Category Archives: Scotland

Caron Lindsay

A snapshot of a first class debate – a Scottish persepective on higher education

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 14th October 2010 - 3:24 pm

This week has seen Vince Cable and Nick Clegg adopt a position on tuition fees which is at odds with long held and much loved Party Policy. It remains to be seen how many of our MPs will go along with any recommendations to increase tuition fees.  Already, MPs like Greg Mulholland, Julian Huppert, Tim Farron, Ming Campbell and Charles Kennedy have already stated that they will honour the pledge they signed during the Election campaign to oppose any increase.

In Scotland last weekend the positions were almost reversed, with the Holyrood Front Bench anxious to support our policy of free …

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Caron Lindsay

The speaker who stole the show at Scottish conference

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 14th October 2010 - 2:25 pm

The first time I walked into the hall at Scottish Conference on Saturday, I saw an unfamiliar face making a passionate, articulate heartfelt speech about how your brains and not your background should be reason you get on in education.

An astonished looking friend whispered to me “she’s only 13.” Actually, she’s 14, but she got the first standing ovation of the day and a name check in Tavish Scott’s leader’s speech later.

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Jenny Dawe

Opinion: Delivering a bright new future for Edinburgh

By Jenny Dawe | Thu 14th October 2010 - 12:55 pm

“I’m afraid to tell you there’s no money left”, wrote the outgoing Labour Chief Secretary to the Treasury in May this year.

Reel back three years to the May 2007 Scottish local elections.  The Liberal Democrats had become the largest party in the City of Edinburgh Council after 23 years of Labour control.  A new Lib Dem led coalition with the SNP was beginning to look eagerly at how to change the city. We didn’t get a note.  Instead, we got a stark warning from the Director of Finance that reserves were perilously low and the Council was heading for a …

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Callum Leslie

Opinion: We are a party founded on the principle of free education

By Callum Leslie | Thu 14th October 2010 - 10:55 am

Liberal Youth Scotland has made a huge impact in the last few years. They have fought for equalities, demonstrated against the homophobic Westboro Baptist Church when they threatened to come to Edinburgh, produced many excellent motions to our Conference where their Quiz/Debate evenings have become the place to be. Their VP-Communications tells us what LYS has been up to and how it feels about the Browne Report.

Liberal Youth Scotland is one of the fastest growing movements in the Liberal Democrats today. Since April, our membership has gone up by over 60%. Over the past two years, we have succeeded in …

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Paul Freeman

Opinion: A first timer’s guide to Scottish Lib Dem Conference 2010

By Paul Freeman | Thu 14th October 2010 - 9:55 am

Saturday’s Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference was the first conference I’d been to, and aside from a local hustings at the general election, the very first political event I’d ever been to. I was very much a newbie and a little bit nervous and uncertain about what to expect from the day. I even had to ask what it was best to wear, although that was really to stop my wife insisting I go in a suit. I wouldn’t have looked out of place in a suit, but if I’d turned up in a pair of green wellies I wouldn’t have been the only one …

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Helen Duffett

LibLink: Danny Alexander – “People should judge me on what I deliver”

By Helen Duffett | Mon 11th October 2010 - 3:12 pm

Two very positive Liberal Democrat stories today in the Herald Scotland:

The first: Flourishing LibDems cast Scottish politics in a good light reports that Liberal Democrat membership in Scotland is up 18% this year and sees it as a sign that of public acceptance of the party’s role in the Coalition government.

The Herald also has an interview with Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, which charts his progress from childhood to the Cabinet, revealing his family’s deep Liberal roots:

“My mother tells the story of how she caught my grandad rocking me in the pram when I was six months old saying ‘repeat after me, I’m a member of the Liberal party’.”

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Andrew Reeves

Nicol Stephen to stand down in May

By Andrew Reeves | Sat 25th September 2010 - 1:27 pm

Nicol Stephen MSP has announced he is standing down after nearly three decades in public life, first being elected a councillor, then an MP and latterly an MSP for Aberdeen South.

This isn’t the first time that Nicol has taken the Scottish political world by surprise with an unexpected announcement – just over two years ago he stood down as leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats deciding to put his family first. Nicol and his wife Caris have four children – Macleod, 15, Mirrhyn, 13, Mharni, 9, and Drummond, 6.

