Liberal Democrat Voice

22 November 2022 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 22nd November 2022 - 10:35 pm

Debt figures: Conservative Chancellors have blown black hole in Britain’s finances
Welsh Liberal Democrats to Vote to Withhold Legislative Consent on the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill
OECD forecast: Damning verdict of the Government’s economic record
Sewage: Budget means almost £500 million less to tackle the sewage crisis
Levelling Up Bill: Conservative chaos to blame for cancellation of vote

Debt figures: Conservative Chancellors have blown black hole in Britain’s finances

Responding to new ONS figures showing the scale of UK government borrowing in October, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney said:

These figures reveal just how badly the long list of Conservative Chancellors have trashed our economy. This Government has blown a massive black hole in Britain’s finances and is now expecting hardworking families to pick up the bill.

It is a national scandal that big banks are getting massive tax cuts whilst the squeezed-middle gets clobbered with endless tax rises.

The sensible way to solve this is surely to tax the richest companies making bumper profits. We can’t trust this Conservative Government to clean up their own mess. They should never be trusted to run our country’s economy.

Posted in News and Press releases | Tagged economy, government borrowing, helen morgan, jane dodds, levelling up, northern ireland protocol, sarah olney, sewage and tim farron | 12 Comments

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The right to protest peacefully – we must cherish it, even if we disagree with the protesters

By Paul Walter | Tue 22nd November 2022 - 3:33 pm

Embed from Getty Images
The other day, I overheard someone describing how they would like the “Stop Oil” protesters to be dealt with. It was not pleasant and I am not going to repeat their words here for fear of inciting hatred.

Protests can be very tiresome and disturb our normal routine.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged edinburgh, peaceful protest and prince andrew | 19 Comments

A job and a half for the new Federal International Relations Committee

By George Cunningham | Tue 22nd November 2022 - 10:48 am

I was very pleased to have been part of the successful Federal International Relations Committee’s (FIRC) 2-hour international marathon at the West Midlands conference last weekend. Full marks to current FIRC Chair Phil Bennion. A FIRC First!

Having just been elected to the new Federal International Relations Committee, I will be encouraging it to focus on four big areas:
• Get our party leadership back on track concerning Europe.
• Mobilise newly enfranchised overseas voters to vote Lib Dem at the next UK General Election, especially in our target seats.
• Keep Lib Dems’ profile up internationally so the party continues to have global and European influence.
• Continue …

Posted in Europe / International | Tagged europe and federal international relations committee | 25 Comments

21 November 2022 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 21st November 2022 - 10:30 pm

Mortgage ticking time bomb: Homeowners facing biggest interest payment hike on record
Jane Dodds Responds to FIFA’s Decision to Force Team Wales not to wear LGBT+ One Love armbands

Mortgage ticking time bomb: Homeowners facing biggest interest payment hike on record

True cost of the mortgage ticking time bomb revealed by Liberal Democrat analysis of OBR figures
Homeowners are paying the price for the Conservative Government crashing the economy

British mortgage owners will face the biggest hike in interest payments on record, the Liberal Democrats can reveal.

Buried in the OBR Budget documents is the stark forecast detailing that mortgage interest payments will double over …

Posted in News and Press releases | Tagged jane dodds, LGBT rights, sarah olney, support for mortgage interest and Wales | 6 Comments

Review: “Treason: People, Power & Plot” at the National Archives

By Mark Valladares | Mon 21st November 2022 - 4:13 pm

Treason. It’s a word with connotations of vindictive kings putting potential rivals to death. But, with talk of potential revisions to the existing legislation, it’s perhaps an interesting choice of subject for the new exhibition at the National Archives.

I was lucky enough to take part last week in an in-depth exploration of the exhibition with Dr Neil Johnston, one of the team behind it, as we examined key pieces of original source material and discussed how accusations of treason were used to secure and maintain power over the centuries, from the passing of the Treason Act in 1352 to the …

Posted in Events | Tagged national archives and treason | 3 Comments

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Economic growth in 2022 – root of all evil or economic nirvana?

By Paul Reynolds | Mon 21st November 2022 - 1:04 pm

Since the summer of 2016 the concept of economic growth has been less prominent in UK political discourse, until now. The objectives of the constitutional changes in 2016, involved a greater emphasis on nationalism, judicial independence, EU-independent trade policy and reductions in immigration – all at the expense of economic growth as a core aim. The Home Office became ‘top dog’ in the UK administrative system, displacing the Treasury. Although not expressly stated, ‘managed decline’ became an implicit civil service aim, not seen since the 1970s.

