Category Archives: Op-eds

Opinion: If you voted Labour in a Lib Dem-Tory marginal, it’s your fault

By George Kendall | Mon 25th April 2011 - 11:50 am

After the last election, many thousands who voted Labour in Lib Dem-Tory marginals are furious with the Lib Dems for forming a coalition with the Tories. But when you stop and think about it, if they are angry with anyone, it should be with themselves.

We shouldn’t be too hard on them. The biggest blame lies with the election system.

At the last election, the Lib Dems and Labour had a combined vote of 52%, but together, they only had 315 MPs, ten short of a majority. To their great credit, many Labour supporters used their vote tactically, but there were not …

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Tagged two horse race and yes2av | 29 Comments

Politicians in different parties disagree in lead-up to elections, not many hurt

By Stephen Tall | Sun 24th April 2011 - 3:25 pm

Today the world of politics was rocked to its foundations by revelations that, with just 10 campaigning days to go before crucial elections and the first national referendum in a generation, rival Liberal Democrat and Conservative politicians are openly disagreeing with each other.

“We just never expected this,” confided one insider. “We all thought that once there was a Coalition they would agree on everything all the time. To see them carrying on like this, it’s almost as if there are fundamental disagreements of principle and policy separating them.”

I’m afraid I can’t find it in myself to join in the …

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Tagged featured | 8 Comments

Opinion: Cameron is wrong on AV and dog-tired governments

By Kelly-Marie Blundell | Sun 24th April 2011 - 12:44 pm

Cameron launched a paternalistic attack on potential Yes to AV Voters in The Evening Standard this week. I would have commented earlier but I was incredulous that such arguments could be put across to persuade people against voting for AV in the forthcoming referendum.

The strongest reason Cameron dictated was that FPTP allowed the public to kick out “dog-tired” governments. The irony therein is that the Coalition has created fixed term parliaments.

As a result, a “dog-tired” government can only be removed with a motion of no confidence outside of this period. The last Motion of No Confidence was

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Tagged AV, av referendum and fptp | 7 Comments

Forgotten Liberal heroes: Jean Henderson

By Graham Lippiatt | Sun 24th April 2011 - 9:25 am

Listen to Liberal Democrats make speeches and there are frequent references to historical figures, but drawn from a small cast. Just the quartet of John Stuart Mill, William Gladstone, David Lloyd George, David Penhaligon corner almost all of the market, especially since Bob Maclennan stopped making speeches to party conference. Some of the forgotten figures deserve their obscurity but others do not. Charles James Fox’s defence of civil liberties against a dominating government during wartime or Earl Grey’s leading of the party back into power and major constitutional reform are good examples of mostly forgotten figures who could …

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Tagged forgotten liberal heroes, history and jean henderson | 2 Comments

Opinion: the state should harness the power of markets

By David Thorpe | Sat 23rd April 2011 - 3:51 pm

The story of Adam being enticed to take the apple by Eve is not merely an amusing insight into the human condition, its an example of the very first market at work.

Markets work on the principal that people respond to stimuli, economics tries to ascertain what those stimuli are, and what the impact of those stimuli on the wider community are.

The idea that the government, can or should, protect certain sectors of the economy from the market is a fallacy.

While I don’t agree with the Coalition’s (or indeed Labour’s) policy on University funding, the argument occasionally made, that charging fees …

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Tagged higher education, markets, NHS, tuition fees and universities | 27 Comments

Opinion: Do we really want politicians to be “ordinary people”?

By Ben Maconick | Sat 23rd April 2011 - 1:25 pm

Recently Ed Miliband’s Labour Party TV broadcast expressed his frustration that the world of politics wasn’t like the real world. Considering that the entire broadcast was along the lines of painting Ed Miliband as an ordinary guy, it got me thinking on the subject of whether we really want our politicians to be ordinary people. It seems common sense that we want the people who represent us, to be like us. I would question this assumption, especially when we look at some of the other requirements we place on them.

The first requirement is obviously that they are knowledgeable about the …

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Tagged david cameron, ed miliband, nadhim zahawi, nick clegg, norman lamb, tim farron and vince cable | 9 Comments

The Saturday Debate: Can a progressive alliance between the Lib Dems and Labour work?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 23rd April 2011 - 8:45 am

Here’s your starter for ten in our Saturday slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate…

‘Can a progressive alliance between the Lib Dems and Labour work?’ That is the question asked in this month’s issues of Total Politics magazine, debated by Neal Lawson of the left-leaning Compass pressure group (who argues Yes) and Labour MP Michael Dugher (who says No).

