Author Archives: The Voice

Jeremy Corbyn seems hellbent on squandering any advantage that he may be gaining in the polls due to Theresa May’s stumbling over the “Dementia Tax.” She really struggled in her Andrew Neil interview on Monday night. She’s laid her weakness bare. Her opponents should be all over that. Instead, Jeremy Corbyn has chosen to make some comments linking terrorism to British foreign policy at a time when people are really hurting after Manchester, which, as well as being insensitive when people are hurting, is also opening the door for all the usual attacks on him. He had the chance to go on the front foot and he fluffed it. It’s hardly the first time. Remember the Article 50 Bill…

Tim Farron has called Corbyn out, accusing him of putting politics before people:

A few days ago, a young man built a bomb, walked into a pop concert and deliberately slaughtered children. Our children. Families are grieving. A community is in shock.

Jeremy Corbyn has chosen to use that grotesque act to make a political point. I don’t agree with what he says, but I disagree even more that now is the time to say it. That’s not leadership, it’s putting politics before people at a time of tragedy.

Earlier Paddy had said that, yes, there is a time to think about what the attack means for the direction of future policy – but not now.

This is Welsh Lib Dem leader Mark Williams’ statement on the Manchester attack.

I am deeply shocked and saddened by the events that took place in Manchester last night, which took the lives of at least 22 people and has injured 59 more.

This attack is an act of utter barbarity that was aimed directly at thousands of our children and young people.”

I praise the brave action of our emergency services, who acted quickly to tend to those at the Manchester Arena.

As a parent myself, I can only imagine the anguish that many are feeling, and my thoughts and prayers go out

…

Lib Dems have been reacting to the cyber-attack, telling the Conservatives that they should have put more resources into preventing this type of crime.

Brian Paddick said:

The Conservatives try to paint themselves as the party of law and order but crime has changed and they have failed to keep up. Instead of investing in the security of the systems that our public services rely on, they have chosen to extend surveillance systems instead.

Rather than giving the NHS the funding it needs to keep its IT up to date, you have a Home Secretary who wants to weaken encryption and waste millions on unnecessary intrusion into people’s privacy. Only the Liberal Democrats will stand up against mass surveillance, for cyber-security and properly fund the NHS.

He demanded an inquiry into why the Conservatives had cut cyber security support:

We need to get to the bottom of why the government thought cyber-attacks were not a risk, when a combination of warnings and plain common sense should have told ministers that there is a growing and dangerous threat to our cyber-security.

Here is the long-awaited CPS statement on the election expenses matter. Can we also just remind you of our earlier post about comments. In summary, say nothing because you may fall foul of a plethora of defamation or contempt or electoral laws.

The statement reads

“We considered whether candidates and election agents working in constituencies that were visited by the Party’s ‘Battle Bus’ may have committed a criminal offence by not declaring related expenditure on their local returns. Instead, as the Electoral Commission found in its report, these costs were recorded as national expenditure by the Party.

“We reviewed the files in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and have concluded the tests in the Code are not met and no criminal charges have been authorised.

“Under the Representation of the People Act, every candidate and agent must sign a declaration on the expenses return that to the best of their knowledge and belief it is a complete and correct return as required by law. It is an offence to knowingly make a false declaration. In order to bring a charge, it must be proved that a suspect knew the return was inaccurate and acted dishonestly in signing the declaration. Although there is evidence to suggest the returns may have been inaccurate, there is insufficient evidence to prove to the criminal standard that any candidate or agent was dishonest.

“The Act also makes it a technical offence for an election agent to fail to deliver a true return. By omitting any ‘Battle Bus’ costs, the returns may have been inaccurate. However, it is clear agents were told by Conservative Party headquarters that the costs were part of the national campaign and it would not be possible to prove any agent acted knowingly or dishonestly. Therefore we have concluded it is not in the public interest to charge anyone referred to us with this offence.

“Our evaluation of the evidence is consistent with that of the Electoral Commission. While the role of the Commission is to regulate political finances and campaign spending, the role of the CPS is to consider whether any individual should face criminal charges, which is a different matter with different consideration and tests.

“One file, from Kent Police, was only recently received by the CPS, and remains under consideration. No inference as to whether any criminal charge may or may not be authorised in relation to this file should be drawn from this fact and we will announce our decision as soon as possible once we have considered the evidence in this matter.”

A Lib Dem spokesperson said:

Tim Farron’s leader interview with ITV’s Julie Etchingham was broadcast last night.

In it, he talked about his early life, his family, his friends and his vision for the country.

In essence, he talked about wanting to lead us to a place where we were all decent to each other and where nobody had to hide who they are.

His best mate stitched him up slightly by saying he had an “I love Maggie” poster in his youth. He said he had pictures of all sorts of politicians including Thatcher and admitted to a crush on a young Tory at one point but he got involved in politics to fight against what Thatcher was doing.