John Pugh

John Pugh MP writes… Grim up north

By John Pugh | Mon 10th March 2014 - 10:45 am

You may have read the Observer article entitled “Northern Lib Dem MPs rebel over cuts.”

It’s a source of wry amusement to behold how the national media treat our internal democratic procedures. Not since primary school have I been referred to as “ringleader”, let alone of a bunch of “rebels” – Northern council leaders, peers and MPs who endorse the pre-budget submission “Grim up North?”.

The title is meant to be a little ironic because there are many promising signs up North and a lot of support for the Coalition’s objectives of re-balancing the economy.

However, your typical Northerner is classically known …

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Samuel Sigere

Opinion: From a friend with love – Let’s have an honest debate on the EU and UK

By Samuel Sigere | Mon 10th March 2014 - 9:30 am

When Alexander Stubb, Finland minister of European Affairs and Foreign Trade, was going to give a talk about the debate on the UK membership of the EU entitled ‘The UK and the EU: sovereign illusions in an age of interdependence‘ at the London School of Economics, you knew it was going to be interesting, for two reasons. First, through his wealth of experience in the European Parliament as MEP in 2004 and in the European civil service, Mr Stubb knows the EU modus operandi like few do. Second, it is sometimes good to have the perspective of a foreigner – …

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The Voice

What the media say about the York Conference, part 3

By The Voice | Mon 10th March 2014 - 9:09 am

Nick Clegg’s speech at the end of conference was covered by some, but by no means all, media outlets – you can read the full text of the speech here, and view a brief extract here. The Independent highlights Lib Dem Conference: ‘Rivals are airbrushing our role in recovery’ warns Nick Clegg,:

In a policy-lite closing speech to the Lib Dem spring conference in York on Sunday, the Deputy Prime Minister signalled the start of the long campaign to next year’s general election by emphasising the party’s achievements in government.

…

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Caron Lindsay

5 things you didn’t know Nick Clegg loves – another clever use of Buzzfeed by LDHQ

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 10th March 2014 - 8:57 am

Screen Shot 2014-03-10 at 08.53.06Back in January, when a character from Sherlock was analysed as a disillusioned Lib Dem, those clever people at Party HQ came up with a Buzzfeed thingy giving 1o reasons why she should come back to us.

They’ve now done the same with five of the things from Nick Clegg’s speech that he loves about Britain.

I liked that part of his speech – here’s a reminder:

I love that a country capable of extraordinary pomp and ceremony can still retain a spiky irreverence towards its establishment. A

…

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Caron Lindsay

My first appearance on the proper BBC1 News – “Not perfect – but in the circumstances we’ve done the best we possibly could”

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 9th March 2014 - 10:15 pm

Late at night at that delightfully random end of Conference Glee Club, in between The Land and The 12 days of Coalition (doesn’t Gareth Epps look like he’s going into a wee trance when he sings “B***** all?”, I checked my phone to see if there was a goodnight text from my family. There wasn’t, but there was one from the BBC, asking if I’d do an interview with political correspondent Vicki Young on the Coalition’s record and Nick Clegg’s speech.

Linda Jack and Caron Lindsay on BBC NewsI thought I might as well go for it, expecting it to go out on the news channel at 3am as most of my media stuff seems to end up. I was told to go to a cafe near the Minster for 10 am and that I’d be on with my friend Liberal Left’s Linda Jack.

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The Voice

Maybe stick to the day job, Lorely?

By The Voice | Sun 9th March 2014 - 8:55 pm

From the Huffington Post:

A Liberal Democrat MP wore a Nigel Farage mask at the party’s conference as she mocked the Ukip leader’s penchant for beer.

Just before Nick Clegg’s appearance, Lorely Burt also mocked a former-Ukip councillor’s claim that this winter’s floods had been brought on by the introduction of gay marriage.

This was not, shall we say, the funniest thing we have ever seen. It wouldn’t, to be honest, have been funny even at the traditional end of Conference late night sing-a-long the Glee Club.

To be fair, though, after an inauspicious start, Lorely went on to make a serious speech, …

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Caron Lindsay

Five reasons why Liberal Democrats leave York in good spirits.

