Mark Valladares

By-election news: House of Lords

By Mark Valladares | Mon 22nd May 2023 - 4:05 pm

It’s been a very long time since a new Liberal Democrat peerage was created, in fact, my perhaps sketchy research suggests that the last Liberal Democrat life peer to take their seat was Andrew Stunell on 26 October 2015, whilst the last by-election for a Liberal Democrat hereditary peer was in April 2016, when John Thurso was elected to replace Eric Avebury.

But, following the retirement of crossbench peer Viscount Falkland in March, a vacancy has arisen. As he was one of the hereditary peers elected to be a Deputy Chairman of the House in 1999, the vacancy is to be filled by an election of the whole House. And, as he then sat on the Liberal Democrat benches, the expectation is that his replacement will sit on the Liberal Democrat benches.

Accordingly, three candidates have emerged, two of whom come from undoubtedly liberal backgrounds; Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor and Earl Russell (Conrad’s son, John), whilst the third, Lord Belhaven and Stenton, has offered a perfectly acceptable manifesto.

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Ulysse Abbate

ALDE Party Congress 2023: the expectations of your newest Council delegate

By Ulysse Abbate | Mon 22nd May 2023 - 12:27 pm

There are many ways I could support the Liberal Democrats and liberal values. As a Londoner, I could support our GLA team: one of the reasons I joined the Party was to oppose the Silvertown Tunnel. As a Young Liberal, I could join a group that gained councillors in 25 councils (and counting) – with 2 of those wins defeating incumbent Conservative Council leaders – in the local elections (which as Liberal Democrats, we should be mentioning at every possible opportunity…) and that created the app at Spring Conference in York. As an economist (or at least, an economist in-training), I could support the party’s policy team in designing an economic manifesto that deals with the manifold crises we face at the moment. So why, with all these options, have I looked to working on the international front as a place I can bring value to the Party.

Well to work this out, it’s important to look at how we work with our overseas partners. In Europe, we work under the umbrella of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (or ALDE Party), a group that brings together Liberals in Europe and includes 73 Member parties with representation in the EU institutions and beyond. Together, we build bridges, pass policy and try not to spiral into a discussion on electoral reform. One success story that came from our cooperation was announced last month by our FIRC Chair David Chalmers (and leader of the ALDE delegation) announcing the Lib Dem EU Liaison Councillor Scheme. In the upcoming Congress at Stockholm, I hope to do more and make sure the Liberal democrats are in a strong position to continue this cooperation.

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Matthew Green

David Patterson RIP

By Matthew Green | Mon 22nd May 2023 - 10:09 am

It is very sad to report that David Patterson passed away peacefully in hospital on 24 April 2023 at the age of 83. David was the backbone of Tooting Liberals and the Battersea and Tooting Liberal Democrats for more years than I can think of.

David’s sister reports that David was a Liberal as a teenager. He shot to (relative) fame by winning a Wandsworth Council by-election in the Earlsfield ward in October 1983, joining his colleague Paul Bowdage who had been elected at the 1982 all-up elections. Both subsequently lost their seats …

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Mark Valladares

Welcome to my day: 22 May 2023 – apologies for absence…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 22nd May 2023 - 7:22 am

I ought to start by apologising for the sense of editorial absence in recent weeks. In truth, I’ve struggled a bit for motivation but let’s see if we can get back on the horse and push on…

We won… and wasn’t it great?

So, the world of local government in England is a rather different place, as Liberal Democrat groups across the country have found themselves, expectedly or otherwise, in a position where they may, or may not, be part of administrations. Here in Suffolk, for example, the Conservatives lost control of Mid Suffolk, West Suffolk and East Suffolk, and Liberal Democrats are part of the mix in East Suffolk and Babergh. Here in Mid Suffolk, the Greens swept to power, taking twenty-four of the thirty-four seats to become the first majority Green administration in the Northern Hemisphere (and don’t we all know it?…).

And you might recognise the theory behind Green Party claims that the new Waveney Valley constituency is in play – after all, we tend to do the same thing after local government success. But, whilst we had an excellent set of results on 4 May, there are places where we are challenged by the Greens, and we need to give some thought to addressing where we’ve been pushed into third/fourth place by them.

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Mark Valladares

20-21 May 2023 – the weekend’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Sun 21st May 2023 - 10:30 pm
  • Ethics adviser must investigate Braverman
  • Braverman: By refusing investigation, Sunak is stealing page one from Johnson’s playbook
  • Coffey must apologise for the sewage scandal
  • Sunak must explain Braverman scandal in Parliament tomorrow

Ethics adviser must investigate Braverman

Responding to reports in the Sunday Times that Suella Braverman asked Home Office civil servants to help her avoid a speeding fine and points on her licence by arranging a private one-to-one driving awareness course, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said:

Once again for the Government, it’s one rule for them and another for the rest of us.

Suella Braverman may be in the driver’s seat at the Home Office but that doesn’t give her any excuse to appear to duck the law.

Braverman should be urgently investigated by the Ethics Adviser and add her name to the nearly endless list of Ministers who have had to undergo the same.

