Post-referendum positivity isn’t foolish

I was taken in by Saturday’s April 1st joke on the pages of The Liberal Democrat Voice: that we should stop “remoaning”, and be a bit more positive about the Brexit process.  No doubt some readers will call me foolish, but I absolutely agreed with the thrust of the article. After all, many a true word’s spoken in jest…

So here are three reasons for my optimism:

1) Moving past the romanticism of the EU would help, not hinder a more pragmatic pro-European cause. During both the referendum and the period before Article 50 was triggered, extreme arguments flourished on both sides: a nostalgia for British Imperialism or a desire for “Singapore on steroids” on the one hand, and too romantic an image of the EU on the other. Having lived in Europe — both in the EU and in Switzerland — I am surprised at how much fellow Liberal Democrats idealise the EU as an organisation. One that, in the romantic story, has simply enabled individuals across the continent to lead freer lives, become more open-minded, and move beyond ugly nationalism. Now that Article 50 has been triggered, the negotiations will pour cold water on so much idealism — on both sides of the Brexit divide.

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Meet the new Brexit actors: facts, realism, truth

 

“This is an historic moment from which there can be no turning back.” If the second part of the PM’s sentence had been true, there would have been no need to state it. Therefore it isn’t. Revocation of Article 50 by a British Government would be the ultimate vote of confidence in the EU. Europe would never pass on that opportunity. Therefore the campaign continues.

In the first phase of the Brexit-campaign until now, Leave’s weapons (unsubstantiated dreams, outright lies, fraudulent slogans, the opinion press), were more effective than Remain’s (appreciation of a status quo, plausible but uncertain projections, the information press).

The EU will conduct the negotiations publicly, and thereby also force the UK Government into the open. All dreams, lies and slogans will be exposed; Remain will rearm with powerful, hitherto unavailable or ineffective weapons: facts, realism and truth.

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Talk about economics, or we’ll be back to the party of the 8%    

 

I was delighted by Tim Farron’s performance at Spring Conference this year; his eloquence and passionate words show a good leader moulding into a great one. Yet, there is one thing that Tim’s speech missed: a distinct view upon the economy. The need for a Liberal Democrat policy on the economy is clear, with Tim himself saying in the speech ‘Britain needs a progressive party… a plan for an economy that makes the most of the opportunities in front of us’.

To put it short the Liberal Democrats need a clear economic policy so that when we get back into government (whether that’s in 2020 or 40 years away) that our voters know what they voted for. To my mind, we must focus upon investment. That investment starts with taking money creation away from high street banks and making it a government-influenced mechanism, as I called for in a previous article. Only then can we invest in our economy without extending the web of debt Britons and Britain find themselves in.

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We don’t need a NEW pro EU party

 

Ever since the referendum vote to leave the EU last year there has been feverish speculation about the need to set up a new political party. Yet 9 months have gone by and nothing has so far emerged. I would suggest that they have missed the boat. Thousands have already joined the pro-EU parties, notably the Lib Dems and the new party missed the opportunity to recruit them.

Even if it had been set up 9 months ago, would it have worked? Some see a parallel with the SDP formed in 1981 by the “Gang of 4”; Roy Jenkins, Shirley Williams, David Owen and Bill Rodgers. It is worth recalling that they were all substantial political figures in their day. Had any one of them won the Labour leadership back then they would have mounted a far more serious challenge to the Tory government led by Margaret Thatcher. Instead Labour elected Michael Foot who was doomed to fail and Roy Jenkins led the SDP which brought in 50,000 new members (the Liberals had 100,000+), but in alliance with the Liberal party despite polling 26% of the popular vote they were crushed by the voting system and eventually had to merge with the Liberal party (and hence the Lib Dems of today).

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Federal Policy Committee Report – 29 March 2017

FPC’s meetings tend to be dominated by two things: consideration of consultation and policy papers, which are ultimately put to conference for discussion and debate; and trying to find ways to improve the process of policy-making and policy discussion within the party. Last Wednesday’s meeting featured both.

