Michael Taylor

The case for state ownership or control of water and electricity

By Michael Taylor | Thu 4th May 2023 - 10:35 am

As many friends know, I now live in a seaside town in Greece.

I have been reflecting on the cost of living here and, in particular, the cost of water and electricity, compared to the UK.

I have just paid my first water bill. For six months I have paid 37€. It’s not that I don’t use water, I do. I have a washing machine and a dishwasher, I clean the car, I water the garden and of course I shower and shave daily. Compare that with the £25 a month I was paying in Mytholmroyd, which I left just over a year ago. I suspect it’s gone up now.

My most recent electricity bill was 134€ for a month and the Greek government subsidies me by 159€ a month. My house is all electric with AC units which double up as heaters in the winter and there are pumps on both the cold-water supply and the solar water heating panel. My cooker is electric. I believe that were I still in the UK I would be paying around £450 a month for my previous flat. This means that electricity in 74% more expensive in the UK even if I had no subsidy in Greece. With the subsidy my electricity bill is 280% less than in the UK.

Now, Greece is not a particularly wealthy country. It recently went through a major financial crisis and much that the state had done before has been lost. Water, however, is run by local councils. In the UK water is owned by private companies and the costs are exorbitant and the directors grossly overpaid.

My electricity company in Greece DEH is the former state-owned electricity company. Yet, it is not charging grossly inflated prices and people are being helped with their electricity bills. Sure, it’s slow to act and there are power cuts sometimes (mainly due to weather like thunderstorms), but it is providing a service at affordable prices. It is clearly regulated and behaves reasonably.

The conclusion I draw from this is twofold.

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Mary Reid

Hopes for the local elections today in South East England

By Mary Reid | Thu 4th May 2023 - 9:15 am

There are local elections today in districts and unitaries across England, though not everywhere. Areas which have four year all-in all-out elections are not going to the polls, such as London, together with some that have a slightly different election cycle.

These elections are important for us because they are a real test of Ed Davey’s blue-wall strategy, targeting areas where we have come second to the Tories in Westminster. Places to watch out for in the South East are the neighbouring districts of Elmbridge,  Guildford and Mole Valley, all of which lie within Surrey County.

In Elmbridge we are in control alongside some Independent Residents. The district includes whole of Domini Raab’s constituency of Esher and Walton, where we are less than 300 votes behind.

In Guildford we are the largest party and in coalition with a Residents Group. A large chunk of the district lies within the Guildford constituency where the Conservatives have a majority of less than 4,000.

We are also in control in Mole Valley District. The Westminster constituency includes the whole of the District plus some parts of Guildford District, but has remained loyal to the long-serving Conservative Paul Beresford.

Woking District lies adjacent to Elmbridge and Guildford and Lib Dems are in control. And next to that is Surrey Heath, the home of Michael Gove’s constituency and a District Council, where we would love to  increase our numbers.

Further south, we should also be watching Winchester, Eastbourne and Lewes.

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The Voice

Good coverage for Lib Dems ahead of local elections

By The Voice | Wed 3rd May 2023 - 10:25 am

Voters head to the polls tomorrow in local elections in many places across England. When these seats were last up, we did exceptionally well, gaining an incredible 700 Councillors and 10 Councils.

Then, the Conservatives lost over 3500 councillors and 44 Councils while Labour also had a small net loss.

Those were strange times. Millions turned to us in that election and the European elections a few weeks later and we became the focal point for opposition to Brexit. At that point we still held on to the hope that it might be stopped and we might secure a People’s Vote.

The signs on the ground bode well for further success next week. The Conservatives remain unpopular and we are hoping to gain in the so called Blue Wall seats we hope to win from the Conservatives in the General Election.

Ed did the media round yesterday and set out our stall well, talking first about the cost of living crisis on Good Morning Britain:

He also slammed the Government’s new voter ID requirements.

On Saturday, the Guardian had a piece on the Lib Dem plan to take Berkhamstead:

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NewsHound

Who should LGBT+ people vote for?

By NewsHound | Wed 3rd May 2023 - 8:44 am

PinkNews have an article asking who LGBT+ people should vote for now that the Conservatives are actively targeting marginalised groups as part of their culture war and Keir Starmer’s commitment to trans rights dilutes every time he opens his mouth. Worryingly, at Easter, for the second time, the Labour leader visited a Church which supports the idea of the inhumane and cruel conversion therapy.  Once might be seen as a mistake, twice is sending a message.

The Lib Dems come out reasonably well. There are a couple of quotes from our own Charley Hasted who is also the Chair of LGBT+ Lib Dems.

In November 2022, the party faced a revolt from LGBTQ+ members when it revised a statement on the definition of transphobia to protect “gender-critical” views.

