Caron Lindsay

Isabelle Parasram elected as Lib Dems’ first Vice President BAME

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 20th March 2019 - 1:58 pm

Barrister Isabelle Parasram has been elected by the Federal Board as the party’s first Vice President BAME.

I was delighted by this result because I voted for her and encouraged others to do so as I had been really impressed by her clear vision for the role. She talked a lot of sense about how to change the party’s culture. I’ve seen that her previous work, the report into dealing with complaints of sexual impropriety,  has been thorough, clear and fair.

In an email to members, Miranda Roberts, Chair of the Federal People Development Committee, welcomed Isabelle’s appointment.

At our Spring Conference over the weekend, Party President Sal Brinton announced that Isabelle Parasram has been elected as our new Vice President BaME.

This position has been created to encourage more BaME representation and participation across the party.

I am delighted that Isabelle is taking on this new role. Her election is an exciting and important step towards building a more inclusive and diverse party.

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Jane Chelliah

Liberalism and porn

By Jane Chelliah | Wed 20th March 2019 - 12:15 pm

‘Where and how does pornography fit into Liberalism?’ is a question that I asked myself when I was being filmed for a Channel 4 documentary. The three-part programme features five mothers, including me, who are introduced to the problem of easily available online porn for children to watch. While the impact on children was my primary concern, the content that I was viewing was disturbing for another reason. 

Much of it was highly dehumanising and derogatory of women. I found it distressing. Scenes of women being violently grabbed, slapped and shoved raised my feminist hackles. Teenagers were the favoured category of content on these porn sites. Women of colour were stereotyped and highly racialized. 

I saw an inherent immorality but I am mindful that porn, to many others, is recreational.

Porn is watched by women. Many women choose to watch porn either on their own or with their partners. If porn dehumanizes women but women are consumers of porn too what should a Liberal’s conscience dictate? Feminist friendly or ethical porn, as it is also called, could be situated as an acceptable middle ground but these are niche productions. Most people view porn on mainstream hubs. The commodification of the female body in porn is linked to the male gaze. Let’s face it, most of porn is made for men by men. 

My conscience was also pricked by wondering about whether the female porn actresses had consented to being manhandled. Male porn actors, allegedly, are often forced to do things against their will too. Their choice to become porn stars cannot always translate into consent for everything that they are told to do. There is also the question of authenticity. After having been on a real-life porn set, I can say that what people watch as consumers is half the story. 

It would be naïve to attach free will to everyone who works in the industry. If you do that you are choosing to exempt them from your conscience for your viewing pleasure. Thus, the concept of choice is an inherent paradox in Liberalism.  A concept of choice which disregards the reality of people’s social context, like austerity, is a false God. When students turn to sex work to fund their studies and mothers see the sex industry as a way to earn a living, then ‘choice’ becomes something between the devil and deep blue sea. 

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ALDC

ALDC advice: filling in and submitting nomination forms

By ALDC | Wed 20th March 2019 - 10:30 am

We advise that you fill in your nomination forms at the earliest opportunity possible. You’re able to submit them from March 27 onwards and the deadline for returning them is 4pm on Wednesday 3 April.

The following paperwork needs to be completed correctly and submitted on time:

  • Nomination papers
  • Candidate’s consent to nomination
  • Candidates address form
  • Deposit (not for locals)
  • Form for the appointment of the agent
  • Delegated Nominating Officer (DNO) paperwork (for use of the party name and logo on the ballot paper)

Most Returning Officers will supply forms, but some may expect you to supply your own from the Electoral Commission’s website. You should always use the Party’s own DNO paperwork – download it.

Find more information on filling in your forms correctly.

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Jon Hubbard

We must make sure they weren’t just empty words

By Jon Hubbard | Wed 20th March 2019 - 7:30 am

On Sunday I was delighted that Conference overwhelmingly passed the emergency motion on knife crime and youth work that I was so pleased to propose.

The excellent motion, drafted by our lead member on the LGA Children’s Board, Cllr Lucy Nethsinga, made clear the clear link between the dramatic cut in youth services across the country and the subsequent increase in knife crime.

