Nick Clegg is speaking in Leeds today to launch the Northern Futures project to find the best ideas for realising the north’s economic potential. An announcement on a series of Growth Deals, giving local leaders access to a £12 billion pot to support jobs, competitiveness and home building is expected on Monday.
While getting the north performing to its full potential is perhaps the prime economic challenge our country faces, there is something of a news blackout in the national media, …
My last piece of advice to Nick Clegg was to stand down as Lib Dem leader. He didn’t, and it’s pretty clear now that Nick will lead us into the next general election.
Two problems remain, though, and we need to find ways of addressing them. First, morale in the party has dipped since the May elections. Secondly, support for the party has also dipped in the polls. Yes, Lib Dem MPs benefit from the incumbency effect but that only stretches so far – we also need to start winning the air war, or at the very least avoid being ignored. As it stands, what Nick says just isn’t getting a listening. However unfair, it’s a reality we need to deal with.
Here are five suggestions from me for ways in which Nick Clegg could help restore party morale and maybe get himself a hearing from the media and public…
My brother has been battling cancer for just over a year, I asked for a week last October to take my children out of school as while he was having a break from his long going chemo treatment as we wanted to go as a family, it was denied even with the detailed letter attached , sadly my amazing wonderful 26 year old brother died this April , thanks to the stupid government rules I will never get to go on holiday with my brother again
Does ‘federal’ imply superstate, or would a federal Europe be one of ‘nation states wherever possible and Europe only where necessary’? This is the question Charles Kennedy addresses in the Guardian.
What struck me more than ever was the extent to which the political meaning of federalism has been twisted and caricatured out of all recognition in what passes for British political debate on matters European these days. The true (continental as well as North American) definition was well summed up
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Tim Farron was on punchy form when taking on George Osborne’s lack of ambition on climate change in an article in the Independent this week. He did not mince his words:
Osborne’s destructive rationale for overspending on our planned carbon budget is this: without a new strategy agreed, the UK would be ahead of its planned share of emissions cuts within the EU. It can therefore weaken its ambitions and still meet the old targets – there is nothing holding us to the necessary action to tackle
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Just as public services, communities and workplaces have seen a shift in how families are supported to balance childcare responsibilities with busy working lives, we now need a similar shift to meet the care needs of a rapidly growing older population too.
Thanks to the Liberal Democrats the Care Act and Children and Families Act have both extended the rights of Carers of all ages, but there is still much more to be done to recognise the hidden treasure that are Carers.
Caring responsibilities can come at any time in a person’s life …
Nick Clegg has announced that a Liberal Democrat Government would give carers an annual payment of £250. This comes on top of several measures introduced in Government to help those who care for family members, both practical and financial, including;
Last October, I wrote a piece for LDV called “Time to do away with LD Friends of Israel & Friends of Palestine” and other pieces on the subject on my own irregular blog.
After the tragic events of the last three weeks, with the three kidnapped Israeli teenagers being found murdered and now a Palestinian youth having been killed in Jerusalem, seemingly in “revenge”, I feel I need to speak out, even it is to “state the obvious”.
In addition to the murder of Mohammed Abu Khdair, the Israeli reaction to the kidnapping and killing of Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach has cost at least six other deaths of Palestinians on the West Bank & yet unknown numbers of lives in Gaza. We here in the UK need to be strident in the commendation of the extremists on both sides who, through their rhetoric, have encouraged the violence.
News reaches the Voice that Lib Dem MEP Catherine Bearder has become a Quaestor in the European Parliament:
Catherine was voted in as a Quaestor, a position responsible for helping to manage the day-to-day running of the Parliament and representing MEPs on its executive body, the Bureau.
She will be the UK’s only representative on the Bureau, which is responsible for overseeing the budget, administration and organisation of the European Parliament.
Catherine has said she will use the position to improve transparency, making more information available to MEPs and to the people they represent.
Secretary of State for Scotland Alistair Carmichael has made a lovely little video to promote this year’s Autumn Conference. We’re returning to Glasgow. I will not mention the delicious irony that Alistair is actually sitting in Party HQ in Edinburgh. After all, it’s not as if there’s any rivalry between the two cities, or anything.
I’ll also not mention the taxi driver who told me, without any rancour, that he couldn’t wait for the Liberal Democrats to be wiped out.
Seriously, though, Glasgow is brilliant both as a place and a Conference venue and it’s well worth coming.
