Author Archives: Caron Lindsay

Caron Lindsay

Saturday at Conference: What’s on?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 14th September 2024 - 7:30 am

Lib Dems are gathering in Brighton and there’s a mood of optimism and celebration. Our spectacular General Election result has given us 74 reasons to be cheerful – 72 MPs, an adorable guide dog and the restoration of our third party status.

We have had to deal with a fair few lean years so we might be forgiven a bit of shameless gloating.

There will come a time when we have to make decisions about our strategy to deal with the new political environment. Conversations will take place in earnest in bars and fringe meetings. There is a feeling that we were very lucky. We managed to combine an upbeat campaign with a few key messages and we succeeded.  We were a bit light on overall vision and that’s not going to be enough the next time round.  We need to have answers that will work to prevent the country falling back into the grip of populists. We need to show our distinctive liberal colours and show ourselves as a credible alternative to populists, Conservatives and Labour.

So what’s on at Conference today? You can find full details in the agenda here. Don’t forget about the Lib Dem Conf app too – available on your app store.

If, like me, you are stuck at home, you can watch all the main hall action live here.

We don’t have to wait too long for the first of many chances to cheer a new MP. Alison Bennett, our MP for Mid Sussex opens Conference.

We have keynote speeches from Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain, 9 years after she first joined the Party and 8 and a half years after her first Conference in York and from Cotswold District Council leader Joe Harris.

We start the day with a bit of Lib Dem procedural nerdery, changes to the reference back procedure to ensure that requests for references back must be submitted at the same time as amendments.

There are some good policy debates. The official organisation representing women in the party, Lib Dem Women, has submitted a motion on supporting women and anyone giving birth through pregnancy and the neonatal period. There are motions on supporting free movement of young people around Europe, liberalising  the Sunday trading laws (they are already much more liberal up here in Scotland and the universe has not imploded), supporting disadvantaged children and consumer law.

After a day of debate, there’s all the razzle of the Conference rally. Plenty room for a bit of well earned self indulgent celebration there. If I were there, I’d probably spend it in the pub with my friends, though, and watch it back later.

Here is how the day unfolds:

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

Caron’s guide to the craziness of Conference, updated for Brighton 2024

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 11th September 2024 - 7:47 pm

In just 2 days’ time, Liberal Democrats will be gathering in Brighton for our annual Conference.  Sadly, for the first time since 2011, I won’t be there.  I was only going to be able to come for 24 hours, but, unfortunately, my husband is ill. He’ll be fine, but now is not the time to leave him.

I’m still scarred by my trip to the Witney by-election in 2016. He hadn’t been well just before but seemed to be on the mend. To cut a long story short, within hours of my return the next evening, he was spirited away to hospital in a blue light ambulance and he was there for 51 nights. The virus we thought he had was in fact an infection in his heart which ate one of his heart valves. Vegetation on a leaflet they called it.  An ironic affliction for a Lib Dem.

However, I have revamped my Guide to the Craziness of Conference for this year. Enjoy. And if you have any questions, ask away in the comments.

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.

If you have any questions, there are lots of places to get answers. There’s Federal Conference Committee helpdesk in the Brighton Centre. And if they can’t help, ask someone on one of the party organisation stalls in the exhibition – if they don’t know the answer, they’ll probably be able to point you in the right direction.

1. Plan your days

The Conference day has a huge variety of things to do. As well as the debates in the hall,  there’s a comprehensive training programme and a massive fringe.  There are spokespeople Q & As. There are competing fringe choices to be made.  You can guarantee that you will never be bored and that several things you want to see will be on at the same time.  Spend some time now poring over the Agenda (which gives details of the policy motions) and Directory (which has details of the exhibition, fringe and training) to work out what you don’t want to miss. Conference Extra, which has details of amendments will be published shortly.

Don’t forget to pick up the Conference Daily which has news and important information.

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.

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 on your phone (search for Lib Dem Conf). Fully updated now for Brighton, it allows you to add events to your schedule and has all the papers loaded on to it.

2. Make time to do the Exhibition properly

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

Alistair Carmichael to stand to be Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Chair

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 8th September 2024 - 8:30 pm

As we have previously reported, the Lib Dems have been allocated three Select Committees to chair in the new Parliament. Alistair Carmichael has announced that he is standing to chair the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. He set out his priorities for role:

As the son of Islay hill farmers and having represented a rural constituency for 23 years, the issues on which the EFRA Select Committee works have always been close to my heart. For the Northern Isles and indeed for the entire country, the next few years are going to be critical in determining the future of our rural economy and rural communities, which is why I am standing for election as committee chair.

Being chair of a select committee does not give you the decision-making powers of a minister. Done properly, however, it can give you some influence in scrutinising the work of government and raising the profile of issues that matter to communities such as our own. In that way you can be a vehicle for change.

In a department where most of the incoming Labour ministerial team come from urban backgrounds, there is a danger that the needs and wishes of rural communities will not be properly understood. That is where a strong voice in Parliament with experience in these issues can make a noticeable difference.”

