Caron Lindsay

Sal Brinton: “Now is the time for equal marriage”

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 4th June 2013 - 1:16 pm

wedding ringsYesterday, the Lords debated the Marriage (same sex couples ) Bill. Outside, a well attended good humoured vigil took place, with singing from the London Gay Men’s Chorus filtering into the Chamber. Having seen them brighten up a wet and freezing cold evening at a hate crimes vigil last year, I can attest to their talent.

Only three Liberal Democrats took part in the debate last night so we are publishing their speeches in full. Liz Barker’s is here and John Alderdice’s is here. The vote is not taking place until around 4:30 this afternoon so there is still time to contact them if you want to talk about any aspect of their remarks. Those nice people at Out4Marriage have created a Lobby a Lord site to help you.

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Caron Lindsay

Lord Alderdice’s speech in equal marriage debate: I am not unpersuadable

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 4th June 2013 - 11:55 am

wedding ringsAs only four Liberal Democrat Peers spoke in the equal marriage debate last night, we are publishing their speeches in full as this is an issue that many party members are interested in.

Liz Barker’s speech is here, and Sal Brinton’s will appear later. If you want to say anything to them ahead of the vote, expected at around 4:30 pm today, those nice people at Out4Marriage have created a site where you can lobby them or any other Lords.

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Stephen Tall

Ed Balls shifts Labour’s position closer to the Lib Dems: is this the start of a Lib-Lab realignment?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 4th June 2013 - 11:15 am

Ed Balls and Vince CableEd Balls’ speech to Thomson Reuters yesterday grabbed headlines for its concession that paying a winter fuel allowance to the wealthiest 5% of pensioners could no longer be justified. The likely saving — at c.£100m a year, no more than a rounding error in the national accounts – may be modest, but the symbolism is significant.

This is Labour accepting (at long last) the new normal of austerity: current departmental spending will continue to be reduced in the next few years even as the long-hoped-for economic …

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Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP

Sarah Ludford writes …Creating EU Data Protection rules that safeguard both privacy and jobs

By Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP | Tue 4th June 2013 - 10:29 am

As those who read this LibDem Voice article by Peter Bradwell of Open Rights group will know, I am currently the ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) group ‘shadow rapporteur’ on the draft EU Data Protection Regulation in the European Parliament.

I was not originally expecting to play a major role on this particular piece of legislation. But when my German FDP colleague Alexander Alvaro unfortunately suffered a serious car accident in February, the ALDE group appointed me as his interim replacement. I unwisely promised a response to Peter’s article ‘soon’! – but the last few months of negotiations have been very demanding. The new Regulation, unlike …

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Alexander Ehmann

Opinion: The lobbying scandal is nothing of the sort

By Alexander Ehmann | Tue 4th June 2013 - 8:49 am

Big Ben - ParliamentIn recent days the rhetoric regarding lobbyists has notched up a few gears.  These attacks have come from a surprising range of critics.  Yesterday morning Lorraine Kelly on Daybreak suggested to Tom Brake MP that we should ban lobbying altogether and shortly afterwards Lord Oakeshott likened lobbyists to mosquitoes.

I am a lobbyist.  My job requires me to talk and debate issues with politicians, civil servants and others on a daily basis.  There is a great deal of twaddle talked about lobbying.  Some of the nonsense is puff peddled …

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Caron Lindsay

Mike Hancock temporarily withdraws from Liberal Democrat whip

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 3rd June 2013 - 11:02 pm

From ITV:

In a statement released through the party Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock has said he is withdrawing from the party whip:

Following our meeting today I have decided to offer to temporarily withdraw from the parliamentary party in the Commons until the civil court case against me has been concluded.

I can assure you that I will continue to vigorously defend my position and that I completely refute the allegations made against me.

I’m doing this in the best interests of the party nationally and in Portsmouth and for my family.

I will continue to work hard for my constituents in

…

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Baroness Liz Barker

Baroness Liz Barker writes … My Lords speech on the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill

By Baroness Liz Barker | Mon 3rd June 2013 - 9:05 pm

wedding ringsMy Lords, I declare an interest. Many years ago I had the great good fortune to meet someone. She and I have loved one another ever since – apart, that is, from the occasional spectacular argument, usually about driving or DIY. As the slogan on T-shirts in the 1980s said: it happens in the best of families.

