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Category Archives: Op-eds

Sunday Trading Reform: Open All Hours or Keep Sunday Special

By Michael Bukola | Fri 13th September 2024 - 5:27 pm

Party conference this year will be a moment of celebration, after our stunning General Election results – but it will also be the occasion where we look forward, and develop our responses to the host of massive challenges facing the nation.

Yet, reading through the agenda, as we prepare to gather in Brighton, I see that the first policy motion is to further reform Sunday trading laws. Should this really be a key priority?

The motion describes Sunday, the traditional day of rest, as ‘outdated social norms’, a reference to cultural norms that have largely faded from public consciousness as the country evolves towards patterns of lifestyle where consumerism, overindulgence, and social media are more evident. That feels far removed from the collective fellowship, reflective contemplation and communion enjoyed by millions seeking direction and salvation – at least where I live, in the London Borough of Southwark, along the Old Kent Road, where these values still very much matter today.

We should not forget why Sunday trading laws were introduced in the first place: the ‘Keep Sunday Special’ campaign was introduced in part to protect the Sabbath. Epitomised by the Parliamentary Tory rebellion, when 72 backbenchers defied a three-line whip and defeated Margaret Thatcher’s government in the 1980’s. Liberal MP, David Alton, led the charge of Mrs Thatcher’s only parliamentary defeat on the Shops Bill of 1986.

Look, it is fairly obvious that there are millions of people who do shop on Sunday. So, on exactly what basis should they be prevented from doing so?

In fact, there are a host of non-religious reasons for limiting Sunday retail trade – a point highlighted by the breadth of the broad coalition behind the famous 1986 campaign to oppose liberalisation.

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Tagged 2024 autumn conference and sunday trading | 13 Comments

Budget Challenge from Lib Dems: Capture Land Values

By Tony Vickers | Fri 13th September 2024 - 2:32 pm

According to ONS, the land value alone of UK accounts for 60% of its net worth and is “the most valuable asset in the economy, estimated at £6.3trillion (2020).

It accounts for 98% of all non-produced non-financial assets and these – as a proportion of all national assets including those produced (buildings, goods and services) or ‘financial’ (such as stocks and shares) – rose from 39% in 1995 to 58% in 2020. Almost all that rise in non-produced assets was due to increased residential land values.

The role of land wealth in our economy is commonly overlooked. Yet the cost of land, and access to it, affects all aspects of life. Land has no cost of production. Its value only arises from our demand for homes, businesses, food production, leisure, public services, transport etc. The same applies to all natural resources – oil, gas, minerals, the radio spectrum, solar energy, wind, water, rivers, oceans, etc.

In 2018, helped mainly by ALTER and its allies in the Coalition for Economic Justice (CEJ), a new All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Land Value Capture (LVC) was set up. Vince Cable was its first chair and the then Chair of ALTER, Joe Bourke, acted as its Secretary. He still does.

When Vince stepped down from Parliament, John McDonnell took over the Chair. The Labour Party has an active group of MPs – mainly on the left and including Jeremy Corbyn – who support Land Value Tax, called the Labour Land Campaign. The Green Party is a member of CEJ – north and south of the border. The SNP also supports it.

An APPG can’t exist without support from members of the governing party in the Commons and plenty of Conservative MPs in the last Parliament across a wide spectrum in that party also favoured various forms of LVC, albeit few backed LVT as strongly as the Liberal Party did in the 20^th century. Tory led governments consistently blocked all efforts to implement any form of LVC throughout that time.

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Tagged ALTER and land value tax | Leave a comment

VAT cuts – is it really a fair deal for musicians?

By Brandon Masih | Fri 13th September 2024 - 11:55 am

Cast your minds back to the pandemic, it was a time, would you believe it now, where Rishi Sunak was a very popular Chancellor. This was a period, where at the time, Sunak had introduced “eat out to help out” to public praise for wanting to stimulate the economy after the end of the first Covid lockdown. Even with doubt of its effectiveness in those two summer months alongside the potential contribution towards rise in Covid infections afterwards, it remains in the minds of people as a move to get things to bounce back.

Less talked about from that time is the VAT cut on hospitality, tourism and other attractions, from the standard rate of 20% to the reduced rate of 5%; first from July 2020, to January 2021, then to end of March then up to end of September. Then Rishi created a special rate of 12.5% up until end of March 2022. Much like the chopping and changing of corporation tax, this is emblematic of the previous Conservative government not giving long term certainty on what they intended to do with tax. I would suspect* that this VAT cut, as opposed to many single type of product VAT reclassifications like with sanitary products and e-books, would have had an effect on price cuts to consumers and demand stimulation, owing to the not insignificant share of public consumption going towards the industries benefiting from the cut in VAT, and the fact it would last for nearly two years.

Then you must wonder what further analysis the Culture, Media and Sport Committee considered when they released their report of May this year on Grassroot Music Venues (GMVs), calling for a temporary VAT cut… only on GMVs, which are venues with capacity below 1000 people. The evidence, in fact, is simply the assertion that a VAT reduction would have saved events cancelled last year, and that the Covid era VAT cut meant that there were 100 more shows coming out of the pandemic, and that success can therefore be targeted to GMVs.

Within the statements given from industry we do however see a recurring theme, that being the VAT threshold distorting decisions on whether to go through events at GMVs. The problem of UK’s high VAT registration threshold, now at a turnover of £90,000 per year, means that small businesses hold off on taking on additional sales, events etc. to avoid needing to be VAT registered. Dan Neidle, Institute for Fiscal Studies and Adam Smith Institute have all at various points, called for action on lowering the VAT threshold, to alleviate these distortions in business decision making. Yet, the evidence provided to the committee, and the subsequent recommendations, have been to just do a targeted and temporary VAT cut.

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Tagged 2024 autumn conference, musicians and vat | Leave a comment

The milk of human kindness

By Ruth Bright | Fri 13th September 2024 - 9:43 am

“Reading the room” is a vital skill in politics. It is that knack of understanding, just clicking with an atmosphere or individual and knowing how to make a spontaneous pitch or knowing when to tone it down. Kwasi Kwarteng, with almost endearing under statement said in a recent interview that it was a skill that his old boss Liz Truss did not have.

