Conference agenda for Brighton now online

agenda2106The main agenda for the 2016 Autumn Conference in Brighton has now been published online.  This year, for the first time, the conference will begin at 9am on the Saturday, 17th September. It will end, as usual, with the Leader’s speech, which is expected to finish by 3.30pm on Tuesday, 20th September.

The deadline for amendments, emergency motions, requests for topical discussions and for online questions to Federal Committees, Parliamentary Parties and the Leader’s and Education Q&As is 1pm on Monday 5th September. That is also the deadline for submitting  requests for separate votes on motions that are being debated on the Saturday. For debates on other days the deadline for separate votes is 9am on the day before the debate. You can also submit late questions to the Speakers’ table at conference – see the agenda for individual deadlines.

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LDV at 10: Pick of the posts: On the Election that never was

On 27th August, LDV will be 10 years old. In that time, we’ve brought you over 24,000 posts and published over 337,000 comments. Over the Summer holidays, we’ll take you on a nostalgic meander through a decade of Liberal Democrat history, seen through the eyes of our editors and contributors. We hope you enjoy our choices.

As the party gears up for a potential snap election called by a Prime Minister on honeymoon, we can look back at the last time we thought, with a bit more certainty, that we were in this boat. I kid you not, one candidate actually cancelled a holiday to China because he didn’t want to be away for any of the campaign.

Of course, then, it never happened. Here is Stephen Tall’s analysis of the situation:

100 days in power, and the toughest decision yet faces the Prime Minister: does he seek a mandate, or does he delay calling an election?

A week ago, the decision looked a formality. Labour was riding high in the polls on the back of their ‘nobody mention the Blairs’ party conference, and a couple of polls suggesting double-digit leads over the Tories. Spool forward, and it’s all looking a lot less rosy, with a slew of polls indicating a narrowing of Labour’s lead.

If there’s one thing more stupid than taking too much notice of opinion polls, it’s taking no notice of them. You can bet the last penny in your Northern Rock account that Mr Brown and his advisors will be poring over every single psephological detail.

If – and it remains a big if – Mr Brown decides it’s too risky, and rules out a November election, he leaves a wide open door for the Lib Dems and the Tories: the carefully cultured image of a strong Prime Minister in complete control of events will be impossible to maintain after weeks of dithering culminating in a conclusion that he’s not popular enough to win, even with the following wind of a 100-day honeymoon.

It’s not only his prestige with the public and the media which will take a knocking – so too will his credibility among the party faithful, who have so far shown themselves to be devotedly in thrall to Mr Brown. He’ll have marched them up to the top of the hill, only for them to discover he forgot to mention there’s another peak beyond. Pretty demoralising stuff. The Labour party has trusted their leader to know exactly what he’s doing. That Mr Brown’s now boxed himself into a corner suggests he’s not the political genius too many people have assumed on the basis of not much evidence.

Of course, he may well still call an election for November. Until now, I’ve thought Labour would be sure-fire winners of such a snap poll. Not any more. Mr Brown is obsessed, it seems, with trying to understand the British psyche – in which case he should appreciate the very real possibility that the public could react in a ‘bloody sod yer then’ way to any cynical attempt to bounce them into casting their votes before they’re good and ready.

If there’s one lesson of the last three weeks’ opinion polls it is that the public has still to make up its mind about any of the parties, and wants to see all their leaders properly tested in the coming months. Force-feeding voters a diet of under-cooked policies in a rushed general election will just give everyone indigestion.

But what of now? I expect Lynton Crosby is champing at the bit to persuade Theresa May to go to the country. She has the chance to kill her opposition. I hear that senior Labour people at Westminster are pretty gloomy with some even thinking that they would be lucky to win 100 seats. The Tories are ahead in the polls and we’re in that Brexit phony war situation. The economy is likely to take a major knock. Things are going to get bad. If you were Theresa May, would you not want to secure yourself another five years before things get terrible?

