By Stephen Tall
| Fri 17th September 2010 - 11:55 pm
A site housekeeping notice follows…
Liberal Democrat Voice is an independent website, and therefore is not bound by the rules governing the party’s selections.
However, we are happy voluntarily to operate our editorial policy in the spirit of selection rules adopted by the party.
Where those rules ban endorsements generally any comments that would infringe these rules will be withdrawn (eg, a comment saying “I’ll be voting for Herbie Asquith”, or “Don’t vote for Bill Gladstone; he supports chopping down trees”).
However, where endorsements are permited, either generally or outside of the formal manifestoes, we will allow such comments as long as they …
The Coalition White Paper on Health could be the top topic at the Lib Dems’ Liverpool conference. There is still time for delegates to have a genuine impact on future legislation.
Previous soundings on LibDemVoice.org have produced a thoughtful and largely critical postbag with the results passed on to the party’s Health Minister, Paul Burstow.
Paul, and indeed Nick Clegg, believe there is plenty in the White Paper Liberal Democrats should warmly support — such as the increased commissioning role for GPs, and the increased role of local authorities in public health. Others point out that Coalition agreements to have …
By Stephen Tall
| Sat 11th September 2010 - 6:50 pm
Ros Scott’s announcement that she is standing down from the position of party president has come as a surprise to Lib Dem members.
First, because it has become almost traditional for party presidents to serve two terms — Ros’s three predecessors, Simon Hughes, Lord Dholakia and Lord Maclennan all served two terms each, unchallenged. Secondly, because Ros herself is popular among the party’s grassroots. Though her authority took something of a knock during the MPs’ expenses scandal, the Voice’s most recent survey of party members showed she had a very good net effectiveness rating of +30%.
As Ed Maxfield wrote about last month, the LibDem conference in Liverpool will see a consultation session on the party’s strategy and priorities. Penned by Gordon Lishman, the paper is a good starting point for debate and goes through the obvious yet important questions, such as how does being in government change the party’s approach. Being a paper from Gordon it also places many of the questions in a broader context, with nods towards history, community politics and the variations in political perspective across the UK.
Reading through it, there was one section I found particularly welcome, and one rather too conventional.
The particularly welcome section was this:
How can we create a liberal movement?
The liberal movement goes beyond party, asserting our leadership on a wide range of issues and themes, including climate change; civil liberty, equality and human rights; political reform; rural affairs; and many more. This is partly a matter of working with other campaigning organisations, think‐tanks and popular movements where our goals coincide; it should also involve Liberal Democrats in leadership of such organisations: what better role for Parliamentarians outside government and other competent members of the Party? For instance, how do we build on Liberal Democrat overall responsibility for human rights: in the Foreign Office, Home Office and Ministry of Justice?
Gordon’s absolutely right about the need to place our electoral campaigning and our work as a political party in a wider campaigning context. The debate we will be having at conference about marriage being open to same-sex couples illustrates this. It’s a cause dear to many liberal hearts, but is by no means exclusive to Liberal Democrats. Cross-party support is often a key ingredient in securing legislative change. Moreover, the issue is not just about what Parliament does or doesn’t legislate. Parliament decides whether same-sex marriages result in the same legal entitlements as traditional marriage. What Parliament cannot directly do is make society hold same-sex marriages in the same esteem. The emotional and cultural parts of equality come from how we all feel and behave. That requires broader change and campaigning than the MPs of one party trooping through the right lobby in Parliament.
The part of the document that struck as me as far too conventional is about regional parties in England:
The English Regional Parties should have a key leadership role in supporting and motivating activists, representing the Party publicly, influencing the UK Party and ensuring that we have the right candidates in place at the right time.
Those are roles that regional parties have had for a long time and overall they have a very mixed record in many respects. The context in which regional parties operate has changed significantly. It used to be rare in most regions for there to be significant elected Liberal Democrats outside of local government. Now we have MPs and MEPs right across England, with GLA members in London too. Our membership and its perspectives has also changed, along with society more generally, with people often having looser geographic roots and interests and instead placing themselves more firmly in non-geographic communities which share particular interests. At a time too when many councils are looking to share large amounts of their back office organisation with neighbouring councils, to simply restate those roles for regional parties misses out the bigger questions of what they should be for.
