Author Archives: The Voice

The Voice

In Full: Danny Alexander’s speech to Conference

By The Voice | Sat 14th March 2015 - 7:45 pm

Danny emphasised the Liberal Democrat contribution to the economic recovery in his keynote speech to Conference and talked about the forthcoming budget and the choice facing the country. Liberal Democrats were needed to provide fairness and responsibility, he said. Here is his speech in full:

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The Voice

In full: Vince Cable’s speech to Liberal Democrat Conference: Has the coalition been worth it?

By The Voice | Sat 14th March 2015 - 3:33 pm

Here is Vince Cable’s speech in full – another thoughtful reflection on the Liberal Democrat contribution to business and the economy over the last five years. He asked if it was all worth it for both the country and the party.

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The Voice

Saturday debates open thread – Mental health, manifesto, green laws

By The Voice | Sat 14th March 2015 - 12:55 pm

This is what’s happening in Liverpool today and how to follow it. It should have been published a while ago but got lost in the technology.

Today’s timetable

 F1 Formal opening of the Federal Conference byLord Mayor Cllr Erica Kemp CBE 

Report: Federal Conference Committee

F3 Report: Federal Policy Committee

Policy motion: Mental Health 48 Speech: Rt Hon Danny Alexander MP 50

Policy motion: Stronger Economy, Fairer Society, Opportunity for Everyone 50

Speech: Jo Swinson MP

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The Voice

Ibrahim Taguri steps down as Lib Dem candidate in Brent Central after Telegraph donation claims

By The Voice | Thu 12th March 2015 - 7:30 am

Ibrahim Taguri has stepped down as the Liberal Democrat candidate in Brent Central after the Telegraph made allegations that he had accepted a donation that was potentially outside the rules.

Ibrahim will continue to fight the seat as an independent candidate and denies any wrongdoing.

From the BBC:

Mr Taguri had been selected to stand for the Lib Dems to replace departing MP Sarah Teather in the London constituency of Brent Central.

But in a statement, he said he would step down as a parliamentary candidate and from his Lib Dem race equality role while the claims against him were investigated.

“I will continue my campaign to become the next MP for Brent Central as an independent candidate with the intention of achieving the one thing I entered politics to do, to end child poverty in the UK by 2020,” he said.

“I look forward to clearing my name and returning to the Liberal Democrats.”

He said he was “happy to co-operate with any investigation” and “confident that I will be exonerated of all the claims made against me”.

“I am capable of demonstrating that I have gone above and beyond the legal requirements in the interests of transparency,” he added.

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The Voice

Mike Beckett’s type of politics

By The Voice | Wed 11th March 2015 - 4:25 pm

Mike Beckett is the Liberal Democrat candidate for Scarborough and Whitby. He has found a novel way to tell voters about the sort of person he is – a cartoon drawn by his friend Nigel Roberts based on an original concept by Paula Dolphin. Some fascinating insights into the nature of modern politics, I’m sure you’ll agree.

 

Michael Beckett, My Style of Politics

 

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The Voice

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

By The Voice | Sun 8th March 2015 - 2:09 pm

7 ver 4 fullMany thanks to the 16,300  visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Clegg: I’ll take Cameron’s place and defend government’s record if he’s too important to take part in the debates (146 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Ashcroft polls predict SNP gains – including Bob Smith and Charles Kennedy’s seats – but don’t panic yet (60 comments) by Caron Lindsay

What’s your funniest canvassing story? (64 comments) by Caron Lindsay

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The Voice

Paddy to broadcasters: Let Nick into third debate. He’ll debate Miliband if Cameron refuses

By The Voice | Sun 8th March 2015 - 11:05 am

Paddy Ashdown has followed up his no-nonsense appearance on the Today programme, in which he said that if Cameron wouldn’t debate Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg would, with a letter to the Chair of the committee of the broadcasters who are organising the events.

He said that the debates were here to stay, that anyone with a record in government to defend should be present in all debates and that Nick should be in the third debate anyway, but should debate Miliband if Cameron doesn’t turn up.

If Cameron now takes part, he looks like he’s been dragged there. If he doesn’t he looks scared, but he doesn’t take the risk. Will it actually change people’s votes, though? Do people actually care? 

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The Voice

Willie Rennie’s message for International Women’s Day

By The Voice | Sun 8th March 2015 - 10:15 am

Willie Rennie doesn’t have a fancy video, but he this is his message for International Women’s Day.

Liberals across the world are driven by an ambition to see a fairer, more equal society. The bedrock of which must be equality of opportunity.