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 9th March 2014 - 5:47 pm

Screen Shot 2014-03-09 at 08.06.08Liberal Democrats left York with spirits as bright as the sunshine which brought 17 degree warmth to the historic city.  Seriously. I was quite surprised about how genuinely upbeat people were. It’s not that they’d forgotten that we’re defending 12 European Parliament seats in 74 short days’ time. By the way, if you think that’s along time away, remember that 74 days ago was Boxing Day.  Everyone knows the scale of what we have to achieve by then and nobody is taking anything for granted.

Even the more, how shall I put this, hardened Awkward Squad (not an insult, definitely a badge that many of them would wear with pride) were saying things that could only be described as positive. Actual positive, not just lacking in complaints.

Why the good humour, then?

People love fighting a European Election about Europe

Liberal Democrats are by their nature internationalist. If it involves working together and building global alliances to make the whole world better, we’re happy. And that, to be honest, is what the European Union is all about. It’s about making sure that our young men don’t have to meet up somewhere on the continent and kill each other every few decades. If you look at the last couple of thousand years, that’s pretty huge. Yes, there are lots of other benefits that have a real practical relevance to people’s lives, but peace and stability across 350 million is the Big One.

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s speech to the Lib Dem spring conference in full

By Stephen Tall | Sun 9th March 2014 - 12:10 pm

Clegg SpeechNick Clegg is just about to begin his speech to bring to a close the Lib Dems’ Spring Conference in York. You can read the full text below.

The speech is most striking for its aim to reclaim patriotism. “I love Britain” is the refrain of its opening section (much of which reads a lot like the popular Twitter account, @SoVeryBritish – eg, “I love that we insist on queuing when we go abroad, even when the locals don’t.”), with Nick listing the things that make him proud to …

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Stephen Tall

Danny Alexander’s speech to Lib Dem conference. (AKA: we need to move beyond lists of achievements.)

By Stephen Tall | Sun 9th March 2014 - 11:45 am

If you missed it yesterday, you can catch up on Danny Alexander’s speech to the Lib Dem spring conference below. Listening to it, and trying to gauge the reaction of the audience of fellow Lib Dems, a couple of things struck me.

First, Danny has definitely improved as a public speaker. After almost four years in the cabinet as chief secretary to the treasury, he’s much more confident. Perhaps his best line yesterday was when he fended off Tory attempts to steal the credit for the Lib Dems’ tax-cuts for low-earners by saying, “There’s a big difference between doing something because you have to and doing something because you want to. They had to because we wanted to.”

Secondly, that improvement in Danny’s speaking only goes so far. Too much of the speech sounded like read-out versions of the e-mailed lists of Lib Dem achievements party members regularly receive. That’s fine in an email and we all need to have some handy facts to back up our doorstep conversations. But a speech needs also to tell a story, to engage. Can’t say Danny’s did it for me. Am I being too harsh? Well, judge for yourselves below…

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The Voice

What the media say about the York Conference, part 2

By The Voice | Sun 9th March 2014 - 10:55 am

The Observer carries two major stories about the conference today.  They comment on the key messages in Nick Clegg’s Q&A yesterday afternoon under the headline: Lib Dem conference: stuck in the middle – but with whom?:

It is really quite difficult being a Lib Dem these days. In pre-government times, when they were merely the protest party, they could say almost anything that would get them votes. Now, after several years of enjoying power and wanting more, it is all about positioning between two polar opposites while trying at the same time not to lose the party’s own identity.

But in an article headed Northern Lib Dems rebel over cuts the Observer reports that a group of eight Northern Lib Dem MPs, including Tim Farron,  have handed Nick Clegg a document titled ‘Grim up North?’

