Liberal Democrat Voice

LibLink: Nick Clegg – a deal can be done on freedom of movement

By Joe Otten | Tue 4th July 2017 - 10:41 am

Writing in the Financial Times, Nick Clegg shows how, as on many other issues, British politicians are wrongly blaming the EU for the consequences of decisions taken in Britain affecting immigration from EU member states.

Crucially, there is far more latitude for member states to apply restrictions to freedom of movement than is commonly appreciated. The Belgian authorities aggressively deport EU citizens who do not work and cannot support themselves. Under EU law, the UK authorities could do the same for EU citizens who have failed to find work after six months. Access to Spanish healthcare requires registering with

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged freedom of movement | 29 Comments

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‘Occupying’ the missing middle is not enough – Lib Dems must build it

By Will Parker | Mon 3rd July 2017 - 6:06 pm

Vince Cable recently said that if Lib Dems can “occupy that enormous ground in the middle of politics we’ve got tremendous opportunity”.

He’s only part right. To occupy is to inhabit a space that is otherwise vacant. There is a missing middle in British politics but that’s the point – it’s missing. There’s nothing there to inhabit. First it needs to be built in terms of a reality in Parliament and an idea based vision. This requires leadership.

So before Vince gets carried away with talk of the “political winds blowing in the Lib Dem’s favour” he would do well to remember that 7.4 per cent of the vote and 12 MPs isn’t much to work with. It’s a stump – and the centre ground cannot be rebuilt by it in its current form. He should then ask: Who are the Lib Dems? What are they for?

Here are the answers he should come up with. The Liberal Democrats are the party of the radical centre, not some confused wet-lettuce centrism.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged vince cable | 77 Comments

Dutch UK correspondents warn that the mood among EU expats has really soured

By Bernard Aris | Mon 3rd July 2017 - 2:49 pm

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In his Sky interview on Sunday (quoted by Caron Lindsay in her earlier post), Sir Vince Cable warned that the Wimbledon tournament is hit by a serious strawberry crisis. British strawberry fields will (forever?) remain unattended because the people (EU workers) needed to pick the fruit have scampered home, afraid of the uncertainties of staying in the UK where both May and Corbyn keep pursuing a hard Brexit, never mind May’s sweet-talking at the recent Brussels summit (which was roundly dismissed, if not disbelieved by Juncker, Tusk and German prime minister Merkel).

In the Dutch liberal quality newspaper NRC Handelsblad of Saturday 1st July, the anthropologist and journalist Joris Luyendijk (famous for his Guardian blogs and international bestseller “Swimming with sharks” about the worrying ways of thinking and operating in the City of London banking sector) gives an assessment of the mood among well-educated, professional EU citizens that should alarm any Briton who wants the British economy to flourish.

And in the biggest Dutch daily, de Telegraaf of 23d June, Dutch expat and former Telegraaf UK correspondent Arnoud Breitbarth (now working in the British musical industry) voices frustration (“we’re treated like second class citizens from the moment the Brexit Referendum was announced”) and despair at possibly having to leave the UK where they’ve lived for decades.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged brexit and netherlands | 34 Comments

Why it’s perception that matters

By Greg Ardan | Mon 3rd July 2017 - 12:22 pm

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There has been plenty of analysis and commentary on the Liberal Democrats at the 2017 election. There were significant positives from some great seat gains. But it is difficult not to be disappointed by the low vote share nationally.

Much has already been said as to why, which I won’t repeat here. I’d like to instead focus on three specific areas which pose – the third especially – a broader long-term question for the party. Namely that of how the public perceive us, and what they think we are truly “for”.

The first point concerns increasing polarisation. Of course there is still a centre ground. However, it’s clear that an increasingly large number of people do support the Conservatives’ hard-Brexit, continued austerity and increasingly nationalistic swing to the right. Likewise there’s an increase in those in favour of Jeremy Corbyn’s brand of socialism and high public-service spending, funded by significant tax hikes to higher earners and UK businesses.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged conservative and labour | 17 Comments

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What is the government’s exact majority?

