Author Archives: Stephen Tall

Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of Liberal Democrat Voice from 2007 to 2015, and writes at The Collected Stephen Tall. He writes a fortnightly column for ConservativeHome and 'The Underdog' column for Total Politics magazine. He edited the 2013 publication, The Coalition and Beyond: Liberal Reforms for the Decade Ahead, and is a Research Associate for the liberal think-tank CentreForum. He was awarded the inaugural Lib Dem ‘Blogger of the Year’ prize in 2006, was a councillor for eight years in Oxford, including a year as Deputy Lord Mayor, and appears frequently in the media in person, in print and online. Stephen combines his political interests with his professional life as Development Director for the Education Endowment Foundation, though writes here in a personal capacity.
Stephen Tall

Marriage tax breaks: Lib Dem members oppose Conservative plans by 62% to 22%

By Stephen Tall | Sun 26th January 2014 - 3:44 pm

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 750 party members responded – thank you – and we’ve been publishing the full results.

(There were a couple of results I ran out of time to publish during the Christmas holiday period – I’ll be publishing them this week.)

Lib Dems oppose married couple tax-breaks by 62% to 22%

The tax break for married couples and civil partners was a Conservative election pledge that has lain dormant during Coalition. Not because of Lib …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , , , and | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

In the next month 15 seats will short-list their wannabe Lib Dem MPs

By Stephen Tall | Sat 25th January 2014 - 8:24 pm

Lib Dems winning hereHere’s the full list of selection contests in the coming month available for Lib Dems on the approved parliamentary candidates’ list, together with the closing date for applications. They include one of the seats highest on the party’s top target list, Camborne & Redruth.

The following seats have selections in progress and are currently advertising for candidates:

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Posted in Selection news | Leave a comment
Stephen Tall

We should support Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Maajid Nawaz in the face of death threats

By Stephen Tall | Tue 21st January 2014 - 2:00 pm

On 12th January, Maajid Nawaz, the Lib Dems’ parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn, tweeted the following message:

 

He did so following his appearance on BBC1’s The Big Questions, which debated “whether human rights should always outweigh religious right”. Two audience members had worn the image on their T-shirts, with the BBC choosing not to show the image – which was the same as that worn by …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 134 Comments
Stephen Tall

Sir Malcolm Bruce to stand for Lib Dem Deputy Leader post?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 19th January 2014 - 1:41 pm

It had seemed almost certain that this month’s Deputy Leader contest – triggered by Simon Hughes’s decision to resign the post to become Justice Minister in the Coalition – would be between Solihull MP Lorely Burt and Burnley MP Gordon Birtwistle.

However, there’s an intriguing suggestion in today’s Independent that Gordon MP Sir Malcolm Bruce (who’s retiring from the Commons at the 2015 election) will also throw his hat into the ring:

Lib Dem MPs are planning to vote next week in the party’s deputy leadership election. Lorely Burt, the MP for Solihull, is being urged to use the contest

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

In the next month 11 seats will short-list their wannabe Lib Dem MPs

By Stephen Tall | Sun 19th January 2014 - 11:38 am

Lib Dems winning hereHere’s the full list of selection contests in the coming month available for Lib Dems on the approved parliamentary candidates’ list, together with the closing date for applications. They include two of the seats high on the party’s top target list, Oxford East and Camborne & Redruth.

The following seats have selections in progress and are currently advertising for candidates:

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Posted in Selection news | 5 Comments
Stephen Tall

“The EU has provided us with the best Europe we’ve ever had”

By Stephen Tall | Sat 18th January 2014 - 4:55 pm

That was the claim in this very interesting essay by Robert Cooper – a visiting professor at the London School of Economic and a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations – in last week’s New Statesman. In it, he mounts a staunch defence of parliamentary democracy as the best way of deciding such matters rather than referendums:

The sovereignty of parliament is a good principle because it allows maximum space for political decision-making and maximum opportunity for debate on issues that are always complex.

It was his three reasons for continuing to support British membership of the EU which …

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Posted in Europe / International | Tagged , , and | 14 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem membership increase confirmed: “Across the country, 75% of our local parties grew in 2013”

By Stephen Tall | Sat 18th January 2014 - 2:55 pm

We reported here three weeks ago that the Lib Dems finished 2013 with a more members than at the start of the year – “the first governing party in recent history to have increased membership while in power,” as the party put it.

