Liberal Democrat Voice

Watch: Catherine Bearder explains why we have to win this Referendum

By The Voice | Mon 15th February 2016 - 4:26 pm

Catherine tells us that she is not lonely in Europe because she is part of a vibrant Liberal group. And tells us how the European Union protects birds of prey.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged catherine bearder | 5 Comments

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Simon Hughes to join Open University

By Mary Reid | Mon 15th February 2016 - 2:50 pm

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According to the BBC, Simon Hughes has accepted a post at the Open University, as their Head of Public Affairs. This will be a maternity cover for one year.

The OU site gives this great quote from author Bill Bryson:

What other nation in the world could have given us William Shakespeare, pork pies, Christopher Wren, Windsor Great Park, The Open University, Gardeners’ Question Time and the chocolate digestive biscuit?

We wish him well!

Posted in News | Tagged open university and simon hughes | 16 Comments

ALDC’s by-election report 11 February 2016

By ALDC | Mon 15th February 2016 - 11:51 am

Last week saw four principal council by-elections take place. In Eastleigh (BC), the Liberal Democrats held a seat in West End North ward with 53%. Janice Asman was elected with a 267 vote majority over the Conservatives, with the Lib Dem vote share increasing by 13.2% from the ward’s previous election last May.

In Hounslow (LB), there was a hold for Labour in Cranford with 54.7%, whilst Liberal Democrat Hina Malik polled 11.5% in third place, a vote share increase of 5.3% from two years ago. There were also comfortable holds for Labour in Coventry (MB) and Bolton (MB), with Lib Dems Christopher Glenn and Gary Veevers receiving 5.7% and 4.2% of the vote respectively.

Posted in News | Tagged aldc and local government by-elections | 1 Comment

LibLink: Julian Huppert on criticisms of the Investigatory Powers Bill

By Mary Reid | Mon 15th February 2016 - 10:18 am

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Three parliamentary committees have now reported on the Home Secretary’s draft Investigatory Powers Bill. All three have raised major criticisms of both the powers proposed and the way they are set out.

That is the opening paragraph in an article by Julian Huppert posted on OpenDemocracy titled Three strikes against the IP bill.

He quotes the reports by the Science and Technology Committee on 9th February, by the Intelligence and Security Committee also on 9th February and finally by the Joint Committee with the remit to examine this bill which reported on 11th February. All were highly critical of various aspects of the Bill, and of the second in particular he claims that:

The proposals around communications data are described as “inconsistent and largely incomprehensible”.

Posted in LibLink | Tagged Investigatory Powers Bill and julian huppert | Leave a comment

How Liberal Youth London spent Valentine’s Day

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 14th February 2016 - 8:00 pm

Facebook reminded me today that it’s four years since the big Valentine’s Day march for equal marriage in Scotland. I was there, along with many from the excellent Liberal Youth Scotland, whose motion was the first Liberal Democrat motion backing equal marriage to pass at a Conference.

Liberal Youth London spent today in a similar spirit. They went on an “embassy crawl”, bringing a pro-equality message to embassies of countries with an atrocious record on LGBT+ rights. It was big and bright and fun. Here are some of their tweets from the day:

#TeamLibDem demanding equal rights for all today. pic.twitter.com/GTU2sXC8MS

— Liberal Youth London (@LiberalYouthLDN) February 14, 2016

Getting ready to march for #loveoutloud Love is a human right #HappyValentinesDay pic.twitter.com/ur41ZBFemD

— Elaine Bagshaw (@esbagshaw) February 14, 2016

Posted in News | 12 Comments

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Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #450

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 14th February 2016 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our xxxth 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 (-, 2015), 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:

Posted in Best of the blogs | Leave a comment

Do you have questions about the Electing Diverse MPs motion?

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 14th February 2016 - 6:00 pm

There’s been a lot of discussion online about the Electing Diverse MPs motion that’s coming to Federal Conference in just four weeks’ time.

