Caron Lindsay

Liberal Democrat Voice team discusses…..the Huhne/Pryce sentencing

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 11th March 2013 - 8:45 pm

It may not surprise you to know that the team at Liberal Democrat Voice quite often talk to each other about how we’re feeling about events in the news. We tend to write our own posts, though. I thought it might be a good idea to occasionally do a single post where several of us contribute our opinions on an issue of the day.

I think all of us share a sense of sadness at the way the destruction of a family has unfolded in front of us, disappointment that a highly effective minister is now in a prison cell in …

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Nick T

Dr Liam Fox’s economic prescription: kill or cure?

By Nick T | Mon 11th March 2013 - 8:22 pm

Economic jihad. That’s how Vince Cable described Dr Liam Fox’s speech to the IEA this morning. Dr Fox’s speech is worth reading, though, precisely for the parts of it that have not been covered in the wider media. For it sets out a clear – albeit deeply conservative – approach to how to reform our economy for the long-term. But while the proposed destination is well-articulated, the route is far from certain.

Let’s start with the positive. I agree, broadly, with Fox’s analysis of the causes of our current economic state. While I wouldn’t exactly phrase it thus, there is …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 9 Comments
Alisdair Calder McGregor

Opinion: Tory woes over the Eastleigh campaign continue

By Alisdair Calder McGregor | Mon 11th March 2013 - 6:00 pm

Channel 4 news are carrying a story highlighting Conservative Minister Nick Boles’ unease with the Eastleigh campaign’s “war on planning” strategy which he feels went against what he had been asked to do in government, and that he was asked to stay away from Eastleigh to keep the messaging on track.

This in itself is not that surprising, as the LibDem campaign (and even the media) knew that the Tory campaign was a double-back on their County Council and Government commitments and declared policies. It was pretty typical of their campaign, and of the overall shambles which is Tory …

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NewsHound

++ Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce sentenced

By NewsHound | Mon 11th March 2013 - 5:05 pm

The judge has delivered the sentences at the end of the trials at Southwark Crown Court in which Chris Huhne pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, and Vicky Pryce was found guilty of the same offence.

Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce have each been sentenced to 8 months in jail.

You can read a full account of what happened today during the hearing on the Guardian blog, thanks to some detailed tweeting from inside the court by Peter Walker, a Guardian journalist.

Posted in News | Tagged and | 27 Comments
Gareth Epps

Opinion: The real split in today’s Liberal Democrats – and how to fix it

By Gareth Epps | Mon 11th March 2013 - 2:48 pm

As this weekend’s events have proved, the real and fundamental split in the Liberal Democrats of 2013 is not between Liberals and Social Democrats, economic liberalism or social liberalism, centrists and radicals.  It is a real and growing divide between the Party’s leadership and its activists; and that has been thrown into sharp relief by both the result of the Eastleigh by-election and events at Conference.  As Dan Falchikov, with whom I’m in frequent agreement on strategic if not economic issues, highlights, it is an issue that could be very serious if unaddressed.

The reasons for this are broadly twofold.

The …

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William Mosseri-Marlio

Opinion: A Surging UKIP: Implications for Lib Dems in 2015

By William Mosseri-Marlio | Mon 11th March 2013 - 1:59 pm

Against a less than optimal backrop, Eastleigh was a remarkable victory for the Lib Dems. And yet, the by-election was by no means unqualified success –support fell by 14 points relative to the 2010 general election result, with Mike Thornton winning in large part because the Conservative’s share dropped by a similar amount.

Of course, it was UKIP’s performance that caused such a divergence from the 2010 result. The UKIP question, then, is an important one – how will a surging centre-right party affect the electoral dynamics of the 30 or so constituencies in which the main threat to Lib Dem …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 30 Comments
The Voice

LDVideo: Lib Dem spring conference round-up (2)

By The Voice | Mon 11th March 2013 - 12:45 pm

Missed the Lib Dems’ spring conference this weekend? Here are three clips to help you catch-up, or re-live, some of what happened… (You can see part 1 of our round-up here.)

