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Author Archives: Iain Donaldson

A Federal Britain: 3. Fiscal Federalism and a complete constitutional settlement

By Iain Donaldson | Sun 7th June 2026 - 11:55 am

Fair representation is the first pillar of constitutional renewal. Federalism is the second. The third and final pillar is fiscal federalism.

Without financial autonomy, political devolution is incomplete. Without it, devolution is symbolic. With it, it becomes real.

The United Kingdom remains highly centralised not only politically but financially. Most revenue is collected by Westminster and redistributed through complex grant systems. This creates dependency, weakens accountability, and encourages short-term decision-making. Governments often spend money they do not raise and raise money they do not directly spend.

A durable federal settlement requires power, responsibility, and funding to be aligned.

Under fiscal federalism, state governments in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, London, and the English regions would control meaningful portions of major tax bases, including elements of income taxation, business taxation, and consumption taxes. They would gain genuine responsibility for shaping economic development and funding public services.

In return, they would assume responsibility for major domestic functions including health, education, housing, transport, infrastructure, and regional economic development.

This alignment is crucial. Those who make decisions should manage the consequences. Citizens should be able to see clearly who raises revenue, who spends it, and who is accountable for outcomes.

Local government would also gain stronger fiscal powers. Councils could make greater use of land value taxation, tourism levies, congestion charging, and other locally appropriate revenue sources. This would reduce dependency on central grants and improve responsiveness to local priorities.

National solidarity would remain essential. Fiscal federalism is not a race between regions. A federal equalisation system would ensure that wealthier areas contribute more to support less prosperous parts of the country. This preserves cohesion while allowing genuine autonomy.

Such arrangements are common in successful federations because they balance fairness with decentralisation. Regions gain freedom to innovate and tailor policies to local conditions, while citizens retain the benefits of belonging to a wider national community.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged federalism, fiscal federalism and taxation | 2 Comments

A Federal Britain: 2. Devolving power and redesigning the Constitution

By Iain Donaldson | Fri 5th June 2026 - 8:57 am

Fair votes are essential, but they are only the first pillar of constitutional renewal. The second pillar is federalism: the redistribution of power away from Westminster and towards the nations and regions where people actually experience the consequences of government decisions.

The United Kingdom is one of the most centralised democracies in the developed world. Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and London possess varying degrees of devolution, yet most of England remains governed through Westminster departments, Whitehall ministries, arm’s-length agencies, and overlapping administrative bodies. Decisions affecting transport, housing, infrastructure, skills, economic development, and public services are often taken hundreds of miles away from the communities they affect.

The result is confusion, duplication, and weak accountability. When services fail, it is frequently unclear whether responsibility lies with ministers, local authorities, regulators, agencies, or quasi-independent bodies. Democracy becomes less meaningful when citizens cannot identify who is responsible.

Federalism addresses this by clearly defining where power sits.

Westminster would become a genuine federal parliament responsible for defence, foreign affairs, national security, macroeconomic stability, currency, and constitutional matters. Rather than simultaneously acting as both a UK parliament and, in practice, England’s legislature, it would focus on genuinely federal responsibilities.

Below it would sit state-level governments: Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, London, and a series of English regional states.

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Posted in News | Tagged decentralisation, democracy, federalism and politics | 17 Comments

A Federal Britain: 1. Renewing democracy through fair representation

By Iain Donaldson | Thu 4th June 2026 - 10:25 am

The United Kingdom is undergoing a quiet constitutional breakdown. Not in the dramatic sense of institutional collapse, but in a slower and more corrosive way: voters increasingly feel unrepresented, power remains concentrated in Westminster to a degree unusual among modern democracies, and the link between democratic choice and real-world decision-making has weakened.

These are not separate problems. They form a single constitutional question: how can a modern, diverse, multi-national state remain democratic, fair, and stable when many of its institutions were designed for a different era?

The answer lies in three connected pillars: fair representation, decentralised power, and fiscal accountability. Each alone is insufficient. Together, they form a democratic redesign of the United Kingdom. The first pillar is electoral reform.

A functioning democracy depends on a simple principle: votes should translate into representation. In the United Kingdom, that principle is routinely broken by First Past the Post.

