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

Clegg resurrects party funding talks, appoints Laws as Lib Dem negotiator

By Stephen Tall | Sun 12th February 2012 - 2:35 pm

Earlier this week The Guardian reported that Nick Clegg ‘is to revive all-party talks on party funding admitting that extra state funding is off the table, but insisting a wider deal is still possible’:

Clegg as deputy prime minister is responsible for constitutional affairs, and was not taking the initiative as Lib Dem leader. The aim would be to set out heads of agreement on a range of issues by Easter. This high-level agreement would cover individual and company donor limits, the treatment of union affiliates, spending caps at elections and the distribution of existing state funding between parties, currently

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem members back ‘devo-max’ for Scotland (oh, and for England too, please)

By Stephen Tall | Sun 12th February 2012 - 9:15 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 570 party members responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Majority say referendum should offer straight yes/no choice on independence…

LDV asked: Thinking of the forthcoming referendum in Scotland, some have said the referendum should offer people the straight choice over whether Scotland should remain part of the UK or negotiate independence. Others however say that a third option should be included on the ballot paper, offering people the chance to vote for an …

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Posted in LDV Members poll and Scotland | Tagged | 31 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV Caption Competition: Clegg, Cam & Lansley “You can hear the white coats flapping” Edition

By Stephen Tall | Sat 11th February 2012 - 3:50 pm

There’s no prize at stake – just the opportunity to prove you’re wittier than any other LDV reader…

Here’s David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Andrew Lansley rolling up their sleeves over the NHS reforms — what do you think might be being said or thought by or about them?

And the winner of our last caption comp is…

Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Ed Davey “I’ve got Energy” Edition.

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Posted in Caption Comp | Tagged , , and | 29 Comments
Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members think about Europe, Cameron’s ‘veto’, and the Eurozone

By Stephen Tall | Sat 11th February 2012 - 7:55 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 570 party members responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Party members split over the future of Europe

LDV asked: Which of the following options would be your ideal future for the UK and the European Union?

    46% – The UK should remain a full member of the EU and work towards ever closer union, economically and politically.
    40% – The UK should remain a full member of the EU but reject working towards ever

…

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Posted in Europe / International and LDV Members poll | Tagged , and | 11 Comments
Stephen Tall

97% of Lib Dem members back Nick’s call for raising income tax allowance to £10k as immediate priority

By Stephen Tall | Fri 10th February 2012 - 7:55 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 570 party members responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Overwhelming support for ‘further and faster’ tax-cuts for low-paid

LDV asked: The Coalition is committed to increasing the level at which income tax becomes payable, from its current £7,475 to £10,000 by 2015. The tax-free threshold was expected to rise by about £630 annually. However, in a recent speech Nick Clegg said, “I want the Coalition to go further and faster in delivering the …

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

LDVideo: Liberal Democrat peers rebel against coalition plans

By Stephen Tall | Thu 9th February 2012 - 12:45 pm

More than 60 Lib Dem peers have rebelled against the Coalition government’s plans during this Parliament. Here Baroness (Susan) Kramer talks about how she and her colleagues attempt always to be constructive in their dissent.

* Warning: the following video contains scenes with Quentin Letts, which some viewers may find distressing.

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Posted in YouTube | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

NHS reforms: Lib Dem members opposed by 2-to-1 majority

By Stephen Tall | Thu 9th February 2012 - 7:45 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 570 party members responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

LDV asked: The Health and Social Care Bill which will implement radical reforms to the NHS was passed by MPs last September. From what you have seen or heard about the Coalition’s plans for the NHS, do you support or oppose them?

    25% – Support
    49% – Oppose
    26% – Don’t know / No opinion

So, by a two-to-one margin, Lib Dem members in …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 12 Comments
Stephen Tall

EXCLUSIVE: Majority of Lib Dem members back Coalition’s benefits cap

By Stephen Tall | Wed 8th February 2012 - 1:20 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 570 party members responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

59% of Lib Dem members back benefits cap at £26,000 or lower

LDV asked: Under the Coalition government’s proposal the cap on benefits will apply to the total sum of all benefits a household receives, including income support, jobseekers allowance, child benefit and housing benefit. The government is setting the maximum at £26,000, the average earnings of a British family after tax. What do …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , and | 20 Comments
Stephen Tall

