Andy Mayer has a very good take on a recent defection from the Liberal Democrat group in Southwark.
Subscribe
-
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
-
Like us on Facebook
-
Subscribe to our feed
-
Sign-up for our daily email digest
Most Read
- Ed Davey on the Budget: British people need real change and fast
- Mathew on Monday: Prime Minister, it's time to restore our freedom to move across Europe
- Polls Apart: The dehumanisation of Palestinians
- Conservative Councillor joins Lib Dems in West Berkshire
- A Liberal Vision for Britain’s Overseas Territories
Search
Op-eds
-
Scottish Lib Dems defeat SNP on Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence Bill (Caron Lindsay)
-
How housebuilding can tackle the cost of living crisis and boost growth (Rob Blackie)
-
The Independent View: Nobody falls in love with a manifesto (James Bradford)
-
Bridges Matter (Francis Chubb)
-
For disabled people, a simple game of football comes with a terrifying price tag: their benefits (Jean-François Burford)
-
Burnham's housing black hole
-
Bishop's Castle Town Council sees the importance of supporting residents during a food crisis
-
Assembly Rooms toilet row - Ludlow council "not a bottomless pit"
-
Former Green Mayor Ian Conlan joins Lib Dems
-
The Manchurian Candidate (the 1962 version)
-
The Red Lady of Paviland
Recent Comments
e
Following 'fearless' Farage's initial announcement the 'Daily Express' comment section was full of outraged Reform voters blaming 'Labour Yobs' for a planned ph...
Ken Westmoreland
@Cody Nice piece, but I fear that many Lib Dem members see the OTs as embarrassing anachronisms and economic parasites; when I wrote a piece on them nearly two ...
Tim
@cim, when there is demand for workers, people train in the relevant skills - just look at Milton K, which builds far more houses relative to population than mo...
Simon Robinson
Very good article @Rob. Yes, the housing shortage is indeed the major cause of the cost of living crisis, and your analysis of how that is pushing rents and hou...
George Thomas
I have seen a George Monbiot Question Time clip where he explains that Wales could have been one the wealthiest parts of the UK but it's been the subject of an ...
4 Comments
A good article, although rather than getting on one’s moral high horse when someone defects to another party by requesting a by-election, we should favour legislation by making it compulsory.
Appreciated. The thinking in this case is that Labour might actively wish to pursue a by-election to test their own claims that residents don’t want the Liberal Democrat-Conservative coalition running services. That was also the main reason cited for the defection.
That they don’t, suggests a certain lack of confidence. The Borough’s MORI polls certainly seem to indicate that resident satisfaction continues to rise, although this wasn’t reflected in the swings during this year’s election.
Interesting idea in respect of automatic by-elections. Currently though the principle (for single/multi-member constituency elections) is that we elect an individual who happens to represent a party, rather than a party that happens to be represented by individuals. Automatic by-elections would reverse that principle which needs thinking about in respect of what impact it would have on the power of parties and role of independents.
Instinctively I believe we tend to favour empowering the individual against the institution so I’m not sure we should go down that route.
I feel the same as Andy about automatic by-elections. It would increase the power of the parties by creating a big disincentive for councillors who feel as an issue of conscience that they should leave their group to do so. What about where a councillor is thrown out by their group – should that cause a by-election too?
If constituents are unhappy with a defector’s decision, they can vote them out at the next election same as any other councillor with whom they disagree on an issue.
The record for defecting and defecting back is 2 days, so 7 years is not bad. This was set last year in Manchester when Councillor David Royle resigned on the Wednesday from Labour, joined us, did a Press Release and then defected back on the Friday.
His indecision has not done him any favours – that said, his record as a Lib Dem Councillor was 2 days! Anyone beat that?