By Paul Walter | Mon 3rd July 2017 - 10:58 am

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Since June 9th, I’ve been keeping a little spreadsheet to show the exact majority of the government.

First of all, the question arose: ‘What is the working majority of the government?’ That is, if the DUP don’t vote with the government but simply abstain (because they don’t want Jeremy Corbyn to become Prime Minister). My calculations suggest this working majority is four, based on the following assumptions:

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged 2017 general election, government majority and theresa may | 20 Comments

Five General Election lessons from a newbie

By Neil Lewis | Mon 3rd July 2017 - 9:08 am

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I joined the Lib Dems in 2015, stood for Chester Police and Crime Commissioner in 2016 and for Bromsgrove in the 2017 General Election. Both were tough but fabulous experiences and I was hugely grateful for the opportunity to stand for our shared Liberal Democrat values and for the great local support I received.

So what lessons did a newbie learn in this General Election?

All is not lost!

Yes, our vote share was disappointing – but from my conversations on the street, and also as the latest evidence, we were squeezed – dreadfully! So, we know the votes are there… for next time.

I campaigned in a strong Conservative seat and met people who shared our values but felt a Lib Dem vote would make no difference. Here’s what seemed to persuade them;

“… every Lib Dem vote counts because the BBC and media allocate TV and Radio time based on the number of votes we get – so, if you want to hear less of Nigel Farage and more of Tim Farron, you must vote Lib Dem…”

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged 2017 general election | 41 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #484

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 2nd July 2017 - 9:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 484th 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 June -, 1 July 2017), 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:

Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment

Christine Jardine finds a way to raise concerns about job losses

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 2nd July 2017 - 8:00 pm

Last week, the Royal Bank of Scotland announced that it was cutting 443 jobs in Britain. This is of great concern to our new Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West, Christine Jardine, for three reasons. First of all, the bank’s HQ is in her constituency, secondly local businesses might be affected by the quality of service and, thirdly, could this be yet another effect of Brexit.

She wanted to find a way to raise this in the House, but how? She wasn’t down to make her Maiden Speech until Wednesday and it couldn’t wait until then. Back in the day, you couldn’t say anything until you had done that, but there was a way. She used the device of a point of order. That way, it is on the Parliamentary record that she raised it quickly. Speaker John Bercow knew exactly what she was up to but both he and Brexit Secretary David Davis praise her ingenuity. Watch the exchange here. The text is below.

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. As a new Member, I wonder whether the Chair can advise on the most effective way of raising the worrying news from my constituency today that the Royal Bank of Scotland has announced more than 400 job losses, to ascertain the potentially serious economic implications and whether this is in any way connected to the uncertainties surrounding Brexit.

Mr Speaker: The hon. Lady is undoubtedly a new Member, but she is clearly not a novice in finding very public opportunities to air her concerns on behalf of her constituents. The short answer is that she has of course already aired that concern through the device—or ruse in this case—of a perhaps slightly bogus point of order. However, my advice to her is that she should seek to question Ministers either orally at the appropriate time—there are many such opportunities, on which her colleagues can advise her—or through written questions. If, however, she wishes to dilate on the matter more fully and to hear a Minister do so in response, the mechanism available to her is an Adjournment debate. She should wend her way to the Table Office, where she will find highly qualified and very conscientious staff, who are only too happy to advise her. I just have a sense that we are going to hear further from the hon. Lady on this matter, and probably before very long.

Posted in News | Tagged christine jardine mp and Parliament | Leave a comment

LDV’s Sunday Best: our 7 most-read articles this week

By The Voice | Sun 2nd July 2017 - 6:00 pm

7 best Many thanks to the 25000visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Ed Davey MP writes…My family, my party (79 comments) by Ed Davey MP

If they say you’re a Red Tory or a Yellow Tory, ask about Corbyn’s welfare cuts (53 comments) by George Kendall

There are worse things than a coronation for Vince (97 comments) by Caron Lindsay

May’s Brexit setup denies remaining EU states what she wants to recover for Britain: sovereignty over their nation) (37 comments) by Bernard Aris

Well that didn’t take long. Vince answers questions on Brexit, freedom of movement and single market (35 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Sal Brinton writes…What you need to know about the leadership election (29 comments) by Sal Brinton

Posted in Site news | 1 Comment

Tom Brake’s quiet revolution – but there’s so much more that should change about the Commons

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 2nd July 2017 - 4:30 pm

Tom Brake achieved a bit of a baby step towards the 21st Century for MPs this week when he had the audacity to ask a Minister a question while not wearing a tie. Heaven forfend!