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LibLink: William Wallace – Yorkshire needs its own voice ahead of Brexit talks

William Wallace has been writing for the Yorkshire Post, to mark the celebration of Yorkshire Day earlier this week:

In David Cameron’s response to the referendum result, he announced that the Government would consult the Scots, the Welsh and Northern Ireland administrations throughout the negotiations, as well as ‘other regional centres of power’ – by which he mainly meant London.

Theresa May has made a demonstration of that commitment by making early visits to Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. But who would she come to consult in northern England? Will she even feel any need to do so?

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Pressing questions on the iPlayer tax

The BBC has announced that, from September 1st, the “iPlayer loophole” will be closed and access to the BBC’s iPlayer will require payment of the licence fee. Of course, there was never a loophole; the licence fee is meant to apply only to live television broadcasts.

Of course, the blame cannot be put at the BBC’s feet. The BBC has been forced to make severe budget cuts leading to the scaling back of services that cost relatively little such as Radio 6 and BBC Three – services disproportionately used by people aged 18-34, while at the same time having to shoulder £750 million per year for concessionary licences for over 75s: the biggest cost to the BBC after BBC One. Indeed, TV Licensing emphasises the disproportionate effect on students, who increasingly exclusively use on-demand services.

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A policy solution to poverty-promoting pre-payment meters

It is frequently asked how we reach the lower paid and those in poverty who have made up a large proportion of whose who may have been disenfranchised or chosen to vote for UKIP in the past. A big part is about getting the message across in a way which isn’t patronising or condescending but it’s also the day to day issues that need addressing. Liberal democrat policies need to be addressing these issues.

Those who have struggled financially, having fallen in to arrears, or are in rented accommodation are highly likely to be placed on pre-payment meters for their energy needs. The BBC today reported that these customers are likely to pay on average £220 more a year than customers who are not on the pre-payment meters.

The Ofgem report released today promised:

Those on pre-payment meters, who are among the most vulnerable and least likely to switch, will be protected by an interim price cap which will save them around £75 a year from next April.

I don’t think this goes far enough, pre-payment tariffs will still average a cost of around £145 more a year and, furthermore, the use of the word ‘interim’ highlights that the cap is not even a permanent reduction to pre-payment tariffs. This potentially means that pre-payment tariffs may become even more unfair after any proposed cap expires.

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Merton Lib Dems need you!

We need you here in Merton. We want you to be one of our two parliamentary candidates. We want the best and that’s why we’re asking you to think about us. We want to be open, transparent and democratic and that’s why we’re getting in touch.

It’s been agreed by our Regional Candidates Chair that we can vote on parliamentary candidates at a members’ meeting on the afternoon of 4th September.

Well, why us?

The numbers

  • At the referendum, the overall borough result was 63% Remain – but it was a fraction over 70% in Wimbledon constituency. Mitcham & Morden was in the 50s.
  • Wimbledon’s share of the vote in the 2015 General Election was 13%. If I recall correctly, this reflects the best Lib Dem result outside of a held/former held seat in London, one of only 2 two such constituencies to make it into double figures . . .
  • Our (current) target wards got some of the highest shares of the vote for the Lib Dem list on the London Assembly across the whole of London. 54th and 56th out of 649 to be precise. Those wards with better results are mainly those represented/formerly represented by Lib Dem MPs . . .
  • Merton has a significant creative sector and history – the Bill was filmed here! (And it’s also where William Morris had his textile factory).
  • We can’t not mention that Morden is home to the largest mosque in Western Europe, built in 2003, Baitul Futuh Mosque serves as the international headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community at large.
  • We’re a diverse borough: it’s not all about the Lawn Tennis Club or Wimbledon Village.

The political context

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Muddled mandates and the EU Referendum

Brexit means Brexit were among the first words spoken by Theresa May when she was anointed by Conservatives as our new Prime Minister. She swiftly followed that up by appointing prominent Brexiteers to key Government roles to direct the UK withdrawal from the EU.

Brexiteers argue that the outcome of the EU referendum provides the UK with a clear and unequivocal mandate to take the country out of the EU. Well, not quite: the result delivered confused and conflicting mandates.