If you are instinctive about reading the room you can make a lot of money in business or even in politics, but in low paid work like care (£21,000 a year if you are over 21, less if you are under 21) it is an essential part of your role. Yesterday I visited a residential home I know well. You cannot miss the atmosphere when you go in the door. It is warm, friendly, giggly even, with in-jokes and gentle humour. The care staff (not a single one of them, incidentally, British born) have an uncanny knack of pre-empting small mishaps and instinctively knowing when a vulnerable resident is not quite themselves.

What is also striking, as someone who had to use the NHS a lot two years ago, is that my friends working in care seem to have retained this extra something, what Lord Darzi, in his report, calls “discretionary effort” in a way that seems largely lost in the Health Service.

As an inpatient in the last 2 years I have experienced things that would have resulted in disciplinary action against a careworker:

Shouted at by a nurse when I tried to use the “wrong” toilet on the ward.
Blanked and ignored to my face by a doctor when I politely complained to him that I had been waiting five and a half hours in the ward prepped for an operation.
Subjected, under general anaesthetic, to an intimate procedure conducted by a surgeon without specific consent. (This matter was investigated by the police and is now with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman)

Not a single Lib Dem Voice reader will be surprised by this small list. All of you will have your own and have experienced worse.

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Tagged careworkers and NHS | 3 Comments

A step change in the fight for PR

By Shaun Roberts | Thu 12th September 2024 - 6:16 pm

The 2024 General Election was the most disproportionate in our history.

Or to put it another way, people didn’t get what they voted for, not even close!

As a result, for a few weeks at least, electoral reform became a real talking point in the media and amongst the public. The door that leads to Proportional Representation, which has been locked shut for more than a decade, is slightly ajar.

That’s something the Liberal Democrats, who have been campaigning for PR longer than anyone, need to exploit. With a record number of MPs, there are more Liberal Democrat Parliamentarians than ever to push the case for PR forward in this Parliament.

Even better, there are more allies in this battle than ever before. Research conducted by democracy organisations shows that more than 250 MPs in the House of Commons have indicated support for PR for Westminster elections. Fewer than 150 MPs have declared their opposition.

There has never been a Parliament like this one when it comes to support for PR.

Furthermore, support for PR from political parties has never been higher. The Greens, SNP, Plaid Cymru and Reform back PR. Within the Labour Party, both the trade unions and party members have strongly supported PR for Westminster elections. There have even been rumblings about growing support for PR in the Conservative Party after their record defeat in July.

And crucially, every public opinion poll shows clear support for electoral reform, with the same polls confirming that trust in politics has never been lower.

The respected British Social Attitudes survey showed in its most recent report that support for changing the voting system had never been so high, nor trust in government to put country before party so low.

All the ingredients for change are there, but for one very important thing.

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Tagged proportional representation and unlock democracy | 9 Comments

How Lib Dems pioneered e-petitions

By Mary Reid | Thu 12th September 2024 - 2:40 pm

So congratulations to the three Lib Dem chairs of Select Committees. But I expect some of you are wondering about the Petitions Committee, now chaired by Jamie Stone. It was only set up in 2015 and its job is to review all petitions submitted to the UK Parliament, either through the Parliament Petitions website or as traditional paper petitions. Paper petitions have to be presented to Parliament by an MP, but e-petitions go straight to the Petitions Committee. An e-petition which reaches 10,000 signatures receives a written response, whilst those that attract 100,000 signatures are considered by the committee for debate.

The vast majority of petitions to Parliament are completed online, and you may not be surprised to learn that there is a strong Lib Dem history behind the development of e-petitions.

Over twenty years ago the Bundestag developed the first system for online petitions to Government. This was followed by the innovative Scottish Parliament (under the Labour/Lib Dem coalition), who commissioned a petitioning system from the pioneering International Teledemocracy Centre at Napier University. The term “teledemocracy” never caught on and was soon replaced with “e-democracy”. Those two were at the time the only e-petitioning systems in the world – this was before public systems like Change.org appeared.

At that stage Westminster and local government in the UK had fairly rudimentary websites (in fact, some councils did not have them at all), which were largely information-giving and not transactional. However paper petitioning to local Councils was well established in many areas (though not all), and Lib Dems were not bashful in collecting signatures on issues that mattered to them.

The Government had set up a series of National Projects whose aim was to transform local government using the power of digital technologies. The projects focussed on many aspects of local government business including online planning portals, systems for payments, schools admissions, e-procurement, benefits, plus the underlying customer relationship management.

In 2003 I was asked to chair the National Project on Local e-Democracy in England, which carried out action research into techniques for increasing citizens’ understanding of, and participation in, local authority decision making. We pioneered webcasting of council meetings, consultation portals, local issues forums (long before social media), blogging for councillors and we encouraged councils to provide all councillors with web and email facilities. If you check councillors and council meetings on most council websites you will probably be using a system developed for our project.

Within that mix we drew on the experts at Napier University to set up the first e-petitioning systems for local government in the world. The two local authorities that trialled it were my own council of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (Lib Dem controlled) and Bristol City Council (NOC with Lib Dem Leader). Both re-examined their petitioning policies to make sure they encompassed online ones. Community groups were contacted to explain the new system and e-petitions started to appear.

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Tagged e-petitions | Leave a comment

The Newbies Pint returns to Conference

By Lib Dem Newbies Admins | Thu 12th September 2024 - 9:53 am

Nine years ago, Nick Clegg’s resignation speech prompted a surge of new members to join the party as it reeled from the 2015 general election. Many of those new members, who by then had formed a Facebook group to welcome new members to the party, attended the autumn conference in Bournemouth and met for an informal drink the night before it started.

At every in-person autumn conference since (except for last year), the Lib Dem Newbies Pint has been a fixture, the evening before Conference opens. It’s been attended by hundreds of members, by MPs, peers, and has even been addressed by party leaders.

We’re pleased to announce that the Newbies Pint is back for a special edition this year, marking how far we’ve come since those dark days of 2015 when the surge of new members gave us hope amid the crushing blow of the election result. Of the thousands of new members the group has welcomed to the party online, many have gone on to become councillors, MPs, and even MEPs.

