Mark Pack

Thank you candidates, agents and campaign teams

By Mark Pack | Sat 14th March 2020 - 2:51 pm

News of the delay in this May’s local elections by a year is a sign of just how serious the coronavirus outbreak is.

It also means that for many candidates, agents and campaign teams who were gearing up for May, there’s now an unsettling vacuum in their political lives. What was going to be a peak of effort, with big impacts on the lives of people who are or aren’t elected, is now suddenly put off.

There’s also the weird situation that some councillors – along with their families – find themselves in. Those who were expecting to retire in a few weeks, sometimes after many years of voluntary public service, instead face an extra 12 months before they get to stand down.

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Posted in Campaign Corner | Tagged | 11 Comments
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The Voice

Ed Davey’s coronavirus update to members

By The Voice | Fri 13th March 2020 - 7:34 pm

Ed Davey has sent this email to party members:

Munira Wilson MP and I have just returned from a meeting at COBRA with senior officials in charge of managing the Coronavirus response.

As a party that believes in listening to experts and scientists, we continue to support the approach of the Chief Medical Officer and his team, whilst doing our job of asking reasonable questions.

Like many of you, we wanted to understand why the Government isn’t following our European neighbours – including Spain, Denmark and France – by implementing more stringent social distancing measures.

The Government must be more transparent about how they

…

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Harry Mayall

We are underestimating the threat of antimicrobial resistance; where is the “Clean New Deal”?

By Harry Mayall | Fri 13th March 2020 - 5:59 pm

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It can be very soundly argued that if someone was to objectively look at the biggest issues facing humanity today then antimicrobial resistance (AMR) would be easily considered one of the greatest.

According to the World Bank, AMR is likely to cause a 1.1-3.8% fall in Global GDP by 2050, with the damage to get continuously worse in the following years. For scale, this is an economic effect potentially larger than that of the 2008 financial crisis, and also larger than some estimates of the damage that global climate change would inflict over the same time period. Let us not understate the human costs as well: the WHO estimates the death count of AMR pathogens is already 700,000 annually and will rise to 10 million by 2050 unless urgent action is taken.

These statistics are very scary and should be enough to convince anyone of the severity of the threat, which in both economic and human consequences is expected to rival climate change. Despite this, there is very little political attention given to AMR.

In the 20,000 words that make up the 2019 Liberal Democrat manifesto, there is only one mention of antimicrobial resistance, which is simply mentioned in passing as part of a policy on improving hygiene in livestock. The 2019 Conservative manifesto and the 2019 Labour manifesto both do even worse, not mentioning antimicrobial resistance a single time; they only mention offhandedly that they will spend more money to counter the threat of numerous things, including antibiotic resistance (which unlike AMR doesn’t include resistance to non-antibiotic drugs such as medications used to counter pathogens such as Malaria and Tuberculosis).

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 11 Comments
Mary Reid

++Breaking news++ Local elections postponed for a year

By Mary Reid | Fri 13th March 2020 - 4:02 pm

The Government has just announced that local and mayoral elections will be postponed from this May until the following year. See the BBC report here.

 

Posted in News | 3 Comments
Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: Viral Trump

By Tom Arms | Fri 13th March 2020 - 4:00 pm

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Up until the Second World War the United States was an isolationist country. It stayed out of the European-led  imperial carve-up to concentrate on developing its own contiguous empire. The country briefly emerged from its shell in World War, and then promptly pulled up the drawbridge, lowered the portcullis and retreated back into a continental shell protected by two ocean moats.

After World War Two, US involvement in world affairs was essential for holding off the Soviet Union and world stability. Then came Donald Trump. It was not clear at first whether the New York property mogul and his “America First” policy was an isolationist or unilateralist,  or a bit of both. Coronavirus has helped to answer the question.

But before that, it must be made clear that Donald Trump’s major concern is not America’s national interest or world stability. It is, quite simply, Donald Trump. At the moment that means winning a second White House tenancy agreement in November 2020.

That is why in the early days of coronavirus  he was keen to minimise the dangers. He had a “hunch” that it was going to be OK. People should continue going to work even if they had Covid-19 symptoms. Flu, said Trump, was more dangerous than Coronavirus. He claimed there were plenty of testing kits when his scientific experts said the opposite.

