Mary Reid

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.

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Max Wilkinson

A tribute to Nigel Jones

By Max Wilkinson | Wed 16th November 2022 - 12:00 pm


From left: Nigel Jones, Max Wilkinson, Martin Horwood

Nigel Jones gave so much to Cheltenham.  To me and many others, he was a friend and a mentor.  As generous with his kindness as with his wisdom, he was a liberal to his core.

I did not know him as Nigel the MP, who achieved so much for his hometown.  I became his friend after he left the Commons.  But his legacy lives long in Cheltenham and it’s hard to knock more than a handful of doors without somebody mentioning his name.  After winning the seat in 1992, he lobbied successfully to keep GCHQ in Cheltenham and supported the trade unionists who worked there, alongside very many other local activities.  In parliament he was chair of the parliamentary beer group and was a true internationalist, serving in several party spokesperson’s roles.  Others will, I’m sure, pay much more expansive tributes to Nigel’s work as an MP than I can.  What I can do is tell the story of how he helped me.  It’s a story I know others in Cheltenham will recognise, such was the breadth of his generosity.

My friendship with Nigel started almost as soon as I joined the party.  He helped me so much in my earliest moments as a liberal activist.  For that I will be forever grateful.

Nigel was there to help when I was producing and delivering my first Focus leaflet.  After being introduced to the local office by Martin Horwood, Nigel’s successor as our MP, I received some important advice: “Nigel lives in Park ward.  He might deliver a round for you.”  That advice came from Andy Williams, our longstanding organiser well-known to many Lib Dem campaigners.  Andy had worked with his friend Nigel for many years.  Later that day, I phoned the number I was given by Andy to see if Lord Jones, our former MP and a busy working peer, was indeed interested in helping my longshot council election campaign in what was then the strongest Conservative part of town.  Soon after, I was in Nigel’s lounge, learning about how he had won the very same ward himself in 1989.  “It was by four votes and only because we called on a family of four at 9.50pm to get them to the polling station,” he advised.  “Remember that when it comes to election day”.  Nigel took three batches of leaflets and assured me he’d make time to deliver – an offer he repeated every time I asked.  What I didn’t know until long afterwards was that he was also helping out an old friend by delivering in an adjoining ward – typical of his self-effacing way of helping the liberal cause.

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The Voice

Mark Pack comfortably re-elected as President

By The Voice | Wed 16th November 2022 - 11:02 am

It’s a day of internal election results at Lib Dem HQ today.

First to be declared is the Presidential election. which is subject to an appeal.

Mark Pack won a second term easily.

The result in full is:

Mark Pack            4969

Lucy Nethsingha 2194

Liz Webster          1936

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Massimo Ricciuti

A new way: USA, UK and Italy

By Massimo Ricciuti | Wed 16th November 2022 - 10:06 am

I’m afraid bipolarism is currently emphasizing the extremes in politics. A healthy bipolar system should instead make coalitions compete to conquer the “centre”, thus pushing the political forces towards more moderate and reformist positions. But something is changing.

The “third pole” (Azione/ItaliaViva in Italy and the Liberal Democrats in UK) should be the reformist alternative to a right which, at present, is still stuck in ancient positions, especially in terms of human rights and concessions to people who don’t believe in science and in the Covid vaccination.

Fortunately in Italy the move of Moratti’s candidacy (at the Regional election in Lombardia, Italy) goes in the correct direction, splitting the right and exposing the contradictions. In the meantime, it is building a new political project that should also serve to speed up the evolution of the historical left wing Italian party PD (Partito Democratico).

The US Midterm elections showed that Trumpian extremism does not pay. But it also scares the Republicans. Some people really think the USA needs a new party! In the UK  the Tories are in crisis like the old Labour. There are excellent scenarios for Lib Dems who have always been anti-Brexit … we will watch the developments.

In the meantime, it is necessary, in Italy, to stop this attack on science by the new Minister of Health and his Undersecretary, Marcello Gemmato, who says he does not believe in vaccination and would like to stop the Covid vaccination campaign.

The way in which Covid is dealt with is the litmus test of a government’s concern about the most fragile members of society. To protect the most vulnerable, we need to protect everyone and everyone needs to continue to behave responsibly.

In the UK people suffer and the Tories are making such a mess. In Italy the extreme right wing populist parties in the government should think about that. In the UK, Italy and EU we all need a strong Liberal Democrat party!