Firstly, two out of the four countries which comprise the UK voted to remain: overwhelmingly so in the case of Scotland. Brexiteers do not therefore have a UK-wide leave mandate. It is important to remember that Scotland and Northern Ireland are countries not English counties. Scottish and Irish voters delivered a clear and unequivocal Remain mandate which deserves as much respect as the UK-wide vote: quite how that can be achieved is, at present, unclear.

Secondly, during the campaign Brexiteers offered voters all sorts of different alternatives to UK membership of the EU – the Norwegian model, the Swiss model, UK in the Single Market, UK outside the Single Market etc. Consequently, there was no single definitive leave mandate. Many of the leave voters I spoke to during the campaign were convinced that UK access to the Single Market would be guaranteed post-exit: if that is not the case will they still be so keen to leave?

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Building more diverse council groups

I’ve seen a lot of posts on Facebook and heard questions at Lib Dem socials about how to recruit more women and diverse candidates for council elections. There seems to be a real willingness to do it but not always a clear idea of how. Here are my three top tips – I’d be interested in what others have done.

  1. SET TARGETS. Look at the demographics of your area and propose that your local party Exec or campaign team buy into the idea of taking some action and agreeing targets. You could decide that 50% of target council seats will be held by women; and/or 50% of all council seats. You can adopt targets for BAME /LGBT+ and people with disabilities too. Telling potential council candidates that you are taking positive steps to better reflect the local community you want to serve is a very strong recruitment message.
  2. TARGETED RECRUITMENT. Filter your ‘strong Lib Dem’ data on Connect by gender, and approach the women on the list first – of course you need to have a conversation to check that they really do ‘live our values.’ Look at the local residents’ associations, Parish Councillors, and residents who are vocal on local Facebook forums etc, and those who are involved in civic campaigns that overlap with our values (for example local Amnesty groups, Transition Towns etc), identify the people you know to be from under-represented groups and cross-check them with your canvass data, or go and canvass them.
  3. DON’T PUSH FOR AN IMMEDIATE ANSWER. For all sorts of reasons, men are more likely to say ‘yes’ to standing or even put themselves forward without being asked. Statistically, women are more likely to be care-givers (for children and/or ageing parents), and women and people from BAME backgrounds are more likely to be in lower-paid jobs (which can require night-shifts / unusual hours) so unless they immediately rule it out (and by this I mean they say “no way, not a chance, never”), their thinking might jump ahead to ‘how can I fit it all in?’ They are also more likely to want to discuss the idea with friends and family to gauge their reaction too. In short, you may have to ask, then give them a few days to think about it, offer to give them the chance to speak to someone with similar circumstances and agree to give them a follow up call a few days later. Even inviting them out for a ‘taster session’ of door knocking. You’ll need to be prepared to change campaign sessions around their lives. If there’s no-one in your area with similar circumstances, you can post on here and I expect someone will volunteer to speak to them.

It does require more effort but consider it an investment of time that will help you find under-used talent. I’ve been part of a team that has done this and just this year we found two brilliant new by-election candidates who gave it everything.

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Lib Dems donate aid and volunteer in Calais

Drop stitches not bombsDespite not being as high on the news agenda the refugee crisis is still ongoing, with thousands of people seeking safety arriving on Europe’s shores every week.

The Lib Dems have been proud to stand up for refugees and campaign for the UK to offer help and safety. Tim Farron was the first party leader to visit Calais, Lesvos and Idomeni. He has led the campaign for the UK to take in 3000 unaccompanied refugee children from Europe. Our peers in the House of Lords have worked tirelessly to pressure the government to take in more refugees. On the ground Lib Dem volunteers have raised vanloads of essential items donations to be sent to aid refugees in the camps across Europe.

There are serious concerns that Brexit and rising anti-migrant rhetoric could be a backwards step in our campaigns to take in more refugees. The political developments following the leave vote could also take attention away from the ongoing plights of refugees. However we as Lib Dems refuse to let brexit mean that we forget our moral obligations to help refugees. 

