Author Archives: Katy Gordon

Scottish Liberal Democrats set radical new tone for a modern, diverse Liberal Party

I’ve been worried for weeks about how the vote would go on our crucial Diversity motion at Scottish conference on Saturday. I’ve spent the past 4 years as Convener of Scottish Women Liberal Democrats and Convener of Campaigns & Candidates (Scotland) driving forward all the measures we say as a party should ensure we get equal numbers of women elected to men: talent spotting, encouraging, running targeted training sessions, mentoring and supporting women across the party to get selected and elected.

Just like at Westminster now, we had an opportunity 5 years ago when we lost 11 of …

Posted in Op-eds | 22 Comments

Anti-English or Anti-Scottish? A guide to the independence referendum

At last, Westminster and the UK media have woken up to the reality that Scotland is sleepwalking towards independence. The phoney war is over and finally we may get some serious debate rather than evasion, insults and accusations of ‘talking Scotland down’.

When the Scottish Liberal Democrats refused to form a coalition with the SNP after the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections, it was not just personal antipathy to Alex Salmond’s unbearably smug persona. Our then leader, Nicol Stephen, warned that the SNP would spend the whole time in government blaming Westminster for everything, rather than concentrating on actually making …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 48 Comments

Opinion: We should be ambitious in our campaigning

Katy Gordon fought Glasgow North in the General Election in May and is now the top candidate  on the Glasgow Regional list for the Holyrood  elections in May. In this inspiring article, she shows how her team’s “yes we can” attitude paid dividends, increasing membership by 150%.

When I started campaigning in June 2007 as PPC for the target seat of Glasgow North, I had very little idea of how to go about it.  All I knew was I was fed up with Labour taking the people of Glasgow for granted, that the Lib Dems had real potential to grow in …

Posted in Op-eds and Scotland | Tagged , , and | 16 Comments
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    I'm also surprised the impact of LGR hasn't been more widely discussed, although it's effectively too late now. We are moving from a two-tier to Unitary and ...
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    Though I agree with the final sentiment of this blog, devolution does not necessarily lead to greater people power. All power is potentially dangerous regardles...