Time and time again we are seeing a conveyor belt of Conservative politicians run roughshod over the rules and drag our politics into the gutter. Now, the buck stops with Rishi Sunak himself to stop the endless headlines of sleaze and scandal.

Braverman: By refusing investigation, Sunak is stealing page one from Johnson’s playbook

Responding to the news that Rishi Sunak has so far refused to open an investigation into Suella Braverman, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said:

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Caron Lindsay

Liberals must speak out against conservative attacks on divorce and same sex marriage

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 21st May 2023 - 6:30 pm

Last week, Conservative MP Danny Kruger made some controversial remarks about marriage at the awful National Conservative Conference in London. He said:

The second truth is that the normative family – held together by marriage, by mother and father sticking together for the sake of the children and the sake of their own parents and for the sake of themselves – this is the only possible basis for a safe and successful society.

“Marriage is not all about you. It’s not just a private arrangement. It’s a public act, by which you undertake to live for someone else, and for wider society; and wider society should recognise and reward this undertaking.

I guess it is good in a way that these comments are now considered controversial. It does show how far we have come in the past few decades. Christine Jardine, our equalities spokesperson said Mr Kruger’s comments

show just how utterly out of touch the Conservative Party is with modern day Britain.

Conservative MPs are happy to lecture families on how to live, while making life harder and harder for millions of families through the cost-of-living crisis and years of unfair tax rises.

East Midlands Lib Dem commentator Mathew Hulbert did a good interview on Peter Cardwell’s Talk TV programme:

Mathew said:

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Caron Lindsay

Memories of the 1983 General Election – Detention, a bonfire and the relief of victory

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 21st May 2023 - 4:30 pm

Like first love, your first General Election is a special and precious thing.

Mine was 1983 and this post is inspired by the earlier one about Simon Hughes’ 40th anniversary celebration.

It must be pretty much exactly 40 years since I first walked into Bob Maclennan’s campaign HQ in Wick to ask for a copy of the manifesto. It certainly was a Saturday afternoon about 3 weeks before the election. They didn’t have one, but it took them an impressively short time to persuade me to deliver leaflets for them.

But all didn’t go smoothly. There was a lady in her garden burning some rubbish. I put on my best and most charming smile, and handed the leaflet to her. She gave me an absolute death stare and tossed the leaflet on the burning pile. I later discovered that she was a leading light in the local Conservatives. I have to say, that if a young person from an opposition party handed me a leaflet, I’d be impressed that they were interested in politics and I’d be very nice to them.

Anyway, that didn’t put me off and I became an an enthusiastic part of the campaign team. At 15, I was obviously the youngest by a very long way. It was great to spend my first campaign in the company of Bob, his wife Helen, his agent Peter Kelly and Ken and Brenda Fraser who were my friend’s parents but became my friends. Bob’s staff Jeanne and Con were also up with him. They were an impressive bunch to learn from.

Campaigning was so different back in those days. We actually had to cut up the electoral register to make canvass cards.  I remember one soggy Friday when we all got on to this truck thing and drove around Wick, with posters and megaphones, generally annoying everyone.

For me, I had just finished my O Grade exams so didn’t have to be in school much during May unless I had an exam. However, about a week before the election on 9 June, I had permission to be out of school to compete in the Caithness Music Festival. My bit was finished earlier than I expected so Helen spirited me away to the other side of the county to go canvassing. Unfortunately, one of my teachers saw me get into her car, so I ended up with the only detention I ever had to do as a result. However, I had learned about how to canvass with warmth and the personal touch. If people weren’t in, Helen left them a personal note to come home to.

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The Voice

Carmichael: Sunak is stealing from Boris playbook over Braverman

By The Voice | Sun 21st May 2023 - 2:30 pm

Today’s Sunday Times (£) reports that Home Secretary Suella Braverman tried to get civil servants to arrange a private driving awareness course so that she could get out of paying a speeding fine and having points on her licence. This, the paper says, contravenes the Ministerial Code as she asked civil servants to help her out with a private matter.

When the civil servants refused to help, she turned to a political aide who tried to persuade the course provider to agree to the arrangements.

After the requests were refused, Braverman, 43, who is a barrister and in charge of law enforcement, pulled out and opted to take the three points on her licence.

The revelations raise questions about whether she breached the ministerial code by directing civil servants to help with her personal affairs, and whether she has complied with the Nolan principles of public life — seven ethical standards which anyone working in public life is expected to adhere to. They are also written into the ministerial code.

Rishi Sunak’s claims of integrity in his government are compromised by his refusal to order an investigation into the Home Secretary’s conduct. Our Home Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said that this was straight out of Boris Johnson’s playbook:

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Caron Lindsay

Celebration of Simon Hughes’ 40 years in public life

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 21st May 2023 - 12:30 pm

On Friday night Southwark Lib Dems had a celebration to mark Simon Hughes’ 40 years in public life.

I find it quite scary that it’s 40 years since I,  then a teenager in the far north of Scotland, was inspired by his victory in the Bermondsey by-election. Nobody expected him to hold the seat in the General Election 4 months later, nor at many subsequent elections. I remember the heart-stopping in one election in the late 90s early 2000s when the BBC flashed up that he had lost. And he was a huge loss from our parliamentary team when he finally did lose in the horrendous election of 2015.