Conservative MP Peter Bone grassed him up to the Speaker and asked if the rules had changed. John Bercow replied that as long as the attire was “business-like” it was fine. No tie was necessary.

So far as the Chair is concerned, I must say to the hon. Gentleman, although I fear this will gravely disquiet him, that it seems to me that as long as a Member arrives in the House in what might be thought to be business-like attire, the question of whether that Member is wearing a tie is not absolutely front and centre stage. So am I minded not to call a Member simply because that Member is not wearing a tie? No. I think there has always been some discretion for the Chair to decide what is seemly and proper. Members should not behave in a way that is disrespectful of their colleagues or of the institution, but do I think it is essential that a Member wears a tie? No. Opinions on the hon. Gentleman’s choice of ties do tend to vary, and it has to be said that the same could be said of my own.

This is of course not the first time that Lib Dem MPs have been at the forefront of such change. It was Duncan Hames who took his baby son through the division lobby back in 2014.

So that’s all well and good, but what about addressing some of the bigger issues about the way the Commons operates? There is so much else that needs to change to bring the Parliament closer to the people. Anyone watching the proceedings for the first time would not feel that they had any relevance in the real world.

Posted in News | Tagged house of commons, Parliament and tom brake | 8 Comments

Mutualisation of public services needs to go up the agenda

By Adam Penny | Sun 2nd July 2017 - 3:00 pm

One of the most interesting developments in domestic politics of recent years is the return of the debate over nationalisation in many public services: notably rail and utilities.

Labour’s 2017 manifesto put nationalisation firmly back on the agenda. Seeing as that is the case, I would argue that this offers the opportunity to make a strong case to the public for the largely ignored, but very credible model that mutualisation offers.

There is no disputing that there are many flaws with the privately-owned models that have been adopted for many public services, but equally it’s worth remembering that fully nationalised industries have had more than their fair share of problems.

In both cases, it stems from the innate conflict between the interests of shareholder interests and the interests of the workforce. In the privatised case, the interests of the workforce become a peripheral issue in favour of maximising returns, often leading to short termism, lack of public accountability, and a disenfranchised and disinterested workforce.

On the flip side, the weakness of nationalisation is that government control of the organisation means that management is heavily influenced by public opinion, which inevitably leads to a situation where unions can politicise the issues towards favouring the interests of the workforce over and above the interests of providing a good service to the public. Rewind 40 years and we can see these problems at their worst, with the nation pretty much crippled by the dominance of unions influencing public opinion and making sensible management in the public interest all but impossible.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged public services | 25 Comments

Vince on Sky News: We’ve got to stop extreme Brexit

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 2nd July 2017 - 12:36 pm

Vince Cable gave his first big interview as probably-the-next-leader of the Lib Dems to Sophy Ridge on Sky News this morning. You can read the full transcript but here are some of the highlights.

It was, as you would expect, a reasoned, calm and accomplished performance. He certainly comes across as the grown-up in the room.

First of all, he was asked about austerity and whether or not it could continue. You could, he said, spend more money wisely:

I think what there is a big public mood for, and I think it’s right, is that we shift the balance and instead of just cutting, cutting public spending we have people willing to pay more tax and indeed my party campaigned in the general election saying a penny in the pound on income tax for the health service and I think people are up for that kind of change. Similarly public sector pay, I mean you can’t just have unlimited public sector pay but we should be lifting public sector pay above the present cap which pushes people’s incomes down in real terms and again we argued in the election for a phased increase and so at least people’s pay – teachers, nurses – is protected in real terms. I would also argue that it makes sense to use government’s borrowing capacity at very low interest rates to do more investment, you know, social housing, infrastructure – these are things that we could do very sensibly within sound public finance.

