Author Archives: NewsHound

Christine Jardine: With Jim Wallace’s death, it feels like we have lost part of our conscience

By NewsHound | Mon 2nd February 2026 - 2:45 pm

In her Scotsman column this week, Christine Jardine has made many of us in Scotland cry. She wrote about Jim Wallace, about meeting him as a young reporter and then as a fellow parliamentarian.

I first met Jim Wallace in 1992 when I was a journalist with no political allegiance, and he had just become Scottish Liberal Democrat leader. I remember telling my husband and colleagues that he seemed like a decent bloke, and in some ways too ‘nice’ for politics.

That came back to me on Thursday when I learned of his death. Because in truth, that first impression was the one that stuck with me through the 30 years during which he influenced and shaped my personal and political direction, and the country’s.

It never felt like an overt, interfering influence. More like a favourite wise uncle whose opinion you would seek and whose approval you cherished. He was someone you felt was motivated by doing the right thing, not for political gain or to win votes, but to be fair and just.

Posted in News | Tagged christine jardine, jim wallace and the scotsman | Leave a comment

LibLink: How can abuse openly take place in a nursery, by Munira Wilson

By NewsHound | Sun 14th December 2025 - 12:55 pm

In a Guardian article this week, Lib Dem Education spokesperson Munira Wilson called for mandatory CCTV in nurseries to respond to a number of horrific abuse cases taking place in nurseries. She highlighted the structural failures in the childcare sector because of improperly managed implementation of childcare entitlements.

She set out the problem:

Yet the harrowing case of Vincent Chan, a former nursery worker in Camden, north London, who pleaded guilty to nine counts of sexual assault and 17 counts of taking or making indecent photos of children, hit the headlines last week, leaving parents with young children across the country feeling

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged childcare, munira wilson and nurseries | 1 Comment

New Lib Dem Candidate for Mayor of Sussex: ‘We will win with unity, not division’

By NewsHound | Sun 14th September 2025 - 2:07 pm

Sussex Liberal Democrats have nominated environmental expert Ben Dempsey as their candidate for the upcoming election for Mayor of Sussex. The party says that with the Conservatives and Labour in free-fall, they are the only party that can beat Reform by standing up for unity over division.

The latest YouGov MRP poll shows Reform leading in Sussex at 24.4%, with the Liberal Democrats close behind at 22.8%. The Conservatives (19.7%), Labour (17.1%), and the Green Party (14.2%) trail behind. The Liberal Democrats have five Sussex MPs and lead several district councils in both West and East Sussex.

Ben Dempsey, 46, grew up …

Posted in Selection news | Tagged ben dempsey and sussex mayoralty | 1 Comment

Liblink Christine Jardine: Human beings are human beings

By NewsHound | Wed 3rd September 2025 - 10:25 am

In her column for the Scotsman this week, Christine Jardine tackles the issue of immigration head on.

She starts by talking about the issue of the protests at the hotels where asylum seekers have been accommodated and the court action surrounding the use of those hotels:

igger now than before the break, with a legal ruling in England which cast doubt on the future of asylum hotels and added to Nigel Farage’s ramping up of the rhetoric to push his party’s case. The Home Office successfully challenged the ruling, but there had already been protests and the espousal of anti-immigration rhetoric which made my blood run cold.

Build camps, treat people fleeing persecution and poverty like criminals, pay regimes like the Taliban to take back those whose only desire was to escape them and build a better, freer life for their families is what he calls for.

Nobody climbs into a flimsy overcrowded boat to endure a life-threatening journey with no life jackets for their children because it was the easy option?

Yet that is how Farage and his followers paint it in a campaign which aims to undermine the international structure of protections for Human Rights for refugees, indeed for us all, which grew out of the chaos and persecution of the Second World War.

Ahd she’s not happy at how some politicians are reacting to all of this:

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged asylum, christine jardine, human rights and immigration | 20 Comments

Alistair Carmichael LibLink: Palestine Action ban reveals Labour’s dangerously authoritarian instincts

By NewsHound | Wed 20th August 2025 - 10:28 am

Alistair Carmichael has criticised the Labour Government for its proscription of Palestine Action. In a recent column for the Scotsman he talked about why he was never able to join the Labour Party:

For all the similarities between Liberal Democrats and Labour, the differences matter too.

