Author Archives: NewsHound

NewsHound

LibLink: Miriam Gonzalez Durantez: How to beat the ticking Brexit clock: let British business leaders do the talking

By NewsHound | Wed 19th July 2017 - 4:29 pm

There are few people in this country who have as much experience in negotiating international trade deals as Miriam Gonzalez Durantez.  In her Made in Spain book published last year, she drops casually into a recipe that she came across guacamole when she helped to negotiate the EU-Mexico trade agreement.

She’s written in the Guardian about the many dangerous mistakes that the Government is making in its approach to the EU negotiations.

She has some scary observations about who is influencing these proceedings:

British business leaders were asked to share the table with the Legatum Institute, a thinktank with unparalleled access to Davis and Theresa May and that seems to have been at the origin of some of the preposterous positions on Brexit taken by the government so far. Its inexplicable presence at that table was the clearest signal that the government has not changed its views on Brexit after the general election even one tiny little bit.

The institute has established a special commission on trade that consists of more than 20 people with different “trade” backgrounds. It is run by a British American director. The Legatum member who has just been nominated the UK’s new chief trade negotiation adviser is a New Zealander. The funding of the institute comes from a foundation that is part of a Dubai-based private investment group. So much for the UK “taking back control”.

The Government invited 33 business leaders to a discussion with this organisation recently. She goes on to show how this institute may have influenced the Government’s comments on things like “frictionless” access to the single market.

Miriam goes on to describe exactly why such an approach is completely unrealistic:

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NewsHound

LibLink: Layla Moran: If Philip Hammond thinks driving a train is so easy “even a woman can do it” maybe a career change is in order

By NewsHound | Wed 19th July 2017 - 1:30 pm

In an article for the Independent at the weekend, Oxford West and Abingdon MP Layla Moran took Philip Hammond to task for his alleged remark that driving a train is so easy “even a woman can do it.”

She pointed out that they can, but how many women do this highly paid job?

The key fact from the latest Hammond row was glossed over, but it is the real scandal: that just 5.5 per cent of train drivers are women. And the average annual salary of a train driver is just shy of £50,000, way higher than most women earn a year. What, I want to know, are ministers doing to enable more women to drive trains?

Hammond, she said, had form for sexist remarks:

Earlier this year he accused Labour MP Mary Creagh of being “hysterical”. Her crime? Daring to ask the Chancellor about the effect of Brexit on British businesses with bases in Ireland.

The question was all too pertinent. I was talking to one of the country’s most eminent constitutional lawyers last week (sorry Philip, but she did happen to be female) who flagged up the issue of the Irish border as one of the very most intractable in Brexit negotiations. Her conclusion was that ministers have no solution, because there is no solution.

And, of course, he is not the only Tory known for such casual sexism:

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LibLink: Kirsty William: It’s not about whether we charge tuition fees. In Wales, we’ve found a third way

By NewsHound | Sun 16th July 2017 - 10:57 am

The one Liberal Democrat left in national government, Kirsty Williams, has written an article for the Guardian in which she sets out what she is introducing in Wales – a plan to help students with living costs which will support part time and postgraduate students too:

The new support package in Wales will cover those who start their course in 2018/19, wherever in the UK they choose to study. Every student will be entitled to support equivalent to the national living wage. This means that eligible full-time students will receive maintenance support of £11,250 if they study in London and £9,000 per year elsewhere if they live away from home.

This will be delivered through a mix of loans and grants, unlike in England where zero maintenance grants are available. Very small, limited grants are available in Scotland, but they too are currently reviewing the system.

Welsh students from the lowest household income will receive the highest grant – £8,100 in their pocket, and more in London. Our estimates suggest that a third of full-time students will be eligible for that full grant.

Furthermore, our data shows that the average household income for a student in our current system is around £25,000. Under the new system such a student will receive around £7,000 a year in their pocket.

However, potentially the most radical element of our reforms is to provide equivalent support for part-time and postgraduate students. Wales will be the first in Europe to achieve this. For the first time, part-time undergraduates will receive similar support for maintenance, pro-rata to their full-time counterparts.

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Another civil liberties victory for the Scottish Lib Dems

By NewsHound | Wed 12th July 2017 - 12:55 pm

Over the years, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have been responsible for a number of changes in policing and civil liberties policies in Scotland. After we led the opposition, the Scottish Government had to abandon plans for a super ID database that would have made Labour’s look like a champion of civil liberties. Alison McInnes, when she was Justice Spokesperson in the last Parliament, successfully fought both routine arming of the Police and indiscriminate stop and search.

