Rebecca Taylor

Rebecca Taylor MEP writes…Can you help me campaign against e-cigs being regulated as medicines?

By Rebecca Taylor | Sat 30th November 2013 - 9:02 am

The EU is currently deciding how best to regulate e-cigarettes. Opinion is divided, with many public health organisations and most national governments – including the UK – pushing for the regulation of e-cigarettes as medicinal products, while consumers, manufacturers, along with some doctors and public health experts asking for a less stringent approach.

The European Parliament also voted against medicines regulation, adopting instead a Liberal amendment drafted by Frédérique Ries, myself and Chris Davies which aims to guarantee essential safeguards without resorting to medicines licensing.

E-cigarettes are a new and increasingly popular product used almost entirely by existing or former smokers (see …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 55 Comments
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Mark Valladares

@ALDEParty Congress: writing a manifesto for Europe

By Mark Valladares | Fri 29th November 2013 - 4:22 pm

So, a bit like the Eurovision Song Contest, but possibly with better tunes, liberals from as far afield as Armenia and Catalonia, Finland and Cyprus are gathered to debate the draft manifesto.

The draft is founded on four key themes;

  • creating jobs and opportunities – free trade agreements, stimulating SMEs and e-commerce
  • setting new priorities – redirecting spending towards increasing jobs and improving lives, cutting administrative budgets and the Common Agricultural Policy, and ensuring healthy public finances
  • stronger in the world and safer at home – a common asylum and refugee policy, strengthening EU agencies and cooperation to fight organised crime, pooling and sharing

…

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged and | 11 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Liberal Democrats bring Doctor Who into the Lords

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 29th November 2013 - 3:25 pm

Yesterday, Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords held a debate on broadcast media. Falling in the week after the triumphant 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, it’s hardly surprising that the BBC’s flagship drama was heavily referenced during the contributions.

Olly Grender was one of a trio of Liberal Democrats to make their maiden speeches during the debate. We’ll put them all up in full separately as is our custom, but here are some highlights of Olly’s. First of all, she talked about the advice she’d received about her debut:

 I am sure, like me, most will have received a great deal

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 4 Comments
Norman Lamb MP

Norman Lamb MP writes…My view on cigarette standardised packaging

By Norman Lamb MP | Fri 29th November 2013 - 1:45 pm

Yesterday the Government announced that it is launching an independent review of the public health evidence on standardised packaging for cigarettes.

As a Liberal I will always defend an individual’s right to smoke when they can do so without this having an impact on those around them, but I have made clear in the past my personal view that we should introduce standardised packaging.

This is a product, after all, which kills something in the region of 100,000 people a year. Is it really that unreasonable to argue that, given this death-rate, we should be able to restrict, in all ways, the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 35 Comments
NewsHound

Baroness Alison Suttie’s maiden speech

By NewsHound | Fri 29th November 2013 - 12:52 pm

It is a tradition for LDV to bring its readers copies of our new MPs’ and Peers’ first words in Parliament, so that we can read what is being said and respond. You can find all of the speeches in this category with this link. Last Wednesday, Baroness Suttie made her maiden speech in the House of Lords during a debate on human rights. Her words are reproduced below.

Baroness Suttie (LD): My Lords, I, too, congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Alton, on securing this timely and important debate. I congratulate my noble friend Lord Finkelstein on his …

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
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Mark Valladares

@ALDEParty Congress: Council, the contractual obligation album?

By Mark Valladares | Fri 29th November 2013 - 11:21 am

Welcome to Liberal Democrat Voice’s coverage of the Annual Congress of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe, or ALDE for short. The Congress, which was officially opened yesterday evening, continues until Saturday.

As at many similar events, scheduling anything for 9 a.m. tends to signify a less exciting part of the business or, for the more cynical, things that the leadership hope to sneak through relatively unnoticed. ALDE Council meetings tend to into the former category… And yet, because most, if not all, of the key figures are present, it offers an opportunity to see how Bureau candidates perform …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged | 1 Comment
Issan Ghazni

Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats: a year of achievement

By Issan Ghazni | Fri 29th November 2013 - 9:45 am

cropped EMLD logoI was delighted to be re-elected Chair of Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats (EMLD) at the AGM last Saturday, 25th November.

2013 has been a year of considerable achievement, not least a very well-attended race equality conference in partnership with the Social Liberal Forum  which was launched by the business secretary Vince Cable.

EMLD were also successful in changing party policy on education and employment when our motion endorsing the Race Equality Taskforce report was unanimously approved at federal conference in Glasgow.

We were instrumental in preserving the “general duty” part of the …

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Mark Valladares

@ALDEParty Congress: meet (most of) the Vice-Presidential candidates *updated*

By Mark Valladares | Fri 29th November 2013 - 8:17 am

Welcome to Liberal Democrat Voice’s coverage of the Annual Congress of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe, or ALDE for short. The Congress, which was officially opened yesterday evening, continues until Saturday.