In Italy and EU there is the #RenewEurope project. The Azione/Italia Viva  parties are moving as a single group in Parliament. The Radicali and +Europa parties are in the Renew Europe Group too … so, here, liberal groups are moving together.

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Mark Valladares

15 November 2022 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 15th November 2022 - 11:15 pm
  • ONS earnings figures: Economic mismanagement is leaving pay packets stretched further than ever
  • Vaughan Gething Qatar Press Briefing – More Soundbites Rather than Real Solidarity
  • Liberal Democrats Raise Concerns Over the Impact of Australian and New Zealand Trade Deals on Wales
  • Conservatives failing to count cost of windfall tax loophole

ONS earnings figures: Economic mismanagement is leaving pay packets stretched further than ever

Responding to the latest ONS labour market and earnings figures which show pay falling in real terms, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said:

This Government’s economic mismanagement is leaving pay packets stretched further than ever before just as bills spiral out of control.

This is the worst cost of living crisis in a generation and Thursday is judgement day for the latest Conservative Chancellor in post. He cannot make the same mistakes as his predecessors who crashed the economy and left families to pick up the bill.

Thanks to the Conservative party’s botched budget and reckless mismanagement of the economy, homeowners are being forced to pay hundreds of pounds more a month on their mortgage whilst their take home pay is eaten away by inflation. The public will never forgive Conservative MPs for this.

Vaughan Gething Qatar Press Briefing – More Soundbites Rather than Real Solidarity

Responding to Vaughan Gething’s press conference where he continued to defend the Welsh Labour Government sending a delegation to Qatar during the World Cup, Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds said:

I am not convinced by the arguments set out today by Vaughan Gething nor previous arguments from the Welsh Labour Government seeking to justify this morally unjustifiable trip.

The Welsh Government should be upfront about its intentions going to Qatar, it is not to ‘support Team Wales’ but is to seek investment.

These tainted investment opportunities are going to come at the cost of providing diplomatic legitimacy to Qatar’s hosting of this tournament despite the country’s atrocious human rights record that has left over 6,500 migrant workers dead, punishes being gay with execution or imprisonment and treats women as lesser human beings.

Vaughan Gething has stated that the Welsh Government will “proactively use Wales’ place in the World Cup in Qatar to promote our strong Welsh values”, yet today has again not provided any evidence on how the Government will do this.

The last time I checked, unless the three ministers have been promote to Team Cymru itself and are going to be on that pitch, their presence isn’t going to affect how our national team performs and our national team are already upholding our values.

If Labour actually wanted to show solidarity with those living under Qatar‘s poor human rights record, or the families of the victims that have died during the construction of World Cup stadiums, they would cancel their unjustifiable trip immediately and instead join the vast majority of fans who will be watching the games from home, and to show some consistency on “saving them air miles” that was used to justify the Welsh Government not attending COP27 last week.

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Lord William Wallace

Should we take a risk and be honest about taxation?

By Lord William Wallace | Tue 15th November 2022 - 10:55 am

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Liberal Democrats, we have a problem. As Max Wilkinson has commented in a recent posting, soft Conservatives are turning to us partly because the government has broken its promises not to raise taxes. But we are committed to decent public services, staffed by people who are decently paid; and after 20 years of cuts in services and real reductions in public service pay, quality can only be regained by substantial and sustained increases in spending. Furthermore, public service workers – people who believe that life is not only about money but also about what you put back into society and community – are among our natural supporters.

So what, under the current fiscal and economic crisis, do we say to potential LibDem voters about tax?

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Wera Hobhouse MP

Wera Hobhouse MP writes: The Conservatives are taking a major risk with people’s lives

By Wera Hobhouse MP | Tue 15th November 2022 - 8:55 am

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The UK’s presidency of COP26 should have been a turning point for Government action. Instead there are targets, with no sufficient plans in place to actually meet them. Therese Coffey noted that “the big COPs tend to be every five years,” which aligns well with her colleague Sunak’s lacklustre attitude toward this year’s conference.

The day after leaving COP27, where he said we need to ‘move further and faster’ toward Net Zero, the Prime Minister is set to announce that he has secured a major deal with the US to import 10 billion cubic metres of fracked shale gas.

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BBC Radio is 100 – but what is the future of world and local radio?

By Andy Boddington | Mon 14th November 2022 - 7:03 pm

One hundred years ago today, the now British Broadcasting Company started broadcasting radio.

But what is the future of public service radio in and from the UK? The world is going digital but at a very unequal pace. Not everywhere can access digital services at an affordable price, if at all.

