George Smid

When will the EU Referendum happen?

By George Smid | Wed 9th December 2015 - 2:39 pm

I know the exact time for EU Referendum.

The time will be exactly at 0:00 seconds, 0:00 minutes, at 7 o’clock in the morning.

That is when the poling booths will open.

However, I do not know the date. Nobody does. 

As everything about the EU referendum nothing is said or understood, clear or defined. Everything is flexible, including the possible date and how long the campaign will last.

How long we will have for the referendum is crucial for the strategy. Start too early and you will run out of steam. Start to late and you will run out of time.

So what are the options?



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Caron Lindsay

Lunchtime Debate: Actually, let Donald Trump come here

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 9th December 2015 - 1:09 pm

There’s a petition doing the rounds at the moment which, at the time of writing, has some 120,000 signatures, close to the threshold at which it will be considered to be debated in Parliament, calling on the Government to ban Donald Trump from entering the UK.

Trump has disgraced himself with his recent call for Muslims to be refused entry to the United States.

I get that people find his views repugnant. So do I. This, however, isn’t the first time Trump has said something outrageously prejudiced. It’s his stock-in-trade. Earlier this year, the Huffington Post compiled a list of the most offensive things he had said about women – you know, how we’re all gold digging, how breastfeeding is disgusting and, basically, just there for decoration.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tim Farron: Give willing UK families a chance to foster refugee children

By NewsHound | Wed 9th December 2015 - 12:16 pm

Tim Farron has written for Politics Home to explain why he’s put forward a Bill to ensure that this country takes 3000 unaccompanied refugee children:

But tens and thousands of children travel alone. They are without parents or relatives, and have made their way to Europe in the toughest of circumstances.

It is this particularly vulnerable group which our bill aims to support. The bill would award of asylum-seeker status in the United Kingdom to certain unaccompanied children from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Eritrea displaced by conflict and present within the European Union

I know that there are enough families willing to foster an unaccompanied child. For example, Home for Good has registered 10,000 prospective adoptive families. Although they will not be ready to step up immediately, if the Government supports local authorities and agencies to provide the requisite training the UK will be well equipped to support these children.

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Caron Lindsay

++ BREAKING: Carmichael election stands – petition refused

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 9th December 2015 - 10:36 am

My anxiety-meter was at maximum this morning. I was pretty much at the throwing up stage first thing. I will be eternally grateful to the person who put me out of my misery as soon as they knew that the petition to overturn Alistair Carmichael’s election had been thrown out.

If I was that worried, what on earth must the last seven months have been like for Alistair and his family? On the face of it, the petition looked as if it had no basis in law, but legal proceedings are uncertain, expensive and incredibly stressful. Even the smallest of small claims can be tough to get through and this was a high profile national case.

I’ve known Alistair for a long time and he’s one of the most decent, honourable, liberal, tolerant people I know. He’s spent his life standing up for the powerless, for human rights, against the death penalty, for freedom and civil liberties. It’s been hard to see him and his family being put through this case on the basis of one mistake which was nothing to do with the election in Orkney and Shetland. 

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Gillian Douglass

Liberal Democrats: born or conceived?

By Gillian Douglass | Wed 9th December 2015 - 9:00 am

 

I recently attended a Southeastern Lib Dem conference where one of our members stated that Liberal Democrats are “born.” He further stated that Liberal Democrats do not choose the party, their values determine whether they are party members or not.

I assume that he was supporting our leader, Tim Farron’s, invitation for all of those who have liberal values in their hearts to join the party. While I, too, support Tim’s invitation and believe that there are many U.K. citizens and those living in this country who have and stand up for liberal values, I cannot entirely do away with freedom of choice. Where does this lead us? Does it mean that only those whose parents were Liberal Democrats can be Liberal Democrats? That would be a dubious strategy for increasing our numbers.

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The Voice

Ruling due in Alistair Carmichael case

By The Voice | Wed 9th December 2015 - 8:30 am

This morning we will know whether the petitioners who have challenged Alistair Carmichael’s election have been successful. The ruling will be published mid-morning. From the BBC:

The result of legal action challenging the election of Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael is due on Wednesday.