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The Voice

LDVideo: Lib Dem election results, predictions and UKIP threat

By The Voice | Sun 9th March 2014 - 8:30 am

On the BBC’s Daily Politics on Friday, Alex Forsyth looked at the Lib Dem fortunes in recent and not-so-recent elections, with predictions for 2014 and 2015 polls. Some familiar faces interviewed, including Tim Farron, Eastleigh’s Lib Dem council leader Keith House, and LDV’s own Stephen Tall…

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Stephen Tall

Six points I took from Nick Clegg’s Lib Dem conference Q&A

By Stephen Tall | Sat 8th March 2014 - 7:45 pm

Here are six points that struck me listening to Nick Clegg’s Q&A at the Lib Dem conference today (actually, a few more did, but I haven’t time to cover them all…)

Nick Clegg is more comfortable than his party with positioning the Lib Dems in the centre of British politics

The party’s slogan, ‘Stronger economy, fairer society’, captures Nick Clegg’s message: the Lib Dems can civilise the Tories’ ruthlessness, and we can rein-in Labour’s spending excesses. I’ve written many times before that I think this is the only strategy available to the party given we won’t form the next government on our …

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Caron Lindsay

So, what’s been going on at Conference?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 8th March 2014 - 6:29 pm

It’s not always easy to blog from Conference. Wifi can be temperamental and distractions are plentiful. However, your team will have lots to tell you over the next few days.

Here’s a quick snapshot of what’s been going on so far:

The Rally:

Vince Cable got really personal. He said that he’d had a fair bit of pressure put on him to slash adult education. He refused to do it, because of his own family experience.

His mother had a long spell in hospital following a nervous breakdown. He talked about how adult education had given her a second opportunity to build a career.

That …

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The Voice

David Cameron to host summit on FGM and forced marriage

By The Voice | Sat 8th March 2014 - 6:15 pm

A good story from today’s Times (£) for International Women’s Day:

David Cameron will play host to Britain’s first Girls’ Summit this summer to galvanise efforts to end female genital mutilation and forced marriage.

The Prime Minister will convene the meeting in July, which will focus on tackling the abuse and oppression of women that is embedded in certain cultures, at home and abroad.

At the top of the agenda will be FGM, which threatens tens of thousands of girls and women in the UK, and forced marriage, whereby many British teenagers disappear from the school roll and, in extreme cases, end

…

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The Voice

Tim Farron and Julian Huppert write: Why we need a Digital Bill of Rights

By The Voice | Sat 8th March 2014 - 4:52 pm

farron huppertLib Dem MPs Tim Farron and Julian Huppert explain why Britain needs a Digital Bill of Rights…

Momentum is a big force in politics; sometimes an unstoppable force. And this week we’ve seen momentum gathering pace for a change to our surveillance state.

On Tuesday, Nick Clegg set out his plans for change, backed up by a full Obama-style review of our outdated and woefully inadequate surveillance legislation and oversight bodies.

On Wednesday we hosted a lively surveillance discussion in Westminster with Alan Rusbridger, Editor-in-chief of the Guardian, MPs, peers, civil …

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Teena Lashmore

Opinion: Conference and Equality

By Teena Lashmore | Sat 8th March 2014 - 11:54 am

I was personally heartbroken when Nick Clegg was left with no option but to publicly apologise for the party’s inability to uphold free tuition fees.  As my career path requires further university study, I was going to be hit financially and immediately.

Initially I deferred and saved manically but I recognise I am disadvantaged and that my humble beginnings continues to snap at my heels.  Every day requires personal strength and good friends to overcome the obstacles of privilege but every so often, I feel compelled to ‘spell out’ what and how ‘disadvantages’ continue.

My PhD begins on the weekend of the …

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The Voice

What the media say about the York conference, part 1

By The Voice | Sat 8th March 2014 - 10:34 am

ITV reports Lib Dems open conference with ‘attack’ over Europe, where you can also watch a video round-up.

The International Business Times has a more sombre assessment: Cable and Clegg Attack Tories and Ukip:

The rally comes against a bleak background for the party as polls and by-elections show they are running fourth and there is the real possibility they will be humiliated in May’s European elections, thus the focus on the issue in York.