Susan Gaszczak and her family have quit the party over the handling of the Chris Rennard allegations. Earlier this afternoon, Susan tweeted this, including her open resignation letter:
You can read my open letter of resignation from the @LibDems here pic.twitter.com/L32zaS409t
— Susan Gaszczak (@SusanGaszczak) July 2, 2014
Today’s Guardian reports that Nick Clegg has won the backing of MPs over whether to support a change in the party’s policy on an EU referendum:
The deputy prime minister, who has faced direct calls from ministers for a change of stance on the EU, won the agreement of the Lib Dem parliamentary party to stand by the current policy. This is to hold a referendum only if UK sovereignty is passed to the EU. The Tories
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It’s good to see a commitment from Justice Minister Chris Grayling to do something to tackle the appalling practice of revenge pornography, where somebody posts a private intimate photograph on a public website as a means of causing distress to a former partner. As we’ve written many times recently, there is currently very little that the victim can do about it. Julian Huppert was the first to raise the issue in the House of Commons last month, and he wrote that he favoured a change in the …
The leadership shown by the UK government – and in particular the Liberal Democrats and Lynne Featherstone MP – on ending female genital cutting or mutilation (FGC/M) in a generation has been ground breaking and inspiring. The upcoming Girl Summit is a timely opportunity, hot on the heels of the recent Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, to promote girls’ and women’s rights to live free from violence and discrimination and achieve their potential.
There’s no doubt that ending child, early and forced marriage and female …
In those heady 5 Days in May back in 2010, our negotiators agreed with the Conservative Party that there should be “fewer, more equal” constituencies returning MPs to the House of Commons. It formed part of a package, coupled with the referendum on Alternative Vote, and placed alongside fixed-term Parliaments (delivered), greater localism (partially delivered), and House of Lords reform (not delivered).
Whatever your views on whether there should be fewer MPs, more, or just the same as now, the principle that parliamentary constituencies should contain …
One of the now regular flow of “policy announcements” from the leadership calls for the 2010 ‘triple lock’ to be enshrined in law. Passing for a moment over the fact that these “announcements” are of course nothing of the sort and discourteous to Conference which passes policy, (though, to be fair, as Mark Pack and others have pointed out, Steve Webb has been careful to avoid language some others have used that suggests these policies have been agreed without the party having a say), I think it’s the wrong idea.
Why? …
Change is in the air, or that is the implication of the strange alignment of George Osborne for the Conservatives and Andrew Adonis for Labour, whose new report on re-balancing the economy – not that he used those terms – was published on Monday.
If you add Michael Heseltine’s 2012 review into the mix – published with a full-page portrait of the great Liberal reformist Joseph Chamberlain (yes, I know he became something else) – then the shift towards serious devolution of economic power seems unstoppable.
Why has it …
Danny Alexander has written for the Guardian in response to yesterday’s Trident Commission report. He continues to make the case that the policy passed at Liberal Democrat Conference last September, which cut the number of submarines was the right one for two reasons.
First of all, we don’t need continuous at sea deterrence because the nature of the world has changed:
During the cold war, there was a credible threat of a surprise massive attack against this country or Nato allies. Our nuclear forces needed to be available within minutes in order to give credibility to our policy of deterrence. This is why we maintained continuous at-sea deterrence; we kept at least one armed submarine on patrol 24/7, 365 days of the year. But the Berlin Wall has been down now for 25 years and the threat of “state on state” attack is much reduced.
In May’s European elections, it was liberals across the EU who stood up against the growing tide of nationalists, anti-Europeans and populists. Today, the newly elected MEPs met for the first time in Strasbourg to officially open the 8th European Parliament.
The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), the political group with which Liberal Democrats sit in the European Parliament, took a big hit when we lost all of my hardworking Lib Dem colleagues and nine German FDP MEPs. But it is not all doom and gloom. Liberals topped the polls in the Netherlands, and our numbers have been boosted by new liberal parties from Spain, Portugal and the Czech Republic, meaning we are still the fourth largest group with 68 MEPs.
After the energetic debate in these columns over the photo of Nick Clegg holding the free World Cup edition of the Sun, it is, shall we say, interesting to be able to report a Lib Dem MP praising that newspaper for a campaign it is running.
Stephen Gilbert, the MP for St Austell & Newquay, in the holiday county of Cornwall, is quoted as supporting the Sun’s petition to cut VAT on holidays in the UK. He says:
The Lib Dems should be proud that under the Coalition Government crime is falling and fast – in 2013 there was a drop in offences overall of 15%, including a drop in violent crime of 12%, continuing a trend that has been continuous for more than five years. Crime is now at its lowest level for more than 30 years.
This Bill marks the Coalition Government’s commitment to keep the pressure on to drive down crime. There is much in it that is good.
The Lib Dems have led the way on a number of key issues. The hard work of Paul Burstow, and Lib Dem Care Minister Norman Lamb, has ensured that wilful neglect by care workers will become a new offence. This is a vital step to ensuring that some of the horrific treatment of patients and those in care that we saw at Mid-Staffordshire Hospital and the Winterbourne Care Home never happens again.
