Category Archives: News

NewsHound

Wendy Chamberlain says Tories have plunged older people into cost of living crisis

By NewsHound | Thu 10th February 2022 - 4:14 pm

Today’s Express runs an article featuring Wendy Chamberlain who speaks on work and pensions for the Lib Dems.  She accuses the Conservatives of breaking their manifesto promise to protect the state pension, especially for poorer pensioners. “The Conservatives have plunged older people into the depths of a cost of living crisis.”

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The Voice

Ed Davey challenges Boris Johnson on fraud

By The Voice | Wed 9th February 2022 - 4:30 pm

Ed Davey used his question to the Prime Minister today to tackle the Prime Minister on the Government’s attitude to fraud:

He demanded that  Boris Johnson correct the record after misleadingly claiming crime has fallen, and apologise to the four million victims of fraud he has written out of the picture.

Seventy-four-year-old Janet had twenty-five thousand pounds stolen by fraudsters.

The money was my mum and dad’s and I just felt I let them down,” she told the BBC.

For Janet and for the 4 million people who fell victim to fraudsters and online scammers last year, fraud is a crime.

Does the Prime Minister understand the hurt he and his Ministers cause fraud victims like Janet, when they write them out of the crime figures, and dismiss fraud as something people don’t experience in their day-to-day lives?

Will the Prime Minister correct the record and apologise?

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The Voice

WATCH: Ed Davey say Boris Johnson using Trump playbook to distract from his failings

By The Voice | Wed 9th February 2022 - 3:00 pm

Yesterday, our Andy Boddington asked if democratic dystopia was now the order of the day after the incident where Keir Starmer was threatened outside Parliament.

He said:

I was not prepared for a prime minister who, like Trump, became estranged from the truth. And like Trump, doesn’t understand that when you get something wrong and that is leading to civil unrest, you apologise.

We have always had protests. Protests don’t concern me. I have taken part in many. What scares me is the way that legitimate differences in points of view have become entangled with madcap and frankly dangerous conspiracy theories.

I don’t think we are yet a dystopian society, here, in the USA or in Canada. But I do think we are showing symptoms of political dystopia.

Since then, Ed Davey has spoken to the BBC about the Starmer incident. Watch here:

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The Voice

Carmichael: New partygate picture shows Boris Johnson is not fit to be PM

By The Voice | Wed 9th February 2022 - 1:00 pm

Within the past hour, Pippa Crerar at the Mirror has tweeted out yet another picture of a Downing Street “work event”, this time showing the PM next to a tinsel clad staffer with an open bottle of bubbly on the desk.

Our Home Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said that this showed that Boris Johnson is not fit to be Prime Minister:

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The Voice

Former Conservative Senedd member joins Lib Dems

By The Voice | Wed 9th February 2022 - 11:52 am

Nick Ramsay, former Conservative Shadow Finance Minister in the Senedd, has joined the Welsh Liberal Democrats.  He will stand as a Liberal Democrat in the Monmouthshire Council elections this coming May.

Nick lives in Raglan. He served as a Monmouthshire County Councillor before his election to the Senedd in 2007.

He held many shadow ministerial roles in the Senedd. He chaired the Enterprise and Business Committee and, more recently, the Senedd’s influential Public Accounts Committee.

He is a keen fundraiser for local charities such as Love Zimbabwe, and was appointed as a Vice President of Chepstow Mencap.

After he joined the Liberal Democrats he said:

I have thought long and hard about the future of politics in Wales and the UK.  The Conservative Party is not the party I once joined.  They have lost the trust of the people, and are unable to manage our country.  They have failed the fundamental test of competence.  I can think of little of them with which I agree.

I have spent a long time examining the Liberal Democrats, and I find their underpinning values of fairness, community, and internationalism match my own. The Welsh Liberal Democrats are the best way to achieve a new village hall for Raglan, support for struggling local businesses and sustainable development for Monmouthshire, and I am pleased to be able to join them in their campaign to provide a better future for our county.

