Republicans will have control of the Senate and the House is a bit of a toss up.
If you need reminding, Donald Trump is a convicted felon who refused to accept his defeat in 2021, leading to an insurrection which he encouraged. He tried to get his then Vice President to refuse to certify the results of the election. He has been ordered to pay $83 million to E Jean Carroll after he called her a liar for accusing him of sexually assaulting her. He still has outstanding court cases relating to the 2020 election and the January 6 insurrection.
When he was last in office, he appointed 3 conservative Supreme Court Justices who overturned the historic Roe vs Wade ruling which guaranteed a federal right to abortion. This has led to abortion bans in many states which are so stringent that women who have miscarriages are being denied life-saving procedures.
I have just woken up and am catching up on how things are going.
And it’s not looking good, to be honest.
At this time in 2020, it didn’t look that good either and then it got better. However, CNN’s John King is now looking at Georgia and is saying that it looks more like 2016, when Trump won than 2020 when he eventually lost. He says it is possible that Harris can win the state, but “you would rather be Donald Trump in Georgia right now.” Harris is underperforming Biden’s 2020 result in 28 of the 159 counties.
The battleground is now very much in the 3 “rust belt” states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. At this point, Trump is ahead in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania but there’s still a while to go. The “blue wall” is going to be as crucial in the US election as it was in ours.
The Harris campaign does not expect the contest to be resolved tonight.
American presidential elections in days of yore were pretty simple. We all went to bed at our usual time and then when we woke up in the morning, we knew who was going to be President.
And then Bush v Gore 2000 happened and it all took a bit longer as we learned about things like “Hanging Chads” and how they affected the vote counts in Florida. It took until 12 December until the Supreme Court stopped the recount and Gore conceded the next day.
In 2020, we spent four long nights and three and a half long days constantly refreshing CNN and agonising in WhatsApp chats before it was clear to everyone except Donald Trump and his followers that Joe Biden had won.
This year I’m not sure I have a big enough cushion to hide behind as the results come in. But before we get too absorbed in the details, take a minute to have a good laugh at Kamala’s appearance on last night’s Saturday Night Live. Pitch perfect:
We are probably not going to know for a while after the polls close whether the US will have a President who will respect women’s rights, put more money back in the hands of the poorest and grow the economy, or someone who will give to his billionaire mates, pursue policies that see more women die because they can’t get medical treatment if they have a miscarriage, and threaten US democracy itself.
The conventional wisdom amongst commentators at the moment is that Donald Trump will get his second term in the White House. Let’s hope they have it as wrong as they had it in 2016 when they all thought Hillary was going to win. We have to remember that part of the reason for the Democrats losing back then was because they were so convinced they were going to win that they stopped spending money in the swing states while Donald Trump spent a fortune on wall to wall advertising.
The Democrats are not making that mistake again. The Harris/Walz campaign has been concentrating on the swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona. The election will likely be decided on tens of thousands of votes in those places. It’s a bit like how our elections are decided in 100 or so marginal seats across the country except on a bigger scale.
She’s had some help in the past week from Scottish Lib Dem Leader who went out there with some friends (at their own expense) to knock on doors. It’s not the first time he has been out. He turned out to be a good luck charm for Obama in Virginia in 2008. He made some observations on Twitter this week about his trip an the prospects in the election:
The field campaign team there are exceptional but they are utterly exhausted and driving hard for the finish line, I’m proud to know them. They certainly put me to work in getting out the vote.
With over 1k doors knocked across 9 communities in Lackawanna county, PA, I got to see a lot of the Scranton area in stunning autumnal beauty. These are warm, resilient communities, but in many ways they have cause to feel left behind.
This is an exceptionally tight election, everyone knows that, but I’ve never seen tribalism run quite so deep before. Those houses without partisan lawn signs are in the minority and this election is dividing communities and even families, like never before.
A standout highlight for me was getting to meet Tim Walz in person, but above that I will never forget the warmth of the people I met on the doors of Pennsylvania.
My assessment? She can absolutely do it, but turnout is everything.
With Keir Starmer out of the country, it was down to the deputies to take the stage at Prime Minister’s Questions. Angela Rayner and Daisy Cooper put in their first appearance of the new Parliament in their new roles. For Conservative Oliver Dowden, it was his last in the role. There was very funny love in with menaces between him and Rayner in their exchanges. It was a bit like a seaside comedy show. The serious stuff came when Daisy asked her two questions.
Every winter, our NHS is overwhelmed.
Will the Prime Minister consider the Liberal Democrats proposal for an NHS winter task force, to put an end to the cycle of patients paying the price for the social care crisis left by the Conservatives? @LibDemDaisy#PMQspic.twitter.com/7UqpodJHzs
May I associate myself and the Liberal Democrats with the Deputy Prime Minister’s remarks about Chris Hoy, and about all those involved in the train crash?
