Category Archives: News

Caron Lindsay

Your by-election result tonight brought to you by….

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 31st January 2019 - 11:22 pm

I’m doing a bit of moonlighting tonight.

ALDC is always first with the by-election results and they’ve decided to recruit a team of volunteers to report them.

It’s a great way to get involved and it’s something you can do on your sofa in your pyjamas while watching Question Time. Don’t worry, I won’t post a photo.

All you need to do is keep an eye on a couple of places on the internet and post the results in a few places.

If you fancy a shot at doing this, drop ALDC a message on Twitter. 

Tonight, there’s just the one by-election – Warlingham division on Surrey County Council. The Conservatives are defending and last time round we came second. Our candidate, Charles Lister, has fought the ward twice before, in 2017 and 2013.

So now, we wait.

And it was worth sitting up for – a really good increase in vote share. 

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Caron Lindsay

“Apparently because of Brexit the supply of my tablets is low”

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 31st January 2019 - 2:45 pm

Yesterday, Brent Lib Dems’ chair Anton Georgiou got a text from his sister.

She has Epilepsy which is controlled by taking six tablets a day.

She had gone to the pharmacy to put in a prescription.

Here’s her text, reproduced with her’s and Anton’s permission:

This is the reality of what people are living with.

Problems with supply chains for medicines aren’t confined to Brexit and they are quite common. You can see some of the issues here on Epilepsy Action’s Drugwatch

Brexit, deal or not, puts added complications into the mix. This article cites problems coming from a weak pound against a strong Euro, so it is clear that Brexit is already having a detrimental impact.

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Mark Valladares

30 January 2019 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 30th January 2019 - 11:49 pm
  • Cable: CBI warning of no-deal plans reveals no faith in PM
  • Cable tells Japanese business leaders a People’s Vote is still possible
  • Lib Dems vow to fight on for death penalty guarantee
  • Cable: Barclays decision highlights the cost of no deal Brexit

Cable: CBI warning of no-deal plans reveals no faith in PM

Responding to reports that the Head of the CBI expects UK companies to speed up plans for a no-deal Brexit in response to votes in the House of Commons last night, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable said:

The voice of business in our country can’t be ignored. Businesses that make up

…

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Bernard Aris

Part 2: Present consumer price hikes and the environmental cleanup.

By Bernard Aris | Wed 30th January 2019 - 3:15 pm

There are similarities between what happened in 2016-’19 in Britain and the Netherlands both in economics and politics and in the people’s perception and polling reaction.

In 2016-’17 the EMU (including us Dutch) was crawling out of the banking and Euro crisis, and Britain was relieved that the Kladderadatsch announced during the EU referendum campaign didn’t materialise substantially. But while the economy recovered (Holland) or stayed even (Britain), people saw that their buying power flatlining, while trusted big high street store chains (V&D here, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%26D, dozens in Britain) collapsed, and while big problems in health care (caring at home …

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Tahir Maher

Todays Updates – 30th January

By Tahir Maher | Wed 30th January 2019 - 12:00 pm

Updates:

  1. Contradictory amendments show only way forward is a people’s vote

 

Press Release:

1     Labour MPs who sided with the Tories have become handmaids to Brexit

2.   The only compromise that the PM should consider is a people’s vote

3    Tory cuts have made it easy for ‘county lines’ drug traffickers

4.   Time to scrap cruel Vagrancy Act

 

Updates:

Contradictory amendments show only way forward is a people’s vote

Following both Sir Graham Brady’s and Dame Caroline Spelman’s amendments passing last night in the House of Commons, note following comments:

  • Liberal Democrats have been fighting for over two years to give the people the final say

…

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Mark Valladares

29 January 2019 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 29th January 2019 - 11:55 pm

“Alice laughed: “There’s no use trying,” she said; “one can’t believe impossible things.” “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”.

