Author Archives: The Voice

“I realised my vote was not enough” – why Wendy Chamberlain joined #libdemfightback

By The Voice | Thu 29th October 2015 - 1:40 pm

One of the highlights of Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference last Saturday was seeing new member Wendy Chamberlain introduce Willie Rennie for his keynote speech.

New member Wendy Chamberlain introduces @willie_rennie pic.twitter.com/4vmfLWl3vh

— Caron Lindsay (@caronmlindsay) October 24, 2015

This is what she said:

Firstly, may I offer my thanks to Sheila Thomson and the Conference Committee for asking me as a new party member to speak and introduce Willie to you to deliver his leader’s speech.

Posted in News | Tagged #libdemfightback, new members, wendy chamberlain and willie rennie | 2 Comments

Cable: Counter-extremism bill will lead to “bland exchange of views” in universities

By The Voice | Wed 28th October 2015 - 8:33 am

The Guardian reports:

The onus placed on universities by the government’s new counter-extremism strategy will lead to inoffensive and bland campus debates without preventing any student radicalisation, according to the former business secretary Vince Cable.

The former Liberal Democrat MP instead says that banning extremist speakers from universities may in fact exacerbate the problem by driving underground hitherto non-violent extremists.

Posted in LibLink | Tagged counter-extremism bill and vince cable | 8 Comments

Tim Farron arrives in Lesvos

By The Voice | Tue 27th October 2015 - 11:52 am

Tim Farron arrived in Greek island of Lesvos (Lesbos) this morning to speak with refugees arriving from Turkey, fleeing conflict in the Middle East.

Posted in News | 12 Comments

Farron on Tax Credits vote: Osborne must go back to the drawing board

By The Voice | Mon 26th October 2015 - 9:03 pm

Commenting on the votes in the House of Lords tonight which resulted in two Government defeats on tax credits, Tim Farron said:

The Government has been forced into an embarrassing climb down. George Osborne must now go back to the drawing board and come back with plans to balance the books that don’t simply attack working families who are already struggling to get by.

We have sent a clear signal to the Tories that the British people will not accept this scale of attack on the vital support they need.

Tonight’s vote gives people hope, but the threat still looms large.

Posted in News | Tagged house of lords, tax credits and tim farron | 42 Comments

In full: Tim Farron’s speech to Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference

By The Voice | Sun 25th October 2015 - 1:15 pm

View image | gettyimages.com

Here is Tim Farron’s speech to Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference in full. The official version obviously doesn’t include his “stuff the convention” departure on tax credits or the bit where he got Aird and Loch Ness by-election winner Jean Davis’s name wrong. He called her June and quickly corrected himself, reminding us that he knows how it feels after the Sun got his name wrong this week.

Enjoy:

Thank you, it’s a massive pleasure to be here – not least because it only took me half the time to get here as it did to get to federal conference in Bournemouth!

But federal conference was the biggest ever, with three times as many members as last year attending for the first time. 500 of them were new members – so thing is, they turned up to everything, even the Federal Executive report. When I was President you were lucky if six people turned up – poor Sal had to cope with a room full of engaged people, keen to ask searching questions. And the constitutional geeks had to cope with the concept of actually having some company for this event!

Posted in News | Tagged scottish liberal democrat conference 2015, speeches and tim farron | 3 Comments

Tim Farron and Sally Hamwee speak out against £20 a week cuts to asylum seekers’ support

By The Voice | Sat 24th October 2015 - 2:42 pm

Posted in News | Tagged asylum seekers, sally hamwee and tim farron | 8 Comments

A lesson for Tim Farron from Justin Trudeau?

By The Voice | Fri 23rd October 2015 - 2:40 pm

View image | gettyimages.com

Liberals around the world are cheered by the Canadian Liberals’ emphatic victory this week. There are many serious lessons we can learn from Justin Trudeau’s party, both in terms of grassroots organisation and messaging. Not for the Liberals any talk of “we’re not them and we’re not them so vote for us”. For months there was a clear message of #realchange. The Canadian Liberals are a bit like Liberal royalty. They can be pretty establishment, but they managed to show that they wanted to reform politics and Canadian society in a way that resonated with people.

This video from May this year shows how Trudeau was happy to step out of the normal space allotted to politicians. He took his kids to Comic Con in Ottawa, wearing a Superman t-shirt and talking about his lifelong enjoyment of the Superman series. It was fun, authentic and natural.

