Category Archives: Op-eds

Stephen Tall

Why Liberal? Time to give the public a proper answer after 80 years

By Stephen Tall | Wed 26th May 2010 - 3:30 pm

In an effort to cure my election campaign withdrawal symptoms I’ve been reading a book published in 1964, Why Liberal?, a Penguin special which was one of a pre-election series covering the three major parties’ policies. This publishing tradition was revived most recently by imprint Biteback, with Why Vote Liberal Democrat?, edited by Danny Alexander, proving a surprise hit.

The 1964 version was written by Harry Cowie, then director of the Liberal party’s research department – probably in something of a hurry, as big topics such as the health service are apologetically omitted (“as they have in any case been …

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18 Comments
Richard Heinrich and Phil Jarvest

Opinion: Liberal Youth and the thorny question of higher education funding policy

By Richard Heinrich and Phil Jarvest | Wed 26th May 2010 - 11:13 am

The following article is by Richard Heinrich and Phil Jarvest, who are joint candidates for co-chair of Liberal Youth.

Lib Dem Voice welcomes articles from any candidates in the Liberal Youth elections.

The issue of higher education (HE) funding will very likely become a serious and highly contentious subject during the present Parliament.

We believe that for Liberal Youth – and indeed the Liberal Democrats – to play an active and useful role in this debate a full and wide-ranging internal discussion on the notion of a student contribution is needed. In our opinion Liberal Democrat policy has failed to adequately address …

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Tagged , , and | 31 Comments
Ian Butler

The General Election campaign in Mid-Ulster

By Ian Butler | Tue 25th May 2010 - 4:47 pm

To be honest I love going on the stump, all of it! Even though you know it is going to be a very hard campaign. There are none harder than campaigning for a liberal party in the deeply polarised area West of the Bann. The hardest bit is getting started – Knowing that whatever you do, however hard you fight, however good your arguments or your candidates, you are going to lose and lose very big.

The street pounding, the leafleting, the phone calls, the “grip and grin”, the talking, talking, talking, persuasion, persuasion, persuasion, cajoling, joling, joling, joling.

The campaign begins so long before the date that the election is called and yet, yet, yet…

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Also posted in General Election | Tagged , , , , and | 26 Comments
John Pugh

Opinion: Should liberals fear a review of Human Rights legislation?

By John Pugh | Tue 25th May 2010 - 2:30 pm

There is a strand in Liberalism stemming from the Utilitarians that is totally dismissive of the concept of human rights. Bentham called such rights ‘nonsense on stilts’. John Stuart Mill, often considered the founder of modern liberalism, viewed such rights as individuals were conceded to have as depending on what led to the greatest happiness of the greatest number at any one time. Rights could change as circumstances and individuals did.

Given that, it is perhaps surprising that Liberal Democrats seem to fear, almost as a knee-jerk reaction, any call for a review of Human Rights legislation. After all Schedule 1 …

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19 Comments
Iain Roberts

All our parties have more in common than we’d like to admit

By Iain Roberts | Tue 25th May 2010 - 11:19 am

Our politics emphasises the differences between parties.

Much as voters say they want parties to work together, to agree more, to be more constructive, those that do it are often punished in the polls and at the ballot box. If you want someone to vote for you and not the other guy, it’s more effective to say how you differ than how you’re alike.

“I agree with Nick” didn’t turn out to be the winning strategy for Gordon Brown – Labour did better when they were shouting about where they disagreed with Nick – and with Dave.

The result is …

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Tagged | 7 Comments
Iain Roberts

Cuts: Labour need to decide why they oppose them

By Iain Roberts | Mon 24th May 2010 - 4:50 pm

During the election campaign, all three parties were united in their agreement that big public sector cuts were needed to tackling our record deficit.  Figures of around £70 billion were spoken of, and commentators criticised the parties for only identfying a fraction of those.

