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Opinion: Looking forward to a post-Trident future

By Toby Fenwick | Thu 12th September 2013 - 1:12 pm

Amid general agreement on the thrust of Julie Smith’s Committee’s excellent paper, and gratitude that Nick Harvey and Danny Alexander have delivered unprecedented transparency on the UK’s nuclear options, next Tuesday’s debate on defence offers two sharply differing views of the future of Britain’s nuclear future.

On the one hand, there is Nick Harvey’s proposal to retain the Trident missiles, their warheads and associated infrastructure, but reducing our purchase of new Trident submarines from four to two. This means that from the early 2030s, the UK will no longer be able to mount the standing patrols of Continuous At-Sea Deterrence (CASD) …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged centre forum, nick harvey and trident | 17 Comments

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Sir Robert Smith MP writes…Retailers must end excessive delivery charges

By Sir Robert Smith MP | Thu 12th September 2013 - 11:59 am

Earlier this week I launched my Fairer Delivery Charges campaign. The campaign calls on online retailers to end excessive delivery surcharges and to make surcharges more transparent on their websites.

People in the North East of Scotland and in the Highlands and Islands are fed up with the excessive surcharges that some online retailers charge. The campaign is about making sure that consumers no longer have to pay these ridiculous surcharges. Recent examples from constituents that have contacted me include someone who lives five miles outside of Aberdeen being charged £60 instead of £20 for delivery and someone else being told …

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Posted in News | Tagged fairer delivery charges and Scotland | 10 Comments

The Liberal Democrat Voice Awards: Your chance to choose (2): Best photograph of a Liberal Democrat Parliamentarian

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 12th September 2013 - 11:15 am

The original plan was that our esteemed panel of judges would judge some of the Liberal Democrat Voice Awards and our Members’ Forum would choose all the rest. We then decided that we wanted our readers to have a say on some of them as well, though. So, here is the shortlist for the Best Photograph of a Liberal Democrat Parliamentarian. And further down there’s a nifty poll thingy, where you can make your choices.

1. Nick Clegg, Liberal Youth and a onesie

2. Mike Crockart’s No to Nuisance Calls Banner

3. David Laws and Pingu

4. Norman Lamb gets musical

5. Doctor Huppert

6. Red Davey

7. Tessa Munt and Bella

8. The Casked Crusader

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Posted in News | Tagged featured and Liberal Democrat Voice Awards 2013 | 1 Comment

The Liberal Democrat Voice Awards: Your chance to choose (1) Online campaign of the year (non Liberal Democrat)

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 12th September 2013 - 10:45 am

The original plan was that our esteemed panel of judges would judge some of the Liberal Democrat Voice Awards and our Members’ Forum would choose all the rest. We then decided that we wanted our readers to have a say on some of them as well, though. So, here is the shortlist for the Online Campaign of the Year (not Liberal Democrat). And further down there’s a nifty poll thingy, where you can make your choices.

The shortlist is:

Coalition for Equal Marriage

Don’t Judge my family

Equal Marriage campaign (Scotland)

EveryDay Sexism.

English Disco Lovers

Out4Marriage incorporating Lobby a Lord

Stella Creasy’s #sharkstoppers

Make sure you cast your vote by noon on Friday.

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Posted in News | Tagged Liberal Democrat Voice Awards 2013 | 10 Comments

Welcome to Glasgow – my article for AD LIB

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 12th September 2013 - 10:15 am

AD LIB subscribers will have seen this already, but the nice people at the production team of the party’s in house magazine have said that I can put it up here for you to read, too. It’s a piece outlining some of the many delights of Glasgow for Conference goers. By the way, AD LIB is a good read, so do think about subscribing. I should add that anything remotely cool in the article below is likely to have been inspired by Sophie Bridger, Liberal Youth …

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Posted in News | Tagged ad lib magazine, glasgow and sophie bridger | 2 Comments

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Julian Huppert writes: Decarbonising Britain – making the sums add up

By Julian Huppert | Thu 12th September 2013 - 9:07 am

There’s an excellent book by Prof David MacKay called ‘Sustainable Energy without the Hot Air’. This is a must read for anyone interested in energy policy. To help with that, it’s available entirely for free, at http://www.withouthotair.com – although you can buy a copy if, like me, you think you’ll want to keep it to hand.