Four constituents raised the action against the Lib Dem MP under the Representation of the People Act 1983.

They claimed Mr Carmichael misled voters over a memo which was leaked before May’s general election.

The result of the special election court hearing will be announced on Wednesday morning.

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News Meerkat

Vince Cable on “decaying” relationship with “bloody-minded” Osborne in government

By News Meerkat | Tue 8th December 2015 - 7:15 pm
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Caron Lindsay

Angela MacLean to fight Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch Holyrood seat

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 8th December 2015 - 5:45 pm

Dingwall Councillor Angela Maclean has been selected to fight the seat of Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch in next May’s Scottish Parliament selection. The previous seat was held by John Farquhar Munro from 1999-2011. The seat was won in that election by the SNP.

The Ross-Shire Journal reports:

Cllr MacLean has lived in Maryburgh with her family all of her adult life, serving additionally as chair of the community safety, public engagement and equality committee on the Highland Council.

She said it was “a huge honour” to contest the seat and noted that as the largest constituency in the Scottish Parliament, it presented obvious

…

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Caron Lindsay

Eileen McCartin to become President of Scottish Liberal Democrats

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 8th December 2015 - 4:45 pm

Eileen McCartin has been a Councillor in Paisley, first for the SDP and then the Liberal Democrats for some 27 years. She and former MP for Argyll and Bute Alan Reid were Willie Rennie’s “political parents” as they were key influences on him when he was a student in Paisley. They helped him when he achieved a cracking 26% in a by-election in the Paisley Foxbar ward in 1988. Willie talked to the Scotsman about it here and you get a sense of how that campaign shaped his values:

After school he applied to Paisley College to study ecology and land management. Living in a flat which cost just 14 a month rent and rates – and had no hot water or heating of any kind – made Rennie more keenly aware of the divide between the haves and have-nots. “I had to wash at the old swimming baths in Storey Street.” he recalls.

I’d been interested in some political stuff at school. I used to get agitated about environmental issues and so on. But this was different.” He was elected deputy president of the Student Union, and took a year’s sabbatical from his course. “Don’t be silly, vote for Willie” was the never-to-be-repeated slogan. But when he returned to his studies he found that “cell biology just wasn’t the same.” So he stood for council election in Paisley Foxbar in 1988.

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Alistair Carmichael MP

Voting with the government to opt-in to Prum

By Alistair Carmichael MP | Tue 8th December 2015 - 3:20 pm

Politicians tend to disagree with one another on a lot of issues – luckily, catching criminals is not one of them. That is why the Liberal Democrats will be voting with the Government on the decision to opt-in to Prum: an EU process which allows member states to quickly exchange DNA, fingerprint and vehicle information in order to identify and catch serious criminals and terrorists.

The last time this decision was put in front of Parliament during the Coalition the Liberal Democrats couldn’t agree to it. At that point there were still millions of innocent people on DNA databases and schoolchildren were having their fingerprints taken in schools. The Freedoms Act 2012 put a stop to this, and with the additional safeguards the Home Secretary is proposing we can support opting-in to Prum this time round.

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Caron Lindsay

Tim Farron introduces his Bill to help refugee children

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 8th December 2015 - 2:47 pm

Tim Farron has barely stopped talking about the need to help the refugees heeding from the war zones of Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea towards Europe. His visits to Lesbos and Calais have affected him deeply and he is keen to press the Government to take 3000 unaccompanied children as the charity Save the Children thinks is necessary.

Today’s stage in his campaign involved lodging a Ten Minute Rule Bill. This is parliamentary device which enables back bench MPs to submit Private Members’ Bills. There is a ritual that involves standing at the bar of the house and a lot of stepping forward and bowing before you hand in the Bill. Tim looked pretty awkward doing this, but that’s probably a good thing. It is pretty silly.

Tim’s Asylum (Unaccompanied Children Displaced by Conflict): Ten Minute Rule Motion says:

That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision about the award of asylum-seeker status in the United Kingdom to certain unaccompanied children from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Eritrea displaced by conflict and present within the European Union; and for connected purposes.

