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

Lessons of Coalition: what do the Lib Dems need to learn from the first 3 years?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 30th July 2013 - 8:00 am

ldv coalition lessonsWe’re more than three years in. What started in the Rose Garden has turned into a bed of thorns. The quieter summer weeks are as good a time as any to reflect on the key lessons the Lib Dems need to learn from this stint in government. Who knows? We may have a second chance after 2015: best to plan ahead now to avoid the obvious pitfalls we fell into this time (tuition fees, NHS Bill, secret courts) as well as to max-out the successes we’ve delivered (tax-cuts for the low-paid, the ‘pupil premium’, new apprenticeships).

Over the next few days, we’ll be running a daily feature, ‘Lessons of Coalition’ to which those of us who contribute to LibDemVoce will be adding. But we welcome reader contributions as well. The word limit is no more than 450 words, and please focus on just one lesson you think the party needs to learn. Simply email your submission to [email protected]. Here’s mine for starters…

Stronger policy development and campaigning on issues that matter to the public (AKA where’s our liberal equivalent of the benefits cap?)

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Stephen Tall

Lib Dem members on David Ward: majority say his comments were wrong – but majority also say party wrong to suspend him

By Stephen Tall | Mon 29th July 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. More than 600 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

We asked about the party’s decision to suspend the whip from Bradford MP David Ward. This followed controversy in February when ha made controversial comments about Jews (David Ward summoned by Clegg after ‘Jews’ comments – BBC) and then again in July when he tweeted calling Israel an “apartheid state” and saying that “Zionists” were “losing the battle (MP David Ward has Lib Dem whip withdrawn over Israel comment – BBC).

54% say David Ward’s comments were wrong; but 53% say party was wrong to withdraw whip

David WardLib Dem MP for Bradford East David Ward has had the party whip temporarily withdrawn following controversial comments he has made regarding Israel. Which of these statements most closely matches your own view?

    21% – I support the whip being withdrawn temporarily

    17% – I think the whip should remain withdrawn until he apologises for his comments

    16% – I disagree with his comments but oppose the whip being withdrawn

    37% – I oppose the whip being withdrawn and support his right to continue speaking out in this way

    8% – Don’t know

An interestingly split response. While a clear majority of Lib Dem members disagreed with David Ward’s comments (54%, summing the first three options), a clear majority also oppose the decision of the party leadership to remove the whip until at least 13th September (53%, summing the third/fourth options).

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

Majority of Lib Dem members back monarchy – but 40% would prefer UK to become a Republic

By Stephen Tall | Sun 28th July 2013 - 11:45 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. More than 600 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

44% want Charles as King, 9% prefer Wills: 40% want neither

Thinking about the future monarch, which of the following would you prefer?
Prince Charles - Some rights reserved by University Hospitals Birmingham

    44% – Prince Charles should succeed as King after Queen Elizabeth II

    9% – Prince William should succeed as King after Queen Elizabeth II instead of Prince Charles

    40% – Neither – there should be no monarch after Queen Elizabeth II

    6% – Don’t know

By 53% to 40%, our sample of Lib Dem members opt for monarchy over a republic. As ever, though, those headline figures include a span of opinion revealed in the comments.

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , , , and | 17 Comments
Stephen Tall

After Lembit: Lib Dems in Montgomeryshire select Jane “Fresh Start” Dodds to win back former liberal stronghold

By Stephen Tall | Sat 27th July 2013 - 8:55 am

Jane DoddsThe parliamentary constituency of Montgomeryshire had been a Liberal stronghold since 1880, bar four years in Margaret Thatcher’s first term. The seat of former Liberal leader Clem Davies was, however, lost by 1,184 votes to the Tories in 2010 after a massive 13% swing against three-term MP Lembit Opik.

