Category Archives: News

Mark Valladares

29 January – 2 February: this week in the Lords

By Mark Valladares | Mon 29th January 2024 - 11:35 am

Welcome to another preview of the upcoming week in the more genteel end of the Palace of Westminster, although don’t be misled into thinking that it’s passionless. For this week, the Rwanda Bill gets its first proper airing, and the Lords has views…

There are expected to be more than seventy speakers on Monday, when the Rwanda Bill receives its Second Reading. Now normally, the Second Reading is where the general principles of a Bill are discussed, with the detail and amendments left to the Committee and Report Stages, but not today. Mike …

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Charles Quinn

ALDC by-election report, 25th January

By Charles Quinn | Fri 26th January 2024 - 6:14 pm

There was just one principal council by-election contested this week which took place in Scotland on Stirling Council.

Thank you to Lib Dem candidate Dick Moerman for standing for Liberal Democrats in Dunblane and Bridge of Allan ward and getting nearly 300 first preference votes. The ward was held by the Conservatives.

Stirling Council, Dunblane and Bridge of Allan
Conservative: 1644 (38%, +6.5%)
SNP: 1000 (23%, -3.9%)
Labour: 869 (20%, +7.8%)
Green: 433 (10%, -6.8%)
Liberal Democrats (Dick Moerman): 292 (7%, -3.1%)
Scottish Family Party: 50 (1%, +0.5%)

A full summary of all results for this week and previous weeks can be found on the ALDC by-elections page here.

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Mary Reid

Caroline Pidgeon challenges Transport for London over illegal ULEZ fines

By Mary Reid | Fri 26th January 2024 - 1:43 pm

London Assembly member, Caroline Pidgeon, has been publicising stories emerging from drivers from outside the UK who have been handed large fines which appear to be both unwarranted and illegal. The Guardian has picked up her concerns and its investigations (“Hundreds of thousands of EU citizens ‘wrongly fined for driving in London Ulez’“) have revealed that the practice is widespread.

She discovered that thousands of drivers have been fined large sums under Transport for London’s ULEZ (Ultra Low Emissions Zone) regulations for not paying the £12.50 charge when driving in London. It seems that their personal data was acquired by dodgy illegal means. In fact this is “possibly one of the largest data breaches in EU history”. As the Guardian says:

Since Brexit, the UK has been banned from automatic access to personal details of EU residents. Transport authorities in Belgium, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands have confirmed to the Guardian that driver data cannot be shared with the UK for enforcement of London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez), and claim registered keeper details were obtained illegally by agents acting for TfL’s contractor Euro Parking Collection.

Now this is not a case of guilty people getting away with it because of data protection laws. In many cases the drivers were in ULEZ compliant cars and should not have been subject to the ULEZ fee anyway! In other cases the drivers had paid the charge.

The problem is that EU drivers of ULEZ compliant vehicles coming into London are required to register with Euro Parking at least 10 days in advance. But this requirement is simply not publicised. So drivers who should not have to pay the charge are instead penalised.

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The Voice

Interested in finance? A chance to join the Federal Finance and Resources Committee

By The Voice | Thu 25th January 2024 - 12:25 pm

Would you like to contribute to the running of our party?

The Federal Finance and Resources Committee has a casual vacancy for a volunteer member, which will be filled by the Federal Board. Applications are invited with a closing date of 12th February.

There are full details of the context and responsibilities on the party website, but here is some extracts:

This is your opportunity to play a pivotal role in the Party’s work in a volunteer non-executive position. You will help us win by ensuring our financial resources are well used.

You must be a member of the Liberal Democrats and able to demonstrate your affinity with the values of the party, as well as an understanding of its structures, relationships and financial needs.

Prior professional experience in a relevant field, such as finance or risk, and/or experience as a non-executive, trustee, or similar scrutiny role, is highly desirable. Also desirable is experience with understanding and managing how financial decisions sit within a complex stakeholder environment.

Interested? All you need to know, including how to apply, is here.

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The Voice

Layla Moran challenges Sunak on Thames Water incompetence

By The Voice | Wed 24th January 2024 - 7:19 pm

Oxford West and Abingdon MP Layla Moran had a question to the Prime Minister today.