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One month left to get your nomination in for ALDC’s Campaigner Awards 2016!

2015 Best Overall Campaign image for webThe ALDC Campaigner Awards embody excellence in campaigning and we don’t give out awards to just any local party – the winners are the best of the Liberal Democrat campaigners across the Country.

Categories this year include –

  • Best by-election campaign
  • Best fightback
  • Best Innovation
  • Best Literature campaign
  • Best Squeeze campaign
  • Best Community Campaign
  • Overall Campaigner Awards Winner
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The 3 most complained about TV moments connected to the EU Referendum campaign

“I wish to register a complaint…” are the opening words of Monty Python’s famous Parrot sketch.  A man has bought a parrot, which is clearly dead.  We are never told how he was tricked into believing it was ever alive.  The pet shop owner promises it is “resting”, “pining for Norwegian fjords” and deploys grandiose, Boris Johnson style, language in this pretence.

People register complaints with broadcasters and regulators about what they see and hear on television every day.  Many complaints are about political news content.

The UK Business Insider reports the three moments connected to the referendum campaign that attracted most complaints.

Top of the league is the debate between Cameron …

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In this age of anxiety, can Liberal Democrats meet the national needs?

People are reaching out. The more politically active join Labour or the Liberal Democrats. Many others worry quietly, and more of them than usual seek out personal counselling. The holidays and the pause in political activity may offer some relief, but the anxieties persist. In fact it’s a worse time than before, because the months of campaigning for the Referendum and the weeks of political upheaval were exciting and arousing. Now is the time of waiting and worrying.

It’s been a year of no genuine government. It climaxed in a campaign which in its incoherence and noisy assertiveness showed up British politicians in a very poor light. The campaign ended in vast uncertainty about what happens next. The Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the most powerful men in the country, suddenly lost power. The Government regrouped with an assertion of right to rule, but without legitimacy. The main Opposition fell apart and seems fatally split.

Posted in Op-eds | 22 Comments

Pre-testing Party Drugs: concrete steps avoid concrete pills

In the latest British edition of The Economist (July 30th) , there is a report about a useful initiative in the field of (il)legal highs and party drugs like XTC (as we Dutch spell ecstacy). It appears that there is a non-profit organization called The Loop, with a professor Fiona Measham, criminologist at Durham University, amongst its co-directors; she is their spokesperson in the article.

Medical Drugs for Pharmacy Health Shop of MedicineThey’re this year starting to travel around local summer music festivals, offering festival-goers to test their party drugs before they consume them. The result at the “Secret Garden Party” near Cambridge were sobering: stuff sold as “MDMA crystal” was ordinary brown sugar, and hard grey pills were actually made from concrete, the building material. And where XTC really was XTC, some pills were five times as potent as others being tested.

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Too unpopular to fail?

 

In 2008, financial services firm Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States. With over $600 billion in assets, Lehman Brothers remains the largest bankruptcy filing in US history. Under-capitalised and enormously leveraged with significant holdings of risky mortgage-backed and residential property-related assets, despite weeks of intense negotiations with regulators and prospective buyers no viable solution could be found and Lehman was allowed to fail.

In the ensuing market chaos, and following a G20 meeting in London in early 2009, the Financial Stability Board was established to monitor the global financial system and coordinate financial regulation among the G20 nations. One of the Financial Stability Board’s key objectives was to end “too big to fail”, the idea that these huge, inter-connected financial institutions with balance sheets comparable to the GDP of small nations were too complex and not capable of failing without having adverse effects upon the broader global economy. As part of a package of measures, the G20 proposed and adopted rules that would ensure that all globally and systemically important financial institutions were required to hold more capital, to segregate riskier investment banking and trading businesses from retail banking operations and, significantly, that upon the failure of the institution, the bank’s creditors have their holdings written down or “bailed-in” in order to avoid future tax-payer funded bail-outs.