If elected as chair of the EFRA Select Committee, my priorities will be to:

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

Maiden speech: Calum Miller MP for Bicester and Woodstock

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 8th September 2024 - 12:30 pm

We continue our coverage of our new MPs’ maiden speeches with Calum Miller, who spoke during the debate on the Passenger Railway Services (public ownership) Bill this week.

The text is below:

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged and | 2 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems hold off Reform in Kent by-election

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 4th September 2024 - 8:57 am

Lib Dem Alex Eyre  held off a huge challenge from Reform to hold the Priory Ward in Swale in one of those rare Tuesday by-elections. The by-election came about after Cllr and former Mayor  Mike Henderson died. 

Our Cllr Hannah paid tribute to Mike at the time:

Mike was a dedicated public servant who has worked hard for the people of Faversham, and especially those in the Priory ward.

We have lost a huge part of our local Lib Dem team and doing local politics won’t be quite the same without him, his sage advice, quick wit, kindness and the occasional summoning to Bridge House to be set straight by him about something.

We will all miss him dearly as I’m sure his residents will too.

At this difficult time, our thoughts are especially with his family whom he absolutely adored and was so proud of.

Andrew Teale’s Britain Elects preview of the by-election tells us about the recent voting history of the ward:

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

Lib Dems try to force vote on Winter Fuel Allowance cuts

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 3rd September 2024 - 10:38 am

Lib Dem Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper has been talking about the Lib Dems’ efforts to halt the Government’s plans to cut Winter Fuel Allowance for all but the very poorest pensioners.

While the party has no objection to some restrictions being made for wealthier pensioners who don’t need it, we feel that the cut-off, at Pension Credit level, is too harsh and will lead to vulnerable pensioners suffering this Winter.

Daisy told LBC:

 

Daisy Cooper has also written to Lucy Powell MP, the Leader of the House of Commons, demanding that MPs be given a vote this week on the Government’s proposal.

In her letter, Daisy warns that failing to hold a debate and vote on the issue would risk “damaging public trust in politics” especially given the policy wasn’t included in the Labour manifesto at the election and is now set to go through with “minimal parliamentary scrutiny.”

The letter adds that there are just two weeks to go to protect pensioners from the cut before it comes into force on 16th September.

We tabled a motion backed by all 72 of our MPs to block the government’s proposals through a debate and vote in Parliament.

Daisy said:

Over the past few weeks we have heard from countless pensioners worried about whether they’ll be able to heat their homes this winter.

To push these cuts through without any other measures to mitigate the impact on millions of poorer pensioners, and with minimal parliamentary scrutiny, risks damaging the public’s trust in politics and putting the most vulnerable at risk.

We all appreciate the damage that the Conservative Party did to the public finances and the size of the challenges in front of us, but this is a step in the wrong direction and the proposed cuts must be scrutinised properly.

The government must give MPs the chance to debate better solutions, vote on their cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance and prevent millions of the most vulnerable in our society from losing out.

Here is Daisy’s letter in full:

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged , and | 19 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Rt Hon Jennie has a new official Twitter account AND she’s been on Sky News

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 3rd September 2024 - 8:13 am

Photo shows off duty guide dog Jennie having a cuddle with our editor at last year’s Social Liberal Forum dinner.

Parliament is back and we will be bringing you news of what our 72 Lib Dem MPs are getting up to. Seventeen of our new intake made their maiden speeches in the few days the House of Commons was sitting before recess started at the end of July so that means we have forty to go.

We will also be covering the activities of the most lovable member of our Parliamentary team, Jennie. The golden retriever is the guide dog of our new MP for Torbay, Steve Darling.

Just after the election, someone set up a Twitter account in her name which quickly amassed over 18,000 followers.

Now Jennie’s adoring team has set up an official account which will be updated on a regular basis.

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

Ed Davey on Starmer speech: What about health and social care?

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 28th August 2024 - 8:42 am

So many people across the UK are struggling because of a lack of decent social care.  Millions are stuck in pain on NHS waiting lists.

In the past few days alone, I’ve heard some heartbreaking accounts of people having to wait for months for both cancer diagnosis and treatment.

The crisis in social care causes immense suffering for elderly and disabled people and those who care for them.

So you would think, given that health and social care are consistently near the top of people’s priorities, that Keir Starmer might have had something to say in his speech yesterday.

But, no.

Ed Davey called him out for it:

Only the out-of-touch Conservative Party will deny the scale of the challenges facing the new Government and the new Parliament. From the millions stuck on NHS waiting lists to the millions struggling to make ends meet, the last Conservative government has left a toxic legacy.

We need bold and ambitious action from the Government to fix this mess. Liberal Democrats will work tirelessly to put our positive ideas forward and hold the new Government to account if they fail to rise to the challenges facing the country.

Above all, people want urgent, ambitious action to fix the health and care crisis. Only by getting people off NHS waiting lists can we get the economy growing strongly again and ensure more funding for our public services in the long term.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 16 Comments
Caron Lindsay

A heads up for all Lib Dem General Election candidates – deadline this Friday

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 26th August 2024 - 10:21 am

I did something I had never done before this General Election – I stood as a Westminster candidate for the first time. I’d stood for Holyrood and the Council before, but this was was my UK election debut.