She challenged him on Thames Water, who are putting charges to her constituents up, despite providing a terrible service. She said:

Thames Water is a shambles. During the recent flooding in Oxfordshire, it dumped sewage from 270 sites along the Thames in one week. Waste was backing up into people’s homes because of drains that it had not unblocked, and it could not even refill its own reservoir because the rivers were too dirty. Rather than offering a rebate for this shoddy service, Thames Water is intending to put bills up for everyone by 60%. Will the Prime Minister explain to my constituents why they are being asked to foot the bill for Thames Water’s gross incompetence?

Sunak responded by basically reaffirming Layla’s point that Thames Water had been terrible, but without much in the way of understanding or action to prevent such a massive increase in charges.

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NewsHound

Sal Brinton “horrified” by lack of protection for disabled people during power cuts

By NewsHound | Wed 24th January 2024 - 11:01 am

We’ve seen how the storms currently battering the UK have left thousands without power.

This can have life-threatening consequences for disabled people, who need their electricity supply to power essential equipmen such as breathing machines.

The BBC spoke to one woman who reported being without mains power for 13 hours. Michaela Hollywood said that without her generator, she would not have been able to breathe:

I am incredibly lucky to have a generator – that is enough to power my equipment – so it gives a little bit of comfort for me, but that’s not the case for others,” she said.

No electricity, that obviously puts my life at risk, as well as other disabled people across the United Kingdom, and unfortunately we’ve been left to make our own crisis plans to make sure our lives are protected.

For me, it’s always about prioritising my equipment and trying to not panic even though you have that deep-seeded feeling of panic, of what are we going to do if this goes wrong?

It’s that fear of maybe not being able to breathe, maybe having to pull an all nighter and not sleep, which is very real and very dangerous.

This is something that has been on our Sal Brinton’s radar for a while. She has been pushing the Government to ensure that power companies were compelled to have a plan in place for disabled people at risk if the power supply was cut. She said she was “horrified” that the Government had decided not to do so and just to push the whole thing back to disabled people. She told the Disability News Service:

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Mark Valladares

23 January 2024 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 23rd January 2024 - 10:30 pm
  • Davey on Houthi strikes: Vital Parliament has its say
  • Simon Clarke and Sunak soap opera: A fourth PM without an election would be “ludicrous”
  • Operation Onyx One Year On – 1,400 Met Officers Still Under Investigation for Sexual Abuse
  • Welsh Lib Dems urge Welsh Government to make good on promise to “prioritise care not profit”
  • Mid and West Wales MS Jane Dodds calls on Welsh Government to protect businesses from floods

Davey on Houthi strikes: Vital Parliament has its say

Responding to the latest set of strikes on the Houthi rebels, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

Liberal Democrats are concerned about the Houthis’ attacks in the Red Sea and so we support the case for limited strikes, so long as they remain limited.

However, it is absolutely vital that Parliament has an opportunity to have its say, via a debate and a vote. The Prime Minister has so far failed to grant either. It is deeply disappointing that elected representatives are being bypassed on an issue as important as military action.

Simon Clarke and Sunak soap opera: A fourth PM without an election would be “ludicrous”

Responding to Simon Clarke calling on Rishi Sunak to be replaced as Prime Minister, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper MP said:

It is utterly ludicrous that the Conservative Party is even discussing installing a fourth Prime Minister without giving voters a say.

The Conservatives are once again fighting like rats in a sack while families face soaring bills and an NHS crisis.

People are sick and tired of this never-ending Conservative Party soap opera. It’s time for Rishi Sunak to give voters the chance to put an end to this farce and call a general election.

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Mark Valladares

22 January 2024 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 22nd January 2024 - 10:45 pm
  • Panorama Report: Crumbling schools left in the cold
  • Lucy Frazer: Attack on BBC a desperate distraction
  • New: Met Police Officer numbers fall again

Panorama Report: Crumbling schools left in the cold

Responding to the BBC Panorama report which revealed that crumbling schools are plagued by leaks and the cold, Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson Munira Wilson MP said:

Thousands and thousands of school buildings across the country are in dire need of investment after years of neglect from this Conservative government.

The lack of Government action is shockingly leaving children in extremely cold classrooms having to wear gloves and hats while attempting to learn.

The Liberal Democrats know that investment in education boosts our children’s futures. The Treasury needs to urgently look at increasing the funding for clearing the backlog of school repairs.

