Author Archives: The Voice

The Voice

Rennie: Sturgeon must shred China deal after human rights warning

By The Voice | Sat 30th April 2016 - 9:11 pm

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie today said that the SNP risks dragging Scotland’s reputation through the mud following reports that a Chinese firm at the heart of a controversial £10bn deal with the Scottish Government is tied to human rights abuses.

It was reported in today’s Herald that Amnesty International named China Railway Group Ltd (CRG) and subsidiaries it controls in a report exposing human rights abuses related to the mining industry in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It had previously emerged that CRG had been blacklisted for investment by Norway’s oil fund over fears that the construction giant was involved in gross corruption.

Willie said:

The last thing that the First Minister did before the election started was sign a £10bn deal with a business directly tied to allegations of corruption.

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The Voice

WATCH: Richard Younger-Ross’s pitch to be Devon & Cornwall’s Police and Crime Commissioner

By The Voice | Sat 30th April 2016 - 1:55 pm

Here is former Teignbridge MP Richard Younger-Ross being interviewed as candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner. Find out what he had to say about why he thought he was the best person for the job, what his priorities would be and how he tackled the “why should people vote for you when you don’t think the role should exist?” question.

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The Voice

WATCH: Norman Baker’s Reform Club’s hard-hitting song “Give War a Chance”

By The Voice | Fri 29th April 2016 - 11:48 am

Norman Baker’s band, The Reform Club has a new album, Never Yesterday, out. Today, they release a very professional looking video.

Watch the hard-hitting song Give War a Chance which satirises the activities of a “peace envoy” and is published ahead of the Chilcott Report which we are sure will be published at some point this millennium. Norman plays the role of the envoy to absolute perfection. And there are tanks. Real tanks.

Of the song, Norman says:

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The Voice

LibLink: David Laws – The road to student retention

By The Voice | Thu 28th April 2016 - 12:12 pm

David Laws has been writing for Times Higher Education focussing on the worrying number of disadvantaged students dropping out of higher education:

The UK government’s target to double the number of disadvantaged young people going to university by 2020 is laudable. Access to higher education offers a platform for young people to succeed and is central to establishing a meritocratic society.

Nevertheless, while access provides the foundations, it doesn’t build the house. If we’re really serious about meritocracy, we have to be ever vigilant about what happens to young people once they are at university too.

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The Voice

Jenny Randerson urges Welsh Labour voters to support the Lib Dems to stop Ukip

By The Voice | Thu 28th April 2016 - 10:56 am

WalesOnline reports some interesting comments from Jenny Randerson ahead of next week’s Welsh assembly elections. Jenny said:

The truth is that Labour voters can stop Ukip gaining large numbers of Assembly Members. The power, so to speak, is in their hands.

Even Labour insiders know, in their heart of hearts, that it’s unlikely that they will pick up regional Assembly Members. Therefore, Labour voters must consider lending their regional vote to the Welsh Liberal Democrats to stop Ukip.

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The Voice

Can you help the London Liberal Democrats beat UKIP and win a third Assembly seat?

By The Voice | Wed 27th April 2016 - 5:04 pm

London Liberal Democrats are making a push for funds to help them run the best possible final flourish to the campaign and get out the vote operation.

A You Gov poll indicated that if we can just get one more percentage point, we could beat UKIP and get Merlene Emerson elected as our third assembly member.

Caroline Pidgeon says on the London Liberal Democrats’ website:

Polls show that a handful of votes could separate UKIP and the Lib Dems on 5th May.

Those votes will either elect Merlene Emerson to join me on the Assembly, a British-Chinese liberal, or a prejudiced UKIP voice.

For every additional £500 we can contact 93,000 people with Facebook advertising to run alongside our targeted literature and canvassing. We’re aiming to raise £10,000 in the next few days so we can contact our target voters three times each on Facebook to maximise our chances of getting our vote out.

Four years ago we pushed the BNP off the London Assembly. And, by just a few votes, kept out UKIP as well. Help me make sure we do it again.

Thanks again for your support!