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LDV at 10: Pick of the posts: All about Facebook

Fake Norman Lamb Facebook group screenshotOn 27th August, LDV will be 10 years old. In that time, we’ve brought you over 24,000 posts and published over 337,000 comments. Over the Summer holidays, we’ll take you on a nostalgic meander through a decade of Liberal Democrat history, seen through the eyes of our editors and contributors. We hope you enjoy our choices.

LDV was actually set up before Facebook became a thing. Or at least before it became a thing outside universities.

The first mention I can find came back in February 2007 when Mark Pack spied Liberal Democrat MPs flocking to the New Big Thing.

There’s been a flurry of Liberal Democrat MPs starting to use the social networking site Facebook in the last few weeks – including party leader Ming Campbell (the first UK party leader to do so, just as he was the first on Google Video and YouTube), Jo SwinsonSteve WebbStephen Williams and Lynne Featherstone.

Facebook used to only be open to students – and so there is a strong Lib Dem Youth and Student presence on it – but has recently been opened up to anyone.

If you are a Facebook user yourself or you become one after reading this post and wondering what on earth it is all about, don’t forget to join the Liberal Democrat group (currently 561 members, rather more than Labour’s 490).

Five months later, Mark charted how the parties were using Facebook in parliamentary by-elections, complete with 3D bar charts.

Facebook provided some early mysteries, such as the time someone set up a fake profile of Norman Lamb which mentioned his opponent more than you would expect.

The plot got very much thicker and Mark turned detective to try to unmask the culprit.

Amongst the Wikipedia edits is a plug for this anti-Liberal Democrat film which tries to pass itself off as an official pro-Liberal Democrat film (e.g. in the YouTube description: “Watch the video to find out why you should re-elect the Liberal Democrat run North Norfolk district council.” and the start of the film, which says it is “the Liberal Democrats broadcast for the local elections”).

The same username as that used on YouTube to upload the film – daisydukew – has also been used to make pro-Conservative comments elsewhere online: here and here.

d.The same IP address has also been used to make – deep breath – eleven different comments over four days on Liberal Democrat Voice claiming to be from seven different people (plus a couple of anonymous ones). .

It must be like Piccadilly Circus at that computer!

All of the names given are names that haven’t been used before to post on this site. One thing they all have in common is that where they try to place responsibility for the faking on anyone, it is always someone other than the Conservatives.

Then there was the final descent into farce.

Mark will probably kill me for unearthing this one, where he sings the praises of Lib Dem ACT. Remember that? I thought I’d give ACT the benefit of the doubt at the time but it seemed to be daft when everyone was on Facebook. Mark said:

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Written on lavender notepaper, outgoing Prime Minister gives honours to his mates

This goes back to Harold Wilson in 1976 – so there is nothing new about controversial prime ministerial farewell honours lists.

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Lib Dem success – huge reduction in one-use plastic bags

 

When did you last pay 5p for a plastic bag to carry home your shopping from a supermarket?

When I went food shopping yesterday I selected from the pile of heavy duty bags that sit in the boot of my car. I can choose from bags that bear the logos of Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, M&S or Lidl and for some time I’ve gone beyond feeling embarrassed if I use the ‘wrong’ bag in a shop. I very occasionally pay for a bag if I forget my own but it’s interesting that my reaction is one of guilt rather than annoyance, which I usually assuage by paying extra for a more expensive but reusable one.

And yet it is only last year that the 5p charge was introduced in England, although Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland had got there earlier through their devolved legislatures. We can thank the Lib Dems in Government for the charge in English supermarkets, even though some Tory ministers at the time hated it. In the first 6 months of the scheme the usage of thin plastic bags dropped by an amazing 83%, which equates to around 6 billion fewer bags each year.

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Why I’m wary of an early contest

 

“A week is a long time in politics”, so quipped Harold Wilson – although in the aftermath of Brexit, perhaps ‘week’ should be replaced by ‘hour’. The glut of political developments since June 23rd have evidently led Tim to forget the nadir of 2015. “There must be an election”, he demanded upon the accession of Theresa May to the premiership. Right now, we will gain little if Britain were to go to the polls early. We need more time to rebuild our grassroots organisations and to formulate a liberalism that acknowledges the circumstantial changes catalysed by Brexit.

