Category Archives: LibLink

For highlighting articles by Lib Dems that have appeared elsewhere in the media.

LibLink: Paul Tyler on the need for electoral reform – not new boundaries

By The Voice | Fri 30th September 2016 - 12:25 pm

In the wake of the latest boundary commission proposals, Lord (Paul) Tyler has been writing in the Western Morning News emphasising the need for electoral reform, rather than boundary tinkering:

LibLink: Tim Farron: Labour under Corbyn can’t be decent opposition – so it’s up to me

By NewsHound | Sun 25th September 2016 - 2:48 pm

Tim Farron has been writing in the Independent about how the Liberal Democrats are the only party capable of providing decent opposition to the Conservatives following the re-election of Jeremy Corbyn:

If one child was lifted out of poverty by Blair, that would be a progressive legacy. But what will Corbyn’s legacy be? At this rate, to render Labour so unelectable that successive Tories will be able to play pass the parcel with the keys to Number 10.

Perhaps the Corbynistas can afford such generosity to the Tories, but the people I grew up with in towns such as Preston can’t. Self-righteous, ideological purity doesn’t buy food, pay the rent or provide the training that might lead to a better life.

Tagged the independent and tim farron | 46 Comments

LibLink: Tim Farron: The Lib Dems are fighting to keep Britain open, tolerant and united

By NewsHound | Sat 24th September 2016 - 11:43 am

There was a big difference between Tim Farron’s frst two conference speeches as leader. The first came 3 months after a brutal general election at a time of existential crisis for the party. The second, at a time of existential crisis for the country, enabled him to set out our party’s mission: to fight for the values we hold dear and not to let the Tories away with 25 years of untrammelled rule while Labour fiddle on the sidelines..

He’s written about that for PoliticsHome.

I said on the night of my election as Liberal Democrat leader: “Our survival, revival, our rebirth, our rebuild will happen in communities in councils in common rooms, away from the stuffy corridors of Westminster.

“Step by step, we will change people’s lives for the better and as we do that we will regain their trust.”

This is happening and you can see the results for yourself. I’m not getting ahead of myself but adding to our results in May’s local elections, when we had the best results in a decade, this shows we have started to turn the corner.

Some of the commentators will do what they always do and use up ink talking about our demise; but like we have shown many times in the past, they are wrong and we will show that again.

Just take the case of the byelection in Sheffield. Nearly two weeks ago our team in Sheffield delivered a local and purely liberal message and it worked. They campaigned from dusk till dawn and won. But where was Labour?

16 Comments

LibLink: Cadan ap Tomos on the young and the voiceless in Wales

By Mary Reid | Mon 12th September 2016 - 6:08 pm

Cadan ap Tomos is the Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesperson for young people, equalities and the Welsh language, and is a former adviser to Welsh Lib Dem Assembly Members. He has written a post for the Institute for Welsh Affairs with the title “The young and the voiceless?“.

He writes:

“Young people are the future.” An increasingly-used and well-meaning phrase that those in the political bubble will have heard more than once. Yet as well-meaning as it is, to an actual young person like me it’s one of the most irritating clichés of modern politics.

Condemning young people as merely the ‘future’ completely ignores the

…

Tagged cadan ap tomos and young people | Leave a comment

LibLink: Nick Clegg – Why Brexit, the junior doctors and Apple tax are all connected

By The Voice | Thu 8th September 2016 - 9:39 am

Nick Clegg’s weekly column in the Evening Standard is back following the summer break, and in this week’s Nick sees a link between three of the big news stories of recent weeks:

The junior doctors’ dispute is in part a casualty of focus-group policy-making. The Conservatives discovered — unsurprisingly — that the public, when asked, want a “seven-day NHS”. So they entangled themselves in an increasingly bitter dispute to unpick the existing contractual arrangements governing junior doctors to deliver that promise, even though there is precious little evidence that the old contract was the impediment to a seven-day service in the first place.