Labour has centralising instincts that will always be anathema to liberals who champion community empowerment. Then there is the freedom thing.

Scratch any Labour government and you will find a deep authoritarian streak. It is increasingly apparent that this is every bit as true of Yvette Cooper’s Home Office as it was of those headed by David Blunkett, John Reid and Jack Straw.

He sums up the differences between us and Labour pretty neatly:

For liberals, protecting freedoms of speech, assembly and protest is a given. It runs to the heart of how we see the relationship between the citizen and the state. For Labour, these freedoms are rarely more than ‘nice to have’ when circumstances allow.

He said very much out loud that the Labour decision to proscribe Palestine Action was a mistake:

Posted in LibLink | Tagged Alistair Carmichael, featured, Palestine action and the scotsman | 2 Comments

Lib Link: Ed Davey – Brexit has been a resounding disaster. Starmer must find the courage to change course

By NewsHound | Wed 6th August 2025 - 10:25 am

Many party members will be very happy to see Ed Davey say out loud that Brexit is not working in a piece for the Guardian.

Our leader said:

Brexit isn’t working, and the British people know it. Poll after poll, including that unveiled this weekend by More In Common for the Sunday Times, shows that people are feeling the terrible damage caused by the deal forced upon us by Boris Johnson, Kemi Badenoch and the rest of the Conservative party, and want something different. The latest shows less than a third of Britons would vote to leave the EU if a referendum were repeated. There’s no doubt that fundamental change is needed. There’s no doubt the public will is there to make it happen. The question is: will Keir Starmer seize the moment and deliver it?

He urges Starmer to stop tinkering:

Of course, we know why Starmer has been reluctant to go further. He’s spooked by the combined threat of the Conservatives and Reform, both of whom are itching for the chance to plunge Britain back into the nasty Brexit wars of the past decade. Well, I say let them try. With so many serious problems in need of urgent solutions, the British people have absolutely no appetite for all that division and distraction, and they will have no truck with politicians who do.

Posted in News | Tagged Customs Union, ed davey and eu | 31 Comments

Josh Babarinde talks to Nick Robinson about domestic abuse reform

By NewsHound | Tue 15th July 2025 - 7:28 am

One of the brightest stars on the Lib Dem front bench, Josh Babarinde, has been talking to Nick Robinson on this week’s Political Thinking podcast.

He described his ultimately successful tenacious pursuit of Labour ministers to get them to bring in a specific category of offence for domestic abuse. He saw the need for this when Labour released many prisoners early to make room in our crumbling and inadequate prison system. He was furious that Labour could not make good on its promise not to release domestic abuse perpetrators early because they couldn’t identify them all.

He talks about his own background and why this issue is so important to him.

He tells Nick about his early life, an inspirational teacher and his first job serving pizzas.

Luck played a huge part in his success and he describes his fight to “minimise the role of luck” in making sure other young people could fulfil their potential.

Posted in News | Tagged josh babarinde, nick robinson, podcasts and political thinking | 2 Comments

Jo Swinson talks to the Observer about a new approach to economics

By NewsHound | Wed 2nd July 2025 - 3:30 pm

Jo Swinson has long been interested in challenging the conventional way of determining economic success. She’s a graduate of the London School of Economics and when she was a Lib Dem MP, and leader, she promoted the idea of measuring wellbeing and not just GDP.

She has spent the past five years as the Director of Partners for a New Economy. This week she was interviewed about the work of PANE in the Observer.

She had some important observations to make about the timidity of some centre-left governments:

We are in this moment of rupture, where the old economic consensus around neoliberalism has lost credibility and is going away but the new economic paradigm has not yet become clear,” says Jo Swinson.

“The irony is that the defenders of the neoliberal status quo seem to be centre-left governments in different parts of the world.” That, she argues, is one reason the left is struggling: “People have sussed out that this economic system doesn’t work.” By contrast, “the part of the right that is being successful has stopped defending neoliberalism, because they know that it’s not popular and that defending it is not going to win them votes.”