The BBC has announced major changes to its local radio service. Local broadcasting will be restricted to eight hours during weekdays – 6am to 2pm. After that, stations will switch to sharing programmes across a wider area. News will be gathered over larger areas. Along with the loss of local voices, there is likely to be a reduced focus on the very local news that BBC local radio excels in.

The World Service is reducing its commissioned and syndicated programming content in favour of more news, which is already becoming like a tape on an endless loop. I fear that, driven by budget cuts, we will become a less effective nation in communicating with the world, reducing our influence and our status as a mature democracy and a world leader.

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The Voice

Floella Benjamin joins the Order of Merit

By The Voice | Sun 13th November 2022 - 1:30 pm

Many congratulations to Liberal Democrat peer Floella Benjamin on being appointed to the prestigious Order of Merit, one of the country’s highest honours which is in the personal gift of the sovereign. It is particularly poignant that she and the other five people appointed this weekend were chosen by the late Queen in early September just before she died.

The Royal Family’s website gives the history of the Order of Merit:

The Order of Merit, founded in 1902 by King Edward VII, is a special mark of honour conferred by the Sovereign on individuals of exceptional distinction in the armed forces, science, arts, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Appointments to the Order are in the Sovereign’s personal gift. The Order is restricted to 24 members.

Floella responded on Twitter to the many messages of congratulation she received:

One such message was from Joan Armatrading:

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Ed Fordham

Armistice and remembrance

By Ed Fordham | Sun 13th November 2022 - 11:30 am

I’m a huge advocate of recalling the lessons of the past, learning the stories, and putting faces to the names.

Over 30 years ago I was one of the few students who went to the war memorial in Nottingham – and as student President I was one of the first in recent times to lay a formal wreath at the Cenotaph there.

Come forwards and I lay a wreath as Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Derbyshire County Council.

In addition, I am the Lay Worship Leader for Great Hucklow Unitarian Chapel in Derbyshire Dales.

My view of armistice and remembrance has become more rounded and more informed and I now understand the role of all nations, the global effect of conflict and the consequences – in matters of hate, few are left out.

Accordingly when I lay a wreath at Matlock as Group Leader, I lay a wreath of red poppies but also a hand made wreath of purple poppies to represent the animals who served and died. Further this year, I tied a yellow and blue ribbon around my red wreath to reflect the Ukrainian conflict.

At my Chapel we have made remembrance a key cornerstone of our year and have adults and indeed the local school in attendance. As a Unitarian Chapel we are very inclusive and with our unique status as a national spiritual home for Unitarians we are able to call on a wider base of support. We have a poppy fall, we have a poppy heart, we do a service inside and outside the Chapel and it is – as is the Unitarian tradition – the most inclusive poppy fall in Derbyshire. Red poppies for uniformed service, purple for animals, black for all nations and races, pink for those arrested for their sexuality and white for peace.

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 13th November 2022 - 8:30 am

Ukraine

The Ukrainians are advancing – slowly. They don’t trust the Russians. Vladimir Putin has given his troops the order to abandon the western half of the key city of Kherson. Civilians and medical staff have been evacuated from both the eastern and western halves of the city divided by the river Dnieper.

But the Ukrainians are not rushing in to fill the vacuum. They are concerned that the Russians have covered their retreat with land mines and other explosives and have trained their artillery on the deserted streets. Furthermore, that they are preparing for deadly street-to-street, house-to-house fighting in the eastern half of the city.

In the meantime, the Kremlin rumour mill continues to churn out stories about the imminent overthrow of President Putin. The left anti-war wants peace and an end to the war while the right nationalist wing is demanding that more resources – including, if necessary, tactical nuclear weapons, be thrown into the fight. The latest opinion polls, however, show that 78 percent continue to support Putin personally, although support for the war is slipping.

2022 World Cup

Someone should have warned the Qataris about being careful about what you wish for before they started bribing officials to secure the 2022 World Cup. The sporting event is second only to the Olympics in the pantheon of international sporting events and usually brings economic and political benefits to the host country.

In the case of Qatar’s ruling al-Thani family, they are spending $30 billion on hosting the football event. This involves building half a dozen stadiums, roads, a state-of-the-art metro and a number of hotels. They can afford it. Qatar is the smallest nation ever to host the World Cup, but it is among the top ten wealthiest in the world. The per capita income of the oil and gas-rich Gulf emirate is $61,000 a year and it has a sovereign wealth fund of $450 billion. It can afford to show off its wealth.

