Lester Holloway

In the mayoral election, why did Zac Goldsmith get such a low vote in his own backyard?

By Lester Holloway | Thu 27th October 2016 - 10:23 am

Zac Goldsmith’s bid to become London mayor was memorably described as a “dog whistle campaign in a city with no dogs.” And few places in the capital demonstrate that better than Richmond Park itself.

As the local MP you would have thought his personal vote would make it a walkover. First preference mayoral votes, a good indicator of popularity, in Richmond Park shows that Boris Johnson won his second term in 2012 by a greater share in all but one of the constituency’s eleven wards compared to Zac in 2016.

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Tim Gordon

Tim Gordon writes….Reminder that nominations close for party internal elections on 2 November

By Tim Gordon | Thu 27th October 2016 - 9:00 am

From one by-election we run straight into another, with Richmond Park getting off the ground as a result of the Government’s decision on Heathrow expansion. It is absolutely vital that we all contribute to the campaign as early as we possibly can to keep up the momentum from Witney.

In the midst of the excitement for a second by-election in a matter of weeks you may however have missed that the deadline for nominations for internal elections to our Party’s Committees is fast approaching. Nominations close on Wednesday 2 November at 12 noon.

As a reminder there are four committees up for election: the Federal Board, the Federal Conference Committee, the Federal Policy Committee and the Federal International Relations Committee. In addition, a number of spaces are available for members to represent the party within our Delegation to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe (ALDE). The position of Party President is also up for election this year. 

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NewsHound

May is ‘blithely ignoring her own dire warnings” about hard Brexit – Tim Farron

By NewsHound | Wed 26th October 2016 - 4:07 pm

Revelations that Theresa May secretly warned about the economic effects of Brexit produced this sharp reaction from Tim Farron.

It is disappointing that Theresa May lacked the political courage to warn the British public as she did a group of bankers in private about the devastating economic effects of Brexit.

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Paul Carroll

It beggars belief that Brexit has escaped basic parliamentary democracy

By Paul Carroll | Wed 26th October 2016 - 2:37 pm

I thought that in the UK, we had a parliamentary democracy. We elect representatives to tackle, understand, debate and ultimately enact legislation in order to build a cohesive, fair and prosperous society.

OK, our politicians have seen fit on a few occasions, to gauge the mood of the country and seek ‘advice’ from the electorate on a singular matter of importance, via a referendum. Surely, under these circumstances, that received advice should then be subject to the normal process of parliamentary understanding , debate and action as parliament sees fit. In this way the factors of cohesion, fairness and prosperity are woven into our democratic process.

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Jenny Randerson

Baroness Jenny Randerson writes: Heathrow expansion is bad economics, bad for the environment and bad for residents.

By Jenny Randerson | Wed 26th October 2016 - 1:10 pm

Pidgeon and Randerson no to Heathrow expansionYesterday’s announcement has confirmed what we have long suspected. That Theresa May would bow down to external pressures from big business and the foreign owners of Heathrow Airport to give expansion the green light – disregarding her own constituents and MPs in the process.

This is a green light that will see 800 homes and parts of the M25 demolished to make way for a development that even in its current form exceeds EU laws on emissions and is the cause of 28% …

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Caron Lindsay

Jo Swinson to speak at event launching Action Plan on tackling maternity discrimination

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 26th October 2016 - 11:40 am

This Saturday, an alliance of groups including Maternity Action, chaired by former Lib Dem Minister Jo Swinson, launches an action plan aimed at tackling maternity discrimination. The event takes place at the excellent Resources for London venue in Central London, where the Social Liberal Forum Conference was held last July.

No matter where you live in the country, you can take part on Twitter by following #maternityrights and by watching the live stream here.

If you are able to go, you can still register here.

Here are some more details about the event:

Please come and join us as we launch our Action Plan to tackle pregnancy and maternity-related discrimination. Working together with a number of other organisations, under the group name the Alliance for Maternity Rights, we have developed a list of all the things that Government needs to do in order to tackle this shocking form of discrimination.

This issue affects women, children and their families, so bring your partners and your children and babies. We will have space to park buggies, a craft table for kids and refreshments for both children and adults.

The event will include a panel session with speakers from Maternity Action and NCT as well as hearing from a woman about her experiences of discrimination.  We will hear from:

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Paul Walter

The David Rendel Award – helping young people to get involved in by-election campaigns

By Paul Walter | Wed 26th October 2016 - 10:10 am

David RendelDavid Rendel was MP for Newbury from 1993 to 2005, winning the seat in a famous by-election with the largest majority ever attained by a Liberal Democrat. A campaigner of renowned energy, he was greatly admired both locally and nationally. At the time of his death in 2016, he still inspired huge loyalty within and beyond the Newbury and West Berkshire (NWB) Local Party and area. One of David’s key strengths was his ability to inspire other people, particularly young people, to become actively involved in politics.