There was a purpose to these  irresponsibly dangerous and false statements:  to keep the stock market indices as high as possible.  Trump’s best chance of winning a second term is a continuation of the booming market that has marked his first three years.  Trump once famously said that if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue his supporters would still vote for him. Perhaps, but will they vote for Trump if their pensions are destroyed; meagre savings wiped out and jobs and homes lost?

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The Voice

Advice for campaigners during coronavirus epidemic

By The Voice | Fri 13th March 2020 - 3:06 pm

ALDC (Liberal Democrat Councillors and Campaigners) has updated its advice for canvassers and campaigners in the light of the Government’s announcement yesterday.

CAMPAIGNING ADVICE

A lot of members have asked us for advice about campaigning in the light of the COVID-19 virus. This is our current advice. This may change if Government, NHS and professional guidance changes at which point we will issue new guidance.

DO – KEEP CAMPAIGNING

Our current advice is that we should keep campaigning the normal ways that Liberal Democrats campaign, including delivering leaflets and knocking on doors.

DO – TAKE SENSIBLE PRECAUTIONS

When campaigning

…

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Posted in Campaign Corner and News | Tagged | 9 Comments

Act quickly – you might be able to transfer your York hotel booking to next year

By Geoff Payne | Fri 13th March 2020 - 1:55 pm

No-one was more disappointed than we were that our Spring Conference was cancelled – although that it was undoubtedly the right thing to do. The reasons in full are here

The Conference Office has today sent a message out to everyone who registered setting out their options for their registration fee. The choices are:

1. Donate your fee to the Conference Fund for the Liberal Democrats. Please note that the event insurance that we had does not cover any of our costs for conference – contagious diseases are now a standard exemption from all event policies,
2. Obtain a complimentary four day (week pass) to Autumn Conference: 26-29 September 2020 in Brighton,
3. Obtain a full refund.

We have negotiated with LNER to secure refunds on train bookings for those who booked direct.

Importantly, we have also accelerated our contractual negotiations with regard to Spring 2021. That means that we can now announce that we will be in York again next March. The dates are 19th-21st March. We hope that announcing that now will allow people to transfer hotel bookings with minimal or no cost.

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Mary Reid

How to reduce the costs of cancellation of Spring Conference

By Mary Reid | Fri 13th March 2020 - 12:55 pm

An email has just been sent to everyone who had booked for Spring Conference.

As you will know, the Federal Board took a decision to cancel Spring Conference earlier this week.  You can find its statement setting out the reasons here: https://www.libdems.org.uk/spring-conference

We appreciate that you were looking forward to conference, as were we.  Under the circumstances, we would like to offer you the following options with regards to your conference registration fee:

1. Donate your fee to the Conference Fund for the Liberal Democrats.  Please note that our event insurance will not cover any of our costs for conference as it

…

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Posted in News | Tagged | 2 Comments
Mary Reid

Yesterday’s by-elections

By Mary Reid | Fri 13th March 2020 - 11:58 am

Huge congratulations to Ollie Patrick who held on to Parrett in South Somerset with 52% of the vote and to Manuela Perteghella who gained Welford-on-Avon with 43%!

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Posted in News | Tagged | 6 Comments
Mary Reid

Coronavirus and elections

By Mary Reid | Thu 12th March 2020 - 6:57 pm

The Electoral Commission has recommended that the May local elections be postponed until the Autumn.

The Government has not yet responded but we will bring you the news when we hear.

Tomorrow ALDC will also be updating their advice to campaigners and canvassers in the light of today’s announcements from the Government. Again we will share as soon as we know.

Posted in News | 20 Comments
David Warren

Classic Winners

By David Warren | Thu 12th March 2020 - 4:04 pm

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It was nearly twenty years ago that a very special lady got me interested in the sport of kings by asking me to place a bet on a horse called Legal Right tipped by the Guardian columnist Marcel Berlins. It was a success and from then on I was hooked.

In the years that have followed I have improved my knowledge of the game immensely and It is around this time of year that my excitement really builds in anticipation of the start of a new flat season. The first of the four classics are run in early May and we see how the previous autumn’s two year old stars have trained on. This time around the ‘Boys in blue’ at Godolphin have a really smart prospect called Pinatubo who I am sure they are anxious to unleash. Their rivals across the sea in Ireland at Ballydoyle will have their own plans to add to their impressive haul of winners.