She was positive about the direction Mark Carney might take in Canada:

Posted in News | Tagged economics, Jo Swinson, partners for a new economy and wellbeing economics | 7 Comments

WATCH: Ed on Pod Save the UK

By NewsHound | Wed 5th March 2025 - 3:45 pm

Ed Davey appeared on the most recent episode of Pod Dave the UK, talking to Coco Khan.

Watch his 13 minute interview here.

Posted in News | Tagged ed davey, featured and pod save the uk | 1 Comment

Three big moments for senior Lib Dems in the media

By NewsHound | Mon 17th February 2025 - 11:30 am

The past week has seen three big appearances from Lib Dems. You used to go weeks without anyone so it’s great to see that we have a bigger profile and that there are multiple opportunities for us to differentiate ourselves from everyone else.

Last Thursday, Lisa Smart, our Home Affairs spokesperson, made her Question Time debut and did very well taking questions on Rachel Reeves cv “of course it’s daft to embellish a cv but performance matters” also pointing out that Labour inherited a “steaming pile” from the Conservatives, immigration and Ukraine. Here she is on Trump:

“The way Trump and Putin behave is like playground bullies… you don’t just give a bully what they want”

The Lib Dems’ Lisa Smart says peace must only be negotiated “on Ukraine’s terms” and it is important for Europe, including the UK, to stand up against Russia#bbcqt pic.twitter.com/UlaoYzgoro

— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) February 13, 2025

On Friday, Christine Jardine was on Any Questions. Talking about Rachel Reeves, she said that the one thing she wished she could embellish was her record as Chancellor which got a round of applause from the audience. On Trump, she pointed out the irony that he was saying that European defence was down to Europe, but then rode roughshod over Europe as regards Ukraine.

Listen here.

Finally, Ed was on Peston last week. Here he is talking about Trump:

Posted in News | Tagged any questions, christine jardine, ed davey, lisa smart, peston and question time | 9 Comments

Christine Jardine: Labour needs to deliver more for Scotland to beat SNP

By NewsHound | Tue 4th February 2025 - 7:53 am

In her Scotsman column this week, Christine Jardine has a stark message for Labour: get your backsides into gear and do more for Scotland or you are toast at the Holyrood elections in 2026. The last thing Scotland needs is another 5 years of the SNP, so we’d better hope they take heed.

Ahead of the General election last July, it looked like Labour were on course to form a Scottish Government too.

Unfortunately, with cuts to Winter Fuel Payment, the National Insurance rise and threatened benefit cuts, they have blown the goodwill that propelled them to 37 Scottish seats at …

Posted in LibLink | Tagged 2026 holyrood elections, labour, Scotland, scottish liberal democrats and snp | Leave a comment

Deep fried oreos and hummus – and MPs do karaoke

By NewsHound | Sun 8th December 2024 - 8:28 am

We have it on very good authority that there were some exceptionally sore heads in Lib Dem offices at Westminster and in constituency offices on Friday morning.

Thursday night saw the biggest Lib Dem staff Christmas party in a decade as Party HQ and staff from many of the 72 parliamentary offices gathered in a nightclub called “The Big Chill” in Kings Cross.

Politico has some more details:

Also spotted … eating humus and deep-fried Oreos at the Lib Dems’ Christmas party at Big Chill bar in Kings Cross: Equalities spokesperson Christine Jardine doing Cher’s “Believe” in the karaoke, and dueting on “Don’t You Want Me” with MP Munira Wilson … MPs Sarah Olney and Cameron Thomas doing triple karaoke with head policy adviser Will Cowie … party CEO Mike Dixon … campaigns director Dave McCobb, who was the architect of the Blue Wall wipeout … Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain … frontbenchers Josh Babarinde, Alison Bennett and Danny Chambers … MPs Calum Miller, Zoe Franklin, Paul Kohler, Cameron Thomas, Anna Sabine and Olly Glover … Director of Communications Paul Haydon … Ed Davey’s press secretary Tim Wild … spinners Gareth Lewis, Will Terras, Ami Wylie, Rob MacDonald, Lily Carlse and Liv Ransome … and long-time former press chief and peer Olly Grender.

