Paul Tyler

Paul Tyler writes: Boundary changes focus the minds of Tory hopefuls

By Paul Tyler | Mon 29th February 2016 - 5:21 pm

If you think Tory rivalry is at fever pitch, you ain’t seen nothing yet.  The accidental coincidence of the forthcoming constituency boundary changes with the aftermath of the EU Referendum campaign may come to haunt David Cameron or his successor.

The imminence of the boundary review – with its planned reduction of Commons Members from 650 to 600 – means that almost every single Conservative MP will be facing his or her new “selectorate” in a  matter of a few months’ time.   The volume of Tory MPs siding with “LEAVE” is hardly surprising in that light.  Tory activists are increasingly Eurosceptic and the Daily Telegraph rates them currently 75% for “LEAVE”. This makes them even more unrepresentative of Conservative voters, and of the electorate as a whole, than previously.

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Mary Reid

How to criminalise virtually everyone

By Mary Reid | Mon 29th February 2016 - 4:03 pm

 

I had not heard of the Manifesto Club until today, when the BBC Today programme featured their report into Public Space Protection Orders (1 hour 21 minutes in).

On their website they claim:

The Manifesto Club campaigns against the hyperregulation of everyday life. We support free movement across borders, free expression and free association. We challenge booze bans, photo bans, vetting and speech codes – all new ways in which the state regulates everyday life on the streets, in workplaces and in our private lives.

We believe that the freedom issues of the twenty-first century cut across old political boundaries, and require new schools of political thought, and new methods of campaigning and organisation.

Our membership hails from all political traditions and none, and from all corners of the world.

Back to Public Space Protection Orders: last month the Manifesto Club published a report called PSPOs: A busybodies’ charter. These are orders that local councils have been allowed to enact over the last year or so under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act, with minimal consultation. Indeed 79 local authorities have already done so, usually because they want to reduce anti-social behaviour. But the impact of these orders sometimes goes far beyond the intended targets and can seriously curb the human rights of citizens.

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David Cooper

South Central Regional Conference- Can we muster Euro enthusiasm?

By David Cooper | Mon 29th February 2016 - 2:50 pm

catherine bearderThe European in-out referendum dominated the South Central Regional Conference last Saturday. Speakers included Catherine Bearder, our own MEP, who spoke of the complete negativity of the large contingent of UKIP in the European Parliament.

Not everyone accepted that the EU is a force for good. As one questioner asked, how can our party muster enthusiasm to campaign for an organization that is obviously undemocratic and very deeply flawed? Perhaps the Outers are right; there really are sunlit uplands outside the EU, where the UK can benefit from truly representative democracy, run companies uninhibited by red tape and carry out extensive worldwide trade.

As a Libdem member who is lukewarm about the EU, I have found this a tricky question.

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Phil Aisthorpe

Remain is losing momentum – time to change tack

By Phil Aisthorpe | Mon 29th February 2016 - 12:51 pm

 

With Boris declaring for Leave at a point where Remain has finally played its less than decisive hand, there is a distinct feeling abroad that the referendum momentum has shifted from Remain towards Leave.

As I see it, the Remain camp is stuck with five problems.

  1. People have had enough of a constant stream of dire warnings about life after Brexit and are coming to the conclusion that the Remain argument is based on scaremongering.
  2. We face a largely hostile press that will continue to urge the public to support Leave.
  3. The ‘what have the Romans ever done for us’ view of our EU membership has produced a list that is good but not compelling.
  4. The Dad’s Army ‘us and them’ view of Europe creates an atmosphere of suspicion that favours a Leave result.
  5. Most crucially of all, the Remain case lacks passion and vision.
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Rebecca Plenderleith

Casual sexism undermines the drive for gender balance

By Rebecca Plenderleith | Mon 29th February 2016 - 11:20 am

“Bright, intelligent and brave” those are the words that Willie Rennie used to describe me in his speech to Conference. My direct messages on twitter were somewhat different. I had to disable the function to receive messages from anyone but my followers – but that didn’t stop those who already followed me. One man even suggested I’d made up the story for the attention. Because that’s all women’s experiences are to some men. Nothing but a ploy to get attention from men in any form of power.