Charley Hasted, chair of the LGBT+ Lib Dems, says that since then much work has been done at a senior level in the party to win back the LGBTQ+ community’s trust.

“The kickback against that seems to have woken a lot of people up. We’ve had quite a lot of meetings with senior people in the party to try to sort that out and I’m genuinely pleased with how it’s going. At the moment I think we’re the only party with a leader on record saying ‘trans rights are human rights’ and that’s what we need,” they told PinkNews.

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Charley Hasted

Liberal Democrat Councillor speaks out about stalking experience

By Charley Hasted | Mon 1st May 2023 - 12:30 pm

Brent Councillor Anton Georgiou spoke to the Kilburn Times and the Local Democracy Reporting Service recently about his experience of being stalked and called for better support for victims of stalking and especially those in public life.

Councillor Georgiou spoke candidly about his experiences – from receiving threatening messages and constant phone calls to his stalker sending him feces, emails containing pictures of himself covered in ejaculate and death threats. He talked candidly about the impact the messages and calls had on him personally and professionally as well as on his family and how this only increased when his stalker told him he’d moved to London from Ireland and how Anton could “run into him at any time.” leaving him afraid to leave the house.

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 30th April 2023 - 8:30 am

China’s mis-step

China has made a rare and serious diplomatic misstep. It came from its ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, who told a television interviewer that the former Soviet states “don’t exist” because “they don’t have effective status in international law.”—Oops.

The result was an immediate outcry and demand for   clarification/retraction from foreign ministries across Europe, especially the former Soviet states who live in perpetual fear of the reimposition of the Russian yoke.

The Chinese obliged. The embassy in Paris said that the ambassador’s remarks were “personal” rather than “official policy.” In Beijing the official spokesperson more or less disowned the comments stressing that China was among the first to recognise the former Soviet republics as “sovereign states” and has refused to  recognise the Russian annexation of Crimea.

But the Europeans were not mollified. Lu Shaye is a prominent “Wolf Warrior” – a moniker attached to a Chinese official who advocates a hard line against the West. It was thought that the hardliners were sidelined at the end of last year. Lu Shaye’s flammable comments have re-ignited their presence.

One of President Xi Jinping’s reasons for sidelining the hardliners was a policy of improving relations with Europe. This would drive a wedge between Europe and America, weaken NATO and the US position in the world and improve China’s position.

The fly in this diplomatic ointment is Russia. A strong alliance with Russia is important to both XI and the wolf warriors. But good relations with Europe is more important to XI then Lu Shaye and the wolf warriors.

Ambassador Lu Shaye’s comments indicate that the Wolf Warriors are still prowling the corridors of Beijing and the problem for Europe is that the Chinese could be a Trojan horse filled with Russians.

Taiwan

Meanwhile, back in China, the Communist Party has been again been rattling its Taiwan sabres. This time it arrested two Taiwanese while they were visiting relatives in Mainland China.

Both arrests are designed emphasise the Chinese Communist Party’s position that Taiwan is party of China and thus the law of the Peoples Republic of China applies to the residents of Taiwan as well as those on Mainland China.

The more prominent of the two arrestees was the publisher Li Yanke. He was born in Shanghai and left in 2009 to set up a publishing business in Taipei. Many of his books are highly critical of the Chinese Communist Party. Li Yanke was visiting relatives in Shanghai when police arrested him for “endangering state security.”

Perhaps more significant was the arrest of the less well-known 33-year-old Yang Chih-yuan. He was actually detained in August but was not formally arrested and charged until this week. The crime: “suspicion of secession.” He is the first to be charged with this alleged crime.

In 2019 Yang Chih-yuan helped to found the Taiwan National Party which proposed that Taiwan drop its claims to be the legitimate government of all of China and declare itself a separate, independent country. The TNP failed to make any headway in elections and has since been dissolved. Yang Chih-yuan himself is seen as fringe political figure in Taiwan.

But Beijing is concerned that the fringe may become the mainstream unless it is brutally stamped out.

The competing claims to China date back to 1949 and the Chinese Civil War. In that year, Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang army fled to Taiwan and established what was effectively a “government-in-exile.” Only twelve countries (including the Vatican) recognise that 1949 claim and have full diplomatic relations with Taipei. It is impossible for any country to have diplomatic relations with Beijing and Taipei.

Reunification is the top foreign policy priority of the Chinese Communist Party. As long as both entities claim to be the legitimate government of all of China then Beijing can assert that it has the right to unite Taiwan with the mainland—by force, if necessary.

But if Taipei drops its claim to represent all of China and declares itself an independent political entity, then the number of countries prepared to diplomatically recognise it would increase. Taiwan would then become an even bigger problem for the Chinese Communist Party.