For the first hour or so of the meeting we discussed our responses to two of the consultation papers we published in February, on the 21st Century Economy, and on Education. The working groups which wrote the papers for us will take our comments, along with the many received from party members and made at the consultative sessions at York, into consideration when they write their policy papers for the FPC to consider in June or July. The final papers will then be submitted to the Bournemouth conference in September for debate.

The rest of the meeting was mainly devoted to process issues. FPC is keen to improve the opportunities for debating policy within the party. While plenty of policy debates take place at federal and state conferences, at the local party level it’s quite variable. Many local parties run popular and effective pizza and politics events (or their culinary equivalents), but in others their efforts may be entirely taken up with campaigning and fund-raising. We believe policy debate is good in itself: it improves members’ experience of involvement in the party (after all, it’s the reason many members joined) and their knowledge of what we stand for, and it improves input into the formal policy-making process which FPC oversees.

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Lib Dems could gain 100 seats at local elections: Rallings and Thrasher

Professors Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher have predicted that the Liberal Democrats could gain 100 seats in the County Council election, twice as many as the Tories are predicted to gain. They also say that Labour will lose 50 seats and UKIP 100.

From the Sunday Times (£):

Thrasher and Rallings predict that Ukip’s vote will collapse from 22% to 10% — and that the Tory vote will rise five points to 31%.

Rallings said: “The Tories will benefit from Ukip’s decline, but could themselves lose seats to the Lib Dems.

“The Lib Dems will be looking to take seats from both Tories and Labour as they claw their way back from the humiliation of the 2015 general election. In local elections they benefit from an ability to mobilise support on the ground.”

The last time those seats were fought, we lost 124, so even that sort of spectacular rise wouldn’t take us back to where we are in 2009.

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Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #475

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 475th 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 (26 March – 1 April, 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:

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Farron on “ludicrous” Brexiteer sabre rattling over Gibraltar

It’s quite incredible how we’ve gone from an Article 50 letter that makes scant reference to Gibraltar to a Tory Brexiteer suggesting that Theresa May would show the same attitude to the British territory as Margaret Thatcher did to the Falklands.  Seriously.

This isn’t just some random right-wing Tory cheerleader. It’s a former Leader of the Opposition, for goodness’ sake. Michael Howard told Sophy Ridge, according to the Guardian:

Thirty-five years ago this week, another woman prime minister sent a taskforce halfway across the world to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country, and I’m absolutely certain that our current prime minister will show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar.

Tim Farron had this to say:

It is unbelievable that within a week of triggering Article 50 there are Conservatives already discussing potential wars with our European neighbours.

In only a few days the Conservative-right are turning long term allies into potential enemies. I hope this isn’t a sign of the Government’s approach to the long negotiations to come

Brexiteers have gone from cheering to sabre rattling for war in four days, it is absolutely ludicrous.

Paddy Ashdown said on Twitter:

I am old enough to remember when the border between Gibraltar and Spain was closed and what that meant for people on either side of it. Both countries being in the EU had enabled a mutually agreeable solution, an open border and 10,000 citizens of Gibraltar  now working in Spain. The family and social ties forged during the last three decades of free travel are now as much as threat as the economic ones.

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Freddie Flintoff, Professor Green, Ruby Wax and others talk about their mental health issues

Over the years, here at Liberal Democrat Voice, we have strongly publicised Time to Talk day. On the same theme, the charity campaign Heads Together are publishing a series of videos on YouTube where famous and not famous people talk about their mental health issues.

It really is good to see role models opening up about their problems. Below, you’ll find three of the videos. In the top one, Stephen Manderson (aka Professor Green) and Freddie Flintoff talk. Next down, Ruby Wax talks with her husband, TV producer Ed Bye.

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

7 bestMany thanks to the  13.500 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Catherine Bearder MEP writes: Why we want to let Brits keep their EU citizenship after Brexit (14 comments) by Catherine Bearder

The UK’s ritual humiliation of disabled people Part 2: The PIP Interview (16 comments) by Geoff Crocker

 So this is how Jeremy Corbyn will be holding Theresa May to account on Brexit (41 comments) by The Voice

A whole load of love for the Lib Dem Press Office (15 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Liberal Democrat Voice gets over its trauma and moves on (25 comments) by The Voice

The Observer on a hard Brexit (18 comments) by The Voice

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Pub protection: The Casked Crusader strikes again

Ten days ago, pubs in England unexpectedly won the right to planning protection, as the Government conceded the closing of a loophole that has allowed many good pubs to be converted into convenience stores without needing planning permission.