I’m afraid that we’re now well into the Lewis Carroll phase of Brexit, but on the plus side, my beloved Luton Town went five points clear at the top of League One…

  • Lib Dems: Safe standing an important opportunity for football fans
  • Travel insurance not guaranteed with no-deal Brexit
  • Lib Dems: Govt continue to scaremonger

…

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Caron Lindsay

Brexit votes open thread

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 29th January 2019 - 6:58 pm

I’ve come home this evening with a very heavy heart. It’s more like the Spoilt Brat of Legislatures than the Mother of Parliaments, isn’t it? The debate this afternoon has been profoundly depressing, particularly the early stages which was more of a bunfight than anything else. Good job they weren’t debating anything absolutely essential to our existence, isn’t it?

There are only a few willing to talk about how the Emperor is stark naked.

While our lot are fighting the good fight inside, Welsh Lib Dem Leader Jane Dodds is in Parliament Square:

On Facebook, I discover that several of my friends have received literature from Wetherspooons spouting nonsense about Brexit. There is a bit of me that is pleased that Tim Martin’s money will be wasted in Edinburgh.

Anyway, I’ve opened a bottle of red and am watching the events of the evening unfold.

Key votes will be on Yvette Cooper’s amendment to extend Article 50 for 9 months and Graham Brady’s to find some unicorns to patrol the Irish border.

It’s going to be a long night evening of votes – but there is some hope at the end. Layla Moran’s bill to repeal the Vagrancy Act will be debated when it’s all over.

So this is the Government’s motion:

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The Voice

Celia Thomas: Every disabled person should be able to live a life of dignity and respect

By The Voice | Tue 29th January 2019 - 10:25 am

Last week, the House of Lords debated the future essential services run by local authorities. As local government is so important to Liberal Democrats, it’s no surprise that several Lib Dems took part in the debate.

Celia Thomas talked about two critical issues – social care and, first the provision of public toilets and the impact that cuts have on isolation of people with continence problems.

She warned against the idea that we need to provide support for disabled people so that they can work as this can promulgate the idea that there are deserving and undeserving disabled people. Every disabled person, she said, should be able to live a life of dignity and respect:

My Lords, I shall concentrate on the provision of social care but, before that, I want to mention something that I would call an essential service but which turns out to be discretionary. Here I shall lower the tone of the debate so I hope noble Lords will not mind; I am talking about the provision of public conveniences, lavatories, toilets or loos throughout the country. Those that are left are now often maintained by town or parish councils, but for how long? In 2010, there were over 5,000 public toilets; now, there are 4,486. Is it right that fast-food chains, supermarkets and coffee shops have now virtually taken the place of public toilets? What happens when these places are closed, when managers are reluctant to let everyone use their facilities or when there are no accessible toilets? We should not forget the silent number of people trapped in their homes because of continence problems.

I turn now to social care. As the noble Lord, Lord Kerslake, said, we are no nearer to seeing the Government’s Green Paper; as late as October, we were told it would be with us by the end of the year. The funding issue is a fiendishly difficult problem because social care encompasses so much and is so little understood. We need a different term; I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Patten, about language. The word “social”, according to the dictionary, means,

“marked by friendly companionship with others”.

But, in local government terms, it has a much sterner face to cover the state’s obligation to help care for children, including those with mild or severe learning difficulties, as well as disabled and elderly adults. It may have to cover playschemes for disabled children, personal assistants, aids and equipment, care at home and residential care.

Not only are we all living longer, but there is now a better survival rate for people with serious health conditions. I believe that the dictionary definition of the word “social” is one reason why so many people think the service is free for council taxpayers rather ​than means-tested, or partly means-tested. Anyone who thinks the answer for even quite severely disabled people is NHS continuing care should think again as it is very difficult to get. As for delays in hospital discharges, these are still causing a problem due to care packages having to be negotiated or re-negotiated. Can the Minister say how the Government have evaluated the impact of health and well-being boards in tackling the increasing number of these delays?

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Caron Lindsay

Catching up with Danny Alexander

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 29th January 2019 - 8:55 am

Danny Alexander was probably best described as the marmite minister of Lib Dem coalition politics.

As Chief Secretary to the Treasury, he completed the “Quad”, the 4 ministers who decided the course of the coalition government. He, Nick Clegg, David Cameron and George Osborne fought out the major battles of those years.