Proposing the Bill, Tim said:

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Christian de Vartavan

You do not kill an idea with bombs

By Christian de Vartavan | Tue 8th December 2015 - 11:34 am

It is, in my opinion, a three tiers cocktail which may defeat the Islamic State (IS). Since a few days we hear a lot about the first tiers, i.e. the military option which by bringing war into the enemy’s camp attempts to neutralize its exponential expansion as well as increase our security – if not because attacking, as we all know, is best defence. We also talk a lot of the third one, i.e. the “after IS” or “after Daesh”, which is rightly concerned with the vacuum which the elimination of IS may leave in Syria and Iraq; no less the difficult political actions which need be taken to paliate this vacuum.

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Hannah Bettsworth

Help create liberal sex work law in Scotland – consultation ends today

By Hannah Bettsworth | Tue 8th December 2015 - 9:17 am

Scottish Liberal Democrat Women have been at the forefront of ensuring the Scottish party has a workable policy that secures the rights and safety of sex workers. Jean Urquhart MSP (Highlands and Islands, Independent) has proposed a Bill that is in agreement with this policy, and the Bill consultation is ongoing. Sadly, we are too close to the elections for Holyrood to officially start the Bill process – Members’ Bills can only be introduced up until June of the penultimate year of the session. However, it’s important that we have a framework to build from in the next Scottish Parliament – and, of course, as many Lib Dem MSPs as possible to support the change! This is our contribution to the consultation process.

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Mary Reid

How you can help send someone to party conference

By Mary Reid | Mon 7th December 2015 - 5:27 pm

 

Spring Conference is a good place to start for conference newbies. Next year it will be held in York from 11th to 13th March. It is shorter and considerably less confusing that the full-length conference in the Autumn, most people don’t have to take time off work, and accommodation costs for two nights are substantially less.

But for many members it is still very difficult to find or justify the cost of attending conference – registration fees, accommodation and travel all add up. So how can we make ‘one member one vote’ a reality for all members whatever their financial circumstances?

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Jamie Dalzell

I hope I am wrong

By Jamie Dalzell | Mon 7th December 2015 - 4:15 pm

 

I certainly know that there are many people in this world who know a lot more than I do about the Middle East, about military strategies, about international politics and about the human tragedy that arises through conflict. However, based on what I have I have seen over the last two decades, I do not believe that the UK government has presented an adequate strategy for destroying Daesh.

I believe that the current bombing campaign in Syria will fail to achieve its stated objectives. Throughout my lifetime, I have watched the modern ‘gun boat’ diplomacy fail time and time again in the Middle East and watched with frustration as the region has slipped into deeper turmoil. We now aim to correct the mistakes of yesterday using all of the same strategies that led us to the modern horrors of both a terrorist threat and a refugee crisis in Europe.

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Musings on the Aftermath

By Ed Thornley | Mon 7th December 2015 - 2:53 pm

Whether or not to extend British involvement across the “non-existent” border between Iraq and Syria was always going to be a divisive issue. There was no way around that. For a party such as ours, it promised to be particularly so. Not especially in Parliament, where we are now so few that nobody would notice except us. No, I mean divisive internally. Within hours of Tim’s announcement that he would support the strikes and ask our other MPs to as well, not only had my inbox exploded with Facebook notifications declaring it to be a stupid idea or that the …

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John Roffey

Tim Farron stranded in storm

By John Roffey | Mon 7th December 2015 - 1:26 pm

 

It was reported on the BBC News at Ten on Saturday night that Tim Farron had been stranded in his car with four children in the stormy weather conditions, in Cumbria with (presumably) a telephone interview with Tim.

I wonder if, while waiting to be picked up, he reflected on the report from Keswick – that the town had launched an appeal for one million pounds to help with the clear up operation that will now be required in the town. If he did he might have recalled that each of the bombing missions now being carried out on Syria, that he had voted for on Wednesday, had been costed by Sky at a little more than this amount.

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Robin Teverson

Robin Teverson writes … Keeping the green in the Green Investment Bank

By Robin Teverson | Mon 7th December 2015 - 12:13 pm

Everybody knows that when you want to win an argument, you need to ‘walk the talk’.  Doing the opposite to what you preach tends to fatally undermine your case.