Asked about tuition fees, he says that we need to look at how the system has worked, but there are bigger priorities for education at the moment. He also pointed out that more needs to be done for the young people who don’t go to university. I expect we’ll be hearing a lot more from him on that in the meantime.

Well the Labour party have a ridiculously populist programme which doesn’t really stand up to investigation. I mean if you don’t have any form of fees, who pays for universities? How do you end this discrimination between the 40% of students who go to university and who would be subsidised as opposed to the 60% who don’t? So that would be highly inequitable.

But we have to be careful of doing things for populist reasons:

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged sky news, sophy ridge and vince cable | 50 Comments

A 250 year old box

By Ken Munn | Sun 2nd July 2017 - 10:02 am

Sir Robert Walpole (Whig 1721-1742) was the first prime minister in the modern sense. Ever since major UK parties have always had one leader. But Walpole and his successors, whether prime ministers or opposition leaders, were not subject to the relentless pressure of 24/365 broadcast news until the mid-1990s. Perhaps John Major (1990-97) was the first to suffer. Since Major’s day media outlets have multiplied, coverage has become shallower, more sensationalised, more knee-jerk. Meanwhile social media abounds, analysing what’s been said (and sometimes, what’s not been) syllable by syllable. Today, the media demands on any party leader are immense and even, perhaps, inhumane.

Does this matter to the Liberal Democrats? It does. We’re looking for a new leader. Tim Farron was eviscerated by the media for his personal and religious beliefs, diverting him from electoral themes to the detriment of us all. And it’s not only a matter of inquisitional pressure, it’s time pressure too. Being ready to respond at – almost – any hour of the day or night to the media’s agenda and external events strains family relationships and even health It also deprives a leader of time to manage the party, to think and to recharge.

We are now choosing a new leader who will be under the same pressures. We have to accept that within the parliamentary party we don’t have a superstar capable of resisting these pressures and conveying our appeal to the full-spectrum electorate. We must consider if it is reasonable to subject our choice to such demands. If not, how we can ameliorate the problem while still being well led. We should think outside the box that has existed since Walpole. We should ask whether a single leader is appropriate in today’s environment. We should consider if two heads are better than one.

Posted in News | Tagged leadership election 2017 | 14 Comments

Well that didn’t take long! Vince answers the Brexit, freedom of movement and single market questions

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 1st July 2017 - 4:35 pm

Vince Cable is likely to be the sole nominee for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats. It is good to see, though, that he’s behaving like he is in a contest. He’s aware of what’s on the minds of members and activists and responds accordingly. People had raised concerns about his position on freedom of movement and the single market and he answers them here in a pragmatic and straightforward way. He also explicitly says that Brexit could be avoided if we are willing to consider some changes to the status quo.

What’s also interesting is the acknowledgement that the party decides policy. The leader can put their view forward, but it’s the party members who are in the driving seat. If he carries that philosophy through, he’ll probably be the first to have managed it, so good luck to him.

Anyway, here is his statement in full. I found it reassuring especially because it goes some way to speaking to the Leave voters whose consent we would need to turn this thing around. I hope he will come forward with a liberal vision to address the concerns which drove them to vote for Leave. Poor housing, low pay, stretched public services can all be fixed without leaving the EU. In fact, they can probably only be fixed without leaving the EU.

Anyway, here is Vince’s statement in full.

Since declaring my intention to stand for the Liberal Democrat leadership I have been overwhelmed by messages of support. In the strong liberal tradition I have also received a great many questions about my vision for the country and the party. The first and most immediate issue on all our minds is the UK’s future relationship with the European Union, and I therefore welcome the very direct questions from party members on this subject.