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I loved doing local and national hustings. I loved interacting with voters who contacted me and while out and about.

I thought that the daily Candidates’ Briefings we received were absolutely fantastic. They were written with humour and contained information that was really helpful. They were very clear about what we should (and shouldn’t) be doing. The people in HQ who put them together deserve a lot of praise and should never have to buy their own drink at Conference ever again.

I was selected on 20th May and we thought we had a few months to execute our campaign plan. Two days later, Rishi Sunak popped out in the rain without an umbrella.

So we had to do a lot very quickly, as well as ensure that we helped in held and target seats. I and others from the local party spent a LOT of time in North East Fife, Edinburgh West and Mid Dunbartonshire as well as running two constituency campaigns.

But there’s one final job that all candidates need to do.

This weekend, I completed the survey that all candidates should have been sent about our experience of the General Election campaign as candidates. It’s part of the review process for candidates, and shouldn’t be confused with the party’s review of the General Election campaign. The deadline for completing it is this Friday, 30th August.

This survey came out by email from the Candidates’ Office on 12 August. Mine, because I’m in Scotland,  was written by our Campaigns and Candidates Convener Charles Dundas. English candidates should have had one from Margaret Joachim and Welsh candidates from Julian Tandy.

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

Political violence and intimidation is not new, and it needs to end

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 14th July 2024 - 10:40 am

I was about to go to bed last night when news started to filter through about shots being fired at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania. The initial pictures showing a bleeding Donald Trump being taken from the stage by the Secret Service agents who had courageously got between him and the bullets that were being sent his way were incredibly disturbing.

Thankfully, he was ok, though he is bound to be shocked but two people died and two people are, at the time of writing, critically ill.

I was incredibly impressed by how calmly and articulately BBC reporter Gary O’Donaghue described what was going on while lying on the ground taking cover behind a car outside the rally.

It should go without saying that candidates and people should be able to conduct and participate in democracy in safety. Too often, we are seeing the opposite. In this country we have seen two MPs killed while carrying out their surgeries in the past 8 years.

In the recent election, Jess Phillips described in her victory speech the intimidation and harassment she and her campaigners had experienced. It’s a tough listen. Nobody should have to go through this.

She should have been accompanied by Jo Cox’s family on polling day, but she asked them not to come out of worry that it would be too traumatic for them to see what she was going through.

She went into more detail about the emotional impact on her on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast the day after the election.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 2 Comments
Caron Lindsay

A special request to Federal Conference Committee

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 13th July 2024 - 11:14 am

My goodness, Conference is going to be an absolute blast this year. Our annual jaunt to the seaside takes place from 14-17 September in Brighton will be so much sweeter after our spectacular General Election result.

I wasn’t going to go because of caring responsibilities, but I’ve managed to book a flying visit for 24 hours as I can’t bear the thought of not being with the Lib Dem family in such a special year. I mean who wouldn’t want to be around to congratulate 72 MPs and maybe get  a cuddle with Jennie if she’s off duty? And I can vouch for the fact that she does love a cuddle. If you think I am talking about Jennie Rigg, well, her too.

Before I say anything else, I should make the point very strongly that Federal Conference Committee have even more of a challenge than usual this year because someone decided to go outside on a wet Wednesday and call an election round about the time we’d normally have our motion submission deadlines.  Whether you agree with every decision FCC makes or not, I think it is important to acknowledge the huge amount of work that they do.

So, this request to them comes from a place of love. Registration for Conference opened earlier this week. The Early Bird discount is only available for around two weeks. Until 23 July, a members’ pass to the Conference costs £90. After that, until 13th August, it goes up to £130.

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

2024 Parliament: Lib Dem MPs get to work

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 9th July 2024 - 8:33 pm

This is what the last four years’ hard work has all been about.

Today, 72 Lib Dem MPs and Jennie, the gorgeous guide dog of Torbay MP Steve Darling posed for the 2024 team photo.

How many can you name? If you are not sure, have a look at our posts on our new MPs

Earlier, our MPs had filled up row upon row in the House of Commons, with Ed taking up the place traditionally occupied by the leader of the third party, last occupied by Nick Clegg up until the 2010 election.

Our Parliament really has some incredible pomp and ritual that some might argue reinforces its remoteness from the people. Black Rod is despatched from the Lords to summon senior MPs to read a proclamation from the King that is written in centuries old English.

Back in the Commons, they elect a Speaker who is dragged to the chair as a throwback to the days when being the Speaker was a dangerous occupation so the unfortunate victor was never enthusiastic about taking on the job.

With Lindsay Hoyle duly re-elected unoposed, each party leader was given a chance to say a few words of congratulation and intent:

Here’s Ed:

The text is below:

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
Caron Lindsay

How did the Lib Dems do for gender balance this election?