Perversely, it was anti-EU factions in the Conservative Party that brought economic growth onto …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged economic growth and sustainability | 14 Comments

“Democracy in action” in Welwyn Garden City

By Michal Siewniak | Mon 21st November 2022 - 9:28 am

Frustrated. Bored. Tired. Disengaged. I wondered quite a bit whether being involved in the Parliament Week, for the 9th year running, made any sense. As a Cllr, I’ve had countless conversations with residents about the UK Parliament and it is and was clear that many people still feel disillusioned and angry with the way our democratic institution works, but more importantly with the conduct and behaviour of some of our MP’s and “Parliamentarian chaos” of the last 2-3 years.

However, after a bit of “intellectual effort”, I managed to convince myself that every step and every simple initiative can help to restore our faith in democracy. Every moment or conversation, even in passing, can bring back at least some political hope for us and people in our communities up and down the country.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged democracy and UK Parliament week | 1 Comment

Welcome to my day: 21 November 2022 – showing a little heart…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 21st November 2022 - 7:30 am

It’s been an interesting week here at Liberal Democrat Voice. As readers may be aware, we rewrote our editorial policy to reflect what, I would acknowledge, has been the way that we’ve managed the site for some time.

I first became involved in the editorial side of things about a decade or so ago and, as it turned out, it was harder than I had thought at the outset. I came back about five years ago because, well, the team were short-staffed and somebody needed to step up. I have, however, consistently spoken of my personal preference for a culture of mutual self-respect and inclusion. I’m a liberal, obviously, and believe in freedom of expression. And balancing those two concepts has proved… difficult.

Posted in Site news | 1 Comment

Lib Dems mark Transgender Day of Remembrance

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 20th November 2022 - 6:30 pm

Today we join organisations around the world in honouring those trans and gender diverse people who have lost their lives in the past year as a result of violence on Transgender Day of Remembrance.

327 trans people murdered. Most of them from marginalised groups. You can read their names and some details about their lives and what happened to them here. Half came from just three countries, Mexico, the US and Brazil. Read each one of their names and think of that life needlessly lost and then go and do your bit to create a world where this doesn’t happen, where trans people can live without fear.

Each one of these names was a human being with hopes, interests, emotions, ambitions. All they wanted to do was get on with their lives in peace.

There are very few names from Europe on this list and none from the UK. However, this does not mean that we are off the hook. Figures released last month showed that hate crimes against transgender people recorded by Police in England and Wales had soared by 56% in the past year. It’s hardly surprising in a toxic atmosphere where here are daily anti trans stories in the media. Then we had the revolting spectacle this Summer of Conservative leadership candidates falling over themselves to be the loudest anti trans voice.

Here’s how some Liberal Democrats have marked the day, starting with our official group for LGBT+ people:

Despite Trans Day of Remembrance (#TDoR) marking the culmination of Trans Awareness Week, it's important to note that we must continue to bring awareness to the injustice and prejudice that remain rife in society, in addition to shining a light on activists and trailblazers.

— LGBT+ Lib Dems 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ 🔶 (@LGBTLD) November 20, 2022

(Photo of lit candles with liberal democrat bird in trans colours with text:
Today marks Trans Day of Remembrance, a deeply poignant observance for the LGBTQ+ community as we recognise, reflect and honour the lives of our trans siblings who were sadly taken from us too soon, particularly the 390 recorded lives lost since last year.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged transgender day of remembrance | 1 Comment

It’s Equal Pay Day – the financial double whammy facing women

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 20th November 2022 - 2:30 pm

Today is the year when, because of the gender pay gap, women are effectively working for free for the rest of the year. Data from the Fawcett Society shows that the gender pay gap this year is 11.3%, slightly down on last year.

This arises for several reasons. Despite legislation outlawing this being passed more than half a century ago. women are often paid less than men for work of equal value.

Women also suffer from unfair barriers to career advancement because they are more likely to have caring responsibilities. This could be addressed by requiring employers to allow more flexible ways of working.