Liberal Democrat leader in Monmouthshire Cllr Jo Watkins welcomed Nick:

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NewsHound

Spinning cancer care targets is shameful – Daisy Cooper

By NewsHound | Tue 8th February 2022 - 3:52 pm

The Liberal Democrats have slammed Boris Johnson for having “nothing new to offer” as it emerges several of the cancer treatment targets announced today are simply re-announcements of existing policies. Commenting, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

Cancer treatment is a matter of life and death for thousands of people yet Boris Johnson clearly has nothing new to offer.

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NewsHound

BP £10bn profits shows windfall tax is about “basic fairness”

By NewsHound | Tue 8th February 2022 - 2:22 pm

Embed from Getty Images

Responding to the news that BP has made £10 billion in the past year following surging oil and gas prices, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

The truth is that this is about basic fairness. It simply cannot be right these energy companies are making super profits whilst people are too scared to turn their radiators on and terrified there will be a cold snap.

The government has said that a windfall tax would harm investment but this is an absolutely bogus argument. These profits

…

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NewsHound

Davey: We need leaders who can act over energy supplies

By NewsHound | Mon 7th February 2022 - 10:42 am

Writing in today’s Times, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey says that Boris Johnson has spent much of the past two weeks shacked up in his parliamentary office pleading for his own skin. Meanwhile, one hundred thousand Russian troops have massed on Ukraine’s border threaten the largest military action in Europe since the Second World War. Telling the Tories they need to get a grip fast, he warns that the gas Russia supplies to Europe could fall by up to 30 per cent and that already high gas prices will treble or worse.

Liberal Democrats have called for a “Robin Hood tax” on the super-profits of oil and gas producers and traders, including Russian energy giant, Gazprom.

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Mary Reid

Wikipedia quoted at length in the Levelling Up White Paper

By Mary Reid | Fri 4th February 2022 - 3:02 pm

For most of us, our go-to source when doing a bit of background research is Wikipedia. Sometimes when we are looking for simple facts (like the election results in a particular year) the online crowd-sourced encyclopaedia is all we need. Sometimes it provides the starting point for more in-depth research, especially if we need to verify the sources.

Some years ago I was intrigued by an animation which showed the same Wikipedia page as it evolved over time. The number and frequency of changes was astonishing, which underlined the dynamic nature of knowledge, but also suggested that it should be used with some caution.

However it seems Wikipedia was enough for Government advisers who drew up the Levelling Up White Paper.

Tim Farron has been questioning Michael Gove (Minister for, among other things, Levelling Up) about the White Paper, mainly about the issues for people living in rural communities. But in the process he noticed that whole chunks of the White Paper were copied in full from the relevant Wikipedia entry.

According to The Independent

The white paper includes large sections of padding, with three pages devoted to the history of Jericho, Rome, and renaissance Europe.

But bits of this section appear to have been lifted directly from the popular internet encyclopaedia.

One off-beat part of the report reads: “Constantinople was the capital of the Roman/Byzantine Empire (330-1204 and 1261-1453), the Latin Empire (1204-1261) and the Ottoman Empire (1453-1922)”.

The text is identical to the first line of the Wikipedia page for Constantinople, right down to formatting and punctuation.

Another section of the report includes a full-page timeline of the largest cities in the world since 7,000 BC which is identical to a table on Wikipedia’s “List of largest cities throughout history” page.

Tim said:

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Mary Reid

Forcing ministers (and the PM) to reveal any fines they are given for partygate

By Mary Reid | Fri 4th February 2022 - 12:14 pm

Alistair Carmichael has tabled a rather niche motion in Parliament – the Ministerial Disclosure Bill. This would force Boris Johnson to admit to any fixed penalty notices he receives for lockdown breaches.

The Independent covers the story: Bill tabled to force Boris Johnson to reveal Covid fines which could total more than £12,000.

On Tuesday No 10 agreed to tell the media if the Prime Minister was fined as a result of the Met Police investigation into Downing Street parties. But they did not extend that to other ministers, nor did they say they would state the amount of any fines, both of which are covered in Alistair’s motion.