That record continues as the Lib Dems have now ensured that Police Scotland has deleted records of half a billion numberplates captured under numberplate recognition.

From Scotland on Sunday:

The climbdown comes after a Lib Dem Freedom of Information request last year revealed that 852,507,524 number plate records captured by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras across the country were held in a Police Scotland database, with data available from as far back as 2009. Data retention laws require that any such information is only kept for crimes, while all other data must be deleted. The Lib Dems had expressed concern that the retention of so much information relating to innocent individuals was infringing on people’s civil liberties. The number of records deleted was revealed by the police in response to another Freedom of Information request submitted by the Lib Dems. Information provided by the police showed 547,459,904 number plate records had been disposed of.

Scottish Lib Dem Justice Spokesperson Liam McArthur said:

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“Very good” Lib Dem statement on EU-Japan trade deal

By NewsHound | Thu 6th July 2017 - 11:41 pm

The Lib Dems were praised today by Politics.co.uk editor Ian Dunt over shadow Brexit Secretary Tom Brake’s comments on the Brexit Bill.

Tom said:

Last year the Government estimated that an EU-Japan Free Trade Deal  could be worth £5 billion annually to the UK economy – roughly £200 per household. Sadly, by the time the agreement with Japan gets fully ratified, it is very likely the UK will be out of the EU.

Despite a change in public opinion,

…

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Lib Dems poll 20% among children and young people

By NewsHound | Wed 7th June 2017 - 2:55 pm

Thanks to York Membery for pointing us in the direction of the First News election poll. The newspaper aimed at children polled its readers and found that the Liberal Democrats are on 20%, which compares very well with our current poll ratings of rather less than that.

The Tories were only able to muster 27%, while Labour were ahead with 32%. The Greens took 15%.

This shows that there is definitely hope for the future.

It’s interesting to see that so many young children have a good impression of us, especially as …

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Voter to Jo Swinson: “We’ve missed you”

By NewsHound | Wed 7th June 2017 - 10:25 am

The New Statesman has a profile of the East Dunbartonshire seat where Jo Swinson is hoping to regain the seat she lost to the SNP in 2015.

It’s clear that she is held in great affection by the voters:

The Liberal Democrat candidate is happy to play on her personal connection to the constituency where she was raised. This election has come so soon after the last one, at which Swinson lost the seat to the SNP, that she can run on her record. She had a reputation as a hard-working local representative, and voters seem to have retained a remarkable fondness for her. One young mum I encounter confirms Swinson has her vote, and then adds: “I feel connected to you. We’ve missed you.”

Another supporter admits that Swinson’s personality is swaying her choice. She dismisses sitting MP John Nicolson – “I don’t like him. Jo did more for us” – before turning to Swinson and softly saying: “I’m so glad you’re back.”

It’s impossible to tell if there are tears in Swinson’s eyes as she steps away from the doorstep, or just drops from the relentless rain. “When you’ve lost your seat and you know you worked hard, you know it’s not personal,” she says. “But still it’s nice when people actually say stuff like that and confirm it.”

And the New Statesman is on to the SNP’s spurious claims (which they are making in Edinburgh West and North East Fife too) that it’s the Tories that are their main opposition. 

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LibLink: Nick Clegg: Why the Liberal Democrats believe a legal, regulated cannabis market would improve public health

By NewsHound | Fri 2nd June 2017 - 11:55 am

Nick Clegg has been writing in the BMJ outlining our position on Cannabis.

He compares criminalisation of drugs to the prohibition of alcohol in the States:

Far from controlling and eliminating alcohol use, the “noble experiment” of prohibition drove users towards increasingly potent and dangerous drinks. With no regulatory levers in place except the threat of arrest (which had to be set against the promise of handsome profits for those who defied the law), there was no effective way to control the market. The ensuing public health crisis was one of the key motivations behind the repeal of prohibition in 1933, when President Roosevelt signed a new law allowing the sale of beer with a maximum alcohol content of 4%.

For spirits in 1926, read “skunk” in 2017. “Skunk” is a direct result of prohibition. New cultivation methods have pushed up potency over the past 20 years. Just as 1920s-era bootleggers didn’t bother to produce and smuggle high volume, low alcohol beer, so the illicit cannabis industry has responded to criminal enforcement by developing products that maximise profit, with no consideration for the health of its customers.

