Mark Valladares

23 November 2018 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Fri 23rd November 2018 - 10:30 pm

Today’s releases are brought to you from ALDC’s Kickstart event, taking place this weekend in the heart of Staffordshire. There are three hundred Liberal Democrat campaigners and activists here, learning the skills required to run effective, and hopefully, successful campaigns in the months and years ahead.

  • Tories must take back control of smart meters
  • Women must have equal heart attack care to men
  • Davey to PM: Come clean on European Convention on Human Rights
  • PM must back People’s Vote on Brexit
  • Government must not be complacent on Hedges case

Tories must take back control of smart meters

Responding to the NAO Report on rolling out smart meters, …

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Paul Walter

Paddy’s blistering tweet about Jacob Rees-Mogg and the ERG

By Paul Walter | Fri 23rd November 2018 - 3:00 pm

It’s not often we feature a single tweet but this classic blast of high octane Paddy deserves its own post!:

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The Voice

Lib Dem Emma Walker tells Sky News about #Askhertostand event in Parliament

By The Voice | Fri 23rd November 2018 - 1:30 pm

This Wednesday marked 100 years since the passing of the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 2018 which made it possible for women over the age of 21 to stand for Parliament.

A century on, women make up only just over 200 of 650 MPs. That’s why MPs were asked to invite a woman from their constituency to an Ask her to stand event to mark the anniversary.

Christine Jardine asked Emma Walker who, just over a year ago, wasn’t even a member of the Party. She’s made a massive impact in Scotland this year, getting involved in campaigning and member recruitment – and she opened the Autumn Conference in September.

Emma talked to Sky News about what had motivated her to get involved:

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Caron Lindsay

How you could make Lib Dem policy

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 23rd November 2018 - 11:55 am

Have you got a burning idea that could make a positive difference to people’s lives?

If so, then why not write it down, get some supporters and submit it as a motion to Liberal Democrat Spring Conference.

The lovely people at the Federal Conference Committee will even give you drafting advice.

The motion deadline for Spring Conference isn’t till 9th January, so why am I telling you this?

Well, FCC, lovely as they are, don’t give drafting advice over Christmas. Everyone deserves a break, after all. So you have to ask for that by 19th December. That’s less than a month away, and, if you’re anything like me, you’ll procrastinate for ages before actually writing anything down.

All you need to know can be found here.

If you have never written a motion for Conference before, have a look here

There are years’ worth of examples.

Basically the first part of your motion outlines the problem, then you say what we believe, the underlying principles that we’ll use to develop our solution and finally, a section calling for various actions to sort it all out.

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Caron Lindsay

Vince tells PM: Brexit Deal is “pathetically weak”

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 23rd November 2018 - 10:25 am

Vince Cable questioned the Prime Minister yesterday when she made her statement on the political declaration of the EU withdrawal agreement. He highlighted one particularly worrying aspect of it:

This is essentially an agreement to have an agreement, and it is full of worryingly vague aspirations. How, for example, can the Prime Minister justify paragraph 24, which relates to medicines, chemicals and aviation safety, where we currently have strong agreed co-operative standards? She has managed to negotiate an agreement to

“explore the possibility of cooperation”.

That is pathetically weak, and it will cause great anxiety to millions of people who depend on high standards of safety.

Ultimately, this deal is a massive kicking of big issues into some very long grass. Nothing will be decided before we leave the EU. This makes it more important than ever that we stop Brexit.

May’s response just emphasised how uncertain this all is:

In relation to these negotiations, we are not able to put legal texts together until we have left the European Union and are no longer a member of the European Union—that, of course, is what we will be able to do when we leave on 29 March 2019.

Brexit is a leap into the fog. We owe future generations better than this.

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Tom Arms

Observations of an ex pat: Fear factor

By Tom Arms | Fri 23rd November 2018 - 8:55 am

JTheresa May is a frightened woman.

She is not frightened by the pile of Conservative MPs’ letters demanding her departure. They are still a long way from the 48 required. And even if it reaches the magic number, the bookies are betting on Mrs May retaining the leadership in any consequent vote.