A lot of the discussion has centred on All Women Shortlists – but the motion is about so much more than that.

Its supporters have set up a Facebook page to answer any questions people have about the proposal in the motion and to make the case for its acceptance. Already over 200 people are taking part.

Here’s a flavour of the issues being discussed:

WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS THIS MOTION IS TRYING TO SOLVE?

– SUPPLY: we don’t have enough approved candidates full-stop, let alone from underrepresented groups. So we want to set up a Task Force to co-ordinate efforts to pro-actively recruit more.

Posted in News | Tagged diversity and liberal democrat spring conference 2016 | 84 Comments

Lord Eric Avebury talks about his life

By The Voice | Sun 14th February 2016 - 4:31 pm

Earlier today, we heard the sad new that Liberal Democrat peer Eric Avebury had died.

In January last year, he sat down at the National Liberal Club to talk about his life with his son John and liberal historian Seth Thevoz:

A Liberal Life: Eric Lubbock at the National Liberal Club from John Lubbock on Vimeo.

Posted in News | Tagged eric avebury | 8 Comments

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

By The Voice | Sun 14th February 2016 - 3:45 pm

7 best Many thanks to the 11,400 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Baroness Sal Brinton writes…Electing diverse MPs (106 comments) by Sal Brinton

Do you agree with Kirsty and Tim about banning Delilah? (42 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Is there a chance that the new Top Gear will be very entertaining but not (borderline) offensive? (40 comments) by Paul Walter

A practical suggestion to improve the UK’s influence within the EU (27 comments) by Robert Boyle

Posted in Site news | Leave a comment

Lord Eric Avebury passes away

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 14th February 2016 - 2:16 pm

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It has seemed from Eric Avebury’s blog recently that he has been nearing the end of his life. His openness over the past few years in speaking about his terminal Leukaemia in the years since it was first diagnosed has been so helpful to many.

His family announced earlier that Eric died this morning. The sympathy of everyone at LDV goes to his wife Lindsay and his family.

Until December, he had attended the House of Lords every day that it had sat, bar a few days in June last year:

With the exception of a few days missed in June last year, due to ill health, Eric attended the House of Lords on every day that it sat. However, he last attended in December, before his illness overcame him. He died of acute myeloid leukaemia on Sunday February 14, at his home in London.

That’s pretty impressive for an 87 year old.

Eric was a lovely, kind man who went out of his way to fight for those who were oppressed across the world. He fought for LGBT rights, against caste discrimination and for human rights and social justice. He wrote often for LDV and was always unfailingly kind and wise. You can read all his posts here.

Tim Farron: “a true champion of the liberal cause”

Tim Farron paid warm tribute to him:

Posted in News | 11 Comments

Scottish Lib Dems to oppose jail terms of less than a year

By NewsHound | Sun 14th February 2016 - 1:00 pm

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have announced another major policy. A few weeks go, they announced their penny on income tax to raise £475 million for investment in education.

Today, Justice spokesperson Alison McInnes has announced that the party will oppose prison sentences of less than a year.

From the BBC:

As part of their 2016 election manifesto, the Scottish Liberal Democrats are to formally back doubling that, by extending the presumption to 12 months.

Justice spokeswoman Alison McInnes said prison sentences for more serious offenders should be complemented by “tough” community service programmes.
“One of the main priorities for Scottish Liberal Democrats is having a criminal justice system where if someone breaks the law, they are swiftly brought to justice,” she said. “But we also believe offenders deserve a chance to get back on track and community rehabilitation is a fundamental part of that.

Posted in News | Tagged justice, Scotland, scottish liberal democrats and scottish parliament elections 2016 | 10 Comments

Who are your LGBT heroes?

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 14th February 2016 - 10:25 am

February is LGBT History Month so I thought it might be a good idea to talk about our LGBT heroes. Let us know in the comments who you admire and why.

Here are three of mine to start us off.