13 Comments

LibLink: Tim Farron: The Lib Dems will fight Brexit. Labour is not doing its job

By NewsHound | Wed 7th September 2016 - 1:36 pm

Tim Farron is popping up everywhere today. You’d think that this was co-ordinatd or something.

He’s written for us about his plan for Britain and Europe. He was on Good Morning Britain before dawn, Radio 5 Live, the Today programme.

He’s also gone and pitched a massive great marquee on Labour’s lawn in this article for the Guardian.

Labour, he says, are all over the place.

For Labour, it is still deciding whether it’s even a pro-European party. Owen Smith has made clear he wants it to be, but Jeremy Corbyn’s ambivalence was plain for all to see in the referendum campaign, and he has already made clear he wants to see the Brexit process get underway.

If they can’t or won’t hold the Government to account in the way that is required, the Liberal Democrats will. And if you think that’s unlikely, you might want to look back to the last session of the Scottish Parliament where it was the wee Lib Dem group that scored most forced changes in SNP government policy. Don’t ever underestimate us:

Tagged brexit, eu, the guardian and tim farron | 7 Comments

LibLink: Willie Rennie: Why Sturgeon no longer has my backing over Brexit

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 2nd September 2016 - 10:45 am

In June, Nicola Sturgeon erected a very big tent as she said she was going to explore all options to ensure Scotland’s continuing place in the EU, given the huge Remain majority north of the border.

Since then, SNP ministers seem to have narrowed the options to independence. They are talking about nothing else. Mike Russell, a man who spent 7 years as education secretary upsetting people, has been appointed as Brexit minister. It’s not the best appointment to a job that needs finesse and diplomacy.

Sturgeon, says Willie Rennie in an article for the Scotsman, has broken the …

Tagged eu referendum, independence and Scotland | 7 Comments

LibLink: William Wallace – Yorkshire needs its own voice ahead of Brexit talks

By The Voice | Thu 4th August 2016 - 11:00 am

William Wallace has been writing for the Yorkshire Post, to mark the celebration of Yorkshire Day earlier this week:

In David Cameron’s response to the referendum result, he announced that the Government would consult the Scots, the Welsh and Northern Ireland administrations throughout the negotiations, as well as ‘other regional centres of power’ – by which he mainly meant London.

Theresa May has made a demonstration of that commitment by making early visits to Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. But who would she come to consult in northern England? Will she even feel any need to do so?

3 Comments

LibLink: Elaine Bagshaw: Turning things round in Tower Hamlets

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 30th July 2016 - 9:30 am

Last month, Liberal Democrat Expand launched with an ambitious plan for the party to widen its net, to work in those areas where we had disappeared.

After the devastating election result last year, one of the first people back into the fray was Elaine Bagshaw, who had to run in a by-election for Mayor in Tower Hamlets.

Since then, she has built a team that is out there on the streets several times a week building an organisation from the ground up.

She writes about what she’s been doing on the Liberal Democrat Expand website:

The first has been about being brave and changing the mindset about “no go” areas. Wards that we were told would never vote Lib Dem had actually never been asked. I’m still shocked that in some places people won’t go and knock on council houses because apparently “they aren’t our people”. We definitely haven’t found this to be the case in Tower Hamlets. From a London perspective, it’s a foolish way to approach things as people move so often. At one point in Tower Hamlets 25% the electoral roll would change every time a new one was issued.

My other issue with “no go” areas is that for us to be in majority government we absolute have to win in places like Poplar & Limehouse and other areas that we dismiss as ‘not our territory’. Poplar & Limehouse is a passion project of mine partly for this reason but also because it’s in these areas that people need Lib Dems the most. Every time we write-off an area we write-off the people in it and that’s not a narrative we should be signed up to.

Tagged elaine bagshaw and tower hamlets | 5 Comments

LibLink: Alistair Carmichael: May’s legacy on immigration detention is callous and cold

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 28th July 2016 - 3:30 pm

Alistair Carmichael has written an article for the Times Red Box website in which he slams Theresa May’s record on immigration detention:

May’s legacy on immigration detention is callous and cold
writes @acarmichaelmp https://t.co/x3WCyO4ck9 pic.twitter.com/AvnWHPpoMR

— Red Box (@timesredbox) July 28, 2016

32,000 people is half the population of my home town.

