Author Archives: The Voice

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

By The Voice | Sun 16th March 2014 - 2:45 pm

Many thanks to the 15,300 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

17 policies on which Labour and the Lib Dems now agree (21 comments) by Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s speech to Spring Conference in full (71 comments) by Stephen Tall

Five reasons why Liberal Democrats are leaving York in good spirits (30 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Opinion: My resignation from Federal Conference Committee (6 comments) by Kelly-Marie Blundell

By-election update: Lib Dems take two seats from Tories in Canterbury and Ludlow (21 comments) by ALDC

Suspicions of Lib-Labbery (44 comments) by Joe …

Posted in News and Site news | Leave a comment

Alistair Carmichael on Chris Huhne: he put the ‘T’ in Cancun

By The Voice | Sun 16th March 2014 - 11:18 am

How, you might ask, did we fail to cover this story this week? In a speech to lobby journalists, Lib Dem chief whip turned Scottish secretary Alistair Carmichael regaled them with this story of the inner workings of the whips office, as the tuition fees vote neared:

‘One thing which I was thinking about recently was that Chris Huhne, in the interests of tackling climate change, had managed to be at some big summit in Cancun, so was not available to take part in the division on the day

Posted in News | Tagged Alistair Carmichael, cancun and chris huhne | 20 Comments

A longer listen for the weekend: Can liberalism be better advanced by Lib Dems or Tories?

By The Voice | Sat 15th March 2014 - 11:07 am

That was the topic up for debate at a fringe event a week ago at Spring Conference, hosted jointly by the Electoral Reform Society and Liberal Reform.

Lisa Smart, PPC for Hazel Grove, chaired the discussion, with Lib Dem MP Jeremy Browne, Conservative and Director of Bright Blue Ryan Shorthouse, and the ERS’s Nick Tyrone completing the panel.

As Jeremy indicates at the beginning of his remarks, he can answer the question shortly: the Lib Dems are the proper home for liberals. But fortunately for the audience he elaborated a little, including some challenges that he thinks the party has to meet if it is to remain at the liberal cutting edge.

Posted in News | Tagged electoral reform society, featured, jeremy browne, liberal reform, lisa smart, nick tyrone and ryan shorthouse | 46 Comments

Fancy paying for Stephen Gilbert MP to be chucked out of an aeroplane?

By The Voice | Sat 15th March 2014 - 8:47 am

Our MPs get up to all sorts of exploits to raise money for charities in their constituencies, ranging from the eccentric to the utterly crackers. We’ll leave you to judge for yourself where on that spectrum St Austell’s Stephen Gilbert is on. Jumping out of an aeroplane, voluntarily, is not for the faint-hearted.

Two weeks today, at Perranporth Airport, he’ll make a parachute jump to raise money for the Merlin MS Centre at Hewas Water, having been impressed by the support that they offer to local people on a recent visit. He said:

Following a recent visit to the centre in Hewas Water, I decided to do my bit and somehow agreed to jump out of a plane to raise money.

Posted in News | Tagged merlin centre, mps doing crazy stuff for charity and stephen gilbert | 2 Comments

Liblink: Nick Clegg on parental leave, school meals and childcare

By The Voice | Fri 14th March 2014 - 11:06 am

Writing on mumsnet, Nick Clegg describes the Children and Families Act as kick-starting a revolution for a more family-friendly Britain.

Every dot and comma of the Bill puts into law measures that will transform outdated attitudes and systems in Britain. We want to give families like yours more freedom and flexibility to make the choices you want and ensure every child gets the best possible start in life.

So now, thanks to these changes, our parental leave system will no longer be built on the 1950s assumption that when a child is born, mum stays home while dad goes out to work.

