Adrian Sanders

Adrian Sanders MP writes…The Government must learn where it went wrong over Syria

By Adrian Sanders | Wed 4th September 2013 - 4:25 pm

The Government’s handling of the Syria crisis continues to raise more questions than it answered.  I’m not sure if this is a response to the media coverage of the issue or a general surprise that the process of sanctioning military action would necessarily have to differ from that used ten years ago when invading Iraq.

Focussing on the domestic political situation, it is clear that MPs in general supported a robust response to the use of chemical weapons despite the understandable concerns of the public.  The motions failed solely due to Ed Miliband’s rather devious pragmatism; something one doesn’t expect in …

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Posted in Europe / International, Op-eds and Parliament | Tagged , and | 76 Comments
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Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg’s message for Rosh Hashanah

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 4th September 2013 - 3:18 pm

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 5 Comments
Michael Moore

Michael Moore MP’s Westminster Notes

By Michael Moore | Wed 4th September 2013 - 1:44 pm

Michael Moore MP with apprentices Cameron Collins and Mark Tully at Mainetti 30 08 13 Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore MP, writes a regular column for newspapers in his Borders Constituency. Here is the latest edition. 

Jobs campaign

I recently launched a local jobs initiative as part of the Liberal Democrats’ ‘A Million Jobs’ campaign.

Apprenticeships are a really effective way of tackling youth unemployment because they enable young people to develop the training, skills and experience they need to enter fulltime paid employment. They also benefit businesses who gain value …

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Posted in Op-eds, Parliament and Scotland | Tagged , , and | 1 Comment
Richard Davis

Opinion: Innovation, Employment and the EU

By Richard Davis | Wed 4th September 2013 - 12:30 pm

Research, development and innovation are intrinsically linked to economic growth. In the UK we have a shocking history of underinvestment in science and research funding however this has been mitigated by the investment the EU has made into UK sciences, research institutions and innovative start ups. With the new EU funding programme Horizon 2020 coming into effect from next year there are high hopes for a new burst of innovation and the economic activity that brings with it.

The more innovation we have in the UK, the more people make things, the more our manufacturing sector increases and the more jobs …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged , and | 3 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink…Tim Farron: From Whitehall to the Town Hall, why we must say Yes to Homes

By NewsHound | Wed 4th September 2013 - 10:52 am

This week the National Housing Federation is running a Yes to Homes week to encourage councillors to allow more homes to be built within their areas. From their website:

Just a small handful of people can block the new homes that are a lifeline for many. When they are the only people putting pressure on local politicians their views are heard loud and clear.

All too often the people who actually need homes are missing from local debates. That’s why we have launched the Yes to Homes campaign. We want to make sure people who do support more housing are included

…

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Posted in LibLink and Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 25 Comments
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Caron Lindsay

No, Alex Salmond, the case against independence is not the case “against Scotland”

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 4th September 2013 - 9:08 am

By 10:30 pm last night, I thought the most shocking thing I was going to hear that evening was that the Blessed Mary Berry uses tinned, yes, that’s tinned,  peaches and pears in her trifle recipe.

Sadly this was not to be the case. Yesterday was Scotland’s the equivalent of the Queen’s Speech, when the Government unveils its legislative programme, except we get Alex Salmond instead of the Queen. To mark the occasion, he was interviewed for Scotland Tonight.

More of the interview than necessary was taken up with a discussion on which pro UK politician he would debate against in the …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , and | 24 Comments
Annette Brooke MP

Planning Consultation

By Annette Brooke MP | Tue 3rd September 2013 - 5:02 pm

Houses being builtPlanning policy is a crucial issue for Liberal Democrats. We believe in supporting and strengthening local communities – and the development of the built environment locally, and residential, business and other opportunities on offer, is critical to that. We believe that the revised National Planning Policy Framework has defined the broad parameters of the planning process, but we have further aspirations for our planning system to deliver strategic vision both nationally and locally.

The Liberal Democrats Communities & Local Government Parliamentary Committee – chaired by myself and Lord (Graham) …

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged , and | 8 Comments
Daniel Furr

Opinion: War is hell, but sometimes dictators leave us with no choice

By Daniel Furr | Tue 3rd September 2013 - 3:34 pm

The Mother of All Parliaments, one of the oldest democracies in the world, decided against condemning, and possible military action against, a brutal dictator, who used chemical weapons on his own population. I shall not critique the political fallout and alleged skulduggery or whether or not certain individuals played politics with the issue; my opinion is to express why intervention is required and why Britain needs to lead on Syria.