We’ll be hearing from two fantastic newbie MPs, Pippa Heylings (South Cambridgeshire) and Josh Babarinde (Eastbourne). We first met in 2015 in the aftermath of our worst election result ever; this year we’ll be celebrating our best.

Come and join us in the Steinbeck & Shaw bar at Pryzm, near the conference centre, from 7pm on Friday the 13th of September. Entry costs only £2 and all proceeds will go to the Newbies Fighting Fund supporting first-time candidates. Newbie-ness is a state of mind, not a joining date: all members are welcome.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in Brighton!

Yours,

The Lib Dem Newbies admins

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Tagged 2024 autumn conference and lib dem newbies | 1 Comment

Caron’s guide to the craziness of Conference, updated for Brighton 2024

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 11th September 2024 - 7:47 pm

In just 2 days’ time, Liberal Democrats will be gathering in Brighton for our annual Conference. Sadly, for the first time since 2011, I won’t be there. I was only going to be able to come for 24 hours, but, unfortunately, my husband is ill. He’ll be fine, but now is not the time to leave him.

I’m still scarred by my trip to the Witney by-election in 2016. He hadn’t been well just before but seemed to be on the mend. To cut a long story short, within hours of my return the next evening, he was spirited away to hospital in a blue light ambulance and he was there for 51 nights. The virus we thought he had was in fact an infection in his heart which ate one of his heart valves. Vegetation on a leaflet they called it. An ironic affliction for a Lib Dem.

However, I have revamped my Guide to the Craziness of Conference for this year. Enjoy. And if you have any questions, ask away in the comments.

Federal Conference is probably the best fun that you will ever have in your life. You will thoroughly enjoy every exhausting moment. If you’re new, it can be a bit overwhelming until you get used to the sensory overload. I had a long break from going to them and when I returned, in 2011, I spent the first day wandering round in a state of wide-eyed amazement, like a child in a toy shop.

So, with that in mind, I thought I’d throw together a fairly random list of tips and hints for getting the best out of the annual cornucopia of Liberal Democracy. If you have any other Conference survival tips, let me know.

If you have any questions, there are lots of places to get answers. There’s Federal Conference Committee helpdesk in the Brighton Centre. And if they can’t help, ask someone on one of the party organisation stalls in the exhibition – if they don’t know the answer, they’ll probably be able to point you in the right direction.

1. Plan your days

The Conference day has a huge variety of things to do. As well as the debates in the hall, there’s a comprehensive training programme and a massive fringe. There are spokespeople Q & As. There are competing fringe choices to be made. You can guarantee that you will never be bored and that several things you want to see will be on at the same time. Spend some time now poring over the Agenda (which gives details of the policy motions) and Directory (which has details of the exhibition, fringe and training) to work out what you don’t want to miss. Conference Extra, which has details of amendments will be published shortly.

Don’t forget to pick up the Conference Daily which has news and important information.

Be aware as well that you can eat quite well for free by choosing the right fringe meetings – look for the refreshments symbol in the directory.

Believe me, it’s much easier if you sort out your diary in advance. The best laid plans will always be subject to a better offer or meeting someone you haven’t seen for years randomly in a corridor, but it’s best to at least try to get some order into the proceedings. The Conference App is a real help for this. You can download it from whichever App store you use on your phone (search for Lib Dem Conf). Fully updated now for Brighton, it allows you to add events to your schedule and has all the papers loaded on to it.

2. Make time to do the Exhibition properly

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Also posted in Conference | Tagged 2024 autumn conference and featured | Leave a comment

Defending Liberalism against illiberalism

By Lord William Wallace | Wed 11th September 2024 - 2:30 pm

Liberals are naturally optimistic and reasonable. We recognise the past struggles to establish open, tolerant societies, the rule of law and accountable government, but too easily assume that those battles have been won. In the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the most optimistic Liberals thought we were entering a post-conflict liberal world.

It’s now clear that the principles of a liberal political and economic order have to be defended against multiple threats. Our society has become far more socially liberal than our grandparents; but not all are persuaded, and illiberal groups within Britain and outside are doing their best to reverse what has been won. Our economy is deeply integrated into a global economy which is unstable, grossly unequal and environmentally unsustainable. Corruption and crime are embedded in the global economy, and spill over into the UK; we have seen some painful examples of domestic corruption in recent years. Political liberalism – liberal democracy – is on the defensive, across Europe and Asia, within the USA and within Britain itself.

Behind our immediate relief at the disappearance of populist Conservative government, British politics is in a volatile state. Popular alienation from Westminster is at the highest level yet recorded in surveys. Local democracy has been shrunk and weakened through successive reorganisations, increasing central control and reductions in funding. The Labour government has won a massive parliamentary majority on 33.7% of the popular vote, with under 60% of voters turning out – and with efficient targeting by all parties leaving many constituencies without any visible local campaign. There are now 10 groups in the Commons with 4 or more MPs; yet Labour and the Tories are still acting as if Britain has a two-party system. It’s possible that the next election will see right-wing reaction against Labour constitute a major political force. Reform won 14% in July from almost a standing start.

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Tagged authoritarianism, featured and liberalism | 12 Comments

The Independent View: Celebrating councillors has never been more important

By Dr Jonathan Carr-West | Wed 11th September 2024 - 12:59 pm

The Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) & CCLA Cllr Awards offer an annual opportunity for members of the public to highlight the contributions of the often unsung heroes of local democracy.

The glittering Awards ceremonies, held at The Guildhall, London, for English and Welsh councillors and City Chambers, Edinburgh, for Scottish elected members, have always provided an evening of glamour and gratitude for those working tirelessly behind the scenes to improve the places we live.

However, with the Awards now in their 15th year, it’s never been more important to shine a light on councillors across Great Britain who go above and beyond in their service and work under increasingly difficult conditions.

Local representatives are often the first point of contact for residents’ concerns, whether it is a housing, public services, or safety issue. They are the most accessible and accountable level of government.

With trust in institutions declining and public disillusionment with politics growing, councillors’ ability to make tangible changes in people’s lives can build trust in democracy at a grassroots level.

But being a councillor is no easy task, particularly in the current economic climate. Many councillors juggle full-time jobs alongside their public duties. The vast majority of councillors are ordinary people doing extraordinary things to help their communities thrive, and they represent the best of public service.