Posted in LibLink | 5 Comments

Jeremy Browne questions wisdom of ratchet effect on tax cuts while the deficit remains so high

By The Voice | Thu 13th March 2014 - 12:54 pm

The Huffington Post reports some interesting comments by Jeremy Browne, Lib Dem MP for Taunton Deane and former foreign and home office minister. Browne expresses reservations over campaigns to raise the threshold further as a method of seeking to attract credit for the policy, suggesting that the Lib Dems should do so by reminding voters of the substantial increase that has already taken place.

Here’s an excerpt from the piece:

A former Lib Dem minister has criticised Nick Clegg’s flagship policy of pushing to increase the amount of money people can earn before the pay income tax.

Jeremy Browne, who served as a coalition Foreign Office minister and Home Office minister, said the Lib Dems should be careful not to message to voters there was “money to splash around” given the size of the deficit.

Posted in News | Tagged jeremy browne and tax cuts (Lib Dem) | 17 Comments

Liberal Democrat Spring Conference Photo Gallery: Part 2

By The Voice | Thu 13th March 2014 - 10:25 am

Here are some photos from York taken by the LDV team:

The Yorkshire Contingent on stage at the Glee Club. And is that Jennie Rigg in a DRESS?

Posted in News | Tagged liberal democrat spring conference 2014 | 4 Comments

LDVideo: Chris Davies MEP “UKIP are not there when it matters”

By The Voice | Wed 12th March 2014 - 11:25 am

Chris Davies has been speaking in the European Parliament about the voting record of his UKIP colleagues and how they just don’t turn up for important votes. He also mentioned how one turned up to a vote on e-cigarettes not long after UKIP received a donation from an e-cigarette manufacturer. That, he said, was the price of a UKIP vote.

He called their voting record dire and said that they were well known for taking their money but did precious little to defend the interests they hold dear.

And he did it all in his own inimitable style.

Enjoy.

Posted in Europe / International | Tagged chris davies mep, european elections 2014, european parliament, ldvideo and ukip | 7 Comments

“By the way this orange juice is corked” – Mac on Nick Clegg’s free school lunch plan

By The Voice | Wed 12th March 2014 - 7:24 am

We reported last night on the attacks on Nick Clegg’s plan for free school lunches for infants by the Daily Mail and by former Tory adviser Dominic Cummings – and the Lib Dem counter-attack. Here’s the lighter side of things, courtesy the newspaper’s cartoonist Mac:

Posted in News | Tagged dominic cummings, free school meals and nick clegg | Leave a comment

Lib Dems hit back against free school lunch attacks. Clegg on Mail: “utterly wrong”. Laws on Cummings: “utter balls”

By The Voice | Tue 11th March 2014 - 8:19 pm

Today’s Daily Mail front page was dominated by an attack on the Lib Dem plans to bring in free school lunches for all infants: “Free school meals fiasco,” it screamed.

Nick Clegg quickly refuted the Mail’s attack in a lengthy post on the party’s website – here’s an excerpt:

The Liberal Democrats are never going to be loved in the pages of the Daily Mail: our open, liberal and progressive brand of politics tends to be at odds with their editorial worldview (to put it mildly). However,

…

Posted in News | Tagged david laws, dominic cummings, free school meals, nick clegg and nick harvey | 13 Comments

Bob Crow RIP – Clegg pays tribute

By The Voice | Tue 11th March 2014 - 2:15 pm

Tributes have been paid across the political divides today following the sudden death of Bob Crow. Here’s the BBC report:

General secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union Bob Crow has died. The 52-year-old is believed to have suffered a heart attack and died early on Tuesday morning. … Mr Crow was elected general secretary of the RMT in 2002 following the death of former leader Jimmy Knapp. The BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson said Mr Crow “was, some argue, the most successful union leader in terms of securing jobs and pay for his members”. … In an interview

…

Posted in News | Tagged bob crow | 17 Comments

Jenny Willott on free childcare from 12 months

By The Voice | Tue 11th March 2014 - 9:59 am

Jenny Willott is the Minister for Women, covering for Jo Swinson while she is on maternity leave. In an interview with the Independent on Sunday she said that extending childcare to babies would be expensive but “it may well be that it’s the right thing to do”.