Assad has terrorised his own population with conventional and chemical weapons. Innocent people have been indiscriminately targeted; entire neighbourhoods destroyed, towns and villages laid waste and countless communities have been massacred. …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 110 Comments
David Gray

Opinion: Even if this is the end of our ‘Special Relationship’, there is no need to mourn its passing

By David Gray | Tue 3rd September 2013 - 2:10 pm

cameron-obama-hot-dogIt’s that old classic love story. Boy meets Girl. Boy and Girl become infatuated with one another. Boy leads Girl into a series of illegal wars in the Middle East. You know the rest. (In the interests of gender equality, I should point out that you are more than welcome to switch around the genders in this analogy.)

But now, this one sided relationship has a new twist. Girl has said no to the Boy’s latest attempts to lead her into another bombing campaign, and Boy is angry. Boy storms out, and …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 18 Comments
Mary Reid

No chemicals sent to Syria from the UK

By Mary Reid | Tue 3rd September 2013 - 12:22 pm

Syria mapAccording to the Independent, Vince Cable is under pressure over some export licenses that were issued by his department in January 2012.

The licenses were for potassium fluoride and sodium fluoride. both of which can be used to manufacture sarin gas, which we now know was used in the chemical attacks in Syria. But further down the article we can read that:

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills insisted that although the licences were granted to an unnamed UK chemical company in January 2012, the substances were not sent to Syria before the permits were eventually revoked last July in response to tightened European Union sanctions.

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 13 Comments
NewsHound

Nick Clegg says that there will not be a second vote on Syria

By NewsHound | Tue 3rd September 2013 - 10:51 am

Nick Clegg has told the BBC that there will  be no second vote in Westminster on military intervention in Syria. He said:

I don’t think there’s any point in us going back to parliament asking the same question… so we have no plans to do that.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has called for a second vote after US revealed new evidence about the use of sarin gas. Nick Clegg responded by saying that he didn’t need any additional persuading to take the position he did, given the evidence he had already seen.

Posted in News | Tagged and | 14 Comments
Robin Lynn

Opinion: Public Sector Equality Duty review…the countdown has started

By Robin Lynn | Tue 3rd September 2013 - 9:16 am

Those of us concerned about the fate of the Public Sector Equality Duty are starting to notice increased activity by interested parties. The Government has announced that the review will be published immediately after the summer recess. The review was carried out under the auspices of the Red Tape Challenge.

Announcing the Review last year Theresa May said:

Bureaucracy and prescription are not routes to equality. Over-burdening businesses benefits no one, and real change doesn’t come from telling people what to do. Today’s announcement strikes the right balance between protecting people from discrimination and letting businesses get on with the job.

Ms …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 3 Comments
NewsHound

How hard are the Lib Dems willing to fight for their green reputation?

By NewsHound | Mon 2nd September 2013 - 5:03 pm

In a thoughtful piece on Business Green, editor James Murray asks:

How hard are the Lib Dems willing to fight for their green reputation?

Lib Dem bird green 700To paraphrase him, he says “move over Green Party”:

It is the Lib Dems that have repeatedly pioneered demanding yet largely realistic green policies. You might not have agreed with every green policy they proposed – for example, the party’s long standing opposition to nuclear power continues to divide environmentalists – but for much of the past 20 years the Party has maintained an admirably distinctive green voice at Westminster.

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Posted in Conference and News | Tagged and | 7 Comments
John Whitehouse

Opinion: The whole country is talking about HS2, so why aren’t we?

By John Whitehouse | Mon 2nd September 2013 - 1:44 pm

In recent weeks the national media has been full of HS2. A number of prominent politicians have expressed opposition to the scheme, others like George Osborne have rushed to support it, the Institute of Directors members said it should be scrapped, etc etc.

For those of us who have been “in the firing line” of this massive project for over three years already, this national media attention is overdue but very welcome. For far too long, any opposition to HS2 has been brushed off as “nimbyism”, with media images of posh people in grand houses being inconvenienced by a project that would upset their idyllic and privileged existences!

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 55 Comments
David Laws

David Laws writes… Tackling disadvantage must start before school

By David Laws | Mon 2nd September 2013 - 12:05 pm

When money is tight, where a party chooses to spend says something important about that party’s values.

So today is an important day for Liberal Democrats – as Nick Clegg launches our £760m investment to provide a free early years education for every disadvantaged two year old.