First of all, Dr Meg John Barker, who is an academic specialising in gender identity, sexuality and relationships. From their Open University profile:

Meg John is a senior lecturer in psychology at the Open University and has published many academic books and papers on topics including non-monogamous relationships, sadomasochism, counselling, and mindfulness, as well as co-editing the journal Psychology & Sexuality. They were the lead author of The Bisexuality Report – which has informed UK policy and practice around bisexuality. They are involved in running many public events on sexuality and relationships, including Sense about Sex, Critical Sexology, and Gender & Sexuality Talks. Meg John is also a UKCP accredited therapist working with gender and sexually diverse clients. Meg John’s 2013 book Rewriting the Rules is a friendly guide love, sex and relationships

I find their blog, Rewriting the Rules, a really useful learning resource, written in an engaging and interesting way.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged lgbt history month | 12 Comments

Moving beyond fightback

By Mark Argent | Sun 14th February 2016 - 8:55 am

Have we reached the point when it is right to move from fightback to something more positive?

Talking of fightback made sense for a while after the election, when we bruised after an almighty pounding but were also experiencing a membership surge.

Even recently I have seen talk of fightback on web sites and in emails to activists in different parts of the country and even in literature going out to the public. I am thinking in terms of things inviting people to be part of the fightback, or proclaiming that the fightback is on, or linking fightback to having more members than this time last year.

The snag is that this can sound as if we are fighting back against our political opponents and against the electorate who deserted us. This might be compounded by grief over electoral losses. Though understandable, it is not a reason for people to vote Liberal Democrat. But we have a rich heritage and set of values, well-summarised in the preamble to the constitution. That, and the policies that flow from it, are well-worth voting for.

Posted in News | Tagged #libdemfightback and future strategy | 32 Comments

Watch: Highlights from the Lib Dem In campaign launch

By The Voice | Sat 13th February 2016 - 11:55 am

Here are the highlights of the Lib Dem In campaign launch from earlier this week. Who do you recognise?

#INtogether

This is Britain's time to lead, not leave. See the highlights from our #INtogether launch, and join our campaign!

Posted by Liberal Democrats on Friday, 12 February 2016

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged eu referendum and liberal democrats iin | 16 Comments

Clegg slams Tories over Trade Union Bill

By The Voice | Sat 13th February 2016 - 10:25 am

The Yorkshire Post reports Nick Clegg’s evidence to a parliamentary committee looking at Party funding. He accused the Tories of trying to rig the system in their favour.

Mr Clegg said: “I just think this is fundamentally wrong to do this in such a partisan way.”

The Sheffield Hallam MP said he was no ‘sepia-tinted romantic’ when it came to trade union and Labour links as he had personally suffered from ‘appalling’ use of funds for political purposes in his ‘own Sheffield backyard’.

However he said he was alarmed that Conservative proposals are directed at one party and as Deputy Prime Minister he spent years blocking such measures being introduced.

Posted in News | Tagged nick clegg, party funding, trade union bill and yorkshire post | 3 Comments

Watch: Shirley Williams on retirement and how the government’s attitude to junior doctors could break NHS

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 13th February 2016 - 8:55 am

On Thursday, her last day in the House of Lords before her retirement, Shirley Williams spent 20 minutes talking to Victoria Derbyshire.

You can watch the conversation, which covered women in politics, social media (she thinks that “the cruellest people in society” shouldn’t be given a voice), how some were bemused by her specialism in fields not traditionally done by women, such as nuclear proliferation, how we should take thousands of refugee children and relived the previous struggle over Ugandan refugees in the 70s when she stuck to her guns.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged NHS and shirley williams | 10 Comments

LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League: how it stands after Week 25

By Stephen Tall | Sat 13th February 2016 - 7:55 am

There’s no change at the top of the table, with Mark Widdop’s Midtable Obscurity (1,445 points) continuing to lead the LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League after Week 25, just ahead of Paul Revell’s Sock Monsters (1,435) and Edward Douglas’s Use Your Ed (1,424).