The news was released by Planning Minister Gavin Barwell to Lib Dem Pub Champion Greg Mulholland, whose record in championing pubs has led him to be hailed as ‘The Casked Crusader’ by none other than the Sun newspaper, and loathed by lobbyists for the under-fire pubcos the BBPA.  Most notably he has led the campaign for a statutory Pubs Code and Adjudicator for tied pub tenants, delivered by Vince Cable and Jo Swinson in Government and defeating the Coalition Government in the process to secure ‘Mulholland’s Law’.
After falling victim to an orchestrated Labour coup to oust him as Chair of the All-Party Save The Pub Group, Greg has continued to press for relief from business rate increases (alongside PPCs Kelly-Marie Blundell and Daisy Cooper), for a Pubs Code in Scotland where tied tenants have no such protection, and for planning reform.  He also continues to fight for better working of the Pubs Code and a change of Adjudicator after the current Government appointed someone accused of inaction and serious conflicts of interest.

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A longer read for the weekend…Sir Nick Harvey on NATO in the era of Trump, Putin, Brexit and Corbyn

At Spring Conference in York, Sir Nick Harvey spoke at a Liberal Reform fringe event asking what now for NATO in the era of Trump, Putin, Brexit and Corbyn. With his kind permission we reproduce his remarks. Please do share your thoughts in the comments.

Do Brexit, Trump and the rise of populism in Europe signal a disintegration of western institutions? Has NATO become irrelevant or do we need it more than ever at a time of Russian expansionism?

Two notable quotations are of relevance to these questions: Mao Tse Tung’s assertion that, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun,” and von Clausewitz’s observation that “War is the continuation of politics by other means.”

It is a sobering thought that the UK’s real defence spending figure is now below 2% of GDP, and across the EU it is much less. By contrast, Russia spends 5.4% of its GDP on defence. Be in no doubt that President Putin is now involved in a major power play on the global stage.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 15 Comments

Filmmaker shows the sinister and, sometimes, bizarre reality of life under dictators

I thoroughly recommend the TV series “Dictatorland”, which is going out on BBC Three at the moment. You can watch the episodes as they are published on BBC iPlayer. Young journalist and filmmaker Benjamin Zand travelled, at some risk to him and his crew, to a number of countries which still have dictatorships.

Posted in TV and film | Tagged , and | 4 Comments

The Liberal Democrat Activist, the UKIP MEP and the boxing ring

When I first read this, I was sure it was an April Fool, but apparently not.

I had never heard of “chessboxing” before. Apparently it’s alternate rounds of boxing and chess. Yes, you read that right. Two more incongruous pastimes you couldn’t imagine – although both require a capacity for strategic thought.

Tonight, according to Politico, in London, Lib Dem activist and experienced chess-boxer will take on Jonathan Arnott, UKIP MEP in a chessboxing match.  It is the first time Arnott has ever been in a boxing ring.

We looked into this a bit further and discovered that the event is being run to raise money for the Ally Cadence Trust for Spinal Muscular Atrophy. This was set up after Ally died at the age of just 6 months, 12 days after she was diagnosed with this condition. Toby White has set up a JustGiving page for the event tonight. Here’s what he has to say about it:

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The best of today’s fake news

We hope you enjoyed our little bit of April 1 fun – although from the comments it seems that some took it seriously. Anyone want to have a guess as to which member of the team came up with this? I got it wrong when I read it for the first time. I then asked the rest of the team and got a variety of answers – but with two main suspects. The author has, since I first wrote this,  revealed themselves on Facebook – so if you’ve seen that, don’t spoil it.

Sadly, it doesn’t seem that the Government’s Brexit strategy was a slow-burning April Fool after all.

Here are some delights of the day that I’ve found. Feel free to add any others that tickled your fancy in the comments.

