Stephen Glenn

Analysis of Northern Ireland Election results #AE17

By Stephen Glenn | Sat 4th March 2017 - 12:45 pm

So all the votes have been counted, the transfers shuffled and now we have up to three weeks of negotiations to see if the Northern Ireland Assembly can come together in some shape. But what was the story of the count yesterday in Northern Ireland’s second election in 10 months?

This election saw a reduction of seats in Stormont from 108 to 90, or each seat returning just 5 MLAs. The turnout was up 10% on last May at 64.8% so every party was able to claim that more people voted for them but it was how that extra 10% of voters turned out that is the real story.

The two big gainers in the vote share were Sinn Féin up 3.9% and only 1200 votes behind the DUP in the popular vote and Alliance who were up 2.1%. The SDLP and UUP had negligible shifts in vote share -0.1% and +0.3% respectively, and the DUP dropped 1.1%. But this election became a story of transfers. From the moment that the UUP leader Mike Nesbitt said he would give his second preference to the SDLP things were shaping up.

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Richard Hall

The Lib Dems are the party the country needs

By Richard Hall | Sat 4th March 2017 - 11:20 am

I’ve been following politics for about 15 years and I joined the Liberal Democrats in January. When I was first interested in politics,  I was pretty right-wing. I was mired in stereotypes about race, sexuality, gender, and the unemployed. I was an avid reader of the Daily Mail and would hang on every word written by Richard Littlejohn. Then Michael Foot died. Now I’m too young to remember Michael Foot, but I’m sure older readers will remember him as being very divisive. Well Littlejohn just couldn’t help but call him a “useful idiot” just 3 days after he died and after that I was out. I slowly embraced liberalism and left right-wing dogma behind.

After a journey that started in US politics and included a lot of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” I developed left leaning views, open to reason but annoyed at the way people where being scapegoated for the mistakes of the powerful instead of being helped. But I became too cynical about politicians and started towards the far left. There I realised they were full of dogma too, were too anti-capitalist and fond of false equivalences about Republicans and Democrats, as well as being disrespectful of reasonable points of view. On top of that I realised that as much as the right-wing has been duped by The Sun and the Daily Mail, they were being taken in by Russia Today and Press TV.

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Caron Lindsay

Great result for Alliance as majority of Northern Ireland votes against Brexit

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 4th March 2017 - 9:48 am

The Northern Ireland election results are now  in and they show some very encouraging trends for those of us with a liberal outlook. Our sister party, the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, won 8 seats and got its highest vote share in 28 years. Although their number of seats stays the same at 8, in an Assembly that is 18 seats smaller, that is a major achievement. It also increased its first preference vote share by over 2%.

Voters also sent a message that they were opposed to Brexit with the biggest losers being the unionist parties, who lost 16 of the 18 seats. The DUP famously gave more than £400,000 to the Leave campaign. The impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland, particularly on the border with the Irish Republic, would be devastating as Nick Clegg wrote recently.

On her Facebook page, Alliance leader Naomi Long summed up a good night for the party:

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Elle Wadsworth

The Independent View: What’s the crack?

By Elle Wadsworth | Fri 3rd March 2017 - 2:28 pm

As more countries and jurisdictions are relaxing their laws around cannabis, many questions have arisen. Will legalisation affect potency? Could some types of cannabis actually reduce psychosis? What are the choices in cannabis legislation, is it just prohibition or legalisation? And if cannabis is legalised, will everyone start using it? These are just a few of the questions answered by myself and two other researchers from King’s College London in the fourth episode of a new podcast; What’s the Crack.

We created the podcast with an aim to improve public awareness of the complexity and reality of addiction, policies, stigma surrounding drug use and drugs scandals in the newspapers by exploring the evidence base. We are all passionate about the drugs and addiction research field and every episode draws upon our collective knowledge and experience, addressing the health, criminal justice, social and individual side to a story. The podcast links the academic world to the public, bridging the gap and filling in the blanks with research evidence that the media have left out. Previous episodes have covered Dry January, Fabric nightclub in London, drug consumption rooms and now it tackles cannabis legalisation.

