Author Archives: Mary Reid

Mary Reid

How Lib Dems pioneered e-petitions

By Mary Reid | Thu 12th September 2024 - 2:40 pm

So congratulations to the three Lib Dem chairs of Select Committees. But I expect some of you are wondering about the Petitions Committee, now chaired by Jamie Stone. It was only set up in 2015 and its job is to review all petitions submitted to the UK Parliament, either through the Parliament Petitions website or as traditional paper petitions. Paper petitions have to be presented to Parliament by an MP, but e-petitions go straight to the Petitions Committee. An e-petition which reaches 10,000 signatures receives a written response, whilst those that attract 100,000 signatures are considered by the committee for debate.

The vast majority of petitions to Parliament are completed online, and you may not be surprised to learn that there is a strong Lib Dem history behind the development of e-petitions.

Over twenty years ago the Bundestag developed the first system for online petitions to Government. This was followed by the innovative Scottish Parliament (under the Labour/Lib Dem coalition), who commissioned a petitioning system from the pioneering International Teledemocracy Centre at Napier University. The term “teledemocracy” never caught on and was soon replaced with “e-democracy”.  Those two were at the time the only e-petitioning systems in the world – this was before public systems like Change.org appeared.

At that stage Westminster and local government in the UK had fairly rudimentary websites (in fact, some councils did not have them at all), which were largely information-giving and not transactional. However paper petitioning to local Councils was well established in many areas (though not all), and Lib Dems were not bashful in collecting signatures on issues that mattered to them.

The Government had set up a series of National Projects whose aim was to transform local government using the power of digital technologies. The projects focussed on many aspects of local government business including online planning portals, systems for payments, schools admissions, e-procurement, benefits, plus the underlying customer relationship management.

In 2003 I was asked to chair the National Project on Local e-Democracy in England, which carried out action research into techniques for increasing citizens’ understanding of, and participation in, local authority decision making.  We pioneered webcasting of council meetings, consultation portals, local issues forums (long before social media), blogging for councillors and we encouraged councils to provide all councillors with web and email facilities. If you check councillors and council meetings on most council websites you will probably be using a system developed for our project.

Within that mix we drew on the experts at Napier University to set up the first e-petitioning systems for local government in the world. The two local authorities that trialled it were my own council of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (Lib Dem controlled) and Bristol City Council (NOC with Lib Dem Leader).  Both re-examined their petitioning policies to make sure they encompassed online ones. Community groups were contacted to explain the new system and e-petitions started to appear.

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Mary Reid

Jim Wallace and Wendy Chamberlain honoured in Holyrood Political Awards

By Mary Reid | Fri 6th September 2024 - 1:42 pm

Lib Dem peer Jim Wallace (Lord Wallace of Tankerness – not to be confused with our regular contributor from the Lords, William Wallace) has been presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Holyrood Garden Party & Political Awards.

Jim served as the MP and also as the MSP for Orkney and Shetland. He was the Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 1992 – 2005 during which time he was also Deputy First Minister, and Acting First Minister for two periods. He was appointed to the House of Lords in 2007 and served for 4 years as the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Lords.  On top of that, Jim recently spent a year as the Moderator of the Church of Scotland.

Huge congratulations for this well-deserved honour.

Congratulations are also due to Wendy Chamberlain who scooped the award for the Best Scot in Westminster! Wendy has been the MP for North East Fife since 2019, when she beat the incumbent SNP candidate by just over 1000 votes. In July she increased that majority to over 13,000.

In Westminster Wendy is the Liberal Democrat Chief Whip and spokesperson for Work and Pensions. In Scotland she is the Deputy Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

Well done to both of you!

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Mary Reid

Are girls smarter than boys?

By Mary Reid | Fri 30th August 2024 - 11:33 am

We have now seen this year’s GCSE and A level results, and they inevitably led to comparisons between girls and boys.  (Sorry – I am not linking to the Daily Mail, but you know what I mean.)

Over the last few years concerns have been expressed about the underperformance of boys. In April the Parliamentary Education Committee launched an inquiry, asking: Why do boys lag behind girls at all ages of education? This conclusion was based on the previous year’s results:

In 2022/23 the attainment gap at GCSE level between girls and boys tightened to its smallest difference for 14 years. But with 24.9% of girls achieving grade 7 or A compared with 19.1% of boys, there was still a significant variation of nearly 6%.