From today, for the first time ever, 130,000 two year olds from the poorest homes become eligible for a free place with a nursery or childminder. And we have announced that, from next year, this same offer will be extended to families earning less than £16,000, adopted children and those with special …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 24 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Sir Malcolm Bruce MP to stand down in 2015

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 2nd September 2013 - 11:35 am

Malcolm announcement croppedSir Malcolm Bruce, speaking exclusively to the local newspaper in his Gordon constituency, has announced that he will be stepping down as MP for he seat he has represented for 30 years at the next General Election.

He told the Press and Journal:

I’d rather go when I’m fit, active, effective and, I hope, still enjoying it.

I think I’m going to feel quite liberated but I want people to know that I’m not retiring right now, I’m just announcing that I’m not going to stand at the next election. I’ll

…

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Mark Pack

Interim Peers Panel reform – missing the main question?

By Mark Pack | Mon 2nd September 2013 - 10:33 am

Nestling near the top of the second page of the Federal Executive’s consultation paper about how the party’s new members of the House of Lords are appointed (pdf) is a little three letter word which is central to the issue.

It talks about the party’s current Interim Peers Panel system, whereby conference representatives elect a group of names – of which I was one last time round – and to which are added a group of people by dint of previous offices they have held, such as former MPs.

That little word is “can”, as in this is …

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 3 Comments
Simon McGrath

Opinion: Let’s have some facts on the ‘bedroom tax’

By Simon McGrath | Mon 2nd September 2013 - 8:47 am

One of the ‘facts’ about the ‘bedroom tax’ which is becoming increasing accepted is that 9 out of 10 disabled people affected by the ‘bedroom tax’ and refused a discretionary payment are going without food.

There is a rather good graphic, much shared, on Facebook illustrating this and it has been added to the Labour rhetoric of the all round wickedness of the Coalition.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 47 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink…Paddy Ashdown: After the Syria vote, Britain must not sleepwalk into isolationism

By NewsHound | Sun 1st September 2013 - 7:48 pm

Paddy Ashdown has been writing about the implications of the Syria vote for the Guardian’s Comment is Free site. First, he pretty much repeats what he said on Friday:

There are strange paradoxes here. It is possible to be both proud of a parliament that said no to the executive on a matter like military action. But sad; even – dare I say it – a little ashamed at the decision it took.

Of course there are reasons for this. The leftover poisons of the Iraq war; the toxic effect of public distrust in our politics. Mishandling by the government. President Obama’s

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , and | 98 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #341

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 1st September 2013 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 341st 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 (25-31 August, 2013), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, 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 | Leave a comment
Caron Lindsay

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

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 1st September 2013 - 2:15 pm

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

Tom Brake on 38 Degrees and the Transparency and Lobbying Bill by Tom Brake MP (67 comments)

Syria Debate: How Lib Dem MPs voted by Andy Boddington (27 comments)

+++Government defeated on Syria motion by 13 votes by Stephen Tall (54 comments)

Clegg: Five reasons why this is not Iraq by The Voice (56 comments)

**Lib Dem Members’ Poll on Syria. **Military intervention 25% say no, 62% say yes BUT by Stephen Tall (33 comments)

Syria: what do Liberal Democrats want? by Caron …

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Stephen Tall

RIP David Frost. Here’s the TW3 sketch I’ll remember him for

By Stephen Tall | Sun 1st September 2013 - 12:45 pm

Sir David Frost – satirist, interviewer, writer – has died. Here’s my favourite That Was The Week That Was sketch, in which he and Willie Rushton excoriated Conservative home secretary Henry Brooke. It concludes with the brutal pay-off: “If you’re Home Secretary, you can get away with murder”.

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Posted in YouTube | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
Caron Lindsay

There’s a convicted wife beater in my Parliament and he won’t resign…

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 1st September 2013 - 12:31 pm

It’s now 10 days since Bill Walker, MSP for Dunfermline, was convicted of 23 offences of violence against 3 wives and a stepdaughter over a 28 year period. So far, his only public comment has been to state to the Courier:

I never had any plans to vacate my seat and that’s it. I will just leave it at that.

That’s not good enough for many MSPs. Willie Rennie has put down a motion (like an Early Day Motion at Westminster) calling on him to resign. That has so far been signed by over 80 of his parliamentary colleagues. Willie has …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , and | 10 Comments
The Voice

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: Our Priority is Syria

By The Voice | Sun 1st September 2013 - 10:33 am

Unsurprisngly, this week, Nick’s letter is about Syria. He highlighted his unprecedented Q and A session with members (embedded below if you missed it) and talked about the humanitarian aid that the UK is piling in to help the people of Syria and surrounding nations. 

libdem letter from nick clegg

This was a week in which we all grappled with a complex set of questions about Britain’s role in the world: our views on the scope of international law; on the place for humanitarian intervention; and on how to respond to war crimes committed on foreign soil.