He goes on to talk about the merits of regulation:

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Frank Bruno to campaign for Norman Lamb today

By NewsHound | Thu 1st June 2017 - 10:50 am

Norman Lamb has the endorsement of a heavyweight today. Frank Bruno, who is a great supporter of Norman’s work as health minister although he doesn’t support any political party, is visiting North Norfolk to campaign for him.

From the Eastern Daily Press:

Since meeting Mr Lamb during his time as a Health Minister, the pair have worked together on a number of initiatives to improve mental health support.

Bruno, who is not party political, is a long-time ambassador for people suffering from mental health problems and has spoken of his own experiences with bipolar disorder and will join Mr Lamb on the campaign trail.

The pair have worked together on a number of initiatives to improve mental health support.

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Paul Keetch obituary in the Telegraph

By NewsHound | Wed 31st May 2017 - 2:55 pm

The Telegraph has published an obituary of former Liberal Democrat MP Paul Keetch who died last week at the age of 56.

Locally-born and a former city councillor, Keetch built on the efforts of previous Liberal candidates – among them Sir Robin Day. He ousted the long-serving and highly regarded Sir Colin Shepherd by 6,648 votes when the national anti-Conservative swing became irresistible, then fought hard to hold the seat, his majorities in 2001 and 2005 being 968 and 962 respectively.

Keetch was an assiduous party defence spokesman from 1999 to 2005, when Charles Kennedy dropped him. His main concern was the SAS, based in his constituency, but he became a tenacious campaigner on service welfare issues, with the interests of other ranks particularly at heart. It was Keetch who ascertained prior to the Iraq War that half the troops heading for the Gulf had refused a voluntary anthrax jab. He probed, uncomfortably for the MoD, why only three officers had been caught by drug tests, compared with 3,400 junior ranks. Keetch suspected the military had done its best not to test officers.

He also championed the cider industry, which was in the doldrums when he founded the All-Party Cider Group in 1997. Bulmer’s of Hereford recovered soon after on the back of a marketing campaign for Magner’s Irish cider, halting a situation in which many Herefordshire growers were grubbing up their orchards. In 2007 cider overtook beer in off-licence sales.

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LibLink: Brian Paddick: The Liberal Democrat plan in the fight against terrorism

By NewsHound | Tue 30th May 2017 - 10:45 am

Brian Paddick has written a piece for the Huffington Post about the Liberal Democrat ideas to tackle terrorism in the wake of the appalling atrocity in Manchester.

At times like this received wisdom is that Liberals should stay quiet and allow others to offer tough solutions and new laws to eradicate violent extremism and terrorism. Us bleeding-heart liberals have nothing to say and should stick to hand-wringing. That is wrong.

If we want to continue to live in an open, democratic society that values freedom and civil liberties we must accept that we can never be 100% safe, but that doesn’t mean we do nothing either.

The first is about stopping people becoming radicalised in the first place – and that means getting rid of Prevent:

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Jo Swinson’s election car-share

By NewsHound | Sun 28th May 2017 - 2:55 pm

It is a truth pretty much universally acknowledged that East Dunbartonshire is one of the key battlegrounds and best hopes for a Lib Dem gain in the UK. Our Jo Swinson is fighting to regain the seat she lost to the SNP in 2015. I’ve been in the constituency twice this week and have been impressed by the number of Jo Swinson posters in people’s gardens. It feels much more visible than it did back in 2005 when she was first elected.

The Scottish Sun has done an election car-share type thing with her in which she talks about life in and out of politics – including her early days of campaigning back at school.

I tell you what I did crusade on at my school Douglas Academy. I was on the school council and one of the campaigns I ran was for uniforms to be changed so that girls could wear trousers if they wanted to.

“I didn’t particularly want to wear trousers but I thought it a matter of principle. I made my case about how it would be warmer if they could wear them in the winter.

“And I remember the assistant head saying to me quite pointedly, ‘Well it might be warmer than a very short skirt’.

She also talked about her experience working in the lingerie department of Marks and Spencer’s.

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LibLink: Paddy Ashdown: Tories’ Royal Marine cut plays fast and loose with UK defence

By NewsHound | Sat 27th May 2017 - 12:55 pm

It makes sense that Paddy should write for the Plymouth Herald on defence given the city’s strategic importance.