So, as local communities face growing challenges, it has never been more important to recognise and celebrate the work of our councillors. The LGIU & CCLA Cllr Awards celebrate excellence in a wide range of categories, from Community Champion to Leader of the Year.

Previous winners include Cllr Hannah Perkin (awarded Community Champion in the 2023 LGIU & CCLA Cllr Awards), who entered politics to challenge the closure of the children’s centre in which she worked. As a Liberal Democrat Councillor for Faversham Abbey in Swale Borough Council in Kent, she was recognised for her commitment to her community, being involved in local projects and charities, and prioritising and representing her residents’ voices in the council.

She told us:

I try to inspire people to get more involved in telling local government what their priorities are and then shaping local government to represent them. When I first stood, I didn’t see myself represented: I was a young mum and I worked in a children’s centre. Lots of people don’t think local government represents them but when you boil it down, people realise it is all about them.

The Cllr Awards demonstrate the essential role councillors play in building better communities, whether that’s by developing innovative policies to address local challenges or providing support to vulnerable residents.

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged featured, LGIU and CCLA Councillor Awards, Local government and local government information unit | Leave a comment

Alderdice 6 years on: Where are we now? Join LDCRE at Conference

By Roderick Lynch | Tue 10th September 2024 - 2:06 pm

The Liberal Democrat Campaign for Racial Equality will be holding a very important fringe meeting on Sunday 15th September at 7:45 pm in room 1D in the Brighton Centre.

We will be discussing progress on implementing the Alderdice Review, six years after it was published.

The event is being held in association with Liberator and the Social Liberal Forum.

The speakers are:

Dr Mark Pack, Party President

Meral Hussein Ece, Lib Dem member of the House of Lords

Rt Hon Sir Vincent Cable , former Lib Dem Leader

Janice Turner

Victoria Collins MP

As a young black man born and raised in the London Borough of Southwark. I came to the Liberal Democrats via Jonathon & Veronica Hunt and Sir Simon Hughes. I had issues around my business. My company was a a victim of alleged fraud. My company the third largest employer in my borough behind Southwark council and Kings College Health Care Trust employing 800 people and completing 10,000 trips for disabled people every day across 26 London Boroughs.

Those remarkable Lib Dem MPs councillors and activist took up my case and I won back my contract that my company had won in a bonafide OJEU tender process which had been illegally removed.

I was hooked, those Lib Dem people I came in to contact with I believed spoke for me. I joined the Lib Dems in Southwark over 22 years ago.

As time went on I got involved in an equality SAO / AO because our local party did not look like the people the party wished to represent.

I was determined to do something about it. I spoke with former Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg in 2009. He told me that we will do something about the lack of race equality in this party. We need to be quick as we could be seen to be “worse than the Tories.”

Well we have seen the Cameron A list in all their glory at dizzying heights in the Conservative Party and in government.

In 2018 I had my arm twisted by Merlene Toh Emerson to do something on race equality within the party. I became the founding Chair of LDCRE along with Vice Chairs Janice Turner and Dr Mohsin Khan.

We welcomed a review that was being carried out Lord John Alderdice. A lot of my colleagues did not have any faith in the process whatsoever. I persuaded my then colleagues to give the man a chance.

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Tagged 2024 autumn conference, Alderdice Report, janice turner, ldcre, Mark Pack, meral hussein ece and vince cable | 2 Comments

The Winter Fuel Payment cut will harm older people and increase pressure on NHS

By Chris Perry | Tue 10th September 2024 - 7:30 am

The Office of Budget Responsibility estimates that the most recent 2% cut in National Insurance, in the run up to the General Election, will cost an average of £10.3billion per year over the next ten years. If one adds to that the previous 2% cut in National Insurance (a few months earlier) that would explain the £22billion short fall in public finances identified by the Government.

Presumably, the previous Government hoped to recover this “pre-election give away” by growth and, more particularly, the frozen tax free personal allowance which the Office of …

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Tagged winter fuel payment | 31 Comments

‘Going for growth’ nationally must mean more devolution locally

By Gareth Roberts | Mon 9th September 2024 - 12:45 pm

As a proud leader of a London borough, vice chair of London Councils, and a member of the London Assembly, I am dutybound to declare London the greatest city in the world.

However, the capital faces major challenges.
London is home to individuals with incredible wealth alongside some of the poorest in the UK. Around a third of children in London live in poverty – an appalling statistic.

We are also in the midst of a homelessness emergency, with one in 50 Londoners currently homeless and living in temporary accommodation arranged by their local borough.

And on top of all this, London’s economy is struggling. While the capital remains a key source of revenue for the Treasury, there is considerable evidence that London is underperforming economically and even holding back UK productivity rates.

These challenges clearly have a big impact on the lives of the Londoners I represent – but they also have implications for the rest of the country and for national policy.

Going for growth

The recently elected government has declared boosting economic growth its “most central mission of all”. Get the economy growing and we’ll be in a better position to do things like tackle poverty and homelessness. With growth, there will be more resources available to fix social ills and provide much-needed investment in public services.

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Also posted in Conference | Tagged housing policy | 10 Comments

So many turns

By Glee Club Comperes | Sun 8th September 2024 - 2:28 pm

For around 50 years, the Glee Club has been a highlight of Conference for many people. (There’s no specific anniversary; Glee evolved out of various informal singing traditions but is around 50 years old now). The stage has welcomed leaders, candidates, Ministers and even the occasional broadcaster or two.

One of the enduring traditions is that newly elected MPs ‘do a turn’ and sing or otherwise entertain those present. After a period of no new MPs, followed by a period of no Conferences for them to honour the tradition, this year our cup is overflowing as we welcome our biggest ever new intake.

Some will get up and sing their favourite song from the Liberator Songbook. (Risking a record number of renditions of “The Land”).

Some will tell jokes. Some have done sketches. It has been known (though not always recommended) for them to write their own songs. Others will attempt to emulate the late Paddy Ashdown’s unique shaggy dog story about two tribes. Leaders were sometimes “more singed against than singing”. There may be other talents as yet unearthed; we have musicians, child actors and who knows what else?

