Author Archives: Mary Reid

Mary Reid

LibLink: Vince Cable – budding Asian entrepreneurs help create thousands of UK jobs

By Mary Reid | Tue 5th March 2013 - 3:45 pm

The Telegraph has published a supportive report of a speech by Vince Cable at the launch of the National Asian Business Association yesterday. He referred to the 50,000 British Asian businesses in the UK which together generate more than £60bn nationwide, which in turn help to create thousands of jobs. He claimed that British Asians are probably “the most entrepreneurial section of the British public”

He said:

The stereotype of Asian businesses is changing rapidly; while that stereotype is still there – 30pc are in the retail sector – it’s rapidly diversifying. Their growth is essential to job creation and national economic recovery,

…

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Mary Reid

Why I didn’t go down to Eastleigh

By Mary Reid | Fri 1st March 2013 - 3:15 pm

sushilaresultAs well as being one of the day editors on Lib Dem Voice, Mary Reid is chair of Kingston Liberal Democrats. The local party covers the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, which includes the whole of the Kingston & Surbiton constituency, plus a third of the Richmond Park constituency.

Actually I would have loved to have joined in the fun at Eastleigh. It is an easy journey down the M3 from where I live. But while all the national focus was on the south coast, here in Kingston we had our own needle match to fight.

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Mary Reid

LibLink: Eastleigh by-election and mansion tax

By Mary Reid | Fri 22nd February 2013 - 12:09 pm

The Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast this week focused on the Eastleigh by-election and the mansion tax proposals. These topics were discussed by, amongst others, Lib Dem Voice’s Mark Pack.

You can listen to it here.

 

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Mary Reid

By-election news

By Mary Reid | Fri 22nd February 2013 - 10:04 am

andreas yiasimiOne of the pleasures of editing Lib Dem Voice on a Friday is the opportunity to cheer everyone up with news of by-election victories.

Today we can congratulate Lib Dem Andreas Yiasimi on gaining a council seat in Cromer from the Conservatives. He polled 558 votes, beating the Conservatives into fourth place.  The local newspaper reports that Andreas is a local celebrity chef and owner of a Greek restaurant.

Let’s hope that next Friday brings more heartwarming results.

 

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Mary Reid

A hole in his sock

By Mary Reid | Tue 19th February 2013 - 4:44 pm

The Telegraph has a lengthy profile of Rachel Smith, Vince Cable’s wife.

If cows can be considered to have a casting vote, then Hopeful and Caramel have done their bit to make sure Rachel Smith sees more of her husband in the future. The wife of the business secretary, Vince Cable, is a farmer with a dwindling beef herd in the middle of the New Forest. For months she has been trying to get these two Dexters in calf. The bull has visited; the artificial insemination man has

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Mary Reid

Job shares for MPs?

By Mary Reid | Tue 19th February 2013 - 2:46 pm

reformIt seems that journalists in the national media now make time to read Liberal Democrat policy consultation papers, even before they are discussed at Conference.

Following the Mail’s rant about the so-called ‘jewelry tax‘ (from the Tax Policy consultation paper), we now have a more reasoned appraisal by the Guardian of one of the proposals in the consultation paper on Political and Constitutional Reform.

This major consultation is very wide ranging, and begins thus:

Our recent policy on constitutional and political reform has tended to focus on altering the democratic structures of the United Kingdom. We have sought pluralism in our electoral system, strength and legitimacy in our Parliament, and radical decentralisation of power to national, regional and local institutions.

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Mary Reid

Caroline Pidgeon AM challenges London Mayor over unpaid congestion charges

By Mary Reid | Fri 15th February 2013 - 11:05 am

Caroline PidgeonCaroline Pidgeon AM, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly, has challenged the London Mayor over congestion charges that have been evaded by embassies in the capital.

In answer to Caroline’s written question the Mayor admitted that embassies currently owe around £68 million. By the end of the year they will owe the equivalent to almost £10 to every Londoner.

The majority of embassies have some charges to pay. Two years ago the Liberal Democrat group studied the data gleaned through a Freedom of Information request and found that about a quarter of all embassies in London refuse to pay any charges at all. These persistent evaders include some of the richest countries in the world – US, Russia, Japan and Germany.  To date the American Embassy owes over £7 million in unpaid charges

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Mary Reid

Nigel Farage’s disappearing fish act

By Mary Reid | Tue 12th February 2013 - 4:55 pm

nigel farageLast week I drew attention to the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, which amongst other improvements ends the practice of discards. Chris Davies MEP has been a leading advocate for reform, and had garnered cross-party support.

