Mary Reid

Vince Cable opens massive biofuels plant

By Mary Reid | Tue 9th July 2013 - 11:53 am

bioethanol-plantFor a picture of Vince Cable in a hard hat and hi vis clothing, check out the Yorkshire Post.  He was opening a £350 million bio-fuels plant in Humberside, one of the largest in Europe.

The plant converts animal quality wheat into bioethanol which is then added to petrol to produce a greener fuel. This is in an area which has been described as the ‘wheat belt’ of the UK.

Vince Cable is quoted as saying:

Here we are turning an agricultural product potentially into very good fuel, blending for motor vehicles, creating environmentally

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Mary Reid

Richard Grayson resigns from the party

By Mary Reid | Tue 9th July 2013 - 10:36 am

richard graysonOr, as he explains in his lengthy article on Compass, Richard Grayson’s membership has lapsed and he is not renewing. Richard was the party’s Director of Policy prior to 2004, Vice Chair of the Federal Policy Committee, PPC in Hemel Hempstead in 2010 and a founder member of the Social Liberal Forum.

He writes:

… the sad conclusion I have come to is that I have more faith in Labour and the Greens, than I do in the Liberal Democrats to put forward a package of policies which former Liberal

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Stephen Tall

The British public, eh? What do they know?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 9th July 2013 - 10:21 am

rss - PerilsofPerceptionThat’s the question the Royal Statistical Society and King’s College London decided to find out with the help of polling firm Ipsos MORI. They asked the British public a range of questions on current social issues. And they found the public mostly gave answers that were factually wrong. Not just fractionally out: a long way out.

See how you do on the 10 most common misperceptions held by the British public…

Teenage pregnancy:
What proportion of girls under 16 do you think become pregnant each year?
a) 0.6%
b) 3.6%
c) 6.3%

Crime:
Is violent …

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George Potter

Opinion: What is the cumulative impact of cuts on disabled people?

By George Potter | Tue 9th July 2013 - 8:57 am

With the Conservative ring-fencing of 40% plus of the welfare budget because it goes to a section of society which disproportionately votes Conservative (e.g. pensioners), it should come as no surprise to anyone that the forcing of all welfare cuts onto the remainder of recipients has hurt a lot of people.

Amongst those most badly effected are disabled people. Contributory Employment and Support Allowance (formerly known as incapacity benefit) has been time limited to one year. Disability Living Allowance is being replaced by Personal Independence Payments and will have been cut by 20% by 2015. Social care services are being cut …

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The Voice

Nick Clegg’s message for Ramadan

By The Voice | Mon 8th July 2013 - 8:47 pm

The values of peace, empathy and charity are an essential part of this holy month of Ramadan and evident within the invaluable contribution of British Muslims to strengthen communities across the UK.

So said Nick Clegg in his video to mark the start of Ramadan, also available on You Tube here.

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Caron Lindsay

Farron asks Gove to put mental health on the school curriculum

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 8th July 2013 - 7:43 pm

Last Friday a new charity, providing online counselling to teenagers with mental health issues, launched in London. Mindfull, run by the team behind BeatBullying, built the service after feedback young people themselves. We’re talking about a third of our young people either self-harming or contemplating suicide because they are feeling so bad. The case stories in the report give some idea of how that feels:

Jessica was 14 when she started to feel very down. She didn’t tell anyone about the way she was feeling until she was 15, and even though she started to have suicidal thoughts it took

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Bill le Breton

Opinion: Increasing Spending on British Stuff

By Bill le Breton | Mon 8th July 2013 - 4:42 pm

The Federal Conference Committee this week selected for debate this autumn a motion on Strengthening the UK Economy ghost written for the leader by his special advisers.

It calls on the Coalition to do seven things. The first six are laudable but the seventh: “(to) monitor closely the progress of the Bank of England against its refocused mandate in order to ensure that monetary policy is focussed on aiding growth” is a missed opportunity.

This is a time when Liberal Democrats could and should express an alternative to the Conservative/Treasury policy referred to above which Osborne announced in the Budget.

The …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 19 Comments
Baroness Liz Barker

Baroness Liz Barker writes: Liberal Democrat peers will support equality as Same Sex Marriage Bill returns to Lords

By Baroness Liz Barker | Mon 8th July 2013 - 3:00 pm

The Same Sex Marriage Bill is back in the Lords today for Report Stage.

The Government has responded positively to a number of issues raised during Committee Stage, such as the need to review legislation which prohibits Humanist marriages in England and Wales.