Yet delegates are still in an upbeat mood. The majority have come to terms with the realities of coalition and the fact that

…

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Stephen Tall

First two Lib Dem presidential hopefuls declare themselves

By Stephen Tall | Sat 8th March 2014 - 9:30 am

Party president Tim Farron’s second (and non-renewable) term of office finishes at the end of this year, after four years in the role. He doubtless expected most of the challenges that come from the Lib Dems being in coalition with the Conservatives. He wouldn’t have expected to have to manage the fall-out from the allegations of sexual impropriety made against Lord Rennard a year ago.

The post of party president is the only Lib Dem role other than that of leader elected through an all-member ballot, and it will take place this autumn. This mandate (along with the requirement to deal …

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Mary Reid

How to follow what is happening at Spring Conference #LDconf

By Mary Reid | Sat 8th March 2014 - 8:37 am

If you are not in York for the Lib Dem Spring Conference, you can follow what is going on in various ways.

For as-it-happens coverage follow the tweets on #LDconf.

Sadly, although the BBC broadcasts the main Autumn conference each year, it does not cover the Spring one – largely because the other parties do not hold similar events. Instead you can follow the live blog on the party website.

For an independent view, the York Press is making the most of having the conference on its doorstep and is also live blogging.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Sarah Teather – Why I’m Going Hungry on Saturday

By NewsHound | Sat 8th March 2014 - 7:55 am

Sarah Teather, MP for Brent Central

Lib Dem MP for Brent Central Sarah Teather will be part of a hunger-fast relay today in protest at what she describes as the coalition government’s “wilful indifference to the hunger of its citizens”. Here’s an excerpt of what she’s written for the Huffington Post:

I shall be fasting as part of the End Hunger Fast Relay. I pick up the baton from the Bishop of Salisbury tonight and pass it on to a Quaker leader on Sunday as we take part in an act of community solidarity with the thousands of British people who go hungry each day because they cannot afford to buy food.

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Nick Harvey

Nick Harvey writes: Making free school meals work

By Nick Harvey | Fri 7th March 2014 - 5:42 pm

school mealsYesterday in Parliament I joined with the Children’s Society to chair a roundtable to discuss the Government’s new free school meals policy.

Announced at last year’s Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference, from the start of the next school year (2014/15) all children at infant school in England will receive a free school lunch. The policy, which is projected to cost around £1bn over the next two years, will apply to all children aged 4-7 regardless of their family’s income.

Yesterday’s event brought together MPs with experts in the fields of education and nutrition …

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Norman Lamb MP

Norman Lamb writes: Protecting people’s health and care data

By Norman Lamb MP | Fri 7th March 2014 - 4:47 pm

In Government, as in opposition, Liberal Democrats have been staunch defenders of people’s right to privacy, campaigning against state intrusion into people’s private lives.  Our 2010 manifesto included commitments to scrap Identity Cards, block Home Office plans to snoop into people’s email and internet records, and remove innocent people from police DNA databases.  In Government, we have delivered: ID cards were stopped, the “snoopers’ charter” revived by Tories at the Home Office was killed off by Nick Clegg, and millions of people’s DNA records have been deleted from Police databases.

People have a fundamental right to expect personal information to be …

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Helen Flynn

21st Century Education: A Social Liberal Approach

By Helen Flynn | Fri 7th March 2014 - 3:32 pm

slflogoThe Social Liberal Forum are proud to announce the publication today of our newest publication: 21st Century Education.  The contributors to this publication are all experts in the world of education—the majority of whom are teachers—who are also members of the Liberal Democrats.   Grass roots members at that, many with long years of party membership.  As the editor of the booklet I am grateful that all the contributors were happy to write under the Social Liberal Forum banner.

What we are predominantly grappling with in this publication are not the usual battlegrounds of …

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Suzanne Fletcher

Linking peace issues with seekers of sanctuary

By Suzanne Fletcher | Fri 7th March 2014 - 2:13 pm

ld4sos-bannerThe National Friends Peace Board celebrated its 100 years anniversary last year at the Friends Meeting House in York.  They had a walk, linking two issues, between Richmond Castle where the Friends had stood up for the treatment of Conscientious Objectors during the First World War, to more modern matters, the role of the US base at Menwith Hill in spreading militarism around the world.  As they say on their website, “One thing we know from having delved into our history, and of course from our own lives and …

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Tom Brake

Tom Brake writes… Job sharing for MPs – an idea whose time has come

By Tom Brake | Fri 7th March 2014 - 12:02 pm

There’s something about our system of electing one person to represent one, relatively small part of the country which makes MPs very territorial. Their constituency is “their patch” on which no one else must trespass, and by extension we all find ourselves utterly consumed by the job.

