Liberal Democrat Voice

Spelman drops Conservative pledges to abolish RDAs

By Mark Pack | Thu 3rd December 2009 - 11:40 am

So, what is the Conservative Party policy on Regional Development Agencies (RDAs)?

Well, here is Iain Dale on the matter in February:

Cameron Reinforces Pledge to Abolish RDA’s & Assemblies
David Cameron has given an interview to BBC South East, to be shown at lunchtime tomorrow in which he pledges to abolish Regional Development Agencies. Good. There had been some speculation that the Tories were wavering on that commitment.

Or here is what Public Servant magazine reported last year of both Cameron and Eric Pickles:

Tory leader David Cameron has confirmed what Public Servant magazine reported in its April issue, that the Conservatives

…

Posted in News | Tagged caroline spelman, david cameron, eric pickles and regional development agencies | 12 Comments

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Daily View 2×2: 3 December 2009

By Alex Foster | Thu 3rd December 2009 - 11:17 am

Good morning and welcome to Daily View. With just 28 days until the end of a year, what an ideal time to hear Delia on Woman’s Hour and prepare for Christmas – whatever your gender.

Today is the anniversary both of Elvis’s ’68 Comeback Special and the awful Indian Bhopal disaster where, in 1984, a chemical leak killed thousands and injured hundreds of thousands. The Guardian has a photo series.

Today we also sing happy birthday to Eamonn Holmes and remember International Day of Disabled Persons.

2 Big Stories

Gays won’t go to heaven, says cardinal

Over in the Telegraph is the latest skirmish in the battle between Catholics and homosexuals.

“Transsexuals and homosexuals will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven and it is not me who says this, but Saint Paul,” said Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, 76. In remarks which outraged gay rights groups, he claimed that people were not born gay, but chose to embrace homosexuality of their own free will.

Posted in Daily View | Tagged daily telegraph, delia smith, gay rights, george monbiot, james may, Javier Lozano Barragan, lambs, ovine adolescence, roman catholic church, sheep and top gear | 3 Comments

Peckham Labour councillor quits party

By Mark Pack | Thu 3rd December 2009 - 7:51 am

This in from Peckham Liberal Democrats:

Labour Councillor for Peckham Ward, Ola Oyewunmi has sensationally quit the party and applied to join the Liberal Democrats. In her letter of resignation she accused Labour of ‘running out of ideas, energy and time.’

Ola had been a member of the Labour party for more than 10 years and was elected as a councillor in 2006. Ola has worked with people with mental health problems for many years and it was a combination of Labour closing the emergency clinic at the Maudsley hospital and Nick Clegg’s commitment to a fairer deal for

…

Posted in News | Tagged labour party, nick stanton, ola oyewunmi and southwark | 10 Comments

Cameron: more Hague than Blair? How the Tory leader has lost sight of his strategy

By Stephen Tall | Wed 2nd December 2009 - 11:20 pm

That’s the question the Indy’s Steve Richards asks in a persuasively argued column today:

David Cameron’s leadership of his party is often compared with Tony Blair’s during the period up to the 1997 election. … The comparison is one of the most misleading in British politics. … for the election leading a party that proposes tax cuts for the well-off and married couples, massive spending cuts whether or not Britain is out of recession, withdrawal from the social chapter and a renegotiation of the Lisbon Treaty. … The trajectory of Cameron’s leadership is much closer to another former leader. He might have tried to learn from the New Labour guidebooks on how to win elections, but inadvertently he has followed more closely the course adopted by one of his own recent predecessors. …

Both Hague and Cameron are outstanding parliamentary performers, witty and quick to exploit the weaknesses of political opponents. Both are calm under fire. Both started to shift their positions when they appointed press secretaries to advise them on the media. Amanda Platell urged Hague to adopt more right-wing and populist policies. Andy Coulson has sometimes advised Cameron to do the same on issues such as immigration, crime and tax cuts.

Posted in News | Tagged conservative party, david cameron, featured, steve richards, tony blair and william hague | 26 Comments

PMQs: Nick tackles Gordon on the new strategy for Afghanistan

By Stephen Tall | Wed 2nd December 2009 - 9:25 pm

There’s no doubt today’s PMQs belonged to Gordon Brown. It’s not necessarily that he answered the questions any better than usual – that seems to be an acknowledged superfluity for the Prime Minister – but his performance was miles more energetic and confident than usual.