He explains why immigration detention is so bad:

Tagged Alistair Carmichael, immigration and times red box | 5 Comments

Tim and Vince write for the Times on the need for ministers to provide leadership on Brexit strategy

By NewsHound | Fri 1st July 2016 - 2:49 pm

Tim Farron and Vince Cable have written for the Times’ Red Box website setting out what they think should happen in negotiations with the EU and in economic strategy as we face a self-induced Brexit recession.

As Nick Clegg said before the referendum, so called Project Fear was understating the impact Brexit would have. We are also suffering a void of leadership and some very unrealistic thinking from the Brexit camp who, as we discovered, didn’t really have a plan.

We can’t hang about, they say:

Business and investors won’t wait around forever to see leadership.  Many first tier organisations will simply pack their bags and go unless they see a path ahead.  Meanwhile our smaller businesses, and particularly those in high risk/ high innovation sectors will feel the squeeze as bank lending dries up as it did in 2008.

Two things need to be done. You get the feeling this was filed before yesterday’s extraordinary events:

The first can only be done by leaders of Leave – those who wish to lead us into the new unknown – and in particular, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove.  They must now show his vision for the UK and provide a clear plan for Britain’s relationship with the EU.  To reassure the market they, and other potential prime ministers, need to make clear that membership of the single market is the priority ask for any negotiations.  Businesses need to know that, whatever else, their key relationships will not have to fundamentally change.

It will require real leadership, rather than populist platitudes.  It may mean securing a deal which pleases no one and does not address many of the concerns raised by leave voters about immigration and freedom of movement.  Leading is about making choices, it’s now time for Boris and Gove to tell us theirs.

The second urgent priority must be the responsibility of the current government.  There is now every likelihood of a Brexit recession.  If the government acts now, by abandoning its already unnecessary financial straitjacket and allowing capital investment and stimulus support to flow into precarious parts of our economy, we might avoid the worst impacts on jobs and livelihoods. The economy could be stimulated through the Network Rail Capital Project and local authorities being allowed to borrow to build houses. The £250bn the governor of the Bank of England has put aside could be put into the Funding for Lending and the Regional Growth Fund.

Of primary concern must be our most innovative industries.  Those businesses on the cutting edge are likely to see funding from traditional financial institutions dry up as banks revert to their core business model.  Giving serious financial help and stability to these industries is vital to ensure their long term future in the UK.

The British Business Bank, set up by the Lib Dems in Government, is a crucial part of the support for business that’s needed:

Tagged brexit negotiations, economy, eu referendum, red box, the times, tim farron and vince cable | 14 Comments

LibLink: David Boyle – Tim Farron – history demands you step into the breach and ‘speak for England’

By The Voice | Thu 30th June 2016 - 10:26 am

David Boyle has been writing for the Guardian following the EU referendum result:

I believe that we have to take the referendum result seriously. We can’t just finesse it or constitutionalise it away. We also need to shape a narrative that interprets it in the most liberal way we can. In fact, history may belong to whoever can do that most convincingly.

Now I have my own biases, as a Lib Dem. But, say what you like about my own party, it is one political force that may be united enough to do that. Yet – perhaps for understandable reasons – it spent the first few days of Brexit claiming to speak only for the 48% who voted to remain.

Tagged david boyle and liblink | 5 Comments

LibLink: Jeremy Browne on why Europe fears Brexit

By Mary Reid | Mon 20th June 2016 - 2:19 pm

On City AM, Jeremy Browne has been explaining that Europe fears Brexit because it would unleash forces that could prove impossible to control. He writes:

In Britain, we inevitably focus most on how our departure from the EU would affect the UK. What the other countries in the EU mainly worry about, however, is how it would affect Europe. They are standing back, nervous that any intervention could be open to misinterpretation and be counter-productive, but they watch our referendum with trepidation.

