Author Archives: The Voice

The Voice

Farron on alleged CQC Morecambe Bay NHS Trust cover-up: “Justice must now take its course”

By The Voice | Thu 20th June 2013 - 5:00 pm

Tim FarronHere’s the question Tim Farron — in whose Cumbrian constituency Morecambe Bay NHS Trust falls — asked of Health secretary Jeremy Hunt yesterday, after it was reported that senior staff at the NHS regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), sought to cover-up a critical review of their conduct following a series of baby deaths at Furness General Hospital:

Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD): My constituents can be forgiven for wondering whether, when the watchdog chooses to muzzle itself, it is time to put it to sleep. The report shows that

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The Voice

Nick Clegg: “I completely condemn all forms of domestic violence”

By The Voice | Thu 20th June 2013 - 1:06 pm

Stephen Tall has just written a post on Nick Clegg’s LBC comments about Charles Saatchi grabbing Nigella Lawson’s throat while they were having dinner, an incident  for which Saatchi accepted a Police caution.

Nick Clegg has now issued a statement clarifying his remarks:

I completely condemn all forms of domestic violence.

As I said on the radio, my instinct would always be to try and protect the weaker person, to try and protect the person who otherwise would be hurt.

But I was asked a very specific question about how I would have reacted to a specific incident which I did not see.

I

…

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The Voice

Michael Moore’s BBC webcast on Scottish Independence

By The Voice | Wed 19th June 2013 - 2:53 pm

Mike Moore BBC webcastSecretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore has done a special half hour webcast to make the case for Scotland staying in the UK. He was asked, among other things, about why the UK Government weren’t pre-negotiating the terms of independence:

I don’t want to see independence so I’m not in the best frame of mind for sitting down and working out what independence would look like. I understand that people want to have a flavour of the issues that are at stake and that is being answered by

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The Voice

Labour play games on Robin Hood Tax

By The Voice | Wed 19th June 2013 - 1:28 pm

Labour’s attempt to force a vote on a financial transaction tax, outlined in yesterday’s Guardian, appears to be more of a ruse to embarrass the Liberal Democrats than a serious attempt to develop a consensus on the issue. The SNP used to habitually put forward motions in the Scottish Parliament aimed at splitting the Labour/Liberal Democrat Government. It’s just something that happens.

The reality is that things change on this over time, by painstaking negotiation, not by a mischief making motion in Parliament. We know that the idea of such a tax sits well with Liberal Democrats. Vince Cable has …

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The Voice

LDVideo: Danny Alexander on UK’s commitment to tax transparency and the unproven case for arming the rebels in Syria

By The Voice | Sun 16th June 2013 - 12:35 pm

Lib Dem chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander did the rounds of the TV studios yesterday to promote the Coalition’s actions to increase tax transparency. You can see his BBC News interview here. On Channel 4 meanwhile, he was also quizzed about whether he thought the UK should help arm Syrian rebels: he said the case was unproven that would help the country at this time:

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The Voice

Nick Clegg is on the Andrew Marr Show

By The Voice | Sun 16th June 2013 - 8:53 am

Nick Clegg on BBCYour 10 minute warning: go and get yourself a nice cup of tea and settle down to watch the Andrew Marr Show.

There’s no long lie and being pampered for Nick Clegg this morning as he’s being interviewed. We’ll be back with full coverage later.

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The Voice

Nick Clegg holds firm on snoopers’ charter

By The Voice | Sat 15th June 2013 - 2:30 pm

Nick Clegg has indicated that he will not change his position on the so called “snoopers’ charter” despite calls for him to do so by four former home secretaries.  A group of politicians, including Liberal Democrat peer Lord Carlile wrote to the Times (£) to say that the Bill was necessary:

It has always been a requirement, and always will be, that such intrusive intercepts are subject to time-limited warrants. Their use is guided by a strict criterion of necessity and proportionality, and are only permitted to protect national security and counter serious criminal conduct. We find it odd

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The Voice

Vince Cable: A million jobs for a stronger economy

By The Voice | Sat 15th June 2013 - 8:18 am

A million jobsVince Cable emailed party members last night kicking off the Party’s “A million jobs for a stronger economy” campaign. This is what he said:

This campaign will promote the fact that Liberal Democrats in Government have helped business create more than one million private sector jobs. Our ambition is to help create a million more new jobs.

Click here to find out how you can support the campaign.

I’m proud of our Government’s record on job creation.