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The Voice

Caroline Pidgeon: Case against Heathrow expansion as strong as ever

By The Voice | Wed 26th October 2016 - 8:38 am

Caroline Pidgeon, like all Liberal Democrats, has always campaigned against a third runway at Heathrow. The picture shows her speaking against expansion at a demo in Parliament Square last year.

This is her reaction to yesterday’s announcement that the Government has, inexplicably, decided to back the project:

After an incredibly expensive lobbying campaign the Government has ‎foolishly accepted the myth that what is good for the overseas owners of Heathrow is also good for the UK economy.

The reality is that airports such as Luton and Stansted have spare capacity.   And in time HS2 will also allow easy access ‎to Birmingham airport for many Londoners.

We can improve the UK’s international links through better use of all our airports.  It is the triumph of vested interests for this Government to claim that the environmental wreckage created by a third Heathrow runway‎ is a price worth paying.

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Mary Reid

++BREAKING NEWS : Zac Goldsmith has resigned as MP for Richmond Park

By Mary Reid | Tue 25th October 2016 - 5:39 pm

The Conservative MP for Richmond Park, Zac Goldsmith has, as expected, resigned his seat. You can view his speech in Parliament earlier today here.

More information on the by-election will appear here as we get it.

Update: Zac Goldsmith will stand as an Independent and the local Conservative party will not put up a candidate.

Posted in News | Tagged and | 78 Comments
Helen Flynn

Let’s think again about Universal Basic Income

By Helen Flynn | Tue 25th October 2016 - 4:58 pm

I was disappointed that the working group on welfare at the recent Brighton conference decided not to back a Universal Basic Income (UBI). An amendment (defeated) put forward by members from Calderdale called for negative income tax. But actually, fundamentally, a UBI is both far more essentially liberal and—in any case–the current societal context and demographic trends demand that we should look far more closely at this, especially as we are a progressive party.

The current welfare system, introduced just after the Second World War, has become complex, bureaucratic, top-down and increasingly intrusive—note that all these descriptors are fundamentally illiberal. …

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Mary Reid

Reactions to the Heathrow decision

By Mary Reid | Tue 25th October 2016 - 3:00 pm

 

London Liberal Democrats organised a protest outside Downing Street today objecting to the expansion of Heathrow.

Tim Farron says the decision is a betrayal of the communities in West London:

The ‘No Ifs, No Buts’ pledge from the Conservatives has been thrown by the wayside in the rush to bulldoze homes and build a new runway.

Zac Goldsmith has failed Richmond Park on Heathrow and betrayed them on Brexit.

The turbulence in the Conservative Party is nothing compared to the anger felt by those they have betrayed by giving up their commitment to the environment and communities in West London.

Theresa May used to make this case, now she has ripped those words down from her website and scrubbed them from history.

Boris once said he would lay down in front of the bulldozer. Now he will find himself on the slow boat to China – anywhere to avoid having to stand up for his principles – or stand down from his seat at the cabinet table.

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Mary Reid

Zac Goldsmith set to quit and cause Richmond Park by-election

By Mary Reid | Tue 25th October 2016 - 2:14 pm

Earlier in the day The Huffington Post reported that Conservative members in Richmond Park had received an email from the local party stating:

You will no doubt have seen the announcement in the media this morning that the government has given the green light for expansion at Heathrow.

Zac has contacted the association to let us know that he intends to honour his pledge to resign and force a by-election in Richmond Park.

The chairman has called an emergency meeting for the executive council for Wednesday evening to discuss the turn of events and will issue a full statement to members on the association’s position.

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Liberals need to reclaim patriotism

By Ian Thomas | Tue 25th October 2016 - 12:07 pm

On 4th August 2012 I sat, like so many other millions of Brits, and watched our country’s achieve its best ever athletic session of a summer Olympic Games as Great Britain won three gold medals in the space of an hour to make a total of six gold medals that day, soon dubbed ‘Super Saturday’ by the press.

While the run up to the games was marred by our country’s somewhat infamous national pessimism of such events such doubts were soon cast away in favour of awe at the game’s show-stopping opening ceremony. From Shakespeare to the internet, from rolling …

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Mary Reid

++ BREAKING NEWS: Heathrow decision

By Mary Reid | Tue 25th October 2016 - 11:13 am

 

As expected, the Government has favoured the expansion of Heathrow, over its rival Gatwick.