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Mark Valladares

22-26 January 2024 – this week in the Lords

By Mark Valladares | Mon 22nd January 2024 - 1:03 pm

Hello, dear readers, and we meet again for another episode of the costume drama that is the House of Lords. And this week, it’s a “Rwanda week” even though the Rwanda Bill only received its formal First Reading on Thursday and isn’t due back until next Tuesday.

Even a relatively keen observer like myself is often surprised by the working of the Lords and, this week, the International Agreements Committee takes centre stage. I suppose, having thought about it, that any Parliamentary chamber would want to take a close look at international agreements signed in its name, and the House of Lords is no different. Chaired by Peter Goldsmith, the former (and rather controversial) Labour Attorney General, the Committee published its report on the UK-Rwanda Agreement on an Asylum Partnership. It doesn’t make good reading for the Government and, in typically courteous Lords fashion, accuses James Cleverly of effectively attempting to mislead the Committee (see paragraph 44). The report, including a series of recommendations, is to be debated on Monday and there will then be a motion, moved by Lord Goldsmith, resolving that:

His Majesty’s Government should not ratify the UK-Rwanda Agreement on an Asylum Partnership until the protections it provides have been fully implemented, since Parliament is being asked to make a judgement, based on the Agreement, about whether Rwanda is safe.

You can expect contributions from the two Liberal Democrat members of the Committee, Chris Fox and Tim Razzall, and there is every possibility of a Government defeat if Labour whip their members to vote for the motion.

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NewsHound

Liberal Democrats uncover fall in funding for GP practices

By NewsHound | Mon 22nd January 2024 - 10:09 am

GP funding slashed by £350 million since 2019 as patients left waiting weeks for an appointment

  • Funding for GP practices has seen a £350 million real terms cut in just four years
  • Average funding per GP patient has fallen by 7% in real terms to £165 a year, while worst hit areas have seen funding per patient slashed by 16%
  • 1.5 million patients waited four weeks or more for an appointment in November
  • Lib Dems warn it is “unforgivable” the government is slashing GP funding at time of rising demand

Funding for GP practices has been slashed by £350 million in real terms since 2019, House of Commons Library research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

The analysis shows NHS funding for GP practices in England was 6.9% lower in 2022/23 compared to 2018/19, once inflation is taken into account. The average funding per patient was £165 in 2022/23, a real terms cut of £12 per patient over the past four years.

The Liberal Democrats said it was “unforgivable” that the government was slashing funding for GP practices at a time of rising demand, leaving millions of people struggling to see a doctor when they need to.

The latest figures show that in November 2023, a staggering 1.5 million GP appointments took place four weeks or more after being booked, making up one in twenty (4.8%) of all appointments that month. 5.4 million people waited two weeks or more for the GP appointment in November, or over one in six (17.3%) appointments.

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Charles Quinn

ALDC by-election report 18th January 2024

By Charles Quinn | Sat 20th January 2024 - 1:00 pm

We continued our amazing start to the year in this week’s by-elections. Across 6 contests we won in 3 (including a superb gain in Richmond). We stood a candidate in all 6 by-elections.

There were two by-elections on Richmond on Thames LBC this week and both saw excellent Lib Dem wins.

We gained Hampton North ward from the Conservatives, and in doing so wiped the Conservatives out on the Council. A remarkable achievement by the Lib Dem team in Richmond. As recently as 2018 the Conservatives were running the Council! Congratulations to Councillor Carey Bishop on a brilliant win that increased our vote share by 19.9% and our majority on the Council!

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Mark Valladares

19 January 2024 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Fri 19th January 2024 - 11:20 pm
  • Rob Blackie: Flashy Fares Freeze Fools No One
  • Welsh Lib Dems push for Senedd reform

Rob Blackie: Flashy Fares Freeze Fools No One

Following Sadiq Khan’s announcement he is freezing fares for a year, Lib Dem Candidate for London Mayor, Rob Blackie, said:

Sadiq Khan’s flashy fare freeze fools no one. It is typical of a Mayor who prefers delivering headlines to delivering for Londoners.

We all know the state of Transport for London’s finances and so the Mayor will simply claw this back through other means – most likely after votes have been cast. It is simply an election year gimmick.

After eight years of mismanagement, the Mayor has repeatedly cancelled investments like the Sutton tram – only now to find money down the back of the sofa for an election campaign sweetener.

Khan can’t be trusted to run Transport for London.

