Category Archives: LibLink

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

Caron Lindsay

LibLink: David Laws – I still believe the Coalition can last the course

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 18th July 2012 - 3:03 pm

Writing in the Telegraph, David Laws has been giving his thoughts on how Cameron and Clegg can breathe new life into the coalition, not by a new Agreement as he says the one we have is the most effective and bold programme of any peacetime government in the last 100 years. He adds that it’s vital that the Coalition does continue because the consequences of failure for the country would be unpalatable for the country.

Alongside the over-riding priority of the economy and stimulating economic growth, he gives an outline of what the Coalition could achieve over the next two and …

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Link: Christine Jardine – Scottish Lib Dems on the ropes but definitely not down and out

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 18th July 2012 - 11:55 am

Christine Jardine was until recently the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ very own CJ inside Downing Street as special adviser on Scottish affairs. She’s now returning to full time politics in Scotland and is looking towards Westminster and Holyrood elections in 2015 and 2015. She’s started off by writing in yesterday’s Scotsman about what she sees as the way forward for the party in Scotland.

She puts forward a robust defence of the calm professionalism of our ministers, MPs and advisers and argues that we activists need to get out on the doorsteps and take the message of their achievements directly to the voters.

For

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Mary Reid

LibLink: Stephen Williams says MPs should move their money from big banks

By Mary Reid | Tue 17th July 2012 - 3:20 pm

In an article in The Spectator, Stephen Williams argues:

The Libor scandal has shown the UK’s banking sector in its worst light. The public has lost trust in the big banks and are concerned that their politicians are more interested in political point scoring than the urgent task of fixing our broken banking system.

That is why, last year, I joined the Move Your Money campaign, which urges the public to use their consumer power to change the behaviour of the big banks by moving their money, or at least some of it, to ethical, local or mutual financial institutions.

He has …

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Paul Walter

LibLink: Proof that politics is for young people

By Paul Walter | Tue 17th July 2012 - 2:23 pm

Well done to Councillor Victor Chamberlain who has had an article published in the Manchester Evening News entitled “I’m proof that politics IS for young people” with the byline “Manchester’s youngest councillor aged 22”. Here is a taster:

Many friends think I was mad to get involved in politics at a young age, but in fact it was inevitable after the Iraq War. I felt strongly that the action being taken in my name was completely immoral, and I wanted to find a way to voice my opposition. In Manchester, effective opposition came only from the Liberal Democrats. When I joined

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NewsHound

LibLink: The Lib Dem political plan for the next year

By NewsHound | Mon 16th July 2012 - 11:50 am

Writing over on the Huffington Post, Lib Dem Voice’s Mark Pack has been taking a look at the party’s plan for the next year:

The plan of senior Liberal Democrats is to focus heavily on delivering and communicating the four priorities from the front page of the party’s 2010 manifesto:

  • “fair taxes – that put money back in your pocket
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Stephen Tall

LibLink: Long reach of the Laws

By Stephen Tall | Sat 14th July 2012 - 6:15 pm

David Laws may have resigned from the Coalition’s cabinet two years ago, but (after an initial period of wondering whether to quit politics altogether) his influence hasn’t actually waned much. His interests range across economic and social policy: though he was the party’s education spokesman in opposition, he was a natural fit as chief secretary to the treasury in government, however briefly. He is widely expected to make a return to government at the next reshuffle, …

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Sara Bedford

Lib Link: How does David Cameron charm the Liberal Democrats?

By Sara Bedford | Fri 13th July 2012 - 2:17 pm

Over at his day job at MHP Communications, Mark Pack turns his thoughts to how David Cameron should react to , stating that the Prime Minister has ‘two tricky problems to mull over’.

The first, and most talked about, is how to get his party to back some measure of Lords reform else risk seeing Liberal Democrats outside ministerial ranks (and even some inside) see it as open season on future legislation as it goes through Parliament. The sort of effective and tight whipping operations that saw Liberal Democrats in both Houses votes for a range of measures they did

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Nick T

LibLink: Stephen Williams – Where now for Lords reform

By Nick T | Thu 12th July 2012 - 5:45 pm

Over on his blog, Stephen Williams, Lib Dem MP for Bristol West, has penned his thought’s on Tuesday’s Lords reform result. Here’s a sample:

First the positive bit.  A vote of 462 – 124 in favour of a Bill that has a second chamber predominately elected by a proportional voting system is a major step forward.  This confirms the fact that there is a substantial majority of MPs who favour radical House of Lords reform.