The 2024 General Election once again demonstrated the scale of the distortion. Parties receiving millions of votes secured only minimal representation, while others translated relatively modest vote shares into overwhelming parliamentary majorities. This is not merely a technical flaw. It is a structural weakness that undermines confidence in democratic legitimacy.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged democracy, electoral reform, federalism and politics | 10 Comments

Labour’s internal power struggle could cost taxpayers more than £5 million

By Iain Donaldson | Mon 25th May 2026 - 1:30 pm

Taxpayers are facing a bill likely exceeding £5 million as Labour manoeuvres to bring Andy Burnham back into Westminster ahead of a possible leadership challenge to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

According to ITV News Granada, the combined cost of the Greater Manchester Mayoral Election and the forthcoming Makerfield by-election could “reach £5 million”. The report cited official Greater Manchester Combined Authority figures showing the 2024 mayoral election cost £4,719,754, while the Makerfield by-election has an administrative budget of £226,208 before additional freepost and campaign-related public costs are included.

However, that estimate did not include the earlier Gorton and Denton by-election, where Andy Burnham had also sought a route back to Parliament before Labour’s NEC blocked his candidacy.

Government figures previously showed the average cost of running a Westminster by-election was £228,964 as far back as 2016, meaning the real modern-day cost is likely considerably higher once inflation and operational pressures are accounted for.

Using the publicly available figures, the estimated taxpayer cost linked to Labour’s attempts to return Andy Burnham to Westminster is therefore likely to exceed:

£4,719,754 for the Greater Manchester mayoral election
£226,208 for the Makerfield by-election administration
approximately £228,964 or more for the earlier Gorton and Denton by-election

This produces a combined estimated total of at least £5.17 million, before accounting for inflation-adjusted by-election costs, Royal Mail freepost entitlements for candidates, staffing overtime, policing, venue hire, and associated election administration costs.

Surely, at a time when families are struggling with rising bills, councils remain under financial pressure, and public services are stretched, taxpayers should not be expected to foot a multi-million-pound bill to make up for Labour’s poor internal succession planning.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged andy burnham, makerfield by-election and manchester | Leave a comment

Reform UK’s Council chaos: Why protest politics isn’t enough to run local services

By Iain Donaldson | Sat 23rd May 2026 - 4:33 pm

Local government is about competence, stability and delivering reliable public services — not simply making headlines or winning protest votes. That is why the growing instability surrounding Reform UK councillors should concern voters across England.

Reform UK’s breakthrough in the May 2025 local elections was undeniably dramatic. According to the House of Commons Library, the party won 677 council seats, 41% of all seats contested, and took control of ten councils.

But what has happened since raises serious questions about whether Reform was prepared for the responsibilities of local government.

Liberal Democrats Political analyst, Lord Mark Pack, documented that by April 2026, Reform had already lost 27 councillors elected in 2025 through suspensions, expulsions, resignations, defections or criminal proceedings. That amounts to roughly 4% of the councillors the party had won just 12 months earlier.

The cases included councillors suspended over racist comments, criminal convictions, harassment allegations and individuals abandoning the party altogether.

The instability has continued again after the May 2026 elections. Further newly elected Reform councillors were quickly suspended or condemned over allegations involving racist and extremist content, including Holocaust denial and Islamophobic social media posts.

The issue is not simply the number of councillors lost. It is the speed with which serious controversies keep emerging.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged reform uk | 45 Comments

Andy Burnham’s mixed record: Why Greater Manchester deserves better

By Iain Donaldson | Thu 21st May 2026 - 1:31 pm

The argument for standing aside in Makerfield sounds “strategic”, but from a Liberal Democrat perspective it is strategically short-sighted, democratically unhealthy, and misunderstands how Reform is defeated.

Political parties exist to represent voters, not simply to game outcomes between larger parties. If Liberal Democrats believe in liberal values, civil liberties, internationalism and local democracy, then voters everywhere deserve the opportunity to vote for those values. Writing off entire areas risks accelerating decline, not preventing it.

The claim that standing and polling poorly makes the party “look inept” ignores Liberal Democrat history. The party’s biggest advances often began from tiny bases through years of consistent local campaigning. Community politics only works if voters repeatedly see Liberal Democrats showing up and fighting elections — not disappearing whenever things look difficult.