But let’s also hear it for a couple of players outside the top 10: James Ludley’s Ludley’s Line-up had the best week’s performance, with 94 points, with Andrew Wiseman’s Wiseman Wanderers not far behind on 87 points.

ldv ffl 25

There are 219 players in total and you can still join the league …

Posted in Fantasy Football | Tagged fantasy football | 4 Comments

Farron supports bid for cannabis legalisation in UK

By NewsHound | Fri 12th February 2016 - 2:51 pm

Tim Farron has thrown his support behind a motion calling for the legalisation of Cannabis as the Guardian reports:

Farron is to endorse a motion at spring conference which calls on the party to extend its existing support for the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal use to recreational use.

The motion, to be tabled by the former health minister Norman Lamb, will be debated after the release of the findings of an expert panel appointed by the Lib Dems to examine how a legal market for the use of cannabis would work in the UK. The panel has found that the legal use of cannabis could save the exchequer more than £1bn a year. It could generate between £400m-£900m in tax revenues and could save £200m-£300m in the criminal justice system.

The Lib Dem leader said: “The Liberal Democrats will be releasing a report in due course that lays out the case for a legalised market for sales of cannabis. I personally believe the war on drugs is over. We must move from making this a legal issue to one of health.

“The prime minister used to agree with me on the need for drug reform. It’s time he rediscovered his backbone and made the case again.”

Posted in News | Tagged cannabis, norman lamb, spring conference 2016 and tim farron | 26 Comments

Local Government doing less to achieve more

By Simon Thorley | Fri 12th February 2016 - 1:30 pm

Darlington Borough Council is skint. One of the smallest local authorities in the country, Darlington was created as a Unitary Authority in 1997. Since then, it has been governed (like many Northern councils) exclusively by Labour, and it now stands on the verge of bankruptcy (the two facts may not be unrelated).

Specifically, the Council have calculated the need for £12.5m in spending cuts over the next four years. To go: Darlington’s historic indoor market, the public library (both of which were donated to the town by the Pease family), the town centre’s Christmas lights and floral displays, several children’s centres, and multiple other social, environmental and cultural services. Streets will be swept less frequently. Charges will be introduced for blue badge holders.

Are these cuts to local services best blamed on central government, with its reduction in funding for local authorities, or on incompetent and profligate local councils? Certainly, cuts in central government funding have been made, with the provision of local services affected; certainly, other local authorities facing similar cuts are not broke. The truth of the matter is probably somewhere between the two!

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged darlington, Local government and local government finance | 11 Comments

Let ALDC know if you are a candidate

By ALDC | Fri 12th February 2016 - 11:55 am

ALDC (the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors) wants to help your campaign but in order to do the best job that we can, we need to know who your candidates are for the forthcoming elections on the 5th May.

We are gathering relevant information about local elections across the country and helping co-ordinate various types of support that are available for candidates and groups in different seats.

The team at ALDC would be really grateful if you could fill in this short form here with the details of any currently selected candidates in your area, and come back whenever there is new information to share.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged aldc and local elections 2016 | Leave a comment

Lib Dems deliver vital aid to Dunkirk Refugee Camp

By Bradley Hillier-Smith | Fri 12th February 2016 - 10:25 am

Throughout last week Baroness Shas Sheehan and I have been collecting vital items needed in the camp in Dunkirk. From a list of items approved by volunteers on the ground we asked Lib Dems and local residents to come together and purchase what they could. The list included brand new sleeping bags, tents, blankets, food, gas, warm and waterproof clothes as well as sturdy, waterproof shoes. We were overwhelmed with the response and managed to fill a van to the brim with these essential donations.