Essentially, David MacKay highlights that whatever we do, we have to ensure that the amount of energy used does not exceed the amount of energy available.

How do we strike this balance? The first thing we can do is reduce our energy usage – that’s why I and so many others care about energy efficiency. Not using a kWh of energy is far more environmentally friendly than generating by any means!

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged decarbonisation and nuclear energy | 8 Comments

Tim Farron says our manifesto must be 100% Liberal Democrat with nothing pre-conceded

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 11th September 2013 - 9:02 pm

After the cockroach incident in March, you might be forgiven for thinking that you might have to read Tim Farron’s pre-conference interviews from behind a cushion. And the headline in the New Statesman is quite mischievous. It screams:

Exclusive: Tim Farron interview: I really like Ed Miliband, I don’t want to diss him

They make out like Tim just gushed about Miliband. But let’s be clear, Tim isn’t known for being horrible about anyone. He is not going to slate Miliband in the New Statesman or anywhere else.

They accompany the interview with an illustration of Miliband and Farron out picking …

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Posted in News | Tagged new statesman and tim farron | 33 Comments

Liberal Democrat Voice Awards: The Shortlists (6): Lib Dems’ favourite Labour and Conservative MPs

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 11th September 2013 - 8:00 pm

The Liberal Democrat Voice Awards are but three days away. At 10 pm on Saturday 14 September, in Castle 2 of the Crowne Plaza, with cash bar on hand, and an imaginative dress code, the best in blogging, campaigning, social media and politics in general will be feted in a ceremony filled with razzmatazz, glitz and glamour.

Our Members’ Forum has now been e-mailed with the chance to vote for the majority of the awards so I can now start to reveal the shortlists in those categories. This time, it’s the turn of or favourite Conservative and Labour MPs. Nominations were requested, …

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Posted in News | Tagged Liberal Democrat Voice Awards 2013 | 19 Comments

Liberal Democrat Voice Awards: The Shortlists (5) Liberal Democrat Councillor of the Year

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 11th September 2013 - 6:44 pm

The Liberal Democrat Voice Awards are but three days away. At 10 pm on Saturday 14 September, in Castle 2 of the Crowne Plaza, with cash bar on hand, and an imaginative dress code, the best in blogging, campaigning, social media and politics in general will be feted in a ceremony filled with razzmatazz, glitz and glamour.

Our Members’ Forum has now been e-mailed with the chance to vote for the majority of the awards so I can now start to reveal the shortlists in those categories. It’s high time we celebrated our councillors, so here is the shortlist for Councillor of …

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Posted in Local government and News | Tagged Liberal Democrat Voice Awards 2013 and Local government | 2 Comments

Greg Mulholland MP writes…A dangerous drift in the party

By Greg Mulholland MP | Wed 11th September 2013 - 4:30 pm

There is a dangerous and almost imperceptible drift that has taken place in the Liberal Democrats in recent years, a drift away from tolerance, of acceptance of religions and faiths, alongside secular belief systems like humanism, towards a moral conformity. A moral conformity that certain views are part of who we are; and that many faith based, Christian views are rather something to be reserved for private worship that should be kept firmly out of the political arena. It may not be as obviously discriminatory as the abuse I experienced during that election campaign, but it is nevertheless equally damaging

…

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Posted in Op-eds | 90 Comments

Duncan Hames writes: Local Enterprise Partnerships and low carbon development: what works and what doesn’t

By Duncan Hames MP | Wed 11th September 2013 - 3:30 pm

This is the last of three extracts from the forthcoming collection of essays Green liberalism: a local approach to the low carbon economy. Similar collections will be published under Green Alliance’s ‘Green social democracy’ and ‘Green conservatism’ projects as part of the Green Roots programme, which aims to stimulate green thinking within the three dominant political traditions in the UK.

A one size fits all policy, devised at a distance, imposed on local communities and implemented rigidly, is unlikely to rise to the environmental challenges we face today. That’s why we should give Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) the freedom to grasp …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged green alliance, green liberalism and local enterprise partnerships | 3 Comments

Opinion: Vote for Emergency Motion 3 on the Lobbying Bill

By Norman Fraser | Wed 11th September 2013 - 2:29 pm

The lobbying bill is either cock-up or conspiracy

is the verdict of Robert Barrington, the executive director of Transparency International UK.