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 8th July 2024 - 11:15 am

For the first time, the number of women elected to Parliament has topped 40%. As Lyanne Nicholl, the Chief of 50:50 Parliament wrote on the Huffington Post,

This truly is a historic day – a 50:50 Parliament is now no longer a dot on the horizon, it is beaming into view and – with a fair wind – we can even dare to hope to reach equal representation in the next election.

We are not there yet, 40% is not 50%, but to potentially have a government with more women MPs than ever before and the potential of a gender balanced cabinet; that is exciting and cause for celebration. This is a great day for women’s representation.

Gender balance has not always been a positive story for the Liberal Democrats. It’s only in the last Parliament that we have ever had a majority of women MPs. At the start of the Parliament, we had 4 men and 7 women. By the end, this had risen to 5 men and 10 women. How are we doing now that we have an extra 57 people in our Parliamentary party? After all, the last time we had 57 MPs, our number of women was in single figures.

The answer is not too bad. We have 32 women in the 2024 Parliament, which makes up 44% of the total. This is not too far off Labour, who have 46% women and it’s great Keir Starmer has appointed a record number of women to his Cabinet. I have to admit a small tear in my eye as Angela Rayner walked up Downing Street. Whatever political differences I have with her, I am so happy to see someone with experience of social housing and of being a care worker in charge of housing and employment rights.

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Caron Lindsay

Pink News highlights trans and non binary candidates – and makes some notable omissions

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 7th July 2024 - 2:15 pm

While it was great to see Pink News highlight the trans and non binary candidates across various parties who stood on Thursday, it was disappointing that they left some high profile trans and non binary candidates out.

Our Chris Northwood is a councillor in Manchester. She stood in Manchester Central. She has written several articles for us, on issues like the importance of storytelling, the Cass Review and how we could fund a Universal Basic Income. She is also a member of the Party’s Federal Council.

From the Manchester Lib Dems website:

Chris is standing in Manchester Central. Working in Manchester’s tech sector for over a decade, Chris was elected to Manchester City Council as the city’s first openly trans councillor in May 2023, and is the deputy leader of the Manchester Liberal Democrats.

In addition to her council role and local campaigning activity, she also works for a national charity as a software engineer, building websites that provide support to those in need.

Fellow candidate Amanda Clark commended Chris’s help and support on Twitter:

Absolutely and an excellent ALDC mentor…learnt loads from her and was very proud to stand up for trans rights at all my hustings.

The article also missed out prominent non binary Lib Dem candidate Adrian Hyyryylainen Trett. They stood in Old Bexley and Sidcup and are a former Chair of LGBT+ Lib Dems, an international campaigner for LGBT+ rights.

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

Ed Davey on Kuenssberg – what next for the Liberal Democrats?

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 7th July 2024 - 10:03 am

There was a lovely shot at the top of this morning’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg of a very happy looking Ed Davey standing in his garden. Some might say he even looked a wee bit smug, but he is entirely entitled to do so after our amazing result on Thursday.

Lib Dem MPs will make up the third largest group in Parliament. That means that Ed will get two questions to the Prime Minister every week. We’ll get more speaking time. We’ll get more media time. I mean, we’re on Kuenssberg for the second  Sunday in a row.  We will still need to make the absolute most of every opportunity we get, but it’s a massive step forward. It’s strange to think that there will be only 49 more Tories than there are of us. While they will be ripping themselves apart trying to decide whether they are going to go full throttle ultra right or to try to regain some semblance of one nation conservatism, we will be united, dynamic and brimming with ideas.

It will be a change in dynamics, too. Our returning MPs have had to juggle several portfolios each and they have done so admirably.  We will now have the capacity to share the workload and have backbenchers for the first time in a decade. Maybe we might get a Select Committee chair or two.

Anyway, back to Ed’s interview.

Congratulations, I suppose, said Laura. A bit grudging, I have to say.

Her first question: What do you plan to do with all these new MPs?

It was an amazing result for us. We are excited by this opportunity. We fought the campaign putting health and care at the top of our list and we will fight in Parliament on health and care. I have already called for an emergency budget for health and care this month so we can start to rescue our NHS which has been brought to its knees by the Conservatives.

Will we be as tough on Labour as the Conservatives? Ed said that we would be putting forward our ideas on care, on the environment in the hope that Labour would take some of them on board.

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

Finally – We have 72 MPs

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 6th July 2024 - 6:15 pm

Finally, after a combined total of about 18 hours of counting over 2 days, we have our 72nd MP. Angus MacDonald was confirmed as MP for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire a while ago.

Alex Cole-Hamilton was very happy indeed:

My heart is in the highlands today. The Liberal Democrats were all but wiped out in 2015, but that wasn’t the worst thing to happen to us that year. Weeks later we lost Charles Kennedy.

That the final act of this general election should see his old seat returned to Lib Dem hands and the care of Angus MacDonald is simply wonderful.

I’m overjoyed that Angus has become the sensational sixth Scottish Liberal Democrat MP.

Angus has shown that the Liberal Democrats are the strongest voice for the Highlands. He will focus on what really matters, such as getting you NHS care close to home, improving dangerous roads and fighting for a fair deal for the Highlands.