Posted in News | Tagged brexit, featured, leadership election 2017 and vince cable | 49 Comments

Party members question Vince Cable on Brexit, freedom of movement and single market

By Andrew Hickey | Sat 1st July 2017 - 10:15 am

It now appears that Vince Cable will be unopposed in the upcoming party leadership election, and so party members will not receive the opportunity to quiz him at hustings on his record and policy views>

Many of us within the party are concerned by this. We believe that in a democratic party, it is imperative that the leader receive proper scrutiny. We need to know that the candidate is up to the job. The leader of the party must be able to deal with uncomfortable questions. As we’ve seen in the recent election campaign, the inability to give a straight answer to a simple question can be fatal to a leader.

The party leader must also be able to speak for the party and to defend party policy, especially when it comes to the most important issues of the day. In particular, many people have expressed concern about Vince’s statements to the New Statesman calling for an end to single market membership and freedom of movement, which appear to go against both party policy and the party’s constitution.

>For that reason, a number of us have put together an open letter to Vince Cable, the full text of which can be found here. This letter has been signed so far by hundreds of party members, including a substantial number of parliamentary candidates, councillors, and local party exec members. These are the people on whose support a new leader will need to rely, and so those people in turn need to know that the new leader is worthy of such support.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged brexit, freedom of movement, leadership election 2017, single market and vince cable | 60 Comments

Get clever, get brave and reform to win

By Humphrey Hawksley | Sat 1st July 2017 - 8:43 am

As the Liberal Democrats are about to take on a new leader, one question looms large. Why, in its various incarnations, has this mainstream political party failed to win power for almost a hundred years?

While we blame variously the right-wing press, the voting system and so on, the truth may lay closer to the party itself that needs structural modernization in three distinct areas – mission, message and management.

With the centre ground deserted, we have been handed an open goal, but have yet failed to score. Unless we act now with fast, brave and clever leadership, that goal will be scored by others.

First, the mission.

After the referendum, thousands of new members joined, believing the Liberal Democrats would design a new, big picture vision for Britain’s future and they wanted to be part of it. Instead, they were told to deliver leaflets on issues such as pot-holes and speed bumps because: “This is how we do things.”

Many began drifting away.

At September’s conference, I asked delegates how they thought we could win government. “I don’t think we want that,” summed up a long-standing member. “It would be against our values.”

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged future strategy | 93 Comments

LibLink: Vince Cable: Labour won over young voters but it is betraying them on Brexit

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 30th June 2017 - 7:36 pm

It is pretty likely that Vince Cable will be our next leader. There has been some concern about his position on freedom of movement and membership of the single market. The is hardly surprising given that he wrote a New Statesman article headlined “Why it’s time to end EU free movement” back in January.

There are signs that his line on Brexit has softened since last year, and his record is a million miles better than Labour’s. We’ll take no lessons from them given that 80% of their MPs voted against membership of the single market last night in Parliament and Vince, like all the other Liberal Democrats voted for it.

Last week, Vince wrote a piece for the Guardian on Brexit and how Labour is betraying the young people who voted for them in the General Election.

The party could be mobilising effective opposition to a hugely harmful hard Brexit, yet contradictions abound. Spokespeople attack this hard Brexitm but then sign up to leaving the customs union and single market, which is in essence what hard Brexit means. Others, including Sadiq Khan, argue that the party should campaign to stay in the single market.

Labour was brilliantly successful in the election at mobilising young people, who were angry that their European future had been stolen from them but who perhaps didn’t scrutinise the small print in the manifesto. Before long they will. They may not know that Jeremy Corbyn ordered his troops into the division lobbies to support the extreme Conservative-Ukip Brexit, but may now notice his insistence that Brexit is “settled”. Make no mistake, on Brexit Corbyn is betraying many who followed him.

He looks at the reasons why Labour has abandoned the pro EU stance of Blair and Brown before looking at the issue of immigration. He is scathing about Labour’s stance:

Posted in LibLink | Tagged freedom of movement and vince cable brexit | 26 Comments

How should we approach future coalitions?

By Andy Cooke | Fri 30th June 2017 - 4:10 pm

If we do decide to take part in future Coalitions, one thing that does need to be resolved is how to approach them. Make no bones about it – we were nearly annihilated. Play it like that again, and we could be doomed to oblivion. Yet if we choose never to go into Government again, we’re doomed to impotence. Scylla and Charybdis had nothing on this.

