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Category Archives: Op-eds

Why people vote for Liberal Democrat Councillors

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 7th May 2014 - 1:38 pm

Following on from yesterday’s launch of the Liberal Democrat campaign for the local government elections, I thought I’d offer a few reflections on why people vote for Liberal Democrat councillors. Why is it that in places like Three Rivers in Hertfordshire and Oadby and Wigston that the Liberal Democrats have been in power for years on end?

Big hearts and hard work

Our councillors are embedded in their communities. They know what’s going on, they keep themselves in touch with what people are thinking and they listen to …

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Tagged featured, independent, jeremy browne, liberal democrats and local government elections 2014 | 8 Comments

Opinion: The Gender Agenda: What Liberal Democrat Women can do for women candidates

By Alice Thomas | Wed 7th May 2014 - 10:31 am

On May 22nd I’m fighting my first local election as a candidate. I’ve been stuffing envelopes and knocking on doors for other people for 8 years, but with a seat on Islington Council in the balance, this time it seems a little more real.

But I’m lucky. I’m fighting – and fighting hard – alongside a councillor with 8 years experience, and an experienced campaigner who’s already fought a by-election. The ward has two Lib Dem councillors out of three, and if we all get elected, …

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Tagged Liberal Democrat Women, local elections 2014 and the gender agenda | 116 Comments

Julian Huppert MP writes…Let’s bring the “polluter pays” principle to government decision making

By Julian Huppert | Tue 6th May 2014 - 5:49 pm

All too often Government departments get decisions wrong. Most notorious are the Home Office and the Department of Work and Pensions. Many people will be well aware of the anguish faced by those awaiting Employment and Support Allowance appeals, and the same is true for those waiting to see if they can stay in the country, or bring in a spouse.

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Tagged department of work and pensions, home office and justice | 14 Comments

Opinion: 485 million, 26 million or 4,000? UKIP’s immigration confusion

By Stuart Bonar | Tue 6th May 2014 - 10:26 am

So, Mr Farage, which is it? In the debates with Nick Clegg, you claimed 485 million of our fellow Europeans could come to Britain. On your wretched billboards, you claimed 26 million are eyeing up our jobs. Now, on leaflets that are dropping through letterboxes, you claim 4,000 EU migrants are landing on our shores each week. These are very different numbers.

I guess the 485 million figure is simply the total number of people who could legally come to the UK. But how is this different from pointing out that the 64 million people who live in the UK are all perfectly free to move to, say, Totnes? Should Totnes Town Council leave the UK so it can impose border controls? Should National Rail blow up the railway line at Dawlish to slow their arrival? Should the Government impose restrictions on internal movement within the UK just in case? Of course not, because 64m people aren’t about to move to Totnes, even though they’re free to do so, just as 485 million Europeans are not going to come here to Britain.

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Tagged featured, immigration and ukip | 40 Comments

Opinion: Astra-Zeneca and a Fairer Society

By Mike Biden | Tue 6th May 2014 - 8:46 am

The approach by Pfizer to acquire Astra-Zeneca raises yet again the question of what criteria should be used to evaluate the merits of large international corporate acquisitions. I would argue that too often the real issues are lost in xenophobic arguments about the loss of national champions – though that is a legitimate concern in this instance.

No compelling rationale for this merger has been put forward. The Directors of Astra-Zeneca do not see one. Straight forward commercial agreements between the companies to buy and sell individual assets, drugs patents or to …

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Tagged astra-zeneca | 29 Comments

Could Labour and Tories unite to pass tougher knife crime sentencing? How should Liberal Democrats react?

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 5th May 2014 - 11:30 am

Last Friday, Joe Otten wrote about the leak of letters revealing that the Liberal Democrats were opposing Tory plans to introduce a six month mandatory sentence for those convicted a second time for carrying a knife.

Today’s Daily Mail makes two claims. The first is that Labour is getting ready to “humiliate” the Liberal Democrats by siding with the Tories and they could pass this together. Secondly, they say that Nick Clegg was “bouncing off the walls” when he discovered the leak.

We know from the feature on …

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Tagged crime, knife crime, mandatory sentencing, nick clegg and nick de bois | 13 Comments

35 years since Thatcher: A trip down Memory Lane

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 4th May 2014 - 3:22 pm

On 4 May 1979, Margaret Thatcher entered Downing Street for the first time. The sun that shone down on her on the steps cast a decade long shadow. The culture of selfishness, instilling a belief that there was something wrong with paying taxes for good public services, pervades today. In recent years, only the Liberal Democrats of the major parties have gone into an election advocating a rise in Income Tax, albeit a tiny one, to invest in education.

We seem to be embroiled in this cycle of underfunding our services, complaining about them and then underfunding them some more.

