By Helen Duffett
| Thu 23rd September 2010 - 12:13 pm
Jo Swinson MP has been announced as the new Deputy Leader of the Scottish Lib Dems. Michael Moore MP, now Secretary of State for Scotland, is stepping down after seven years as Deputy Leader.
By Helen Duffett
| Sat 18th September 2010 - 11:26 pm
What’s loosely termed the awards “ceremony” for the 2010 Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year Awards has just drawn to a glittering close. As the last firework fades in Liverpool’s night sky, I’m delighted to announce the winners:
It’s been a big task, and a fun one, to distil so many excellent examples of Lib Dem blogging and e-campaigning into lists of the five best.
Congratulations if you’ve been shortlisted, but if you haven’t: remember that the shortlists are based on the judges’ subjective opinions. The awards are intended to be a fun way to celebrate the talent in the Lib Dem blogosphere, whilst introducing you to some blogs you might not have read before.
First, a reminder that the winner of the Best non-Liberal Democrat politics blog category will be decided by a public vote here on Liberal Democrat Voice, so please have a read of the nominated blogs and then head on over to the sidebar to cast your vote.
Next, a plug for the awards ceremony itself. If you’re coming to party conference in Liverpool, do come along to Grace Suite 1 at the Hilton Liverpool from 9.45pm on Saturday 18th September.
Now, without further ado, here are the shortlists: (Drumroll, please)
By Helen Duffett
| Tue 14th September 2010 - 9:20 am
Just a short, teaser post to let you know that the shortlists for the Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year awards 2010 will be published this afternoon at 1pm.
By Helen Duffett
| Fri 10th September 2010 - 7:37 pm
Liberal Democrat Party President Ros Scott has announced that she does not intend to stand again for the office, despite being eligible to stand for a second term.
In an article today for Lib Dem News, Ros explains that she feels it is time “to pass on the baton”, to “a strong media performer and tough campaigner” who will articulate the Liberal Democrats’ distinctive values and identity.
Here is Ros Scott’s article in full:
All right, I know it’s a cliché, but time really does fly when you’re having fun! My two year term as Party President is coming towards its close, and the hectic schedule of meetings, conferences, Party business and local Party visits has ensured that I’ve been kept pretty busy. With the European and local elections of 2009, the General Election of 2010, and the amazing aftermath which saw Liberal Democrats in national Government for the first time in decades, it’s been pretty eventful.
There’s no job description for the Party President, and each incumbent has done the job differently, depending on their own areas of interest and expertise, and the political climate at the time. When I ran for election two years ago I didn’t make extravagant pledges but focussed on the areas where I knew the Party President could really deliver and where my experience in local government and business could make a difference. In the run up to the General Election, I felt that internal Party development was a key priority for us, and I have concentrated my efforts on that aspect of the job.
By Helen Duffett
| Wed 8th September 2010 - 12:48 pm
A specially-constituted election court has announced that the Liberal Democrats have won a recount of the May 6 election result in High Street Ward, London Borough of Waltham Forest.
The recount took place in private on July 30 before a judge at the High Court after a member of the public spotted a potential error at the original count on May 6. It was thought that 1,000 votes may have been mistakenly added to each of the Labour candidates’ tallies.
The Lib Dem leader, who has been the MP for the constituency since 2005, has referred to the house in Sheffield as “modest” and revealed he had bought it in a “complete state of disrepair”.
Defending his expenses claims in respect of the house, he told the BBC’s Andrew Neil in April: “I think, unlike almost everybody else, I have said very clearly and very openly that my approach to this is
By Helen Duffett
| Thu 2nd September 2010 - 11:37 pm
Congratulations to Councillor Sara Walton, elected today for Castle ward on Alnwick Town Council, following the resignation of the Conservative councillor through ill health.
The result:
LD Sara Walton 329;
Con 238;
Lab 94
Turnout 24.4%.
LD GAIN from Con.
New councillor Sara Walton said,
It’s very humbling that so many people have put their trust in me. I’m determined to bring a fresh perspective to the Town Council and hope my experience as a solicitor and school governor will be put to
Stephen Tall writes today at Comment is Free that not only is it healthy to be open about disagreement within the coalition, but that it could be good for future Lib Dem – and coalition – success.
He cites the results of this week’s Lib Dem Voice survey, in which 84% of respondents still support the coalition partnership between the Lib Dems and Conservatives – yet just 17% believe it will be good for the party’s prospects at the next general election.
Far from being taken for a ride by the Tories or being carried away by power-hunger, as …
Evan Harris, writing in the Guardian today, shares his blueprint for better RE teaching. He says that the evolution-creationism debate in schools should take place in RE lessons as well as science lessons:
Secularists like me believe that RE is a valid subject for study in the curriculum but should be about what different religions (and other world views like humanism) believe; it should not be about what ought to be believed. So Catholic schools should be allowed to use RE lessons to teach that the Catholic church opposes contraception and believes that homosexuality is a sin, but not that
Congratulations to Aldbury and Wigginton Liberal Democrats, where Rosemarie Hollinghurst has gained a seat from the Conservatives on Dacorum Borough Council.
The Gad’s Hill headteacher stood down from his position earlier today.
Yourmedway approached Mr Craggs for a comment and was told that a full statement detailing the reasons behind his resignation would be released later this afternoon.
However, we are led to believe that Mr Craggs was told he must choose between serving as a special constable, a position he has held for 17 years, and a Medway councillor.
Conservative Craggs gained the seat from Labour in the by-election on 12 …
The council’s tourism arm VisitBrighton has said the party is expected to bring around 8,000 delegates to the event, injecting around £10m into the local economy.
The party last held its autumn conference in the city in 2007.
