Simon Foster

Postcard from Orlando: Hillary sweeps the board with big wins in Florida and Ohio

By Simon Foster | Wed 16th March 2016 - 9:08 am
Hillary Florida GOTVWhat do Florida, North Carolina and Ohio have in common? They’re AWS, which means All Winning States on this side of the pond.  As I write (0515!GMT) Hillary appears to have won Illinois and Missouri by a margin that would have any agent worth their salt screaming “Recount,” at the top of their lungs.
Whilst Florida was always polling strongly for Hillary, the big prize tonight was Ohio for her campaign.  After the shock loss of Michigan last week, Hillary’s campaign needed a big win in the rust belt.  In Ohio, she got it.
The two states are significant. Ohio is the ultimate swing state, crucial to Obama’s victories in 2008 and 2012.  Florida has even more of a history since George W Bush’s controversial “win” in 2000.  At a rally for his wife on Monday, former President Bill Clinton said “You don’t need to explain to Floridians the importance of voting.”
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Catherine Bearder

100 Days to go to secure our place in Europe

By Catherine Bearder | Tue 15th March 2016 - 4:39 pm

There are now just 100 days to secure Britain’s place in Europe. There is so much at stake. If we leave, the country faces a future of uncertainty, isolation and diminished influence in the world. If we stay we will secure opportunity, prosperity and security for future generations and we can lead the way in shaping a better, more liberal Europe.

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Sal Brinton

Sexual Harassment Reports from Conference

By Sal Brinton | Tue 15th March 2016 - 3:08 pm

Firstly I’d like to thank all those people who took part in the diversity debate. There were strong feelings on both sides of the argument, and everyone spoke with incredible passion and courage. I really think that wherever you stand on the issue, we can all be proud of such a spirited discussion that’s so unique to our party. I want to work with those who opposed it, to ensure that all the training, mentoring and support works well.

But I also think I speak for many members when I say that there was a cloud overhanging the debate.

A number of very brave young women stood up and made serious allegations regarding the conduct of certain party members, notably men, at Conference and other Party events.

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Tim Farron MP

Tim Farron MP writes…The liberal challenge on immigration

By Tim Farron MP | Tue 15th March 2016 - 11:55 am

It’s not often that regional elections in other European countries get much attention in our press, let alone become headline news. The fact that elections yesterday in a handful of German states made front pages here today demonstrates the unusual situation Britain and Europe find itself in. It also highlights the growing need for strong, liberal voices across our continent.

Those of you who heard my speech on Sunday, or in fact have heard me speak since I became leader, will hopefully have a sense of my beliefs on the refugee crisis and on the wider issue of immigration. Our government has tended to bury its head in the sand, but with no short term end to the conflicts scarring the Middle East and climate migration on the rise, we cannot let a policy of ignorance be maintained.

More than ever, it is our responsibility as liberals to stop the immigration debate descending into hard line, xenophobic rhetoric that sets community against community. The relative success of Alternative fur Deutschland in these German elections shows how challenging that can be. Especially when the “pro-immigration” parties in Germany still vastly outweigh the anti, just one story makes better headlines than the other. Similarly, here in the UK, we would be foolish to think the decline of UKIP will see an end to the blaming of the other. 

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Mark Moore

A Fresh Homecoming

By Mark Moore | Tue 15th March 2016 - 9:53 am

Yesterday I watched in awe as Tim Farron delivered, what I believe was, a passionate heartfelt speech to round off the Liberal Democrat conference in York. It was the a speech that confirmed to me all the reasons as to why just a week earlier I had joined the Liberal Democrat party after much soul searching.

My Liberal journey began, in many ways, when I was in my early teens in the mid 90’s when the nation was getting swept up in New Labour. Having been raised in an era of Tory rule, Thatchers Britain, and my parents having somewhat radical right wing views New Labour were a breath of political fresh air.

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Helen Belcher

Shortlists and Privilege

By Helen Belcher | Mon 14th March 2016 - 7:11 pm

On Sunday, Conference voted for all-women shortlists. As part of the debate, I gave a speech outlining how my experience showed that lots of men simply aren’t aware of the privilege they have. I was surprised that this speech would immediately precede the rare event of a leader’s speech in a debate. Tim – I hope I set them up all right for you!