I recall the day really well and my phone was buzzing …

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Helen Duffett

Edinburgh Northern and Leith: Scottish Parliament candidate selection

By Helen Duffett | Thu 5th August 2010 - 5:20 pm

There’s still time to apply for selection as the prospective Scottish Parliamentary Candidate for the Edinburgh Northern and Leith constituency for the 2011 election.

From a party notice:

The Liberal Democrats won around 11,000 votes across the constituency area during the May 2010 Westminster elections. The constituency also includes part or all of four local government wards, each of which has an elected Lib Dem councillor.

The successful applicant will be able to demonstrate an ability to motivate a large and growing group of activists, and form and lead an effective campaign team, in a Local Party which has extensive

…

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NewsHound

Wallace: “We were the responsible party”

By NewsHound | Tue 3rd August 2010 - 1:15 pm

There’s an interesting interview today in the Scottish herald with former Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Jim Wallace, assessing the party’s prospects ahead of next May’s Holyrood elections. Here are some snippets …

On the Scottish Lib Dem experience of power-sharing:

We were told in 1999 when we entered coalition in Scotland with Labour we were going to get whacked and it didn’t happen. We’re not going to sit back. We’ve got an election campaign to fight and we will have to fight it on explaining why we have done things.”

On the UK Coalition between the Lib Dems and Conservatives:

I don’t think people

…

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Caron Lindsay

Haggis, Neeps and Liberalism: Labour Déjà vu for Scotland

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 27th June 2010 - 2:25 pm

George Osborne’s Budget can’t really be described as anything other than grim despite the clear Liberal Democrat contribution to make it fairer. In Scotland this means that 2 million basic rate taxpayers will benefit from the raising of the tax threshold and a million pensioners will be better off because of the restoration of the earnings link to the State Pension.

Certainly it was vital that the Government took action to deal with the mess that Labour had left it. This is a mess that makes the Winter of Discontent and Black Wednesday look like mere frivolities.

Don’t blame …

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Mark Pack

Jamie Stone to stand down as an MSP

By Mark Pack | Thu 3rd June 2010 - 1:35 pm

Andrew Reeves has the news:

Jamie Stone, Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, has announced that he will step down from the Scottish Parliament at the next Scottish election. Mr Stone is stepping down 25 years of public service to pursue new avenues.

Jamie is the second Highland Liberal Democrats MSP to announce he is standing down.

John Farquar-Munro MSP is also standing down and Alan MacRae has been selected to replace John and fight the seat at next years election.

You can read the full story here.

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The Voice

Vince lays down the gauntlet to Alex Salmond

By The Voice | Mon 8th March 2010 - 9:45 pm

Lib Dem shadow chancellor, Vince Cable tonight addressed Reform Scotland on the action that needs to be taken to reform banking and protect the economic recovery. LDV is publishing extracts from Vince’s speech, below, including his call to SNP leader and Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond to follow the Lib Dems’ lead and state clearly how the Scottish government will live within its budget in the years ahead:

Banking
We need to rethink our approach to banking. Successive Labour and Conservative Governments have left Britain vulnerable to an over-inflated financial services sector, where institutions became too big to fail.

On a UK level – where British banks are 4.5 times bigger in terms of their liabilities than the country’s economy – this is bad enough. But in Scotland, this has been still more pronounced. At the time they got into trouble, RBS’ and HBOS’ liabilities were 25 times the size of Scotland’s economy.

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Haggis, Neeps and Liberalism #14: As a liberal republican sees it

By Kevin McPhillips | Tue 2nd March 2010 - 1:20 pm

Last week, Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, launched the Referendum (Scotland) Bill consultation. The SNP has few aspirations, beyond independence for its own sake. I can’t help but think of them as someone courting a reluctant bride. They keep asking, and keep cajoling, hoping that eventually the electorate will say yes, and let them take them up the aisle.