Our NHS is bracing itself for a winter crisis. One of the causes of the winter crisis every year is that there are thousands of people in hospitals who are fit to go home, but who cannot be discharged because there are not the care workers in place to enable people to recover at home or in a care home. Will the Deputy Prime Minister consider the Liberal Democrats’ idea of an NHS winter taskforce to winter-proof our NHS, end the cycle of the winter crisis, and put to an end the scandal of hospital patients paying the price of the social care crisis left by the Conservatives?
I thank the hon. Lady for her comments, and I share her desire to ensure that care workers are given the respect and importance that they deserve. They are critical to solving the problems in our national health service. The Labour party will create a national care service, and we are launching our first ever fair pay agreement for care professionals to boost recruitment and retention. We must get the NHS back on its feet after the disaster of the Conservatives, and my right hon. Friend the Chancellor will have more to say on that in the Budget.
Daisy kept to the same theme for the second question, talking of the dangers to the care sector of increasing employers’ National Insurance contributions, something she had mentioned in her Sky News interview on Sunday:
I thank the Deputy Prime Minister for her answer. We stand ready, as a party of constructive opposition, to work with the Government to fix our social care system. However, a measure that could make it harder for us to keep the carers that we so desperately need would be an increase in employers’ national insurance contributions. Were that measure to go ahead, it would affect millions of small businesses, including 18,000 small care providers. Will the Deputy Prime Minister assure the House that nothing in the Budget will make it harder for vulnerable people to access the care workers and the care that they desperately need?
A bit of flannel from Rayner in return, but at least the job of setting out our position had been done:
Again, I will not speculate on the Budget, not least with the Chancellor sat beside me. To reiterate what the Chancellor and the Prime Minister have said, this Budget will recognise that working people of this country and enterprise in this country have been hard-hit by 14 years of the Conservatives. We will rebuild Britain, and we will grow our economy to pay for our public services.
Rayner had to face another three Lib Dems in the session. This is great to see, and likely to be more commonplace now that we make up more than 10% of the House.
First up was Monica Harding who had a heartbreaking story of a young boy in her constituency who has been out of school for a year because they don’t have the right special needs provision for him.
Today in PMQs I called on the Govt to take immediate action to address the crisis in SEND by properly funding it in the budget. In Surrey 1800 children are at home rather than school bc their needs cannot be met & are waiting 2 yrs for an ADHD diagnosis. It is a scandal @LibDemspic.twitter.com/lWLrJHGvUA
Charlie from my constituency is an eight-year-old boy with an autism diagnosis who has been out of school for almost a year. He is one of 1,800 children in Surrey missing school because of a lack of appropriate special educational needs provision. Will the Government commit to ending this scandal by properly funding special educational needs provision in next week’s Budget, so that children like Charlie, in my constituency of Esher and Walton and beyond, are no longer let down?
Angela Rayner was sympathetic but had nothing concrete to offer:
Daisy Cooper was on Sunday with Trevor Phillips on Sky News. As our new Treasury Spokesperson, she was asked about what she wanted to see in the Budget.
But first, she was asked whether she accepted the Government’s narrative about the £22 billion black hole in the public finances.
She replied that there was no doubt that Conservatives left the economy in a mess. There may be an argument about the 22 billion number but what people want to know is if public services are going to get better. Are they going to get the health and social care they need?
She said that we were deeply uncomfortable about the rumoured increase in National Insurance employers’ contribution because of the effect on smaller businesses. In particular, she mentioned how this might affect small care companies and that might lead to even more care home closures and increase the crisis in care.
However, we would support taxing banks and gambling companies and changing fiscal rules to allow more investment to build more schools and hospitals.
Another rumour is that fuel duty is going to go up for the first time in 15 years. Daisy said that we were concerned about the impact of doing this during a cost of living crisis. If there was a viable alternative with good public transport it might be easier to stomach. The burden of cleaning up the Tory mess should be on big companies, not on ordinary people.
She was pressed by Phillips about the effect of our proposals on taxing banks. What impact would that have on our savings and pensions? She answered that the four or five biggest banks made £40 billion in profit and we want to reverse the tax cuts they have had which could raise just a tenth of that, a small amount of money for them, to help turn our public services around.
She said that we would have to look at the budget as a whole but would likely vote against a rise in employers’ NI contribution.
The main Liberal Democrat priority for the Budget was to see health and social care. Daisy talked about her own experience of serious illness and her Crohn’s diagnosis:
After every General Election, it’s become our habit to have a good look at what went well and what went badly and publish a General Election Review.
This year’s will doubtless be a lot happier than the last few. The Review team is led by Tim Farron. He is joined by
Cllr Ade Adeyemo
Paul Farthing
Cllr Donna Harris
Cllr Emma Holland-Lindsay
Mike O’Carroll
Sally Pattle
Their remit is to:
review the party’s performance at the general election, based on both the campaign period itself and the preparatory work and strategy through the whole Parliament.
particularly focus on the lessons relevant to the party’s next stages of development, including the linkages between electoral success at different levels, and make recommendations accordingly.