When that argument is persuading the rest of the world, in Paris, to tackle the root causes of climate change, your actions back home act as a global shop window.

But saying one thing, and doing another, is exactly the course this Tory government has taken over green issues. And they do it with no apparent embarrassment, or even understanding of the problem.

So we have the Foreign Secretary in the United Nations, and Cameron at the opening of COP21 in Paris making speeches that even Lib Dems would applaud.  But what’s the track record back here in Britain where they drive the nitty-gritty of climate policy?

Take the Green Investment Bank.  Set up by Vince Cable in 2012, a Lib Dem manifesto commitment in 2010, over its short existence it has successfully invested £2.3 billion into the UK’s green economy bringing in a further £7 billion in from the private sector.  Not just that, its operations are already profitable.  As a result the UK has more renewables, more combined heat and power plants, more energy efficient road lighting, more heat pumps.  It has been a great Coalition success, down to Lib Dems in government.

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George Kendall

How do we reach out to social democrats beyond the party?

By George Kendall | Mon 7th December 2015 - 10:47 am

social democrat groupMany Labour members are thinking of resigning. I’m sure we would love them to join us. How can we encourage them without being too pushy?

If you are a social democrat outside the Liberal Democrats, whether in the Labour party or not, if there are ways the Liberal Democrats could make it easier for you to switch to us let us know in the comments below.

Here are a few of my thoughts.

Don’t forget we lost too. Moderate members of the Labour party may have lost the leadership battle for their party, but we’ve lost most of our MPs. Let’s acknowledge these twin disasters for the centre-left, and talk about how we can move forward.

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John Marriott

The crisis in the Middle East – Is this the ‘end of the beginning’?

By John Marriott | Mon 7th December 2015 - 9:00 am

 

As the tide of war turned in 1942 following the second battle of El Alamein, Winston Churchill spoke about “the end of the beginning” of the fight back against fascist oppression. I have to confess that these words went through my mind as I sat through many hours of TV parliamentary debate last Wednesday on whether or not to bomb Daesh in Syria. For those who are cynical about the goings on at Westminster, this was an occasion that illustrated perfectly how important our parliamentary democracy really is.

There were some cracking speeches on both sides. Tim Farron rose in my estimation with his contribution, as did Margaret Beckett and Alan Johnson and, as for Hilary Benn, could this be the end of the beginning of his march to the leadership of his party? I noticed that one critic claimed it was short on facts; but there are times when “fight them on the breaches” carries more emotional and symbolic weight than the practicality of fighting on sand. I just  wonder whether the reaction to his speech had anything to do with the shoring up of Labour’s majority in the Oldham by-election.

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Vince Cable

Vince Cable writes…Where we can all agree on Syria

By Vince Cable | Sun 6th December 2015 - 8:00 pm

The political debate on Syria has produced a bewildering array of people proceeding from the same premises to opposite conclusions and from different premises to the same conclusions.   We have an ‘anti-war’ coalition which unites Nigel Farage, David Davis, Jeremy Corbyn, the SNP, the Greens and the Mail and the ‘pro-war’ camp includes the Tory government, a sizeable chunk of the parliamentary Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, the Financial Times and the Indy.

At recent party events I have attended there is disquiet and confusion.  I see that two thirds of Lib Dem Voice readers oppose the British air strikes. Veterans of Iraq war marches ask why we are not marching again to recapture one of the party’s finest hours.  I share some of the confusion no longer having the benefit of participating in discussions amongst parliamentary colleagues. I have had the benefit of Cabinet-level briefings, which led me to endorse air strikes 18 months ago; but much has changed since.

It would be useful to identify a series of propositions on which I believe most reasonable people, on either side of the debate, can agree.

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #442

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 6th December 2015 - 7:27 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 442nd 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 (29 November – 5 December 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.