There was one area of disagreement.  The Conservatives wanted to make £6 billion of cuts immediately, whilst the Lib Dems and Labour argued that would risk pushing the country back into a double-dip recession.

I’ll be honest – I’ve not got the faintest idea who’s right on that one.  I genuinely don’t have a clue whether a 1% …

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38 Comments
George Kendall

Opinion: Enter the storm with our eyes wide open

By George Kendall | Mon 24th May 2010 - 12:20 pm

I’m excited about the coalition. I think it’s necessary, and I think it’s what the voters want. But it’s going to hurt.

When the coalition was announced, my heart was in my mouth. I was mentally prepared for the defection of hundreds of councillors. So far, we’ve come through remarkably unscathed. But it’s only the first stage.

June will see £6 billion of cuts and an emergency budget. We’ll survive that, but a much bigger test comes this autumn: the announcement of a programme of cuts that’ll make six billion seem like pocket change.

David Laws …

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56 Comments
Chris Jones

Opinion: The Tories are coming towards us

By Chris Jones | Sun 23rd May 2010 - 10:20 am

Martin Kettle recently wrote in the Guardian today of David Cameron:

The Tory leader is exploiting every opportunity the political situation presents him to drag his party rapidly towards the liberal centre. I believe in leading from the front, he said, and he is telling the truth. The many policy concessions to the Lib Dems, especially those which cauterise the Tory right’s pet issues like Europe, the Human Rights Act and inheritance tax only make sense in that light. The right’s indignation is eloquent proof of what is happening. The control grab over the backbench 1922 committee is the work of a

…

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Tagged , and | 34 Comments

Opinion: From out of nowhere – rape anonymity extension

By Karen Kruzycka | Sat 22nd May 2010 - 4:12 pm

The full Coalition agreement, published this week, contained the following commitment:

We will extend anonymity in rape cases to defendants.

(Section 20 “Justice”, page 24)

This issue wasn’t mentioned in either party’s manifesto; nor, I believe, during the election campaign. Neither was it something to which the previous Government aspired. It had been voted through at the Liberal Democrat annual conference in 2006, but allowed to lie dormant since. The Lords approved it as an amendment in 2003 but it went no further. As such, it’s a rather a bolt out of the blue.

In the not-too-distant past, there was no anonymity …

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26 Comments
Stephen Tall

The Internet election?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 22nd May 2010 - 2:30 pm

Cross-posted from Liberal Democrat News:

“This will be the first real internet election,” was the oft-repeated claim made in the run up to 2010’s national poll. So how did that claim stack up against the reality?

Some will point to the hype surrounding the leaders’ debates as evidence that television remains the dominant force. Ten million tuned into ITV on 15 April, and ‘Cleggmania’ gripped the nation for the next fortnight. Meanwhile, the principal gaffe of the campaign – Gordon Brown’s ‘Bigotgate’ – was captured not by a citizen journalist, but was an old-fashioned ‘hot-mike’ incident caught by Sky News.

Does this …

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Also posted in General Election and Online politics | 6 Comments
Iain Roberts

Now would be a really good time for the Lib Dems to get some decent IT policy

By Iain Roberts | Sat 22nd May 2010 - 11:35 am

Under Major, Blair and Brown, the UK Government has followed a deliberate policy of running down its internal IT expertise and relying on external providers – mostly big companies like Capita and EDS – to provide IT expertise, systems and services.

The result, many argue, has been expensive IT that’s been very successful in maximising the profits of the consultants but rather less good at meeting the needs of the public sector or, for that matter, the public.  Project after project has run massively over budget and time, with the companies responsible often seeming to be rewarded for their shortcomings.

So what’s …

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Tagged | 3 Comments
Kev O'Connor

Opinion: Let’s switch the P-word

By Kev O'Connor | Sat 22nd May 2010 - 10:20 am

As we start to prepare for a referendum on the Alternative Vote, two words are bothering me. They are Proportional Representation. These words massively simplify the possibilities of electoral reform and unfortunately cloud the issue.

