Author Archives: The Voice

The Voice

Merry Christmas!

By The Voice | Sat 25th December 2010 - 8:00 am

Christmas tree

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The Voice

Mike Hancock: police drop investigation over allegations

By The Voice | Thu 23rd December 2010 - 7:22 am

A news release from Mike Hancock MP says:

MP welcomes dropping of police action over allegations against him

Hampshire Police have today confirmed that after consultation with the Criminal Prosecution Service (CPS) that they are dropping any further action against Mike Hancock MP (Lib Dem – Portsmouth South) over allegations made against him in August.

Mike Hancock said: “I have always maintained my innocence over this. I have co-operated fully with police at all times and at all times vigorously contested these allegations. They have now been fully investigated and I am obviously pleased that the CPS and Police have concluded that there …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 6 Comments
The Voice

Newsagents call on Cable to think again on tobacco display ban

By The Voice | Sun 19th December 2010 - 11:27 am

An open letter to Vince Cable from the National President of the National Federation of Retail Newsagents:

Dear Mr Cable,

The National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN) would like to express the views of Britain’s small businesses, those at the heart of their local communities, in response to the UK’s proposed tobacco display ban. We do so with the firm support of over 60 backbench MPs who have called on you personally to look again at the proposed ban, as well as 33,000 small family businesses across every town and village in the UK.

These MPs who have signed the open letter understand that the display ban is not a health vs …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 39 Comments
The Voice

Register for conference – deadline approaching

By The Voice | Mon 13th December 2010 - 10:39 am

Just a quick note to remind party members intending to come to Lib Dem conferences in 2011 that the first deadline is fast approaching.

The cheapest registration is early joint registration for both conferences.

The deadline for getting the lowest possible price is 5.30pm on 16th December, so not much time remaining.

You can register for conference here.

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The Voice

How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

By The Voice | Mon 6th December 2010 - 3:58 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 three simple ways:

1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there’s something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you’re an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or you’ve seen …

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Posted in Site news | 3 Comments
The Voice

Hancock denies member of staff is a Russian spy

By The Voice | Sun 5th December 2010 - 11:24 am

From the BBC:

A Liberal Democrat MP has denied that his Russian-born parliamentary aide is a spy.

However Mike Hancock, who is a member of the Commons Defence Select Committee, has confirmed his assistant has been arrested and is now fighting deportation.

According to the Sunday Times, Katia Zatuliveter, 25, was detained on the orders of MI5 over espionage claims.

Posted in News | Tagged and | 48 Comments
The Voice

Opinion: A letter from students to Lib Dem MPs

By The Voice | Fri 3rd December 2010 - 2:44 pm

LDV has had sight of this letter, written by a group on facebook, and sent to Lib Dem MPs.

Dear Liberal Democrat MPs,

We, the undersigned students, recognise the benefits of tuition fee reform and urge you to vote for it.

We see that our annual loan repayments will fall due to the substantial rise in the loan repayment threshold, and that the grants system will become more generous. We see that part-time students will no longer be forced to pay up-front fees and that poorer graduates will benefit from a rise in the repayment threshold.

We feel that the NUS, by spreading …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 112 Comments
The Voice

Lib Dem Presidential contest: result due early this afternoon

By The Voice | Sat 13th November 2010 - 10:00 am

The results of the election for president of the Lib Dems will be announced today, soon after 12pm, and Lib Dem Voice’s Helen Duffett will be reporting back live from the count. A reminder, as if you needed one, of the two candidates standing for the post:

  • Tim Farron
  • Susan Kramer

    • If you’re interested in looking back at the coverage of the race that’s appeared here on LDV, then click here.

    The results for the party committee elections and Peers panel are also expected early this afternoon, so watch this space.

    Posted in Party Presidency | Tagged and | Leave a comment
    The Voice

    How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

    By The Voice | Sun 7th November 2010 - 6:53 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 three simple ways:

    1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there’s something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you’re an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or you’ve seen …

    Continue reading »
    Posted in Site news | Leave a comment
    The Voice

    Chris Huhne announces ‘The Green Deal: Putting our ideas into practice’

    By The Voice | Fri 5th November 2010 - 7:35 pm

    Chris Huhne, Lib Dem secretary of state for energy and climate change, earlier this week emailed party members with the following message, illustrating how the party is putting green policies at the heart of the Coaltion:

    Today I am announcing details of the Green Deal, a new and radical way of making energy efficiency improvements available to all, whether people own or rent their properties. Through the Green Deal everyone will have a chance to save energy, cut their bills and tackle climate change, just as we promised in our manifesto.