It’s no secret that he and Osborne got on very well. After the Coalition, Danny ended up as Vice President of the Asian Infrastructure  Investment Bank, based in Beijing.

A BBC Scotland programme, Scots in China, caught up with Danny and his family recently. You see him at his work, talking about how he spends a lot of time focusing towards India. A sure sign of where the balance of power now lies in the world. We also see him trying to learn Chinese.

Neil Oliver caught up with his family, including their new dog, Rocky. Their older daughter has some really compelling insights to offer about life in city of 22 million people. Her liberal heritage is clear.

Obviously, in China, Danny is much closer to the natural habitat of the panda. Some of you might remember the 2011 Christmas song “Danny Alexander, feed him to the pandas.” I restrained myself from sharing this on any form of social media until I came across him laughing his head off at it at the Party’s Inverness Conference in 2012. And having mentioned it, it would be so rude of me not to let you see it.

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Mark Valladares

28 January 2019 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 28th January 2019 - 11:44 pm

Never let it be said that we’re not public spirited here at Liberal Democrat Voice. So, for those of you who haven’t filed your Self Assessment tax return for the year ended 5 April 2018, the deadline is just seventy-two hours away. Don’t delay, don’t let it peck away at you!

Meanwhile, back on Planet Zog…

  • Lib Dems: Culture in our schools system is toxic
  • Lib Dems reject Tory Immigration Bill
  • Ed Davey: Labour abstention on Immigration Bill “pathetic” (see here)
  • Govt defeat in Lords shows backstop tinkering will not work
  • Lib Dems: Britain deserves a better opposition as Labour U-turn on Immigration Bill
  • Swinson: Proxy

…

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The Voice

Paul Scriven: We need to fund Councils properly and give them the powers to create great communities

By The Voice | Mon 28th January 2019 - 10:00 pm

Local Government is an issue of paramount importance to Liberal Democrats. Last week in the Lords, Liberal Democrat peer Paul Scriven led a debate on the essential services that local authorities provide. He outlined how chronic underfunding of local government, combined with rising demand for services was creating unsustainable problems.

Here is his speech:

I am very pleased to be leading this debate because to me it is a vital issue that affects every village, every town, every city and every region: local government has a positive power to change people’s lives. Just think of the older person who is becoming vulnerable and possibly losing their independence. With good public health, good housing services and good social services that person can continue to lead an independent life with dignity. Just think of the young man who might be on a crossroads between violence and going forward to have a fulfilling life. With good youth services and education services that young person can be supported to make the correct decision and have a successful life.

Local government can facilitate enterprise and business locally with good business development services, planning and support services provided by local authorities. They can help to create vibrant, successful and sustainable communities: libraries, parks, clean air, shared spaces and bringing people together to give them opportunities to achieve. That is the vision that I think most people have of a good local service: bottom up and delivering for people—not just a service provider of last resort but a local democratic hub that facilitates and brings opportunities for people and businesses to succeed.

I will mention my own journey in Sheffield in the local authority, first as a back-bench councillor helping individual constituents, then as leader of the opposition, ​many times clashing with the then chief executive, the noble Lord, Lord Kerslake—I am not sure whether he will raise that—then as chair of scrutiny, holding the executive to account, and then having the great pleasure of leading that great city and that great council. I was then put on early retirement when I lost my seat and am now back again as a local councillor. I saw the power that local authorities can have to affect individuals and communities and make a real difference to people’s ability to succeed in their life.

That is what the situation should do, but we must look at what it has now become in many cases. Sadly, in some cases local authorities have not just become the provider of last resort but are struggling to be even that—we only have to look at Northamptonshire, Somerset, Norfolk and Lancashire County Councils, and the National Audit Office warning that reserves are running out. In some cases they are not just unable to provide the opportunities that I talked about but are unable to provide the very statutory services that they are there to provide in an emergency as a safety net.

