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Category Archives: Scotland

Michael Moore MP writes: I am not your average unionist

By Michael Moore | Wed 21st December 2011 - 3:55 pm

In politics, as in other walks of life, labels matter. By accident or design, for good or for ill, they shape our identity — sometimes in our own eyes, but just as importantly in the eyes of others.

For all of us, our identity starts with where we belong. For my part I am a Borderer; a Scot; and British. Perhaps less fashionably but a long-held principle, I am comfortable that I am a European, too.

Beyond that, I am unashamedly a democrat, a liberal and an internationalist. But last week there was a stir in some parts of the media when …

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Also posted in News | Tagged calman commission, home rule, Michael Moore and Ming Campbell | 15 Comments

Scotland’s new Executive, Policy and Conference Committees chosen

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 14th December 2011 - 2:25 pm

Scotland recently held its internal elections to determine the make up of its Party Committees and Office Bearers.

Only one office bearer post was contested, that of Vice Convener (Campaigns and Candidates). That election was won by Katy Gordon, former candidate for Glasgow North and the Glasgow Regional list and Convener of Scottish Women Liberal Democrats.

Office bearers continuing in post are:

Convener: Craig Harrow

President: Malcolm Bruce MP

Deputy Leader: Jo Swinson MP

Vice Convener (Policy): John Edward

Vice Convener (Conference): Shabnum Mustapha

All committee elections except Conference Committee are conducted by all member ballot. Scotland allows all members a vote at Conference, but only those who …

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Also posted in Party policy and internal matters | 1 Comment

Charles Kennedy MP writes…How you can help save our Sleeper

By Charles Kennedy | Wed 14th December 2011 - 10:25 am

The Caledonian sleeper services are a Scottish institution, a symbol of the comfort and style which was once the hallmark of the railways. They are invaluable for connecting the more remote parts of the Highlands to the UK Capital, allowing Scottish people to reach morning meetings in England and Londoners to catch the Deerstalker Express straight to the most beautiful places in the world. I’ve lost count of the number of individuals & businesses who have been in touch over the years to tell me just how important …

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Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged caledonian sleeper, rural, transport and transport scotland | 7 Comments

Rennie challenges SNP to set fair access test for Scottish universities

By The Voice | Mon 14th November 2011 - 8:12 am

The Press Association reports:

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie called on the Scottish Government to put a fair access policy in place, or extend the remit of the the Office of Fair Access north of the border. He said this would not only address the fair access gap for poorer students from England and Wales, but also improve the chances of Scottish students deciding to go to university.

Mr Rennie said: “With Scottish universities now able to set fees of up to £9,000 a year, and Edinburgh and St Andrews universities now the most expensive place to study in the

…

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Also posted in News | Tagged higher education, tuition fees, universities and willie rennie | Leave a comment

Willie Rennie apologises for ‘unintentional offence’ of Lib Dems’ Alex Salmond cartoon

By Stephen Tall | Thu 3rd November 2011 - 7:15 am

Some embarrassment for Willie Rennie, MSP and leader of the Scottish Lib Dems, this week following the publication by party staff of a cartoon satirising First Minister Alex Salmond’s hailing of the similarities between Scotland and Qatar:

The Stv website takes up the story:

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Tagged alex salmond, Ming Campbell, qatar and willie rennie | 16 Comments

Ming to head up Scottish Lib Dems’ Home Rule Commission

By The Voice | Wed 2nd November 2011 - 7:06 am

As the Scottish Lib Dems’ website announces:

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie MSP has announced that former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Menzies Campbell MP will chair the Home Rule Commission, set up to develop a blueprint for Home Rule in Scotland. The party’s Scottish conference in Dunfermline last month voted to establish a Commission to look at a settled distribution of powers between London, Edinburgh and local councils. Sir Menzies will join other Liberal Democrats to set out a long-term vision for a strong Scotland within the UK and powerful local communities in every part of Scotland.

Here’s what …

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Also posted in News | Tagged devolution, Ming Campbell and willie rennie | 3 Comments

Opinion: Pity the Scottish school-leavers when English fees rise

By Ewan Hoyle | Sun 30th October 2011 - 2:10 pm

I’m a candidate in a council by-election in the Hillhead ward in Glasgow. I’m a Liberal Democrat, and the ward has a big old university slap bang in the middle of it. You’d think I’d be bricking it, wouldn’t you? After the tuition fees betrayal, students hate the Liberal Democrats, don’t they? Well they might do, but I’d like to explain how the real villains in Scotland are the SNP.