The consequence is that politics becomes available only to people who are able to give themselves to it to the exclusion of all else. Working age women in particular have been seen to self-select out of the job, and many more simply never enter it. Westminster hand-wrings often about …

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Bill le Breton

Opinion: Sustaining the Recovery

By Bill le Breton | Fri 7th March 2014 - 10:44 am

A year ago to the day, here on LDV, I called the turn in the UK economy. We had experienced a double dip recession (later confirmed) and everyone was battening down the hatches for an unprecedented triple dip.

I wrote then in praise of Chancellor Osborne who the day before had authorized a briefing of two Financial Times journalists. Under the title Osborne to Hand Carney New Powers, they had written, ‘George Osborne’s Budget, will pave the way for Mark Carney, incoming Bank of England governor, to come to the rescue of the economy as …

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Tom Frostick

The Orange Book 2004-2014

By Tom Frostick | Fri 7th March 2014 - 9:24 am

To mark the ten year anniversary of the Orange Book, CentreForum is commissioning a new publication ‘The challenges facing contemporary liberalism: 2015-2025’ which will be launched at a special conference in June.

As part of this initiative, we are running an essay competition inviting participants to focus on a particular challenge confronting liberals over the next decade.

Contributors are asked to set out an effective response to the challenge they identify and assess the impact this response might have on government and public policy.

Our door is open to any liberal from any camp – economic, social or otherwise.

Selected contributors will see their …

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Nick T

Call Clegg: Ukraine, Europe, Boris’s mansion tax, Vince’s ‘gaffe’, collective responsibility and immigration

By Nick T | Thu 6th March 2014 - 6:01 pm

First up on this morning’s Call Clegg was, unsurprisingly, Ukraine. After discussing the situation generally Clegg was asked why he thought financial support for the country was a good idea. His response was clear:

It is in our interests to have a stable rather than unstable Ukraine.  It is in our interests to have a prosperous rather than an impoverished Ukraine.  Because if Ukraine is in a sense brought to its knees economically and socially never mind what the military incursions are from Russia, we’ll end up frankly paying a much higher cost in the years to come.

Next up he repeated …

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Giles Goodall

Opinion: Give British EU migrants back their votes

By Giles Goodall | Thu 6th March 2014 - 4:23 pm

We hear a lot these days about ‘EU migrants’: those strange and threatening people queuing at our doors to milk our famously generous welfare state – if you believe the dominant, fact-free, UKIP-inspired narrative, that is. But what about British EU migrants?

Figures recently uncovered by Lord Oakeshott show that there are 2.2 million British citizens living in other EU countries – almost the same number as other EU citizens resident in the UK. In many ways, this is not a surprise. We are a famously outward-looking country with centuries of globe-trotting experience. And who can blame those who decide to move south for a bit more sun?

EU free movement is a two-way street. It’s also one of the biggest benefits of our EU membership, both economically – being an inherent part of the single market – and in terms of personal freedom and opportunities. These are both things that we, as liberals, hold dear.

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Posted in Op-eds | 35 Comments
Louise Shaw

Opinion: Let’s move to one-member one-vote

By Louise Shaw | Thu 6th March 2014 - 2:59 pm

Following on from Sue Doughty’s excellent invitation to the consultation session on one-member one-vote (OMOV) for our party’s important committees, I’d like to give my perspective as a young(er) member on why I will be supporting this move at conference this weekend.

Sometimes people on the inside of the party can forget what it’s like to be on the outside, and also what it’s like to be a new member. Imagine for a minute you’ve just joined the party, your eyes and ears full of ideas. You’ve joined the party because of a shining commitment to involving members …

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