Whilst marriage is robust and enduring, what is meant by marriage has developed and changed significantly. Marriage was redefined in 1986, otherwise there would not now be any civil marriages in this country. Marriage laws were redefined in 1949, otherwise under-16-year-olds would still …

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Stephen Gilbert MP

Stephen Gilbert writes … Liberal Democrats should be proud of the Energy Bill

By Stephen Gilbert MP | Mon 3rd June 2013 - 7:00 pm

Energy-bills-006The Energy Bill will, today and tomorrow, be  going through its Report Stage and Third Reading in the Commons.  Ed Davey set out clearly on Lib Dem Voice why this is so important for decarbonising our power sector and keeping on the lights at an affordable price for consumers.  As a party we should be pleased that there is general cross-party support for the bill as it is vital that we maintain as far as we are able cross party consensus to provide the certainty for investors for our transition …

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Nick O'Shea

Opinion: A liberal future for police and crime commissioners

By Nick O'Shea | Mon 3rd June 2013 - 5:55 pm

Police helmetI was the Lib Dem candidate for Police & Crime Commissioner in Surrey, although I am yet to be convinced that such roles are necessary or desirable as the right way to tackle the problem, or even if ‘we’ understand what the ‘problem’ is. But our government set them up, they are a publically elective post, and we are in the business of standing for public office.

PCCs were the Tories’ solution looking for a problem: they were determined to put these posts into place whatever the situation, irrespective …

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Caron Lindsay

EDMWatch #2: Beer, moths, space and human rights

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 3rd June 2013 - 4:45 pm

We take  a regular look at the Early Day Motions tabled by MPs. These are basically House of Commons petitions and are used to raise awareness of an issue. One of the biggest elements of an MP’s postbag or inbox is a pile of requests from supporters of a particular organisation or charity to sign a particular EDM. As a rule, ministers don’t sign EDMs. A look at EDMs can be a useful insight into what’s on MPs’ minds.

The second week of the parliamentary session saw a flurry of motions, going up from 71 to 155.

Most popular

The most …

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Duncan Hames MP

Duncan Hames MP writes… Help shape Party policy in two new working groups

By Duncan Hames MP | Mon 3rd June 2013 - 3:20 pm

The Federal Policy Committee is advertising for members for two new policy working groups: Reform of Public Services, and Tackling Crime and Reform of the Criminal Justice system.

The Public Services group will look at overarching issues relevant to all public services, including themes like decentralisation and user empowerment, and also address specific policy issues in major services like education and health.

The other group will look at all aspects of preventing and reducing crime and the fear of crime, through the whole range of policy interventions.

Both groups are expected to produce policy papers for the Autumn 2014 party …

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Joe Otten

LibLink… Guy Verhofstadt: Europe needs to change, but with Britain at its heart

By Joe Otten | Mon 3rd June 2013 - 2:06 pm

Writing in the Independent, Guy Verhofstadt, president of the Liberal group in the European Parliament calls for Britain to seek EU-wide reform rather than a swathe of opt-outs.

Other European leaders have stressed their desire for the UK to remain part of the EU, but also that they are not interested in cutting a special deal for the UK alone. They rightly stress that the single market relies on a common set of rules, applied and enforced equally by everyone. At the same time, many on the continent recognise that there is growing need for major changes. Rather than

…

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The Voice

Lib Link… Nick Clegg: Sadly, I’m not surprised by these revelations. Westminster is crying out for reform

By The Voice | Mon 3rd June 2013 - 12:45 pm

I know that the absence of the register from last month’s Queen’s Speech raised some concerns. So let me be clear: it will happen.

That was Nick Clegg writing in the Telegraph following accusations that an MP and three peers were engaging in paid lobbying.

Also on the table is the power of recall of corrupt MPs – something also raised by Tories Dan Hannan and Douglas Carswell elsewhere in the Telegraph. The point at issue between the two positions: whether there must be wrongdoing, or whether recall is at the absolute discretion of the petitioners and …

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The Voice

Towards race equality: Lib Dem task force reports

By The Voice | Mon 3rd June 2013 - 10:36 am

Equality under the law and equal opportunity is at the heart of Liberal Democracy. So begins the first report of the task force appointed by Nick Clegg early in 2012, charged with identifying effective measures to tackle inequality, discrimination and under‐representation affecting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities and individuals.

Focusing on education and employment, no fewer than 30 recommendations are offered, notably including opposition to changes to the Equality Act and EHRC, previously covered here at Liberal Democrat Voice. The Guardian reports equality reforms condemned by Lib Dem task force.

The Task Force

…

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Caron Lindsay

Letter from the Leader: It won’t be easy

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 3rd June 2013 - 8:55 am

libdem letter from nick clegg

 

This week, Nick emphasises that despite all the fuss in the media, the Government is getting its head down and delivering good things. He points out that although things like Europe and equal marriage dominate the newspapers, they take up a relatively small part of parliamentary time. He also says that he thinks coalitions will become more frequent as people’s dissatisfaction with “the old two party politics deepens.” Over to Nick

“It won’t be easy: there will be bumps and scrapes along the way.”