He took the Government to task for cutting the Marines – about which he knows more than most people:

For more than three centuries – from Gibraltar and Trafalgar to Normandy and Afghanistan – the Royal Marines have epitomised those qualities. They have fought in more theatres and won more battles than any other British unit. In our nation’s hours of danger, they have been, as Lord St Vincent predicted in 1802, “the country’s sheet anchor”.

So the news that the Government is cutting 200 Royal Marine posts – at such a volatile time in world affairs – should concern us all. They are committing this folly in response to a crisis of their own making.

The cost of Conservative foolishness doesn’t end with the Royal Marines. They’ve cut personnel numbers, breaking their manifesto promise not to reduce the Army below 82,000. Troops on the frontline are deprived of basic equipment and combat training has been slashed, putting soldiers’ lives in greater peril. Warships sit idle at quaysides. No wonder top generals have accused the Government of “deception” over defence.

The Tories are very practised at talking tough on defence in elections. But look at the history: it’s always Tories who cut most on defence in government. It’s now clear that Mrs May will get back in because of the hopelessness of the Labour Party. But it would be very dangerous to give her a big enough majority to ignore us again.

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Norman Lamb “The best MP in the region”

By NewsHound | Sat 27th May 2017 - 8:55 am

“Can Norman Lamb hold on in Leave voting North Norfolk?” is the headline from a PoliticsHome article.

The constituency is profiled and this is what Norman has to say about it:

After four general election victories, can the region’s lone Lib Dem fend off the Tories and cling on his largely rural constituency for a fifth time? On the surface the signs are ominous. In 2015, his majority dropped to just over 4,000. In last year’s referendum, North Norfolk voted to leave the European Union by 59%. And while the Greens are getting behind Lamb, Ukip has pulled out of the race and urged supporters to vote Tory to “rid ourselves of our Liberal Democrat MP”.

But Lamb – who defied his party line and abstained on the vote to trigger Article 50 – says Brexit doesn’t come up on the doorstep very much and “the majority of people you talk to don’t mention it at all”. The clumsy Ukip intervention has galvanised non-Tories who “don’t like that sort of attitude and language”, he claims.  He is also finding it “very easy to persuade people who in the past voted Labour to support us this time”. And above all, he is optimistic that his personal connections with voters will win the day.

“In a way, this is a contest between the Conservative national message … and a growing sense that a Tory landslide is pretty much an inevitability. So do we really want a one-party state? And do people actually want to lose an MP who has a got a long track record of active campaigning?” he asks.

“Interestingly, as you go round talking to people on the doorsteps and in town centres and outside schools, a lot of people are saying ‘I will vote for you because of what you have done here or what you’ve done for our family’. Yesterday, someone said ‘You saved my daughter’s life’. It was a case of an eating disorder where they weren’t being listened to and I intervened on their behalf and got things moving.

“A lot of people say ‘We’ll vote for you, we want to keep you as our MP’. And this is a side of politics that the commentators often don’t see.”

“The best MP in the region”

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LibLink: Sarah Olney: Brexit undermines universities at every turn

By NewsHound | Fri 26th May 2017 - 2:54 pm

Sarah Olney has written an article for the Times Educational Supplement talking about the difficulties facing universities as a result of Theresa May’s push for a hard brexit.

Citing Cambridge University’s assertion that Brexit poses a significant risk to our Higher Eduction sector, Sarah outlines this in detail:

Unfortunately, the Conservative government doesn’t seem to be listening. Theresa May has chosen to pursue the hardest and most destructive version of Brexit possible: taking us out of the single market and the customs union, and even threatening to do so without a new trade agreement with the EU. The government is also refusing to guarantee the rights of EU nationals  living and working in the UK to remain after Brexit.

The government’s hard Brexit policies and rhetoric risk driving away international students and academics. The number of EU nationals applying to British universities has already fallen by 7 per cent compared with last year, despite the government’s assurance that those starting this year won’t face higher fees after Brexit. Some 53 per cent of foreign academics are now actively looking to leave the UK, and 88 per cent say that Brexit has made them more likely to do so in future.

And what about the EU’s Erasmus programme? It gives 16,000 British students the chance to study abroad every year but the government has made no commitment to maintaining or replacing it after Brexit. Last year, the Liberal Democrats delivered a petition to No 10 and the European Parliament, calling on them to save Erasmus. This petition was signed by more than 10,000 people.