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The Voice

Tim Farron: SNP taking Scotland for granted

By The Voice | Wed 27th April 2016 - 2:20 pm

Tim Farron went to Aberdeenshire East to join candidate Christine Jardine on the campaign trail yesterday.

He had this to say about the SNP’s record and how the Liberal Democrats would improve things:

This is the first Scottish election when people are really starting to judge the SNP on their record. And the further you get from the central belt in Scotland, the more you get a sense that people don’t believe the SNP cares about rural communities.

We’ve seen the terrible way they’ve handled farm payments. Farmers should have been paid what they are owed months ago. We’re now nearly into May and the delays have led to a huge black hole in the rural economy.

Liberal Democrats stand up for the communities for they represent. There is real Liberal Democrat strength in Scotland, our MSPs punched well above our weight at Holyrood and voters know that people like Christine won’t take rural Scotland for granted.

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The Voice

David Steel on Northern Ireland abortion law

By The Voice | Tue 26th April 2016 - 7:37 pm

David Steel

We’ve just caught up with an interview with David Steel on the BBC Northern Ireland political show The View. (The interview starts 17:58 minutes in)

David was responsible for introducing the Abortion Act in 1967, which made abortion legal up to 28 weeks, later reduced to 24 weeks. But the law was never extended to Northern Ireland where the Offences Against the Person Act of 1861 still applies. Under that law a woman who procures her own abortion is guilty of a felony and can be given a prison sentence of life, or for up to two years ‘with or without hard labour, and with or without solitary confinement’. Current regulations permit termination only if the woman’s life is at risk or if continuing the pregnancy would put her long-term health at risk.

David says:

I think they’ve got to face up to the fact that the law in Northern Ireland is simply ridiculous – 1861 – and it is time they came up at least to 1967, if not 2016.

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The Voice

Welsh Lib Dems say AM pay rises must be linked to public sector pay

By The Voice | Tue 26th April 2016 - 6:33 pm

Kirsty Williams on Radio WalesFrom May, AMs in the Welsh Assembly will get a whopping 18% pay rise, awarded by an independent pay review body. Only the Welsh Liberal Democrats voted against that and they have said that it must never happen again.

From the BBC:

Kirsty Williams has promised to peg AMs’ pay to general rises in the public sector.

AMs will get a salary of £64,000 from 5 May, up from £54,000, following an independent remuneration board decision.

The Lib Dems pledge would apply to the Senedd term after the 2021 election.

Ms Williams said: “It’s outrageous that, at a time when public sector workers have had their salaries either frozen or rise only slightly, politicians are getting a salary hike of 18%.

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The Voice

Congratulations to Suzanne Fletcher for winning ALDE’s Lifetime Achievement Award!

By The Voice | Mon 25th April 2016 - 4:38 pm

Suzanne Fletcher

In a ceremony earlier today Suzanne Fletcher was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).

Suzanne is known nationally amongst Liberal Democrats for her tireless campaigns in support of refugees and asylum seekers, and in particular for setting up Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary (LD4SOS).

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The Voice

LDV’s Sunday Best: our 7 most-read articles this week

By The Voice | Sun 24th April 2016 - 12:26 pm

7 bestMany thanks to the 11,000  visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Paddy has Brexit campaigners floundering on Question Time (21 comments) by Caron Lindsay

How the Scottish Liberal Democrats are winning the campaign (26 comments) by Caron Lindsay

In conversation with David Laws (21 comments) by York Membery

Review: Coalition, by David Laws (19 comments) by Nick Thornsby

Who makes the decisions in the EU? (26 comments) by Liz Lynne

Undeclared Conservative election expenses unearthed by Channel 4 News (18 comments) by The Voice

Is liberalism dead? (37 comments) by Andrew Venning

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The Voice

What’s being debated in our members’ forum this week?

By The Voice | Sat 23rd April 2016 - 1:54 pm

members forum wordleLibDemVoice has two parallel sites. The first is our public blog, the thing you’re reading now. The second is our private members’ forum, which only current Lib Dem members can access.

If you’re a member and want to chat with fellow party members about any issue that’s on your mind, then why not sign up? In addition, you’ll be included in our regular surveys’ of party members’ views.

