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Conference debates open thread: Sunday 18th September 2016

By The Voice | Sun 18th September 2016 - 7:30 am

Whether you are physically in Brighton or are following what is happening from home, this is your place to talk about the public face of the Conference – in other words, all the debates and speeches that are going on in the main auditorium. Please use the comments below to add your reports on policy and constitutional debates or to draw readers’ attention to ones in the pipeline.

You can read the agenda in full, including the text of amendments, here.

We will be running a similar thread each day, so please confine your comments today to what is actually happening today. Tomorrow’s instalment will appear at 7.30am.

We will also be running a thread each day on fringes, so use that one for anything going on outside the main show.

So what is happening today at Conference?

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Posted in Conference | Tagged autumn conference 2016 | Leave a comment

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Party members massively endorse Farron’s call for referendum on Brexit deal

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 18th September 2016 - 6:30 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. 741 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

So, here are the results of the Brexit jury.

We broke our readers in gently by asking them how they voted in the Referendum. The result will surprise nobody:

Remain: 94.06%

Leave: 5.94%

We wanted to gauge feeling in the party towards the elements of Tim Farron’s Plan for Europe:

First of all, we asked if members supported the call for a parliamentary vote on invoking Article 50. A staggering 86.41% were in favour and 13.59% were opposed.

The idea of a referendum on the final Brexit deal has been closely debated on Lib Dem Voice, but party members gave a whopping endorsement to the plan with 77.18% of respondents in favour and 22.82% against.

Finally, we asked what sort of arrangement people would like with the EU and the single market if we did end up leaving. An overwhelming majority, 79.16%, favoured the Norwegian style option with free movement of people and access to the single market.

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged brexit and eu | 10 Comments

A sneak peak at the Lib Dem Disco set list

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 17th September 2016 - 8:30 pm

It’s just a couple of hours until the event that’s rapidly becoming the only place to be on Saturday night at Conference: the Lib Dem Disco run by Cambridge Liberal Democrats.

I will brag for the rest of my life about how I beat Tim Farron two years ago. Who would have foreseen that. I was second only to the mighty Alistair Carmichael.

Anyway, tonight’s DJs are include a knight, Sir Simon Hughes, the Lib Dems’ only cabinet minister, Kirsty Williams, a councillor known for her ability to hold off a massive challenge from Labour, Abi Bell and the defending champion Jo Swinson.

Strictly always puts up the dances and music in advance of the show. I asked the disco organisers very nicely if they’d let me have a sneak peak of tonight’s set list.. Ok, I admit it, I had to beg.

It’s coming up under the cut, so if you want it all to be a complete surprise, do not go there.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged autumn conference 2016 and lib dem disco | 2 Comments

How to watch the conference live

By Paul Walter | Sat 17th September 2016 - 4:17 pm

Yesterday, Caron ran down eight ways to follow the Brighton conference. As she mentioned, BBC Parliament will be carrying the conference on Monday and Tuesday. You can also watch the live stream on the party’s website here (albeit that the audio and video currently seems a bit out of sync):

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Posted in Conference | Tagged brighton conference 2016 | 3 Comments

LDV Interview: Caroline Lucas talks about The Alternative Part 2

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 17th September 2016 - 12:06 pm

Embed from Getty Images

This week I had the chance to talk to Caroline Lucas, newly elected co-Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, about the book “The Alternative.” She co-edited the book with Labour MP Lisa Nandy and her erstwhile 2015 Liberal Democrat opponent Chris Bowers. The three will be taking part in a fringe meeting at Conference tomorrow at 1pm in the Buckingham suite in the Hilton Metropole. The event is organised by the Social Liberal Forum. Part 1 is available here.

Part 1 ended with a discussion on a more collaborative politics. That’s not quite what we see even within the Labour Party at the moment. After what the Tories did to scare people witless of a coalition between Ed Miliband and Alex Salmond, what would they do with anything that involved Jeremy Corbyn, even if he were inclined to be a part of it?

Caroline is clear that this is not something politicians can stitch up between themselves:

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged caroline lucas, ldv interview and the alternative | 5 Comments

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Have party members come any closer to a common view on nuclear weapons?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 17th September 2016 - 10:45 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. 741 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

Nuclear weapons have always been a tricky issue for Liberal Democrats. In Bournemouth last year, the vote on whether to renew Trident was knife-edge close. We’ve been fudging the issues for years and the day of reckoning approaches. The Bournemouth debate resulted in a working group being set up to fully investigate the possibilities. They outline five options in a consultation paper here.

