Author Archives: The Voice

The Voice

Conference Speeches: Steve Webb: “We spend £37 billion on pensions tax relief, mostly on well-off. Next Government will need to address the unfairness

By The Voice | Sun 5th October 2014 - 9:15 pm

Continuing our series of Conference speeches reproduced in full, here is Steve Webb’s from this afternoon. He said that he wants the next Government to look at tax relief on pensions and he looked back on the work that he had been doing on pensions over the last four years. He also revealed that the donor who gave £1 million to UKIP is standing against him in May. If this bothers you, If this bothers you in any way, you can donate to his local party here.

Those of you who were paying attention to the news last week will have seen the story of the former Tory party donor who has now given a million pounds to UKIP.   What you may have missed is that he has announced that he will be standing against me at the next General Election.

This sort of announcement certainly focuses your mind on the issue of fund-raising, and our next jumble sale will have to be a real corker!   Indeed, if anyone in the hall would like to help us level the playing field in Thornbury and Yate, I will be available to receive donations, but nothing over £100,000 please..

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The Voice

Conference Speeches: Willie Rennie – “If you want to stop the talk of ‘the 45’ or ‘the 55’ and talk about ‘One Scotland’, to take forward a programme of reform to unite the country, then we are your party.”

By The Voice | Sun 5th October 2014 - 8:15 pm

Willie Rennie challenged Nicola Sturgeon to reveal whether she is a Borgen Liberal or a Salmond Nationalist. He was also keen to emphasise that more powers must be delivered. He said that Labour and the Tories must not be timid in their approach:

For the first time ever the people of Scotland were given the power. 

The democratic power to decide whether to continue our relationship with our friends in the rest of the United Kingdom.

With ballots not bullets. 

By the people not the Lairds. 

After open debate not behind closed doors. 

I am so proud that people quietly, but with confidence, said no to independence.

And in numbers now rarely seen in democracies they said yes – yes to partnership, yes to sharing, yes to our common endeavour and yes with an open hand;

Comfortable in our own skin, generous in our compassion, proud of who we are.

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The Voice

Conference speeches: Alistair Carmichael – Coalition with Tories is like having a cat

By The Voice | Sun 5th October 2014 - 7:45 pm

Here is Alistair Carmichael’s speech to Conference morning, strangely devoid of news of his victory at the Lib Dem Disco last night.

Good morning conference and welcome back to Glasgow.

It has been quite a year since we last met here.

Last November this was a city united in grief when Police Scotland’s helicopter fell from the sky and crashed into the Clutha Vaults pub at the other end of Argyle Street, killing ten people.  The response from the people of Glasgow at that time was remarkable.   They showed the truth of the slogan that is on the lanyards most of you are wearing today – People Make Glasgow.

In July we hosted the best Commonwealth Games ever.

We saw some truly memorable world class performances.

No sooner was that over than we led the nation and the Commonwealth in commemorating the outbreak of World War One in 1914.

And then we had a referendum.

I confess I am speaking from a text this morning but I think that even without it I might have managed not to do a Miliband and forget to mention it.

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The Voice

Conference Speeches: Paddy Ashdown “You were never this nice when I was leader”

By The Voice | Sun 5th October 2014 - 6:45 pm

ipaddy 2014 glasgow rallyHere is Paddy’s speech from the rally last night.

OK – now it begins.

What comes next is the fight of our lives.

And it’s going to be tough.

But I am up for it and I know you are too.

As a liberal I am used to fighting against the odds – tell you what, I relish it

And taking a small band of trained and dedicated insurgents onto enemy territory against the odds – its what I was trained for – what I am used to

-its what we have had to do before

-and I am immensely proud, this time, to be doing it with you.

We all know what we have to do.

You’re the best street campaigners in British politics

– now you are going to have to prove it – again.

Now, we have a message – A STRONG ECONOMY, A FAIR SOCIETY; OPPORTUNITY FOR EVERYONE.

