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Category Archives: Op-eds

What the EU Referendum has taught me

By Nigel Jones | Sat 25th June 2016 - 3:11 pm

The referendum campaign has reminded or taught us many things about the relationship between us and the public. I am deliberately writing this before the result. There are matters that need a good hard examination. Among them are these:

1.Since tuition fees, we have been all too aware of people’s lack of trust in us; this is now the view held by even more people about all politicians. So when Sadiq Khan rightly points out the untruths in a leaflet, someone who was chosen as an undecided simply said on camera that he is trained to lie.

2.Large numbers of people no longer want to listen not only to us and other politicians, but even to experts; this should worry us greatly.

3. Views are affected by educational experience and level, not just age. I have met less-well-off young people who blame the EU and immigrants for their troubles. (Recent reports about the relative lack of achievement of white boys in our schools from lower backgrounds is worrying for the future.)

4. Education is supposed to broaden people’s outlook, but it needs to do more of this, since good democracy depends on that; narrowly-focussed academic or technical knowledge and skills is not enough.

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Tagged education and eu referendum | 11 Comments

What does the EU Referendum mean for Liberal Democrats

By Joe Zammit-Lucia | Sat 25th June 2016 - 1:49 pm

This vote has been a collective howl of frustration – at the political class, at big business, at a global elite.

These were Tim Farron’s words in his outstanding speech following the results of the EU referendum. It raises a question this party must answer – is this party simply part of that political class and global elite that the voters continue so clearly to reject? Are we, like other mainstream political parties, set in our ways, disconnected from the public whose trust the mainstream has lost, stuck in a mindset and language that is hopelessly outdated, and with no idea as to how to understand and empathise with the concerns of today’s voter, let alone find ways to address them? We like to think of ourselves as the outsiders, the challengers, those who question the status quo. But is this reality or simply self-delusion? Does anyone out there see us like that?

Liberalism is a child of the Enlightenment. It is founded on the principles of reason, openness and tolerance – all principles that have been soundly rejected in this referendum. What does this mean for our party? My own view is that we should not abandon these principles but we need to re-define them for a twenty-first century world. We glibly bandy about terms like “open” and “internationalist”, but what should these terms mean in today’s world? What should they be taken to mean by those at the lower end of the skills and income scale? Those who see such words as threats to their livelihoods rather than the aspirational connotations these words have for the cosmopolitan elite whose vision of the future has now been roundly rejected by the British public.

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Tagged eu referendum and future strategy | 15 Comments

Sir Graham Watson writes…Is there a way back from the Brexit decision?

By Graham Watson | Sat 25th June 2016 - 12:02 pm

What happens now?

Initial reactions in London and Brussels have been stark, along the lines of ‘Out means Out’. Will they change with more considered reflection? As the foreign ministers gather in Berlin today and the leaders of Germany, France and Italy meet on Monday to prepare Tuesday’s European Council (‘summit’) meeting, economic interests may have started to impinge on political considerations. It seems most likely, however, that when David Cameron arrives in Brussels on Tuesday he will find his 27 counterparts almost all singing from the same (German-language) hymn sheet.

In a statement Friday by the Presidents of the European Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission it is made clear that there can be no further renegotiation and that the concessions made to Cameron in February are now null and void. The summit can be expected to rubber-stamp this.

The most Cameron can hope for is a period of 12 weeks for the UK to sort out the shitstorm which will now be unleashed by the most calamitous case of self harm in Britain’s democratic history. The EU Treaties leave it up to the country which seeks to leave to decide when and if to invoke Article 50, to start the formal process of withdrawal. But the continental clamour for it will be deafening. Britain’s footdragging, wheel-spoking and taking home of wicket in recent years has drained any patience or sympathy our partners might once have felt.

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Tagged brexit, eu and eu referendum | 48 Comments

A new Union of Democratic Control?