Here’s some of the most active discussions this past 10 days:

TTIP

Local election results to watch

What is our …

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The Voice

Undeclared Conservative election expenses unearthed by Channel 4 News

By The Voice | Thu 21st April 2016 - 6:04 pm

Michael Crick, Channel 4 News’s political correspondent, has spent months investigating the Conservative Party’s election expenses from last year’s general election, focussing on the party’s “battle buses”, which moved activists around the country, and the associated costs incurred (e.g. hotels).

Last night’s programme featured another report, this time looking at the use of the buses in the South-West, where the Conservatives successfully targeted every one of the 14 seats held by the Lib Dems:

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The Voice

And the new Lib Dem peer is…

By The Voice | Tue 19th April 2016 - 5:28 pm

John Thurso…Despite failing to submit a manifesto
…Despite one of his opponents submitting a manifesto with the word “cupidity” in it
…the new Lib Dem peer is the old Lib Dem Peer and former MP John Thurso.

He won the strangest by-election ever, the election of another Liberal Democrat hereditary peer to replace Eric Avebury who sadly died in February.

There was an electorate of 3 to choose between a field of 7.

We don’t need the full STV rundown because all 3 of the electors voted for Lord Thurso.

The BBC has more information:

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The Voice

LibLink: Miriam Gonzáles says free trade has won: adapt or die is the only option left to us

By The Voice | Mon 18th April 2016 - 10:53 am

Writing on the Tata steel crisis in the Guardian, Miriam Gonzáles, who is a partner at the global specialist law firm, Dechert LLP, specialising in international trade, writes:

The Tata Steel sale has revived the battle between protectionists and free traders, a debate that became particularly acute in the run-up to the creation of the World Trade Organisation in 1995, which marked the success of “free traders” all around the world.

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The Voice

LDV’s Sunday Best: our 7 most-read articles this week

By The Voice | Sun 17th April 2016 - 2:25 pm

7 bestMany thanks to the 12,800 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Baroness Lynne Featherstone writes…The State killed my nephew (4 comments) by Lynne Featherstone.

UKIP’s ongoing collapse – ducking a by-election in Farage’s “top target” (10 comments) by Antony Hook

Why, after a year of being involved with the Lib Dems, I’ll be renewing my membership (27 comments) by Benjamin Sims

Offshore 101, or can we please stop asking David Cameron to resign? (47 comments) by Alice Thomas

Breaking… A duo of by-election wins – one strong hold, one great gain (20 comments) by Caron Lindsay

The Bearing Group, helping to build a more liberal UK (25 comments) by Tristan Gray

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The Voice

Nick Clegg chairs meeting on educational inequality in Sheffield

By The Voice | Sat 16th April 2016 - 10:25 am

Back in January, the Social Market Foundation, a think tank, established its cross-party Commission on Inequality in Education. It wants to tackle the disparity of attainment and break down barriers it identified relating to where you live, your family’s income and your ethnicity.

Yesterday, Nick chaired a meeting  of the Commission at Sheffield Hallam University.

Nick said:

On launching the commission, our research showed that where young people live now has more impact on their performance at school than used to be the case.

It is not just the relative wealth of parents that holds lots of bright kids back: it is postcode inequality too. What part of the country a child grows up in has a real impact on their life chances.

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The Voice

Farron: Rise in UK deaths related to hunger a “national scandal”

By The Voice | Fri 15th April 2016 - 1:30 pm

The Huffington Post reports a rise in the number of deaths in which hunger is a factor in the UK. It’s up from 255 in 2005 to 375 in 2014. In 2013, that figure was even higher at 392.

Tim Farron was horrified to hear this, saying:

This shouldn’t be happening in 21st century Britain and the Government’s response is hopelessly complacent.

We seem to be creating ‘Breadline Britain’ for some of the most vulnerable people in society.

People are living under greater pressure and hearing thousands of people have died, in part, due to malnutrition is a national scandal.