And contrasts the Lib Dem view:

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LibLink: Amna Ahmad: The Tories’ response to the refugee crisis shows that they are turning their back on the world

By NewsHound | Fri 26th May 2017 - 10:25 am

Lib Dem candidate for Sutton and Cheam, Amna Ahmad, has written for the House magazine about the ongoing refugee crisis.

We have always helped those seeking sanctuary, even at times when we faced domestic challenges and hard times, and we must continue to do so. Recognising others’ need even when we have distractions of our own is part of our identity, or “British values”, and I will not allow Brexit or Nigel Farage to take that away.

Furthermore, at a time when we are seen by many to be turning our back on the rest of to the world, behaving with compassion in the way we relate to those fleeing their homes sends a hugely significant message of unity and understanding to other nations, and we will find it affects our standing in the world for years to come.

But Theresa May has shown that she does not care. Under her government, the Conservatives have U-turned on two previous pledges, including one to take more refugees from Syria and another to help abandoned child refugees.

She outlines what the Liberal Democrats would do:

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LibLink: Tim Farron: The nature of the victims puts this attack in a different order

By NewsHound | Wed 24th May 2017 - 1:30 pm

On the Times Red Box, Tim Farron has been writing about the Manchester attack:

Music brings people together, often in joy, and Ariana Grande’s music in particular is that infectious pop loved by children and young people. Monday’s concert will have been a rhapsody of happiness, laughter and unadulterated joy. The fact that anyone would look at that and see a target for their anger and hate is monstrous.

That is why this attack is of a different order, because of who the victims are. Who the attacker hoped his victims would be. It is not by chance that so many children have been caught up in this atrocity. It was a deliberate and calculated attack on innocence. And to me this is incomprehensible.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of those who have lost their loved ones and to all those who wait by hospital beds and by phones for news of those who continue to fight for their lives. I cannot even begin to imagine the anguish being felt across Manchester right now as the families and city come to terms with what has happened.

Amongst all the horror there have been rays of light and hope. Our emergency services responded with great bravery and compassion and continue to work round the clock, either on the ongoing investigation into who is responsible and how this happened or in the hospitals caring for those injured in the attack.

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Business leaders: Only Lib Dems are speaking for business and the people

By NewsHound | Mon 22nd May 2017 - 12:55 pm

In a letter, more than 50 business leaders, including Nicola Horlick and the founders of EBookers and Innocent Drinks, have said that they will be voting Liberal Democrat because of our stance on Brexit.

From the Times (£)

The 53 signatories who say they intend to vote Lib Dem include senior players in the investment and IT sectors, two industries that could be hit by a poor Brexit deal. They represent small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) rather than FTSE 100 companies.

“The Conservatives’ failure to even mention a transitional deal threatens Britain’s status as one of the best countries in the world with which to do business,” the letter reads. “While we may not have voted Liberal Democrat in the past and we may not agree with the party on all issues, they are now the only party speaking for business and the majority of Britons on the key issue at this election.”

Richard Reed, the co-founder of Innocent Drinks and board member of Britain Stronger in Europe, Dinesh Dhamija, the founder of the Ebookers travel site and the businesswoman Nicola Horlick are among the signatories.

In response, Vince Cable said:

The Liberal Democrats now have support from a large number of serious figures in the business community, showing that we are rapidly emerging as the party of business, both big and small.

Theresa May’s determination to take us out of the single market would devastate the financial sector, while taking us out of the customs union would cause incalculable disruption to manufacturing .

Theresa May herself warned of the Brexit dangers to our exports in a speech at Goldman Sachs. Since then she has taken on the agenda of Nigel Farage, who has understandably declared himself delighted with her.

That is scary. It is vital that the next parliament contains enough Liberal Democrat voices to argue for Britain’s future in the world’s most lucrative single market. The more Liberal Democrat MPs, the better the deal we can secure on Europe.

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Amna Ahmad on her life and why she wants to be a Lib Dem MP

By NewsHound | Sun 21st May 2017 - 9:30 am

There’s a super interview with Sutton and Cheam Lib Dem candidate Amna Ahmad in The Pool.

So, who are the Lib Dems now, I ask Ahmad when we meet for coffee. She answers by telling me her issues: she is, of course, against a hard Brexit; she campaigns for NHS funding and sits on Norman Lamb’s committee on the subject. She’s against grammar-school funding, but not grammar schools per se: “I want the comprehensives to have a fighting chance.” When I ask how she became a member, she recalls turning 18 the day before the Stop The War demo and identifying with then-party leader Charles Kennedy’s refusal to support war in Iraq.

