Category Archives: News

The Voice

Lib Dems say “Give firms right to require face masks worn by customers”

By The Voice | Mon 12th July 2021 - 4:05 pm

Following the Government’s update on plans to ease restrictions on 19th July, the Liberal Democrats have called on businesses to be given the legal right to require customers to wear face masks on their premises.

Sarah Olney MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Business, has heard from businesses who want to protect young staff who have not received their second jab, and those who are clinically vulnerable, by ensuring face masks are worn by customers.

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NewsHound

Wera Hobhouse speaks out on fuel poverty

By NewsHound | Sun 11th July 2021 - 11:05 am

Speaking in a House of Commons debate on fuel poverty on Thursday, Wera Hobhouse, Lib Dem MP for Bath, said no one should have to make the choice between feeding their family or heating their home. The pandemic has made things even worse. People working from home faced an extra £16 a month on energy costs, adding up to £195 a year for those on poor value tariffs. She said the clearest example of the Government’s failure was the scrapping of the green homes grant only five months after it was introduced with only 6% of the budget spent.

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NewsHound

Sarah Teather on equal marriage – “I tied myself up in ridiculous intellectual knots”

By NewsHound | Tue 6th July 2021 - 9:48 am

Embed from Getty Images

Sarah Teather has written the following public post on Facebook:

Next week marks 8 years since the Marriage (same sex) Act gained Royal Assent and became law. When the proposal for gay marriage came to parliament I tied myself up in ridiculous intellectual knots trying to find a way to navigate official Catholic teaching on marriage and my liberal instincts and campaigning history on gay rights. In the end, I voted against the bill. Wise friends said to me then that it didn’t fit with what they knew of me and I would regret it. They were right. In the years since as friends and acquaintances have got engaged and married I have inwardly cheered and thanked God that I was then in an irrelevant minority. I think this anniversary is a good time to say more publicly that I was wrong then and I am delighted now that gay people have the right to be married.

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The Voice

Liberal Democrats: Keep masks mandatory on public transport a little while longer

By The Voice | Mon 5th July 2021 - 2:35 pm

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to keep masks mandatory on public transport after 19th July.

Munira Wilson MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Health, believes it would be a small price worth paying to protect others:

Many people, especially the vulnerable, do not yet feel confident enough to travel on crowded public transport. There are millions who have still not been double jabbed, and are therefore at greater risk of both becoming ill themselves and spreading the virus to others.

Keeping masks mandatory on public transport which can often become overcrowded is the right thing to do.

We

…

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NewsHound

Sarah Green on her victory in Chesham and Amersham

By NewsHound | Fri 2nd July 2021 - 1:44 pm

Our newest MP has been talking to the Guardian about her landslide victory in leafy Buckinghamshire. She told political correspondent Peter Walker that the Conservative voters in Chesham and Amersham felt ignored by the Tories. They felt they could no longer relate to Boris Johnson and the Conservative party.

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Breaking… Labour narrowly hold Batley and Spen

By Andy Boddington | Fri 2nd July 2021 - 5:46 am

Labour have narrowly retained Batley and Spen after two bundle checks. Keir Starmer has been spared the ignominy of losing a red wall seat at a time when there is talk in his party of a leadership challenge. The majority of 323 defied the doomsayers but a 7.4% reduction in the Labour vote will still lead to continued questioning of his leadership.

The Conservatives did not make ground and lost 1.6% of the vote. George Galloway came third, the Lib Dems fourth.

The turnout was 47.6%.

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Mary Reid

Kirsty Williams talks about why she left front line politics

By Mary Reid | Thu 1st July 2021 - 3:34 pm

In an interview with ITV News Kirsty Williams, Lib Dem Senedd Member since 1999 and former Welsh Education Minister, reveals the reasons why she stood down this May.

We can’t embed the clip but you can view it here. She says:

I think for me it became increasingly more and more difficult to protect my family, not from the threats of violence that we’re talking about but the general level of abuse.

When my children were small they weren’t on social media, they didn’t have access to those things, but now it’s pretty difficult to keep them away from that. So trying to protect my family – or failing to succeed in protecting my family from some of the fallout from having a mother in political life was definitely a factor in me standing down.