The Fawcett Society has produced a briefing which outlines the extent of the gender pay gap and makes recommendations to reduce it. They call for:

Improve pay gap reporting by:
Introducing mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting for employers
Requiring employers to publish action plans to tackle their pay gaps, so that
real action is taken toreduce pay inequality with accountability and
transparency built in

Lowering the threshold for pay gap reporting to 100 employees, bringing the UK closer to the standards set by other countries

Require employers to offer flexible work arrangements as default and advertise jobs with flexibility built-in

Reform the childcare system to increase affordability whilst ensuring our children get the best start in life

Ban questions about salary history during recruitment and require salary bands to be displayed on job advertisements

Introduce a free standing and legally enforceable ‘Right to Know’ what a male colleague is paid for equal work

Not only are women at the sharp end of the Gender Pay Gap, but they are also being disproportionately affected by the cost of living crisis. Scottish feminist organisation Engender has produced a report on this, calling for targeted support for women on low incomes, particularly those with caring responsibilities who are likely to have higher energy needs. They explain why this contributes to greater inequality between men and women:

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged engender, equal pay, fawcett society and Jo Swinson | 2 Comments

Loss and damage deal agreed at COP27 in glass half empty conclusion

By Andy Boddington | Sun 20th November 2022 - 12:31 pm

It was always expected that a deal on tackling climate change and compensating for its consequences would go to the wire. And indeed, beyond the wire with the Conference of the Parties overrunning from Friday until an agreement early this morning.

There is still unpacking to do on what was achieved. But the glass is perhaps half full as the developed world has agreed to the principle of reparation for loss and damage for extreme climate events, such as the extraordinary flooding we have seen in Pakistan recently and the extreme drought in Africa and elsewhere. But the glass is at least half empty because there is no money on offer. That will have to decided at a future COP or decided on an ad hoc basis (which is what is done with overseas and emergency aid anyway).

The glass is very much half empty because there seems to have been no commitment to an ending of fossil fuel use, even among rich nations such as ours and the USA. The agreement today is for phasing down fossil fuel use, not phasing out. It is not clear that limiting global warming to 1.5° is now achievable. That of course will lead to more reparation payments, providing those countries responsible for most historical emissions pay up.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged climate change, COP27 and COP28 | 9 Comments

Qatar world cup: a dilemma that ought to be easy to resolve

By Chris Bowers | Sun 20th November 2022 - 10:30 am

A lot has been talked about the football world cup that starts today in Qatar. Questions like ‘Should it have been awarded to Qatar?’, ‘How many construction workers have really been killed and injured?’ and ‘Where does having a global sporting event in a state where same-sex relationships are illegal leave the fight for sexual equality?’ are all reasonable, but they don’t address the fundamental question of what sports fans should do over the next month: to watch, or not to watch?

I was in Qatar in December 2006 for the Asian Games, a continent-wide mini-Olympics with a range of sports open to Asian athletes only. I covered the tennis, and it was a fascinating experience in which Asian tennis players were allowed to shine the way they normally don’t on the global men’s and women’s tours. But it was also a troubling one.

Near our hotel was a building site, where Tamil construction workers from Sri Lanka were ferried in every day in a decrepit yellow American school bus. Because I much prefer walking when working at events where I’m sedentary for much of the day, I shunned the official transport and walked to the Games’ hub from where I entered the credential zone and made my way to the tennis.

On that daily walk I saw a number of things that make it very easy to believe that the number of construction workers killed in building the eight stadiums that make up the 2022 world cup venues is way above the already horrendous estimates of 6000-7000 that international human rights groups are giving. These are migrant workers, brought in reportedly for very low wages, who never make it home. Others do make it home, but with injuries sustained in building ‘accidents’ that they may never recover from, and with little or no financial support in many eastern Asian countries like Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Last week, German television broadcast a documentary in which the former German international Thomas Hitzlsperger went to Nepal to speak with families who have lost relatives on the Qatari building sites, or are now looking after family members with horrific injuries. One of his motives in making the documentary was to drum up some money to pay for the support such people need to live out the rest of their days (in many cases another five decades) in some comfort and dignity.

Hitzlsperger is one of the few top-level footballers to come out as gay, and the only former Premier League footballer to have done so to date. That adds piquancy to the documentary, and emphasises that the common thread running through the various criticisms of the Qatar world cup (abuse of migrant workers, LGBT+, questionable aspects of the bidding process, and more) are all to do with human dignity, or the lack of it.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged featured, human rights, qatar world cup and sport | 2 Comments

Tom Arms’ World Review: COP 27, Poland, China, Trump, Population, UK Budget

By Tom Arms | Sun 20th November 2022 - 8:30 am

The message from COP 27

I am writing this on Friday afternoon, a few hours before the COP 27 in Sharm el-Sheikh is due to produce its final communique. The outlook is bad.

Yesterday the EU Climate Policy Chief, Frans Timmerman, said the first draft “left a lot to be desired.” The same day a joint delegation from Canada, the EU and UK went to see COP president Sameh Shankry to tell him to “fill the gaps.”