Returning Montgomeryshire to the Liberal fold is, therefore, a top Lib Dem target in 2015. And this week the party took an important step by selecting a new candidate, Jane Dodds, and billing her candidacy as A Fresh Start:

Liberal Democrats in Montgomeryshire

…

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Posted in Selection news | Tagged , and | 8 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem publish latest accounts, shows £410k deficit and party membership down to 42,500

By Stephen Tall | Fri 26th July 2013 - 2:20 pm

The latest set of accounts for the Lib Dems have been published – I’ve uploaded it at the foot of this post. Here are 5 points that struck me I read through the document.

1) The party ended 2012 with a £410k deficit

The party recorded a £410k deficit, with £6m income and £6.4m expenditure. This is noted as a “disappointing result” and ascribed to the late receipt of a substantial legacy donation “which would have brought the result down to something much nearer to break-even”. Yet legacies are by their very nature unpredictable: it’s not something we can rely on this year. Ideally the party needs to break even on its regular incomings/outgoings and then be able to use windfalls for investment.

2) Membership falls again: it’s now 42,501, down 34% since 2010

“As at December 2012 there were 42,501 members of the Party.” This is a further 13% drop since last year, and a massive 35% drop since the heights of Cleggmania in 2010. What’s clear from the chart, though, is that this is in reality a continuation of a decline in membership evident over the past 15 years, which I explored here last year:

lib dem membership figs since 1988

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Stephen Tall

EXCLUSIVE: Nick Clegg’s ratings get a boost & 55% of party members want him to lead party in 2015

By Stephen Tall | Fri 26th July 2013 - 9:50 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. More than 600 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Nick Clegg’s ratings recover to +18%, best in over a year

nick clegg
What is your view of Nick Clegg’s performance as Lib Dem leader?

    14% – Very satisfied

    44% – Satisfied

    Total satisfied = 58% (+10%)

    20% – Dissatisfied

    20% – Very dissatisfied

    Total dissatisfied = 40% (-8%)

    2% – Don’t know / No opinion

When we last polled party members on their view of Nick Clegg’s performance as Lib Dem leader, in March 2013, he had a rating of -2%. This was only the second time perceptions of Nick within the party had dipped into the negative zone. July’s rating sees his position recover significantly to +18%. That’s Nick’s best rating since June 2012 (when it was +19%).

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged and | 27 Comments
Stephen Tall

The economy is growing again. But that’s no reason to think the voters will be grateful.

By Stephen Tall | Thu 25th July 2013 - 12:45 pm

Economy-in-the-UKWhat a difference 3 months makes.

As late as 24th April, the fear was the UK economy might be slipping into a ‘triple dip’ recession. That was a bullet dodged. Then a month ago, on 27 June, we discovered the ‘double dip’ recession never actually happened after all. That was a bullet extracted.

Today, the Office of National Statistics has announced GDP growth increased by 0.6% in the second quarter of 2013. The smile of relief has become something more genuine.

No-one should get too carried away. The …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 15 Comments
Stephen Tall

POLL EXCLUSIVE: What Lib Dem members think will happen in 2015 – and what we want to happen in the event of a hung parliament

By Stephen Tall | Thu 25th July 2013 - 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. More than 600 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

72% of Lib Dem members predict another hung parliament in 2015

What do you believe is the likeliest outcome of the next general election?

    5% – An overall majority for the Conservatives

    6% – A Conservative minority government

    3% – A Conservative-led coalition with parties other than Labour or the Lib Dems

    11% – A Conservative-Lib Dem coalition

    29% – A Labour-Lib Dem coalition

    3% – A Labour-led coalition with parties other than the Conservatives or the Lib Dems

    20% – A minority Labour government

    9% – An overall majority for Labour

    0% – A “grand coalition” between Labour and Conservatives

    13% – Don’t know

I deliberately offered multiple, mirroring choices to capture the full span of opinion on this. But let’s now group the data together to help us understand what it’s saying:

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Posted in LDV Members poll and News | Tagged | 50 Comments
Stephen Tall

Alan Turing: is a pardon the best way to excuse our crime against him?

By Stephen Tall | Wed 24th July 2013 - 4:05 pm

Alan_Turing_photoThe campaign to pardon Alan Turing, the father of computer science who was convicted for acts of homosexuality in 1952, troubles me.