Glasgow North Local Party has submitted an emergency motion on the Bill to Federal Conference. If you are a conference delegate please vote for our motion in Sunday’s ballot to choose the three emergency or topical motions which will actually be debated later in the week.

The Transparency of Lobbying, non-Party Campaigning, and Trade Union Administration Bill to give it its full title, was sneaked out just as MPs went on holiday. An unusually tight timetable has been set and the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged autumn conference 2013 and lobbying | 15 Comments

Tom Brake MP writes: Part 2 of the Lobbying and Transparency Bill, an update

By Tom Brake | Wed 11th September 2013 - 1:30 pm

As Nick mentioned to party members in his Letter from the Leader over the weekend, the government has signalled its willingness to accept the principle of amendments to Part 2 of the bill from John Thurso and other Liberal Democrat MPs.

I would like to thank John for the hugely constructive approach he and many other Liberal Democrat MPs have taken to this bill. It is not, and has never been, the intention of this bill to in anyway restrict the ability of charities to campaign to change government policy or on other issues they feel strongly about. And government …

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Posted in News | Tagged lobbying and lobbying bill | 9 Comments

The Independent View: Conference 2013: Lib Dems must stand up for the environment

By Andy Atkins | Wed 11th September 2013 - 12:30 pm

For a fleeting moment in May 2010 there was genuine optimism that the environment might be put at the heart of Britain’s political agenda.

With a coalition of Liberal Democrats, praised by many, including Friends of the Earth, for their manifesto’s prioritisation of environmental issues, joining forces with a ‘vote blue, go green’ Tory party, fresh from championing the Climate Change Act, it looked as if yellow and blue really could produce green.

But three and a half years later Cameron’s pledge to lead the “greenest Government ever” now seems little more than a cynical sound bite.

Perhaps less expected is the …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged autumn conference 2013, climate change, environment and friends of the earth | 16 Comments

New LDV members’ survey now live: your views on Syria, conference hot-topics, the Coalition – plus your chance to vote in the LDV awards

By Stephen Tall | Wed 11th September 2013 - 12:00 pm

The new LDV members’ survey is now live. So if you are one of the c.1,500 registered members of the Liberal Democrat Voice forum — and any paid-up party member is welcome to join — then you now have the opportunity to make your views known.

Questions we’re asking this month include:

your views on military intervention in Syria;
what you think about nuclear power and ‘fracking’;
other conference hot-topics like tuition fees, the 50p top-rate of tax, and the ‘bedroom tax’;
are you in favour of HS2?
your views on Nick Clegg’s leadership leading figures within the Lib

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged Liberal Democrat Voice Awards 2013 | 8 Comments

Opinion: 3 real life reasons why we need a fair asylum system and 3 chances to argue the case

By Suzanne Fletcher | Wed 11th September 2013 - 11:18 am

I am going to write about 3 people who sought sanctuary in the UK. All people I know well.

K came here, fleeing from the terror on Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. She is a strong determined person, passionate about democracy, and held a good responsible job in administration and had children. She fled here, in fear of her life, leaving job and family behind. She has not been given permission to stay here, but as we all must know by now, Zimbabwe is not a safe place to return to. So she had no job, no benefits, and no home. She does voluntary …

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Posted in News | Tagged asylum, immigration and liberal democrat seekers of sanctuary | 6 Comments

Liberal Democrat Voice Awards: The shortlists (4): Blog post of the Year

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 11th September 2013 - 10:27 am

The Liberal Democrat Voice Awards are but three days away. At 10 pm on Saturday 14 September, in Castle 2 of the Crowne Plaza, with cash bar on hand, and an imaginative dress code, the best in blogging, campaigning, social media and politics in general will be feted in a ceremony filled with razzmatazz, glitz and glamour.