The two main sticking points are a renewed commitment to the 1.5 degree rise in global temperature which was agreed at Glasgow, and the establishment of a “Loss and Damage Fund”.

The former looks achievable but without any serious teeth. The latter is more problematic.

The fund would be financed by the wealthy countries to compensate developing countries for climate change damage caused by historic emissions and to help pay for a switch to renewable sources. The US, in particular is concerned that the current proposed structure would expose America to limitless liability. One bit of good news is that the world’s top two polluters—China and America—are talking to each other again. US climate tsar John Kerry met with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zenhua, and at the G20 summit in Bali Joe Biden and Xi Jinping agreed to liase more on the issue of global warming.

Accidental war is a real danger

A missile killed two people this week in the Polish village of Przewdow and the world held its breath. Had a NATO country been attacked by Russia? Was this the start of World War Three?

The Polish military was put on high alert. President Biden was roused from his bed in Bali and a hurried meeting was held of first NATO heads of government at the G20 and then the G20 leaders themselves (minus Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov).

Then everyone exhaled.

The missile was “most likely” a Ukrainian S-300 surface-to-air missile that had gone astray. The Ukrainians denied responsibility (they, of course, have a vested interest in blaming Russia). The Russian Ministry of Defence said that none of its missiles had gone further than 20 miles from the Polish-Ukrainian border. Whomever was responsible, it was clear that the attack was unintentional. But accidents have caused wars in the past. In 1925 Greece and Bulgaria went to war after a Greek soldier inadvertently chased a runaway dog across the border into Bulgaria. Accidental war is a real danger.

Who holds the power in China?

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged tom arms world review | 7 Comments

Gavin Esler and Dominic Grieve at Unlock Democracy AGM

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 19th November 2022 - 2:30 pm

Unlock Democracy is an organisation which has many of the same aims on reforming our political system as we do. In fact there are some familiar faces in high positions in the organisation. Tom Brake, former Lib Dem MP for Carshalton and Wallington, is their Chief Executive and our former Director of Campaigns Shaun Roberts, is their Head of Campaigns and Digital.

Today they held their AGM which was opened with a session on the dire state of our democracy and the future of Britain with former Conservative MP Dominic Grieve and former BBC journalist Gavin Esler. IF you take nothing else away from this article, remember this from Dominic Grieve:

Lib Dems were an important moderating factor during the coalition. Civil servants were saying that this was the first time in years there had been evidence based decision making.

In his opening remarks, Dominic Grieve concentrated on how we had got to the mess we are in, saying that the fundamental irrationality of current state of politics is depressing.

In his day, he said, the Conservatives used to anchor on principles of rationality but have abandoned that over the past 6 years, leading to Liz Truss fantasy economics.

He looked back over the past three decades and argued that when things have gone wrong it’s when politicians have done things which in hindsight look irrational

Thatcher started to undermine our role in EU and opened door to brexiteers to persuade us to vote to leave – a massively irrational decision.

He said that the SNP’s commitment to independence is similarly irrational and will not deliver what they aim for.

Politicians, society, media engage in displacement activity rather than tackle the real issues. Neither Government nor opposition can properly articulate the underlying problems that need to be fixed, crucially around the mess of Brexit.

He now favours PR, but says that electoral reform needs a culture change. People accept that politics is about compromise and adjustment rather than delivering set out programmes

He concluded that the current situation is making us poorer, threatening our future and our ability to influence the world in a positive way

Gavin Esler broadly agreed with this analysis. He compared UK failure to face up to Brexit by using distraction to Trumpism.

He looked at how clearly incapable people thrived in our system How do you get to be Gavin Williamson, forced to resign by 3 Prime ministers in 4 years.

He quoted our Layla Moran, saying that Williamson was the 80th minister to resign or be sacked in 2022 and if this was a school it would be in special measures.

He argued for systemic change to stop the situation where in his home county of Kent it takes 33,000 votes to get a Conservative MP, and 250,000 to get a Labour one.

They were asked how to bring about change.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged dominic grieve, gavin esler, political reform and unlock democracy | 4 Comments

Registration opens for Scottish and Federal Spring Conferences

By The Voice | Sat 19th November 2022 - 12:30 pm

It was lovely to wake up to an email from Federal Conference Committee Chair Nick Da Costa announcing that registration was open for Spring Conference which takes place from 17-19 March in York.