That’s what I said three …

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #328

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 2nd June 2013 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 328th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throacughs from the Aggregator (26 May-1 June, 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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Geoff Crocker

Book Review: Austerity: the history of a dangerous idea

By Geoff Crocker | Sun 2nd June 2013 - 1:34 pm

Mark Blyth delivers a masterful, blistering, devastating, and totally convincing critique of austerity in his book Austerity: the history of a dangerous idea. It’s impossible to read this book and still believe that austerity is the right policy. Blyth writes engaging, powerful economic history of economies applying austerity, including the US, UK, Sweden, Germany, Japan and France in the 1920s and 1930s, Denmark and Ireland in the 1980s, and the Baltic states in 2008, demonstrating in each case that austerity does not work. It does not generate growth or reduce debt. He shows that the current hot spot crises …

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Ed Davey

Ed Davey MP writes…Green jobs, cleaner energy, keeping the lights on and bills down

By Ed Davey | Sun 2nd June 2013 - 10:59 am

The Energy Bill returns to the House of Commons tomorrow. It’s a crucial Bill that will help deliver all of the above, but clearly one issue – the 2030 decarbonisation target for the power sector – has been the focus of much attention over the last few months. Let’s be clear, such a target wasn’t mentioned in any party’s manifesto or the Coalition Agreement, or in the draft Bill when I became Secretary of State. But because we won the argument in Government, and the Bill now provides for a target, Britain will be the first country in the world …

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Caron Lindsay

The “affair” is none of our business – but how did it get in the papers anyway?

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 2nd June 2013 - 9:45 am

Today’s Daily Mail carries a story of a love affair which, apparently, has shocked David Cameron so much and got Downing Street panicking to the extent that they are worried about his political agenda being derailed.

From the story, which has no names or much in the way of detail, we can deduce that two middle aged people had an affair which is now over and which caused distress to others. No current cabinet ministers are involved and, from what I can gather, no Liberal Democrats either.

When you get down to it, it seems that the Mail has published a story …

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Caron Lindsay

Vigil to take place as Lords debate Same Sex Marriage Bill

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 1st June 2013 - 2:25 pm

Lobby the Lords Equal Marriage VigilThe House of Lords debates the Same Sex Marriage bill on Monday 3 June. They will address the general principles of the Bill before voting on a Second Reading.

When the matter was debated in the Commons two weeks ago, I was saddened to see that so many of my friends were upset by a protest against the Bill.  Think about how it feels to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and to see people demonstrating outside Parliament to exclude you. They tell you that they think …

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NewsHound

Danny Alexander: “Leaving the EU would be catastrophic”

By NewsHound | Sat 1st June 2013 - 12:00 pm

We saw Defence Secretary Philip Hammond give Nick Clegg a hard time on the Snoopers’ Charter the other day. Now our own Danny Alexander has given Hammond and Michael Gove something to think about by trashing their view on leaving the EU. It is a measure of how much the media have got used to Coalition that this isn’t being played up as a huge split. It’s accepted that there are radical differences in approach between the two parties on certain issues. It would be nice to think that this would lead to more intelligent public debate between members of …

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NewsHound

Menzies Campbell talks to Today programme about Syria

By NewsHound | Sat 1st June 2013 - 10:26 am

Sir Menzies Campbell, Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife and respected foreign policy expert talked to the Today programme yesterday about the situation in Syria. Last week he said that he didn’t think the EU arms embargo should be lifted. Now that it has been, he is now calling for a moratorium on arms exports to Syria so that a Conference can take place to try and get a peace process under way.

He told the Today programme yesterday:

I was one of those who expressed grave reservations about the idea of the EU embargo coming to an end which

…

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The Voice

Mercer affair can only help Nick Clegg’s quest for lobbying transparency and recalling MPs

By The Voice | Sat 1st June 2013 - 8:51 am

As more embarrassing revelations come out about Newark MP Patrick Mercer’s conduct, momentum is bound to build behind Nick Clegg’s quest to introduce both a register of lobbyists and a right of recall so that constituents can get rid of an MP accused of serious wrongdoing.

He has talked about both issues recently. Firstly, on recall, reported in the Guardian:

The proposals included in the coalition agreement appeared to have been stalled partly because there was disagreement on what behaviour by an MP could trigger a constituent’s right to petition for a byelection.

