Stephen Tall

What Simon Hughes said about coalition politics in 2008

By Stephen Tall | Fri 2nd July 2010 - 10:50 am

In 2008 – when the general assumption was that the Tories would win an overall majority – the Hansard Society published a collection of essays on the impact of a balanced parliament on British politics, titled No Overall Control.

One of its contributors was Simon Hughes, then the Lib Dems’ shadow leader of the House, now our deputy leader. So how does what Simon said over two years ago about a hypothetical future measure up to what’s happening in the current reality?

Pretty well in most respects is the answer. While arguing that a balanced parliament was a less-than-likely eventuality, …

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Stephen Tall

David Miliband backs Alternative Vote reform, lays down gauntlet to Cameron

By Stephen Tall | Fri 2nd July 2010 - 9:40 am

With Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg set to announce 5th May, 2011, as the date of the referendum on electoral reform, David Miliband – currently the leading contender to become the next Labour leader – was this morning asked the direct question whether he would back the move to the Alternative Vote. His answer was unequivocal: yes, and he would be infavour of Labour members campaigning for it during the referendum campaign:

I think that it’s important that we move to a system where every Member of Parliament has at least 50 per cent of the vote of their constituents.”

It’s …

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Mark Pack

Labour’s dinosaur tendency rides again

By Mark Pack | Fri 2nd July 2010 - 8:55 am

Many, many years ago John Gilbert, then a Labour MP, gained widespread respect across the political spectrum for his penetrating questioning of the government over the Westland helicopter crisis. But that was then and now he’s a politician of a rather different type as shown by his contribution to the debate on Lords reform held earlier in the week:

We come to the question of who will be elected to come here . You would get the sort of oik – for Hansard’s benefit, oik is spelt OIK – that could not get into the Commons, Europe, the Scottish Parliament

…

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Posted in Parliament | Tagged | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV doesn’t do statporn, but if we did (June ’10)

By Stephen Tall | Thu 1st July 2010 - 8:45 pm

… We’d say a big thank you to the 49,916 ‘absolute unique visitors’* who read Liberal Democrat Voice in June.

Though that’s way down on our May 2010 figure of c.136,000, that was an exceptional month – with a general election plus the formation of the new coalition government. In fact, compared with June 2009, Lib Dem Voice’s readership is up by one-third.

This brings our absolute unique visitor readership for the last year to date (1 July 2009 – 30 June 2010) to 582,154, over 80% higher than the equivalent figure for 2008-09 of 322,654.

The 5 top-read stories during the month were:

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Helen Duffett

Clegg to announce AV referendum date “next week”

By Helen Duffett | Thu 1st July 2010 - 6:35 pm

Reuters reports:

Liberal Democrats want a date to be set for a referendum on the move to the Alternative Vote system as a tangible reward for their role as junior coalition partners with the Conservatives.

The LibDems hope a vote can be held as early as next May, although AV actually falls short of their desire for a genuinely proportional voting system.

“I’m hoping to make an announcement literally in a couple of days, next week,” Clegg said in answer to a question after making a speech in London.

Read the full piece here.

And as Mark’s already blogged, it’s not too soon …

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Helen Duffett

Nick Clegg launches “Your Freedom”

By Helen Duffett | Thu 1st July 2010 - 6:13 pm

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Charlotte Henry

Opinion: General Election 1.5 – 2010, the almost Internet Election

By Charlotte Henry | Thu 1st July 2010 - 11:20 am

As a Lib Dem working in online and multimedia communications, the concept of an ‘Internet election’ is something I have thought quite a lot about. In the build up to the election I expressed my concerns about the Lib Dems use of online tools on my own blog.

I am pleased to say that on a national level my fears were misplaced. Our online campaign was excellent, and by far the best of the three major parties.  In particular the Labservative spoof campaign was innovative, eye catching, and added a new entry to the politco dictionary. It was exactly the …

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Posted in Online politics and Op-eds | Tagged | 6 Comments
Mark Pack

Lib Dems in the news

By Mark Pack | Thu 1st July 2010 - 8:50 am

Willie Rennie has stopped being a Special Advisor and is reported to be planning to run for the Scottish Parliament.

Welsh Assembly member Mick Bates has pleaded not guilty to assault charges.