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Tagged 2024 autumn conference, glee club and lib dem conference | 3 Comments

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 8th September 2024 - 10:28 am

Gaza

In a month it will be first anniversary of the start of the Gaza War. There is no end in sight.

The two sides – Israel and Hamas—have two diametrically opposed positions. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will accept nothing less than the total destruction of Hamas. He might reluctantly accept a temporary ceasefire if the Israeli Defence Forces or Mossad manage to assassinate Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. That would enable him to retrieve at least some of the hostages. But once those hostages are returned expect the attacks to resume.

Hamas leader Sinwar is holding out for nothing less than a permanent ceasefire. This means that at least a Hamas remnant would remain intact for Palestinians to build on. Netanyahu would regard such a result as failure.

The American, Qatari and Egyptian negotiators meanwhile are trying to bridge these apparently irreconcilable positions with a diplomatic agreement couched in terms of “constructive ambiguity” which allows both sides to claim concessions, if not total victory.

The cost of failure is high. At stake is not just the plight of millions of Gazans and the future security of the state of Israel. Hanging over the talks is the threat of a wider regional war. A slight misstep by Israel, Iran, Hezbollah or the Houthis can easily set off a major conflagration.

Ironically, escalation can work to the advantage of both Netanyahu and Sinwar. From the point of view of the Hamas leader, a full-throated Middle East conflict would draw Israeli forces away from Gaza to attack Hezbollah in Syria and Lebanon. There is also the possibility that an escalation could pull the Arabs off the fence and onto the Palestinian side.

Looking at the advantages of escalation through Israeli eyes, Netanyahu has been pressing the US for some time to join him in a direct attack on Iran which he sees as the fount of all of Israel’s problems. The Israeli prime minister was explicit in stating that goal in his recent address to a joint session of congress.

In the meantime, Netanyahu is no nearer to reaching his goal of the total destruction of Hamas and Yahya Sinwar is no nearer to admitting total defeat.

Immigration

There is a new forest of placards at Trump rallies: “Mass Deportation Now!” The same cry is being heard in Spain at Vox rallies. In France when the National Rally gathers. It is barked by some members of Britain’s Reform Party. In Germany The far-right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) has this week managed to gain control of the East German Lander of Thuringia.

And it is not just the far-right that is pushing the anti-immigrant line. Joe Biden’s tough new executive orders have dramatically reduced the number of illegal immigrants crossing America’ southern border. Stefan Lofven The leader of the centre-left, previously pro-immigrant Swedish Social Democrats recently reversed party policy to declare: “The Swedish people can feel safe in the knowledge that Social Democrats will stand up for a strict immigration policy.”

The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Serbia, the Czech Republic… Virtually all of the Western world has turned anti-immigrant. Opposing immigration wins votes. Backing deportation is a bit iffy, but the debate is moving in that direction. The problem is that mass deportation is wholly impractical.

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Tagged donald trump, gaza, immigration, israel, russia and vladimir putin | 6 Comments

Al Pinkerton MP writes: The Falkland Islands – a liberal’s guide

By Dr Al Pinkerton MP | Sun 8th September 2024 - 8:38 am

Editor’s Note: Our new MP for Surrey Heath, Dr Al Pinkerton, was, until his election an Associate Professor of Geopolitics specialising in international borders and boundary disputes. Next Sunday, at Conference, he’ll be chairing a fringe meeting about the Falkland Islands at 11:30 am in the Regent Room at the Grand Hotel. Speakers include Lib Dem Peers Jeremy Purvis and Julie Smith and two members of the Falklands Islands Legislative Assembly.

Here, Al writes about the history of the Falklands and the values we Lib Dems share with the islanders.

Think of the Falkland Islands and you’d be forgiven if your mind turned to ideas of war, sheep, colonialism and Margaret Thatcher. Not exactly a Liberal Democrat’s idea of a good time, I know. But if you’ve had the opportunity to visit the Falklands – even if only for a few hours’ stopover on an Antarctic cruise – you will almost certainly carry with you memories of pristine wildernesses, extraordinary wildlife, and a diverse community who are proudly Falkland Islanders and resolutely wish to remain associated with the United Kingdom.

Until the recent General Election, I was an Associate Professor of Geopolitics specialising in international border and boundary disputes. One of the places I have returned to most often, and certainly one of the places that I’ve come to know best, is the Falkland Islands. Now, as a new Liberal Democrat MP, I wish to make a bold proposition: the cause of the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islanders is one rooted in the traditions of liberalism, is a cause that could and should be close to the hearts of Liberal Democrats, and is certainly one that is much too important to leave to the ownership of the Conservative Party and those with an unhealthy fascination with Margaret Thatcher.

Some quick facts. The first reported sighting of the Falkland Islands was in August 1592 by British navigator, John Davis, aboard the ship ‘Desire’. There was no human habitation of the islands until 1764, when France established a garrison, followed in 1765 by the British and, in 1770, the Spanish. The islands have been permanently inhabited and administered by the UK since 1833 and some Falkland Islands families can trace their ancestry to that moment and the years shortly thereafter. Argentina’s claim to the Falklands (or the Islas Malvinas) can be traced to 1820, when it proclaimed sovereignty over the islands as the successor state to Spain.

Whatever the relative historical merits of sovereignty claim and counter claim by Argentina and the UK, the wishes of Falkland Islanders were made clear when, in 2013, the country held a referendum on whether to remain an Overseas Territory of the UK. On a turnout of 92%, 99.8% of Falkland Islanders voted “yes”, with only three votes against.

As an accredited observer of that referendum, I saw for myself the intensity of feeling expressed by islanders in the lead up to the vote, but also the extraordinary process of administering a democratic ballot (one intensely scrutinised by the international media and election monitors) by the Falkland Islands Government across an archipelago of many hundred islands covering an area half the size of Wales. While the result was never really in much doubt, the referendum was a powerful expression of Falkland Islanders deeply cherished right to self-determine their own future and came at a time (in 2013) when the Kirchner government in Buenos Aires were pursuing their claim to the Islands with more vigour than at any point since the 1982 conflict.

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Tagged al pinkerton, falkland islands, featured, international, jeremy purvis and julie smith | 4 Comments

Another close shave?