…

At A-Level and 16-18, girls do better than boys across all level-3 cohorts, however, the gender gap has decreased in comparison to previous years. This has also meant that men are less likely to progress to higher education – in 2021/22, 54% of women were in higher education by 19, compared to only 40% of men. Men are also more likely to drop out of university courses.

Research by Cambridge University backed this up, although it also showed that girls’ achievements were not carried forward into employment.

Three years ago The Guardian asked the burning question: Are girls smarter than boys?  The answers given tended to provide some nuance, suggesting that the notion of a gendered brain was false and that social factors are at play.

All this gave me a strong sense of deja-vu.  Throughout my life the achievements of girls have been downplayed or simply hidden, while any supposed underachievement of boys has been seen as a problem looking for a solution.

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Mary Reid

Women must not speak in public

By Mary Reid | Thu 29th August 2024 - 9:48 am

I really thought that the Afghanistan Taliban couldn’t do more harm than they have already done. But earlier this week I was shocked to the core to read their latest rulings. They have now banned women from speaking in public places. Yes, you read that correctly – women are not allowed to speak when out and about. It’s not about public speaking, which they were already banned from doing, but rather the simple act of using their voices.

It was already horrendous for our sisters in that country. They are forced to wear a burqa when out of the home – an uncomfortable thick garment that effectively renders them invisible. Most feel intimidated into having a male guardian with them when out. They are banned from secondary education and from employment. I can’t imagine what life must be like for them, especially as many of them had already been to University and taken up professional roles.

Now, according to the new laws their voices, literally, must not be heard in public.

Whenever an adult woman leaves her home out of necessity, she is obliged to conceal her voice, face, and body.

According to The Guardian:

Women’s voices are also deemed to be potential instruments of vice and so will not be allowed to be heard in public under the new restrictions. Women must also not be heard singing or reading aloud, even from inside their houses.

How on earth can women be expected to do any task outside the home – shopping, attending a medical appointment, visiting a friend – if they can’t speak? Presumably they will have to have a male guardian with them to speak for them.

The consequences of breaking these rules can be horrific, since the Taliban has now introduced flogging and stoning as punishments.

The rationale for these rules, under the twisted Taliban logic, is that women’s bodies and voices tempt men into vice. This is, of course, the ultimate form of victim blaming.

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Mary Reid

Conference papers now published

By Mary Reid | Fri 23rd August 2024 - 3:34 pm

Not long now to what promises to be our best ever Conference, with 72 MPs to celebrate!  Thousands of members will be gathering in Brighton from 14th to 17th September.

If you are going then you need access to two documents, which have now been published:

  1. Conference Agenda. This gives the timetable for all the debates and speeches in the Main Auditorium. It has just been published today and you can read it online or download it here.
  2. Conference Directory. This lists all the fringe meetings, the training sessions and the exhibition stalls. You can read it online or download it here.

Plain text and clear print versions are also offered.

The contents of both will also be accessible through the Conference App, which will become available nearer the time.

If you can’t get along to Brighton then the good news is that you can follow all the main action for free. Each day the Conference proceedings will be streamed on the Liberal Democrats YouTube channel, while you can follow the debates in the Conference Agenda.

However if you would like to join in by voting on motions remotely then you need to register as an online member, which costs just £20. I did that last time and it worked very well.

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Mary Reid

Taylor Swift should receive the Freedom of the City of London

By Mary Reid | Thu 22nd August 2024 - 1:06 pm

Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

No – that is not a joke. It seems that Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is likely to boost the British economy by an astonishing £1 billion, with London alone getting an uplift of £300 million. Liberal Democrats have called for her to receive the highest accolade granted by the City of London.

Barclays Bank has done its sums, and reckons that

Adding up the total spending for Brits on the UK leg alone – that’s 1.2 million tickets over 15 nights and four stadiums at capacity, with merchandise, outfits, food, accommodation, travel and more – the Eras Tour is expected to bring in almost £1 billion (£997m) to the UK’s experience economy.

The impact is being felt right across the country, but in particular in Liverpool, Edinburgh, Cardiff and London, where the 15 concerts were staged.

On top of that she has made huge donations charities, including food banks in every city where she toured in the UK.