I’m proud that Liberal Democrats have used the responsibility of Government to drive our ambition of equality even further forward. Shared parental leave, free childcare and flexible working are all measures taken forward by Liberal Democrats which will enable more women to have the equality of opportunity they need to get on in life.

But we still have much more we need to do. That is why Liberal Democrats have led efforts to end FGM, where millions of women are still at risk across the world. We want to end FGM within a generation.

We can be proud that in Holyrood, the leadership of our political parties better reflect our society. But I take a personal responsibility in ensuring my party does all that it can to remove the barriers which prevent women from representing their peers in parliament. I hope that this is a personal responsibility of all leaders, be they party leaders or business leaders.

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The Voice

Nick Clegg’s message for International Women’s Day

By The Voice | Sun 8th March 2015 - 8:44 am

Here is Nick Clegg’s message for International Women’s Day. The text is underneath.

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The Voice

Baroness Lindsay Northover on developing evidence-based policy to strengthen LGBT rights across the world

By The Voice | Thu 5th March 2015 - 5:58 pm

Tonight, Lindsay Northover, our International Development Minister is giving a speech at a Sexuality, Poverty and Law Symposium in Brighton, outlining DFID’s new approach to LGBT rights in developing countries.  Lindsay and Lynne Featherstone before her have been integral in putting DFID on the front foot in prioritising LGBT rights and protections everywhere DFID works.

The symposium is part of an ongoing DFID-funded research programme led by the Institute for Development Studies in Brighton, which will produce evidence-based, practical options for activists and policymakers for strengthening legal protection of LGBT people and sexuality rights. The research will also build understanding of the links between sexuality, gender plurality and poverty with the aim of improving economic policy and programming to support people marginalised because of their sexuality.

Here is her speech in full:

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The Voice

Open Doors: The Sequel – All four versions of the second Lib Dem PPB of 2015

By The Voice | Wed 4th March 2015 - 7:20 pm

We brought you the first in the Open Doors series of broadcasts at the end of January. Here is the second in which Willie Rennie’s scarf tying doesn’t improve, Kirsty Williams speaks Welsh and there are lots of good reasons to vote Liberal Democrat with much more policy detail.

Feedback about lack of appropriate accents has clearly been listened to and they have slotted in different comments from each person to each version so you really do have to watch them all.

England

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The Voice

Labour apologises for making false claims about Tory candidate in Brent Council by-election

By The Voice | Wed 4th March 2015 - 11:15 am

Labour Party logoVoters in Kenton ward in Brent go to the polls tomorrow in a by-election. In May last year, the Conservatives took all three seats with Labour being some 14% behind them.

The Times (£) reports that Labour have been forced to withdraw a leaflet which claimed that the Conservative candidate wasn’t even voting Tory any more. The leaflet contained an image of a feedback form to a Labour leaflet from someone with the same name as the Tory candidate who said they had voted Tory in 2010 and wouldn’t be doing so this time because he didn’t like the Tory policy on immigration.

The original leaflet, which Mr Maurice claimed was sent out at the same time as postal votes, said:

“Even the Conservative candidate for the Kenton by-election has said he will not be voting Conservative.”

The Tory candidate deployed a handwriting expert to prove that the form had not been written by him and has threatened to sue the Labour party. He also alerted the police and his team warned that a close loss in Thursday’s council by-election could lead to a re-election.

In a statement, the Labour candidate Vincent Lo said he was “deeply sorry to Mr Maurice for any harm he has suffered as a result of our mistake”.

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The Voice

Nominations sought for Scottish Party Awards

By The Voice | Wed 4th March 2015 - 10:25 am

Scottish Liberal Democrats have their Spring Conference in Aberdeen from 20-22 March. At that event, a series of awards will be presented for outstanding service and commitment to the party. Nominations are sought from members for the following:

  • The Rae Michie Quaich for best contribution to membership recruitment and retention
  • The SWLD Quaich for the Liberal Democrat who has done the most to advance diversity within Scotland in the past year
  • The Robin McSkimming Award presented by East Dunbartonshire Liberal Democrats to the person who has done most for their community
  • The Russell Johnston Award presented by Argyll & Bute Liberal Democrats for Best Conference Speech
  • The John Morrison award presented by the Office Bearers for outstanding leadership/dedication/success in local government
  • The Sheila Tennant award presented by LYS for an outstanding contribution from an LYS member
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The Voice

LibLink: Kirsty Williams on more power to Wales

By The Voice | Mon 2nd March 2015 - 5:11 pm

Kirsty WilliamsKirsty Williams would ‘”be very happy” to see a Lib Dem Secretary of State for Wales. As she says in an interview with Wales Online, under the Coalition the party has produced three Scottish Secretaries.