    Initially, over the next two years, we will almost double

    …

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    Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 2 Comments
    The Voice

    Phil Woolas loses court case over his election

    By The Voice | Fri 5th November 2010 - 12:28 pm

    The Guardian (and many others) reports:

    Labour’s shadow immigration minister, Phil Woolas, was ejected from parliament today after a court ruled he had breached election laws by falsely claiming his Liberal Democrat opponent had “wooed” extremist Muslims in the run-up to the 6 May poll.

    For the first time in 99 years a specially convened election court has overturned the result of a parliamentary poll and ordered a rerun after two high court judges ruled the result of the Oldham East poll void. They upheld the claim by Elwyn Watkins that Woolas knowingly made false statements.

    UPDATE 14:20 – Elwyn Watkins has …

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    Posted in Election law and News | Tagged and | 133 Comments
    The Voice

    Vince Cable: this is a fair deal for students

    By The Voice | Wed 3rd November 2010 - 6:00 pm

    Vince Cable, Lib Dem secretary of state for business, innovation and skills, has sent the following email to Lib Dem members following today’s announcement of the Coalition’s proposals for higher education funding in England:

    The Liberal Democrats have always championed our universities. We have long fought for a fair deal for students.

    Now in Government we are in a position to turn that campaigning into real action.

    The higher education package I am announcing today will promote high-quality university teaching and research. It will guarantee fair access for all, regardless of background. It will deliver a progressive, sustainable funding structure.

    The key points are

    …

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    Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 36 Comments
    The Voice

    Hemming in the headlines

    By The Voice | Fri 22nd October 2010 - 11:50 am

    The London Evening Standard reports:

    The wife of an MP was today charged with burgling the home of her husband’s ex-lover and stealing a kitten.

    Christine Hemming, wife of John Hemming, the Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley, is alleged to have raided the home of Emily Cox, a researcher by whom Mr Hemming fathered a child in 2005. Mrs Hemming, 52, of Moseley, Birmingham, was not required to enter a plea during a brief appearance at the city’s magistrates’ court.

    She was granted bail and committed for trial at crown court over the alleged burglary on the night of September 29. Her

    …

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    Posted in News | Tagged | 7 Comments
    The Voice

    What was different about the Liverpool conference?

    By The Voice | Sun 17th October 2010 - 11:58 am

    This video, filmed at the Lib Dem 2010 Autumn conference in Liverpool, contains interviews with Chris Huhne and Vince Cable about how conference is different now the party is in government, plus interviews with members, a look at why organisations hold fringe events and a tour around the exhibition area with interviews with one internal and one external organisation about why they have a stand in the exhibition area. Presented by Greg Stone and Jonathan Wallace.

    You can view the video here.

    Posted in Conference | Tagged , and | Leave a comment
    The Voice

    Nick Clegg writes to Lib Dem MPs over tuition fees

    By The Voice | Wed 13th October 2010 - 5:37 pm

    Earlier today, Nick Clegg sent the following letter to all Liberal Democrat MPs:

    Like you, I am painfully aware of the pledge we all made to voters on tuition fees ahead of the General Election. Departing from that pledge will be one of the most difficult decisions of my political career. It means doing something that no one likes to do in politics – acknowledging that the assumptions we made at election time simply don’t work out in practice. With the benefit of hindsight, I signed a pledge at a time when we could not have anticipated the full scale of …

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    Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 180 Comments
    The Voice

    The Independent View: Political Innovation No.6 – Citizen control of personal data

    By The Voice | Wed 13th October 2010 - 3:43 pm

    This is a cross-post by William Heath – originally posted on the Political Innovation site here.

    If the big political innovation of the moment is to give power back to people, then a good place to do it is with personal data.

    Whose data is it anyway? Whose health, whose education, whose identity, whose shopping history, bank details, travel plans, creditworthiness? Yet all these personal details, which affect us, are stored on hundreds of state and private-sector databases.