Welsh Lib Dems push for Senedd reform

The Senedd Reform Bill Committee today published its report ahead of the introduction of the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill.

Jane Dodds MS sits as a member of the committee and has played a fundamental role in the scrutiny of the electoral method proposed by the Welsh Government.

Ahead of the upcoming Senedd reforms, the party have set out their position to see the Senedd expanded in terms of its members whilst also pushing for the fairest electoral system possible with the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote system.

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Paul Walter

Big swing to Lib Dems in Sheffield Hallam (by-election results 2)

By Paul Walter | Fri 19th January 2024 - 1:21 pm

The victorious Sheffield team last night

Congratulations to new councillor Will Sapwell, who won the Stannington by-election yesterday in Sheffield Hallam constituency. And what a great swing from Labour…


Thank you to Thillainathan Haren for being the Lib Dem candidate in Tooting Broadway, Wandsworth, London:

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Paul Walter

By-election results 1 – Conservatives lose last seat in Richmond

By Paul Walter | Fri 19th January 2024 - 10:08 am

There were six principal authority council by-elections yesterday, and there were Liberal Democrat candidates in all those contests.

After winning 39 of the 54 seats in Richmond-upon-Thames in 2014, the Tories yesterday lost their last seat on the council!:

We also held a second seat up for grabs in the borough last night:

This is part one of our by-election coverage this week – you can find part two here.

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NewsHound

Liberal Democrats name junior doctor Aidan King as candidate for North East mayor election

By NewsHound | Fri 19th January 2024 - 9:15 am

ChronicleLive reports:

The Liberal Democrats have chosen a junior doctor as their candidate for the North East mayoral election.

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Mark Valladares

18 January 2024 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Thu 18th January 2024 - 11:45 pm
  • Sunak press conference: Out of touch and out of ideas
  • UK Stats Authority criticises Sunak over asylum backlog claim
  • “The Tories have failed Port Talbot” – Welsh Lib Dems

Sunak press conference: Out of touch and out of ideas

Responding to Rishi Sunak’s press conference on the Conservative government’s Rwanda policy, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

This Conservative government crashed the economy, sent mortgage rates spiralling and has made it almost impossible to see a GP.

Instead of tackling these major challenges, Rishi Sunak’s government is too busy fighting over an unworkable and expensive policy that is destined to fail.

It just confirms how desperately out

…

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Mark Valladares

15 January 2024 – today’s press release

By Mark Valladares | Mon 15th January 2024 - 10:02 pm

Houthi strikes: Lib Dems to table Bill giving MPs a vote over UK military action

The Liberal Democrats are set to table a Bill which will give Parliament a vote over military action. The Lib Dem legislation – dubbed the ‘War Powers Bill’ – will enshrine the right for MPs to approve military action into law.

It comes following criticism levelled at Rishi Sunak, who has failed to grant MPs a vote on the UK’s strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

From the 2000s onwards, MPs were frequently given the opportunity to vote on military action and intervention. In emergency cases, …

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Caron Lindsay

REPRISE: Adventures of a UK Liberal Democrat at the Iowa caucuses Part 3

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 15th January 2024 - 2:46 pm

Editor’s Note: Eight years, at the beginning of the 2016 year of Brexit and Trump Hell, Kevin Lang, now our Group Leader on the City of Edinburgh Council, found himself in Iowa during the caucuses. Across three articles, he gives us a great insight of what happened at the Democrat caucus. 

Much of what he says about the Hillary campaign is worth our own opposition politicians thinking about as we approach our own election later this year. I thought you might like to re-read Kevin’s posts. 

Of course this year it’s the Republicans going mad in Iowa with the front runner, Donald Trump, not bothering himself to take part in the debates.

I always find the Pod Save America podcast, presented by former Obama staffers Jon Favreau, Dan Pfeiffer, Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor a great source of information on US politics. Vietor has returned to Iowa to see what’s happening on the ground there with two special episodes of the On the Ground in Iowa podcast. Have a listen here. 

Over to Kevin:

Screen Shot 2016-02-02 at 11.10.23Monday 1 February

It’s a polling day of a different kind. Rather than 15 hours of voting, everything is crammed into just 2 hours.
Across the state, individual caucuses will be held in an astonishing 1,681 locations. There is one caucus for every precinct (polling district) with each one requiring a chair to oversee proceedings and a speaker for each of the candidates. It requires a phenomenal level of planning and organisation by both the Democrat and Republican state parties.