Hummus and deep fried oreos? We just hope not together. Our liberal tolerance stretches a long way but this is an odd combination.

Posted in News | Tagged christmas and lib dems at play | 1 Comment

Lee Dillon MP’s explanation to constituents about the assisted dying vote

By NewsHound | Thu 28th November 2024 - 9:15 am

Newbury’s MP, Lee Dillon, has written constituents an open letter about his position on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which receives its second reading vote in the House of Commons tomorrow (Friday).

The Bill, which proposes allowing terminally ill adults to choose to end their life under strict safeguards, has generated significant public debate. Lee Dillon has expressed his gratitude to the many constituents who have shared their views, noting the thoughtful and respectful nature of the discussions.

In his open letter, Mr Dillon explains his decision to vote in favour of the Bill’s second reading, highlighting both the importance of individual choice and the need for rigorous protections for vulnerable individuals. He also discusses the next stages of the Bill and the opportunities for further scrutiny and amendments.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged assisted dying bill | 6 Comments

LibLink – Christine Jardine: How the UK should deal with four more years of Donald Trump

By NewsHound | Wed 6th November 2024 - 8:00 pm

Christine Jardine has written for the Scotsman about how the UK should deal with the second Trump presidency.

Like most Lib Dems, she has focused on the need to strengthen our relationships with our European partners.

The news from the US dampened the mood at Westminster:

Wednesday morning too was cloaked in a cloud of gloom as MPs considered the prospect of an American president whose protectionist instincts and apparently dismissive attitude to Nato and European defence leaves us worried for the future. I do not want contemplate the dread that must have been felt in Ukraine about what it might mean for the support on which their war effort depends.

Then, of course, there are the implications for so many American women and their right to choose what is best for them and their bodies.

We need to work together, at home and with Europe:

Posted in LibLink | Tagged 2024 us election and donald trump | Leave a comment

LibLink Christine Jardine: Why cruel laws forbidding terminally ill people from ending their life must change

By NewsHound | Wed 16th October 2024 - 11:55 am

Edinburgh West’s Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine has long been an advocate for a change in the law to allow assisted dying in limited circumstances. Ahead of Labour MP Kim Leadbetter introducing a Private Member’s Bill “to allow adults who are terminally ill, subject to safeguards and protections, to request and be provided with assistance to end their own life; and for connected purposes,” Christine set out why she supports it in her Scotsman column.

Why is she supporting Kim’s Bill?

Because I recognise the widespread demand to address an inequality in the law and for legislators like myself to debate whether a change to offer that choice is needed.

I have never made any secret of my belief that the current situation is unacceptable. The law does not offer compassion and choice but instead can seem inhumane and cruel.

She cites a comprehensive inquiry by the Commons Select Committee on Health and Social Care:

It received thousands of submissions and heard hours of testimony from all sides of the debate. It also interrogated evidence from parts of the world where the laws that will be under debate here were implemented years ago.

The committee’s final report provides exactly the sort of evidence on which the upcoming debate will draw and decisions will be made when the bill comes before parliament. For me, the most significant finding was confirmation that palliative care, however good, is not always sufficient to relieve suffering. And, curiously, that care often improves after assisted dying legislation is introduced.

She concluded by saying that she didn’t feel she had the right to deny choice to people at the end of their lives:

Posted in LibLink | Tagged assisted dying, christine jardine and kim leadbetter | Leave a comment

LibLink Steffan Aquarone Westminster, an organisation ripe for transformation

By NewsHound | Sat 28th September 2024 - 11:55 am

Our 57 new MPs have spent the Summer representing their constituents, writing to ministers and getting used to Westminster traditions and rituals.

North Norfolk MP Steffan Aquarone has written for Radix about his first impressions of Westminster and he’s identified a whole stack of things that need to change.