Last time the voters viewed us as having “got into bed with the Conservatives” rather than partners in something different. The Rose Garden set the image: a love-in rather than a business partnership. One with us seen as the weak partner: dominated rather than dominant. This might elicit sympathy, but voters won’t flock to who they see as the victim. They seek out strength in their leaders. Consider how Labour portrayed Nick Clegg (unfairly) in “The Incredible Shrinking Man” in 2014’s European Elections.

We’ve had analyses on what went wrong. Nick Harvey’s “After the Rose Garden” has detailed prescriptions and is well worth a read. George Kendall posted ideas in the direction I was thinking, and Bill le Breton highlighted that a workable and successful approach already exists for hung Councils, hung Parliaments and hung Assemblies in “Life in the Balance”, by ALDC.

Things that come out again and again include making the transactional nature clear, exposing linkages with wins, losses and trade-offs. Keeping your distance (an arrangement, not a marriage) makes it harder to portray you as weak and dominated.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged coalition government | 27 Comments

In need of an identity

By Brian Robinson | Fri 30th June 2017 - 2:55 pm

I remember, many years ago, attending party conferences – then seeing reports about them, and wondering whether the journalists were at the same conference I was.

And I also remember hearing frequent suggestions that the Liberal Democrats had “no policies” even though the party produced painstakingly detailed policy documents that were debated and, by and large, adopted as policy at those very same conferences.

Perhaps people were suggesting the party had no widely known policies, or none that resonated with the public. But whatever the precise meaning, the claim that the Liberal Democrats had “no policies” seemed very strange to me then.

That was the early 90s, and things have changed. The party has even been in government, implementing some of its policies. So why do I mention it now? Well, partly because the Liberal Democrats haven’t been doing so well since being in government.

I used to think there was a mismatch between people’s perception and the reality. You’ve probably had the same experience: of seeing or hearing things about the party in the media – or, these days, on social media – that were just wrong.

Posted in News | Tagged future strategy | 21 Comments

WATCH: Wera Hobhouse’s maiden speech

By The Voice | Fri 30th June 2017 - 1:25 pm

Wera Hobhouse made her maiden speech yesterday. The text is below:

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to make my maiden speech as the new Member for Bath.

Let me first of all pay tribute to my predecessor, Ben Howlett. He served his constituency with great diligence and I thank him for the contribution he made to our wonderful city. In particular, Ben Howlett understood the progressive and liberal spirit—with a small l—that makes up the fabric of Bath, and he campaigned with conviction to remain in the EU and on voting reform. As a keen supporter of electoral reform, I want to continue his work and I hope we can make some progress during this Parliament.

Of course, many Bath citizens remember Don Foster, the MP for Bath from 1992 to 2015, with special fondness. For 23 years he was Bath’s No. 1 supporter, representing the city with infectious energy, and bringing people and communities together.

Posted in News | 7 Comments

What does the latest Social Attitudes Survey say to Liberals?

By Joe Bourke | Fri 30th June 2017 - 11:58 am

The 34^th British Social Attitudes survey has found 48 per cent of Britons would back the government increasing taxes to bolster spending, the highest support for such measures since 2004. Britons think the government should prioritise spending on health (83 per cent), education (71 per cent) and the police (57 per cent).

The key findings of the report are summarised broadly as a country that is becoming:

Kinder: after 7 years of government austerity, public opinion shows signs of moving back in favour of wanting more tax and spend and greater redistribution of income. Attitudes towards benefit claimants appeared to have softened, with the proportion of people saying benefit claimants don’t deserve help dropping from 32 per cent in 2014 to 21 per cent in 2016, the lowest level ever recorded by the survey. People particularly favour prioritising spending on disabled people.

Not soft-hearted: the public in general continues to take a tough line on the response to threats at home and abroad. More than half of Britons want the authorities to be given strong powers to respond to terrorism and crime, and record numbers want defence spending increased.

After pensions being protected from austerity, the public are losing sympathy with the idea that this should be a priority for further spending.

