Ed Fordham

Ed Fordham’s Letter from Belgrade

By Ed Fordham | Sun 20th September 2015 - 11:05 am

I am sitting in a hotel here in Belgrade eating my breakfast. It’s Serbia so meat is the dominant feature.

But I have just walked around the corner of the block to the hotel where they are issueing the accreditation to volunteers stewards who are marshalling the Pride March today and in the course of that short journey I have passed over 200 riot police (I stopped counting). The roads are closed and the streets ghostly quiet.

I am fairly confident here and know Serbia pretty well – but I found myself nervous, uncertain and even tearful as I walked through the streets. I was clutching my phone, hiding my camera and very mindful that as best I try I probably look like a visitor.

In three hours I will meet other friends who are LGBT activists in the Human Rights Council of the Liberal Democrat Party of Serbia whom I will march with. In London, the UK, much of Europe we can be confident of who we are and who we love. Here people, friends, folks I know, are fighting, literally, for the right to exist and be themselves.

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Caron Lindsay

Conference Extras open thread: LDV’s fringe on foreign policy, Vince, bees, equality and peers’ ears

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 20th September 2015 - 10:30 am

We hope you’ve spotted the open thread on the action taking place in the main auditorium today. In comparison, this thread is for you to talk about fringe meetings, the exhibition and all the other things going on around the main business.

Today’s Highlights

It would be wrong if we didn’t shamelessly plug our own Fringe Meeting. Join William Wallace, Nick Tyrone, me and others for a discussion on how we forge a liberal foreign policy in these challenging times. It’s at 7:45 in Bayview 2 of the BIC. There is plenty wine on offer. I know. I had to pay for it on my own debit card after the fraud people stopped my credit card because I’d been paying for the Liberal Youth elections. Thankfully, our very efficient money-man Alex Foster reimbursed me within the hour.

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The Voice

Conference debates open thread: Sunday 20th September

By The Voice | Sun 20th September 2015 - 8:30 am

Whether you are physically in Bournemouth or are following what is happening from home, this is your place to talk about the public face of the Conference – in other words, all the debates and speeches that are going on in the main auditorium.  Please use the comments below to add your reports on policy and constitutional debates or to draw readers’ attention to ones in the pipeline.

We will be running a similar thread each day, so please confine your comments today to what is actually happening today. Tomorrow’s instalment will appear at 8.30am tomorrow morning.

We will also be running a thread each day on fringes, so use that one for anything going on outside the main show.

So what is happening today at Conference?

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Willie Rennie

Willie Rennie MSP writes… Trident: We must consider effect of disarmament on our international relationships

By Willie Rennie | Sun 20th September 2015 - 7:30 am

Our party has always had a sceptical view of nuclear weapons. Whether we personally adhere to a multi-lateral or unilateral route to disarm, few members feel comfortable with the concept or reality of such a powerful weapons system.

There are issues of geo-diplomacy and security and not just party positioning at stake. Although not in power now, we need to consider our policy as if we were in government not just a party in opposition hunting for differentiation.

The United Kingdom is a stable partner amongst the nuclear defended nations of the world. The importance of stable partners should not be understated especially when the Non Proliferation talks take place every five years. Britain has been an important cog in the reduction of nuclear capability across the globe through these talks.

We need to consider the effects on geo-diplomacy if we unilaterally disarm. It is a delicate balance and we should be extremely careful when seeking to change that balance.

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The Voice

Farron proposes start-up allowance for new business owners as he focuses on the party’s economic credibility

By The Voice | Sun 20th September 2015 - 6:00 am

Tim Farron is using the first full day of conference to announce plans for a so-called start-up allowance for entrepreneurs launching new small businesses. The allowance would be worth £2600 over the first six months (£100 a week) after they set up their new business. It comes as part of a leadership focus on building upon the economic credibility won by our five years spent in government.

Tim said:

Liberal Democrats believe that if you have a dream you should be supported to fulfil it.  Those who take the chance to set out on their own and create a business should be celebrated and supported.

Lib Dems recognise the courage of those who seek to create something new.