Thanks to the Lib Dems the Bill also makes progress in tackling police corruption by ensuring that police officers have special powers and responsibilities and they must not abuse them corruptly or improperly.
I am pretty sure I have taken every chance available to enter the ballot for a Private Member’s Bill since being elected to the House of Commons in 1997.
What is certain is that I have never succeeded in securing one of the highly coveted slots that give backbench MPs a chance to pilot legislation through Parliament – until now, that is.
In the old days I am sure that those lucky enough to emerge in the “top 20” of the ballot would have learned of their good fortune by letter or maybe even messenger. By contrast, I became aware of securing the second slot by text messages and a sudden spate of social media ‘notifications’. The letter duly followed.
In the weeks since, I have had many enquiries asking which issue I would choose and have had just as many (mostly) helpful suggestions – my thanks to all who took the trouble.
I have recently written a couple of articles on Liberal Democrat Voice around changes to schools (here and here). Please read them, as they go with this one. To follow on from them I believe we also need Lib Dems to get behind changes to the curriculum in secondary schools.
The National Curriculum in England gives standards for each subject, but not which subjects (beyond the core subjects of Maths, English and Science) must be taught. If a mainstream school offers History they must follow the History national curriculum standards, but if they don’t have a History teacher then they don’t have to offer it, that needs to change. We need a balanced curriculum for all students, irrespective of which school or local authority are students attend.
The changes we should bring are that all secondary schools (including academies or free schools) to offer the following GCSE options (options being subjects that are not core subjects):
For political historians, the 27 June 2014 may go down in history as the day a British Prime Minister voted against parliamentary democracy. For that is what the Juncker nomination was really all about, and which many commentators in the UK fail to understand. Comments such as “two-faced EU leaders”, “Europeans fed up with the UK”, etc, as read in several articles this weekend, reveal a lack of understanding of the process that has been building up in the EU in the past two years.
LibDemVoice’s surveys of party members signed-up to our discussion forum have been running for close to four years now. (I posted yesterday the final set of figures from our most recent poll.)
Our surveys are a way of testing members’ views on a variety of hot topics. And as they’ve been running throughout the first four years of the Coalition they’re also an interesting record of changing views on how the Coalition is regarded within the party.
If you would like to take part in the LibDemVoice surveys, there are simply two …
Feeling a bit bleak about the whole EU shambles at the moment? Think we’re headed for the exit? Well, if you want some good old fashioned common sense, listen to Charles Kennedy, here on yesterday’s Sunday Politics. Sadly, you have to listen to arch Eurosceptic Tory Daniel Hannan again, but it’s still worth it.
The most interesting thing is that Charles calls on those who see the value in the EU not just to leave it to the Liberal Democrats to make the case for staying in. They need to put their heads above the parapet, too.
There’s also a discussion on what federalism actually means. The Daily Fail and the Tory right think it’s all about creating a big European superstate. No, actually, it’s about making decisions at the lowest practical level. It’s about that most liberal of ideas, decentralisation. Watch and enjoy.
So, students don’t hate us. There’s a surprise.
An article in the Financial Times highlights a poll which shows that support for the Liberal Democrats among students is still healthy, despite tuition fees.
13.4% of students back the party, compared to an average of 8.8%. Those levels need to be higher, but it’s an encouraging start.
The finding about Lib Dem support among students is likely to surprise critics who have long asserted that Mr Clegg’s party is disliked across Britain’s campuses.
“The core strategy with LDs have always been younger
…
One way or another, there’s going to be an EU referendum, and we must not just let it happen.
Pressure is mounting on David Cameron to move before 2017 and on Ed Miliband to shift from a perfectly clear position to one which is more “acceptable” to the sceptical groundswell. I’ve seen Tim Montgomerie suggesting that the spitzenkandidat system is a transfer of power to Brussels and might therefore trigger the referendum lock. Unfortunately for him, the legally enshrined vote is an in/in decision, and there’s no formal move – treaty …
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 830 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.
Currently England has an opt-in organ donation system, meaning that people’s organs can only be used for transplants after their death if the person has consented (which they do through the NHS organ donation register). Wales is switching to …
Equalities Minister Jo Swinson is back at her desk today, six months after giving birth to her son, Andrew. To mark the occasion, she spoke to the Independent on Sunday about the new flexible working rights which come into force today and the treatment of women in politics and on the internet. This means that every employee will have the right to request flexible working. Amusing points to note: first of all, the sub-editor can’t add. They know she was born in 1980, so why put her age at 36? Secondly, the official at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills who didn’t seem to know who Jo was? Really?
Here are some of the key points of her interview. Firstly, on how parenthood has changed her. I wonder if her husband Duncan Hames, or any other man, has been asked this:
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