We wonder if there …

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The Voice

Welsh Lib Dems launch manifesto – A Wales that works for you

By The Voice | Thu 14th April 2016 - 10:03 pm

At a Penarth health centre, Kirsty Williams launched the Welsh Liberal Democrats’ manifesto:

Kirsty talked about its “relentless focus” on public services:

People want good schools, good hospitals and a vibrant economy – a strong future for Wales. After 17 years in office, people recognise that the Labour Government still fails to get the basics right.

We are launching our vision today in a GP surgery to send a clear message: we are relentlessly focused on better public services.

Our manifesto is a roadmap for an ambitious, optimistic and pioneering Wales, based on our values and our nation’s needs. Our priorities are the people of Wales’ priorities: more nurses on hospital wards, smaller class sizes for our children, and an Opportunity Economy so that people can get on in life.

It’s time Wales had a government that actually listened to people – this is a manifesto that will deliver a Wales that works for you.

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The Voice

LibLink: Vince Cable makes the case for TTIP and free trade

By The Voice | Thu 14th April 2016 - 9:36 am

Vince Cable, who was involved in negotiations over the proposed EU-US trade deal, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, in his role as business secretary, has been writing about the issue, and that of free trade more generally.

Vince first summarises the rationale for TTIP:

The European Commission has prioritised a bilateral agreement with the USA: TTIP, which is proving a source of unexpected controversy, although negotiations are still at an early stage. The underlying objective is to apply, on a transatlantic basis, the same approach that helped to create the EU Single Market. Since, as within the EU, tariffs and quotas are no longer a major issue the emphasis has been on preventing differences in standards, mainly technical, acting as a barrier to trade. There are, for example, different specifications for seatbelt design and testing that make it difficult to export in both directions. In effect, a different production line is required to sell into the USA, which can be prohibitive, especially for low volume manufacturers.

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The Voice

Tim Farron launches blueprint for UK to take 3000 unaccompanied refugee children

By The Voice | Wed 13th April 2016 - 5:22 pm

Tim Farron has this afternoon published his blueprint for how the UK could take 3000 unaccompanied refugee children.

Earlier he spoke to the Daily Politics about the plan and his visit to Northern Greece yesterday.

The plan has been drawn up in consultation with the charities and NGOs who attended his recent summit on the issue. The main recommendations are as follows:

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The Voice

Welsh Lib Dems plan £20 million boost for hill farmers

By The Voice | Tue 12th April 2016 - 9:35 pm

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have announced plans to help hill farmers, recognising the difficulties they face in farming challenging terrain.

They include £20 million package for hill farmers and plans to enable farmers to be able to improve their resilience and competitiveness.

They say they are passionate about protecting Wales’ proud farming tradition and that farmers in Wales produce some of the greatest produce in the world, but too often they are not getting the support they need from an out of touch Labour Government.

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The Voice

LDV’s Sunday Best: our 7 most-read articles this week

By The Voice | Sun 10th April 2016 - 1:33 pm

7 bestMany thanks to the 10,000  visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

It’s time for the Lib Dems to set some external goals, strategy and tactics (70 comments) by Antony Hook

Is it Game Over for David Cameron? (29 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Laws on Osborne v Duncan Smith (24 comments) by Joe Otten

Book Review: Charles Kennedy: A tragic flaw by Greg Hurst (8 comments) by Paul Walter

Ethnic minority pupils outclass white British pupils (41 comments) by Mary Reid

What Cameron and Osborne said bout Vince Cable’s proposals on corporate transparency (26 comments) by Nick Thornsby

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The Voice

Sadiq and Zac agree for once: Caroline Pidgeon is “great” and “impressive”

By The Voice | Sat 9th April 2016 - 1:25 pm

We know that Caroline Pidgeon is making a very positive impact on London’s mayoral race. In virtually very debate, she is judged to be the winner, with even arch-Tory Iain Dale, now of the LBC parish, saying that the two women were eclipsing the men in the debate.

Caroline was featured in the Standard and the first paragraph of that article had praise from her two biggest rivals. They don’t often agree, but they are clearly both bowled over by her talents.

If the mayoral election was decided on a candidate’s grasp of policy, there’s a good chance Caroline Pidgeon would win it. The Lib-Dem hopeful — who has eight years on the London Assembly under her belt — has impressed even her better-known rivals with her inside knowledge of the City Hall empire.