Sarah Olney, our Treasury spokesperson, says:

We were enchanted to welcome Taylor Swift and the Eras Tour to the UK. Her decorated 18 year career has been one of endless philanthropy and using her platform to bring reforms to the music industry, all while releasing chart topping hits and breaking record after record.

But Taylor Swift is now on track to achieve her most impressive feat yet; patching part of the blank space the Conservative government left in the British economy after years of neglect.

The Eras Tour has provided hours of joy to the thousands of fans attending the shows, but the real legacy of Taylor Swift’s tour will be the lifeline it provides to our economy, so it is only right that she be recognised with London’s highest honour.

And this story has made the front page headlines in the media:

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Mary Reid

We should resist talking about the academic/vocational divide

By Mary Reid | Thu 15th August 2024 - 3:34 pm

It’s Exam Results Day and time for my annual rant about the academic/vocational divide.

For a start, the results that have been announced today in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, are not just for A Levels, but also for a number of other Level 3 qualifications, though you could be forgiven for not noticing them. News media routinely refer to A Level Results Day, with only a cursory mention of  the other qualifications.

In fact there is a variety of Vocational Technical Qualifications at Level 3 – the equivalent of A Levels – the best known being BTEC Diplomas. Overall over 250,000 students took Level 3 VTQs this year. T levels are the latest addition to this group of qualifications, but were only taken by 7000+ students.

For context, I spent a substantial segment of my teaching career running A level and BTEC courses in Computing at a large Further Education college. I also wrote many text books for these courses and was involved in syllabus design for exam boards.

Unlike teachers in most other subjects I was in a position to compare A Level and BTEC qualifications in the same subject area. I was very aware of how students can be stretched on BTEC courses, far beyond their A level peers. In fact, one of my BTEC students was selected to represent the UK in the International Olympiad in Informatics.

Over thirty years ago I had to personally contact university admission tutors to explain what BTECs were, and persuade them to offer places to some very able students.  At one point one of the Oxford colleges offered a place to one of my BTEC students, but Imperial College gave a blanket refusal to anyone coming through that route.  In contrast one university offered BTEC Distinction students entry straight into Year 2 of a Computing degree, acknowledging the level of knowledge and skills they had already acquired.

Today Level 3 qualifications across the board are integrated into the points system used by UCAS, so students can progress to University if they wish. However some still face scepticism from University lecturers about whether they will really be able to cope at degree level.

Behind all this lies the pernicious language of “academic” versus “vocational” studies, with the underlying assumption that academic studies are somehow superior to vocational ones. This clearly has its roots in the class system and from the days when bright middle class students set their sights on “the professions” and bright working class students entered apprenticeships. This was exacerbated by a school system which divided children at the age of 11, largely on class grounds, offering very different opportunities to the different cohorts. Children were either categorised as academic or as “good with their hands”. The same bifurcation existed in higher education, where “academic” subjects, such as mathematics, were offered at prestigious universities and “vocational” subjects, such as engineering, at the less well-endowed polytechnics. Other countries have a very different culture – Germany, for example, has always held engineering in the highest regard.

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Mary Reid

Ed Davey’s email on Islamophobia

By Mary Reid | Fri 9th August 2024 - 11:19 am

Yesterday evening Ed Davey sent an email to members in response to the public violence over the past week. It says:

The last ten days have been immensely difficult for our country.

First, the horrific attack in Southport that claimed the lives of three innocent young girls.

Then, the far right extremists who exploited this tragedy to incite and commit appalling acts of violence. Violence that targeted Muslims, asylum seekers and communities of colour.

These thugs do not speak for Britain or our values. But how we respond does.

My response to last night’s events:

…

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Mary Reid

Nominate someone for the 2024 Councillor Awards

By Mary Reid | Thu 8th August 2024 - 11:55 am

Each year the Local Government Information Unit awards exceptional councillors across England Wales and Scotland. They have five categories:

  • Community Champion
  • Leader of the Year
  • Young Councillor of the Year
  • Innovator of the Year
  • Lifetime Legend

Last year Cllr Hannah Perkin won the Community Champion award for England and Wales. Hannah is Leader of the Lib Dems on Swale Borough Council, but her award focussed on her work to increase diversity and inclusion.  She set up the Faversham Disability Forum, which campaigns to improve access for people with a range of disabilities in local public spaces, including playgrounds and swimming pools. Hannah has also campaigned across a range of issues including violence against women and environmental matters. You can read her citation and interview here.