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The Voice

Conference Speeches: Jo Swinson to Conference rally

By The Voice | Sun 5th October 2014 - 5:43 pm

Jo swinson 2014 rally glasgowHere is Jo Swinson’s speech to the rally last night:

Conference – hello and a very warm welcome back to Glasgow!

It may still be a bit wet and chilly, but it’s still the friendliest city, and most importantly, still in the United Kingdom.

A lot has happened since we met here last year.

Fantastic year for sport:

Winter Olympics, record medal haul for the UK

Huge success of the Commonwealth Games here in Glasgow this summer – inspiring athletes from 13year old swimmer Erraid Davies to Jo Pavey’s fantastic gold medal at 40

England won the World Cup – obviously in women’s rugby

We’ve seen some key political milestones:

No one pays income tax on the first £10,000 they earn

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The Voice

Sunday extras open thread: From Christian humanism to live jazz

By The Voice | Sun 5th October 2014 - 10:30 am

Thanks to everyone who joined us for the LDV Awards evening yesterday. So what will be the fun events today?

There is a very full programme on the fringe today – from promoting healthy lifestyles to the Gibraltar reception, from cycling to the future of the BBC, with several sessions on various environmental issues. The RSPCA is offering beer and curry, and there will be live jazz at the Azerbaijan reception.

Do let us all know about any events you went to, or any worth dropping in for.

How to find out what is happening

You can view or download the directory, which …

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The Voice

Nick Clegg’s conference rally speech: “We may be the underdogs but we have the values, beliefs and resilience to win”

By The Voice | Sun 5th October 2014 - 9:00 am

“This is the fight of our lives” – that was the message from Nick Clegg at last night’s conference rally. You can watch it here:

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The Voice

Sunday debates open thread: From first aid to child abuse via crime and public services

By The Voice | Sun 5th October 2014 - 8:30 am

Thanks to everyone who contributed to yesterday’s open thread. Please add your reports, comments and recommendations on today’s business in the main hall below, sticking to things that are happening today.

This will be the first full day of action in the splendid auditorium here at the SECC. Expect a full house for the debates on Welfare Reform and Public Services. In between, why not check out today’s Extras thread (fringes and everything else) which we will be posting at 10.30am?

So what is happening today at Conference?

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The Voice

Saturday extras open thread: Conference Rally and the LDV Awards

By The Voice | Sat 4th October 2014 - 10:30 am

We hope you’ve spotted the open thread on the action taking place in the main auditorium today. In comparison, this thread is for you to talk about fringe meetings, the exhibition and all the other things going on around the main business.

The fringe kicks off today with a few events at lunchtime organised by CentreForum, Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary and Liberal Left. But the main events follow the Conference Rally which starts at 6.30pm in the main auditorium. After that you have a fairly limited choice of fringe meetings, probably because people tend to spend the early part of …

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The Voice

Saturday debates open thread: Welcome to Glasgow

By The Voice | Sat 4th October 2014 - 8:30 am

Whether you are physically in Glasgow or are following what is happening from home, this is your place to talk about the public face of the Conference – in other words, all the debates and speeches that are going on in the main auditorium.  Please use the comments below to add your reports on policy and constitutional debates or to draw readers’ attention to ones in the pipeline.

We will be running a similar thread each day, so please confine your comments today to what is actually happening today. Tomorrow’s instalment will appear at 8.30am tomorrow morning.

We will also be running a thread each day on fringes, so use that one for anything going on outside the main show.

So what is happening today at Conference?

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The Voice

Clegg: May’s comms data claim “one of most misleading and outrageous platform speeches I’ve heard”

By The Voice | Thu 2nd October 2014 - 11:15 am

On Call Clegg this morning, Nick Clegg said he’d written a strongly worded letter to Theresa May demanding an apology after her claim in her speech to the Conservative Conference that the Liberal Democrats had put children at risk by vetoing the Communications Data Bill.