Mr Brown was also helped by an over-defensive David Cameron, who seemed to have no quips prepared for the inevitable assaults by the Prime Minister on the Tories’ tax cuts for millionaires, and the tax-avoiding non-dom status of Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith. Especially effective were the Prime Minister’s withering put-downs – “The more he talks, …

Posted in PMQs | Tagged afghanistan, david cameron, gordon brown, nick clegg and PMQs | 1 Comment

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Tory split on climate change

By David Pollard | Wed 2nd December 2009 - 9:02 pm

A pretty comprehensive story in today’s Independent shows how split the Tories are on Copenhagen and climate change policies. The article is refreshing in that it names names, most of whom are the usual right wing suspects. For quite some time Nigel Lawson has been touring the Country pushing his Climate Change denial message and he seems to have drawn some heavyweight Tories with him (if you can call John Redwood, Peter Lilley and Ann Widdicome heavyweight).

David Davis on the other hand in a two column article produces a much more balance view. When you have waded through all …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged climate change, david davis, environment and nigel lawson | 2 Comments

Opinion: One day to save the world

By Robson Brown | Wed 2nd December 2009 - 2:17 pm

December 5th will see the Copenhagen climate change summit get underway, for two weeks of talks that must lead to a successor agreement to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and perhaps something as binding and successful as the 1987 Montreal Protocol that led to the phasing out of harmful CFC and HCFC propellants.

The talks are a long time coming; 2009 is the tail-end of the deadline for agreement already set by world leaders in Bali in 2007.

But we’re already seeing problems with what is being proposed. China and the USA, between them responsible for 42% of the world’s CO2 emissions from fuel combustion, have proposed uninspiring emissions targets based on high 2005 figures, and Barack Obama has raised the possibility that no agreement will be reached.

Frankly, this is unacceptable, and we think it’s time for a bit of old-fashioned co-ordinated civil action to remind world leaders that actually, the people of this planet want to see radical action on a bold, even savage, scale. The time for talking is over – we need firm commitments on what will happen and how, before it’s too late. So why not join us and thousands of others this Saturday to help save the world?

Posted in Events and Op-eds | Tagged copenhagen summit and liberal youth | 6 Comments

Parliamentary by-elections get four weeks shorter – and why it matters

By Mark Pack | Wed 2nd December 2009 - 11:50 am

The average length of Parliamentary by-election campaign has shrunk by four weeks since the 1970s, sharply narrowing the chance for the public to find out about the candidates presented to them and stifling openness in the candidate selection processes which frequently now have to be run at break-neck pace.

The legal timetable for a Parliamentary by-election between moving of writ and polling day has some scope for variation, but essentially is three weeks. However, there is no fixed time between a seat falling vacant, e.g. due to an MP dying or stepping down, and the writ being moved.

In the 1974-79 Parliament, …

Posted in Election law and Parliamentary by-elections | 15 Comments

Where next for Lib Dem Bloggers’ Internetty Meetup Thing?

By Alex Foster | Wed 2nd December 2009 - 11:20 am

Just two weekends ago, we helped run a moderately successful Bloggers’ Unconference in Edinburgh, the guests of the Scottish Liberal Democrats at their HQ in Clifton Terrace. The Scottish Lib Dems were generous with their facilities and their time, giving us a room for a day, feeding us, and making sure lots of interesting senior Scottish Lib Dems came to talk to us. In the end four English bloggers made the …

Posted in Events and Online politics | Tagged #ldunconf, brussels, edinburgh, manchester, maybe, maybe not, nottingham and reading | 9 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 2 December 2009

By Iain Roberts | Wed 2nd December 2009 - 6:56 am

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

The whole Isle of Dogs appears to have an opinion on Zac Goldsmith, at least if this entirely random and representative sample of two is to be believed. I wonder whether they’re for or against?
Lynne Featherstone reminds us just why World AIDS Day is still so important.

UPDATE: Another must-read blog post: who wears the (frilly) knickers at Cowley Street?

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

2 Big Stories

Ever wondered how Cheryl Cole gets her big hair?

Posted in Daily View | Tagged lynne featherstone | 3 Comments

+++ Labour set to legislate for a referendum on AV to be held after general election

By Mark Pack | Tue 1st December 2009 - 11:05 pm

The news from the Labour Party is that they will legislate before the general election for a referendum on PR – to be held after the next general election.