All that said, as with almost everything else my thoughts often turn to the politics of racing. I am afraid to say we are unlikely to find many high profile Liberals amongst the stars of the sport. Having read interviews with Frankie Dettori I can confirm that he is most definitely a Tory. Rachel Hood wife of his current employer champion trainer John Gosden applied to be Conservative candidate for West Suffolk (the Constituency that includes Newmarket) awhile back and I know from my time as a resident of Newbury that the other big racing centre Lambourn is also a true blue stronghold.

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Rob Davidson

From progress to freedom – the need for liberation politics

By Rob Davidson | Thu 12th March 2020 - 12:41 pm

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Liberals around the world need to define our cause. In the absence of a clear vision of liberation politics, we are left in the vacuous, uninspiring ‘middle.’ Worse, liberalism is under open attack globally and without a clear message and strong network of messengers, it’s losing. Liberals must move away from nebulous phrases like ‘progressive’ and finally make the case for freedom.

The Conservatives are known as ‘the party of business’ and that holds up even as Johnson says “F*** business.”  Labour are known as the party of public services, of human rights and equality – even as Labour staggers through an anti-Semitism scandal.

But what does the public associate with the Liberal Democrats? More importantly, what does liberal democracy mean to people of Britain and the world?

Without a clear vision of liberation politics, our opponents on all sides have laid waste to liberalism.

Putin has declared liberalism, “obsolete” Orbán proclaims ‘illiberal democracy’ as his goal and Trump and Bolsonaro follow suit. In Britain, it is no wonder that Brexit leaders were so easily able to promote their populism as an attack on the “liberal elite.”

As I described recently, they do this with the support of a network of thinktanks, new media, pundits and bots that have normalized and promoted their agenda – including their unchallenged attacks on liberalism.

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Posted in Op-eds | 10 Comments
Lorenzo Cherin

Making a drama out of a crisis? Taking the harm out of the virus!

By Lorenzo Cherin | Thu 12th March 2020 - 10:46 am

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If we believe in anything, it is the Harm Principle of John Stuart Mill. People should be at liberty, to make their own choices, unless they do harm, to others, or to themselves, if in ways that might harm others too. The bar for the deciding of what is a harm, is set higher or lower, according to whether you are a Liberal or a Libertarian. Mill was a Liberal. He believed the state, the government, needed to exercise authority, on, for example law and order. The balance, is what is to be considered. The preamble to the constitution of this party refers to that as “between the fundamental values, of liberty, equality and community.

I have often put it this way. I am a Classical Liberal, on liberty related issues, a Social Liberal, on equality related issues, a Social Democrat, on community related issues. I am of the view that there has rarely been an issue that combines all these and more, and requires strong thinking and action, than Covid19.

I have just written an article for the Ustinov Prejudice Awareness Forum, an organisation of which I am a member and writer. The article is titled “Viral Expertise“, in which I look at greater word length and in different ways, from a more international perspective, at what I want to say here, from a UK Classical Liberal, Social Liberal and Social Democrat point of view. The importance of this issue, is such, that I would very much welcome colleagues visit the link too.

I, we, surely must subscribe to support policies that reveal and encourage, personal responsibility and public good. For all , responsible, for goodness sake, more needs to be done at home and abroad to combat this virus and act as a rehearsal for, an ongoing effort where the world performs better.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 57 Comments
George Kendall

How broad a church should the Lib Dems be?

By George Kendall | Thu 12th March 2020 - 8:39 am

The Liberal Democrats have always been a broad church. From the Ashdown-Kennedy revival to 2010, we had seats in traditional rural areas like Devon and Cornwall, as well as university towns and other more urban areas. We welcomed members too with a wide range of backgrounds and values. This followed the tradition of tolerance in the Liberal party from 1859, and with the principle of freedom of conscience championed by our constitution.

But is our broad church weakening?

In 2010, we lost many of these rural seats, and we’ve struggled to recover them following the 2016 Brexit Referendum.

Some in the party argue that, to make an impact, we should stop appealing to a broad coalition. We should make uncompromising statements, however much it alienates some existing voters and members. That we could write off old areas of strength, and instead pursue less traditional seats, such as affluent metropolitan constituencies and university towns.