By Matthew Campbell | Sat 25th June 2016 - 10:45 am

It may be a mistake, but in my idiosyncratic way, I tend to approach the present – and the future – through the past.

So I feel the need to point out at this time, that in 1914 during the earliest days of the First World War, there arose within the British Left a movement called the ‘Union of Democratic Control’, one of whose prime movers was a Liberal Radical journalist called ED Morel. (He had already led a very interesting life, and went to have a short but even more interesting life subsequently, including both imprisonment and beating Winston Churchill as a candidate in a General Election).

The UDC initially had three aims: to subject to scrutiny in the House of Commons the secret pacts and war aims agreed between the UK and its allies as pan-European war broke out; to push for a negotiated settlement to prevent conflict escalating into mass loss of life, and to investigate the influence of the arms trade upon UK politicians.

Needless to say, in the short term, their campaign was not successful and was regarded with suspicion and official opposition.
But their guiding principle – that the nation had a right to have its foreign policy and strategy debated by its democratic parliament for its moral and ethical worth – was fundamentally right.

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Tagged brexit and eu referendum | 6 Comments

Moving forwards as positive campaigners

By Matt Dolman | Sat 25th June 2016 - 9:09 am

If I took one thing away from the referendum campaign, it would be that voters and activists are being ever-more turned off from politics (high turnout notwithstanding).

People on the streets were reacting against the fearmongering, the negativity and the ad hominem attacks employed by many parties in the last few weeks and months.

Back in 2015, we learned that campaigns based on adding ‘brains’ or ‘hearts’ to other parties’ manifestos just don’t work.
My view?

We as Liberal Democrats need to energise ourselves and our communities with a positive, optimistic and internationalist message. And we need to be doing it from today, as many of us are already.

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Tagged campaigning and future strategy | 19 Comments

The people have spoken – trust the people

By Paul Walter | Sat 25th June 2016 - 7:45 am

Yesterday afternoon, I was somewhat nervous to receive notification that Tim Farron was going to make a “major speech”. Straight after an election, when you are still suffering from advanced post-election bone tiredness, is no time to be suddenly deciding to make a “major speech”.

But it was a good speech and I applaud Tim’s display of righteous anger on behalf of the young and those who are boiling with rage – those who are now shouting: “we are better than this”.

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Also posted in Europe Referendum | Tagged eu referendum | 50 Comments

The mess we are in

By Geoff Crocker | Fri 24th June 2016 - 3:15 pm

The EU referendum delivers an unmanageable mess. The UK will lose its membership of the EU, and more immediately has lost its elected Prime Minister. Like many Lib Dems, I have never voted Conservative, but I do recognise the dignity and decency of David Cameron. The referendum outcome creates space instead for Michael Gove, Boris Johnson, and the reactionary Nigel Farage.

Democracy itself is in an impossible contradiction. The UK norm is representative democracy expressed in Parliamentary sovereignty. The policy of the majority of Members of Parliament is to remain in the EU. But the referendum decides to leave. Paradoxically, those wanting to leave the EU favour Parliamentary sovereignty, but reject this principle on the question of EU membership. This is an irresoluble conflict.

There is therefore a greater decision UK society has to make – whether government is to be by representative democracy or by popular referenda. We cannot have both. This is the first question of principle. The second is the criteria which should apply to either representative democracy or referenda. The last general election showed how unrepresentative first-past-the-post constituency voting is. The referendum highlights the huge problem of maintaining social cohesion when half the population wants exactly the opposite of what the other half wants. Reconciling this is nigh impossible.

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Tagged democracy and eu referendum | 22 Comments

What next for the Liberal Democrats post-referendum?

By Tony Lloyd | Fri 24th June 2016 - 1:45 pm

Harriet Harman, as acting leader of the Labour Party, explained her lack of opposition to the government’s Welfare Bill with the words:

We can’t simply say to the public “you were wrong”

Well I can.

Public, you got it wrong.