Even if she loses, Theresa May can take solace from Enoch Powell’s truism that all political careers end in failure and that her successor will be faced with the same brick wall of insoluble Brexit problems as she was.

Neither is Mrs May worried about Spain’s latest sabre rattling over Gibraltar. She is confident that Brussels can pull Madrid into line with a sidebar letter or a slight tweaking of the Brexit agreement.

The unravelling of the prime minister’s de facto coalition with the Democratic Unionist Party is a concern. But it was never more than an inconvenient marriage of convenience based on a foundation of contradictions.  Northern Ireland voted to remain. The majority want the benefits of Europe which include good relations with Dublin and peace on their island. The DUP exists for one purpose only:  the perpetuation of the Protestant Ascendancy in Northern Ireland. This puts it in complete opposition to the majority Northern Irish vote in the Brexit referendum.

Mrs May can deal with the above. Or if she can’t the results of failure would not be so catastrophic that her legacy would be tarnished beyond repair.

Theresa May is frightened of two other outcomes: No deal or a second referendum. Unfortunately for her, it is looking increasingly likely that the final choice will be between those two options.

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Mark Valladares

22 November 2018 – today’s press releases (part 2)

By Mark Valladares | Thu 22nd November 2018 - 11:50 pm

And, as promised, the rest of today’s bounty…

  • Davey: Serious failings revealed in ISC report must be put right
  • Majestic plc preparing for last of the summer wine
  • Cable: PM’s plan is ‘pathetically weak’
  • CBI leaders highlight Brexit concerns

Davey: Serious failings revealed in ISC report must be put right

Responding to the Intelligence and Security Committee’s report on the 2017 terror attacks, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Ed Davey said:

We are all immensely grateful for the work our police and security services do responding to terror attacks and stopping others from being carried out.

This report reveals a number of serious failings that must be put

…

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Mark Valladares

22 November 2018 – today’s press releases (part 1)

By Mark Valladares | Thu 22nd November 2018 - 11:40 pm

Our Press Team have been incredibly busy today, so much so that I’m going to have to deal with this in two parts, both of which are going to be larger than usual. So, without further ado…

  • Lib Dems: Levels of homelessness an ‘absolute disgrace’ (see article here)
  • Tory paralysis failing domestic abuse victims
  • Health Sec knows UK in critical condition
  • PM’s deal goes from fudge to farce
  • Tory bucket list for pupils ‘an insult’
  • Lamb: Tories must not neglect young people with mental illness

    • (see article here)

  • Davey: Reducing climate-changing gases demands real leadership

Tory paralysis failing domestic abuse victims

Responding to official statistics published …

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The Voice

Lib Dem Press: Tories must not neglect young people with mental illness

By The Voice | Thu 22nd November 2018 - 5:00 pm

Responding to an official report published today revealing one in eight children and young people aged between 5 and 19 surveyed in England in 2017 had a mental disorder, former Liberal Democrat Health Minister Norman Lamb said:

“These troubling figures reveal the true extent of mental health problems among children. The Conservative Government has a stark choice: either invest in services and give our children the best possible chance in life, or be responsible for the neglect of an entire generation of young people.

“Mental illness can blight the lives and futures of children without the right interventions, but today’s report by the Children’s Commissioner is a brutal reminder of how vulnerable young people too often hit a brick wall when trying to access support.

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Baroness Cathy Bakewell

The Ivory Bill passes the Lords

By Baroness Cathy Bakewell | Thu 22nd November 2018 - 1:21 pm

On Tuesday 13th November the Government’s Ivory Bill had its third reading in the Lords and passed through to receive Royal Assent. This was a landmark piece of legislation to go some way towards protecting elephants, especially the African elephant, who are poached for their ivory. Currently approximately 20,000 elephants a year are still being slaughtered for their ivory. This unsustainable rate equates to one every 25 minutes. We have now reached the stage where more elephants are being killed by poachers, than live elephant calves are being born every year.