For the first 40 years of my life I lived as male. Transitioning to female in 2004, and starting my own software company at the same time, showed me what I had anticipated – that I had to work much harder to be treated as worth listening to. It didn’t come as a shock to me, as I’d observed this since childhood – in fact, it was one of the reasons I used to delay transition. But I know other trans women who have been surprised by this side-effect.

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Dick Newby

What would a truly Liberal Britain look like and what improvements would it bring to people’s lives?

By Dick Newby | Mon 14th March 2016 - 5:51 pm

Your Liberal BritainA truly Liberal Britain would be based on the concept of freedom of the individual and the understanding that this freedom can only be fully realised if everyone is supported to maximise their potential.

So.

It would celebrate diversity rather than stigmatising it. This would enable everyone to develop without suffering from the fears, frustrations and indignities which discrimination brings.

It would continue to skew spending on education towards poorer pupils, improve support for childcare and make it easier for children from modest backgrounds to get the best possible higher education or vocational training. This would give the best chance for every individual to fulfil their potential not just in terms of their career but also as participating members of society.

It would have comprehensive public health programmes and treat everybody needing medical help equally. This would reduce the life expectancy gap between rich and poor and, for example, greatly improved support for people with mental illnesses.

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Thomas Liebers

Liberal Britain is a country where vocational education is taken seriously

By Thomas Liebers | Mon 14th March 2016 - 4:29 pm

 

Your Liberal Britain‘Good for Youth, Good for Business’ is the title of a publication by the European Alliance for Apprenticeships that contains a small selection of organisations, examples and projects linked to apprenticeships in the EU, including examples from Britain.

What makes this relevant to a truly Liberal Britain?

In my view you can tell we don’t yet live in a truly Liberal Britain because:

Apprenticeships are still seen as “second class” in relation to a conventional degree.

Why does it matter?

The word liberal is often associated with freedom of choice, with tolerance, with personal liberties.

I believe strongly that young people in particular should feel free to choose an educational and career path that provides them with fulfilment in line with their interests and talents. In a truly Liberal Britain there are no occupations that are more respectable than others.

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Tobie Abel

My personal reflections on York

By Tobie Abel | Mon 14th March 2016 - 1:00 pm

York banner

Spring conference ended on a beautiful afternoon here in York, and whilst colleagues were journeying back to their own constituencies, as a local resident of the city I thought I’d spend the time saved in the commute to jot down some personal highlights.

The rally on Friday served up some great speeches from new Lib Dem members, notably from broadcaster/ army officer/ junior doctor Saleyha Ahsan who spoke passionately in defence of her profession (the medical one) but conflated the junior doctors pay strike and privatisation of the NHS.

Saturday was mostly fringe for me, and I attended the Private Renters event hosted by ‘Generation Rent’ intending to vent my spleen about the older generation treating property as a pension investment.  Lots of other attendees were landlords keen to point out the impracticalities of rent controls or the unfair nature of existing regulations.  Bah, try raising a family in a flat with one month tenancy notice mate!  This issue is clearly going to be back at conference soon.

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Gareth Epps

After the diversity debate: the hard part

By Gareth Epps | Mon 14th March 2016 - 11:47 am

Note: you can view the debate here, about 44 minutes in. The agenda for the conference is here and the Conference Dailies which include the amendments for Sunday are here.

On an issue where it is entirely possible to be on either side of the argument holding a position that is Liberal, it is time for all concerned to be respectful of that fact and to acknowledge that the real hard work on diversity is yet to be done.

Like a number of other people, I found myself supporting the Conference motion that included all-women shortlists despite my not supporting all-women shortlists .  I had drafted Amendment 2 to refocus the debate on the entirety of the party’s colossal diversity problem and ensure it wasn’t portrayed solely as a gender problem.

Amendment 2 commits the party to set out to local parties how to use the Equality Act.  It enables winnable seats to choose between candidates of equal merit in favour of those from an under-represented group.  It also commits the party to present the bizarre effect of the Act in not allowing ‘diversity shortlists’ – a concept many liberals would support.