Some talk about ‘Electoral Reform’, but this is far to vague for a referendum and I believe we need a new mantra. Not PR or ER, but PV. Preferential Voting.

This may sound like a tedious matter of semantics, but when it comes to elections and referenda, the structure of your rhetoric will determine the nature of the debate, and the eventual outcome. Switching the ‘P-word’ could …

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Tagged and | 39 Comments

Opinion: Representation and politics

By Jane Manning | Fri 21st May 2010 - 3:20 pm

As an Asian member of the party I feel a strong need to speak up. The Diversity Agenda discourse on the question of ethnicity is heartening because it recognises that people like me ought to be represented and about time too. However, do I feel either not represented or under represented because of the lack of a non-pale face at the top? No, I don’t.

Why? Racial integration is a marvellous bridge. If representation is about sending a message of inclusion to a part of society that has been marginalised before then I don’t need a Brown face at the …

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Opinion: Big Society + political activism = community politics

By Kelvin Macdonald Fraser | Fri 21st May 2010 - 12:20 pm

I’m sure I’m not the only Lib Dem struggling to come to terms with the realisation that there is life after going into coalition with the Conservatives. It may not be eternal life (even five years might be too much to hope for!), and it certainly isn’t paradise (the nation’s economic predicament has more of Armageddon about it than Nirvana) but life it most definitely is.

Despite already being subjected to obsessive scrutiny and outrageous cynicism from a surprisingly hostile media, and regardless of some premature and unhelpful ‘noises off’ from disillusioned tribalists in both parties, there is an …

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Tagged and | 10 Comments
Tom King

Opinion: A useful analogy?

By Tom King | Fri 21st May 2010 - 11:20 am

Watery sunlight creeps through the gap between the plush curtains as you groggily open your eyes. A cappuccino rests on the bedside table, next to the designer spectacles which have become your trademark. Wearily, you begin to sit up, turning on the DAB radio as you sip the smoking tide. But in the dulcet tones of Evan Davis you begin to discern a disturbing development.

“In a shock move, the Football Association last night voted to open the selection of England’s final World Cup squad to the public through an instant referendum. Votes are likely to divide sharply down club lines …

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5 Comments
Stephen Tall

What I’d do in Labour’s shoes

By Stephen Tall | Thu 20th May 2010 - 8:35 pm

There’s no reason for me to offer this advice; still less reason for Labour taking it. But here goes …

I wrote last week about the potential danger to Labour of adopting a tribally oppositional approach to the Lib Dem / Conservative coalition government, at least while it’s enjoying its honeymoon:

The public, generally speaking, likes to see politicians working together sensibly and rationally, rather than tearing each other to bits. The sheer novelty value of the coalition is going to intrigue voters, many of whom will be willing to give Clegg and Cameron a chance.

With a leadership contest to come,

…

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61 Comments
Iain Roberts

Repealing “daft” laws won’t be so easy

By Iain Roberts | Thu 20th May 2010 - 3:35 pm

Labour created thousands of new criminal offences in its time in office.  The new laws added to the statute books in each of the parliaments since 1997 dwarf anything from any previous parliament.

Did those laws transform our country into a utopian land?  No.  But it would be foolish to think that repealing some of that weight of law will be a simple task.

We might disagree with many of the laws.  We might think they do more harm than good, or that they’re ineffective, or address a problem that doesn’t really exist, or are being applied in a way never envisaged.  …

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23 Comments
Mark Pack

Labour – Lib Dem coalition talks: where James Macintyre gets it wrong

By Mark Pack | Thu 20th May 2010 - 1:59 pm

Having seen trailed in advance the research being done for today’s piece on why Labour/Lib Dem talks broke down, I was intrigued as to what James Macintyre would dig up.

But reading his piece, it’s a big disappointment – because it makes a trio of misjudgements, all of which burnish Labour’s reputation.