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Tom Arms

World Review: Voter suppression, wobbling Macron and the Great Barrier Reef

By Tom Arms | Sun 27th June 2021 - 8:31 am

Our foreign affairs correspondent, Tom Arms, this week defends the use of the filibuster in Congress but criticises the Republicans for making it more difficult to vote. Joe Biden, desperate to avoid the addition of America to the sad list of states buried in Afghanistan’s imperial graveyard, is to throw money at the country problem’s rather than soldiers.

The first round of French local elections show President Macron to be in deep trouble and right-winger Marine Le Pen is not far behind him. The Australian government’s reaction to UNESCO’s warnings on the Great Barrier Reef show that the country is a big problem for the climate change community.

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Hancock out, Javid in

By Andy Boddington | Sun 27th June 2021 - 5:55 am

Under relentless pressure after he was pictured in a romantic clinch in breach of coronavirus restrictions, Matt Hancock last night resigned as secretary of state for health. He told Boris Johnson:

The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis… We owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down as I have done by breaching the guidance.

He is replaced by former home secretary and chancellor, Sajid Javid.

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NewsHound

Ed Davey hits right note on Matt Hancock’s dalliance and competence

By NewsHound | Fri 25th June 2021 - 11:00 am

According to reports across the media, Matt Hancock had an affair with an adviser to his department. This happens all the time and is barely a matter of public concern these days. Unless Gina Coladangelo had been hired, or her hiring, had been influenced by her relationship with the health secretary.

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey hit it spot on in his response on Twitter this morning.

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The Voice

Lib Dem Bounce beginning to show nationally and locally

By The Voice | Fri 25th June 2021 - 10:46 am

Congratulations to Bill Brisbane who took Chichester Eastward for the Lib Dems yesterday with a swing of 25%

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Caron Lindsay

Daisy Cooper slams “barmy brainwashing” One Britain event

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 23rd June 2021 - 9:59 pm

When I heard that some schoolchildren in the UK are going to be asked to sing a song saying how great Britain is on Friday, to be honest, I thought someone was just having a laugh. Surely nobody could be so crass?

I was wrong. As The Independent reports,

The Department for Education this week announced it would encourage schools to celebrate One Britain One Nation Day on 25 June.

Celebrations for the event include singing a song called the “OBON Day Anthem 2021”, which ends with the children repeatedly chanting, “Strong Britain, great nation”.

It also includes the chorus: “We are Britain and we have one dream, to unite all people in one great team.”

I find the whole thing nauseating.

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Caron Lindsay

Key dates for Scottish Autumn Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 23rd June 2021 - 3:29 pm

Yesterday Scottish Conference Convener Paul McGarry announced in an email to members that our online Autumn conference will take place online on 8th and 9th October.

So the key deadlines are:

Drafting advice: 16th July at noon

Constitutional amendments: 16th July at noon

Motions deadline: 12th August at noon

You can get your ticket here. And the first timer rate for Scottish members is but a mere pound.

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NewsHound

Norman Lamb writes to the Times on solving adult social care funding crisis

By NewsHound | Wed 23rd June 2021 - 8:28 am

Media reports suggest the Government is to hold off on announcing its plans to reform social care until at least the autumn amid continued disputes within the Cabinet. Boris Johnson this week delayed a meeting with the Chancellor and Health Secretary to discuss the reforms and is said to have ruled out using rises in income tax, VAT and national insurance to pay for social care in England.

In a letter in the Times this morning, Sir Norman Lamb, minister of state for care from 2013-15, calls for the “Dilnot cap” to be implemented and for all parties to work together to resolve funding.

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NewsHound

Ed Davey talks Chesham and Amersham and progressive alliances on Sunday media

By NewsHound | Sun 20th June 2021 - 4:05 pm

Ed Davey did the Sunday morning media round today. He did look a tiny bit smug, but he’s allowed to given Sarah Green’s spectacular win in Chesham and Amersham, declared in the early hours of Friday morning.

