The Voice

Jo Swinson calls on Boris to stand up to Saudi ruler

By The Voice | Tue 6th March 2018 - 9:30 pm

Back in the day, Vince Cable, then acting leader, famously  boycotted the state visit of the Saudi King 

At the time, he said that

I think it’s quite wrong that as a country we should give the leader of Saudi Arabia this honour.”

He said that although Britain has a “business-like” relationship with the country, Britain would not dream of extending the same invitation to other controversial leaders like Libya’s Colonel Gadaffi..

Eleven years on, the party is still calling out the appalling human rights record of the Saudi Government. Jo Swinson today lambasted Boris on the eve of the visit of the ruling Saudi Prince. She said:

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Caron Lindsay

Wera Hobhouse presents Bill to outlaw upskirting

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 6th March 2018 - 8:15 pm

Lib Dem MP for Bath, Wera Hobhouse, has introduced a Bill which would make upskirting illegal in England. It is high time that the disgusting practice of secretly taking a photo up a woman’s skirt without consent and, sometimes, publishing it on the internet,

A couple of weeks ago, Wera asked a Government Minister if the Government would legislate on this. The answer was reasonably positive, so we need to push the Government to support Wera’s Bill.  You would hope that nobody would try to defend the practice which has been illegal in Scotland for almost a decade.

From the Bath Chronicle:

Wera Hobhouse presented her private member’s bill to make the practice illegal in the wake of a public campaign calling for a change in the law.

If passed into law, her bill would make upskirting a criminal offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems help win Lords concession on citizens’ rights after Brexit

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 6th March 2018 - 7:05 pm

Regular Lib Dem Voice contributor and Lib Dem peer William Wallace has won a major concession from the Government as the EU Withdrawal Bill makes its way through the House of Lords.

Don’t get me wrong, the words EU Withdrawal Bill send a cold shiver through my heart, but anything we can do to make the legislation less awful has to be welcomed.

Under pressure from peers the government stated that they will commit to upholding the rights won from our membership of the EU. This includes upholding key parts of existing rights such as the EU Working Time Directive.

Speaking last night in the Lords on behalf of the government, Lord Duncan of Springbank,

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The Voice

LibLink: Vince picks out Shirley Williams as the female parliamentarian that he most admires from the last 100 years

By The Voice | Tue 6th March 2018 - 12:12 pm


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To celebrate the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote in the UK, House magazine have done an article where prominent MPs pay tribute to the female parliamentarian they most admire from the last 100 years.

They have the Speaker, John Bercow, paying tribute to Eleanor Rathbone. Andrea Ledsom writes about Nancy Astor. Cheryl Gillan and Emma Little-Pengelly talk of Margaret Thatcher. Baroness Smith and Angela Raynor pay tribute to Ellen Wilkinson, while Kirsty Blackman extols Winnie Ewing and Lord Fowler describes Baroness Swanborough (Stella Isaacs – the first female member of the House of Lords).

Vince Cable writes eloquently in tribute to Shirley Williams:

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Lord Ken Macdonald

Conference to debate new disciplinary process – how you can find out more

By Lord Ken Macdonald | Mon 5th March 2018 - 7:07 pm

This weekend, Conference will get a vote for my proposals of a new disciplinary process for the Party. This is the culmination of a series of consultation phases, and has been designed with members’ feedback at the forefront of our minds.

You can read my report here, and paper copies will be available at Conference. I will also be holding a Q&A session during the Saturday lunchtime fringe slot in the Marine Suite at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Southport. If you are attending Conference you are very welcome to attend and ask me any questions you may have, ahead of the debate which will take place that afternoon from 5pm.

I have been clear from the beginning: the only way members will be well-served by a disciplinary process is if it is simple, transparent and efficient. It needs to be a stand-alone process, and it needs to deal with complaints promptly with clear lines of communication. It also needs robust guidance on how to care for all those who may find themselves trying to navigate the process, be they complainants, witnesses, those complained against, or those sitting on the panels.