First up, I always knew that Neil Fawcett was a rascal, but how dare he seek to deprive us of the gently soothing rhythm of the risograph producing our leaflets.

Secondly,  Mark Pack is very good at challenging our core assumptions. He suggests here that we may be about to campaign FOR potholes. 

Iceland Foods are now doing frozen flowers, apparently:

And Aldi Scotland has health and safety in mind.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 13 Comments

Liberal Democrat Voice gets over its trauma and moves on

Following a gut wrenching, soul searching, gin-fuelled marathon editorial board meeting, we at Liberal Democrat Voice have an announcement to make.

While we remain dismayed at the result of the Brexit referendum, and even though we can and should be somewhat smug that events so far – the lack of any plan, the collapse of the leave lies, the collapse of the pound, the surrender of the Single Market – have proven us right, we recognise that the people have chosen for all this to happen and we can no longer realistically resist it. We will, therefore, no longer be publishing “remoaner” articles, and instead we will be offering a prize to the best submitted article that can find something positive to look forward to in this god-awful mess.

Furthermore, we do have to accept that Donald Trump won the US election and is the elected leader of the Free World. Whining about post-truth politics isn’t going to change a bloody thing. The American people aren’t stupid. They knew what an egomaniacal loose cannon they were voting for, and we have to accept that this is what politics is about these days. We need to find our own ways to be outrageous, our own post-facts to make up, our own ways, frankly to be more entertaining. So we’ll shortly be announcing a new competition for the most shameless and outrageous self-publicity our readers can come up with, to be judged by Lembit Opik.

Finally we must recognise that the resurgence of populism and hatred over calm ethical reason speaks to the basic needs of the left behind – to have somebody to blame for their problems – and that the problem with liberalism is its failure to identify compelling scapegoats. Every other political movement you can think of beats us on this score: some blame the rich, or the poor, or the Jews or the Muslims, or the English or the French. So let’s not be wusses, let’s find somebody to blame – other than the Brexiters obvs – and get angry about it – in a post-fact, entertaining way..

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Three things to note on the Transgender Day of Visibility

Today is the annual Transgender Day of Visibility, a day when we are asked to take the time to learn and understand about transgender people’s lived experiences, where we celebrate our transgender and non binary friends and think about what we can do over the next year to make their lives easier.

If you just take a look at the #TDOV hashtag on Twitter, there is so much you can learn from people sharing their experiences. I want to point out just three of the day’s highlights.

Two of them involve Liberal Democrats. First is the amazing Maria Munir. It’s almost a year since they came out as non binary to President Obama, a year in which they have done so much to raise the profile of non binary people and work for greater understanding and acceptance. Today they were on LBC talking about HSBC’s decision to introduce ten gender neutral titles. Stuart, who leads HSBC’s Pride network explains how difficult it was for him when he transitioned.

If you are looking for resources to help you understand about the lived experience of transgender people and the issues they face, the Scottish Trans Alliance has some really good suggestions . 

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 1 Comment

LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League: manager of the month for March

Our eighth update from the LDV Fantasy Football League. Double congratulations to Alain Desmier, not only our Manager of the Month for March, but a runaway leader in the overall league.

His Mountgrove Maulers scored an impressive 218 points, a nose ahead of Lynda Reid’s Paris Saint Yer’ma (213) and Lucy Keating’s FC Insert Name Here (210).

Here’s the overall league table:

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Fancy being a Lib Dem candidate? Our webinars show you how

The Candidate & Diversity Team will be hosting a series of webinars on the candidate process; covering aspects of approval, selection and candidacy.

The sessions will be led by some of the party’s most experienced candidates and trainers. Full details below:

Becoming an Approved Candidate |Thursday 13 April, 6.30pm| Trainer TBC

Covering:

  • The candidate application process
  • Assessment day preparation
  • Understanding the candidacy competency framework

Successful Selection |Monday 24 April, 6.30pm| Trainer: Lisa Smart, PPC for Hazel Grove 

  • Winning your selection campaign
  • Selection Literature
  • Communicating your message
  • Engaging local members
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A whole load of love for the Lib Dem Press Office

Well. We knew that the Lib Dem Press Office could raise a smile with its constant sass. Last year the Huffington Post cited 17 occasions when it was the most entertaining thing in British politics. 