Biden v Trump

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Caron Lindsay

Stella Creasy is right – trolls who make malicious complaints should face consequences

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 29th April 2023 - 4:24 pm

Being a woman on the internet in possession of an opinion has long been a wild ride. For most women in public life, abuse is so much worse than a man would get. And I think most of us are so used to it that we barely flinch unless the abuse directly threatens us or the people we love.

The misogynistic trolls who spend so much of their time trying to make life miserable for women they don’t agree with rarely face consequences. Now one of them has found a new way to persecute a high profile feminist and has got away with it.

Labour MP Stella Creasy has described in today’s Times (£) how a misogynistic troll went as far as reporting her to social services, saying that her views on violence against women and girls put them at risk. How on earth wanting to make misogyny a hate crime puts anyone at risk is beyond me.

Thankfully her local social services didn’t take long to realise that it was actually Stella who was at risk. But when the MP complained to the Police, she was shocked at the outcome:

The police accept that his behaviour is harassing but aren’t treating this as a crime because “as you had kids he was worried that your views would affect their upbringing, this belief was genuine and not by any sort of hate”.

At no point have they expressed any concern about the impact of this incident on my children, instead claiming that, as I am an elected representative, I should “expect” to be challenged in this way.

As Stella says, this is just another example of the institutionalised misogyny of the Police laid bare in the Casey Report.

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Tom Arms

Observations of an ex pat: Educate

By Tom Arms | Sat 29th April 2023 - 12:15 pm

When I was a young foreign affairs writer I foolishly suggested to my editor that the newspaper should print more foreign news. It was important, I argued, to educate our readers about the wider world.

His eyes literally bulged from his head as he slowly rose from behind his desk, to bellow: “Educate!? Educate!? Your job is to write stories that sell newspapers, thus making money for our owner. Now get out and do just that.”

He was right. A free and informative press is a cornerstone of our democracy. But to be free and provide accurate information it must be financially viable. To be financially viable it must produce stories that its readers/viewers/listeners want.

Today’s editors and publishers face major problems. As do the burgeoning army of podcasters, bloggers, vloggers and social influencers. The world of the internet and global communications has lowered the cost of entry into the publishing/broadcasting world while the size of the advertising pie which finances the media world has remained static.

Local newspapers have been particularly hard hit. Since 2005, Britain has lost about 300 titles. But this is nothing compared to the US where a staggering 2.514 local newspapers have either merged or disappeared over the same period. Those that survive cling to life with frustrated and underpaid skeleton newsrooms unable to adequately serve their communities.

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George Cunningham

British citizen evacuation from Sudan – Call for Official Enquiry

By George Cunningham | Sat 29th April 2023 - 10:03 am

An estimated four thousand British citizens have needed evacuation from Sudan. The UK government commenced its evacuation effort on Tuesday, 25th April, after it had reportedly evacuated its diplomats.

By contrast, one day earlier, on Monday 24th April, EU High Representative Josep Borrell announced that 31 flights would have evacuated an estimated 1,200 EU citizens by the end of the day, with a remaining 400 EU citizens left to be evacuated. “There has been an incredible mobilisation of the Member States” said Mr Borrell, “that have air facilities and air capabilities to move planes, to move soldiers and to move military protection, and taking everybody that they could”.

The UK has denied that its efforts to evacuate embassy staff from Sudan last weekend interfered with Germany’s plans to get its citizens out. It is said that the Sudanese army initially closed access to the key airport after being infuriated by the unauthorised presence of British armed forces on the site.

The delay in British evacuation was one of the reasons why the British Ambassador had to negotiate an extension of the 72-hour ceasefire between the warring factions to allow for more time. The FCDO said eight flights had airlifted 897 people to Cyprus as of Thursday, 27th April. Hopefully the UK has asked EU Member States – alongside the United States – to lend a helping hand to get everyone evacuated, as used to be the case automatically when the UK was a EU Member State. Australia has just thanked France for assisting in the evacuation of its citizens.

The difficulty of non-British nationals with UK residency permits – such as the well-publicised case of Sudanese-born Dr Abdulrahman Babiker and 23 other NHS doctors – to board UK rescue flights has also been heavily criticised by Layla Moran amongst others. If there are any spare seats on a flight, they must certainly be allocated to them.

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What Xi Jinping is planning on Taiwan

By Christopher | Fri 28th April 2023 - 5:50 pm

The former Moscow correspondent for NBC Ian Williams wrote an article in The Spectator dated 22nd March, describing what happened when Xi Jinping said goodbye to Vladimir Putin when their summit ended in the Kremlin last month. Xi suddenly turned to Putin and said, which seemed unscripted, “Change is coming that hasn’t happened in 100 years, and we are driving this change together”. Then “The two men clasped hands, smiling. ‘I agree,’ Putin said, briefly bringing up his free hand to hold Xi’s arm. The Chinese leader then added, ‘Please take care, dear friend'”.