It will be the first time the federal party has gathered in person since September 2019 in Bournemouth. Back then, Wendy Chamberlain was the PPC for North East Fife and Jo Swinson had just taken over as leader.

Federal Conference is simply the most fun you can ever have as a Liberal Democrat. It’s intense, passionate, exhilarating and this time will have the added joy of seeing everyone again. We’ll have lots to debate in a beautiful Lib Dem run city.

If you can’t go, you can register to watch and vote online.

All the information you could possibly want about registration is here – and note that there is a hefty discount if you are a first timer.

And the relevant deadlines for submitting items for debate follow.

Drafting advice deadline (motions): 16 December at 13.00

Motions deadline: 11 January at 13.00

Amendments drafting advice deadline (emergency motions and amendments): 14 February at 13.00

Amendments and Emergency Motions deadline and deadline for Appeals against non-selection of motions: 6 March at 13.00

Appeals deadline for Amendments and Emergency Motions: 16 March at 13.00

Yesterday, the Scottish Party announced that Scottish Spring Conference would take place the week before, on 10-11 March in the lovely city of Dundee. You can register here.

Posted in News | Tagged 2023 scottish spring conference and 2023 spring conference | Leave a comment

Has Elon Musk broken Twitter?

By Andy Boddington | Sat 19th November 2022 - 10:31 am

When I want to know what politicians are saying, including Lib Dem MPs and peers, I turn to Twitter. When I want to get a message out to a broader community than my town (for which I use Facebook), I use Twitter.

But Twitter is in trouble. Serious trouble. That trouble goes by the name of Elon Musk.

True, Twitter was languishing. Failing to effectively monetise its product. Too many staff. Not enough innovation.

But Elon Musk’s shock and awe approach to managing a company he wasn’t that interested in running is weakening the Twitter brand and weakening its credibility. Mass sackings. Mass resignations. Mass closure of accounts. Defections to Mastodon. Record Twitter use but much of that criticising Musk and bemoaning what Twitter is becoming.

Will I join the mass movement and leave Twitter? Not yet. But I don’t rule it out.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged elon musk, football, qatar and twitter | 2 Comments

Observations of an ex pat: Putin has rewritten the nuclear playbook

By Tom Arms | Sat 19th November 2022 - 8:30 am

Putin has rewritten the nuclear playbook and the world is a more dangerous place for it.

The reason? Because if one nuclear power changes their rules then the others have to reconsider theirs, and Putin has changed the rule book to make the use of nukes more likely.

Nuclear weapons in the past have been classified as a defensive weapon. Their purpose was to deter an enemy attack rather than to launch one.

Some countries—mainly China and India—have adopted a “No First Use” policy which means they will only use their nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack from another power. Beijing has a proposed a No First Use agreement with the US and been rejected.

The US, UK and France (the three nuclear NATO countries) have gone for the “Flexible Response” doctrine which means they will fire their missiles if faced with losing in the face of an overwhelming conventional weapons attack. This is more or less the policy of Pakistan, Israel (which refuses to admit to ownership of a nuclear arsenal) and even North Korea.

Barack Obama considered switching to a No First Use policy but was talked out of it by European allies who feared that it left them vulnerable to a conventional weapons attack from the large Russian army.

Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1982 pledged No First Use. The sincerity of the promise was questioned at the time and it was dropped in 1993 by the Russian successor state. Boris Yeltsin felt at the time that the deterioration of conventional weapons dictated greater reliance on the nuclear arsenal.

Then in 2020 came the Russian Presidential Executive Order on Nuclear Deterrence which made it clear that Russia reserved the right to use nuclear weapons to protect what it decided was its territory. This obviously includes the bits of Ukraine which it has annexed since 2014.

Putin has turned his nuclear arsenal from a purely defensive weapon into an offensive weapon by threatening to use them as part of a conventional weapons war for territorial gain.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged nuclear weapons, observations of an ex pat and russia | 7 Comments

18 November 2022 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Fri 18th November 2022 - 10:45 pm

Squeezed middled pushed to the brink by Conservative’s Cost of Chaos budget
IFS analysis: Conservative ministers are economic vandals

Squeezed middled pushed to the brink by Conservative’s Cost of Chaos budget

In response to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s morning round following yesterday’s Autumn Statement, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney said:

Struggling families who have worked hard for years have had their security stolen by this Conservative Government. While non-doms and big banks got off lightly, the already squeezed middle are being pushed to the brink.