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The Voice

Lib Dems demand better than Brexit: Those that seek to divide us will never win

By The Voice | Mon 28th January 2019 - 6:52 pm

Another chance to see the heartstring-grabbingly brilliant Party Political Broadcast which highlights what matters to Liberal Democrats and how those who seek to divide us will never win.

The voiceover is by Hazel Grove candidate Lisa Smart.

Enjoy.

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Mark Valladares

26-27 January 2019 – the weekend’s press release

By Mark Valladares | Sun 27th January 2019 - 11:29 pm

Cable: Tesco job losses show deep problems within retail sector

Responding to reports that Tesco food counter closures and scale-backs could threaten up to 15,000 UK jobs, Leader of the Liberal Democrats and former Business Secretary Vince Cable said:

Job losses on this scale are very serious.

There are clearly deep problems within the retail sector, town centres have been declining for years but now out of town stores are struggling too. Perhaps British shoppers have stopped spending and we are on the verge of a serious downturn.

Confidence in the economy is low and the government must provide some stability and security

…

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Caron Lindsay

The Leader – Vince’s new column

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 27th January 2019 - 12:41 pm

This week, Vince wrote a pretty comprehensive column giving his take of the week over on the party website.

He talked about Brexit, strangely enough, and his talks with the PM:

The immediate priority from here on is to stop the massively disruptive ‘no deal’(and batty ideas like calling in the army).  I am baffled at the way so many people have taken up this glib phrase ‘WTO rules’ who clearly have no conception of what the WTO does – and its limitations.  I wrote a piece for the Telegraph recently on this worthy but toothless organisation.  Sensible members of the Cabinet – led by the Chancellor – are making it clear that they will stop a ‘no deal’ and there are backbench proposals to seize the parliamentary agenda to push through legislation stopping ‘no deal’.  Maybe I am an optimist, but I think this battle will be won.

I am baffled at the way so many people have taken up this glib phrase WTO rules.

I also think (without, so far, any evidence) that faced with the narrowing options the Prime Minister will do the maths and realise that she has very little chance of getting her deal through unless she takes the risk of making it one of two options in a People’s Vote (against Remain).  We shall see.  The challenge to the opposition parties will be to stand up and be counted if the PM does decide to seek support for her deal, subject to a referendum.

He went on to talk about meeting all the local school heads in his constituency:

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Katharine Pindar

Alleviating poverty in our country. How should Liberal Democrats aim to help?

By Katharine Pindar | Sun 27th January 2019 - 8:55 am

Should Universal Credit simply be abolished? That’s not our policy. .Perhaps we should replace it with a new benefit, National Credit, as suggested here recently by Michael BG. But how about abolishing the Department for Work and Pensions?

That is the radical idea just advanced by a man who worked in national mental health policy for more than ten years, and who latterly was seconded to the DWP for 18 months to advise on mental health across a range of policy issues. 

Tom Pollard of the think-tank Demos has written a short paper, Pathways from Poverty: A case for institutional reform, published by Demos this month. He writes that the Government should consider abolishing the department after its failure to help ill and disabled people out of poverty. He maintains that the DWP is “institutionally and culturally incapable of making the reforms needed to deliver better outcomes for society’s most vulnerable.” 

Referencing the post-war Beveridge social contract, he declares that modern governments have failed to deliver a parallel radical agenda. Specifically, he complains that the DWP has a ‘benefit lens’ where case-handlers perceive employment as a condition for receiving benefits, rather than as a means for enabling claimants to pursue fulfilling work. Speaking at a recent Demos discussion with industry experts and senior parliamentarians, he maintained that for many claimants the problems were not a question of their motivation, but of their disability or illness that impeded their securing work.

His conclusions recall points made by the UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston, whose hard-hitting report  was discussed in LDV articles on November19 and 28 and December 2. 

Philip Alston observed a ‘command and control’ approach to Universal Credit which imposed harsh sanctions which the evidence tended to show were counter-productive. He too referred to elements of the Beveridge contract having been overturned, inflicting misery on the poor and the disabled. While discussing practical needs such as the restoration of local authority services, with the viewpoint of a compassionate outsider he also deplored what he saw as a decline in British traditional values of compassion and concern for everyone.

