Category Archives: News

Tom Brake: CBI pours cold water on Govenrment’s Brexit plans

By The Voice | Sun 21st January 2018 - 1:58 pm

After Carolyn Fairbairn, the Director General of the CBI, called for the UK to remain in a customs union with the EU, our Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake said that this poured cold water on the Government’s plans:

This is an important intervention from the CBI, and pours yet more cold water on the government’s idea that they can rustle up a trade deal that in anyway compares to the economic benefits of being in the EU and maintain the red lines they have set.

The Conservatives are making a monumental mess of Brexit. The approach Theresa May has adopted so far is creating mass uncertainty for

…

Tagged brexit and tom brake | 11 Comments

Vince talks about his attitude to money

By NewsHound | Sun 21st January 2018 - 12:25 pm

Vince has been talking to occasional LDV contributor York Membery for the Sunday Times. The interview focused on personal finances.

He says he is definitely better off than his parents:

Undoubtedly, although they were pretty comfortable by the end of their working lives. My parents, Len and Edith, were factory workers and left school at 15, like most people of their generation. But my father was strong on self-improvement. He became a lecturer at a technical college and through a combination of hard work and savings we progressed from a terraced house with an outside loo to a detached house.

This is not something that younger generations can expect.

His first job was in Kenya:

Working as a finance officer for the Kenyan treasury. I was there for two years from 1966 and was paid as a Kenyan civil servant, so my salary was quite modest. It was a fantastic job and I got married while I was out there but never planned to stay. My eldest son now runs a social enterprise that is doing some great work starting up schools in Kenya, so we’ve maintained the family connection with the country.

Vince says he’s a spender rather than a saver:

Tagged the sunday times and vince cable | 1 Comment

Three interesting facts about this year’s Scottish Liberal Democrats’ Spring Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 21st January 2018 - 10:25 am

For various reasons, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have been later off the mark than usual at announcing the details of their Spring Conference. However the cat is well and truly out of the bag now. For the first time since 2008, the party is heading to Aviemore to the Macdonald resort in the highland village.

It’s a great venue that can be combined with a family break. I absolutely love it there.

It’s in April

You wouldn’t normally expect to have a Conference in April because there is usually some sort of election to get ready for. For the first time since 2013, there are no scheduled elections this year, so Conference is taking place both in April and after the Easter holidays, on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st April.

There’s an Access Fund

The Federal Party has been running a Conference Access Fund to help people with the costs of attending Conference for the last few years.

It’s great to see this now being done by the Scottish Party, too. Members can donate to the fund although they can’t do it in the same transaction as they register as you can with the Federal Party.

Tagged Scottish liberal democrat conference | 5 Comments

ALDC’s by-election report – 18 January 2018

By ALDC | Sat 20th January 2018 - 8:35 pm

A psephologically and geographically pleasing set of 4 local by-elections this week, with 1 Tory, 1 Labour, 1 LD and 1 Independent defence, from Bolton in the North West to Bournemouth in the South West and Rochford in the South East. Also pleasing from our perspective is the full slate of candidates.

A huge thank you to last night’s brilliant team of volunteers who came to 23 New Mount Street in Manchester to make calls at ALDC’s By-election HQ. It’s always good fun with such a lovely team – if you haven’t been yet please come and join our winning team! ALDC’s by-election support and the grants we offer to by-elections are funded through vital fighting fund donations. If you can help us fight in even more wards, please donate here.

Rochford DC, Downhall and Rawreth – Lib Dem hold

LD Craig Cannell 794

Con 237

Lab 0 ]

Residents 0 ]

First we head to Rochford for the first Lib Dem win of 2018, we congradulate soon to be Councillor Craig Cannell and the whole Rochford team for a storming win in a straight up fight with the Conservatives. This result continues the fine Lib Dem tradition in Downhall and Rawreth, with no party putting up a decent fight against us for at least the last 16 years!