While Labour have said they now want to strip Government support for businesses and the Tories focus on giving tax cuts to giant corporations, we want to focus on entrepreneurs and small business seeking to grow.

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The Voice

IN FULL: Tim Farron’s conference rally speech – ‘Labour aren’t interested in standing up to the Tories’

By The Voice | Sat 19th September 2015 - 7:30 pm

Here is the speech Tim is about to deliver at tonight’s conference rally:

Last Wednesday, was the 29th anniversary of me joining the party when I was 16. I never ever thought I’d end up leading that party. Its an extraordinary honour.

Thank you, thank you so much.

Like many of us I often find myself harking back to that time – my formative, teenage years. It was the 1980s: The Smiths and The Clash, The Young Ones – and, of course, Margaret Thatcher.

I’d been brought up on Blue Peter appeals which – while good and worthy – attached no blame to anyone for the tragedies they raised money to alleviate.

But then came Live Aid. It was the first time anyone had suggested to me that poverty, disease and starvation were actually the result of bad politics rather than just ‘unfortunate’. And I began to question what was happening in politics around me.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Sir Nick Harvey: Only the Lib Dems can fill the void left by Labour

By NewsHound | Sat 19th September 2015 - 5:46 pm

Former North Devon MP Nick Harvey writes for the Mirror that the Liberal Democrats have a great opportunity in the wake of Jeremy Corbyn’s election and sets out what we must do to take advantage of it:

Socially, we must fight unfair benefit cuts which hit the weakest and undermine the working poor.

We must expose the chicanery of a “living wage” which will barely match the existing “minimum wage” if inflated in line with past trends.

Economically, we campaign unequivocally for Britain’s membership of the world’s largest market, the European Union, and for global efforts to liberalise trade fairly.

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Toby Fenwick

Trident renewal is not justified, but our policy must be coherent and multilateralist

By Toby Fenwick | Sat 19th September 2015 - 3:59 pm

Next spring, Parliament will debate and vote on whether to replace the UK’s ageing Trident submarines at a cost of approximately £30bn, in the so-called Main Gate investment decision. Operating the submarines and Trident through to the late 2050s will bring the total cost to more than £100bn.

I have consistently opposed the renewal of Trident, and was very disappointed with the current fudge we adopted in 2013. Indeed, at the time, I wondered whether it was the most strategically incoherent policy ever adopted?

Today, I continue to oppose Trident renewal for four reasons:

First, I favour progressive multilateral nuclear disarmament, and continuing with Trident does not represent the spirit of the UK’s obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty;

Second, the threat that the Soviet Union could mount a conventional attack through West Germany and that the USA may not respond (strategic decoupling) died with German reunification in NATO in 1990;

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NewsHound

Farron talks housing, Clegg, airports and Corbyn in first pre-conference interview

By NewsHound | Sat 19th September 2015 - 2:08 pm

“The Tories need to be opposed in ways that are credible” says the headline to Tim Farron’s first pre-conference interview in yesterday’s Evening Standard. Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader, argues Tim, leaves a big space in British politics for a responsible opposition party to hold the government to account:

Tomorrow morning he will start the #LibDemfightback, as they are hashtagging it, when he rallies the Lib- Dem faithful in Bournemouth at his first party conference as leader.

“The Tories desperately need to be opposed in ways that are credible,” he told the Evening Standard in his first pre-conference interview. “It looks like that space falls to us.”

There will be “no glib slogans”, he says, but a return to grassroots campaigning. And a lot of mentions of the unlikely saviour that Farron thinks will most help the Liberal Democrats in their hour of need — Jeremy Corbyn.

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Andrew George

Andrew George writes…After Coalition with the Conservative…participation in ‘Progressive Alliance’?

By Andrew George | Sat 19th September 2015 - 12:30 pm

Should we be ‘once bitten twice shy’? After suffering the disastrous electoral consequences of Coalition with the Conservatives, should the Liberal Democrats avoid the risks of participation in any form of ‘Progressive Alliance’ with parties of the centre/left?