But perhaps a more interesting question is: who is Amna Ahmad? When first campaigning in Brixton in 2013, she was accused of being an Oxford-educated careerist with a posh voice. And it was this depiction of her that made her decide to talk about her own life. Yes, she went to Oxford and, yes, her voice could be clarified as “posh”, but the real story goes something like this: Ahmad grew up in a violent house in one of London’s poorest boroughs, Lewisham. At 15, she called the police to report her father, who was arrested and taken into custody. She and her younger brother and sister were split up and put into care. Ahmad was in care for just a week, because she was turning 16. “‘You were on time every day for school’ was the only thing my teacher said to me about that week,” she laughs. Her brother and sister were only five and seven at the time, however. “It was heartbreaking. My brother went on hunger strike. There were issues around cultural sensitives. They made him eat bacon.”

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LibLink: Tim Farron: Lib Dems will give you a choice about the future

By NewsHound | Sat 20th May 2017 - 1:30 pm

In an article for the Times Red Box, Tim Farron points out the huge differences between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat visions for the future:

The contrast between the Liberal Democrat manifesto and the Conservative one couldn’t be starker. We would extend free school lunches to all primary school children and invest an extra £7 billion in schools and colleges, to make sure funding rises in line with both inflation and pupil numbers. Instead, Theresa May wants to take free school lunches away from 1.9 million children to fund her obsession with grammar schools.

Our manifesto commits to capping the cost of

…

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LibLink: Vince Cable: After years of hiding from the public, Fred Goodwin will face the music over RBS’ failure next month

By NewsHound | Sat 20th May 2017 - 11:58 am

Vince Cable wrote an interesting article in City Am last week about the imminent appearance (on polling day, of all days) of Fred Goodwin, the former head of RBS in a court case brought by 9000 retail investors.

Goodwin, alongside RBS itself and several other former executives at the bank, are defendants in a case brought against them by 9,000 retail investors, including many current RBS employees. The trial starts in less than two weeks (22 May) and Goodwin will be called to the stand after the opening remarks. The claimants allege they were wilfully misled over the true financial woes of RBS during the £12bn rights issue of 2008, which was supposed to stabilise the bank. Within months, RBS had to be rescued by the government, which spent £45.5bn of taxpayer money to stop it from collapsing.

Vince notes that Goodwin’s defence is being publicly funded and he still enjoys a lucrative RBS pension:

Goodwin has spent the past seven years hiding from a public still furious that his dreadful calls – notably the 2007 purchase of Dutch bank ABN Amro – helped bring Britain’s economy to its knees. He left RBS in 2009 and was later stripped of his knighthood. But he has never been properly taken to task for his failures.

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“I once led a protest against the Lib Dems. Now I’ll be voting for them”

By NewsHound | Wed 17th May 2017 - 8:55 am

There’s a super article in the Independent by Rahul Mansigani. In 2010, he led a protest against the Lib Dems and Nick Clegg over tuition fees. However, he is now a Lib Dem Newbie – because of Brexit:

as Eurosceptic Corbyn obstinately stayed put while his MPs deserted him, and as Theresa May declared that “if you believe you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere” and the Conservatives demanded that companies publish the numbers of “foreigners” they employed, I saw that the only party that would fight for our values and battle against a hard Brexit was the Liberal Democrats. Like thousands of others, I signed up.

He explains why this issue is so crucially important:

Brexit is the defining issue of this election and of our political generation. The way it is conducted will go to the heart of all the issues we protested about in 2010. Back then, the broadest aim of our protests was to give our young people the best chance of success in an open, prosperous, tolerant Britain. We must now support the Liberal Democrats to continue that wider campaign; a Tory Brexit undermines the existence of the Britain we believe in, not to mention the very existence of the UK.

The Lib Dems are and have always been proudly European, and (unlike the policy issue of tuition fees) this is fundamental to the party. Labour, despite its sudden clarity on scrapping tuition fees, remains hopelessly divided on its own vision of Brexit. The Liberal Democrats are the only party left to stand up for the 48 per cent, for the millions of voters, particularly the young, who voted to remain part of Europe, to be free to study in Paris or Berlin, to marry in Rome or Amsterdam and to work in Stockholm or Sofia.