I get out during the day and visit the Iowa Historical Museum with its brilliant ‘first in the nation’ exhibition, including memorabilia dating back to the first caucuses in the early 1970s. Geoff, my guide, easily wins the prize for the most overexcited Iowan of my visit so far. He can of course be excused on this, his day of days. He reels off facts and joyously regales the tale of when his neighbour offered his house as a caucus site in 2008, only for it to be overrun with voters in that record breaking turnout year. “He put the Clintons in his front room, the Edwards in his kitchen and Obamas upstairs”, he said, “he was able to fit all the Dodds and Bidens in his bathroom!”

And so caucus hour arrives at 7pm. I’m covering Polk County’s 80th precinct caucus, held in the Wright Elementary School on the south side of Des Moines. It’s a precinct in which Obama beat Romney by over 30% in 2012 so there are lots of Democratic voters for the three campaigns to haggle over.

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NewsHound

Record 420,000 patients faced 12-hour A&E waits in 2023

By NewsHound | Mon 15th January 2024 - 8:45 am

  • 1,150 patients a day faced ‘trolley waits’ in A&E of 12 hours or more last year
  • Fifty fold increase in 12-hour delays compared to four years ago
  • In some areas almost one in two patients faced delays of 12 hours or more
  • Lib Dems warn funding cuts risk “pouring petrol over the fire” of NHS crisis

A record 420,000 patients waited more than 12 hours to be admitted to hospital from A&E in 2023, up 20% on the previous year, new analysis by the Liberal Democrats has revealed. It means an average of 1,150 patients a day faced waits of 12 hours more to be admitted to hospital last year.

The Liberal Democrats said the “appalling delays” were being caused by years of Conservative neglect, and warned Rishi Sunak’s plans to slash healthcare funding would “pour petrol” over the flames of the NHS crisis.

The latest data from NHS England shows how long people are left waiting after a decision to admit them to hospital – also known as “trolley waits.” The figures show there has been a staggering fifty fold rise in 12-hour delays at A&E in recent years.

In 2019, just 8,272 people waited 12 hours or more to be admitted to hospital at A&E, making up around 0.13% of all emergency admissions that year. This increased to 419,560 in 2023, with over one in fifteen (6.7%) patients at A&E waiting 12 hours or more to be admitted. It means the proportion of patients waiting 12 hours or more to be admitted is almost fifty times higher in 2023 than it was before the last general election. The number of 12 hour A&E admission delays last year was by the far the highest since records started being recorded in 2011.

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Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: Escalation

By Tom Arms | Sat 13th January 2024 - 9:30 am

The world’s nightmare – escalation of the Middle East crisis – is moving rapidly towards reality.

Pushing the region to the edge are Israel’s Likud government and Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthis.

As of this Friday the death toll in Gaza – according to UN figures – was 23,357. Another 59,410 have been wounded. Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to discuss a ceasefire.

Britain and America publicly back him because they are afraid of losing what little leverage they have. Privately they want a ceasefire; Netanyahu out and talks for a two-state solution.

Meanwhile, 16 missile and drone launch sites have been attacked by British and American ships and planes. They are backed up by an alliance of 42 partner nations dubbed “Operation Prosperity Guardian.”

The Anglo-American attacks were in response to Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea– one of the world’s arterial waterways. The Houthi’s say their attacks were in support of demands for a ceasefire in Gaza. Both sides have warned of more to come.

The Houthis are one of three Iranian proxies/allies in the region. Like the other two—Hezbollah and Hamas—they are armed to the teeth non-state actors. This means that their best means of influence is through armed disruption.

They started their latest offensive with missile and drone attacks on targets inside Israel less than a week after the Hamas terrorist attack on 7 October.  The attacks failed. Israel’s air defences are too good.

So, the Houthis turned their attention to Red Sea shipping. They would hit Israel and its Western backers where it really hurt—in their pocketbooks.

Since November, the Houthis have carried out 27 attacks on Red Sea shipping. Some 12 per cent of the world’s trade – including giant oil tankers and container ships – passes under the gaze of Houthi guns through the Red and Arabian Sea. Nearly a quarter of them have been diverted around the Cape of Good Hope. This significantly increasing costs at a time when Europe, America and Japan are still reeling from the economic effects of the Ukraine War, the covid pandemic and the 2008-2009 banking crisis.

