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Caroline Pidgeon AM writes: In praise of Freedom of Information legislation

By Caroline Pidgeon | Mon 30th June 2014 - 11:59 am

Tony Blair’s latest comments about Iraq, seeking to defend his disastrous actions back in 2003, have generated extensive media coverage. However, there are other views expressed by Tony Blair which also deserve attention, most notably his incredible views over freedom of information.

But, before examining his comments lets go back 20 years or so.

For some people it might be hard to remember how Government departments and public bodies often operated. Holding onto vast amounts of information, however mundane or non-controversial, was considered totally appropriate by most Government departments, quangos and local …

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Posted in News | Tagged freedom of information and tony blair | 6 Comments

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The Gender Agenda #1 Why have women only training? What’s so special about women?

By Alice Thomas | Mon 30th June 2014 - 10:30 am

On May 7th, I wrote my first article for Liberal Democrat Voice.

It wasn’t exactly ground-breaking. It was promo for an internal SAO, written in a hurry by a first-time candidate (me), a couple of weeks out from one of the toughest elections we’ve ever seen. It was less than five hundred words of innocuous fluff.

You would never have guessed it from the reaction.

Within a few hours, it had over seventy comments, and it hovered on the Most Read list for days. Why? Because it was about Liberal Democrat Women, …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged the gender agenda and women only training | 141 Comments

Opinion: Tackling Housing Benefit reform

By Joe Bourke | Mon 30th June 2014 - 8:49 am

The Liberal Democrat policy paper on housing notes that the primary driver of growing housing benefit and Local Housing Allowance bills has been the shortage of housing, leading to higher rents, and increasing number of people unable either to buy or to access social housing. The paper focused on the most pressing issues:

Building more homes – providing environmentally sustainable homes where people need them, creating jobs and kick starting the economy.
Giving tenants more power and security – making social landlords more accountable and improving standards and security in the rapidly

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged housing and housing benefit | 39 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #381

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 29th June 2014 - 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 (-, 2014), 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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Posted in Best of the blogs | 2 Comments

In the next month 15 seats will short-list their wannabe Lib Dem MPs

By The Voice | Sun 29th June 2014 - 5:00 pm

Here’s the full list of selection contests in the coming month available for Lib Dems on the approved parliamentary candidates’ list, together with the closing date for applications.

They include Portsmouth South, where the incumbent MP, Mike Hancock, is currently suspended from the Lib Dems and is therefore ineligible to be selected for the party; and also the City of Durham, on paper the 27th most winnable seat for the Lib Dems, needing a swing of just over 3%.

The following seats have selections in progress and are currently advertising for candidates:

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Posted in Selection news | Tagged general election 2015 | 14 Comments

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

By The Voice | Sun 29th June 2014 - 3:58 pm

Many thanks to the 12,400visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Why changing leader now WILL save the party in 2015 and beyond (363 comments) by Jonathan Pile

Lord Storey on Nick Clegg: Not popular, nice guy, principled. What do the headlines report? Toxic (83 comments) by Caron Lindsay

Opinion: Tuition Fees not the crime of the century (142 comments) by Paul Walter

The Orange Book: 10 years on, 5 thoughts from me on its legacy (35 comments) by Stephen Tall

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Posted in Site news | Leave a comment

Term-time holidays and smoking in cars – what Lib Dem members think should be allowed

By Stephen Tall | Sun 29th June 2014 - 2:15 pm

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.

48% say schools should not allow parents to take their children out of school during term time

Do you think schools should or should not allow parents to take their children out of school during term time for the purpose of taking family holidays?

44% – Should

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 26 Comments

Ladbrokes: “Five seats the Lib Dems might GAIN in 2015”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 29th June 2014 - 11:55 am

Yes, you read the headline right. Ladbrokes’ The Political Bookie blog this week featured five seats where, based on the betting, they reckon the Lib Dems might confound expectations…

1. Montgomeryshire. Conservative majority 1,184
“Some are expecting a turnaround with a new candidate.” Her name is Jane Dodds, selected a year ago.