Millions of people have voted for change and put their trust in us, so our job now is to repay it in full and be their local champions.

Join the Liberal Democrats today and you can be part of the change in both Scotland and the UK.

Here is the result

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
Caron Lindsay

That went pretty well

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 5th July 2024 - 10:15 am

Anticappointment is a concept coined by Toby Hadoke, a prominent Doctor Who commentator, to describe how Doctor Who fans approach a new series. They worry that they are not going to like it, even though they probably will. As a Liberal Democrat it fits well with how we approach elections.

Over forty years of disappointing election results has made me very cautious about predicting how many MPs we will end up with. I eventually decided to predict 32 MPs, pretty much our main target list. By the time polling day arrived, I knew that even though I was trying to limit my expectations, I’d be devastated if that was all we won.

But it wasn’t. We have 71 MPs. 71. SEVENTY ONE.  By the time I’ve finished writing this, it could be 72. Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire, in essence much of Charles Kennedy’s old seat, is recounting and I hear our folks our chipper.

Here’s Ed Davey exuberantly dad dancing and loads of Lib Dems singing Sweet Caroline. I always loved that song, but this has written it on my heart forever.

It’s a brilliant night for us. The best we have known in the history of our party by some margin.

Since Mary’s last update, we have added Chesham and Amersham to our list of technical gains. Sarah Green won it in a by-election in 2021, and few expected her to hang on to it. But she did. With a majority of around 5,500.  We also held on to our other three by-election gains. Helen Morgan’s vote in North Shropshire practically had to be weighed as she romped to a 15,300 majority. Incredible to think that in 2019 and forever before this was a rock solid Tory seat.  The one people were really worried about was Honiton and Sidmouth, the re-boundaried half of Tiverton and Honiton, won by Richard Foord in June 2o22. But Richard smashed it, beating Tory Simon Jupp by around 7000 votes. As an added bonus, the Tiverton part of the by-election seat was won by our Rachel Gilmour.  Sarah Dyke also held onto Glastonbury and Somerton by 6,500 votes. The icing on that cake was Anna Sabine winning the other half of that by-election seat for us.

We also held on to all the MPs we won in 2017.

There’s always one result that breaks your heart, though. Poor Paul Follows had been widely anticipated to beat Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in Godalming and Ash. He just fell short by 800 votes.

I am thrilled beyond measure to see Vikki Slade finally elected in Mid Dorset and North Poole. After four attempts to win the seat, she made it, with a majority of just under 1400.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 37 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Scottish exit poll comes with a large pinch of salt

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 4th July 2024 - 11:35 pm

The Scottish constituency breakdown of the exit poll should be taken with a fairly large pinch of salt. In 2019, it predicted we would lose all of our seats north of the border and we won 4. The MRP models don’t generally do Scotland that well.

This time, it predicts that we are on 5 our current 4 plus Mid Dumbartonshire. That would coincide with our own hopes and, I think, backs up what we have picked up on the ground during the campaign. So, fingers crossed  that is accurate.

Labour are predicted to gain 29 seats, bringing them to 30, and the Tories are supposed to double their seats from 6 to 12. The SNP are predicted to do worse than even the most pessimistic predictions, with just 10 seats, down from 48.

However, it seems unlikely that the Tories will double their seats, least of all themselves who are doing a bit of expectation management on this. Nobody really believes that their current Westminster leader Stephen Flynn will lose his Aberdeen South seat to them, a key target for Labour. Pete Wishart would also lose his Perth seat to the Conservatives.  However, there may be a return for Stephen Gethins, beaten by Wendy Chamberlain in North East Fife in 2019 and now standing in Arbroath.

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

The problem the Tory “National Service” idea is trying to solve

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 26th May 2024 - 9:22 am

Most people who read this site are well used to being sickened to their stomachs by not just Conservative policy ideas but what they have done in practice.  In the past few months alone, we’ve seen them pick on disabled people, sick people, vulnerable people seeking safety in this country, people coming to this country to share their skills in the workplace and pay taxes,  trans people and anyone over 50 who isn’t working full time.

Today their big idea insults a generation of young people who have been failed by the Conservatives in spectacular style. A generation who, for the first time in a long time, is less well off than their parents.  According to the Conservatives, the way to fix this generation is national service, forcing them into either a year of military service, or 12 weekends of volunteering.  At a cost of £2.5 billion.

It doesn’t take long to think of better uses for that sum. Perhaps more housing so that young people don’t have to live with their parents into their 30s, perhaps by removing the discrimination in the minimum wage, perhaps by increasing social security to help the 1 in 4 children growing up in poverty, perhaps by making sure young people in distress can access mental health treatment quickly, perhaps by rebuilding youth services so young people can get the support they need in their communities. Perhaps by doing more to save the planet for future generations.

And then you come to the practicalities of all of this. Many young people are stuck in low quality, minimum wage jobs where they are treated badly – and which require them to work at weekends. And will they get expenses for travel to and from their volunteer placement? What if they are carers, or parents, or disabled?

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 18 Comments
Caron Lindsay

And we’re off: Lib Dems welcome the 4th July General Election!