This episode introduces different policy options of cannabis legislation, providing alternatives to the usual dichotomous choice of prohibition (possession and supply is illegal) or legalisation (cannabis is freely and widely sold). Alternative legislation is discussed; decriminalisation (it is only illegal to supply) and regulation (a government monopoly). In addition, various factors in the legalisation debate are considered, such as psychosis and THC (active chemical that make users feel “stoned”)/CBD (cannabinoid with various potential medical applications) levels and the impact of legalisation on these. Cannabis is made up of the chemicals THC and CBD and emerging evidence suggests that cannabis high in CBD may mean that people experience fewer psychosis-like symptoms when using the drug. Arguably an incentive for controlling the THC/CBD ratios.

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Catherine Crosland

Living on borrowed time

By Catherine Crosland | Fri 3rd March 2017 - 12:58 pm

Many of you will have read Kate Atkinson’s novel, Life After Life. If you haven’t, I recommend it. On one level, it is a story of alternative realities, but its real theme is war. In chapter after chapter, the central character, Ursula, meets a different untimely end. Each time, this is followed by a chapter in which, in an alternative reality, the tragedy is averted, and Ursula lives longer, on borrowed time. Perhaps we are all Ursula, in one of her more fortunate realities. I’m sure I am.

I was born in the early hours of the 9th September, 1962. I had picked an inauspicious moment. Within a few hours of my arrival at Epsom District Hospital, a consignment of Soviet ballistic missiles had arrived in Cuba. This led, when I was a month old, to a confrontation between the USA and the USSR, which came close to leading to nuclear war.

On this occasion, disaster was averted. But my friends and I grew up with deadly Soviet weapons aimed permanently at us. Meanwhile, our government had equally deadly weapons aimed permanently at Russian children.

On 26th September 1983, a couple of weeks after my twenty-first birthday, the world again came close to nuclear war. This time, by a complete accident. The Soviet satellite early warning system appeared to detect five missiles from the United States heading towards the Soviet Union. The officer in charge at the time, Stanislav Petrov, would have been expected to report this to his superiors. Had he done so, a retaliatory strike might have been ordered, almost certainly leading to full scale nuclear war. But Petrov chose to “wait and see”. And it turned out the system had malfunctioned. Petrov may have saved millions of lives.

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Caron Lindsay

Friday fun: Tom Brake and Sarah Olney in Twitter video controversy

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 3rd March 2017 - 12:20 pm

I don’t think Tom Brake, Sarah Olney or Simone van Beek, the staffer from LDHQ who directed the video, actually meant to amuse Twitter in quite the way that they did with this campaign video for Fairtrade Fortnight.

The message was good, although it may not have had quite the chemistry of the old Gold Blend ads of the 1990s.

For those readers who are too young to remember them, this was a series of twelve ads over six years advertising Gold Blend coffee. The romantic tension between stars Anthony Head and Sharon Maugham built up over time and everyone was on tenterhooks waiting for the final instalment. It made the fuss over Christmas department store ads we see today seem very small.

As a long-time boycotter of Nestle products, I had the pleasure of watching them knowing that I would never give the company a single penny in return for the entertainment.

Anyway, back to Sarah and Tom and the reaction on Twitter. This comparison seemed a little strange:

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Tom Arms

Observations of an ex pat: Guns, butter and bridges

By Tom Arms | Fri 3rd March 2017 - 10:15 am

Donald Trump’s economic policy can best be described as guns, butter and bridges.

At the moment the United States ratio between its public debt and what it earns as a country every year is 104.7 percent.  That means the government owes 4.7 percent more than the country earns.

If America was a business– or a private household—the bank manager would be strongly advising Uncle Sam to earn more money and/or cut expenses or file for bankruptcy.

Now, Donald Trump wants to increase defence spending by ten percent, maintain welfare spending, spend trillions on improving American infrastructure and cut taxes.

Cash to pay for this will come from increased revenues from a stimulated economy, revised trade and defence deals with other countries, cuts in environmental programmes, the diplomatic corps and foreign aid.

Can he do it? Well let’s take a quick look.

Improve Infrastructure– America has plenty of roads, bridges, railways, ports and airports. It just needs to maintain what it has—but that will cost plenty. The American Society of Civil Engineers reckons that $3.6 trillion needs to be spent by 2020 just to maintain existing infrastructure.

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Merlene Emerson

Romancing the Silk Roads

By Merlene Emerson | Fri 3rd March 2017 - 8:45 am

As someone fascinated by the Central Asian countries, I was delighted when the All Party Parliamentary Group for China (APPCG) organised a talk this week by Peter Frankopan, author of “The Silk Roads – A New History of the World”.