But…the Bill may now be tripped up by petty party political games in the Commons.  The Bill will get nowhere without a timetable for consideration of 60

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Mary Reid

LibLink: Charles Kennedy – Lords reform: we’ll defeat the rebels

By Mary Reid | Tue 10th July 2012 - 1:13 pm

In the Guardian yesterday evening Charles Kennedy challenged Labour to restore faith in Parliament today by supporting Lords Reform.

He writes:

For 100 years progressives in British politics have tried to bring democracy to one of the most important but arcane institutions in our country – the House of Lords. And for 100 years, the establishment has resisted, blocked or talked out those who argue for change at every turn. But today we have an historic opportunity to finally bring about that change – and it is in Labour’s hands.

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Labour politicians for

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Helen Duffett

LibLink: We can’t sit in our golden chamber resisting democracy – Paddy Ashdown responds to attack on reform

By Helen Duffett | Tue 10th July 2012 - 6:55 am

In the Mail on Sunday this week, Lord Ashdown responded to Lord Carlile’s article from the previous week, which had opposed Nick Clegg’s plans for Lords reform:

If ever there was a time for a strong democratically based second chamber to buttress our democracy, it is now. Whatever view you take of the Cameron/Clegg proposals, nobody can seriously call them ‘ill-considered’. They were preceded by a Royal commission, four white papers and three joint committees. Every party called for it in their manifestos at the last Election.

The Cameron/Clegg reform Bill does not ‘trash’ the Lords, as some claim

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Nick T

The banking system was rotten to the core – Clegg

By Nick T | Wed 4th July 2012 - 5:56 pm

The deputy prime minister is interviewed in tonight’s Evening Standard, where he speaks about, among other things, his attitude towards the British banking system. Here’s an excerpt:

“There is no doubt in my mind that what we saw, what peaked in 2008, was rotten to the core,” he says. “We cannot afford as a society, as a country, to have a banking system that is like a cuckoo in the nest, which pushes everything else out and which causes huge costs for millions of  British taxpayers.

“Yet again the lid has been lifted on a culture which appeared to be permissive of

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Helen Duffett

Paddy Ashdown meets his younger self

By Helen Duffett | Mon 2nd July 2012 - 4:23 pm

Broadcast on Saturday, a Radio 4 interview with Lord Ashdown, featuring clips from the BBC archive from throughout his career:

From rookie MP to Liberal Democrats leader, from the Royal Marines to high office in Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown relives his life from the archives in a frank and sometimes emotional conversation with John Wilson.

From his early days in the army to his leadership of the Liberal

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The Voice

LibLink: Vince Cable – the current scandals will lead to a better system of banking

By The Voice | Mon 2nd July 2012 - 9:23 am

Over on the Guardian’s Comment is Free, Vince Cable gives his commentary on the banking crisis:

Last week’s banking scandals demolished a convenient myth: that the banking crash was all the fault of a few colourful rogues like Fred the Shred of RBS and Adam Applegarth of Northern Rock. We have been reminded, instead, that the rot was far more widespread.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Nick Clegg – Beware the risks and rewards of a banking union

By NewsHound | Sat 30th June 2012 - 11:50 am

Writing in the Financial Times this week, Nick Clegg warned:

In the debate on banking union we back greater co-operation on various aspects of an integrated financial system: common rules on the restructuring of failed banks, shared principles on how to protect depositors, high minimum standards for the capital EU banks should hold and a strong European Banking Authority.

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Nick T

LibLink: Jeremy Browne and Edward McMillan-Scott – The EU can amplify our human rights pledge

By Nick T | Thu 28th June 2012 - 6:56 pm

Jeremy Browne, Lib Dem Foreign Office minister, and Edward McMillan-Scott MEP have a joint article in today’s Independent on how the European Union is helping to uphold the human rights if people around the world.

Here’s a sample:

Human rights, poverty reduction and the upholding of international law are essential to – and indivisible from – both EU and UK foreign policy objectives. We cannot achieve long term security and prosperity unless we uphold our values, and recognise that unchecked human rights abuses represent a threat to our own national security.

Although we must promote our values with conviction and determination, it must

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Caron Lindsay

LibLink: Tim Leunig – David Cameron should know better than this Housing Benefit gimmick

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 27th June 2012 - 9:27 am

I wrote the other day that I wanted to see our party in general and Nick Clegg in particular come out and roundly condemn David Cameron’s ridiculous plan to stop under 25s from claiming Housing Benefit. Centre Forum director Tim Leunig did just that in an article for the Guardian on Monday.