Even Nigel Farage had said:

First let me stress that the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has been a complete environmental, economic and social disaster and UKIP uses what say it has in the EU “Parliament” to vote against discards and protect British fishing.

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Mary Reid

LibLink: Vince Cable – Investors deserve red carpet, not red tape

By Mary Reid | Tue 12th February 2013 - 10:56 am

Vince Cable - Some rights reserved by Liberal DemocratsIn the Telegraph, Vince Cable writes:

Britain is open for business. What we say to the emerging economies of the world is that, more than other Western countries, we welcome their investment, ideas, talent and visitors. We are not economic nationalists. We are not inward looking. That is a powerful message in São Paulo, Moscow, Mumbai and Shanghai.

In the article he concentrates on our trading relationship with China.

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Mary Reid

MEPs to vote on crucial overhaul of Common Fisheries Policy

By Mary Reid | Tue 5th February 2013 - 3:54 pm

chris daviesWith all our attention today on Westminster (or Eastleigh) we can easily overlook important decisions being taken in Europe.

Tomorrow the European Parliament will be voting on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. Now fish do not quite carry the same emotional appeal as equal marriage, but the management of fisheries is of significant environmental as well as economic significance.

The reform, which will be led by scientists as well as fishermen, will set targets for the rebuilding of fish stocks, and to end the practice of discarding perfectly edible fish. Every …

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Mary Reid

Eastleigh by-election

By Mary Reid | Tue 5th February 2013 - 12:29 pm

The party has moved swiftly to prepare for the by-election in Eastleigh, following Chris Huhne’s resignation.

Applications are being sought for potential candidates, with a closing date of 6pm on Wednesday 6th February.  You are warned: “In order to be eligible to apply, applicants need to make sure they are on the Party’s list of Approved Candidates at the closing date for applications.”

Approved candidates will have already received the necessary documents and application form.

 

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Mary Reid

Osborne, Hague and May on equal marriage

By Mary Reid | Tue 5th February 2013 - 11:10 am

Following Stephen Tall’s analysis of the support for equal marriage among Liberal Democrat MPs, it is worth noting the views held by some senior Conservatives.

George Osborne, William Hague and Theresa May have jointly written a letter to the Telegraph:

SIR – Today the Commons will vote on the Bill to allow same-sex marriage.

Civil partnerships for gay couples were a great step forward, but the question now is whether it is any longer acceptable to exclude people from marriage simply because they love someone of the same sex.

Marriage has evolved over time. We believe that opening it up to same-sex

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Mary Reid

LibLink: Paul Tyler on target practice

By Mary Reid | Tue 29th January 2013 - 3:43 pm

targetIn a recent post on Lord of the Blogs, Paul Tyler asks where the elusive Parliamentary rifle range is to be found.

For some years, while I was still an MP, there were regular requests for this apparently anachronistic  facility, somewhere in the basement, to be replaced with a creche for the children of staff and members of both Houses.  One Conservative MP naughtily suggested that the two roles could be combined.

Some years ago Nick Clegg said that it was absurd that parliament should have a shooting range and not a creche. …

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Mary Reid

LibDem International Office: Strengthening liberal democracies

By Mary Reid | Tue 29th January 2013 - 10:57 am

GeorgiaAs an accredited party trainer I was intrigued to receive an email last week asking if I would like to provide some training for the  Republican Party in Georgia next month.

It took a moment to register that it was talking about the Georgia to the north of Turkey on the Black Sea and their Liberal party, not the one to the north of Florida and the GOP.

Now I have acted for the party in a similar capacity before, when I met the youthful members of the Liberal Democrat party in Serbia and tried to convince them that an election cannot be won entirely on the Web. Sadly I have a by-election to attend to next month so I will not be offering my services this time.

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Mary Reid

LibLink: John Leech – Smoking ban working

By Mary Reid | Tue 22nd January 2013 - 3:48 pm

No smokingOn his blog, John Leech MP, reminds us that there has been a 12% decrease in childhood asthma since the smoking ban was introduced in 2007 (with Scotland leading the way a year earlier).