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 22nd May 2024 - 6:39 pm

Who would have known when I booked my dentist appointment for 5:30 tonight that the Prime Minister would choose 5pm on a wet Wednesday in May to make the most farcical General Election launch announcement I have ever known.

It could have come straight from The Thick of It. The Prime Minister standing in the pouring rain, his suit getting shinier by the second, his words drowned out by anti Brexit campaigner Steve Bray blasting “Things can only get better” by D:Ream, Labour’s campaign anthem from 1997.

Our Press Office tweeted: “Things can only get wetter.”

Ed Davey welcomed the General Election as a chance to kick out the Tories and deliver the change the country needs. He said:

This General Election is a chance to kick Rishi Sunak’s appalling Conservative government out of office and deliver the change the public is crying out for.

For years the Conservative Party has taken voters for granted and lurched from crisis to crisis while the problems facing the country are getting so much worse.

The NHS has been brought to its knees, people’s mortgages and rents have soared by hundreds of pounds a month, and water companies have got away with pumping filthy sewage into our rivers and beaches. All because this Conservative Government is more interested in fighting between themselves than standing up for the needs of the country.

Every vote for the Liberal Democrats at this election is a vote for a strong local champion who will stand up for your community and health services. It’s clear that in many seats across the country, the best way to beat the Conservatives is to vote for the Liberal Democrats.

Scottish Lib Dem Leader Alex Cole-Hamilton highlighted his ambition to see liberals replace nationalists as the third party in the House of Commons.

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 10 Comments
Caron Lindsay

The Election rumour mill is buzzing….

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 22nd May 2024 - 12:39 pm

Speculation is growing that the Prime Minister is about to call an election on the back of the inflation figures this morning. Jeremy Hunt certainly seemed very smug as he did the media round.

This is either everyone getting over excited on the basis of a bit of chatter, or something more substantial.  The Sunday Times’ Tim Shipman had this to say on Twitter:

Once again there are snap election rumours. I have been a sceptic every time so far. More importantly, people I trust who are in the loop have told me it’s nonsense. This time, those people are silent

If he asked the King to  dissolve Parliament today, the election would be on 27th June, next week, 4th July. Scottish schools break up in the last week of June and no doubt those children whose schools are polling stations would be delighted with an extra day off. An election in the first week of July would see many Scots away on holiday, though. But he did say at PMQs that the election would be in the second half of the year, so 4th July meets that criteria.

I suspect most of us would be relieved to have the election out of the way so we can enjoy the Summer. Certainly, every held and target seat has been ready for any eventuality for a while. On the other hand, some people will already have booked holidays on the basis that he wasn’t going to call an election till after the Summer recess.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 13 Comments
Caron Lindsay

WATCH: Alex Cole-Hamilton’s speech to Scottish Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 22nd May 2024 - 10:26 am

Susan Murray will, we all hope, be the MP for Mid Dunbartonshire in a few months’ time. So she was the right person to introduce Alex Cole-Hamilton ahead of his leader’s speech to Scottish Conference on Sunday.

Alex talked about our future relationship with the SNP Government – working with them in a grown up fashion where we could make a difference for our constituents, but looking forward to being able to get rid of them in an election.

He looked forward to replacing them as the third party in the House of Commons too and set out our plans to improve mental health, give people access to GP appointments and deal with sewage. He also spoke about his support for Liam McArthur’s bill which would allow assisted dying in limited circumstances. The next great social reform, he called it, while also acknowledging that not everyone in the party felt like that and that no Lib Dem would be compelled to vote for it.

Watch the speech in full here.

The text is below:

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

Autumn Conference: What did Federal Board decide?

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 21st May 2024 - 8:32 pm

We have known for some months that the Federal Board was going to decide at its May meeting what to do with Federal Conference in Brighton this Autumn. Last night they discussed the matter looking at feedback from party committees and staff as well as a consultation exercise carried out in March.

They had a lot to consider. What if Rishi Sunak called the General Election and we ended up having our Conference in the short campaign? What opportunities were there from having Conference just before the General Election if he didn’t? And what damage could it inflict on our campaign if we did not take the opportunity to set out our stall when the other parties would at their own events? What impact would two major events in quick succession, a conference and a General Election, have on staff?

So what did they decide?  Well, Conference is going to happen – sort of. It’s going to be shorter. It will now only run from Saturday 14 to Monday 16th September and technically will be a special Conference.

Party President Mark Pack explained on the party website:

After extensive feedback from members, the Federal Board has agreed a plan for our Autumn Federal Conference.

We agreed that it would be in the best interests of the party to hold such an event if possible, and that due to the unusually close proximity between the event and the next Westminster general election, the maximum benefit would come from amending our normal conference plans so that it can be tailored to the requirements, opportunities and risks of an event so close to a general election.

These include making it a 2.5 day event (14-16 September 2024 in Brighton), providing the best trade-off between a shorter conference lowering costs and staff time while also preserving enough time to maximise the benefits of conference, including commercial income. The Tuesday rather than the Saturday would be dropped in order to maximise the chances for members to participate.