The Houses of Parliament are sinking into the Thames. Many dozens of offices were condemned upon their vacation by outgoing MPs. There are electrical and water hazards only a few metres underfoot, and the whole thing will cost billions to fix – not least because MPs are insistent they stay in the building while it happens.

But there is an even greater urgency to transform the way the organisation operates if we’re to bring about the change this country badly needs.

The layout needs updating for a start:

Rather than being designed around main thoroughfares, the grand corridors are built around the ritual ceremony that opens Parliament. The layout was set in a pre-digital age when runners carried messages between chambers, meaning the fastest way from the new bit to the old is via sets of narrow stairs.

Instead, a modern internal design is needed, where the main thoroughfares join together areas most frequently used by MPs and staff going about their business, with plenty of space to step aside and benefit from chance conversations and exchanges, privately but safely. MPs stuck in small individual offices is a less ominous, but no less outdated, example of pre-digital working practices. Opposite Westminster, the York Road offers a striking range of modern, collegiate working environment that could serve as nearby inspiration.

He has some thoughts on how the structure of Government inhibits it:

Modern organisations are customer centric; their bosses oversee key functions that are aligned to their customers’ or users’ journeys. They are no longer siloed by functions that mirror operational processes (and are more convenient for the organisation than its customers). Government needs Secretaries of State for Prosperity and Wellbeing, for the Citizen Experience, and for Data and Privacy, if it’s going to respond to the needs of the modern world, not catch-all Secretaries of State for Agriculture, Health, or Local Government.

Government needs innovation and the capacity to defy convention:

Posted in LibLink | Tagged Parliament, political reform and steffan aquarone | 9 Comments

LibLink: Bobby Dean – a return to austerity will not solve Britain’s problems

By NewsHound | Mon 23rd September 2024 - 4:45 pm

Whilst The Economist is calling for Liberal Democrats to move economically rightwards, the mood music from the newly-elected Liberal Democrat MPs is somewhat different.

In a piece for The House Magazine, Bobby Dean, the MP for Carshalton and Wallington, suggests that;

Starmer says he wants to end the politics of easy answers – and I agree. But on the exam question of “how to fix Britain”, he sidesteps complex answers in favour of a simple one that we have all heard before: we must tighten our belts.

If this approach turns out to be what it sounds like – a

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged bobby dean and investment spending | 12 Comments

LibLink: Caroline Voaden on Brexit and what to fix now

By NewsHound | Mon 23rd September 2024 - 11:58 am

There’s been an ongoing debate within the party about Europe, and the ambition for rejoining the European Union. And, within that debate, there has been an oft-expressed disappointment that the party is not bolder and more vocal on its ambition to rejoin at some point.

Caroline Voaden, the newly-elected Liberal Democrat MP for South Devon, laid down a rather clearer marker in a piece in The House Magazine on Thursday, noting;

I also now represent Brixham, one of the UK’s largest fishing ports – a place that supported the Brexit ideal, but where they now say they were hoodwinked by

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged brexit and caroline voaden | 2 Comments

LibLink: Alistair Carmichael MP Why Musk and Robinson are now threats to democracy

By NewsHound | Tue 13th August 2024 - 11:19 am

Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael had some wise things to say about the riots that have plagued the country over the past two weeks.

He compared what happened here to the events of January 6 when MAGA types invaded the Capitol as some Republicans in Congress tried to steal the 2020 election from its rightful winner, Joe Biden.

Today the man who encouraged and stood to benefit from that political violence, if it had succeeded, is an even bet to be elected as President of the United States.

As the UK faces down our own wave of misinformation-fuelled rioting, albeit less directly targeted at our democratic institutions, we must learn the lesson from our American cousins – and refuse any attempt to normalise political violence.

He warned that we need to tackle the root causes of this violence:

In the short term, the problem may primarily be a matter of policing and the courts, but in the long term, we need political solutions to the issues thrown up by these riots. Violence and threats of violence cannot become normalised in the way that they increasingly have been in the United States.

Posted in LibLink | Tagged Alistair Carmichael, riots and the scotsman | 16 Comments

The Right Honourable Jennie makes a media splash…

By NewsHound | Mon 29th July 2024 - 11:40 am

Yes, it’s the 73rd Liberal Democrat MP, Jennie, making the news once again.