The referendum would be on AV (the alternative vote versus the status quo).

UPDATE:

The proposal raises two issues: timing of referendum and choice of options within it.

My own preference on timing would have been for Tony Blair to have stuck to his promises, and Labour to have stuck to their manifesto, with a referendum on electoral reforms years ago. But given where we are now, this proposal is the best of the options …

Posted in News | Tagged electoral reform | 26 Comments

Chris Huhne tackles Alan Johnson on Gary McKinnon’s extradition

By The Voice | Tue 1st December 2009 - 8:50 pm

Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne today tackled Alan Johnson on his decision not to block the extradition of computer hacker Gary McKinnon, who has Asperger’s, to the USA. (LDV has previously covered the story here). Their exchange in the Commons today is recorded below, and you can read the whole Hansard debate here:

Chris Huhne (Eastleigh) (LD): The Home Secretary is, in my view, a very brave man to hold out his judgment of the medical condition—and of the worsening of the medical condition—of Gary McKinnon against such overwhelming evidence as we have heard from the hon.

…

Posted in Parliament | Tagged alan johnson, chris huhne, extradition laws and gary mckinnon | 3 Comments

Rees-Moggery, or … well, I never realised that!

By Gwyn Griffiths | Tue 1st December 2009 - 7:25 pm

You can tell that a general election is coming when William Rees-Mogg starts using his Times column to talk up his various offspring who have been selected as Conservative candidates, linked to reminiscing about his own efforts in the Tory cause – “I recall that when I contested Dunny on the Wold in 1867 Benjamin D. was most generous in his advice and time”.

In past years these columns have entertained us with their somewhat optimistic views of likely familial success – I especially enjoyed his claims of an unsuspected Tory breakthrough in Fife!

This time two of …

Posted in News | Tagged william rees-mogg | 5 Comments

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:

Posted in Scotland | Tagged alex salmond, ashay ghai, calman commission, devolution, fiona hyslop, iain smith, mike russell, scottish independence, snp, tavish scott and tax | Leave a comment

Is the Lib Dem Euro-referendum pledge being dropped?

By The Voice | Tue 1st December 2009 - 4:00 pm

Cast your mind back a few months. Speaking on Radio 4’s You and Yours on 16th June 2009, Nick Clegg said the only way to sort out the debate about EU membership was to

have a referendum in this country as to whether we stay in or stay out. What we can’t do is to be a member of a club and complain about it from the sidelines.

That Lib Dem policy may have started out as a quick fix to get the party out of a tight spot, but as it’s been stuck to, it’s become seen by many as …

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged european union and ming cambell | 25 Comments

LibLink … Stephen Tall: Help save Labour with PR? No thanks

By Helen Duffett | Tue 1st December 2009 - 3:09 pm

Compass, the left-leaning pressure group, has launched a campaign for a referendum on proportional representation. Music to the Lib Dems’ ears?

Lib Dem Voice’s own Stephen Tall explains today at Comment is Free why it’s not something we’ll be supporting as a party, this side of the General Election:

Labour has had 12 years in which to renew the democratic fabric of this country. They failed to do anything about it because, quite simply, they didn’t care enough about it. If they care now, it is only because it’s expedient to; and expediency is the worst possible motive for reform.

Stephen argues …

Posted in LibLink | Tagged alternative vote, compass, electoral reform and stephen tall | 8 Comments

This month’s Parliamentary selections

By Helen Duffett | Tue 1st December 2009 - 2:50 pm

Courtesy of the LibDems4Parliament Resource Centre, here is the list of PPC selections closing this month:

Broadland Norfolk – PPC (04 Dec 2009)
Huntingdon – PPC (04 Dec 2009)
Cambridge – PPC (05 Dec 2009)
Chelsea & Fulham – PPC (09 Dec 2009)
Chatham & Aylesford – PPC (11 Dec 2009)
Newcastle-under-Lyme (Staffs) – PPC (12 Dec 2009)

…

Posted in Selection news | 2 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 1 December 2009

By Helen Duffett | Tue 1st December 2009 - 1:23 pm

Welcome to December (political pinch-punch and no returns?)

Today is World Aids Day and also 90 years since the first female MP, Nancy Astor, took her seat in the Commons.

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

UKIP HOW RUDE! Thats not your website

Bracknell Blog spots a domain squatter.