At the time, final figures weren’t known as local parties had still to report their numbers to party HQ – so it’s worth noting this snippet from Lib Dem chief executive Tim Gordon in his latest weekly email:

Congratulations to those local parties that have increased their membership. Parties have been notified this week of the incentives

…

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 10 Comments
Stephen Tall

Want to see a photo of a Young David Laws?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 18th January 2014 - 1:15 pm

Young David Laws – no, not a new telly detective, but a picture of Lib Dem schools minister David Laws aged about 19. Hint: he’s the chap on the left… a phrase not normally associated with David.

(Hat-tip to Jezz Palmer for spotting.)

young david laws

Anyone got other photos of Lib Dem MPs before they were famous?

Posted in News | Tagged and | 17 Comments
Stephen Tall

First Euro poll of 2014 shows Lib Dems at 7%. Can we make being ‘The Party of IN’ work for us by the time of the real election?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 16th January 2014 - 10:55 am

The first poll this year asking how people will vote in May’s European elections has been published today by YouGov. It gives the following headline ratings compared with the last elections in 2009:

    Conservative 17% (-11%)
    Labour 24% (+8%)
    Lib Dem 7% (-7%)
    Ukip 19% (+2%)

Feed these numbers (plus those for the Greens, SNP/Plaid and others) into euroelection.co.uk and here’s what it means for numbers of seats:

euro results forecast 2014

The Lib Dems would be reduced from 11 seats to just 4, if these numbers are to be believed. The Tories number of MEPs …

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Posted in Europe / International and Polls | Tagged , , and | 40 Comments
Stephen Tall

Vince Cable nails Labour’s crass and inaccurate attacks on Lib Dems’ support for the minimum wage

By Stephen Tall | Wed 15th January 2014 - 8:00 pm

Sometimes you’ll hear Labour folk claim, with absolute certainty, that the Lib Dems opposed the introduction of the minimum wage in 1998. They’re wrong, as a glance at the voting record shows not a single Lib Dem MP voted against and 26 voted in favour.

Today Labour’s shadow secretary of state for Work and Pensions, Rachel Reeves, upped the ante, demanding to know:

where was the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable)? He was nowhere to be seen in the debates. He was nowhere to be seen on the voting record. On Second Reading and Third Reading, he failed to vote. Apparently, he abstained because he had reservations about a minimum wage. Perhaps he will stand up today to profess his concern for the plight of the low-paid.

Vince didn’t respond directly immediately. But he did respond:

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged , , and | 21 Comments
Stephen Tall

And the winner of our Liberal Voice of the Year award is… Edward Snowden

By Stephen Tall | Wed 15th January 2014 - 10:39 am
liberal-voice

It's a fortnight since we launched our search for the Liberal Voice of the Year with the aim of finding the individual or group which has had the biggest liberal impact in the past 12 months. This is LibDemVoice's seventh such annual award, and as is our tradition, we looked beyond the ranks of the Lib Dems to find the liberal who’s most impressed our readers and is NOT a member of our party.

We unveiled the shortlist here on New Year's Day. In total, 363 readers cast a vote in the past two weeks using a preferential voting system. The final (13th) round of voting gave the following result:

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Posted in News and Polls | Tagged and | 30 Comments
Stephen Tall

Hollande’s affair – do you care? *Gallic shrug*

By Stephen Tall | Tue 14th January 2014 - 8:10 pm

The President of France, Francois Hollande, held a a long-planned news conference today to launch policies to help France’s struggling economy. Along with cuts to government spending, he plans a ‘responsibility pact’ to incentivise firms to hire workers, and… oh, I’m sorry, am I boring you? You’re only interested in his liaisons dangereuses, the reported affair he’s having with the actress who is not his First Lady? If so, then you’ve a lot in common with UK journalists…

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , and | 47 Comments
Stephen Tall

Latest ICM poll shows Lib Dems at 14%. I’d call that “mildly encouraging”

By Stephen Tall | Tue 14th January 2014 - 10:20 am

guarian icm - jan 2014The latest ICM poll for The Guardian is published today. Its topline figures show Labour on 35% (-2%), the Tories on 32% (n/c), with the Lib Dems on 14% (+2%) and Ukip on 10% (+1%).

The changes from last month are all within the margin of error, so nothing too dramatic can be read into it. The ratings are mildly encouraging for the Lib Dems. The ICM poll at the equivalent point in the parliamentary cycle – January 2009 – had the party at 16%. ICM’s poll is the one most eagerly awaited by poll-watchers, as the company has the best historic track record. It also tends to give the Lib Dems better ratings (than, say, YouGov) because of its methodology – but it’s a methodology which has yet to be tested under Coalition conditions.