What is the “change” that Xi was speaking about? In the last decade, the state media of China has presented the idea of “the East rises, the West declines” to the people, saying that China will become the greatest global power in the foreseeable future. Then the rules of the world will be changed – It was the West who set the rules in the last century, but eventually, the East will become the one to decide. Therefore, Xi was telling Putin: we will overturn those rules together.

That’s why I disagree with US State Secretary Antony Blinken when he said China and Russia are in “a marriage of convenience”, I believe Xi and Putin are soulmates who share the same ideology. The new evidence is the words from the Chinese Ambassador to France Lu Shaye in LCI interview. He reveals Xi’s true thoughts: if the previous Soviet states have no effective status in international law, Putin is righteous to reclaim all those countries. Xi will fully support Putin in doing so; in return, Putin must back Xi to achieve his historical mission, the “reunification” with Taiwan.

US President Biden told the media that he believes there is no imminent threat of a Taiwan invasion after he met with Xi Jinping last November. Reports said Xi promised Biden that China would not take any military action during Biden’s first presidency. Can Xi be trusted? Well, technically, yes, Xi needs time to prepare to strike. We need to know that the failure of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine does not make Xi hesitate but to refine his war plan on Taiwan to justify himself to become the Fuhrer of China.

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Jack Clark

The SNP will survive their crisis, and so they should

By Jack Clark | Fri 28th April 2023 - 3:19 pm

This week’s (26th April) BBC Debate Night (Scotland’s version of Question Time) discussed the question “Will the SNP survive the crisis they are in at the moment?”. With the panel made up of Labour, SNP, and Conservative MSPs, SNP supporter Aamer Anwar, and former Labour Special Adviser, Ayesha Hazarika, it lacked a liberal position on the issue. A position I hope I can articulate here.

So in my opinion, will they survive? Yes.

As a follow up question, should they survive? Yes.

This is a crisis for the SNP, undoubtedly, but it risks becoming a crisis for Scottish democracy in the medium-long term. The SNP have made a name for themselves in claiming to stand up for democracy, and for change in Scotland. A party which can take the moral high-ground over the Westminster establishment.

What happens now that they have been subject to two high profile arrests, infighting over party finances, a fridge-freezer, and a motorhome?

Polls so far have shown that SNP support is declining, but support for Labour, Greens, and Lib Dems has not risen enough to compensate. Furthermore, the latest YouGov poll, 16% of 2019 SNP voters said they don’t know who they would vote for in the next UK election. For Panelbase and Redfield & Wilton the figure was 10%, Survation 9%, and Savanta 7%.

This is especially significant when you consider that support for independence has remained stable in the aftermath of the resignation and leadership election. While the number of undecideds has also gone up, but this has always been volatile on the Indyref question.

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Unwarranted Conservative complacency at PMQs

By Michael Berwick-Gooding and Katharine Pindar | Fri 28th April 2023 - 12:36 pm

It was astonishing to hear the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, announcing with pride during his set-to with Labour Leader Keir Starmer at Wednesday’s Prime Minister Questions that “Two million more people have risen from poverty in the years of the Conservative governments.”

Poverty is normally measured relative to near contemporary median income. This is the most commonly used measure. For example the latest figures are for 2020/21 and 13.4 million are in relative poverty, after housing costs (as reported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation), where relative poverty is 60% of median income. Rishi Sunak is using absolute low income which is based on 60% of the median income back in 2010/11, uprated by inflation. This is not a good way to measure poverty as the base year seems arbitrary. In 2010/11 there were 13.1 million people living in poverty using both measurements.

There was a decline in the number living in relative poverty in 2020/21 because of Covid.  Down from 14.5 million and 22% in 2019/20. This was because median income fell due to the work furlough scheme, where the Government paid 80% of the salary of those on furlough because of Covid, and those on Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit received an extra £20 a week.

Poverty in Britain has in fact remained stubbornly high at around 20% of the population during the past decade. When housing costs are taken into account, the estimated number of people in relatively low income households dropped from 13.5 million (22%) to 13.4 million (20%) between 2009/10 and 2020/21.

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Mary Reid

Floella Benjamin will take part in Coronation

By Mary Reid | Fri 28th April 2023 - 9:29 am

Although I haven’t checked the footage I’m pretty sure that there weren’t many black faces around Elizabeth II at her Coronation. It is therefore very fitting that the people we will actually see on the screen during Charles III’s Coronation will be representative of our ethnic makeup as a nation.

Amongst those who will be taking on a role on the day is our own Floella Benjamin, who will be carrying the King’s sceptre with dove, one of the priceless crown jewels used in the ceremony.