The aim of the Bill was to take most of the value out of trading in ivory and so make ivory objects worthless. All import and export of ivory, whether raw or in objects, is banned with four exceptions: –

  • Pre-1918 items of outstanding artistic value and pre-1918 portrait miniatures with a surface area of less than 320 square centimetres;
  • Pre-1975 musical instruments where the ivory is less than 20% of the total volume of the instrument;
  • Pre-1947 items with low ivory content with less than 10% ivory of the total volume; and
  • Acquisitions between qualifying museums

All items which qualify as exceptions must now be registered and have a licensed certificate which accompanies that item throughout its future ownership. There are heavy fines and the possibility of imprisonment for anyone found to be illegally trading in ivory.

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Martin Roche

South East Liberal Democrats back dynamic ideas for “People’s Advocate” in planning issues and bigger role for chambers of commerce in local economic development

By Martin Roche | Thu 22nd November 2018 - 12:14 pm

Liberal Democrats from across the south east of England gathered in Canterbury on 17thNovember for their annual regional conference. Held at the city’s Spires Academy, the conference heard from MPs Stephen Lloyd (Eastbourne), Ed Davey (Kingston) and Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) as well as Baroness Judith Jolly and the Leader of the Opposition on Kent County Council, Cllr Rob Bird. 

Canterbury and Coastal Liberal Democrats proposed two motions. Both were endorsed by the conference by overwhelmingly majorities.  They will now be considered at national level.

The first idea proposed is in response to the widely held feeling in communities across the country that ordinary people don’t get a proper hearing on planning matters. 

In cities, towns and villages across the South East ordinary voters feel the cards are stacked against them. They see developers hiring expensive lawyers, planning consultants and PR firms that dominate the process and shut out objections. 

The Liberal Democrat idea is that communities will be able to able to apply for a match funded grant of up to £5,000 from their local council. With money from their own resources added to the council grant, a community will be able to hire a legal, planning or public relations expert, known as “A People’s Advocate,”  to guide them and help them shape their campaign. 

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Kirsten Johnson

Happy Thanksgiving!

By Kirsten Johnson | Thu 22nd November 2018 - 9:33 am

Plymouth Rock

This is a revised version of last year’s post…

The North American holiday of Thanksgiving was born of tragedy. The Mayflower, filled with settlers from England, docked in Plymouth, Massachusetts in December 1620. Of the 102 passengers and around 30 crew on board, only five women of eighteen survived the winter, and around half the men and crew.

The following spring, the Wampanoag, a native people, taught the incomers which crops were endemic to the New World, and how to fertilise their crops with fish. This act of good will let to a plentiful harvest, and gave the Pilgrims hope that they might survive the next winter.

American Thanksgiving was set as the fourth Thursday in November by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 when he signed a joint resolution of Congress changing the national Thanksgiving Day from the last Thursday in November to the fourth Thursday. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October.

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The Voice

Levels of homelessness a national disgrace

By The Voice | Thu 22nd November 2018 - 8:00 am

There is a new report out by Shelter, ‘Homelessness in Great Britain: the numbers behind the story’, which shows that homelessness is increasing across the country, with one in 52 people in London now homeless.

Large increases in homelessness have also affected areas such as the West Midlands and the north-west of the country.  While it is difficult to know true numbers, the estimated total of those homeless across Great Britain is believed to be 320,000.

Liberal Democrat Housing Spokesperson Wera Hobhouse says,

It is an absolute disgrace that hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people have been left without a roof over their head. The Conservative Government’s failure to look after these people is nothing short of a dereliction of duty.

It doesn’t need to be this way. Conservative Ministers need to recognise the urgent need to build more social homes. We have been calling for 50,000 social houses to be built every year, rising to 100,000 as soon as possible. The Government also need to ensure that housing benefits are sufficient for covering rent and bring the thousands of vacant properties across the country into use.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has been working on documenting the deaths of people experiencing street homelessness.  Their research has identified 400 people who died in the last year  while rough sleeping In England and Wales.