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NewsHound

Farron: Nationality and Borders Bill impact on LGBTQ+ refugees

By NewsHound | Thu 3rd February 2022 - 10:09 am

While the main attention in parliament yesterday was on tributes to Jack Dromey and Michael Gove’s statement on Levelling Up, an important debate also took place in Westminster Hall. Olivia Blake, Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam had secured a debate on the impact of the Nationality and Borders Bill on LGBTQ+ asylum seekers l. Tim Farron made a major and passionate contribution to the debate. It is notable that no Conservative MPs spoke during the debate.

Farron described the Nationality and Borders Bill as a peculiarly awful piece of legislation that is designed to solve problems that do not exist and to ignore problems that do. It is playing to the gallery rather than seeking to make a difference. The negative impact the Bill will have on LGBTQ+ asylum seekers is a prime example of what is wrong with it.

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The Liberator Collective

Liberator 411 is out now

By The Liberator Collective | Wed 2nd February 2022 - 12:30 pm

Liberator 411 is out and can be downloaded here.

This is the February 2022 online-only edition of Liberator and we hope you enjoy reading it.

Remember Liberator is now free and you can sign up on our website to get notifications of each new issue: www.liberatormagazine.org.uk

What’s inside this issue?

Alongside Radical Bulletin, Commentary and Reviews,  Liberator 411 includes:

UNABLE TO COUNT

The Liberal Democrats will be finished if they further narrow their appeal to voters, says Nick Harvey

TORIES PLUMB NEW DEPTHS

Home secretary Priti Patel’s use of cross-channel refugees as a populist weapon hasn’t been widely welcomed on the south coast, says Stewart Rayment

TIME TO GROW HAIRS

Last year’s two by-election gains showed what ‘Big Hairy Audacious Campaigns’ can do. Now spread that to wider campaigning, says Roger Hayes

LIBERATE SCHOOLS

Authoritarianism characterises too many schools, when wellbeing should be at the heart of everything they do, says Liz Makinson

AFGHANS NEGLECTED BY PATEL’S HOME OFFICE

Afghan refugees are being persecuted by the Home Office for suggesting how it could save money, says Rebecca Tinsley

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Lord William Wallace

William Wallace writes: Can we campaign on local democracy

By Lord William Wallace | Wed 2nd February 2022 - 7:30 am

One of the assumptions of political campaigning is that voters are not interested in political machinery.  Schools, hospitals, trains and buses, yes: Councils, regional authorities, elected mayors and voting systems, no.  But have we now reached a point where this has changed, where it might even help us to include in this year’s local election campaigning arguments for stronger local authorities and less dictation from Westminster?

In the much-delayed Levelling-Up White Paper Michael Gove has promised ‘devolution’: by which he means imposing elected mayors, with limited local scrutiny, on most urban areas that haven’t yet accepted them, and ‘governors’ on rural counties.  Governors are what empires send out to keep distant districts under control, while money and power remain at the centre.  Ministerial treatment of almost all elected mayors except Ben Houchem (Teeside’s Tory mayor) has been patronising – expected to do Whitehall’s bidding and be grateful for the Packages of money they are offered.  Michael Gove treats even Andy Street and Andy Burnham with disdain; Grant Shapps has attacked Tracey Brabin and Dan Jarvis (West and South Yorkshire mayors) as ‘irrational’ for their criticisms of the Integrated Rail Strategy.

This Tory government is irrationally against public service (and public servants) in general, and autonomous local authorities running local services close to ordinary people in particular.  One of the many scandals of the past 3 years is Johnson’s instinctive preference for outsourcing companies to run Test and Trace when the pandemic erupted, ignoring the public health officers with their established local knowledge and contacts across the country – who would have organised a better scheme at a fraction of the vast among of money paid out to these multinational firms.  Education is micro-managed from Whitehall, in partnership with academy chains, with intermittent attention to what local parents want.  ‘Levelling Up’ is packaged as hand-outs from the centre, with competitive bids and ministerial discretion to favour places with Conservative MPs.