In passing the motion, Conference reaffirmed the Party’s commitment to invest in both universal and targeted youth work. However, we need this affirmation to lead to more than just empty words, words that sound good in the conference hall but never appear in the manifesto.

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The Voice

19 March 2019 – yesterday’s press releases

By The Voice | Wed 20th March 2019 - 6:45 am

‘Govt treating EU citizens appallingly’ with Settled Status call charges

Responding to reports that thousands of EU citizens are being forced to pay for calls to the Home Office’s Settlement Resolution Centre for help with their Settled Status applications, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Ed Davey said:

EU citizens in the UK are our neighbours and our colleagues, our families and our friends. But ever since the Brexit referendum, they have been treated appallingly by this Conservative Government.

Making them pay up to 40p per minute to get help navigating the complex Home Office system for applying for Settled Status is just

…

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David Warren

1951 – the nadir of Liberalism

By David Warren | Tue 19th March 2019 - 3:02 pm

The General Election of 1951 occurred only eighteen months into a parliament. It was called by a Labour government with a small parliamentary majority led by Clement Attle then at the head of what was a tired and ageing administration.

For the Liberals led by another Clement it proved to be a very difficult campaign for a party wracked by decades of division and desperately short of money. Liberalism was split with the breakaway National Liberals propped up by the Tories still enjoying parliamentary representation.

A situation that would exist until 1968.

Clement Davies, himself a former National Liberal, led the Liberal Party …

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Mark Platt

Ending Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions is the right thing to do for private renters – it can also be a vote winner

By Mark Platt | Tue 19th March 2019 - 12:28 pm

I’m a private renter. Nothing unusual about that I’m sure you’ll say, lots of people are. And that’s true, but it wasn’t always that way, and the current situation, of growing numbers of private renters, is a recent phenomenon. The most recent figures from the English Housing Survey show that a fifth of people across England now live in privately rented accommodation.

A third of councils have more than 20% of residents renting privately, and research from the campaign group Shelter shows that at the next (currently scheduled) general election there will be 253 constituencies where more than 20% of voters …

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Caron Lindsay

By Friday, we should be talking about revoking Article 50

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 19th March 2019 - 11:10 am

Dangerous moments are like buses. You have decades free of them and then loads come along all at once. And every day our country’s future is in the hands of a gruesome coalition of extreme right and left  – the ERG, DUP and the Corbynistas – it gets more and more dangerous as Brexit day just a week on Friday looms.

We’ve kind of running out of road as far as Brexit is concerned. As things currently stand, we crash out without a deal in 10 days’ time.

That’s right. The biggest economic catastrophe ever will be underway next week unless someone does something.

We have constantly been demanding a People’s Vote pretty much since the referendum.

Theresa May has made it clear that isn’t happening.

Our policy passed in York last Saturday was clear:

Conference calls for the Government to revoke the Article 50 notification if the House of Commons has not passed a resolution approving (relating to) the negotiated withdrawal agreement one week ahead of the date on which the UK is due to leave the EU.

So, this Friday, we have to start talking about revocation, assuming nothing else changes.

And we have to be quite loud about it. It is a nuclear option, but we’re in the most dangerous moment for our country in 80 years.

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Caron Lindsay

London Region recruiting a Development officer to boost local campaigns

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 19th March 2019 - 9:55 am

Looking back to last May, there was much to celebrate in London’s election results. Winning back control of Kingston and Richmond was very welcome , as was retaining our control of Sutton. And then there were excellent results in Haringey – our group grew from 9 to 15 – and Merton leapt up from just a single Lib Dem councillor to 6!

Looking closely at the areas that make such great progress, we can see how beneficial it is to have full time staff – and volunteers – working on our campaigns over a long period. Their hard work and skills correlates with good results.

The other side of this particular coin is in 22 out of London’s 32 boroughs we don’t currently have any Lib Dem councillors, alongside 4 boroughs with less than a handful. In many boroughs we have keen and enthusiastic campaigners, but many people have full time jobs, family responsibilities and maybe long commutes. There may be little time in the evening to prepare for a weekend activity although actually quite amazing stuff does get done! But It’s clear that it’s very difficult to compete when our opponents have more in the way of resources than we do. We feel that if we make things a bit easier we can help those keen campaigners achieve more.