The

…

Tagged eu referendum and jeremy browne | Leave a comment

LibLink: Mark Williams on happiness, which is still ground for punishment in Iran

By Mary Reid | Mon 20th June 2016 - 12:45 pm

Embed from Getty Images

Mark Williams has written an article for The Hill, the Washington based news source. Under the eye-catching headline “Happiness is still ground for punishment in Iran” Mark writes:

A couple of years ago, Western audiences were noticeably shocked at the news that several Iranian youths had been arrested for the “crime” of dancing together and posting a video of themselves celebrating life to the strains of an American pop song called “Happy.” It was one in a long series of vivid reminders of repression in Iran. But unfortunately it was one of only a few that have gained significant traction in the Western media. It left the European and American public with the right idea about the Islamic Republic, but also with a potentially incomplete picture of how serious and how pervasive the problem is.

He explains that the incident took place soon after the reportedly moderate Hassan Rouhani had taken over as President, and there was hope that things would change under his leadership. But hopes were dashed.

Tagged human rights, iran and mark williams | 2 Comments

LibLink: Tim Farron: The EU is bloated and bureaucratic but it just needs reform

By NewsHound | Sat 18th June 2016 - 4:53 pm

You can’t say Tim Farron isn’t brave! He’s written for the chiefest of the Brexity newspapers, the Daily Express.

The comments under his article are in the main as you would expect. When the nicest thing you can see is a comparison to Ashley Peacock from Coronation Street, you know it’s not going down well in some quarters.

However, as we know, commenters do not always reflect the opinion of the majority of readers. We need to win people over to the Remain cause and we’re not going to do that by snuggling up to passionate pro-Europeans.

Here’s what he had to say:

There is no doubt in my mind that to work alongside those countries who share our interests and share our values, we need to remain.

And there is no doubt in my mind that to be the beacon of hope and freedom, in a turbulent and dangerous world, we must vote to remain.

We are a proud nation that stands tall in the world. We are home to freedom, ingenuity, creativity.

He then goes on to tackle the sovereignty issue:

Tagged daily express, eu referendum and tim farron | 18 Comments

Kirsty Williams on supporting teachers, pupils and students: her vision for Welsh education

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 18th June 2016 - 9:55 am

Kirsty Williams has been talking to Wales Online about her plans on education secretary. Here are some of the best bits:

On supporting teachers

She used tact and sensitivity, unlike some education secretaries in Whitehall. You are not going to get anything done in schools without getting teachers onside.

“I think there is some excellent practice,” said Ms Williams.

“I think that there are schools and other education institutions that are doing amazing work and children that are having a great education experience, but my concern is that it is not universal.

“There are too many variables between schools – even between schools that find themselves in the same local authority.

“What I want to do is focus on making sure that good practice, that undoubtedly exists within the system in Wales, is shared and adopted by all schools so all of our children, regardless of where they live, have access to the very best education.

“What I have been struck with in recent weeks is that the profession in many areas does not feel valued and I want to raise the status of the teaching profession.

“We are going to be asking a lot of them, it is they that will make the difference to school standards in Wales, not me in an office in Cardiff Bay – so we need to support them to do the job that we expect of them.”

Curriculum reform

Tagged education, kirsty williams and Wales | Leave a comment

LibLink: Tim Farron – Britain braced for momentous day of decision

By Joe Otten | Tue 14th June 2016 - 11:38 am

Tim Farron writes for the Yorkshire Post today, looking behind the Blue on Blue punch up to see what is at stake for the region.

The leave campaign wants you to forget that voting to leave will endanger our access to the world’s most valuable single market. Over 250,000 jobs in Yorkshire, or almost one in 10, are linked to trade with the EU. I would never suggest these jobs would all vanish if we left, but the fact is Yorkshire remains hugely dependent on trade with

…

Tagged #EURef | 15 Comments

Shirley on peace and economic prosperity that EU offers

By The Voice | Sun 12th June 2016 - 12:20 pm

Shirley Williams has been out and about campaigning for us to stay in the EU in the same way as she campaigned for Scotland to see in the UK. She took part in a question and answer session in Wales based around the question “What has the EU done for us?”