The article points out that there is a “maternity gap” between the end of maternity leave and the point when free childcare kicks in for three year olds. In response Jenny said:

It may well be that that’s something the Government needs to look at. The issue is that it is extremely expensive. It may well be that it’s the right thing to do. But it’s as with every big public spending commitment, it’s a toss-up between if you’ve got the money is that the best thing to put it into or is something else the best thing to put it into.

Posted in News | Tagged childcare, featured and jenny willott | 50 Comments

Conference Photo Gallery Part 1 – What the LDV team did

By The Voice | Mon 10th March 2014 - 5:50 pm

The LDV team had a busy and fun Conference in York. Here are a few of the things we got up to:

Co-editors, hard at work

Thanks to Paul Walter for taking this.

Caron meets Liberal Youth

With Claire Boad, Maelo Manning and Alex White.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged caron lindsay, joe otten, liberal democrat spring conference 2014, nick thornsby and stephen tall | 1 Comment

What the media say about the York Conference, part 3

By The Voice | Mon 10th March 2014 - 9:09 am

Nick Clegg’s speech at the end of conference was covered by some, but by no means all, media outlets – you can read the full text of the speech here, and view a brief extract here. The Independent highlights Lib Dem Conference: ‘Rivals are airbrushing our role in recovery’ warns Nick Clegg,:

In a policy-lite closing speech to the Lib Dem spring conference in York on Sunday, the Deputy Prime Minister signalled the start of the long campaign to next year’s general election by emphasising the party’s achievements in government.

…

Posted in Conference and News | Tagged liberal democrats spring conference 2014 and nick clegg | 4 Comments

Maybe stick to the day job, Lorely?

By The Voice | Sun 9th March 2014 - 8:55 pm

From the Huffington Post:

A Liberal Democrat MP wore a Nigel Farage mask at the party’s conference as she mocked the Ukip leader’s penchant for beer.

Just before Nick Clegg’s appearance, Lorely Burt also mocked a former-Ukip councillor’s claim that this winter’s floods had been brought on by the introduction of gay marriage.

This was not, shall we say, the funniest thing we have ever seen. It wouldn’t, to be honest, have been funny even at the traditional end of Conference late night sing-a-long the Glee Club.

To be fair, though, after an inauspicious start, Lorely went on to make a serious speech, …

Posted in News | Tagged huffington post and lorely burt | 10 Comments

What the media say about the York Conference, part 2

By The Voice | Sun 9th March 2014 - 10:55 am

The Observer carries two major stories about the conference today. They comment on the key messages in Nick Clegg’s Q&A yesterday afternoon under the headline: Lib Dem conference: stuck in the middle – but with whom?:

It is really quite difficult being a Lib Dem these days. In pre-government times, when they were merely the protest party, they could say almost anything that would get them votes. Now, after several years of enjoying power and wanting more, it is all about positioning between two polar opposites while trying at the same time not to lose the party’s own identity.

But in an article headed Northern Lib Dems rebel over cuts the Observer reports that a group of eight Northern Lib Dem MPs, including Tim Farron, have handed Nick Clegg a document titled ‘Grim up North?’

Posted in News | Tagged Danny Alexander, liberal democrats spring conference 2014, nick clegg and norman baker | 2 Comments

LDVideo: Lib Dem election results, predictions and UKIP threat

By The Voice | Sun 9th March 2014 - 8:30 am

On the BBC’s Daily Politics on Friday, Alex Forsyth looked at the Lib Dem fortunes in recent and not-so-recent elections, with predictions for 2014 and 2015 polls. Some familiar faces interviewed, including Tim Farron, Eastleigh’s Lib Dem council leader Keith House, and LDV’s own Stephen Tall…

Posted in News | Tagged bbc daily politics, eatleigh, keith house and stephen tall | Leave a comment

David Cameron to host summit on FGM and forced marriage

By The Voice | Sat 8th March 2014 - 6:15 pm

A good story from today’s Times (£) for International Women’s Day:

David Cameron will play host to Britain’s first Girls’ Summit this summer to galvanise efforts to end female genital mutilation and forced marriage.