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The Voice

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

By The Voice | Sun 6th December 2015 - 5:19 pm

7 ver 4 fullMany thanks to the 18,500 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Tim Farron’s email to party members on Syria (94 comments) by The Voice

Confirmed: Lib Dem MPs to back airstrikes in Syria (63 comments) by The Voice

An open letter to Liberal Democrat MPs on Syria (56 comments) by David Grace

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Paul Holmes

The #libdemfightback continues in Hinckley and Bosworth

By Paul Holmes | Sun 6th December 2015 - 3:55 pm

I would echo my good friend Caron Lindsay in her congratulations to Sheree Miller for gaining 9% and coming second in a by election in Newham in London, in a Ward where we did not stand at all last time around. Likewise Tim Farron’s congratulations to Jane Brophy and her team for their campaign in Oldham. If we do not contest such elections hard then we cannot build for the future.

In the same vein the efforts of Hinckley and Bosworth Liberal Democrats deserve recognition. In September their candidate Shani Smith gained a by election contest from Labour in the Barwell area. Thursday 3rd December saw another by election in the adjacent Ward in Barwell. This time their candidate Terry Kirby almost doubled our vote share taking us from fourth place in May to 36% of the vote in a close second place and missing beating the Conservatives by just 25 votes.

Spearheading both campaigns alongside the candidates was Michael Mullaney who as Parliamentary Candidate moved the Liberal Democrats from third to second place in the 2010 General Election. In May 2015 Michael gained one of the better Liberal Democrat results in the UK, moving the Constituency from 100th most winnable to 44th most winnable.

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The Voice

Farron calls on Government to help Cumbria flood recovery

By The Voice | Sun 6th December 2015 - 2:37 pm

We’ve already heard about Tim Farron’s tussle with Storm Desmond. Thankfully all was well, but for many in the area, Desmond’s effects will last for a long time to come as they struggle with flooded homes and ruined property.

Tim Farron has, as you would expect, been helping constituents deal with the storm’s aftermath and has written to David Cameron to ask him to ensure that funds are made available for the clear-up operation.

He said:

It is heartbreaking to see the impact of flooding once more on local people. My thoughts are with all those whose homes and businesses have been flooded, and who have been forced to evacuate.

There is now a major task ahead of us in terms of repairing the damage caused by these floods, and I am calling on the government to support us in this and make additional funds available.

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NewsHound

Tim Farron stranded amid flooding in Cumbria

By NewsHound | Sun 6th December 2015 - 10:30 am

The Lancashire Evening Post reports:

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron was among those stranded as Storm Desmond brought havoc to Cumbria.

Mr Farron was driving through his Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency with four children in the car when he got stuck on a heavily flooded back road.

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Paul Walter

Syrian air strikes decision – stirrings of unhappiness in the party

By Paul Walter | Sun 6th December 2015 - 9:08 am

The Independent on Sunday has pulled together a good number of quotes from party members who are not happy about the decision this week to support air strikes in Syria.

The report quotes Federal Policy Committee member Gareth Epps, who has written a critical piece on the Liberator blog entitled: “Is there any longer a point to the Liberal Democrats?”. The blog post includes this:

It seems Liberal Democrat MPs have learned nothing of the mistakes of action in Iraq and more recently Libya; nothing of their mistakes from the Coalition Parliament; and have understood nothing of the gaping chasm in opinion between them and the party members that have worked hard to get them elected. The reaction of those members – many of whom didn’t receive a single email from the party on how it would approach the issue – is of utter dismay.

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Paul Walter

Tim Farron is on Murnaghan on Sky News this morning, starting at 10 o’clock

By Paul Walter | Sun 6th December 2015 - 8:30 am

Tim Farron will be appearing live on Murnaghan on Sky News this morning. The programme starts at 10 o’clock and continues until noon. No doubt the vote on the Syrian air strikes will come up in conversation.

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Paul Walter

Favourite, inspirational speakers from the past – Donald Soper

By Paul Walter | Sat 5th December 2015 - 6:23 pm

Living in London in the late 1970s, I often whiled away a Sunday afternoon by going along to Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park.

It gave, and continues to give, fantastic enlightenment and entertainment.

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Paul Walter

Tim shines in a great format for him

By Paul Walter | Sat 5th December 2015 - 4:15 pm

Tim Farron Russell Howard's Good NewsOne of the joys of being a parent is that you get introduced to all sorts of TV programmes which your children love to watch. If you miss anything, you also get the chance to watch the same programmes again. And again. And again.

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