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Gordon Lishman

Four Go in Search of Big Ideas

By Gordon Lishman | Mon 5th March 2018 - 4:42 pm

The Social Liberal Forum is publishing this book to contribute to a Progressive Alliance of Ideas, People and Campaigns. Contributors including leading Liberal Democrats and people from other political backgrounds and some from outside formal parties.

The Four are Helen Flynn, Iain Brodie-Browne, Gordon Lishman and Ekta Prakash and the book addresses major challenges facing progressives in the 21st Century. They believe that the revival of progressive politics in the UK must be based on winning the battle of ideas. All four come from the North of England and their approach reflects their anger about the state of …

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Lorenzo Cherin

Viva Verdi, Viva Italia!

By Lorenzo Cherin | Mon 5th March 2018 - 3:02 pm

As Italy has voted, I am, as the son of an Italian, and a practitioner in the arts, thinking of Giuseppe Verdi and of the country he helped to create. Verdi is mainly known as one of the greatest composers of opera, but though that was his main and great talent, he had one for politics too. At a time when Italy was a collection of small and to some extent, rival principalities and states, the Risorgimento movement he supported, was fighting, for a nation of Italy, a unified State, the country we now know. Some interpret this as …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged | 15 Comments
Lord William Wallace

Migration and the liberal dilemma

By Lord William Wallace | Mon 5th March 2018 - 12:45 pm

The Spring conference will be discussing migration policy in Southport, on the basis of a carefully-written consultation paper. This is a particularly difficult topic for Liberals. Almost all of us would prefer to live in a world in which borders were open, and immigrants and refugees were welcomed. But global population growth, combined with state collapse, civil conflict and climate change, are combining to create a rising flow of migrants – driven both by political disorder and economic deprivation – towards the safe and prosperous countries of Western Europe. Many of them are trafficked on their …

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Tahir Maher

Same old Economic Orthodoxy

By Tahir Maher | Mon 5th March 2018 - 11:13 am

In 1997, the Labour Party inherited a balanced budget from the Tories and for well over ten years we had Gordon Brown telling us that he had got rid of the boom and bust cycle. By 2009 the deficit had ballooned to £171 billion, higher than during the recessions of the 1980s, the 1990s and even when the Labour party went to the IMF, cap in hand, in 1976 (another fine mess they got us into) put together.

Economic orthodoxy maintained by Labour and and the Tories for the last forty years or so ensures the same economic models: over reliance …

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NewsHound

“Cook along with Miriam”

By NewsHound | Mon 5th March 2018 - 9:41 am

Spotted in Saturday’s Guardian, an article in a series of celebrity cooking with a difference, where Stephen Bush attempts to cook meals suggested by celebrities and comments on how he got on. It would be fair to say that he wasn’t impressed with Paul Newman…

Miriam González Durántez, on the other hand, seems to have been rather more convincing;

On Wednesday I make meatballs. Because González Durántez – or “Notorious MGD” as I have taken to referring to her – is a badass, her recipe for her children’s meatballs includes a glass of white

…

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NewsHound

TUC General Secretary to meet with cross-party leaders to set out Brexit concerns

By NewsHound | Mon 5th March 2018 - 8:00 am

The TUC’s General Secretary has accepted an invitation to speak to a group of cross-party opposition leaders about the TUC’s position on Brexit.

Frances O’Grady will meet with the Westminster leaders of the Liberal Democrats, SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party to discuss the need for a Brexit that protects workers’ rights, jobs and livelihoods of millions of people across the UK.

The General Secretary will also set out why the TUC believes that single market membership and customs union should be on the table for the next phase of Brexit negotiations.

The meeting is set …

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Mark Valladares

Welcome to my day: 5 March – thoughts turn towards a future…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 5th March 2018 - 7:52 am

Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m glad that last week’s “Beast from the East” has passed. Whilst here in Mid Suffolk, the snow has now pretty much melted, there are still some of you digging yourselves out, and good luck to you.

But neither rain nor snow nor gloom of night prevents a Day Editor from performing their duties, so what have we got for you today?