Milton Keynes UA, Newport Pagnell North and Hanslope – Conservative hold

Con 1604

Lab 749

LD Jane Caroline Carr 672

UKIP 0 ]

Next we head to Milton Keynes where we thank Jane Carr for a solid share of the vote with each party benefitting from the failure (yet again) of UKIP to stand. Continuing the theme of the last few weeks, there doesn’t seem to be a noticable swing from Tory to Labour, with the exception of…

Bolton MB, Hulton – Conservative gain from Labour

1 Comment

Stephen Lloyd on why Holocaust Memorial Day is so important

By The Voice | Fri 19th January 2018 - 2:55 pm

It’s not Holocaust Memorial Day until next week, but yesterday there was a debate in the Commons to mark the occasion. Here’s Stephen Lloyd’s contribution:

I thank the hon. Member for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy) for sponsoring the debate. It is a pleasure for me to co-sponsor it. This is the fifth or sixth time I have co-sponsored a debate on this important day. When I was first a Member of Parliament I was proud to do so, and now that I am back in the House, I am even more delighted.

Let me also congratulate the indomitable Karen Pollock, who is in the public Gallery and whom I have known for many years. Without her, I do not believe that this day, and the impact and reach that it has across the country, would be as strong. She really does deserve an enormous amount of credit.

The theme of Holocaust Memorial Day this year is the power of words. I was reminded of that when I read some words only earlier this morning from Anne Frank, that remarkable young girl who wrote so beautifully in Amsterdam all those years ago. She wrote:

“When I write I can shake off all my cares; my sorrow disappears; my spirits are revived.”

That is such a powerful set of words for such a dreadful time by a remarkable young woman.

That comment and the power of words brings me to my own constituent. Eastbourne does not have a large Jewish community; in fact, it is fairly minuscule—probably only 40 or 50. Like everyone else in the Chamber and many across the country, however, I am here because we know that what happened was so wicked—as was what has happened so many times since in the different genocides from Rwanda to Cambodia and the rest—that if we do not emphasise and talk about this day, there is the constant danger that it will happen again. Indeed, it is depressing that when I last spoke on this day in the House the Yazidis were perfectly safe in Iraq and Syria. Two years later they have almost been destroyed as a people. I therefore profoundly believe that the commemoration and remembrance on this day must never stop.

I have an extraordinary constituent in the small Jewish community in Eastbourne called Dorit Oliver-Wolff. She is a survivor, and she recently wrote an autobiography called “From Yellow Star to Pop Star.” She was born in Yugoslavia. When the Nazis invaded, she and her mother moved to Budapest when she was only five or six years old, and they somehow survived through the four or five years of the war from hand to mouth, travelling from place to place, creating new identities. It was when she was in Budapest that she first realised she was Jewish: she was only five years old and a woman spat at her in the street and called her “A stinking Jew”. Can anyone imagine anything more utterly incomprehensible than that to a five-year-old?

Tagged holocaust memorial day and stephen lloyd | 1 Comment

Paddy: Trump’s tweets could trigger war

By NewsHound | Fri 19th January 2018 - 11:55 am

Paddy Ashdown has been speaking to PoliticsHome about the development of UK foreign policy in the age of Trump and how the US President’s unpredictable actions have an unsettling impact on the world.

“It does not mean that the Atlantic axis is going to be less important, but it ceases to be our primary axis on which to base our defence and probably our foreign policy as well.”

“That relationship must be much more mature, where both sides realise that there will be times when their interests in the world diverge,” he explains, citing US policy on Iran and Israel as two examples.

Beyond these ‘differing interests’ Ashdown presses the Government to distance itself from the “irrational” Trump approach on “tinder pile” issues like North Korea.

He says the Trump tactic – of mocking and baiting Kim Jong Un on Twitter, alongside battle-cry threats of “fire and fury” – simply creates a space for North Korea to drive a wedge between Washington and Seoul, as shown by its offer of talks and participation in the upcoming winter Olympics in South Korea.

“We are used to a US president who is careful, thoughtful, intelligent and well informed, and we don’t have that now at the moment at all,” Ashdown laments.

“I can see five piles of tinder around the world, any one of which through inadvertence, stupidity or just blundering could be set alight… any one of which could have the capacity to ignite a much wider conflagration. And you want somebody blundering around the world, firing off tweets? In these very difficult circumstances I don’t think that’s the way to make a safer world. In a world as fragile, turbulent and close to war on several fronts as ours, I don’t think that’s a balanced and wise strategy.”