Floella is quoted as saying:

To be selected to carry the sovereign’s sceptre with dove, which represents spirituality, equity and mercy, is for me very symbolic as it’s everything I stand for and sends out a clear message that diversity and inclusion is being embraced.

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Mary Reid

14,000 hours of sewage dumped last year in chalk streams

By Mary Reid | Thu 27th April 2023 - 12:01 pm

I have an interest in chalk streams, or one in particular, the Hogsmill, which lies less than a mile from my home; its tributary, the Bonesgate, runs through my ward.

The Hogsmill rises in Ewell and flows for 6 miles to the Thames at Kingston, having passed by the Coronation Stone where seven Saxon kings were crowned and gone under the 12th century Clattern Bridge. Its name derives from the water mills that lay along its length, and specifically one belonging to someone called Hogg. The mills were used for several purposes, from grinding flour to providing gunpowder for the American Civil War.

Millais worked on his famous painting of Ophelia along one pretty stretch of the river (see photo). He did not ask his model to actually float in the river, but painted the lush background there and more prosaically got her to pose in a bath in his studio.

Another pre-Raphaelite, Holman Hunt, knew the area well. In The Light of the World, which hangs in St Paul’s Cathedral, he depicts Jesus carrying a lamp in a dark wood and knocking on a door that is overgrown with creepers. That door was based on one of the disused mills that he found along the Hogsmill.

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Mark Pack

Mark Pack: My monthly report to members

By Mark Pack | Thu 27th April 2023 - 9:29 am

A great result on candidate numbers

There’s been a big increase in the number of Liberal Democrat candidates for this May’s local elections. We’ve got up to 60% of seats having a Lib Dem candidate (up seven points on last time around). It’s our best showing for this part of the local elections cycle compared with Labour since 2011 and compared with the Conservatives since 2007.

That’s important for our credibility with voters. It means so many more people will see the Liberal Democrat name and logo on their ballot papers. It also matters for our credibility with the media, as the positive coverage in The Guardian demonstrates.

We still have some way to go to match Labour’s 77% or the Conservatives 93%. But it’s a big step forward and follows up progress earlier this Parliament. As well as being important progress in its own right, it’s just the sort of sustained, coordinated push that we need to build us up for a sustained, long-term challenge to the big parties.

Many thanks to everyone who helped achieve this progress – and very best of luck to everyone who is standing in a seat they hope to win this May.

For a fair deal

You may well have noticed how much more the party is talking about campaigning for a fair deal – such as on the backdrop at our York conference or in the March party political broadcast on TV in England.

It’s the positive part of our message that complements our call to ‘send them a message’, highlighting the failures of the Conservatives in Westminster and Labour in so many other elected bodies – not to mention the spectacularly imploding SNP in Scotland.

That fairness theme goes to the heart of what makes us Liberal Democrats. It’s no coincidence either that it’s worked so well for us previously, such as with Charles Kennedy.

There will be more on what the Liberal Democrat version of fairness means in the ‘pre-manifesto’ policy document coming out over the summer for our autumn conference.

When will the general election be?

All of which prompts the question – when will the next Westminster general election come? The short answer is no-one knows, not even the Prime Minister.

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The Voice

27 April 2023 – the overnight press release

By The Voice | Thu 27th April 2023 - 7:30 am

Gambling reforms: Stop dithering and implement now

In response to the publication of the long-delayed Gambling White Paper, Liberal Democrat Peer, Lord Foster said:

Reforms to protect people from gambling harms are long overdue. The families and communities affected need real action now, not another round of government consultations.

This Conservatives promised reform all the way back in 2019, but this white paper has been delayed again and again by their chaos and infighting. During that time, hundreds of problem gamblers have committed suicide and many thousands of lives have been devastated.

These proposals are important steps in the right direction, but

…

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Mark Valladares

26 April 2023 – today’s press releases (part 2)

By Mark Valladares | Wed 26th April 2023 - 11:30 pm
  • Chalk streams hit by 14,000 hours of sewage discharges last year
  • ONS figures: Sickness absence days at record high
  • CCHQ inquiry needed into Tory leaflet telling voters they don’t need photo ID
  • Barclay: This Government hasn’t a shred of integrity left

Chalk streams hit by 14,000 hours of sewage discharges last year

  • Chalk streams are known as “England’s rainforest” for animal habitats and unique to England
  • Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey will today visit a chalk stream in Winchester with local dog walkers
  • Fears the amount of sewage dumped into chalk streams may be higher than feared with sewage monitors found to be broken

New analysis by the Liberal Democrats has revealed water companies dumped sewage into England’s chalk streams for a staggering 14,162 hours last year.

There were 2,240 incidents of sewage discharges into chalk streams by five of the country’s water firms: Anglian Water, Southern Water, Thames Water, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water.