The Prime Minister will convene the meeting in July, which will focus on tackling the abuse and oppression of women that is embedded in certain cultures, at home and abroad.

At the top of the agenda will be FGM, which threatens tens of thousands of girls and women in the UK, and forced marriage, whereby many British teenagers disappear from the school roll and, in extreme cases, end

…

Posted in News | Tagged fgm, forced marriage and lynne featherstone | Leave a comment

Tim Farron and Julian Huppert write: Why we need a Digital Bill of Rights

By The Voice | Sat 8th March 2014 - 4:52 pm

Lib Dem MPs Tim Farron and Julian Huppert explain why Britain needs a Digital Bill of Rights…

Momentum is a big force in politics; sometimes an unstoppable force. And this week we’ve seen momentum gathering pace for a change to our surveillance state.

On Tuesday, Nick Clegg set out his plans for change, backed up by a full Obama-style review of our outdated and woefully inadequate surveillance legislation and oversight bodies.

On Wednesday we hosted a lively surveillance discussion in Westminster with Alan Rusbridger, Editor-in-chief of the Guardian, MPs, peers, civil …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged digital bill of rights, featured, julian huppert and tim farron | 4 Comments

What the media say about the York conference, part 1

By The Voice | Sat 8th March 2014 - 10:34 am

ITV reports Lib Dems open conference with ‘attack’ over Europe, where you can also watch a video round-up.

The International Business Times has a more sombre assessment: Cable and Clegg Attack Tories and Ukip:

The rally comes against a bleak background for the party as polls and by-elections show they are running fourth and there is the real possibility they will be humiliated in May’s European elections, thus the focus on the issue in York.

Yet delegates are still in an upbeat mood. The majority have come to terms with the realities of coalition and the fact that

…

Posted in Conference | 13 Comments

Jeanne Tarrant describes her first 50 days as Pastoral Care Officer

By The Voice | Thu 6th March 2014 - 8:56 am

In January, Jeanne Tarrant started as the new Pastoral Care Officer at LDHQ. She introduced herself on here.

A little about me: I previously worked for the Royal College of Midwives as a team manager and a Trade Union Officer. I have extensive experience in negotiations, supporting members through disciplinary action, grievances, supporting individuals in raising concerns including whistleblowing, developing and maintaining relationships with different groups whilst preserving confidentiality and also developing training for shop stewards on the new equality Act 2010 on understanding and challenging various types of behaviour which may adversely affect others and damage working relationships. And

…

Posted in News | Tagged jeanne tarrant and pastoral care officer | 2 Comments

Access to Elected Office Fund for disabled people extended to 2015 and annual limit doubled to £40,000

By The Voice | Wed 5th March 2014 - 3:30 pm

Don’t be afraid of what people see or think of you – try and rise above your disability, keep your chin up and do what you can during the election. Be inspired by what people like the late Lord Ashley of Stoke, Anne Begg and David Blunkett did. I have lost many times over the years, but I don’t give up! At the end of the day people will recognise what you have tried to achieve and admire you for the successes you have achieved.

So says Liberal Democrat candidate David Buxton. David is deaf and has been able to take …

Posted in News | Tagged access to elected office fund, accessbility, david buxton and michael macdonald | 4 Comments

#NickvNigel – We have a date

By The Voice | Wed 5th March 2014 - 9:51 am

It’s just been announced – the date we’ve been waiting for, when Nick Clegg will face Nigel Farage to debate whether Britain should be in or out of the EU.

Nick challenged Nigel two weeks ago on his Call Clegg radio show on LBC.

The debate will actually be televised, on BBC2 and will take place on Wednesday 2 April at 7pm.