Smoking is an issue I feel passionate about; I have long supported campaigns to ban smoking in public spaces. However, I believe we need to go further and that research finding such as these studies should give us that impetus. In February of last year I signed an Early Day Motion (EDM 2724) that noted “the

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Mary Reid

Yes, Prime Minister returns

By Mary Reid | Tue 15th January 2013 - 3:39 pm

We know this is a blatant plug for the brand new series of ‘Yes, Prime Minister’ which will be showing on Gold at 9pm this evening – but we will all be watching it, won’t we?

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Mary Reid

That ‘shirkers/scroungers versus strivers’ rhetoric

By Mary Reid | Tue 8th January 2013 - 3:54 pm

Nick Clegg coffee - Some rights reserved by Liberal DemocratsThere can’t be a Lib Dem who doesn’t wince when the phrase ‘shirkers versus strivers’ is used. I don’t want to perpetuate this poisonous comparison, but hopefully my headline will draw in some of those taken in by the phrase and expose them to a different analysis.

While none of us would want to withhold support for ‘strivers’, aka ‘hard-working families’, we cannot allow the terms ‘shirkers’ or ‘scroungers’ to become the standard descriptions used for people who are unemployed (especially in a period of high unemployment brought about by dire economic circumstances), for people who are full-time carers, for people with mental health problems, or indeed people with other long-term health or disability conditions.

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Mary Reid

LibLink: From Baftas to building standards – why Don Foster isn’t looking back

By Mary Reid | Wed 2nd January 2013 - 5:00 pm

don fosterDon Foster begins his article in the Telegraph thus:

Having spent the first two years of the coalition government as a Lib Dem spokesman on culture, media and sport I knew what a gruelling schedule was, well before becoming Communities Minister.

Fitting in film premières, football and rugby matches, plays, and the BAFTAs was tough but somebody had to do it as the old joke goes. And I loved it. And now as the minister with responsibility for housing what have I swapped this for? Building regulations conferences.

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Mary Reid

New Year’s Honours

By Mary Reid | Sat 29th December 2012 - 9:57 am

Congratulations to all these prominent Liberal Democrats who appear in the New Year’s Honours list:

  • Roger Williams, Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon and Radnorshire and founder member of the former Social Democratic Party: CBE
  • Rodney Berman, former Liberal Democrat leader of Cardiff council: OBE
  • Annette Brooke, Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole: OBE
  • Andrew Wiseman: OBE
  • Fiona Hall, Liberal Democrat MEP for the North East and leader of Liberal Democrat MEPs: MBE
  • Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat Leader on the London Assembly: MBE

Please use the comments below to tell us about other Lib Dems who have been honoured.

 

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Mary Reid

My dozen best bits of 2012

By Mary Reid | Tue 18th December 2012 - 3:23 pm

Here is my personal list of the best bits in Lib Dem Voice in 2012. Please add your suggestions in the comments.

In no particular order:

Lynne Featherstone’s honeycomb surprise (Caron Lindsay) – any post about icecream will always catch my attention

Opinion: Mental health provision in the NHS – share your experiences (Tim Purkiss) – only last week, Tim’s brave post was a catalyst for some very moving comments

Introducing… Lib Dems Against …

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Mary Reid

LDVideo: Nick Clegg – Governing Britain from the centre ground (speech and Q+A)

By Mary Reid | Tue 18th December 2012 - 2:00 pm

Here is the speech that Nick Clegg gave to Centreforum yesterday:

Here is the Q+A session that followed the speech:

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Mary Reid

LibLink: Ed Davey – not a single penny on energy bills that isn’t in the public interest

By Mary Reid | Tue 18th December 2012 - 12:24 pm

Ed Davey - Some rights reserved by Liberal DemocratsIn a speech yesterday at the Fair Energy Summit 2012, Ed Davey said:

I don’t want to add a penny to energy bills that isn’t in the public interest.

I am frankly fed up with commentators suggesting that the Government is deliberately increasing energy bills, when in fact we are doing everything we can to reduce them.