I take as a given the good intentions of those Lib Dems such as Lord (John) Sharkey and Manchester MP John Leech who have led the calls in parliament. But I am struck by Matthew Parris’s words in today’s Times:

Why only Turing? Many, many tens of thousands of gay men have been convicted for behaviour that was once against the law. Tens of thousands of careers, reputations

…

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Stephen Tall

The good news on university applications in 5 graphs

By Stephen Tall | Wed 24th July 2013 - 10:15 am

While the attention of the world’s media was focused on an 8lb 6oz bundle of Royal joy, there was perhaps even more significant good news about young people that didn’t garner quite so much coverage: demand for higher education from young people is at or near record levels for each country of the UK in 2013. This was announced by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) yesterday, an analysis of patterns of demand from over 20 million applications for higher education from 2004 to 2013 — if ever there were a day to bury good news…

Here are five graphs which tell the story…

Demand for higher education from young people is at or near record levels for each country of the UK in 2013.

ucas figures - application figs 2013

Application rates for English 18 year olds have increased by one percentage point to 35 per cent in 2013. This increase is typical of the trend between 2006 and 2011 and takes the application rate back to the 2011 level, after its decrease in 2012. Application rates for 18 year olds in Northern Ireland have increased to 48 per cent, application rates in Scotland (32 per cent) and Wales (30 per cent) are similar to the 2012 cycle.

Application rates for young, disadvantaged groups have increased to new highs in England.

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Stephen Tall

Our July survey of Lib Dem members: today’s your last chance to take part

By Stephen Tall | Tue 23rd July 2013 - 11:45 am

Our new LibDemVoice members’ survey went live last Friday: all 1,500 of those who are signed-up to our private members’ forum were emailed with a unique link asking questions about a range of current political issues.

Over 500 have already completed it, and today’s your last day to fill it in and make sure your views count.

A few people have mentioned, here or on Twitter, that they’ve not received the email. If that’s you, please be assured this isn’t a conspiracy to deprive you of your chance to have your say! The three most likely reasons you’ll have heard …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

An Open Letter to The New Prince

By Stephen Tall | Mon 22nd July 2013 - 10:05 pm

Dear Your Highness,
Kate and William
Congratulations on being born! It’s the first universal experience you’ll share in common with your subjects-to-be. From now on, your life and the lives of the 2,000 other babies born in the UK today will begin to diverge. You probably won’t notice this happen for a good, long while (nor will they). But, eventually, one day it will hit you: your life has been marked out to be different from the very start.

The reason is simple. It’s not just that, as every media outlet informs us, ‘the

…

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged and | 31 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dems select Maajid Nawaz as candidate in ultra-close three-way marginal of Hampstead and Kilburn

By Stephen Tall | Sat 20th July 2013 - 10:45 am

maajid-navazIn the 2010 general election, Hampstead and Kilburn was a three-way marginal: Glenda Jackson squeaked back in for Labour by just 42 votes, polling fewer than 900 votes ahead of the third-placed Lib Dems.

This week, the local Lib Dems selected the candidate they hope will succeed Ms Jackson when she retires at the next election: he’s Maajid Nawaz, a former radical Islamist, author of Radical: My Journey from Islamist Extremism to a Democratic Awakening, and co-founder of the Quilliam Foundation. As the Ethnic Minority Lib Dems note:

He is the first visible minority so far to become a PPC for the 2015 general election in a constituency where the party has a realistic chance of winning. EMLD welcomes his selection as a step forward in BAME representation. He will take on Labour’s Tulip Siddiq who is seeking to succeed Glenda Jackson as MP. Jackson’s north London seat has a paper-thin majority and is regarded as a three-way ultra marginal. The Lib Dems were in third place in 2010 but have a realistic chance of success, particularly if we garner a sizable share of the BAME vote, which makes up over 30% of the local electorate.

