Author Archives: The Voice

The Voice

Government spends nearly £5million on advertising the ‘National Living Wage’

By The Voice | Thu 18th February 2016 - 5:38 pm

 

A Lib Dem Parliamentary Question has unearthed the fact that the Government has spent nearly £5 million to advertise its ‘National Living Wage’ of £7.20 per hour.  This figure includes £750k on posters, £250k on newspaper advertising, £350k on social media advertising, £1.7million on TV, £300k on radio plus over £500k on digital display advertising and pay per click.

This huge amount of publicity is in spite of the fact that from April employers will be required by law to pay the new rate to people aged 25 and over.

The money spent on promoting the scheme would pay the wages for 372 people over the next year, calculated at £7.20 per hour.

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The Voice

Tim Farron in Brussels: “Britain is better in Europe, and Europe is better with Britain in it”

By The Voice | Thu 18th February 2016 - 5:00 pm

 

Tim Farron has been over to Brussels today, meeting our partners in the European Parliament. He discussed Britain’s place in Europe with them and with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).

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The Voice

Watch: Catherine Bearder explains why we have to win this Referendum

By The Voice | Mon 15th February 2016 - 4:26 pm

Catherine tells us that she is not lonely in Europe because she is part of a vibrant Liberal group. And tells us how the European Union protects birds of prey.

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The Voice

Lord Eric Avebury talks about his life

By The Voice | Sun 14th February 2016 - 4:31 pm

Earlier today, we heard the sad new that Liberal Democrat peer Eric Avebury had died.

In January last year, he sat down at the National Liberal Club to talk about his life with his son John and liberal historian Seth Thevoz:


A Liberal Life: Eric Lubbock at the National Liberal Club from John Lubbock on Vimeo.

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The Voice

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

By The Voice | Sun 14th February 2016 - 3:45 pm

7 bestMany thanks to the 11,400 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Baroness Sal Brinton writes…Electing diverse MPs (106 comments) by Sal Brinton

Do you agree with Kirsty and Tim about banning Delilah? (42 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Is there a chance that the new Top Gear will be very entertaining but not (borderline) offensive? (40 comments) by Paul Walter

A practical suggestion to improve the UK’s influence within the EU (27 comments) by Robert Boyle

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The Voice

Watch: Highlights from the Lib Dem In campaign launch

By The Voice | Sat 13th February 2016 - 11:55 am

Here are the highlights of the Lib Dem In campaign launch from earlier this week. Who do you recognise?

#INtogether

This is Britain's time to lead, not leave. See the highlights from our #INtogether launch, and join our campaign!

Posted by Liberal Democrats on Friday, 12 February 2016

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The Voice

Clegg slams Tories over Trade Union Bill

By The Voice | Sat 13th February 2016 - 10:25 am

The Yorkshire Post reports Nick Clegg’s evidence to a parliamentary committee looking at Party funding. He accused the Tories of trying to rig the system in their favour.

Mr Clegg said: “I just think this is fundamentally wrong to do this in such a partisan way.”

The Sheffield Hallam MP said he was no ‘sepia-tinted romantic’ when it came to trade union and Labour links as he had personally suffered from ‘appalling’ use of funds for political purposes in his ‘own Sheffield backyard’.

However he said he was alarmed that Conservative proposals are directed at one party and as Deputy Prime Minister he spent years blocking such measures being introduced.

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The Voice

Nick Clegg compares Investigatory Powers Bill powers to Russia

By The Voice | Thu 11th February 2016 - 8:25 pm

On the Today programme, Nick Clegg compared the “dragnet” approach of Theresa May’s Investigatory Powers Bill to the way things happen in Russia.

During the Coalition years, Nick had stopped the Conservatives from introducing a “snooper’s charter.” It’s worth remembering that he was going to let it through until a conference call with some angry bloggers who understood the technology, and the intervention of people like Julian Huppert, made him think twice. But once he’s changed his mind, he was good to his word and held May off for 3 years.

The Guardian quotes him as saying this morning:

He said: “Why there is this great congregation of concern from all wings of political opinion is because what the home office is in essence proposing is that in order to be able to surveil and analyse something they are saying they want to collect everything on everyone. That is a dragnet approach which I have always felt is disproportionate.”

He dismissed the analogy of the needle in the haystack – the argument that the security agencies need to embark on the bulk collection of data in order to be able to find crucial nuggets of details about terrorists.

He told Today: “I know the needle-haystack argument and it is a comforting analogy. But the reality is a little different. Why, for instance, is there no other European or Commonwealth country that I know that pursues this dragnet approach?