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Caron Lindsay

Don’t let no deal talk distract from how bad the deal actually is

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 26th January 2019 - 12:30 pm

The next crucial vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal takes place on Tuesday. Much of the focus has been on taking no deal off the table. That’s important, because it would be a disaster.

However, we shouldn’t forget that the actual deal would damage us too, leaving us poorer and less safe.

Back in November, the Bank of England said that all forms of Brexit would leave us worse off than staying in the EU.

Vince said at the time:

The Bank of England has concluded that Brexit – with or without a deal – will leave the UK poorer, less productive and with an economy 4% smaller than if we had stayed in the EU.

Although the headlines are drawn to the dramatic economic collapse forecasted in the event of no deal, this report shows that the deal will cause harm to our economy and the living standards of people around the country.

The Conservative Government must stop using fears of no-deal to pretend that its deal will be good for the economy; today’s assessments put that myth to bed. It is time for a final say on the deal, with the option to remain.

This came around the same time as Philip Hammond admitted that there wasn’t an outcome of Brexit that would leave the country better off.

Tom Brake said:

It was shocking to hear the Chancellor candidly admit that Brexit will make the country poorer.

The Government’s own analysis shows real wages falling, every region in the UK worse off and no Brexit dividend.

The assessment of Theresa May’s deal assumes a rapid transition to a frictionless trade deal with the EU and other free trade arrangements with third-party countries, but the prospect of these negotiations happening quickly is wildly optimistic.

In reality the Conservatives’ deal could leave the UK much worse off than even these dour assessments forecast.

The case is stronger than ever for giving the public the final say on the Brexit deal, with the option to remain in the EU.

And Ed Davey found the Withdrawal Agreement withdrew the UK from useful information networks:

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Mark Valladares

25 January 2019 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Fri 25th January 2019 - 11:23 pm

Brake: Lavery’s comments show Labour figures still ignoring party members

Responding to Ian Lavery’s comments that a People’s Vote would be divisive, Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake said:

I am sure many Labour voters will see these comments by their Party Chair as the real divisiveness.

He side steps the fact that campaigning for a public vote is Labour policy after last year’s conference.

Labour can either join the Conservatives and push this deeply unpopular Brexit through, or act in the interests of the country and on the wishes of their supporters and join the Liberal Democrat campaign for a

…

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Tom Arms

Observation of an ex pat: Wake UP!

By Tom Arms | Fri 25th January 2019 - 8:55 am

One of my favourite films is Goodbye Lenin. For those of you haven’t seen the German language post-Cold War movie, it is about a loyal East German Communist party functionary who suffers a heart attack and falls into a coma just as the Berlin Wall is about to come crashing down. When she awakes her political life is completely changed. The world has moved on without her.

American, Britain and the rest of Europe are in danger of suffering the same fate.  They have become so obsessed with their internal difficulties and fighting for domestic political survival that they are failing to realise that the rest of the world is moving on without them and creating a new set of rules and realities contrary to their democratic systems.

There are only so many hours in the day and Donald Trump seems to spend most of them tweeting about the Wall and the Democrats.  One of which is the answer to all problems and the other is the cause.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is taken up entirely with the dangers of Brexit happening. That is when she is not obsessing about the corollary threat of a far-left Labour government coming to power.

The European Union has finally woken up to the very real possibility that the nightmare scenario of a no deal Brexit is likely, as well as tackling with immigration, far-right extremism, populist governments in Italy and Eastern Europe, stagnating economies and deteriorating relations with the US.  

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Mark Valladares

24 January 2019 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Fri 25th January 2019 - 12:06 am
  • Liberal Democrats continue fight for a people’s vote
  • Tory failures result in increase in violent crime
  • Cable: Airbus warning a stark reminder of the livelihoods at risk
  • European Court of Human Rights rules against UK Govt on privacy case
  • Govt must repay £1.95 million to EU citizens

Liberal Democrats continue fight for a people’s vote

The Liberal Democrats have tabled an amendment to the Government’s Plan B calling on the Government to prepare for a people’s vote with an option to remain in the EU.