Posted in News | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Helen Duffett

Election court agrees to examine Oldham East slur leaflet

By Helen Duffett | Wed 30th June 2010 - 9:23 pm

As we reported last month the Liberal Democrat candidate for Oldham East and Saddleworth was petitioning for a hearing of an election court, alleging a breach of the Representation of the People Act (1983).

The BBC now reports:

A court is to examine claims that a Labour Party election leaflet from former minister Phil Woolas linked an opponent to Muslim “extremists”.

An election court has agreed to hear the case brought by Liberal Democrat candidate Elwyn Watkins.

He claims Labour falsely portrayed him as taking “illegal” foreign donations.

The court could order a fresh election in the Oldham East and Saddleworth

…

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Posted in Election law | Tagged , , and | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #175

By Stephen Tall | Wed 30th June 2010 - 8:30 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 175th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (20th – 26th June, 2010), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox – just click here – ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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Paul Walter

PMQs: Cameron does not butter a single parsnip

By Paul Walter | Wed 30th June 2010 - 6:20 pm

Well I must say, there was some dazzling stuff at Prime Minister’s questions today. But for those who might have expected some light, rather than heat, to emerge; there was disappointment. The score was 5-5 in footballing terms. A dazzling draw.

Harriet Harman’s display of debating skill was particularly stunning today. Her point was very simple and powerful. 1.3 million jobs will be lost as a result of government budget cuts, says a report this morning.

David Cameron didn’t deny this estimate came out of the treasury or say that he would publish what Harman called these “hidden treasury documents”. He did …

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Posted in PMQs | Tagged | 39 Comments
Don Foster MP

Opinion: Let live music flourish in small venues

By Don Foster MP | Wed 30th June 2010 - 5:10 pm

A few months ago, I was lucky enough to see the Brit Awards 2010 at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. When people say that UK live music is doing well, this is what they mean – an enormous venue, world class talent, and an ecstatic crowd. I was particularly impressed with Florence Welch and Dizzee Rascal’s performance, which combined both of their distinct musical outlooks with great success.

Now that Labour has been booed offstage, the coalition partners have got up for a similarly ambitious duet. For such established solo performers, trying to make our different styles gel will be …

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Mark Pack

Opening up data: the experience with election data

By Mark Pack | Wed 30th June 2010 - 2:20 pm

A review has just been published into the ‘Open Election Data’ project, which was an attempt to make local election results available from councils in a format which would allow others to collate, republish, analyse or otherwise use the data. (At the moment the data is often put online in very inaccessible and inconsistent ways – e.g. one council might have election results in a pdf, another in a graphic file, another as text on the page and so on.)

The list of lessons learnt from the project casts a wider light on why the public sector so often seems …

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Lester Holloway

Opinion: If we fail to address the image of an all-white party our reputation alone will put off future black and Asian people from joining

By Lester Holloway | Wed 30th June 2010 - 12:20 pm

The Liberal Democrats are showing signs of getting serious about tackling the chronic under-representation of black and Asian talent in elected positions – and about time too.

In a groundbreaking move that was sadly unreported, the London Region recently agreed to introduce positive action in a bid to get at least one BAME hopeful onto the London Assembly, a body that represents a city where over a third of the population is from an ethnic minority.

The decision to reserve places – quotas by another name – on the ‘top-up list’ means the Lib Dems have gone further than any other political …

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Posted in London and Op-eds | Tagged , and | 131 Comments
Monroe Palmer

European voters can be important to electoral success in local elections

By Monroe Palmer | Wed 30th June 2010 - 10:20 am

As part of a 3-year London-wide initiative Liberal Democrats sought to connect with European voters who do not have a vote in UK General Elections. The European Voter Initiative (EUVI) was organised mainly by Dinti Batstone running up to the last European elections. On the back of specific fund-raising there was a vibrant contacting of European, non-UK, voters thus increasing the Liberal Democrat turnout in certain geographical areas for the European Elections. At the end of that campaign, out of funds that were available, a prize of £500 was offered to the local party which put together a specific campaign …

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Mark Pack

Julian Huppert elected to Federal Policy Committee

By Mark Pack | Wed 30th June 2010 - 9:20 am

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.

You can follow Julian on Twitter at @julianhuppert.