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review – 21 May 2023

By Tom Arms | Sun 21st May 2023 - 11:30 am

Diamonds are sexy.

That is why they are at the top of the new list of sanctions against Russia. They also represent only $4 billion of Russia’s exports. This is a fraction of what Russia is earning in sales of oil, gas and weapons to countries thumbing their noses at Western sanctions.

That is why Japanese Premier Fumio Kishida has invited eight additional world leaders to the G7 Summit in Hiroshima this weekend. Gone are the days when the top seven industrialised countries could dictate terms to the rest of the world. If sanctions against Russia are going to work they have to be world sanctions, not just western sanctions.

The additional countries at the table this weekend are India, Brazil, Australia, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Comoros and Cook Islands. They have been invited either because they are major economies and political powers in their own right or represent a region of the world.

Most of them are sceptical about Western sanctions and some of them—such as India—are flagrantly flouting them and helping to fund the Russian war machine. India has also refused to condemn Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Vietnam has a long history of close relations with Moscow that go back to the French colonial wars and the Vietnam War. It still buys 60 percent of its weaponry from Russia. Indonesia is also a big buyer of Russian weaponry.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (aka Lula) projects himself as a friend to everyone. He has met with American, Russian and Chinese leaders; and wants to set up a “peace club” to resolve the Ukraine War.

China is also high on the G7 agenda, especially as regards the sabre rattling around Taiwan. Prime Minister Kishida wants the expanded G7 to make a clear statement in favour of Taiwan. This will be difficult given that almost all of the countries represented are heavily invested in the Chinese economy.

The world is so much more complicated than in 1975 when Giscard d’Estaing hosted the inaugural G7 summit at Rambouillet.

Syria has become a Narco state

And its new found position in the world is one of the reasons that President Bashar al-Assad is hugging Middle East leaders at the Arab League summit in Jeddah this weekend.

Syria and its leader were effectively expelled from the Arab League 12 years ago when Assad responded to the Arab Spring with bullets and chemical weapons. Since then 500,000 Syrians have died and 6 million have been displaced. Assad has managed to cling to power with the help of Iran and Russia.

But Assad needed money to pay for the weapons needed to fight his civil war. The factories and markets had been largely reduced to rubble. The farmers have fled their fields for refugee camps. So Assad turned to the manufacture of drugs.

More specifically, a synthetic amphetamine called captagon which is also known as fenethylline. The drug was first developed in the US in 1961 and given to soldiers in Vietnam to help their combat performance. But by the 1980s the dangerous side effects had become known and the amphetamine was banned.

The Syrian captagon is a super-charged version of the 1960s amphetamine. It is highly addictive and causes irreversible damage to the brain’s circuits that govern impulse control and judgement. It basically takes away the ability to reason or think rationally.

This was the perfect drug for ISIS who have bought in large quantities from Syrian dealers in order to turn their fighters into a cross between screaming banshees and mindless zombies.

In recent years the market in the drug has expanded from ISIS fighters to include upper the young social elite in Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Recently a cache of 157 million tablets was found in shipment of flour bound for Saudi Arabia.

The Gulf States have been unable to stop their young people popping the Syrian-produced pills. So, they swallowed their pride and re-admitted Assad to the Arab fold in the hope that they can persuade him to shut down to the captagon labs.

Turkish elections

It looks bad for Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the second round of the Turkish elections on 28 May. Opinion polls predicted that he would top the three-man race last Sunday and possibly even win the 50 percent plus one vote needed to topple 20-year incumbent Tayyip Recep Erdogan in the first round.

The opinion polls were wrong. It was Erdogan who came out on top with 49.4 percent of the vote. Kilicdaroglu won 44.9 percent. Ultra nationalist Sinan Ogan secured five percent and his voters are more likely to back Erdogan than Kilicdaroglu in the second round.

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Mary Reid

Great results for Alliance in Northern Ireland local elections

By Mary Reid | Sun 21st May 2023 - 9:10 am

As we mentioned on Friday, the local elections in Northern Ireland took place two weeks later than the ones in England, so we have been able to focus this week on the progress of our sister party, the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland.

These are four year all-in, all-out elections using STV. Wards are grouped into District Electoral Areas which elect five, six or seven councillors, depending on size, so understandably, the count has been quite lengthy in some areas. In total 462 seats have been contested across 11 local councils, and the count was only completed at around midnight last night. I now understand why they moved the elections from the Thursday before the Coronation.

The headline news is that Sinn Féin has surged into a clear lead, with the Alliance also increasing its vote share substantially. The final status of the parties is:

  • Sinn Féin: 144 (up 38)
  • DUP: 122 (no change)
  • Alliance: 67 (up 14)
  • UUP: 54 (down 21)
  • SDLP: 39 (down 20)
  • Others: 36 (down 12)

This pattern is also reflected in the first preference vote share, where the Alliance lies in 3rd place behind Sinn Féin and the DUP, having leapfrogged the UUP and SDLP from fifth position in 2019.