We kick off with news of cross-party co-operation to oppose the impacts of Brexit, courtesy of the Party’s press team, and it will be interesting …

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #509

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 4th March 2018 - 9:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 509th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (25 February -3 March 2018), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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The Voice

WATCH: Why EU Nationals should vote Lib Dem in Local Elections

By The Voice | Sun 4th March 2018 - 2:30 pm

A great video from Islington Liberal Democrats:

Vince made clear on Peston today that we are definitely going for this group of people.

There will be a series of tailored social media adverts in 21 European languages. The adverts are fronted by MEPs from those countries and they encourage EU citizens to register and vote Lib Dem in May.

Vince said:

The local elections represent a huge opportunity for EU migrants, who contribute so much to our economy and society, to make their voices heard. We are reaching out to them to vote Lib Dem and help us support their rights and ultimately secure an exit from Brexit. Their support could make a vital difference in close council seats.

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Paul Walter

A longer read for the weekend… Sir John Major’s stunning speech on Brexit in full

By Paul Walter | Sun 4th March 2018 - 12:47 pm

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We don’t often feature speeches from members of other parties. But this speech made on Wednesday by Sir John Major is worth reading through in full. The text was published by the Mirror. At the bottom of the text is a video of the speech from the Guardian channel on YouTube:

I would like to express my thanks to the Creative Industries Federation, Somerset House Trust, and Tech London Advocates for the opportunity to speak here today.

Brexit matters to our creative industries. They express our culture and values – but give so much more.

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Caron Lindsay

Jo Swinson is right on Thatcher statue – women’s achievements must be remembered

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 4th March 2018 - 10:15 am

I was incensed to read this article in the Independent about our 30th anniversary. It’s based on interviews with 2 former leaders, Tim Farron and Paddy Ashdown and with one other person, Nick Clegg’s former staffer, James McGrory.

In the whole article, there isn’t even the merest hint of a mention of the women who helped build this party. Nothing about Shirley Williams. Nothing about Diana Maddock’s amazing victory in the 1993 Christchurch by-election. Nothing about Sandra Gidley’s unexpected victory in Romsey in 2000. Nothing about Sarah Teather’s ground-breaking by-election victory in Brent in the wake of the Iraq war. Nothing about Sarah Olney’s by-election victory showing we were back in the game. Nothing about Jo Swinson building up a seat and winning it at 25 and subsequently becoming the first Lib Dem woman to attend Cabinet. Nothing about our Presidents Shirley, Diana, Ros Scott and Sal Brinton. Nothing about how Lynne Featherstone built up her Hornsey and Wood Green seat. Nothing about the present day Lib Dem campaigners like Elaine Bagshaw.

I’m also updating this to add Kirsty Williams as per the first comment. She served the party so well as Welsh leader and is currently our only Lib Dem member of a Government. Her pioneering More Nurses law made Welsh hospitals safer.

Women have been at the forefront of some of the party’s most pivotal moments. Why not talk to some of them? I have come up with ten of them off the top of my head in about half a minute.

And if we think that’s bad, the article about our history on our own party website doesn’t mention a woman until its penultimate paragraph.

It was ever thus. A bloke does something and there’s statues everywhere. A woman takes a major step forward and does not get the same recognition. I loathe and detest virtually everything Margaret Thatcher stood for, but she was the first woman Prime Minister of this country.  Thatcher got me into politics because I so passionately opposed what she was doing to the country. That’s why I agree with Jo Swinson, who argues in today’s Mail on Sunday that Thatcher should have a statue in Parliament Square:

Maybe they think one out of twelve is enough, that they’ve ticked the woman box with the addition of Millicent Fawcett?

Apparently one of the reasons given for refusal was the state robes Thatcher would have been wearing.

Even in death, it seems there are no limits to how society judges women by how they look and what they wear.

She went on to say what Thatcher being PM told her:

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Caron Lindsay

The reason Tim Farron didn’t vote for merger

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 4th March 2018 - 9:07 am

Ten years ago, the lib dem blogfather Jonathan Calder wrote an article for the New Statesman about the party’s first 20 years.