Since 2010 we have helped create:

  1. Jobs for young people – 1.2 million apprentices and 110,000

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The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 14 June 2013

By The Voice | Fri 14th June 2013 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

  1. Ashcroft’s latest poll: a couple of interesting findings about the Lib Dems (39 comments) by Stephen Tall
  2. Unpaid internships: Tim Farron replies (23 comments) by Tim Farron MP
  3. The Lib Dem narrative dilemma: forget about 2010, start looking forward to 2015 (47 comments) by Stephen Tall
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The Voice

Kingston Lib Dems’ council leader Derek Osbourne arrested on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children

By The Voice | Fri 14th June 2013 - 10:20 am

Lib Dems in Kingston have been left shocked by the sudden resignation of council leader Derek Osbourne following his arrest on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children.

The news broke on Wednesday, with the local paper reporting a statement by Cllr Liz Green, acting leader of Kingston Council: “Derek Osbourne has resigned from the Liberal Democrat group. We are deeply shocked by these allegations but I am unable to comment further as we must now allow the police the time and space they need to investigate the allegations thoroughly and without prejudice.”

The paper reports today that he …

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The Voice

Statement from Nick Clegg on the Morrissey Report

By The Voice | Wed 12th June 2013 - 4:05 pm

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg has made this statement following the release of Helena Morrissey’s independent report into processes and culture within the Liberal Democrats and her recommendations for change:

I’m very grateful to Helena Morrissey for her very thorough report.

It makes sobering reading. It shows that stretching over a 20 year period a series of mistakes were made which left a number of women feeling seriously let down and for that there is absolutely no excuse whatsoever.

The report also shows that the individuals who dealt with their complaints had the right motives, but there weren’t the right processes

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged , and | 3 Comments
The Voice

Morrissey Inquiry into Party processes and culture

By The Voice | Wed 12th June 2013 - 4:00 pm

Liberal Democrat Chief Executive Tim Gordon has just emailed Party members about the Helena Morrissey Report, published at 4pm today:

Today Helena Morrissey published the report of her independent inquiry into allegations made in February that the Party had failed to respond adequately to complaints and warnings of alleged sexual harassment.

You can find Helena’s full report here.

The report concluded – and the Party has accepted – that, despite recent improvements, and despite the fact that the report is clear that those with whom issues were raised acted in good faith, it failed to deliver the procedures needed in a modern

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The Voice

Farron backs ‘Get Better, Get British’ campaign to get more UK food into our hospitals

By The Voice | Sun 9th June 2013 - 12:30 pm

Tim Farron in his constituencyFarmers Weekly reports:

Liberal Democrat president Tim Farron has called for a parliamentary debate based on Farmers Weekly’s campaign to get more UK food into our hospitals. Mr Farron, who is also MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, launched an early day motion in support of the Get Better, Get British campaign on 5 June. The motion calls for MPs to debate the issue at the earliest opportunity and calls on the Department of Health and DEFRA to support the campaign’s aims.

And here is early day motion …

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The Voice

Stephen Williams gets award from World Health Organisation for anti smoking work

By The Voice | Wed 5th June 2013 - 7:47 pm

Stephen and Anna Soubry - WHO AwardEvery year on World No Tobacco Day, the World Health Organisation gives out medals to people who have made outstanding contributions to tobacco control.

There were just six awards given out in Europe, and one of them was to Liberal Democrat MP for Bristol West, Stephen Williams, who was nominated by two organisations, Action on Smoking and Health and Smokefree South West.

He was presented with the medal by Health Minister Anna Soubry today. The Minister backed his campaign for plain packaging of cigarettes.

Since he …

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The Voice

Lib Link… Nick Clegg: Sadly, I’m not surprised by these revelations. Westminster is crying out for reform

By The Voice | Mon 3rd June 2013 - 12:45 pm

I know that the absence of the register from last month’s Queen’s Speech raised some concerns. So let me be clear: it will happen.

That was Nick Clegg writing in the Telegraph following accusations that an MP and three peers were engaging in paid lobbying.

Also on the table is the power of recall of corrupt MPs – something also raised by Tories Dan Hannan and Douglas Carswell elsewhere in the Telegraph. The point at issue between the two positions: whether there must be wrongdoing, or whether recall is at the absolute discretion of the petitioners and …

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The Voice

Towards race equality: Lib Dem task force reports

By The Voice | Mon 3rd June 2013 - 10:36 am

Equality under the law and equal opportunity is at the heart of Liberal Democracy. So begins the first report of the task force appointed by Nick Clegg early in 2012, charged with identifying effective measures to tackle inequality, discrimination and under‐representation affecting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities and individuals.