Chalk streams are a unique waterway found primarily in the South of England and Yorkshire. They have been referred to as “England’s rainforest” for their special qualities which allow wildlife and plants to thrive. They are a haven for iconic species like the otter, kingfisher and salmon amongst many others. However they have come under threat from abstraction and sewage.

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Mark Valladares

26 April 2023 – today’s press releases (part 1)

By Mark Valladares | Wed 26th April 2023 - 11:05 pm
  • Brits less likely to swim in the sea due to sewage discharges, poll reveals
  • Police taking over five hours to respond to priority calls
  • Stop Voter ID: Govt are burying their heads in the sand
  • Braverman’s boasts will “ring hollow” for crime victims waiting hours for police to turn up

Brits less likely to swim in the sea due to sewage discharges, poll reveals

A new poll commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed over three in four (77%) Brits who swim in lakes, rivers or the sea, have said sewage discharges have made them less likely to go swimming.

The poll found half of all UK adults go swimming in the country’s rivers, lakes or the sea. Shockingly, the majority of those adults are now less likely to go swimming in public areas as a result of water companies discharging sewage into waterways.

Swimmers over the age of 55 are far more likely to be put off by the sewage discharges – nearly 9 in 10 (87%) said the water firms’ actions had put them off swimming in lakes, rivers or coastlines.

Swimmers in the South East and West Midlands (83%) are also most likely to say sewage discharges have made them less likely to go swimming in lakes, rivers and coastlines.

Last year, raw sewage was pumped into rivers and seas for 1.75 million hours, an average 825 times per day, according to official Environment Agency data.

Key bathing water status locations, which attract swimmers from around the country, have been flooded with sewage. In the South West, Lyme Regis’ Church Cliff Beach bathing water suffered from 81 sewage discharges last year, lasting 1493 hours

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Victor Chamberlain

Liberal Democrats and Labour want the Tories out, but we must resist the descent into cheap culture-war politics

By Victor Chamberlain | Wed 26th April 2023 - 7:55 am

Liberal Democrats and Labour both want the Tories out, but we must resist the descent into cheap culture-war politics

 My job as the Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition in Southwark is to hold Southwark’s Labour Council to account. There’s much we don’t agree on: the lack of affordable homes for local people, rising crime, the state of our estates, poor customer service from the council, Labour feathering their own nests and marking their own homework, the lack of urgency on the climate emergency… to name but a few!

 However, Liberal Democrats and Labour are both progressive parties and have more in common than divides us. We share a goal that becomes more desperately important every day – getting the Tories out of government.

 The last decade of Conservative government has been a financial, social and environmental disaster for the UK. Public services are crippled by strikes, people are feeling the pinch and the economy is set to shrink, Brexit has been a disaster and any kind of meaningful response to the climate emergency is entirely absent.

 The only response the Conservatives have to their endless failures is to drag political discourse down to cheap, culture war battles. They attack the vulnerable and heighten divisions to distract from the downward spiral they have left the UK in.

 It is vitally important that the opposition parties resist this degradation of our political landscape. Unfortunately, Labour seems unable to resist the temptation. We all want rid of this terrible Tory Government. As Ed Davey said at Spring Conference “ only goal seems to be: “Not as bad as the Conservatives”. Talk about a low bar!” We all deserve so much better.

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Mark Valladares

25 April 2023 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 25th April 2023 - 11:30 pm
  • ONS debt stats: Voters will never forgive the Conservatives for their economic vandalism
  • Government announces refusal to make misogyny a hate crime
  • Sewage vote: Scandalous that Conservative MPs have blocked the Sewage Discharge Bill

ONS debt stats: Voters will never forgive the Conservatives for their economic vandalism

Responding to new ONS debt statistics which show net borrowing the 4th highest since records began, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said:

The Government’s shambolic mismanagement added billions to the UK’s borrowing whilst leaving our economy growing at a snail’s pace. Voters will never forgive the Conservative party for the economic vandalism of the

…

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Stewart Tolley

The Liberal Democrats should oppose the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership

By Stewart Tolley | Tue 25th April 2023 - 2:00 pm

Embed from Getty Images

Adam Smith in his seminal work The Wealth of Nations made the clear observation that trade ‘carried on with a neighbouring country is…more advantageous’ than that ‘with a distant country’ and he was even clearer that the most beneficial situation would come from ‘greater trade with continental Europe’ (Smith, 537).

Smith’s words are as true now as they were then but unfortunately the Conservative party (the supposed party of the economy who idealise Smith) have decided to ignore this. Ever since 2016 the determination to pursue hard Brexit has trumped all forms of economic credibility and common sense.