2. Watford. Conservative majority 1,425
“In Lord Ashcroft’s constituency specific polling, they were just 5 points behind the Tories.” It is also the top Lib Dem target from the Tories not yet to …

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Posted in News | Tagged ashfield, featured, general election 2015, jane dodds, jason zadrozny, jasper gerard, ladbrokes, layla moran, maidstone and the weald, montgomeryshire, oxford west and abingdon and watford | 48 Comments

For-profit schools: some evidence of why I’m far from convinced

By Stephen Tall | Sun 29th June 2014 - 10:15 am

Labour’s shadow education secretary, Tristram Hunt, this week called on Michael Gove to rule out profit-making schools, arguing “Beyond 2015, whether it admits it or not, the Conservative Party intends to introduce the profit motive into English education”.

The Tories have sidestepped the issue and instead invited Labour to turn its fire on the Lib Dems: they claim that Nick Clegg’s advisers Julian Astle and Richard Reeves were behind-the-scenes cheerleaders for profit-making schools. The mercurial Dominic Cummings, Gove’s former special adviser, has made the same allegation. This may very …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged dominic cummings, education, featured, for-profit schools, jeremy browne, michael gve, nuffield foundation, oxford university, schools and tristram hunt | 26 Comments

Steve Webb writes… Lib Dems will write the pensions ‘triple lock’ guarantee into law

By Steve Webb MP | Sun 29th June 2014 - 8:30 am

For decades, successive Labour and Conservative governments allowed the state pension to decline after Margaret Thatcher broke the ‘earnings link’ in 1980. The nadir of this was in the Labour years, when Gordon Brown increased the state pension by just 75p a week.

I was determined that the Liberal Democrats would do something about this appalling situation. In our manifesto in 2010 we campaigned on a ‘triple lock’ guarantee. This was a commitment that the pension would rise by whichever rating was highest in each year – by earnings, prices …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged featured, pensions and triple lock | 24 Comments

The Times interviews Maajid Nawaz: “I am planning to become a quite respectable Liberal Democrat MP”

By The Voice | Sat 28th June 2014 - 6:15 pm

Today’s Times carries an in-depth interview with Maajid Nawaz, Lib Dem candidate for the three-way marginal London seat of Hampstead & Kilburn, and co-founder and chairman of the Quilliam Foundation, the counter-extremism think tank. (Readers may have caught Maajid’s excellent performance on BBC1’s Question Time on Thursday night.)

You can read it in full here (£), but here are a couple of excerpts for those who can’t read beyond the paywall:

Maajid Nawaz can understand why two aspirational Muslim brothers from Cardiff have ended up going on jihad in Syria. Born

…

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Posted in News | Tagged hampstead and kilburn, maajid nawaz, quilliam foundation and the times | 19 Comments

“The Guardian view on the Lib Dem Orange Book”

By NewsHound | Sat 28th June 2014 - 4:30 pm

As we noted earlier this week, the tenth anniversary of the publication of The Orange Book was marked by a conference hosted by CentreForum on Tuesday. Today The Guardian publishes an editorial reflecting on the book’s impact a decade on. Here’s an excerpt:

The book certainly signalled that the Lib Dems were not – or not only – a party of protest for those who resented tuition fees or the Iraq war. The market-minded emphasis of David Laws, who proposed a social insurance model for the NHS in his essay,

…

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Posted in News | Tagged david laws, orange book, paul marshall and the guardian | 13 Comments

When is someone going to do something about football culture?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 28th June 2014 - 3:17 pm

There’s so much going on in the world at the moment, yet much of the media are obsessed with Luis Suarez. Even Question Time and yesterday’s Radio Scotland’s Big Debate had questions about the Uruguayan player who is now serving a 4 month ban for biting a fellow player in a match the other night.