More importantly, conceding territory to Labour in the name of “stopping Reform” misunderstands why Reform is growing. Reform’s rise is driven by disillusionment with Westminster, economic insecurity and distrust of the political establishment. Simply asking voters to unite behind Labour does not address any of those causes.

There is also little evidence that parties standing aside reliably stops Reform. Tactical voting works best when voters make informed decisions locally, not when party machines remove democratic choices altogether. Research after the 2026 local elections found anti-Reform tactical coordination was inconsistent because politics is no longer a simple two-party contest.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged makerfield by-election | 19 Comments

The rise and fall of Captain Hindsight

By Iain Donaldson | Thu 19th February 2026 - 2:47 pm

For many of us growing up in the 1970’s the TV superhero Hong Kong Phooey was a regular fix on our televisions, despite only running for one series of 16 episodes. Mild mannered janitor, Penry Pooch by day, and superhero by night, ably ‘assisted’ by his sidekick Spot the Cat.

Oddly this bumbling character seems an early metaphor for the Starmer government with its bumbling mild mannered Prime Minister and his trusty sidekick Morgan McSweeney, constantly making U-Turns and never really being seen for who he really is by the people around him.

A former bumbling Prime minister coined the phrase “Captain Hindsight” which does sum up his record with a massive seven U-turns before he even got to 10 Downing Street and a further 15 (and counting) since. Perhaps the opening titles to Hong Kong Phooey could be changed for the modern era to:

Captain Hindsight
Who is this super hero?
McSweeney? No.
Angela, the brash northern Deputy? No.
Keith, the mild-mannered PM? Could be!

As of February 2026, the Keir Starmer government has made 15 major U-turns costing the British Economy over £8 billion (est) since taking office in July 2024. These reversals, often following backbench rebellions or legal challenges, include significant shifts on taxation, welfare, and civil liberties.

The problem for Labour is not only the number of U-Turns, but the fact that 15 of them have been on major front line policies, from tax to social care, from workers rights to human rights, and the feeling that it creates in the country is that you really cannot rely on Labour to have your back.

What’s more they have impacted on the economy, and at a time when Brexit is depressing out exports to our largest trading block, causing major financial distress for our exporters, and the Trump government is playing Hokey-Cokey with international tariffs, all this does nothing to bolster the investment markets and generate the much-needed growth.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged keir starmer | 4 Comments

Liberalism, living our values and quotas

By Iain Donaldson | Fri 31st October 2025 - 9:15 am

Liberalism means you can do what you want as long as you don’t limit others’ freedoms. That’s why I have written to the party leadership asking them to step into the quota debate for the Federal Elections. Even if only a few party members are affected, making people register to stand for election by a gender they don’t identify with is wrong. It goes against our core values and must not happen.

Setting quotas in the way proposed may satisfy one group but harm another group’s basic rights, indeed the new interpretation forces quotas to work in the opposite way to what was intended. Until the law changes, which I hope our leadership will support, we shouldn’t allow this.

Denying gender reassignment and self-determination breaks the liberal values many of us stand for. Our party has fought for true equality, and abandoning these principles is deeply wrong. Just weeks after honouring a trans woman with the Patsy Calton award, treating her as a man in internal elections is cruel and must be changed if we want to keep calling ourselves Liberal.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged 2025 internal elections and diversity quotas | 1 Comment

We need courage and independence – it’s got to be Prue!

By Iain Donaldson | Tue 7th October 2025 - 12:00 pm

Editor’s Note: In November party members will be voting to elect our next Party President. At Lib Dem Voice we welcome posts from each of the candidates – one to launch their candidature plus a maximum of one per week during the actual campaign.

The coming year marks the 38th anniversary of the founding of the Liberal Democrats. As a founding member, and one who had never before pledged loyalty to any political party, the Liberal Democrats have become, and remain, my steadfast political home. Over these years, I have seen many Presidents come and go; the most impactful were those who wholly embraced the party’s fundamental values and principles, dedicating themselves with unwavering focus and without distraction. Their resolute commitment has been crucial in guiding our party through both trials and triumphs.