Do regional parties really have a role in representing the party publicly? When there are Lib Dem MPs and MEPs in their patch could they ever hope to do so effectively? Are regional conferences best organised by many separate teams working independently in each region? How effective really are regions at maximising the number of local council candidates (a very important question in my view)? The list of questions goes on and a good review should address the role of regions rather than work on the basis that the old model is still the right one to try to make work.
Here’s what the report to conference from the Federal Policy Committee (FPC) says on the matter:
The FPC has had a number of discussions on the implications for its role and the Party’s policy-making of our new status as a party of government. The FPC is very clear that the Party’s complete independence in policy-making shall continue. The Committee will be developing new ways of working both to ensure the maximum Liberal Democrat policy input into the Coalition Government, and also to continue to ensure a separate Liberal Democrat policy identity. In particular the FPC will developing a close working
The Federal Policy Committee is setting up a Policy Working Group on Information Technology and Intellectual Property, to be chaired by Dr Julian Huppert MP.
The working group will review all aspects of policy on IT and the internet. It will be necessary to give significant attention to intellectual property issues, with particular attention to their application to the digital economy.
The group will take forward the issues raised by the conference motion Freedom, Creativity and the Internet adopted by the Spring Conference 2010.
Party members interested in joining the group should contact Debbie Enever on [email protected] for more details. …
Lib Dem party membership is up a remarkable 14% this year, according to official figures released by the party in England. 4,500 new members have joined the party since the election and the coalition agreement was reached, and the party is having greater success in retaining current members than in previous years.
Lib Dem Voice reported last week the anecdotal evidence of one parliamentary candidate, Gareth Epps in Reading East, that Lib Dem membership has been on the increase, with a ratio of 10 new members for every one member leaving.
Well, it’s now clear that the experience in Reading is …
What I think Richard under-plays is the way the party’s attitude towards the state has changed not in response to different internal ideological views gaining ascendancy but rather in response to changing external circumstances. Given the huge expansion in public spending in the middle years of the Labour government, and the big expansion of central control in the early, middle and late years of Labour government, it is hardly a surprise that many who previously instinctively reached for more public spending and new regulations
As part of the empowerment (sorry about the cliche!) of ordinary members it might be useful if you let us in the Westminster village know how you react to unfolding coalition policy.
I’m tasked as Co-Chair for the Backbench Health Committee to ensure that distinctive Lib Dem policy on health goes into the Coalition Government equation.
So I have decided to seek party members’ views on the much-reported Health White Paper – especially from those who have a bit of hands on experience of the NHS.
The party has today announced the list of Liberal Democrat MPs have been nominated to serve on Select Committees:
Business, Innovation and Skills – David Ward
Communities and Local Government – Stephen Gilbert
Culture, Media & Sport – Adrian Sanders
Defence – Mike Hancock
Education – Tessa Munt
Energy and Climate Change – Sir Robert Smith
Environmental Audit Committee – Simon Wright
Environment Food and Rural Affairs – Dan Rogerson
Foreign Affairs – Menzies Campbell
Health – Andrew George
Home Affairs – Julian Huppert
International Development – Malcolm Bruce
Justice – Sir Alan Beith
Procedure Committee – John
With the Labour party claiming an influx of new recruits, Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Reading East at the last election, Gareth Epps, has written to The Guardian pointing out the Lib Dems too have seen a significant increase in new members:
Your report (7 July) of a “surge” in Labour membership makes claims about recruits from the Liberal Democrats. Labour’s claims are Walter Mittyish. My local Lib Dem party has had its most sustained membership boost since the 1988 merger. Since the election, we have had 10 members joining for each departure. As Labour’s crocodile tears continue over cuts
The Lib Dems have today announced the names of the MPs and members of the House of Lords who will act as Co-Chairs of the party’s new backbench policy committees.
These committees are intended to ensure distinctive Lib Dem policy-making continues while the party serves in the Coalition Government, promoting effective linkages between those Lib Dems serving ion government, their colleagues in the Parliamentary Party, and the party’s own democratic policy-making bodies.
Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny, but whilst most people heading for London were on their way to Pride, or Lords for the cricket, or Wimbledon for the tennis, a few dozen hardy Liberal Democrats were heading towards the St Alban’s Centre near Chancery Lane station for the first of 2010’s two meetings of English Council.
Unusually, the first item on the agenda was a speech by the Party President, Ros Scott, who talked about the challenges facing the Party in the weeks, months and years ahead, as well as some of the work being done at Federal level to address …
Chris Fox, the party’s interim Chief Executive, has been appointed to the post permanently whilst Lorely Burt, chair of the Parliamentary Party (in the Commons) has been re-elected unopposed. Best of luck to them both.
Julian Huppert, David Howarth’s successor as MP for Cambridge, has been elected to the party’s Federal Policy Committee (FPC). Julian is rather in the Evan Harris mode in that he’s very interested in (and knowledgeable about) scientific issues, keen to see evidence properly scrutinised, likely to be an active participant in the FPC’s work and, in as much as the labels make sense, rather more of a social liberal than an economic one.
Following his appointment as a special advisor to Chris Huhne, Duncan Brack has stood down as chair of the party’s Federal Conference Committee (FCC). A key figure in the organisation of party conferences for many years, first as the party’s Director of Policy and then on the FCC, Duncan was Chair for seven years.
This extends a neat chronological sequence of Federal Conference Committee chairs serving for four, five, six and now seven years.
Duncan will be continuing as a member of the Federal Policy Committee (FPC) which I think will provide a welcome extra link between the party’s policy processes and …
One of the ideas floated by Simon Hughes to help sustain policy generation and keep a distinctive identity for the party during coalition was the creation of a team of shadow spokespeople. Shadowing a government you are a part of raises some obvious issues, and as a result the party has decided instead to create a series of new backbench committees, bringing together both MPs and peers. Their focus will be much more on policy generation, consultation and internal communication than on shadowing Conservative ministers. Parliamentarians are currently expressing interests in which committees they would wish to serve on, with the …
The Lib Dems’ Federal Policy Committee (FPC) operates under the Chatham House Rule: you can repeat what was said, but not who said it. But often what happens at FPC goes completely unreported.
In some cases this is understandable, people throwing their toys out of the pram isn’t something we really want to report (oh not that often, honest!), and sometimes it is just because we are discussing issues (such as the manifesto) that we quite rightly want to keep under wraps until it is launched.
But someone (who of course will remain nameless) made the point at last week’s …
Lib Dem Voice has learned the sad news from Cowley Street:
The Liberal Democrats are having to begin a redundancy process to reduce the number of POLD staff by over 20 positions. This is following the confirmation that the party will not be receiving Short Money.
The losses will take place in the Policy and Research Unit, Media Office, and the Leader’s Office. The party will retain a Media Office and a scaled-down Policy department.
I have now been a political activist for quite a long time! Starting with campaigning for a Palestinian state and against apartheid in my teens, joining the party as a Liberal student, and then elected to Parliament in 1983 when Mrs Thatcher was at the height of her powers. Twenty seven years later, I have never forgotten what I came into politics to do. Fight for social justice, civil liberties, internationalism and a fair and responsible Britain where power is handed back to and not taken from the people.
For many people in our country these are not characteristics which …
Yes, it’s that time once again when one of the Party’s least visible, yet most important internal bodies, English Council, gathers for the first of its two scheduled meetings in 2010.
On Saturday, July 3rd, 125 or so representatives from the English Regions will gather in central London to hear speeches from the Party President, Ros Scott, and the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government, Andrew Stunnell MP. However, the key business for debate will be the proposed ratification of the new Selection Rules for Parliamentary Candidates, and this will be the only opportunity to debate …
Nominations closed at 5pm yesterday for the Deputy Leadership of the Liberal Democrats, and it’s going to be a contest between Tim Farron and Simon Hughes. Already the Independent is calling it for Simon:
Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat left-winger, was on course last night to become the party’s deputy leader.