Let’s take them one by one.

First, he claims that the vetoing of a private meeting between Vince Cable and Alistair Darling someone shows the Lib Dems weren’t serious about talking to Labour. Actually, no. What it shows is that the party remembers how Gordon Brown went for a series …

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Tagged , , and | 23 Comments
Mark Pack

What do I do with all these new members?

By Mark Pack | Thu 20th May 2010 - 1:20 pm

During the election campaign the flood of new helpers coming in to the party made me write a post, OMG! People want to help – what do I do?, which turned out to be rather popular. Now that the campaign is over, it’s important to keep those new helpers involved – and also to make the continuing flow of new members feel wanted and involved too.

Far more people have joined than have left the party since the coalition was announced, which is a promising sign for the future. There will though be some tough times ahead and a strong local …

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Tagged | 14 Comments
Caroline Pidgeon

Opinion: Countdown to 2012 has already started

By Caroline Pidgeon | Thu 20th May 2010 - 12:20 pm

Harold Wilson’s phrase that a week is a long time in politics was never more true than the dramatic developments that took place last week.

The creation of a new Government, with Liberal Democrats at the heart of it and with so many of our policies built into the coalition agreement, has quite rightly dominated the media. I am sure these events will not easily be forgotten by many Liberal Democrats.

Against such as background it is far from surprising that changes that have taken place in town halls across London and at City Hall have not received a huge amount of …

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Also posted in Local government and London | Tagged | 1 Comment
Simon Dodd

Opinion: And now for the next steps

By Simon Dodd | Thu 20th May 2010 - 11:20 am

It still seems strange to think of the Liberal Democrat party being part of the Government with Liberal Democrats sitting in the Cabinet. The announcement of the coalition with the Conservative party was a bitter sweet moment – at last, we were entering Government, but we were doing so with a party we have long fought against.

It is a fantastic achievement to see long cherished Liberal Democrat policies being part of the Government’s legislative programme. There is disappointment though that other policies are not part of that programme. We must ensure that we continue to fight for these aims, …

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Tagged and | 11 Comments
Chris White

Opinion: Culture, media & sport – what’s missing from the coalition agreement

By Chris White | Wed 19th May 2010 - 5:07 pm

So. Like everyone (except I think Tory MPs) I read the Coalition agreement and quite liked it: some really important unexpected wins on the environment and constitutionally. Remarkably little that was truly offensive.

Of course, the knack is to use coalition negotiations as an opportunity to lose those bits of your own manifesto you don’t like by offering them up as sacrifices on the altar of co-operation.

There is of course nothing in the agreement about culture, media or sport. So I thought I would have a go: look at both manifestos, ditch the whacky bits and insert some bits that were …

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12 Comments
Mark Valladares

Diversity and representation – instead of whinging, why don’t we do something about it?

By Mark Valladares | Wed 19th May 2010 - 3:37 pm

I have a reputation for being a bureaucrat. Gradualism is my watchword, and has been for most of the twenty-five years that I’ve been a Liberal and then Liberal Democrat. However, suddenly, I have become an old man in a hurry. Alright, old relative to most of you at least, but still in a hurry. So, imagine I’ve sprouted an Old Testament beard, donned a white flowing robe and found a nice stout staff and harken to my words. I have a few jobs for you to do…

First, do you want to be a candidate at the next General Election? …

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22 Comments
David Wright

Opinion: New Game + New Rules = Success; New Game + Old Rules = Failure

By David Wright | Wed 19th May 2010 - 11:20 am

Like many Lib Dems my initial response to the prospect of a Lib/Con coalition was “no, please, not that!” However, following a few days’ reflection I’m now utterly convinced that my initial response, although entirely understandable, was misguided.

I urge Liberal Democrats everywhere to wake up to the very real possibility of the change we have longed for taking place, albeit in an unexpected way.