But if Liberal enthusiasts for merger were to have their hopes crushed, Liberal sceptics were to be confounded too. There were many who feared the new party would see Liberalism submerged within Social Democracy or junked in an enthusiasm for all things new.

He shared it on Twitter yesterday, saying that he had been one of the Liberal Party members who had opposed the merger.

His tweet prompted a confession from Tim Farron:

I actually came to the new party from the SDP. I had been very much in favour of merger and told Bob Maclennan so in no uncertain terms on the day after the disappointing 1987 election.

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The Voice

WATCH: Lib Dems at 30

By The Voice | Sat 3rd March 2018 - 4:39 pm

Enjoy this video which shows the Lib Dems’ highlights over the past 30 years.

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Paul Walter

The 2017 general election – the much overlooked rebalancing of British democracy

By Paul Walter | Sat 3rd March 2018 - 3:03 pm

The British Election Study has been issuing data concerning the 2017 election based on their “face-to-face” process. They maintain, for example, that the much-acclaimed “Youthquake” of 2017 was in fact a myth.

But I was very interested in this graph, tweeted by James Kanagasooriam:

There are a number of conclusions to be drawn from this graph. Much has been made of the fact that the Tories had quite a chunk of Remainers voting for them – particularly in the South of the country.

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Caron Lindsay

Got any awkward questions to ask the party committees?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 3rd March 2018 - 1:33 pm

One of the most important aspects of our party’s accountability is the ability to question its powerful people.

Every Conference, there are sessions where members can put their questions to the committees who run the party and to our parliamentarians. These are usually poorly attended, with just a few of the Usual Suspects turning up to ask awkward questions. Actually, the more people who turn up and the more awkward questions asked, the better the party will be.

Everybody who holds power within an organisation should expect to be rigorously held to account. In our party, the main committees are:

The Federal Board …

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems at 30 – let’s be bold, confident and radical

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 3rd March 2018 - 11:55 am

It’s a wee while since I hit 30 but I’ve been thinking a lot about how I felt at that time in my life.

My twenties had been pretty turbulent in many ways and had taught me quite a bit about the world and how it works and where things needed to change.

By the time I hit 30, I not only felt surer of myself, I felt more impatient even than I had at 16 to change the world. Why? Because so little had changed. Because we were still having the same arguments about power being concentrated in the hands of too few white men. Because opportunities for progress were being missed.

It’s a bit the same for the party. When it hit 20, it had 63 MPs and was in many ways at the height of its powers. Charles had been right on Iraq, Vince had been right about the financial crash which was only just starting to unfold. Actually, Paddy, our leader for the first 10 years had been right on social justice, right on Kosovo, right on Hong Kong.

As we hit 30, we are still right on the big issues of the day – housing, Brexit, inequality, climate change. We are much smaller in terms of MPs and councillors, but we have more members than we had 10 years ago. We had about 75000 members around the time Nick Clegg won in 2007. We broke the 100,000 barrier last year.

It is not easy being a third party in a bonkers electoral system that is built for two who want to keep it that way.  It wasn’t until our 10th year that we broke through, doubling our number of MPs to 46. It wasn’t until our 11th year that we had nationwide representation in the European Parliament. 

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Caron Lindsay

Paddy wants your big ideas

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 3rd March 2018 - 9:30 am

It’s Sunday name is the “Ashdown Prize for Radical Thought.”  The Party’s first leader, after whom it is named,  prefers to call it “Paddy’s Power to the People Prize.” The winner will win £500 and could have Paddy championing their plan on the Conference stage.

He has teamed up with those nice people at Your Liberal Britain to set up a competition for briefly expressed radical ideas to sort out the country’s problems.

He explains the premise in this video:

Here’s what you have to do if this takes your fancy:

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The Voice

Former Watford Green candidate joins Lib Dems, praising Mayoral candidate Peter Taylor

By The Voice | Fri 2nd March 2018 - 3:54 pm

Former Watford parliamentary candidate for the Greens, Alex Murray, has joined the Liberal Democrats and was welcomed to the Party by Deputy Leader Jo Swinson, Party Chair Ian Stotesbury and Mayoral candidate Peter Taylor.