Today’s Guardian picks up on the adventures of Steve Darling and Jennie as they work out life at Westminster. But it looks as though Jennie is finding things to her liking…

She will often be very keen to take me back to the chamber because she thinks ‘we always go here and I get to lie down for quite a period of time’. She likes banking as much rest in as possible, so the chamber is a good place to

…

Posted in News | Tagged jennie and steve darling | 3 Comments

When Jennie met Larry

By NewsHound | Wed 24th July 2024 - 9:00 pm

Many of us have fallen completely in love with the gorgeous Jennie, Steve Darling MP’s guide dog.

Many of us, but maybe not Larry the No 10 cat. The two caught sight of each other as some of our Lib Dem MPs went to deliver a petition on climate change.

Vet Danny Chambers, our new MP for Winchester captured the moment on camera.

When @rthonjennie clocked @Number10cat

Hoping not to have to put my veterinary training to use. pic.twitter.com/a5zknvyjjr

— Danny Chambers MP 🔸🩺 (@DannyVet) July 24, 2024

The start of a beautiful friendship?

Steve has been talking to Politics Home about what Westminster needs to do to make Parliament more accessible.

He told PoliticsHome that comprehending signage above head height is among the things that he has found difficult on the estate so far.

When asked about accessibility in Parliament, he pointed first to ““signage for committee rooms,” saying: “The numbering of the committee rooms is at the top of the door, so I just have to remember where Committee Room 10 is and things like that.”

He said the same is true for some of the toilets.

He was full of praise for the staff:

Posted in News | Tagged danny chambers, Parliament, rt hon jennie and steve darling | Leave a comment

Wes Streeting on his 72 new Lib Dem pen pals

By NewsHound | Wed 24th July 2024 - 6:55 am

A Commons exchange between new Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting and our Health and Social Care Spokesperson Daisy Cooper shows that Lib Dem MPs are already making their presence felt.

Watch here

Liberal Democrat MPs will fight in Westminster to restore local health and care services after years of neglect. pic.twitter.com/2C7WTVWsBp

— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) July 23, 2024

The text is below.

Posted in News | Tagged daisy cooper, lib dem mps and wes streeting | 1 Comment

Watch Josh Babarinde talking about his bungee jump

By NewsHound | Fri 19th July 2024 - 8:57 am

Ed Davey was not the only politician to throw himself off a crane, held only by elastic bands around his ankles.

From thrill seeker to MP.@JoshBabarinde shares his bungee jumping story and how the Liberal Democrats are already delivering for their local areas. pic.twitter.com/huHde1s9fb

— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) July 14, 2024

Posted in News | Tagged 2024 general election and josh babarinde | Leave a comment

Inverness recount: WATCH LIVE

By NewsHound | Sat 6th July 2024 - 12:02 pm

Are you excited for the Inverness result which could give us our 72nd (yes, that’s SEVENTY TWO) MP?

Highland Council are streaming it on You Tube. Watch, live from Dingwall.

Posted in News | Tagged 2024 general election, inverness, recount and results | 17 Comments

Bungee jumping and Zumba – all in a day’s campaigning for Ed Davey

By NewsHound | Mon 1st July 2024 - 9:11 pm

In this long election campaign, we’ve had Rishi Sunak deliver a never-ending stream of negativity and misery, Keir Starmer being so nervous about screwing things up that he’s coming across as walking on eggshells and Nigel Farage being as objectionable as ever.

Ed Davey’s bright and happy photo opportunities have provided a welcome contrast and attracted lots of positive comment.

Today, he decided to throw himself off a platform from a great height by way of inviting people to vote Liberal Democrat.

Watch, courtesy of Sky News:

The rationale for this:

To get the change our country needs this week and beat the Conservatives in scores of seats, I am asking people to take a leap of faith and vote for the Liberal Democrats.

A lot of people are on the cusp of doing something they’ve never done before on Thursday and voting for the Liberal Democrats, so I decided to do something I’ve never done before too.