So what next?  Two points have been made by people who opposed AWS that should be acknowledged and acted on, just as the points made forcefully in the debate by speakers from Liberal Youth about wider culture change in the party.

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Iain Donaldson

All women shortlists

By Iain Donaldson | Mon 14th March 2016 - 10:39 am

At Liberal Democrat Conference in York this weekend I have been told by a number of women that they would not want to be the candidate for a seat that selected from an all women shortlist.  I have some news for them, most of them won’t be.  The motion passed means that of the around 580 seats that the Liberal Democrats will contend 8 must have all women shortlists.

I will now issue a direct challenge to those women, don’t walk away from the party but instead as there are up to 572 seats not selecting on all women shortlists so choose one of those seats and get selected as a Parliamentary Candidate.  However, my challenge goes much further than that because right now we only have enough approved candidates who are women to fill a quarter of those seats so at the same time convince another woman who is capable of standing for parliament to do the same.

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Harry Hayfield

My response to the debate on motion F7 (Regulation of cannabis)

By Harry Hayfield | Mon 14th March 2016 - 9:09 am

 

Note: you can view the debate here, about 2 hours 48 minutes in.

First of all, kudos to our party. Who else would not only discuss an issue that is usually swept under the carpet, but broadcast that debate live on the Internet and then keep it there for everyone to watch / listen to. As a result, I shall summarise my thoughts on each of the speeches.

Norman Lamb MP (Norfolk North) is of course, absolutely correct. Reports of this nature take a long time to compile and the panel who came up with this report should be applauded for their efforts. He is also right to bring up the fact that several members of the current Cabinet, through public statements, have admitted using cannabis and therefore are guilty of hypocrisy. Therefore, in conclusion what Norman said is entirely correct, we need to have a debate, and a debate is precisely what I applaud.

Lee Dargue (Birmingham, Edgbaston) who summed up his amendment by saying “What Norman said” which is succinct and to the point, and he is right. We started the conversation about the mental health of this nation and I have to admit that conversation seems to have come to a bit of a grinding halt post general election. However, whilst recognizing that “fourteen year olds are having sex” and that “fourteen year olds are doing drugs”, I would like to counter that when I was fourteen I was not doing drugs nor having sex and I put that down wholly to being brought up by my grandparents and therefore believe that closer family discussions on these subjects would be an avenue to explore.

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Caron Lindsay

Spring Conference highlights

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 13th March 2016 - 10:26 pm

Conference rallyI’m home from York, having had about 7 hours’ sleep in the last two days. That’s not entirely due to hanging round in bars late at night with lovely people. When you are making the most controversial speech of the entire Conference, that tends to dominate.

For the second time in two years, I arrived in York to brilliant sunshine. Sadly, I didn’t get to enjoy any of the city at all. In an ideal world, I would have gone down on Thursday, had some dinner with friends and spent Friday sightseeing. One of these days I will get myself organised so that I’m not still writing speeches and doing all my pre-conference prep right up until the very last minute.

If I find myself in York again, I am definitely going back to the Barbican Guest House. Two minutes’ walk from the Conference Centre, spotlessly clean, comfortable, wonderful breakfast and a dog to pet. What more could anyone possibly want? How about a crystal decanter of sherry in the room? I am not kidding.

Here are some of my best bits of the weekend:

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Paul Walter

VIDEO: Watch the “Electing Diverse MPs” (incl. All Woman Shortlists) debate

By Paul Walter | Sun 13th March 2016 - 5:07 pm

You can watch today’s “Electing Diverse MPs” (including All Women Shortlists) debate from the York conference in full below. Just click on the central arrow:

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Paul Walter

Watch the Spring conference sessions on You Tube

By Paul Walter | Sun 13th March 2016 - 4:49 pm

You can watch the Spring conference debates on You Tube:

The Saturday sessions are here.

The Sunday sessions are here.

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Paul Walter

It’s time to focus on real life – Tim Farron’s conference speech in full

By Paul Walter | Sun 13th March 2016 - 3:48 pm

Here is the full text of Tim Farron’s keynote speech to the Liberal Democrat Spring conference in York today:

You will be unsurprised to hear that I was recently interviewed by Stylist magazine.