He urges people to forgive the Lib Dems for mistakes like tuition fees:

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Swinson: I want to help get the country back on track

By NewsHound | Sat 13th May 2017 - 12:54 pm

Jo Swinson has been talking to the local East Dunbartonshire paper the Milngavie and Bearsden Herald about why she is standing for Parliament, hoping to regain the seat she held for 10 years until 2015:

She said: “It was a really close result last time and I loved working as a local MP for my home area, a community that I love and where I’d grown up. I would love to do that again. “That is coupled with a deep concern about the direction of the country. “There are real challenges ahead such as the Brexit negotiations and the uncertainty of another independence referendum. “I’m determined to do what I can to fight against another independence referendum and get the country back on the right track.”

She also talked about the issue of tuition fees, saying that she has learned from that experience:

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Poll: Two thirds of Labour Remain supporters are voting Lib Dem this time

By NewsHound | Sat 13th May 2017 - 8:59 am

A poll in the New European has shown a massive swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats of Remain supporters.

From the paper:

The poll, of more than 1,300 respondents, compares how people voted in the 2015 General Election with how they intend to vote next month. It suggests the Liberal Democrats will double their share of the vote in this significant section of the population, while Labour’s will halve.

Two thirds (66.6%) said they would be voting Lib Dem on June 8, with Labour on just 22.3%. This represents a huge swing since 2015, when 43.9% voted Labour, and 29.4% Lib Dem. Meanwhile, support for the Conservatives has almost evaporated, from 9.3% in 2015, to just 0.4% of readers saying they will vote Tory next month.

Readers were also asked whether they would vote for any party which promised another EU referendum, with 62.8% saying they would. The Liberal Democrats are currently the only major party to make such a pledge. However, it seems most people have conceded the chances of a second referendum are low. Just 9.3% think there will be another poll.

The paper’s editor Matt Kelly said:

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tim Farron: Emmanuel Macron’s victory shows why Britain needs a liberal opposition

By NewsHound | Tue 9th May 2017 - 8:15 pm

Tim Farron has been writing in the Mirror about the example Macron’s victory in France sets for Britain. He doesn’t pretend that it means that the Lib Dems will bound to victory:

So, I won’t try to claim that the success of Macron in France last night means that the Liberal Democrats will win a majority next month.

What is does mean is that there is a place for outward-looking, forward-thing politics.

It means that the far-right can and should be fought and held to account.

It means that we don’t have to settle for the status quo.

In France, Macron has broken through the twentieth century left/right divide of socialism and conservatism to make a clear case for a new liberalism.

The British people can do what our neighbours across the Channel have done and reject the same tired choice between the UKIP-pandering Conservatives and an out-dated Labour party who are still fighting the battles of the 1950s.

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NewsHound

Macron’s victory speech in English

By NewsHound | Tue 9th May 2017 - 11:41 am

There was joy in the hearts of liberals across Europe on Sunday night when the French results came through. It was certainly worrying that more than a third of voters chose a far-right extremist, but it shows that populism can be beaten.

Tim Farron was quick to congratulate Emmanuel Macron and said that his values could win the day here too:

I would like to congratulate Emmanuel Macron on his election as France’s new President. This is not just a victory for France, but a victory for Britain and the liberal values we hold dear.

A National Front win would have posed a grave threat to our national interest.

Emmanuel Macron has kept the wolves from our door, but we must never be complacent in the fight against racism, fascism and the far-right.

The liberal values of tolerance, openness and free trade that triumphed in France today can triumph in Britain too.

Together we can change Britain’s future, stand up to Theresa May’s hard Brexit agenda and keep our country open, tolerant and united.

Ambafrance has an English translation of Macron’s victory speech. Here’s an extract.

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NewsHound

Even Conservative commentators are doubting May’s strategy

By NewsHound | Sun 7th May 2017 - 11:37 am

One of the biggest surprises of this week was Brexiteer Tory commentator Tim Montgmerie’s criticism of May for her Downing Street statement.

In the Sunday Times (£), today, Sky’s Adam Boulton says we could be in for a bumpy ride because of the so-called strong and stable leadership:

Her ruthlessness certainly fulfils the first part of her “strong and stable” mantra. But her ad hoc style, exploiting circumstances over which she has no control, such as the Brexit vote or insults from Brussels, suggests the UK is in for a bumpy ride rather than stability.