On Friday, Nicola Sturgeon, who faced parliament about her own troubles earlier in the week, said “this isn’t about what the SNP wants, it’s about what the people of Scotland want”. Well, she’s wrong. This consultation actually is …

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Mark Pack

Carmichael moves to end MP-MSP dual mandates

By Mark Pack | Wed 24th February 2010 - 3:20 pm

Alistair Carmichael, Liberal Democrat Shadow Scotland Secretary, has tabled amendments to the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill aimed at bringing an end to MSPs and MPs holding both jobs at the same time.

The amendments follow legislation backed by both the Government and the Conservatives which seeks to end ‘double jobbing’ by Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLAs) who are also MPs. They offer two options:

  • a measure which would end the ability of MPs who are also MSPs to receive salaries from both jobs, along the same lines as the Government and Conservative-backed legislation on MLAs and intended to act as

…

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Callum Leslie

Haggis, Neeps and Liberalism #13

By Callum Leslie | Wed 17th February 2010 - 3:23 pm

So, Tories really are sheep in respectable politicians’ clothing.

In a comment to me on Facebook of all places, Conservative Future Scotland Chair Duncan Stewart attempted to make excuses for Tory spin doctors dropping in “stunt students” for David Cameron’s press conference at University of East London this week.

At the press conference Mr Cameron took the opportunity to attack Gordon Brown over expenses, claiming that the Tories were the “new generation” of politicians “at ease with openness” needed to reform politics.

However, UEL Student Union President Joseph Bitrus blew the whistle on Cameron’s latest attempt at public deception. He was alerted …

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Mark Pack

Big Brother winner backs Lib Dem Kevin Lang to win

By Mark Pack | Thu 17th December 2009 - 8:52 pm

A bit of variation from the weighty national matters of the moment comes in the form of this welcome news from Edinburgh, where Kevin Lang has an excellent chance of winning the Westminster Parliamentary seat from Labour:

John Loughton, the winner of Big Brother and former Chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament, has joined the Scottish Liberal Democrats and today announced his backing for Kevin Lang to become the new MP for his home constituency of Edinburgh North & Leith.

John won Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack in January 2008 and served as the Chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament. He went on

…

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Caron Lindsay

Haggis, Neeps and Liberalism #12

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 1st December 2009 - 5:53 pm

Yesterday was St Andrew’s Day, a special day of celebration in Scotland. If Iain Smith, Liberal Democrat MSP for NE Fife which includes the town of St Andrews had his way, it would have been a full public holiday, not just the half day that civil servants can take if they want that the SNP have delivered in Government.

There’s a lot going on in Scottish politics at the moment. Here are just a few snippets:

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Mark Pack

Tavish Scott on devolution, Donald Trump, liberalism and more

By Mark Pack | Mon 23rd November 2009 - 8:08 pm

At the weekend, the Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Tavish Scott gave an interview to a group of Lib Dem bloggers meeting at the party HQ in Clifton Terrace for an ‘unconference’.

Devolution and independence referendum

I kicked off with one of the main issues in the news at the moment: should there be  a referendum on Scottish independence, and hence should the Liberal Democrats be supporting one?

Tavish was scathing about the idea of a referendum, calling it an SNP trick which the party shouldn’t go along with. His argument was that there is one pro-independence party and there is a vote coming …

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Fraser Macpherson

Haggis, Neeps and Liberalism #11: Lessons from Glasgow North East

By Fraser Macpherson | Sun 15th November 2009 - 11:38 am

Labour’s crushing victory in the Glasgow North East By-election was hailed by the victor Willie Bain as a resounding endorsement of Gordon Brown and a “a resounding ‘No’ to David Cameron.” Well, maybe in Glasgow North East, but I suspect extrapolating the Labour victory in this constituency as having huge implications across the UK political scene would be foolish.

The SNP said throughout the Glasgow North East campaign that the by-election was a two horse race and, after the nationalist victory in Glasgow East last year, victory for them was possible. A case of all too predictable SNP hope over reality. Over the years, the SNP has had a bit of a habit of sensing victory where none exists. Remember the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election, so comprehensively won by Willie Rennie? If you’d have believed Alex Salmond a day or so before polling day, SNP victory was certain. In fact, they came a poor third.