What St Austell Bay means for Cornwall (clue: lots more Lib Dems)

Alex Folkes has been a very good blogger all year and deserves a swingometer for Christmas.

Posted in Daily View | Tagged bracknell blog, david cameron, nancy astor and paul waugh | Leave a comment

‘Best of the Noughties’: LDV’s Polls of the Decade

By Stephen Tall | Tue 1st December 2009 - 12:55 pm

It’s December, folks, and the last month of the decade* we’ve never quite been able to bring ourselves to call ‘The Noughties’. In celebration of its passing, Lib Dem Voice will be running a series of polls for which we’re seeking your help.

What categories would you like to see polled? My draft list of 21 includes the following politics, media and culture ‘Best ofs’:

Liberal Democrat Politician of the Decade
Liberal Democrat Backbencher of the Decade
Conservative Politician of the Decade
Labour Politician of the Decade
Most Influential Campaigner of the Decade
Best Political Speech of the Decade
Best

…

Posted in LDV Awards and Voice polls | 4 Comments

LDV doesn’t do statporn, but if we did (Nov. ‘09)

By Stephen Tall | Tue 1st December 2009 - 12:50 pm

… We’d say a big thank you to the 29,252 ‘absolute unique visitors’* who read Liberal Democrat Voice in November.

This brings our absolute unique visitor readership for the last year to date (1 Dec 2008 – 30 Nov 2009) to 292,073, over 40% higher than the equivalent figure for 2007-08 of 205,099.

The 5 top-read stories during the month were:

Posted in Site news | Tagged statporn | Leave a comment

Libel law reform proposed by Lib Dem Lord Lester

By Mark Pack | Tue 1st December 2009 - 11:50 am

The Press Gazette reports:

Human rights barrister Lord Lester has drawn up a defamation reform bill which he says has cross-party support and would be available to whoever wins next year’s general election.

According to the Sunday Times, the Lib Dem peer’s “moderate” bill would tackle the issues of libel tourism and the huge costs to publishers of cases brought under no win, no fee rules…

Lord Lester’s bill would:

Reform the no-win no-fee which makes the costs so high for publishers that they often settle just to minimise their risks.

End the rule whereby every time a web story is downloaded it counts

…

Posted in News | Tagged libel and lord lester | 2 Comments

Christmas posting dates 2009

By Mark Pack | Tue 1st December 2009 - 11:20 am

On the obviously very slim chance that The Voice’s activist readers haven’t already finished sending off all their Christmas cards (paper or electronic) to family, friends, deliverers, helpers, councillors, would-be candidates, favourite members of ex-party staff (hint, hint) and so on – and are still stuck using that largely nineteenth century technology, the Christmas Card – the last posting dates are:

Posting Christmas cards

International Airmail: 4 December is the earliest (varies with country)
Second Class: 18 December
First Class: 21 December
Special Delivery: 23 December

Details for other postal options and the full list of countries …

Posted in News | Leave a comment

Majority of public think men are paid more than women for doing equal jobs

By Mark Pack | Tue 1st December 2009 - 9:40 am

According to a poll carried out last month by MORI, the majority of people believe that men are paid more than women for doing equal work.

The poll found that 52% of people disagree with the statement that men and women receive the same pay for doing jobs of equal value. Overall 40% think that men and woman are paid equally. There is however a big gender gap – 48% of men think men and women are paid equally but only 32% of women.

The poll also found that 85% of people agree with introducing “a legal requirement for employers to conduct annual pay …

Posted in Polls | Tagged equalities and mori | Leave a comment

New copyright rules for Lib Dem Voice

By Alex Foster | Tue 1st December 2009 - 9:24 am

There now follows a short notice updating you on the copyright rules we use for articles that appear on Lib Dem Voice after 1st December. In effect, these are the rules we have used all along, but we are now putting them on a more formal footing.

Articles that appear on the Lib Dem Voice after 1st December 2009 will be copyright Lib Dem Voice and the original author, and will be licensed under the Creative Commons terms Attribution, Non-commercial licence.

Lib Dem Voice reserve the right to use material commercially to further the aims of the blog. Articles from before

…

Posted in Site news | 3 Comments

House of Lords reshuffle: Chris Rennard joins front-bench team

By Mark Pack | Mon 30th November 2009 - 10:44 pm

There’s been a small reshuffle of the Liberal Democrat team in the House of Lords. The most notable change is Chris Rennard joining the front bench teams for Constitutional Affairs and for Communities & Local Government.