We should take our press office’s releases lauding the surge in membership that has taken place following the referendum with a pinch of salt. The 15,000+ increase in members is impressive, but we need to find ways to secure our new members within a grassroots framework which contracted massively during our time in coalition. Maybe the way forward is to follow the example of left-wing parties in continental Europe, and start community organising.

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How should Liberal Democrats react to Named Person law judgement?

This week, the Scottish Government was told by the Supreme Court tae think again about the controversial  Named Person law. The Court said that it couldn’t be implemented as it currently stood following an application from parents and organisations, among the the equally controversial Christian Action Research and Education (CARE). This law makes sure that there is one person with responsibility for bringing information together about a child and co-ordinating necessary interventions.

The Court was at pains to point out that the intention of the legislation was benign but there were concerns that some of the information sharing provisions in …

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Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #465

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 465th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (24 – 30 July, 2016), together with a hand-picked quintet, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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

7 bestMany thanks to the 20,800 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Liz Truss as you have never seen her before (21 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Some questions for More United (80 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Paddy Ashdown responds to questions about More United (73 comments) by Paddy Ashdown

By-Election results LIVE: 2 holds and 1 GAIN (15 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Paddy Ashdown to endorse new progressive liberal movement (56 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Brexit: The invocation of Article 50 can be reversed (28 comments) by Paul Walter

Liberal Democrats GAIN seat from Labour in Totnes (13 comments) by Caron Lindsay

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LibLink: Nick Clegg: The honeymoon will be short if Theresa May can’t tame the Tory right

In his regular column for the Standard, Nick Clegg predicts that the current harmony in the Conservative Party will be short-lived and they will soon be just as divided as Labour again as the dogma of the Brexiteers gets in the way of what is actually good for the country.

The signs of trouble are already there.

Stories have emerged that the awkward squad on the Tory backbenches are organising themselves to oppose anything other than a “hard Brexit”, whatever that means. And their outliers in the press, such as columnist Melanie Phillips, are already issuing breathless warnings that there will be a “revolt” if May doesn’t do exactly as they say.

He describes an encounter with two of the main proponents of Brexit.

When I recently bumped into Douglas Carswell and Daniel Hannan — two arch-Brexiteers — I pointed out that they are now key members of the new Brexit elite which runs our country. They both looked startled.

They have spent so long acting as anti-establishment insurgents that they are clearly unprepared for the responsibility that comes with actually getting their way.

This mirrors the ashen faces of Gove and Boris on 24th June.

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Tales from Cleveland – Part 2: Why I’m with Hillary

My time in the US is drawing to a close, and it’s been great to get to see the way they campaign first hand. I’ve not got as many tales from the campaign trail this week because I took the chance to go and do a bit of sightseeing. Sadly, I didn’t manage to get into the Daily Show, as I’d hoped to at the end of my last post. Although, I was in the office phonebanking when Hillary became our official nominee for President, and the cheering from the staff and volunteers was something I’ll never forget.

I think it’s important to note that a lot of people over here genuinely support and admire Hillary Clinton. That gets lost in the media coverage – sure, some people will cast a tactical vote. But most of us are here because we think she’d make an amazing President. Obama said on Wednesday that she is more qualified for the job than he or Bill ever was. That’s still too often the case – women have to be stellar and massively outdo men to even get a foot in the door of top positions. I support Hillary because I think she did great work for women and girls at the State Department. Her passion about women’s rights and disability rights absolutely shone through in her acceptance speech. This isn’t just a case of stopping Trump. I’m with her because she’s with me.

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Tim Farron takes part in Ambleside fell race

Our federal and Scottish leaders are known to be keen runners. I asked Tim Farron last year who would win between him and Willie Rennie who would win in a race between them up a hill. “Oh, him, definitely.” came the response. That’s probably an accurate judgement. Willie has form for running races carrying coal on his back. Last month he ran off his post Brexit frustrations at the Ceres Highland Games in his constituency.

