Author Archives: Mark Valladares

We’ve got a busy day ahead, here at Liberal Democrat Voice. There are a wide range of views regarding the General Election Review, as you might guess, and they’re still coming in, so you can expect a number of articles today and tomorrow…

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The Immigration Bill has had its Second Reading in the Commons and, unsurprisingly, was passed by a majority of 99 votes. It’s a pretty shoddy, rather unpleasant piece of work from a Home Secretary who clearly believes in pulling up the drawbridge that her own family (and mine) used not so long ago. But, given …

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Are right-wing political campaigners not only using Russian attack lines, but using the same tactics to discredit their opponents? Here’s a story from the United States, see what you think…

Test, track, trace and isolate is allegedly the Government’s strategy to deal with the coronavirus. That requires a network of contact tracers, 18,000 of whom were supposed to be in place and operating imminently. It’s a pity that they’ve not been recruited yet…

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Today, two differing views of the Party’s Internal Review into the 2019 General Election campaign.

Nick Tyrone is rather more impressed than …

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You can tell when the Conservatives are rattled. After the easy years of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Leader, Keir Starmer is clearly more of a worry, which might explain why Conservative MPs Nadine Dorries, Maria Caulfield and Lucy Allan decided to draw attention via Twitter to a very dubiously edited video purporting to represent his views on child grooming. It wasn’t actually true, indeed it might represent defamation, and disappeared, along with the account it came from. Maria Caulfield was obviously concerned about the possibilities, as her entire Twitter account has been deleted. Even Number 10 wasn’t …

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There’s little bigger news any time than an economic slump, and the acknowledgement from Rishi Sunak that Britain is facing a “significant recession” augurs ill for a country likely to mutilate its key trading tie in less than eight months. But with decidedly mixed messages on how Government finances might be reconciled going forward – no more austerity, apparently – and public services in need of investment, an inexperienced Treasury team need to come up with a plan fast.

The tragic death of Transport for London employee, Belly Mujinga, has become the subject of an investigation into …

My apologies for missing yesterday – life is rather hectic at the moment, so time to catch up, methinks…

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Today, the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme goes live with, potentially, 3,500,000 eligible applicants, and HMRC will, hopefully, step up to the mark again. But yesterday saw Rishi Sunak kick the can down the road somewhat, extending the Job Retention Scheme in its current form for another month, until 31 July, and indicating that furloughed employees will continue to receive 80% of their usual gross pay until 31 October. The catch? Employers are going to have to make up some of …

As it’s a Monday, I’m on editorial duty, as well as “opening batsman”. And we’ve got some interesting stuff coming up on the site, with the House of Lords, Northern (England) campaigning, Welsh devolution, business support for the hitherto overlooked and even some audience participation for those of you who have an interest in how democracy works. Naturally, we’ll have the latest thoughts from Mary too, for whom the announced changes make little difference. So, if like so many, you’re a bit cooped up at home, why not join us during the day?

Oh, and yes, I’m actually at work, albeit …

It’s becoming increasingly hard to keep up with the news cycle and, beyond the chaos of lockdown, a no deal Brexit begins to loom ever larger…

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When the specialist trade press, the Adam Smith Institute and Guido Fawkes think that you’ve got something wrong, your instinct might be to think that you’ve got something very right. On the other hand, this is HM Government’s new app for coronavirus contact tracing, and all three sources above think that it’s rubbish. Here’s Guido Fawkes (and I’m not sure that I really believe that I’m writing this) on just one of …

My subconscious is telling me that it’s a Bank Holiday Monday. Sadly, it isn’t…

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Whilst the Government talk about relaxing restrictions, the public seem likely to vote to demur from a return to normality. With less than 10% support for reopening pubs, stadiums and nightclubs, and just 11% support reopening restaurants, it’s clear that, even if you allow such things to reopen, there just won’t be enough potential custom to allow them to survive, let alone thrive.

In another sign that any economic recovery is going to faltering at best, a report compiled by Deloitte indicates that business …

It’s got to be admitted that April was… interesting. The world has been turned upside down somewhat, and what we thought we knew is now uncertain. And, as the lockdown goes on, and the elections that many of us had expected are delayed, what does May have in store?

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There will be a plan for a return to work and for schools to reopen by next week, according to the Prime Minister. But will the public be willing to do so, given the levels of support for the lockdown and for social distancing? You can open an office …

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Was it a political choice by the Government not to take part in the EU joint procurement scheme, as Sir Simon McDonald originally suggested, or not, as his subsequent “clarification” indicated? To be honest, it probably doesn’t matter, as you can get different answers from different members of the Cabinet anyway. And, even if you got a consistent answer, can you believe very much that comes out of this Government in any event?

Matt Hancock’s further clarification, that they did join the EU scheme, was almost immediately, and inevitably, denied by a European Union spokesperson, as reported by …

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Another three weeks… For some, probably myself included, it may not seem so bad, but for anyone who had persuaded themselves that this wasn’t going to last, the next few days of adjustment will be tougher. At least there is the hint of a plan, although John Crace in the Guardian wasn’t wildly impressed…

Mind you, Raab did hedge his bets a bit by saying that the restrictions would initially remain in place for another three weeks. It sounded as if he was hoping the prime minister might be back in action by then, so that it would

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Back, and refreshed after the Easter weekend…

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The Guardian is claiming as an exclusive its story that the United Kingdom missed three chances to join the EU scheme to bulk-buy PPE. Given that there are evident shortages and that, as a result, health and care workers are going unprotected, this is another reminder that the Government have been slow to act, and equally slow to co-operate where there might be advantage in doing so.

Bernie Sanders has endorsed Joe Biden. Now that may seem obvious, but given that Hillary Clinton lost as much because Sanders supporters stayed at …

It’s the weekend, and even this column gets a lie in. Well, that’s my excuse, anyway!

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There’s been a lot of controversy over the apparent delays in repatriating British tourists trapped overseas. But it isn’t as easy to arrange these things as you might think. Austrian Airlines have been collecting citizens from around the world, and in this interview, one of their pilots explains some of the issues encountered.

But how did we get to this at all? The Guardian has gone back to the source of the pandemic, Wuhan.

Coronavirus infections began cropping up in Wuhan in December

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