By Simon Foster | Sat 7th September 2024 - 11:00 am

So, it’s that time of year where it will be conference shortly, and once again there will be Glee Club.

This year I’m asking for a hand, because as I did back in 2015 I’m having my hair shaved off for charity.

In 2016 I came within 10 hours of losing my right foot to a horrific infection. The team at the Nuffield Hospital in Oxford did a brilliant job and saved it with 3 operations, 36 stitches and grams (yes grams) of antibiotics.

So now I’m returning the favour, raising money for the Nuffield Hospitals Trust. The target is £1,000, and if I hit that before Glee Club at the end of conference, I’ll get my hair shaved off on stage once again. I’m almost halfway there already.

The link if you can donate is https://tinyurl.com/safshave

Any hairdressers reading this with a pair of shears coming to conference? Do get in touch through the comments below!

Thanks in advance.

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Observations of an Expat: Kamala’s Foreign Policy

By Tom Arms | Sat 7th September 2024 - 8:23 am

Foreign policy analysts are sifting through documents and speeches and even casting a few runes and studying used tea leaves to determine what foreign policy directions a Kamala White House may take.

It is still a bit murky. Constructive ambiguity, is one of the buzz soundbites of 21^st century diplomacy and is heard often in the Harris camp. But outlines are appearing, especially in contrast to a Trump foreign policy.

The transactional diplomacy favoured by the former president is out. Gone – and hopefully forgotten – will be days when American support was tendered only when Washington could point to easily quantifiable successes negotiated along narrow obvious channels of self-interest. Aka transactional diplomacy.

Instead, expect a move towards consensus building and closer work with allies. This implicitly means closer relations with America’s oldest allies – NATO – who since 2016 have lived in constant dread of an American pull out. A Harris Administration would be pro-NATO which in turn means very pro-Ukraine. Perhaps more so than Biden

The Asian Pivot, however, is still very much on the cards. But it is expected to be based more on alliance-building than military ship building, specifically with Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, the Philippines and India. America cannot afford a two-front war and will need to shift some of its regional military responsibilities onto local shoulders. The Biden Administration has already started the ball rolling. Harris is expected to push it further down the road.

At the same time, a Harris Administration, will also want to continue to attract more businesses from China and the Asian tigers to American shores. Harris is opposed to the Trans Pacific Partnership and wants to continue tariffs ranging from 25% to 100% on $18 billion of Chinese exports. Trump, on the other hand, proposes a 60 percent blanket tariff on $551 billion of Chinese goods. Economists fear that a Trump Administration would push up inflation in America and create deflation in China.

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Tagged kamala harris | 6 Comments

The case for restoring your railways

By Mark Corner | Fri 6th September 2024 - 7:04 pm

On September 4th The Independent ran a story on the problems that have beset the HS2 railway project to connect ‘major cities’ in England. It reported that the figure for total cost of the project, was something like 67 billion pounds, one new station at Birmingham alone costing half a billion, an extraordinary figure even if one accepts that it is spread over 15 years.

But now let’s take another figure, another one of half a billion, the Restoring your Railways Fund which for the same amount as that new station at Birmingham would help to breathe new life into several new railway lines and dozens of new stations. The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has decided to scrap it. She won’t save 500 million – probably something more of the order of 100 million – but this money was designed to restore several small lines that were closed during the Beeching cuts sixty years ago. Compared to the cost of HS2, the savings are minimal, and it’s hard not to think that Reeves has just done it in order to demonstrate that she’s not going to repeat the over-spending of the previous government.

These railway lines were designed to connect not major cities but small towns across the country. Yet their importance should not be under-stated. I would recommend anyone who doesn’t feel that such lines can be important to look at the website of one that because it’s nearly finished has escaped the Reeves cuts, the Northumberland Line. Look at the stories of the construction work, the extra roads, bridges and pathways built, the meetings with local communities, schools and civic associations, the enthusiasm of local businesses for the opportunities provided and the sheer excitement at what is effectively only restoring a line still used for freight to passenger use, and you get a sense of how far communities have been invigorated by a sum of money which in the case of HS2 would do no more than pay to modify the platforms to fit the height of the new trains.

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Tagged railways | 48 Comments

The riots were serious. Lib Dems must step up

By Abrial Jerram | Tue 3rd September 2024 - 4:30 pm

I won’t forget the 2024 election in a hurry.

Not only were there the expected wins of PPCs I had been excitedly anticipating sitting in the House of Commons for years, but there were a steady stream of wins in places where most people, or at least me, thought our chances of victory were somewhere between pretty low and non-existent.

It was the day we finally didn’t have a Tory government anymore.

Also, at a deeper level, it was the day when what Lib Dems say or do started to matter again. How much it matters is up for debate, but when the exit poll showed us back as the third party with record gains, it was clear that what we say or do is of far greater consequence than it had been a few short weeks before. In terms West Wing watchers will be familiar with, it felt like we were closer to the ideal of never doubting that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens could change the world.

Since then, the biggest crisis in Britain has been the riots. I struggle to imagine anything that could be more diametrically opposed to the values of community and care that ran through the whole of our election campaign.

So how did we respond then? In summary, and I did some quick google searching to check I hadn’t missed anything obvious, our response was to appoint a government advisor and adopt the relevant APPG’s definition of Islamophobia. Now, of course the government should have an independent advisor on Islamophobia and a legal definition of Islamophobia would help public bodies in taking against it, but I doubt that anyone seriously thinks that the lack of either of these things was a significant cause of the riots.

Surely the end goal of our policy must be that riots of this sort (and any other sort) are never seen again in Britain.

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Tagged islamophobia, liberal democrats and riots | 10 Comments

We should be setting the agenda, not following it

By Lord William Wallace | Mon 2nd September 2024 - 1:45 pm

After such a successful national election campaign, led by a coherent leadership team, I hesitate to disagree with Mark Pack’s August Report (LibDem Voice August 20th) on ‘the New Political Landscape’. But I don’t agree that in the first year after a decisive election our party’s campaign themes should be driven primarily by what the polls tell us about public priorities and what voters want to hear. Political parties should aim to set the agenda when they can, not simply respond to existing public anxieties.