    If I said there were 50bn personal records for …

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    Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | 2 Comments
    The Voice

    Mike Hancock arrested on suspicion of indecent assault

    By The Voice | Wed 13th October 2010 - 1:41 pm

    Reuters is reporting that Mike Hancock, Lib Dem MP for Portsmouth South, has been arrested on suspicion of indecent assault. Hancock, who is also a local councillor, has been released on police bail until 10th January.

    As we reported earlier today, in a statement on his website yesterday, Hancock said

    I can confirm that I was questioned on Tuesday 12 October by officers of the Hampshire Police in relation to allegations made against me by one individual. I attended the police station voluntarily, cooperated fully and answered all questions that were asked.

    Normal processes now have to be

    …

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    Posted in News | Tagged | 8 Comments
    The Voice

    Vince Cable’s statement on tuition fees

    By The Voice | Tue 12th October 2010 - 3:47 pm

    The party has just issued the text of Vince Cable’s statement to the House of Commons, responding to the publication today of The Browne Report on higher education and student funding in England.

    “With permission Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the future funding of higher education and student finance, in the light of the report published today of Lord Browne’s independent inquiry.

    Lord Browne was asked to undertake his review in November last year. The review was set up by Labour on a cross-party basis, and that is how we want to proceed.

    I and my colleague

    …

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    Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged , , , and | 151 Comments
    The Voice

    London Lib Dem Mayoral candidate “applied to High Court” over non-approval

    By The Voice | Mon 11th October 2010 - 5:23 pm

    Yesterday’s Sunday Times reported that Patrick Streeter, one of the hopefuls for the Liberal Democrat London Mayoral candidacy, was not approved as a candidate and is now taking his case to the High Court.

    …a potential candidate has taken the party to court after being dropped from the shortlist of five — and it’s not Opik.

    Patrick Streeter, an Old Harrovian, red sock-wearing accountant, applied to the High Court last week for a stay of execution after being dropped at the interview stage last weekend.

    He now expects the matter to be settled, but says: “The Labour vote

    …

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    Posted in London and News | Tagged | 8 Comments
    The Voice

    How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

    By The Voice | Tue 5th October 2010 - 8:55 am

    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 three simple ways:

    1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there’s something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you’re an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or you’ve seen …

    Continue reading »
    Posted in Site news | Leave a comment
    The Voice

    Willie Rennie plans political comeback

    By The Voice | Wed 29th September 2010 - 8:58 pm

    One of the (many) disappointing moments from the general election was the defeat of Willie Rennie, the Lib Dem by-election victor in the famous 2006 Dunfermline contest. He was subsequently appointed a government special advisor in the Scottish Office.

    Well now he’s back in the saddle of elected politics again. Here’s how the Dunfermline Press reports it:

    Local members put Mr Rennie in prime position to win one of seven places as a list MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, which covers all of Fife and parts of Clackmannanshire, Perthshire and Stirling.

    He secured first place ahead of Fife councillor Tim

    …

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    Posted in Selection news | Tagged | 7 Comments
    The Voice

    The Independent View: Political Innovation No.5 – Government information? Get the public to provide it!

    By The Voice | Mon 27th September 2010 - 8:28 pm

    This is a guest cross-post by Lauren Currie – originally posted on the Political Innovation site here.

    For too long, policymaking has been monopolised by civil servants, self-serving pressure groups and sensationalist journalists. We get a vote once every four or five years and we’re expected to be satisfied with that.

    Public services are too important to get lost in headline issues, and too big to leave to those who have the time and energy to write letters or sit on committees. The best communication happens when it’s easy to do, and when it’s a conversation, not just a complaint.

    For this reason, …

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    Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | 2 Comments
    The Voice

    Liberal Youth support Farron for Prez

    By The Voice | Sun 26th September 2010 - 10:57 am

    The Liberal Youth Executive has voted to support Tim Farron in his bid to become the next President of the Liberal Democrats. Tim’s campaign was launched in the wake of the announcement by current President Baroness Ros Scott that she would not be seeking re-election.

    Commenting, National Chair Martin Shapland said: ”On behalf of the Liberal Youth Executive I am delighted to declare our support for Tim Farron. He is a first class campaigner, a fantastic public speaker, and is an entirely approachable character. He understands the fundamental importance of youth participation in politics, and has a strong desire to work …

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    Posted in News and Party Presidency | Tagged , and | 34 Comments
    The Voice

    +++ EXCLUSIVE: The MEP, the erotic award, the picture

    By The Voice | Sat 25th September 2010 - 10:14 am

    Lib Dem Voice is proud to have the first picture of North West MEP Chris Davies and his flying golden penis.