But at the same time, it would rather not have the spotlight turned on its human rights record – especially as regards migrant labour and LGBTQ rights. Tens of thousands of construction workers were recruited from South Asia to build the World Cup infrastructure. They worked in searing heat, were paid abysmally low wages and lived in squalid dormitory conditions. If they wanted to return home they had to apply for an exit visa which was rarely granted. The Guardian reported that 6,500 of them died. This figure been disputed, but the newspaper says it is based on reports from South Asian embassies in Qatar.

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Caron Lindsay

Caroline Pidgeon to step down as London Assembly Member in 2024

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 12th November 2022 - 7:34 pm

Lib Dem London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon announced today at the London Regional Conference that she will not stand for re-election in 2024. Later she tweeted:

Caroline will be greatly missed by colleagues from all parties, including London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, whom she stood against when he was first elected in 2016:

Similar praise came from Conservative and Green Assembly members;

And Liberal Democrats were keen to thank her for all she has done over the years:

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Simon McGrath

Labour show their true colours

By Simon McGrath | Sat 12th November 2022 - 2:30 pm

It has not been a great  week for those who think Liberal Democrats will find it easy to work with a minority Labour Government  or that Labour are our natural partners.

First we had Keir Starmer’s very odd comments on  people working in the NHS – where he said 

What I would like to see is the numbers go down in some areas. I think we’re recruiting too many people from overseas into, for example, the health service.

 

I have recently  spent time visiting someone in hospital and was struck by what a high % of the nursing and auxiliary staff were from overseas : what a message to send to them !  

Of course Starmer knows perfectly we need people from overseas to staff the NHS – this is pure dog whistle stuff designed to get a headline. 

Then we have that old  Labour favourite, identity cards. Labour’s last, fabulously expensive plan, for these was  rightly scuppered as one of the first  (and widely acclaimed ) actions of the Coalition but now  revived by Stephen Kinnock who says Labour is thinking : 

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Stuart Laycock

How Britain brought football to the World

By Stuart Laycock | Sat 12th November 2022 - 12:20 pm

It would be fair to say that the question of Britain’s contribution to world history is a pretty controversial one right now. Obviously Britain has contributed hugely to the world in areas like, for instance, literature and science. However, people have also become much more aware of the damaging effects of colonialism.

However, one aspect of British culture and its effect on the world that has perhaps not received the study it deserves is football. It came from Britain and yet today, it is played all over the world. It was British, and yet today, for each country, football is theirs, it is part of their community and their heritage.

Obviously there are some negative aspects of football culture around the world. Homophobia is an obvious one, but there is also still racism and sexism in football, and crowd violence is still a problem sometimes. The Qatar World Cup is, of course, hugely controversial. Yet set against that, is the huge fun, passion and excitement that football has created, the sense of community pride, and, of course, the positive physical benefits of great exercise. There is a lot in there that Lib Dems can readily support.

So how did we get from people kicking a ball in Victorian Britain, to the situation today? My brother Phil (recently retired history teacher and massive Chelsea fan) and I were aware, obviously that football came to the world from Britain, and we knew a bit about how it reached some of the nearby countries like France and Germany, but we didn’t know how it got from here to much more distant places, and some of the less major footballing powers. So we set off to find out. And because we didn’t know what was happening in, for instance, women’s football in Argentina today, we set off to find out a bit about that as well.

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The Voice

Liberal Democrats pay tribute to Lib Dem peer Nigel Jones

By The Voice | Sat 12th November 2022 - 10:23 am

We are sad to learn that Lib Dem Peer and former MP for Cheltenham Nigel Jones died on Monday during heart surgery.

The BBC reports:

During his parliamentary career, he served as the Liberal Democrat spokesman on housing and local government, and later as spokesman for science and technology.

He also served in the Select Committee on Standards and Privileges.

The body was set up by John Major in 1994 after a number of scandals rocked his government, that came to be known as the “sleaze-busters”.

Lord Jones of Cheltenham passed away on 7 November during heart surgery. He is survived by his wife Katy, son Sam and twin daughters Lucy and Amy.

Liberal Democrats have paid tribute to Nigel:

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Tom Arms

Observations of an expat – Mid-term winner

By Tom Arms | Sat 12th November 2022 - 8:30 am

Trump lost. Biden did not win. Democracy did. But Slow Joe may have damaged his 2024 options by securing democracy a place on the mid-term ballot.