The same people cry out “We need more women in politics but in a fair way and we need a meritocracy” and “We don’t need positive action, we need to encourage more women to put themselves forward”.

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Simon Parker

Is it possible for us to “take back control of our borders”?

By Simon Parker | Mon 29th February 2016 - 9:32 am

 

A number of problems spring to mind as we plan to “take back control of our borders” in the event of Brexit. Inevitably envisioning various scenarios demands a degree of speculation, but the following causes me a good deal of concern.

I suspect Calais may become less of a flash point, though I have an inkling Cherbourg may develop as more of a destination de choix.

Four times a week a giant ferry leaves there for Rosslare. For desperate people that have trekked across a continent and a half I doubt it’ll be seen as too great an added imposition.

Once there the UK border is now approx 277 km away, all 500km of it!

Crossings are available by motorway, country roads, dirt tracks, rail, boat and any number of random fields and….yes.. bogs.

The border was policed, often quite officiously and occasionally with bullets, between 1923 and 1993. It is one of the great triumphs of late 1990s diplomacy that this is no longer the case. Once breached, a trek north to Antrim brings the wretched traveller to within 12 miles of the Scottish coastline,

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The Voice

In full: Tim Farron’s speech to Scottish Liberal Democrat Democrat Conference

By The Voice | Sun 28th February 2016 - 8:11 pm

Here is Tim Farron’s speech to Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference:

It is only a couple of weeks since I was out on the doorstep with Alex Cole Hamilton in Edinburgh West. I have to tell you, Alex has got some serious staying power. Not even his trip to A+E after he was attacked by the Hound of the Baskervilles, well a dog in Corstorphine, could stop him getting out on the stump that same evening with me.

We returned to the office after a night out on the doorsteps, for a pizza and politics event… which was great, although whilst I was doing the politics, everyone else ate all the pizza. So, I’m not staying over this time, I’m getting the last train home. I’m not risking falling victim to a repeat of the Edinburgh vegetarian pizza crisis. Those SNP cuts are hitting hard!

But our team in Edinburgh West had earned their pizzas… because they are making an incredible effort and Alex embodies the Liberal spirit for which we are the only standard bearers in Scotland. And it is clearly paying dividends.

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #451

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 28th February 2016 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 451st 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 (21 – 27 February, 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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Caron Lindsay

Scottish Lib Dem Conference in tweets

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 28th February 2016 - 6:01 pm

I’ve just been going through the tweets from Scottish Lib Dem Conference. Here’s a selection.

Now, who’s that chairing the debate?

A stop on Willie and Alex’s World Tour of Nurseries

But some people couldn’t concentrate on the debate..

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The Voice

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

By The Voice | Sun 28th February 2016 - 3:55 pm

7 bestMany thanks to the  11,700 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Tim Farron: Boris has had more positions on Europe than the Kama Sutra (63 comments) by Paul Walter

In which I get a letter from the Leader of the Scottish Tories that tells a blatant lie (11 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Fear and loathing at the coalface: how to combat it (72 comments) by Katharine Pindar

Clegg says Tories are squandering our legacy but it wasn’t tuition fees that lost it for us (36 comments) by The Voice

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The Voice

In Full: Willie Rennie’s speech to Scottish Conference: We stand with the weak against the strong, and will use the power of government to tackle the social and economic injustices that limit freedom.

By The Voice | Sun 28th February 2016 - 2:26 pm

Willie Rennie must have been reading Lib Dem Voice because he opened his speech by quoting from Becca’s blog which we featured 10 days ago. He got in touch with her and she gave him permission to share her story.

He argued that it was time to see major investment in mental health and for it to be given party with physical health.

He also set out what the party would do with the £475 million generated for nurseries, schools, colleges and a pupil premium.

I want to talk to you about a new member of our party.

Becca Plenderleith.  She is a bright, intelligent and brave young woman.  We are fortunate to call her a fellow Liberal Democrat. She has given me permission to tell you this story.

What she did was something simple.  She told her story.  She wrote about her experience of the health service.