A political party has to appeal to three different audiences: to the wider public, directly on the doorstep, through leaflets and postings, and indirectly through the access we hope to gain via the respect of professionals in the media; to the small proportion of UK citizens actively interested in political issues, who we hope will be persuaded to join us and contribute actively (and financially) to our campaigns; and to the even smaller group of commentators on politics in written, broadcast and social media, who summarise and interpret partisan politics to the wider public.

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Tagged featured, political strategy and william wallace | 26 Comments

Are girls smarter than boys?

By Mary Reid | Fri 30th August 2024 - 11:33 am

We have now seen this year’s GCSE and A level results, and they inevitably led to comparisons between girls and boys. (Sorry – I am not linking to the Daily Mail, but you know what I mean.)

Over the last few years concerns have been expressed about the underperformance of boys. In April the Parliamentary Education Committee launched an inquiry, asking: Why do boys lag behind girls at all ages of education? This conclusion was based on the previous year’s results:

In 2022/23 the attainment gap at GCSE level between girls and boys tightened to its smallest difference for 14 years. But with 24.9% of girls achieving grade 7 or A compared with 19.1% of boys, there was still a significant variation of nearly 6%.

…

At A-Level and 16-18, girls do better than boys across all level-3 cohorts, however, the gender gap has decreased in comparison to previous years. This has also meant that men are less likely to progress to higher education – in 2021/22, 54% of women were in higher education by 19, compared to only 40% of men. Men are also more likely to drop out of university courses.

Research by Cambridge University backed this up, although it also showed that girls’ achievements were not carried forward into employment.

Three years ago The Guardian asked the burning question: Are girls smarter than boys? The answers given tended to provide some nuance, suggesting that the notion of a gendered brain was false and that social factors are at play.

All this gave me a strong sense of deja-vu. Throughout my life the achievements of girls have been downplayed or simply hidden, while any supposed underachievement of boys has been seen as a problem looking for a solution.

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Tagged a level results and gcse | 42 Comments

Opposing pharmacy closures in Newcastle

By Doreen Huddart | Thu 29th August 2024 - 12:05 pm

Despite the lack of publicity and opportunity for discussion, toward the end of 2023 we became aware of possible closure of pharmacies in Newcastle.

First, Lloyds announced their closure of several branches including a busy one inside a large Sainsbury’s, which was popular with wheelchair users due to flat access.

Then Boots announced closure of five local branch pharmacies, affecting several neighbourhoods. I and dozens of my Ward residents would be personally affected by at least one of these closures and, as word spread about them, residents began voicing their concerns via local social media. They were not happy at being directed to other venues either a twenty-five minute walk or a bus ride away, and, even more difficult for those pushing a pram or using mobility aids.

In Kenton, the Boots pharmacy backed onto the local Health Centre, so was the first choice for residents. The nearest alternate was a mile away, dreadful news for the many elderly and disabled users. In this Ward, we fortunately had a keen young member, so decided to mount a petition and, despite the bitter winter weather, Rob stood outside collecting signatures and listening to the concerns of residents. Those of us who braved the elements to help, also stood round, gave advice and picked up casework. Soon the numbers were building up, and we opted to submit the petition to the next full Council meeting.

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Also posted in Campaign Corner | Tagged newcastle and pharmacies | 5 Comments

Women must not speak in public

By Mary Reid | Thu 29th August 2024 - 9:48 am

I really thought that the Afghanistan Taliban couldn’t do more harm than they have already done. But earlier this week I was shocked to the core to read their latest rulings. They have now banned women from speaking in public places. Yes, you read that correctly – women are not allowed to speak when out and about. It’s not about public speaking, which they were already banned from doing, but rather the simple act of using their voices.

It was already horrendous for our sisters in that country. They are forced to wear a burqa when out of the home – an uncomfortable thick garment that effectively renders them invisible. Most feel intimidated into having a male guardian with them when out. They are banned from secondary education and from employment. I can’t imagine what life must be like for them, especially as many of them had already been to University and taken up professional roles.

Now, according to the new laws their voices, literally, must not be heard in public.

Whenever an adult woman leaves her home out of necessity, she is obliged to conceal her voice, face, and body.

According to The Guardian:

Women’s voices are also deemed to be potential instruments of vice and so will not be allowed to be heard in public under the new restrictions. Women must also not be heard singing or reading aloud, even from inside their houses.

How on earth can women be expected to do any task outside the home – shopping, attending a medical appointment, visiting a friend – if they can’t speak? Presumably they will have to have a male guardian with them to speak for them.

The consequences of breaking these rules can be horrific, since the Taliban has now introduced flogging and stoning as punishments.

The rationale for these rules, under the twisted Taliban logic, is that women’s bodies and voices tempt men into vice. This is, of course, the ultimate form of victim blaming.

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Tagged afghanistan, human rights and taliban | 5 Comments

Stronger provisions of the Online Safety Act needed according to Lib Dem tech spokesperson

By Tim Clement-Jones | Tue 27th August 2024 - 3:00 pm

With the new government’s expansion of the scope and size of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, there is a real opportunity to accelerate the digital transformation of public services.

Bringing together officials from the Government Digital Service, the Incubator for AI, and the Central Digital Data Office under one Departmental roof ensures that it will be much better equipped to enable digital transformation in key areas, including justice, education and healthcare. The appointment of Lord Vallance as Science Minister is a real coup which testifies to the willingness of the new government to use external expertise.

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Tagged Online Safety Act | 1 Comment

We stand for the people

By Katharine Pindar | Tue 27th August 2024 - 1:30 pm

It’s already clear again, the old divide in Britain. Labour stands for the workers. The Tories stand for the rich. Everybody already knew that.

They didn’t know that we stood for the people. But they felt it when they voted in their thousands to elect local Liberal Democrat councillors, and then to choose 72 Liberal Democrat MPs.

Ed Davey knew it when he went round the country in 2020 just talking to people, asking what they want. Now comes another time to prove it.

The cost of living. It’s going up again with the energy price rise this Autumn. The NHS needs money poured into it. Local services need propping up. People on benefits need that £20 a week more than ever. The carers and the cared for, they desperately need our backing.