Many of you will know a Lib Dem councillor worthy of one of these awards, so you know what to do. You can read more about the categories and submit a nomination here. Nominations close on Friday 13th September.

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Mary Reid

Liberal Democrats to chair three Select Committees

By Mary Reid | Fri 2nd August 2024 - 4:48 pm

This is excellent news. Lib Dems in Westminster have been allocated the Chairs of three Select Committees – and two of them are on policy areas that are very close to our hearts. They are Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Health & Social Care (yay!) and Petitions. The final one may not sound exciting but it gives a direct view of the issues that concern voters.

The catch is that the party does not choose the Chairs for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs or for Health & Social Care – they are subject to a secret ballot of all MPs. That may sound a bit odd, but it ensures that each Chair gets a measure of cross-party support, which is so important for these committees to function effectively. Interestingly, the elections are by STV.

The Speaker has announced the timetable for these elections, which are extended this time because of the recess. Nominations will close on 9th September and the ballot will take place on 11th September.

Each nominee must collect signatures from at least 15 members of their own party, or 10% if lower, so that means at least 7 signatures for ours. They can also add signatures from members of other parties.

The Petitions Committee is a bit different, as it is dealing with procedure rather than policy. The Chair will be appointed rather than elected.

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Mary Reid

Actors and artists back the abolition of Voter ID

By Mary Reid | Fri 26th July 2024 - 12:36 pm

Voter ID was first introduced at the Local Elections in England in 2023. At the time Lib Dems expressed strong reservations about the scheme for two reasons:

  1. Experience in other countries has shown that the requirement for Voter ID amounts to voter suppression, and that it disproportionately affects certain groups, such as those living in poverty and ethnic minorities.
  2. Voter ID is a solution to a problem that barely exists – voter impersonation happens very rarely.

At the time I wrote about my experience of telling at Woking – now proudly a Lib Dem run Council with a new Lib Dem MP. According to the Electoral Commission 14,000 voters were turned away in 2023 in England because of not having the correct ID. However this figure did not include all those who were picked up by greeters outside the polling station and who never returned.

Those elections only affected a proportion of electoral areas and I suggested that up to 40,000 would have been turned away in England if it had been a General Election. But I greatly underestimated. The Guardian reported some research by More in Common that claimed that 400,000 would-be voters across the UK did not vote in this year’s General Election because of the ID rules and practices.

Helen Morgan has been vocal on this issue for some time, and we have reiterated our position recently.

Today a large group of eminent ethnic minority actors, artists and others in the public eye, including Lenny Henry, Anish Kapoor, Adjoa Andoh, David Harewood, Sophie Okonedo and Gary Younge, have sent an open letter to the Prime Minister:

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Mary Reid

Vince Cable at the Horizon Inquiry

By Mary Reid | Thu 25th July 2024 - 11:49 am

Vince Cable is appearing today at the Post Office Horizon inquiry:

If you miss the live stream you can catch up here.

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Mary Reid

Ed Davey at the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry

By Mary Reid | Thu 18th July 2024 - 12:51 pm

As I write Ed Davey is appearing at the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry. You can watch him here:

 

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Early Bird registration for Conference extended to 31st July

By Mary Reid | Thu 18th July 2024 - 10:00 am

Planning for the Autumn Federal Conference this year has been fraught with difficulties. First, there was a real worry that it would coincide with an intensive General Election campaign, and arrangements were made for a shorter version of the event. Then, when the July election was announced, planning was put on hold until after polling day.

It is now back to normal and running for its full length from 14th to 17th September in Brighton.

Registration finally opened last Friday. Since then members have been complaining about the short period for the Early Bird rates, ending on 23rd July, some noting that it did not cover a payday. It was also causing problems for people who were on holiday this month. So we are pleased to learn that the Early Bird deadline has now been extended to 31st July.

You can see all the rates and deadlines here. In summary, the Early Bird full rate is £90 (concessions £20), with a weekend pass at £60 (concessions £15). Concessions include full-time students, plus people on a range of benefits and allowances. Day passes are also available but do not give you the right to speak or vote in debates.  Register here.