The SNP are in fact imposing thousands of pounds of up-front fees on each and every Scottish student and their families. “But the SNP have preserved free tuition!” I hear …

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Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged higher education, snp, tuition fees and universities | 36 Comments

Opinion: Tackling the myths about that Scottish Diversity motion

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 18th October 2011 - 2:25 pm

I’ve seen a few comments online over the past few days insinuating that the Scottish Liberal Democrats don’t care about improving diversity in the wake of a motion passed at the recent Scottish Conference after a passionate debate and a protracted and complex series of votes.

I want to correct some myths about what happened. Scottish Women Liberal Democrats (SWLD) put forward a motion containing a wide ranging series of measures. Most of these were uncontroversial. Who can argue with making sure that the concerns of women are hardwired into the policy process?

The first main points of contention were over the …

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Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged Alex Cole-Hamilton, diversity, equalities, katy gordon, leadership programme, ruth bright and sophie bridger | 9 Comments

Boundary Commission for Scotland publishes its initial proposals

By Mark Pack | Fri 14th October 2011 - 11:50 am

As ever remember that (a) these proposals are draft and (b) many a person has made a fool of themselves with crude projected vote figure calculations.

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Also posted in Election law | Tagged boundary commission for scotland, parliamentary boundaries and parliamentary boundary review | Leave a comment

New constituency boundaries in Scotland: the impact on the Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Fri 14th October 2011 - 7:20 am

Last month it was the turn of English MPs to look nervously at the proposals of the Boundary Commission’s re-drawing of constituencies — Scotland’s turn has now come, with its national Boundary Commission yesterday publishing its proposals for public consultation.

The Financial Times has undertaken a quick reccy to work out what it might mean:

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Also posted in News | Tagged featured, parliamentary boundaries, parliamentary boundary review and scot lib dems | 15 Comments

Opinion: The Laws of Politics for the Scottish Lib Dems (Part II)

By James Taylor | Sat 24th September 2011 - 8:50 am

The Scottish Liberal Democrat conference is coming up in the next couple of weeks and having spoken at it in previous years I am unable to attend on this, the first with Willie Rennie at the helm.

However I spent some time this weekend contemplating if any of the Laws of Marketing that I use in my day job could be applied to the Scottish Lib Dems. I recognise in doing this I may be burnt at the stake by some of my more open-toed Liberal friends, but feel free to discard whichever of the Laws …

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Also posted in Op-eds | 5 Comments

Opinion: The Laws of Politics for the Scottish Lib Dems (Part I)

By James Taylor | Fri 23rd September 2011 - 9:15 am

The Scottish Liberal Democrat conference is coming up in the next couple of weeks and having spoken at it in previous years I am unable to attend on this, the first with Willie Rennie at the helm.

However I spent some time this weekend contemplating if any of the Laws of Marketing that I use in my day job could be applied to the Scottish Lib Dems. I recognise in doing this I may be burnt at the stake by some of my more open-toed Liberal friends, but feel free to discard whichever of the Laws …

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Also posted in Op-eds | 8 Comments

Interview with Mike Moore MP – Action in Government, ideas for the future

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 5th September 2011 - 1:51 pm

Interview: Mike Moore MP – Action in Government, ideas for the future

It can’t be much fun being Alex Salmond these days. The euphoria of May has subsided, and he’s realised that there’s nobody else to blame for his majority Government’s actions. On top of that, wherever he looks, he sees the grin of Wilie Rennie, ready to highlight any example of anglophobia, of dodging , delaying, ducking and diving. The Scottish Liberal Democrat leader has had accolade after accolade in the press for providing such high quality opposition to the SNP …

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Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged alex salmond, iain duncan smith, Michael Moore, steve webb and willie rennie | 5 Comments

Andrew Reeves passes away

By Mark Pack | Fri 3rd June 2011 - 11:00 am

Many Liberal Democrats are in mourning this morning after the sudden death of a long-time colleague and friend, Andrew Reeves. He died of a heart attack last night.

Andrew had a long career in the party, including working for Vince Cable in Twickenham and Lynne Featherstone in Hornsey & Wood Green and stewarding at party conferences, before becoming the party’s Deputy Director for Scotland. Andrew was always one of the happiest and kindest people on the campaigns I worked with him on, and never let the occasional inevitable moments of stress or tension sour personal friendships. He had also in recent …

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Also posted in Obituaries | Tagged andrew reeves | 38 Comments

Interview: Willie Rennie – The Liberal Democrats are not easily led….

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 17th May 2011 - 6:49 pm

This was the scene in the Fife coastal village of North Queensferry today where, in the shadow of the Forth Bridges, Willie Rennie talked to the media after being confirmed as the new leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. He replaces Tavish Scott, who resigned 10 days ago in the wake of devastating Scottish Parliament election results and was the only candidate when nominations closed at noon today.