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Stephen Tall

Scottish Lib Dem conference: your LDV reader

By Stephen Tall | Mon 2nd November 2009 - 10:30 am

On Saturday, LDV reported the news that the Scottish Lib Dems were uniting behind leader Tavish Scott’s opposition to the SNP referendum on independence, ahead of a special private conference for party members. And so it came to pass, as the BBC reports:

Tavish Scott has consistently opposed a referendum, but some divisions within the party have emerged and the issue was debated in a closed session at the party’s autumn conference in Dunfermline, Fife, on Saturday.

Senior Lib Dem MSP Ross Finnie, who has been asked to lead a consultation with members about the party’s stance,

…

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Stephen Tall

Times: Tavish Scott expected to see off Lib Dem rebellion on opposition to referendum

By Stephen Tall | Sat 31st October 2009 - 1:00 pm

A week ago, LDV asked the question, Is it time for the Scottish Lib Dems to back an independence referendum?, amid suggestions in The Sunday Times that there was “a growing rebellion within the party’s ranks over its opposition to Alex Salmond’s Referendum Bill.” Today’s Times reports that Scottish Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott will win overwhelming backing for the leadership line:

Senior Lib Dems were increasingly confident that a minority of “referendum rebels” would not succeed in forcing Mr Scott into a U-turn that could pose serious question marks over his continued leadership.

The issue of the Scottish government’s

…

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Stephen Tall

Is it time for the Scottish Lib Dems to back an independence referendum?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 25th October 2009 - 3:05 pm

The Sunday Times reports:

Senior Liberal Democrat figures will hold talks in an attempt to halt a growing rebellion within the party’s ranks over its opposition to Alex Salmond’s Referendum Bill. Party managers will meet on Monday to decide the best way of tackling the revolt, which could seriously undermine Tavish Scott’s leadership of the party.

Strategists have yet to decide whether they will allow the issue to go to a vote at a special conference being held in Dunfermline next Saturday to confirm the party’s stance. It is understood that several of the party’s Westminster candidates are preparing to join

…

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Andrew Reeves

How you can help the Lib Dems in Glasgow North East

By Andrew Reeves | Sat 17th October 2009 - 5:45 pm

With the writ moved on Friday, all four main parties in Scotland are getting on with the campaign and their campaign launches. On Wednesday, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP both launched their campaigns, Thursday it was the turn of the Tories, and then on Monday it will be Labour’s turn.

The good people of Glasgow North East have now been 117 days without Westminster representation, and – as our candidate Eileen Baxendale said at the launch with Scottish Leader Tavish Scott – this is simply unacceptable, and Labour should be ashamed of themselves they have left it that long.

Tavish Scott, Eileen Baxendale and Robert Brown MSP launched the Liberal Democrats campaign at the Red Road flats in Sprinburn and joined a family there to listen to how they have been badly let down by both Labour and SNP Governments.

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Stephen Tall

Unemployment: Lib Dems on the bleak national picture

By Stephen Tall | Thu 15th October 2009 - 6:50 pm

Three separate Lib Dem press releases ping into the Voice’s inbox, each of them them telling a depressing story about the human impact of the recession.

First up, Lib Dem shadow work and pensions secretary Steve Webb on the doubling of long-term unemployment in the last year alone:

Ministers try to spin the slower rise in headline figures as progress, but long-term unemployment has doubled in a year and if it is not tackled now it will be a devastating legacy of this recession.

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Callum Leslie

Haggis, Neeps and Liberalism #10

By Callum Leslie | Thu 15th October 2009 - 9:55 am

Last month – in Haggis, Neeps and Liberalism #8 – Ruaraidh Dobson wrote about the upcoming Freshers’ season, and how it was an exciting time to be in student politics. He wasn’t disappointed.

Liberal Youth Scotland and university societies across the country signed up droves of new party members, and vastly increased our university presence. St Andrews in particular, a society which had been in the doldrums for many years and has only recently been re-started, is now the largest political society at the University.

Aberdeen, who only re-started in January, signed up 60 new members to their society, making them one of the biggest university societies in the country. Glasgow University Lib Dems signed up 57 new party members, more than any other society in the UK in 2008.