But last night, something extraordinary happened. Serious journalists heaped praise on our little press operation.

It started with a tweet from Sam Coates of the Times:

Not only that, but a whole five serious, reputable journalists then pitched in to agree!

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Why the Conference Access Fund is a good thing

I would like to tell you about the Conference Access Fund which Liberal Democrat members have provided. It helps members on low incomes or those who have a disability by providing financial assistance so that they can take part at conference. I used the fund to assist with the costs of having a support worker to enable me at conference. May I firstly say how helpful the stewards and Lib Dem HQ conference staff were at conference.

The Conference Access Fund is unique to the Liberal Democrats as the other four parties with the exception of the Green party (who give their members up to £90 for travel and expenses) do not have such a fund. The Labour Party mentions disability access and having a women’s day at the start of their conference but they do not provide financial help with the associated costs of attending. The Conservatives and UKIP do not mention either disability access or a fund.

Having discovered this, I then googled how many MPs are disabled within the current parliament. Only  2 MPs out of 650 have a disability. Also from the Bridge Review of the Civil Service and its fast stream programme, disabled people are significantly underrepresented. Where is the voice of disabled people in Parliament and in the policy making teams within the civil service?

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Shadow-boxing against a “no deal” Brexit is counter-productive


Theresa May’s letter stated that H.M. Government seeks “a deep and special partnership” with “a bold and ambitious Free Trade Agreement” that covers financial services, where we “have to align with rules agreed by institutions of which we are no longer a part”, and “manage the evolution of our regulatory frameworks to maintain a fair and open trading environment”.

The closest model would seem to be the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements (DCFTAs) that the EU has already negotiated with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, and has offered to Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Jordan. Since all these jurisdictions account for a smaller share of EU exports than the UK, (e.g. Ukraine’s share is 0.8% against the UK’s 8%), it is realistic to expect similar terms to be readily offered to the UK.

A “no deal” scenario on Brexit was never taken seriously by the EU institutions, and is not on the agenda.  Exiting with no agreement on terms of departure or successor trade deal at all would harm the UK’s prospects of securing favourable future trading arrangements not only with the EU, but also with other countries.  It would probably result in British GDP falling by something like £1,700 per household, thereby risking tainting the Conservative Party with economic mismanagement. Had Mrs May seriously sought or expected a “no deal’ scenario, she would not have wasted political capital and risked her credibility seeking to negotiate a new trade agreement alongside an exit deal; it would rather have been to her advantage to leave more quickly and suffer an economic shock in 2017, in the hope that the economy was reviving by the time of the next election. 

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Farron: May taken to Tusk

The Lib Dem Press Office has had its Weetabix this morning. Not only did it get its punchy analysis of the EU’s statement about the Brexit negotiations out quickly, but it came up with a pretty eye-catching headline.

Here’s what Tim Farron had to say about the EU statement – and it does not reflect well on Theresa May and her Brexiteers:

These guidelines show the strength of the EU in these negotiations, and the carelessness of the UK government in isolating themselves from our European allies.

The terms are clear: no sector by sector deals, no bilateral negotiations and no new trade deal until the withdrawal terms are agreed. This leaves no doubt that Davis’ comments about special arrangements for the car industry or financial sector are worthless.

It is still possible for the British people to stop a Hard Brexit and keep us in the Single Market. And if they want, it is still possible for the British people to choose to remain in the European Union. The Liberal Democrats are the only party opposing this hard, destructive Brexit.

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Observations of an ex pat: Brexit goes nuclear, chapter 2

She’s done it. Mrs May has gone and linked Britain’s nuclear deterrent to Brexit trade negotiations.

I can honestly stick out my chest, jut out my chin and proclaim: “I told you so. And I told you exclusively.”

Alright, Mrs. May didn’t actually use the n-word in her letter to the European Commission which triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and the start of Brexit negotiations. But in just one document she explicitly linked economic concessions with security issues nine times.

It requires only the smallest leap of imagination to realise that the British Prime Minister was talking about more than exchanges of DNA databases with continental police.