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The Voice

Lib Dem Voice at Conference: our events and what else we’re up to…

By The Voice | Thu 2nd October 2014 - 10:30 am

As well as covering the Lib Dem conference, we’re hosting a handful of events in Glasgow. We hope readers who are there will want to come along and enjoy the following…

LibDemVoice Awards 2014

Saturday 4th October, from 10pm (Crowne Plaza, Castle 3)
The nominations are in – check out the array of awards on offer here – voting will be decided by party members through our pre-conference survey. Put on your glad rags and enjoy the relaxed rivalry of our annual awards.

“Who Wants to be Party President?”

Sunday 5th October, 1-2pm (Crowne Plaza, Castle 2)
Your chance to hear from and quiz the candidates in the contest to succeed Tim Farron as Party President. Chaired by former Party President Baroness Diana Maddock, all four candidates – Sal Brinton, Daisy Cooper, Linda Jack and Liz Lynne – will be there to make their pitch for your vote and to field your questions.

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The Voice

Hannah Thompson interviewed on Sky News about revenge porn

By The Voice | Tue 30th September 2014 - 3:59 pm

Sky News covered the issue of revenge porn.One of the most prominent campaigners for a change in the law is our own Hannah Thompson.  At 7:17 this morning, she found herself sitting on the sofa talking to Eamonn Holmes about her experience. Her advice to anyone else who had been abused in this way? To realise it’s not their fault.

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The Voice

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

By The Voice | Sun 28th September 2014 - 1:03 pm

7 ver 4 fullMany thanks to the 16,100  visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

English devolution – with maps (95 comments) by George Potter

Salmond’s bizarre public dig at critical commentator Torrance shows Scotland had a lucky escape (22 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Paddy Ashdown warns of national civil unrest as gap between Westminster elite and people grows (61 comments) by Caron Lindsay

By-election update: 47.2% swing in Guildford (45 comments) by ALDC

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The Voice

Liberal Democrats have coalition “wobble”

By The Voice | Sat 27th September 2014 - 4:16 pm

highlands tmThat got your attention, didn’t it?

The Liberal Democrats nearly walked out of the coalition this week.

That would be the Coalition that runs Highland Council, where we are currently have 13 Councillors and share  power in a rainbow coalition with 31 SNP and 8 Labour members. This week, there was a possibility for a while that we would walk away from that Coalition and form a new one with the independents, with whom we had been in power before the previous council election.

Liberal Democrat Group Leader David Alston explained to the Inverness Courier what it was all about:

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The Voice

Josh Mason selected for Redcar

By The Voice | Sat 27th September 2014 - 9:05 am

Josh Mason RedcarRedcar Liberal Democrats have selected their local party Chair and Deputy Leader of their council group Josh Mason to fight the seat at the General Election. Current Liberal Democrat MP Ian Swales announced in July that he was standing down.

From Ian Swales’ website:

Local man Josh, who is chair of the party, has worked very closely with Ian for the past 4 years supporting his campaigns for jobs, on flooding, against intrusive wind turbines, saving post offices and for better use of Redcar Hospital. Josh also sits on the board of Coast and Country Housing, is a local school governor, and represents Redcar’s Zetland Ward as deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats on Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council. Josh has spent the last four years campaigning hard against council waste. He has led calls to freeze council tax for the last three years and called for George Dunning’s resignation. Josh strongly opposed the council’s Draft Local Plan and has repeatedly campaigned for action to be taken on TunedIn, the council’s failing new youth facility.

Ian Swales described 26 year old Josh as “an outstanding talent of the next generation.” He has represented Zetland ward on the Council since 2011 and  is currently the spokesperson on culture, leisure and tourism.

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The Voice

Local campaigner Anthony Smith selected to fight Heywood and Middleton by-election

By The Voice | Thu 25th September 2014 - 9:38 am

Anthony SmithLiberal Democrats in Heywood and Middleton have selected local campaigner Anthony Smith to be the party’s candidate in the by-election on 9 October, brought about by the death of the incumbent Labour MP Jim Dobbin.

Rochdale Online reports:

Mr Smith has lived in Heywood and Middleton for most of his life.