The former party president is understood to have secured the backing of more than half of its 57 MPs. Although he voted in favour of forming a power-sharing deal with the Conservatives, he is likely to prove a thorn in Nick Clegg’s side.
Last week’s announcement of new peers didn’t seem much like a “new way of doing politics”. On the Tory side, wealthy party donors were rewarded for their largess. On our own side, just two of the nine appointments were of people directly elected to the interim peers list, three owed their place on that list to being ex-MPs and four had not come from the interim peers list at all – so much for party democracy!
The statement in the coalition deal that “Lords appointments will be made with the objective of creating a second chamber that is reflective of the …
There has, for some time, been genuine concern about the way that the Liberal Democrats select their Parliamentary candidates. How they are approved, how the process whereby candidates are selected has become more and more out of touch with modern campaigning methods, let alone questions of diversity, all of these have come under attack in recent years.
In fairness, those concerns have been reflected within the English Candidates Committee and action has been taken to remedy some of the most obvious problems. Before the last General Election, a new approval system was launched, designed to reflect the need to test those …
The launch of a party’s general election manifesto is a big story, so we’ve been covering it in a series of posts here on The Voice in the last 24 hours. If you’re just catching up on our coverage now, here’s a summary of the posts:
Tomorrow Nick Clegg is launching the Liberal Democrat manifesto, but tonight The Voice can give you an advance peek at what it will be saying. We’d like to report that this is due to our cunning radio controlled artificial pigeon which we have flown in to the roof of Cowley Street and used to point a webcam at the desk of the Director of Campaigns, but instead it’s thanks to the more prosaic method of receiving email, reading it and then blogging. Ah well, next time.
But back to the manifesto and let’s start with the cover:
A few days ago Liberal Democrat spokesman Norman Lamb (aka the man who beat Iain Dale by 10,606 votes in 2005) kindly gave up some time to be interviewed about the party’s plans for the NHS.
Having previously pointed out that the party’s “four steps to a fairer Britain” doesn’t include how we will improve public services, I started by asking him how the Liberal Democrats would improve the NHS.
He explained that whilst the four steps are a plan to transform Britain, for the NHS the priority over the next few years would be “making sure it doesn’t get destroyed” …
Federal Conference Committee treat it fairly generously – as emergency motions do not normally get into the territory of drawing up significant new party policy (because, by their nature, the wording is only published at the last moment and so people have little time to debate over it, draw up alternatives etc.).
There are two emergency motions but only a slot to debate one of them – so conference voted this morning on which to debate tomorrow. Digital Economy Bill motion wins that
David Allen A clear, credible, principled strategy from the Yorkists! Makes a welcome change.
Sadly, followed by twenty below-the-line posts, providing nearly twenty ve...
Simon McGrath so we get a permanant increase in costs for these subsidies based on ( alleged ) windfall profits. Its another big increase in spending -how is it to be paid ...
Peter Davies @Kira CollinsThat assumes we want to help people more with their energy bills than with all the other bills they may be struggling with. There is no reason why ...
Rob Heale Agree that we need to focus on strategy and have clearer messaging:-
1. We MUST prioritise membership recruitment in all we do, including PPB's, most leaflets...
Kira Collins Disappointed. The most obvious means of reducing energy bills is to remove VAT. Relatively straightforward to do and does not adversely impact on the attractive...
Gordon’s absolutely right about the need to place our electoral campaigning and our work as a political party in a wider campaigning context. The debate we will be having at conference about marriage being open to same-sex couples illustrates this. It’s a cause dear to many liberal hearts, but is by no means exclusive to Liberal Democrats. Cross-party support is often a key ingredient in securing legislative change. Moreover, the issue is not just about what Parliament does or doesn’t legislate. Parliament decides whether same-sex marriages result in the same legal entitlements as traditional marriage. What Parliament cannot directly do is make society hold same-sex marriages in the same esteem. The emotional and cultural parts of equality come from how we all feel and behave. That requires broader change and campaigning than the MPs of one party trooping through the right lobby in Parliament.
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Should Labour reconsider the Brexit red lines?
David Allen 
Simon McGrath 
Peter Davies 
Rob Heale 
Kira Collins 