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The Voice

Amna Ahmad is our new Vice President

By The Voice | Tue 1st February 2022 - 6:29 pm

The following announcement has been published on the party website today by Chief Executive, Mike Dixon:

Amna Ahmad has been elected and will take up the role of Vice President responsible for working with ethnic minority communities.

Thank you to Amna and all of the candidates for taking part in the election. The results can be found in full here.

As this was a by-election, Amna’s term will run until January 2023.

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Newspuppy

Johnson’s future – “Blue wall” Tory MPs targeted

By Newspuppy | Tue 1st February 2022 - 5:00 pm

On the i wesbsite, Richard Vaughan reports:

The Liberal Democrats are targeting Tory MPs representing the “Blue Wall” in the Southern shires demanding they submit a letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson or face being “sacked by the public”.

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dem MPs challenge Boris Johnson on Sue Gray report

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 31st January 2022 - 7:01 pm

It’s been quite the afternoon in the Commons.

Boris Johnson faced sustained criticism over the findings of the Sue Gray report. The most effective were the contributions that fought his fire and bluster with ice rather than more fire.

That’s why Theresa May’s takedown of her successor was so effective. I will never forgive her for what she did at the Home Office, nor in her pursuit of a hard Brexit, but her contribution today was brilliant, asking him if he had read the rules, ignored them or didn’t think they applied to him.

Ian Blackford just had to make it all about him, daring the Speaker to throw him out of the Chamber for saying the PM had misled Parliament. The rule may be daft. But it is the rule, and not to observe it when we are talking about rulebreaking seems illogical. There is a debate to be had around whether that rule is fit for purpose when the man at the despatch box has plainly misled Parliament, but it should have been about Boris today, not Blackford. They are both experts at meaningless bluster and not so good at the incisive point.

There were two brilliant contributions from Ed Davey. He really spoke up for all of us who had followed the rules, often in searingly painful, heartbreaking circumstances.

Later he added that the PM’s performance had been “horrific.”

 

Christine Jardine said that people were livid not just at the culture of rule-breaking in No 10, but at the dodging of accountability by the Prime Minister.

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The Voice

Ed Davey on Sue Gray Report: Conservative MPs must do their patriotic duty and sack Boris Johnson

By The Voice | Mon 31st January 2022 - 2:46 pm

So the Sue Gray Report has finally been released and its findings, even in the “lite” version, are not pretty:

Against the backdrop of the pandemic, when the Government was asking citizens to accept far-reaching restrictions on their lives, some of the behaviour surrounding these gatherings is difficult to justify.
ii. At least some of the gatherings in question represent a serious failure to observe not just the high standards expected of those working at the heart of Government but also of the standards expected of the entire British population at the time.
iii. At times it seems there was too little thought given to what was happening across the country in considering the appropriateness of some of these gatherings, the risks they presented to public health and how they might appear to the public. There were failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times. Some of the events should not have been allowed to take place. Other events should not have been allowed to develop as they did.
iv. The excessive consumption of alcohol is not appropriate in a professional workplace at any time. Steps must be taken to ensure that every Government Department has a clear and robust policy in place covering the consumption of alcohol in the workplace.

Ed Davey said that Conservative MPs must get rid of Boris Johnson:

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The Voice

“Disgraceful but predictable” – Ed Davey on failure to publish full report

By The Voice | Mon 31st January 2022 - 2:03 pm

So it looks like Sue Gray’s report will not be as illuminating as it could be. And No 10 has apparently said it won’t publish the whole thing once the Met Police Enquiry is complete.

Ed Davey said

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The Voice

Jane Dodds: Welsh Government must act on cladding scandal

By The Voice | Mon 31st January 2022 - 10:25 am

A protest was held this Saturday in front of the Senedd steps in Cardiff Bay to demand action by the Welsh Government on the cladding scandal. The meeting was organised by the Welsh Liberal Democrats and is the first hosted by a political party in Wales.