I guess it kind of helped that he didn’t look terribly unlike the movie version.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged Justin Trudeau and tim farron | 10 Comments

Willie Rennie to highlight gender balance in his Conference speech

By The Voice | Thu 22nd October 2015 - 11:58 am

We know that Willie Rennie is determined to improve the appalling gender balance record of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. He has to persuade a party which has historically rejected any proposals for positive action in candidate selection to adopt proposals to be drawn up by a working group made up of himself, Jo Swinson, Sophie Bridger, Sheila Ritchie and Fred Mackintosh. The ultimate aim is for half of Scotland’s Liberal Democrat parliamentarians to be women within 6 years.

The proposals will be debated at the Scottish Party’s Spring Conference just a few weeks before next year’s Holyrood elections. You can’t accuse Willie of not being willing to take a risk. He will be talking about it in Saturday’s speech to Autumn Conference too:

I want our party to change.

All our MPs in the United Kingdom are men. And four out of our five MSPs are men too.

I know many in the party instinctively do not favour positive action but I need to be frank with you. Nothing else has worked.

Posted in News | Tagged gender balance, Scotland and willie rennie | 6 Comments

Lib Dems to table “fatal motion” to halt planned cuts to tax credits

By The Voice | Wed 21st October 2015 - 8:12 pm

The Lib Dem team in the House of Lords has announced that it will table a so-called “fatal motion” to the government’s proposed tax credit reductions.

Zahida Manzoor, our work and pensions spokesperson, will table the motion, which would decline to approve the regulations. If passed, the government will have to come up with a revised version of its proposals.

The motion is additional to a motion by Labour peer, Baroness Hollis of Heigham, which would decline to approve the Tax Credit cut unless the Government puts in place transitional measures.

Posted in News | Tagged tax credits | 42 Comments

LibLink Special: Nick Clegg’s El Pais article: “We are losing the war on drugs”

By The Voice | Wed 21st October 2015 - 3:30 pm

Earlier this month, Nick Clegg wrote for Spanish newspaper El Pais about the need to totally change the way we deal with drug use. Liberal Youth Scotland co-president Hannah Bettsworth, a final year Spanish student, has kindly translated it for us.

On 19^th April next year, United Nations member states will hold a special session in New York to discuss the future of the world’s drugs policy. The starting pistol for government negotiations around the summit was fired last week, in a meeting at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna.

The last time an event of this importance was held, in 1998, the meeting was dominated by US Government strategy, which still consisted of the doomed ‘war on drugs’, thought up by Richard Nixon in 1971. (awkward sentence in English) The gathered member states, in a move we can today see as a false collective delusion, solemnly agreed to reach the goal of “a drug-free world in 2008.”

Of course, 2008 came around and nothing happened. Not only had production, supply and use of illicit drugs not been wiped from the Earth, trafficking continued to flourish and bring millions of dollars to organised crime. The well-intentioned efforts of law and order had had hardly any impact in the long term. Violence in origin and transit countries had skyrocketed (in Mexico alone, it is calculated that 100,000 people have died in the war on the cartels since 2006.) Around the world, millions of drug users are still hounded and incarcerated. This serves only to ruin lives – it has no deterrent effect.

Posted in LibLink | Tagged drugs policy, el país and nick clegg | 17 Comments

Farron and Davey attack Tories’ “systematic unravelling” of our commitment to tackle climate change

By The Voice | Wed 21st October 2015 - 12:55 pm

Tim Farron and Ed Davey have written to Davey’s Conservative successor as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Amber Rudd to challenge her on her record so far of undermining practically everything the Liberal Democrats brought to the table. They warn her that her actions jeopardise the UK’s chances of meeting legally binding climate change targets. Their full letter is published below:

We are writing to you regarding our concerns for the future of Britain’s renewable industries and our global leadership on climate change.

We are utterly appalled at the systematic unravelling of the renewables industries that is taking place under your leadership. We stand with business executives, trade associations and environmental NGOs and call for an end to this ideological assault on green energy which is economically nonsensical and is undermining Britain’s ability to push for a more ambitious global Climate Change Treaty at the UN in Paris this December.

Despite your statement in May this year that you planned to unleash a ‘solar revolution’, your department has enacted a series of devastating policies which make a mockery of this and will ultimately dismantle much of the work on green policy that the Liberal Democrats achieved in Government, costing thousands of jobs and jeopardising our economic future. Severe cuts to solar and wind subsidies, as well as ending the Green Deal and abolishing Zero Carbon Homes, together mean that progress towards tackling climate change is fundamentally undermined.