“The Silk Roads are rising again”, said Richard Graham MP, Chair of APPCG at the end of a fulsome introduction of the Oxford University historian.  Yet, there are not many other Parliamentarians, let alone the British public, who are in tune with the zeitgeist.

Frankopan was keen to put into historical context the dramatic changes that we are witnessing today with a shift in the world order. The declining influence of western colonial powers,  the UK’s vote for BREXIT and the election of Trump, were contrasted against a China growing in confidence and pursuing the “One Belt One Road” initiative, the lynchpin for Xi JinPing’s foreign and economic policies.  

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems GAIN a council seat and have a strong hold in Redcar

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 3rd March 2017 - 12:17 am

It’s that time on Thursday night again and I can tell you that we have gained a council seat – this time, on Wells City Council, from the Independent. Congratulations to Rob Ayres and his team.

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Caron Lindsay

Wow – a Liberal Democrat on Question Time tonight

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 2nd March 2017 - 5:50 pm

Good news. We have a Lib Dem on Question Time tonight.

It may actually be worth watching.

Although there is a downside.

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The Voice

Lib Dem Job Watch: Cambridge Special

By The Voice | Thu 2nd March 2017 - 4:20 pm

As part of our occasional meander round the Liberal Democrat job ads, we have learned that Cambridge Lib Dems are looking for some staff between now and the May elections.

Across Cambridgeshire activists are campaigning hard to make Rod Cantrill the first elected mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and to take control of Cambridgeshire County Council.

Utilising both traditional and sophisticated online campaigning techniques in order to reach a huge geographical area, and with members of the winning Richmond by-election team at the helm, this is a great chance to come learn from the best.

Will you join the team? Can you forward this message to someone who might fit the bill?
There are three exciting roles available to the right candidates, with the potential for free accommodation in Cambridge for the duration of the campaign.

You can work part-time or full-time, so flexibility in job-sharing is an advantage.  Please indicate what you are interested in and how you might combine them.

Office Assistant

Campaign Assistant

Digital Campaigns Assistant

Applications to Elizabeth Parkin (Chair of Cambridge Liberal Democrats) by midnight on Monday 6th March.

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Caron Lindsay

Remember when all we had to worry about was Ed Miliband forgetting to mention the deficit?

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 2nd March 2017 - 2:50 pm

Remember when Ed Miliband made his last leader’s speech before the 2015 election and he forgot the bit that had the deficit in it? To be honest, it was quite incredible that he managed to memorise an entire speech and deliver it without an autocue. It was just a shame that the bit he missed out was about something so politically important.

At least it was there, though.

Today, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell made a speech ahead of the budget that barely mentioned Brexit or the single market. There is an argument, I suppose, that they don’t need to. I mean, why …

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Martin Roche

Let’s turn the forensic spotlight on Theresa May’s “Britain that works for everyone”

By Martin Roche | Thu 2nd March 2017 - 1:19 pm
It should have been one of the government’s more difficult weeks.
 
News emerged that police forces in England are rationing how they respond to calls for help. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary says too many crimes are not being properly investigated and fewer prosecutions reaching the courts. That’s the sort of Britain that works for everyone.
 
Another watchdog, this time the Care Quality Commission, says 80% of hospitals are failing across a range of vital areas. That’s the sort of Britain that works for everyone.
 
In the House of Lords decency prevailed and the Noble members of that house voted to guarantee the UK residency and other rights of EU nationals. The government’s immediate response was to say it will try and overturn the vote when the Bill comes back to the Commons. That’s the sort of Britain that works for everyone.
 
What else, oh yes, Shelter says 80% of families in England can’t afford to buy a new home in their locality. A Tory minister gave a grudging apology following an outcry over his dreadful remarks about mentally ill people. In the South East of England commuters continued to suffer strikes and delays as the government plays ideological games over the Southern Rail dispute, which is really of course about the Tories crushing the last ounce of power from the public-sector unions. That’s the sort of Britain that works for everyone.
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Ed Fordham

Winning in Stoke-on-Trent: The foundations that YOU laid

By Ed Fordham | Thu 2nd March 2017 - 11:48 am

On Tuesday, Ian Horner and I as Agent and Campaign Co-ordinator respectively cleared the by-election HQ for Stoke-on-Trent Central.   Unlike many such events from former by-elections, this was no sad or weary wake.