His calm and forensic evisceration of Cameron’s argument put me in mind of the way Nick Clegg took apart the Tory Marriage Tax Break plan ahead of the 2010 election. This, of course, has been kicked into the long grass because of the Liberal Democrats. I’m also reminded of …

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Mary Reid

LibLink: Paddy Ashdown – Silver Linings to the Storm Clouds of Rio

By Mary Reid | Tue 26th June 2012 - 6:06 pm

Last week we linked to an article by former party leader Paddy Ashdown headed “Rio+20 is a chance to secure our children’s future“.

Over on Huffington Post he has now given his assessment of the summit.

 … as the summit reached its conclusion on Friday criticism from environment groups, charities working on poverty issues and the mainstream media over the strength of the agreement was becoming louder.

And yet the news coming from Rio has not been all bad. Indeed, some positive outcomes have emerged from

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Nick T

LibLink: Paddy Ashdown – Rio+20 is a chance to secure our children’s future

By Nick T | Thu 21st June 2012 - 6:54 pm

Paddy Ashdown – former Lib Dem leader and president of Unicef UK – has an op-ed in the Daily Telegraph setting out his hopes for the Rio+20 summit currently taking. Here’s a sample:

Right now an estimated 18 million people in the Sahel region of west Africa are being affected by drought, disease and conflict. In 2011 alone UNICEF, the world’s leading children’s organisation, responded to 292 humanitarian emergencies in 80 countries. Children are always the most vulnerable in such situations, typically representing over 50 per cent of those affected by disasters, equating to between 100 and 175 million children each

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NewsHound

Liblink: Danny Alexander to tax dodgers – we are coming to get you!

By NewsHound | Wed 20th June 2012 - 4:27 pm

Following all the publicity about Jimmy Carr’s tax arrangements for his multi million pound fortune which means that he pays just a fraction of the amount the rest of us have to shell out, Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has written for the Sun newspaper about Government measures to clamp down on those who avoid tax.

Frankly, I think people who dodge the tax system are the moral equivalent of benefit cheats.

Both sets of people think they can bend the rules everyone else lives by for their own benefit.

The Coalition are already cutting income tax for

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Caron Lindsay

Liblink: Nick Clegg – Rio’s reprise must set hard deadlines for development

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 20th June 2012 - 12:58 pm

Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has written for the Guardian about the Rio+20 summit he’s attending. He says that it’s vital that we “revive the spirit of our predecessors to get the world on a much more sustainable path”.

He spelled out the consequences if we don’t act:

Too many people still lack food: tonight, one billion will go hungry. There isn’t enough clean energy: right now women in some of the poorest communities are fuelling their homes with tyres and plastics. Despite the noxious fumes produced, they rely on anything that will burn. Dirty water and poor

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NewsHound

LibLink: Stephen Tall names Matthew Parris ‘Liberal of the Week’ for calling for end to private schools’ charitable status

By NewsHound | Sat 16th June 2012 - 8:55 am

Over at CentreForum’s blog, LibDemVoice Co-Editor Stephen Tall has named columnist Matthew Parris the inaugural winner of the think-tank’s ‘Liberal of the Week’ for ‘his attack on the charitable status of private schools that are bastions of privilege.’ Here’s an excerpt from Stephen’s reasons:

The fact that private schools are directly equated with charities such as Cancer Research UK and Oxfam – and can therefore benefit from rates relief and exemption from tax on investment income – is breathtaking. It means that the low-paid in society – including those earning less than the minimum wage – are helping to subsidise through

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Nick T

LibLink: David Laws – The Orange Book eight years on

By Nick T | Thu 14th June 2012 - 1:26 pm

The latest issue of the Economic Affairs journal contains a number of articles discussing the effect The Orange Book has had on the Liberal Democrats since its publication eight years ago. There are articles by CentreForum’s Tim Leunig and by one of the editors of the book, Paul Marshall, among others. Perhaps most noteworthy, though, is a piece by David Laws – the other of the book’s editors – which “examines the origins and impact of the book, and sketches out future directions for policy development”.

Here are some …

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Mary Reid

LibLink: Simon Hughes – Polly’s advice to the Lib Dems is double-edged

By Mary Reid | Fri 8th June 2012 - 2:03 pm

Simon Hughes has a letter in the Guardian today responding to Polly Toynbee’s article “Now is the perfect time for Liberal Democrats to wield the knife“.

Simon writes:

Polly Toynbee’s argument, like some arguments she has made before, is based on a false and misleading premise – that this government is embarking on some ideological dismantling of the state. This does everyone a disservice.