They asked me lots of exciting questions regarding my colossal sense of glamour.

They also wanted me to write about a woman who had been my hero.

I wanted to be completely honest, and pick the woman who was indeed my hero.

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News Meerkat

Landmark diversity change will make the Liberal Democrats look like the nation we want to represent – Sal Brinton

By News Meerkat | Sun 13th March 2016 - 2:28 pm

Liberal Democrats have embraced diversity today by voting in favour of all-women shortlists.

Building on earlier successes and designed to increase diversity amongst candidates and MPs, the motion was supported by Party Leader Tim Farron, and passed overwhelmingly at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in York.

In addition to introducing all-women shortlists, the motion ensures more spaces on constituency shortlists for BAME and LGBT+ members. It also means the Liberal Democrats will be the first political party in the country to implement all-disabled shortlists.

Party President Sal Brinton said: “”Over the last few months many party members have told us they think it is time we dealt comprehensively with the lack of diversity amongst our MPs, the wider party and parliament overall.

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Paul Walter

Party adopts All Women Shortlists after Tim Farron’s plea: ‘The time for excuses has gone’

By Paul Walter | Sun 13th March 2016 - 12:11 pm

The Liberal Democrat federal party conference at York this morning passed the “Electing Diverse MPs” motion without amendment 1, meaning that the party has adopted All Women Shortlists along with a slew of other major diversity initiatives.

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Paul Walter

Watch Tim Farron’s keynote leader’s speech to conference here at 11:45

By Paul Walter | Sun 13th March 2016 - 10:35 am

By clicking on the arrow below, you can watch this morning’s session of the Liberal Democrat spring conference in York, including Tim farron’s keynote leader’s speech at 11:45am. It should be a corker.



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Paul Walter

“Electing diverse MPs” including All women shortlists – full motion and amendments

By Paul Walter | Sun 13th March 2016 - 9:20 am

Here is the full motion, with the amendments to be debated, for “Electing diverse MPs” (including All Women Shortlists) which is about to be debated at the York conference. (Note: you can see the motion with its line numbers starting on page 57 of the agenda paper for conference here and the amendments starting on page 17 of Saturday’s Conference Daily sheet here.). A reminder that you can watch the live stream of the debate here.

The motion

F20 Electing Diverse MPs

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Paul Walter

Watch the debate on “Electing diverse MPs” including All Women Shortlists here at 9:40

By Paul Walter | Sun 13th March 2016 - 8:30 am

By clicking on the arrow in the box below, you can watch the debate on “Electing diverse MPs (which will include consideration of All Women Shortlists) when it starts at 9:40 this morning. Below the box I’ve shown the text of the motion, together with the amendments to be debated. (Note: you can see the motion with its line numbers starting on page 57 of the agenda paper for conference here and the amendments starting on page 17 of Saturday’s Conference Daily sheet here.).

Also here, by clicking on the arrow below, you can watch the whole conference session today from 9am until 1pm, including Tim’s leader’s speech at 11:45.

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Paul Walter

Britain must lead – not leave

By Paul Walter | Sun 13th March 2016 - 7:34 am

Here is the full text of Tim Farron’s speech to the York conference rally this weekend:

When you’re sat in the front row, it’s impossible to miss your cue to get on stage.

But for those of you who were at conference in the autumn, you may have noticed I was a little late to the stage.

I was sitting very happily having a cup of tea in the green room, completely oblivious to what was happening

I didn’t think I was due on for at least 5 more minutes.

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Paul Walter

Liberal Leave campaign

By Paul Walter | Sat 12th March 2016 - 7:03 pm

LiberalLeave

We’ve been asked about the Liberal Leave campaign, which is working for a “No” vote in the forthcoming EU referendum.

The campaign has a Facebook page, a website and a Twitter feed.

The Facebook page features a couple of pieces of literature being given out by supporters at the York conference. One of them is on the right and, together with the Liberal Leave website, tells us about some of the people supporting the campaign:

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Paul Walter

Watch the live stream of the York spring conference here

By Paul Walter | Sat 12th March 2016 - 5:37 pm

It’s on YouTube here.