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Tagged margaret thatcher, nostalgia and shirley williams robin day | 18 Comments

Caron’s Sunday Selection: must-read articles from today’s papers

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 4th May 2014 - 9:42 am

Here are a few stories from today’s press to challenge, infuriate and inform:

John Rentoul’s General Election Preview in the Independent describes Paddy Ashdown’s role as providing “romping gravitas”:

The South African Ryan Coetzee, a former MP in South Africa for the opposition Democratic Alliance, is Nick Clegg’s head of strategy. There was a bit of a synthetic fuss recently when journalists noticed that his £110,000 salary as a special adviser is paid by the taxpayer. It was his idea to raise Clegg’s profile by challenging Nigel Farage to public

…

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Tagged press round up | 4 Comments

Opinion: An open letter to UKIP voters

By Paul Reynolds | Sat 3rd May 2014 - 9:28 am

Dear UKIP voter

Although you are probably not an avid reader of the Lib Dem Voice website, this letter may get to you through the usual ‘viral’ internet ‘system.

The opinion surveys suggest that there are three main reasons for people like yourself voting UKIP.

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Tagged eu, european elections 2014 and ukip | 107 Comments

…or you could vote for not having an opinion

By Joe Otten | Fri 2nd May 2014 - 6:41 pm

On Wednesday I went to my first hustings as a European Parliament candidate (number 3 on the Yorkshire and the Humber list). When the Green candidate announced that he supported staying in the EU, I had a quiet conversation with the Labour candidate sitting next to me.

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Tagged brexit and green party | 24 Comments

Opinion: Get your hands off my pint, Nigel

By Ben Nicholls | Fri 2nd May 2014 - 4:53 pm

Despite some of the quite appalling statements they’ve provided us with in recent weeks, I’m getting fed up of hearing UKIP supporters described as nutters. I’m no psychiatrist: it’s hardly my place, or that of anybody else, to decry someone as a nutter. But more importantly than that, I’m fed up of it because it’s insulting to everyone who supports UKIP, and it gives them a cast-iron reason not to place their cross elsewhere.

As a recently-selected Lib Dem PPC, I obviously don’t agree with UKIP. I’m pro-Europe, primarily because I’m …

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Also posted in News | Tagged ukip | 13 Comments

Opinion: the biggest threat to global security

By Joe Bourke | Fri 2nd May 2014 - 1:55 pm

The Arab spring has receded into the nightmare that is Syria today; continuing instability in Libya and Yemen and death penalties by the hundreds in Egypt. We have been shocked by the atrocities of Boko Haram in Nigeria; Al Shabab in Somalia; conflict in the Central African Republic, Mali and Chad.

Tony Blair, in a recent speech reminded us Why the Middle East matters

What is presently happening there, still

…

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53 Comments

Opinion: Licensing the private sector housing market would be more effective than 3 year tenancies and a rent fix

By Iain Donaldson | Fri 2nd May 2014 - 10:05 am

Much has been said about Ed Miliband’s latest proposal to grant 3 year tenancies and cap rent rises over the three years but it’s not that bad an idea as a part of a package of measures to tackle the housing crisis. The key problem is that Mr Miliband’s solution would have to be regulated and yet Labour has consistently blocked the introduction of regulation for the private sector housing market.

We need to ensure that all rented accommodation (private, social, co-operative, lodging or council) meets standards of service …

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Tagged tenants | 12 Comments

Stephen Williams MP writes… Giving councils more power over betting shops

By Stephen Williams | Thu 1st May 2014 - 12:58 pm

The remit of the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is huge. Ministers are responsible for housing, local economic development, planning policy, parking, local government finance, localism and community integration. Often these issues spark controversy. But all CLG ministers are in complete agreement that there is an urgent need to revitalise the Great British High Street, to bring back the bustling centres of retail and leisure which served their communities so well prior to the financial crash. We want high streets and town centres that encourage people to spend a …

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Tagged betting shops | 14 Comments

Opinion: Of driverless cars and passengerless trains

By Adam Corlett | Thu 1st May 2014 - 11:19 am

Driverless cars may not be quite as revolutionary as the 19th century spread of the railway, but there are huge benefits coming into view. The sooner we can deliver them, and the sooner policymakers can take them into account, the better – with mixed results for railways.

To be conservative, let’s imagine it’s 2044 – 30 years from now. We will look back at the idea of people customarily directing 1 tonne cars at speed as madness. Millions

…

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Tagged driverless cars and rail | 28 Comments

Nigel, Newark and Nostalgia

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 30th April 2014 - 2:50 pm

One of my earliest political memories is the moment when Shirley Williams got up at Bradford in 1981 and announced that she would be a candidate in the Crosby by-election. Her talk of how sometimes in politics it was necessary to take risks, to “scale unscalable heights” gave the 14 year old me goosebumps. It was all very much “stand up for what you believe in, take risks, go and change the world” motivation.