This is far from the first time that footballers have behaved badly on the pitch. I remember watching in horror as David Beckham was sent off during the 1998 World Cup? …

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged big debate, featured, football and luis suarez | 18 Comments

The Independent View: Pierre Trudeau and the Just Society – lessons for Canadian liberals today

By Vittorio Trevitt | Sat 28th June 2014 - 2:15 pm

The general election expected to be held in Canada next year will be a decisive one for the Lib Dem’s Canadian counterpart, the Liberal Party of Canada, as it faces the prospect of returning to office after more than eight years in the political wilderness.

With a recent poll showing the governing Conservatives trailing behind the Liberals, the party’s leader Justin Trudeau stands a good chance of becoming the first Canadian Liberal prime minister since 2006.

However, if Justin Trudeau …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged canada, Justin Trudeau and Liberal Party of Canada | 6 Comments

LibLink: Jenny Willott – Gender equality is not just for women

By NewsHound | Sat 28th June 2014 - 11:42 am

Jenny Willott has co-written an article at the Huffington Post with Michael Kimmel, a New York Professor of gender equality for the Huffington post. They argue that everybody benefits from a more equal society. They talk about how the evens they attend on gender equality are predominantly female and call on men to do what they can to campaign for equality:

Real equality will only come about with the active involvement of both men and women. The time has come for men to enter this debate, not as outsiders but as

…

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Posted in News | 7 Comments

LDVideo: Nick Clegg – Let’s use Pride in London to celebrate advances in LGBT rights

By The Voice | Sat 28th June 2014 - 10:10 am

Pink News reports that Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has released a video celebrating Pride in London, saying we should celebrate advances made for LGBT rights. It quotes Nick saying:

“It is quite fitting that on the eve of London Pride weekend we were able to announce the final, crucial steps to making equal marriage a reality. From 10th December those couples who are currently in civil partnerships but want to enter into a marriage instead, will be able to do so.

“It has been a long struggle to get here and many people have worked tirelessly to ensure true marriage equality, but it has been worth it. This weekend we will be able to celebrate the advances our society has made for LGBT people, their friends and families.”

You can watch the video here…

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Posted in YouTube | Tagged featured, LGBT, london pride, nick clegg, pink news and same sex marriage | 2 Comments

Willie Rennie vs Tommy Sheridan and an angry mob

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 28th June 2014 - 9:08 am

I wrote yesterday about my experience at what was for all intents and purposes a taxpayer funded rally for the Yes campaign for independence. The Yes supporters were very nice when they told me that “No” voters were stupid.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie was not so lucky the other night when he turned up to a meeting in Abbeyview, Dunfermline this week to debate the pros and cons of independence with Tommy Sheridan, the former Socialist MSP. All Willie knew from the invitation was that it had been organised as a debate for undecided voters. This is the (imprintless) flyer advertising it:

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged Scottish independence referendum, tommy sheridan and willie rennie | 8 Comments

Antony Hook asks… Juncker nominated as next President of the European Commission – What happens next?

By Antony Hook | Fri 27th June 2014 - 8:53 pm

Today the European Council nominated Jean-Claude Juncker to be the next President of the European Commission. The heads of government of the 28 states voted overwhelmingly for Juncker. Only the UK’s David Cameron (European Conservatives and Reformists) and Hungary’s Viktor Orban (European People’s Party) voted against.

Juncker’s nomination reflects not only the European People’s Party’s status as largest group in the Parliament but also that it supplies more of the states’ heads of government than any other party. The Council’s nominee will go before the Parliament in its plenary, 14-17 …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged ALDE, david cameron, european commission, european people's party, featured, guy verhofstadt and Jean-Claude Juncker | 33 Comments

Poll of school leaders and governors: Don’t like Coalition’s education policies – BUT do like Lib Dem Pupil Premium and infant free school meals

By Stephen Tall | Fri 27th June 2014 - 2:00 pm

A couple of findings worth highlighting from a major survey of more than 2,000 school leaders and governors, commissioned by The Key, and carried out by polling firm Ipsos Mori.