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Chris Whiting

Four things I want from the next Liberal Democrat Leader

By Chris Whiting | Tue 19th March 2019 - 8:04 am

Vince Cable has made the difficult but correct decision to stand down as the leader of the Lib Dems. And now, for the third time in four years, we’re left looking for a new leader.

It’s certainly frustrating for us Liberals to see arguably the worst government and worst opposition in living memory still absolutely trouncing us in the polls.

What is clear in a relentlessly unpredictable political climate is that opposition to Brexit is not an automatic ticket back to the top, and the shadow of the coalition years looms larger than many of us realised.

With a leadership election anticipated …

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The Voice

18 March 2019 – yesterday’s press releases

By The Voice | Tue 19th March 2019 - 7:15 am

Swinson: Tories posturing over UK aid is shameless

Following the Taxpayers’ Alliance launch of their report attacking elements of UK aid, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Jo Swinson MP said:

The UK should be incredibly proud of what our aid budget has achieved across the world. Between April 2015 and March 2018 alone, UK aid provided humanitarian assistance to a staggering 26.8 million people, including at least 8.2 million women and girls.

Through the Department for International Development and its work with multilateral organisations, UK aid not only changes lives but does so in a transparent and effective way: DFID is

…

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Mark Valladares

UPDATED: Bercow rules out a third attempt by Theresa May to get her Brexit deal passed – how should the Liberal Democrats respond?

By Mark Valladares | Mon 18th March 2019 - 4:32 pm

In dramatic scenes in the House of Commons, The Speaker, John Bercow, has ruled that Theresa May can’t hold a third vote on her Brexit deal without major changes to it. This appears to leave only five options;

  • No deal;
  • No Brexit;
  • Seek a long extension to allow time to negotiate a new deal;
  • Prorogue Parliament to allow a new session in which the deal can be brought back, and;
  • A General Election

Here’s some early reaction from the Party…

UPDATE – we’ve now received the official press comment…

Responding to the decision by Commons Speaker John Bercow to rule out the Conservative Government holding another vote on …

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The Voice

16-17 March 2019 – the weekend’s press releases (part 2)

By The Voice | Mon 18th March 2019 - 3:34 pm

Lib Dems: Revoke Article 50 if a deal isn’t agreed

The Liberal Democrats have today called for the Government to revoke Article 50 if no Brexit deal can be agreed a week before departure date.

The proposal, debated and passed by delegates at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in York today, comes after a week of key Brexit votes in the House of Commons in which MPs again rejected Theresa May’s deal, ruled out no-deal and voted to extend Article 50.

Speaking after the debate, Liberal Democrat Brexit Spokesperson Tom Brake MP said:

It is absolutely clear that Brexit will hit

…

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The Voice

Vince Cable’s Leader address to Lib Dem Spring Conference

By The Voice | Mon 18th March 2019 - 1:30 pm

It is a sobering thought that just under 2,000 years ago there were people gathered on this spot no doubt complaining about a treaty from Rome.

…with tiresome regulations about daily baths and straight roads; muttering under their breath that these legionnaires should go back to Gaul or Carthage.

And you would have heard lots of people saying Interum sumo inferium. For those amongst you who don’t converse in classical languages, that means: take back control!

It then took them over 300 years to get their ’Rexit, when the Romans went home.

That’s the kind of timescale Theresa May seems to …

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Mark Argent

Is it time for Theresa May to admit that Brexit is impossible and retract the Article 50 notice?

By Mark Argent | Mon 18th March 2019 - 12:05 pm

If Brexit goes ahead in any form, it would need exceptionally-good government to address all the resulting challenges. The parliamentary chaos of recent weeks has shown a government a long way from this. Is it time to admit that Brexit can’t be delivered?