Posted in News | Tagged climate change, ed davey and tim farron | 9 Comments

Reinforcements arrive for the Parliamentary Party in the Lords…

By The Voice | Wed 21st October 2015 - 8:55 am

Now that Parliament has returned after the summer recess, the process of introducing the new Peers has come. And, to allow LDV readers to keep up with the new intake, here is the list of new Peers and when they are to be introduced;

26 October – Shas Sheehan (Baroness Sheehan)
27 October – Jonny Oates (Lord Oates)
5 November – Sir Menzies Campbell (Lord Campbell of Pittenweem) and Don Foster (Lord Foster of Bath)
10 November – Lorely Burt (Baroness Burt of Solihull)
19 November – Sir Malcolm Bruce (Lord Bruce of Bennachie)
23 November – Sir Alan Beith (title yet to be confirmed)
26 November …

Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged house of lords | 38 Comments

Lib Dem Lords will try and kill off Tory tax credit cuts as Farron decries Osborne’s “Poll Tax”

By The Voice | Tue 20th October 2015 - 9:30 pm

George Osborne could be told to think again on tax credits by the House of Lords next week if a “regret motion” co-sponsored by Lib Dem peer Archy Kirkwood is successful.

Party leader Tim Farron has asked all Lib Dem peers to support it, making a government defeat possible.According to the Guardian, though, some Labour peers might get the collywobbles about challenging a government’s financial bill. According to the Guardian:

By custom and practice, the peers do not challenge financial measures, but Farron has been arguing that the specific tax credits measure was not in the Conservative party manifesto and was even specifically denied by David Cameron in a leaders’ TV election debate, after the Guardian revealed a document leaked by the Lib Dems showing that the government had been considering cuts to tax credits.

This has also attracted coverage in the Express and Star, Sky News and the Evening Standard.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged archy kirkwood, tax credits and tim faron | 23 Comments

How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

By The Voice | Tue 20th October 2015 - 2:35 pm

Why not join hundreds of other Lib Dem Voice readers in getting our latest headlines by email?

Some people like regularly visiting a site to see if there’s new stories of interest. But if you prefer email, you can instead sign up to get a daily early morning email with a summary of the previous day’s posts from Lib Dem Voice, complete with a note of how many comments each post has got and convenient links to click on if any take your fancy and you want to take a read.

Posted in Site news | 1 Comment

ALDE Congress – feedback needed before Thursday

By The Voice | Mon 19th October 2015 - 4:35 pm

Belinda Brooks-Gordon represents the East of England on the ALDE Congress. She’s asked us to share the report she gave out to members in her region. Please note the looming deadline of this Thursday for amendments to motions to be discussed at the Congress in November.

ALDE Report

The post of President and five, possibly six Vice-Presidents are to be voted on at the ALDE Congress in Budapest from 19^th – 21^st November. ALDE is now the fourth group in the European Parliament, and unable to do accomplish as much as it was able to do when it was the third party (don’t we just know how that feels in Westminster too). The new President certainly has their work cut out.

I was delighted at a briefing for the ALDE representatives and meet a candidate for ALDE Bureau President Hans van Baalen MEP as he laid out his vision. A prominent liberal, Hans spoke of the value of a joint action on sanctions to deal with international threats and of co-operation between liberal parties in the forthcoming referendum, Hans said he and his party VVD of the Netherlands would be helping with the LibDemFightback: “It is vital that we stick together to bring Liberalism together as a force.”

Baroness Ros Scott selected for VP of ALDE Bureau

Posted in News | Tagged ALDE, ALDE congress and belinda brooks-gordon | 2 Comments

Ashdown’s speechwriter Max Atkinson to get an award from the Speechwriters’ Guild

By The Voice | Mon 19th October 2015 - 3:29 pm

We were very pleased to receive an email from Brian Jenner of the Speechwriters’ Guild telling us that Paddy Ashdown’s former speechwriter, Professor Max Atkinson, is to receive an award from them in just over a month’s time:

Dr Max Atkinson is to be awarded a ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award by the UK Speechwriters’ Guild.

The award is being made for his outstanding contribution to the theory and practice of speechwriting and public speaking over the past 35 years.

Dr Atkinson came to national prominence when he used his academic research into the speaking techniques of top politicians, and applied them to a speech delivered by a novice at a party political conference.