Those working day-in, day-out are having to choose between food or heating, mortgage payments or fuel for

…

Posted in News and Press releases | Tagged cost of living crisis, ed davey and sarah olney | Leave a comment

The Lib Dems’ Role in the repeal of Section 28 – 19 years on

By Luke Allan | Fri 18th November 2022 - 8:51 pm

This week marks 19 years since the repeal of Section 28 of the Local Government Act in England and Wales, a landmark date for LGBTQ+ equality ensured by the Liberal Democrats.

Introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government in 1988, Section 28 (or Clause 2a in Scotland) was a controversial and dangerous legislative amendment to the Local Government Act, which sought to ‘prohibit the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities.’

The introduction of Section 28 was of little surprise to many campaigners following Thatcher’s address at the 1987 Conservative party Conference where she stated:

Too often, our children don’t get the education they need—the education they deserve. Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay. And children who need encouragement—and children do so much need encouragement—so many children—they are being taught that our society offers them no future. All of those children are being cheated of a sound start in life—yes cheated.

Once enacted, Section 28 prevented any form of positive depiction of LGBTQ+ life in schools. Teachers were banned from teaching or discussing LGBTQ+-related items, LGBTQ+ literature, or books containing a depiction of positive LGBTQ+ relationships, and additional resources were removed by schools. This was in addition to the disbandment of LGBTQ+ groups and clubs both within schools and those facilitated by local authority services in the community.

Upon its introduction, the Liberal Democrats were the first party to openly oppose the legislation. As a party, we were clear that teachers must be allowed to support pupils who come out to them, and schools must be allowed to provide information that presents LGBTQ+ attraction and relationships as valid and normal.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged ed davey, LGBT, lgbt+ lib dems and section 28 | 3 Comments

ALDC by-elections report, 17th November 2022

By Alan Good | Fri 18th November 2022 - 4:55 pm

A stonking eight by-elections were held in the mid-November chill yesterday. While we may have only stood candidates in 50% of these, our presence was certainly known where we did.

The Conservatives had a poor showing, losing both defences to Labour. Scraping a win in Darwen South Ward, the latter’s eyewatering 7-vote majority in Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council highlights Liberal Democrat Mark Davies’ 137 votes. Congratulations to Mark for standing! In a similar vein, Greenlands Ward in Blackpool saw Kev Benfold secure 77 votes alongside Labour’s slender 32-vote majority over the Conservatives. Even more impressive was Kev standing in an area where no Lib Dem had done so for over 10 years! Thank you, Kev.

Down the road in Hollinwood, Oldham, Dominic Cadman won 36 votes. Well done Dominic! Even further north, in Glasgow, Joseph McCauley racked up 294 votes – thank you Joseph!

In all four elections where no Liberal Democrat stood, the winning party got over 60% of the vote, and in Rhondda, Labour won 80%, with the full results shown below.

Far be it from me to inflate my knowledge of Darwen or Blackpool politics – however the occasion of third party tallies exceeding slim winning margins leaves campaigners like us in the Liberal Democrats pondering “did we have an impact, and was it worth standing a candidate?” In all cases, but especially this one, I argue; yes!

Posted in Council by-elections | Tagged aldc local government by-elections | 11 Comments

Our editorial policy

By The Voice | Fri 18th November 2022 - 2:15 pm

Every so often, the LDV team looks at how we do things. We think about how we want to run the site in a way that we can all be comfortable with.

We’ve had a look at our editorial policy and we have agreed to make some changes which reflect our current practice.

We have never aligned ourselves with any supposed wing or faction of the party, which is a good thing as they change all the time. We’ve published a wide range of articles and viewpoints, many of which we personally disagree with, because we want to facilitate debate within the party and with others outside it. That will continue to be the case..

Much is said about free speech. It’s something that we very much value. It also includes our freedom as editors to run the site in a way that fits with our ethos.

Nobody has the right to have anything they want published on LDV or anywhere else. We will judge articles on their merit and decide whether they will be a good fit for us.

There are some issues, though, which go way beyond the normal rough and tumble of political debate.

We’ve always felt a sense of responsibility that our site should stand up for vulnerable people. We don’t want to contribute to the often toxic atmosphere that is present in much of the media where groups of people, whether they be, for example, social security claimants, immigrants, disabled people, LGBT people, or followers of one religion or another are demonised.

The way those marginalised groups are treated is not consequence free. Whipping up a storm against vulnerable people on the basis of who they are makes it more difficult for them to live their lives freely without fear and damages their life chances. We want no part in that.

So that means that sometimes we either have to pick a side or be part of the problem. We will do so when we think it necessary to make our site a kinder, progressive place.