On Sunday, we drove the van across to northern France to the camp in Dunkirk. The conditions in Dunkirk are in many ways worse than in Calais. The mud is particularly problematic for the 2,500 mainly Kurdish refugees living there. Local authorities are disallowing any construction of more sturdy wooden shelters so most people live in tents. This does not offer much protection and makes the weather a real problem with high winds, cold temperatures and large rainfall, especially in the last few days. It is also the case that there are more families and children in this camp.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged aid, dunkirk, refugee crisis and shas sheehan | 3 Comments

LibLink: Catherine Bearder: The campaign to keep Britain in Europe must be based on hope not fear

By NewsHound | Fri 12th February 2016 - 8:55 am

Catherine Bearder has written for the New Statesman’s Staggers blog to castigate both sides of the EU Referendum debate for negativity, citing the example of Scotland:

On the one hand, Ukip and the feuding Leave campaigns have shamelessly seized on the events in Cologne at New Year to claim that British women will be at risk if the UK stays in Europe. On the other, David Cameron claims that the refugees he derides as a “bunch of migrants” in Calais will all descend on the other side of the Channel the minute Britain leaves the EU. The British public deserve better than this. Rather than constant mud-slinging and politicising of the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis since the Second World War, we need a frank and honest debate about what is really at stake. Most importantly this should be a positive campaign, one that is fought on hope and not on fear. As we have a seen in Scotland, a referendum won through scare tactics alone risks winning the battle but losing the war.

So what’s the alternative?

Posted in LibLink | Tagged catherine bearder, eu referendum and new statesman | 8 Comments

Full Spring Conference Agenda out now

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 11th February 2016 - 9:57 pm

The full agenda and directory for the Spring Conference in York i s out now.

All the details of motions, training and fringe meetings are inside.

A few points to note:

The Exhibition, which had originally been cut, has been reinstated. Leave.EU and the Lib Dem InTogether campaign will be no doubt glowering atmospherically at each other across the room.
The photos of the Federal Executive were supposed to be in the agenda, but seem to have been left out for some reason. People should know who their federal representatives are. However, there will be an FE help desk so please come and talk to us if you have any questions about the overall strategy of the party.
The number of what appear to be all-male panels at fringe meetings is more than a little annoying. And much as I love Tim, Vince and Jim Wallace, surely to goodness they could have found women for the main business reception too. After all, Jo Swinson as Business Minister did loads for women entrepreneurs and Lorely Burt is our go-to person for women in business. (UPDATE: it appears Sharon Bowles will be attending this now, which is good.)
The Saturday afternoon session goes on till 7pm with a consultation session on the Governance Review after the close of official business. This is really important as the outcome will determine the way the party is run and where power lies within it. An hour is barely time to scratch the surface of the issues. However, do take time to read the document now and submit your ideas to the team even if you are not going to Conference. The consultation is open until the end of March.
York is a city where we Lib Dems are in the Council administration. We should hear from Council Deputy Leader Cllr Keith Aspden at some point during the weekend.

Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Tagged spring conference 2016 | 14 Comments

Nick Clegg compares Investigatory Powers Bill powers to Russia

By The Voice | Thu 11th February 2016 - 8:25 pm

On the Today programme, Nick Clegg compared the “dragnet” approach of Theresa May’s Investigatory Powers Bill to the way things happen in Russia.

During the Coalition years, Nick had stopped the Conservatives from introducing a “snooper’s charter.” It’s worth remembering that he was going to let it through until a conference call with some angry bloggers who understood the technology, and the intervention of people like Julian Huppert, made him think twice. But once he’s changed his mind, he was good to his word and held May off for 3 years.

The Guardian quotes him as saying this morning:

He said: “Why there is this great congregation of concern from all wings of political opinion is because what the home office is in essence proposing is that in order to be able to surveil and analyse something they are saying they want to collect everything on everyone. That is a dragnet approach which I have always felt is disproportionate.”

He dismissed the analogy of the needle in the haystack – the argument that the security agencies need to embark on the bulk collection of data in order to be able to find crucial nuggets of details about terrorists.

He told Today: “I know the needle-haystack argument and it is a comforting analogy. But the reality is a little different. Why, for instance, is there no other European or Commonwealth country that I know that pursues this dragnet approach?