The Alliance’s best result was in Lisburn and Castlereagh, just to the south of Belfast, where they have 13 seats, just one behind the DUP’s 14.

Congratulations on a great showing all round!

 

 

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Caron Lindsay

Thousands denied vote in local elections due to voter ID law

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 20th May 2023 - 2:38 pm

As we start to work out the impact of the Conservatives’ attempt at voter suppression, early analysis shows that at least 10,000 people lost out on the chance to vote in the local elections in May. Figures released by local councils suggest include those refused inside the polling stations and don’t count those turned away by greeters on the door.

From the BBC

David Cowling, a former BBC polling expert who is now a visiting research fellow at King’s College London, also says it must be borne in mind that some voters initially turned away later return with ID.

He says evidence from metropolitan borough councils, and the pilots, suggests around 60% of people initially refused a ballot return with valid ID – producing a rough figure of 0.2% refusals of the votes cast.

“That’s arguably 0.2% fewer people than there should be not participating – but on the other hand, it doesn’t seem to me that the death of democracy is on the agenda either,” he told BBC Radio 4’s More or Less.
He adds, however, that there are “imponderables” in the council data, including the fact that people turned back by so-called greeters outside polling stations were not included in the published figures.

This first outing for voter ID has taken place at a relatively low turnout set of elections. Turnout in the General Election will be higher and potentially more people will lose out on the opportunity to have their say.

This initial analysis comes in the week when Jacob Rees-Mogg basically admitted at the dreadful National Conservative conference that the measures had been introduced to boost Conservative support but he argued that they had lost the party votes:

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Tom Arms

Observations of an ex pat: US Debt crisis

By Tom Arms | Sat 20th May 2023 - 8:30 am

The US Congress and the Biden Administration are playing a dangerous game of chicken with the world economy.

Failure to raise the government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling by early June would lead to a default on the US debt with car crash results for the US and world.

Respected economists Joseph Bruselas and Tuan Nguyen reckon that an “actual default” would lead to US unemployment soaring from 3.4 percent to 12 percent; inflation rising to over 10 percent and the American economy contracting by 11 percent.

Interest rates would rise affecting household and business borrowings. America’s credit rating would be downgraded which would hit the value of the dollar. And since 70 percent of the world’s trade is conducted in dollars, the cost of everything would increase everywhere.

The saying goes that when America sneezes the rest of the world catches cold. The US is the world’s biggest importer of foreign goods and many countries are heavily dependent on the US market for their economic survival.

America swallows 20.6 percent of British exports, 19.2 percent of the European Union; 18.2 percent of Japan’s; 17.9 percent of Indian exports and a whopping 73.25 percent of Canadian exported goods and services.

Any repercussions will almost also include less predictable political and security implications. Empty stomachs create political instability which in turn lead to simple solution promises from the far left or right. They also create openings for autocracies such as China, Russia and Iran.

On Wednesday Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy said there could be “an agreement in principle” by this weekend to raise the “or suspend” the debt ceiling. He added that this could clear the way for a vote in the House next week. President Biden meanwhile is cutting short an Asia-Pacific tour to return for more talks.

McCarthy’s assurances, however, are suspect because of his lack of control of far-right Republican congressmen. To start negotiations, McCarthy required a vote on a proposal that would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion contingent on federal government savings of $4.8 trillion. It passed by the narrowest of margins: 217 to 215 votes. Four Republican congressmen voted against and have made it clear that if McCarthy tries to force through anything which does not include big cuts in welfare spending then they will vote him out of the Speaker’s chair and force a default.

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The Voice

Carer’s Leave Bill – a Lib Dem success

By The Voice | Fri 19th May 2023 - 5:49 pm

Our Bill to provide some support for carers has just passed its final stage in Parliament.

The Carer’s Leave Bill will give a statutory right to over 2 million carers to take five days of unpaid leave per year from their employment. It’s not a lot but it is definitely a step in the right direction, recognising the immense pressures on family members and others who provide substantial unpaid care to people with extra needs.

So congratulations to Wendy Chamberlain in the Commons and Chris Fox in the Lords for successfully steering the Bill through.

Chris Fox says:

I have had the privilege to hear first-hand from unpaid carers what a difference this Bill will make. I am proud to support it and hope that it will help millions of unpaid carers better balance work and care.

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Mary Reid

Northern Ireland local elections

By Mary Reid | Fri 19th May 2023 - 3:00 pm

When the date of the Coronation was announced some of us were concerned about the impact it might have on the local elections in England – in terms of campaigning and turnout. In the event it didn’t seem to have much effect, but they took the concern seriously in Northern Ireland which is why their local council elections took place yesterday.

There was no overnight counting and results are beginning to trickle in. Of course, the political landscape is rather different in Northern Ireland from England, but as Lib Dems we are watching the performance of our sister party, the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland.

All seats are up for grabs – 462 in total across 11 councils. Last time round, in 2019, Alliance lay in fifth position overall with 53 seats, 21 up on the previous election, so they entered this one with some optimism. Voting is by Single Transferable Vote, which, of course, enables smaller parties to make an impact proportionate to their level of support.