It probably won’t come as a surprise to discover that the Coalition’s performance on education is viewed unfavourably: three-quarters of school leaders (75%) are dissatisfied with almost half (46%) saying they are very dissatisfied. However, drill down a level and it’s clear there are some policies which are popular – two of three most …

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Posted in News and Polls | Tagged education, free school meals, ipsos-mori, pupil premium and the key | 13 Comments

Ros Scott writes… The spirit of philanthropy

By Baroness Ros Scott | Fri 27th June 2014 - 12:47 pm

Three hours passed in the House of Lords yesterday without a single party political point made by any of the 21 speakers taking part in the discussion. The occasion for this unusual occurrence was my debate on the contribution made to society by the voluntary and charitable sector, held as one of three Liberal Democrat sponsored debates taking place yesterday.

Charitable giving from the public has held up remarkably well despite the long recession, although we should all be concerned that what my colleague Baroness Claire Tyler …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged charity, claire tyler, featured and philanthropy | 5 Comments

Cameron pre-announces failure in Europe

By Joe Otten | Fri 27th June 2014 - 11:05 am

In a display of perverse pride, David Cameron has been spinning today that he will lose a vote on the appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker as President of the European Commission. You might expect such a failure of (megaphone) diplomacy to be a source of shame, but I suppose failure is what the Brexit agenda demands, and hang the national interest.

In doing this he is, we are told standing up for the principle that the heads of government, not the European Parliament appoint the commission and that the …

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Posted in Op-eds | 33 Comments

The weirdest evening I’ve ever had at taxpayers’ expense

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 27th June 2014 - 9:52 am

Well, last night was a weird evening. And I know what weird is. I go to the Glee Club a wild, rude, drunken end of Liberal Democrat Conference singalong and Doctor Who conventions.

This, though, was the Scotland’s Future taxpayer funded Scottish Government independence event in Livingston, held in a local hotel. It was hosted by Training and Youth Employment Cabinet Minister and local MSP Angela Constance who was lovely, as she always is. She also had that clever political talent of under-promisng and over-delivering. She said …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged angela constance, kenny macaskill, Scotland and Scottish independence referendum | 6 Comments

Opinion: Tuition fees not the crime of the century

By Paul Walter | Fri 27th June 2014 - 8:49 am

Many years ago, before self-imploding, I studied Land Management at University. It was more like Beer Management as I drank several pints of weak ale a night, using my luxuriant 100% grant.

This week I found myself back at University. I was there as a parent learning about student finance. How times have changed. Now, of course, graduates have to cough up 9% of what they earn above £21,000 after university. (Maria Pretzler, mind you, has pointed out that the taxpayer will pay more under the new system than originally …

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Posted in News | 280 Comments

LDVideo: David Laws on the success of The Orange Book, 10 years on

By The Voice | Thu 26th June 2014 - 5:55 pm

On Tuesday, Centre Forum, the liberal think tank, held a one-day conference in London to mark the tenth anniversary of the publication of The Orange Book (we have already run pieces on the event by Stephen here, by Andrew Chamberlain here and by Rebecca Hanson here).

David Laws, one of the co-editors of The Orange Book (along with Paul Marshall), delivered the key-note speech on the day, a video of which has now been put online by Centre Forum. You can view it below, or here on YouTube.

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Posted in YouTube | Tagged andrew chamberlain, centre forum, centre forum orange book 10 years on, david laws, orange book, paul marshall, rebecca hanson and stephen tall | 29 Comments

To OBR or not to OBR? That’s the manifesto audit question

By Stephen Tall | Thu 26th June 2014 - 5:45 pm

Ed Balls wants it. Danny Alexander seems pretty keen on it, too. What is ‘it’? Asking the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to audit the manifestos of political parties.