The speaker Ann Brennan went on to win a standing ovation at the SDP conference in Buxton in 1984.

The results were made into a ‘World in Action’ TV documentary, produced by Gus Macdonald, (now Baron Macdonald of Tradeston).

Dr Atkinson published the results of his research in a book called Our Masters’ Voices.

Posted in News | Tagged max atkinson, paddy ashdown and speechwriters' guild | 2 Comments

Five posts from five years

By The Voice | Mon 19th October 2015 - 10:55 am

We thought it might be fun to take one of our occasional trips down Memory Lane to see what we were writing about on this day in 5 of the 9 years of our existence.

19th October 2006

Pre the Crash, leader Ming Campbell takes Labour to task on poverty and talks about, guess what, a fairer society. Who says we are inconsistent. Worth reading as much of it is relevant now.

I am determined to take the fight for a fairer Britain into the mainstream of British politics, and into the heartlands of the Labour Party.

I am determined to show that defeating poverty and increasing opportunity does not mean creating a state of dependency.

I am determined that Britain should not simply swap the days of calculated neglect under Mrs. Thatcher for years of benign neglect under Mr. Cameron.

I am determined to show that there is an alternative to the Dependency State of Gordon Brown.

I am determined to show that there is a sustainable way to remove the scourge of child poverty that does so much to undermine our social cohesion.

I am determined to show that way is the Liberal way.

The mainstream, not the centre, but essentially means the same thing.

19th October 2008

Posted in News | Tagged nostalgia | 1 Comment

Wilson Doctrine: Carmichael says Lib Dems will demand protection for journalists, lawyers & parliamentarians from state snooping

By The Voice | Thu 15th October 2015 - 12:25 pm

Liberal Democrat politicians have reacted with alarm to yesterday’s ruling on the Wilson Doctrine The Investigatory Powers Tribunal basically shrugged off Harold Wilson’s declaration in 1966 that MPs’ phones would not be intercepted without him knowing, saying that it had no basis in law.

This comes on top of two Police forces abusing their powers to try to find journalists’ sources. If an MP, or a lawyer, or a journalist is investigating the Government for doing something it shouldn’t, the idea that the Government could snoop on that investigation is alarming.

This is why Liberal Democrats from across the UK have been quick to demand appropriate protections. Home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said:

This ruling could have a chilling effect on democracy in the UK. MPs, MSPs and other elected representatives must have the ability to talk to their constituents without fear that their private communications are being routinely monitored by intelligence agencies.

It was reported earlier this year that changes in guidelines meant the Wilson Doctrine no longer applied to MSPs. Now it has been confirmed the doctrine never offered democratically-elected representatives at Holyrood any protection at all. The response of the Prime Minister to this risk to freedoms is just plain weak. We need urgent answers from the UK government.

The Liberal Democrats will be demanding journalists’ sources, legal professional privilege and protection of the communications of democratically-elected representatives are all given a strong legal basis and protection in the new Investigatory Powers Bill.

Posted in News | Tagged civil liberties, interception and wilson doctrine | 7 Comments

Tom Brake on why Liberal Democrats opposed George Osborne’s Fiscal Charter

By The Voice | Thu 15th October 2015 - 10:55 am

It’s all quite simple, really – the Liberal Democrats, unlike Labour, were not going to fall into Osborne’s trap. Here is Tom Brake’s speech from last night’s debate:

The Liberal Democrats will not support the charter tonight. Whatever the machinations in the Labour party, our reasons for opposing it are clear: the charter is just as much about fantasy economics as was Labour’s magic money tree. We remain committed to abolishing the structural deficit by 2017-18, and to seeing debt fall as a percentage of GDP in the following years. We will not, however, abandon the critical need for continued investment in infrastructure, and we will ensure that our economy remains competitive in the medium and long term. We are for sound and stable economic policy—something that sadly has been abandoned first by the official Opposition and now by the Government.

Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged economy, Parliament and tom brake | 10 Comments

Tom Brake to fast in support of Shaker Aamer

By The Voice | Thu 15th October 2015 - 8:39 am

From today, friends and family of Shaker Aamer, the last British resident left in the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison camp, will be fasting in support of him. They will go without food for a minimum of 24 hours to highlight his plight. From the Fast for Shaker website:

On 25th September 2015, the US told the UK that Shaker Aamer, the last British resident held in the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, will be released and returned to his family in the UK after being held for nearly 14 years without charge or trial.