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Mark Valladares

21 November 2018 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 21st November 2018 - 10:15 pm

Having completed another meeting of the Federal International Relations Committee, featuring an exploration of the distant reaches of Article 7 of the Federal Constitution of the Party, your editor’s mind turns to press releases…

  • Moran: Gov must recognise state of Palestine
  • Cable: Prokopchuk’s Interpol position is still ‘an insult to the victims of the Salisbury attack’
  • Sanctions needed to get Matthew Hedges home
  • Davey: PM must publish immigration white paper now
  • Lib Dems announce Siobhan Benita as London Mayoral candidate

    • (covered separately here)

  • Lib Dems lead fight to protect vulnerable people in care
  • Davey: Something going very wrong in energy market

Moran: Gov must recognise state of Palestine

Liberal …

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Caron Lindsay

The London List results are out

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 21st November 2018 - 7:59 pm

And we have Team London. Here are the Liberal Democrat candidates for the London Assembly List in 2020. It’s great to see such a diverse team. It’s no surprise that the brilliant Caroline Pidgeon topped the poll.

New Merton Councillor Hina Bokhari, who wrote about her first 100 days here, got to second place with an energetic campaign on the ground and on social media.

Lewisham’s Lucy Salek, who got such a good result in the by-election earlier this year, is in third.

Outgoing London Regional Chair Chris Maines is fourth and Federal Board Vice Chair Joyce Onstad is …

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The Voice

Siobhan Benita is the Lib Dem London Mayoral candidate

By The Voice | Wed 21st November 2018 - 7:03 pm

Siobhan Benita has been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor. The election takes place in 2020 so she will be able to build on the high profile she built in 2012 when she ran as an Independent. Then, she ran a really impressive campaign and came within 8000 votes of our Brian Paddick.

Here’s her campaign video where she talks about what she wants to achieve in London:

Siobhan beat Lucy Salek, Dinesh Dhamija and Rob Blackie. It was really good to see on social media that they all had dinner together last night.

As a former senior civil servant, she has experience of making stuff work,in transport and the environment particularly so she has already proved her competence in two massive issues of concern to many Londoners.

She said:

I am delighted to have been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London.

I will show the Lib Dems can offer a fresh alternative to London’s tired two party politics.

Sadiq Khan isn’t delivering the right solutions to violent crime and only the Liberal Democrats can provide a genuinely public health approach.

The Tories have shown how out of touch they are with London’s values by selecting an illiberal, pro-Brexit candidate.

Only the Lib Dems have truly stood up for Londoners against Brexit and we will continue to be a strong, liberal voice for our city.

Vince welcomed the news:

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David Warren

Is It Time For Some Free Market Reforms In The Postal Sector

By David Warren | Wed 21st November 2018 - 3:00 pm

The Royal Mail was privatised back in 2013, in common with previous privatisations the model used was to move a monopoly type industry into the private sector at the same time leaving elements of that monopoly firmly in place.

Royal Mail was given an ongoing requirement to collect and deliver throughout the UK six days a week and regulated to ensure it did so.

In addition, competitors wishing to provide an alternative letter delivery service have to apply for a license.

The regulator also has powers to control prices and access to the Royal Mail network. In the years that have followed the …

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Mark Goodrich

Amongst the villains of Brexit, the #RemainerNow stand out as heroes

By Mark Goodrich | Wed 21st November 2018 - 11:00 am

Amongst the chaos of last week, there were two events which stood out for me as changing the terms of the Brexit debate. The first was Theresa May’s statement outside Downing Street in which she acknowledged that one choice open to us if we rejected her deal, was “no Brexit at all”. The second was a clip from James O’Brien’s LBC show in which Bill rings up in tears because of his regret at his vote for leave in the Referendum. This has been very widely shared on social media, and it seems to have struck a real …

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Richard Kemp

My Solution for Party HQ Issues – Let ALDC run it

By Richard Kemp | Wed 21st November 2018 - 7:35 am

Over the past few days, there have been all sorts of stories leaking out of the Great George Street bunker about the appalling and depressing state of the finances of our Federal Party.

All of which begs the question, “Why are we in Great George Street at all?” I have no idea what the rent is or the rates are on that building, but I know that it is situated in one of the most expensive areas for real estate in the whole of the UK. I also know that London is the most expensive place for employers in the UK. As you might have guessed my solution to the Party’s finances is to move most of our HQ out of London.