First he appeared on Sky’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday:

And then we went on Marr:

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Paul Walter

Chesham & Amersham: what the Spectator said on Monday

By Paul Walter | Fri 18th June 2021 - 2:57 am

Nick Tyrone – that’s T-Y-R-O-N-E – concludes the article as follows:

Instead, the Lib Dems will lose on Thursday, most likely fairly badly, and they will have no one to blame but themselves. If they want to get back to being the by-election masters of old, they will have to do a lot better than this.

You can read the full article here: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-lib-dems-are-utterly-lost

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Paul Walter

Chesham and Amersham: the swing was 25.1%

By Paul Walter | Fri 18th June 2021 - 2:54 am

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Paul Walter

Chesham & Amersham: the fine print result

By Paul Walter | Fri 18th June 2021 - 2:49 am

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Paul Walter

Chesham & Amersham: Ed Davey hails huge victory

By Paul Walter | Fri 18th June 2021 - 2:48 am

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Paul Walter

Chesham & Amersham election results since the seat was created

By Paul Walter | Fri 18th June 2021 - 2:46 am

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Paul Walter

Chesham & Amersham: Sarah Green’s victory speech

By Paul Walter | Fri 18th June 2021 - 2:43 am

In a confident speech earlier this morning, Sarah Green said she was humbled by the faith the people of Chesham and Amersham had placed in her.

Together, we have said enough is enough. We will be heard. And this government will listen.

No matter how safe the seat, you can have a Lib Dem representative.

Sarah had a message for young women. Don’t let people put you down or block your way. You can. You must. You will.

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Paul Walter

Chesham & Amersham: This isn’t a dream is it?

By Paul Walter | Fri 18th June 2021 - 2:41 am

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Paul Walter

Chesham & Amersham: Video from the count

By Paul Walter | Fri 18th June 2021 - 2:36 am

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Paul Walter

Chesham & Amersham: Thank you!

By Paul Walter | Fri 18th June 2021 - 2:34 am

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Paul Walter

Chesham & Amersham: That stunning, historic result in full

By Paul Walter | Fri 18th June 2021 - 2:27 am

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Caron Lindsay

Chesham & Amersham: a Lib Dem WIN we’ll be talking about for years

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 18th June 2021 - 2:20 am

Sarah Green MP.

That sounds so good.

Who would have thought that we would have turned a a huge Conservative majority and to one of over 8000 for us?

I am sitting here blubbing like anything. My first thought went back to Murray Walker’s comment about having to stop because he had a lump in his throat when Damon Hill won the F1 world championship back in the day.

I am not just ecstatic that we have won the most audacious and spectacular by-election win for generations. I am thrilled to bits that Sarah, who is pretty much where I am on most issues, is going to be a brilliant addition to our parliamentary team.

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Paul Walter

Chesham & Amersham: Majority is 8,028!!!!!!!!!!! – ITV news

By Paul Walter | Fri 18th June 2021 - 2:19 am

From ITV News:

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Paul Walter

Chesham & Amersham: Congrats Sarah Green MP!!!!!

By Paul Walter | Fri 18th June 2021 - 2:15 am

Let’s just say that this has woken me up!

8K!!!!! I’ll be saying that in my sleep for the next six months!!

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Paul Walter

+++++Chesham & Amersham: Lib Dems win the by-election!!

By Paul Walter | Fri 18th June 2021 - 1:59 am

Sky News have just said this.

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Caron Lindsay

And first the Council by-elections

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 18th June 2021 - 12:02 am

The first of six council by-elections declaring tonight was a good start – a hold, albeit by a mere 6 votes in Somerset West and Taunton’s Old Cleeve and District

Great news from Somerset – Lib Dems HOLD Somerset West and Taunton Old Cleeve and District: Lib Dem Steve Griffith 500 44.9%
Conservative 494 44.3%
Independent 120 10.8%

And so close in Devon

Thanks to Helen Arundell for standing in these two postponed elections in Norwich:

 

There should be another result from Tandridge but I can’t find it anywhere right now. We’ll update this post tomorrow with that, the Kent result and East Garioch (pronounced Geary) …

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