Every vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to fix the NHS and care, end the sewage scandal and tackle the cost of living crisis.

Ed talked to The Guardian about the rationale for the stunts:

Posted in News | Tagged 2024 general election and ed davey | 5 Comments

Guardian features Lib Dem Calum Miller in article on Lib Dem blue wall strategy

By NewsHound | Wed 19th June 2024 - 7:27 pm

An article in today’s Guardian features Lib Dem candidate in Bicester and Woodstock and also has a wider look at the other seats where we are competitive.

Knocking on doors in the community on the fringes of Bicester, just north of Oxford, the Liberal Democrat candidate spoke to locals with all manner of political backstories and motivations, some who had previously voted Tory, Labour or neither, as well as those who had either backed Brexit or wished to remain.

All, however, had arrived at a common conclusion: this time they would vote for him, to try to defeat the Conservatives.

And this is not a unique feature of this constituency:

While the Lib Dems are cautious in their predictions and finite in their campaign resources, with a fair electoral wind a swathe of nearby ultra-true blue seats could also turn yellow.

Calum talks about the conversations he is having on the doorsteps:

Posted in News | Leave a comment

Observer: Lib Dems pose biggest threat to high profile Tories

By NewsHound | Sun 2nd June 2024 - 11:32 am

Andrew Rawnsley had a wee spin in Yellowhammer 1, the Lib Dem campaign bus on Friday and we must have been nice to him because he has written up a broadly positive report in the Observer which reflects well on our strategy and targets. Here are some of the highlights.

First, the stunts:

There is method in his malarkey. Much of the battle for the Lib Dems is persuading the national media to pay them any attention. If he has to play the good-for-a-laugh centrist dad to get himself on TV and in the newspapers, he reckons the pratfalls are a sacrifice worth making. You aren’t going to see Sir Keir Starmer on a paddleboard. Since no one thinks Sir Ed is going to be prime minister, he doesn’t have to do the gravitas thing. He also looks like a man who is enjoying himself, which is more than can be said for the stolid electioneering of his rivals.

Then our ambitions:

This time they have what one Lib Dem strategist calls a “small but perfectly formed” list of targets chosen with a wary eye on the party’s constrained resources and a clinical one on what it is realistic to aim for. In some previous elections, the Lib Dems have marketed themselves as the “plague on both your houses” party, equidistant between Labour and the Conservatives. Sir Ed characterises this as an “ABC election” (Anyone but the Conservatives) and is pitching his party as the “Tory removal service” in places where the Lib Dems are the principal challenger.

Our chances vs the Tories:

Posted in News | Tagged 2024 general election, andrew rawnsley and the observer | 11 Comments

Liberal Democrats pledge to reverse Conservative cuts to public health grant with £1bn a year to tackle “ticking time bomb” for NHS

By NewsHound | Sun 2nd June 2024 - 7:30 am

Liberal Democrats pledge to tackle “ticking time bomb” for NHS with a major funding boost for the Public Health Grant

The party’s manifesto will include a commitment to increase the Public Health Grant which will help fund health checks for 40-74 year olds, health visits for infants and their mothers, and wider access to blood pressure tests

Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said her party’s policy will reverse the “scandalous” cuts made by the Conservatives since 2015

The Liberal Democrats will today commit to reversing Conservative cuts to the Public Health Grant which funds vital health checks for infants, children, mothers, working age adults …

Posted in News and Press releases | Tagged daisy cooper and public health grant | 3 Comments

Lib Dems launch Wales General Election campaign with vow to tackle Conservatives’ “legacy of failure”

By NewsHound | Wed 29th May 2024 - 7:30 am

Ed Davey condemns Conservative “legacy of failure” as Lib Dems kick off General Election campaign in Wales
The party has committed £1 billion extra funding for the agriculture budget, accusing Rishi Sunak of “taking farmers for granted”
“This election gives Wales the opportunity of a lifetime to show the Conservatives the door”, Ed Davey will tell activists in Wales

The Liberal Democrats will today launch their general election campaign in Wales with a promise to reverse the Conservatives’ “legacy of failure” and champion British farming.