And here’s how the Qulliam Foundation acknowledges Maajid’s selection:

Maajid Nawaz will run in his personal capacity, as a member of the Liberal Democrat Party. In running for the Liberal Democrats, Mr Nawaz continues his political journey from a former leading member of a radical organisation towards liberal democratic values. He will remain Chairman of Quilliam and is committed to its cross-party values and mission of countering extremism, promoting pluralism, inspiring change and seeding democratic culture.

You can read more about Maajid on his Wikipedia page here, and see him in action on BBC1’s Question Time here:

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Stephen Tall

New LDV members’ survey now live: your views on David Ward, Trident, all-women-shortlists, and the Coalition

By Stephen Tall | Fri 19th July 2013 - 4:30 pm

The new LDV members’ survey is now live. So if you are one of the c.1,500 registered members of the Liberal Democrat Voice forum — and any paid-up party member is welcome to join — then you now have the opportunity to make your views known.

Questions we’re asking this month include:

  • do you agree with the party whip being withdrawn from David Ward for his controversial comments on Israel?
  • what do you think about replacing Trident?
  • do you support plain cigarette packaging and minimum alcohol pricing?
  • are you in favour of HS2?
  • would you support all-women-shortlists in Lib Dem

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 12 Comments
Stephen Tall

Trident: the Grand Old Lib Dems have lost this war already

By Stephen Tall | Wed 17th July 2013 - 9:30 am

110301-N-7237C-009Yesterday the Lib Dems published The Trident Alternatives Review. According to Danny Alexander, “it is the most thorough review of nuclear systems and postures the UK has ever made public. It is ground-breaking – thanks to the Liberal Democrats and our insistence that Trident alternatives must be examined.” That may be: but this is a war the party will not win.

Here’s the party’s sound-bite version of the policy:

We oppose the like-for-like replacement of Trident. We believe there is a ‘nuclear ladder’ of capabilities. Alternative systems or postures could bring

…

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Stephen Tall

Teather’s alternative voice on immigration: “it bothers me that there is a consensus among the three party leaders”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 14th July 2013 - 6:45 pm

teather_cleggGood on Sarah Teather. This weekend’s Guardian carries an excellent in-depth interview with the Lib Dem former children’s minister by Decca Aitkenhead in which she makes clear her deep unease not only with the Coalition’s immigration policy, but also the political consensus of the three party leaders that public concern about immigration means they must be seen to crack down on it, regardless of whether it’s the actual cause of the problems the public is concerned with.

Sarah begins by talking about the Tories’ perverse decision to heap more and more …

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “The Lib Dem vision for future economic growth and prosperity”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 14th July 2013 - 3:15 pm

The Lib Dem leadership — as I noted here yesterday — is determined to get on the front foot on the economy. This autumn will see a leadership-proposed motion backing further capital investment (“within the fiscal envelope”) while retaining the commitment to deficit reduction. Nick’s letter this week is coordinated with that message, and in particular the importance for growth throughout the regions of the UK. Here’s what he has to say…

libdem letter from nick clegg

On Thursday I visited the Toyota and Rolls Royce factories in Derbyshire to announce the

…

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Stephen Tall

Our pick of the 17 top books to read this summer

By Stephen Tall | Sun 14th July 2013 - 12:15 pm

2011-10-06 12.38.58 SpainThe newspapers are awash with summer best-reads at the moment, as well-known writers pick the books to relax with by the pool. You know the kind of thing: “It’s at this time of year I typically embark on re-reading Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu, translating it into Russian (which I’m learning to relax as I prepare for my Grade 8 piano exam) from our rustic cottage in Tuscany.” Or, alternatively: “Here’s a book written by my mate.”