Shirley’s answer was clear. She talked about how the EU had secured the peace in Europe:

The main motivation behind the EU was to end wars in Europe after the horror of two world wars and for 71 years we have not had any wars in the territory covered by the EU governments,

She said that the campaign had become too personal and vicious, deviating from what actually matters:

One aspect of it I deeply regret is that it has been much too personal,” she said. “Much too bitchy and in many ways much too involved in one issue – that is, who is going to be the next Prime Minister of this country.

I think that’s a great pity as this is a very crucial issue – they have been few more crucial since the WW2. Whatever side of the argument we are on it is a travesty and a shame to allow it to become a slanging match between two sides of one party, which is essentially what it has become. The debate has been less impressive than it should have been and we have heard too few voices saying pretty much the same things.

Then she talked of the importance of being in on the discussions, working out with our neighbours how to deal with the huge challenges of the day – and cited the Paris climate change talks as an example of what can be achieved.

Tagged eu referendum and shirley williams | 7 Comments

LibLink: Nick Clegg: Brexit Lords have a cheek to complain about EU democracy

By NewsHound | Sat 11th June 2016 - 10:50 am

Nick Clegg turned to the subject of EU democracy in his Standard column this week.

He was quick to point out the irony of members of the House of Lords castigating the democracy of the EU:

With more than 800 members, the House of Lords is only second to China’s National People’s Congress in size and is about as undemocratic: unique in Europe, its members can revise and amend the laws of the land without anyone actually being elected. It is, in short, an affront to the basic democratic principle that those who make the laws of the land should be elected by those who obey the laws of the land.

Yet this obvious inconsistency appears to have escaped Lord Lawson et al when they berate the EU as “profoundly undemocratic”. I find what they do every day in the House of Lords profoundly undemocratic too.

The rest of our democracy is riddled with faults too:

Similarly, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Chris Grayling and the other Brexit ministers appear to be entirely untroubled that they serve in a Government that garnered no more than 24 per cent of the eligible vote. Such an undemocratic outcome — wielding unchallenged power when three quarters of voters either voted for another party or didn’t vote at all — is, it seems, acceptable to these high priests of democratic virtue.

The truth is that our own democracy is in need of a complete overhaul. Westminster is hopelessly stuck in the past: MPs are not allowed to shake each other’s hands on the parliamentary estate; we can’t call each other by our names and must instead use arcane titles such as “my right honourable friend” or “the gallant and learned gentleman”. We are not allowed to clap in the Commons so we register our approval by manically guffawing and waving papers instead.

The EU has its flaws, but it’s not lack of democracy that causes the problem:

What I would never advocate, however, is that Westminster and Whitehall should be razed to the ground or that we should quit our democratic institutions altogether. Yet that is precisely what Brexiteers are inviting us to do: respond to the flaws in the EU, which are numerous, by turning our backs on it altogether.

Tagged eu referendum, evening standard and nick clegg | 21 Comments

LibLInk: Christine Jardine: A European Journey

By NewsHound | Sat 4th June 2016 - 10:55 am

Scottish Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson Christine Jardine has reflected on the EU referendum as her daughter sets out on a journey round Europe. She thinks back to how her grandmother felt seeing her son go to Normandy – to fight in a war. She imagines her horror and panic when he briefly went missing and was found injured. All this, she argues, amounts to a powerful case to stay in the European Union:

My daughter and her friends have already visited Thiepval, the Normandy beaches, a concentration camp.

They have studied that period of European History which is about to pass from living memory, and regard it as their own, as Europeans.

When they talk of either World War what I hear is not blame or criticism of other nations but a recognition that, as a continent, we screwed up.

And they do not talk in terms of former enemies and allies, but of neighbours, fellow Europeans with whom we are building a common, and better, future.