Of, course, some elements of Party HQ need to remain within the Westminster Village. I am sure that we need to keep The President’s and Chief Executive’s office; the press office and research inside or close to the Whitehall bubble. However, for the rest, they could be run from anywhere. Conferences; membership; IT support; campaigns; compliance; finance etc. can be delivered for the Party from anywhere in the UK. Rents would be half (at most) of what is paid in the central London area. Employment would either be cheaper or in relative terms, we could pay our staff more.

This may seem treacherous thinking, but it is not new in our Party. Local Government and publications etc. used to be run from Party HQ, but they have been ‘farmed out’ for more than 25 years. If we are looking at other Parties Labour devolved a lot of their staff to the North East almost 20 years ago.

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Mark Valladares

20 November 2018 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 20th November 2018 - 11:55 pm

Another busy day, but I’m pleased to note that a bit more use is being made of our Spokespeople in the Lords. After all, there are rather more of them than in the Commons, and they’re a valuable asset when it comes to holding the Government to account…

  • Cable: Bank of England must conduct honest assessment of Brexit deal
  • Cable: Govt must block Interpol election of Alexander Prokopchuk
  • Tories to blame for missed NHS targets
  • Cable: Our priority is building the momentum for a People’s Vote
  • Vulnerable people put in homes not fit for human habitation
  • The licence fee is not the Government’s to spend

Cable: …

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Caron Lindsay

For Transgender Day of Remembrance

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 20th November 2018 - 7:43 pm

November 20th every year is the Transgender Day of Remembrance, where we stop to remember those transgender people who have lost their lives over the past 12 months because of who they are.

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Gordon Lishman

A better quality of debate

By Gordon Lishman | Tue 20th November 2018 - 1:30 pm

 I have been reading posts and responses on LDV and LibDem-linked sites for some years. Although LDV posts sometimes don’t follow entirely the same practice as many others, the comments often do. With that in mind and to avoid falling into the category of Grumpy Old Man, I write to offer ten suggestions about how to enter into the true spirit of internet debating:

  1. It’s important to get right the overall tone. Try for a core approach of righteous indignation. There’s no need to be overtly patronising; most people will get the message anyway.
  2. You should cultivate an air

…

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Caron Lindsay

Review: Inside the Foreign Office, Part 1

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 20th November 2018 - 11:55 am

“More than fifty shades of diplomacy.”

So says Britain’s Ambassador talking about the nuances of international relations in a BBC documentary about the Foreign Office, the first part of which was shown last week.

It opens just after the 2017 election, with Boris addressing the assembled ranks in the Foreign Office. Typically, he talks about the fate of the Conservative Party in front of impartial civil servants.

He talked about wanting to go to Tehran – and we all know how his dealings with the Iranians ended up for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

The Permanent Secretary, Sir Simon MacDonald, talked about the nature of diplomacy, describing how 17th century ambassador Sir Henry Wootton “Am ambassador is an honest man sent aboard to ie for the benefit of his country.” MacDonald pointed out the triple entendre –  lying meant lazing about and sleeping around as well as not telling the truth. His modern take was that the art of diplomacy is “letting other people have your way”

Sir Simon talked about the changing status of UK – how we were the biggest, most important power before World War 1. It’s all changed since then.

We’re now in second group of countries not able to do much by themselves. So, clearly, it’s really sensible for us to be leaving an enormous collaboration of nations.

We then went to our UN mission in New York where aides were prepping Boris for talks with the Russians who had requested aid to rebuild Syria – which they have helped destroy. They discussed  various ways of how they could use that request to get rid of Assad and ensuing humanitarian access.

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Caron Lindsay

Vince: Don’t let older generations impose their prejudices on young people

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 20th November 2018 - 10:24 am

Vince did an interview last week that I expect he enjoyed more than most. The interviewer wasn’t Eddie Mair, or Andrew Neil, but his grandson Ayrton. As an ambassador for the I Will campaign , which aims to engage young people in social action, he took the chance to interview his Grandad.

Vince has always been pretty robust about how the older generation has shafted young people. He talked about how important it is for young people to get involved, engaged and to get out and vote.