Groups attending included: the Welsh Cladiators, Ripped Off by Redrow and Cymru Cladding Crisis.

Victims of Cardiff’s cladding scandal, unveiled during the wake of the Grenfell disaster are facing bills up to £60,000 each for safety work to fix their unsellable, fire defective homes.

Although the Welsh Government have agreed to fund the recladding of social housing, many private leaseholders are still facing both the costs of recladding and interim safety costs themselves.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have called on the Welsh Government to introduce a Welsh Building Safety Fund to deal with all fire safety defects as quickly as possible and ensure no tenant or leaseholder is left out of pocket.

Jane Dodds said:

“It is utterly appalling that over four years on from Grenfell we still have people being trapped in unsafe buildings and let down by those in power. People should absolutely not be forced to front the cost for the serious mistakes of property developers.

“The Welsh Government needs to urgently step in and provide funds to fix all fire safety defects as soon as possible. It should then be up to the Government to pursue property developers to claim the money back. We cannot have people living in limbo and unsafe buildings while they try and chase property developers for funds.

“The stories we have heard at this protest are really harrowing and the Government urgently needs to engage with those affected and step up to the situation.”

Lib Dem Councillor Rhys Taylor said:

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Mark Pack

Mark Pack writes…Why we need more Council candidates

By Mark Pack | Mon 31st January 2022 - 9:10 am

When we debate party policy, strategy or election tactics, questions about what might attract or put off voters often – and rightly – come up. But there’s one sure-fire, 100% guaranteed, rock-solid way of repelling voters from us, and it’s one we use far too often. It’s not having a Liberal Democrat on the ballot paper. Zero votes for the party guaranteed.

Both Labour and the Conservatives, for example, get very close now to having a full slate of candidates in local elections. Despite improvements in recent years, we are still lagging a long way behind, and not yet back to where we used to be. So we know we can do better – because we have.

Even in wards where multiple seats are up for election and where we stand someone but not a full slate it is still a problem – as we’re still forcing people to vote for someone other than us.

With the important exception of STV elections in Scotland, of course, where the way the voting system works means standing ‘too many’ candidates harms our election chances in a way that doesn’t happen under first past the post. So in Scotland, it’s at least one candidate in each ward that’s the equivalent of the full slates we should be aiming for elsewhere.

Of the council seats coming up in May, we fought 63% of them in England and Wales last time out, and we had at least one candidate in 73% of Scottish wards. Those numbers are on the up – but still short of where we want to be. Remember – every single voter gets a ballot paper, showing them whether we are standing or not.

Standing candidates isn’t only about credibility and relevance. It’s also the way to get more people into the habit of regularly voting for the Liberal Democrats – a crucial step in building the sort of larger core vote for the party that will help us succeed more often.

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NewsHound

Hina Bokhari AM interviewed by The Guardian

By NewsHound | Thu 27th January 2022 - 5:36 pm

Hina Bokhari, Lib Dem London Assembly Member, has been interviewed in The Guardian along with other female Muslim politicians. This is in response to the report that Nusrat Ghani MP was sacked as a minister because of her “Muslimness”.

Hina says:

I had never experienced racism until 9/11: I was walking home when someone shouted: “ go home” not far from my doorstep. After that it got more frequent. During the 2018 World Cup, a drunk man got right in my face saying: “Listen , go the fuck home.” I’ve had problems on the job, too. When I was campaigning I would hear those same phrases about going home. And there would be micro-aggressions such as: “Your name is too difficult” or supposed banter about immigrants taking our jobs. Brexit was a particularly bad time.

Sometimes Islamophobia is a lack of understanding. So, in 2020, I wanted to get people within the Liberal Democrats to experience Ramadan for a day. People – including Layla Moran and Ed Davey – fasted for a day and tweeted throughout. Streams of hatred came back in response. People were asking Ed if he wanted four wives – and saying far worse to Layla. Ed and Layla felt not just the experience of fasting, but the hatred too.