When there is a real risk of a Tory hegemony, I think this is a terrible mistake. It would gift the Tories places where only we can beat the Tories. And instead shift our fight to where we are competing with Labour.

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Posted in Op-eds | 110 Comments
The Voice

Breaking: Spring Conference cancelled

By The Voice | Wed 11th March 2020 - 9:47 pm

The Party’s Federal Board has tonight decided to cancel the Spring Conference due to take place this weekend.

In a joint statement, Party President Mark Pack, Chief Executive Mike Dixon and Federal Conference Committee Chair Geoff Payne said:

Following careful consideration of the latest health advice and risks, the Federal Board has tonight decided to cancel our federal conference this weekend.

It’s not a decision that was taken lightly as conference plays a key role in our democratic party as well as being an important training and information exchange event. However, the health of our members and supporters, the staff who work on conference and the wider public is far more important.

We have noted today’s announcement from the WHO, treating this as a pandemic and calling for “urgent and aggressive action”, and also how other organisations have started cancelling events, such as the Royal College of Psychiatrists stopping all meetings with over 100 people. We have also paid close attention to the public health advice from the NHS, and note that some of the advice, such as around keeping distant from people who are ill, is in practice very hard to follow given the format of our conference involves large numbers of strangers sitting close to each other for extended periods of time.

We are aware that many people, particularly those in high-risk groups, have said in the last few days that they are not coming to conference. Conference operates on the principle of ‘one member, one vote’. We very much want to avoid a situation where people feel unable to particulate in our democratic decision-making because of fears over their health.

It’s a matter of regret that for many people coming to the conference it will not be possible to cancel travel and accommodation arrangements and recover the costs. The party itself will also have to incur significant costs and refunds. We hope though people will understand the priority being given to people’s health.

We will offer refunds on conference registration, though we hope that given the costs the party will have to pay anyway that members who can afford it will be willing to waive the refund and make it a donation to the party instead. Details of how to reclaim registration fees will follow in the next few days.

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 21 Comments
Simon Pike

‘High Risk Vendors’ and Government eavesdropping

By Simon Pike | Wed 11th March 2020 - 6:00 pm

Last Tuesday, Parliament debated the Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property), Bill. Well, actually, it didn’t. Several Tory backbenchers and a Labour shadow Minister hijacked the debate with amendments seeking to exclude ‘High-Risk Vendors’ (by which they mean Huawei) from UK telecoms networks. They did not provide any evidence to support their concerns, and the speeches sometimes bordered on a witch hunt.

Robert Harrison and Paul Reynolds have both written balanced and insightful articles on Huawei for Lib Dem Voice. The Government currently proposes to limit ‘High-Risk Vendors’ to the access network, and 35% market share. In a comment on Paul’s article, I explained how the 5G standards are designed to prevent any eavesdropping within the access network.

There is a well-documented case where an equipment supplier has been compromised by a foreign Government so that it could intercept the secret communications of other nations. But this is neither Huawei nor China: the company is Crypto AG, and the foreign Government is the USA.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 4 Comments
NewsHound

Budget reveals weakness of the UK economy – the Lib Dem reaction to the budget

By NewsHound | Wed 11th March 2020 - 4:32 pm


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Responding to the Budget, Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey said:

This Budget reveals the UK economy was alarmingly weak even before Coronavirus. The Government is desperate to blame anyone or anything but the reality is that it’s the Conservatives’ Brexit which is costing Britain’s economy dearly.

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 35 Comments
Chris Perry

Housing: A basic human right?

By Chris Perry | Wed 11th March 2020 - 3:30 pm

According to the charity Shelter, three million new social homes must be built in England over the next 20 years of which 1.2 million homes are needed for younger families who cannot afford to buy and “face a lifetime in expensive and insecure private renting”. The Government intends to build 250,000 homes by 2022, including homes for rent.

Travelling around the UK one gets the impression that there is more house building going on than ever before gobbling up agricultural land. This is at the time that we are leaving the EU, the “single market” and the “common agriculture policy”. About 30% of all our food is currently imported from EU Countries and for some products it is 100%. In 2016 more than £30.3bn of Britain’s food imports and £12.3bn of its food exports were with the EU, highlighting the scale of economic disruption if the current trade negotiations result in tariffs.