The public takes a dim view of benefit fraud and tax evasion, with many thinking that exploiting “legal loopholes” is also wrong. Further, more people consider benefit fraud wronger than tax evasion. While the proportion who prioritise more spending on increasing the benefits for disabled people has risen, there is little support for more spending on benefits for the unemployed, perhaps because half of people think the unemployed could find a job if they wanted to. Only 16 per cent of those surveyed said they would back more spending on the unemployed.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged british social attitudes survey | 15 Comments

Find out more about Young Liberals’ plans for Freshers’ Weeks

By Vicky Nevin | Fri 30th June 2017 - 10:32 am

Liberal Democrats membership is at a record high with thousands of young members flocking to the party since the EU referendum. This movement of Young Liberals are challenging intergenerational inequality and speaking out about the decisions affecting their future most. In a period of immense political change student societies and local parties must amplify young voices during Freshers 2017.

Freshers season falls September-October, with exact dates differing from one institution to another. If you have a Young Liberals society at your local college or university, get in touch to find out what they have planned. You can check out some of the dates and locations Freshers Fairs were held last year on this interactive map. If you don’t have a Young Liberals society nearby, why not reach out to a Students Union and see if you can set something up?

Posted in News | Leave a comment

Observations of an ex pat: Torture

By Tom Arms | Fri 30th June 2017 - 8:50 am

Torture is bad. Well, there is nothing like stating the obvious. Nothing like shouting a truism from the digital rooftop.

Except that for 58 percent of Americans it is not a truism. It is not a position which they support. In fact, they support torture. Perhaps because their president claims “it absolutely works.”

This is despite the opposition of CIA experts and Defence Secretary James “Mad Dog” Mattis who made it perfectly clear to Donald Trump that he could either have torture or Mad Dog at the Pentagon. But he couldn’t have both.

So the president backed down. Or has he?

This week the Associated Press reported details of what are known as “Black Sites” run by the United Arab Emirates and based in lawless South Yemen. Black sites are secret bases where people are sent to be tortured.

AP reported that there are at least 18 Yemeni black sites and at least 2,000 suspected Jihadists have disappeared into them. The secret prisons are inside military bases, ports, an airport, private villas and even a nightclub.

The means of torture are excruciatingly cruel. There is of course the tried and tested waterboarding and various techniques involving electricity, rape, clubs and fists. In one case the victims were locked for days in a container with the walls smeared with human faeces. One of the favourite techniques is to tie the victim to a spit and roast them over an open fire.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged observations of an ex pat | 6 Comments

Lord Paul Tyler writes…Will Labour Lords stick to their EU principles?

By Paul Tyler | Thu 29th June 2017 - 1:14 pm

As the Lords prepared to vote this week on the Queen’s Speech, I have been asked often about whether the so-called “Salisbury-Addison Convention” applies during this Parliament, to proposals from a Government which did not obtain a majority in the Commons.

Briefly, the Convention holds that the Lords does not reject Bills predicated on manifesto commitments, nor introduce “wrecking amendments”. The convention was first formulated in 1945 between the post-war Labour Government and Conservative leaders in a heavily Tory- and hereditary- dominated House. The Liberal group was never party to it.

Speaking in the Queen’s Speech debate, I urged Peers – Labour Peers in particular – not to be bound into believing that the Government’s Faustian pact with the DUP gives it the right to railroad legislation through Parliament. Unlike the 2010 Coalition Government, this administration cannot claim that its composition enjoys anywhere near majority support in the country, and the ‘deal’ is in any case only on big ticket votes. There is no agreed programme for government between parties who together can claim a mandate. That means that the Official Opposition should see no need simply to roll over during parliamentary “ping-pong” at the very first whiff of ‘pong’ from the Commons!

On Brexit, I pointed out that Labour voters had a far more positive view of the UK’s relationship with the EU than the Labour leadership. Messrs Corbyn and McDonnell may still regard the single market as a capitalist conspiracy, but most of their supporters do not. With some 69% now thought to support the UK’s continued membership of the EU customs union and 53% favouring a referendum on whether or not to accept the Brexit deal, the Lords will should be fearless in making sure the public is heard.