Time is running out to complete the online survey. The website says that it is open until 3 November – which isn’t long – but one of the review team said in a WhatsApp chat that it closed on 18 October, eg this Friday. So if you haven’t completed it yet, you’d be well advised to get a wiggle on.
I think that our campaign was perfect for the moment. But the moment was that the entire country wanted rid of the Tories. Our fun filled campaign, built on years of careful campaigning, did what it needed to.
Today is the first Liberal Democrat Opposition Day of this Parliament. This means that we need to set the agenda. Does anyone want to take a guess about the topics we have chosen to debate?
You get no brownie points if you correctly answered Carers and Health – though you could, I guess have chosen sewage. We are highlighting the issues that we ran on during not just the election but in the four years leading up to it.
Our Carer’s Allowance motion says:
That this House recognises the remarkable contributions that the UK’s 5.7 million unpaid carers make to society and the huge financial challenges many face; notes with deep concern that tens of thousands of carers are unfairly punished for overpayments of Carer’s Allowance due to the £151-a-week earnings limit; believes that carers should not be forced to face the stress, humiliation and fear caused by demands for repayments of Carer’s Allowance; condemns the previous Government for failing to address this scandal; calls on the Government to write-off existing overpayments immediately, raise the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit and introduce a taper to end the unfair cliff edge; and further calls on the Government to conduct a comprehensive review of support for carers to help people juggle care and work.
The health one is about access to GPs and dentists:
The A483 runs through my constituency from Llanymynech to Oswestry. It is one of the busiest and most dangerous roads in the constituency, and National Highways says the crossroads at Llynclys is the worst accident blackspot in the midlands. It has a proposal to improve the situation, but Treasury rules place a higher value on road speed than on the lives of North Shropshire’s residents. Will the Prime Minister look at flexing those rules to back National Highways and my residents, to give them the safe road they deserve? (900579)
The Prime Minister
I thank the hon. Member for raising this. It is obviously a big and important issue in her constituency. It is vital that as we invest we improve safety and deliver better journeys for drivers. National Highways continues to study the case for safety improvements to the A483 and will continue to do so. As she probably knows, decisions will be set out under the third road investment strategy. I know that the Roads Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood), will have heard her representations and will agree to a meeting, if that is what she would like.
Today is PANS/PANDAS Awareness Day. PANS stands for Paediatric Acute-onset Neuro-psychiatric Syndrome and PANDAs stands for Paediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections. Wendy has been interested in this since the parents of a constituent told her of the trauma they had suffered with their own child. Last year Wendy led a debate on the issue which you can read here.
At that time she said:
We do not need to be parents ourselves, although many of us here may be, to understand how utterly distressing it must be to have a formerly healthy, happy child suddenly find themselves unable to leave their bedroom, dress, eat, wash, talk to others or attend school and to see them vanish as the illness takes over. Sadly, that distress is compounded and worsened many times over by the lack of available support for patients and their families, as PANS is often not even suggested, considered or acknowledged.
Wendy took the opportunity of PANS/PANDAS Awareness day to ask for a meeting with the Department for Health on getting more funding for investigations and research. She said:
It’s great seeing Ed getting a guaranteed two cracks of the whip at PMQs every week.
And many people in the party will be thrilled that he pushed the PM on Europe and asked him to consider a youth mobility scheme to give people in their 20s the chance to live and work in Europe for 3 years.
I did wonder before the recess if he was maybe letting Starmer off the hook on his second questions and I think he could have pressed that point a bit further today – though he did say he would leave it for another time before moving on to improving the trade deal.
I look back with fondness on Willie Rennie’s legendary and dogged persistence of one issue at a time with the SNP, whether it be college cuts, ferries, conditions in prisons, free school meals or mental health at First Minister’s Questions. He would prosecute a line pretty forensically over several weeks and that got him noticed. And sometimes it resulted in concessions from the Government when he had destroyed all their rebuttals.
I get the argument that keeping Starmer guessing about the topic also has its merits, but I would like to see a bit more follow-through. When the Prime Minister fails to answer the question the first time, I’d like to see Ed find his inner terrier.
Watch the first question here.
A Youth Mobility Scheme would be great for young people, great for small businesses, and a big step towards repairing the relationship with our European neighbours.
PM Lib Dems could be a little bolder by actually discussing what goes on in the EU! Those who are in favour of rejoining should be prepared to do that
https:/...
Jenny Barnes It suits those who benefit from immigrants providing cheap labour in areas like hospitality or the NHS to foreground small boats and asylum seekers, rather than...
Jenny Barnes NI is income tax by another name, so putting it together with income tax makes sense. NI is not put in a fund to pay future pensions. Today's pensions are paid ...
Jana @Ruth Bright
“… just to be clear, I think we should SUPPORT the siting of the centre at MOD Bicester”
I assume from this that you do not live near MOD...
Jana “ Personally, I’d go even bolder and promise to roll employee national insurance into income tax, scrapping the system where landlords and wealthier pension...
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
The Joy of Six 1594
A U-turn too far
Ed Davey on working with Greens after Zionism conference motion
PM 
Jenny Barnes 
Jana 