Decades later, Shirley wrote about her decision to stand for Crosby in her excellent autobiography, Climbing the …

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Tagged brian niblett, fiona jones, newark, nigel farage and shirley williams | 17 Comments

Edward Davey MP writes… A better deal for people on ‘pre-payment’ energy meters

By Ed Davey | Wed 30th April 2014 - 1:15 pm

Liberal Democrats in Government are doing everything possible to help consumers with their energy bills. Just last week I announced that by the end of the year energy suppliers will halve the time it takes to switch energy supplier from the current five to two and a half weeks. This is just the first step to achieving my ambition of achieving 24 hour switching.

But there is more that can be done, and I have written to energy suppliers asking them to now focus on …

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Tagged ed davey, energy bills and prepayment meters | 8 Comments

The Independent View: New report from the Electoral Reform Society: Close the Gap – Tackling Europe’s democratic deficit

By Nick Tyrone | Wed 30th April 2014 - 10:53 am

The new report out by the ERS, written by Chris Terry, is one in which the problem of “democratic deficit” in the European Union is explored. This is an issue that pro-Europeans have traditionally shied away from. However, it is the pro-Europeans who must actually take the arguments forward if Britain is to remain in the EU. The Eurosceptics, meanwhile, simply need to hammer home the fact that, from their point of view, there are no answers other than exit.

In the report, twelve recommendations on how to …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged ers and european elections 2014 | 8 Comments

Opinion: Why I joined the Lib Dems 20 years ago – and am still proud to be one

By Giles Goodall | Wed 30th April 2014 - 9:19 am

Next month marks my 20^th anniversary as a Liberal Democrat. Could it really be that I’ve spent two decades – and my entire adult life – as a member of Britain’s (still) third party? And more to the point (as some friends would no doubt ask me), why?

I signed up in the dying days of John Major’s government, shortly before we won our first ever MEPs at the 1994 European elections – as well as the first …

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Tagged featured | 51 Comments

Rebecca Taylor writes … the benefits of the Erasmus+ programme for young Brits

By Rebecca Taylor | Tue 29th April 2014 - 5:24 pm

Yesterday the European Union increased its commitment to providing learning and development opportunities for young people right here in Britain, through the launch of the revamped Erasmus+ programme.

The new revamped Erasmus+ programme has a total budget of £12 billion, with £100 million already earmarked for the UK in 2014 alone. Along with my Liberal Democrat colleagues in Brussels we pushed for a bigger Erasmus budget than the previous scheme and were successful in obtaining a 40% increase at a time when the overall EU budget was cut. Grants will now be made available for education, training, youth and sport. In total it’s estimated that nearly a quarter of a million students, apprentices, teachers and youth workers will benefit from the EU grants.

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Tagged erasmus and eu | 7 Comments

Is the SNP’s latest European Election Broadcast even legal?

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 29th April 2014 - 12:45 pm

Last week, the SNP’s first broadcast for the European Elections was broadcast. It bore a remarkable similarity to the broadcasts that they have been putting out since the end of last year which were all aimed at persuading people to vote Yes in the independence referendum. It interspersed colourful footage of children talking about how wonderful and independent Scotland with black and white starkness portraying a vision of hellish Westminster rule.

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Tagged european elections, ofcom, party election broadcasts and snp | 6 Comments

Opinion: What are the Lords Spiritual for?

By Matt Gallagher | Mon 28th April 2014 - 3:41 pm

In a week when the Prime Minister has been stung, twice – once by a malevolent jellyfish and then by public reaction to his observation “Britain is a Christian country,” there has been much analysis of polling and census data in support or denunciation of his statement.

Cameron supporters point to the 2011 census, where 59% ticked the box to describe themselves as ‘Christian,’ while his detractors preferred a YouGov poll where the question, “are you religious?” saw only 29% of respondents answer in the affirmative.

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Tagged christianity, lords spiritual and ukip | 6 Comments

Nick Clegg: I won’t prop up a minority government without a coalition

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 28th April 2014 - 12:50 pm

In an interview with Anne McEvoy in yesterday’s Sunday Times (£), Nick Clegg makes it clear that he has no interest in the Liberal Democrats keeping a minority government in office with out a full coalition after the next election:

For the first time, Clegg is explicitly ruling out any kind of loose-pact arrangement, like the short-lived Lib-Lab one in the 1970s or variants on “confidence and supply” arrangements, a political anoraks’ phrase, whereby a smaller party provides support

…

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30 Comments

Ukip examined: who they are, what they stand for, and what it all means for British politics

By Stephen Tall | Mon 28th April 2014 - 8:00 am

I’ve just finished reading Revolt on the Right, Robert Ford and Matthew Goodwin’s fascinating book analysing the rise of Ukip and what makes the party and its voters tick. Mark Pack has already written a very good review for LibDemVoice here. Here’s my take on some of its key insights.