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The Voice

Lamb: Government wrong to impose junior doctors’ contract

By The Voice | Thu 11th February 2016 - 1:43 pm

Norman Lamb has commented on Jeremy Hunt’s ill-advised decision to impose the controversial contract on junior doctors. He said:

It is a mistake to force a new contract on junior doctors when there is clearly still such strong opposition to its terms. There is a serious risk that large numbers of junior doctors will leave the NHS to go and work abroad, which will have serious consequences for the health service and patient safety.

Growing demand for services, coupled with a funding settlement which doesn’t keep up, are the fundamental problems facing health and care and yet the Government is refusing to take real action to address this.

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The Voice

Lib Dem In Campaign – the first video

By The Voice | Wed 10th February 2016 - 4:45 pm

Here is the first video of the Lib Dem In campaign. What do you think?

Today we launch our campaign for Britain to remain in Europe. This is Britain’s time to lead, not leave. Together we…

Posted by Liberal Democrats on Wednesday, 10 February 2016

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The Voice

Farron holds summit aimed at helping refugee children

By The Voice | Wed 10th February 2016 - 3:15 pm

As we told you on Monday, Tim Farron got representatives from charities, NGOs and political parties round the table today to work on a practical plan for the UK to accept 3000 unaccompanied child refugees who have reached Europe.

Among those attending were Save the Children, UNICEF, Islington Law Council, Kent Refugee Action Network, Refugee Council, Homes for Good, Coram, Barnardo’s, British Red Cross, ECPAT UK, Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign, The Children’s Society, ILPA and the Local government Association. Also, Leader of the Green Party Caroline Lucas MP, Margaret Greenwood (Labour) MP, Heidi Allen MP (Conservative) and Mark Durkan MP (SDLP) came along.

Tim told the meeting:

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The Voice

Lib Dem Remain campaign to be launched this afternoon

By The Voice | Wed 10th February 2016 - 11:30 am

Tim Farron heads to the unlikely environment of a table tennis bar in London to launch the Lib Dems’ In campaign this afternoon.

Also speaking will be London Mayoral candidate Caroline Pidgeon and MEP Catherine Bearder:

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The Voice

Big wins for Welsh Lib Dems in budget negotiations

By The Voice | Wed 10th February 2016 - 9:41 am

Screen Shot 2016-02-10 at 09.39.40It’s annual budget time and the Welsh Liberal Democrats have secured some substantial investment in young people in the Welsh budget including 5000 new apprenticeships, increase in and extension of the Pupil Premium and a young person’s bus pass.

The full list of Liberal Democrat policies to be implemented is:

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The Voice

Lamb: Junior Doctors’ strike is a wake up call for the Governemnt

By The Voice | Tue 9th February 2016 - 8:27 pm

Norman Lamb has said that the Junior Doctors’ strike scheduled to take place from 8 am tomorrow should be a wake up call for the Government:

If strikes go ahead tomorrow this should be a wake-up call to the Government that it needs to take a more constructive approach to resolving this dispute. They cannot solve the capacity and funding problems in the NHS by forcing this contract on junior doctors.

Growing demand for services, coupled with a funding settlement which doesn’t keep up, are the fundamental problems facing health and care and yet the Government is refusing to take real action to address this.

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The Voice

Peers and pancakes race for Rehab charity

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

Today saw the annual Shrove Tuesday pancake race at the House of Commons in aid of the charity Rehab. You can read all about it and find some amazing looking pancake recipes from the likes of Paul Hollywood, Rick Stein and Gino D’Acampo in the official brochure here. Apple pancakes with Apple Brandy Custard is the one I want to eat most.

Here, courtesy of Terry Stacy, is the Lib Dem contingent of Kate Parminter, Rupert Redesdale, Susan Kramer and Dominic Addington in action.

Lib Dem Peers Pancake team

 

Where’s the pancake?

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The Voice

Tim Farron to host urgent summit on unaccompanied refugee children

By The Voice | Mon 8th February 2016 - 9:47 am

An urgent summit to discuss unaccompanied asylum seeking children who have fled conflict, poverty and persecution will be chaired by leader of the Liberal Democrats Tim Farron.

Liberal Democrats have been pressing the Government to take 3000 orphaned child refugees who have reached European shores.

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The Voice

Tim Farron’s message for Chinese New Year

By The Voice | Mon 8th February 2016 - 8:56 am

Here is Tim Farron’s message to welcome the Year of the Monkey:

It is with great pleasure that I wish UK’s Chinese diaspora communities a very Happy Lunar New Year on the advent of the Year of the Monkey!

I am delighted that ties between UK and China have strengthened and deepened over the years and am deeply appreciative of the many contributions the Chinese living in the UK have made to our economy, enriching our local communities.