The Houthi attacks have been condemned by the UN Security Council. China and Russia refused to use their veto to block the anti-Houthi resolution, although they did abstain.

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Mark Valladares

12 January 2024 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Fri 12th January 2024 - 10:29 pm
  • GDP stats: Sunak’s talk of turning a corner has not survived contact with economic reality
  • Lib Dems demand retrospective vote on government military action in the Red Sea

GDP stats: Sunak’s talk of turning a corner has not survived contact with economic reality

Responding to the latest figures that show GDP is estimated to have fallen by 0.2% in the three months to November 2023, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson, Sarah Olney MP said:

This Conservative government has brought us nothing but stagnation. Sunak’s talk of turning a corner has not survived contact with economic reality.

This no growth Prime Minister has no plan and no

…

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Charles Quinn

ALDC by-election Report, 11th January

By Charles Quinn | Fri 12th January 2024 - 4:49 pm

The first council by-elections of 2024 were held this week. We began the new year in much the same way that we finished last year – by winning and moving forwards!

The first result declared in 2024 was a brilliant hold for the Lib Dems on Salford MBC. This was one of 4 principal by-elections contested and there were some very interesting results across the board.

The only place to start though is in Salford MBC where Councillor Paul Heilbron won Quays ward for the Liberal Democrats. We first won the ward in 2022 and just missed out in the 2023 local elections. We won on Thursday night with a 17.4% increase in our share of the vote from the 2023 result while Labour were down 12.6% from last May.

Congratulations to Paul and the Lib Dem team in Salford. This result is particularly special for ALDC as Paul is a former member of ALDC staff. His win restores our Lib Dem presence on Salford MBC too.

Salford MBC, Quays
Liberal Democrats (Paul Heilbron): 540 (54.8%, +17.4%)
Labour: 321 (32.6%, -12.6%)
Green Party: 124 (12.6%, +3.4%)

Very unusually the next by-election resulted in the winning Conservative candidate being unable to take up their seat – meaning another election will have to be run in the seat.

On Dorset Council the Conservatives won Littlemoor and Preston ward – holding onto it despite a brilliant performance by Lib Dem candidate Simon Clifford who increased the Lib Dem vote share by 19% and jumped from fourth to a very strong second. However as the winning Conservative candidate is employed by the council he is disqualified from taking up his seat and the seat will now remain vacant until the Dorset council elections in May. Congratulations to Simon and the team in Dorset for moving the Lib Dems forward so much in the seat with local elections just round the corner. The result was:

Dorset Council, Littlemoor and Preston
Conservative: 1,237 (54%, +25%)
Liberal Democrats (Simon Clifford): 833 (36%, +19%)
Labour: 232 (10%, -9.5%)

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Mark Valladares

11 January 2024 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Thu 11th January 2024 - 10:00 pm
  • Lib Dems call for Ofcom investigation on GB News “bias and misleading” reporting of Post Office scandal
  • Double by-election: Conservative majority being whittled away
  • NHS waiting lists soar by 400,000 since Sunak made pledge to cut them

Lib Dems call for Ofcom investigation on GB News “bias and misleading” reporting of Post Office scandal

  • Deputy Leader slams Farage and Conservative MP presenters for “bias, misleading and at times, frankly absurd news reporting”
  • Conservative politicians lining up to host TV shows in election year whilst refusing to criticise their own party

The Liberal Democrats have written to Ofcom to demand an investigation into the reporting of the Post Office Horizon scandal by Nigel Farage, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Lee Anderson.

The party has noted that the Reform Party Chairman Farage and Conservative MP Rees-Mogg both failed to report on the scandal impartially, after they attacked opposition parties without including the Conservative government’s role.

In a letter to the Chief Executive of Ofcom, Daisy Cooper MP also noted that Lee Anderson cannot be trusted to report without bias on the matter, after non-stop attacks on the Leader of the Liberal Democrats on social media and in the House of Commons.

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Mary Reid

Watch Ian Hislop on the Post Office scandal

By Mary Reid | Thu 11th January 2024 - 12:32 pm

Private Eye and Computer Weekly were doggedly exposing the Post Office scandal for many years. They reported the scale of the problem with Horizon at a time when individual postmasters were still being lied to and told that they were the only person with the problem.

On Peston last night Ian Hislop clashed with Jake Berry MP over the Government’s inertia in dealing with it.