As we write Sinn Féin has 31 councillors, DUP has 19,  Alliance has 8, UUP has 4, SDLP has 2 and Independent has 1. No seats have changed hands yet.  When we look at vote share, the Alliance party is lying third with a slight swing towards them in terms of vote. But the main news is that Sinn Féin is surging ahead on vote share with 33% of the votes, even though that hasn’t yet been reflected in an increase in council seats.  However, it seems we will have to wait until tomorrow for the full results.

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Mary Reid

Is sewage the new potholes? Ed Davey on the BBC Newscast

By Mary Reid | Fri 19th May 2023 - 1:11 pm

Following an excellent interview in the Guardian on Tuesday, Ed Davey has now made an impressive appearance on the BBC Newscast. It starts about 5minutes 30 seconds in.

He talks about the G7 summit and the local elections, but the main topic of discussion is sewage. He says that bill-payers should not be paying for the errors of the water companies, and that some of the practices were illegal anyway and they have not been meeting their legal obligations.

Ed is asked how the Lib Dems can turn the local election surge into success at the next General Election. He thought we might have gained 150 Council seats, but in the event we took over 400.  He is asked the inevitable question about a possible coalition with Labour, and he confirms that there will no deal ahead of the election. Instead Liberal Democrats will be concentrating on winning more seats.

They also chat about the stunts – knocking down the blue wall and the big blue clock. He claimed credit for inventing the Blue Wall concept and his brilliant team for turning it into memorable visual images.

Finally, obliquely referring to the Guardian interview, Ed is asked how he has coped now and in the past with family trauma and his caring responsibilities.  In reply he talks a bit about Emily and John, and about the need for mental health support for carers and for bereaved children.

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Christine Jardine MP

Tell your MP why we need Equal Votes for Westminster

By Christine Jardine MP | Thu 18th May 2023 - 4:05 pm

In a democracy, we expect the government to represent the will of the people. We believe that every citizen has an equal right to participate in the democratic process, and that every vote should count equally. But the reality is that Westminster’s distortive electoral system means our democracy is failing to live up to these fundamental principles.

Save Wednesday 24 May as a key date in the march to achieving equal votes for UK General Elections. That’s when Sort The System – your chance to meet and tell your MP why they should back voting reform – is taking place.

Sort The System is a national action day put together by reform ally organisations, including Make Votes Matter, the Electoral Reform Society and Unlock Democracy. Liberal Democrats for Electoral Reform are backing it, as are pro-reform Labour groups and the Greens.

For us Liberal Democrats, it’s a huge opportunity – maybe our best before the next General Election – to put electoral reform firmly on the agenda.

A proportional system that empowers voters, delivers parliaments that are representative of the people, and keeps government in check is crucial to fixing our broken politics and underpins the positive change we need to see. As longstanding leaders in campaigning for electoral reform, PR must be part of our party’s overall promise to the British people. Part of what we stand for; what makes us different.

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Michal Siewniak

Discovering Belfast

By Michal Siewniak | Thu 18th May 2023 - 12:59 pm

There are sometimes moments in life, which are not easy to describe or define. Although some of these moments leave a permanent trace in our lives, it is hard to express our views, feelings and “internal transformation”. We might have read several books in relation to a particular topic, however seeing something in reality often changes our perspective or perceptions of places and/ or people.

I am convinced that visiting Belfast and Northern Ireland (13th – 14th May) will stay with me for many months. Belfast has a great vibe; good Universities, plenty of international students, many parks, a lovely city centre or incredibly powerful Crumlin Road Gaol Museum. The capital city of Northern Ireland is quite very special and unique.

I thought I “knew Belfast”. Reading a few books about the history of Northern Ireland was pretty informative, however driving through certain parts of Belfast was breath-taking. I felt stunned and speechless on quite a few occasions. On the way to Newcastle and County Down, I noticed small villages, literally next to each other, full of either British or Irish flags. “Political and historical separation” was strongly felt during our trip. In many ways, I was lucky as I was visiting Northern Ireland a week or so after the coronation of Charles III and ahead of the Local Elections.

Belfast itself was spectacular. Murals, paintings, Peace Wall, barracks are only a few examples of a “divided city”. Although there are clear signs of pain and suffering of this lovely place and its people, the extraordinary efforts to find a peaceful solution in most challenging circumstances are equally, if not more, powerful. Northern Ireland went through so much. The healing hasn’t ended but I hope that the process of reconciliation and growth will continue to positively impact many lives.

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Peter Wrigley

Be Prepared

By Peter Wrigley | Thu 18th May 2023 - 10:29 am

Liberal Democrats did well in the local elections and talk of our holding the balance in the next parliament is in the air.

In this article I don’t wish to argue for or against becoming a partner in the next government, or supporting it with confidence and supply, or commenting from the side-lines.  My purpose is to urge the party to prepare for the possibility and suggest some ground rules which might avoid the disappointments (to put it mildly) which followed from the 2010 arrangement.