At the same time, if President Biden takes the statesmanlike position and declares that he not a candidate for the 2024 election, then he is more likely to have a working relationship with a Republican-controlled Congress for his final two years.

He also ensures his place in history as the man who saw off the threat to American democracy as opposed to the 80-plus-year-old who clung to power past his sell by date.

But back to the loser. Donald Trump was not officially on the ballot. But he did everything possible to make the 2022 mid-term elections about him and his lies that the 2020 presidential elections were stolen from him in a massive fraud.

He refused to concede defeat and denied the validity of the American electoral process which is the foundation stone of the country’s democratic system.

He enthusiastically endorsed hundreds of candidates. Many were underqualified but they all shared the common platform of accepting his big election lie.

These candidates were overwhelmingly supported by Republicans in state primaries. Then they were either rejected, or barely scraped home, when their names were put to the public at large.

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Mark Valladares

11 November 2022 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Fri 11th November 2022 - 10:30 pm
  • Welsh Liberal Democrats Statement for Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday
  • GDP stats: People will never forgive this Government for crashing our economy during a cost-of-living crisis
  • Conservative stealth cuts leave up to 110,000 children without a free lunch
  • Dominic Raab behaviour: Cabinet Office must investigate immediately

Welsh Liberal Democrats Statement for Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday

Commenting Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said:

Today and on Sunday we pay tribute to all who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our country during its darkest hours.

Their sacrifice has allowed us to live in a society based on both freedom and liberty.

Today we think of not only the lives that were lost, but of the wish of survivors of both World Wars that we should strive to build a world free of war and violence.

This year as we remember those who fought for freedom and liberty during previous conflicts, many of us will also be thinking of the brave men and women of Ukraine, who are at this very moment standing in face of tyranny with winter approaching.

We remain ever thankful to those who stood to protect our country. We will remember them.

GDP stats: People will never forgive this Government for crashing our economy during a cost-of-living crisis

Responding to the latest GDP figures which reveal the UK economy contracted 0.2% in the third quarter, marking the first step towards recession, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said:

Today’s figures show the Conservative Government is leaving our economy smaller and all of us poorer.

People will never forgive this Government for crashing our economy during a cost-of-living crisis and putting up their mortgages by hundreds of pounds a month. The Conservative party can never again claim that they are the party of sound money.

Ministers must now do whatever it takes to protect households from the economic downturn they have caused, starting with a mortgage protection fund to ensure nobody loses their home this winter.

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Chris Twells

ALDC by-election report, 10th November 2022

By Chris Twells | Fri 11th November 2022 - 3:10 pm

November is always a busy time for by-elections and Thursday was no exception, with nine principal council seats up for grabs – all in England.

Sadly, only four of these contests had Liberal Democrat candidates. As soon as you find out there is a by-election coming up in your area, don’t assume somebody else will organise it – please get in touch with ALDC straightaway, apply for a grant if you need one and always stand a candidate!

Starting in the North West of England, in Burnley, we came heartbreakingly close to gaining a seat from the Conservatives. Commiserations to Russell Neal for missing out by just nine votes in Rosehill with Burnley Wood ward – we pushed the Conservatives into third place but a surge in the Labour vote saw their candidate take the seat.

Burnley BC, Rosehill with Burnley Wood
Labour: 372 (39.4%)
Liberal Democrat (Russell Neal): 363 (38.4%)
Conservative: 123 (13.0%)
Green: 87 (9.2%)

In Kingston upon Thames, we sadly lost a seat in the Green Lane & St James ward to the Kingston Independent Residents Group, a localist party. Well done to our candidate, Mahmood Rafiq, and the local team in New Malden for conducting a positive campaign.

Kingston upon Thames LBC, Green Lane & St James
KIRG: 855 (46.3%)
Liberal Democrat (Mahmood Rafiq): 647 (35.1%)
Labour: 265 (14.4%)
Conservative: 78 (4.2%)

In Greasley (Broxtowe BC) the Liberal Democrat share of the vote was 10.7%, which is encouraging given we did not stand in the ward last time. Similarly in Bourne East (South Kesteven DC) we won 11% of the vote – having not fielded a candidate here in 2019. These are encouraging results and will hopefully lead to success in future district and county elections in these areas.