As we loaded up the bags and boxes, sorted out what could caravan into the next election portal we laughed, smiled and exchanged anecdotes of a campaign well fought.

1. Over 60% of the constituency that voted had voted against the Stoke Labour Party nominee, Gareth Snell. This result ws no ringing endorsement.
2. UKIP – the party that was going to win this unfairly designated “capital of Brexit” – were beaten and their Leader sent packing to fight his own internal civil war with no mandate, no victory and a clear rejection.
3. The ramifications of Labour’s strategy of total compromise and to become the party of Brexit Plus has lead to them voting with the Government. Yes, on Brexit Labour supported the government – now arguably the suicide note of history just got shorter.
4. The Tories, with a young shiny candidate did well to consolidate their support, build in their local councillor base and to almost supplant UKIP for second.

So with these elements at play, what worked for the Liberal Democrats?

We ran a campaign that was bold, confident, almost audacious. I recall clearly the moment in Sleaford and North Hykeham when it emerged that Ross Pepper was the only remain anti-Brexit candidate. With Labour fleeing the field, it is now clear that that will be the norm now going forwards.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Willie Rennie: Lib Dems will make case for public vote on Brexit deal even after Article 50 is triggered

By NewsHound | Thu 2nd March 2017 - 10:19 am

Willie Rennie, writing in the Perthshire Advertiser has made the case for a vote on the Brexit Deal. People can change their minds, he said, like the public did over Iraq. He reminds us that Charles Kennedy was vilified for his anti-war stance but he was vindicated in the end. And even if the government refuses to do something, it can be made to think again:

If you think about the fuel duty protests in the year 2000. There was a UK Government with a majority of 179 in the House of Commons. It didn’t have to have an election for two years. But it still changed its policy in response to an evident change of public mood.

A Brexit deal referendum would be the right and democratic thing to do. When they look back at this time our grandchildren will be perplexed that we did not take our time and ask ourselves the question if we really wanted this.

If the Brexit deal is damaging to jobs, the economy, our environment and the country’s security why would we not ask the British people. Why should we let bureaucrats and politicians behind closed doors make decisions that will have an impact on generations to come? Liberal Democrats will provide the focus for a democratic mandate that lets the British public have a say.

When Willie was MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, he was a member of the Defence Select Committee. He had some observations to make about Britain’s place in the world:

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems react to Government defeat over #righttostay

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 1st March 2017 - 7:02 pm

Tim Farron and Dick Newby responded quickly to the excellent news that the Lords have done the decent thing and defeats the Government over EU Nationals’ right to stay.

The Government now needs to think again over how it treats the millions of EU citizens living in this country.

Theresa May has been stubbornly determined to use EU citizens in the UK as bargaining chips. Today the Lords have told her this is not acceptable. The Government must now secure the future of the millions who are currently being held in limbo by its drive for a hard Brexit.

The Liberal Democrats will stand up to this government

…

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The Voice

WATCH: Farron: EU Nationals should be allowed to stay if we have anything decent about us

By The Voice | Wed 1st March 2017 - 6:28 pm

Ahead of the crucial vote in the House of Lords, now imminent, Tim Farron has done a video urging everyone, whether they voted Leave or Remain, to come together and protect the rights of EU nationals living in the UK.

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Caron Lindsay

Giving EU nationals the right to stay benefits us all

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 1st March 2017 - 4:47 pm

I’m feeling quite nervous this afternoon. The House of Lords is debating an amendment which would give EU nationals who have made their homes here the right to stay. The Government is expected to be defeated and I hope very much that this will be the case and that we won’t have the disgraceful scenes we saw on Monday when the so called opposition were whipped to reject an amendment on the single market.

For me, this is something very personal – and also a bit selfish. Like virtually everyone else, I have friends who are EU nationals. They live here. This is their home. I don’t want to see them used as bargaining chips. My neighbours are from Poland. I don’t want them to have any worries about whether they will be forced to uproot their lives and disrupt their daughter’s education.