This year’s General Election was a triumph of strategy for the Conservatives. With accusations sticking, Labour was unable to throw off the encumbrance of perceived incompetence, crucially of economic incompetence.

Arguably bedazzled by high office, the Liberal Democrats were perceived to be naïve; not so much falling for the logic of Coalition Government, but appearing to compromise too much in what appeared to the electorate like an ultimately deadly embrace with the Tories.

All the Tories had to do was to identify and then mercilessly target a few hundred thousand ‘swing’ voters in ‘marginal’ seats with their unmatchable wealth and superior arsenal.

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Kate Hudson

The Independent View: Trident: It’s time to make the right decision

By Kate Hudson | Sat 19th September 2015 - 11:30 am

At a time when the future of Britain’s nuclear weapons system is under intense scrutiny – not least due to the anti-Trident position of Labour’s new leader – it is good to see Lib Dem Conference once again at the cutting edge of debate on this crucial issue. In government, the Lib Dems did much to challenge the pro-Trident consensus of the main parties. It may not have been the full anti-Trident position that many of us would like, but the ‘no-like-for like’ position certainly helped open up the debate. Now it’s time to move onto the next stage. It’s a crucial time to get this policy right as parliament is expected to vote on Trident replacement in early 2016.

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Paul Walter

+++This is officially the biggest Liberal Democrat conference ever+++

By Paul Walter | Sat 19th September 2015 - 11:08 am

News came through via Gareth Epps at the morning consultation session that the number of member registrations at this Bournemouth conference have now passed the previous record for the party. So this is now the biggest Liberal Democrat party conference EVER!

The party said:

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The Voice

Conference Extras open thread: Saturday – Rally, Doctor Who and Disco

By The Voice | Sat 19th September 2015 - 10:30 am

We hope you’ve spotted the open thread on the action taking place in the main auditorium today. In comparison, this thread is for you to talk about fringe meetings, the exhibition and all the other things going on around the main business.

Today’s highlights

Tim Farron’s first appearance on the Conference stage is this evening at the Members’ rally. Expect an unashamed pitch to the moderate voters, put off by the lurches to ideological extremes, to join us in credible opposition to the Tories.

There was talk of occupying the hall afterwards and forcing them to let us watch Doctor Who (note to rally organisers, it must not over-run, not by one second), but we’re all too scared of the wonderful hall steward Hannah Boyer to do that. We’ll keep you posted on the plans to see Capaldi and Coleman in action.

Earlier in the day, there’s a session on how to speak at conference at lunchtime, and a q and a and all sorts of Euro fun with Catherine Bearder.

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How the #libdemfightback is happening in Barwell

By Paul Holmes and Michael Mullaney | Sat 19th September 2015 - 9:30 am

Team BarwellSince May tens of thousands of words have been written here on Lib Dem Voice and other Social Media about the Lib Dem Fightback. Since last Saturday tens of thousands more have been written about whether we should or should not welcome Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader.

However, we should not repeat the mistake of the Coalition years and define ourselves only in relation to others. We are not Conservative or Labour Lite, we are Liberal Democrats, otherwise surely we should just join one of the other Parties in the first place? Proclaiming in 2010 that the Coalition was a ‘meeting of minds not a marriage of convenience’ was a disaster for our Party. So was the 2015 national election campaign in arguing that we were just a bit different to Conservative and Labour. In which case people might as well vote for the real thing –and they did. 

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The Voice

Conference debates open thread: Saturday 19th September

By The Voice | Sat 19th September 2015 - 8:30 am

Whether you are physically in Bournemouth or are following what is happening from home, this is your place to talk about the public face of the Conference – in other words, all the debates and speeches that are going on in the main auditorium.  Please use the comments below to add your reports on policy and constitutional debates or to draw readers’ attention to ones in the pipeline.

We will be running a similar thread each day, so please confine your comments today to what is actually happening today. Tomorrow’s instalment will appear at 8.30am tomorrow morning.

We will also be running a thread each day on fringes, so use that one for anything going on outside the main show.

So what is happening today at Conference?