They are:

  1. Whatever is offered, and by whom, we should make it clear that we will take

…

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Caron Lindsay

Ed Davey to LGBT+ Community: I support you, I stand with you

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 17th May 2023 - 3:30 pm

Today is the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.It’s great to see Ed Davey state unequivocally the party’s commitment to and record of delivery of LGBT+ rights. Watch his video here.

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Ruth Bright

What are the Police for?

By Ruth Bright | Wed 17th May 2023 - 11:55 am

Summer 1994

Camberwell. A small 20-something woman with long dark hair is ambling along a side street. Sixties’ tower blocks on one side; red brick low rise on the other.  She has a brown and black bag slung over her shoulder. She is enjoying a bag of jelly tots as she goes and is weighed down by a heavy white plastic bag containing her council paperwork.

A tall 30-something male with dark hair and translucent pale skin hovers nearby. Suddenly he picks up speed, runs at the woman, grabs the bag off her shoulder. She rather lamely shouts: “Oh no!” and he, not very originally, cries out: “Oh yes!” A grubby old russet Ford fiesta appears from nowhere, he jumps into it and driver and thief speed off into the South London sunshine.

Well of course gentle reader, the woman was me. And what happened next? The Met were absolutely brilliant. A local shopkeeper raised the alarm (as they say), the police took a statement.  I later identified the man at Brixton Police Station. He confessed to a series of muggings and got 7 years. It was an exemplary piece of policing, operating with lightning speed and with descriptions only. No CCTV. No witnesses. I bounced back very quickly. Partly I suppose because I was young; but mainly because the Police were so efficient. There was no pastoral care offered in those days. I wasn’t bothered, just relieved that the mugger would not do the same to anyone else for a while. What’s more. I felt safe.

You know what comes next don’t you?

Spring 2023

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National conservatism – the road to isolationism

By Jed Walker | Wed 17th May 2023 - 10:25 am

So the National Conservatism Conference 2023 has kicked off in London. For three days our capital will play host to a procession of right-wing, populist speakers ranging from government ministers to climate change deniers. 

Even before the event began, it was mired in controversy. Snippets of the speech to be given by the Home Secretary leaked, with suggestions she would suggest training our own fruit pickers would resolve some of Britain’s economic woes, and left-wing media organisations reported being barred from attending. OpenDemocracy reports that they, along with others, were denied passes to the conference due to space and availability, but claim there were empty seats at the conference today and that other less progressive media outlets were awarded passes after applying just days before the event.

But what a first day. We started with the chairman, Christopher DeMuth, telling the audience that he had been communing with the spirit of Margaret Thatcher who was, he was happy to report, “totally on board”. Perhaps that is a case of ‘enough said’.

It is hardly surprising to anyone, I would imagine, to hear Jacob Rees-Mogg align himself with the politics of isolation. He has defined national conservatism as “national political ideology by its nature in contradistinction to liberalism or socialism, which since their beginnings have had internationalist ambitions and have attempted to impose similar or identical structures on different nations”.

What was perhaps more surprising was his acknowledgment that the introduction of Voter ID rules was in fact a way for the Conservative Party to gain an electoral boost. “Parties that try and gerrymander end up finding their clever scheme comes back to bite them – as dare I say we found by insisting on voter ID for elections,” he said (albeit mis-using the term gerrymandering, which really relates to what Americans would call re-districting and we call boundary changes).

He went on to say: “We found the people who didn’t have ID were elderly and they by and large voted Conservative, so we made it hard for our own voters and we upset a system that worked perfectly well.” I have to disagree with the former minister here. There has been no conclusive examination of the data – most of which is still only slowly coming in – to suggest the majority of those who didn’t vote because of Voter ID issues were elderly. Rees-Mogg has also tried to say he was not massively in favour of the legislation, leading to a plethora of shared videos on social media showing him strongly arguing in support of the proposed changes on the floor of the House of Commons. 

Try as he might, to suggest the Tory losses in this months local elections were due to Voter ID issues is folly. The public turned out in droves to reject a continuation of Conservative ideology at local level; perhaps in protest at the national party, but they turned out all the same. The swing against the party was despite the new Voter ID legislation, not because of it. 

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Rebecca Tinsley

Time for a Distinctive Liberal Democrat Policy on Ending Conflict

By Rebecca Tinsley | Wed 17th May 2023 - 8:55 am

The Foreign Office has an unspoken strategy: whenever possible, it frames conflict as a humanitarian disaster, not a political problem requiring a political solution. Supporting UN aid efforts is laudable, but it is also easier than devoting diplomatic time and capital confronting deep-seated issues like systemic corruption, the persecution of minorities or the marginalisation of ethnic groups. No wonder so many civil wars defy our efforts to secure a genuine sustainable peace.  

The current violence in Sudan is an example of how officials respond to conflict as if it were an earthquake rather than a man-made disaster. Twenty years ago, officials treated the ethnic cleansing in Darfur like a disease rather than a racist expression of the Sudanese regime’s policy to eliminate its Black African civilians. The ideology behind the slaughter in Darfur was never acknowledged, just as Milosevic’s plans for Greater Serbia and the Interahamwe’s genocidal ambitions to erase Rwanda’s Tutsi minority were ignored by diplomats at the time. 