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Michal Siewniak

Brexit, economy and the UK workforce shortage

By Michal Siewniak | Fri 11th November 2022 - 11:36 am

Some of us saw this coming, didn’t we? We’ve spent years, literally, talking about it. However, the topic of labour shortages and the impact (negative) of Brexit is coming back to us like a boomerang. It was absolutely fascinating to see an intervention from Lord Wolfson, the Boss of retailer Next, who said that Britain needs a different approach to migration. Wow, quite a “discovery”! And yet, there are still plenty of people who want us to “move on” and look ahead for a brighter and more prosperous future.

I am absolutely convinced that we have lost several years to come up with a good, sustainable and meaningful economical model to address some of these issues and the last few Conservative governments have failed to deliver on its “fantastic” Brexit promises.  A famous slogan “Take back control” is simply not working. It never meant to work! I understand – we might have voted against a greater political integration, however some people couldn’t foresee or didn’t want to admit that leaving the European Union, purely in business and financial terms, might cause a lot of damage to the UK economy.

A prominent Brexiteer, Lord Wolfson is currently struggling to recruit staff in his shops and retail units across the country, even though Britain’s unemployment is at record low levels. It wasn’t that difficult to predict, was it? However, Lord Wolfson is right; we need to find a different approach to economically productive migration and stop building “fortress Britain”. I would go further than that and I would argue that the government must stop its obsession with immigration and ill-driven ideology to reduce the number of people coming to Britain to do essential jobs in agriculture, social care sector or hospitality industry. Example? There are plenty! Only a few months ago, the government’s “creative approach” to workforce shortages meant a refusal of the aviation industry’s request to issue special immigration for foreign workers. Due to understaffing issues, many summer holidays had to be cancelled.

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Mike Morgan-Giles

Backing cannabis reform in Parliament

By Mike Morgan-Giles | Fri 11th November 2022 - 9:29 am

Cannabis has recently been back in the news, due to positive developments abroad, but unfortunately less so domestically.

Germany is pressing ahead with plans to introduce a regulated market. Under the proposals, adults will be able to purchase cannabis from dispensaries, individuals will be able to grow small quantities at home, and farmers will be able to cultivate it for sale.

While US President Joe Biden recently announced a pardon of those federally convicted of cannabis possession, as well as seeking to reclassify the plant into a lower harm category.

Even Thailand, which has previously had a reputation for tough drug laws, has shifted its position dramatically in recent months – with its use for some medicinal and recreational purposes now decriminalised.

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Mark Valladares

9-10 November 2022 – the press releases…

By Mark Valladares | Thu 10th November 2022 - 10:40 pm

Apologies, press release fans, as I got rather caught up in the drama of the US midterms yesterday. So, without further ado…

  • Gavin Williamson anti-bullying video exposes ‘rank hypocrisy’ of Conservative Government
  • Lib Dems: Strip Gavin Williamson of his knighthood if found guilty of bullying
  • Sunak failing the next generation as he refuses to protect education budgets
  • Welsh Liberal Democrats respond to Nurse Strike Action
  • The Government have failed cancer patients
  • Home repossessions increase significantly as budget sets off a mortgage ticking time bomb

Gavin Williamson anti-bullying video exposes ‘rank hypocrisy’ of Conservative Government

Responding to the resurfaced Government anti-bullying video recorded by Gavin Williamson MP during his time as Secretary of State for Education, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Education, Munira Wilson MP, said:

This exposes the rank hypocrisy and double standards at the heart of this Conservative government.

Gavin Williamson himself admitted that bullying is never acceptable.

Schools rightly have a zero tolerance approach to bullying. But once again it seems it’s one rule for Conservative ministers and another for everyone else.

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Leon Duveen

Palestine and Israel face a dark future

By Leon Duveen | Thu 10th November 2022 - 7:17 pm

It has taken me a few days to deal with the results of the latest elections to the Israeli Knesset.

To say they were disappointing is a massive understatement. Even though the popular, the Nationalist parties led by Netanyahu only gained a small majority in the popular vote: 2,397,624 who voted for parties that will support Netanyahu and 2,334, 239 who voted for parties opposed to Netanyahu). But the way the proportional representation system works in Israel, it will has gained a majority of 6 to 10 seats in the new Knesset.

For now, Yair Lapid remains the Israeli …

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Max Wilkinson

“We voted Tory and we got chaos anyway” – a report from the streets of Cheltenham

By Max Wilkinson | Thu 10th November 2022 - 5:04 pm

Not long ago a constituency poll put the Liberal Democrats on 58 per cent in Cheltenham, ahead of the Conservatives by a clear 28 per cent. That Blue Wall poll was published not long after the local elections, in which we defeated the Conservatives by 29 per cent in the Cheltenham constituency council wards.