Only a few years ago she was suffering from depression and following a break up from her boyfriend she considered suicide.

What happened next is something that must be condemned to the past.
She was told by a doctor at accident and emergency that she was a drain on the NHS.

No support, no treatment, just a lecture.

But Becca is making a difference.  Making a difference by speaking out.

And the response is encouraging.

Every time I now mention mental health on a public platform the silent nods around the room fill me with hope.

Hope that the stigma is fading, hope that there is a growing demand for change, hope that this will lead to the unstoppable change to our NHS so that mental health is given the equal support it deserves.

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The Voice

Jo Swinson: Why I now back all women shortlists

By The Voice | Sun 28th February 2016 - 1:18 pm

12496325_10207909151261642_614223791405517749_oBelow are the two speeches Jo Swinson made to Scottish Conference yesterday. The Diversity Debate took place in two halves. The first was on a constitutional amendment which would allow the Scottish Party to implement arrangements on gender balance which had been approved by conference. One amendment to that was submitted, and supported by the movers, changing gender balance to the much wider “diversity”. The risk of such an approach was that a 2/3 majority was needed for it to pass, but the working group had been advised that a constitutional amendment was vital to enable any new arrangements to be implemented.

It’s worth pointing out that in the intervening period, Jo has done so much to encourage and support women candidates, running training events and supporting so many as they embarked on selection campaigns.

Here is her speech proposing the constitutional amendment:

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Caron Lindsay

Caron’s Sunday Selection: Must-read articles from the Sunday papers

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 28th February 2016 - 11:55 am

sundaypapsToday’s Sunday newspapers make interesting reading.

The Independent covers a report which suggests that drone technology could be a threat to nuclear submarines, meaning that our nuclear deterrent could be “rendered irrelevant.”

Paul Ingram, the chief executive of Basic, said: “In the past anti-submarine warfare has been carried out by a small number of highly capable ships and manned aircraft. Their task has been like that of a handful of police looking for a fugitive in a vast wilderness. Lacking the manpower to cover the whole area, they have to concentrate their forces on the most likely paths and hideouts, and hope for a lucky break.

With the advent cheap drones, the police are joined by thousands more searchers, who are less well-equipped but have the numbers to walk shoulder to shoulder and sweep the entire area. Escape becomes impossible.”

You know how the Department of Work and Pensions likes to encourage people to report their neighbours for benefit fraud? Well, the Observer finds that they spend time investigating them and find 85% of these reports to be completely false. Tim Farron is quoted:

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Joe Zammit-Lucia

What it is to be a Liberal

By Joe Zammit-Lucia | Sun 28th February 2016 - 10:45 am

“I really mean it when I say that I’m not sure I fully understand politics right now, which is an odd thing to say when I’ve spent my life in it.” So said Tony Blair in a recent interview. A bunch of mavericks and challengers everywhere have turned politics on its head. Why are they being so successful?

What ordinary people everywhere can see and feel in their bones and their everyday lives is that our current political and economic system is unsustainable. Yet the established parties seem to be offering them just more of the same – with the odd little tweak here and there. The electorate seems hungry for something else.

What the mainstream has lost is the ability to re-imagine the world. Mavericks like Trump and others have stepped into that space. We may feel that the new world they imagine is dystopic at best, horrifying at worst – and unacheivable. But more and more of the electorate seems be leaning towards taking a punt on their vision.

After so many years in power, Blair also seems to have forgotten the key to his own early success. He too, when first elected, presented – and embodied – a vision. A vision of a fresh start. A modern, forward looking Britain that was young in spirit and could break out of tired right vs left arguments to find a Third Way. Just like Margaret Thatcher before him had offered people a vision of a post-imperial Britain that could be effective, productive and great again after a disastrous, if well-meaning, Labour administration that culminated in the winter of discontent.