Tagged foreign affairs and paddy ashdown | 8 Comments

A wander around the opinion polls

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 19th January 2018 - 10:23 am

Lib Dems are still waiting for a bounce in the opinion polls. So far this year, we’ve had Westminster voting intentions at 6, 7 and 9%.

However, there are some very interesting things coming out of current polling generally.

Scotland

There was a very interesting YouGov Scottish poll this week which showed that we are not just hanging in there, but making progress as the SNP and Labour slip since the last poll in October Lib Dems show a slight rise in voting intention for Westminster and Holyrood constituency and regional votes. The Tories are holding their own at Westminster, despite a deeply unpopular (floating at around -50 across the two polls) leader. Ruth Davidson is Scotland’s most popular leader with an approval rating of +15, yet her party has lost ground since the Holyrood elections. While they have gained slightly in this poll to the mid twenties, they achieved 31% two years ago. Perhaps that’s because people see Scottish Conservative MPs troop meekly into the voting lobbies behind Theresa May rather than stand up for Scotland’s interests, particularly with regard to the devolution aspects of the EU Withdrawal Bill.

Jeremy Corbyn is a massive loser in this recent poll. He was +20 in October and now he’s -3. Perhaps his Brexit stance is not going down so well in a country that predominantly voted to Remain.

Scotland is neutral on its first minister who continues with a neutral approval rating. It’s only a couple of years since she was given a rock star welcome everywhere she went.

Scottish Lib Dems are getting some attention in the media on housing, health, justice and our stance on Brexit. There is still a lot of work to be done and this first non-election year since 2013 provides a good opportunity for the party to develop a longer term strategy. Willie Rennie held a strategy day with key party stakeholders in November which was described by an observer from south of the border as one of the most constructive party events they had ever seen.

Referenda

Tagged opinion polls | 45 Comments

Baroness Sue Miller writes: Lib Dem Conference should debate UN nuclear treaty

By Sue Miller | Wed 17th January 2018 - 1:30 pm

This week the Federal Conference Committee will decide whether to allow Conference to debate the UK joining the UN multilateral nuclear disarmament Treaty.

Lib Dems, like the other main parties, have been unwilling to be seen as unilateralist but since the Trident debate a most important new initiative from the UN has changed the nuclear weapons landscape.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, supported at the UN General Assembly by 122 countries, will place nuclear weapons in the same category as other WMDs -illegal under International law. Also, importantly, it provides a framework and a pathway to their eventual total elimination. If we are to live up to our statement that we support multilateral disarmament, internationalism and a long term view we must debate and, I believe, support it.

The Treaty grew out of three Conferences on the Humanitarian Consequences of Nuclear War. As the scientists, medics and civil society examined various scenarios it became starkly clear that now, with more powerful weapons, more countries possessing them and a modernisation programme planned in several countries the scenario was even bleaker than at the height of the Cold War. Even a limited regional nuclear exchange would have environmental consequences for agriculture that would lead to the risk of billions starving. They also found that no medical response could be adequate. As the International Red Cross said as the UN debated the Treaty

The treaty alone will not make nuclear weapons disappear overnight. But it delegitimises their role in the world today and provides a strong disincentive for their proliferation. The treaty signals to all that any development, modernising, testing, threat or plan to use nuclear weapons by anyone is completely unacceptable.

The timescale is important and practical. Nuclear states will not relinquish their weapons overnight. In the current febrile atmosphere of Russian/Chinese /US relations there are likely to be decades of work to do the create the necessary trust, verification and de escalation.

Tagged nuclear weapons | 26 Comments

Jane Dodds writes….Wales has a by-election and we need your help

By Jane Dodds | Wed 17th January 2018 - 8:00 am

There is a by-election for the Welsh Assembly in the North Wales constituency of Alyn and Deeside on February 6th.

This is an opportunity for the Welsh Liberal Democrats to begin their revival and renewal after a challenging time.

The election is being fought in difficult circumstances following the suicide of the Labour politician, Carl Sergeant in November, and his son has been selected as the Labour candidate in the by-election.

We have a brilliant candidate in Donna Lalek, who joined the party just over a year ago, was born and brought up in the constituency,is a founder member of the Liberal Democrat inspired “Everyone Matters” movement and is a community councillor.