The Transport Minister will make an announcement at about 12.30pm today, but the BBC reports that the decision was approved by a Cabinet Committee earlier this morning.

The political interest in this will be to see how many Conservatives speak out against the decision.  Ministers will be allowed to state their opposition to the plans, but have to get permission from the Prime Minister first – these will include Justine Greening and Boris Johnson.

Down in Richmond all eyes are on Zac Goldsmith, the Tory MP for Richmond Park. He has said on a number of occasions that he will resign as an MP if Heathrow gets the go-ahead. He reiterated his promise again last week, and wrote:

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NewsHound

Collapse of EU-Canada trade pact a “stark warning” against hard Brexit – Tom Brake MP

By NewsHound | Tue 25th October 2016 - 10:37 am

Commenting on the blocking of the EU-Canada CETA trade deal by the Wallonia region of Belgium, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Tom Brake said:

This is a stark warning against a hard Brexit that takes us out of the Single Market.

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Paul Walter

In full – Tim Farron’s speech on post-Brexit racism

By Paul Walter | Tue 25th October 2016 - 9:15 am

Here is the full text of Tim Farron’s speech last night on combating post-Brexit racism, which he delivered at Queen Mary University at an event organised with The Runnymede Trust:

Patriotism has too often been seen as the preserve of the right. And I resent that. I’m a patriot. I love my country, but not to the exclusion of others. That’s the difference between a patriot and a nationalist.

I want others to look at Britain as a beacon of hope, independent spirited, community minded, strong, maybe stubborn, but decent and compassionate.

And so, the rise in racist and xenophobic attacks following the referendum, fills me with shame. Those attacks are heartbreaking, they make me fear that my country has been stolen from me, because this is not the Britain I know, the Britain I love, because the Britain I know and love is better than that.

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Katharine Pindar

Impressions – from a very small cog in the Witney wheel

By Katharine Pindar | Mon 24th October 2016 - 5:56 pm

Purposeful efficiency at the Corn Street headquarters, a fair-sized room full of people moving about. Friendly greeting from the man with the large-shelved bookcase stuffed with leaflets and letters, whisked to the registration desk with people busy at computers behind it, more friendly smiles plus tea and cake.

It was the middle of Tuesday afternoon. And there was the candidate, Liz Leffman, pausing between trips out, pleased to meet another Cumbrian volunteer. I had just missed Tim, apparently, now on his way back to London after his fourth, penultimate, visit. (How had he managed four? I’d heard him address the North-West Lib Dems’ conference in Lancaster the previous Saturday afternoon.)

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ALDC

ALDC management committee – election results

By ALDC | Mon 24th October 2016 - 4:51 pm

Here are the results of the election of the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors (ALDC) Management Committee for 2016-2018:

OFFICERS

President
Baroness Cllr Kath Pinnock (Kirklees)

Chair
Mayor Dave Hodgson (Bedford)

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The Voice

LibLink: Tim Farron – Lib Dems are fighting to keep Britain open-hearted

By The Voice | Mon 24th October 2016 - 3:20 pm

In The Times today(£), Tim Farron has a “Red Box” article which accompanies his speech tonight on post-Brexit hate crime and rising xenophobia. He begins:

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The Voice

LDV Halloween pumpkin photo competition

By The Voice | Mon 24th October 2016 - 12:25 pm

Donald Trump pumkin by Alex Cole-Hamilton
It’s that time of the year again.

Could you please send us photos of your Halloween pumpkins?

We have had great fun with this in the past.

As a taster, here above is a rather unnerving effort produced by Alex Cole-Hamilton. We’re delighted that Alex is still finding time to keep up his Pumpkin art despite the pressures of office. This is “Trumpkin”.

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NewsHound

‘Theresa May is making the UK a nastier, more divided and more resentful country’ – Tim Farron

By NewsHound | Mon 24th October 2016 - 10:51 am

This evening at Queen Mary University, London, Tim Farron will be speaking at an event with The Runnymede Trust addressing the issue of post-Brexit hate crime and rising xenophobia. This occasion is part of “Black History Month”. Other speakers are Dr Omar Khan of the Runnymede Trust, Baroness Meral Hussein-Ece, the Lib Dem Equalities Spokesperson and Sunder Katwala of British Future.