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Caron Lindsay

Bold policies, lively debates, controversy, diversity and new members – the highlights of Scottish Liberal Democrat conference

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 28th February 2016 - 9:28 am

As pre-election conferences go,  the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ gathering in Edinburgh was a strange one. Conferences taking place within weeks of a major national elections can be a bit bland with no hotly contested debates. This one was very different. We had some really controversial subjects up for discussion, with amendments on smacking, fracking and a long motion on diversity to get to grips with, with the leader taking a massive risk on the latter, needing to take 2/3 of the hall with him to pass a constitutional amendment.

Also, pre-election conferences can be little more than a procession of smartly dressed candidates getting as close to the party line as possible. This time they had to share the stage with so many of the new members who have already been such assets to the party. It was so good to walk into the room and see people I didn’t recognise make such brilliant speeches.

Members left the Assembly Rooms last night with more confidence that we were getting things right than I’ve seen in years. We’re under no illusions about the opportunities and threats that polling day in 9 weeks’ time brings, but we are pleased that we are going out there with a set of policies and well-articulated values that resonates with voters’ concerns.

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Paul Walter

Immigration: pride over our policy, the importance of words…and a mea culpa

By Paul Walter | Sat 27th February 2016 - 2:07 pm

A little while ago I was incensed with being bombarded day and night by media stories about Cameron and negotiations about benefits for EU migrants. This is a blog, at the end of the day (good blogging term there), so I blogged about it. What came out was a knee-jerk rant (“Migrants’ benefits debate is a proxy channel for xenophobia in some quarters” (the last three words being added after publication)). Some of the best blogging is based on knee-jerk rants. Not this time. On this occasion I should have been a little more careful with my words.

In the end, I raised the white flag in the ensuing debate and modified my article to emphasise that I was only talking about xenophobia “in some quarters” and that “I acknowledge that many have genuine and sincere concerns about this policy area for legitimate reasons.”

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Paul Walter

George Osborne’s decisions are coming back to haunt him

By Paul Walter | Sat 27th February 2016 - 11:23 am

Commenting on George Osborne’s planned spending cuts, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson Susan Kramer has said:

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Caron Lindsay

What’s going on at Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference today?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 27th February 2016 - 7:55 am

In the hall

Scottish Conference Saturday

The main business of the morning at Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference is a much longer than usual Party AGM. Normally, the business is concluded in half an hour, but it’s been scheduled for two hours so that Willie Rennie’s motion on diversity can be debated. The motion is accompanied by a constitutional amendment which requires a two-thirds majority to pass. The motion calls for wide-ranging measures, including limited use of all-women shortlists, ring-fenced funding for candidates from under-represented groups, a duty on party office holders to  drive forward diversity at all levels and numerous other measures to tackle diversity at every level. The Leader would be required to report to Conference twice a year on progress made. 

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The Voice

Tim Farron writes: ‘renegotiation not a game changer’

By The Voice | Fri 26th February 2016 - 5:30 pm

Thursday 18 February

Arriving at St Pancras for the Eurostar early on Thursday morning, I found myself amongst a small gaggle of lobby journalists, all clutching tickets to the same destination – Brussels, presumably with ‘open returns’ with no one being sure how long the negotiations would take.

We were, of course, heading to Brussels ahead of the summit at which David Cameron would try and thrash out the last minute ‘grand deal’ that would allow him to campaign for Britain to stay in Europe.

The substance of the deal has been held up as the greatest political settlement of our time by his more loyal supporters and dismissed as entirely irrelevant by the usual Eurosceptic suspects in the Conservative party.

Neither styling is fair. The renegotiation is not a game changer, but it shows that our European partners are open to working together to achieve reform in Europe.

I was heading to Brussels to talk to the liberal leaders and Prime Ministers from across Europe at the ALDE Pre-Summit meeting.

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Chris White

David Owen – remember him?

By Chris White | Fri 26th February 2016 - 4:30 pm

William Rodgers, Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins & David Owen with funds from SDP supporters, Feb 1981

Some of us were members of the SDP and recall still the various reasons why this new political party was created – not least to combat the anti-European mood which then gripped Labour (the Conservatives were largely fine on the issue. The irony…)

Six years later, Owen refused to accept the will of his own Party to merge with the Liberals. He pretended for a while that the majority who joined the merged party had somehow ‘left’ the SDP and he could therefore continue as Leader of the much reduced force. He finally killed it off when it was overtaken by the Monster Raving Loony Party in a by-election in Bootle.