Neal’s is a thoughtful piece, which recognises the ebbs and flows of history — but does not view them as inevitable. After al, it was only 13 years prior to the Coalition being formed that Paddy Ashdown …

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Tagged featured, neal lawson and total politics | 44 Comments

Opinion: The road to Leicester and multicultural Britain

By Merlene Emerson | Fri 22nd April 2011 - 5:27 pm

I was one of about 20 on the Team London coach to Leicester last Saturday to help our candidate, Zuffar Haq

The lucky people of Leicester South will have 4 ballot papers to fill on May 5th: to vote for their ward Councillors, elect their Mayor, their MP as well as vote in the referendum on Fairer Votes.

We were briefed to keep our canvassing strictly to the by-election. Fortunately our man, Zuffar was easy to sell at the door step. He is the only candidate of the 3 major parties who is local, born and educated in Leicester.

Moreover …

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Also posted in Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged leicester south by-election and zuffer haq | 9 Comments

Frankly, dog whistle politics would be preferable to this

By Mark Pack | Fri 22nd April 2011 - 10:57 am

Yesterday, David Cameron took up the issue of people on incapacity benefits, claiming that “We are finding a large number of people who are on incapacity benefit because of drink problems, alcohol problems or problems with weight and diet” (see footage here).

There’s only one problem with the claim.

He said “a large number”. Yet the Department for Work and Pension’s own figures show that it’s less than one in twenty of people who are on incapacity benefit for those reasons (3.9%).

So if 3.9% is “a large number”, what does that make the 96.1%? A huge, enormous, gigantic, big, …

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Tagged david cameron and vince cable | 36 Comments

Michael Moore writes… An ambitious liberal agenda

By Michael Moore | Fri 22nd April 2011 - 10:27 am

A year ago I thought I travelled a lot on the campaign trail in the general election. With a constituency of about 1,500 square miles it was of course a necessity.

But this year I really know how long that trail can be.

Supporting colleagues across Scotland in the build up to the Parliamentary election on 5th May, I have covered over 1,500 miles in ten days. Many others have done the same, or indeed more, but I doubt many have seen the spectacular contrasts in scenery and political geography that I have enjoyed in that time.

Scottish Liberal Democrats are fighting hard …

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Also posted in Scotland | Tagged tavish scott | Leave a comment

Julian Huppert writes… Digital Policy in a Coalition Government

By Julian Huppert | Thu 21st April 2011 - 2:54 pm

Here’s a $64,000 question: how can we possibly expect decent digital policy to be made when too many of our politicians are technologically illiterate, and when our main political institution itself refuses to change with the times? I do not mean, of course, that most MPs are incapable of using a computer or sending an email. In fact, a survey in 2009 found, perhaps surprisingly, that 92% of MPs use email, while 83% have a personal website of some kind. (Perhaps we should be wary of how much even that means, given what some of these sites look like!)

However, in …

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Tagged digital economy act, ed vaizey and featured | 4 Comments

The Independent View: How to legislate for the digital economy

By Jim Killock | Thu 21st April 2011 - 11:56 am

“What to do about copyright?” In many ways this is a tired, fraught, complex and frustrating debate. It involves lawyers, economists, policy makers, campaigners of varying stripes, international legislation and huge corporate interests. It has been raging for hundreds of years. Change can be painfully slow. That means every so often it is important to revisit your principles.

Organisations such as Open Rights Group believe in the astonishing potential of the internet to expand our creative, economic and democratic horizons. And we believe that this potential is partly dependent on a flexible system of copyright that facilitates the reuse of the …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged andrew gowers, consumer focus, featured, internet piracy and richard clayton | 4 Comments

What can we learn from Michael Ashcroft?

By Mark Pack | Wed 20th April 2011 - 10:27 am

Controversial Conservative peer Michael Ashcroft has done campaigners in all parties a service with the frankness of his book on the 2010 general election, Minority Verdict.

Though a short book, it contains some details of how the Conservative Party went about targeting swing voters in swing seats for last year’s contest. Aside from the subject’s inherent interest, this particularly caught my eye because part of what he recounts is the Conservative equivalent of what I was doing when working for the Liberal Democrats for much of the last Parliament.

The Conservatives took Mosaic data and then ran a detailed and expensive polling …

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Tagged featured and lord ashcroft | 5 Comments

Forgotten Liberal heroes: Herbert Fisher

By Mark Pack | Tue 19th April 2011 - 10:25 am

Listen to Liberal Democrats make speeches and there are frequent references to historical figures, but drawn from a small cast. Just the quartet of John Stuart Mill, William Gladstone, David Lloyd George, David Penhaligon corner almost all of the market, especially since Bob Maclennan stopped making speeches to party conference. Some of the forgotten figures deserve their obscurity but others do not. Charles James Fox’s defence of civil liberties against a dominating government during wartime or Earl Grey’s leading of the party back into power and major constitutional reform are good examples of mostly forgotten figures who could …

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Tagged david lloyd george, education, featured, forgotten liberal heroes, herbert fisher and history | 2 Comments