Earlier in the programme he had expressed his profound anger at the long history of the scandal.

Watch this from about 43 minutes in. (Sorry, ITVX won’t allow me to embed this)

Note that Ed Davey is name-checked in the intro, but with the comment that he was just one of 17 PO ministers over the period. Ian Hislop also rubbishes the way in which Ed has been singled out, and proceeds to hit at the real culprits.

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Mark Valladares

10 January 2024 – today’s Welsh press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 10th January 2024 - 10:45 pm
  • “Urgent action needed to beat the clock in climate fight”- Welsh Lib Dems
  • Jane Dodds MS calls for more mental health support for rural Wales
  • “Now’s the time to capitalise on Green energy”- Welsh Lib Dems
  • “It’s time to call an end to child poverty”- Welsh Lib Dems

“Urgent action needed to beat the clock in climate fight”- Welsh Lib Dems

Today, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have called on both the Welsh Labour Government and the UK Conservative government to get serious on tackling the climate crisis.

According to BBC analysis, the year 2023 has been confirmed as the hottest year on record. And last week, the Met Office reported that the UK experienced its second warmest year on record in 2023.

Commenting, the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds said:

I was deeply concerned to hear that this past calendar year has been confirmed to be the hottest on record.

If the past few years of extreme weather and soaring temperatures have not been a wake-up call, then this one should surely send alarm bells ringing both in Cardiff Bay and Westminster.

We desperately need urgent action to help us beat the clock in this fight against climate change.

Make no mistake, there is no do over. We can either make peace with our failures or fight not just for our future, but for our children’s and their children’s futures.

So, I ask governments across the globe, not just here in the UK, what will it be?

How will you want to be remembered for what you did during the greatest crisis humanity has ever encountered?

Jane Dodds MS calls for more mental health support for rural Wales

Today in the Senedd, Jane Dodds MS has called on the Welsh Government to improve access to mental health support and substance support for people living in rural areas.

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Mark Valladares

10 January 2024 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 10th January 2024 - 10:00 pm
  • PMQs Horizon scandal: It should never have had taken this long to get justice
  • Minister admits Dowden made ‘mistake’ by failing to sack Vennells from £17,500 government job

PMQs Horizon scandal: It should never have had taken this long to get justice

Responding to the Prime Minister’s announcement that the government will be setting forward new primary legislation to overturn wrongful convictions during the Horizon scandal, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson, Alistair Carmichael MP said:

The announcement is to be welcomed but hundreds of wrongfully convicted postmasters should never have had to live this long with such appalling injustice.

It has taken more than four years since the landmark High Court judgment exposed the Post Office’s lies.

Lives have been ruined and families have been devastated.

It should never have had taken this long to get justice. It is only to the credit of all those brave postmasters who campaigned to right this wrong that we are finally seeing the start of progress.

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The Voice

Farron: Children are missing school to go abroad for dental treatment

By The Voice | Wed 10th January 2024 - 9:34 am

We all know that NHS dental appointments can be almost impossible to access in many areas of the country.

Liberal Democrats have been highlighting this for months and calling on the Government to do more to ensure people can access this key service.

Yesterday, Tim Farron spoke in an opposition day debate on dental services and said that he had been told that some children were missing school to go abroad for dental appointments because they couldn’t get them locally:

I have heard at first hand from my constituents about the shocking scale of the difficulty of getting access to appointments for children. One attendance officer at one of our primary schools wrote to me earlier last year after she found that families in her school were going abroad for dental appointments. She said:

“Tim, I felt compelled to email you to tell you… We have a high number of children who are regularly missing out on education due to being unable to register with a local NHS dentist. A large number of our children have Polish, Romanian, Latvian and Ukrainian parents and therefore will find it easier to travel back to their parents’ original home country rather than wait for a local NHS dentist who is accepting patients.”

Wow! Let us be clear: she is saying that some children in Cumbria find it easier to get dental treatment travelling to a war zone than to access the NHS dental care that their parents have already paid for through their taxes.

He also highlighted that tooth decay was the number 1 reason for paediatric hospital admissions on his path. That is so shocking. The implications of poor dental health in childhood can last for a lifetime. Tooth decay is preventable and manageable. Free access to a dentist should be a right for children.

