Category Archives: Op-eds

Opinion: We are enablers not dictators

By Karen Wilkinson | Fri 4th July 2014 - 10:16 am

My brother has been battling cancer for just over a year, I asked for a week last October to take my children out of school as while he was having a break from his long going chemo treatment as we wanted to go as a family, it was denied even with the detailed letter attached , sadly my amazing wonderful 26 year old brother died this April , thanks to the stupid government rules I will never get to go on holiday with my brother again

Also posted in News | 38 Comments

Paul Burstow MP writes..Carer’s Bonus is only the first new policy to help carers

By Paul Burstow | Thu 3rd July 2014 - 12:30 pm

Just as public services, communities and workplaces have seen a shift in how families are supported to balance childcare responsibilities with busy working lives, we now need a similar shift to meet the care needs of a rapidly growing older population too.

Thanks to the Liberal Democrats the Care Act and Children and Families Act have both extended the rights of Carers of all ages, but there is still much more to be done to recognise the hidden treasure that are Carers.

Caring responsibilities can come at any time in a person’s life …

Tagged carers, carers bonus, featured and liberal democrat manifesto 2015 | 13 Comments

Opinion: It is time for those who believe that violence doesn’t work to stand up

By Leon Duveen | Thu 3rd July 2014 - 10:38 am

Last October, I wrote a piece for LDV called “Time to do away with LD Friends of Israel & Friends of Palestine” and other pieces on the subject on my own irregular blog.

After the tragic events of the last three weeks, with the three kidnapped Israeli teenagers being found murdered and now a Palestinian youth having been killed in Jerusalem, seemingly in “revenge”, I feel I need to speak out, even it is to “state the obvious”.

In addition to the murder of Mohammed Abu Khdair, the Israeli reaction to the kidnapping and killing of Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach has cost at least six other deaths of Palestinians on the West Bank & yet unknown numbers of lives in Gaza. We here in the UK need to be strident in the commendation of the extremists on both sides who, through their rhetoric, have encouraged the violence.

Tagged israel and palestine | 13 Comments

The Independent View: Ending female genital mutilation and early marriage will also help tackle HIV

By Helen Parry | Wed 2nd July 2014 - 1:15 pm

The leadership shown by the UK government – and in particular the Liberal Democrats and Lynne Featherstone MP – on ending female genital cutting or mutilation (FGC/M) in a generation has been ground breaking and inspiring. The upcoming Girl Summit is a timely opportunity, hot on the heels of the recent Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, to promote girls’ and women’s rights to live free from violence and discrimination and achieve their potential.

There’s no doubt that ending child, early and forced marriage and female …

Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged forced marriage, girl summit, hiv/aids, lynne featherstone and violence against women and girls | 5 Comments

Lord Paul Tyler writes…A fairer way of redrawing constituency boundaries

By Paul Tyler | Wed 2nd July 2014 - 11:59 am

In those heady 5 Days in May back in 2010, our negotiators agreed with the Conservative Party that there should be “fewer, more equal” constituencies returning MPs to the House of Commons. It formed part of a package, coupled with the referendum on Alternative Vote, and placed alongside fixed-term Parliaments (delivered), greater localism (partially delivered), and House of Lords reform (not delivered).

Whatever your views on whether there should be fewer MPs, more, or just the same as now, the principle that parliamentary constituencies should contain …

Tagged constituency boundaries, featured and political reform | 12 Comments

Opinion: Why it is wrong to enshrine the “triple lock” in law

By Gareth Epps | Wed 2nd July 2014 - 10:29 am

One of the now regular flow of “policy announcements” from the leadership calls for the 2010 ‘triple lock’ to be enshrined in law. Passing for a moment over the fact that these “announcements” are of course nothing of the sort and discourteous to Conference which passes policy, (though, to be fair, as Mark Pack and others have pointed out, Steve Webb has been careful to avoid language some others have used that suggests these policies have been agreed without the party having a say), I think it’s the wrong idea.

Why? …

Tagged featured, pensions, steve webb and triple lock | 32 Comments

Catherine Bearder writes … Back to work in the European Parliament

By Catherine Bearder | Tue 1st July 2014 - 4:58 pm

In May’s European elections, it was liberals across the EU who stood up against the growing tide of nationalists, anti-Europeans and populists. Today, the newly elected MEPs met for the first time in Strasbourg to officially open the 8^th European Parliament.