In the run-up to next year’s European elections, the role of ALDE in leading the Europe-wide campaign is a key one, and so it was no surprise to see a high quality list of candidates for Vice-Presidential positions on the 2014/15 Bureau, which will be elected tomorrow. And because the Liberal Democrats represent about 15% of the entire electorate, six of the seven candidates put in an …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged | 4 Comments
The Voice

Have you been ennobled, Lord Paddick, or are you just pleased to see us? (AKA Look! It’s Brian in his Speedos)

By The Voice | Thu 28th November 2013 - 9:24 pm

We don’t do caption competitions here at libDemVoice any more, but if we did this one would surely feature…

brian paddick

Here’s the official caption by way of explanation…

Lord Brian Paddick smiles after winning the race for the House of Lords during the The House of Lords v House of Commons Speedo Charity Swim at Porchester Hall on November 27, 2013 in London, England.

Posted in News | Tagged | 4 Comments
Paul Burstow

Paul Burstow MP writes…Standardised cigarette packaging – reviewing the evidence, or just kicking the can down the road?

By Paul Burstow | Thu 28th November 2013 - 4:13 pm

The news today that the Coalition Government is launching an independent review of the evidence for standardised packaging is welcome. It marks an important shift from the position Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt took in July that he would wait until the “emerging impact of the decision in Australia can be measured”. Australia of course led the world when the previous Government, with all Party support, introduced standardised packaging in December last year.

More welcome still is that news that the Government will take the legal powers to introduce standardised packaging in the Children and Families Bill

A four month review …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 9 Comments
John Pugh

John Pugh MP writes…Lessons from Bulgaria

By John Pugh | Thu 28th November 2013 - 11:46 am

There is something strange happening. This week we have seen the British Prime Minister question whether the free movement of labour is necessarily a good thing. The prospect of potentially socially disruptive Bulgarian and Rumanian immigration is concentrating his mind while all across the EU pray devoutly that the worst of tabloid fears will not come to pass.

The banking collapse in 2009 made all of us question whether the unfettered, free movement of capital was invariably a good thing. Currently the merits of the free movement of capital and labour are up for debate.

What we are seeing is the collapse …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 41 Comments
Graham Watson

Sir Graham Watson MEP writes…Welcoming ALDE Party Congress to London

By Graham Watson | Thu 28th November 2013 - 9:54 am

This week the Liberal Democrats are playing host to the wider European Liberal family – the ALDE Party’s big annual congress, which is taking place in London on today, Friday and Saturday.

Over 900 Liberals from across the EU and beyond will gather in Canary Wharf to draw up the common manifesto for the 2014 European Parliament elections and consider nominees for the Liberal candidate for European Commission President.

The European Liberal family includes three current Prime Ministers: Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, Andris Ansip of Estonia and Alenka Bratušek of Slovenia, and they will soon be joined by Xavier Bettel in …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 9 Comments
Andrew Emmerson

Opinion: Selling off the student loan book isn’t such a bad idea

By Andrew Emmerson | Thu 28th November 2013 - 8:55 am

Josh Dixon has written about why he feels selling off the student loan book from the 90’s is a worrying prospect for graduates. Whilst there are rightful concerns raised, the piece fails to clarify some important points about the working of debt and the economic sense behind the most recent sale

The article specifically alludes to the face value of the last student loan book which was around £900 million which was then sold off for £160 million. Whilst this may seem like a massive loss on the most superficial of levels, it is important to understand the other facts …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 19 Comments
The Voice

Letter from the Leader special: The Party of In

By The Voice | Wed 27th November 2013 - 8:36 pm

nick clegg euNick Clegg today emailed everyone who had signed up to the Why I am IN campaign on the eve of the ALDE congress which takes place in London over the next 3 days. He took the opportunity to explain why he’d signed the Liberal Democrats up to the benefits changes announced by David Cameron today. The tone is very different from Cameron’s bombastic words today which seem to have confused agreed coalition policy with the Conservative desire to limit EU migration post 2015. Liberal Democrat members will no doubt …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 13 Comments
Tim Farron MP

Tim Farron writes…Introducing our new Pastoral Care Officer

By Tim Farron MP | Wed 27th November 2013 - 6:00 pm

Tim and JeanneOne of the key recommendations set out in the Morrissey report was that the Party should seek to appoint a Pastoral Care Officer.

I am delighted to announce that Jeanne Tarrant has been appointed to take on this role.  Jeanne will start work with us on 2nd January.