I was shocked that I was the first Muslim woman elected in Merton council – and one of the London assembly’s first Muslim women. Are Muslim women less likely to be elected? Or less likely to put themselves forward? When I talk to Muslim women, there’s a fear of being abused.

People have said in the past I should change my name. But I would never do that. When Michael Fabricant said that Nus Ghani wasn’t obviously Muslim, I tweeted: “Yeah – coz all us Muslims look the same!” I think what he meant was that she was the kind of Muslim that didn’t make him feel uncomfortable.

In the London assembly we’ve got a very good understanding of Islamophobia. It helps having a Muslim mayor. But there is still inconsistency. Whether you are Jewish, Muslim or from any minority group, you should be heard, respected and, if there’s an incident, action must be taken. Our struggle is a shared struggle.

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The Voice

Ed Davey on Holocaust Memorial Day

By The Voice | Thu 27th January 2022 - 3:21 pm

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day.

And from HQ:

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The Voice

Carmichael: Put Boris on gardening leave during Met investigation into parties

By The Voice | Wed 26th January 2022 - 11:00 am

Alistair Carmichael has called for Boris Johnson to be placed on gardening leave and removed from Number 10 while the Metropolitan Police investigate the numerous rule-breaking parties that took place.

In many work settings, people under investigation are placed on leave whilst the proceedings are ongoing. This is to prevent them from attempting to prevent a fair investigation from being carried out by influencing witnesses or destroying evidence.

It’s been reported in recent weeks that Downing Street staff have been advised to delete emails or texts pertaining to parties, ahead of the Sue Gray investigation.

Whilst Boris Johnson is on leave, Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab would be expected to take over running the day-to-day affairs of the Government.

Alistair said:

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Caron Lindsay

Former Lib Dem MP Ronnie Fearn dies at 90

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 26th January 2022 - 7:14 am

Sad news reached our ears on Monday night, that former Southport Lib Dem MP Ronnie Fearn had died. We wanted to wait for the news to become more public before we shared it though.

From the Liverpool Echo

Tributes have been paid to a former Merseyside MP, described as “Mr Southport”, who has died aged 90.

Ronald Fearn, known as Ronnie, was MP for Southport from 1987 to 1992 and 1997 to 2001, serving first as a member of the Liberal party and later as a Liberal Democrat.

He also served as a councillor for Sefton Council from 1974 to 2016 and previously

…

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NewsHound

Government meltdown because PM cannot tell the truth – Ed Davey

By NewsHound | Tue 25th January 2022 - 3:07 pm


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Caron Lindsay

Helen Morgan to make her maiden speech today

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 25th January 2022 - 9:30 am

If you get a chance to watch the Commons this afternoon, you’ll see new Lib Dem MP Helen Morgan make her first proper speech. I really don’t like the term maiden speech as it just seems sexist and patronising, an outdated and disrespectful view of young women.

The Scottish Parliament took to calling them debut speeches for a while and I’d like to see a bit more of that.

But back to Helen. Every Lib Dem who helped whether on the phone, in person or by donating, or by enabling someone else to go has a stake in this. It will be a very special moment for our party.

It won’t be the first time Helen has spoken in the Chamber. Within two hours of being sworn in on 5th January, she was challenging the PM to do something about the terrible state of Shropshire’s ambulance service.

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Caron Lindsay

Ed Davey: Boris Johnson must resign over birthday party

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 24th January 2022 - 10:33 pm

Every time we hear of yet another time when Downing Street staff behaved like the rules didn’t apply to them, it just brings back the pain. This isn’t just politics. It’s about reliving the emotions of a really difficult couple of years.

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, it’s the hugs we didn’t have, the days we didn’t see our loved ones that really hurt.

Most of us bear the scars of this pandemic to a certain extent. If we hadn’t obeyed the rules, the death toll from Covid would have been so much higher. Staying at home for months on end was the only way to protect ourselves and others from a deadly virus.