Our revised policy reads (with changes in bold):

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged editorial policy, featured and site news | 16 Comments

17 November 2022 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Thu 17th November 2022 - 11:00 pm

Wales Ambulance Waiting Times – Emergency Lights Should be Flashing for Labour
Budget: Everyone being forced to pay the price for Conservative chaos
Cancer Treatment Waiting Times Intolerable
Conservative giveaway to big banks set to cost taxpayers £18 billion
5 Hidden Horrors in the Autumn Statement

Wales Ambulance Waiting Times – Emergency Lights Should be Flashing for Labour

Responding to the news that Welsh ambulance response times have hit their slowest on record ever for red calls Jane Dodds MS said:

When someone is in a moment of crisis and chooses to call 999, they want to know that there will be someone at the other

…

Posted in News, Press releases and Wales | Tagged budget, cost of living crisis, ed davey, health care, jane dodds, sarah olney and Wales | 1 Comment

The Autumn Statement big lie – no more taxes

By Andy Boddington | Thu 17th November 2022 - 4:50 pm

Well, who would have expected it? Hunt blamed the country’s current financial problems on Putin. Nothing to do with more than a decade of Tory mismanagement of the economy. Nothing to do with the disastrous Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss budget which he has now all but reversed. Our low growth rate and our troubles are caused by anything other than the Tories. Of course, we have are weathering bitter storms but the Tories left us unprepared for those storms. Now we must all pay the price.

The big lie of this budget is that there have been no tax rises. Tax rates haven’t gone up but people will pay more tax.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast makes grim reading. The UK’s inflation rate to be 9.1% this year and 7.4% next year, contributing to the squeeze on living standards. The UK is in recession and growth will slow.

Our November 2022 GDP growth forecast. Full forecast published after the Chancellor’s #AutumnStatement speech pic.twitter.com/U1iKT9KFaC

— Office for Budget Responsibility (@OBR_UK) November 17, 2022

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged autumn statement 2022 and featured | 8 Comments

Lib Dems warn on education funding ahead of this morning’s budget

By NewsHound | Thu 17th November 2022 - 9:23 am

The i reported that figures obtained by Lib Dems from the Commons Library show that due to inflation eating into Whitehall budgets, schools and hospitals will receive £10.7bn less than they were expecting in 2024-25.

Ed Davey, Munira Wilson and Sarah Olney have written to Jeremy Hunt highlighting how current budgetary pressures are affecting schools in their constituencies.

This Government cannot try and balance their books on the backs of the young and the sick.

They must commit to protecting our schools and NHS budgets, otherwise the consequences could be frightening.https://t.co/zLGlNZ1nbN

— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) November 16, 2022

Posted in News | Tagged autumn statement 2022, education and featured | 1 Comment

Families face near £5,000 bombshell from Autumn Statement

By NewsHound | Wed 16th November 2022 - 11:59 pm

A typical family could face an eye-watering £4,900 triple whammy hit from today’s Autumn Statement, analysis by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

The research shows the combined impact of expected stealth taxes, energy bill rises and mortgage bill hikes next year. In the year 2022/23, a typical family of two basic rate taxpayers with a mortgage will face a total hit of nearly £5,000.

The party’s research has shown that there would be an additional £680 a year in income tax, due to the freeze of the personal allowance. Households could also face an increase of £1,200 a year in their energy bill, once the energy price cap is unfrozen in April.

Finally, due to Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous mini-budget, a typical family will see an annual increase of around £3,000 in their mortgage payments, due to soaring interest rates in the aftermath of the mini-budget.

Ahead of the Autumn Statement on Thursday, the Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to put a proper windfall tax on the profits of the fossil fuel giants. They are also calling for the Introduction of a new Mortgage Protection Fund and to increase pensions and benefits at least in line with inflation.

Posted in News | Tagged autumn statement 2022 | 8 Comments

16 November 2022 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 16th November 2022 - 10:45 pm

Inflation stats: Families struggling to get by because of Government’s inaction and incompetence
Raab: Ethics advisor must be appointed to stop a whitewash report
Raab investigation: “another Conservative stitch up”

Inflation stats: Families struggling to get by because of Government’s inaction and incompetence

Responding to the latest ONS figures showing inflation has reached 11.1%, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney said:

This Government’s biggest economic failure has been their disastrous attempts to get inflation down. Families are now struggling to get by because of this Government’s inaction and incompetence on spiraling prices.

