Author Archives: The Voice

The Voice

Chris Rennard steps aside from party roles to avoid “embarrassment” to Lib Dems

By The Voice | Fri 22nd February 2013 - 10:40 am

Further to the allegations broadcast on last night’s Channel 4 News that former Lib Dem chief executive Lord (Chris) Rennard behaved sexually inappropriately towards women working for the Liberal Democrats, he has announced he’s stepping aside from his current active roles within the party — as a Lib Dem peer and a member of the party’s federal policy committee — to avoid “embarrassment” to the party. Here‘s the Telegraph report:

The top Lib Dem official official will temporarily stand down from his party duties to avoid “embarrassment” to the party, after several women made accusations about his conduct on

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | Comments Off on Chris Rennard steps aside from party roles to avoid “embarrassment” to Lib Dems
The Voice

Party launches investigation over C4 News allegations

By The Voice | Thu 21st February 2013 - 7:52 pm

The party has launched an internal investigation, headed by Party President Tim Farron, in response to allegations aired on tonight’s Channel 4 News.

The party released this statement in response to the report:

In view of the serious allegations put to us by Channel 4 and the concerns raised about how such issues have been handled in the past, Nick Clegg has asked Tim Farron, the Party President, to establish an immediate review into all our procedures for dealing with these issues, including a thorough examination of how allegations made in the past have been handled. This review group had its

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Comments Off on Party launches investigation over C4 News allegations
The Voice

Eastleigh Tory candidate “running scared” from hustings

By The Voice | Thu 21st February 2013 - 9:52 am

Missing Tory candidateThe Conservative candidate has pulled out of the BBC Radio 5 Live hustings this morning, and is facing accusations of running scared of voters.

From The Guardian:

There is growing concern within the party that with a week to go before polling day her no-nonsense and frequently off-message approach is damaging its chances of seizing the seat from the Liberal Democrats.

Candidates from the other major parties were attending the debate – chaired by Victoria Derbyshire – on Thursday morning for 5 Live, a major set-piece of the week. But Conservative

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged , , , , , and | 8 Comments
The Voice

Social care reforms – open thread

By The Voice | Mon 11th February 2013 - 10:51 am

Jeremy Hunt is due to confirm the pre-announced details of Social Care reform later today.

The BBC summarises what’s known about the proposals here:

The government is due to announce its “fully-funded solution” to the problem of elderly people in England who cannot afford social care.

It is expected to include a £75,000 cap on the costs people pay for care and a rise in the threshold for means-tested support from £23,250 to £123,000.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said the “scandal” of many people selling homes to pay care bills must be tackled.

Do these proposals go far enough?

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | 4 Comments
The Voice

Gove forced into GCSE U-turn ‘under Lib Dem pressure’

By The Voice | Thu 7th February 2013 - 7:35 am

The morning’s big news is that Conservative education secretary Michael Gove is set to announce a U-turn today on his plans to scrap the current GCSE exams and replace them with a new EBacc qualification in 2015. Here‘s how the Independent reports it:

The Education Secretary bowed to overwhelming pressure for a rethink from Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, the exams regulator Ofqual and MPs from all parties. It is understood that he decided to act after being warned by civil servants that one key plank of his reforms – handing each of the core subjects over to just

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , , and | 27 Comments
The Voice

Equal marriage: the speeches of Stephen Gilbert, Stephen Williams and Simon Hughes

By The Voice | Wed 6th February 2013 - 8:45 am

Last night saw the House of Commons approve the second reading of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill. Three Lib Dem MPs spoke, and here are their contributions to that historic debate…

steve gilbertStephen Gilbert (St Austell and Newquay) (LD):

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Chesterfield (Toby Perkins), who has articulated what many people of faith across our country have struggled with before coming to the conclusion that love should be for one and all and that marriage should not be an exclusive institution.

I declare an interest:

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged , , and | 4 Comments
The Voice

Tessa Munt and Tim Farron on Chris Huhne’s downfall

By The Voice | Mon 4th February 2013 - 7:40 pm

Reaction to Chris Huhne’s shock decision to plead guilty to perverting the course of justice over a 2003 speeding case and to quit as MP for Eastleigh has been rolling throughout the day.