Tagged eu referendum | 2 Comments

LibLink: Nick Clegg: Beware the brash bluff and bluster of the Brexit sharks

By NewsHound | Wed 25th May 2016 - 2:42 pm

Nick Clegg has taken prominent Leave campaigners to task over their recent pronouncements in his latest Standard column:

He draws an analogy from the iconic tv programme Happy Days:

As the writers of the TV show Happy Days approached their fifth season they were running out of ideas for storylines. So, in the season premiere, they sent the Fonz to Los Angeles where, in a bid to prove his bravery, he put on a pair of water skis and jumped over a shark.

That moment spawned a phrase — “jumping the shark” — which is used to describe the moment when something is taken too far, loses all credibility and makes everyone involved look silly.

In recent weeks, the Brexit campaign has jumped the shark.

He then looks at the wilder pronouncements of Boris, Farage and Penny Mordaunt before turning on an old adversary of his, Dominic Cummings. Nick and Cummings have some pretty serious history. I doubt that they are on each others’ Christmas card lists.

Dominic Cummings, a senior figure in Vote Leave, has suggested that those who believe we should remain in the EU are like the appeasers of the 1930s. Wearing the slightly crazed look of someone who jumps sharks for a living, Cummings told the Commons Treasury Committee that the “conventional wisdom” of today is as misguided as it was then. The fixation with the Nazis among Brexiteers is as historically illiterate as it is revolting.

Cummings has asserted that the Cabinet Secretary, Jeremy Heywood, is running an intimidation scam out of the Cabinet Office, threatening people to toe a pro-European line. I saw the Cabinet Office at work for five years. It is a slightly herbivorous part of the government machine. The notion that it is the Whitehall equivalent of the Sopranos is laughable.

Tagged eu referendum, nick clegg and the standard | 11 Comments

LibLink: Alistair Carmichael on the Extremism Bill

By The Voice | Mon 23rd May 2016 - 6:30 pm

Embed from Getty Images

We have just caught up with an article by Alistair Carmichael in The Independent. The headline itself offers a jolt: “The Extremism Bill means that the Queen’s speech might be the only one you hear from now on”. Writing just before the Queen’s Speech last week he claimed:

This Government still seems wedded to the notion that if you ban something it will go away.They banned psychoactive substances, despite zero evidence that it would reduce harm. They tried banning encryption, making all of our data less secure. Now they are trying to ban “extremist speech” via an Extremism Bill which they will introduce in the Queen’s Speech tomorrow.

Tagged Alistair Carmichael and extremism bill | 8 Comments

LibLink: There’s no way to deny it, the Lib Dems are on the rise again

By NewsHound | Sat 14th May 2016 - 1:15 pm

Last week’s election results show that, overall, the Liberal Democrats are fighting back argues Tom Brake in an article for the Huffington Post.

Our party made the most gains in the English local elections, increasing our share of seats more than any other party, now having 45 more, passionate Councillors working hard for their communities.

We strengthened our support in the liberal heartlands of Eastleigh and Cheltenham. We dominated the results in Southport, Cumbria and in Watford, where we took control of the council. And we gained seats in cities like Hull, Rochdale and Manchester thanks to my fantastic former colleague John Leech, who will provide the only opposition to Labour there.

Up and down the country we’ve seen the green shoots of liberalism grow up in communities disillusioned with an impotent Labour party dubbed as the worst ever Government opposition, and a heartless Conservative Government imposing ideological cuts to valued public services.

Tagged huffington post, liberal democrats #libdemfightback, Scotland, tom brake mp and Wales | 15 Comments

LibLink: Roger Roberts: Forcing teenagers back to war zones another example of Tory inhumanity

By NewsHound | Fri 13th May 2016 - 10:25 am

“Inhumanity” is a word that you should use with caution, but when you are looking at a Government that has no compunction about sending child asylum seekers back to war zones the minute they turn 18, when they may have grown up here and have nothing left to go back to, then they’ve earned it.