Focusing on education and employment, no fewer than 30 recommendations are offered, notably including opposition to changes to the Equality Act and EHRC, previously covered here at Liberal Democrat Voice. The Guardian reports equality reforms condemned by Lib Dem task force.

The Task Force

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The Voice

Mercer affair can only help Nick Clegg’s quest for lobbying transparency and recalling MPs

By The Voice | Sat 1st June 2013 - 8:51 am

As more embarrassing revelations come out about Newark MP Patrick Mercer’s conduct, momentum is bound to build behind Nick Clegg’s quest to introduce both a register of lobbyists and a right of recall so that constituents can get rid of an MP accused of serious wrongdoing.

He has talked about both issues recently. Firstly, on recall, reported in the Guardian:

The proposals included in the coalition agreement appeared to have been stalled partly because there was disagreement on what behaviour by an MP could trigger a constituent’s right to petition for a byelection.

Clegg is proposing there has to be agreement

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The Voice

No Liberal Democrat on Question Time again – who will speak up against the Snoopers’ Charter?

By The Voice | Thu 30th May 2013 - 10:48 am

Question TimeAnother week, another Question Time with no Liberal Democrat on the panel. Tonight’s episode, from London, will feature Conservative health minister Anna Soubry, former Labour  Home Secretary Alan Johnson, the New Statesman’s Mehdi Hassan, Downton Abbey author Julian Fellowes and UKIP’s Diane James.

This is the second week running that there hasn’t been a Liberal Democrat on the panel. The reason it’s serious is because ever since last week’s horrific murder in Woolwich, there has been a clamour of voices in the media, one of the loudest being Alan Johnson’s, saying …

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The Voice

Jo Swinson: Don’t tell your kids they’re beautiful – they’ll get issues

By The Voice | Tue 28th May 2013 - 12:24 pm

jo swinson by paul walterJo Swinson, the Women’s Minister, has been interviewed by the Daily Telegraph anticipating the progress report due today on the Body Confidence campaign.

Her research has shown that 25% of all 11 to 15 year old boys and girls are unhappy about their appearance. 70% of girls think there is too much emphasis on how celebrities look.

She said:

Parents that praise their sons and daughters for looking “beautiful”, wearing a pretty outfit or having a nice hair do risk sending the wrong message to children that looks

…

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged , and | 45 Comments
The Voice

Stephen Tall guests on Guardian Politics Weekly podcast – Tory EU referendum question: in hand or out of control?

By The Voice | Fri 17th May 2013 - 10:25 am

guardian politicsLibDemVoice co-editor Stephen Tall joined the panel for this week’s Guardian Politics Weekly podcast, hosted by Tom Clark and also featuring political columnist Melissa Kite and Guardian social affairs editor Randeep Ramesh. They discuss the Tories’ latest implosion over when to hold an in/out EU referendum and Theresa May’s proposal that life should mean life in prison for anyone convicted of murdering a police officer.

You can listen to it here online, or download it as an MP3 here.

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The Voice

Clegg v Bone: The Rematch

By The Voice | Wed 15th May 2013 - 10:52 am

Just so you all know, Nick Clegg is doing Prime Minister’s Questions today as David Cameron is in the US. He will face Harriet Harman and no doubt a fair few of the Tory right wing Eurosceptics.

I doubt Peter Bone will be as friendly as he was last time Nick did PMQs, in November. And Ms Dorries has restored from the wilderness.

Nick has usually performed very well at PMQs. I expect his weekly phone in and regular town hall meetings make a Commons full of baying MPs much easier to tame. I’m tempted to make a comment about the …

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The Voice

Battle of the Andrews over 5 Days in May: Lib Dem Stunell lambasts Labour’s Adonis for “spurious rubbish”

By The Voice | Tue 14th May 2013 - 1:10 pm

adonis stunellLord (Andrew) Adonis, a former SDP councillor and the very model of a modern Blairite New Labourite, has a new book out offering his assessment of those five heady days in May when the alternative Lib-Con and Lib-Lab coalition options were discussed.

In the main it confirms what was already known: that Labour had not given any thought to the fact they might have to work with the Lib Dems in the event of a hung parliament.

But his Lordship, having conceded how ill-prepared Labour was, is nonetheless mustard-keen to lay much of the blame for the failure of the Lib-Lab option at the door of Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems. Andrew Stunell, Lib Dem MP and one of the party’s five-strong negotiating team, is having none of this revisionism — as he points out punchily in a letter in today’s Guardian.