You got it disastrously wrong. You’ve endangered the future of our entire continent for the sake of a handful of Brexiteers’ Magic Beans. You’ve swallowed the distortions and lies of the Brexit brigade. You’ve gleefully thrown reason, evidence and reflection out of the window. You’ve allowed that Brexit brigade to press your basest, most pre-civilised, gut-reaction buttons. You’ve allowed yourselves to be fooled. The consequences for you and your fellow Britons will be dire.

But it’s no use getting angry at the electorate. We need to act. The action I propose is that we give the electorate an opportunity to correct its error. We should put at the forefront of our campaigning:

Get Back In.

Let us have Get Back In as the first item in our manifesto. Let us have Get Back In on every piece of election literature, on our membership cards, as the strap line under our logo. Let us replace the, frankly vapid, “working for you” and “winning here” with Get Back In. We need to make it clear that a vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote for re-joining Europe. Re-joining Europe fully: no opt-outs, no special conditions, in the Euro on day one. Let us Get Back In, fully.

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Tagged eu referendum | 37 Comments

Leaving the EU hampers progress on climate change

By Jim Hodgson | Fri 24th June 2016 - 12:15 pm

For as long as I can remember I’ve felt that those of us blessed with the safety and prosperity of life in the developed world have a moral duty to support those who are in need and less fortunate. So, for the past ten years I’ve been determined to do all I can to support the biggest issue facing our planet, to fight with others to find a pragmatic, achievable response to the problems of climate change and environmental protection.

I’ve often been frustrated at how this issue – the habitability of our planet – has been stuffed down the back of the political sofa, removed from public life, and quashed by contemporary discourse. It’s pained me to witness and learn how the severity of this challenge has been continually undermined by conventional economics…the system which perpetrates the false notion of unlimited growth on a finite planet.

Climate change is the primary driver behind my internationalism. Without working in union to find solutions immediately, we can expect global poverty, food shortages, more extreme weather, civil unrest, and gargantuan levels of refugees as a result. These are the very real risks we face in a rapidly globalised world. Quite simply, we cannot solve such an enormous problem with an isolationist, inward looking attitude. We cannot face this issue without cooperation with our friends and neighbours in the European Union. The EU is perhaps the best hope we have got of sending an example to the rest of the world: profiling a model of hope, collaboration, prosperity, peace and progression.

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Tagged climate change and eu referendum | 9 Comments

Carmichael: Britain needs to hear liberal internationalist voices like never before

By The Voice | Fri 24th June 2016 - 11:48 am

Alistair Carmichael has given his reaction to the referendum result on his Facebook page, reproduced here with his permission.

Facebook asks what is on my mind. This may not be the most coherent answer I can give in my sleep-deprived state but here goes :

1. As a result of the referendum vote we now have massive economic issues to face and deal with – the priority for all parties should be to tackle that.

2. We can not tackle these problems while, as a country, we are split down the middle so this is a time for bringing people together and healing the divisions if we can. I sense a lot of anger amongst my friends and I share the frustration but we can not allow that anger to be self-indulgent. There is too much at stake.

3. The only way in which a break up of the UK can now be avoided is if we go for a properly federal structure and elect it proportionately. Brexit is the consequence of a broken political system.

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Tagged Alistair Carmichael, eu referendum and facebook | 4 Comments

After Brexit; what strategy for ‘Remain’?

By Paul Reynolds | Fri 24th June 2016 - 7:45 am

Whilst a lot of analysis will be forthcoming on the events that led to a vote in the UK to leave the European Union, potentially of greater importance in the immediate aftermath is for a unified Post-Referendum Pro-Remain approach. Here, I am suggesting such an approach, and Lib Dems may wish to take the lead on such an approach.

First of all we need a strong institutional approach. The Lib Dems, Greens, SNP, and PC require a competent secretariat and fundraising body, with a very sharp and responsive media operation, that Pro-Remain Labour and Conservative figures can rally around.

Second, we need an end result to aim for …. or more correctly two end-results….