Watch the video here:

…

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Michael Taylor

An open letter to Stephen Lloyd MP

By Michael Taylor | Tue 20th November 2018 - 8:52 am

Dear Mr Lloyd

I, along with many other of your fellow Liberal Democrats, have noted with considerable alarm, your intention to vote with the government on the issue of Brexit. Not only is this totally at variance with the party and the manifesto on which you fought the last General Election, but it flies in the face of your duty as an MP to vote in the best interests of your constituency and the country.

It is worth remembering the letter written by Edmund Burke MP to his constituents in which he examines the whole question of what an MP’s duty to his constituents is. Whilst it is well worth reading the whole letter the most salient point is:-

Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.

(Edmund Burke, Speech to the Electors of Bristol, 3 Nov. 1774)

I well understand your belief that you ought to keep a pledge made in the heat of an election campaign. (Though perhaps the experience of a pledge that bedevilled the party in coalition should have given you pause before making it).  However, the Brexit with which you promised to keep faith no longer exists. Instead there is an exit agreement that keeps almost none of the promises made by Brexiteers and in fact breaks one of the key promises, namely to get away from regulation by the EU. The reality is that the agreement that Mrs May wishes you to support leaves the UK having to obey all the EU rules, but having no say in their creation.

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Mark Valladares

19 November 2018 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 19th November 2018 - 11:50 pm

No music today, I’m afraid, for we have another clutch of press releases, including one which some of our readers might vaguely recognise as an overdue recycling of an old theme…

  • PM must come clean on immigration plans
  • Lib Dems: Only alternative to Brexit is a ‘People’s Vote’
  • FOBT change finally ending cruel grip of industry on vulnerable people
  • It’s time Fox was given his P45
  • Tories can no longer bury Brexit truth

PM must come clean on immigration plans

Responding to Theresa May’s speech to the CBI conference this morning, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Ed Davey said:

Theresa May is desperately trying to win over the

…

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Katharine Pindar

“Not even a tin of baked beans!” A visitor shows the need for radical reforms.

By Katharine Pindar | Mon 19th November 2018 - 3:15 pm

Ten per cent – TEN PER CENT – of the population of Cumbria are using food banks!

said a fellow church-goer to me in horror, after a Sunday service in a West Cumbrian village church. We were discussing the local bearing of the damning findings by the UN rapporteur Philip Alston, reporting on the effects of austerity policies on Britain today.

After a twelve-day tour of Britain’s towns and cities, Mr Alston, UN expert on extreme poverty and human rights, spoke in stark term about his findings, in London on Friday.

Clearly shocked by what he had found, according to the Independent’s report …

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Geoff Reid

First political memories: Geoff Reid

By Geoff Reid | Mon 19th November 2018 - 12:16 pm

While the Suez crisis was unfolding some of us ten year olds in a junior school playground discussed our vague awareness of Government incompetence. It was not my first school. I was born in the tough Scotswood Road area of Newcastle. Crucially I was an only child so my parents, living in a two room flat couldn’t get on the council house waiting list. This led to my father joining a ground-breaking self-build housing scheme, which in due course led to us moving across town.

That may well have contributed to my assumption that alternative solutions to problems were part of …

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Paul Walter

May’s Brexit deal is the best the Tory party can produce, but there are better options for for the country

By Paul Walter | Mon 19th November 2018 - 10:00 am

The Guardian recently offered an interactive tool which allowed readers to guess how many votes May’s deal would get in the House of Commons. (Apologies that I cannot find the link to the tool at the moment).

I had a fiddle around with the tool. What was astonishing is that whatever way one tweaked the tool, May was about 50-60 votes short of a majority. The basic problem is that there is a chunk of Tories, and probably DUP members, who will vote against the deal. The only way to make up the shortfall caused by those votes against, is for …

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Mark Valladares

Time to nail a vision to the mast…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 19th November 2018 - 7:54 am

At a time when the Government, or at least some of it, is offering the British public a Brexit deal which appears unacceptable to Remain and Leave supporters alike, where five Cabinet Ministers have taken it upon themselves to go try to redraft it in their own image, regardless of the fact that they might need to agree it with the European Union, the fact that the Leader of the Opposition cannot even bring himself to say how he would vote should there be a second referendum might seem like a mere sideshow in a Whitehall farce.

One need not be …

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