Another Foreign Office strategy is to cling to the old, discredited elites when searching for a negotiated settlement. In Sudan, the architects of the violence were seen as the international community’s partners in the search for peace. Over the last two decades, the voices of civilians were largely ignored, while the elite – and the men with guns – made promises they were never asked to keep. No benchmarks were set, and there was no mechanism to deliver consequences for failure to fulfil commitments made to negotiators. It was Bosnia all over again.

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The Voice

Jardine: People of Scotland want competent, effective Governments

By The Voice | Tue 16th May 2023 - 8:14 pm

It took less than the 14 minutes of Mhairi Black’s opening speech in the SNP Opposition Day debate on the cost of living crisis today for her to reveal what the debate was really about. Independence. I guess we should expect no better from a nationalist party, even one that has the power to do much more than it is doing to alleviate poverty and help those struggling at the moment.

Our Christine Jardine was there to keep them honest. In a blistering speech, she pointed out where both SNP and Conservatives were going wrong.

I have often stood here and criticised the Conservative Government, on their energy price hike; inflation; interest rates; and the situation that faces our young people throughout the UK, where too many of them live with the fear that they will never be able to own the house of their own that they would like or that the ever-increasing rent rates in this country, which in my city of Edinburgh are outrageous, put too many options beyond their reach. We must then consider the fact that the Chancellor did not listen when the Liberal Democrats asked him to cut energy bills by £500 per household, which would have made a significant difference to so many families; that the growth in the economy in the first three months of this year was only 0.1%; that, according to the Office for National Statistics, average pay, after taking inflation into account, fell by 3%; and that the take-home salary fell by more than £1,400.

I was delighted when I saw this motion, because our economy in the UK is on its knees and so are far too many families, and not just in Scotland. My disappointment is that SNP Members do not seem to appreciate that they in a unique position, of which I, like many other Members, are jealous, as their party can do something about it in Scotland. By that, I do not mean independence, which it turns out this debate is actually about after all.

She went on to highlight some of the SNP Govermment’s key shortcomings

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The Voice

LibLink – Ed Davey: “We will not put the Conservatives back into government or do any deal with them. What. So. Ever.”

By The Voice | Tue 16th May 2023 - 9:45 am

There’s an Ed Davey double page spread in the Guardian today. Zoe Williams narrates a visit to Ed’s home and a thorough and wide-ranging interview.

There’s this comment about serving in government with the Tories:

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Caron Lindsay

Daniel Callaghan will take on Rishi Sunak for Lib Dems at General Election

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 14th May 2023 - 3:08 pm

I was so chuffed to see the result of the Lib Dem selection in the Richmond, Yorkshire constituency of the Prime Minister. Daniel Callaghan, who will take on Rishi Sunak at the election is a former colleague of mine.  He is fantastic to have on your team – calm, clear, hard-working and he has a brilliant sense of fun.

Daniel now works in public affairs in the  science and technology sector.

Born into an army family at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, he grew up in  Catterick and Richmond, attending Richmond’s St Francis Xavier Secondary School and  then Darlington Sixth Form College. He sat on the Richmond Youth Council and forged  links working in several local businesses before leaving to work and study in Bath, Paris  and London. 

After his selection, Daniel said:

Having grown up in the constituency and being personally connected with  many here, I know first-hand the issues that people in our towns and villages are facing.  This is the place I will always call home and my deeply held love for this area and for the  people here is the reason I want to be their voice in Parliament.

Philip Wicks, Chair of Richmond (Yorks) LibDems added,

We are delighted to have such  an experienced political campaigner as our Prospective Parliamentary Candidate. Daniel  has been at the heart of some of our Party’s big success stories – working with the team  in Bath, and with MPs Christine Jardine and Tim Farron. That knowledge, combined with  the fact his roots are firmly embedded in our area, make him the perfect choice to take  the fight to the Conservatives here in Rishi Sunak’s own back yard.

Stokesley Councillor Bryn Griffiths, Leader of the Opposition on the new North  Yorkshire Council noted that Daniel was ideally placed to represent the party:

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Daniel Stylianou

The continuing threat to democracies

By Daniel Stylianou | Sun 14th May 2023 - 12:00 pm

I wrote an article earlier this week about the hope for renewed democracy in Turkey should the opposition leader – Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu – be successful in the upcoming Presidential elections. But democracy continues to come under threat across the globe, as more countries seem to be sliding down the steep path to dictatorship and the abolition of civil liberties and human rights.

Human Rights Watch has today published an article focusing on the state of affairs in Tunisia. The authorities have placed a further 17 current or former members of Ennahda, the largest opposition party in the country, in prison. That means that, as of today, over 30 political figures who are critical of President Kais Saied are behind bars accused of “conspiring against state security”. According to Human Rights Watch, the detainees include former ministers, the party President, two vice presidents and the former Speaker of Parliament. The Tunisian authorities have simultaneously shut Ennahda’s offices across the country.