On the other side of the political divide, the Observer lays out the challenges for May if she does win her predicted landslide:

Forget strong and stable. May could finally be beginning to grasp how weak her Brexit negotiating position really is. If she is not anxious, she certainly should be. Her government lacks a clear negotiating stance. She lacks experienced, able colleagues. She lacks civil service strength in depth. And given the bumblings of David Davis, her government could soon lack a lead negotiator, too. How much longer can May ignore multiple warnings about the impossibility of cherry-picking? Her Europe à la carte is becoming a Europe prix fixe. How much longer before she heeds Angela Merkel’s blunt comments about delusional thinking, particularly the fatuous idea that the single market and customs union will be replicated by some improbably generous trade deal? Doubts are certainly creeping in. Boris Johnson, hedging against failure, continues to suggest that crashing out of the EU with no deal at all would not be a disaster.

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NewsHound

Lib Dems up to 18% nationally (BBC), performing well in key target general election seats

By NewsHound | Fri 5th May 2017 - 4:16 pm

The BBC are reporting that the Liberal Democrat projected national vote is 18%, up 7 points compared to 2015. The Lib Dems are just 9 points behind Labour. The Conservatives are up by just 3 points. This is confirmed by Professor John Curtice and Britain Elects:

A party press release reads:

The party is on course to make scores of gains at the general election and establish themselves as the real opposition to the Conservatives, based on the local election results in so far.

Seats as diverse as Bath, Cambridge, Cardiff Central, Cheltenham, Eastleigh, Eastbourne, Edinburgh West, St Albans and Watford would fall to the Liberal Democrats on the basis of the results so far. This would more than double the size of the Liberal Democrat parliamentary party.

The Liberal Democrats topped the polls in Eastbourne despite Theresa May’s visit, and early signs are they are surging ahead in Scottish seats such as East Dunbartonshire and NE Fife.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Nick Clegg: The EU knows Theresa May is deluded on Brexit and soon the Tories will

By NewsHound | Thu 4th May 2017 - 3:50 pm

Nick Clegg has been writing for the Guardian on Theresa May’s approach to Brexit. The article was published before May made her bizarre statement in Downing Street yesterday. Here is what Nick had to say later about that:

Theresa May’s desperate, bizarre statement could have come word for word from Nigel Farage.

The Coalition of Hard Brexit between the Conservatives and UKIP is now complete, and it will be hard-pressed families up and down the country who will suffer most.

In his Guardian article, he looks at the costs we are already paying for Brexit – which, remember, we were told would cost us nothing an in fact give us more money to spend on our NHS:

Voters are already aware that the cost-free Brexit they were promised is unravelling. The £350m a week for the NHS, the VAT cut and the instant solution to immigration have all evaporated. Instead there is the chilling grip of a growing Brexit squeeze on people’s income and public services.

Sterling is about 17% lower against the euro than it was in summer of 2015 (a lesser devaluation, of 14.3%, undid Harold Wilson’s government), which has led to inflation rising from around zero to 2.3% today. With average earnings continuing to stall, the cost of living is rising as we are forced to pay more for imported goods. Prices on supermarket shelves will go up. Energy bills will increase. And the cost of holidays this summer will be higher too, with everything from ice creams to hotel rooms noticeably more expensive.

Brexit will damage public services too. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s growth estimates, coupled with the chancellor’s revelation in November that he will have to borrow about an extra £15bn a year from next year to plug the Brexit gap, amounts to a £59bn Brexit dent in the public finances over five years. That’s money that could have been spent on hospitals, schools and social care. The chancellor will have no choice but to cut elsewhere or raise taxes to provide our public services with the additional funding they desperately need. Whatever his choice, it’s you – the taxpayer – who will foot the government’s Brexit bill.

We voters need to understand the consequences of May’s reckless strategy, he argues:

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NewsHound

Yesterday’s Press Releases in review: 1 May 2017

By NewsHound | Tue 2nd May 2017 - 8:07 am

It may have been a Bank Holiday, but the Press Team never rest. Here are some of the releases they sent out yesterday that aren’t covered elsewhere in our pages;

Farron: FAZ report on May’s Juncker dinner show this Govt has no clue on Brexit

According to damning reports in the German press on Theresa May’s dinner with Juncker last week, EU sources believe there is now more than 50% chance of a disorderly Brexit, while May has made clear to the European Commission she fully expects to be re-elected as Prime Minister.

Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron commented:

These reports blow a

…

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