Posted in News | Tagged Draft Investigatory Powers Bill, nick clegg and today programme | 10 Comments

Kirsty Williams’ More Nurses Bill becomes law

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 11th February 2016 - 4:10 pm

Kirsty Williams has ensured that Wales is the first nation in Europe to have legislation to guarantee safe staffing levels on hospital wards.

Her bill is only the second private members’ bill to make it into law. The first was by her Liberal Democrat colleague Peter Black.

At Welsh conference the other day, Kirsty explained how a visit to an admissions ward with a family member allowed her to see at first hand the stress that the nurses were under. There simply wasn’t enough of them and Kirsty spoke to one nurse who had been there long beyond the end of her 12.5 hour shift. As she pointed out, if a nurse made a mistake through exhaustion, it would be they, not the manager who had made them work for so long, who would be held accountable.

Kirsty said:

Posted in News | Tagged kirsty williams, more nurses bill and Wales | 1 Comment

LibLink: Willie Rennie: SNP obduracy on using tax powers shows party is no champion of progressive politics

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 11th February 2016 - 2:45 pm

Willie Rennie’s ambition for better education and health services in Scotland has been clear and so has his ambition to use the tax raising powers given to the Scottish Parliament. His plan for a penny on income tax for an almost half billion investment in education to introduce the Pupil Premium, extend nursery education and reverse cuts to college and schools funding.

The SNP, having squealed blue murder for years about not having enough powers to do anything, fails to use them when they are given them.

Willie often says these days that the SNP “talk left and walk right” and he has written a damning critique of the SNP’s approach in the Herald.

As it was a Liberal Democrat Secretary of State who delivered these new tax powers, it is perhaps not surprising that we were the first to propose using them to transform education in Scotland. By putting a penny for education onto income tax bands, we would raise £475 million a year.

Willie’s proposals have brought outrage from SNP and Tories alike. Finance Minister John Swinney said he would rather sacrifice public sector jobs (which in turn affects the most vulnerable) than raise tax rates. The Resolution Foundation says a tax rise is progressive. Willie challenges the SNP:

Posted in LibLink | Tagged Scotland, snp, tax, the herald and willie rennie | 17 Comments

Lamb: Government wrong to impose junior doctors’ contract

By The Voice | Thu 11th February 2016 - 1:43 pm

Norman Lamb has commented on Jeremy Hunt’s ill-advised decision to impose the controversial contract on junior doctors. He said:

It is a mistake to force a new contract on junior doctors when there is clearly still such strong opposition to its terms. There is a serious risk that large numbers of junior doctors will leave the NHS to go and work abroad, which will have serious consequences for the health service and patient safety.

Growing demand for services, coupled with a funding settlement which doesn’t keep up, are the fundamental problems facing health and care and yet the Government is refusing to take real action to address this.

Posted in News | Tagged jeremy hunt, junior doctors and NHS | 28 Comments

Lord Paul Strasburger writes…Report shows that nobody thinks Home Office is right on investigatory powers

By Paul Strasburger | Thu 11th February 2016 - 12:37 pm

Today the Joint Committee published its report on the draft Investigatory Powers Bill. This follows hot on the heels of the Intelligence and Security Committee report which was surprisingly critical of the serious shortcomings of the Bill given its previous rather relaxed approach – what a difference a new Chair makes, you could say.

I was the only member of the Joint Committee that also sat on the Committee that looked at Theresa May’s last attempt to legislate on surveillance powers – the ill-fated draft Communications Data Bill. The previous committee had twice as long to look at the Bill than we’ve had this time round, despite the fact that this Bill is far bigger. The Home Secretary promised Parliament and the public that this process wouldn’t be rushed, that is not the reality.