Having Liberal Democrats as secretaries of state gives us the best possible chance of wrestling power out of Whitehall and giving it to Wales.

She reflects on the devolution of the NHS Budget to Manchester.

You know, the fact that that kind of responsibility can be passed down without any referendum at all and here in Wales each step of the devolution pathway we have to have a referendum… The irony of that is not lost on me.

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The Voice

LibLink: Tim Farron on the general election and afterwards

By The Voice | Mon 2nd March 2015 - 2:31 pm

Over on the Huffington Post, Tim Farron talks about the election campaign from his constituency in Cumbria.

People need to believe they are not just going through the motions. We are not just doing it because we hate the Tories or because we like winning elections or because it’s a way of me getting a job. It’s about the things you can do with power.

He confesses that he would like to be a minister in a future Coalition; it was his role as Party President that precluded that, but also allowed him to emerge from this Parliament with a reputation untainted by proximity to Tories.

He was asked about the reports that claim he wants to be Leader, to which he responded:

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The Voice

Live this evening – Nick Clegg’s “State of Mind”

By The Voice | Mon 2nd March 2015 - 12:03 pm

It’s one of those headings where the speech marks are essential …

Nick says he wants to “lift the lid on what it is like for the one in four people in the UK who suffer with mental illness”. He will be hosting a programme this evening on LBC in which he will interview people with mental health problems and those who support them, followed by a Q&A.

You can watch the programme live at 7pm today.

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The Voice

Julian Huppert as you have never seen him before

By The Voice | Sun 1st March 2015 - 10:56 pm

Well, maybe not the real one – but we thought you might like a late night treat.

LGBT+ Chair was inspired by this on Pinterest. Like many Liberal Democrat activists he’s an admirer of Julian Huppert for the way he’s been such a strong supporter of equal rights for all and the way he’s spoken up for transgender people as well as being a strong, credible expert on matters relating to science.

So he decided to adapt the Pinterst picture as a tribute to the Huppertmeister.

Post by Dave Page

We think there should be badges of this at Conference with proceeds going to Julian’s campaign. Can someone please make this happen?

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The Voice

Tweets and snapshots from the Campaign Trail

By The Voice | Sun 1st March 2015 - 10:24 am

Our Liberal Democrat campaigners have been out and about knocking on doors. The selection of tweets that follow represents a tiny snapshot of the work going on across the country. The Liberal Democrats are bright, bold and determined in the run up to May 7th.

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The Voice

Kirsty Williams: Liberal Democrats have been the positive story of this Coalition

By The Voice | Sat 28th February 2015 - 11:20 am

rally kirsty williams 1It’s Welsh conference today and Kirsty Williams is giving her keynote leader’s speech. In it she will emphasise what the Liberal Democrats have done within the coalition, saying that we have been the good news story of the last five years. She will say:

We have been the good news story, the positive story, the shining light that has come from this Coalition

It is Liberal Democrat policies that are making the difference.  Whether it is raising the tax threshold, revolutionising the pensions system, or introducing equal marriage, we have

…

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The Voice

In Full: David Steel’s eulogy for Lord George Mackie

By The Voice | Fri 27th February 2015 - 11:55 am

Lord George MackieWe are grateful to David Steel for sending us his eulogy to Lord George Mackie who died at the age of 95 last week. 

One of the noticeable traits of George Mackie was his reluctance to talk about his wartime exploits in Bomber Command.  We of a younger generation wanted to hear more of the events which led to his remarkable survival and the awards of the DSO and DFC, but the tales had to be coaxed out of him. He was never boastful.

It is a huge privilege to be asked to speak here about his role in politics – for me it is a small labour of love, because I owe my entire political career to him.  In 1962 when I had just graduated in law but had no intention of becoming a lawyer he offered me a one year post as assistant secretary of the Scottish Liberal Party at the princely salary of £895.  Because Alec Douglas-Home as new PM delayed the election it turned out to be two years during which I was heavily involved in several by-election campaigns and in fund-raising.