Council bosses say the news justifies recently spending £1m on refurbishments to the Brighton Conference Centre. They expect the event to attract extensive media coverage for the city, given the Lib Dems’ role in the coalition government.
Time’s ticking till close of nominations for the Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards, so here’s a reminder of the categories and an exhortation to vote early!
Nominate in any or all of these:
Best new Liberal Democrat blog (started since 1st September 2009)
Best blog from a Liberal Democrat holding public office (The Tim Garden Award)
Best use of blogging / social networking / e-campaigning by a Liberal Democrat
Best posting on a Liberal Democrat blog (since 1st September 2009)
The Guardian today has an interview with Shirley Williams, who at 80, continues to work full-time and is active in questioning the coalition government’s stance on academies, health and Trident:
If you give up what you most care about you start dying. It doesn’t matter what age.
Debate within the coalition on the key issues is a positive thing, insists Williams:
What we have to do is get as much as one possibly can of what Lib Dems believe into the coalition programme. It’s no good simply saying our role is to say no to everything.
Williams admits her surprise that the Liberal Democrats, of whom she was a founder, formed a coalition with the Conservative Party.
All the papers for next month’s Liberal Democrat Conference in Liverpool are now available online at the party’s website.
These include the agenda, which contains details and times of speeches, debates and consultative sessions. There’s also an introduction from the new Federal Conference Committee chair, Andrew Wiseman, and an article by party leader Nick Clegg: “Delivering in Government.”
The training programme, reports to conference, “Accountability to the poor” policy paper and consultation papers on health, IT and volunteering are all …
The recount took place in private last Friday before a judge at the High Court after a member of the public spotted a potential error at the original count on May 6. It was thought that 1,000 votes may have been mistakenly added to each of the Labour candidates’ tallies.
If this was the case, it would have led to Labour’s Steve Terry being elected instead of Liberal Democrat Mahmood Hussain.
Just one by-election this week, in Sitwell ward on Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, following the death of Conservative Councillor Michael Clarke.
The Conservatives held the marginal seat, although the council remains under Labour control.
The Liberal Democrat candidate Abdul Razaq came fifth (possibly as a consequence of the Liberal Democrats not putting up a candidate in May, so the party’s support may have ebbed away to Labour?)
The result was as follows:
Con 1213
Lab 864
Independent 252
UKIP 241
LD Abdul Razaq 98
There’s still time to apply for selection as the prospective Scottish Parliamentary Candidate for the Edinburgh Northern and Leith constituency for the 2011 election.
From a party notice:
The Liberal Democrats won around 11,000 votes across the constituency area during the May 2010 Westminster elections. The constituency also includes part or all of four local government wards, each of which has an elected Lib Dem councillor.
The successful applicant will be able to demonstrate an ability to motivate a large and growing group of activists, and form and lead an effective campaign team, in a Local Party which has extensive
One thousand extra pass applications are being processed for next month’s conference in Liverpool. Security controls are being tightened and hotels in the city have experienced a rush in bookings.
More than 7,000 delegates, members of the media and commercial attendees are expected to travel to the conference, compared with its usual attendance of about 6,000. The number of journalists attending is likely to leap from 1,000 last year to more than 1,500.
The number of organisations, including firms, unions and charities,
The Independent today carries an interview with Julian Huppert, Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, who is also the only scientist in the House of Commons:
Julian Huppert, a research biochemist who became the Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge at the last election, said he was alarmed at the lack of scientific knowledge among colleagues.
In an interview with The Independent, he also accused political leaders of paying “lip service” to the importance of scientific proof and warned that looming cuts
The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister have issued a reminder of the Coalition government’s priorities in the form of a joint letter to their Cabinet colleagues.
The letter, aimed at the public just as much as ministers, includes a summary of the “central purpose that will guide all our decisions as a government.” The letter says that deficit reduction and economic recovery will be achieved by redistributing power from government to communities and people, and by governing for the long term.
It’s a message, amid criticism of the cuts that the government has announced over its first twelve weeks, that the Coalition is looking at the long haul.
Three former Labour MPs and a Conservative peer lost their appeals this morning, over last month’s ruling that they could not avoid trial for alleged expenses fraud by claiming Parliamentary privilege.
The UK Statistics Authority has confirmed that preparations for the 2011 Census in England and Wales on 27 March 2011 “will now press ahead with all speed”:
The Statistics Authority is determined that, with the full support of the Government and all the other parties concerned, the 2011 Census will be the success that the country needs it to be, and will provide the information about our population which can only be derived from the full-scale Census, which has now been confirmed.
This came in response to an answer by the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Rt. Hon. Francis Maude MP, to a Written Parliamentary Question.
However, the 2011 Census could be the last of its type:
Tristan Ward @ Peter Wrigley
"Somebody has to tell the truth: that we are not over-taxed, and that Inteligently directed taxation will not impede growth."
That is not ...
Peter Wrigley Thank you Sir Vince for a useful survey of the history of "austerity" and the political difficulty of implementing the simple solution to our present social an...
Nonconformistradical "Their overall bills may well be high because electric heating is expensive"
I live in an (almost) all-electric home. I do have a wood burner stove but I've ...
Peter Davies Another group for whom this does not work are those in all-electric homes including many poor tenants in blocks of flats. Their overall bills may well be high b...
Tom Bailey “according to Mark Pack’s website, party membership dropped by a third over the course of the Con – Lib Dem Coalition. “
Did anyone ask those lost memb...
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
Lib Dem Rutland plans cycle-path from Oakham to Rutland Water
Brexit and summer holidays
The shame of Liverpool Labour councillors taking their allowances but not turning up to do the work
Tristan Ward 
Peter Wrigley 
Nonconformistradical 
Peter Davies 
Tom Bailey 