Roger Roberts is laying down a marker for the future as this country prepares to take in some unaccompanied child refugees. What will become of them when they turn 18? Will they be sent back to a devastated Syria where they may have no connections, no …

Tagged asylum, child refugees, politics home and roger roberts | 4 Comments

LIbLink: Cathy Bakewell: In the last days of the Housing Bill, peers will fight for equality

By NewsHound | Wed 11th May 2016 - 10:53 am

Liberal Democrat peer Cathy Bakewell has written an article for Politics Home in which she outlines the work that Lib Dem peers are doing to try to make the Government’s Housing Bill less bad.

Lib Dems have been leading the charge on many aspects of the fight, and three of the five remaining obstacles to the legislation passing are Lib Dem amendments. These are measures to make new homes more flood resilient and low carbon, and to give communities a Neighbourhood Right of Appeal when a council deviates from their local plan.

These things have become sticking points for us, because as we know from our local activism it’s not just the quantity of housing that desperately needs attention, but also the quality.

It’s no good ploughing ahead and building thousands of homes which make future homeowners liable to flooding and responsible for higher energy bills, when simple and cost effective changes could be made at the building stage to protect them. We need more homes, but they must be sustainable.

As well as the impact on individuals, it’s the impact on the environment that matters. If we are serious about making the Paris Agreement a reality and tackling climate change, then we absolutely have to reduce the carbon emissions from homes, which are huge contributors.

Tagged cathy bakewell, housing, lib dem lords and politics home | Leave a comment

WATCH: Richard Younger-Ross’s pitch to be Devon & Cornwall’s Police and Crime Commissioner

By The Voice | Sat 30th April 2016 - 1:55 pm

Here is former Teignbridge MP Richard Younger-Ross being interviewed as candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner. Find out what he had to say about why he thought he was the best person for the job, what his priorities would be and how he tackled the “why should people vote for you when you don’t think the role should exist?” question.

Tagged pcc elections 2016 and richard younger-ross | Leave a comment

LibLink: Kirsty Williams’ pitch for Welsh Assembly votes

By NewsHound | Fri 29th April 2016 - 10:25 am

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams has set out the party’s stall in an article for Wales Online.

First of all, she says that devolution hasn’t delivered what it should have done. She highlights the key problems:

The Labour Welsh Government is the longest surviving government in Europe. It is bankrupt of ideas, tired and with flawed priorities – 17 years in power, yet no vision for Wales’ future.

One needn’t look any further than Labour’s crusade to ban the use of e-cigarettes, all while NHS waiting lists continue to grow and health services are failing.

People, rightly, expect their Welsh Government to deliver effective public services and economic stability. Yet NHS waiting lists in Wales remain the longest in the UK, our schools’ standards have fallen in the international league tables and our economy continues to lag behind that of our counterparts.

She wants a Parliament that listens to people:

Tagged kirsty williams, Wales, welsh assembly elections 2016 and welsh liberal democrats | 3 Comments

LibLink: David Laws – The road to student retention

By The Voice | Thu 28th April 2016 - 12:12 pm

David Laws has been writing for Times Higher Education focussing on the worrying number of disadvantaged students dropping out of higher education:

The UK government’s target to double the number of disadvantaged young people going to university by 2020 is laudable. Access to higher education offers a platform for young people to succeed and is central to establishing a meritocratic society.

Nevertheless, while access provides the foundations, it doesn’t build the house. If we’re really serious about meritocracy, we have to be ever vigilant about what happens to young people once they are at university too.

Tagged david laws, higher education and mental health | 11 Comments

LibLink: Alistair Carmichael: The child refugee vote brought shame on the government

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 26th April 2016 - 5:03 pm

Alistair Carmichael has written a coldly furious article for the New Statesman about the vote last night when the Government defeated the Lords’ Amendment to the Immigration Bill which would have seen this country do its duty and take a relatively small number of child refugees.

Just last week, we saw the Government feign compassion to draw away attention from the calls for accepting 3,000 children, through their own announcement which completely sidestepped the issue of child refugees in danger within Europe, where Europol has estimated that as many as 10,000 unaccompanied children on the continent have disappeared, and will be spread out over four years to water down an already disappointing figure. They then went one step further by implanting a clause meaning that this will be the last time the amendment to accept 3,000 child refugees can be debated. It’s pretty hard to look away from the simple truth that the Government simply doesn’t care about these children.