As democrats there is one thing we should oppose. In Parliament there is almost certainly a majority against Brexit, and it will be tempting to support the blocking of Brexit. We should oppose this, otherwise we will be accused of not listening to the voice of the public, with all the long term political consequences.

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27 Comments

“Devastated and angry” Farron says Lib Dems will fight for a “tolerant, open-hearted, optimistic and outward looking” country

By The Voice | Fri 24th June 2016 - 6:51 am

Tim Farron has made his first public comments since our Brexit result was confirmed. He said:

I am devastated and I am angry. Today we wake to a deeply divided country.

Nigel Farage’s vision for Britain has won this vote, but it is not a vision I share.

Young people voted to remain by a considerable margin, but were out voted. They were voting for their future, yet it has been taken from them.

Even though the result was close, there is no doubt that the majority of British people want us to leave.

Our fight for an open, optimistic, hopeful, diverse and tolerant Britain is needed now more than ever.

Together we can still make the case for Britain’s future with Europe, as millions of people voted for it. Together we cannot afford to let that vision to die.

This self-inflicted wound will be Cameron’s legacy. This is his failing. And when the call went out to Jeremy Corbyn, he refused to answer. Their self-interested political maneuvering has taken our country to the brink, and we are toppling over the edge.

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Tagged eu referendum and tim farron | 65 Comments

So what’s going to happen about Scotland?

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 24th June 2016 - 5:56 am

Not every part of the UK has voted to leave the European Union. Every single council area of Scotland has voted to Remain, all but one of them by a significant margin,with most over 60%. In total, 62% of Scots voted to remain, 38% to leave.

The SNP is naturally making noises about a second independence referendum. Of course they are. It’s what they do. If we were them, we probably would too. Their manifesto was pretty explicit that they would consider they had the right to a referendum in these circumstances:

We believe that independence offers

…

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Tagged eu referendum and Scotland | 21 Comments

5 am: Disaster looms

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 24th June 2016 - 4:56 am

The people appear to have chosen to leave the EU.

Yet again I find myself on my sofa in the middle of the night watching a disaster unfold before my eyes.

This one, though, is going to hurt much more than the election nights of the past five years. I’m not quite saying that they can come back, all is forgiven, but the ramifications of tonight for the country are so much worse. Our future opportunities and standing in the world are all heading down the toilet.

Already we see the pound in free-fall, making the Prime Minister’s predictions during the campaign seem positively optimistic.

Yet people didn’t believe him. They didn’t believe that a Prime Minister would put us in this position if he thought it would do us so much harm? Well, that’s what happens when you have a Prime Minister who is weak, who chooses to pander to factions within his party against the interests of the country.

He is not fit to hold office, yet it’s hard to see anyone in his party who would be less bad as we face economic chaos.

It’s not just the economic chaos, which will hit the most vulnerable as the Tories now inevitably roll back the size of the state. It’s what this means for the politics. It gives a boost for the sort of right wing ideology that make any liberal sick to the stomach.

I feel numb. I fear for what this means nationally and internationally.

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Tagged eu referendum | 16 Comments

WATCH: Tim Farron’s Eve of Poll Rally speech

By The Voice | Thu 23rd June 2016 - 5:25 pm

Tim has been doing so much during this campaign. He’s had a lot of regional media stuff but hasn’t been given many of the national gigs. He could have brought a whole new perspective to the new debates. Even with his cameo role on Tuesday night, he managed to get one of the lines of the evening – about Michael Gove’s lack of trust in experts being why he was such a terrible Education Secretary.

Anyway, last night he made a stonking speech at an eve of poll rally. Watch and share with anyone who needs to be convinced why we need to stay in the EU and then get them out to vote.