Many people are assuming that this means we are strolling to victory next time. However, as one of the 2019 general election candidates, I remember all too well receiving similar MRP polling figures suggesting a comfortable victory. Those leads disappeared and many of us suffered heart-breaking narrow losses on the night after a campaign many will want to forget. That feeling in Cheltenham was compounded by the fact I received 27,505 votes – enough to have won every election as far back as 1997.

That’s why, since my reselection in early 2022, we have been speeding up the pace of our campaign. In Cheltenham, that means knocking more doors than ever. After the local elections in May, where we came within a whisker of a Conservative wipeout with our positive message on housing investment, addressing the climate crisis and looking after struggling families. I promised local activists we’d be back on the doorstep within a month. We were.

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Morgan and Farron speak on rural levelling up

By Andy Boddington | Thu 10th November 2022 - 3:03 pm

Rural issues are often sidelined in the Commons and in public policy. Yesterday, Tim Farron and Helen Morgan made significant contributions to the rural levelling up debate in the Commons chamber.

The debate, secured Selaine Saxby Conservative MP for North Devon, was sparsely attended but there were some strong speeches (Hansard).

Helen Morgan and Tim Farron highlighted the way that farming is being treated under the Conservative government, though the botched introduction of the Environmental Land Management scheme (ELMS) and trade deals. Rural transport was a major issue, trains, buses and access to rail stations. Hospitals of course featured. Ambulance delays. Bed blocking. The inability to attract staff because there is nowhere local and affordable to live. And the ever difficulty of getting a decent broadband connection in rural areas to allow businesses to thrive (I might add education and medical services to that list also).

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Hina Bokhari

Muslims need allies

By Hina Bokhari | Thu 10th November 2022 - 9:45 am

It’s Islamophobia Awareness Month. Which to be frank is not great. Sadly things have not got better since I was elected as the first female Muslim councillor in Merton in 2018. During my first term, I pushed Merton Council to accept the APPG definition of Islamophobia, but they didn’t. And there is still denial that it even needs to be defined. This is a problem if we are to truly tackle this type of racism.

Only a couple a weeks ago our candidate in the by-election in Kingston, who is a Muslim, was attacked viciously by the opposing Independent party in literature that marked him out as being unsuitable because of his faith. That night, I walked by his side as we refused to be cowed and continue campaigning. He was nervous and shaken by it all, but was also in disbelief. As we knocked on doors he remarked, “I remember that racism was quite common when I was kid but I didn’t think it was still this bad”. Sadly, I was not surprised. I have seen this type of behaviour on social media but what was shocking that this racist attack was on a leaflet. What got us through that night was the reception we had at the doors, nearly everyone we talked to who had seen the leaflet were shocked. Appalled that anyone would be attacked for simply having a religious faith.

Islamophobia, as defined by the APPG on Islamophobia, is “rooted in racism, and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” The Liberal Democrats were the first political party to accept the definition. (Proud of this!)

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Mark Valladares

US Midterms: Democrats defy the odds in the House contests

By Mark Valladares | Wed 9th November 2022 - 9:56 pm

Going into yesterday’s elections, the expectation was that the Democrats would be hard pressed to repel the five seat swing required by the Republicans to win control of the House. But, as it turned out, the task is made easier if you have extremist candidates carrying the red banner, and you threaten abortion rights in a country where the majority favour abortion rights with some, usually mainstream, restrictions.

And so far, that’s how it seems to be playing. Of the sixty-four seats judged to be in play by the Cook Political Report, forty-five Democrat-held to just nineteen Republican-held, as I write …

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Mary Reid

Sarah Olney (and other Lib Dems) on the problem of night flights

By Mary Reid | Wed 9th November 2022 - 12:08 pm

Sarah Olney was granted an adjournment debate yesterday, so took the opportunity to visit an issue that plagues her constituency – aircraft noise, especially at night. She was joined by her neighbouring MP, Munira Wilson, whose Twickenham constituency is affected even more. Christine Jardine and Wera Hobhouse also chipped in. Who knew so many Lib Dem constituencies had this problem?

You can read the full debate in Hansard, but here are some highlights.

Sarah Olney:

Night flights are the most intrusive form of aircraft noise and there is clear evidence that they harm both the physical and mental health of residents who live under flightpaths. This summer, the delays and chaos at Heathrow airport resulted in an increased number of flights landing through the night. For my constituents and for many others across west and south-west London, that disturbance resulted in countless sleepless nights.