Opinion: Vickers report on banking does not go far enough

By The Voice | Mon 18th April 2011 - 2:25 pm

Naomi Smith and Prateek Buch of the Social Liberal Forum write about the Vickers Commission on Banking…

At Lib Dem Spring conference in Sheffield last month, delegates overwhelmingly supported the Social Liberal Forum (SLF) motion Tougher Action on Banks and Bonuses. The interim report published recently by the Vickers Commission on Banking went some way to addressing the problems within the industry , but as we predicted in our speeches to the SLF motion, falls far short of Liberal Democrat policy which calls for:

A break up of banks deemed ‘too big to fail’ into smaller, safer

…

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Tagged banking, independent commission on banking and john vickers | 6 Comments

Jeremy Browne writes: the Lib Dems are implementing our core agenda in Government

By Jeremy Browne MP | Mon 18th April 2011 - 10:30 am

A common misconception is that the Liberal Democrats are in the government solely to make the case for constitutional reform and civil liberties, while everything else comes from the Conservatives. This
analysis is deeply flawed, but it helps to explain why some political observers, who know little about the Lib Dems beyond the most lazy caricature, fail to understand what actually drives the government forward. Yes, constitutional reform and civil liberties are important to the Lib Dems, but so are many other areas of policy. The Lib Dems are certainly not trading off the whole of the rest of government policy …

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Also posted in Parliament | 22 Comments

A final word from Paul Walter

By Paul Walter | Sat 16th April 2011 - 6:22 pm

Thanks very much to the LDV editorial team for letting me guest edit the website again today. This time I decided to randomly approach keen LibDem bloggers to ask them to write posts on any subject. I was very pleasantly surprised by the very enthusiastic response I received.

Thanks very much indeed to Charlotte, Lorna, Dazmando, Andrew, Spidey, Emma, Maureen and Daniel for taking time out from their campaigns to write such splendid posts.

Tagged bloggers takeover, guest editor and paul walter | Leave a comment

Opinion: the biggest news story in Scotland

By Andrew Reeves | Sat 16th April 2011 - 5:14 pm

When Paul asked me to write this blog post I was so chuffed to be asked, but, given we are in the middle of the Scottish Parliamentary elections, I was also really worried about being able to find the time to write it.

However, I have found the time and here it is. It may not be what you are expecting.

There is a massive story doing the rounds in Scotland and it is not about the election but about the tragic death of Mercedes the polar …

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Tagged bloggers takeover, edinburgh zoo, guest editor, mercedes, paul walter and polar bear | 3 Comments

Opinion: this time last year…

By Charlotte Henry | Sat 16th April 2011 - 4:11 pm

This time last year…

…the Liberal Democrats were storming up the polls.

Nick Clegg was more popular than Churchill, and Gordon and Dave were regretting ever agreeing to those pesky TV debates.

Our party leader could describe the Iraq war as ‘illegal’ without causing mass panic amongst Downing Street lawyers.

This time last year we were asking people to put us into government.

This year?

This year the Lib Dems jumped into bed with Conservatives.

This year the Lib Dems sold out on tuition fees.

This year the party become ‘just like the others’.

Really? It’s always worth …

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Tagged bloggers takeover, guest editor and paul walter | 9 Comments

Opinion: A visit to the library

By Lorna Dupré | Sat 16th April 2011 - 3:05 pm

Every Christmas Eve throughout my childhood, a mystery visitor came to the doorstep of our council flat and deposited a bag of children’s books before disappearing into the darkness. S/he never stopped to be recognised or thanked, and we never found out who s/he was, but I still remember the thrill of opening up another consignment of new reading every Christmas.

Even without our mystery benefactor, however, I and my three siblings would have been brought up with books. My father left school at 14 to be …

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Tagged bloggers takeover, guest editor, john redwood, libraries, library and paul walter | 1 Comment

Opinion: A day in the life of a first time candidate

By Lisa Harding | Sat 16th April 2011 - 2:07 pm

Friday – 4 weeks before Election Day. Mood: Dazed and confused, tired but determined

7am: Woke with a horrible sensation in my gut that I had forgotten to do something. This is happening way too often now.

7.30am: At the laptop in pyjamas, armed with max strength coffee. Writing Focus articles. Spent 3 hours on the doorstep yesterday, so have catching up to do. Whole Focus needs to be rewritten by the end of today. Big story broke in the press. Changing lead story to reflect residents’ anger on …

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Tagged bloggers takeover, guest editor and paul walter | 7 Comments

Opinion: So what’s it really like on the doorsteps?

By Maureen Rigg | Sat 16th April 2011 - 1:03 pm

A week after nominations closed for the Borough council elections, what’s the reception like on the doorsteps here in Stockton?