But be warned, the consequences of this link will be dire. Messing with the balance of strategic weapons capable of incinerating the world several times over is a dangerous policy.

Mrs May knows that, but the problem is that nuclear missiles are just about the only weapon the British have in their negotiating armoury. Their backs are against the wall.

There is, of course, a question mark, over whether or not the UK will be allowed to play the security card. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made it crystal clear that she opposes negotiations on any future relationship until the terms of the divorce are settled. That means Britain has to cough up $60 billion, allow EU citizens to remain in Britain and accept that it will no longer be part of the European Single Market. All this before any talks on a future relationship which may or may not involve security. This is a direct contradiction of Mrs May’s tandem approach.

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Damning PIP report shows culture of fear and mistrust – Olney

The virtual ink was barely dry on Geoff Crocker’s harrowing piece about his son’s PIP interview when a comment from Sarah Olney on the damning report by the Independent Reviewer of the PIP implementation, Paul Gary, popped into my inbox.

The report is highly critical and outlines that the fundamentals are just not working.

A key conclusion of the Review is that public trust in the fairness and consistency of PIP decisions is not currently being achieved, with high levels of disputed award decisions, many of them overturned at appeal

My findings point to the need to build very considerably on current action to improve the way PIP is administered, continuing the direction of travel proposed in the first Review. They include recommendations to improve the way the right type of evidence is obtained, used and tested in assessments; to strengthen transparency; and to broaden audit and quality assurance in assessment and decision-making.

In other words, there’s not a lot that’s going right.

Imagine, for a moment, that you’ve gone through the stress that Geoff describes just going for the interview. Then you find that you have been denied PIP. Then you have to endure the further stress of an appeal just to get the help that you desperately need to get on with your life, to work. PIP is not a luxury. It’s there to help people with long term conditions with the extra costs that these pile on.

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Brake: Great Repeal Bill is the biggest power grab since Henry VIII

There is a certain arrogance about naming a piece of legislation “great”  before it is even enacted. The Government has today revealed how it will legislate to get rid of those pesky bits of European law that the Tories hate so much. You’ll hear a lot about “Henry VIII powers.” This is what the Parliament website says about them:

The Government sometimes adds this provision to a Bill to enable the Government to repeal or amend it after it has become an Act of Parliament. The provision enables primary legislation to be amended or repealed by subordinate legislation with or without further parliamentary scrutiny.

Such provisions are known as Henry VIII clauses, so named from the Statute of Proclamations 1539 which gave King Henry VIII power to legislate by proclamation.

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LibLink: Brian Paddick: If we value our national security, we will avoid a hard Brexit

A couple of days before Theresa May’s ill-judged ultimatum in her Article 50 letter over trade and security, Brian Paddick wrote for the Guardian about how hard Brexit could damage our security. That’s right. If Theresa May gets her way, we will be less safe.

He started off by talking about last week’s attack at Westminster in which 4 people, PC Keith Palmer, Aysha Frade, Leslie Rhodes and Kurt Cochran were murdered. How do we balance the need to keep Parliament accessible with the safety of those in and around it?

That security must be balanced with an obligation to keep parliament open to the people. We shouldn’t turn Westminster into Fort Knox, even if such a thing were possible. But we can improve security, for politicians, staff and, crucially, police on the frontline.

Those officers are not armed. Armed support is a distance away. No one wants an ostentatious display of force, which would only increase that sense of alienation many feel about “Westminster”. But this attack shows, alas, that armed officers should be directly behind that frontline. Otherwise lives will be lost that could be saved. In this attack, I gather, it was only because a minister’s armed close protection officer happened to be close by that the assailant was stopped.

While millions are spent on surveillance powers and the security services, over the past six years £1bn has been cut from the Metropolitan police budget. That’s huge.

He went on to talk about how a hard Brexit could compromise our security effort both in cost and co-operation. 

Posted in LibLink | Tagged , , , and | 1 Comment

Liberal Democrat membership tops 87000

Elaine Ford and Willie Rennie

Good news from party HQ. It’s barely 3 weeks since our membership reached 85,002, double our low point during the coalition years. Now, it’s shot up again and has just gone over 87,000. While we have had 5000 new member since the beginning of February, Labour’s membership, according to LabourList, is falling at the rate of almost 3000 members every week at the moment.