As with the imperialists of centuries ago who wanted to maximise trade with the Empire over our nearest neighbours the current crop of Tories have decided to pursue far flung trade deals to try and compensate for the barriers they have erected against the EU.

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Nicholas Chan

Social Justice, from Hong Kong to Rainham

By Nicholas Chan | Tue 25th April 2023 - 10:08 am

I appreciate having the opportunity to come live in the UK from Hong Kong. It is a humbling privilege to play a part in the Liberal Democrats, as local champions in the Local Elections 2023. I am standing as the candidate for Rainham North with Stuart Bourne and Alan Collins, honestly advocating for social justice.

The campaign in Medway is determined and real. Canvassing and Focus delivery were steam-rolling a year ahead. I was a late-comer, busy moving from Gravesend and changing my profession into law. So, it was a pleasant surprise when the local party called me while I was on holiday and encouraged me to stand in a promising three-member ward. I grew fond of road works and potholes.

Truthfully, I do see my local campaigns as an extension of my pro-bono legal work in social justice. The power of persuasion, pressing public bodies and utility companies to act in resolving street works, is no less than advocating for my clients who are unfairly punished by Community Protection Notices or fighting for Child Arrangement Orders even as they are estranged by domestic violence.

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Mark Valladares

24 April 2023 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 24th April 2023 - 10:30 pm
  • 51 million GP appointments lasted less than 5 minutes in past year
  • Five times Sunak betrayed British businesses
  • Sewage vote: Judgement day for Conservative MPs
  • Raab Urgent Question: Lib Dems challenge PM to come clean over advice on bullying complaints

51 million GP appointments lasted less than 5 minutes in past year

51 million GP appointments in the last year lasted less than five minutes, new research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

The figures also reveal a postcode lottery with more than 21% of GP appointments in some areas lasting five minutes or less.

The party warned that the government’s failure to recruit more GPs has meant patients are “waiting for weeks to get an appointment only to be rushed through in a matter of minutes.”

The Commons Library analysis is based on NHS figures for the year between March 2022, when the data was first published, and February 2023. It provides a figure for the first time on the number of five-minute GP appointments over an entire year, broken down by local area.

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Michal Siewniak

Positive campaigning – best way to win the election?

By Michal Siewniak | Mon 24th April 2023 - 5:15 pm

I have spent exactly 24 hours door-knocking since the elections in 2022. I still absolutely love it and if I could, I would do it for a living! As I am standing again this year (one of my fellow councillors had to stand last year on health grounds), my campaign has intensified in recent weeks. The mood on the door-step has changed. Last year, some of the national and international topics dominated some of my conversations; war in Ukraine, end of the pandemic or a wide range of post-COVID government scandals.

I am pleased that this year, as candidates and councillors we have been campaigning on issues that we can actually influence; Local Plan, the state of our Town Centres, investment, infrastructure, potholes or transport provision.

The “toxicity” of campaigning has not gone away though. Has it got worse? It is hard to tell. I was “accused” by one of the other candidates of not living in my ward (I live 15 minutes walking distance from it). In many cases the literature of our opponents is quite repetitive and instead of suggesting new solutions, which could help to improve the effectiveness and functionality of the Council, it frequently “offers” scare-mongering and too often(?) a wide range of negative stories.

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Lord William Wallace

Political chaos and political reform

By Lord William Wallace | Mon 24th April 2023 - 12:15 pm

If you haven’t read the extracts from Anthony Seldon’s forthcoming book on Boris Johnson’s mismanagement of government, being serialised in the Times and Sunday Times since Saturday, you’re missing something that you can usefully quote next time you come up against a Tory candidate. Seldon is not a commentator who can be dismissed by the Right as a ‘leftie’ intellectual. Biographer of Margaret Thatcher, former vice-chancellor of the University of Buckingham, son of one of the founders of the Institute of Economic Affairs, he is a pillar of the conservative establishment. (Full disclosure: his mother canvassed for the Liberals in the Orpington by-election, and Michael Steed and I stayed there for a week.) The extracts quote from insiders who knew what was going on.

And it’s devastating. Chaotic, with an incompetent prime minister dependent on an adviser (Dominic Cummings) who despised him almost as much as he despised Parliament and the conventional rules of constitutional government, and with a new partner/wife with her own political views and expertise. It portrays inability to take clear decisions at the centre or to implement them through Departments, with an inbuilt tendency to bypass ministers and civil servants whenever possible and to prioritise presentation over substance. This was politics as a permanent campaign, rather than a recognition that government is complicated and unavoidably slow-moving.