This disturbance is completely avoidable. Night flights are by no means essential for airport operations. These flights can and should be moved and it is within the Government’s remit to ensure that that happens.

I therefore have two asks of the Department for Transport. My primary call is for a ban on scheduled flights at Heathrow airport between 11 pm and 6 am.  That is the only way we can be sure that residents will not continue to suffer from noise disruption. If the Government will not commit to that, they must commission a full independent analysis of the impact of night flights on the health of local communities, the environment and the UK economy to inform future policy development.

Munira Wilson:

My constituency of Twickenham is, of course, that bit closer to Heathrow and further along the flightpath, so I wholeheartedly welcome and support the two asks that she is making of the Minister today about trying to balance the economic benefits of night flights against the health risks and the distress that they cause to constituents. Does she agree that the Government could start by looking at extending the night-time restriction to 10 pm, from 11.30 pm, given the large number of frequent late-night departures that are blighting my constituents’ sleep?

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Mark Valladares

US Midterms – we’re probably not going to know the Senate result for a while yet…

By Mark Valladares | Wed 9th November 2022 - 10:59 am

Good morning, and welcome to our further coverage of the critical US midterm elections. Many thanks to Paul Walter, who set the scene yesterday.

On the plus side, it looks as though the ‘red tsunami’ only just made it to the shoreline, but the prospects still look on the gloomy side. We’ll start with the knife edge that is the Senate, where just one flipped seat (net) would hand control to the Republicans. Starting with Paul’s ‘five to watch’:

New Hampshire was, traditionally, a Republican bastion in New England but, as the southern part of the state has seen a population shift from Massachusetts in search of lower housing costs and lower taxes, voting patterns have shifted. The preferred Republican candidate was Governor Chris Sununu, the son of John Sununu, a former Governor and George Bush’s Chief of Staff, but he chose to seek re-election. That left the Republicans with Don Bolduc, a retired US Army Brigadier-General, whose primary victory was founded on a strong anti-abortion stance and a belief that the 2020 Presidential election was “stolen”. The fact that, having won the primary, he then almost immediately started rowing away from both positions probably explained his subsequent lack of success, as incumbent Maggie Hassan is currently 50,000 votes ahead with about 120,000 left to be counted.

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Mary Reid

LibLink: Lord Sharkey on protecting pensions

By Mary Reid | Wed 9th November 2022 - 9:14 am

Lib Dem peer John Sharkey has written in Politics Home under the headline “We must protect the triple lock on pensions ahead of a difficult winter“. He writes:

For the second time in a month, pensioners have been plunged into uncertainty over the future of their payments with the new Prime Minister refusing to take anything off the table ahead of the fiscal statement.

The triple lock was a core Liberal Democrat policy brought in by the Coalition government and we are determined to protect it throughout this turbulent time in politics.

This is in spite of the pledge by Rishi Sunak to uphold the 2019 Conservative manifesto which states “We will keep the triple lock”.

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Mark Valladares

8 November 2022 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 8th November 2022 - 11:20 pm

It’s been another day in which the apparent total lack of understanding of governance has been the undoing of another Conservative minister, and today’s press releases reflect how quickly that can play out…

  • Williamson comments: Independent Cabinet Office investigation needed now
  • Welsh Liberal Democrats Only Party in the Senedd Making a Stand on Human Rights
  • Gavin Williamson resigns: Sunak’s integrity left in tatters

Williamson comments: Independent Cabinet Office investigation needed now

The Liberal Democrats have demanded an immediate independent Cabinet Office inquiry into remarks made by Gavin Williamson, in which he told a senior civil servant to “slit his throat.”

It comes after Number 10 confirmed today Rishi Sunak has full confidence in Gavin Williamson.

The Liberal Democrats said a full and independent inquiry must be carried out immediately by the Cabinet Office Propriety and Ethics team, and the findings must be made public.

Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office Spokesperson Christine Jardine said:

The Conservatives must not be allowed to mark their own homework. We need an independent inquiry now to address these damning allegations about Gavin Williamson’s conduct.

Anything less would be an abdication of leadership from Number 10, and make a mockery of Sunak’s promise to govern with integrity.

The findings must be made public – if the Conservatives have nothing to hide, they have nothing to fear.

Every day this scandal drags on means more endless infighting while the Conservatives fail to tackle the pressing issues facing the country.

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