This is a plug for your support as we desperately need more help in every part of campaigning. Sal Brinton has been to support us, and Vince Cable comes up at the end of January.

You will be warmly welcomed if you can make it up to North Wales, so please think if you can join us.

The by-election is not only an opportunity for us to build capacity as a party, but is the first opportunity in a constituency election to consider how issues such as how the Brexit negotiations are beginning to impact on an area that voted out.

Tagged alyn and deeside by-election, donna lalek and Wales | 3 Comments

Inquiry needed into questionable decisions around Carillion – Cable

By NewsHound | Mon 15th January 2018 - 2:33 pm

Responding to reports that Carillion is to go into liquidation, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable said:

In the light of today’s announcement that Carillion plc has gone into liquidation, Vince Cable has called for urgent action;

The government must now take responsibility for the big contracts run by Carillion, or re-tender them, to keep the supply chain going and protect thousands of jobs. Ministers must minimise the damage to the capacity of the construction industry.

We also urgently need a parliamentary inquiry into some of the very questionable decisions made in the past few months, not least the award of

…

Tagged Carillion and public sector contracts | 37 Comments

A progressive alliance for decency in the news media defeats the Government in the Lords

By Mark Valladares | Mon 15th January 2018 - 9:51 am

In writing my preview of last week’s events in the Lords, I rather glossed over the debate on the Data Protection Bill on Wednesday. That will rather teach me to do more research, as it turned out that there was to be an attempt to set up a new Leveson-style inquiry into the nefarious activities of some of our news outlets…

As the noble Lord Greaves pointed out last week, Wednesday saw the Government defeated on a vote to require them to set up and inquiry into issues arising from data protection breaches …

Also posted in Parliament | Tagged brian paddick, house of lords, leveson, press regulation and tom mcnally | 3 Comments

Welcome to my day: 15 January 2018 – more experiments in moderation?

By Mark Valladares | Mon 15th January 2018 - 7:28 am

So, I find myself splashing about in the turbulent waters of Liberal Democrat Voice again on another Monday morning. At least this week, the waters aren’t frozen, as I’m back in the country after two weeks in the United States.

On the moderation front, we’re still in mid-experiment as I understand it, so do bear with us. I do find myself wondering whether or not moderation should be more transparent. For example, comments could be edited to take out the off-topic, discourteous or simply rude bits, with some explanation of why. It might …

4 Comments

William Wallace of Saltaire on singing at the Coronation

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 14th January 2018 - 9:46 pm

You think you know everything there is to know about our parliamentarians’ backgrounds and then, all of a sudden, you find out something new.

That happened to me tonight as I watched the BBC1 programme about The Coronation. For me, the big “wow” moment wasn’t watching the Queen chatting away about her big day, or her obvious fascination with her crowns. It was when they showed 4 former choristers who sang on that day that I thought – that looks like William Wallace, our Peer and regular LDV contributor. Keeley Hawes, narrating, then said their names, and one of them was William Wallace. He was on the front row. He was a pupil at the Westminster Abbey Choir School.

Wikipedia provided the final confirmation. And the wonders of the internet also told me that he had spoken to ITV about the experience back in 2015 when the Queen became the longest-reigning monarch.

Tagged the coronation and william wallace | 3 Comments

Vince Cable on Carillion: Shareholders are going to have to take a hit

By The Voice | Sun 14th January 2018 - 4:39 pm

Vince has been speaking about the Carillion crisis. The FT reports:

The Lib Dem leader’s intervention suggests the crisis at Carillion is about to become highly political; Sir Vince claimed last November that the government was “feeding” contracts to the company to try to keep it alive.

On Friday lenders to Carillion dismissed the company’s rescue plan and urged Downing Street to intervene.

But ministers will face fierce political criticism if they have to bailout a company which continued to receive major public contracts — including on the HS2 high speed rail line — after it issued a profit warning last July.

The government would also have to comply with EU state aid rules, but Sir Vince said that in the first instance the private sector should take a hit.

“The shareholders of the company are going to have to take a loss,” he told the BBC. “The creditors, the big banks who hold most of this debt, will have to write off some of it, perhaps replace some of it with shares.”