Input the figures into Electoral Calculus’s online prediction software and you’ll see they’d give Labour a majority of 24, with the Lib Dems reduced to 35 seats. In reality, I think the Lib Dems would do a little better than that on 14%, owing to the incumbency boost of our MPs’ (and local activists’) hard work – which would also likely eat into Labour’s seat tally, as it’s the Lib Dem-Labour battlegrounds where we’re most vulnerable.

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Posted in Polls | Tagged and | 32 Comments
Stephen Tall

Have you voted in our Liberal Voice of the Year poll yet? Today’s your last chance!

By Stephen Tall | Mon 13th January 2014 - 7:55 am

liberal-voiceIt’s one week and six days since we launched our seventh annual search for the Liberal Voice of the Year, as voted for by you, our readers. That means you have only a day left if you haven’t yet made your choice.

You can read more about the short-list – as chosen by party members via our latest survey – here. And you can cast your votes in order of preference using the electronic ballot paper below. Many thanks to the hundreds of readers who’ve already done so.

The poll closes tomorrow, 14th January, with results to follow…

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Stephen Tall

Andrew Rawnsley on the Lib-Lab flirtation that could yet get serious

By Stephen Tall | Sun 12th January 2014 - 5:00 pm

Well worth reading Andrew Rawnsley’s column in today’s Observer – Labour is blowing kisses at the Lib Dems. But don’t buy a hat yet – taking a look at Lib-Lab relations in the light of Ed Balls’ much commented on chumminess with Nick Clegg.

He rehearses two points familiar to readers here. First, that almost all Labour’s policy announcements in the past year (it’s not a long list) are in tune with existing Lib Dem policy: reducing taxes for the low-paid, a mansion tax and ending wealthy pensioners’ benefits are just three of the ideas that started with …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 16 Comments
Stephen Tall

Raising the age of retirement: 69% of Lib Dems back move to increase it to 69

By Stephen Tall | Tue 7th January 2014 - 9:00 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum  to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 750 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

69% of Lib Dems back raising the retirement age to 69

The Chancellor has said that the retirement age for state pensions will rise to 68 in the mid-2030s and 69 in the late 2040s. People now in their twenties may have to work until they are 70 before they receive a state pension. Do you support or …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged and | 34 Comments
Stephen Tall

Immigration: 87% of Lib Dem members back free movement of EU people; but 65% also support benefit restrictions for EU migrants

By Stephen Tall | Mon 6th January 2014 - 10:45 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum  to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 750 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

87% of Lib Dems support the free movement of EU citizens

Overall, do you support or oppose the right of people in EU countries to live and work wherever they want?

    87% – Support
    6% – Oppose
    1% – Don’t know
    5% – Other

An overwhelming proportion (87%) of Lib Dem members support the right of …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , and | 23 Comments
Stephen Tall

MPs’ pay: 63% of Lib Dem members back IPSA’s proposal

By Stephen Tall | Thu 2nd January 2014 - 8:15 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum  to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 750 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

Currently MPs receive a salary of £65,738, have a generous final salary pension scheme, and receive a resettlement grant of around £30,000 if they stand down or are defeated at an election. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is proposing MPs receive a one-off uplift in basic salary to £74k which will then increase at the same …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

NEW POLL: Who is your Liberal Voice of the Year?

By Stephen Tall | Wed 1st January 2014 - 2:45 pm

liberal-voiceToday’s the day we launch our search for the Liberal Voice of the Year to find the individual or group which has had the biggest impact on liberalism in the past 12 months. This is the seventh annual award, and as is our tradition, we’re looking beyond the ranks of the Lib Dems to find the greatest liberal who’s not a member of our party.

The list of 14 nominees appears below. These were sought from Lib Dem members via our most recent survey; some 250 nominations were submitted, and each of those short-listed needed to clear a threshold of four separate mentions.

To vote, please use the poll below to rank the nominees in order of preference.

This year’s shortlist for Liberal Voice of the Year is as follows

(in alphabetical first-name order):

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Posted in News and Polls | Tagged and | 29 Comments
Stephen Tall

Snowden leaks: 72% of Lib Dems say he was in the right – and 69% think state surveillance powers should be cut back

By Stephen Tall | Tue 31st December 2013 - 10:45 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum  to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 750 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

Edward Snowden’s leaking of US and British intelligence material revealed the extent of the authorities’ surveillance – what do Lib Dem members make of it all?