Here are three reasons why: first, by the end of this parliament the government will be spending about £730bn a year, a full 42% of GDP and roughly the same as we did in 2008. Hardly back to

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Mary Reid

LibLink: Paddy Ashdown – Syria shows the lessons of Libya still unlearnt

By Mary Reid | Fri 1st June 2012 - 11:23 am

Paddy Ashdown writes in the Times today about Syria. He was, of course, the international community’s High Representative in Bosnia, so is ideally placed to comment on western diplomacy in the face of tyranny.

Megaphone diplomacy has failed. The West must let Turkey lead a relief operation.

The slaughter of the innocents in Syria is, of course, horrific, barbaric, shocking, terrifying medieval, bestial — choose your own adjective; they’ve all been used — some many times over. In our attempts to camouflage impotence we are now devaluing hyperbole.

But it is not sufficient. With the West’s moral force in tatters after the blunders

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Mark Pack

LibLink: Sarah Teather – Special needs children deserve more

By Mark Pack | Fri 25th May 2012 - 9:55 am

Writing over in The Guardian, Liberal Democrat minister Sarah Teather says:

John Harris writes of the fight he had to simply get the basic support for his autistic child (Special needs kids deserve better than a rush to reform, 21 May). His experience is a story I have heard over and over again. It is precisely this problem that the coalition government is trying to fix…

I also know the system doesn’t work well enough for children with less severe needs either, such as those with unrecognised language difficulties whose frustration in trying to communicate shows up as angry, even criminal, behaviour.

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NewsHound

Liblink: Vince Cable – Complete nonsense to suggest reducing labour rights to beat the recession

By NewsHound | Mon 21st May 2012 - 4:24 pm

In today’s Sun (scroll down), Vince Cable tears into those who would reduce labour rights to try to beat the recession:

Some people think that if labour rights were stripped down to the most basic minimum, employers would start hiring and the economy would soar again.

This is complete nonsense.

British workers are an asset, not just a cost for company bosses.

That is why I am so opposed to the ideological zealots who want to encourage British firms to fire at will. Those who want to shake up the law

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NewsHound

LibLink: Norman Lamb on the coalition – ‘It’s our national duty’

By NewsHound | Mon 14th May 2012 - 9:54 am

The new edition of House magazine features an extended interview with Norman Lamb, written by Sam Macrory.

Norman features on the cover, with the strapline “The business minister on why ‘flunking’ the coalition is not an option”.

The interview took place on election day, so Norman had thoughts for those facing tough polling fights, while defending the coaltion:

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NewsHound

LibLink: Nick Clegg – This coalition is stable and the centre will hold

By NewsHound | Mon 7th May 2012 - 2:10 pm

In today’s Guardian, Nick Clegg declares the Coalition isn’t about to lurch to the left or the right in the wake of the governing parties’ bruising election results: “We spent two years on rescue. Now it’s time for reform.” Here are the three lessons Nick says he’s drawing from last week…

1) The coalition must work harder to show that we are governing for the whole country

Both coalition parties got thumped in Scotland, Wales and the north of England. People are afraid for their jobs and their children’s prospects. In my own patch in Sheffield, I know that memories of the

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NewsHound

LibLink: Mark Pack – Which Liberal Democrat MPs have the media pulling power?

By NewsHound | Fri 4th May 2012 - 3:15 pm

Writing over on his work blog, The Voice’s Mark Pack has been crunching the numbers on the media performances of Liberal Democrat ministers ahead of a likely reshuffle:

No surprise that the top five places are taken by the five Liberal Democrat Cabinet members. Her push for equal marriage reforms has helped put Lynne Featherstone top of the list of non-Cabinet members, whilst Health Minister Paul Burstow’s mid-table ranking is a mixed blessing. He may be a minister in a hugely important area, but given the level of controversy attracted by Andrew Lansley and the Health and Social Care Act, keeping

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NewsHound

LibLink: David Laws – Borrowing to cure a debt problem is not the answer

By NewsHound | Fri 4th May 2012 - 1:51 pm

David Laws has been writing for This is Cornwall. He says:

When Bill Clinton fought to become the US President, one of his staff put up a poster on the wall of the campaign headquarters. The poster read: “It’s the economy, stupid!” It was a blunt reminder to his staff to focus on the big issue of the election, and nothing else. For the British Government, and for people in our region, it is still the economy which is the biggest challenge facing us.

Last week, we received the grim news that the UK economy shrunk in size in the first

…

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