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

WATCH: Ed Davey’s speech to Scottish Conference – Bring on the General Election

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 20th May 2024 - 4:45 pm

The text is below,

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

All the fun of Scottish Conference!

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 20th May 2024 - 3:05 pm

Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference in Hamilton was upbeat this weekend.  The party sees progress in its sights at the next Westminster, Holyrood and local authority elections.

From the moment the event was opened by West Lothian’s Cllr Sally Pattle, there were serious debates,  keynote speeches, anniversaries celebrated and a lot of fun and laughter.

The most emotional moments of Conference came during the debate on Christine Jardine MP’s motion on supporting bereaved children and young people. The motion called on the Scottish Government to create a protocol for the “collation and dissemination of information to bereaved children about relevant support services” alongside a new duty to inform which would apply to people like health professionals and teachers. Mandatory training would also be given to all those who would have a duty to inform. Contributors shared sometimes shocking but always incredibly sad experiences of loss.

Amanda Clark, our PPC for Perth and Kinross, rightly won the award for the best speech of Conference for her summation, which was heartfelt, inclusive and showed everyone who spoke that they had been heard.

Conference also voted for a national strategy to improve literacy, to bin the National Care Service that the SNP Government is blowing a billion on and which has little  prospect of actually improving care for vulnerable people, to increase access to sport, for a housing strategy that secures affordable housing for key workers and on support for Scotland’s flood-hit communities.

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged and | 4 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Lunchtime Debate: Lib Dems and Trade Unions

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 8th May 2024 - 12:30 pm

Last night my watching of the first Eurovision semi-final was rather interrupted with a Twitter storm created by Liberal Reform, or at least someone with access to its Twitter account. Liberal Reform is a group within the party which exists, according to its website, to

promote personal liberty and a fair society supported by free, open and competitive markets as the foundation of the party’s policy.

So what had they said that wound people up so much?

We need to have a rethink about how we regulate trade unions in the UK.

Far too often, rail union barons are able to cause economic damage

as they retweeted a post talking about the rail strikes this week.

When I was growing up in the 1970s, unions did seem pretty scary to me. My experience was watching mass meetings at car plants where they all voted to go on strike. Even then, I questioned how comfortable you would feel about disagreeing. But I was also mad keen on history, and learning about how important unions were in giving people better chances of making it out of their workplaces alive and in challenging abuse by employers put them in a much better light. There’s not a lot that the Thatcher government did that I like, but their legislation insisting on strike ballots was a good thing. Some of the other Conservative reforms since, including the bill passed last year, have gone way too far and I am glad that we didn’t vote for them.

Every day union reps fight for workers who are being treated unfairly. An effective union rep is one of the workplace’s most valuable assets.

Way back in the mists of time, I was also heavily attracted to the SDP’s policy on industrial democracy, giving people more say in their workplace and I also liked co-ownership models.

I think it is so important that we do all we can to improve workers’ rights, to make workplaces safer, more inclusive and work more enjoyable and fairly rewarded. Unions have a huge role to play in that. We should always be suspicious of and curious of any power imbalances, but it is clear that they often lie with employers.

In terms of the current ongoing strikes in healthcare and rail, I think that we should broadly be supporting the workers, whose requests are pretty reasonable. When you think how people’s earnings have shrunk because of inflation over the past few years, it is not surprising how many are struggling. Added to that, labour market shortages caused, among other things, by Brexit and people being too sick to work thanks to the state of the NHS, have made workplaces so much more stressful.

Our current policy on unions was passed in our Towards a Fairer Society paper in York last Spring. This snippet gives a much more collaborative flavour:

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 28 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Final agenda published for Scottish Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 8th May 2024 - 10:55 am

Scottish Liberal Democrats gather in Hamilton on 18 and 19 May for their Spring Conference. It may have seemed a risky decision to hold a Conference in what could have been the middle of a General Election campaign, but it’s great that we have the chance to set out our stall at a time of change.

The Final Agenda has now been published. In his introduction, Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

It’s great to be back. We meet at such an important time for the liberal revival both in Scotland and across the UK. Recent election successes show us poised to tear down the blue wall of the Conservatives in the South, but we have our grappling hooks in the acid yellow wall of the SNP as well. The General Election cannot come soon enough and from Cupar to Cape Wrath, from Milngavie to Mallaig, only the Scottish Liberal Democrats can take on the SNP in huge swathes of Scotland.

We will also mark an important anniversary, after 25 years of devolution, I’m delighted that our friend, former leader and former Deputy First Minister of Scotland Lord Wallace will offer us a key note speech on that important milestone.

Conference Convener Paul McGarry said:

There’s a real buzz in the air, not just across the UK, but especially here in Scotland. We’re right in the centre of shaping the future and this makes this conference more important than ever. It’s a fantastic opportunity for all of us to come together, share our ideas, and pave the way forward.

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

The Scottish Parliament Election – 25 years on

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 6th May 2024 - 9:30 am

Election night 1997. The tv room at the count in Chesterfield. Two people in the room – me and Tony Benn who was eating a white chocolate magnum and ignoring me. He might have been ignoring me because I was blubbing a bit because I was so happy that we were finally, after years of campaigning, going to have a Scottish Parliament.