The role of President transcends mere ceremony; it is the indispensable voice of our members amidst MPs and Lords who occupy constitutionally guaranteed seats on key federal committees. This responsibility demands courage and independence, particularly when championing members’ views that may stand in opposition to those of parliamentary colleagues seated beside them. The President’s autonomy in such matters is vital to safeguarding the party’s integrity and democratic vitality.

To serve as President of the Liberal Democrats is to accept a role of profound responsibility and relentless demands on the time available to the postholder. One day may call for advising a local party through a complex dispute; the next, defending our party’s principles in court against a litigious member. The President is engaged in every aspect of our work from developing policy to devising campaign strategies.

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters and Party Presidency | Tagged 2025 presidential election, featured, party presidential election 2025 and prue bray | 10 Comments

Has Sunak killed the United Kingdom?

By Iain Donaldson | Wed 1st March 2023 - 1:27 pm

On 27th February 2023 Rishi Sunak announced a decisive breakthrough in negotiations with the EU on trade with Northern Ireland, but is this a successful deal for NI, or does this deal signal the final knife through the heart of the United Kingdom?

Thanks to Sunak’s deal we now have a United Kingdom of two halves. In Great Britain our businesses continue to suffer the indignities of Brexit, with their access to the European markets at best restricted and at worse blocked, whilst in Northern Ireland businesses now have far fewer restrictions on their access to that market.

Sunak, in his own words, made clear that “If we get this right, if we get this framework implemented, if we get the executive back up and running here, Northern Ireland is in the unbelievably special position – unique position in the entire world, European continent – in having privileged access, not just to the UK home market, which is enormous, the fifth biggest in the world, but also the European Union single market. Nobody else has that. No one. Only you guys. Only here. And that is the prize.”

What Sunak has done is created a clear and irrevocable split between Great Britain and Northern Ireland which, whilst initially will be lauded, will rapidly turn to discontent in Great Britain, starting in Scotland and Wales, but in the longer term also in the Regions of England.

Sunak even acknowledged the divide when he stated that “I can tell you, when I go around the world and talk to businesses, they know. They’re like, ‘That’s interesting, if you guys get this sorted, then we want to invest in Northern Ireland.’”

“Because nowhere else does that exist. That’s like the world’s most exciting economic zone.”

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged brexit, northern ireland and rushi sunak | 29 Comments

PR is not enough. We need to redistribute power!

By Iain Donaldson | Thu 1st September 2022 - 9:57 am

“Power corrupts”, and I am afraid that what we have seen in the past 2 years is no worse than what went before it. Throughout my adult life not a year has gone by without some political scandal or other being in the news.

The simple observation that our leaders are not using their power with our interests at heart is a part of the problem our country faces, for the powers they exert are not theirs they belong to us, the people. From the abuse of power stem all the other problems we face. At elections power switches from one unchallenged central government to another, with the regional and local of our society set aside for some mythical greater good.

We must stop focussing on the single issue of our voting system, it is the system that is the problem and needs to be changed. Our bicameral system of government (Commons and Lords) is supposed to offer scrutiny, but when most of the Lords are political appointees how can that be so?

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged federalism | 15 Comments

The beacons of change

By Iain Donaldson | Fri 12th June 2020 - 12:15 pm

There is controversy around the decision to rename Gladstone Hall at Liverpool University, citing the fact that Gladstone’s family earned their wealth on the back of the slave trade and that as a young Tory politician, in 1831 Gladstone spoke in favour of compensating slave traders for the loss of their income.

It is my understanding that the decision to rename Gladstone Hall was taken democratically within the rules of the Liverpool University, and I find myself on the same side of this debate as the Gladstone Library who have stated that:

… if it is the democratic will, after due process, to remove statues of William Gladstone, our founder, we would not stand in the way. Nor, we think, would Gladstone himself – who worked tirelessly on behalf of democratic change.

That said, it is important that we do not in this act, or in calls for the removal of other statues, fail to acknowledge that people can change; indeed the cause of Black Lives Matter is entirely dependent upon that ability for people to change if we are to eradicate both the conscious and unconscious bias in our society today.

For that reason it is important that we reflect on the fact that Gladstone’s politics changed under the influence of people such as Richard Cobden and John Bright, so much so that by 1841 he opposed the equalisation of the duty on foreign and colonial sugar in the belief that that equalisation would aid the slave trade. The evidence is that he was by this time campaigning against slavery, indeed by 1850 he was a changed man when in Parliament he described slavery as “by far the foulest crime that taints the history of mankind in any Christian or pagan country.”