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), the political group with which Liberal Democrats sit in the European Parliament, took a big hit when we lost all of my hardworking Lib Dem colleagues and nine German FDP MEPs. But it is not all doom and gloom. Liberals topped the polls in the Netherlands, and our numbers have been boosted by new liberal parties from Spain, Portugal and the Czech Republic, meaning we are still the fourth largest group with 68 MEPs.

Tagged european parliament | 16 Comments

Michael Moore MP writes…Securing the UK’s commitment to international development

By Michael Moore | Tue 1st July 2014 - 11:59 am

I am pretty sure I have taken every chance available to enter the ballot for a Private Member’s Bill since being elected to the House of Commons in 1997.

What is certain is that I have never succeeded in securing one of the highly coveted slots that give backbench MPs a chance to pilot legislation through Parliament – until now, that is.

In the old days I am sure that those lucky enough to emerge in the “top 20” of the ballot would have learned of their good fortune by letter or maybe even messenger. By contrast, I became aware of securing the second slot by text messages and a sudden spate of social media ‘notifications’. The letter duly followed.

In the weeks since, I have had many enquiries asking which issue I would choose and have had just as many (mostly) helpful suggestions – my thanks to all who took the trouble.

Tagged featured, international development and private members bills | 8 Comments

Opinion: New school curriculum

By Barry Holliday | Tue 1st July 2014 - 10:49 am

I have recently written a couple of articles on Liberal Democrat Voice around changes to schools (here and here). Please read them, as they go with this one. To follow on from them I believe we also need Lib Dems to get behind changes to the curriculum in secondary schools.

The National Curriculum in England gives standards for each subject, but not which subjects (beyond the core subjects of Maths, English and Science) must be taught. If a mainstream school offers History they must follow the History national curriculum standards, but if they don’t have a History teacher then they don’t have to offer it, that needs to change. We need a balanced curriculum for all students, irrespective of which school or local authority are students attend.

The changes we should bring are that all secondary schools (including academies or free schools) to offer the following GCSE options (options being subjects that are not core subjects):

Tagged education, national curriculum and schools | 16 Comments

Opinion: Britain is the mother of parliamentary democracy, yet on Friday its Prime Minister voted against it

By Sean O'Curneen | Tue 1st July 2014 - 8:55 am

For political historians, the 27 June 2014 may go down in history as the day a British Prime Minister voted against parliamentary democracy. For that is what the Juncker nomination was really all about, and which many commentators in the UK fail to understand. Comments such as “two-faced EU leaders”, “Europeans fed up with the UK”, etc, as read in several articles this weekend, reveal a lack of understanding of the process that has been building up in the EU in the past two years.

Tagged david cameron, european union and featured | 139 Comments

Opinion: How about a cross-party declaration on an EU renegotiation and referendum?

By Ed Wilson | Mon 30th June 2014 - 3:45 pm

One way or another, there’s going to be an EU referendum, and we must not just let it happen.

Pressure is mounting on David Cameron to move before 2017 and on Ed Miliband to shift from a perfectly clear position to one which is more “acceptable” to the sceptical groundswell. I’ve seen Tim Montgomerie suggesting that the spitzenkandidat system is a transfer of power to Brussels and might therefore trigger the referendum lock. Unfortunately for him, the legally enshrined vote is an in/in decision, and there’s no formal move – treaty …

Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged eu and referendum | 35 Comments

The Gender Agenda #1 Why have women only training? What’s so special about women?

By Alice Thomas | Mon 30th June 2014 - 10:30 am

On May 7th, I wrote my first article for Liberal Democrat Voice.

It wasn’t exactly ground-breaking. It was promo for an internal SAO, written in a hurry by a first-time candidate (me), a couple of weeks out from one of the toughest elections we’ve ever seen. It was less than five hundred words of innocuous fluff.

You would never have guessed it from the reaction.