The venue was symbolic. Five years ago, on the day of the Dunfermline by-election, the Courier, the …

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Also posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged tavish scott and willie rennie | 7 Comments

Opinion: A Scottish candidate’s view

By Keith Legg | Tue 10th May 2011 - 1:54 pm

Days have now passed since the last result for the Scottish Parliament was declared. At least that provided a bit of happy news; my local colleague and former Dunfermline MP Willie Rennie was elected as the last MSP from the Mid Scotland and Fife regional list. But frankly, what went on in the 18 hours prior to that was not much short of a horror show – I never thought that “Losing Deposits” would ring true again.

Normally, after a drubbing like that, attention turns to the campaign itself and where it all went wrong. This time, though, there’s no real …

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Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged avalanche of abuse, jo grimond, mountain, orkney, shetland and tavish scott | 23 Comments

Ouch! Lib Dems suffer first anti-government backlash in 80 years

By Stephen Tall | Fri 6th May 2011 - 8:50 am

The words ‘Good morning’ may seem overly ironic if you’re a Lib dem waking up this morning to the news of the party’s pretty awful 2011 election results. Here’s a quick round-up for those who’ve avoided the media so far today…

Scotland: a huge night for the SNP, with the Lib Dems and Labour both suffering a rout at the hands of the nationalists. With 59 of 73 results declared, the Lib Dems have just four seats, a loss of seven. It sounds like the party will end up with six MSPs, down from 16.

Wales: a good night for Labour, who …

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Also posted in Local government and Wales | 80 Comments

The LDV election results open thread

By The Voice | Thu 5th May 2011 - 10:20 pm

Here are the starting positions (as Stephen’s already described):

Scotland: the party is defending 16 seats (11 constituency MSPs, and five regional list MSPs), which was a drop of one compared to 2003. There are 129 contested seats for the Scottish Parliament.

Wales: the party is defending six seats (3 constituency AMs, and three regional list AMs), which was the same as in 2003. There are 60 contested seats for the Welsh assembly.

In the English local elections:

1,876 of the 3,948 Liberal Democrat councillors (48%) have been defending their seats today in –

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Also posted in Local government and Wales | Tagged av referendum and leicester south by-election | 29 Comments

What will happen in today’s elections? Your thoughts, please…

By Stephen Tall | Thu 5th May 2011 - 7:15 pm

Today, in case you hadn’t noticed, is election day. There are national elections in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and local elections for 279 councils across England. And of course there’s the referendum to determine the voting system used for elections to Westminster.

Four years ago, in 2007, the Liberal Democrats were a party of opposition. Today, we’re in a Coalition government. Let’s recap the starting positions…

Scotland: the party is defending 16 seats (11 constituency MSPs, and five regional list MSPs), which was a drop of one compared to 2003. There are 129 contested seats for the Scottish parliament.

Wales: the party …

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Also posted in Local government and Wales | 12 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 Op-eds | Tagged tavish scott | Leave a comment

Opinion: An American Student in an Edinburgh Election – inside Alex Cole-Hamilton’s campaign

By Jillian Gorelick | Thu 7th April 2011 - 7:25 pm

It is fairly common in American Universities for 3^rd year students to go abroad for a semester. Although I had many options, I eventually decided to come to Edinburgh, Scotland to intern with the Scottish Parliament. The way my program is structured is that there was class for five weeks, an internship in parliament for 4, then once parliament dissolved we began working on a campaign up until polling day. So that’s how, on March 22^nd I came to be working with Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Edinburgh Central. When I first met Alex I was sitting in …

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Also posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged Alex Cole-Hamilton, caron lindsay, Edinburgh Central and guest editor | Leave a comment

Jeremy Purvis: Creating an ambitious, compassionate and fair Scotland

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 7th April 2011 - 4:29 pm

I caught up with Scottish Liberal Democrat Finance Spokesman Jeremy Purvis at the manifesto launch on Tuesday and asked him what a Liberal Democrat Scotland looked like.

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Also posted in News | Tagged caron lindsay, guest editor and jeremy purvis | 9 Comments

Opinion: The First Time Candidate’s View

By Callum Leslie | Thu 7th April 2011 - 3:26 pm

Being a first time candidate is a daunting experience, but a hugely rewarding and humbling one.

I was one of the youngest people to ever go through the candidate approval process, at just 17. Many people were surprised that I bothered, given I couldn’t stand for election yet anywhere, but in all honesty, I wanted to get it done and out of the way, so that when opportunities (such as the one I’m about to describe) occurred, I would be able to take full advantage. My advice to others is don’t wait for that ideal seat to come up before you …

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Also posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged callum leslie, caron lindsay and guest editor | 5 Comments

Opinion: Scottish Liberal Democrats’ ambitious manifesto plans to create 100,000 jobs

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 7th April 2011 - 12:15 pm

On Tuesday I was lucky enough to be invited along to the launch of the Scottish Liberal Democrat manifesto which took place in the beautiful town of Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders.