Here’s two of Chris’s backbench colleagues on today’s events. First, Lib Dem MP for Wells, Tessa Munt, who praised his work as a “fantastic constituency MP”:

Continue reading »
Posted in News and YouTube | Tagged , and | 11 Comments
The Voice

Lib Dem donor Brompton Capital given all clear by the Electoral Commission

By The Voice | Mon 28th January 2013 - 9:20 am

rumi verjeeA month ago, the Sunday Telegraph splashed on allegations by Labour MP Michael Dugher demanding the Electoral Commission investigate donations to the Lib Dems from Rumi Verjee via Brompton Capital Limited.

Well, the Electoral Commission has now investigated — and it’s given the donations the all-clear, and ruled out pursuing the matter any further:

“We have carefully considered whether there is sufficient reason to believe that a breach of PPERA may have taken place, and whether the matter warrants referral for a case review or investigation. Having

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 7 Comments
The Voice

Opinion: what living on benefits really means

By The Voice | Fri 25th January 2013 - 12:51 pm

Suel writes:

Every time I hear the phrase “a life on benefits”, it’s like a slap in the face to my brother, who lives in my spare room while looking for a job. He’s not lazy or a scrounger, he just can’t find a job. As Sarah Teather said two weeks ago

the term “scroungers” has become so pervasive in social consciousness that even those on benefits do not attempt to debunk the entire category, only to excuse themselves from the label.

I asked my brother if he was willing to share what his life on benefits was like:

Her brother writes:
I have …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 91 Comments
The Voice

LDVideo: Clegg – “Overwhelming priority of the British people is jobs, growth and a strong economy”

By The Voice | Wed 23rd January 2013 - 7:45 pm

Caron Lindsay reported here earlier today Nick Clegg’s initial reaction to David Camern’s announcement there will be an in/out referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union. Here’s what he told the BBC:

And here’s the transcript of his interview with Sky News:

Continue reading »
Posted in YouTube | Tagged and | 3 Comments
The Voice

LDVideo: Liberal Democrats: coalition, polls and 2015 election

By The Voice | Tue 22nd January 2013 - 8:55 pm

Today’s BBC Daily Politics looked at the Lib Dems’ electoral fortunes.

In clip 1, they interview Lib Dem peer Lord (Tony) Greaves, former Lib Dem turned Labour councillor James Allie, and Gareth Epps, of the Social Liberal Forum…

Continue reading »
Posted in YouTube | Tagged , , , and | Leave a comment
The Voice

LDVideo: Tim Farron – It would be “completely mad to have a referendum now” on EU

By The Voice | Tue 22nd January 2013 - 8:25 pm

Lib Dem party president Tim Farron — who resigned from the Lib Dem front-bench in 2008 to vote in favour of a referendum on the Libson Treaty — explained today why he thinks it would be “completely mad” to hold a referendum while the UK is tryng to get out of the biggest recession in living memory. You can watch the 2-minute video here:

Continue reading »
Posted in YouTube | Tagged , and | 5 Comments
The Voice

The LDV Saturday Six: 12 Jan 2013

By The Voice | Sat 12th January 2013 - 12:10 pm

sixIt’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Sorry, let’s try that one again… It’s Saturday. It’s 12 noon (ish). Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

6 most-read stories on LDV this week

  1. ++ Government wins vote on Benefits Uprating Bill; 6 Lib Dem MPs rebel (83) by Stephen Tall
  2. So, about that Lib Dem wipeout in 2015 then… (84) by Stephen Tall
  3. LibLink… Nick Clegg: Labour need to tell us what they would cut (90) by The Voice
Continue reading »
Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment
The Voice

How to get the most out of your Lib Dem Voice comments

By The Voice | Tue 8th January 2013 - 1:55 pm

How to get a photo to appear next to your comments

You may have noticed that next to some people’s comments is a small picture of themselves, such as:


If you want a picture to appear next to your comments you need to do two things.

Continue reading »
Posted in Site news | 3 Comments
The Voice

How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

By The Voice | Sun 6th January 2013 - 4:55 pm

The Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that’s fine, we’re grateful for people taking the time to read the site.