Within a few hours, it had over seventy comments, and it hovered on the Most Read list for days. Why? Because it was about Liberal Democrat Women, …

Tagged the gender agenda and women only training | 141 Comments

Opinion: Tackling Housing Benefit reform

By Joe Bourke | Mon 30th June 2014 - 8:49 am

The Liberal Democrat policy paper on housing notes that the primary driver of growing housing benefit and Local Housing Allowance bills has been the shortage of housing, leading to higher rents, and increasing number of people unable either to buy or to access social housing. The paper focused on the most pressing issues:

Building more homes – providing environmentally sustainable homes where people need them, creating jobs and kick starting the economy.
Giving tenants more power and security – making social landlords more accountable and improving standards and security in the rapidly

…

Tagged housing and housing benefit | 39 Comments

For-profit schools: some evidence of why I’m far from convinced

By Stephen Tall | Sun 29th June 2014 - 10:15 am

Labour’s shadow education secretary, Tristram Hunt, this week called on Michael Gove to rule out profit-making schools, arguing “Beyond 2015, whether it admits it or not, the Conservative Party intends to introduce the profit motive into English education”.

The Tories have sidestepped the issue and instead invited Labour to turn its fire on the Lib Dems: they claim that Nick Clegg’s advisers Julian Astle and Richard Reeves were behind-the-scenes cheerleaders for profit-making schools. The mercurial Dominic Cummings, Gove’s former special adviser, has made the same allegation. This may very …

Tagged dominic cummings, education, featured, for-profit schools, jeremy browne, michael gve, nuffield foundation, oxford university, schools and tristram hunt | 26 Comments

Steve Webb writes… Lib Dems will write the pensions ‘triple lock’ guarantee into law

By Steve Webb MP | Sun 29th June 2014 - 8:30 am

For decades, successive Labour and Conservative governments allowed the state pension to decline after Margaret Thatcher broke the ‘earnings link’ in 1980. The nadir of this was in the Labour years, when Gordon Brown increased the state pension by just 75p a week.

I was determined that the Liberal Democrats would do something about this appalling situation. In our manifesto in 2010 we campaigned on a ‘triple lock’ guarantee. This was a commitment that the pension would rise by whichever rating was highest in each year – by earnings, prices …

Tagged featured, pensions and triple lock | 24 Comments

When is someone going to do something about football culture?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 28th June 2014 - 3:17 pm

There’s so much going on in the world at the moment, yet much of the media are obsessed with Luis Suarez. Even Question Time and yesterday’s Radio Scotland’s Big Debate had questions about the Uruguayan player who is now serving a 4 month ban for biting a fellow player in a match the other night.

This is far from the first time that footballers have behaved badly on the pitch. I remember watching in horror as David Beckham was sent off during the 1998 World Cup? …

Also posted in News | Tagged big debate, featured, football and luis suarez | 18 Comments

The Independent View: Pierre Trudeau and the Just Society – lessons for Canadian liberals today

By Vittorio Trevitt | Sat 28th June 2014 - 2:15 pm

The general election expected to be held in Canada next year will be a decisive one for the Lib Dem’s Canadian counterpart, the Liberal Party of Canada, as it faces the prospect of returning to office after more than eight years in the political wilderness.

With a recent poll showing the governing Conservatives trailing behind the Liberals, the party’s leader Justin Trudeau stands a good chance of becoming the first Canadian Liberal prime minister since 2006.

However, if Justin Trudeau …

Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged canada, Justin Trudeau and Liberal Party of Canada | 6 Comments

Willie Rennie vs Tommy Sheridan and an angry mob

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 28th June 2014 - 9:08 am

I wrote yesterday about my experience at what was for all intents and purposes a taxpayer funded rally for the Yes campaign for independence. The Yes supporters were very nice when they told me that “No” voters were stupid.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie was not so lucky the other night when he turned up to a meeting in Abbeyview, Dunfermline this week to debate the pros and cons of independence with Tommy Sheridan, the former Socialist MSP. All Willie knew from the invitation was that it had been organised as a debate for undecided voters. This is the (imprintless) flyer advertising it:

Tagged Scottish independence referendum, tommy sheridan and willie rennie | 8 Comments

Ros Scott writes… The spirit of philanthropy

By Baroness Ros Scott | Fri 27th June 2014 - 12:47 pm

Three hours passed in the House of Lords yesterday without a single party political point made by any of the 21 speakers taking part in the discussion. The occasion for this unusual occurrence was my debate on the contribution made to society by the voluntary and charitable sector, held as one of three Liberal Democrat sponsored debates taking place yesterday.