Theresa May has given it her best shot. It is hard to see anything else she could have done to make Brexit work. The game-changer of the last few weeks has been the sheer level of parliamentary dysfunction. It’s now clear that Brexit can’t happen on 29 March because of the sheer volume of legislation to be …

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Richard Kemp

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!

By Richard Kemp | Mon 18th March 2019 - 10:00 am

So, we had the big debate about a supporters’ scheme on Saturday. I personally found it rather sad that the biggest attendance for a debate on the eve of the biggest round of local elections in England should be for an internal matter with no resonance with the public.

So why am I sad that the vote went, with one tiny exception of the minor vote on membership of policy groups, my way? Because I believe it showed just how badly our Leader is supported and the bungling incompetence of the Federal Board and HQ.

So, for the benefit of those that …

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The Voice

16-17 March 2019 – the weekend’s press releases (part 1)

By The Voice | Mon 18th March 2019 - 8:44 am

Liberal Democrats demand a Clean Air Act

The Liberal Democrats have today demanded the Conservative Government bring forward a Clean Air Act enshrining the legal right to unpolluted air.

The proposals, set out at the Liberal Democrat conference in York, are based on World Health Organisation guidelines and would be enforced by a new Air Quality Agency.

If successful, the Clean Air Act would also demand air pollution testing took place more widely and frequently, with warning signs displayed in pollution hotspots and sensitive areas, such as near schools.

Speaking after the debate, Liberal Democrat Climate Change Spokesperson Wera Hobhouse said:

The

…

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Caron Lindsay

Looking forward to our party’s next chapter

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 17th March 2019 - 10:05 pm

I’m just in the door, home from a wonderful weekend in York at Conference.

It is a miracle that I am  able to write this, given that I left the Novotel Bar at 4:15 this morning after a night of great fun with friends. You may or not be impressed to know that when I got back to my horrible little room, I laid out my clothes for the morning and plugged in everything to charge that needed to be charged.

I was back at Conference by 9:15 this morning feeling a lot better than I deserved.

These are anxiety inducing times but there is an excitement too. We know that we are about to enter a new phase of our party’s story.

I am very grateful to Vince for stepping up and showing authoritative leadership for two years.

He has made us the party of Remain and in his speech today he was clear that we will not be watering down our core values to satisfy any authoritarian centrist group that might appear although we will work with them to change our politics for the better.

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Caron Lindsay

What’s on at Spring Conference today?

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 17th March 2019 - 6:55 am

Today is going to be quite sad because it will be Vince’s last speech to Conference as Leader. He’s been the grown-up of British politics and he’s served us well these past two years. He deserves to be cheered to the rafters for stepping up as he did in 2017.

The Federal Board report at 9:45 is likely to prove controversial. There are some very awkward questions in part thanks to Gareth Epps not being politically restricted any more. He’s making up for lost time.

09.00-09.45 F12 Policy motion: Access to Justice for All

09.45-10.00 F13 Report: Federal Board

10.00-10.45 F14 Emergency motion or topical issue

10.45-11.30 F15 Policy motion: Town Centres for the Future

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ALDC

ALDC By-Election Review – 14th March

By ALDC | Sat 16th March 2019 - 7:39 pm

Thursday saw three by-elections take place across the country with two Labour seats and an Independent seat up for grabs.

Southampton UA, Coxford Ward

Lab 668 Con 529 LD Sam Chapman 450 SA 368 IS 178 Ind 174 UKIP 123 Green 53 Lab gain from Ind Percentage change from 2018

With the resignation of the Independent councillor, Coxford Ward was up for grabs with eight candidates battling it out. Sam Chapman and Southampton Lib Dems put on a great campaign opposing more tax rises and service cuts from the Labour council and putting forward some great ideas to improve the city’s air quality and environment. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be for Sam, but the success of the campaign shone through as the Lib Dem vote share increased by 14.7%. Well done to the team on a great result that leaves the party in great stead for the next round of elections this May.

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The Voice

In full: Christine Jardine’s keynote speech

By The Voice | Sat 16th March 2019 - 12:22 pm

The first keynote speech of Comference came from Christine Jardine.

She covered the pink tax, called for an end to the benefits freeze and condemned the government for marginalised asylum seekers and not letting them work.