Clegg is proposing there has to be agreement

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Caron Lindsay

The LDV Friday Five: 31 May 2013

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 31st May 2013 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

  1. Simon Hughes MP writes…My vote on the same sex marriage bill (92 comments) by Simon Hughes
  2. Jo Swinson: Don’t tell your kids they’re beautiful, they’ll get issues (41 comments) by The Voice
  3. A short history of the market (36 comments) by Anthony Hawkes
  4. Opinion: Liberal Democrats for a Republic (50 comments) by Matthew Hulbert
  5. Is it time for retailers to lose the Lads’ Mags (38 comments) by

…

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Caron Lindsay

Can you help Christine Jardine’s campaign in Aberdeen Donside this weekend?

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 31st May 2013 - 3:15 pm

aberdeen donside hqHave you recovered from the May elections? Are you raring to go again? Well, obviously you will have things in your own patch to do, but you might also want to help our candidate Christine Jardine in the Aberdeen Donside Scottish Parliament by-election which takes place on 20th June.

For those of you far away from Aberdeen, you can phone bank through Connect. If you are within travelling distance, though, Willie Rennie is there today and Jo Swinson is there tomorrow to help Christine’s campaign. In an email to Scottish …

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Andrew George

Andrew George MP writes…Liberal Democrats must defend green promise

By Andrew George | Fri 31st May 2013 - 1:46 pm

It’s crunch time for parties across the political spectrum: will parliamentarians do the right thing for our climate and the UK economy or will they let the sceptics drive investors overseas?

The Energy Bill returns to the Commons next week, just as the Conservatives are retreating to their traditional political stomping grounds in the face of competition from the right. Writing in Lib Dem Voice last month, Nick Clegg noted that: “Compassionate conservatism has been sidelined…the blue team used to claim to have gone green, yet have now publicly denounced the importance of environmental protections”. It’s up to the Liberal Democrats to …

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David Thorpe

Opinion: How the government can spend billions on stimulus without borrowing a penny more

By David Thorpe | Fri 31st May 2013 - 11:57 am

In his defence of his dexterously lethargic approach to managing the economy, George Osborne portrays his detractors as Icarus-like figures forgoing prudence to pursue fantastical growth amidst the sunny uplands forever just beyond the next horizon.

The Chancellor would contrast himself as a wise head trying to counsel Icarus towards caution, as Daedulus did in the Greek myth.

But if Icarus was wrought low by over-reaching himself and flying too close to the sun, Daedulus’s demise came when he couldn’t escape from a labyrinth of his own creation. Osborne is risking this outcome.

I described the Chancellor’s economic management as dexterously lethargic above …

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Daniel O'Malley

Opinion: Communications Data Bill is a threat to liberty

By Daniel O'Malley | Fri 31st May 2013 - 10:07 am

The issue of the Communications Data Bill has found its way back into the national debate in the wake of another tragic terrorist attack. We again face the proposition of the government having the power to access vast amounts of data on our online communications and activates.

This Bill would force communications and internet providers to store web browsing history and details of messages sent on social media, webmail, voice calls over the internet and gaming, in addition to emails and phone calls. But also the time, duration, originator and recipient of any communication and the location of …

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Stephen Knight

Opinion: Is it too much to ask that our MPs understand the health impact of air pollution?

By Stephen Knight | Fri 31st May 2013 - 8:55 am

The events of last week in Woolwich totally dominated the media, and quite rightly so. However there was an opinion poll that was published last week that also deserves some attention.

In April Dods interviewed 101 Members of Parliament – that is almost one in six of them – about their attitudes towards air pollution as a contribution to premature deaths.  The MPs interviewed were broadly representative of Parliament, with 47 Conservative MPs taking part, along with 40 Labour MPs, 9 Liberal Democrat MPs and 5 MPs from other parties.

Why is this poll so significant?

The simple answer is that …

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Nick T

Liberalism’s comeback, feat. Mill, Smith, Gladstone and Clegg (on drums)

By Nick T | Thu 30th May 2013 - 9:42 pm

For those Voice readers who, as a result of an unfortunate oversight, do not subscribe to The Economist, here’s a heads-up that you may wish to pick up this week’s edition, which features this cover:

For those not inclined to pick up a souvenir copy, you can read the excellent Jeremy Cliffe’s report here, and the accompanying leader here.

Posted in News | Tagged and | 29 Comments
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    You are for this and so many reasons a total inspiration to me Caron ☺️🔶🌈...
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    Thank you for a bravely honest article! Might the “leadership” which took the L. D party into enforced student debts/loans have been confused about the i...
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    Weird that this appears to be the first LDV article about this, and the first time anyone in the parliamentary party has spoken up about it (as far as I'm aware...
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    Delighted to see conference overwhelmingly reject the EHRC guidance (they don't deserve three quarters of that name - I accept they are a commission). People ar...
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