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Paul Walter

Conference kicks off

By Paul Walter | Sat 19th September 2015 - 8:26 am

imageConference kicks off with an important consultative session on party policy making this morning at 10am in the Marriott Hotel.

The main conference centre opens at 12.30 for members.

I took this photo of Bournemouth pier at 8am today.

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John Pugh

Conference Countdown 2015: John Pugh MP writes…Benchmark for Bournemouth

By John Pugh | Fri 18th September 2015 - 7:30 pm

Every political party has its own narrative. In the last decade we have  moved from being a popular party of opposition to an unpopular party of government. Our ambition is to be a popular party of government.

Our success in doing so will be influenced by the direction of travel in other parties. Labour is manifestly on a  strange journey but we should be hesitant about drawing parallels or making comparisons. Blairites in reforming their party took that party to massive electoral success. Orange bookers in endeavouring to re-direct the Liberal Democrats took us to electoral wipeout.

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Stephen Tall

LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League: how it stands after Week 5

By Stephen Tall | Fri 18th September 2015 - 6:30 pm

Yes, I know it’s Lib Dem conference week – but don’t let that distract you from your essential fantasy football team management responsibilities…

Congratulations to Lee Medlicott, whose Disco’s Dopughnuts lead the LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League after Week 5 with an impressive haul of 297 points – that puts him at 1,110th in the global league of 3.4 million players! Lee’s just ahead of Paul Revell’s Sock Monsters and Joe Harris’s Fer-Fer-2.

Lee’s performance was the best in Gameweek 5 (75 points). But let’s also hear it for three players outside the top 10: Alain Desmier’s Highbury Hill Heroes, with 74 points, and honourable mentions go to Rich Chapelle and Alan Worthington, both with 69 points.

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Paul Walter

Conference Countdown 2015: This is where you can keep up with all the conference news, views, gossip and scandal

By Paul Walter | Fri 18th September 2015 - 5:15 pm

Since July 10th, we’ve published over 30 posts about the Bournemouth Conference here on Liberal Democrat Voice. These have included views on key motions being debated as well as more gossipy items such as ones about the Lib Dem Disco and Dr Who.

You can read all those posts and all the ones coming up in the next week by clicking on our Conference category here or on where it says “Conference” after “posted in” at the bottom of any of our posts about the Bournemouth gathering. Additionally, you can click on “Reportage” at the top of each conference post.

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Gareth Epps

Conference Countdown 2015: Reforming the way we make policy

By Gareth Epps | Fri 18th September 2015 - 3:58 pm

Ever wanted to get more involved in how we make policy? Frustrated by the process? Well, now is the time for you to have your say.

On Saturday morning (10am in the Dorchester Suite of the Highcliff Hotel) the party discusses possible changes to the ways we make policy. A consultation paper has been published here ca because one obvious analysis of the way we currently make policy is that it optimises opportunity for those who attend Federal Conference, but could be better at involving those who do not.

I would particularly encourage those not at Conference to read the paper and respond.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Zahida Manzoor: The Government’s changes to tax credits will have a severe impact on the lives of millions

By NewsHound | Fri 18th September 2015 - 2:48 pm

In the Huffington Post this week, Lib Dem Work and Pensions spokesperson Zahida Manzoor wrote of the party’s opposition to the Government’s severe cuts to tax credits for the lowest paid.

The Tax Credit system is hugely complicated, made up of various different ‘payment thresholds’ and so-called ‘disregards’. But ultimately the key aspect of the system is the ‘taper rate’ – that means how much is taken away in Tax Credits for every additional pound you earn.

This taper rate is important, because when someone is making the decision about whether to take on more hours, particularly if they have children, then money matters. If it turns out you’re only going to keep a few pence in the pound by taking on the extra work it may not be worthwhile, particularly if you need to pay for expensive additional childcare in order to cover the increased time spent away from home.

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Caron Lindsay

Conference challenges for the Liberal Democrats and Tim Farron

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 18th September 2015 - 1:30 pm

I left home at stupid o’clock this morning to head to Bournemouth. At 8am, as I passed the Sage in Newcastle, scene of a spectacular Conference row over NHS reforms in Spring 2012. I was already I’m wondering if we were nearly there yet.