Julian Huppert has just been on the BBC News Channel saying that he thinks that Nick will do really well, making the positive case for the European Union. On the two largest parties in British politics, he said:

I’m not surprised the other two parties have refused to take part. David Cameron’s party is completely split and Labour don’t quite know where they are on this. We are the only party who wants to be IN Europe, IN work.

Posted in News | Tagged eu, julian huppert, nick clegg, nickvnigel and nigel farage | 12 Comments

Nick Clegg: “I have to drag the Tories kicking and screaming” to raise tax threshold”

By The Voice | Wed 5th March 2014 - 8:41 am

Nick Clegg took questions from journalists after yesterday’s speech on security and privacy. One of them was on tax, after the reports in the press over the weekend that the Tories were cheekily trying to claim credit for lowering the tax threshold.

Let’s hope that some nice cartoonist has some fun with his comment that he’s had to drag the Tories kicking and screaming into every set of talks on lowering taxes for those on low and middle incomes.

He also said that his recent plea for an extra £500 workers’ bonus had received a frosty reception from the Conservatives.

He said:

And it

…

Posted in News | Tagged nick clegg, tax threshold and workers's bonus | 38 Comments

In the next month 33 seats in Scotland and Wales will short-list their wannabe Lib Dem MPs

By The Voice | Mon 3rd March 2014 - 2:35 pm

Here’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:

Posted in Selection news | Leave a comment

LDVideo: The ladder, the elephant and the bird that flies to the left

By The Voice | Sun 2nd March 2014 - 4:30 pm

Today’s Sunday Politics featured three parliamentarians putting forward new ideas for their party logos. We wonder if they actually tried to find an MP, or whether the BBC just went to Matthew Oakeshott to give him the chance to do his traditional “Let’s get rid of Nick Clegg” pre-Conference spiel.

Anyway, here are the efforts they came up with. I actually think Halfon’s had the best rationale, although I expect a health and safety adviser would have had something to say about unsafe working practices.

Posted in News | Tagged bbc and matthew oakeshott | 3 Comments

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

By The Voice | Sun 2nd March 2014 - 1:45 pm

Many thanks to the 12,781 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Andrew Rawnsley: “The real reason Nick threw the gauntlet down to Nigel” (19 comments) by The Voice

Shirley Williams: “A separate Scotland would be a diminished Scotland, leaving behind a diminished United Kingdom” (46 comments) by The Voice

Two Liberal Democrats on holiday together? They must be plotting to overthrow Nick Clegg.(16 comments) by Newsmoggie

Cameron “to rule out second Coalition” piece in Telegraph. It may be a bluff, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be forced to do it (36 comments) …

Posted in Site news | Leave a comment

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

By The Voice | Sat 1st March 2014 - 8:23 pm

LibDemVoice 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:

Posted in Site news | 1 Comment

How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

By The Voice | Fri 28th February 2014 - 10:25 am

The Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that’s fine, we’re grateful for people taking the time to read the site.

You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are four simple ways:

Posted in Site news | 9 Comments

Photo of the Day: Merkel addresses Parliament in German

By The Voice | Thu 27th February 2014 - 10:00 pm

German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, today delivered an historic address to both Houses of Parliament, hailing Germany’s “close partnership” with the UK, and making it clear she wants Britain to remain a strong voice in Europe.

Who should run the country? The multilingual DPM, the less experienced Mili, or someone who can't work headphones? pic.twitter.com/ALT9vsgGws

— ianpatterson99 (@ianpatterson99) February 27, 2014

Here’s the official photo of Clegg meeting Merkel:

Posted in News | Tagged angela merkel, ed balls, ed miliband and nick clegg | 7 Comments

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Author Archives: The Voice

The Yorkshire Contingent on stage at the Glee Club. And is that Jennie Rigg in a DRESS?

Co-editors, hard at work

Caron meets Liberal Youth

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