Anyone can watch the proceedings in the Main Auditorium on the party’s YouTube channel for free. But there is also the option of online voting (pass costs £20) which I used last time and found worked well.

When registration was finally opened last week technical problems emerged, which is why it only really got underway last Friday. Members were still reporting errors when they tried to register over the weekend, and we have been given this advice: when you are asked for your address select Great Britain NOT United Kingdom. Apparently Northern Ireland is not included because of the presence of our sister party, Alliance. (I’m not quite sure what any Lib Dem members in Northern Ireland have to do – maybe contact HQ).

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Mary Reid

BBC celebrates new MPs

By Mary Reid | Fri 12th July 2024 - 2:07 pm

The BBC has been profiling some of our new MPs, with great photos. (You will have to click through to see some of them).

Mike Martin: Tunbridge Wells

Mike told the BBC:

I am absolutely humbled being here and elected. It’s a total privilege.

I just can’t wait to get stuck in now, to help with all of the issues people have told me about over the past two years.

David Chadwick: Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe

Twelve years ago David was in a serious car crash and was put in an induced coma. On top of that he developed a rare neurological condition called Guillain-Barré Syndrome – I have huge sympathy for David as my husband has had it as well.   He said:

The experience made me realise how important a functioning health care system is, because we never know when we’re going to need it.

When I was totally paralysed I had a lot of time to think about my life and I decided I want to use my body and the rest of my life to do good.

I’ve met a lot of people over the past couple of weeks who really need support and it’s an honour to be in a place where I can hopefully help them as much as I can.

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Mary Reid

Rt Hon Jennie

By Mary Reid | Thu 11th July 2024 - 3:56 pm

The other day Caron mentioned that Jennie, the guide dog for Steve Darling, MP for Torbay, now has her own account on X at @rthonjennie.

You can see the two of them swearing in here:

Steve was subjected to some appalling abuse during the campaign, with Tory canvassers claiming that he was pretending to be blind and using his guide dog for “political purposes”. Any such nonsense is, of course, counter-productive and many local voters jumped in to defend him. He won with a respectable majority of over 5,000, overturning a Conservative majority of 17,000.

And Jennie has had a tough time too. Last year she was viciously attacked by an XL Bully dog, but fortunately she has made a full recovery.

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Mary Reid

Tactical voting works both ways

By Mary Reid | Thu 11th July 2024 - 1:41 pm

I want to thank all those Labour supporters who voted Lib Dem to ensure that a Conservative was not elected in their constituency.

I also want to thank all those Lib Dem supporters who voted Labour for the same reason.

The first time I ever voted it was for Labour. I had been a Liberal supporter from my teens, but my preferred candidate had no chance in my area in South West London. Labour selected a doctor who was black as their candidate, and he came in for all sorts of nasty racist dog-whistle and overt attacks during the election campaign. He seemed a decent man to me so I voted for him. Sadly he did not win, although I was pleased to see him take his seat in the Lords some time later.

The next time I voted I was living in Kingston where I have never had a reason to vote tactically.

Voters have become increasingly sophisticated in their understanding of First Past the Post and tactical voting. We have to thank all the vote switchers for holding their noses, in some cases, and backing the person most likely to defeat the Tory candidate. It worked.

So I was rather taken aback to see comments on social media from some party members moaning about the low Lib Dem figures in some non-target constituencies and complaining that the candidates didn’t do enough campaigning. They assume that the single figure percentages reflect our true base vote. This, of course, flies in the face of our clearly enunciated election strategy, and also the underlying assumption that Lib Dem voters should vote Labour where it would have the desired effect.

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Mary Reid

Max Atkinson

By Mary Reid | Thu 11th July 2024 - 10:59 am

Some of you may remember a World in Action TV programme back in 1984 called ‘Claptrap’ in which a first time speaker at the SDP Conference, Ann Brennan, was given an amazing standing ovation. Her success was the result of a social experiment, and the programme tracked the coaching she received from Max Atkinson.

Max was an academic who had studied political speechmaking.  Earlier that year he had published a book titled Our Masters’ Voices: The Language and Body Language of Politics in which he described various public speaking techniques that are almost guaranteed to get applause (ie claptraps). He worked with Ann, who had never given a political speech before, and taught her all the tricks he had observed.  The resulting speech that Ann gave to conference was highly praised at the time and enjoyed more than its 15 minutes of fame.