My own views are well known: that there is a humanitarian case for the UK to be prepared to participate in multi-lateral, legal, targeted military action in Syria, aimed at deterring the use of chemical weapons. But there are no easy answers in this debate and I entirely understand and respect the misgivings that have led some colleagues and party members to oppose such action.

Last night, Parliament made its opposition to military action clear and of course, the Government will abide by that decision.

I held an online Q&A with members earlier today. If you weren’t able to join in, you can see it here.

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Posted in News | Tagged | 20 Comments
Norman Lamb MP

Norman Lamb: Support for Volunteer Groups across our Health and Care System

By Norman Lamb MP | Sun 1st September 2013 - 9:03 am

Charities and not-for-profit organisations offer an extraordinary range of care services across the UK. They offer millions of people access to high-quality treatment, advice and support. Brilliant innovation in care often happens in this sector. It is critical that the NHS works hand in hand with third sector organisations to make full use of the important work that they carry out in enabling people to live healthier, more independent lives.

Last week I announced the latest round of funding for the Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development (IESD) Fund, which is designed to support voluntary groups in promoting health and wellbeing in local communities.

The …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Frankly, I’d rather have a shambles than manage by fear and intimidation

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 31st August 2013 - 2:59 pm

I read a lot of political commentary by all sorts of people. I’ve been moved to tears, laughter, outrage, exasperation and delight by many of them. It’s taken until today, though, for an article written by a mainstream commentator to make me feel physically sick.

Writing in the Telegraph, John McTernan, former Labour Downing Street insider, describes the tactics of Labour whips:

A Cabinet minister who served in both the Blair and Brown governments retells his first encounter with Labour whips. Newly elected, he was walking through the corridors of the House when he was accosted by one. He was pushed

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 21 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Willie Rennie: We need a new Claim of Right to deliver a powerful Scotland in the UK

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 31st August 2013 - 1:00 pm

Willie Rennie has consistently talked about the need to develop a blueprint for a new constitutional settlement for Scotland within the United Kingdom. The Scottish Liberal Democrats have their own proposals, enshrined in Federalism: the best future for Scotland. Since its publication, both Labour and the Conservatives, (yes, you read that right, the Conservatives) have announced that they will b developing their own plans.

In a speech in Glasgow today, Willie takes this a step further, saying that he wants to see definite action on this so that any changes can be voted on at the 2015 general election, …

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

AD LIB Preview: The one with the kilt

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 31st August 2013 - 11:28 am

AD LIB September 2013The September issue of AD LIB magazine hits subscribers’ doorsteps this weekend. And it’s wearing a very fetching kilt as Glasgow prepares to welcome the Liberal Democrats for Federal Conference. It even has Gaelic on the front cover. And a saltire, which is bound to annoy our nationalist friends, but, hey, they don’t own it.

There’s an article by someone you might recognise which mentions the Krankies and drinking cocktails out of a gramophone. I have to say that much of the cool stuff in that “Welcome to Glasgow” …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , , and | 6 Comments
Westminster Insider

Opinion: The Syria Milishambles

By Westminster Insider | Sat 31st August 2013 - 10:01 am

See Saw Cameron MilibandEd Miliband has once again done his best impression of a statesman. On Thursday morning, with bags under his eyes, he declared that he was tabling an amendment to the government’s motion on Syria. His amendment would require a ‘clear legal basis’ for military action, and a second vote in the House of Commons following the forthcoming UN weapons inspectors’ report.

The government’s motion, on the other hand, requires a ‘sound legal basis’ for action, and a second vote in the House of Commons following the forthcoming UN weapons inspectors’ report. Snap!

Miliband stumbled and stammered in the Chamber Thursday afternoon as he tried to draw a line in the sand between his amendment that wasn’t an amendment and the government’s identical policy.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 82 Comments
Jonathan Fryer

Opinion: Syria – We still have a responsibility to protect

By Jonathan Fryer | Sat 31st August 2013 - 9:07 am

Several speakers inThursday’s House of Commons debate on possible intervention in Syria referred to the developing concept within International Law of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). Basically that means that when a government is unable or unwilling to protect its own people from humanitarian disaster then the international community has an obligation to intervene. Since R2P’s endorsement at the UN in 2005, it has generally been assumed that any such international intervention should have the backing of a UN Security Council resolution, which in Syria’s case would have been impossible, given that Russia and maybe also China would have vetoed …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 54 Comments
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