By US law, 30 days’ notice must be given to Congress before any prisoner can be freed from Guantánamo, and in the meantime Shaker has embarked on a hunger strike protesting constant and ongoing abuse and his fears that, in his weakened state, he won’t live to see his family again.

To show solidarity with Shaker, his lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, celebrities, MPs, Shaker’s family, campaigners and supportive members of the public are pledging to undertake a hunger strike of their own, starting on 15th October, for a minimum of 24 hours.

Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake has pledged to fast next Monday:

Posted in News | Tagged human rights, shaker aamer, tom brake and torture | 2 Comments

In Video: Stephen Tall’s (virtually) naked run

By The Voice | Wed 14th October 2015 - 1:43 pm

This is how you keep a pledge, however hard it might be.

He promised to run naked along Whitehall if Lib Dems were cut to 30 MPs in #ge2015. So did @stephentall deliver? https://t.co/A1kcBdVBgH

— DailySunday Politics (@daily_politics) October 14, 2015

Stephen has also done a Storify thingy of the event and the tweets he received which you can read here.

Posted in News | Tagged médecins sans frontières and stephen tall | 6 Comments

+++Breaking: Stephen Tall completes charity naked run as promised

By The Voice | Tue 13th October 2015 - 4:33 pm

Stephen Tall, formerly of this parish, has honoured the pledge he made to run naked down Whitehall if the Liberal Democrats were reduced to 24 seats.

This is what happens, kids, if you make a daft pledge on TV. You've been warned. http://t.co/r5SWfRmCCT pic.twitter.com/LYn5ob33St

— Stephen Tall (@stephentall) October 13, 2015

Posted in News | 9 Comments

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

By The Voice | Sun 11th October 2015 - 1:19 pm

Many thanks to the 12,900 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

+++Breaking: Lib Dem Jean Davis in stunning by-election win from the SNP (19 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Tim Farron on Question Time open thread (37 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Jeremy Corbyn and the Emperor’s New Clothes (55 comments) by Paul Walter

Posted in Site news | Leave a comment

What’s your favourite liberal poem?

By The Voice | Thu 8th October 2015 - 2:47 pm

It’s National Poetry Day today so we thought it might be worth asking you to nominate your favourite poem with a liberal message. What poem has moved you or made a liberal point in a unique way. Let us know in the comments.

We also thought you might like to see this piece from 2012 in which Edis Bevan looked at the poetry of Denmark’s Piet Hein. We are nothing if not good Europeans.

In a mad world, remember Denmark’s Piet Hein. Theoretical physicist, poet, wartime resistance activist, mathematician and simply a human being in all its warmest glory. His short poems (Grooks) have a haiku-like quality, reflecting on the simple complexities of life, and as a consequence of real politics as it hits real people. I have cherished these gems for a long time, and wonder if other Liberal Democrats might find them helpful.

His first ever Grook was published in the newspaper Politiken under the Nazi occupation of Denmark. It was

Losing one glove
is certainly painful,
but nothing
compared to the pain,
of losing one,
throwing away the other,
and finding
the first one again

Posted in News | Tagged national poetry day and poetry | 7 Comments

Willie Rennie and Kirsty Williams challenge Scots and Welsh Tory leaders to disown Theresa May’s “borderline xenophobic” comments

By The Voice | Wed 7th October 2015 - 2:37 pm

Tim Farron was quick to condemn Theresa May’s speech yesterday, saying that she, not immigrants, were damaging to social cohesion. I think it was one of the most disgraceful speeches we have ever heard from a Home Secretary and, let’s face it, Jack Straw, John Reid and David Blunkett had already ensured that the bar was in the gutter. At the time of writing, the Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition has not yet deigned to challenge her.

We’ve seen over the Summer how the Welsh and Scottish Tory leaders have set themselves apart from the wilder rhetoric coming from senior Conservatives, such as the “swarm” comments of the Prime Minister. Their Liberal Democrat counterparts Kirsty Williams and Willie Rennie have challenged them to dissociate themselves from Theresa May’s comments.

Kirsty said:

Andrew Davies must speak out against Theresa May’s outrageous speech or we must assume that he shares her views. He was right last month to call for extra help for refugees fleeing the crisis in Syria, but his position is at odds with the borderline xenophobia we heard from the Home Secretary.

Britain is socially, culturally and economically richer for our outward looking, tolerant approach. Yet this Conservative government is whipping up fear and mistrust.