Posted in News | Tagged featured, house of lords and salisbury convention | 24 Comments

The leadership of Charles Kennedy

By Duncan Brack | Thu 29th June 2017 - 10:12 am

As nominations open for the sixth leader of the Liberal Democrats, the Liberal Democrat History Group’s meeting next Monday takes a look back at the record of its second: Charles Kennedy.

In many ways Kennedy’s period as leader, from 1999 to 2006, was a success. His opposition to the Iraq War – heavily criticised at the time by both the Labour government and the Tory opposition – proved entirely justified and in the 2005 general election he led the party to its highest vote since 1987 (22.0 per cent) and its highest number of seats since 1923 (62). He was a popular figure with the public, appreciated for his quick wit, self-deprecating manner, and careful understatement in an era when respect for mainstream politicians was rapidly eroding.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged featured | 11 Comments

Sal Brinton writes… What you need to know about the leadership election

By Sal Brinton | Wed 28th June 2017 - 10:10 pm

You can tell that we are in the middle of a Leadership Election. All the Lib Dem social media forums are buzzing, rumours abound, and there are plenty of discussions going on about the next Leader of the party.

As President I have to remain completely neutral in any Leadership contest because I represent all 104,000 of you to the Leader. I am very aware that many thousands of you will never have been through a Leadership Election before, so I thought it might be worth an attempt at explaining our processes.

Any candidate has to get at least 10% of our MPs to support them by 5 July, and thereafter get nominated by 200 paid up members from at least 20 local parties or official party bodies (Specified Associated Organisations such as Young Liberals, Lib Dem Women etc ‘SAOs’). These nominations must be submitted by 20 July when nominations close.

At the moment, the nomination forms have only just been circulated to the MPs, so anyone planning on standing is now going to have to come out to the membership to get your nomination.

Any candidates will have teams round the country asking for your support, so don’t be surprised if you get a request. 200 nominations doesn’t sound a great number, but speaking as someone who has had to get those nominations in twice for the Presidential elections, it isn’t as easy as it sounds! Remember, you can only nominate one candidate.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged leadership election | 29 Comments

WATCH: Christine Jardine’s maiden speech

By The Voice | Wed 28th June 2017 - 5:28 pm

Christine Jardine made her maiden speech this afternoon. The text will follow when it is available.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged christine jardine mp, Parliament and speeches | 2 Comments

May’s Brexit setup denies remaining EU states what she wants to recover for Britain: sovereignty over their nation(als)

By Bernard Aris | Wed 28th June 2017 - 4:10 pm

As the Brexiteers slogan “take back control” clearly shows, the taking back of government control not only over your own territory, but also over the whole of your population, nation, (in short: “national sovereignty”) is a central plank in the whole, over-ambitious and under-estimated, undertaking that is Brexit.

But in Theresa May’s proposed treatment of EU citizens in the UK, she in two ways denies the governments of the continental states who, very sensibly, choose to remain in the EU (and, conversely, some British citizens) what she herself wants to “take back from Brussels’ clutches”: national sovereignty.

She does that first by insisting that the fate of EU inhabitants of the UK will exclusively be decided by British courts (and authorities), and that London will (negotiating with Brussels) co-decide the cutoff date of the 5 year term you need to get a “settled status” in the UK.

And, because she and Brussels agree that it will be a mirror image operation, the fate of UK citizens in continental EU states is thus left to their respective national courts. Well, the courts in Poland and Hungary are being transformed into the servants of regimes that have heavy prejudices against fundamental West European and British values like the Trias Politica of separate powers, liberal democratic values, western education (George Soros’s university) and women’s rights (work beside family life, abortion). The less agents, carriers of western ideals and freedoms living in Poland and Hungary, the better, is the way Orban and Kaczyński think about guarding what they call the sacred “National Identity” of their “embattled” nations. See the way they marginalized liberal opposition amongst their own citizens, and how Kaczynski’s people humiliated Tusk (and Orban the professors/students of Soros).

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged brexit and eu citizens | 37 Comments

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