Here is her speech in full.

Its fantastic to be back here in York. And a bit eerie for me.

You see making a speech on this stage to all of you was the very last thing I did before my selection process in Edinburgh West.

A lot of things have changed since then… and there is a lot more we want to change.

Some of them are about the party. Some are about the country.

And then there’s Brexit. But lets not bring the mood down.

Certainly that is one of the things we are working to change.

But on a personal level I’ve been focussing on three things.

Asylum seekers. DWP. And the thing I’ve had most fun with:

The Pink Tax.

Taking multi-national corporations to task for thinking its ok to charge women and girls more for everything from deodorant and disposable razors to clothes and services.

Over the next few weeks Ill be lining up meetings with some of the big manufacturers and retailers to persuade them that they really

Want to act now. Fix the Pink Tax themselves.

They’ve seen what we did to the Gender Pay Gap and well if they don’t fic the Pink Tax.

Ill set Jo Swinson on them.

That’ll teach them.

I didn’t think Id be fighting the big corporations the last time I was in York.

So it’s all very different from the last time I was in York.

But it is wonderful to be back here in York.

I was going to make a joke about Vikings. Or maybe Rowntree’s Fruit pastilles. I do love them

But isn’t it strange for us

Liberal Democrats.

To be holding our conference so close to Theresa May’s spiritual home and the area from which her Government must be drawing its guiding principles.

The Shambles…

Well actually I’m being too kind to them.

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The Voice

15 March 2019 – yesterday’s press releases

By The Voice | Sat 16th March 2019 - 8:06 am

Lib Dems call on retailers to scrap the gender price gap

To mark World Consumers Rights Day, Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine has written to major cosmetic manufacturers and retailers across the UK as part of her campaign to scrap the gender price gap.

Commenting on her campaign, Ms Jardine said:

We are a quarter of the way through 2019 and still men and women pay different prices for the same basic products. This is entirely unacceptable.

For World Consumer Rights Day I am writing to the most prominent cosmetic manufacturers and retailers across the UK to ask them to change their outdated

…

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Caron Lindsay

What’s on at Spring Conference today?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 16th March 2019 - 6:55 am

Well, the most important thing, of course, is the Lib Dem Voice fringe meeting on the impact of homelessness and Universal Credit which is taking place in the Walmgate Room and the Hilton. Join us for a spot of lunch and discussion. I’ll be speaking alongside Dan Dumoulin of Saint Vincent de Paul, our Housing Spokesperson Lord Shipley and there will be plenty of opportunity for questions. Kirsten Johnson is chairing. This week SAMH published a report highlighting the detrimental impact of Universal Credit on mental health

In the main hall, Vince’s party reforms will be the most controversial item of the day. The constitutional amendments need a two thirds majority to pass. That debate happens at the end of the day. You’re going to have to concentrate to keep up with a complex series of votes. I’ll be voting No to most of them. I think the Federal People Development Committee has done a great job in putting the nuts and bolts together but I think there are ways of spending the money in a more efficient and effective way – like on training or winning elections or developing better messaging.

Conference also debates Europe, race equality, clean air and hears from Christine Jardine and gets the chance to question Vince Cable.

Here’s the timetable.

09.00-09.10 F1 Opening of Conference 35

09.10-09.30 F2 Report: Federal Conference Committee 35

F3 Report: Federal Policy Committee

09.30-10.45 F4 Policy motion: Eradicating Race Inequality (Race
Equality Policy Paper)

10.45-11.05 F5 Speech: Christine Jardine MP

11.05-12.50 F6 Policy motion: Europe

12.50-14.10 Lunch

14.10-14.55 F7 Q & A session: Rt Hon Sir Vince Cable MP

14.55-15.55 F8 Policy motion: Cleaning Up the Air We Breathe How to Tackle Road Pollution

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Caron Lindsay

What’s on at Spring Conference today?

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 15th March 2019 - 1:30 pm

Friday 15 March

15.00-17.30 Consultative sessions:

A Fairer Share for All

Crime and Policing

Health and Social Care

You can read the consultation papers here.