Not to be outdone, Tim took part in a 9 mile fell race in his constituency on Thursday.

It certainly looks pretty brutal and attracted the attention of ITV News.

The leader of the Liberal Democrats says it was a “joyful” day:
“I had a great time doing the Senior Guides Race yesterday, despite the wet conditions! Ambleside Sports is a fantastic community event, offering a wonderful window on Lakeland life and its traditions.

It was a joyful coming together of locals and former locals alongside tourists and competitors from across the country. It speaks volumes about this event that it manages to attract top fell runners from across the country to participate in the races.”

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WATCH: Hillary accept the Democratic nomination for President

I have been a huge fan of Hillary Clinton for pretty much quarter of a century. I admired the way she fought for women and girls, children and particularly those with disabilities. These have been her priorities for all of her life.

I am thrilled to bits to see her as the Democrats’ candidate for President and I can’t wait to see her debate the divisive slogans of Donald Trump.

She has fought for things that we take for granted here. Her fight for universal healthcare in the 1990s was ahead of its time. When she was Secretary of State, she put women and girls at the heart of everything she did. Read more about the specific things she did in this excellent blog post.

Her speech accepting the nomination put forward a positive vision to counteract the negativity and division of her opposition. She did it effectively, unlike David Cameron and George Osborne when they needlessly forced a similar choice here.

Hillary stood up for values that every Liberal Democrat should embrace: workers’ rights, healthcare, positive on immigration, committed to tackling climate change – and, importantly, stewarding the planet for the future, as she put it “planting seeds in a garden that you will never get to see”.

She is the standard bearer for progressive, optimistic, inclusive politics in a fight that mirrors so much of what’s going on in Europe. It’s the job of every progressive to back her in these next crucial months.

Make a cup of tea, put your feet up and watch her whole speech.

This is the section where she sums up the broad vision of what she wants to achieve.

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Who will be fighting Richmond Park and Guildford in a snap General Election?

More selection news from seats the party used to hold comes in as we prepare for a possible snap election.

In Richmond Park, held by Susan Kramer until 2010, Sarah Olney has been selected to fight Zac Goldsmith. From the local Guardian:

Sarah Olney was selected on July 22 as the party believes new Prime Minister Theresa May might consider going to the country before 2020 to take advantage of Labour in-fighting and to precede a possible recession.

Ms Olney, who campaigned for GLA member Caroline Pidgeon during May’s London Assembly elections, said it would be a huge honour to represent the

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LibLink: Elaine Bagshaw: Turning things round in Tower Hamlets

Last month, Liberal Democrat Expand launched with an ambitious plan for the party to widen its net, to work in those areas where we had disappeared.

After the devastating election result last year, one of the first people back into the fray was Elaine Bagshaw, who had to run in a by-election for Mayor in Tower Hamlets.

Since then, she has built a team that is out there on the streets several times a week building an organisation from the ground up.

She writes about what she’s been doing on the Liberal Democrat Expand website:

The first has been about being brave and changing the mindset about “no go” areas. Wards that we were told would never vote Lib Dem had actually never been asked. I’m still shocked that in some places people won’t go and knock on council houses because apparently “they aren’t our people”. We definitely haven’t found this to be the case in Tower Hamlets. From a London perspective, it’s a foolish way to approach things as people move so often. At one point in Tower Hamlets 25% the electoral roll would change every time a new one was issued.

My other issue with “no go” areas is that for us to be in majority government we absolute have to win in places like Poplar & Limehouse and other areas that we dismiss as ‘not our territory’. Poplar & Limehouse is a passion project of mine partly for this reason but also because it’s in these areas that people need Lib Dems the most. Every time we write-off an area we write-off the people in it and that’s not a narrative we should be signed up to.

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Tom Brake calls for Turkey to be suspended from NATO

As the human rights situation in Turkey worsens, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Tom Brake has called for Turkey to be suspended from NATO and for the refugee deal between Turkey and the EU to be scrapped.