The opposition have tabled amendments on all the issues which they had already raised at Committee Stage. You can follow them on Twitter today under the hashtag #hearditallbeforeDear (Lord Dear was, of course, the crossbench peer who attempted to wreck the legislation from the off).

First up is an attempt to create two definitions of marriage – one for straight …

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Posted in Op-eds and Parliament | Tagged | 3 Comments
Caron Lindsay

It was all about Andy – and tedious independence referendum bickering was not going to ruin the occasion

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 8th July 2013 - 2:29 pm

Yesterday was one of the hottest days of the year – yet millions of us, from the Scilly Isles to Shetland were inside watching the tennis, willing Andy Murray to come through and claim the Wimbledon title. Even before the match started, though, there was the usual tiresome bickering on Twitter about whether he was Scottish or British. For once I agreed with Scottish Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon when she said:

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Kirsty Williams AM

Kirsty Williams writes… nothing to fear from parties working together

By Kirsty Williams AM | Mon 8th July 2013 - 12:55 pm

As we know, 2010 was the first time a coalition cabinet had been formed in Westminster since 1945. This obviously marked an historic occasion. However, coalition is something that is far less unusual in the Welsh political system and I believe experiences taken from Wales can be of benefit to the party as we approach the next General Election.

Between 2000-03 the Welsh Liberal Democrats were in a coalition government and our achievements during those three years were substantial. In fact, much to Labour’s annoyance, in 2002 we were able to claim that over a hundred Lib …

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Janice Turner

Opinion: Time for a grown-up workplace partnership

By Janice Turner | Mon 8th July 2013 - 11:12 am

The Tories hate trade unions. In the context of the Social Liberal Forum’s conference on 13 July in Manchester, with the theme “Ownership and Democracy – where does power lie?” the Tories’ policies regarding the unions have been to try to remove as much power and as many rights from them as possible, in order to free up company bosses to use their power as they see fit without the need to discuss their plans with the workforce.

The problem with strengthening corporate power while weakening trade union and individual rights is that it allows a return to working conditions …

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Stephen Tall

Andy Murray, Virginia Wade and my experience of a small dose of Everyday Sexism

By Stephen Tall | Mon 8th July 2013 - 8:55 am

So last night I tweeted this:

In response to this Times front page:

andy murray

It got a fair few retweets, including from Graham Linehan (@Glinner) and Danny Baker (@Prodnose), and my timeline started to get busy. Responses fell into two camps.

First, Pedants (and I mean this affectionately here), who pointed out it isn’t just Virginia Wade who’s been written …

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Caron Lindsay

What has my marriage got to do with the Liberal Democrats?

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 8th July 2013 - 7:53 am

More than you would think, I guess. My long-suffering husband at least went into our union with his eyes open. If there wasn’t actually a large bird of liberty in the room at the registry office, he knew that the party would play a large part in our lives together. And even then, I think it’s played an even bigger part than he anticipated and he’s dealt with it with patience, fortitude and humour. Most of the time, anyway.

Why is this even relevant? Well, it’s a Summer of 25th anniversaries. Next month, we will have been married for 25 years. Yesterday, it was 25 years since Paddy Ashdown was elected as leader and this video was released by the Party to celebrate.

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #333

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 7th July 2013 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 333rd 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 (30 June-6 July, 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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Stephen Tall

Shirley seeks to amend same-sex marriage bill: “Equality is not the same as sameness”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 7th July 2013 - 3:45 pm

There’s no doubt Shirley Williams has many admirable qualities. For example, her passionate belief in free-at-the-point-of-use health-care, her passionate defence of excellent education for all, and her quite staggering propensity for appearing on BBC1’s Question Time.

But even the best of us err. First, there was her casual dismissal of sexual harrassment (“we have got somewhat obsessed about getting very exaggerated reactions to what is silly and impolite and discourteous behaviour”). And now there’s her attempt to de-rail same-sex marriage legislation. As PinkNews reports:

Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Williams has tabled a new amendment urging for a legal separation

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The Voice

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

By The Voice | Sun 7th July 2013 - 1:20 pm

Many thanks to the 10,000 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

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The Voice

Lynne Featherstone re-selected in Hornsey and Wood Green

By The Voice | Sun 7th July 2013 - 11:17 am

Not that there was ever any doubt, but the process has been done and Lynne Featherstone has been reselected to stand for Hornsey and Wood Green at the 2015. She said on her website that she was delighted at the decision:

I am simply delighted by the confidence the local Liberal Democrat members have shown in me. It was a fantastic evening, and I’d like to thank the members, the local party, and fellow Lib Dem MP Ed Davey for making such a great speech.