 

 

 

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Mary Reid

The LDV Friday Five: 14 December 2012

By Mary Reid | Fri 14th December 2012 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

  1. Opinion: It’s time for Nick Clegg to make the liberal case on drugs policy (31 comments) by Mark Thompson
  2. It’s not just this Government that’s unpopular: it’s the idea of Coalition. Here’s what Lib Dems need to do about that. (62 comments) by Stephen Tall
  3. Alistair Carmichael MP writes… Why I’ve put the whip away for the Equal Marriage vote (38 comments) by Alistair Carmichael MP
  4. Equal marriage: it’s a matter of religious freedom (55 comments) by Mark Pack
  5. Councillors’ home attacked and death threats – all because of a flag (47 comments) by The Voice
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Mary Reid

Clarification on fire safety regulations in the Palace of Westminster

By Mary Reid | Thu 6th December 2012 - 4:32 pm

On 27th November we published a post under the headline: Knight: How can we get MPs to take their own fire safety more seriously?.

We have now received a letter from Sir Ken Knight (no relation to Stephen Knight, referred to in the headline) who is the Government’s Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser and Head of the Crown Inspection Premises Group.

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Mary Reid

LibLink: Lynne Featherstone in Zambia, part 3

By Mary Reid | Tue 4th December 2012 - 10:49 am

Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat  International Development Minister has been visiting Zambia and blogging about her trip. In her first day she wrote about a UK-funded empowerment programme for adolescent girls. She followed that with an account of programmes in the rural south supporting education, health care, private sector development, social support, and reducing gender-based violence.

She spent the final day of her visit with the Minister for Gender, and together they launched 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence in Zambia.

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Mary Reid

The Autumn Statement: what the press says about Lib Dem influence

By Mary Reid | Tue 4th December 2012 - 8:45 am

We are hearing many rumours about the climb-downs to be expected in Osborne’s Autumn Statement, which is due tomorrow, and how the Liberal Democrats are positioning themselves.

In the Guardian we learn the welcome news: George Osborne set to drop plan to end housing benefit for under-25s. “Lib Dems revolt against David Cameron’s ‘unjust’ move in runup to chancellor’s autumn statement”

The Guardian also devotes a whole article to Matthew Oakeshott’s comments: Lib Dems urge Nick Clegg to stand up to Tories over spending plans. He said “he wanted Clegg to show the same vigour and forthrightness as he had demonstrated over …

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Mary Reid

Parliamentary candidate sought for Richmond Park

By Mary Reid | Wed 28th November 2012 - 8:49 am

As Chair of Kingston Liberal Democrats I do have to declare an interest in this advert….

For full details on how to apply please go the Lib Dem members’ website.

The Local Party Executives of Kingston Borough and Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats invite applications for selection as Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the constituency of RICHMOND PARK.
 Completed applications must be received by the Returning Officer by noon on Friday 14 December 2012.
Richmond Park is one of the most high profile constituencies in the country and a key Conservative/Liberal Democrat marginal that is a top priority for the Regional and National Party. The

…

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Mary Reid

Knight: How can we get MPs to take their own fire safety more seriously?

By Mary Reid | Tue 27th November 2012 - 4:53 pm

This story would have been so appropriate on 5th November. But London Assembly member Stephen Knight took an opportunity last week to ask this question  at the meeting of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.

In August 2012 it was reported that another fire in the Palace of Westminster had left the House of Commons and other areas closed off, and that a report to the House of Commons Commission has apparently identified significant fire risks with boilers “ready to blow”! Is the Chairman concerned at the

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Mary Reid

Chris Rennard: Youth is not a barrier to being anything in our party

By Mary Reid | Tue 27th November 2012 - 2:31 pm

Chris RennardChris Rennard spoke to the Liberal Youth Conference at the weekend. Courtesy of The Libertine here is an extract from his speech:

Party youth groups were always crucial in the key by-elections that I was involved in during the 1980s and later when some of the great by-election wins that I helped to deliver rescued our party and helped it to gain many more parliamentary seats. Active Liberal youth helped to make the difference in many of the seats that we now hold at different levels.

I often talk

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Mary Reid

Nick Clegg announces the arrangements for flexible parental leave

By Mary Reid | Tue 13th November 2012 - 1:02 pm

Another radical Lib Dem proposal is being implemented today as Nick Clegg announces the arrangements for flexible parental leave.

In essence, parents of new babies will be entitled to a year’s worth of parental leave that they can share between themselves to suit their own circumstances. He says:

From 2015, the UK will shift to an entirely new system of flexible parental leave. Under the new rules, a mother will be able to trigger flexible leave at any point – if and when she feels ready. That means that whatever time is left to run on her original year can be

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