Since then he has floated around the political scene, with sporadic not terribly perceptive interventions on Radio 4 as a ‘former Foreign Secretary’ and the occasional advice to his imagined followers to vote this or that way in General Elections.

So it comes as no surprise that he is reduced to appearing in the Sun urging people to trash their future by voting for Brexit.

His arguments are thin to say the least. For example this insight:

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Michael Hall

What this country needs: the conversion of life peerages into hereditary ones

By Michael Hall | Fri 26th February 2016 - 3:56 pm

House of Lords - Some rights reserved by UK Parliament

The House of Lords (Maximum Membership) Bill was published only yesterday and was scheduled for a second reading today.

It is one of a number of Bills introduced by backbench Conservative MPs listed for second reading which seem off the wall and it is a wonder that they were scheduled for second reading debate without having first been printed.

One would assume from its title that this Bill has the sole purpose of limiting the number of active peers. It does that and, no doubt because the Bill has been rushed into print at the last minute, the dates for it to take effect are all in the past.

It provides for a maximum number of 650 peers, and it also provides for compulsory retirement in order of seniority to reduce the number of active peers to that magic figure.

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Joe Otten

Playing chicken with a 27 headed opponent

By Joe Otten | Fri 26th February 2016 - 2:33 pm

The game of chicken involves driving head on towards your opponent, as they do the same, and the loser is the one who swerves out of the way first. If neither swerves, then both lose in a much bigger sense. I was reminded of this as Michael Howard was trotting out the usual arguments for Brexit on the Today programme this morning

Howard argued that a trade deal with the EU would still happen, bringing us continued access to the Single Market, because it is in their interests. He even suggested that following a vote to leave, the rump EU should …

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The Voice

Razing half a camp with bulldozers is not a solution

By The Voice | Fri 26th February 2016 - 1:02 pm

Dunkirk refugee camp

Razing half a camp with bulldozers, flanked by riot police is not a solution Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has said as the French government was given the green light to plan to clear part of the Calais migrant camp known as the ‘Jungle’.

This situation is a heart-breaking symptom of a wider human humanitarian disaster in the Middle East. Razing half a camp with bulldozers, flanked by riot police is not a solution.

Moving people from a tent to a shipping container will have very little impact.  The families I met in Calais were people and families from places like Iraq and Syria fleeing war and instability.  These people are trying to look for a place of peace where they can make a new life for them and their family, at least until it’s safe enough to return home. These measures will not help one jot to deal with the issue.

In the camp it is estimated that there are around 300 unaccompanied children. The UK government should do the right thing and urgently act to identify children with family in Britain and offer them refuge immediately.

I call for assurances that these refugees will be treated humanely, rather than as criminals, and for the French authorities to set out a long term, sustainable plan for them. Without these answers it is more likely these desperate people will head back to the channel tunnel and attempt deadly crossings once again.

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The Voice

Boundary Review is a cynical calculation 

By The Voice | Fri 26th February 2016 - 11:40 am

House of Commons. Crown Copyright applies to this photo - http://www.flickr.com/photos/uk_parliament/4642915654/

Reducing the number of MPs from 650 to 600 without also looking to cut ministers and a review of the House of Lords means the boundary review is being conducted on a fatally flawed basis.

Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Constitutional and Political Reform Paul Tyler said: 

This boundary review is being conducted on a fatally flawed basis. The Conservatives have knocked 2 million people office the electoral register, mainly in densely populated areas, as part of a cynical calculation that the boundary review will produce fewer urban, Conservative-hostile constituencies.

Reducing the number of MPs without also reducing the size of the Executive is a mistake. With the pay-roll vote approaching half the membership of the government side of the Commons, the power of government to control Parliament is increased. And with no prospect of democratic reform of the Lords, we are edging towards a dangerous lack of democratic legitimacy in parliament.

The Conservatives are blatantly attempting to fix the system to keep themselves in power.