Charitable giving from the public has held up remarkably well despite the long recession, although we should all be concerned that what my colleague Baroness Claire Tyler …

Tagged charity, claire tyler, featured and philanthropy | 5 Comments

Cameron pre-announces failure in Europe

By Joe Otten | Fri 27th June 2014 - 11:05 am

In a display of perverse pride, David Cameron has been spinning today that he will lose a vote on the appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker as President of the European Commission. You might expect such a failure of (megaphone) diplomacy to be a source of shame, but I suppose failure is what the Brexit agenda demands, and hang the national interest.

In doing this he is, we are told standing up for the principle that the heads of government, not the European Parliament appoint the commission and that the …

33 Comments

The weirdest evening I’ve ever had at taxpayers’ expense

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 27th June 2014 - 9:52 am

Well, last night was a weird evening. And I know what weird is. I go to the Glee Club a wild, rude, drunken end of Liberal Democrat Conference singalong and Doctor Who conventions.

This, though, was the Scotland’s Future taxpayer funded Scottish Government independence event in Livingston, held in a local hotel. It was hosted by Training and Youth Employment Cabinet Minister and local MSP Angela Constance who was lovely, as she always is. She also had that clever political talent of under-promisng and over-delivering. She said …

Tagged angela constance, kenny macaskill, Scotland and Scottish independence referendum | 6 Comments

To OBR or not to OBR? That’s the manifesto audit question

By Stephen Tall | Thu 26th June 2014 - 5:45 pm

Ed Balls wants it. Danny Alexander seems pretty keen on it, too. What is ‘it’? Asking the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to audit the manifestos of political parties.

On the face of it, that’s a good idea. Transparency’s a good thing and surely the public deserve to know as much as possible before we cast our once-in-five-years ballot which decides the next government? The case in favour is persuasively put by Giles Wilkes, until recently a special adviser to Vince Cable who has seen the …

Also posted in News | Tagged Danny Alexander, ed balls, giles wilkes, institute of economic affairs, Institute of Fiscal Studies, office for budget responsibility, philip booth and ryan bourne | 11 Comments

Opinion: How the “extras” of school life can raise attainment

By Barry Holliday | Thu 26th June 2014 - 2:22 pm

I recently wrote this article about staffing in our schools. To follow on from that I’m moving on to some elements of school ‘life’. These ‘extras’ to the daily job of educating our children are all too often seen as not important, but in my experience they have a HUGE impact on the achievements and wellbeing of our children. (For info – I personally work in a secondary Academy, years 7-11).

Liberal Democrats need to strive to improve the life chances of our most vulnerable children, this can be done by:

Free …

Tagged education | 10 Comments

Lord Monroe Palmer writes…Armed Forces Bill is a step towards a fairer society

By Monroe Palmer | Wed 25th June 2014 - 4:15 pm

This week saw the Second Reading in The Lords of a Bill welcomed by the Liberal Democrats. It bears the unattractive title ‘Armed Forces (Service Complaints and Financial Assistance) Bill’ but builds towards our manifesto pledge to create a fair deal for our service personnel. A promise that has particular significance ahead of Armed Forces Day on Saturday.

The Bill deals with three matters: the creation of a Service Complaints Ombudsman; the reform of the service complaints system; and ensuring financial assistance to charities and other organisations which support the Armed Forces …

Tagged armed forces bill and house of lords | 9 Comments

Opinion: “Orange Bookers” are the boldest thinkers in the party. They need also to be the most progressive

By Andrew Chamberlain | Wed 25th June 2014 - 11:44 am

“No return to soggy socialism” was the message that David Laws chose to end his keynote address to Centre Forum’s Orange Book Ten Years On conference yesterday.

It’s a message that is bound to antagonise people in the party who define themselves in opposition to the Orange Book and its endorsement of liberal economics. However much Laws and his co-editor Paul Marshall emphasised that their support for economic liberalism was predicated on the belief that it would promote progressive ends there will still …

Tagged centre forum orange book 10 years on, david laws, masjid nawaz and paul marshall | 55 Comments

Fairer Society part 3: Making hard choices to end poverty

By George Potter | Wed 25th June 2014 - 10:15 am

This is the third and final article in my series on why and how Liberal Democrats can claim the social justice agenda which has been abandoned by both Labour and the Conservatives. The first part is here and the second here. I argued we should abandon the notion of helping only the “deserving” poor, which defines our current welfare system, in favour of two new principles to define our approach to welfare:

The role of the welfare state is to guarantee for every person

…

Tagged Fairer Society series, minimum income and welfare | 55 Comments

Opinion: Why changing leader now WILL save the party in 2015 and beyond.