You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are four simple ways:

Continue reading »
Posted in Site news | 4 Comments
The Voice

LibLink: Tim Farron – A party of both competence and compassion is in a unique position in British politics

By The Voice | Sun 6th January 2013 - 12:15 pm

Tim Farron speaking - Some rights reserved by Liberal DemocratsIn today’s Observer, party president Tim Farron begins the year in chipper mood, pointing out that the political pundits are quick to predict the deaths of political parties, including the Lib Dems — yet we’ve endured it all to become now a party of government:

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher’s landslide, after which serious political commentators, including those writing for the Observer, speculated that Labour could never win again.

In March, we will observe the 10th anniversary of

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged | 14 Comments
The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 4 January 2013

By The Voice | Fri 4th January 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. NEW POLL: Who is your Liberal Voice of the Year? (25 comments) by Stephen Tall
  2. So you think Ukip are the new third party? Let’s have a look at the data… (75 comments) by Stephen Tall
  3. Which Lib Dem minister had the worst year? Here’s what party members think… (9 comments) by Stephen Tall
Continue reading »
Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment
The Voice

LibLink… Nick Clegg: Labour need to tell us what they would cut

By The Voice | Wed 2nd January 2013 - 2:41 pm

Nick Clegg has issued a challenge to Labour in today’s Times. Rather than, he says, oppose every single cut the Coalition has made, Labour should be saying what they would cut to pay for their policy priorities. If Labour want benefits to rise at the rate of inflation, then they need to spell out exactly how they would pay for it.

Firstly, he talks about what the Coalition has achieved for economic growth, and how it has been pragmatic on cutting the deficit, changing its plans as the global economic circumstances changed:

Here in the UK we have now paid off around

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged , , , and | 90 Comments
The Voice

The 7 most-read posts of 2012

By The Voice | Mon 31st December 2012 - 5:55 pm

As 2012 draws to a close, here are the 7 most-read posts published on Lib Dem Voice this year. Thank you to the hundreds of thousands of readers who’ve joined us in the last 12 months; we look forward to seeing you again next year.

libdemvoice happy 2013 graphic

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | Leave a comment
The Voice

Nick Clegg’s New Year’s resolutions 2013

By The Voice | Fri 28th December 2012 - 3:00 pm

Here is Nick’s New Year message:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | Leave a comment
The Voice

LibLink: Richard Reeves – Have yourself a merry liberal Christmas

By The Voice | Fri 28th December 2012 - 11:00 am

Over at the CentreForum blog, the liberal think-tank’s associate director, Richard Reeves, takes a look at the “communitarian dream” that is Christmas through a liberal lens:

Christmas combines in one package a number of elements that make us bristle. Religion, especially of an organised variety. Tradition for the sake of itself. The insanity of present buying. And semi-tyrannical familial expectations. … One liberal reaction to all this is to simply grin and bear it. … But bristling and bearing won’t really do. Liberal hostility to faith, family, community and tradition is well founded; they can all inhibit individual freedom. But the

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 5 Comments
The Voice

Happy Christmas!

By The Voice | Tue 25th December 2012 - 8:00 am

christmas

Posted in News | Tagged | Leave a comment
The Voice

Christmas confessions from the Lib Dem Voice team

By The Voice | Mon 24th December 2012 - 4:53 pm

Confession - Some rights reserved by Lori GreigAs the Christmas sherry loosens us all up a bit, here are some confessions from the Liberal Democrat Voice team.

To turn it into a bit of a quiz, no names appear against each confession. So you’ll have to guess who the confessor is in each instance. By all means use the comments field below to have a stab at the identity of the owner of each revelation.

To make it a bit more interesting, there is an unspecified number of

Continue reading »
Posted in Humour | Tagged and | 10 Comments
The Voice

The political year reviewed by Stephen Tall, Tim Montgomerie and Hopi Sen

By The Voice | Mon 24th December 2012 - 3:53 pm

LibDemVoice co-editor Stephen Tall guested alongside ConservativeHome‘s Tim Montgomerie and Labour blogger Hopi Sen on BBC Radio 4’s The Westminster Hour last night, reviewing the political year with presenter Carolyn Quinn through the rear-view mirror. Issues dissected in the 20-minute discussion included Andrew ‘Gate-gate’ Mitchell, Coalition differentiation, Nick Clegg’s future, welfare reforms and secret courts. You can listen here:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | Leave a comment
The Voice

A Christmas Carol, as sketched by Bodz. All 5 Staves Omnibus.