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged Gladstone and liverpool | 14 Comments

A supporters’ scheme: an alternative plan

By Iain Donaldson | Sun 9th September 2018 - 1:00 pm

Liberal parties have a long history of enabling people. We invented Parish Councils, we are Britain’s only independent mutualist co-operative party, and we champion devolution of power. Vince Cable proposes change that is very liberal, very enabling and poses little change to the way that our party works. Indeed, most of what he proposes already exists and all he asks is that we give it structure.

This party has supporters’ clubs promoting policy, we call them Associated Organisations (AO’s). They range from the association of Liberal Democrat Trades Unionists. and the Green Liberal Democrats through to the Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel and the Liberal Democrats Friends of Palestine. You don’t have to be a party member to join them, and yet they create policy and take it to the conference floor where fully subscribed party members vote to make them party policy.

We also have informal local supporters’ clubs that help deliver leaflets and participate with our local parties and Liberal Clubs, where you do not have to be a party member to join but which contribute to the life and politics and funding of the party to a substantial degree. We are grateful to them all for their help and support all year round and involving them in a formal AO for supporters is not so radical an idea; we should have done it years ago and It doesn’t even require a constitutional change, just a new constitution for the AO.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged vince's big speech | 7 Comments

Boris Johnson, bypassing the social taboos

By Iain Donaldson | Wed 8th August 2018 - 2:00 pm

Normally I would say focus on the policy, not the presenter of the policy, but every rule should have its exceptions, and, in this case, Boris Johnson is very much an exception. His carefully constructed persona enables him to bypass the critical faculties and hit the base instincts that society is created to taboo.

When one thinks of Boris Johnson, it is very easy to think of the irreverent comedy of the Pythons, replacing the ministry of funny walks with the ministry for ruffled hair, or imagining Joe Johnson screaming ‘He’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy.’. The problem is that Boris knows that and he plays to it. His character is equally well crafted as those created by the Pythons, honed over many years and designed to work on many levels.

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged boris johnson | 18 Comments

20 years on from the “Bolton Seven” case

By Iain Donaldson | Tue 20th February 2018 - 8:55 am

On 12th January 1998 seven men from Bolton were convicted under sexual offences legislation that clearly discriminated between gay sex and heterosexual sex.

I phoned the office of Liberal Democrat MP, Dr Evan Harris, to alert him to the plight of these men and he agreed to help their cause. Evan tabled Early Day Motion 117 and questioned the Attorney General to raise the plight of these men in Parliament.

Early day motion 717
SEXUAL OFFENCES LAW
• Session: 1997-98
• Date tabled: 02.02.1998
• Primary sponsor: Harris, Evan
That this House notes with grave concern the case of the Bolton 7 who were convicted following private, consenting, victimless homosexual behaviour; notes that the prosecution was brought under the age of consent legislation found to be a breach of basic human rights by the European Commission of Human Rights and under the ban on homosexual relations involving the participation or presence of more than two persons (section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 1967), which violates Article 8 of the ECHR – the right to privacy; notes that the 1956 and 1967 Sexual Offences Acts unfairly discriminate against homosexuals; calls for equalisation of treatment of homosexuals and heterosexuals under the criminal law; and, in the light of the Government’s decision to give the House a free vote on the age of consent and not to contest the ECHR ruling, calls for the police and Crown Prosecution Service to use their discretion and suspend prosecutions under the gay age of consent legislation until Parliament has reconsidered; and believes that custodial sentences in the case of the Bolton 7 and other such cases of consenting homosexual behaviour are not in the public interest nor in the interests of justice.

The Liberal Democrats were not alone in raising the plight of these men, Outrage ran a major national campaign and Amnesty International stated that were the men to be imprisoned they would be declared prisoners of conscience. These campaigns may well be the reason why the men did not receive custodial sentences, although three of them had their names added to the sexual offences register.