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The Voice

Nick Clegg’s message for Rosh Hashanah 2014

By The Voice | Wed 24th September 2014 - 4:35 pm

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The Voice

Senior Liberal Democrats sign letter praising former FA inclusion adviser Edward Lord after his abrupt sacking

By The Voice | Tue 23rd September 2014 - 2:53 pm

Earlier this month, Edward Lord, who until last Thursday sat on the FA’s Inclusion Advisory Board, criticised the FA for not taking inclusion and diversity seriously enough. In an interview with the Telegraph on 3rd September, he said:

The public and the rest of the sport industry are getting fed up with football’s inability to tackle discrimination in the game.  Most other governing bodies have really embraced the need for change, to make their sports more inclusive. It always seems as though football is lagging behind. The FA must take action when participants so flagrantly breach their rules against discrimination.

He was referring in part to the fact that the FA took no action against Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore when his highly sexist emails were published.

Last Thursday, the FA sacked him from his role on the Inclusion Advisory Board. You have to wonder what this says about their actual commitment to tackling discrimination. Their statement was uncompromising:

It is not about what Edward has stated publicly, but a matter and question of conduct and respect for colleagues. The group collectively felt that all trust in Edward, due to his repeated failure to work in the spirit of collaboration, had broken down irretrievably.

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The Voice

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

By The Voice | Sun 21st September 2014 - 4:30 pm

7 ver 4 fullMany thanks to the 23,200  visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

What do you think will be the result of the Scottish independence referendum? Your predictions, please? (68 comments) by Stephen Tall

Yes Scotland is a bit late to realise that Wings over Scotland is bad news (28 comments) by Caron Lindsay AGAIN

++Mike Hancock MP quits Lib Dems (7 comments) by The Voice

Note to agents: do not publish anything you may learn at postal vote opening (6 comments) by Alex Foster. Another oldie from 2010

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The Voice

++Breaking news: Alex Salmond resigns as First Minister of Scotland

By The Voice | Fri 19th September 2014 - 4:29 pm

As I write Alex Salmond is holding a press conference where he is announcing his resignation as First Minister of Scotland and (again) as leader of the Scottish National Party.

While his cause is not one that is endorsed much here on Liberal Democrat Voice, he has clearly brought his party and the independence movement a very long way indeed. That is an achievement to give credit for, even if we rather wish he hadn’t.

So the thread below is open for your comments on Salmond’s contribution to politics, and it wouldn’t be entirely inappropriate to lean more towards tributes than we …

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The Voice

Senior Liberal Democrats react as Scots vote to stay in UK

By The Voice | Fri 19th September 2014 - 8:31 am

The sovereign will of the Scottish people, by a margin of, give or take a bit, 55%-45 %, is to stay in the UK. In voting No, they put their trust in David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg to deliver more powers to the Scottish Parliament.

Here’s how senior Liberal Democrats reacted. First,  Nick Clegg:

I’m absolutely delighted the Scottish people have taken this momentous decision to safeguard our family of nations for future generations.

In a dangerous and uncertain world I have no doubt we are stronger, safer, and more prosperous together than we ever could be apart.

But a vote against independence was clearly not a vote against change and we must now deliver on time and in full the radical package of newly devolved powers to Scotland.

At the same time, this referendum north of the border has led to a demand for constitutional reform across the United Kingdom as people south of the border also want more control and freedom in their own hands rather than power being hoarded in Westminster.

So this referendum marks not only a new chapter for Scotland within the UK but also a new chapter of constitutional renewal across the UK.

Willie Rennie:

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The Voice

++ Mike Hancock MP quits Lib Dems

By The Voice | Thu 18th September 2014 - 11:41 pm

mike hancockMike Hancock, elected as Lib Dem MP for Portsmouth South in 2010 but suspended from the party following allegations of sexual harassment made by a constituent, has resigned from the party, according to the Independent:

(Hancock) spent almost five years denying that he had sexually harassed a vulnerable constituent until eventually he admitted in court that he had behaved in a way that made her “feel deeply uncomfortable and discriminated against”.