The amendment, supported by all Liberal Democrat MPs, also calls on the Conservative Government “to take all necessary steps to rule …

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Patrick Maxwell

The Lib Dems must be the party of small business

By Patrick Maxwell | Thu 24th January 2019 - 5:00 pm

As the staggering uncertainty around the Brexit process continues in Westminster, the risks faced by the millions all around  who back up the economy has been largely ignored. This must come into focus as the Davos conference comes to a close, an annual meeting of the global economic elite, the big business. While they sip away at their innumerable glasses of champagne, those who rely on Europe for frictionless and tariff-free trade are fraught with anxiety. The small-business community contains some of the hardest-working people in Britain, and they form the backbone of the economy. In the midst of the chaos in Westminster, the Lib Dems need to present themselves as the party of small business, the party of compassionate capitalism.

Early last the year, the Federation of Small Businesses said that it ‘saw the potential wins of an international trade policy’ that Brexit might present. It also said that it wanted to keep ‘the closest possible trading relations with the EU 27’ and that it was their top priority to secure a full, time-limited transition period for leaving the EU. Crashing out with no-deal would be catastrophic for the plethora of micro-sized companies up and down the country, with colossal delays and losses.

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Tahir Maher

23 January – Todays Press Releases and Updates

By Tahir Maher | Wed 23rd January 2019 - 5:25 pm

Updates:

1.  Home Office EU Settled Status Scheme

2.  National Audit Office report on children’s social care

 

Todays Press Release:

1   Sony’s move symbolic of Brexit uncertainty 

2.  Liberal Democrats move to prevent May from holding Parliament hostage on Brexit

3  Moran: PAC report highlights the increasing fragmentation of schools system

 

Home Office EU Settled Status Scheme – 

It is all very well to say that in the modern world, relying on a reference number that would give prospective employers or landlords access to the Home Office computer is enough. But in the wake of the Windrush, nobody trusts Home Office record-keeping.

Everyone knows that many eligible EU citizens won’t get their settled status in time from this incompetent Home Office by the end of the application period.

EU citizens living here in the UK are rightly worried what will happen after Brexit – especially in the event of a disastrous crash-out Brexit – and the Home Secretary should not dismiss those fears.

Thousands of EU citizens are being left at risk of being effectively undocumented and subject to Theresa May’s hostile environment.

Liberal Democrats demand better for the Europeans who’ve made their lives here and contribute so much to our economy, our public services and our society.

 

National Audit Office report on children’s social care – 

We thought the days of Oliver Twist were long behind us, but this report shows otherwise. The Department for Education must listen to the NAO’s recommendations to ensure children’s lives are not at stake.

It absolutely beggars belief that Conservative Ministers don’t understand what has caused the increase in demand for children’s services. They should look in the mirror. They have consistently stripped away support in communities that need it the most.

Liberal Democrats demand better. Nothing is more important than making sure the most vulnerable children are looked after in society. Ministers must stop posturing and start understanding the real issues we face.

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Duncan Brack

Gladstone’s first government

By Duncan Brack | Wed 23rd January 2019 - 11:15 am

Looking for something to take your mind off Brexit? The Liberal Democrat History Group can help! One hundred fifty years and six weeks ago, on 3 December 1868, William Ewart Gladstone took office as Prime Minister at the head of what can reasonably be accounted as both the first identifiably Liberal government and the first modern administration.

Gladstone was eventually to serve as Prime Minister on four separate occasions. The most famous, recognisable and enduring of all the Liberal Party’s leaders, he dominated British politics for more than thirty years. He brought to the leadership of the party and the labours of ministerial office a physical and mental temperament unequalled among former prime ministers. A voracious reader and bibliophile, who found leisure in his closely argued studies of the classical poets Homer and Dante, he also had a passion for physical labour, expressed in walking, estate work at Hawarden (his wife’s family home in north Wales), and tree-felling.