You can watch his BBC interview here.

He’d earlier said on Twitter:

Tagged business, carillon and vince cable | 26 Comments

How we could exit from Brexit – a detailed plan

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 14th January 2018 - 3:15 pm

It seems like every day I’m having conversations with people who aren’t involved in politics who are resigned to the idea that we’re stuck with leaving the European Union.

When I tell them that we aren’t, and that the dangerous folly of Brexit could be stopped, they get very interested indeed.

I can’t be alone in that.

Just before Christmas, Parliament debated the Liberal Democrat amendment on a referendum on the final deal. To go along with that, the party published a timetable of how that could happen.

April 2018: Royal Assent given to the EU Withdrawal Bill

April 2018: Government introduces a Referendum on the Deal Bill, in line with the stipulations set out in the amendment:

May 2018: Royal Assent given to Referendum on the Deal Bill

September 2018: 12 week referendum campaign begins, with vote scheduled for early December. (European Parliament will also have a vote in this time and European Council must approve the deal)

December 2018: Referendum concluded, and Parliamentary vote held. In the case of a vote to remain in the EU, Article 50 would be withdrawn (Lord Kerr, author of Article 50 has stated this is a possibility).

Vince said at the time:

This potential timeline to a public vote shows Brexit is not a done deal – it can be stopped, but only with the approval of the British public.

Support is growing for a public vote on whatever botched Brexit deal the Conservatives manage to get from the EU.

It’s time the Conservatives – and the Labour leadership – listened.

Ultimately, the Liberal Democrats don’t believe the government can negotiate any deal which is better than the one we currently have as a member of the EU.

That is why we will campaign to remain in the EU in any future referendum.

The EU Withdrawal Bill can still be amended by the House of Lords, so that option is still live.

Also share with people that the author of Article 50 is very clear that we can revoke it.

Tagged brexit, exit from brexit and lord ker revoking Article 50 | 33 Comments

Lib Dem Job Watch: Could you work in the party’s press or digital teams?

By The Voice | Sun 14th January 2018 - 1:45 pm

If you fancy a job with the party’s media and digital teams, you’ll have to act quickly as the deadlines are very soon.

There are three jobs in the party’s press team that close at 12 noon tomorrow.

The party is looking for a Head of Media, to lead the team with the aim:

to promote the Liberal Democrats and the Party leader Vince Cable in regional and national media.

You and your team will be expected to secure daily coverage in a diverse range of national and regional print, broadcast and online news media, and you will collaborate with the Head of Digital Communications, to support the creation of content for the party’s digital channels.

There’s also a vacancy for a Senior Media Officer:

This role will take a particular lead on maintaining and developing a strong regional media presence, alongside generating proactive stories and features for press and online media.

Close cooperation with the rest of the media team will be essential in supporting the teams’ work, as well as day to day collaboration with the Digital Communications team.

And for a Press and Digital Officer

The role will involve working with the rest of the small, but effective, media team to generate proactive news story ideas, respond to emerging events and create digital content for use by the Press Office, and Digital Communications team.

These vacancies have arisen because of the departures of Phil Reilly as Director of Communications the promotion of Sam Barratt to fill his role, and the departures of Paul Haydon and Jasper Gerard who are off to pastures new. We wish all of them all the best in their new roles.

It’s good to see the close collaboration between press and digital. The ability to get our message out across mainstream and social media platforms quickly is vital.

With that in mind, the party is seeking a new Head of Digital Communications:

Tagged lib dem jobwatch | 1 Comment

Vince, Christine, Jo and Layla marked out as politicians to watch in 2018

By NewsHound | Sun 14th January 2018 - 11:11 am

Over at HITC, Richard Wood has produced a list of politicians to watch this year.

Vince Cable, Layla Moran and Christine Jardine get mentions:

Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable has failed to make much of an impact this year. But with the Brexit drum beating louder than ever before, and the UK just one year away from exiting the EU, Brexit anxiety will likely increase, thus resulting in Cable rising to prominence. Cable and his party will likely capitalise on remain sentiment, but can he expand on that and turn the Liberal Democrats into more than just the anti-Brexit party?