Party President Sal Brinton welcomed the news.

The clear message to this Government is we have not given up the fight against a hard Brexit, and thousands of people across the country agree with us.

This is not the time for despair, it’s the time for action.

Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour may have given Theresa May a blank cheque to pursue her divisive Hard Brexit.

But the Liberal Democrats will not stand by and watch as this country is torn out of the Single Market and young people are left with a future they did not vote for.

We are the natural home for all those who oppose a hard Brexit and believe the people must be given the final over what comes next.

Posted in News | 5 Comments

The UK’s ritual humiliation of disabled people – Part 2 The PIP interview

In an earlier post, I wrote about the process of withdrawal of Disability Living Allowance and the requirement for disabled people to apply for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), as I experienced it in caring for my adult son Paul who has a condition known as Williams Syndrome. Several respondents shared similar stories, and urged our party to adopt a much stronger care policy for disabled people, so far to no avail. (I was by the way mistaken in my claim that all PIP application notices had been sent out over Christmas and New Year – it appears that a rolling programme is in place and this was just when Paul happened to receive his notice).

As other respondents also warned, the PIP application form and subsequent interview deepen the hostile challenging nature of the process. The application form is indeed 40 pages long. Brutally, DWP specifically refuses to allow a PIP applicant to state a well-known, well-documented medical condition with known symptoms as a statement of need. So for example you’re not allowed to state conditions such as Downs Syndrome or in Paul’s case Williams Syndrome and then allow this to refer to all its known symptoms and detailed conditions. Instead DWP insists that the applicant sets out in detail all the distressing elements of that condition, from intellectual lack of capacity, physical impairment, to hygiene and continence issues. I completed the form, ending up choked with distress at having to specify this detail. 

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 16 Comments

Newby: May’s Brexit plan will make us poorer, less generous and diminished as a nation

Lib Dem Lords Leader Dick Newby threw some serious shade at the Government yesterday in his response to the Prime Minister’s statement on Article 50 being triggered. He went through it and pointed out the many inconsistencies and false promises it contained. It’s a cracker.

Today is for me and my colleagues an extremely sad day. It marks the point at which the UK seeks to distance itself from its nearest neighbours at a time when, in every area of public policy, logic suggests that we should be working more closely together rather than less.

But sadness is a passive emotion, and it is not the only thing that we feel. We feel a sense of anger that the Government are pursuing a brutal Brexit, which will rip us out of the single market and many other European networks from which we benefit so much. We believe that the country will be poorer, less secure and less influential as a result, and we feel that at every ​point, whether it be the calling of the referendum itself or the choices made on how to put its result into effect, the principal motivation in the minds of Ministers has been not what is best for the long-term interests of the country but what is best for the short-term interests of the Conservative Party.

We do not believe that the Government have the faintest clue about how they are going to achieve the goals that they set out in their White Paper last month or the Prime Minister’s Statement today, and we have no confidence in their willingness to give Parliament a proper say either as the negotiations proceed or at their conclusion. We therefore believe that, at the end of the process, only the people should have the final say on whether any deal negotiated by the Government —or no deal—is preferable to ongoing EU membership. We will strain every sinew to ensure that outcome.

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    Though someone on £100K (take home ~£65K) is already in the position, tax or otherwise, where they are living extremely comfortably compared with the national...
  • Mick Taylor
    @slamdac. The vast majority of non UK or commonwealth citizens cannot claim benefits now, so your statement repeats the lies told by the right. We do really ha...
  • David Le Grice
    We shouldn't do anything for our overseas territory's without taking away their ability to operate as tax havens first. And if for any reason we can't stop th...
  • Trevor Peel
    Thanks Cody for this article on the UKOT's. The National Liberal Club (NLC) Commonwealth Forum has a particular interest in the UKOT's and we have good relatio...
  • Simon Robinson
    @Peter Davies: Thanks and well spotted. I'd calculated the increase as a % of gross salary. More realistically we'd consider the % increase of take home pay. As...