In other news… the Lib Dems and Alan Turing, Robbie Williams, Todmorden, the royal yacht, perjury and Cornish council tax

By Stephen Tall | Sun 5th February 2012 - 5:25 pm

Here’s a round-up of stories we haven’t had time to cover on the site this past week…

  • John Leech tables Commons motion calling for Alan Turing pardon (BBC)

    • Manchester Withington’s John Leech submitted the Early Day Motion and said people should sign an online petition protesting against Turing’s conviction. The gay computer pioneer was convicted for gross indecency in 1952, when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK. Mr Leech said his persecution “by the state for being gay is a scandal that shouldn’t be allowed to stand”. Alan Turing worked as part of the team which cracked the Enigma

    …

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    Posted in News | 6 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    LDV Caption Competition: Ed Davey “I’ve got Energy” Edition

    By Stephen Tall | Sat 4th February 2012 - 5:25 pm

    There’s no prize at stake – just the opportunity to prove you’re wittier than any other LDV reader…


    (Picture from The Guardian.)

    Here’s Nick Clegg welcoming new energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey to the cabinet — what do you think might be being said or thought by or about them?

    And the winner of our last caption comp is…

    Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Eds Balls and Miliband “The Early Years” Edition.

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    Posted in Caption Comp | Tagged | 19 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    EXCLUSIVE: 72% of Lib Dem members backed reshuffle return for David Laws. (But it wasn’t to be.)

    By Stephen Tall | Sat 4th February 2012 - 2:45 pm

    Earlier this week, LibDemVoice started asking party members signed up to our discussion forum a range of questions — the survey is still live, but one of the questions is already a little previous so we’re reporting it early…

    We asked: Would you support or oppose David Laws making a return to government at the next reshuffle?

    • Yes – to a cabinet post 58%
    • Yes – but only to a non-cabinet post in government 14%
    • No – he should not return to the government at the next reshuffle 21%
    • Don’t know / No opinion 7%

    In total, then, 72% of Lib Dem members in our sample wanted to see David Laws return to a ministerial post in the Coalition government, with most wanting to see him return to the cabinet 18 months after he was forced to resign.

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    Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
    Stephen Tall

    How Lib Dem members rated Chris Huhne and Ed Davey before the reshuffle

    By Stephen Tall | Sat 4th February 2012 - 10:45 am

    LibDemVoice is currently conducting one of our regular surveys of party members to find out views on a range of issues. One of the questions we always ask is how satisfied Lib Dems are with key figures in the party. Though the survey is still open, a couple are now out-of-date — specifically, what members’ opinions were of Chris Huhne and Ed Davey in the jobs they occupied until Friday. So here are their results…

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    Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged and | 11 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    Chris Huhne: the straight talking fighter faces his biggest battle

    By Stephen Tall | Fri 3rd February 2012 - 11:54 am

    It was in May 2011 that the allegation first surfaced that, eight years previously, Chris Huhne had allegedly asked his then wife Vicky Pryce to take the rap for speeding points that would have seen the aspirant Lib Dem MP for Eastleigh lose his licence. It’s a charge Chris has strenuously denied ever since, always saying he welcomes the police investigation as a chance to clear his name. When asked whether he would resign, he has previously only ever had to answer hypothetically, as here when questioned by Andrew Neil:


    (Available on YouTube here.)

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    Posted in News | Tagged | 55 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    New LDV members’ survey now live: your views on benefits cap, tax, Europe, Scottish independence and life in government

    By Stephen Tall | Tue 31st January 2012 - 7:20 pm

    The new LDV members’ survey is now live. So if you are one of the c.1,300 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:

    • what you think of the Coalition’s £26k benefits cap;
    • whether you back the NHS reforms;
    • your views on Scottish independence;
    • what you think about Nick Clegg’s speech on tax-cuts for the lowest paid, and about tax-rates for the wealthiest;
    • how you think Nick Clegg and David Cameron

    …

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    Posted in LDV Members poll | Leave a comment
    Stephen Tall

    LDVideo: Danny Alexander – ‘No-one wants bonus culture’

    By Stephen Tall | Mon 30th January 2012 - 8:00 pm

    Here’s Lib Dem chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander interviewed on Sunday lunchtime, defending the Coalition’s decision not to demand RBS chief executive Stephen Hester return his controversial bonus — a few hours before Mr Hester voluntarily forfeited it to defuse the row:

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    Posted in YouTube | Tagged , and | 12 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    In other news…

    By Stephen Tall | Sun 29th January 2012 - 4:45 pm

    Here’s a round-up of stories we haven’t had time to cover on the site this past week…

  • Lib Dem MP Tessa Munt is taking on sexism in the BBC: ‘The BBC must ensure there are more women presenters and executives working on its radio network if it is to justify its licence fee, MP Tessa Munt said today after she found that in some cases there were fewer female voices than 25 years ago.’
  • The FT reports how Danny Alexander, Lib Dem Treasury chief secretary, has highlighted a crackdown on high pay in the public sector: Danny has

    • …

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    Stephen Tall

    LDVideo: Clegg on RBS Hester’s pay – “these figures seem like they’re from another planet”

    By Stephen Tall | Sun 29th January 2012 - 9:40 am

    The debate reverberated here on LibDemVoice yesterday: Should Stephen Hester accept his bonus? Here’s what Nick Clegg had to say about it all yesterday:

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    Posted in YouTube | Tagged , and | 10 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    Cam’s Euro U-turn – this is what happens when you fail to negotiate

    By Stephen Tall | Sat 28th January 2012 - 5:50 pm

    Much wailing and gnashing of teeth today on the right as evidence emerges that David Cameron is backsliding on his ‘veto’ preventing the European Union from enforcing fiscal integration among the Eurozone countries. Here’s how The Guardian reports it:

    Ahead of Monday’s summit of EU leaders, which is due to finalise “political agreement” on the fiscal compact treaty, the government signalled that it would not challenge a role for the European commission and, more sensitively, would also allow resort to the European court of justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg to enforce new debt ceilings and fines for fiscal miscreants in

    …

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    Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged and | 9 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    LDV Caption Competition: Eds Balls and Miliband “The Early Years” Edition

    By Stephen Tall | Sat 28th January 2012 - 4:40 pm

    There’s no prize at stake – just the opportunity to prove you’re wittier than any other LDV reader…


    (Image from The Guardian.)

    Here’s Labour top two Eds — the party leader and shadow chancellor — pictured in their salad days, Spadding for the Blair/Brown government. What do you think might be being said or thought by or about them?

    And the winner of our last caption comp is…

    Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Michael Gove “May the Lego be with you” Edition.

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    Posted in Caption Comp | Tagged and | 28 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    LDVideo: Clegg – “the Coalition is calling time on our unfair and out-of-whack tax system”

    By Stephen Tall | Fri 27th January 2012 - 7:45 am

    Nick Clegg’s tax cut speech dominated the political headlines yesterday — you can watch a 4-minute snippet below:

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    Posted in YouTube | Tagged and | Leave a comment
    Stephen Tall

    LDVideo: Danny Alexander on the Coalition’s economic record

    By Stephen Tall | Thu 26th January 2012 - 10:10 pm

    Lib Dem chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander was grilled by BBC Newsnight’s Jeremy Paxman on Wednesday night about the UK’s negative growth figures — here’s what Danny had to say about the Coalition’s economic strategy:

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    Posted in YouTube | Tagged , , and | 3 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    Dealing with Labour’s mess, Part 93: Lib Dems secure future of post offices

    By Stephen Tall | Tue 24th January 2012 - 8:29 pm

    Remember the last Labour government’s record on post offices? Their numbers fell by more than 7,100, or 38%. But not any more, as a result of Lib Dem action within the Coalition — as Lib Dem Voice first reported here almost 18 months ago.

    This is how the Press Association reports it:

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    Posted in News | Tagged , , , , and | 6 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    LDVideo: Vince unveils changes on executive pay

    By Stephen Tall | Tue 24th January 2012 - 10:45 am

    As we reported here on LibDemVoice yesterday, Lib Dem business secretary Vince Cable yesterday announced to the House of Commons a number of measures to curb excessive boardroom pay:

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    Posted in YouTube | Tagged and | 9 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    Lib Dem peers help inflict Lords defeat over Coalition’s benefit cap plan

    By Stephen Tall | Mon 23rd January 2012 - 8:43 pm

    The BBC reports the result of tonight’s defeat for the Coalition in the House of Lords over the controversial government plans to introduce a £500 a week benefit cap:

    The government has been defeated in the Lords in a vote on its plans for a £26,000-a-year household benefit cap. Lib Dem, Labour and crossbench peers backed a bishop’s amendment by 252 to 237 that child benefit should not be included in the cap. Critics argued that imposing the same cap on all families, regardless of size, would penalise children. The government said it was “very disappointed” and the vote “clearly

    …

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    Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged | 61 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    Vince pushes the ‘mansion tax’ – could the Tories yet be persuaded to take tax reform seriously?