Here’s a sneak preview of some of the things Tim will say:

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Mark Argent

Witney could be a turning point for the Lib Dems

By Mark Argent | Mon 24th October 2016 - 9:33 am

The result in the Witney by-election was a substantial swing to the LibDems, jumping from fourth place on 6.8% to second place on 30.2%. Liz Leffman and her team did an outstanding job, and the party was clearly ready to rally to the cause.

Over the next few days there were speculations about what that would mean if replicated at a General Election, with estimates of the number of seats likely to switch from Tory to LibDem put between 26 and 51. The statistician in me is wary of those extrapolations: there are lots of unknowns at by-elections, and British politics is especially turbulent at the moment.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tim Farron: Witney result shows that the Liberal Democrats are back in the political big time

By NewsHound | Sun 23rd October 2016 - 11:10 am

winninghere-at-witney-from-holly-mathiesFollowing the excellent result for the Liberal Democrats, an excellent 30%, a swing from the Tories the likes of which hasn’t been seen for nearly two decades, Tim Farron has been writing for the Huffington Post. His message: we’re back.

The result not only signals that the Liberal Democrats are back in the political big time and the return to third party politics, but also a clear rejection of the Conservative Brexit government’s plan to take Britain out of the Single Market.

Don’t underestimate what we have achieved. We started here

…

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Paul Walter

Gary Lineker – a welcome voice of humanity

By Paul Walter | Sun 23rd October 2016 - 9:45 am


Gary Lineker has taken a bit of stick this week for comments (such as the one above) on Twitter. The Sun went to town on him and there were calls for him to be sacked from the BBC.

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Caron Lindsay

Well that’s one way to say goodbye to your colleague….

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 22nd October 2016 - 2:15 pm

Clarkey Cat Carmichael onesieAdam Clarke, the Scottish Party’s rugby playing Director of Communications left this week. We will miss him.

Normally when you leave, you get a present and lots of kind words are said about you. That all happened with Adam, but his colleagues went one step further.

They gave the Herald newspaper the rather fetching photograph of Adam in his going away present from his previous job,  researcher for Alistair Carmichael. You can only hope that the Orkney and Shetland MP gave him something more than a onesie with his face on it. Let’s hope it was to cushion the many bottles of Orkney whiskies Scapa and Highland Park that accompanied them.

The photo of Alistair was, I think, taken for Liberal Youth’s Bears for Belarus campaign back in 2012.

One particular colleague grassed up to the Herald another memorable Clarke moment.

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Paul Walter

Canada-EU non-deal – dramatic collapse of the shining example for a post-Brexit future held up by the leavers

By Paul Walter | Sat 22nd October 2016 - 12:04 pm

Business Insider UK reports:

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Paul Walter

Remembering Aberfan

By Paul Walter | Fri 21st October 2016 - 8:24 pm

We end the day as we began it by paying tribute to the people, past and present, of Aberfan. Here is a newsreel of the day from British Movietone:

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NewsHound

Tim Farron: Theresa May is putting views of hardline Brexiteers first

By NewsHound | Fri 21st October 2016 - 2:57 pm

Commenting on Theresa May’s first European Council summit, where her short statement on Brexit was reportedly met with silence from other EU leaders, Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron said:

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Paul Walter

The American people will not take kindly to being kept “in suspense” by Donald Trump

By Paul Walter | Fri 21st October 2016 - 12:15 pm

Hillary Clinton has apparently had “psychology experts” advising her on how, among other things, to “needle” Donald Trump in the Presidential debates. Those experts deserve a medal for services to the USA. Clinton’s debate strategy has been a masterclass which will be written about for decades. Those experts have helped smoke out Donald Trump’s true colours in the debate theatre, rather than leaving it to when he might have become President.

The fact that in Wednesday evening’s debate he was reduced to saying “Such a nasty woman” and “You’re the puppet! …No you’re the puppet” betokens game, set and match to Clinton, I suggest.

The universally-headlined exchange from the debate (see transcript) was this one:

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Paul Walter

Sal Brinton congratulates Labour’s Tracy Brabin on being elected in Jo Cox’s old seat

By Paul Walter | Fri 21st October 2016 - 10:45 am

There was another parliamentary by-election last night. Batley and Spen in Yorkshire was contested to elect an MP to replace Jo Cox, who was murdered going about her MP’s duties in June this year.

The Liberal Democrats, UKIP and the Conservatives did not fight the by-election, as a mark of respect to the late Jo Cox. Labour’s Tracy Brabin won with 17,506 votes – a majority of 16,537.

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Posted in Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged | 9 Comments
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