It was also so special to have my political heroine, Baroness Shirley Williams, in attendance supporting

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Mark Pack

Would-be Labour candidate attacks Unite’s “autocratic monopoly” and role in Lewisham and Haringey selections

By Mark Pack | Sun 7th July 2013 - 9:15 am

Last night a would-be Labour Parliamentary candidate, who contested the Hornsey & Wood Green selection, hit out on Twitter at the “autocratic monopoly” produced by Unite’s influence on selections. Mandy Richards singled out selections in Hornsey & Wood Green and Lewisham, arguing that they have not been getting the media attention they deserve and that Unite’s influence is blocking a “progressive Labour agenda”.

Twitter - Mandy4PPC_2015- complaint about Unite

Twitter - Mandy4PPC_2015- Unite autrocratic monopoly

In Hornsey & Wood Green the selection was won by …

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Stephen Tall

Miliband vs McCluskey: 2 points that strike me about the Labour/Unite row over alleged candidate selection rigging

By Stephen Tall | Sun 7th July 2013 - 8:45 am

Looking in from the outside, albeit as a former Labour member myself, two points strike me about the Labour/Unite row over the alleged attempt by the union to rig the selection of the party’s general election candidate in Falkirk.

The first is this:

How lucky is Ed Miliband in his opponent, Len McCluskey?

Yes, you read that right. Ed is lucky in Len. The reason why is simple: Len McCluskey has gone about his attempted putsch of Labour in an extraordinarily cack-handed manner.

If you wanted to set up a comedy caricature trade union boss, you’d make sure he had a salary of £122,000, had called for a general strike, have him make threats against prominent Labour ‘Blairites’, and then protest against the lefty New Statesman when it reports accurately what you’ve said.

If you wanted to be a smart trade union leader, however, you’d operate below-the-radar. You’d do things just the same: ensure your chosen candidate was elected Labour leader (however dubiously), line up your mate to head up the party’s election campaigns, and guarantee loyal union members are installed in as many key seats as possible.

But you’d do so sotto voce.

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Caron Lindsay

Moore and Jardine remember Piper Alpha disaster 25 years on

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 6th July 2013 - 3:22 pm

It seems incredible to think that it’s a quarter of a century since 167 people lost their lives in the explosion on the Piper Alpha oil platform.

Today Michael Moore as Secretary of State for Scotland, laid a wreath on behalf of the UK Government at the memorial in Aberdeen. Ahead of this, he said:

It is important that we never forget those who have lost their lives in our oil and gas industry.  25 years on from Piper Alpha, the loss of 167 lives is something that families and communities across the whole country are still coming to terms with.
Since the

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Caron Lindsay

Call Clegg highlights 4 July 2013: #iagreewiththecheckoutgirl and tackling the Tories on marriage tax breaks

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 6th July 2013 - 1:21 pm

It’s never the major issues of the day that make the headlines from the Call Clegg show. This week, despite robust questioning on Egypt, immigration, it was all about that incident in Sainsburys where a member of staff refused to serve a customer while they were talking on their phone.

So, has he ever spoken on the phone while in a queue?

Firstly, yes I have spoken on the phone in the queue.  I kind of like to think that I probably wouldn’t do that if I was right at the top, at the sort of the front of the check in

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Stephen Tall

Lib Dem MP Martin Horwood socks it to the Tories over their “dramatic flip-flopping” on in/out EU referendum

By Stephen Tall | Sat 6th July 2013 - 11:15 am

martin horwoodWhile most of the country was enjoying yesterday’s sunshine, the Tory party indulged its own carnival of (to coin a phrase) banging on about Europe.

James Wharton’s private member’s bill legislating for an in/out referendum on the European Union to take place by 2017 (a pledge David Cameron has already conceded to his rebellious backbenchers, who don’t believe him) passed its second reading in the Commons by 304 votes to zero.

Only one Lib Dem MP made a speech: Cheltenham’s Martin Horwood. It’s a punchy tour de force which details …

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Posted in Europe / International, News and Parliament | Tagged , , , , and | 45 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg, Mick Jagger & Jennie’s meme

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 5th July 2013 - 8:36 pm

When Nick Clegg came to answer questions from the Party’s Federal Executive recently, he was in the middle of G8 talks. It seemed surreal that he was squeezing us in between the President of Mexico and IMF head Christine Lagarde.

The Telegraph tells us that our leader dined in even more illustrious company last night.

Fresh from the Rolling Stones’ amazing performance at Glastonbury, and ahead of this weekend’s Hyde Park concerts, Mick Jagger had dinner with Nick at a posh West London Italian restaurant.