Imagine that the Westminster Fairy had granted your wish and introduced PR. How would politics work after that? Well apart from anything else, you can be pretty sure we would have a series of coalition governments, so …

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12 Comments
Charlie Garnett

Opinion: The Liberal Democrat legacy is unwritten; Labour’s unchanged.

By Charlie Garnett | Tue 18th May 2010 - 4:10 pm

Every vote, member, volunteer and supporter that the Lib Dems have lost as a result of entering into a coalition with the Conservatives will be missed. For most, I assume that this will not be a decision that they take lightly. Instead, it will arise as a conviction, from a small seed of doubt. Doubt about whether or not they believe they can be complicit in a Tory Government. I wish them well, and hope that they will be as open to returning as they have been to leaving.

However, to those still wavering on the brink, perhaps you might …

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37 Comments

Opinion: Vote one thing, get another

By Martin Gill | Tue 18th May 2010 - 11:20 am

I keep hearing all these concerns about having voted for one thing (e.g. LibDems) getting another (e.g. Tory). It seems to be the only thing disaffected party members can think of saying (at least those the media has been lining up for us, tearing up membership cards in front of the NEC).

I wish the people spouting all of this would take a step back and realise just how silly they sound. I’ve voted LibDem since I could vote; three different governments, one Conservative, two Labour were the result. I voted LibDem and I got Tory, then I got Labour, …

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42 Comments
Iain Roberts

Larger constituencies present a big problem for the Lib Dems

By Iain Roberts | Tue 18th May 2010 - 8:42 am

Both the Lib Dems and Conservatives proposed a reduction in the number of MPs in their manifestos.  The Lib Dems proposed cutting the number of MPs to around 500 as part of a move to PR, whilst the Conservatives want to keep the current voting system, reduce the number of MPs to around 600 and radically redraw constituency boundaries to equalise the number of voters in each.

So over the next five years we are likely to be fighting:

  • a general election in which almost every constituency in the country will be larger than today with different boundaries.
  • European elections fought under the

…

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42 Comments

Opinion: So that’s all settled, then. Now what about the policies?

By David Lawson | Mon 17th May 2010 - 7:30 pm

So: it’s settled. We may not have planned the route together, but if this train crashes we got on it together. Some people asked about the route and some people wondered about the destination but no one suggested that we may as well stay where we were.

By my reckoning well over 1,500 people attended Sunday’s Special Conference. Some dozen or more voted against the motion adopting the coalition agreement. So that’s a 99% vote in favour.

(In fact the coalition agreement seemed to be as popular as proportional representation. A few lost souls voted …

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13 Comments
Marianne Ibbotson

Opinion: Why the Electoral Reform Society are shooting themselves in the foot

By Marianne Ibbotson | Mon 17th May 2010 - 2:20 pm

Recently, the Electoral Reform Society has released a study claiming to show how the recent election would have gone under the Alternative Vote (and the Single Transferable Vote). This study has been picked up by The Guardian, The Telegraph and the BBC, who all seem to be presenting the results as scientific fact. However, there are massive flaws in this study, which apart from making it plain bad “science”, very possibly end up sabotaging the Electoral Reform Society’s efforts to campaign for Proportional Representation.

The first problem with the study is its assumption that how people voted under …

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Iain Roberts

The Lib Dem vote was soft, it can be hardened

By Iain Roberts | Sun 16th May 2010 - 10:25 am

After the excitement of Cleggmania and the eventual disappointment of the election result, polling evidence suggests the Lib Dem vote was a good deal softer than the Conservative and Labour votes.

Overall turnout for the election, although higher than in 2005, was a few percent lower than predicted, and it seems likely that a big chunk of that were people who said they’d vote Lib Dem and then didn’t make it down to the polling station.

Though disappointing, it’s hardly surprising.  The 29% that Labour got can reasonably be described as their core vote – barely higher than they achieved in 1983.  …

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