Our Members’ Forum has now been emailed with the chance to vote for the majority of the awards. They will have first sight of those shortlists and will be able to pick their winner. This survey also contains questions on the likely Conference flashpoints. …

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Posted in News | Tagged Liberal Democrat Voice Awards 2013 | 6 Comments

Opinion: Getting the facts right on the Living Wage

By Gareth Epps | Wed 11th September 2013 - 8:57 am

One of the key battlegrounds on which the 2015 General Election will be fought is living costs, especially for those on low and low-to-middle incomes. With times tough and the cost of many basic items essential for living having outpaced wage inflation for a decade (according to the most comprehensive study of the subject, led by the Resolution Foundation but with considerable input from business and other organisations) – and with no money left in the public purse – answers are not easy.

The Liberal Democrats have, rightly, chosen to address this by a range of measures, and the key …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged autumn conference 2013, balanced working life paper and living wage | 28 Comments

Conference Preview: Sunday 15th September

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 10th September 2013 - 9:00 pm

This is the second part of my meander through the conference agenda. You can find Saturday’s here.

Those Powers that Be don’t miss a trick, do they? Part of Conference’s job is to scrutinise the party committees. So, when do they put on the report of the most unaccountable committee in the Party, the Federal Finance and Administration Committee? First thing on Sunday morning when many representatives will be sleeping off the effects of the Glasgow ales and whiskies from the night before. Immediately after comes the vote of the Parliamentary Parties. If you have any questions about, for example, …

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Posted in News | Tagged autumn conference 2013, ed davey and willie rennie | Leave a comment

Download now: Lib Dem Autumn 2013 Conference app

By Lewis Redfern | Tue 10th September 2013 - 8:00 pm

We are delighted to announce that our Autumn Conference App is now available for download. The Conference App is an supplement to the Conference Agenda, Directory and Training Guide.

My two favourite features on the App are:

My Schedule: add fringe events, auditorium sessions and training to an electronic diary.
Business Card : swap your contact information with other attendees in seconds.

We do understand there were a few issues with the App at Spring Conference due to the lack of WiFi and poor mobile signal. There will be complimentary WiFi in the SECC …

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Posted in Conference | 12 Comments

Edward Davey writes: Working in partnership to keep bills down

By Ed Davey | Tue 10th September 2013 - 6:20 pm

I’m very aware just how many people are worried about bills, not least their energy bills. These concerns will only increase over the coming months as the nights draw in, the temperature begins to drop and the ‘on switch’ for the heating is flicked.

I’m doing everything I can to help people keep their bills down, from piloting ‘collective switching’ which allows communities to use their buying power to get the best deals from energy suppliers, to legislating to make sure the ‘Big 6’ simplify bills, and switch people who are on ‘dead tariffs’ to the cheapest variable deal they offer. We are also introducing competitition to the market to ensure we level up the playing field for independent generators and suppliers.

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged Big Energy Saving Network and energy bills | 7 Comments

Opinion: Socks, Sandals and Party Democracy-or Why Spring Conference Is so Important

By Kelly-Marie Blundell | Tue 10th September 2013 - 5:38 pm

Do you remember your first conference? I certainly remember mine.

It was in Birmingham several years ago; stewards had a quick look through my bag inside the conference centre, and then I started queueing for a coffee. I suddenly realised that the man in front of me was the great Paddy Ashdown. I was so starstruck, I had to leave!

Once my overwhelming awe had dissipated, I got lost in a whirlwind of speeches, debates and policy-making; and that was just a coffee shop. Sadly I’d forgotten my sandals, I have to confess I didn’t see as many as the right-wing media would have us believe.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged autumn conference 2013 and spring conference | 9 Comments

Julian Huppert writes: Preventing and tackling sexual violence

By Julian Huppert | Tue 10th September 2013 - 4:38 pm

Nearly one third of women and nearly one fifth of men say they have experienced domestic abuse since the age of 16. Yet it remains an under-reported, misunderstood and incredibly damaging crime.

Last year alone in the UK around 1.2 million women and 800,000 men suffered domestic abuse and over 400,000 women were sexually assaulted.

But, the sad fact is this number is probably wrong, the true figure is thought to be far worse. Victims still fear coming forward while there is also a significant lack of understanding over what counts as domestic violence, especially amongst young people. It is frankly terrifying that some young men and women still believe violence in a relationship is normal. This must change.