Tim said:

In 2022, the BDA found that one in four five-year-olds in my community in Cumbria had tooth decay, and that tooth decay was the No. 1 reason for hospital admissions among young people. Regular dental appointments are vital for preventing tooth decay, and even more so for children, whose teeth tend to decay more quickly. However, fewer and fewer children are able to access those Toggle showing location ofColumn 195appointments because of the negligence of this Government. In Cumbria, the proportion of children seen by a dentist in the NHS each year went from 64% in 2018 to just 50% last year, a drop of 14% in five years. Half of our children in our communities—from Grasmere to Grange, Appleby to Ambleside, Kendal to Kirkby Stephen and Windermere to Warcop—do not have access to an NHS dentist. That is a disgrace.

The situation was worse for adults, with a structural problem in that the NHS Trust only receive half the money it needs to provide services for everyone who needs them.

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Mark Valladares

10 January 2024 – the overnight press release

By Mark Valladares | Wed 10th January 2024 - 7:26 am

MPs vote on blocking water firms receiving tax cuts unless they stop sewage discharges

  • 10 water firms paid no tax last year after government’s previous round of tax cuts on industry
  • Water firms who paid £1.4bn in dividends to overseas owners are now set to receive permanent tax cuts from government
  • Liberal Democrat amendment vows to block “water industry gravy train, where money and sewage flows freely”

Today, MPs expect to vote on a Liberal Democrat amendment to block disgraced water firms receiving a tax cut.

The Government’s Finance Bill allows water firms to fully expense the costs of investment in equipment, handing them a …

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Mark Valladares

9 January 2024 – today’s Welsh press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 9th January 2024 - 10:45 pm
  • “No more tinkering, we need bravery”- Welsh Lib Dem leader Jane Dodds sets out her priorities for new FM
  • Welsh Lib Dems urge for clarity over future of Bwndel Babi scheme
  • Welsh Lib Dems criticise Welsh Labour government over “lack of vision” with budget
  • “Communities must feel that they are being listened to when it comes to their safety”- Welsh Lib Dems urge Welsh Government

“No more tinkering, we need bravery”- Welsh Lib Dem leader Jane Dodds sets out her priorities for new FM

Today, the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds has urged both Welsh Labour leadership candidates to set out a new vision for Wales.

Current Health minister Vaughan Gething and Education minister Jeremy Miles are both in the race to become the new FM following the resignation of Mark Drakeford.

Commenting, leader of the Welsh Lib Dems Jane Dodds said:

The start of a new year brings with it a chance for renewed optimism. And with a new First Minister set to take charge this coming spring, a chance for a fresh approach to how Wales is being run should in theory be just around the corner.

What we have heard from both candidates so far is that they will be taking the same “steady as she goes” approach. More tinkering, more managerialism, and not the vision for the future that people desperately need.

We don’t want to see any more conservatism from Welsh Labour, what we need is a First Minister who is willing to take a bold and brave new direction for our country.

We need a new vision for a thriving economy, a fresh start for our NHS, an innovative democracy, and creating a nation of second chances where everyone has the opportunity to get ahead. We need a fair deal for every corner and every person across our country.

For far too long now the Labour party have stood by and watched as our country, our government, and our parliament has been dragged into the mud by an indifferent UK Conservative government.

We need a Labour party, at both ends of the M4, willing to stand up and demand that Wales gets its fair share.

No more tinkering about and searching for excuses, now is the time for bravery.

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Mark Valladares

9 January 2024 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 9th January 2024 - 10:15 pm
  • Mental Health: Shocking stats show Govt are failing young people
  • Vennells CBE: Now Dowden needs to explain why he failed to sack her as a Cabinet Office Director
  • Surrey oil drilling given go-ahead: A shameful decision. Local MP, Jeremy Hunt must intervene

Mental Health: Shocking stats show Govt are failing young people

Ahead of Lib Dem MP Munira Wilson’s Bill to introduce mental health professionals into schools, statistics show that 61% of those waiting for mental health support had stopped attending school, college, university, or work.

  • 58% missed more than two weeks of school, 42% missed more than a month and 20% missed more than six months
  • A fifth of young people wait more than six months for help. While waiting, 41% said that their mental health got worse

These statistics show the catastrophic impact the lack of mental health provision is having on young people’s lives in both schools and in the workplace, leaving over half unable to attend.

In response, the Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson Munira Wilson MP will be introducing a bill to the Commons today which intends to give all state schools access to a qualified mental health professional.

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