The first 3 options provide for some sort of nuclear weapon. They are supported by 59.11% but only 23.62% support like for like replacement.

Continue with the successor programme to Trident 23.62%

Contingency posture (partial replacement) 25.37%

Airborne Deterrent 10.12%

The two options which don’t involve having nuclear weapons are supported by 40.89%

Virtual capability 9.31%

Zero option 31.58%

Does this mean that the divide is growing? We’ll have to wait till Spring Conference in York to find out.

Here are some of the comments people made:

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged ldv members survey September 2016, nuclear weapons and trident | 9 Comments

Introducing….the #LDConf Scavenger Hunt

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 17th September 2016 - 9:15 am

What is Conference without a bit of mischief?

Yes, there are serious debates, but we have to have a bit of fun as well.

This is why we’ve come up with a diversion that will help you get round Conference and meet lots of interesting people.

That’s right. Your mission, dear reader, should you choose to accept it, is to collect as many of the following items as possible during Conference. The first person to prove that they have them all will win a special LDV prize. To stake your claim to the prize, email me on [email protected] on Tuesday morning before 11am. …

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Posted in Conference | Tagged autumn conference 2016, lib dem voice scavenger hunt and mischief | 2 Comments

Should sex workers or their clients be criminalised? What Lib Dem members think

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 17th September 2016 - 8:30 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. 741 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

This lunchtime, two consultation sessions will take place on two policy areas. Full debates on these subjects will take place at Spring Conference in York.

I remember way back in 1992, around Black Wednesday, we were the first national party to debate sex work. We are now in the process of updating our policy to take account of recent evidence and international practice.

Two controversial aspects of this are whether sex workers or their clients should be criminalised. There have been several attempts to change the law in Scotland to criminalise sex workers’ clients but these have so far been defeated.

We asked what our members thought. They were pretty clear.

Do you support the decriminalisation of sex work?

Yes: 92.04%

No: 7.96%

A selection of comments:

I support the decriminalisation of the individual sex workers. But the organised trade in sex, and exploitation of indivuals, should be criminalised further.

There must be protection from trafficking and abuse and coercion. But there are people, I suspect, who would find offering sex as an acceptable economic activity. I deplore the whole business and would hate any of my family to be involved but personal freedom is essential.

I would like to see laws to protect sex workers against exploitation and abusive clients. It is difficult to do that while sex work itself is a criminal offence.

Should clients of sex workers be criminalised?

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Posted in Conference and LDV Members poll | Tagged ldv members survey September 2016 and sex work | 11 Comments

Conference debates open thread: Saturday 17th September 2016

By The Voice | Sat 17th September 2016 - 7:30 am

Whether you are physically in Brighton or are following what is happening from home, this is your place to talk about the public face of the Conference – in other words, all the debates and speeches that are going on in the main auditorium. Please use the comments below to add your reports on policy and constitutional debates or to draw readers’ attention to ones in the pipeline.

You can read the agenda in full, including the text of amendments, here.

We will be running a similar thread each day, so please confine your comments today to what is actually happening today. Tomorrow’s instalment will appear at 7.30am.

We will also be running a thread each day on fringes, so use that one for anything going on outside the main show.

So what is happening today at Conference?

Continue reading »

Posted in Conference | Tagged autumn conference 2016 | Leave a comment

Lib Dems to consider NHS tax #ldconf

By The Voice | Sat 17th September 2016 - 6:30 am

The Liberal Democrats are to set up an independent expert panel to consider the case for a dedicated NHS and care tax, Norman Lamb will announce in his Conference speech at Brighton later today.

Members of the ‘New Beveridge Group’ will include Dr. Clare Gerada, former President of the Royal College of GPs, Prof. Dinesh Bhugra, former President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and current President of the World Psychiatric Association, Peter Carter, the former General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, and the chief executive of the Patients’ Association, Katherine Murphy.

It will report its recommendations to the party in six months’ time, presumably in time for Spring Conference.