Posted in News and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged and | 8 Comments
Iain Roberts

Thanks Jack: Tory right finds a friend in Labour

By Iain Roberts | Wed 30th June 2010 - 8:20 am

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke is calling for cuts in Britain’s prison population, following the agenda set by the Lib Dems and previously opposed by both the Conservatives and Labour.

Those Labour activists still clinging desperately onto the idea that the Lib Dems are mere cheerleaders in the coalition are going to have to twist themselves into yet more contortions – or simply  ignore the facts – as they continue to push their line.

As Jack Straw writes in The Mail:

has allowed his government’s penal policy to be dictated not by his own common sense but by Justice Secretary Kenneth

…

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Ewan Hoyle

Opinion: drugs policy

By Ewan Hoyle | Tue 29th June 2010 - 11:16 pm

Saturday was World Drug Day, a day intended to serve as a reminder of the need to combat the problems illicit drugs pose to society. The problems are numerous, deadly serious, and close to overwhelming to many states around the globe but the current prohibitionist approach mandated by the UN drug conventions has failed to make any significant impact upon the profits of the criminal cartels, demand for their products, and the terrible consequences of the trade for communities in the UK and beyond.

The UK currently spends around £19 billion on the criminal justice system due to the criminalisation of …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 31 Comments
Iain Roberts

People in broad church parties should think twice before attacking coalitions

By Iain Roberts | Tue 29th June 2010 - 4:20 pm

There are plenty of political parties hanging on to their ideological purity, where all the members pretty much agree on all the key issues. They’re easy to spot: they’re the ones that always lose.

The big parties are compromises – broad churches – people who work together because they agree a bit more with each other than with the rest, or simply because it’s the tribe they’re in.

Broad church parties are necessary in our electoral system. Under First Past the Post, you need to get to a certain size to have any real chance of success, and there simply …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 20 Comments
Ed Long

Opinion: Hitting who the hardest?

By Ed Long | Tue 29th June 2010 - 2:20 pm

The contents of the emergency budget have been a bitter pill for many Lib Dem activists to swallow. I have to admit that my support for the Liberal Democrats has been mostly on the basis of their commitment to civil liberties, their scientific literacy (Evan Harris is greatly missed!) and their hard work in my local area. I can make no claims about being educated in economics but I like to think my Maths degree qualifies me as basically numerate.

Recently I read The Observer story on the briefing from Tim Horton (of Fabian Society, not doughnut, fame) and Howard …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 41 Comments
Mark Pack

Met set to lose £5m from collapse of Icelandic bank

By Mark Pack | Tue 29th June 2010 - 12:20 pm

London’s Metropolitan Policy Authority had £30m deposited with Landsbanki, the Icelandic bank which collapsed in late 2008. Combing through some of the latest financial information from the MPA, it’s clear that the MPA is now expecting (at best) to get 83% of that back, leaving the police with a £5.1m loss.

Ouch. Though not so ouch as to have stopped the £2m a year spent on chauffeur-driven cars for senior Met officers who don’t have a security need for one.

(To put these numbers in some context: the annual cost of a police constable is c.£60,000.)

Posted in London | Tagged | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

Preparing for the AV referendum: get asking

By Mark Pack | Tue 29th June 2010 - 10:20 am

With an AV referendum coming (most likely in the spring), there is plenty that local parties can already be doing to help win the referendum. I’ve already talked about the importance of fielding more local election candidates, so today’s post is about starting to ask questions of the public.

It’s never too early to start gathering voting intention data, even if you don’t yet know the exact candidate line-up, and likewise it’s never too early to start gathering referendum voting intentions, even if we don’t yet know the exact question.

When it comes to electoral reform, opinion polls show us …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 27 Comments
Mark Pack

Should Lembit Opik be the Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor?

By Mark Pack | Tue 29th June 2010 - 9:20 am

The news that Lembit is interested in running for Mayor has produced a flurry of comment online from Liberal Democrats (such as Andrew Reeves’s piece) so over to you: what do you think?

Posted in London | Tagged and | 80 Comments
Mark Pack

Police pay damages to photojournalists

By Mark Pack | Tue 29th June 2010 - 8:50 am

The police’s problems with mistreating photographers just go on and on. Yesterday Helen reported on the latest incident – including the damning comment from a policeman who, when asked under what law he was demanding a photographer’s details, simply said “I don’t have to have any law”.