By Jonathan Pile | Tue 24th June 2014 - 4:09 pm

A debate is still raging in the party 5 weeks after the disastrous Local, Euro and Newark byelection results which saw the party slump to 6.9% and to 2.6% at Newark. Numerous opinion polls also point to a historic disaster facing the party on May 7^th 2015.

In my own local party Wakefield just this week a letter went out to party members to ask the question about Nick Clegg’s continuing leadership. Across the party it is reported that some 30 local parties have tabled …

Tagged libdem fightback, libdems4change and nick clegg | 365 Comments

Opinion: What’s going on in Brussels? Nominations to the European Commission

By Matt McLaren | Tue 24th June 2014 - 3:00 pm

Following on from my post last week on post-election developments in Brussels, here’s the second of two updates. Whilst yesterday’s focused on developments concerning the formation of political groups in the Parliament itself, today’s will address issues regarding nominations to the European Commission.

It now looks likely that at its meeting later this week (from 26^th to 27^th June), the European Council (made up of the Heads of Government from all 28 EU countries) will nominate the Parliament’s preferred candidate for the …

Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged european commission, european people's party, featured and Jean-Claude Juncker | 26 Comments

Jenny Willott on action to get more girls into science and technology based careers

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 23rd June 2014 - 3:45 pm

Today is the first National Women in Engineering Day. This BBC story tells of both the success of apprenticeships (the expansion of which was personally championed by Nick Clegg, and how women are establishing successful engineering careers. Earlier this month, Equalities Minister Jenny Willott launched a project, Opening Doors, aimed at getting more girls into science based careers. The aim is to get women with successful careers into schools to inspire girls to take science subjects and follow them through into university and, …

Tagged equality, jenny willott and women into stem subjects | 20 Comments

Op-eds

Scottish Lib Dems defeat SNP on Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence Bill (Caron Lindsay)
How housebuilding can tackle the cost of living crisis and boost growth (Rob Blackie)
The Independent View: Nobody falls in love with a manifesto (James Bradford)
Bridges Matter (Francis Chubb)
For disabled people, a simple game of football comes with a terrifying price tag: their benefits (Jean-François Burford)

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SNP Govt defeated on Lib Dem motion

Vince Cable writes: A budget of small things

Chadwick launches leadership bid

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Category Archives: Op-eds

Opinion: We are enablers not dictators

Paul Burstow MP writes..Carer’s Bonus is only the first new policy to help carers

Opinion: It is time for those who believe that violence doesn’t work to stand up

The Independent View: Ending female genital mutilation and early marriage will also help tackle HIV

Lord Paul Tyler writes…A fairer way of redrawing constituency boundaries

Opinion: Why it is wrong to enshrine the “triple lock” in law

Catherine Bearder writes … Back to work in the European Parliament

Michael Moore MP writes…Securing the UK’s commitment to international development

Opinion: New school curriculum

Opinion: Britain is the mother of parliamentary democracy, yet on Friday its Prime Minister voted against it

Opinion: How about a cross-party declaration on an EU renegotiation and referendum?

The Gender Agenda #1 Why have women only training? What’s so special about women?

Opinion: Tackling Housing Benefit reform

For-profit schools: some evidence of why I’m far from convinced

Steve Webb writes… Lib Dems will write the pensions ‘triple lock’ guarantee into law

When is someone going to do something about football culture?

The Independent View: Pierre Trudeau and the Just Society – lessons for Canadian liberals today

Willie Rennie vs Tommy Sheridan and an angry mob

Ros Scott writes… The spirit of philanthropy

Cameron pre-announces failure in Europe

The weirdest evening I’ve ever had at taxpayers’ expense

To OBR or not to OBR? That’s the manifesto audit question

Opinion: How the “extras” of school life can raise attainment

Lord Monroe Palmer writes…Armed Forces Bill is a step towards a fairer society

Opinion: “Orange Bookers” are the boldest thinkers in the party. They need also to be the most progressive

Fairer Society part 3: Making hard choices to end poverty

Opinion: Why changing leader now WILL save the party in 2015 and beyond.

Opinion: What’s going on in Brussels? Nominations to the European Commission

Jenny Willott on action to get more girls into science and technology based careers

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SNP Govt defeated on Lib Dem motion

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