A few years ago Mark Pack uploaded a very fuzzy copy of the programme to YouTube, so you can watch it here. (If anyone can find a clearer version do let me know).

When he became Leader, Paddy Ashdown took Max Atkinson on as his speechwriter and adviser and they worked as a team for a dozen years.

Max Atkinson and Paddy Ashdown

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Mary Reid

First day at work!

By Mary Reid | Wed 10th July 2024 - 8:52 pm

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Mary Reid

And finally .. or maybe not

By Mary Reid | Fri 5th July 2024 - 7:09 am

A roundup of results and those we are waiting for.

North East Fife – Wendy Chamberlain returns to Parliament, with a 13k majority.

Witney – Charlie Maynard is our winner here.

Esher & Walton – Monica Harding takes over from Dominic Raab, and with a 12k majority

Frome & East Somerset – Anna Sabine is our champion here over the Tories

South Devon – (was overlooked earlier, apologies) Caroline Voaden was our hero here.

Mid Dunbartonshire – This was a rare gain from the SNP, and with a 10k majority, thanks to Susan Murray.

Guildford – another previous Lib Dem constituency returning home. This time with Zoe Franklin and her team.

Woking – the blue wall is shattered again, to the tune of an 11k majority, putting Will Forster in the Commons.

Newbury – again one from earlier, and so good to see it back in contention. Lee Dillon is our guy here.

South Cotswolds – well done to Roz Savage.

Surrey Heath – Michael Gove’s old seat, although sadly he didn’t give us the opportunity to defeat him directly.  Al Pinkerton made a decent gain here.

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Mary Reid

An early morning apology

By Mary Reid | Fri 5th July 2024 - 6:10 am

I’m afraid that the speed of the results – plus increasing tiredness – has meant that we have got a bit behind in reporting Lib Dem successes.

I will be putting together a (almost) final summary of our wins shortly.

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More new seats – and some old ones

By Mary Reid | Fri 5th July 2024 - 4:50 am

Glastonbury and Somerton is one of those newly drawn constituencies that is difficult to predict, but it has been shown as a Lib Dem gain from Conservatives. Sarah Dyke was our by-election winner in the overlapping constituency of Somerton & Frome so we are delighted to see her success in the new patch.

And how lovely to see Tessa Munt returning to Parliament after losing her seat in 2015. Her new seat is called Wells and Mendip Hills.

Wera Hobhouse has held Bath, I’m pleased to say.

Over in North Norfolk Steff Aquarone has regained the North Norfolk seat where Norman Lamb was MP until he stood down in 2019.

Another scorching victory in Wimbledon where Paul Kohler has taken the seat from the Tories with a 12,000 majority. (There is a bit of a theme developing here – 12,000 is the cool number).

Dorking and Horley is another blue wall seat that has fallen to us. Chris Coghlan is our new MP there.

Another pleasing gain in Melksham & Devizes – so congratulations to Brian Mathew.

Sadly for us we did not manage to snatch Jeremy Hunt’s seat of Godalming & Ash, in spite of a strong campaign by our candidate.

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Mary Reid

More blue wall and South West seats

By Mary Reid | Fri 5th July 2024 - 4:16 am

Another South West seat has come our way – Ian Roome has won Devon North from the Conservatives. It was previously Nick Harvey’s seat – until 2015.

Hampshire North East has also come to us, thanks to Alex Brewer overturning a huge Conservative majority.

And Jess Brown-Fuller has achieved a whopping 12,000 majority in Chichester – another seat we have never held before!

Tunbridge Wells is similar – another blue wall seat that we have never held – but Mike Martin has taken it with a 8,000 majority.

We are building up pockets of Lim Demmery and in Cambridgeshire Ely & East Cambridgeshire lies alongside St Neots & Mid Cams and South Cambridgeshire. Charlotte Cane is now the MP for Ely & East Cambridgeshire.

Then what can we say about Thornbury & Yate? Claire Young has regained the seat previously held by revered Pensions Minister Steve Webb in the Coalition.

And now Yeovil is back with us! Adam Dance has managed to overturn the Conservatives to come in with a 12,000 majority. This was, of course, Paddy Ashdown’s seat, followed by David Laws so it is good to see it back in the fold again.

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Mary Reid

And still they come!