But that came at a huge cost for many.

I am thinking of someone I love very much who wasn’t able to see their friends for months on end. They became very seriously ill as a result and could have lost their life. I heard yesterday about others who had not been so lucky and whose loved ones had died by suicide.

My son’s 21st fell not long before Boris Johnson’s birthday. He couldn’t see his group of friends.  His treat for the day was a trip to the drive thru McDonalds which had opened a few days previously. To be fair, he did get a nice home-cooked meal, but it’s far from the celebration he wanted.  I didn’t see my parents on their birthdays last year and my niece had to postpone her wedding. We’ve all got similar stories to tell.

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Paul Heilbron

ALDC by-election report: 20 January 2022

By Paul Heilbron | Sun 23rd January 2022 - 10:24 am

The first intriguing by-election Thursday of 2022 was operating under the backdrop of “Partygate”. Would the shenanigans at Number 10 cut through on the local level? Can the Lib Dems strike while the irons are hot and bring home the bacon, though it’s Veganuary don’t you know? Would this week’s polls throw up any surprises? Here we have it, the round-up of all Thursday night’s by-elections.

Most notably then, Lib Dems and town council by-elections are a better match than one made in heaven. Three town council by-elections in Hatfield, Carterton and Dawlish ushered in gains, gains, gains for the native golds. Elsewhere, Labour held on in East Lothian and Charnwood BC whilst the Conservatives secured victories at Selby DC and East Lindsey DC by-elections.

There is nowhere else to start than all things town councils. A fantastic night for the Liberal Democrats ushered in a trio of successes. Tim Rowse at Hatfield TC, Natalie King at Carterton TC and Rachel Hardy at Dawlish TC all ran phenomenal campaigns and we congratulate you on your successes. What a great night to be a Liberal Democrat!

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review: Ukraine, Afghanistan, Netanyahu

By Tom Arms | Sun 23rd January 2022 - 8:30 am

Will Russia invade Ukraine? Will it achieve its goals with a threatened invasion? What are Putin’s goals? Mixed signals shoot out from every quarter. Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelensky is urging his country to not panic and at the same time be prepared for the worst and calling on the West for more help. President Biden says a “minor incursion” would mean less sanctions. The White Hoyuse and State Department then said he didn’t mean what he said. Is Secretary of State Antony Blinken trying to persuade his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to accept a deal on nuclear force levels in return for a promise not to invade Ukraine? If so, how would NATO react to that? And what about the Germans and the rest of the EU? Will they support sanctions which could hurt them almost as much as the Russians? Will the Russians cut off Europe’s gas supplies or launch a cyber-attack if Europe joins America in fully-fledged sanctions against Russia? Finally, what is Putin planning? What are his aims? He has publicly stated that he wants to restore the Soviet empire. That he sees Ukraine as an integral part of greater Russia. That he wants legal guarantees that Ukraine will not join NATO. Are these negotiating positions, non-negotiable policy objectives or worrying statements to keep the West divided and off-balance? Has Putin now gone so far that he can’t back down? Does the Russian president think that he has a window of opportunity to achieve geopolitical objectives in the wake of the Afghan withdrawal debacle, EU divisions, a weak Biden Administration, an energy crisis, the pandemic, partygate, French elections and Brexit? As tensions continue to rise these are all factors that are being considered by the political cost-benefit analysts in Moscow, Washington, Brussels, London, Paris, Berlin….

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Zoe Hollowood

The Women’s Healthcare Gap

By Zoe Hollowood | Fri 21st January 2022 - 6:30 pm

Last Saturday, a group of Lib Dem Women attended a conference in Oxford to discuss the women’s healthcare gap.

Despite working in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector for 20 years, it was not a concept I was very familiar with until recently. During lockdown, I read Caroline Criado-Perez’s ground-breaking book, Invisible Women, which spelled out the issue using examples of how women’s health is put at risk because medical research has been dominated by men and male biology. Since then, I have had personal experience of the issue.

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