Keep an …

Tagged christine jardine, Jo Swinson, layla moran and vince cable | 5 Comments

Federal Policy Committee report – 10 January 2018

By Jeremy Hargreaves | Fri 12th January 2018 - 11:55 am

The Federal Policy Committee met on Wednesday night, with an agenda mostly of finalising items for debate at spring conference.

First up was reviewing the policy paper produced by the working group on education, and finalising it for proposal to spring conference. This is an impressive paper covering a wide range of aspects of education, especially funding, supporting and promoting teachers and good teaching, and inspection and improvement arrangements. It also covers the curriculum, schools structures, Further Education, Early Years, SEND and health (including mental health) in education. FPC has discussed this twice through the autumn and last night had a further good discussion on it, especially around arrangements for inspection, testing and league tables. The motion and paper will of course be published and launched publicly once the agenda for spring conference is decided and published.

The second policy paper item was on rural affairs. The discussion of this last night focussed in particular the section on agriculture following the important speech by the secretary of state last Friday on the planned post-EU future for agriculture and land. We have also discussed fully on previous occasions its sections on supporting local rural economies more broadly, tackling the housing problems, supporting greater communications, both physical and electronic, and flood protection. Other areas such as animal welfare were also discussed in some more detail. This will also be published in due course.

Tagged committee report, featured and federal policy committee | Leave a comment

LISTEN: Willie Rennie: My mission this year is to stop Brexit

By NewsHound | Fri 12th January 2018 - 10:25 am

Listen to Willie Rennie’s start of year interview with BBC Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland.

He said that public opinion was shifting in favour of a referendum on the final deal.

The Liberal Democrats’ fortunes were improving too, with more MPs, more members and running more councils.

We have constantly raised concerns about the running of Police Scotland and the way the Scottish Police Authority works and he said it was time for a root and branch review of the Authority after it invited the under-investigation chief constable to return to work before the conclusion of the enquiry into his conduct.

Listen to the whole thing here.

1 Comment

Vince: I strongly disagree with Tim Farron – and other Lib Dem reaction

By The Voice | Wed 10th January 2018 - 9:32 pm

Vince Cable has responded to Tim Farron’s interview today with a strongly worded tweet:

I strongly disagree with @timfarron’s personal views expressed today. @libdems have a long & proud record of fighting for #LGBT+ rights: campaigning to repeal section 28, equalising age of consent and legislating for equal marriage. I will continue to champion rights and dignity.

— Vince Cable (@vincecable) January 10, 2018

Party President Sal Brinton agreed:

I strongly endorse Vince’s comments below. https://t.co/Bxo1nNzNRD

— SalBrinton (@SalBrinton) January 10, 2018

Scottish Lib Dem Leader Willie Rennie endorsed this view as well:

.@timfarron is entitled to his views and I know he has been troubled about the issue but I don’t agree with his interpretation. I personally and politically support #LGBTQ rights – and always will.

— Willie Rennie (@willie_rennie) January 10, 2018

Other senior Liberal Democrats stepped up with similar, straightforward arguments:

Our Deputy Leader:

Gay or straight, love is love. I disagree with Tim.

— Jo Swinson (@joswinson) January 10, 2018

Alongside @vincecable and @LibDems, I will continue to champion LGBT+ rights proudly, and work to build an inclusive society that celebrates love.

— Jo Swinson (@joswinson) January 10, 2018

Former Lib Dem Lords Leader Jim Wallace had this to say:

Of course @timfarron has a right to express his beliefs, but I’m sure he’ll respect the sincerely held beliefs of many Christians, like myself, who profoundly disagree.

— Jim Wallace (@jrwallace54) January 10, 2018

Christine Jardine reaffirmed her commitment to campaigning for LGBT+ rights:

I completely agree with @vincecable & reject @timfarron’s personal view. I will always fight for LGBTI+ rights https://t.co/VNZJuiswJF

— Christine Jardine MP (@cajardineMP) January 10, 2018

Liz Barker also endorsed Vince’s tweets and particularly mentioned LGBT Christians:

This is the authentic voice of a true leader of the @LibDems who represents us all including @LibDems Christians. https://t.co/n7BCIAKNxY

— Liz Barker (@LizBarkerLords) January 10, 2018

And Brian Paddick revealed more about his resignation from Tim Farron’s shadow cabinet earlier this year.