Speaking to party members in Brighton, Lib Dem Health spokesperson Norman Lamb will say:

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Posted in News | Tagged autumn conference 2016, NHS, norman lamb and taxation | 15 Comments

The Independent View: Making common ground

By Hugo Dixon | Fri 16th September 2016 - 8:31 pm

We’ve lost a battle. But there are many more to come. We must not lose them all.

To win, we will need to fight more smartly than we did in the past. We must understand why we lost. The government – and Stronger In, which was in Downing Street’s pocket – had no vision for how Britain could help lead Europe. It had no vision for how to make Britain fairer either. It just had a boring case for the status quo.

To understand why we lost, we have to reach out to Leave voters. To understand why many feel left behind and left out. To make common ground with them. Because there is much that unites us.

We can make common ground on the need for a fair society. Where the economy works for all, not just the few. Where migration works for all, not just the few. The vast majority of the British people want that. We are a nation that wants unity not division. We want to share the fruits of progress.

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged common ground | 8 Comments

ALDC’s by-election report – 15 September 2016

By ALDC | Fri 16th September 2016 - 7:30 pm

Last night saw six principal council by-elections held across the country and there were some fantastic results for the Lib Dems!

David Hancock and the team in Tupton ward in North East Derbyshire stormed to victory in a Labour stronghold with a 37.4% share of the vote. The team in Tupton worked incredibly hard on the ground to push Labour’s share of the vote down 33.9% (a decrease of 33.2%) following the resignation of a local Labour councillor. The Conservatives came in third with 19.3% (-13.6%). Huge congratulations go to Cllr Hancock and everyone involved in the campaign – it really does show how hard work and determination in by-elections can pay off.

In Bishop’s Castle (Shropshire) candidate Jonny Keeley held the Lib Dem seat following the resignation of Charlotte Barnes. Jonny and the team ran a strong grassroots local campaign with extensive door knocking in the ward. They comfortably held the seat with a 61% share of the vote, keeping the Tories in second place with 29.7% share of the vote.

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Posted in News | Tagged aldc and local government by-elections | 4 Comments

Eight ways to follow what’s going on at #ldconf in Brighton

By The Voice | Fri 16th September 2016 - 6:30 pm

Whether you are in Brighton or not, you can still keep in touch with what’s going on at Conference in a variety of different ways.

Obviously, you can follow the gossip, mischief, analysis and the stuff they won’t put on the party website on here.

The party is producing a daily round up email. Sign up for it here.

Follow the #ldconf hashtag on Twitter.

For a record of all the decisions passed as they happen, follow the Live Blog on the party website.

If you suddenly find that you have some free time and can go to Conference, you can still register online here.

Continue reading »

Posted in Conference and News | Tagged autumn conference 2016 | 1 Comment

Lord Dick Newby writes…We have more chance of breaking the mould of British politics than we had in 1981

By Dick Newby | Fri 16th September 2016 - 4:57 pm

It was a great honour to be elected Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group in the Lords earlier this week. The challenge facing me and my colleagues is straightforward. How do we help the Party occupy as much as possible of the centre and centre left of British politics – ground which is currently vacant?

Obviously we can do our bit by trying to defeat or amend the worst of the Tory legislation. We face a Tory government unrestrained, Labour are not doing their job as the opposition. It is the Liberal Democrats who have to step up to the plate and be the real voice of opposition. We held the Government to account last session on tax credits, trade union reform and refugee children. We will seek to do so in coming months, for example on Investigatory Powers. And if we ever see any legislation promoting grammar schools, we can guarantee it a rough ride in the Lords.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged dick newby, featured and lib dem lords | 6 Comments

One of the most important human rights cases in the world may have started this week

By Antony Hook | Fri 16th September 2016 - 3:57 pm

Human rights law is inherently international.

This is true not only because of international agreements that codify rights to which ever person is entitled. It is also true because the authors of such agreements and courts that resolve disputes about the relationship between citizen and state look to each other, across national boundaries, are influenced by each other and have done for a very long time.

Arguably the most important human rights case in the US since 1945 was Brown v Board of Education, in which the Supreme Court unanimously decided that segregation of black and white children between different schools was unconstitutional. …

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Posted in News | Leave a comment

“Devonwall” seat proposal – the government ignore Cornish pride at their peril

By Paul Walter | Fri 16th September 2016 - 2:45 pm

The Strand, Bude by paul walter

The Strand, Bude, Cornwall
On Wednesday I was lucky enough to be in a choir leading the singing of “Trelawny” in an ancient Cornish church. “Trelawny” or “The Song of Western Men” is the “unofficial Cornish national anthem” written by Rev R.S. Hawker. The congregation joined in with the choruses – most enthusiastically – and rapturous applause from “one and all” followed the song. It was a magical moment and reinforced that great feeling of community which one feels amongst Cornish people. There’s a real passion and pride about the Cornish nation.