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The Voice

Clegg says Tories are squandering our legacy. But it wasn’t tuition fees that lost it for us

By The Voice | Fri 26th February 2016 - 10:20 am

clegg cameron rose garden

Nick Clegg has used his first major interview since stepping down as Leader of the Liberal Democrats to take a swipe at his former Coalition colleagues for ‘squandering’ their legacy. In today’s Independent he states:

The rhetoric at the beginning from David Cameron was good. I held my tongue. But I am afraid the very thin gruel the Prime Minister has announced, and the deeply regressive steps taken by his Chancellor, means it is insecure, hollow double-speak.

He has drawn up a long ‘charge sheet’ about the current Government: …

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The Voice

‘Ofcom have bottled it over Openreach’ – Farron

By The Voice | Fri 26th February 2016 - 9:42 am

 

 

Tim Farron by Paul Walter

Tim Farron has commented over Ofcom’s decision over the future of Openreach:

Ofcom had a chance to make a massive change in the sector and have bottled it. I am now calling on the Government to be bold and bring forward plans to break up Openreach and BT, and inject real competition into internet provision. If they won’t, we will, and I will challenge them to back it. Are they on the the side of entrepreneurship or not?

Most of my constituents count themselves lucky if they can

…

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The Voice

Willie Rennie to announce help for disadvantaged pupils in Scottish schools

By The Voice | Fri 26th February 2016 - 8:55 am

Willie and ACH on nursery visitWillie Rennie will give key details of how the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ plan for a Pupil Premium will help children from disadvantaged backgrounds in Scottish schools when he delivers his keynote speech to conference this afternoon.

He’ll also outline how the whole £475 million raised from a 1p rise in the basic rate of Income Tax to pay for investment in education would work.

Willie will commit £170m a year of that investment towards a pupil premium in Scotland. £1,400 will be available for every primary pupil …

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Caron Lindsay

What’s going on at Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference today?

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 26th February 2016 - 7:55 am

Today, Scottish Liberal Democrats gather in Edinburgh with less than 10 weeks to go before the Scottish Parliament elections. The Spring Conference is being held in the Assembly Rooms on George Street.

In the hall

On the agenda in the hall today are public services (delivery and empowering workers), tax reform, establishing a Scottish Office of Budget Responsibility to give independent analysis to economic forecasts, the rights of children and young people and giving power to island communities.

Scottish Conference agenda Friday

Willie Rennie makes his keynote speech, too.

On the Fringe

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Antony Hook

EU Ref Roundup: PM enters fray, Jobs, Sterling, India, Ryanair, Drugs, Birds…

By Antony Hook | Thu 25th February 2016 - 10:43 pm

The Prime Minister has started campaigning. David Cameron has correctly said that this referendum is more important than the General Election. He began his fight with a speech at O2’s HQ in Slough.  You can read or watch the speech and Q&A afterwards, here.

The PM began by talking about his reform deal. As I’ve said before “I’ve made it less bad” is insufficient to win. He needs to make the case “it’s a good thing” and he did go on to that, talking about the economy and security.

Mr Cameron said:

Far better off inside the European Union. Three million jobs are dependent on our trade with

…

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Catherine Bearder

Catherine Bearder MEP writes…Government U-turns on EU flood funding in victory for Lib Dems

By Catherine Bearder | Thu 25th February 2016 - 6:35 pm

As many of you know Tim Farron and I have been fighting for months to persuade the government to apply for EU solidarity funding for flood victims. The European Commission had confirmed to me last December that this money was there for the taking, so it was flabbergasting that the government had so far refused to apply on the flimsy grounds that it would not offer immediate help (an application takes a few months to process). The real reason I suspect was that the government was worried about upsetting its eurosceptic backbenchers by asking for help from the rest of Europe in a time of need.

So it came as something of a shock to find out today that finally the Conservatives have U-turned and will be making a last-minute application. This is a huge victory for the Liberal Democrats, who have been piling the pressure on the government on this issue from day one. And of course it is fantastic news for the communities across the North of England and Scotland whose lives were turned upside-down by the floods and who will finally get the additional funding they deserve.

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