Tagged lgbt equality and tim farron | 55 Comments

In full: Tim Farron’s interview on Premier Radio

By Paul Walter | Wed 10th January 2018 - 3:49 pm

Tim has spoken at length on Premier Radio, including remarks on his faith and his role as leader of the Liberal Democrats:

Tagged christianity and tim farron | 54 Comments

German and Brinton stand up for victims on Worboys release

By The Voice | Wed 10th January 2018 - 1:52 pm

The release of serial rapist on parole after serving just 10 years has shocked many. Marina Hyde put it particularly well in the Guardian:

In technical terms Worboys has “paid his debt to society”. And yet, that doesn’t feel like quite the right analogy. I prefer to think that he’s been permitted to declare himself bankrupt to avoid paying said debt, and will be trading again in haste most unseemly to his creditors.

Merely out of interest, I wonder which sex offender treatment programme Worboys could have undergone inside in a manner that would have satisfied the parole board? I mean, I don’t want to put a downer on his X Factor journey here, but the main one used in England and Wales was scrapped last year after prisoners who had completed it were more likely to offend again than those that hadn’t. Well … there you go.

Yesterday a statement was made in the House of Lords Mike German replied for the Liberal Democrats:

My Lords, I too express great gratitude from these Benches for the Statement from the Government today, which gives an absolute expression of sympathy for those who have been affected by this case. Because there has been an obvious breakdown in the structure and systems of criminal justice which we are talking about, I wonder whether an apology on behalf of the Government would have been more appropriate at this point.

The Statement we have just heard raises a significant number of issues, many of which link back to legislative processes and rules which have developed over recent decades. Therefore, an understanding of the scope of the review will be necessary to give confidence to the many people who are feeling pain, misery and disgust at what they have seen in recent days. If we are to assuage them and to bring appropriate satisfaction to much of our society, we need to look carefully at the scope of this review.

As the Statement itself expresses it, we are told that the review will answer issues in these two areas: first, transparency in the process for parole decisions and, secondly, how victims are appropriately engaged in that process. This is indeed a focus of public concern at present but behind it lies a set of deeper and wider issues which have been thrown up by this case. We need to ensure that we see a review that touches all these issues if we are to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion to a much deeper issue than that reflected in the Statement. An example which has been thrown up by this case is indeterminate sentences. Nine hundred people were expected to get indeterminate sentences, but by 2012, when they were abolished, 6,000 people had received such sentences. Will the Minister tell us whether there is pressure on the parole system to clear this backlog which has affected the way in which it has dealt with these cases? We need some reassurance on that, not just those of us in this Chamber but the public as well.

Public confidence in the justice system has already been alluded to, particularly in the CPS and the role it played in reducing the number of cases brought to prosecution. It is essential that the public know why that was the case and the impact it has had on the victims and alleged victims who have been so hurt in recent days.

Tagged crime, john worboys, mike german, sal brinton and victims code | 8 Comments

LibLink: Robin Teverson: We should clean up our own mess, not export it to China

By NewsHound | Wed 10th January 2018 - 12:52 pm

Lib Dem Peer Robin Teverson has written for Politics Home about the effect of China’s ban on the importation of low grade waste should be a wake up call for us to sort out how we deal with this problem.

China’s import ban, at a stroke, destroys the business model of the UK waste industry, together with its supply chain. The knock-on effects are huge, impacting local authorities and business.

But the UK has been slow to react. Defra is working overtime on Brexit agricultural and fisheries reform, producing a two-years late 25-year environmental plan, getting thousands of EU environmental laws onto the post-Brexit UK statute book. Michael Gove, no less, admitted to the Environmental Audit Committee that he had been taken unawares.

Lack of progress in waste policy, especially in England, has been a contentious issue for some time, not least with a frustrated waste industry. Scotland and Wales have been more ambitious in finding solutions for the future. That lack of focus, in England especially, is no longer an option.

Tagged environment, politics home and robin teverson | 3 Comments

Former Telegraph journalist Tim Walker joins Lib Dems

By The Voice | Wed 10th January 2018 - 10:55 am

We have another new member!