By Mary Reid | Fri 5th July 2024 - 3:51 am

Another substantial gain – this time in South Cambridgeshire, which we have had our eyes on for many years.  Pippa Heylings  takes the seat from the Conservatives with a 10k majority.

Down in the South West Martin Wrigley has taken Newton Abbot – formerly a solid Conservative seat.

Back in Cambridgeshire Ian Sollom also took St Neots and Mid Cambs from the Tories.

And down in Eastbourne the town has returned to the Lib Dems – well done to Josh Babarinde who takes it with a 12,000 majority.

We have just heard that we have also regained Cheadle from the Conservatives – another seat lost in 2015.  This time thanks go to Tom Morrison who  achieved another 12,000 majority.

And well done to Clive Jones in Wokingham – John Redwood’s seat since 1987 – now Lib Dem.

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Mary Reid

More Lib Dem wins

By Mary Reid | Fri 5th July 2024 - 3:12 am

Well, Ed Davey’s record was short lived. Munira Wilson has held on to her Twickenham seat with a massive 21,000 majority!

Huge congratulations to Marie Goldman who took Chelmsford from the Conservatives with a good majority! This is the first time we have won that seat.

Then there is Steve Darling in Torbay, who turns the town orange again, following a challenging campaign.

And Lisa Smart in Hazel Grove (back with us at last!).

Bobby Dean regains Carshalton and Wallington – another seat we lost in 2015.

They are just announcing that we have regained Cheltenham, one of our top target seats, as well – well done to Max Wilkinson!

And now Sutton & Cheam returns to the Lib Dems with Luke Taylor.

Now Sarah Olney matches Ed Davey’s majority in her seat of Richmond Park.

And we have gained Stratford on Avon for the first time – previously held by Nadhim Zahawi with a huge majority.  Welcome to Manuela Perteghella!

Congratulations to all our new MPs – 1r so far.

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Mary Reid

Ed Davey romps home

By Mary Reid | Fri 5th July 2024 - 2:54 am

Ed Davey has held on to his Kingston & Surbiton seat, increasing his majority from 11k to 17k. This is the largest majority ever by a Lib Dem MP in a General Election – that’s quite something.

I am personally rather pleased that the location is given as Chessington, which lies within the constituency, because it is where I live. The count was held at the Kings Centre not far from my home. Up until now Chessington was only famous for our theme park.

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Mary Reid

Our first gain(s) of the night!

By Mary Reid | Fri 5th July 2024 - 1:36 am

Congratulations to Tom Gordon – our first MP so far, and our first gain, in Harrogate and Knaresborough.

Lib Dems first won the seat in 1997, and Phil Willis held on to it right through until he stood down in 2010, when it passed to the Conservatives. Wonderful to gain it back!

And the next one to come in is also technically a gain, though one we held before the meltdown in 2015. Eastleigh is triumphant again with Liz Jarvis!

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Mary Reid

Tales from the campaign

By Mary Reid | Fri 5th July 2024 - 12:48 am

Yet more waiting until the key results, from our perspective, start to come in.

So let’s fill in the time with reflections on the campaign. Thanks to Andy Boddington for this photo of farmer and Shropshire Councillor Richard Huffer who finds a different way to draw attention to the campaign for Matthew Green, PPC for South Shropshire.

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Mary Reid

Ed Davey: Lib Dems on course for best results in a century

By Mary Reid | Thu 4th July 2024 - 10:45 pm

Ed Davey made these comments after the polls closed:

The Liberal Democrats are on course for our best results in a century, thanks to our positive campaign with health and care at its heart.

I am humbled by the millions of people who backed the Liberal Democrats to both kick the Conservatives out of power and deliver the change our country needs.

Every Liberal Democrat MP will be a strong local champion for their community standing up for the NHS and care. Whether you voted for us or not, we will work day in and day out and we will not let you down.

He also pointed out that if the Liberal Democrat make 29 gains, bringing them to 37 seats, this would be the highest number of seats gained by the party at a General Election since 1923.

If the exit poll is accurate then we could smash that.

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Mary Reid

That exit poll

By Mary Reid | Thu 4th July 2024 - 10:07 pm

So – the prediction is 61 Lib Dem MPs!

That is a rise of 53 on the 2019 result!!!

Just brilliant.

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