Today, let's vote with prosperity & opportunity for future generations at the forefront our mind. #INtogether https://t.co/bVx0vZQtkK

— Tim Farron (@timfarron) June 23, 2016

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Tagged eu referendum and tim farron | 13 Comments

EU Referendum: a vote to define ourselves

By Douglas Oliver | Thu 23rd June 2016 - 2:00 pm

It has been affirming, in recent weeks, to meet so many people working together, making sacrifices small and large for the “Remain” campaign. We are united of course in our bemusement at what we perceive to be what The Washington Post called the “insanity” of the Brexit case; our case feels hard, in large part, because I think it is. But when the dust has settled and tempers cooled, however, I wonder if we might better understand their apparent eccentricity by recognising some of it within ourselves.

Because, at the personal level, few of the sacrifices make obvious sense – meanwhile, some of our own ideas are sometimes too firm. Whilst it has been heart-stirring to see people stuffing envelopes and giving money and travelling across Europe to help, it can also be head-scratching, too. In Casablanca, Rick Lane’s character makes a common declaration of apparent cynicism “the lives of two little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world” –it is echoed in politics often. Whilst voting is easy, it is still a sacrifice of time: as big a mystery as the millions voting for Brexit, are the millions voting at all.

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Tagged eu referendum and europe | 3 Comments

Je Suis Européen

By John Waddell | Thu 23rd June 2016 - 12:42 pm

The EU has been the greatest institution in history for empowering countries. Rather than a sovereign state, or even entity, it only has what it has been given by the sovereign power of its member states. The collective recognition of sovereign states, pooling their power together in a supranational institution for the collective benefit of all them. What they have achieved is an institution that pools sovereignty for the collective benefit of those involved, the power of the EU, is the collective power of 28 member states. The power they ‘give away’ is power they now have across an entire continent.

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Tagged eu referendum and europe | 1 Comment

Nick Clegg writes…Europe makes Britain great

By Nick Clegg MP | Thu 23rd June 2016 - 7:55 am

Unlike many of our neighbours, Britain did not join the EU as a way of embracing a new, modern identity. For the Germans, French, Italians and the Benelux countries, European co-operation represented the victory of peace over war. For Spain, Greece and Portugal, membership signified the victory of democracy over fascism. For many newer members, it was about throwing off the tyranny of Soviet communism.
Not us. Joining the European Community was a pounds and pence calculation of what was good for us, done with a shrug of the shoulders and an ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ acceptance that the age of empire was over.

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Tagged eu referendum, europe, featured and nick clegg | 5 Comments

The North West: What has the EU ever done for us?

By Dr Paul RIchardson | Wed 22nd June 2016 - 2:59 pm

Despite weeks of campaigning and countless articles and debates, the Leave and Remain campaigns have consistently failed to connect with voters at a local or regional level.

Yet, the EU has been one of the most active and effective organisations in overcoming regional inequality, with Northern Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, the Tees Valley, and the Scottish Highlands currently receiving the largest amount of EU funding per person. In this blog, I suggest that the EU is as issue of huge regional, as well as national importance, and that the North West of England is a strong case in point.

From 2007 to 2013 the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), which managed the EU’s European Regional Development Fund for the North West, was allocated £755.5 million. During this period it invested in the region’s public transport network, including a £10.8 million contribution for a second tramline in Manchester and £7.9 million for redeveloping Victoria station.

The fund was also used to set up enterprise centres, technology centres, job training, broadband, environmental and renewable energy projects, as well as improved housing. In addition, significant sums were spent on arts and culture (including £3.8 million for the National Football museum, £6.8 million for Media City), healthcare (£4.7 million for the Royal Eye Hospital), universities (£23 million for the National Graphene Centre), and tourism (£14.7 million for Blackpool).

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Tagged eu referendum and north west | 7 Comments

My reflections on the Guardian Live EU Referendum debate

By David Graham | Tue 21st June 2016 - 8:33 pm

Attending the Guardian Live referendum debate at Cadogan Hall, off London’s Sloane Square, last night were Chris Grayling MP, Daniel Hannan MEP and John Mann MP for the Leave side; against Andy Burnham MP, Caroline Lucas MP and our very own Tim Farron MP for the Remain side. The debate lasted an hour, and gave the speakers an opportunity to put forward what they considered to be their best points.