Those things are important, but as many of you will know, my husband was seriously ill at the end of last year. He is making a good recovery thanks to the excellent specialist medical care he received. The surgeon who saved his life and who sped back into the hospital at dead of night when there was a problem to operate again is Italian. He’s the same surgeon, actually, who saved the life of Nicola Sturgeon’s father-in-law. His registrar is from Greece. The nurse who looked after him in ITU so skilfully was also Italian. I want them to have the right to live here unimpeded for two reasons. First of all, it’s the right thing to do. Secondly, I don’t want to lose their skills which make Edinburgh one of the best places for cardio-thoracic surgery in the UK. 

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Caron Lindsay

Sarah Olney holds first Westminster Hall debate on Heathrow expansion

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 1st March 2017 - 3:20 pm

There’s a lot of firsts when you are a new MP. Your first Early Day Motion (like a House of Commons petition), your first speech, your first question, and your first Westminster Hall debate. These debates, held outside the main chamber, concentrate on one subject and allow an MP to raise an issue directly with the Minister.

It will be of no surprise that Sarah’s first Westminster Hall debate was on the subject of Heathrow expansion and the effects in terms of road congestion and pollution of a bigger airport.

You can read the full debate – including the Deputy Speaker’s rebukes to both Sarah and a colleague for breaking the rules and a fairly patronising response from the Minister – here. Below is Sarah’s speech in full.

And she shouldn’t worry about a minor rebuke from the Speaker. Others have done worse and survived. Willie Rennie forgot to turn his phone off before one debate in 2007 and got a right telling off when one of his staff (not me) rang him during a Westminster Hall debate.

This is what Sarah said yesterday:

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Caron Lindsay

£1 million donation for Lib Dems helps party oppose Brexit

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 1st March 2017 - 1:50 pm

As a member of the Party’s Federal Board and Federal Finance and Resources Committee, I knew that the party were to receive a £1 million donation. We were not told who had donated it. We were told that we would only find out along with everyone else when it was published by the Electoral Commission – which it will be on Thursday. However, the FT has the inside track and has this story today:

The donation from Greg Nasmyth, whose family made its fortune from Argus Media, the energy information business, will be reported on Thursday when Electoral Commission figures are published. It comes as the Lib Dems gain momentum as an anti-Brexit party, committed to advocating a referendum on the terms of Britain’s departure from the EU. Mr Nasmyth is understood to have been motivated by the party’s position on the EU and also on green issues. He agreed the donation in July, soon after the Brexit vote. It was finally made in October in the run-up to the December by-election in Richmond Park, where the Lib Dem candidate ousted the Brexit-backing millionaire Zac Goldsmith.

Securing this donation is an excellent achievement by the Fundraising team at party HQ. They will need to bring in substantially more than this very generous donation if the party is to properly oppose Brexit. Labour are clearly not interested in standing in the Government’s way. The Liberal Democrats are unique in British politics – a UK wide party which opposes brexit in general and Theresa May’s Brexit Max in particular with every fibre of its being. We have a great message and talented and innovative campaigners. What we need are the resources to deliver that message to the people on an unprecedented scale for us. That is the challenge for party Treasurer Mike German and the fundraising team at HQ. 

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NewsHound

Newby: Brexiteers will not intimidate the Lords

By NewsHound | Wed 1st March 2017 - 12:50 pm

In an interview for The House magazine, Lib Dem Lords leader Dick Newby has said that support in the Lords is growing for a referendum on the Brexit deal. However, he says that even if that amendment is lost, the campaign for the people, not MPs or the Government, to have a final say on the deal, will continue:

But the fight for a second vote will not stop once Article 50 has been triggered, Newby insists. Indeed, “it’s just the beginning”, he adds, saying the Great Repeal Bill and other Brexit legislation could be amended. In the meantime, the Lib Dems will be campaigning across the country arguing the case for a do over.

Newby says it would be “implausible” for MPs not to grant a second referendum if public opinion shifts in favour of Remain in the coming months. Parliament bequeathed the decision on EU membership to the public once, why would it prevent it again, he queries.

“We will look at every opportunity to get this provision for a vote of the people at the end,” he declares. But are Tony Blair, who has called on Remainers to “rise up” against Brexit, peers et al the right figureheads of this movement? “I think that everybody involved in public life has a right to make the argument, but this is a people’s issue now… it’s not in the hands of the Commons.”

He was speaking before Monday’s vote in which an amendment calling for us to stay in the single market was lost because Labour peers were whipped to oppose it. There are still hopes that at least the right to remain for EU nationals will pass.