Jeanne’s career has progressed through nursing, midwifery and into the trade union movement. She has been a practising Midwife since 1994, and at the Royal College of Midwives she was responsible for managing employment relations with Hospital trusts around England. Jeanne has also …

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Lord Roger Roberts

Lord Roger Roberts writes…Please try to prevent the imminent death of a seeker of sanctuary

By Lord Roger Roberts | Wed 27th November 2013 - 4:55 pm

Yesterday I met Mr Isa Muaza who, until last night, was due to be forced on to a plane to Nigeria this evening. Though his removal directions have been moved – and set – for 29 November he remains at death’s door.

Isa is a failed asylum seeker who has been held in detention at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre. The case is one of enforced removal, although very little real force will be necessary in his case. He has been on hunger strike and has lost 40% of his body mass. He is close to death.

Isa was not well when …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 10 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Clegg: Shoving new mums aside is unfair and bad for the economy

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 27th November 2013 - 2:34 pm

From Monday’s Scotsman:

MOTHERS often feel “shoved aside” in the workplace because they have had children, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has warned.

He said the problem was “far too common” and was not only unfair but also bad for the economy.

The Liberal Democrat leader said there was a need to dramatically change working practices to adapt to the realities of modern family life.

Mr Clegg’s comments came as a survey showed three quarters of women who returned to work after having a child thought it made it harder to progress in their career.

He went on to say:

It is sadly still far

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 22 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Only 2 days left to have your say on Spring Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 27th November 2013 - 12:52 pm

Last Friday, James Gurling asked for party members’ views on the future of Spring Conference. These have to be submitted by Friday 29th November, so this is a reminder to make sure you have your say before then. Janes’  article is reproduced in full below:

As part of the budget setting process, earlier this year, the Federal Executive were asked to look at how the Party runs its Spring Conference and the costs it incurs. With pressures on Party finances as they are, the challenge was therefore to look at how to make spring conference, at worst, a ‘break-even’ event.

From

…

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Posted in Conference and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 2 Comments
Andrew Stunell MP

Andrew Stunell MP writes…Keep free EU movement and end the dodges

By Andrew Stunell MP | Wed 27th November 2013 - 11:12 am

I signed up to the ‘European project’ a decade before I joined the Liberals. It was an instinctive reaction to working on refugee resettlement schemes in Germany and Austria. Even in the early ’60s there were still a million “displaced persons” living in camps in western Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War. That should remain a stark reminder to complacent euro-sceptics that spending time grizzling about straight bananas risks a lot more than a million or two British jobs and our country’s shrinkage to a world micro power. That’s what makes being the Party of “In” a …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 12 Comments
Stephen Tall

It’s “Immigration Hysteria Day”. Again. Here’s how Lib Dems need to respond

By Stephen Tall | Wed 27th November 2013 - 9:35 am

Another day, another bout of “the UK’s about to be invaded by 29 million Bulgarians and Romanians” hysteria. But today it’s not Nigel Farage splattering mis-shapen statistics into the debate: it’s the Prime Minister, David Cameron – increasingly resembling Mr Farage’s mini-me – who’s showing leadership by following the tabloid press. Here’s how the BBC lists the new proposals:

  • New migrants will not get out-of-work benefits for the first three months
  • Payments will be stopped after six months unless the claimant has a “genuine” chance of a job
  • The “habitual residency test” to determine eligibility for benefits will be tightened up
  • An earnings

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , , and | 44 Comments
Joshua Dixon

Opinion: Why the student loan privatisation is a worrying prospect for graduates

By Joshua Dixon | Wed 27th November 2013 - 8:57 am

For the first time in five years, the UK has seen a 4% rise in unsecured borrowing – the figure now amasses to an eye-watering £216bn. A report by Price Waterhouse Coopers revealed that this £8.5bn rise was almost entirely due to the rise in student borrowing. Students starting University, on average, are set to be straddled with debt that of £40 – 50,000.

As a graduate, already worrying about clearing my debt, the Government has given me more cause for worry. This week, the sale of the mortgage-style student loans taken out between 1990 and 1998 took place. …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 29 Comments
Caron Lindsay

The lighter side of the Scottish referendum campaign.

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 26th November 2013 - 8:30 pm

It’s not often we have cause to thank Nick Robinson.

But if this tweet of his doesn’t make you at least smile, then I honestly fear for your soul. Unless you’re Alistair Carmichael, of course. He may be about to kill me. But I’ll take that risk, just for you, dear reader.

Although, to be fair, I don’t think anyone ever thought for half a second that he might be image obsessed.

Posted in News | Tagged | 1 Comment
Mary Reid

Vince Cable justifies the payday loans cap – and the intervention by the Archbishop of Canterbury

By Mary Reid | Tue 26th November 2013 - 7:16 pm

vince-on-newsnightAccording to the Independent today, George Osborne’s surprise decision to impose a payday loans cap was precipitated by a threatened revolt by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Archbishop Justin Welby had been planning to speak in favour of an amendment to the Banking Reform Bill today, which would have imposed a 10% cap. The amendment was expected to attract support from cross-benchers and would probably have inflicted a defeat on the government.