    Davies won the trophy when he was named as Politician of the Year at the Erotic Awards 2010, for his work to give sex workers a voice at last year’s party conference and defending them from the prohibitionist policies of the previous government.

    The award, proudly on show in Chris’s Stockport office, was previously held by another Lib Dem, Baroness Miller, and could be found in the office Sue Miller shared with Lord Lee of Trafford and Lib Dem party

    …

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    Posted in News | Tagged , and | 22 Comments
    The Voice

    Linda Jack’s day as guest editor

    By The Voice | Fri 24th September 2010 - 9:41 pm

    A big thank goes out to all at the Voice to Linda Jack, who has been our guest-editor for today.

    Taking the theme of conference reviews, Linda has kept us busy with interviews and articles all day.

    For posterity, here’s a list of the posts we have featured today.

    …

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    Posted in Site news | Tagged and | Leave a comment
    The Voice

    Lib Dems pass motions on Trident and diversity

    By The Voice | Wed 22nd September 2010 - 3:27 pm

    News of two motions passed by Lib Dem conference today…

    Diversity: Hughes to propose “radical changes” to promote candidate diversity

    Simon Hughes, the party’s deputy leader, commented:

    “I am glad that Conference agreed today that there will be a full set of proposals for candidate diversity and that we will have the chance to take decisions to change the face and mix of the Liberal Democrats.

    “I will be presenting a paper to the Party’s Federal Executive next month which will propose radical changes in the way we select our candidates.

    “This proposal will include the aim that half our candidates will be women …

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    Posted in Conference | Tagged , , , and | 4 Comments
    The Voice

    Vince Cable speech to conference

    By The Voice | Wed 22nd September 2010 - 12:28 pm

    Speaking at the Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference today, Liberal Democrat Business Secretary, Vince Cable said:

    I have come to account to you, Conference, for the work I have been carrying out in the Coalition Government.

    I have managed to infuriate the bank bosses; acquire a fatwa from the revolutionary guards of the trades union movement; frighten the Daily Telegraph with a progressive graduate payment; and upset very rich people who are trying to dodge British taxes. I must be doing something right.

    But I am told that I look miserable. I’m sorry, conference, this is my happy face. ‘Aren’t you having fun?’ …

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    Posted in Conference | Tagged , , and | 3 Comments
    The Voice

    Full text: Nick Clegg’s speech to Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference

    By The Voice | Mon 20th September 2010 - 4:18 pm

    Speaking at Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference today , Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will say:

    Two and a half years ago, I stood in this very hall to make my first speech as Leader of our party. I said that the chance for change was within our reach, and we had to seize it. That chance came. Perhaps not quite in the way many of us could have expected.
    But the chance came and you – we – responded with real courage and conviction.

    Cynics expected us to back away. Instead, we confounded those who said …

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    Posted in Conference | Tagged , and | 7 Comments
    The Voice

    Jo Swinson invites Lib Dems to join campaign for fairer voting system

    By The Voice | Sat 18th September 2010 - 1:15 pm

    An email to Lib Dem members, signed by Jo Swinson, is promoting the Lib Dem rally taking place on Saturday evening, with some high-profile guest speakers, as the party gears up for next May’s referendum:

    On Saturday, join Nick Clegg, Art Malik, Martin Bell, some surprise special guests and myself as we launch our campaign for a fairer voting system.

    As you know , Nick Clegg is leading the fight in Parliament to secure the United Kingdom its first ever referendum on electoral reform.

    Fighting for fairer votes will be one of the top priorities for the Liberal Democrats this coming year –

    …

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    Posted in Conference | Tagged , and | Leave a comment
    The Voice

    Citizen video journalism to hit the streets of Liverpool

    By The Voice | Sat 18th September 2010 - 7:45 am

    Chris Henry of Winkball.com writes for Lib Dem Voice about the site’s plans to give up to 10,000 members of the public their say on the big three issues facing the country…

    This weekend sees the party political conference season continue with the Liberal Democrat Party conference in Liverpool. Much debate will certainly surround this conference after the Liberal Democrats found themselves in alliance with the Conservatives to form a coalition government after the drama of Britain’s hung parliament crisis in May.

    With the media storm that surrounds this the party political season, one media outlet will be

    …

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