If you are thirsty after that, there is a Civic reception at the Barbican at 5:15 and then the rally at 6:30.

Now I was going to ditch the rally and go to the pub with my friends because I was feeling like a bit of a rebel. However, I then discovered that my wonderful friend, Borders candidate Jenny Marr is speaking. Now, when she introduced Willie at Scottish Conference a few weeks ago, she let slip that she’d seen him in his Superman pyjamas… On an exceptionally cold Winter’s day canvassing in the North East a few years back, apparently, Willie showed the assembled crowd that he had pyjamas on under his clothes to keep warm.

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James Baillie

Party Reforms – My Unanswered Questions

By James Baillie | Fri 15th March 2019 - 12:10 pm

Back in September, I wrote on the subject of the proposed party reforms here on Lib Dem voice. In my article, I raised a number of questions over how balloting of these new supporters would work and what was being put in place to create a robust internal democracy based on full and comprehensive debate, accessible from across the liberal movement. Well, I’m here to tell you how many of my questions have been answered in the intervening months. The answer is, precisely, none of them.

Others have written better than myself on the possibility of entryism and the lack of consistent, detailed safeguarding proposals – I wish to focus here, as I did then, on the issue of member democracy and engagement with the supporters scheme across the party. I believed then, and still believe now (no supporter of the scheme has even tried to convince me otherwise) that engaging supporters with decision making power whilst only exposing them to a single source of information within the party risks creating a centralised system in which vague initiatives could be put to the “supporter base” for indicative votes and the results of such polls used to “gently persuade” conference to back a particular specific motion. If that sounds a familiar worry, dear reader, you’re not alone in the disconcerting sense of déjà vu. 

Access to information on what people are really voting for is a crucial issue in any democracy, and our internal democracy must be no exception. In my previous article I asked whether the party’s internal member organisations would have any way of engaging with supporters to help bring them into internal debates and ensure that supporters could form meaningful opinions on the major internal issues of the day – to the best of my knowledge, it’s still not clear beyond a vague promise in the motion to “provide guidance” how and whether our core Specified Associated Organisations would be able to interact with them, let alone many of the policy activism groups which are wholly unmentioned despite often providing the lifeblood of member engagement in policymaking. The potential spectre of HQ going to the supporters saying “we’ve got a fantastic idea, don’t you think it’s good” and the supporters saying “yes”, with nobody having the right to give an alternative viewpoint, would not create a useful polling exercise let alone a useful democratic one.

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Chuka Umunna MP and Anna Soubry MP

Chuka Umunna and Anna Soubry write: The Independent Group and the Lib Dems working together is grown up politics

By Chuka Umunna MP and Anna Soubry MP | Fri 15th March 2019 - 10:15 am

Today one of The Independent Group of MPs (TIG), Anna Soubry, will be speaking at a fringe event organised by IPPR North at the Liberal Democrats’ Spring Conference.  Inevitably, the Westminster village will ask why and speculate as to what this means.  But outside of Westminster, the idea that people who share similar values and have common views on things should work together is not news, its common sense.

There is no doubt that our politics is broken and needs fundamental change. We have a Government and an Official Opposition who are deeply divided, have failed to provide coherent leadership and to discharge their duties with the competence the British public are entitled to expect.  All public opinion research shows millions of politically homeless people are crying out for an alternative and something new – we left the main parties to create one.

A key facet of the culture of TIG is that we are non tribal – we share the same progressive values but we hail from different political traditions.  The fact people come from different political backgrounds should not preclude anyone working with others where there is agreement.  It is this belief that paved the way for the formation of our group and it is precisely why we had all worked with Liberal Democrat MPs long before our group formed on a number of issues, especially on Brexit, and will continue to do so. This is made easier by the fact that, unlike the main parties, the Lib Dems have not been taken over by parties within parties promoting the extremes of left or right.

In this sense, it should come as no surprise that at this time – when Brexit is the dominant issue facing our nation – our Brexit spokesperson should be speaking on a platform with Jo Swinson, the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats. We were delighted to have the full support of all Lib Dem MPs for Sarah Wollaston’s cross party Peoples Vote amendment which was voted on in the House of Commons last night.