He said:

Erdogan’s ongoing purge of newspapers, academics, teachers and judges has nothing to do with Turkey’s security and everything to do with blocking any opposition to his increasingly authoritarian rule. Today’s news that dozens more media outlets have been shut should send shivers down the spine of any person who believes in a free and open society.

The preamble to NATO’s founding treaty refers to it being “founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law”, all of which are under threat in Turkey currently.

Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged , , , and | 25 Comments

ALDC’s by-election report, 26-28 July 2016

ALDC Master Logo (for screen)What a fantastic set of results again. With by-elections on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week we have seen a great deal of success amongst Lib Dem teams.

On Tuesday night in East Hampshire, the Lib Dems increased their vote share by a massive 43.6% in The Hangers & Forest ward having not stood there in 2015. Sadly this still meant coming second, with the Conservatives holding the seat by just 9 votes.

News on Wednesday was extremely positive with a gain in Totnes. Labour had failed to stand a candidate in a seat they had previously held, although the Independent candidate was a Labour member. The Lib Dem candidate John Birch won with 812 votes, increasing our vote share by 14.6%. It is a ward where we lost narrowly, by 12 votes, to the Greens in the last by-election in October 2015.

John fought the campaign on tackling the acute shortage of affordable housing and rented social housing in South Hams stating that priority should be given to reducing the housing waiting list and continual development of affordable housing in Totnes.

Our normal by-election night of Thursday did not disappoint with two holds and one gain. In Sutton, the team’s 30 years winning streak in Carshalton Central continued. The team won with 43.4% of the vote, with the Conservatives coming second with 36.9%. Noticeably UKIP’s vote decreased by 10.5% since 2014 when the seat was last fought.

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My first three months as a Liberal Democrat Councillor

On the day after I won my first election in May, while still elated and shattered in equal parts, my agent told me that is it typical for the first three months after election season to be relatively quiet and that I would have plenty of time to adjust to my new role. I can think of many words that might apply to these last three months in politics. ‘Typical’ and ‘quiet’ are not among them.

Nationally, as the EU referendum has triggered both a change of government and an opposition leadership election, the mood of our country is uncertain and fearful. Locally, in East Surrey, this is as true as anywhere. It was saddening but not surprising that our residents voted to leave the EU as many people took their opportunity to vote for something to change. Immediate worries for residents are about public services and infrastructure. Deep cuts to local authority budgets over recent years have meant reductions to just about every public service that people notice. Fewer bus services, shortened library opening hours, earlier closing times at the recycling centre and less regular grass cutting in public green areas are among the factors that all add up to make life less pleasant than it used to be. Meanwhile, a couple of decades of intense house building in my ward means that the population of our compact geography has more or less doubled while investment in infrastructure has failed to keep up. Roads are now overwhelmed and there aren’t enough school places and doctors’ appointments to service the community. On doorsteps people have been regularly asking how long before breaking point?

We found our breaking point in Caterham on the Hill on 7th June when we experienced the worst flash floods for 40 years. Local drains failed and properties were swamped with rain and sewer water, making too many families temporarily homeless. Given the political maelstrom, the media have not had a chance to give the consequences of our storm much attention. Not for our families the COBRA committees, armed forces response and additional funding that have been made available previously for other communities. Our Conservative MP did not even bother to make a statement. He was too busy in Westminster. This left a massive void of leadership with just us Councillors left to fill it.

Posted in News | Tagged | 10 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • Jason Connor
    Excellent and a good speaker. Highly admired in Richmond and would certainly get my vote...
  • Richard Whelan
    Good luck Sarah. I wish you every success in your campaign....
  • Peter Davies
    Simon Hughes was an MP when he stood. He got our best result....
  • Andy Daer
    I’m afraid John Kelly is right. Our leadership seems to have a blind spot where the Israel/Palestine conflict is concerned....
  • Mary ReidMary Reid
    David Raw - yes, it would trigger a Parliamentary by-election if she won as Mayor. Selection itself would not require it....