Who votes for Ukip? The ‘left behind’

For a start, it debunks the myth that Ukip is a party of disaffected, well-to-do, shire-Tories obsessed by Europe and upset by David Cameron’s mild social liberalism on same-sex marriage. Yes, there are some Ukip voters like that, but they tend to be its peripheral voters, the ones most likely to give the Tories a kick in the Euros next month then return to their traditional True Blue ways in time for the general election. Ukip’s core vote in reality is made up of what the authors define as ‘left behind’ voters, overwhelmingly comprising older white working class males with no formal educational qualifications.

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Also posted in Books | Tagged featured, Mark Pack, matthew goodwin, revolt on the right, robert ford, SDP and ukip | 85 Comments

Jenny Willott to become the first female Liberal Democrat minister to attend Cabinet

By The Voice | Sun 27th April 2014 - 2:17 pm

There are many people in the party who would like to see the Liberal Democrats with at least one female Cabinet Minister on a permanent basis. There are plenty strong candidates, not least Jenny Willott and Jo Swinson.

We will have to wait a little longer for that, but this week, Jenny Willott will be there to make a presentation on Coalition efforts to close the gender pay gap. She will also attend future meetings when issues affecting women are discussed. The Independent has the story:

In her new role secured

…

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Also posted in News | Tagged cabinet, gender balance, jenny willott and Jo Swinson | 4 Comments

Opinion: I’m voting Lib Dem in spite of, not because of, our ‘Party of IN’ campaign

By Mark Dimmock | Sat 26th April 2014 - 11:00 am

If you believe the messages sent out from ‘The Party Of In’ during this Euro-election campaign, then you might think that my current political position is logically confused and that I simply misunderstand the options before me on May 22nd. However, I intend to vote Lib Dem in the Euro-elections in spite, not because, of our on-going commitment to remaining in the European Union.

I do not pretend to be an expert on European matters – and I do not claim to be …

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Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged european elections 2014, European referendum, european union and featured | 29 Comments

Edward McMillan-Scott MEP writes… 100 years on from World War I, let’s remember the EU’s role in spreading peace and democracy

By Edward McMillan-Scott | Fri 25th April 2014 - 8:00 pm

Today is Anzac Day, when we remember those Australians and New Zealanders who fell fighting during the First World War side by side with British soldiers, and the senseless sacrifices of millions of men and women who died across Europe and the rest of the world.

This year will see the one hundredth year anniversary of the First World War and it should give us time to pause and reflect on the tragedies of the first half of the twentieth-century.

As we do …

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Tagged anzac day, australia, eu, europe, first world war and new zealand | 31 Comments

Opinion: As everyone looks to keep Scotland in the Union is the coalition doing enough to keep Wales in?

By Russell Deacon | Fri 25th April 2014 - 1:45 pm

In 1889 Lloyd George saw the way that Wales was bring treated by his fellow Liberals, over home, rule as being like prize giving at a country fayre:

Excellent little Wales’ and all that. At horse shows we sometimes see a first prize of £10 given to one, £5 to another, while the third is ‘Highly Commended’. That is the way that Wales is treated by the Liberal Party. Ireland deservedly gets the first prize (a series of splendid measures). Scotland take second prize. Wales, like a Welsh mountain pony, is

…

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Tagged Scotland, Scottish independence referendum, Wales and welsh devolution | 12 Comments

Opinion: In coalition, more than ever, our leadership must listen to party members

By Gareth Wilson | Fri 25th April 2014 - 12:15 pm

The Maria Miller furore has recently highlighted how voters between elections are powerless to change their MP, once they’re ‘in’ that’s it – you have to wait another five years to give your judgement on how they’ve performed.

In our ‘always on’ modern culture this is unusual. People can cancel utility contracts or switch broadband suppliers within days if they’re unhappy with the level of service, or give instant feedback online or over the phone which is listened to and actioned. Shouldn’t we be able to …

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Tagged coalition, internal party organisation and liberal democrat membership | 18 Comments

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Bridges Matter (Francis Chubb)
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Recent Comments

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Following 'fearless' Farage's initial announcement the 'Daily Express' comment section was full of outraged Reform voters blaming 'Labour Yobs' for a planned ph...
Ken Westmoreland
@Cody Nice piece, but I fear that many Lib Dem members see the OTs as embarrassing anachronisms and economic parasites; when I wrote a piece on them nearly two ...
Tim
@cim, when there is demand for workers, people train in the relevant skills - just look at Milton K, which builds far more houses relative to population than mo...
Simon Robinson
Very good article @Rob. Yes, the housing shortage is indeed the major cause of the cost of living crisis, and your analysis of how that is pushing rents and hou...
George Thomas
I have seen a George Monbiot Question Time clip where he explains that Wales could have been one the wealthiest parts of the UK but it's been the subject of an ...