We can get disappointed by the many wrong decisions the Conservatives are making, be they selfish, misguided or unproductive, but it’s the decisions like the one taken yesterday which really show the Government at its worst and really make me and so many others across our country downright angry. Like cuts to tax credits or employment support allowance, failing to help these refugees is directly putting lives in grave danger.

Providing a safe home for these children, separated from their families and in desperate circumstances, was easily achievable, he said:

However it’s imperative that, as politicians, we do care and when this year alone approximately 171,000 refugees decided water was safer than land and made the treacherous crossing across the Mediterranean, it’s our duty to provide a sustainable solution to deliver help for the most vulnerable. The amendment which was voted on last night would have allowed a small number of child refugees into the UK, a number which our country could have easily handled. The Liberal Democrats carried out a consultation with experts and charities to provide a blueprint for resettling Europe’s child refugees and the clear evidence showed that it was possible. Members from across the House united to try to save these children, having been profoundly moved by their terrifying ordeal.

Tagged Alistair Carmichael, new statesman, refugee crisis and tim farron | 5 Comments

LibLink: David Steel: We need liberalism more than ever

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 22nd April 2016 - 8:48 am

David Steel has written an article for the Scotsman explaining why liberalism is needed more than ever in the face of both domestic and international challenges. He praises both Tim Farron and Willie Rennie and urges liberals to “re-assert themselves and support them.”

His comments about the SNP also struck a bit of a chord with me. It’s not just that they stitched up the Scottish Parliament with their majority, giving themselves control of the committees so that they couldn’t be effectively scrutinised, it’s their general attitude to politics. They are reminiscent of Labour in the ’80s and ’90s, with such a sense of entitlement to power and objection to even the mildest, most evidence based criticism. Yesterday, we had three shouty nationalists in the space of a couple of hours in our office. Clearly such intimidatory tactics are designed to spook us. Actually, we enjoy the fact that they are clearly rattled by the scale and success of our campaign. It is very like the days in Derbyshire when Labour thugs would shout at you as you delivered leaflets and it’s sad to see that kind of politics.

Anyway, back to David’s article. He wrote:

Tagged david steel, liberalism, the scotsman, tim farron and willie rennie | 16 Comments

Op-eds

Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy (Josh Babarinde)
Mathew on Monday: “We need to be bold” (Mathew Hulbert)
As a party we must be better defined for the 2029 general election (Chris Bowers)
From national averages to local realities: inequality in our communities (Tom Walker)
We do have a two tier system, Part 2 (Neil Hickman)

Advert

Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy

Alison Suttie writes: Thank you to our volunteers

What’s going on with party strategy?

A strange but welcome feeling

Category Archives: LibLink

LibLink: Paul Tyler on the need for electoral reform – not new boundaries

LibLink: Tim Farron: Labour under Corbyn can’t be decent opposition – so it’s up to me

LibLink: Tim Farron: The Lib Dems are fighting to keep Britain open, tolerant and united

LibLink: Cadan ap Tomos on the young and the voiceless in Wales

LibLink: Nick Clegg – Why Brexit, the junior doctors and Apple tax are all connected

LibLink: Tim Farron: The Lib Dems will fight Brexit. Labour is not doing its job

LibLink: Willie Rennie: Why Sturgeon no longer has my backing over Brexit

LibLink: William Wallace – Yorkshire needs its own voice ahead of Brexit talks

LibLink: Elaine Bagshaw: Turning things round in Tower Hamlets

LibLink: Alistair Carmichael: May’s legacy on immigration detention is callous and cold

Tim and Vince write for the Times on the need for ministers to provide leadership on Brexit strategy

LibLink: David Boyle – Tim Farron – history demands you step into the breach and ‘speak for England’

LibLink: Jeremy Browne on why Europe fears Brexit

LibLink: Mark Williams on happiness, which is still ground for punishment in Iran

LibLink: Tim Farron: The EU is bloated and bureaucratic but it just needs reform