As Chancellor during the 1850s, he established his reputation for prudent financial innovation by replacing taxes on goods and customs duties with a progressive income tax and established parliamentary accountability for government spending. He swept away import duties on hundreds of products and established free trade almost as an article of faith. Although firmly devoted to the Church of England, he won strong support from Nonconformists for his attitude to religious questions, which at that time affected basic liberties as well as such matters as education.

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Mark Argent

Out of Brexit Chaos part 1: People’s Vote

By Mark Argent | Wed 23rd January 2019 - 7:35 am

Introduction

The Brexit process began as an internal Tory party squabble, but its resolution has to move from there to mature thinking about the future.

This means asking the rest of the EU for a significant extension to the Article 50 period. This is not for significant further negotiation — if Brexit has to happen, May’s deal is pretty good — but to enable things to be done with considered thinking about the future.

I suggest that the process needs a People’s Vote, but on a longer timetable than people are proposing to allow adequate preparation. It requires a Government of National Unity to provide stability for this to happen, and for enough time afterward for political parties to draw up manifestos in the light of the result, on which to have a General Election.

I’ll pick up the idea of a Government of National Unity a the second article (published tomorrow).

People’s Vote

Downing St recently drew criticism for suggesting that it could take a year to organise a People’s Vote. In the present state of anxiety, it is tempting to accelerate the process, but my plea is for it to be given more time because it is more than just enabling people to put crosses on ballot papers. Several things lie behind this:

Preserving democracy

Referenda risk undermining representative democracy. Unless the question is very specific, they carry a sense that those elected can’t be trusted. Proceeding too quickly now risks compounding this it can be spun as “MPs couldn’t fix this, so the people had to”, and inviting an “anti-politics vote”.

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Mark Valladares

22 January 2019 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 22nd January 2019 - 11:34 pm

Labour must stop ‘chasing their unicorn Brexit deal’ – Jane Dodds

Welsh Lib Dem Leader Jane Dodds has criticised Jeremy Corbyn’s “intentionally ambiguous amendment” and urged the Labour leadership to stop “chasing their unicorn Brexit deal”.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds said:

Brexit is a national embarrassment. The Prime Minister’s plan B looks no different to her plan A. Meanwhile, the Labour leadership continues to ignore its members, its voters and the country’s interests.

With just 66 days to go until we leave the European Union, we do not have the luxury to wait for Corbyn to slowly inch his way toward backing

…

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Caron Lindsay

Commons Proxy voting gets a step closer – watch Jo Swinson’s blistering speech

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 22nd January 2019 - 9:59 pm

Proxy voting for MPs on baby leave might be in place by the time of the crucial Brexit votes next Tuesday night.

In response to an urgent question from our Jo Swinson today, Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom confirmed that MPs would get the chance to pass a motion implementing the move on Monday.

However, if just one MP shouts “object” the whole project could be delayed further.

Many people were horrified that Hampstead and Kilburn MP Tulip Siddiq was put in the position where she had to delay the caesarean section which would bring her son, Raphael, into the world, so she could vote in the Brexit debate last week.

However, Jo’s urgent question was prompted by this story in the Times(£) which suggested that it was the Tory Chief Whip Julian Smith who was the main road block to progress.

The reason this is so urgent is that, while Jo was nursing her newborn son Gabriel back in July, thinking she was paired with Tory chairman Brandon Lewis, she was let down. Lewis voted, amid reports that Smith had been ordering his MPs to break pairs.

Jo had called for his resignation as a result of yesterday’s story and secured an urgent question for today.

In Jo’s first decade in Parliament, she was pretty careful, always very measured, much more so than she was behind the scenes. Now she’s just letting rip with what she feels, which is really good to see. She also placed some quality shade in the direction of Philip Davies, for whom the nation of gender equality is still a bit of a mystery.

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dem By-election legend Pat Wainwright has passed away

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 22nd January 2019 - 7:41 pm

Sad news today – the legendary Pat Wainwright has passed away at the age of 85.

She was the lynchpin of every by-election in the 90s, running the front-of-house operation. She would be the person who would greet you when you arrived and the person who would make you go out again or stay and stuff an impossibly huge pile of envelopes.