On the face of it, that’s a good idea. Transparency’s a good thing and surely the public deserve to know as much as possible before we cast our once-in-five-years ballot which decides the next government? The case in favour is persuasively put by Giles Wilkes, until recently a special adviser to Vince Cable who has seen the …

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged Danny Alexander, ed balls, giles wilkes, institute of economic affairs, Institute of Fiscal Studies, office for budget responsibility, philip booth and ryan bourne | 11 Comments

Alistair Carmichael: “Torture is an abhorrent violation of human rights and dignity”

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 26th June 2014 - 4:45 pm

Today is the UN’s Day of Support for Victims of Torture. Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Alistair Carmichael has a long association with Amnesty International and he visited the Glasgow group last night to mark the occasion.

He spoke about the imprisonment of the Egyptian journalists, the death penalty, how Scotland has such a big impact on human rights as part of the UK and what the Coalition has done to advance the cause of human rights. The whole speech is available here on my blog, but …

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Posted in News | Tagged Alistair Carmichael, amnesty international, human rights and torture | 5 Comments

Julian Huppert MP writes.. A step towards humanist weddings

By Julian Huppert | Thu 26th June 2014 - 3:30 pm

One of the Liberal Democrats greatest achievements in Government has been the successful passage of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act. On Saturday 29 March 2014 the first same-sex marriages took place, a date I am certain will go down in history.

Most of the positive speeches given during the debates in Westminster concentrated not around gay or straight but on the belief that everyone has a fundamental right to love who they want and demonstrate that love together in a manner of their choosing.

And yet still in …

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Posted in News | Tagged humanist weddings | 12 Comments

Opinion: How the “extras” of school life can raise attainment

By Barry Holliday | Thu 26th June 2014 - 2:22 pm

I recently wrote this article about staffing in our schools. To follow on from that I’m moving on to some elements of school ‘life’. These ‘extras’ to the daily job of educating our children are all too often seen as not important, but in my experience they have a HUGE impact on the achievements and wellbeing of our children. (For info – I personally work in a secondary Academy, years 7-11).

Liberal Democrats need to strive to improve the life chances of our most vulnerable children, this can be done by:

Free …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged education | 10 Comments

Nick Clegg’s Twitter Q & A on education

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 26th June 2014 - 1:05 pm

After this morning’s Call Clegg, Nick Clegg took to Twitter to answer questions on education. He digressed a little, into decarbonisation, housing and and Luis Suarez. It’s been a very engaging 24 hours for Nick Clegg because last night he took part in a conference call with key party campaigners from around the country to discuss the party’s Summer campaign. He has been told in no uncertain terms in a variety of formats that it was very important that he was more visible about reaching out to members and it’s good to see him doing so. To be clear, he’s always done a lot of behind the scenes contact with members and elected representatives. Some get called, some surprised by hand-written notes at important times in their lives. I suspect last night’s call will be the first of many such initiatives from him. You have to give him credit, though, for being far more involved with his activists than either Cameron or Miliband. When was the last time they actually a) had meaningful interaction with any of their members or b) actually listened to their advice? Sometimes we feel far removed from the Westminster Bubble, but ours is a lot more penetrable than theirs. It needs to be, though, because Nick needs his activists much more than the others do.

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Posted in News | Tagged education, nick clegg and twitter q & a | 6 Comments

Call Clegg 26 June: Tories can talk all they like about snoopers’ charter, it won’t happen as long as I’m in government

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 26th June 2014 - 10:35 am

Clegg started in robust mood this morning, vowing that Theresa May will not get her way on increased surveillance powers while he’s in Government. He’s done well to stand firm against this for more than two years now. It’s certainly true that he had to be persuaded into this robust stance initially, but it’s to his credit that he listened to the points made to his office by a group of angry bloggers in April 2012 and has held firm ever since.

There seemed to be a clear theme throughout the half hour of Liberal Democrats standing up for people in the face of abuse of power by both state and private companies. Abuse of zero hours contracts is to end thanks to Liberal Democrats and the exorbitant interest rates charged by payday lenders is to be capped, among a whole raft of regulations brought in by Liberal Democrat minister Jo Swinson.

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Posted in News | Tagged call clegg, civil liberties, drugs, nick clegg and zero hours contracts | 21 Comments