These societies were all supported in their efforts by Liberal Youth Scotland, providing materials and manpower to help achieve these phenomenal successes. However, the work does not stop here.

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Bernard Salmon

Haggis, Neeps and Liberalism #9

By Bernard Salmon | Tue 6th October 2009 - 1:45 pm

Who does Alex Salmond think he is?

With all three main party leaders having now agreed to participate in televised debates in the run-up to the next general election, Scotland’s Opportunist-in-Chief is threatening to throw his toys out of the pram
unless he’s included in any debate shown north of the border.

But Salmond is indulging in pure gesture politics once again. As my colleague Stephen Glenn has pointed out before, Salmond has no right to expect to take part in a leaders’ debate when he won’t even be a candidate at the next Westminster election.

He leads the fifth biggest party at Westminster (behind the Democratic Unionists) and will be fielding candidates in less than 10 per cent of constituencies UK-wide.

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Haggis, Neeps and Liberalism #8

By Ruaraidh Dobson | Tue 15th September 2009 - 3:50 pm

It seems impossible to believe, but once again Freshers’ Week is upon us. That most exciting time of year, when fresh-faced school pupils transform overnight into bleary-eyed students – all while scrupulously obeying government guidelines on alcohol use, of course.

It’s a great opportunity to try new things, or at the very least join new clubs and promptly forget about them. It’s also the most important time of year for youth politics.

The vast majority of student activists and party members are recruited at Freshers’ Fayres, so it’s important to have a decent operation to bring people in. That’s harder than it appears – aside from the cost in money and time, you need a strong team of young activists willing to give up their Freshers’ Week to stand at a stall. Fortunately, this year we do.

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV… Nick Clegg: Scotland needs to dare to be different

By The Voice | Mon 14th September 2009 - 1:20 pm

Over at Scotland on Sunday, Nick Clegg has an article arguing that “It’s the Liberal Democrats who have the record, the strength and the vision to change politics for good”. Here’s an excerpt:

It’s liberals who invented the state pension and the NHS, liberals who were first to campaign to protect the environment and liberals who first put concern for human rights into our foreign affairs. The Liberal Democrats are a pioneering party – the party of Charles Kennedy and Ming Campbell, who stood up against jeers and derision to campaign against the illegal invasion of Iraq. We led calls for

…

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Stephen Glenn

Haggis, Neeps and Liberalism #7: The Megrahi Documents

By Stephen Glenn | Wed 2nd September 2009 - 12:45 pm

The Megrahi case has ripped apart the peace of the Scottish Parliamentary recess, with even some former Lib Dem leaders taking a differing view to our leader in Holyrood. Today the UK Government and Scottish Parliament have released papers relating to the discussions that have gone one over the last two years. It ranges from correspondence between Westminster and Holyrood, to memos of meetings with Libyan officials, to the compassionate release request listing medical conditions.

These start chronologically with the first letter from then-Lord Chnacellor Lord (Charles) Falconer to Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond outlining the Memorandum of Understanding that Westminster had set up with Libya regarding a number of judicial issues. The Memorandum was drawn up to look at increasing bilateral co-operation covering, amongst other things, commercial and criminal issues. The legal issues were not exclusively about Mr Al Megrahi, but looking at the bigger picture of co-operation between the two nations at large. However, Lord Falconer did say that nothing could be ruled in or out, but that co-operation and consultation between Westminster and Holyrood would be carried forward.

However, it the path of the UK’s justice secretary Jack Straw’s correspondence that sheds a lot of light on the situation, especially considering the Labour response in Holyrood.

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Andrew Reeves

Haggis, Neeps and Liberalism #6

By Andrew Reeves | Mon 10th August 2009 - 12:50 pm

It has been a busy time in Scotland over recent weeks and what with Holyrood in recess for a month before Westminster broke up, there have been holidays to work around, babies being born, MPs standing down and candidates being selected all over as well as an away day for all parliamentarians and campaign staff.

Archie Scott was born earlier this week, weighing 8.5lbs to the delight of Kirsten and Tavish, our sincere congratulations to them both.

Alison and Mike Moore also have recently had a baby, Ella Louise. Now, Ella Louise was born prematurely so Mike …

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