In 2000, six of the men appealed to the European Court of Human Rights arguing that the prosecutions against them had violated their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights by interfering with ‘the right to respect for a private family life’ enshrined in article 8 of the Convention. They were subsequently awarded compensation.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged evan harris, liberty and sexual offences | 2 Comments

Nuclear fudge on the Lib Dem stall

By Iain Donaldson | Fri 24th March 2017 - 2:55 pm

Bismark is quoted as having said that “politics is the art of the possible” and in perpetuating a nuclear defence policy that can never be realised, the Liberal Democrats have succeeded in stepping out of the debate on nuclear weapons. The policy of having a part time submarine which probably isn’t carrying any nuclear warheads is neither possible nor deterrent.

This position is the sort of contingency that is adopted by fence sitters who do not expect ever to have to implement the policy that they have adopted and quite frankly for a party that aspires to government it is an entirely unsustainable policy.

There are in fact on the nuclear debate only two main questions, do we want a nuclear based defence policy or not? If the answer is yes then the policy of the Liberal Democrats is not that policy as it means in reality that we leave the warheads at home until after war has been declared. If the answer is no then the policy of the Liberal Democrats is not that policy as it retains the warheads.

Fundamentally we are saying that we want to negotiate away warheads that we will never use and will never have the opportunity to use and so we have taken our warheads out of any possible multi-lateral agreement.

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Posted in News | Tagged nuclear weapons | 32 Comments

Sir Gerald Kaufman R.I.P.

By Iain Donaldson | Mon 27th February 2017 - 6:28 pm

Embed from Getty Images

From Iain Donaldson, Chair of Manchester Gorton, Central and Blackley Liberal Democrats:

It is with great sadness that we heard of the death yesterday of Sir Gerald Kaufman, Member of Parliament for Manchester Gorton.

I first met Sir Gerald over 30 years ago when he visited (then) Wright Robinson High School whilst I was studying in the sixth-form. I can honestly say that despite our having been political opponents for the many years I have known him he was a kind and gentle man whose acerbic wit was always used in good humour to promote the causes close to his heart. He was also a devoted servant of the people of Manchester Gorton.

Over the years we have worked together where we agreed and opposed each other where we disagreed but on all occasions I found him to be as courteous as he was determined.

At this time I would like on behalf of the Manchester Gorton, Central and Blackley Liberal Democrats to convey our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Sir Gerald Kaufman and to his colleagues in the Labour Party.

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Posted in Obituaries | Tagged gerald kaufman | Comments Off

The human right to freedom of speech is now under threat!

By Iain Donaldson | Mon 17th October 2016 - 2:41 pm

“Ridiculous” you no doubt think, this is another of the Liberal elite trying to spread scare stories.

Well, if that is what you think then take a look at the Government Petitions website today. A Conservative Councillor has launched a petition calling on the Government to amend the Treason Felony Act to make supporting UK membership of the EU a crime.

The petition states:

Amend the Treason Felony Act to make supporting UK membership of the EU a crime.

The Treason Felony Act be amended to include the following offences:
‘To imagine, devise, promote, work, or encourage others, to support UK becoming a member of the European Union;
– To conspire with foreign powers to make the UK, or part of the UK, become a member of the EU.’

It is becoming clear that many politicians and others are unwilling to accept the democratic decision of the British people to leave the EU. Brexit must not be put at risk in the years and decades ahead. For this reason we the undersigned request that the Treason Felony Act be amended as set out in this petition.

(These provisions to become law the day the United Kingdom leaves the EU).

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged petition | 38 Comments

North West Liberal Democrats Conference Spring 2016

By Iain Donaldson | Mon 4th April 2016 - 11:28 am

Members attend regional conference to debate policy, receive training, question the decision makers in the party, and, of course, to socialise with old friends over a cup of tea or an excellent lunch.

On Saturday, following the opening of North West Liberal Democrats Conference by the Deputy Leader of Stockport Council, we heard an upbeat presentation from Sir Vince Cable about the work the Liberal Democrats did in Government, and where we go from here. This was followed by a presentation by former North West MEP Chris Davies on the progress of the #intogether campaign to keep Britain in the EU. …

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Posted in News | Tagged north west region | 3 Comments

Will North West Region choose to become a state party?

By Iain Donaldson | Sat 2nd April 2016 - 8:56 am

The Liberal Democrats are a growing party and week on week new colleagues join us in the battle to create a democratic and liberal nation in which success is founded on merit, policy is founded on evidence and citizens are treated equally.