The Boundary Commissioners and Theresa May should have been present at that church. I have a hunch that witnessing such strength of feeling, they would think again about their proposals for a “Devonwall” seat. The church in question is just south of Bude and part of the proposed parliamentary constituency of Bideford, Bude and Launceston, straddling Devon and Cornwall – or, I should say, Cornwall and England.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged boundary changes, cornwall, dan rogerson and theresa may | 25 Comments

How long will we continue to ignore the obvious?

By Joe Zammit-Lucia | Fri 16th September 2016 - 1:08 pm

The Brexit referendum was a perfect demonstration of what many of us have known for a long time: emotion trumps reason – every time. In the referendum campaign, the Remain campaign mounted a campaign focused on ‘rational’ arguments – largely about the economy. All the visceral emotion was with Leave. It is not surprising Leave prevailed. What is also clear is that anger trumps fear – every time. Angry people are fired up. They rise up to do things – often destructive things. Fear paralyses. People cower in a corner and hope it all goes away.

The prevailing political mood at the moment is one of widespread anger. How should one handle it?

Last night at a political dinner, the view was expressed that what was needed was to try to dampen that anger, show people that they were being unreasonable and irrational and win them over to the moderate, tolerant, open, reasonable and rational values of liberalism. I cannot think of an approach that is more likely to fail than that one. It’s the equivalent of being faced by a furious spouse and responding with “Calm down dear and let’s be reasonable about all this.” We all know how effective that is.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged liberal democracy | 14 Comments

The Iraq War must no longer poison our relations with Labour

By George Kendall | Fri 16th September 2016 - 11:48 am

Embed from Getty Images

What would we remember of the Labour government, if Al-Qaeda’s terrorist attack fifteen years ago had never happened? If Labour had listened to the advice of Robin Cook and John Denham, and not engaged in the catastrophe of the Iraq war?

Many of us will remember Robin Cook’s electrifying resignation speech. If only he were alive today. However, he was not the only Labour minister to step down from government office because of the Iraq war. In his prescient resignation speech, on the 18th March, 2003, John Denham said:

If we act in the wrong way, we will create more of the problems that we aim to tackle. For every cause of insecurity with which we try to deal, we shall create a new one.

This summer, I was an observer at the Fabian and Progress summer conferences. I didn’t hear anyone try to defend the Iraq war, and a number agreed it had been a terrible mistake. In fact, if you substituted the word Labour for Liberal Democrat, almost everything that was said could have been said at a Liberal Democrat conference, and probably will be in this coming week.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged autumn conference 2016, iraq, john denham and labour | 30 Comments

LDV Interview: Caroline Lucas talks about The Alternative – Part 1

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 16th September 2016 - 10:47 am

This week I had the chance to talk to Caroline Lucas, newly elected co-Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, about the book “The Alternative.” She co-edited the book with Labour MP Lisa Nandy and her erstwhile 2015 Liberal Democrat opponent Chris Bowers. The three will be taking part in a fringe meeting at Conference on Sunday at 1pm in the Buckingham suite in the Hilton Metropole. The event is organised by the Social Liberal Forum.

The first part of the book explores all sorts of ideas, from foreign affairs to social security and public services, where there is significant common ground between those of a progressive nature.The second explores how progressives could work together to beat the Tories. It’s a progressive antidote to the Tory dystopia into which we are currently descending. Though the book sets a lot of hares running, it doesn’t seek to outline a way forward. So, I asked Caroline, what happens next?

In the book there are all kinds of options discussed and explored and absolutely no blueprint not least because what might work in one constituency might not work in another.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged caroline lucas, ldv interview and the alternative | 10 Comments

As a former teacher and Chair of Education, this is why I think grammar schools are so wrong

By Margaret Rogers | Fri 16th September 2016 - 9:55 am

I am writing to state my fundamental opposition to the re-introduction of grammar schools. I say this on the basis of my long career in education.