To be honest, it’s a bit mixed. In wards where we have Liberal Democrat councillors, the reception is generally good. There are always some people who “don’t do politics”, and that hasn’t changed. There are some who were always going to vote for one of the other parties, and that hasn’t changed. There are many who support us, either because they’re committed Lib Dems (not …

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Tagged bloggers takeover, doorstep, frontline Lib Dem, guest editor and paul walter | 2 Comments

Opinion: Big society or big community?

By Emma Bagley | Sat 16th April 2011 - 12:07 pm

We seem to be stuck in a warp of niceties at the moment. In the bad old days the Tory party was the nasty party. Thatcher flexed her muscles and in a previous downturn we all had to get on our bikes. Yet today we seem to get a different flavour of conservatism. It’s all big society, low interest rates and a penny off fuel duty. What is going on?

I’ll let you into a secret. The Lib Dems may have a little something to do with this. We seem …

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Tagged big society, bloggers takeover, conservative party, guest editor and paul walter | 4 Comments

Opinion: We must become the party of liberty

By Daniel Furr | Sat 16th April 2011 - 9:15 am

When William III arrived on these shores in November 1688, the new King proclaimed to maintain the liberties of England and vigorously defend the liberty of his subjects. In the subsequent months, Parliament adopted the Declaration of Rights – The English Bill of Rights 1689. The corner stone of our constitution, which is still in force to this day but sadly has become a forgotten relic of antiquity.

It seems that we in Britain have forgotten about our hard struggles to gain our liberty. When it comes to foreign …

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Tagged bloggers takeover, guest editor, paul walter, sovereignty and William III | 24 Comments

The Independent View: Rifts on immigration demonstrate real challenges for the Government

By Sarah Mulley | Fri 15th April 2011 - 5:42 pm

David Cameron’s speech on immigration has unleashed a wave of criticism and debate, both inside and outside the coalition government. Although some of the fallout tells us more about the political dilemmas facing coalition partners who must now fight an election campaign against each other than it does about immigration, today’s discussions have neatly illustrated some of the challenges facing the Government on this issue.

The first is how to best engage in the public debate. David Cameron is right to say that “the role of politicians is to cut through the extremes of this debate & approach the subject sensibly …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged david cameron and immigration | 3 Comments

Tim Farron writes… Fairer Votes: so close we can almost touch it

By Tim Farron MP | Fri 15th April 2011 - 3:21 pm

With just three weeks to go until the Scottish, Welsh and local elections as well as a little thing we like to call the most important referendum of our lives so far, this really is the final push to the finish line.

Let’s not pretend that our national poll ratings are going to give us a boost on the ground because they are not. Normally at this time of year we are preparing to buck national trends and create our own local success stories. Back in 1989, when the Lib Dems were on a poll rating of 0%, we’d just had …

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Tagged av referendum and neva orrel | 36 Comments

Opinion: Vote for Fairer Votes to End Safe Seats

By Roger Crouch | Fri 15th April 2011 - 2:14 pm

I grew up in Bournemouth, a bucolic place beside the sea where very little disturbs the peace. For over a century, Bournemouth’s politics at parliamentary level have been as sedate. In every election since Queen Victoria was on the throne, the same party has won. A candidate dons a blue rosette, shows up and becomes the MP. Whilst the Liberal Democrats have valiantly tried their best in recent elections, the two Bournemouth constituencies are like many places across the country where General elections do not really matter, where elections are a foregone conclusion, places where real power lies in the …

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Tagged bournemouth, john butterfill and yes2av | 21 Comments

Chris White writes: “We can be like Belgium!”

By Chris White | Fri 15th April 2011 - 12:06 pm

‘Will you be supporting the Liberal Democrat Candidate?’ I asked.

‘No.’

‘Any particular reason?’ I continued, hoping to get a clue as to his particular allegiance.

‘You sold out. I despise the Conservatives.’

‘What choice did we have? We had to have a Government.’

‘Why?’ he retorted. ‘Belgium doesn’t and they do all right.’

Belgium? Is this the best Labour can come up with?

I could have given him a tedious lecture about a country which has no fewer than seven parliaments (not including the European Parliament) and the nuances between the parliament of Wallonia and the parliament dealing with the francophone linguistic community. But I was …

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Also posted in Local government | Tagged canvassing and doorstep | 15 Comments

Opinion: Labour are to blame for the “lost generation”

By Joe Taylor | Fri 15th April 2011 - 11:08 am

Here’s a question for you. How have Labour got away with pretending that the crisis of a “lost generation” of young people has nothing to do with them? Listening to Ed Miliband pontificate about the plight of the young in Britain, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Government in which he served had nothing to do with the current crisis of devalued qualifications, lack of jobs, high house prices, crippling debts and a rising cost of living. Those young people who are thinking of joining Labour because they’re angry at the current situation should consider a few facts.

A …

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Tagged ema, graduates, higher education, lost generation, tuition fees, universities and young people | 21 Comments

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