After inflicting so much chaos, the latest Conservative Chancellor is now expecting the public to clean up their mess with grossly unfair tax rises. Our crumbling hospitals and run down classrooms are on the brink of savage cuts all because the Conservative party crashed the economy to fund tax cuts for the richest companies. The country will never forgive them for this.

This week Jeremy Hunt should target the oil firms and banks making bumper profits to fill the blackhole in Britain’s finances, rather than inflicting more pain and misery on struggling households.

Posted in News and Press releases | Tagged cost of living crisis, daisy cooper, dominic raab, ethics advisor, sarah olney and wendy chamberlain | 1 Comment

Lib Dems amend definition of transphobia – LGBT+ Lib Dems vow to resist

By The Voice | Wed 16th November 2022 - 7:03 pm

The Federal Board announced yesterday that it had amended its definition of transphobia in light of recent legal advice. The new wording can be found here,

However, LGBT+ Lib Dems, the official party body for gender and sexual minorities, has vowed to resist it, saying that the party had been unable to stand by its values when confronted by well-funded and organised transphobia. They said:

Like many reading this, the team at LGBT+ Liberal Democrats are disappointed and frustrated with the recent revisions to the Liberal Democrats definition of transphobia. While some tidying up of it may have been needed to protect against vexatious legal challenges, we are sad that our party has been pushed so far backwards.

As a party, we see ourselves as having the longest and strongest record on advocacy for trans rights and the wider LGBTQ+ community. Only last month our leader, Ed Davey MP, met with trans and non binary activists in the party to talk about trans people’s lives in the UK today. Many, many people throughout our party are staunch trans allies – be that in Parliament, the Council chamber, or party staff. And yet institutionally we remain risk-averse, unable to fully stand by our liberal values (as clearly laid out in the preamble to our constitution) as an organisation when confronted by well-funded and organised transphobia.

This process began earlier in the Autumn, and LGBT+ Liberal Democrats were sought for consultation on these changes. Naturally, we had a strong line on any changes that might be made, but sadly these do not appear to have been reflected in the final version. Key points that we raised in our response included:

Posted in News | Tagged definition of transphobia, LGBT+ Liberal Democrats, Trans Rights and transphobia | 10 Comments

Results of internal party elections

By The Voice | Wed 16th November 2022 - 4:26 pm

We have already reported on the re-election of Mark Park as Party President, and the remaining election results have now been announced.

You can read them in full here.

Vice President

Amna Ahmad

Federal Board

Joyce Onstad
Lucy Nethsingha
Neil Fawcett
Chris White (Councillor rep)

Federal Council

Alison Eden
Alison Jenner
Anton Georgiou
Callum Robertson
Candy Piercy
Chloe Hutchinson
Chris Northwood
Clare Delderfield
Gareth Lewis Shelton
Gordon Lishman
Hannah Perkin
James Gurling
Lisa-Maria Bornemann
Mark Johnston
Sally Povolotsky
Sarah Cheung Johnson
Simon McGrath
Stephen Robinson
Terry Stacy
Tim Brett
Zoe Hollowood
Antony Hook (Councillor rep)
Alex Warren (Councillor rep)
Aidan Van de Weyer (Councillor rep)

Posted in News | Tagged featured and party elections | 20 Comments

An “existential crisis” for English Councils

By Mary Reid | Wed 16th November 2022 - 3:45 pm

It has been many years since Councils have felt they had enough funding to provide the services that their residents need. For most of this century they have been cutting many non-essential and non-statutory services, such as youth clubs, and they have been outsourcing some essential services to cheaper and, in some cases, inexperienced and inadequate providers. And the cuts have happened year on year, so what seems unthinkable one year becomes a reality the next.

The core Council services are around housing and social care, for adults and children, plus a number of environmental services such as recycling and waste collection. Social care supports the most vulnerable, from essential care for the elderly and those with disabilities, to support for families in crisis and providing for looked after children. Most Councils also support an active volunteer sector with its increasing provision of food banks, as sure indicator that all is not well with society.

Throughout all this the Westminster government has been adding extra responsibilities to local government, but not the funding needed to meet them, all the while passing the blame onto Councils.

Councils get the bulk of their income from Council tax, business rates and central Government grants. The latter consists of the main revenue support grant, plus ring-fenced grants which simply pass through the Councils accounts and directly out to recipients, such as housing benefits and school funding. The formula for allocating the revenue support grant is shrouded in mystery, but seems to be based on historical assessments of need rather than current need. It has also reduced on average by 50% in recent years, and some Councils get precisely zero in revenue support.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged council tax, Local government and local government association | 5 Comments

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