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The Voice

Paddy Ashdown: Liberal Youth are absolutely fantastic

By The Voice | Tue 7th May 2013 - 7:55 am

Liberal Youth’s Gold Guard effort during the local election campaign saw them campaign vigorously all over the country. There were action days from Berwick to Cambridge to Somerset and every night an hour was set aside to call for a specific candidate.

Some of the party’s most treasured figures put together this video to thank them, and it was emailed to their members last night. Well, Paddy said a little more than thank you, but he’s allowed, because we are obliged to obey his every instruction between now and 2015.

We thought you might like to see it.

Rumour has it, by the …

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The Voice

LDVideo: Nick Clegg and Simon Hughes comment on the Lib Dem performance in the local elections

By The Voice | Sat 4th May 2013 - 5:20 pm

The Lib Dem leader and deputy leader on the outcomes from Thursday’s elections…

Nick Clegg on the Lib Dems’ local election performance

Local elections: Simon Hughes defends Lib Dem result

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The Voice

Local elections 2013 live blog…..

By The Voice | Fri 3rd May 2013 - 9:57 am

09:56 Caron:

And we start off with some good news from Ashfield. Simon Hughes has just said on BBC Breakfast that it looks like we have held our seats and got the youngest councillor in the country elected.

10:10 Stephen:

10:26 Caron:

Congratulations to Lib Dem Voice’s Sara Bedford on her election as County Councillor for Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire.

10:29 Caron:

The Telegraph has its own spin on Tim Farron’s appearance on …

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The Voice

What you get from Liberal Democrat Councillors – a record of action

By The Voice | Thu 2nd May 2013 - 9:58 am

Liberal Democrats around the country are taking to the streets or phones to get out the vote. Here’s Lib Dem HQ in sunny Ludlow. Ludlow HQ

From the Liberal Democrat website:

The Liberal Democrats are building a stronger economy in a fairer society, enabling everyone to get on in life.

Our councillors have proud records locally, standing up for local people:

  • No library will be closed in any Lib Dem-run or Lib Dem-led authorities this year
    • Northumberland County Council, Portsmouth and Stockport are opening new ones
  • Liberal Democrats are helping businesses and customers to get their economies

…

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The Voice

Good Morning! And best wishes to all Lib Dem candidates today!

By The Voice | Thu 2nd May 2013 - 7:30 am

Best of luck to all Lib Dem candidates in today’s local elections across England (and in the Ise of Anglesey).

Good luck, too, to Hugh Annand in today’s South Shields by-election; and to John Brown (Doncaster) and John Appleby (North Tyneside) in today’s mayoral elections.

And a particular shout-out to LibDemVoice’s ‘Libby Local’, the first-time candidate in ‘Libbyshire’ who’s been keeping LibDemVoice readers up-to-date with campaign progress over the past 6 months. You can catch up with all her experiences here.

goodmorning_ld

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The Voice

Clegg defends Coalition: “We inherited from Labour an economy teetering on the edge”

By The Voice | Wed 1st May 2013 - 8:58 pm

Nick Clegg was interviewed while on the campaign trail in Lewes today for Channel 4 News by Gary Gibbon — here’s a 6-minute excerpt in which Nick explains the steps the Coalition has taken to rescue the economy since 2010:

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The Voice

Nick Clegg grilled by Martha Kearney: Lib Dems “the voice of fairness” in government

By The Voice | Tue 30th April 2013 - 8:35 pm

Nick Clegg fared better than Ed Miliband in his pre-local election grilling today by Martha Kearney on BBC Radio 4’s World at One. You can watch the 18-minute interview here:

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The Voice

Former Lib Dem by-election candidate Elizabeth Shenton defects to Labour

By The Voice | Sun 28th April 2013 - 11:55 am

Newcastle councillor Elizabeth Shenton, Lib Dem candidate in the 2008 Crew and Nantwich by-election, has left the party to join Labour. Local paper The Sentinel reports:

A senior Lib Dem councillor and former parliamentary candidate has defected to Labour. Elizabeth Shenton said she had left the Liberal Democrats due to the coalition Government’s ‘damaging policies’. She has now joined the ruling Labour group on Newcastle Borough Council. Mrs Shenton, below, who was the Lib Dem candidate in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election in 2008, had been member of the party for 10 years.

Mrs Shenton, who has also served

…

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Posted in Local government | Tagged , and | 26 Comments
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