Zac Goldsmith tells me “she’s great”, before glancing at his media adviser and asking, “Am I allowed to say that?” Sadiq Khan agrees that her handle on London policy is impressive.

Those two get more like Stadtler and Waldorf from the Muppets every day and this is about the only thing they agree on. Why would Londoners want either of them when they could have Caroline?

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The Voice

The world of puppet politicians

By The Voice | Fri 8th April 2016 - 1:20 pm

Here is last night’s Welsh Liberal Democrats’ election broadcast:

The world of puppet politicians

We've all heard the hot air of puppet politicians… but who will get the basics right and create a Wales that works for you?

Posted by Welsh Liberal Democrats on Thursday, 7 April 2016

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The Voice

Caroline Pidgeon judged winner of ITV/LBC mayoral debate

By The Voice | Wed 6th April 2016 - 2:15 pm

Mike Smithson had no doubt about the winner of last night’s ITV London/LBC mayoral debate.

And he wasn’t alone. Caroline’s strong performance attracted praise from unexpected quarters.

You can watch the whole thing here:

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The Voice

Caroline Pidgeon taking Twitter questions this afternoon #AskCaroline

By The Voice | Wed 6th April 2016 - 11:45 am

Liberal Democrat London Mayoral candidate Caroline Pidgeon will be answering questions on Twitter this afternoon:

This comes the day after her manifesto launch and a successful mayoral debate last night where her performance attracted widespread praise.

Yesterday, she launched her manifesto, which you can read here.

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The Voice

Kirsty Williams slams Tories and Labour over steel failures

By The Voice | Sun 3rd April 2016 - 9:45 am

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams has slated the Conservative Government at Westminster and the Labour Government in Wales for its failures over the steel industry. She says it’s time to put British industry first.

She said that the Conservative Government had allowed the UK steel industry to “shrivel on its watch”, in response to the announcement that councils must now consider UK providers when when carrying out procurement for steel. She also blasted the Labour Government for doing nothing to ensure Welsh steel was used on infrastructure projects.

Once again the UK Government is shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. It’s no good asking councils to use UK steel now after letting the industry shrivel on their watch.

Of course councils and the UK Government should always be considering UK steel, but this is just a basic requirement to support our industry. It’s time this Tory Government put British industry first, rather than just kowtowing to the Chinese Government.

Labour’s record is no better. The Labour Government in Wales has completely failed to support Welsh steel. Time and time again Welsh Liberal Democrats have called for an audit of Welsh procurement, yet the Labour Government has done nothing. We called on Labour to publish new guidance when investing in steel, again nothing has happened. For 18 months we’ve called for reduced business rates on heavy machinery, again nothing. People are absolutely fed up of governments that offer warm words, but seem incompetent to realise how serious this crisis is.

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The Voice

What’s being debated in our members’ forum this week?

By The Voice | Sat 2nd April 2016 - 1:55 pm

members forum wordleLibDemVoice has two parallel sites. The first is our public blog, the thing you’re reading now. The second is our private members’ forum, which only current Lib Dem members can access.

If you’re a member and want to chat with fellow party members about any issue that’s on your mind, then why not sign up? In addition, you’ll be included in our regular surveys’ of party members’ views.

Here’s some of the most active discussions this past 10 days:

Local Elections 2016: The Liberal Democrat battleground

TTIP

Military intervention in Libya

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The Voice

Willie Rennie issues Living Wage challenge

By The Voice | Sat 2nd April 2016 - 11:30 am

Willie Rennie has challenged the other parties to commit to ending government bonuses for companies which fail to pay their employees the Scottish living wage.

He was speaking as the so-called living wage proposed by George Osborne came into force. The Tory living wage of £7.20 is £1.05 an hour less than the Scottish living wage of £8.25 an hour, which is calculated independently by the Living Wage Foundation. It’s also worth noting that the Scottish Liberal Democrats are the only party in Scotland to be accredited as Living Wage employers.

Last month, Willie called for the SNP to stop the payment of state aid to firms who fail to pay at least the national living wage.

Yesterday he broadened that challenge to all the other parties:

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