    By Stephen Tall | Sun 22nd January 2012 - 2:15 pm

    Shock! Horror! Lib Dem business secretary Vince Cable advocates Lib Dem manifesto policy!

    The Telegraph today reports that Vince’s policy — which would levy a 1% annual charge on all properties valued above £2 million — is still on the table as the Coalition writes its second budget:

    Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary, is pushing for a mansion tax to be introduced on properties worth more than £2million in this year’s Budget. While the policy is likely to be opposed by George Osborne, the Chancellor, Mr Cable said that he had spoken to Conservative MPs who backed the plan.

    “A mansion tax is still very much on the agenda – it is a very good idea,” Mr Cable told The Sunday Telegraph. “It is good for two reasons,’’ he said. ”It would constitute a tax on wealth rather than income, which we believe to be right, and also in economic terms it creates the right sort of incentives for the property market.”

    Mr Cable added that it was “perverse” that rich “foreigners” could buy expensive properties in Britain and contribute just £1,000 a year in council tax towards the public finances.

    3 ways of reading Vince’s comments

    There are a couple of ways of interpreting this fresh pitch.

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    Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 18 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    LDVideo: Nick Clegg on the benefits cap – “Work should always pay”

    By Stephen Tall | Sun 22nd January 2012 - 12:45 pm

    Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg appeared on BBC1’s Andrew Marr show this morning, and stuck up for the Coalition policy that there should be a £500 a week benefit cap:

    “It surely can’t be fair, can’t be right, that you can be earning more on benefits than someone going out and earning £35,000, which is the equivalent if you were to go out and work.”

    You can watch an excerpt below:

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    Posted in YouTube | Tagged , , and | 24 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    Telegraph apologises for false slurs on Huhne and offensive Cristina Odone article

    By Stephen Tall | Sat 21st January 2012 - 10:25 am

    The Daily Telegraph has been forced into a humiliating climbdown after making what it now admits were false claims about Lib Dem cabinet minister Chris Huhne.

    The paper had splashed on allegations that it was Huhne who had leaked the letter from Michael Gove suggesting taxpayers might make a gift of a new royal yacht to the Queen in order to embarrass the education secretary. It’s unclear what evidence the paper had, if any, because Huhne’s involvement was swiftly denied by the Guardian journalist responsible for exposing Mr Gove’s, erm, politically courageous proposal. Perhaps, perish the thought, they just …

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    Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 6 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    LDVideo: Nick Clegg calls for ‘John Lewis economy’

    By Stephen Tall | Tue 17th January 2012 - 7:45 am

    Nick Clegg yesterday called on more British companies to offer shares to their employees, arguing it will improve productivity and unlock growth: “We don’t believe our problem is too much capitalism – we think it’s that too few people have capital.”

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    Posted in YouTube | Tagged , and | 4 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    LDVideo: Nick Clegg – Public won’t back Queen yacht idea

    By Stephen Tall | Mon 16th January 2012 - 8:32 pm

    Conservative cabinet minister Michael Gove’s suggestion that a new royal yacht should be “a gift from the nation to her majesty” on the occasion of her diamond jubilee earned diplomatically short shrift from Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg today:

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    Posted in News and YouTube | Tagged , and | 8 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    ‘There but for the grace of…’ A couple of things Lib Dems should consider before joining the attacks on Ed Balls

    By Stephen Tall | Mon 16th January 2012 - 7:55 am

    Tempting though the schadenfreude is, I think Lib Dems would be wise not to enjoy too much Labour’s discomfort at Ed Balls’ decision to declare Labour cannot promise to reverse any of the Coalition’s cuts.

    I can of course entirely understand the urge to shout ‘Ha! Told you so’ at the shadow chancellor. In an interview for The Guardian published on Saturday, Mr Balls stated categorically:

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    Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 30 Comments
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