Speaking in Wales, Ed Davey will set out a rescue plan for farmers, including £1 billion in extra …

Posted in News, Press releases and Wales | Tagged 2024 general election, ed davey and jane dodds | 1 Comment

14 billion litres of sewage pumped into the River Thames last year

By NewsHound | Mon 27th May 2024 - 8:33 pm

Liberal Democrats uncover “disgusting revelation” from Information Request to Thames Water

South West London site suffers from over 500 million litres of sewage in just one day

Liberal Democrats call for Thames Water to be “ripped up”

The River Thames has suffered from at least 14.2 billion litres of sewage in 2023, the Liberal Democrats have discovered.

Environment Information Requests by the party has revealed that since 2020, at least 85.9 billion litres of sewage has been pumped into the capital’s river.

Water firms have no legal obligation to report the volume of sewage discharged, only the duration of the discharge.

However, the Liberal Democrats have now found that Thames Water do operate some sewage monitors which measure volume due to an agreement with the Environment Agency.

The capital’s water firm used volume sewage monitors whilst constructing the Thames Tideway project. These are the only known sewage monitors of their kind fitted in the country, and do not cover the entire network. The total volume of sewage discharged into the Thames is therefore likely to be significantly higher than these figures.

It was noted Thames Water also failed to provide data for the month of February.

Posted in News and Press releases | Tagged sarah olney, sewage dumping and thames water | 3 Comments

Op-eds

The next General Election Manifesto should commit to joining the EU (Nick Hopkinson)
Tom Arms’ World Review (Tom Arms)
Ministerial hand-wringing over Palestine continues (John Kelly)
At war with Chinese windmills (Vince Cable)
Observations of an Expat: Surviving Iran (Tom Arms)

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Actually, this Summer of Strategy could be quite good…

Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy

Alison Suttie writes: Thank you to our volunteers

What’s going on with party strategy?

Author Archives: NewsHound

Christine Jardine: With Jim Wallace’s death, it feels like we have lost part of our conscience

LibLink: How can abuse openly take place in a nursery, by Munira Wilson

New Lib Dem Candidate for Mayor of Sussex: ‘We will win with unity, not division’

Liblink Christine Jardine: Human beings are human beings

Alistair Carmichael LibLink: Palestine Action ban reveals Labour’s dangerously authoritarian instincts

Lib Link: Ed Davey – Brexit has been a resounding disaster. Starmer must find the courage to change course

Josh Babarinde talks to Nick Robinson about domestic abuse reform

Jo Swinson talks to the Observer about a new approach to economics

WATCH: Ed on Pod Save the UK

Three big moments for senior Lib Dems in the media

Christine Jardine: Labour needs to deliver more for Scotland to beat SNP

Deep fried oreos and hummus – and MPs do karaoke

Lee Dillon MP’s explanation to constituents about the assisted dying vote

LibLink – Christine Jardine: How the UK should deal with four more years of Donald Trump

LibLink Christine Jardine: Why cruel laws forbidding terminally ill people from ending their life must change

LibLink Steffan Aquarone Westminster, an organisation ripe for transformation

LibLink: Bobby Dean – a return to austerity will not solve Britain’s problems

LibLink: Caroline Voaden on Brexit and what to fix now

LibLink: Alistair Carmichael MP Why Musk and Robinson are now threats to democracy

The Right Honourable Jennie makes a media splash…

When Jennie met Larry

Wes Streeting on his 72 new Lib Dem pen pals

Watch Josh Babarinde talking about his bungee jump

Inverness recount: WATCH LIVE

Bungee jumping and Zumba – all in a day’s campaigning for Ed Davey

Guardian features Lib Dem Calum Miller in article on Lib Dem blue wall strategy

Observer: Lib Dems pose biggest threat to high profile Tories

Liberal Democrats pledge to reverse Conservative cuts to public health grant with £1bn a year to tackle “ticking time bomb” for NHS

Lib Dems launch Wales General Election campaign with vow to tackle Conservatives’ “legacy of failure”

14 billion litres of sewage pumped into the River Thames last year

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