The cross-party co-operation that had built the case for that Parliament across political and civil society was a great model. The Conservatives opposed the idea but even the SNP were eventually persuaded to come on board.

Fast forward two years to 6 May 1999 when the first elections to the new Parliament took place, with a nice shiny new proportional electoral system. 129 MSPs, 73 representing constituencies and 56 on regional lists were elected. The campaign had seen Alex Salmond and the SNP get into disfavour for not backing the NATO airstrikes on Kosovo aimed at stopping the humanitarian disaster and ethnic cleaning.  Paddy Ashdown and the Lib Dems were strongly in favour of this action.

Our big issue was tuition fees – we opposed Labour’s plans to introduce them and were very clear about our position on that. And we honoured that.

I couldn’t vote in this election because I lived in England. In fact, on election day, I was, at 37 weeks pregnant,  running a committee room in Chesterfield whee we boosted our Councillor numbers from 9 to 19.  Those were very happy times.

However, I was very invested in what was happening back home. I was up at the crack of dawn watching the final results come in the next day.

The Scottish people had elected 56 Labour MSPs, 35 SNP, 18 Conservative, 17 Liberal Democrats, 2 Greens and a Socialist. The whole system was meant to encourage co-operation and no party was meant to have a majority.

The coalition that eventually emerged after a few twists and turns between us and Labour did some amazing things in its 8 years – abolition of tuition fees, free personal care, free eye and dental checks, land reform, STV for local Government among them. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a functional partnership that was prepared to wring the neck of the powers we had to get stuff done. Our Jim Wallace was Deputy First Minister and Ross Finnie became Rural Affairs Minister.

Alex Cole-Hamilton reflected on the anniversary:

I am proud of the part Scottish Liberal Democrats played in delivering a Scottish Parliament and in the successes we have delivered through it.

In government, the Scottish Liberal Democrats delivered pioneering legislation like the abolition of upfront tuition fees, the introduction of free personal care and the smoking ban. We also legislated for the building of the Borders Railway, gave communities the right to buy land, made dental and eye tests free, introduced free bus passes, and opened up the business of government to proper scrutiny through Freedom of Information law.

These are Lib Dem successes delivered because of devolution, and without which we would never have achieved them.

So what do I want to see our powerful Parliament do next?

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

Lib Dems gain a seat in Salford Quays – and most Council seats in past 5 years

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 5th May 2024 - 8:38 pm

The final results of the 2024 local elections are in and we had a fantastic result on ALDC’s doorstep in Salford. Cllr Jonathan Moore took a seat in Salford Quays. The result was:

Jonathan Moore: 39.2% (+13.1)

Lab: 37.4% (-9.8)

Green: 15.4% (-3.1)

Conservative: 8.0% (-0.3)

We finally have a brilliant piece of media coverage that I suspect we will be sharing far and wide between  now and the General Election. Someone at HQ has crunched a lot of numbers and discovered that we have gained more Councillors than anyone else over the past five years. From the Guardian:

The Lib Dems have added more council seats than any other party over the last parliament, gaining more than 750 in the last five years, largely in the south-west and south of England.

As Ed Davey’s party won more seats than the Conservatives in the local elections last week, the Lib Dems said Tories would be “looking over their shoulder terrified” as the general election approached.

Data analysis by the party shows that the Lib Dems have gained 768 seats, Labour 545 and the Greens 480, while the Conservatives have lost 1,783.

That is pretty impressive given that Labour and the Conservatives are much better resourced than we are.

Whitehall Editor Rowena Mason writes:

The party’s strong gains in local elections suggests its strategy of focusing on building up votes in key strongholds could help deliver seats at the election

.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 2 Comments
Caron Lindsay

You wouldn’t think the Lib Dems had come second from the media coverage

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 5th May 2024 - 1:20 pm

It took Laura Kuenssberg 52 minutes to get round to talking about the Lib Dem success on her show this morning. And the fact that we got more councillors than the Conservatives for the first time in 28 years got the most perfunctory of mentions.

To add insult to injury, there were 3 Conservatives and 2 Labour people in the studio and nothing at all from us.

And it wasn’t from lack of effort on our part, given that Tim Farron was, rightly, complaining on Twitter:

Errrr…

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 29 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • David Raw
    @ Nick Baird Well said, Nick, especially in your last paragraph. Some things have changed a fair old bit since I first joined the Liberal Party way back in 196...
  • Nick Baird
    @Peter Martin - the point I tried to make above is that comparison isn't fair or reasonable. If that same individual eligible for £25k to £27.5k of benefits m...
  • Simon McGrath
    This is a tragic event with a terrible outcome for Dr Arday and his family. On the issue about plagiarism in Dr Arday's PhD, people can judge for themselve...
  • Hywel
    It seems to me that a bunch of people with racist intent went looking for a target until they found one with enough question marks that they could turn into a r...
  • David Raw
    If, .......... "We have the plan",........... why do we never hear anything about it ?...