But also we have the recent news that the police are paying compensation after an incident outside the Greek Embassy in 2008 when they stopped two photojournalists taking photographs. As the Press Gazette reported,

Vallée had his camera pulled away from his face and the lens of Parkinson’s video camera was covered by

…

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Mark Pack

Two Lib Dem MPs rebel over VAT

By Mark Pack | Tue 29th June 2010 - 7:37 am

The Guardian:

The coalition faced its first rebellion last night when two Liberal Democrat MPs voted against a budget proposal to increase VAT to 20%.

Bob Russell and Mike Hancock voted with Labour to oppose the increase, which has alarmed many Lib Dems who warned during the election of a Tory VAT “bombshell”.

To shouts of “shame” from the Labour benches, the 2.5% increase in VAT from January was backed by 346 to 270, majority 76. Russell, MP for Colchester, and Hancock, MP for Porstmouth South, had earlier supported a backbench Lib Dem motion demanding a Treasury investigation into the impact on the

…

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Helen Duffett

Police detain teenager for photographing Armed Forces Day parade

By Helen Duffett | Mon 28th June 2010 - 6:35 pm

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Helen Duffett

Paul Burstow announces more power for patients in personal health budget pilot

By Helen Duffett | Mon 28th June 2010 - 4:32 pm

From the Department of Health comes this news:

Patients will be offered more choice and control over their healthcare with the launch of the first direct payment scheme, Care Services Minister Paul Burstow announced today.

Eight Primary Care Trusts will begin to road test direct payments for personal health budgets. This will allow Primary Care Trusts to give the money for someone’s care directly to them, allowing individuals to decide how, where and from whom they receive their healthcare, in partnership with the local NHS.

Previously, personal health budgets could only be held by a Primary Care Trust or third party.

The cost of …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 2 Comments
Ann Feltham

The Independent View: The first thing Vince should cut is funding for the arms trade

By Ann Feltham | Mon 28th June 2010 - 1:20 pm

Vince Cable’s new department, the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, was saddled with the heaviest round of cuts in the first round of cuts announced by the coalition government. They will have to find £836m of savings in 2010. Meanwhile the rest of us have been asked to participate in a comprehensive spending review.

There is one candidate for cuts that many in the Liberal Democrats and the country at large would be pleased with – an end to government support for arms exports. One way the government helps arms companies sell their weapons to other countries is …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged , and | 13 Comments
Chris White

Opinion: Observer’s dishonesty doesn’t disguise party challenges

By Chris White | Mon 28th June 2010 - 11:20 am

I was out drinking with a couple of Tory councillors the other day. This is not a frequent occurrence and has become no more frequent since the Coalition.

I learned that one of their acquaintance had resigned her Conservative Party membership because of the Coalition. She is a Thatcherite.

The days and weeks after the toughest budget for several decades were bound to be uncomfortable. None of us expected to see our Party lauded by the press.

The Guardian lambasted the budget for its effect on the poor, the Mail for its effect on middle England. I gave up and bought …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 26 Comments
Mark Pack

Government moves right, political agenda moves elsewhere

By Mark Pack | Mon 28th June 2010 - 9:20 am

Whether driven by circumstance or long-term plan, the reaction of David Cameron to the general election result has been an attempt to realign British politics around the centre-right, using the need to strike – and then keep an agreement – with the Liberal Democrats as a way to drag his party away from its more right-wing elements. Doubtless future biographers will spill much ink over what might have been had he got closer to the winning post on his own, or even past it, just as the question of how pluralistic Tony Blair would have been had he not got …

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Recent Comments

  • Big Tall Tim
    An excellent article Victor on the great work you are doing. It's a great shame people like David can't give credit where credit is due....
  • Scott Rennie
    Couldn’t agree more Karen. It’s the best speech in a generation, and more importantly an opportunity to build common cause on things that matter to us, like...
  • Nigel Jones
    I too thank you for this interesting article. Community has been in decline for decades in most parts of the country, but this seems particularly the case where...
  • David Le Grice
    All whilst playing second fiddle to the Green party of course. And credit for toppling Labour goes almost entirely to them. Something that was completely avoid...
  • Nigel Jones
    Sorry! in the above I meant to say " we should be heard more on NATIONAL issues when we are campaigning locally". How else can people know what we stand for on ...