Mr Grayling was on the defensive in relation to the economy. He criticised the Institute of Fiscal Studies and National Institute for Economic and Social Research modelling for assuming – in line with the raising of tariffs and other restrictions on trade that would kick in as a matter of existing EU law -that the pound would fall and that trade with the remainder of the EU would fall in a Brexit scenario. He trotted out the facts that German cars and French food are sold in the UK, but had no answer to the riposte that all other Member States (including net importers from the UK and states with a small share of trade with us) would have to agree before tariffs could be reduced. He said that studies showed we would be better off, albeit not as well off, in 12 years’ time. This glossed over the predictions of short-term recession and permanently foregone output of the order of 2% to 5% every year compared to a remain scenario.

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Tagged eu referendum and tim farron | 6 Comments

Say goodbye to the EU and say goodbye to the benefits of the European Investment Bank

By Caroline Pidgeon | Tue 21st June 2016 - 4:47 pm

What has the European Union ever done for us, is one of those questions which most Liberal Democrats have no hesitation in answering – from cleaner beaches to reduced roaming charges for mobile phone users

However, one example that sadly receives little attention is the record of the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Now banking might seem rather dry, indeed rather boring for many people. However, when it comes to the EIB its benefits do need to be heard.

I was first alerted to how significant its lending was when I read the papers going to the Transport for London (TfL) Board last …

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6 Comments

We built the EU for our children

By Shirley Williams | Tue 21st June 2016 - 2:54 pm

Our country has a long and great tradition of leadership. Increasingly, we recognise that it has to be not only national leadership but our global leadership, where we are a part of a larger group of human beings seeking a better world and a better life, which makes the greatest difference to our lives. It would be a tragedy if this country gave up that kind of leadership because it is essential in the modern world, in which countries are totally interconnected with one another.

We have warred for generations over land, resources and ideas, spilling the blood of our children so that one small corner of the continent can put its flag in another small corner of the continent. In the last century we called this to an end. We agreed that we had finally had enough of the bloodshed and instead collaborated to build a stronger, more peaceful Europe.

It is not just violence we are protecting against. In building the European Union we have built the single biggest trading block in the world, the largest source of overseas investment in the world and an organisation which has the capacity to have a major impact in its negotiations in the World Trade Organisation and elsewhere.

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23 Comments

Why our peers need to embrace rather than shun social media

By Laura Willoughby | Tue 21st June 2016 - 1:05 pm

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There has never been a day when the Liberal Democrats have been happy with their media coverage. We just don’t get our fair share, and when we do our liberal ideals are often squeezed in a way that makes us uncomfortable. It has always been hard talking about liberalism. It is why we focus so much attention to get our own message out through leaflet and now via email and social media. It is amazing to now have access to channels where we can broadcast what we are doing that can get to a mass audience without the filter of a biased media.

So I am disappointed to see that another Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords announced they are pulling the plug on their social media account. As our presence in the upper chamber has grown, our ability to communicate our every day liberal deeds seems to diminish. Ex Chief Executive and communications professional Chris Fox announced the closing of his social media accounts on the day he was elevated (thanks mate!). Others have never even tried to get to grips with sending out an email, let alone new form of social media. Every day our peers are working hard and telling no one. I despair.

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Tagged house of lords and peers | 4 Comments

Could there be three ironic (?) tragedies that follow a leave vote?