Always eager to copy a trite-and-tested and formula, here’s …

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Posted in Books | Tagged | 8 Comments
Stephen Tall

Reasons the British public are so often wrong (and suggestions for what to do about it)

By Stephen Tall | Sun 14th July 2013 - 8:35 am

Earlier this week, I set readers a quiz — The British public, eh? What do they know? — based on research undertaken by Ipsos MORI for the Royal Statistical Society and King’s College London showing the British public is often wrong about what we think we know on a range of current social issues. For instance, we (collectively) massively over-estimate the proportion of people in this country who are black or Asian, or who are Muslim, or who are over 65. We also think, again wrongly, that crime is rising, and that more is spent on overseas aid than …

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Stephen Tall

Nick, Vince and Danny lead Lib Dem charge to “balance the books, find new ways to create jobs and growth”

By Stephen Tall | Sat 13th July 2013 - 12:01 am

Nick Clegg addresses Birmingham Liberal Democrats conference. Photo courtesy of the Liberal DemocratsBe warned: we’re under starter’s orders for the general election. Today, the Lib Dem leadership sets out its plans on the economy for approval by the party conference this autumn, striking a neat balance between a strong defence of the Lib Dem record in government and a recognition that much still needs to be done to get the economy growing.

The motion to be debated in Glasgow in September can be found at the foot of this post. Tabled by …

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Stephen Tall

John Kampfner: “Clegg is set to be kingmaker again in 2015”

By Stephen Tall | Fri 12th July 2013 - 4:45 pm

John Kampfner, one of the few progressive voice from the centre-left who defected from Labour to the Lib Dems in the run-up to the 2010 election and has continued to give the party a sympathetic hearing during the Coalition, writes in today’s Times about Lib Dem prospects post-2015: Clegg is set to be kingmaker again in 2015 (£).

5 points in particular are worth highlighting (ie, I agree with them):

The Lib Dems will more than likely remain a force to be reckoned with:

… the Liberal Democrats head towards 2015 knowing they can target their meagre resources on just

…

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged , and | 49 Comments
Stephen Tall

The Tories’ 35% strategy shows they know they cannot win outright in 2015

By Stephen Tall | Fri 12th July 2013 - 9:45 am

George Osborne with Red Box, Budget 2012“The 35% Strategy”. The phrase was initially coined by Dan Hodges to decry the Labour leader’s soft-left leadership:

Forget the One Nation strategy, Ed Miliband is pursuing what is known within his inner circle as the 35 Per Cent Strategy. Come 2015, he thinks he can stagger over the line with 35 per cent of the vote.

Less commented on is that the Tories have also been adopting their own 35% strategy under the tutelage of strategist Lynton Crosby. Today’s news that George Osborne has ruled …

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Stephen Tall

I’m sorry to see Richard Grayson resign, but I’m sticking with the party of liberalism thanks

By Stephen Tall | Thu 11th July 2013 - 9:59 pm

I was sorry to see Richard Grayson has resigned from the Lib Dems. We’ve met only once. It was at the 2010 Brighton party conference when we were interviewed together for Radio 4’s The Westminster Hour. As I noted at the time:

I felt almost sorry for Richard as we chatted beforehand, a loyal liberal and Lib Dem who finds it baffling to be almost a lone voice making the case against Coalition within the party. … the Coalition — if not always the Coalition policies — is broadly popular across the membership, and across the different sections of

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 31 Comments
Stephen Tall

The British public, eh? What do they know?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 9th July 2013 - 10:21 am

rss - PerilsofPerceptionThat’s the question the Royal Statistical Society and King’s College London decided to find out with the help of polling firm Ipsos MORI. They asked the British public a range of questions on current social issues. And they found the public mostly gave answers that were factually wrong. Not just fractionally out: a long way out.

See how you do on the 10 most common misperceptions held by the British public…

Teenage pregnancy:
What proportion of girls under 16 do you think become pregnant each year?
a) 0.6%
b) 3.6%
c) 6.3%

Crime:
Is violent …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 27 Comments
Stephen Tall

Andy Murray, Virginia Wade and my experience of a small dose of Everyday Sexism

By Stephen Tall | Mon 8th July 2013 - 8:55 am

So last night I tweeted this:

In response to this Times front page:

andy murray

It got a fair few retweets, including from Graham Linehan (@Glinner) and Danny Baker (@Prodnose), and my timeline started to get busy. Responses fell into two camps.