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Posted in News | Tagged autumn conference 2013, domestic violence and sexual violence | 3 Comments

Stephen Williams writes: Stand up to Big Tobacco and help us win a vote in Parliament

By Stephen Williams | Tue 10th September 2013 - 2:55 pm

Calling all Voting Reps – Vote for Emergency Motion 7 on Tobacco Plain Packaging

At this year’s autumn conference in Glasgow Lib Dem voting reps have the chance to change history, to go up against Big Tobacco and their secretive lobbyists, some of them at the heart of the Tory Party, and to help us win a vote in Parliament to protect young people from tobacco advertising. Nearly two thirds of smokers started before they were 18.

Currently tobacco companies can market …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged autumn conference 2013, featured, plain packaging and tobacco | 89 Comments

Sir Graham Watson: Gibraltar will always have the Lib Dems’ backing

By Graham Watson | Tue 10th September 2013 - 1:49 pm

On Sunday 1 September, I was treated to what many of my constituents face on a daily basis, a border queue. I got off rather lightly with 90 minutes. Many Gibraltarians who dare to cross the frontier face delays of over four hours. But they are a hardy lot. They survived eighteen years under Franco with the border closed.

In December 2011, the Liberal Party of Gibraltar, our sister party on the Rock, was elected to office in coalition with the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party. At about the same time, a general election in Spain saw a moderate Socialist government replaced by the nationalist Popular Party, the party of former dictator General Franco.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged european union and gibraltar | 10 Comments

The Liberal Democrat Voice Team at Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 10th September 2013 - 10:25 am

Last Saturday, the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre was full of trolls, superheroes, and Pokemon. I kid you not. 20,000 people, many of them in costume, turned up for the Scottish Comic Con event. My daughter, or Karkat Vantas as she preferred to be called, was one of them. The photo shows a selection of the colourful and elaborate costumes on show.

Next Saturday, it’ll be full of Liberal Democrats gathering for Conference. Insert your own joke here. In the first of a series of preview posts, I …

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Posted in Conference and News | Tagged autumn conference 2013, caron lindsay, nick thornsby and stephen tall | Leave a comment

Some zero hours contracts are good for employees as well as employers

By Mary Reid | Tue 10th September 2013 - 9:01 am

Most zero hours contracts are exploitative and heavily weighted in favour of employers. The media are reporting that today Ed Miliband will use his speech to the TUC to outline his proposals for cleaning up this murky practice.

Miliband wants to outlaw contracts which offer no guarantee of work, but which do not allow the employee to work for anyone else. He also believes that anyone who works regularly for one employer should be moved on to a proper contract, which will, of course, include holidays and other statutory benefits.

He is right, of course, and I am rather ashamed that Liberal …

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Posted in News | Tagged zero hours contracts | 39 Comments

Conference Preview: Saturday 14th September

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 9th September 2013 - 9:30 pm

I thought it might be helpful to have a wee mosy around the Conference agenda and highlight some of the must-see picks of each day.

You can always guarantee with a Conference agenda that there will be at least two things you want to do at any given moment. In fact, if it’s only two, that’s a bonus. On Saturday, I need to split myself into 10 to do everything I need to do.

The age old concept of divide and rule is alive and well in 2013. If you have two highly contentious consultation sessions likely to be attended by roughly …

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Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Tagged autumn conference 2013 | 2 Comments

Liberal Democrat Voice Awards: The Shortlists (3): Best online campaign by a Liberal Democrat

By The Voice | Mon 9th September 2013 - 4:17 pm

The Liberal Democrat Voice Awards are but five days away. At 10 pm on Saturday 14 September, in Castle 2 of the Crowne Plaza, with cash bar on hand, and an imaginative dress code, the best in blogging, campaigning, social media and politics in general will be feted in a ceremony filled with razzmatazz, glitz and glamour.

Very soon, our Members’ Forum will be e-mailed with the chance to vote for the majority of the awards. They will have first sight of those shortlists and will be able to pick their winner. This survey will also have questions on the likely …

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Tagged Liberal Democrat Voice Awards 2013 | 9 Comments

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Recent Comments

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Somebody had to say it eventual!y. Thank you Tom for inviting us to be honest on this matter....
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