From the Watford Observer:

Alex Murray, who challenged for the Watford seat at the 2017 General Election, defected to the Lib Dems after witnessing the party’s work in his hometown.

He said: “I have been impressed with the record of the Liberal Democrat team locally.

“They have improved parks and open spaces and we have an excellent recycling service.

“I am pleased that their mayoral candidate, Peter Taylor, has put improving bus services and introducing a bike hire scheme at the top of his list of priorities.

“At a national level I support the party’s commitment to let the people have their say on the Brexit deal.”

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The Voice

Cable: May allowing Brexit extremists to neuter any chance of acceptable deal for UK

By The Voice | Fri 2nd March 2018 - 3:08 pm

Vince Cable had this to say  about Theresa May’s speech:

Theresa May has once again prevaricated from making serious decisions about our future. Her speech outlined all the reasons why we should stay in the single market and customs union, but she will carry on regardless, driving us out to placate brexiters in the cabinet.

May’s diminished authority is allowing Brexit extremists to neuter any chance she has at getting an acceptable deal for the UK.

With a listless government beholden to hard-line Tories the only way to protect our future is ensure a referendum on the final deal. Surely, If May believes in her strategy,

…

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Caron Lindsay

Cable, Umunna and Lucas demand Brexit answers from the Prime Minister

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 2nd March 2018 - 2:35 pm

As Theresa May prepares to set out her five tests of a Brexit deal, Vince Cable, Chuka Umunna and Caroline Lucas have demanded that she and her ministers live up to the promises that they have made since the referendum, most of which revolve around cake and the eating thereof.

Open Britain co-ordinated a letter which is short and sweet. It’s the appendix in which the words of Ministers are outlined that is useful.

The point of the letter is not so much that they think the Prime Minster is going to take any notice, but more so that they can raise awareness of how far the Government is falling short of its own promises.

Here is the text of the letter:

Dear Prime Minister,

You have been Prime Minister for more than a year and a half and yet it has taken you until now to explain in any detail to the public what you believe the future relationship between the UK and the EU should be. It was your decision to rule out membership of the Single Market and the Customs Union, yet you and the Brexit Secretary have misleadingly claimed we can do this and at the same time retain all the benefits of membership.

Since the referendum, you and your ministers have made a number of promises about our future trading relationship with the EU:

  1. The exact same benefits as today
  2. No hard border on the island of Ireland or across the UK
  3. Fully negotiated by March 2019
  4. No payment for access to the EU market
  5. A complete end to EU rules and regulations
  6. Continuation of all EU trade deals and new deals ready to come into force

Listed below are the promises made by you and your Ministers, in your own words.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Christine Jardine: A shadow over the Edinburgh Festival

By NewsHound | Fri 2nd March 2018 - 12:40 pm

In an article for the New European, Christine Jardine highlights the threats to our cultural events, most notably the Edinburgh Festival, posed by Brexit:

 

But sadly if our creative industries are not protected world class events like the Festival, Glastonbury, and many others may find that musicians used to touring Europe freely with no issues over EU crew or equipment licenses could find the whole process becomes slower, more expensive and just downright difficult.

They might opt to take up other opportunities on the continent or elsewhere.

Music development organisations and other cultural groups might also find themselves without the vital funding stream previously provided by the EU.

But that is the immediate effect. There could also be collateral damage for one of our other most important industries if they cease to be the cash cows the tourist industry has come to depend on.

And the scale of visitor numbers attracted by the Edinburgh Festival every year demands a huge hospitality sector in which an estimated 50 per cent of the workforce come from other EU states.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tom Brake: Boris and Davis aren’t the only ones suffering from “Delusionitis”

By NewsHound | Fri 2nd March 2018 - 10:43 am

In an article for the Huffington Post, Lib Dem Brexit Spokesperson forensically takes apart six arguments made by the Tory MP for Sutton and Cheam in a letter to his constituents.

Tom tackled the assertion that the thought of a referendum on the deal would encourage the EU to give us a bad deal.