I am particularly proud that we have a British Chinese candidate from my party standing in the Mayoral and London Assembly elections this May. I therefore ask for your support and vote for the Liberal Democrats to elect the first British Chinese London Assembly candidate this May.

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The Voice

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

By The Voice | Sun 7th February 2016 - 6:00 pm

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

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The Voice

The shocking truth about FGM

By The Voice | Fri 5th February 2016 - 5:21 pm

Lynne FEatherstone 2007 Brighton conference by Liberal DemocratsResponding to reports that a case of FGM is reported in England every 109 minutes, former Liberal Democrat DfID Minister Lynne Featherstone said:

The Liberal Democrats in Coalition ensured the NHS must report cases of FGM , it is vital that we shine a light on this barbaric practice.

It is shocking how many cases are now coming forward but we must see this as a positive. Without knowing the true extent of the problems we do not face a hope of stopping it. The rate in which cases are reported shows how much work is still left to do. We must highlight the issue in schools, ensuring that young girls are educated about the issue at a young age.

Tomorrow is International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation and the fight is far from over. The more we increase awareness of the horrific nature of FGM the easier it will be to end it.

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The Voice

Willie Rennie: Why I need you to back me on diversity

By The Voice | Thu 4th February 2016 - 4:47 pm

Willie Rennie has made clear that he wants to see a more diverse team of parliamentarians elected at all levels over the next 5 years. Today, he has emailed Scottish Party members to set out the case for them to back his plans at Scottish Party Conference in three weeks’ time.

His email is copied below:

In periods of adversity organisations have opportunities to renew, refresh and reorganise to prepare for future successes. For the Scottish Liberal Democrats that opportunity is to build a team of candidates in winnable seats that is more reflective of society.

It cannot be a mark of a system of equality and opportunity that only five of the thirty six new parliamentarians in the last twenty years were women. Yet that is what our current system has produced and I am determined to change it.

Our conference in Edinburgh later this month will have a choice. We can try, yet again, to achieve more balance amongst our future parliamentarians with the same system that has delivered white, male dominated parliamentary groups since the war (No, I’m wrong. It’s forever).

Or we can back the proposals that I have developed with a group of wise and experienced campaigners. These campaigners were sceptical but have now developed a package that will get results. Sheila Ritchie, Sophie Bridger, Fred Macintosh and Jo Swinson were all against such action in the past. In fact many spoke up at conferences against such measures. The motion we will debate has been crafted by them and has their endorsement.

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The Voice

Kirsty Williams’ More Nurses Bill passes penultimate Assembly stage

By The Voice | Wed 3rd February 2016 - 7:54 pm

Kirsty Williams addresses the Liverpool Spring conference rally March 2015 Photo by LIberal DemocratsGood news from Cardiff tonight as Kirsty Williams’ Bill to ensure appropriate numbers of nurses in Welsh hospitals cleared its penultimate parliamentary hurdle. The Bill would see Wales become the first country in the UK with a legal duty to have safe nurse staffing levels on hospital wards.

The final stage will take place next week.

Kirsty can deliver her Leader’s speech to Welsh Conference on Saturday knowing that she is only the second AM to have got a Private Bill to this stage. The first was her Liberal Democrat colleague Peter Black with his Mobile Homes Bill.

Over 4,500 members of the public have signed petitions in support of the bill which, if it passes stage 4 next week, could receive royal assent in March.

Kirsty said:

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The Voice

Farron: Britain deserves better than Tory MPs fighting like rats in a sack

By The Voice | Wed 3rd February 2016 - 6:52 pm

Tim Farron has missed Cameron’s “Deal or no deal” performance today as he’s been away in Manchester and Edinburgh, but he’s been keeping an eye on developments. This is what he had to say:

The Prime Minister’s draft deal means the first stage of the campaign to keep Britain at the heart of Europe and global affairs is complete. Now, the Liberal Democrats will play a leading role in working and campaigning to deliver a ‘Remain’ result that will safeguard our economy.

Next Wednesday we will be launching our Liberal Democrat campaign to keep Britain in Europe. Our unity contrasts with the Tories.

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The Voice

Farron challenges Scottish Tory Leader over EU Referendum

By The Voice | Wed 3rd February 2016 - 10:55 am

Way back in September last year, Scottish Tory Leader Ruth Davidson made some positive noises on the idea that Britain should remain in the EU. She’s been pretty quiet since, presumably not wanting to scare the many Eurosceptic horses in her own party. Her Twitter feed was silent on the issue yesterday as news broke of the draft deal

Tim Farron is up in Edinburgh today (and so far the weather is very sunny for him) and, ahead of his visit, he challenged Ruth to take on those in her party who want to take Britain out of the EU.