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The Voice

The LDV debate: Should politicians release their tax returns? Part Two

By The Voice | Thu 26th February 2015 - 10:58 am

The issue of politicians and their tax returns has been in the media once again recently, sparked in part by increased scrutiny of tax avoidance measures. The prime minister has said (via the chancellor) that there are no plans to publish his returns, while the man who would like to be in his shoes, Boris Johnson, said on a trip to the US last week that other UK politicians should follow his lead (and those of their US counterparts) in publishing their returns.

Here. the Voice’s Nick Thornsby and Paul Walter debate the issue. Please do share your thoughts in the comments below. You can read Part One here.

Nick Thornsby: A number of people in response to our opening gambits went further and suggested that the tax affairs of everyone should be a matter of public record. In some ways I would have less of an issue with this than singling out politicians for special attention (though I am unconvinced by the logic of the argument).

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The Voice

Final reminder: Secret party elections – deadline tomorrow at noon

By The Voice | Thu 26th February 2015 - 8:55 am

There are some more secret elections happening. We feel it’s our duty to disseminate the information as widely as possible.

Here are the details of the positions available and how to get yourself nominated:

All persons elected to these posts will hold office for the calendar years 2015 and 2016.

For the election of:

  • One Vice-Chairs of the IRC
  • Three members of the SAO Review Group
  • Two members of the FE Candidates’ sub-group (meets with JSCC)
  • One representatives on ALDE Congress
  • Two representatives to the LI Congress

The election regulations approved by the Federal Executive in May 2009 are attached for information.

Nominations must be supported by two voting members of the outgoing or incoming Federal Executive, a list of whom is attached, and must be returned, with 75 word statements , no later than 12 noon on 27 February 2015 to David Allworthy, [email protected]. Scanned nominations will be accepted.

David Allworthy, Deputy Acting Returning Officer, 20 February 2015

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The Voice

Tories try to take credit for Lib Dem Steve Webb’s Pensions Triple Lock

By The Voice | Wed 25th February 2015 - 4:33 pm

As the election campaign hots up, all the parties are emailing those who have signed up to their email lists on all sorts of issues.

In the past few days, we’ve seen one from Harriet Harman admonishing the recipient for not responding to Labour’s opinion survey. It had one question, basically “Are you voting Labour?” There wasn’t even a “maybe” option.

We’ve seen a missive David Cameron (or his digital equivalent) has emailed to his distribution list to take credit for the pensions triple lock. The wording looks like it’s been copied and pasted from a Liberal Democrat equivalent.

Now, everyone knows that that was Liberal Democrat pensions guru Steve Webb’s idea. If you look in the 2010 Tory manifesto, you see a commitment to restoring the link to earnings, but that’s about it.

In contrast, this is what the Lib Dem manifesto had to say:

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The Voice

Things to do in your lunch hour: Last chance to respond to Scottish Government’s ID Database consultation

By The Voice | Wed 25th February 2015 - 11:45 am

A couple of weeks ago, James Baker told us why the proposals in Scotland to use the NHS identity database and use it effectively as a surveillance tool was wrong and dangerous:

One of the stated aims of the changes proposed is that it would make it easier to ‘trace people’, the examples given are tracing missing children or ‘health tourists’. This is a giveaway as to the increased surveillance capabilities the scheme would create. If it’s able to trace children through civic transactions recorded on the system then it will be able to trace political campaigners, people’s whose library books are overdue, potentially anyone who comes to the attention of the authorities.

The consultation is alarmingly lacking in detail as to how the new database system would work, and what safeguards would be put in place.  If implemented as suggested it would almost certainly raise the possibility of a legal challenge over the breach of people’s right to privacy, and additional  compliance issues with data protection laws. At the very least such a major change in people’s relationship to the state  should be the subject of a public debate, not rushed through by officials using changes in obscure regulations. If these changes are to occur they need to be done through the use of primary legislation not a change in regulations. This seems a request it would seem hard for any reasonable Scottish Parliamentarian to deny.

The Scottish Government is consulting on this and today is your last chance to make your views known. You can do so here. It is worth a few minutes of your time to ask the Scottish Government to think twice before introducing such a step.

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The Voice

So what’s Miranda Grell, formerly convicted of homophobic smears on her Liberal Democrat opponent, up to these days?

By The Voice | Wed 25th February 2015 - 10:25 am

Way back in 2006, Miranda Grell was elected as a Labour Councillor in Waltham Forest, East London. The following year, she was convicted of making false statements about the Liberal Democrat candidate. From the BBC:

Waltham Forest Magistrates’ Court heard in police interviews Grell admitted she had discussed the candidates’s sexuality with one local resident.

She said she told the man the Lib Dem claimed to be married despite having a 19-year-old Thai boyfriend.