I love this country because all my life it’s allowed me to be me – to think what I want, feel what I want and say what I want. Brexit means we can no longer take basic freedoms for granted. @LibDems are the only mainstream party that opposes it. I’ve joined.

— Tim Walker (@ThatTimWalker) January 9, 2018

Tim spent 10 years till 2014, editing the Telegraph’s diary column and wrote diaries for the Mirror during the last two elections.

He has previously spoken of his concern that right wing …

Tagged new members and tim walker | 9 Comments

WATCH: Christine Jardine on the problems Universal Credit is causing for renters

By The Voice | Wed 10th January 2018 - 8:52 am

Yesterday, a Westminster Hall debate took place, led by Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Lloyd. He aimed to highlight the effect of universal credit on the private rented sector. Simply, landlords aren’t loving the prospect of not getting their rent money, so they are simply saying they won’t rent to anyone on benefits.

This is going to create a massive problem as people find they can’t find somewhere to live.

Here’s Christine Jardine speaking in the debate:

3 Comments

This week in the Lords: 8-11 January – prod, prod, prod…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 8th January 2018 - 11:51 am

Yes, they’re back after all of that leaping, and we’re back to offer you a preview of events in their Lordship’s House.

We start on Monday, with two Liberal Democrat Oral Questions. Floella Benjamin raises the question of an official commemoration of the arrival of the SS Windrush in June 1948, whilst Roger Roberts seeks clarity on post-Brexit arrangements for supporting child refugees.

Most attention though, I suspect, will be on the debate on the Government’s Industrial Strategy and the case for boosting earning power and productivity across the UK with investment in the …

Also posted in Parliament | Tagged house of lords | 6 Comments

Vince: Toby Young appointment “completely unsustainable”

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 7th January 2018 - 1:05 pm

Theresa May admitted today that she had been unaware of Toby Young’s appalling comments before his appointment to the board of the new Office for Students. The Guardian reports:

In her first public statement about Young’s appointment, the prime minister said she was not aware of Young’s history of making sexist and homophobic remarks when he got the job and that, if he were to use language like that again, he would be sacked.

But she signalled that she was happy for him to remain on the board of the new Office for Students, even though the opposition and the main teaching union, the National Education Union, have said his previous outbursts make him unsuitable for the post.his previous outbursts make him unsuitable for the post.

Tagged toby young and vince cable | 10 Comments

Willie Rennie to run almost 5 marathons in 4 days to raise funds for mental health charity

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 7th January 2018 - 11:25 am

As far as we know, Scotland doesn’t have any elections this May.

Willie Rennie isn’t going to be slacking though.

Over the Easter weekend, he’ll be running the 117 miles of the Fife Coastal Path which runs from the Firth of Forth to the Forth of Tay. He hopes to raise £1000 at least for the Scottish Association for Mental Health a Scottish mental health charity. This reflects his personal and political priorities of securing better mental health care.

That 117 miles is not far off being 5 marathons so …

Tagged charity, fundraising, mental health, running and willie rennie | 3 Comments

Rod Cantrill selected as Lib Dem PPC for Cambridge

By The Voice | Sun 7th January 2018 - 9:23 am

At 1:09 am, Cambridge Lib Dems announced on Twitter that they had selected their PPC. The selection meeting hadn’t gone on until then but possibly the post-meeting celebrations did.

Congratulations to Rod Cantrill, who is already well known to Cambridge voters.

Congratulations to @rodcantrill who has just been selected by #Cambridge #LibDem members to be our next Parliamentary Candidate.
Rod won the majority of votes in Cambs 2016 Mayoral vote amongst Cambridge City & South Cambs voters and we hope to carry that success onwards! pic.twitter.com/fL1NRXEzdZ

— Cambridge Lib Dems (@CambridgeLDs) January 7, 2018

Rod himself said:

Honoured to have been selected as Lib Dem PPC for Cambridge against v strong competition #LibDemFightback

— Rod Cantrill (@rodcantrill) January 7, 2018

He tells us on his website about his political priorities. Obviously he’s against Brexit, but here’s the section on tackling social inequality:

Tagged cambridge, liberal democrat parliamentary candidates and rod cantrell | 1 Comment

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