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Nick da Costa

Update from FCC and amendments selected for debate

By Nick da Costa | Wed 11th March 2020 - 12:00 pm

The Federal Conference Committee met on Sunday, 8th March to review the amendments, emergency motions and topical issues submitted for Spring Conference. We also discussed the most recent guidance with regards to COVID-19 and a few other reports back from the Federal Board.

On COVID-19; we’re keeping under close review the plans for the York conference in the light of the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). Based on health advice from Public Health England and government, along with that from York Council, at present, the Conference will go ahead as planned. We will, however, be ensuring that those coming to Conference are reminded of current advice, such as the need for regular hand washing and the circumstances under which people should self-isolate. Obviously, if the advice we receive changes we may have to revisit these decisions. Constitutionally, any decision regarding whether Conference goes ahead would be a decision for the Federal Board to take –  LINK

There will be plenty of hand sanitisers throughout the conference venue and the two official hotels; and please ensure that when you are washing your hands, that you do so for 20 seconds at least – or for the length of the chorus of The Land (plus the last line repeated). Advice and guidance will be published in the Conference Extra and Daily and will be available throughout the venue.

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Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Tagged | 10 Comments
David Chadwick

Singapore, do the Conservatives know what they are asking for?

By David Chadwick | Wed 11th March 2020 - 8:45 am

Singapore is often depicted as an authoritarian dictatorship come economic paradise. Conservatives like to fantasise about Singapore, seeing it as the prime example of a small state, low-tax, low-regulation economy that they would like to emulate.

But Singapore’s success has been driven by an idea that is antithetical to the Conservative mind: that the state can be as efficient and effective as the market.

Singapore is not the neoliberal paradise it has been heralded as below are four policy areas we could learn from: –

A sovereign wealth fund to accompany fiscal policy:  the Singaporean state asserts its primacy in the island-state’s economy. Compulsory purchase-orders are common; the state frequently buys private turf for the public good. Singapore has built one of the world’s richest sovereign wealth funds, Temasek, which is accountable to Singapore’s Ministry of Finance. It helps to finance the state’s long-term infrastructure projects and, in many ways, resembles the UK’s Green Investment Bank, which the Conservatives sold off in 2015.  

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 6 Comments
NewsHound

4.4% swing to Lib Dems in Wiltshire by-election

By NewsHound | Wed 11th March 2020 - 12:04 am

Well done to Harry Ashcroft and the team for achieving a 4.4% to the Lib Dems from the Conservatives in the Wiltshire Council by-election today.

The by-election was caused by the resignation of the Conservative councillor, who was elected as the MP for Broxtowe, Nottinghamshire.

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Posted in Council by-elections | Tagged and | 17 Comments
NewsHound

Wiltshire by-election today

By NewsHound | Tue 10th March 2020 - 4:52 pm

Good luck to Harry Ashcroft and team in today’s by-election in the Till and Wylye Valley ward of Wiltshire Council.

The by-election was caused by the resignation of Conservative councillor Darren Henry, who was elected MP for Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire in the December general election.

You can read Harry Ashcroft’s busy Facebook page here.

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Nicholas Chan

It’s Time for Tangible Support for Hong Kong

By Nicholas Chan | Tue 10th March 2020 - 1:30 pm

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A famous Chinese idiom story is about Liu Bang agreeing on a truce with Xiang Yu; both then forging a treaty of brotherhood. In reality, it was a scheme against Xiang Yu, who is a better battle commander.

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Chris Perry

Reducing income inequality

By Chris Perry | Tue 10th March 2020 - 8:30 am

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This is the second of three articles on housing

Huge profits are being made out of housing when the Government estimates 4,266 people are sleeping rough. For example Barratts made pre-tax profits in 2019 of £909.8m – even after paying their Chief Executive £3.6m. Nationwide made £833m after paying its Chief Executive £2.37m and the Government collected £9.3m in Stamp Duty.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 22 Comments

Minimum Income Guarantee

By Joe Bourke | Tue 10th March 2020 - 8:00 am

The purpose of politics can be said to be to resolve conflicts among different groups in society that arise from conflicting economic and generational interests. Developing compromise solutions that can promote harmony and good societal relations are the raison d’être for political parties.