He said she should stop being scared of her right wing:

In England, the Tories have been hopelessly split on the issue of Europe for a generation. Now it seems that Ruth Davidson is running scared of her right wing in Scotland too.

The Prime Minister has come back with his deal. The phony war is over. It is time for people to take a stand.

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The Voice

Mulholland hails victory for tenant landlords after Government u-turn

By The Voice | Wed 3rd February 2016 - 9:19 am

The Casked CrusaderRemember back in 2014, Greg Mulholland and others secured a Government defeat to give tenant landlords the right to request a fair rent and end the beer tie?

Unsurprisingly, the Government did what it could to put as many obstacles in the way of landlords seeking that fair rent as it could. Sure, they could have it, as long as the pubco could increase the rent at the end of the year. They’ve had to u-turn on that now.

Pub champion Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland (known in some quarters as the Casked Crusader) has long fought for the Market Rent Only (MRO) option, said that the u-turn was a major victory against a Government which has consistently refused to support landlords to get a fair deal.

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The Voice

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

By The Voice | Sat 30th January 2016 - 3:45 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:

Things that cheer you up;

Tables are turned in the Lords;

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The Voice

Lib Dem Peer John Roper dies at 80

By The Voice | Sat 30th January 2016 - 2:45 pm

The Manchester Evening News reports that Liberal Democrat peer John Roper, who retired last year, has died at the age of 80:

Lord Roper started his career as an economics lecturer at the University of Manchester before standing for Parliament in High Peak, near Stockport, for Labour in 1964.

He was elected Member of Parliament for Farnworth in 1970.

He sat as a Labour Co-operative MP from 1970 to 1981 and for the SDP for the following two years.

His Farnworth seat was subsequently abolished, and he contested Worsley at the 1983 general election, finishing third in a three-way marginal.

In 2000, he was created a life peer as Baron Roper.

Dick Newby, his successor as the party’s chief whip in the upper chamber, said: “John was, throughout his life, a great servant to social democracy and liberal politics in Britain.

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The Voice

Lib Dem Lords’ maiden speeches: Dorothy Thornhill on housing and planning

By The Voice | Sat 30th January 2016 - 1:45 pm

Dorothy Thornhill at Bournemouth
Last Tuesday, Dorothy Thornhill, Mayor of Watford, made her maiden speech in the House of Lords. She spoke in the debate on the Housing and Planning Bill. Here it is in full:

When I mentioned to my noble friends that I was excited but concerned about my maiden speech

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The Voice

Welsh version of the new “Community” PPB – different running order and added Kirsty

By The Voice | Thu 28th January 2016 - 3:15 pm

Here is the Welsh version of the new Community party political broadcast. It has Kirsty Williams instead of Tim Farron, talking about the warmth and vitality of Welsh communities and how everyone wants good health services and for kids to have great schools to go to.

Welsh Liberal Democrats care about their communities – that's why so many of them are effective community champions. Watch this video to find out why.

Posted by Welsh Liberal Democrats on Wednesday, 27 January 2016

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The Voice

Another day, another time Labour doesn’t bother turning up to defeat Government in Lords

By The Voice | Wed 27th January 2016 - 9:45 pm

You would think, wouldn’t you, that if there was a chance to defeat the Government, especially if it was to do with helping out low paid workers, Labour Lords would show up, wouldn’t you?

Certainly that would be a triumph of hope over experience in this Parliament, given that they never bothered to kill of the tax credit rise when they had the chance. Nor, of course, did they turn up to secure votes at 16.

Again tonight, they failed to show up to vote for a Liberal Democrat motion to get rid of the cuts to Universal Credit from April 2017. These are exactly the same cuts that were going to happen to tax credits.

Speaking after the defeat of the Lib Dem motion (by 91 votes to 202, which is a pretty spectacular turnout for our peers, Lords Chief Whip Dick Newby said:

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The Voice

Tim Farron’s message for Holocaust Memorial Day

By The Voice | Wed 27th January 2016 - 12:43 pm

From Facebook, here is Tim’s message for Holocaust Memorial Day:

My reflections on this year's Holocaust Memorial Day. This is a day for everyone to remember the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, and the millions of people killed by Nazi Persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. The years theme of ‘Don’t Stand By’ highlights the choice we have in not tolerating unacceptable behaviour. It is vital that we remember and reflect upon these horrors of the past, and honour those who survived.

Posted by Tim Farron on Wednesday, 27 January 2016

Posted by Tim Farron on Wednesday, 27 January 2016

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