Other changes included Sue Miller stepping down from Home Affairs, to be replaced by Sally Hamwee. Graham Tope takes over at Communities & Local Government.

The full Lords team is:

Leader

Lord McNally

Deputy Leader

Lord Dholakia

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

Lord Razzall
Lord Vallance of Tummel
Lord Sharman
Lord Cotter (Small Business)
Baroness Sharp of Guildford (Science and Technology)

Innovation, Universities and Skills

Baroness Garden
Lord Cotter (Skills)

Cabinet Office

Lord Maclennan of Rogart

Children, Schools and

…

Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged chris rennard | 33 Comments

The FT on Zac Goldsmith

By Mark Pack | Mon 30th November 2009 - 8:45 pm

The Financial Times Westminster Blog gives Zac Goldsmith a thorough going over today over his tax affairs and his status as a non-dom.

The FT piece includes pointing out how the Richmond Conservative Party’s own website talks about their desire to crack down on non-doms and also David Cameron’s past criticisms of non-doms for not paying enough tax. I wonder if they knew they were talking about their own candidate, Zac Goldsmith, at the time…

You can read the full post about Zac Goldsmith here.

Posted in News | Tagged zac goldsmith | 2 Comments

LDVideo: Nick speaks about launch of Lib Dem tax plans

By Stephen Tall | Mon 30th November 2009 - 6:45 pm

Here for LDV readers’ delectation is Nick Clegg speaking to camera just after launching the Lib Dems’ tax proposals for the next election: tax cuts for millions of people paid for by closing tax loopholes, making polluters pay and introducing a mansion tax on homes worth over £2m.

Posted in News and YouTube | Tagged nick clegg and tax | 4 Comments

Nick: Government’s Afghanistan strategy “over-ambitious in aim and under-resourced in practice”

By The Voice | Mon 30th November 2009 - 5:05 pm

The BBC reports:

Gordon Brown has confirmed he will send 500 more troops to Afghanistan, taking the total UK deployment to over 10,000. He told MPs all conditions had now been met to send the extra personnel and that eight other countries had also offered additional troops. The UK force level will reach 9,500 but special forces takes this to 10,000.

Here in full is Nick Clegg’s Commons response to Gordon Brown’s announcement:

I join the Prime Minister in recognising and commending the enormously impressive work of our Armed Forces in Afghanistan.
Finally it has become mainstream to talk about the need for a big shift in strategy in Afghanistan.
When I first questioned the effectiveness of our action there six months ago and called for this kind of step-change, I was told it was unpatriotic.
The Prime Minister’s change of tone since then has been dramatic – and welcome.
The Liberal Democrat approach to Afghanistan has always been simple: we should do this properly or not at all.

Posted in Europe / International and Parliament | Tagged afghanistan, gordon brown, house of commons and nick clegg | 1 Comment

Whitehall whips Wirral in off-the-shelf smackdown

By Chris White | Mon 30th November 2009 - 4:15 pm

There is no local controversy which cannot be worsened by central government intervention.

Not many political parties say much about libraries in their manifestos. And they don’t tend to get raised as an issue on the doorstep – potholes, litter, crime and the level of council tax are much more popular topics.

Posted in Local government and Op-eds | 8 Comments

Opinion: Nation’s campaigners kickstarted

By Alex Foster | Mon 30th November 2009 - 3:53 pm

Yesterday saw the conclusion of ALDC‘s annual training event Kickstart, designed for councillors and campaigners who are defending and targetting council seats at next year’s local elections.

Next year is a special year indeed, because in all probability the General Election will happen on the same day as local elections. Whilst this is nothing new, the councils that are facing election this time are …

Posted in Events, Local government and Op-eds | 1 Comment

Op-eds

Observations of an ex pat: Stormy Red Sea (Tom Arms)
By-Election Report 01.10.26 (Joe Nutt)
Picking our allies, a perspective on Israel/Palestine (Gillian Mosely)
Burnham is right to reform the triple lock; the Lib Dems should support it (James Hill)
Why I won’t Wayve goodbye to Black Cabs (Christian de Vartavan)

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Vince Cable writes: Drill, baby, drill…or not

Lib Dems must do better on Burnham

Britain should be proud, but never afraid of the stranger

Lib Dem Women: Amplifying women’s voices at Conference

2 Big Stories

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

2 Big Stories

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

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