At the beginning of the week, there was hail and thunder forecast for almost the exact moment I arrive in Bournemouth, but that threat seems to have subsided. This afternoon is about the only chance I have for a wee walk on the beach. Let’s hope I get it.

This is bound to be an emotional conference for us. It’s just four and a half months since that brutal election result. Yes, we have got up, dusted ourselves off and are getting on with that #libdemfightback, but if were honest, few of us have really yet come out the other side of the grieving process. Being with our friends, mulling it all over with laughter, the odd tear and a whole load of gallows humour will undoubtedly help with that. 

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Gerald Vernon-Jackson

Conference Countdown 2015: We cannot vote to become group members of CND

By Gerald Vernon-Jackson | Fri 18th September 2015 - 12:27 pm

We all remember the pain of the General Election. We seemed to lose votes from two major groups of people.

The first were people who would not forgive us for working with the Tories in Government. They were tacical voters who voted Lib Dem in 2010 and then voted Labour/Green in 2015.

The second group were swing Lib Dem/Conservative voters. Many of them were scared by the Tories into voting Conservative to stop a Labour/SNP government that would wreck the economy and make the UK unsafe.

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Ryan Lailvaux

Changing lives from the bottom up

By Ryan Lailvaux | Fri 18th September 2015 - 11:25 am

Bristol Lib Dems supporting refugees eventAs one of thousands who joined the Liberal Democrats after that fateful day in May, I was wondering if I could make any difference in the rebuilding process. The Bristol Lib Dems were welcoming from the minute I joined. Not knowing anyone at my first meet-up was daunting but everyone went out of their way to make me feel part of the group. When I volunteered to arrange a pre-conference meet up it took an interesting turn. Tim Farron was going to be in town that day.

‎Helen Cuéllar was another new member with boundless energy and a positive attitude. The local party placed trust in the both of us to be responsible for this important function. With the clock ticking we met up for a drink after work to plan everything. We decided to make the day about the refugees and for all proceeds to go to Calais Refugee Solidarity Bristol.

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Iain Roberts

Government’s apprentice plan to take money from NHS and councils

By Iain Roberts | Fri 18th September 2015 - 10:35 am

David Cameron has unveiled a plan to “boost apprenticeships and transform training”. No doubt it will have positive aspects, but – as so often – the cheery message hides some issues that should concern us.

Organisations are currently incentivised to take on apprentices with Government funding from BIS. For larger organisations in the public and private sector that is about to change. The funding will disappear completely and, instead, they will pay a tax called the “Apprenticeship Levy” to cover the costs.

This tax or levy will be hypothecated: companies will get first call on their own money and will be expected to spend it on the apprenticeship and training programmes where BIS previously covered much of the cost.

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Paul Walter

Aliens? Migrants? Exiles? Refugees? Asylum seekers? People? Dreamers?

By Paul Walter | Fri 18th September 2015 - 9:25 am

Immigration is perhaps the main debate area where terminology gets very confused. The Express and Mail get people very wound up about “immigrants”. But what are people exactly getting wound up about? Illegal immigrants? Asylum seekers? Legal immigrants? Or people who were born in the UK, and who perhaps have several generations of antecedents who were born here, but just look different to themselves? We have to be very precise about terms or we get into a very emotionally-charged muddle.

In an LDV article entitled “Don’t talk to me about migrants” Caron noted on here last month that words matter in the reporting and discussion of the refugee crisis. I’ve read some correspondence between a complainant and the BBC from last month (and I’m sorry I can’t find it at the moment) where the BBC were adamantly sticking to the word “migrant” to describe the current movement of people across borders.

So, I couldn’t believe it when on Wednesday night on the ten o’clock news on BBC1, a BBC reporter actually referred to “refugees”. (I know it’s not the BBC, but Ben Shephard on ITV also referred on Thursday morning to the “refugee crisis”.) And a quick search of the BBC website for the last few weeks shows that they have been frequently using the word “refugees”. But they still use the word “migrants” in many blanket headlines.