The post-war welfare state delivering health and education services free at the point of use is such a compromise. So too is the social security safety net.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 26 Comments
NewsHound

Government urged to take extra measures to help homeless people impacted by coronavirus

By NewsHound | Mon 9th March 2020 - 11:59 pm

The Liberal Democrats have urged the Government to make clear what additional measures it will take to help homeless people as the COVID-19 situation continues to escalate.

Writing to the Secretary of State for Housing and the Secretary of State for Health, Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran warned the homeless are “some of the most vulnerable people in our society.”

The Liberal Democrat MP has asked for “an action plan” from the Government, including clarity on whether health checks be administered, especially for rough sleepers, and if emergency accommodation can be provided so that people can self-isolate.

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran said:

“We …

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NewsHound

Government must announce public health grant amidst Coronavirus crisis

By NewsHound | Mon 9th March 2020 - 10:03 pm

Today the Liberal Democrats have called on the Health Secretary to announce the public health grant amidst the Coronavirus crisis.

Having failed to tell local councils how much the public health grant will be, the Tories have made it all but impossible for councils to ensure our communities have proper healthcare.

Even if it was business as usual this would be shameful, but with the Coronavirus it is nothing short of an abdication of duty. Public health information is vital to lowering the Coronavirus peak, but even more alarming is the inability for local councils to try and address the inevitable gaps …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 42 Comments
Chris Perry

Low incomes mean that the basic human right of housing is often beyond people’s reach

By Chris Perry | Mon 9th March 2020 - 6:44 pm

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This is the first of three articles on housing

Food and shelter are essential to survival and yet according to the latest Government figures, collected in the autumn of 2019 and published in February 2020, 4,266 people are estimated to be sleeping rough each night in this the 5th largest economy in the world. The Charity Crisis believes it may be nearer to 8,000.

According to the charity Shelter three million new social homes must be built in England over the next 20 years of which 1.2 million homes are needed for younger families who cannot afford to buy and “face a lifetime in expensive and insecure private renting”. The Government responded that providing fair social housing was a priority and it planned to build 250,000 homes by 2022, including homes for social rent.

Housing is big business and it was the collapse of the property marked in America which led to the economic crisis in 2008 which saw the Government bail out the banks and led to ten years of austerity during which the rich, including those responsible for the crisis, got richer and the majority of us got poorer.

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Posted in Op-eds | 6 Comments
Cameron Molland

EU negotiations – we must take Erasmus off the table – here’s why

By Cameron Molland | Mon 9th March 2020 - 12:10 pm

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It would not be an exaggeration to say that Britain does not have the most glittering of reputations on the Continent for its ability to adapt to the local lingo. Indeed, when I holiday in France every year, one of the most frequent remarks people make to me is “Wow, your French is very good! We don’t often get many English people speaking our language”. I’m always a touch embarrassed by how poor British people are at speaking foreign languages; it’s become a bit of a national stereotype that les Anglais generally can’t speak the language of the country in which they find themselves; much like far too many British expats seem to think that they will make themselves easier to understand by over-enunciating, gesticulating wildly, and speaking loudly, whilst still speaking English.

I think this is one of the biggest hypocrisies and self-contradictions of Brexit; Priti Patel and the Home Office want all people who come to Britain to work to speak fluent English before they qualify for entry. And yet, that same Conservative government has already got one foot out of the doorway of one of the most incredible opportunities with which language students (a dying breed, alas) can be presented: Erasmus.

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Posted in Op-eds | 6 Comments
Johnny McDermott

Jo Swinson…for leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats?

By Johnny McDermott | Mon 9th March 2020 - 9:43 am

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A few days after the general election, in a state of numbness I’m sure you are all familiar with, my thoughts were on our former leader, Jo Swinson.

I admit, I was not a full-throated supporter of Swinson’s. I believed she would have problems building the relationships and alliances essential to stopping Brexit, so backed Ed in the contest. In my opinion, she had an opportunity to set Scotland on a more positive course against independence. The real north, as I described it last week, could have begun to work more closely to tackle our unique crises. We would have been better able to hold the SNP’s feet to the iron, somewhat ironically, had we spent less time engaging in running point-scoring battles. We had the same aim. Those failings I find hard to set aside.

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Posted in Leadership Election and Op-eds | Tagged and | 15 Comments
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Recent Comments

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