He was suspended from the Liberal Democrats’ parliamentary group and lost his seat on Portsmouth Council. The party has

…

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The Voice

Scottish independence referendum: open thread…

By The Voice | Thu 18th September 2014 - 11:25 pm

No yes scotland photo by kyoshi masamunePolls closed at 10pm in the referendum which will decide if Scotland remains within the United Kingdom. The final opinion poll of the campaign – YouGov’s, released an hour ago – points to a 54% No, 46% Yes result. Within a few hours we’ll know how accurate that forecast is.

Certainly those involved in the Better Together camp seem confident of victory. After all the tension of the last fortnight, it might all prove to be something of an anti-climax: a narrow but decisive confirmation …

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The Voice

Nick Clegg’s statement on David Haines’ murder: Islamic State an affront to every peace loving Muslim in the world

By The Voice | Sun 14th September 2014 - 1:11 pm

Nick Clegg has made the following statement about David Haines’ murder:

The barbaric murder of David Haines is a crime of the most horrendous kind.

My thoughts at this time are with the family of David Haines who have experienced something no family should ever have to go through.

This murderous organisation calls itself Islamic State.

But it is not a state, it is a brutal terrorist outfit whose actions are an affront to every peace loving Muslim around the world.

No religion could possibly justify such grotesque acts.

The British Government will not rest until these killers face justice.

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The Voice

In the next month 19 seats will short-list their wannabe Lib Dem MPs

By The Voice | Sat 13th September 2014 - 5:00 pm

Lib Dems winning hereHere’s the full list of selection contests in the coming month available for Lib Dems on the approved parliamentary candidates’ list, together with the closing date for applications.

The following seats have selections in progress and are currently advertising for candidates:

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The Voice

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

By The Voice | Sat 13th September 2014 - 1:00 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 7 days:

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The Voice

Catch-up LDVideo: Nick Clegg hails “a manifesto for the next generation”

By The Voice | Sat 13th September 2014 - 12:00 pm

It ended up being buried by this week’s news from Scotland and the Royal Baby – but the Lib Dem pre-manifesto was launched this week. You can read Stephen Tall’s initial take on it here and watch Nick Clegg hail it as “a manifesto for the next generation” in this video:

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The Voice

Lib Dem MEP Catherine Bearder on Lord Hill’s EU appointment: “A victory for British influence in Europe”

By The Voice | Wed 10th September 2014 - 4:00 pm

Catherine Bearder - Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0When David Cameron appointed Lord (Jonathan) Hill, an influential but anonymous Tory peer more used to operating in the background, the fear was he’d be sidelined by new European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker – especially after David Cameron’s attempt to veto Juncker’s candidacy. The portfolio for paper-clips (or trombones as they’d be known in Brussels) or some such. But, as ITV News reports:

In fact he’s been given one of the big economic jobs, and perhaps the one best suited to a UK Commissioner: financial services. Given London’s dominance and the EU’s known desire to clamp-down on everything from bonuses to a Financial Transaction Tax, this could hardly be better. It has long been the UK’s view that financial services regulation is best, where possible, left to the domestic regulator, and we can expect Lord Hill to take policy very much in that direction.

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The Voice

LDVideo: “Hypocrites, idealists and liars – can politics be sincere?” – watch Shirley Williams debate with George Galloway and Peter Oborne

By The Voice | Wed 10th September 2014 - 11:58 am

Recently, Shirley Williams took part in a debate held by the Institute of Arts and Ideas, on the subject of sincerity in politics. Also participating were George Galloway, Peter Oborne and Philip Collins, speechwriter to Tony Blair.

We must confess to not yet having had the time to watch the whole thing but we like what we have seen, like the bit when Shirley Williams takes Galloway to task for misquoting her and he, who had been in a massive rant about how politicians were a bunch of liars, was forced to admit he’d been exaggerating to make his point.

Shirley talks about how the media contribute to false perceptions of politicians, giving an example of how someone said to her that they could never vote for her because she was all for state education yet sent her son to Eton. Shirley doesn’t have a son.

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