As the only Liberal Democrat on the committee I knew it would be tough, and I think it will come as no surprise to anyone to learn that from the committee was heavily weighted in favour of the Home Office. It was a hard slog but as always with the Lib Dems, we managed to punch above our weight. If you flick to the back of the report you’ll see that on a whole range of issues I forced votes – sometimes I got others on side and we won, others were more lonely.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged Draft Investigatory Powers Bill, featured and house of lords | 2 Comments

With his Trident stance Corbyn shows himself to be no fan of ‘new politics’

By David Thorpe | Thu 11th February 2016 - 10:01 am

Few words stir the heart of the politically interested than ‘a new politics’, and quite right too, for who on earth wants the status quo?

But the utterer of that rather normative phrase is immediately pitched a political challenge, to keep on board those who are the bedrock of their support, while also delivering something challenging enough to be new.

Jeremy Corbyn is a man with far less personal ambition than he has integrity and honour, and that may be ‘new’ for a politician in the UK right now, but it is not enough to qualify as ‘new politics’.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged jeremy corbyn and trident | 13 Comments

“Shoot refugees” extremism from Conservatives in the European Parliament

By Antony Hook | Thu 11th February 2016 - 7:45 am

In the European Parliament, MEPs form groups with colleagues from other member states who share their political outlook and aims.

For Liberals Democrats, ALDE is our long-standing pan-European party, which has existed practically since the Treaty of Rome was signed. In 2009 the UK Conservatives left the similarly long-established European People’s Party to for a new ECR group.

From the outset there was concern about some of the extremists with whom the Tories were apparently prepared to work.

In 2014, ECR recruited a new German faction, Alterative fur Deutschland. They are a hardline Eurosceptic party whom UKIP also courted.

One of AfD’s MEPs has said that refugees should be shot. The Guardian reports:

Posted in News | Tagged eu | 29 Comments

Op-eds

Observations of an Expat: West Bank Settler Sanctions (Tom Arms)
Recollections of 9/11 (George Cunningham)
Why we need a Trade NATO (Dominic Sokalski)
‘I Fear a Target on My Back’ — A Liberal Democrat’s fight for Hong Kong’s freedom (Alan Dai)
Making the most of the Government’s belated action on illegal Israeli settlements (Jonathan Brown)

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Sarah Olney bids to become candidate for Mayor of London

Going for four in a row in Scotland

Observations of an Expat: Canada

Happy Birthday to us!

Watch: Catherine Bearder explains why we have to win this Referendum

Simon Hughes to join Open University

ALDC’s by-election report 11 February 2016

LibLink: Julian Huppert on criticisms of the Investigatory Powers Bill

How Liberal Youth London spent Valentine’s Day

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #450

Do you have questions about the Electing Diverse MPs motion?

Lord Eric Avebury talks about his life

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

Lord Eric Avebury passes away

Tim Farron: “a true champion of the liberal cause”

Scottish Lib Dems to oppose jail terms of less than a year

Who are your LGBT heroes?

Moving beyond fightback

Watch: Highlights from the Lib Dem In campaign launch

Clegg slams Tories over Trade Union Bill

Watch: Shirley Williams on retirement and how the government’s attitude to junior doctors could break NHS

LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League: how it stands after Week 25

Farron supports bid for cannabis legalisation in UK

Local Government doing less to achieve more

Let ALDC know if you are a candidate

Lib Dems deliver vital aid to Dunkirk Refugee Camp

LibLink: Catherine Bearder: The campaign to keep Britain in Europe must be based on hope not fear

Full Spring Conference Agenda out now

Nick Clegg compares Investigatory Powers Bill powers to Russia

Kirsty Williams’ More Nurses Bill becomes law

LibLink: Willie Rennie: SNP obduracy on using tax powers shows party is no champion of progressive politics

Lamb: Government wrong to impose junior doctors’ contract

Lord Paul Strasburger writes…Report shows that nobody thinks Home Office is right on investigatory powers

With his Trident stance Corbyn shows himself to be no fan of ‘new politics’

“Shoot refugees” extremism from Conservatives in the European Parliament

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Sarah Olney bids to become candidate for Mayor of London

Going for four in a row in Scotland

Observations of an Expat: Canada

Happy Birthday to us!

Tim Farron: “a true champion of the liberal cause”

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