The Conservatives campaigned in 2017 and 2019 on a platform of strong and stable single-party government, against what they portrayed as the chaos of coalition – by which they meant a Labour government dependent on the SNP. What they’ve inflicted on the UK is the chaos of single-party factionalism, compounded by dreadful leadership choices in both Johnson and Truss. Opinions on May and Sunak are a little less negative, but both have been hamstrung by internal conflicts within the parliamentary party between a dwindling bunch of pragmatists, a group of ambitious cynics and an ideological right. The defenestration of Raab suggests that the chaos will roll on to the 2024 election, likely to be postponed to the latest possible date by continuing squabbles between ‘realos’ and ‘fundamentalists’.

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The Voice

NHS dentistry survey: 1 in 4 delaying or avoiding treatment

By The Voice | Mon 24th April 2023 - 10:45 am

Responding to the survey from the British Dental Association (BDA) showing nearly a quarter (23%) of adults are delaying or going without NHS dental treatment for cost reasons, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

Whacking up charges for NHS dental appointments at a time when people are struggling to pay the bills shows just how out of touch this Conservative Government is.

This price hike will do nothing to fix NHS dentistry. All it will mean is fewer people getting the care and treatment they need, with ever more people turning to dangerous DIY dentistry.

The Government needs to

…

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Mark Valladares

22-23 April 2023 – the weekend’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 24th April 2023 - 9:15 am
  • 1.4 million people’s work suffering due to NHS backlog
  • Raab: Sunak must withdraw Conservative Whip

1.4 million people’s work suffering due to NHS backlog

1.4 million people currently waiting for NHS treatment are seeing their work affected by it, new figures have revealed.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said the figures showed Rishi Sunak is breaking two of his key pledges, to grow the economy and bring down NHS waiting lists. He warned this record of failure meant millions were being “left in limbo,” with many unable to return to work while they wait for treatment. The Liberal Democrats will today set out a plan to bring down NHS wait times, get people back into work more quickly and boost the economic recovery.

The Office for National Statistics survey found that more than one in five adults report they are waiting for a hospital appointment, test, or to start receiving medical treatment through the NHS. Of these, 19% said waiting for NHS treatment had affected their work, equivalent to over 1.4 million people across the country. The survey suggests 350,000 people have reduced their hours and 140,000 have gone on long-term sick leave in the past month as a result of waiting for NHS treatment.

The latest figures showed that a record 7.22 million people were waiting to start routine hospital treatment at the end of February, despite Rishi Sunak’s flagship pledge to bring down NHS waiting lists.

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Mark Valladares

Welcome to my day: 24 April 2023 – anyone would think that governance matters…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 24th April 2023 - 7:30 am

Look, I told you. Governance matters…

I freely admit that I do “bang on” about governance quite a lot in these (mostly) weekly pieces. And that might well be because I’m a bureaucrat and the sort of person that reads constitutions so that I know what my remit is and what the rules are. But I also know that mutual respect, even when you disagree, and a mind open to enough honest doubt to accept that you might not always be right, tends to produce better outcomes.

But it tells you a lot that the Conservative response to the Raab fiasco is …

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The Voice

This week in the local elections

By The Voice | Sun 23rd April 2023 - 5:30 pm

This week in the local elections, Lib Dems across England have been getting a great reception on the doorsteps. This is often, for activists, the toughest weekend of the campaign. You’ve been campaigning all year round of course, but particularly intensively for weeks and you’re starting to get a bit knackered.  It is amazing how quickly you go from “there’s still another 10 days to go” to “oh yikes, I need to get these last eve of poll jobs done” though.

Our teams across the country are doing an amazing job. If you haven’t got elections on your patch, offer to help someone who has. There is so much to gain for us in these elections. The more Lib Dem Councillors we gain, the better and fairer the local services we can deliver.

In Derbyshire Ross Shipman is seeing the benefits of his hard work for his community:

And our councillors in Tunbridge Wells have put out a snazzy video highlighting their work

And there’s a street stall in Portsmouth:

In Worcestershire they are making a LOT of stakeboards

When the Tiverton and Honiton by-election was called, Richard Foord know that local councillors had built a strong foundation for him. Now, he is out trying to get them re-elected.

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Callum Robertson

Do not walk away from accountability, reform OFSTED, do not abolish it.

By Callum Robertson | Sun 23rd April 2023 - 3:30 pm

OFSTED, the schools inspectorate has received flack for its inspection methods in the aftermath of the tragic death of Ruth Perry earlier this year. Following a period of silence, OFSTED Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman appeared on BBC Laura Kuenssberg this morning to face questions over the OFSTED’s approach to inspections.

The Liberal Democrat policy on OFSTED is to abolish it and replace it with a new body for school accountability. This is flawed for a number of reasons, not least because the hiatus period between abolition and refounding could lead to serious failures in uncovering failing establishments, hurting the life chances of the thousands of pupils in the communities that those schools serve. However, reform is a more appropriate method to secure the faith of the profession in their regulator.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 3 Comments
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