So far, the negotiations have clearly demonstrated that the EU is in a much stronger negotiating position, with our Government capitulating at every turn. In fact, when asked in December to name a concession that the EU had made, the only thing EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier could think of was that he did not “at this stage insist that the UK should pay the removal costs” for EU agencies. This should come as no surprise as the EU’s GDP is five times larger than ours. In other words, Brexit will damage our economy much more than theirs.

The EU’s position has been clear from the very beginning; The integrity of the Single Market must be protected and is non-negotiable. This does not mean punishing Britain by giving it a bad deal. It simply means that a country that does not accept the four freedoms, the jurisdiction of the ECJ, and contributing to the EU budget, will not enjoy the exact same benefits of the Single Market membership. Neither a Hard Brexit nor a second referendum is going to change the EU’s position. We know what is on offer, and the ball is thus in the Government’s court to decide what type of future relationship with the EU it wants.

He also poured scorn on the idea that the Tories could be trusted to maintain the workers’ rights that the EU currently guarantees:

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Tom Arms

Observations of an ex pat: Disappearing water

By Tom Arms | Fri 2nd March 2018 - 8:58 am

Water, water… Where? Certainly not everywhere. Not anymore. The essential ingredient to life is becoming a disappearing and fought over commodity.

Nowhere is this more obvious at the moment  than in relations between Egypt and Ethiopia over rights to the historic Nile.

Since the dawn of civilisation, the waters of the Blue and White Nile have joined at Khartoum to form the Nile River—the only source of fresh water along its 1,600-mile journey through the desert  to the Mediterranean.

Egyptian civilisation grew out of the Nile more than 3,000 years ago. It is the reason that Egypt can continue to support its fast growing population of 100 million. But only just.  The UN predicts that the combined pressures of a growing population, rising sea levels and industrial pollution will result in severe water shortages by 2025.

And that is without the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam which is due to open later this year.  GERD–as it is known in Ethiopia– will span the Blue Nile near the border with Sudan. It will cost $5 billion, every penny paid by the Ethiopian government. The dam will power a hydroelectricity plant expected to treble the country’s electricity output. Ethiopia will be transformed from a country supplying electricity to only 25 percent of its 75 million citizens into the powerhouse of East Africa.

But what about Egypt? The Ethiopians claim that the dam will have zero impact on water levels flowing through Egypt. But According to the Geological Society of America,  the dam will reduce by at least 25 percent the flow of water through the land of the Pharaohs . Eighty-five percent of the Nile waters originate in Ethiopia.

The Egyptians have, unsurprisingly, complained loudly and at great length. In 2013 former President Mohamed Morsi threatened war.

From the Ethiopian, point of view, GERD has become more than a giant economic benefit. It is now an issue of intense national pride, similar to that felt by the Egyptian public over the Aswan High Dam in the 1950s and 1960s.

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dem hold Council seat in East Devon

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 2nd March 2018 - 8:08 am

Electoral law takes no account of the Beast from the East. Once an election is set, it goes ahead regardless. Returning Officers have no discretion to alter the timetable.

So, yesterday in East Devon, the Lib Dems quietly held a Council seat despite a strong challenge from an Independent.

Well done to Tim Dumper and the team. I hope they have thawed out.

Other by-elections took place in Clackmannanshire, Basingstoke and Solihull and we had candidates in all of them. This post will be updated with the results when they are known.

Update: A respectable 10% from a standing start.

And an increase in vote share in Basingstoke.

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ALDC

ALDC launches its Election Law Helpline

By ALDC | Thu 1st March 2018 - 5:58 pm

It is vital that everyone in the Liberal Democrats stays on the right side of the law throughout the forthcoming election campaigns, and ALDC are on hand to help you do this through our Election Law Helpline – launching on Thursday 1 March 2018.

The team at ALDC are providing free election law advice to campaigners in England for their forthcoming local elections, regardless of whether you are a member of ALDC.

They can provide practical issues around election law – nominations, DNOs, imprints, expenses, etc. as well as detailed queries about election …

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