By Paul Walter | Tue 21st June 2016 - 10:08 am

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Also posted in Europe Referendum | Tagged eu referendum | 67 Comments

MP security – we must keep access for the public

By Nigel Jones | Tue 21st June 2016 - 8:58 am

I never met Jo Cox. All I have heard about her tragic and pointless death is that she was the right sort of MP that entered Parliament with pure motives and who is a sad loss. She cared about the people in her constituency, regardless of their background. She worked for OXFAM, and knew that life in Britain is much easier than in other parts of the world – and she believed that it is our duty to help those in need, not least those children who have fled war in Syria and are now alone. …

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Tagged jo cox and jo cox mp | 2 Comments

Working to build a liberal core vote in Merton

By Anthony Fairclough | Mon 20th June 2016 - 5:30 pm

Merton Liberal Democrats were very pleased and somewhat surprised to be among the first winners of the Party’s “referendum pledge challenge”.

The vast majority of the winning groups are areas of (often recent) historic strength for the party with an organisation to match – so it was a real boost to us to see the local group’s name up there.

Last summer, bolstered by our newbies, we agreed a selection of campaign themes that articulated who we were and what we wanted to achieve as a group. This included the EU referendum/staying in the EU. A co-ordinator was appointed for each theme, to keep a watchful eye on developments in the area, and make sure we never forgot the themes in the heat of campaigns.

On the prompting of the EU campaign co-ordinator, all our street stalls during the London elections were about the referendum from an early stage. We’d also agreed that we would ask about the referendum as a secondary question when doing voter ID, but in many places we found it an easier conversation starter to go with the EU, before moving into asking for support for the London team.

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Tagged eu referendum and merton | 1 Comment

Johnson and Gove, like Trump, believe in the magical power of the word

By Bernard Aris | Mon 20th June 2016 - 4:07 pm

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In a recent analysis in the Washington Post of why Republican voters keep on supporting Trump and his “macho gone beserk”-rhetoric, the veteran American political analyst E.J. Dionne cited a classic book about Right-Wingers and their rhetoric, what they believe their phrases can accomplish.

The social scientists Seymour Martin Lipset and Earl Raab observed in their classic book from 1970 “The Politics of Unreason/ Right Wing Extremism in America, 1790-1970” that:

Right-wing extremists have always highlighted ‘the magical power of the word’ and the faith that just saying the right thing, believing the right thing, is the substance of victory and remedy.

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Tagged brexit | 2 Comments

What did the EU ever do for us?

By Paul Harrison | Mon 20th June 2016 - 11:38 am

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And so the Brexit campaign tells us how much better things would be if we went it alone. Well, let me share my own experience as a former Headteacher and bring some perspective and reality into the argument.

Apparently we constantly lose out financially by being in the EU. Not my experience.

My school was a relatively successful rural comprehensive in County Durham. As with many rural schools, we struggled each year to balance our budgets and were certainly not favoured by either central or local government. No Building Schools for the Future, Excellence in Cities or Action Zones funding for us! We were certainly losing out compared to other schools in the area.

With no capital funding available, I turned to Europe and twice successfully bid for funding, to build a Construction Workshop and a Virtual Learning Environment. These were not large sums – €120,000 and €150,000 – but it was money I could not access elsewhere. We ran four Comenius projects and a Youth in Action project with our European partners, averaging €25,000 per project, so bringing in a further €125,000 to the school. And then we also successfully bid for two European Social Fund projects to share our best practice with teachers elsewhere in the EU and this brought in a further €80,000.

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Tagged education, eu referendum and schools | 28 Comments

Let’s create a positive legacy for Jo Cox

By Chris Key | Mon 20th June 2016 - 9:52 am

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The tragic death of Jo Cox is a potent symbol of what Britain in 2016 has become.

A society in which blame of the other, hatred of those with differing opinions and distrust of MPs have all sadly become de rigueur.

Yet she is also a beacon of what one human being can do to change the course of politics and something good has to come from her tragic death.

She entered the House of Commons just a year ago and campaigned fervently to change government policy on refugees. George Osborne said tonight that Jo would never know how many lives she has changed. What a fitting tribute.

Any aspiring MP should watch her fabulous maiden speech and wonder if they could do the same. I have been considering the idea and she has made me want to try.

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Tagged jo cox | 26 Comments

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