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George Kendall

Conference Countdown 2015: Why you shouldn’t give me a vote at Conference

By George Kendall | Fri 18th September 2015 - 8:26 am

In the last four years, I’ve been to a lot of Lib Dem conferences – though sadly not next week – but I’ve had a vote at none of them. I was even the mover of an amendment, but I didn’t get to vote on it.

On Monday the One Member One Vote motion would give me a vote at conference. So why do I think you shouldn’t give it to me?

I’m not worried about the vast, vast majority of members. But there are a just a few who do worry me. If we decided votes by referenda, I wouldn’t be concerned. Among 61,000 members, a few rogue votes wouldn’t be significant. But attendance at conference is a lot lower.

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Caron Lindsay

LibLink: Tim Farron: For Lib Dems everything has changed

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 18th September 2015 - 6:55 am

So far, Tim Farron has got through his pre-conference interviews without creating the sort of media storm that has surrounded previous efforts. Remember “cockroaches” and “2/10”, neither of which actually was as bad as it initially sounded to some people.

Tim has written for the Guardian outlining the opportunities he sees for us as a party in the wake of Jeremy Corbyn’s victory. He talks about Labour MPs (and a Tory) being distraught at the direction their respective parties were taking. He’s not breaking any confidences here. Plenty of Labour supporters are having serious fears for their party’s future.

But he’s careful …

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Conference Countdown 2015: Agenda 2020 at conference: your chance to have your say

By Duncan Brack and Julie Smith | Thu 17th September 2015 - 9:45 pm

We’ve written here before about the Federal Policy Committee’s ‘Agenda 2020’ exercise – a major consultation within the party on Liberal Democrats’ basic beliefs, values and approaches. Our political philosophy is the backbone around which we build our policies on specific issues, and a vital part of our fightback.

A short consultation paper, Agenda 2020, and an accompanying set of essays setting out the personal opinions of a range of individuals within the party are both available on the party website.

The paper sets out a brief description of the Liberal Democrat philosophy and outlines the policy challenges the country, and the party, will face over the next five years. Responses to the paper can be submitted via the website, but we are also discussing it at two consultative sessions during the Bournemouth conference. Each of them will give you an opportunity to give us your thoughts on what’s in the paper, what you like, what you don’t like, and what’s missing.

It’s not terribly obvious from the conference agenda how the sessions will be run, so we thought it would be useful to outline them here.

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Caron Lindsay

Governance review – more exciting than you think, honest.

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 17th September 2015 - 7:11 pm

I often think that if any executive body wanted to do some real power grabs, it would circulate them in a document entitled “Governance review” in the hope that nobody would actually read them and work out what they meant.

Actually, you don’t get away with that in this party where we have been known to have quite a bit of an obsession with constitutional geekery and process. I often feel that we get too tied up in the wording of tiny parts of the constitution and not enough in its practical application and the culture we need to foster to make the party work well. In a party that values openness, transparency and accessibility for government, we don’t have nearly enough of them in the way we run our party.

Party reform was a massive issue in last year’s presidential election campaign. We all know we want to do something different, and the Governance Review now underway is designed to work out the precise details for reform. How can we say that we are run by our members when only a select few are even eligible to stand for some of the most important power-wielders? Are we truly making the most of the talents and professional skills of our members?

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Recent Comments

  • John B Grout
    Excellent piece, Josh. As for seeking others' thoughts on the pitch, here are mine: Labour and the Greens want to do things for you, the Conservatives and R...
  • David Evans
    It's an interesting article, which gives us more to think about, but when it ends with "Government and politics can strive toward this platform ... giving ind...
  • Neil Sandison
    This one of a series of articles recently published in the Liberal Democrat Voice that defines our social liberal values . Frequently the hot house of Westminst...
  • Pawel Urbanski
    This is the right problem to be working on, and I think the answer may be less about the words than about the moments. In my experience people learn what we sta...
  • Simon Robinson
    It's good to have an MP putting herself forward for this. The manifesto seems a bit vague though. All good thoughts and nothing you can really disagree with, b...