Willie added:

Posted in News | Tagged immigration, kirsty williams, theresa may, tim farron and willie rennie | 10 Comments

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

By The Voice | Sun 4th October 2015 - 12:55 pm

Many thanks to the 11,800 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

We’re all “Preamble Lib Dems” (90 comments) by Paul Walter

Corbyn: No horses were scared during a speech filled with Liberal Democrat policies (47 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Jeremy Corbyn’s kinder, more caring politics in action #§: Tom Watson (44 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Posted in Site news | Leave a comment

LibDemJobwatch: Last chance to apply for paid internships with ALDC

By The Voice | Sat 3rd October 2015 - 1:45 pm

This weekend sees the last chance to apply for paid internship positions with ALDC. The deadline is tomorrow, 4th October. Previous ALDC interns have gone on to work in politics or for other campaigning organisations. Ellie Hudspith, one of last year’s interns, now works for CAMRA, the campaign for Real Ale. She said:

My internship at ALDC was a fantastic opportunity to work with other Liberal Democrats, and gain skills from experienced campaigners. It’s a unique chance to work outside of London but still be involved with the party nationally. Getting to attend party conferences and training events allows you to meet and learn from other campaigners from across the country.

More information about the posts is available here.

Posted in News | Tagged aldc and internships | Leave a comment

New Liberal Youth and IR Cymru Executives elected

By The Voice | Fri 2nd October 2015 - 11:17 am

Elections for the Executives of Liberal Youth and the Welsh organisation IR Cymru have been taking place over the past few weeks.

The 2015-16 Executives will take office on 1st November and are made up as follows:

Liberal Youth

Chair: Michael Chappell/Charlie Kingsbury

Vice Chair: Alex White

Policy Officer: Emily Tester

Campaigns Officer: Ryan Cairns

Communications Officer: Chris Whiting

Events Officer: Tara Murray/Nathan Issacson

Posted in News | Tagged ir cymru and liberal youth | 1 Comment

Lib Dem Jobwatch special: Fancy trying to keep Tim Farron under control?

By The Voice | Tue 29th September 2015 - 7:37 pm

Every leader does need someone they trust who can look into their eyes and tell them not to be an idiot. Or encourage them to do something that they are nervous about. Or boost their confidence when it wanes. Ben Rich has been doing that job for Tim Farron since he became leader in July, but it was only ever going to be a temporary role.

Tim is now advertising for a permanent chief of staff. The official advert says:

The Chief of Staff will be able to provide high quality, insightful, senior counsel and strategic advice to the leader and work hand-in-hand with him to develop his vision and priorities.

A fuller job description gives the qualities considered essential for applicants:

Posted in News | Tagged ben rich, lib dem jobwatch and tim farron | 5 Comments

Alistair Carmichael election petition: new hearing ordered by judges

By The Voice | Tue 29th September 2015 - 6:35 pm

The judges who heard Alistair Carmichael’s application to dismiss the election petition against him delivered a partial judgement today and ordered that a further hearing take place. From the BBC website:

The judges have ruled that the language used in section 106 was “wide enough to encompass a statement made by a candidate about himself”.

However, they said they wanted to hear evidence about the two remaining issues before issuing a determination on the case.

These are whether the words were false statements of fact which related to Mr Carmichael’s personal character or conduct, and whether they were said “for the purpose of affecting the return of any candidate at the election”.

The judges said they wanted to hear evidence on these issues because each case had to be considered on its own facts.

You can read the entire judgement here.

Commenting on today’s news, a Scottish Liberal Democrat spokesperson said:

Alistair Carmichael will continue to play a full role in the new stages of the legal process that are ongoing, confident of a positive outcome. Alistair’s focus will remain working hard for his constituents and doing his job as MP for Orkney and Shetland.

Alistair will need even more help to pay the exorbitant legal fees. If you want to see a good man have a fair fight against well-funded opponents, you can donate to the fund-raising site started by his old friend Sheila Ritchie here.

Posted in News | Tagged Alistair Carmichael and election law | 11 Comments

Op-eds

Mathew on Monday: Banning Under-16s from Social Media is the Wrong Answer (Mathew Hulbert)
Spread it out: the liberal case for a wealth tax (Tom Reeve)
We need a long term strategy with vocational education and apprenticeships at the heart (Dino Schreuder)
Separation of Powers and Civil Liberties in the UK are now at breaking point (Tara Foster)
Welcome to my day: 15 June 2026 – some boldness on Europe… at last… (Mark Valladares)

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