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

2,000 new Lib Dem members join in last 3 months of 2013: “first governing party in recent history to have increased its membership while in power”

By Stephen Tall | Mon 30th December 2013 - 12:01 pm

Today’s Independent reports the story that Lib Dem membership is on the up – 2,000 new members joining in the last three months of the year mean the party has recorded a net increase of up to 800 members across 2013:

Much of the success, party sources said, was down to a new incentive scheme for local Lib Dem associations to recruit new members. Under the policy, if they can prove that their membership has grown over a three-month period, they get back 20 per cent of their subscriptions in that time to spend on local campaigning. If it has

…

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 34 Comments
Stephen Tall

Payday loan companies: majority of Lib Dems say they’re unethical, with 85% wanting limits on their charges

By Stephen Tall | Mon 30th December 2013 - 8:45 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum  to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 750 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

By 56% to 30%, Lib Dems DISAGREE that payday loan companies offer a useful service

For each one please say if you agree or disagree with the statement…
… Payday loans companies offer a useful service

    3% – Strongly Agree
    27% – Agree
    Total agree = 30%
    26% – Disagree
    30% – Strongly Disagree

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 20 Comments
Stephen Tall

Who’s up, who’s down? How party members rate the performances of leading Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Sun 29th December 2013 - 2:50 pm

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum  to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 750 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

LDV asked: How would you rate the performances of the following leading Liberal Democrats and government ministers?

Full results are published below, but here’s two key lists for those who want to cut to the chase… (with comparison to September 2013 ratings in brackets)

Top 5 Lib Dem performers in the Government:

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

Energy: What Lib Dem members think about the price freeze and new nuclear power station deal

By Stephen Tall | Sat 28th December 2013 - 10:30 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum  to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 750 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.
Would you support or oppose the following policies…?

64% oppose energy price freeze

… Freezing energy prices for 20 months from May 2015, while reviewing the regulation of energy companies

    7% – Strongly Support
    16% – Support
    Total support = 23%
    34% – Oppose
    30% – Strongly Oppose
    Total oppose = 64%
    12% –

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , and | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

Two-thirds of Lib Dem members say yes to HS2

By Stephen Tall | Thu 26th December 2013 - 9:45 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum  to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 750 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

Support for HS2 gathers steam among Lib Dem members

There are plans to build a new high speed rail link (called HS2) between London and Birmingham, and then on to Manchester and Leeds. This is currently expected to cost around £42 billion. Do you support or oppose these plans?

    67% (+12%) – Support
    26% (-5%) – Oppose

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged | 13 Comments
Stephen Tall

What have been your biggest political moments of 2013?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 24th December 2013 - 1:45 pm

Here’s my list: agree, disagree? Feel free to join the debate below-the-line…

…

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Posted in News | 9 Comments
Stephen Tall

‘Help to Buy’: 61% of Lib Dem members oppose Government’s cheap mortgage scheme

By Stephen Tall | Tue 24th December 2013 - 12:45 pm

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum  to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 750 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

Party members reject ‘Help to Buy’ by 61% to 27%

Do you support or oppose providing a government guarantee to encourage banks to offer 95% mortgages to homebuyers, available for homes costing up to £600,000?

    5% – Strongly Support
    22% – Support
    Total support = 27%
    9% – Neither support nor oppose
    34% –

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , and | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

Revealed: What Lib Dem members think of Ed Miliband and David Cameron

By Stephen Tall | Sun 22nd December 2013 - 2:45 pm

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum  to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 750 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

Cameron still leading as Miliband recovers (a bit) among Lib Dems

We’ve been asking this question for over two years, and over the past year there has been quite a change in fortunes (and back again) for the two party leaders, as this graph illustrates:

cam mili member ratings - dec 2013Continue reading »

Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged and | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

Government reshuffle: party members’ views on Moore, Heath and Browne

By Stephen Tall | Sat 21st December 2013 - 3:55 pm

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum  to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 750 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

News of this week’s mini-reshuffle – Simon Hughes’s elevation to government in place of Lord (Tom) McNally – came too late to be included in our latest survey. But we did ask about the previous reshuffle in October, when Nick Clegg made a number of changes to the Lib Dem ministerial ranks, including his first sacking …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , and | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members think about the way the Coalition is cutting spending to reduce the deficit

By Stephen Tall | Fri 20th December 2013 - 9:35 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum  to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 750 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

The economy may be recovering but cuts to public spending are going to be with us for some time no matter who’s in government. I wanted to test attitudes among Lib Dems to how the cuts are being handled. The questions below mirror those which have been asked by YouGov since summer 2010 (you can access the results here, from page 27).

Thinking about the way the government is cutting spending to reduce the government’s deficit, do you think this is…

    Good or bad for the economy?
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Posted in LDV Members poll | 4 Comments
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