By The Voice | Mon 24th December 2012 - 8:45 am

Over the past five days, LibDemVoice has been delighted to bring you a contemporary updating of Charles Dickens’ classic story, A Christmas Carol, penned for us by Andy Boddington.

LDV scrooge story

If you missed any, or simply want to sit back in a comfy chair with a glass of mulled wine and enjoy the whole saga again from start to finish, here are all five staves of the story as sketched by Bodz. God bless them, every one…

Stave One: Mensch’s Ghost;

Stave Two: The Ghost of …

Continue reading »
Posted in Humour | Tagged | Leave a comment
The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 21 December 2012

By The Voice | Fri 21st December 2012 - 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. A Christmas Carol. Stave One: Mensch’s Ghost (5 comments) by Andy Boddington
  2. Y’know those stories about the death of the Lib Dems? Turns out, they might’ve been exaggerated… (57 comments) by Stephen Tall
  3. Did you know the Lib Dems have lost half a million voters to Ukip? Here’s what I think it means. (48 comments) by Stephen Tall
Continue reading »
Posted in Friday Five | 1 Comment
The Voice

A Christmas message from the President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe

By The Voice | Fri 21st December 2012 - 9:48 am

It is that time of year when Christmas messages start appearing, and here at Liberal Democrat Voice, we are no exception. And so, for your delight, here is a message from Sir Graham Watson, Liberal Democrat MEP for the South West, and President of ALDE…

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged and | 11 Comments
The Voice

LibLink: Richard Reeves on stepping away from the Tories

By The Voice | Mon 17th December 2012 - 5:47 pm

David-Cameron-and-Nick-CleggOn Comments is Free, Richard Reeves argues that, in 2013, Nick Clegg needs to establish a more assertive identity and win voters over for bold, new reasons:

The coalition will be a play in two acts. Act one had the parties acting largely in tandem – reforming public services, reversing Labour’s

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 12 Comments
The Voice

Nick Clegg’s speech: Governing Britain from the centre ground: building a stronger economy in a fairer society

By The Voice | Mon 17th December 2012 - 11:25 am

Nick Clegg at rallyNick Clegg gave a keynote speech at the Royal Commonwealth Society on the eve of his 5th anniversary of his election as Liberal Democrat leader. This is what he had to say:

I don’t suppose it’s exactly controversial to suggest that I and my party have changed over that period. Today I will argue that we’ve changed for the better.
Because my purpose here today is to explain, clearly and simply, what the Liberal Democrats offer the people of
Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 50 Comments
The Voice

LibLink: Nick Clegg declares the ‘war on drugs’ lost

By The Voice | Fri 14th December 2012 - 12:51 pm

It’s unlikely that many of our readers also take The Sun, but it’s probably equally unlikely that a Liberal Democrat would ever give an interview to it in which they spoke so freely about drug policy.

So, today’s headline in the Sun, “Nick Clegg: time to re-think drugs” will be an unexpected one, made more so by the rather supportive polling carried out by YouGov for it and the general tenor of the piece.

Here’s a snippet from the article;

If you

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink and News | Tagged and | 8 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • David Le Grice
    Honestly our performance in Aberdeen south is Aberdeen south is an indictment of where our party is at. In 2010 it was one of our top target seats, we held the ...
  • nigel hunter
    UKcould keep special pre Brexit terms if it rejoined the EU----Michel Barnier says----Guardian article. Negotiations can achieve great things....
  • Ruth Bright
    Wow David, that's great....
  • David Warren
    I have just finished telephone canvassing in Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, moving onto Kinwarton ward in Stratford Upon Avon. Happy to help in future contests...
  • Noncoonformistradica
    "There was no social service support for unmarried mothers (the term always carried judgemental overtones)," I have a vague memory dating back to the early 1...