First, Pedants (and I mean this affectionately here), who pointed out it isn’t just Virginia Wade who’s been written …

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Stephen Tall

Shirley seeks to amend same-sex marriage bill: “Equality is not the same as sameness”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 7th July 2013 - 3:45 pm

There’s no doubt Shirley Williams has many admirable qualities. For example, her passionate belief in free-at-the-point-of-use health-care, her passionate defence of excellent education for all, and her quite staggering propensity for appearing on BBC1’s Question Time.

But even the best of us err. First, there was her casual dismissal of sexual harrassment (“we have got somewhat obsessed about getting very exaggerated reactions to what is silly and impolite and discourteous behaviour”). And now there’s her attempt to de-rail same-sex marriage legislation. As PinkNews reports:

Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Williams has tabled a new amendment urging for a legal separation

…

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Stephen Tall

Miliband vs McCluskey: 2 points that strike me about the Labour/Unite row over alleged candidate selection rigging

By Stephen Tall | Sun 7th July 2013 - 8:45 am

Looking in from the outside, albeit as a former Labour member myself, two points strike me about the Labour/Unite row over the alleged attempt by the union to rig the selection of the party’s general election candidate in Falkirk.

The first is this:

How lucky is Ed Miliband in his opponent, Len McCluskey?

Yes, you read that right. Ed is lucky in Len. The reason why is simple: Len McCluskey has gone about his attempted putsch of Labour in an extraordinarily cack-handed manner.

If you wanted to set up a comedy caricature trade union boss, you’d make sure he had a salary of £122,000, had called for a general strike, have him make threats against prominent Labour ‘Blairites’, and then protest against the lefty New Statesman when it reports accurately what you’ve said.

If you wanted to be a smart trade union leader, however, you’d operate below-the-radar. You’d do things just the same: ensure your chosen candidate was elected Labour leader (however dubiously), line up your mate to head up the party’s election campaigns, and guarantee loyal union members are installed in as many key seats as possible.

But you’d do so sotto voce.

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Stephen Tall

Lib Dem MP Martin Horwood socks it to the Tories over their “dramatic flip-flopping” on in/out EU referendum

By Stephen Tall | Sat 6th July 2013 - 11:15 am

martin horwoodWhile most of the country was enjoying yesterday’s sunshine, the Tory party indulged its own carnival of (to coin a phrase) banging on about Europe.

James Wharton’s private member’s bill legislating for an in/out referendum on the European Union to take place by 2017 (a pledge David Cameron has already conceded to his rebellious backbenchers, who don’t believe him) passed its second reading in the Commons by 304 votes to zero.

Only one Lib Dem MP made a speech: Cheltenham’s Martin Horwood. It’s a punchy tour de force which details …

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Posted in Europe / International, News and Parliament | Tagged , , , , and | 45 Comments
Stephen Tall

Two-thirds of married couples EXCLUDED from Tories’ marriage tax allowance

By Stephen Tall | Wed 3rd July 2013 - 9:45 am

Fresh from capitulating to his backbenchers over Europe, David Cameron is having to give in again on the issue of the marriage tax allowance. Evan Harris has already spoken out against the Tories’ plans here on LDV this week, highlighting how the policy harks back to the 1950s’ concept of nuclear households with (male) ‘breadwinners’ and (female) ‘stay-at-home’ spouses.

In the lead-up to the 2010 election, the IFS also looked hard at the policy, producing a devastating indictment of the policy’s flaws.

First, it sets out how it works: ‘up to £750 of the income tax personal allowance …

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Stephen Tall

Boris shows himself to be more liberal than Nick on immigration

By Stephen Tall | Tue 2nd July 2013 - 9:10 pm

Typing that headline pained me. But it’s true, at least on the issue of an amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Compare and contrast…

Here’s what London Mayor Boris Johnson said today on his LBC call-in show today:

“We should have an amnesty. We’ve got people who’ve got in here illegally. They are not engaged with the economy and being honest with the system.”

And here’s how Nick casually dumped the party’s policy three months ago:

… it was seen by many people as a reward for those who have broken the law. And so it risked undermining public confidence in the immigration system.

…

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Posted in Op-eds | 27 Comments
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