The Independent claims:

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary, and Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat minister responsible for consumer affairs, have both

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 4 Comments
Caron Lindsay

SNP’s white paper on independence – some first reaction and three initial questions from me

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 26th November 2013 - 1:46 pm

For months, years, even, whenever we’ve asked questions about independence, after we’ve been accused of scaremongering, we’ve been told to wait for the White Paper.

Well, that wait is over as the White Paper has now been published – or is it? Scotland’s Future, it’s called. That’s profound. We have a future? That’s kind of inevitable. It doesn’t promise a bright future, or a happy one.

On the big questions of the day, such as the three on pensions, currency and cost posed by Alistair Carmichael two weeks ago, we are really none the wiser. We know what the SNP …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , and | 39 Comments
Mary Reid

Launch of Scottish Government’s white paper on Scottish independence

By Mary Reid | Tue 26th November 2013 - 10:50 am

scotlands-futureThis morning the SNP is launching the Scottish Government’s white paper on Scottish independence. It is 670 pages long and can be downloaded here.

Yesterday the Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury minister,Danny Alexander, who is, of course, a Scottish MP, has written to Alex Salmond, First Minister in the Scottish Parliament, to warn him of the consequences of independence. He wrote:

The White Paper published tomorrow must address the tax rises or spending cuts required to balance the books in an independent Scotland.

…

Even under the most optimistic scenario the

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 12 Comments
David Gray

Opinion: Which side are we on?

By David Gray | Tue 26th November 2013 - 8:53 am

RBS logoAllegations have recently come to light that RBS engaged in a programme of ‘deliberately wrecking small businesses’ in order to seize their assets on the cheap and boost their own profits. The case is another story in which we, the public, are shocked but not surprised. The response of the government and, in particular, Vince Cable will be watched very closely indeed.

It is interesting to view this story in the light of other recent events.

Take the sale of a student loans book to an investment consortium at a price …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 57 Comments
Michael Moore

Michael Moore writes… Hullabaloo Tuesday

By Michael Moore | Mon 25th November 2013 - 2:24 pm

Heard much about the referendum lately?

I only ask because there is a curious phenomenon at play in Scotland at present.

Never mind “Will you be voting ‘Yes’ or No’ next year?”: the real divide in Scotland seems to be between those who think they have heard too much from politicians already and those who think they have heard nothing at all.

To campaigners on both sides of the ‘great debate’ this latter camp is intensely frustrating.

At my last count (I am in recovery now), the UK government had published over 600 pages of analysis and argument. The slackers at …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 11 Comments
Millie Graham Wood

The Independent View: Legal aid cuts – a compromise too far

By Millie Graham Wood | Mon 25th November 2013 - 1:30 pm

In the week of the JCHR evidence session with Chris Grayling, the Justice Alliance has provided Simon Hughes MP with testimonials from over 100 organisations under the banner ‘Justice Deserves Lib Dems Stay Legal Aid Proposals’. The Testimonials represent a cross-section of society from The Howard League for Penal Reform, Liberty, Reprieve, Justice, to the British Tamil Forum, Kurdish Community Centre, René Cassin, Unite the Union, The Children’s Society and Women Against Rape.

As Liberty say in their testimonial:

UK justice should be open to all, with everyone having the opportunity to refute an accusation of criminal

…

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Posted in The Independent View | 14 Comments
Elizabeth Adams

Opinion: Remember, remember the 25th of November

By Elizabeth Adams | Mon 25th November 2013 - 11:26 am

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and is also White Ribbon Day.

It has been just over 2 months since we passed my motion at conference that called for further and stronger measures to tackle domestic violence. This set out our commitment to standing up for victims and making tackling domestic abuse a priority for Liberal Democrats for beyond 2015.

Today is a day to recognise the huge fight we still have ahead of us in stamping out, what is an abuse of human rights. Many local organisations will be carrying out days of activism and …

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Opinion: Let many flowers bloom (though not too many Flowers)

By Anonymous Liberal | Mon 25th November 2013 - 9:51 am

The Cooperative scandal, it’s got the lot.

Sex + drugs + religion + money = media feeding frenzy.

Liberals mustn’t join in too much. Especially where mutual ownership and public services are concerned.

Like the Cooperative Bank, most mutuals and co-ops operate in market conditions. Unlike it, most are small. In public service, as free collaborations, mutuals provide an alternative to collective state monoliths. In commerce, properly run, they avoid public companies’ shareholder short-termism. Indeed, in some ownership models, they confer real power on consumers. The Cooperative Party gives Labour significant reach across mutual enterprises. But it doesn’t control all …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 16 Comments
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