I was in teacher education for 20 years being a Head of Department at the Maria Grey College and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee in Education at London University. I was Chair of Education in Devon.

At Maria Grey I lectured in the History of Education and The English Educational System, These are some of the points I made in my lectures:

Education in England is like a nubile Cinderella, sparsely dressed and much interfered with.” (Spoken by the Headmaster in the film IF by Lindsay Anderson.

Social class has been the basis of English Education – see Newcastle Commission on The Great Schools (Public Schools) where they referred to schools in different categories for the sons of the aristocracy; sons of gentlemen; and the sons of traders.

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Posted in News | Tagged education and grammar schools | 2 Comments

EXCLUSIVE: Nick Clegg on Brexit and Scottish independence: Everybody loses

By The Voice | Fri 16th September 2016 - 8:55 am

Nick Clegg talked earlier this week about the possibility of a second independence referendum in Scotland following the Brexit vote. This has been construed in some quarters as implied support of independence. He has written to Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Willie Rennie to enthusiastically endorse the position he has taken – that the Liberal Democrats will campaign to keep Scotland in both the UK and the EU. Independence, he says, would only compound the problems of Brexit meaning that everybody loses.

Here is his letter in full:

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Posted in News | Tagged brexit, nick clegg, scottish independence and willie rennie | 7 Comments

Massive endorsement of Tim Farron by party members as Lib Dems gather in Brighton

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 16th September 2016 - 7:30 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. 741 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

We asked our members to rate Tim Farron’s performance as Leader. The results will please him. His net +63 result is even higher than the last time we asked members to rate him when he was party president.

You would expect his ratings to be higher than those of his predecessor Nick Clegg just by dint of the fact that he’s not in Government taking decisions that could be very unpopular with party members.

Tim has taken risks in the last year, though. He voted for the airstrikes in Syria, something which did not go down terribly well with the left of the party. The collaborative, generous and respectful way in which he took the decision may have stood him in good stead.

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged ldv members survey September 2016 and tim farron | 8 Comments

Yet another Lib Dem GAIN from Labour – in North East Derbyshire!

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 15th September 2016 - 11:57 pm

What on earth is going on with the world? Last week we gained back a Council seat in Sheffield. This week, we gain a seat in North East Derbyshire which is not, shall we say, an area of strength. It’s been a while since we ran a campaign or even stood a candidate there.

Look at the, though:

Tupton (North East Derbyshire) result:
LDEM: 38.3% (+38.3)
LAB: 34.7% (-32.4)
CON: 17.5% (-15.4)
UKIP: 8.9% (+8.9)
BPP: 0.7% (+0.7)

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) September 15, 2016

I’m not going to lie. I did say a lot of very sweary words when I read this. In a good way, of course.

This just shows what the power of the Lib Dem Newbies can do. Ross Shipman, who joined last year, was key in the campaign to elect David Hancock.

I have had a lot of very happy Thursday nights recently as we’ve gained seat after seat. This one makes me happier than ever, though, because of the implications. This is a seat in an area where we didn’t stand last time and hadn’t really campaigned until recently. We went in there with a determined team and good messages and we smashed it. This should give every party member confidence that we can do it. Yes, it’s going to take a bit of time, but we are on the way up.

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Posted in News | Tagged local government by-elections | 10 Comments

The ethics surrounding the nuclear weapons debate

By Jo Hayes | Thu 15th September 2016 - 5:23 pm

Members of the Nuclear Weapons Working Group are presenting their personal views as part of a wider consultation process into the party’s future policy on nuclear weapons. The full consultation paper can be found at www.libdems.org.uk/autumn-conference-16-policypapers and the consultation window runs until 28 October. Party members are invited to attend the consultation session at party conference in Brighton, to be held on Saturday 17 September at 1pm in the Balmoral Room of the Hilton.

The UK’s options for the successor to Trident are (boiled down to essentials):

Same as now – nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines, only new.
Keep most or all of the kit but stop continuous nuclear armed submarine patrols, unless circumstances change.
Shift from missiles in submarines to bombs dropped from aircraft.
Don’t keep nuclear weapons but do keep the expertise and the radioactive materials needed to make them, just in case.
No nuclear weapons. Unilateral disarmament. The zero option.

I have been invited to write about these options in the light of ethical and humanitarian concerns.