The venue, Caerlee Mill, had been chosen to highlight key pledges to boost business and economic growth, but, as the BBC’s Brian Taylor said, “The venue had been chosen to symbolise economic renewal – but, on the day, it also spotlighted the concept of triumph over adversity.”

There are three main themes to the manifesto. When leader Tavish Scott …

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Tagged caron lindsay and guest editor | 11 Comments

Pollwatch – State of the Parties: Lib Dems 11%, Labour 40%, Tories 36% (April 2011)

By Stephen Tall | Mon 4th April 2011 - 8:00 am

Well, it’s been a while since last the Voice rounded-up the polls — but with Scottish/Welsh/local elections just weeks away, it’s time to dust down our spreadsheets and take a look at the current states of the parties.

A total of 35 polls were published during March. Now, as our readers know, LDV doesn’t cover them with the same breathless excitements as other parts of the media. Most poll movements are within the margin of error, so it is only looked at over a period of time that you can detect whether there has really been any significant movements between the …

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Also posted in Local government, Polls and Wales | Tagged pollwatch | 18 Comments

Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate quits to stand as an independent

By Mark Pack | Sat 26th March 2011 - 10:46 pm

The Press Association reports:

A top Liberal Democrat candidate for Holyrood has resigned from the party.

Hugh O’Donnell was Liberal Democrat MSP for Central Scotland before the start of campaigning earlier this month for the Scottish Parliament elections.

It is understood he was unhappy with the direction of the party in Scotland and the coalition in Westminster.

A Liberal Democrat spokeswoman said: “We have accepted Hugh O’Donnell’s resignation.”

Hugh O’Donnell has been pretty critical of the party for some time, so much so that seeing some of his comments made to posts of mine on Facebook I did a double-take wondering if his Facebook …

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Also posted in News | Tagged hugh o'donnell | 22 Comments

A whistlestop tour of Scottish Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 11th March 2011 - 10:27 am

Scottish Liberal Democrats gathered in Perth last weekend for their Spring Conference. I thought that LDV readers might appreciate edited highlights of a lively weekend.

It was a bit strange to turn up to find a huge area around the Perth Concert Hall cordoned off, airport style security and Police everywhere. We’re not used to this sort of thing.

Leader Tavish Scott’s keynote speech hammered home our USP in the forthcoming Scottish election campaign – only the Scottish Liberal Democrats will speak out against a political power grab. SNP, Tories and Labour advocate merging eight police forces to just one. Tavish also …

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Also posted in News | Tagged alex white, av referendum, Danny Alexander, malcolm bruce, Michael Moore, nick clegg and tavish scott | 2 Comments

Opinion: Cutting Crime in Scotland’s Festival City

By Paul Edie | Wed 2nd March 2011 - 11:08 am

Close partnership working and information sharing between agencies at a local level has contributed strongly to reductions in crime and anti social behaviour in Lib Dem led Edinburgh.

Scotland Capital, with its strong night time economy and festivals, has enjoyed reduced crime and antisocial behaviour in recent years. New shift patterns, leading to more officers being deployed where they are needed and when they are needed, have contributed to the reduction in crime. Co-located police officers, joint patrols with environmental wardens and information sharing between statutory agencies have also helped. Much of the improvement is also down to an …

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Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged crime, neighbourhood working and Scotland | Leave a comment

Bill Aitken resigns over gang rape comments

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 21st February 2011 - 7:28 pm

Bill Atiken, the Conservative Convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee, has tonight resigned over comments he made to the Sunday Herald regarding a series of particularly horrific rapes in Glasgow.

He implied that the victim of a gang rape in a City Centre lane could have been a prostitute, and that “the police say that there’s a lot of drunken carry ons that lead to rape allegations which are subsequently dropped, put it that way.” His comments were first reported eight days ago, and although Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie sought to distance herself from them, she took …

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Also posted in News | Tagged annabel goldie, bill aitken and robert brown | 2 Comments

Michael Moore writes… Clash of the Elections 2015 – Let the Devolved Nations Choose

By Michael Moore | Sun 20th February 2011 - 3:55 pm

It’s rare to have an election-free year these days but 2015 is set – for the moment – to be a voters’ bonanza in Scotland and Wales. Fixed, four-year terms at Holyrood will coincide with the end of the first fixed five year term at Westminster, meaning two national elections in the devolved nations. Unless Scotland and Wales decide otherwise.

On Thursday, the government wrote to the Presiding Officers and party leaders in Scotland and Wales, offering them the chance to move the date of their respective Parliament and Assembly elections. This follows a period of consultation between the two sides. For 2015, …

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Also posted in Op-eds | 10 Comments

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