If it had been Paul McCartney, my jealousy would have known no bounds. I’ve always …

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Norman Lamb MP

Norman Lamb MP writes…Tackling Mental Health stigma and discrimination: the NHS 65 years on

By Norman Lamb MP | Fri 5th July 2013 - 2:29 pm

65 years ago today, the foundations of our modern National Health Service were laid based on the recommendations of a Liberal, William Beveridge. The founding principle that our NHS should always be free at the point of use endures today. The NHS now treats around a million people every 36 hours, with 300 million GP appointments each year. It is a national institution of which we are rightly proud.

However, the National Health Service is far from perfect. Significant changes are needed to cope with the challenges faced by the fact that people are living longer, and are living with an …

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Caron Lindsay

Sad news about Roger Reeves

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 5th July 2013 - 1:59 pm

Andrew and RogerIt’s just over two years since our much loved Scottish (and formerly London) Director of Campaigns Andrew Reeves died very suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 43.

Very sadly, his husband Roger died last month, also at the age of 43, and his funeral was held today in Edinburgh.

I only realised today that some people didn’t know although several of us had tried to tell as many people as possible, so I thought I should put the news on here. Sorry if we hadn’t been in …

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Norman Baker MP

Norman Baker MP writes…Peter Mandelson is wrong: HS2 is vital

By Norman Baker MP | Fri 5th July 2013 - 12:00 pm

You may have seen earlier this week that Peter Mandelson (the man who gave us the fiasco of the Millennium Dome) came out and questioned the cost of High Speed Rail. I found this particularly rich coming from a key member of the Government which crashed the British economy.

The Government’s plans for High Speed Rail (HS2) come on top of the significant package of investment in our railways that we have already announced which alone represent the biggest investment by any government in the United Kingdom’s rail infrastructure since the 1840s.

HS2 is an absolutely essential investment, not simply because it …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 46 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Using MPs’ children to manufacture another expenses scandal is just wrong

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 5th July 2013 - 9:02 am

I see from the Guardian and, particularly, the Telegraph this morning that journalists are trying to make an issue out of MPs claiming, perfectly legitimately and within the rules for rent and travel costs for dependent children.

Let’s look at what the IPSA rules actually say. First on travel:

You can claim up to 30 single journeys for each of your dependants per year between your London Area residence and your constituency residence.

If you share caring responsibility with a spouse or partner, you may claim for the spouse or partner’s travel in the course of performing that responsibility. This is limited

…

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Caron Lindsay

++++Breaking News: Liberal Democrats gain Abingdon & Broadland seats from the Tories

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 4th July 2013 - 11:15 pm

Good news from Oxfordshire tonight. Jeanette Halliday gains the Abingdon Fitzharris ward for the Liberal Democrats with a 3.3% swing from the Conservatives.

Could this be another example of the Midas touch of Liberal Youth, who spent Sunday campaigning in the ward?

Of course the strong Oxwab team and PPC Layla Moran have put many hours of work in to achieve a magnificent result, the 8th gain from the Tories in the past year. Congratulations all round.

Update: News of a second victory reaches my ears. Steve Riley won the Aylsham ward of Broadland District Council from the Conservatives with a majority of …

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Posted in Local government and News | Tagged and | 26 Comments
Caron Lindsay

LibLink..Christine Jardine: Lib Dems taking high-minded road

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 4th July 2013 - 6:59 pm

After her excellent performance and decent result as our candidate in the Aberdeen Donside by-election, Christine Jardine has been back writing for the Scotsman. She argues that voters are much more positive about the Liberal Democrats and are starting to respect what we are going in Government.

She started off by highlighting a problem that wouldn’t be resolved by independence – bias towards the Central Belt:

But for me the one disappointment is that so many of the Scottish political establishment still don’t understand that politics in Aberdeen is different from the central belt. And it’s not just Aberdeen. The Highlands, Borders,

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Nick T

Clegg: Party funding reforms “cannot go forward in this Parliament”

By Nick T | Thu 4th July 2013 - 4:53 pm

For over a year, David Laws, Lib Dem chief executive Tim Gordon, Francis Maude, Conservative Party co-chairman Lord Andrew Feldman, ex-cabinet minister John Denham and former Labour Party general secretary and current whip Lord Ray Collins have been engaged in cross-party talks to attempt to secure a deal to reform party funding.

Today, Nick Clegg announced in a written ministerial statement (pdf) that those talks have collapsed:

Following the publication of the 13th Report from the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) in November 2011, I convened discussions between the three main political parties to discuss possible reforms to party funding.

Representatives

…

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