We should say to this new government of ours: “Don’t deprive old people of their extra heating allowance this winter. Don’t talk about getting rid of food banks but ignore our policy which can do just that. Don’t refuse to tax the wealthiest most. Help the poorest first.”

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Mobile phones – one person’s freedom can be another person’s lack of it

By Judy Abel | Tue 27th August 2024 - 11:00 am

Individually, we have almost all benefitted from the wonders of mobile phones – communicating with family and friends in ways only dreamt of before, booking tickets for trains or exhibitions at the last minute, being told how to get from A to B and booking GP appointments (which, yes, does digitally exclude some people too).

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Tagged mobile phones | 5 Comments

Leading the way – back to hope

By Nick Baird | Mon 26th August 2024 - 1:32 pm

I’ve never liked the term “progressive parties”, lumping us together with Labour and the Greens despite some significant differences in policies and priorities. It often serves as lazy shorthand for “not Tory”, but it’s accurate in one respect – the Conservatives have spent the last few years slowly strangling any expectation of progress. Their legacy is a cost of living crisis, exponential growth in hospital waiting lists, unaffordable housing, falling living standards and the virtual abandonment of attempts to tackle the climate crisis and protect the environment.

You will have seen that the new Labour Government has recently awarded “inflation busting” pay rises to public sector workers, triggering howls of anguish from the right-wing press. In reality, these pay rises simply go some way towards restoring real terms pay and living standards to a segment of the workforce that has been squeezed by austerity and hammered by inflation, yet even the sensible financial press has framed 5.5% as a problem because it is “inflationary”. It seems the burden of tackling inflation must mostly be borne by the lower paid and the middle classes, while the new boss of Thames Water (a company on the verge of bankruptcy) is given a £2.3m pay package and bankers have seen their bonus caps abolished (which Labour has no plans to restore).

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Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 25th August 2024 - 10:51 am

United States

The Kamala Harris bandwagon continues to gather momentum. Going into this week’s Democratic National Convention “The Economist” poll tracker put her three points ahead nationally. The convention dividend should add another two to three points easily.

Kamala’s rapid rise, however, has less to do with her policies and more to do with vibes. Her main attributes are that she is younger than Joe Biden, pro-abortion and anti-Trump, which, for the Democrats, is more than enough.

In her 40-minute conference speech a few foreign policy hints slipped out. On the Middle East she supports Israel while sympathising and empathising with the Palestinians. On NATO she is pro-Alliance. As for Ukraine, she is anti-Putin and on China Kamala Harris remains a bit of a mystery.

Ms Harris’s recent speech in Philadelphia on Kamalanomics failed to impress the professionals. Her plans to end price gouging with federal regulations; raise child tax credits by $4,000 and hand-out $25,000 to first time home buyers, was derided by most economists as inflationary left-of-centre crowd-pleasing populism. It was not, however, as Trump claimed, communism.

Former prosecutor Kamala Harris is, however, proving adept at deflecting criticism; coming up with resonating slogans and landing punches. Two placards keep popping up at her rallies: “Freedom” and “We Will Not Go Back.”

The first encompasses a broad swathe of issues to include reproductive rights, racism, misogyny, health care, for the elderly, the electoral process, the rule of law, the constitution and democracy itself. All of which either have been, or are perceived to be, threatened by Donald Trump and his Republican acolytes.

“We Will Not Go Back” refers to the belief that Republicans want to turn the social clock back to the 1950s – perhaps even further – when Jim Crow ruled in the South and a woman’s place was in the home.

Trump is the master of the personal insult. Vice President Harris has fostered a unique method for countering them. She ignores them. Then she turns the debate on her opponent’s weaknesses. Project 2025, for instance, is a major embarrassment for the ex-president. He has repeatedly disavowed it. But Kamala Harris refuses to let it go.

Finally, there is the fact that Kamala Harris ticks almost every diversity box there is. She is a female, part-Asian, part-African all-American. Yet she rarely mentions her gender or mixed-race background. Perhaps it is time for Martin Luther King Jr’s dream. The dream that the day will come when a person will be judged not by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.

China and the United States

China appreciates Donald Trump. It is too much they say they like him. His threatened tariffs and bellicose rhetoric would undoubtedly put a strain on Sino-American relations.

But at the same time, the ex-president has shown little inclination to defend Taiwan and Trump’s transactional diplomacy could simplify relations. Most of all, Donald J. Trump is a known quantity.

Kamala Harris, on the other hand, is an unwelcome mystery.

For a start, Beijing is unhappy with the end of the battle of the geriatrics that a Trump-Biden race represented. The Chinese have their own problems with a perceived gerontocracy and Kamala Harris presents an unflattering contrast with 71-year-old Xi Jinping. Since Ms Harris emerged as the Democratic nominee, all hints of a Biden-Xi comparison have been erased from the Chinese internet.

Then there is the problem of racism and misogyny. At least America’s problem as portrayed by the Chinese Communist Party. In May Beijing published a report on human rights in America which said racism is getting worse and gender discrimination is “rampant”. Kamala Harris – in case you missed it – is female and of mixed Asian-African heritage.

It is expected that Kamala Harris’s China policy will largely be a re-run of Joe Biden’s. She will likely leave in place the tariffs imposed by her mentor and continue the commitment to defend Taiwan and attack China’s human rights record.

The choice of Tim Walz as Harris’s running-mate adds an interesting wrinkle to Sino-American relations in a possible Harris administration. He taught in China and has visited the country dozens of times. In contrast, Ms Harris has made only the rare visit to Asia.

This indicates that Walz may break with vice-presidential tradition and have a role to play as the administration’s point man on China. Republicans are ready for it. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives have already launched an investigation into Walz’s “longstanding and cosy relationship with China”. Unfortunately for the conservatives they are unlikely to find skeleton’s in Walz’s Chinese wardrobe. His time in and out of Congress has been marked by repeated attack on Beijing’s human rights record, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by China’s state-controlled media.

Trump, on the other hand, is more concerned with trading rights than human rights. So, all things considered, Xi Jinping is likely to prefer Trump over Harris.

India

Last month Moscow. This week Kyiv. What is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi up to?

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Tagged china, donald trump, india, kamala harris, Narendra Modi and United states of America | 1 Comment