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Mark Valladares

14 March 2019 – yesterday’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Fri 15th March 2019 - 9:40 am

It’s another trying day, with the ghastly news from New Zealand overnight, and one does despair at the ability of human beings to do inhuman things, but politics rolls inevitably onwards. So, here are yesterday’s releases…

Lib Dems: Short prison sentences for knives don’t work

Responding to the figures showing the number of crimes related to knives and other offensive weapons dealt with by the courts has reached a nine year high, Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson Wera Hobhouse:

Both the Justice Secretary and the Prisons Minister have admitted that short prison sentences don’t work and actually increase the risk of re-offending. So why

…

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Tom Arms

Observations of an ex pat: A sad tale

By Tom Arms | Fri 15th March 2019 - 8:55 am

Once upon a time there was a venerated institution in the not so distant land of Great Britain called parliament. In fact, it was called “The Mother of Parliaments” as countries around the world emulated its structures and system of representative democratic government.

Parliament became the legal and political platform on which the largest empire in the history of the world was built. Its members were respected and their opinions were sought in world councils.

But times change. The empire sank below the waves.  If Britain was going to continue to prosper and retain political power than it needed to increase its voice by joining it with others—the European Union.

This made sense to many Brits, but not all.  Some thought in terms of pragmatic economies of scale. Others felt with hearts which yearned for an imperial past and bridled at the thought of being told the size of their beer mugs by Brussels Eurocrats.

In a 1975 referendum “the metropolitan elite” (as they were later called) won the argument and Britain joined the Common Market.  Thus began one of the most prosperous and stable phases of British history. Then Europe began to change. Other members wanted political as well as economic union and the Common Market morphed into the European Union with the reluctant agreement of successive British governments.

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Richard Kemp

Why there will be no Kemp4Prez stickers at Conference

By Richard Kemp | Fri 15th March 2019 - 6:58 am

A reasonable number of people will know that before Christmas I was asking them about whether or not I should stand for the Party Presidency when it comes up for election later. A smaller number know that as a result of those discussions I have decided after Christmas that I will indeed be a candidate.

However, whilst I am not keeping it a secret, I am not yet starting a proper campaign. I am not acting this way because of indolence. In my 52 years in the Party I have never left an election to chance or thought that I would breeze in. The reason I am not doing anything yet is because I believe that there are three things even more important than filling this important post.

The first and most obvious one is that we either have to resolve not to leave Europe or work out how to deal with the consequences of having left. Of course, this all might have changed in the interval between you reading this and me writing it! Brexit will cast a long shadow over both our Country and politicians because of he way that it has been handled. Well done our First 11 for the splendid way they have thought and acted and our second 100 in the Lords have acted superlatively well but we will all have much to do in the coming few weeks and months whatever happens.

Secondly, we have the English local elections coming up on 2nd May and nothing but nothing should distract us from maximising our vote and maximising our number of councillors. This should be a national election and I would appeal to Scottish, Welsh and London colleagues to support campaigning near to you as you have no elections yourselves. Nothing will put us in a better position in the media than more councillors. Nothing will enhance our position with the “Independent Group” than us having even more bottoms on seats in Council Chambers.

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The Voice

Lord Steel’s membership suspended over evidence to child abuse inquiry

By The Voice | Fri 15th March 2019 - 5:33 am

Late last night, former Liberal leader David Steel’s membership was suspended by the Scottish Liberal Democrats last night pending an investigation into the evidence he gave to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse on Wednesday.

A spokesman for the Scottish Party said:

Following the evidence concerning Cyril Smith given by Lord Steel to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse on 13th March 2019 the office bearers of the Scottish Liberal Democrats have met and agreed that an investigation is needed.

The party membership of Lord Steel has been suspended pending the outcome of that investigation. That work will now commence.

It is important that everyone in the party, and in wider society, understands the importance of vigilance and safeguarding to protect people from abuse, and that everyone has confidence in the seriousness with which we take it.

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