In Myanmar, the military has used a “thermobaric” munition – designed to cause the maximum amount of casualties – on the village of Pa Zi Gyi in response to an opposition-controlled administrative office being opened. The blast was followed by helicopter assaults using cannons, grenades and rockets as innocent civilians tried to flee. A resident confirmed that the anti-junta People’s Defence Forces was present at the opening, but that the office was for tax filing, town meetings and judicial events, not for military purposes.

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 14th May 2023 - 8:55 am

Pakistan

Pakistan is a nuclear power with an estimated 165 nuclear warheads and bombers and missiles to deliver them. This is important to remember as the country slides into political, economic and social chaos. Also remember that Pashtos are the second largest ethnic group in Pakistan (18 percent) and the largest (42 percent) in neighbouring Islamic fundamentalist Afghanistan.

Mustn’t forget either that Pakistan’s Pashto community are supporters of the Taliban and that Al Qaeeda and ISIS are re-establishing bases in that benighted and dangerously unstable Afghanistan. Then there is also the fact there have been 434 terrorist attacks in Pakistan this year, the majority by Islamic fundamentalists with links to groups based in on the western side of the Hindu Kush.

Another concern is that China holds 30 percent of Pakistan’s $100 billion debt. The country’s foreign reserves have virtually disappeared to pay for oil imports. General inflation is running at 34 percent and food prices are soaring at an estimated 50 percent.

Finally, Pakistan’s army and intelligence community pull the country’s political strings. Politicians cannot stay in office without their support. Which is big part of Imran Khan’s problems.

He had the military’s support when he became prime minister in 2018 at the head of a coalition. But the former international cricket star was the wrong person to head a coalition. Khan is used to giving orders rather than compromising, and was soon publicly attacking his coalition partners. But the final straw came when he began toying with the idea of curbing the power of the military.

Last April, Khan lost a parliamentary vote of no confidence. He rejected it and has refused to resign. In response the succeeding government has charged him with more than 100 offenses ranging from fraud to blasphemy. It should be said that this is standard political practice in Pakistan. The successor prime minister to Khan – Shehbaz Shaif – was released on bail for corruption charges to enable him to lead the government.

The 232 million Pakistanis have meanwhile split between pro and anti-Imran Khan Factions with the military leading the anti-faction. Riots and demonstrations have become a daily feature of life in Pakistan.

Ukraine

The much anticipated Ukrainian counter-offensive remains much anticipated. The promised 230 Western tanks have arrived as well as 1,500 armoured vehicles. An estimated 60,000 Ukrainian troops appear to be ready to attack. The assault could literally be launched any day.

The most likely battle site is in the south around Kherson. A strike there could sever the land bridge between the Russian forces in Crimea and the Donbas Region.  The problem with that plan is that the Russians have constructed one of the most elaborate defensive systems ever seen. The Ukrainians could end up hurling themselves against a 160 mile long Russian brick wall off trenches, mines, anti-tank traps and razor wire.

They could suffer the same fate that has befallen the Russian Wagner Group in their months’ long attempt to capture Bakhmut. Russians casualties in Bakhmut are estimated by Western intelligence to be as high 60,000 with 20,000 of them being fatal. The town has been reduced to an unrecognisable pile of rubble.

Wagner head Yevgeny Prigorzhin blames the failure of his prison-recruited force on the official military’s refusal to provide his convicts with enough ammunition. He has even released an expletive-laden diatribe attacking Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the head of the armed forces, Valery Gerasimov.

Prigorzhin is probably right. The Russians are reported to be low on ammunition and the official military establishment wants to husband its resources for the coming Ukrainian counter offensive. But the row between the Wagner Group exposes a deep division and absence of a clear command structure within the Russian military establishment. This can only benefit the Ukrainians when they finally launch their much anticipated assault.

Northern Ireland

There was really nothing new in the substance of Biden’s remarks this week about Northern Ireland. What was new and unfortunate was the language he used.

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The Voice

Bokhari and Blackie head London Lib Dem list

By The Voice | Sat 13th May 2023 - 4:32 pm

Current AM Hina Bokhari will be our top London list candidate in the GLA elections next year. Second on the list is Rob Blackie.

The results were announced in an email to London members from London Regional Chair Ann Glaze this afternoon.

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Iain Brodie Browne

Cllr Sinclair d’Albuquerque joins the Liberal Democrats following their local election success 

By Iain Brodie Browne | Sat 13th May 2023 - 1:25 pm

Southport Lib Dems had a great night in last week’s local election topping the poll with the most votes and winning the majority of the seats in the constituency on the night. And all this “up north” and in one of Labour’s top 50 target parliamentary seats. 

The Lib Dem Group has a new member with this announcement that Southport councillor Sinclair d’Albuquerque has joined the Liberal Democrats. 

Cllr Albuquerque said: 

The way the Liberal Democrats proactively represent the people of Southport has been impressive and visionary. Although elected as a Conservative three years ago, I now consider their principles, ethics and values both locally and nationally are no longer compatible with mine. I am delighted to have joined the Liberal Democrats.

John Pugh, former Lib Dem  MP and Council group leader  commented:

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