There has been a bit of an onslaught from the Brexiteers, predicting all manner of consequences if the Lords dares to do its job and scrutinise the Government’s legislation.  Dick says that peers won’t be overly bothered by the invective coming their way.

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Andrew Davidson

Brexit – it’s time to stop looking for someone to blame and take action!

By Andrew Davidson | Wed 1st March 2017 - 11:20 am

Last Friday marked 8 months since I woke up in disbelief at the outcome of the EU referendum. That morning, I looked at my 3 month old daughter, and feared what the result could mean for the U.K in the short, medium and long term. Ever since that result, as events have unfolded, I have been lost as to whom I should direct my despair at:

  • Should it be David Cameron for calling the Referendum, which he did not believe in, purely to solve internal divisions in his own party?
  • Should it be the right wing press (such as the Daily Mail and Daily Express) for all of the years they have blamed the EU for all of the problems in the country, that were in fact the failings of a number of governments?
  • Should it be Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and the rest of Vote Leave for putting together a campaign full of lies, most notably that ridiculous bus claiming £350m a week for the NHS?
  • Should it be at the likes of Arron Banks and Nigel Farage for spreading xenophobia and having the hypocrisy to pretend they are men of the people?
  • Should it be at the 17m voters who were persuaded by their arguments?
  • Should it be at all those involved in planning the Stronger In campaign for failing to articulate why the UK hugely benefits from the EU and the Single Market? Rather than only focusing on a negative economic message that clearly did not get through.
  • Should it be at the BBC for being so concerned about being seen as balanced, they made the Brexit arguments seem credible!
  • Should it be at our unelected Prime Minister who is ignoring half of the population and claims to be able to read the minds of the other half! A Prime Minster who is setting off on a course to drive the economy over a cliff (notably ignoring a manifesto pledge to stay in the Single Market)?
  • Should it be at my own MP Jeremy Corbyn (who does not reply to my emails) and the rest of the Labour leadership for failing to provide any credible opposition whatsoever over the last 8 months?
  • Should it be at the arch Brexiteers like Iain Duncan Smith and Jacob Rees-Mogg who banged on about sovereignty but then decried when independent High Court and Supreme Court Judges upheld it?
  • Should it be at all those Labour and Conservative MPs who voted for the Article 50 bill in the full knowledge that it would be harmful to the country?
  • Should it be at myself for failing to get involved in progressive politics until I was 31, only joining the Lib Dems a few weeks before the Referendum (although I had been meaning to for years) and only getting properly active (outside of social media rants) in the last few weeks?

I have now realised that, although I still feel all of this despair is justified, just looking to blame any person or group for where we are is not going to help. Ranting on social media will do no good. As Tony Blair said recently, it’s time to rise up! 

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Paul Walter

Two reasons why the UK will take generations to recover from the shock of leaving the single market and customs union

By Paul Walter | Wed 1st March 2017 - 9:50 am

Regarding the UK’s post-EU prospects, Boris Johnson has been reaching new heights of pseudo-Churchillian grandiosity. But I was taken by this remark, reported by the Guardian:

Johnson says Liam Fox and his team cannot “ink in” trade deals with other countries now. But they can agree them in pencil.

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Paul Walter

Book review – “The Long and Winding Road” by Alan Johnson

By Paul Walter | Tue 28th February 2017 - 1:25 pm

“The Long and Winding Road” is the third in Alan Johnson’s trilogy of memoirs. The previous two books are: “This Boy“, about his harrowing childhood and “Please Mister Postman” about his days delivering the Royal Mail. (You’ll notice that all the books are titled after songs from Alan Johnson’s heroes – The Beatles).

I’ve reviewed both previous books here on LDV (see links above), and to a large extent it helps to read the whole series from the beginning. If you pick up “The Long and Winding Road”, the subject matter, the daily grind of a union leader, an MP and a jobbing minister, can strike one, at first, as rather uninteresting. However, if you’ve stuck with Alan Johnson as he described his appalling upbringing and the detail of his postal work, his “voice” tends to get inside one, and you tend to empathise as he forges on up into the heady heights of the political world.

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Joe Otten

Labour fail to back Single Market

By Joe Otten | Tue 28th February 2017 - 11:24 am

A cross party amendment to keep Britain in the Single Market was lost yesterday by 299 votes to 136 after Labour Lords who voted were mostly against, and Conservatives turned out in greater numbers.