Nuclear weapons are not really weapons of war. They are beyond war. They are means of annihilating life as we know it on this planet. There are about 15,000 nuclear warheads in the world today, which in a full nuclear conflict could comfortably exterminate us all.

They are so destructive that their use in pursuit of a traditional victory is impossible. They are not made to be used, but to make threats with.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons policy working group | 11 Comments

Conference Countdown 2016: Conference App now live

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 15th September 2016 - 11:33 am

I’ve just downloaded the newly updated Conference App to my phone and spent half an hour making up my schedule for the Conference.

You can get it from your App store of choice now.

It’s brilliant because it has the Agenda and Directory in full so you can look up the text of motions. It will have the Conference Extra and Conference Daily when they are published. It also has maps of the venue. and exhibition.

I find it particularly useful that it will save the events I select into the main diary on my phone where I’ve been piling up meetings for some time now.

It really is Conference in your pocket so download it now.

You might also like to read my guide to the craziness of Conference which I’ve updated for Brighton.

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Posted in News | Tagged conference countdown | 7 Comments

William Wallace writes…Taking on the anti-tax movement

By Lord William Wallace | Thu 15th September 2016 - 8:42 am

If you read any other paper than the Guardian, you will have noted some days ago a generously-covered story about the enormous ‘lifetime tax bill’ faced by British families. The ‘average UK household’ in 2014-15 was estimated to pay £826,000 in direct and indirect taxes over their working life, while the top 20% ‘will pay £1,686,970’ – a curiously exact figure for an estimate, and a claimed rise of 4.3% over the previous year.

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Posted in Op-eds | 43 Comments

Paddy Ashdown’s naughty thoughts

By The Voice | Wed 14th September 2016 - 6:30 pm

When you or I have naughty thoughts, we tend not to share them with 30,000 people. Paddy Ashdown on the other hand….

Naughty thought Witney by-election: One non-Tory candidate with one cause: the people must have a say on the Brexit deal.Re-tweet = u favour

— Paddy Ashdown (@paddyashdown) September 14, 2016

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Posted in News | Tagged paddy ashdown and witney | 20 Comments

We must fight Witney hard

By Jonathan Fryer | Wed 14th September 2016 - 4:30 pm

Invitations have gone out to approved parliamentary candidates to stand in the Witney constituency by-election, caused by David Cameron’s sudden resignation from Parliament. It’s important the selection goes ahead quickly and the very best person is appointed as this is a contest we should fight with maximum resources, energy and determination. There is no time to lose as rumour has it that the by-election may be called for 20 October.

Although the Liberal Democrat vote fell back sharply in 2015 (as in so much of the rest of the country), the party’s candidates (respectively Dawn Barnes and Liz Leffman) came second in both 2010 and 2005. Yes, a distant second, but just consider the extraordinary circumstances in which this by-election is being held. Cameron unintentionally landed Britain in its current Brexit mess and the terrible trio that Theresa May has put in charge of “delivering Brexit” haven’t a clue what it means in practice, how it will be done or when. The Conservatives like to say they are competent, but this is incompetence on a colossal scale.

As for Labour, next week Jeremy Corbyn will almost certainly be re-elected leader of the party, despite the fact that he does not enjoy the confidence of the vast majority of his MPs and Labour is riven by internecine warfare. Not exactly in a position to make a big leap forward in Witney. Indeed, if the recent Sheffield council by-election is anything to go by, quite the opposite.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged by-elections and witney | 53 Comments

REMINDER: LDV pre conference members’ survey now live – check your inboxes

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 14th September 2016 - 3:25 pm

This is just a reminder that the new LDV members’ survey is now live. So if you are one of the 2,200+ registered members of the Liberal Democrat Voice forum, and any paid-up party member is welcome to join, then you now have the opportunity to make your views known. You have until tomorrow morning to fill it in so we can have the results ready before Conference.

Questions we’re asking this time include:

What do you think of the Lib Dems’ plan for Britain in Europe?
Should there be a referendum on the final Brexit deal?
Should we have a nuclear deterrent?
Should parties work together to defeat the Conservatives in a Progressive Alliance?
What forms of co-operation would you support?
And the usual favourites rating key party figures. They may well be quaking in their boots as they read this.

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Posted in News | Tagged ldv members survey | Leave a comment