This party has always championed the concept of subsidiarity, decisions being taken as close as possible to the people they affect. We were the party that pressed hardest for a North West Regional Parliament, and we are the party that in government delivered Devo-Manc and real prospect of Devo-Merseyside. It is not our preferred option of devolution and it does not devolve enough powers, but it is a beginning in the quest to achieve the Liberal Democrat ambition of a Federal United Kingdom within a Federal European Union.

The North West Region finds more General Election candidates than the Party in Scotland, the Party in Wales or the Party in any other region in England. We not only fill our own seats but we also export candidates to other regions and train candidates for other regions.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged constitution and north west region | 32 Comments

All women shortlists

By Iain Donaldson | Mon 14th March 2016 - 10:39 am

At Liberal Democrat Conference in York this weekend I have been told by a number of women that they would not want to be the candidate for a seat that selected from an all women shortlist. I have some news for them, most of them won’t be. The motion passed means that of the around 580 seats that the Liberal Democrats will contend 8 must have all women shortlists.

I will now issue a direct challenge to those women, don’t walk away from the party but instead as there are up to 572 seats not selecting on all women shortlists so choose one of those seats and get selected as a Parliamentary Candidate. However, my challenge goes much further than that because right now we only have enough approved candidates who are women to fill a quarter of those seats so at the same time convince another woman who is capable of standing for parliament to do the same.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged diversity and liberal democrat spring conference 2016 | 32 Comments

The counter bias proposed in the All Women Shortlist motion will not in itself be enough to achieve balance

By Iain Donaldson | Thu 18th February 2016 - 3:34 pm

The membership of the Liberal Democrats is almost 50% male and 50% female (I say almost because we have a number of members who are non-binary (they do not define as male or female) and I will say up front that when I refer to “all women shortlists” this does not mean I am excluding these non-binary candidates, I want and would strongly encourage them to seek selection.

The Liberal Democrats also instinctively seek parity between men and women (it is noticeable that not one man felt he could do a better job than the excellent women candidates who stood for election as Party President in 2014. This was not out of some arranged plot visited upon us from Lib Dem HQ, it was simply a conclusion that we all reached of our own volition.

Why then can we not achieve gender balance in our parliamentary candidates by the same gut instinct? Well actually we want to but there is disagreement as to how we go about it.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged all-women shortlists | 25 Comments

Community Politics – putting people first

By Iain Donaldson | Mon 14th December 2015 - 2:17 pm

Liberal Democrats believe that the state exists to serve and enable individuals to live their lives to the full. Our starting point is the individual. We want to find ways of enabling and encouraging each person to fulfil his or her own potential.

We believe that men and women have an immense, largely unrealised capacity for self-direction, self-cultivation, self-understanding and creativity. People are not sheep to be flocked, cattle to be herded or oxen to be led; it is inhuman to reduce people to the status of objects to be manipulated, directed or discarded.

It is the right of every human to share the liberty and the opportunity to experiment, to experience, to learn and to influence his or her surroundings. This is the ethos that drives the Liberal Democrats. It is not about having one’s own way; it is about having a way that is one’s own.

A liberal community does not dictate how people should live, but liberates people to live as they please so long as that in doing so they do not impinge upon the freedoms and rights of others. It does not provide for the needs of the citizen, but rather enables the citizen to provide for their own needs.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged community politics | 10 Comments

It is time to press for full gender and sexual equality in our law and administration

By Iain Donaldson | Wed 28th October 2015 - 4:19 pm

The case of Tara Hudson, a transgender woman who has been sent to one of the most violent all male prisons in the country for an admitted assault, highlights once again the need for British law and administration relating to gender dysphoria to be overhauled.

As a cysgender gay man I cannot begin to imagine what it must be like to live with a condition where you experience discomfort or distress because there is a mismatch between your biological sex and gender identity, but I don’t have to live with medical condition in order to understand the impact …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged equality, gender and gender dysphoria | 9 Comments

Conference: what worked, and some suggestions for improvement for the future

By Iain Donaldson | Fri 25th September 2015 - 10:25 am

I believe in giving praise where praise is due, and so I would like to congratulate all the party staff, companies, businesses, volunteers and particularly the members of Federal Conference Committee (FCC) on their delivering the most enjoyable, welcoming and member friendly conference I have attended in my 27 years in this party.