I first came across her at Littleborough and Saddleworth in 1995.

She greeted us with smiles and very clear instructions about what work we were to do.

She wasn’t afraid to tear a strip of me for doing something wrong either. “You eejit”, she quite justifiably yelled.  She certainly didn’t mince her words but I just did better next time. We had an absolute hoot.

One day she was on the phone giving life advice to someone. Exactly the sort of life advice we all need our friends to give us sometimes, in no uncertain terms.

Bob and I had only popped in for an afternoon to the headquarters in Shaw at the start of a week of travelling around the north west and the Lakes. But we had so much fun we ended up spending our entire holiday there. It was Bob’s first by-election and he got RSI from stuffing envelopes. We had a brilliant time and made several trips back there including for the last few days. I met a few people at that by-election who have become friends for life, too. 

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Mark Valladares

21 January 2019 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 21st January 2019 - 11:40 pm

Some good news today, as the Government has withdrawn the £65 charge for EU citizens to register for settled status. Admittedly though, they’re still at the mercy of a Home Office not necessarily recognised for its compassion or competence, but it is at least a start…

And with that, here are today’s press releases…

  • Home Office settled status scheme risks new Windrush scandal
  • Swinson: Govt Chief Whip must resign if he is blocking proxy voting
  • New laws only help domestic abuse victims if there’s cash to enforce them
  • Lib Dems: Will Corbyn agree with Gardiner and vote for a People’s Vote?
  • Government cave on unfair EU

…

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The Voice

WATCH: Lib Dem MPs challenge May on Brexit

By The Voice | Mon 21st January 2019 - 7:55 pm

Lib Dem MPs tackled the Prime Minister this afternoon as she made her Groundhog May “nothing has changed” statement. Christine Jardine, Jo Swinson, Vince Cable, Jamie Stone and Tom Brake challenged her on various aspects of her intransigence.

Christine Jardine asked the Prime Minister to consider asking to extend the Article 50 period.

The PM isn’t even willing to ask the EU the question – and we all know that if we don’t ask, we definitely don’t get.

Vince mentioned the troops put on standby over the Brexit period and asked how they would be carrying out their duties.

I, too, welcome the fee waiver and the Prime Minister’s willingness to engage in serious conversations, including about the merits and practicalities of a people’s vote. May I ask a specific question? At the end of last week, the Secretary of State for Defence put 3,500 troops on Brexit standby. Will she clarify what their rules of engagement would be in the event that they face angry and violent demonstrators, and would they be armed?

She wasn’t so clear in her response. Had she even thought about it?

Jo Swinson tackled her on the “massive game of chicken in the Tory Party” and expressed her incredulity at the prospect of the PM allowing a disastrous no deal Brexit:

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NewsHound

Vince Cable tells Theresa May, “the votes may be there for a People’s Vote”

By NewsHound | Mon 21st January 2019 - 7:15 am

Yesterday, Vince Cable wrote to Theresa May, offering her a way to solve her Brexit crisis…

Prime Minister

I appreciate the opportunity to have had a proper conversation with you about our views on the way forward on Brexit and my colleagues have had a useful discussion with yours about the practicalities of a referendum and its timing. We have followed up the discussions with a note to David Liddington setting out our views on how a People’s Vote could be organised quickly.

Our positions are, at first sight, far apart. But I reiterate the point that, as it currently stands, your plan

…

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Mark Valladares

19-20 January 2019 – the weekend’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Sun 20th January 2019 - 10:30 pm
  • GP postcode lottery shows vital need for a national workforce strategy
  • Lib Dems: Car insurance rise shows cost of Brexit
  • Labour failing their duty as Official Opposition on Brexit
  • Fox’s failure to sign trade deals shows Brexiters’ ‘Global Britain’ does not exist
  • Corbyn isolated as over 100 Labour MPs set to back Lib Dem call for a people’s vote

GP postcode lottery shows vital need for a national workforce strategy

Responding to the analysis done by the BBC which shows the huge variation in the availability of GPs in different parts of England, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Judith Jolly said:

Getting access to your GP should never

…

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