Liberal Democrat leader in the Lords Dick Newby commented.

By far the best option for our economy is to stay in the Single Market. Unfortunately Theresa May’s Government is hell bent on dragging us towards a hard Brexit.

Whatever deal May comes back with is quite simply not going to be as good as remaining in the Single Market. That is why we voted to ask her to think

…

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Ruth Bright

Future women, real lives

By Ruth Bright | Tue 28th February 2017 - 10:01 am

The Women Candidates’ weekend is about to take place and (apart from the odd party pooper) most reasonable folk can see that an event that boosts confidence and offers a quick burst of training is of value. But what about candidate support and candidate retention when the big weekend is over?

In a small party with a reliance on the selfless hard work of a thin layer of ridiculously dedicated volunteers it is not surprising that the pastoral care of candidates has not been a big priority over the years. It was a luxury we could not afford. But that has …

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Paul Walter

Meet the Lords – or at least two Lords and one Baroness….

By Paul Walter | Tue 28th February 2017 - 9:52 am

Manderston House 2005

BBC2 started a new series last night called “Meet the Lords”. In the style of last year’s documentary series about the House of Commons, the film crew wondered around the corridors of the House of Lords, and produced some interesting sights.

In fact, it centred on three peers:

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Esther Lam

The death of Hong Kong’s freedoms

By Esther Lam | Mon 27th February 2017 - 7:48 pm

 

The Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Falkner chaired a discussion on 8th February on the demise of Hong Kong’s political freedoms since the transfer of its sovereignty to China. The event was organised by the Henry Jackson Society at the Palace of Westminster.

The speakers were Joshua Wong (a Hong Kong student and co-founder of the political party Demosisto), Angela Gui (daughter of detained publisher Gui Minhai) and Benedict Rogers (Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission).

2017 marks the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule.  The freedoms for Hong Kong citizens, guaranteed under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, have been increasingly undermined, with additional concerns now being raised about the abduction of individuals who are not Chinese citizens and which are taking place beyond Chinese borders.

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Iain Donaldson

Sir Gerald Kaufman R.I.P.

By Iain Donaldson | Mon 27th February 2017 - 6:28 pm

 

From Iain Donaldson, Chair of Manchester Gorton, Central and Blackley Liberal Democrats:

It is with great sadness that we heard of the death yesterday of Sir Gerald Kaufman, Member of Parliament for Manchester Gorton.

I first met Sir Gerald over 30 years ago when he visited (then) Wright Robinson High School whilst I was studying in the sixth-form.  I can honestly say that despite our having been political opponents for the many years I have known him he was a kind and gentle man whose acerbic wit was always used in good humour to promote the causes close to his heart.  He was also a devoted servant of the people of Manchester Gorton.

Over the years we have worked together where we agreed and opposed each other where we disagreed but on all occasions I found him to be as courteous as he was determined.

At this time I would like on behalf of the Manchester Gorton, Central and Blackley Liberal Democrats to convey our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Sir Gerald Kaufman and to his colleagues in the Labour Party.

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Posted in Obituaries | Tagged | Comments Off on Sir Gerald Kaufman R.I.P.

Meet the Lords

By Multiple Authors | Mon 27th February 2017 - 6:00 pm

This evening’s BBC2 “documentary of the week” Meet the Lords is the first of a series of three, with unprecedented access to the Palace of Westminster, to Peers and to the inner workings of the Lords’ operation.  Having seen a sneak preview, we are hopeful that some of the contents will renew public support for our longstanding campaign to replace the Lords with a modern, elected chamber.

The century-long Lords reform saga took another turn at the beginning of this year, when a new group was set up by the Lord Speaker.  It is to consider “the extent to which changes can be made without legislation”, and in particular it aims to find ways by which to reduce the size of the Lords.  It therefore has an impossible task, because the size of the Lords cannot be substantively reduced without legislation to amend the Life Peerages Act 1958.

What can be limited is the pace of growth of the Lords, which would require a self-denying ordinance on the part of Number 10.  In our evidence to the Group, we suggest that it should start by asking the Government either to commit to a moratorium on appointments during this Parliament or to accept a cap equivalent to 50% of the number leaving the House (by virtue of retirement or death) in a given year.  Without such a commitment, there is hardly any point in handwringing over how to persuade Peers to retire, since they will immediately be replaced.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 2 Comments
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