I particularly liked and would like to see at all future conferences:

From the moment you arrived people explained what was happening and when, FCC and Federal Executive members were available front of house to hear what members wanted to tell them;

In the conference hall every technicality of the debate was clearly explained as it happened so nobody felt out of their depth;

In the fringe meetings every acronym and every bit of jargon was explained, it isn’t just the new members who are helped by that everyone benefits.

On the whole this conference gave us a lot to build on, and here are some of my suggestions for the future:

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged autumn conference 2015 | 5 Comments

Opinion: Issues for the promised party governance review

By Iain Donaldson | Wed 27th May 2015 - 8:55 am

Before the election we were promised a review of how the party operates, and if the Federal Executive is doing its job properly then we should be hearing at some point in June how each of us can contribute to that process.  Here is a little bit of my input as to where we can go from here.

Firstly we need to commission the development of a registered voting system for the Conference app that can be used for all internal elections.  The BBC and ITV have managed to develop such apps for voting in their competitions and shows and registering the vote to an individual shouldn’t be that difficult.

Secondly, all committees should be elected on the basis of one member one vote.  The idea that vested interests such as parliamentarians, councillors or specified organisations can have places reserved at the top tables in a party that prides itself on every member having the same say is nonsense.  Our elected representatives should be answerable to the party that secured their election, not stacking its committees to make it answerable to them.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged internal party organisation | 14 Comments

Opinion: Delivering a stronger economy and a fairer society

By Iain Donaldson | Tue 28th October 2014 - 11:56 am

The Liberal Democrat pre-manifesto contains a lot of good policy, but what it is lacking is the narrative to pull all those disparate threads into a single powerful statement of who we are and what we stand for. In this short article I will try to provide just that.

In 2010 we knew that our country was headed for a major recession and that the first priority of the Liberal Democrats in government must be to protect the poorest whilst setting in place the infrastructure necessary in order to re-grow our economy, close the deficit and start to repay the national debt. That is why we have invested so heavily in cutting taxes for the poorest, improving education for all our children and ensuring that we research new technologies to keep us at the forefront of innovation so that as the world comes out of recession this country is able to meet the new demands.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged manifesto 2015, narrative, policy themes and why vote Lib Dem | 43 Comments

Opinion: Decision making in the Liberal Democrats

By Iain Donaldson | Wed 22nd October 2014 - 3:29 pm

The Liberal Democrats could be on the verge of a major change in the way in which we conduct our internal business. We have already decided to move to OMOV for Federal Conference, and that will result automatically in all members of the party being eligible to stand for the elected positions on our Federal Executive. We have also already decided to move to no less than 30% female representation for the elected seats on the FE, which will automatically weight the FE to at least 15% women (a token gesture by people who don’t understand the issue).

I have proposed, as a part of my agenda for election to the FE that we should move to having all seats on the FE directly elected and on a 50/50 +1 split of male to female members.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged decision making and internal party democracy | 20 Comments

Opinion: How about some real fairness in our tax system?

By Iain Donaldson | Mon 1st September 2014 - 10:15 am

On 27th August as a party of the new Liberal Democrat media strategy of Manifesto by a Thousand Statements, in the name of the party it was announced that The Liberal Democrats have set out plans to introduce a trio of wealth taxes which will help to cut the deficit whilst ensuring fairness in our tax system. I fully understand the need to wipe out the deficit, and the need for the wealthiest to bear the greatest burden in achieving that, but let us not confuse that with making our tax system fairer.

National Insurance is a tax on income. It is paid at a rate of 11% on earnings between £7,956 per year and £ 41,865 per year above which it drops to just 2%. Surely integrating NI into Income Tax, thereby raising the basic threshold to the proposed £12,500 and reducing the rate of payment substantially (we are always told that the richest 10% pay the highest burden in tax) would be a way of ensuring fairness in our tax system. This is a measure that would have a direct impact on the daily lives of the majority of our citizens, rather than just playing to the politics of envy.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged liberal democrat manifesto 2015 and tax | 29 Comments

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