Grell put the mistake down to political immaturity and inexperience at campaigning.

But another resident, Caroline Dargan, told the court Grell had a similar conversation with her.

Outside court Ms Dargan told BBC London: “(Grell) just started to talk about the Lib Dem candidate. She made some suggestions about him being gay, and I sort of knew that.

“But then I felt the conversation deteriorated into her saying that he was actually interested in young oriental boys.”

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The Voice

Reprise: Those secret party elections with a nomination date of noon on Friday

By The Voice | Mon 23rd February 2015 - 8:59 am

There are some more secret elections happening. We feel it’s our duty to disseminate the information as widely as possible.

Here are the details of the positions available and how to get yourself nominated:

All persons elected to these posts will hold office for the calendar years 2015 and 2016.

For the election of:

  • One Vice-Chairs of the IRC
  • Three members of the SAO Review Group
  • Two members of the FE Candidates’ sub-group (meets with JSCC)
  • One representatives on ALDE Congress
  • Two representatives to the LI Congress

The election regulations approved by the Federal Executive in May 2009 are attached for information.

Nominations must be supported by two voting members of the outgoing or incoming Federal Executive, a list of whom is attached, and must be returned, with 75 word statements , no later than 12 noon on 27 February 2015 to David Allworthy, [email protected]. Scanned nominations will be accepted.

David Allworthy, Deputy Acting Returning Officer, 20 February 2015

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The Voice

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

By The Voice | Sun 22nd February 2015 - 2:25 pm

7 ver 4 fullMany thanks to the 14,700 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

The Times: The Lib Dems are “great survivors” (51 comments) by The Voice

The Independent View: Commons must debate Medical Innovations Bill before election (59 comments) by Dominic Nutt

Guardian’s coverage of Lib Dem election campaign accentuates the negative (52 comments) by Caron Lindsay

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The Voice

Pauline Pearce seeks nomination in Hitchin

By The Voice | Sat 21st February 2015 - 4:03 pm

The “Hackney Heroine” Pauline Pearce has applied to be the Liberal Democrat candidate in Hitchin for the General Election:

From the Hertfordshire Mercury:

Pauline Pearce – dubbed the Heroine of Hackney – could stand as the Lib Dems’ candidate for Hitchin in next year’s General Election.

The Hackney resident, who moved from Hitchin eight years ago, said: “Plain and simple, it’s home to me.

“I’m a Hitchin girl, I know quite a bit about the issues down there, especially concerning the youngsters.

“I want to help kids and let them know what they can do to open their eyes and turn their lives around.”

Miss Pearce has yet to be formally selected to contest the Hitchin and Harpenden seat, currently held by Tory Peter Lilley, but hopes are high.

She became a symbol of Londoners’ outrage at the wave of criminality which followed the death of Mark Duggan in 2012.

After the clip went viral, she was courted by politicians and community leaders, even expressing her intention to stand for Lib Dem president.
Pauline has since been elected to the Party’s Federal Executive.
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The Voice

Some more secret party elections you can stand in – act by noon next Friday, 27th February

By The Voice | Sat 21st February 2015 - 10:45 am

There are some more secret elections happening. We feel it’s our duty to disseminate the information as widely as possible.

Here are the details of the positions available and how to get yourself nominated:

All persons elected to these posts will hold office for the calendar years 2015 and 2016.

For the election of:

  • One Vice-Chairs of the IRC
  • Three members of the SAO Review Group
  • Two members of the FE Candidates’ sub-group (meets with JSCC)
  • One representatives on ALDE Congress
  • Two representatives to the LI Congress

The election regulations approved by the Federal Executive in May 2009 are attached for information.

Nominations must be supported by two voting members of the outgoing or incoming Federal Executive, a list of whom is attached, and must be returned, with 75 word statements , no later than 12 noon on 27 February 2015 to David Allworthy, [email protected]. Scanned nominations will be accepted.

David Allworthy, Deputy Acting Returning Officer, 20 February 2015

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The Voice

An inspiring talk for a Saturday morning – John Loughton on his journey from poverty in Edinburgh to talking to world leaders

By The Voice | Sat 21st February 2015 - 9:11 am

John Loughton grew up in poverty in Edinburgh. He is a truly inspiring character. In this video he talks about his life and how he founded a youth leadership organisation that has worked with thousands of young people across the world.

John is a member of the Liberal Democrats and if you look at his Wikipedia page, you’ll see just some of the things he’s done and the powerful circles in which he has moved.

 

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