Or you can click on the arrow below to see it:



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NewsHound

Grace Goodlad and Duncan Borrowman’s new pub in Oswestry is open

By NewsHound | Sat 12th March 2016 - 12:55 pm

Grace Goodlad and Duncan Borrowman have won a whole stack of awards from CAMRA from when they ran the Orpington Liberal Club.

Now they’ve taken on a new challenge and have bought a pub in Oswestry.

The local paper, the Shropshire Star,  covered The Bailey Head’s opening earlier this week. They even have video of the event:

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Caron Lindsay

Two contrasting videos from the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 12th March 2016 - 11:55 am

Two contrasting videos from the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign this week.

The first for International Women’s Day – positive, strong, vibrant and a joy to watch:

And then a rather more boring one, with 6 facts. Yes, all of them are right, but look at the images that go with them. Who is doing the shopping and looking after the children?

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Caron Lindsay

Liberal Democrat Conference votes in favour of fracking ban

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 12th March 2016 - 11:52 am

After an at times heated debate, Conference has just voted to ban fracking in England.

An amendment proposed by former Energy and climate change secretary Sir Edward Davey which called for the regulation of the current exploratory stage and for an independent review of the evidence into the role that shale gas can play was defeated by Conference.

 

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Stephen Tall

LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League: how it stands after Week 29

By Stephen Tall | Sat 12th March 2016 - 10:55 am

Congratulations to Edward Douglas, whose Use Your Ed (1,650 points) lead the LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League after Week 29, just ahead of the two Marks, Finney (1,636) and Widdop (1,625).

Oh, and as it may not happen again, ever, I’m going to lead a round of applause for the 10th placed team this week. That’s, erm, me, just sneaking on to the leaders’ board.

ldv 29

There are 219 players in total.

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Duncan Brack

Agenda 2020 update

By Duncan Brack | Sat 12th March 2016 - 9:45 am

Readers will remember the essay competition run by the Federal Policy Committee as part of our Agenda 2020 exercise; Liberal Democrat Voice was good enough to publish several of the entries. We asked participants to write no more than 1,000 words on what it means to be a Liberal Democrat today. We received a total of sixty entries, cut them down – after much debate! – to a shortlist of nine, and invited party members to vote for the winner.

Today we can announce the winner: Edwin Burrows, a member from Monmouth. He only joined the party in May after the election, and the spring conference will be his very first. He says that although for many years he had campaigned for liberal causes, after the election he felt that he needed to stop sitting on the sidelines and get involved. Tim Farron has just awarded him his prize.

In his essay he aimed to boil the Liberal Democrat approach down to one key simple message, to relate it to everyday life, not to abstract principles, and to move people, to serve as a battle cry for our fightback. I think it does all of those things. You can read it here.

The votes were in fact pretty evenly spread, so we are also announcing today two second places, who tied, with exactly the same number of votes: Richard Flowers  and Paul Kennedy. 

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Denis Mollison

Discussing electoral reform in York

By Denis Mollison | Sat 12th March 2016 - 8:55 am

Five years after the Liberal Democrats comprehensively messed up on electoral reform, the ludicrously disproportional 2015 general election result has put it back on the agenda.

There will be two related fringes at York, organised by Pro-PR (1-2 p.m. Saturday, Hilton) on the idea of an electoral pact for 2020, and by the Electoral Reform Society (6.15-7.15 p.m. Saturday, Novotel) on the idea of a Constitutional Convention.

Electoral reform is about more than fairness (avoiding disproportionality, safe seats and the need for tactical voting). As Ed Straw sets out in his recent Treaty for Government, our present voting system of FPTP distorts the fabric of politics, leading to wasteful `zigzag government’. Getting politicians to allow change in how they are elected is always a difficult matter, as the long struggles for voting rights illustrate. FPTP is defended by the two parties that benefit from it; perhaps the greatest current hope lies in Labour’s recognising how difficult it is going to be for them to win a majority in the foreseeable future.

Opportunities for reform in Scotland came with Labour’s rush to devolution in 1997, and the Liberal Democrats’ successful coalition negotiation with Labour in 2003.

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