Nick Clegg criticises Theresa May’s Human Rights Convention comments

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Eric Avebury

Eric Avebury writes…Managing our nuclear legacy: the £67.5 billion question for Ed Davey

By Eric Avebury | Mon 11th March 2013 - 11:58 am

The most important task facing Ed Davey for the long term is not how to manage the Energy Bill, but deciding how to deal with the 112 tonnes of plutonium accumulated at Sellafield and Dounreay from past civil nuclear operations, still growing at 4-6 tonnes a year.

The cost of maintaining this hazardous material in maximum security conditions to the year 2050 is estimated at £67.5 billion. But storage in a geological disposal facility is not on the cards, with Cumbria County Council’s decision to reject the idea in January, and no other candidates on the horizon. The best hope is …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 8 Comments
Jamie Hewitt

The Independent View: The case for ending unfair, out of date prescription charges for people with long term conditions

By Jamie Hewitt | Mon 11th March 2013 - 10:15 am

We are now just over two years away from the next general election and political parties are starting to develop their manifestos.

In this age of austerity, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s team has already identified “alarm clock Britain” as a key demographic in need of help – these are the basic rate taxpayers who get up early, take their children to school and then go to work only to find their living standards squeezed by current economic circumstances. If Liberal Democrats are indeed committed to helping this section of the population, they need look no further than delivering reform on …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged , and | 7 Comments
Paul Walter

Opinion: The Lib Dem communications heart attack

By Paul Walter | Mon 11th March 2013 - 9:15 am

I am a computer logistician by profession. I can tell you all about managing defective material retention contracts and the comparative stocking strategies of power supplies. I don’t pretend to be an expert in communications.

So the following comes under the heading of “as any fule kno”, and therefore these statements are easy to make when, like me, you don’t know what you are talking about.

Communications Rule One

The first rule of media crisis management was succinctly summarised for me on a con call a few months ago:

“When a crisis breaks get all your dirty washing out into the open in the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 12 Comments
The Voice

Caron Lindsay previews Nick Clegg’s speech on Radio 5 Live

By The Voice | Mon 11th March 2013 - 8:08 am

Yesterday morning, at a ridiculously early hour, as some Conference goers were only just going to bed, Lib Dem Voice Co-Editor Caron Lindsay spoke to Radio 5 Live about Conference in general and Nick Clegg’s speech in particular. You can judge for yourself how accurate her predictions were by listening here from about 8 minutes in.

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The Voice

LDVideo: Lib Dem spring conference round-up (1)

By The Voice | Mon 11th March 2013 - 8:05 am

Missed the Lib Dems’ spring conference this weekend? Here are three clips to help you catch-up, or re-live, some of what happened…

“Where we work we win” says Nick Clegg

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Posted in Conference and YouTube | Tagged , , and | 2 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Losing one of our best….an appreciation of Jo Shaw

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 10th March 2013 - 6:25 pm

I’m sitting in the departure lounge at Gatwick, with a massive infusion of Earl Grey which I hope will keep me awake for a couple more hours. With less than four hours’ sleep after staying longer than I’d planned at the Glee Club, I am close to being wrecked. I’m far too old for this carry on, but I’ll not willingly give it up. Luckily I was relatively abstemious with alcohol, so there was no hangover. Mind you, if there had been Skittles Vodka on offer as a Clegg’s speech drinking game, I’d have happily indulged. A shot …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 91 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “Keep winning!”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 10th March 2013 - 6:20 pm

Nick Clegg keeps it brief in his weekly email despatch to members and supporters (which, kudos to Lib Dem HQ, pinged into my inbox at the precise moment Nick’s conference speech finished) — building on the party’s victory at Eastleigh, he urges party members to “Tell our side of the story and keep winning.”

libdem letter from nick clegg

I’ve just had a wonderful three days with Liberal Democrat members at Conference in Brighton.

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Stephen Tall

That Was The Day That Was – your essential Lib Dem conference round-up

By Stephen Tall | Sun 10th March 2013 - 3:50 pm

Lib Dem Conference app screenshotHere’s a few highlights from the second day’s action at Brighton… (You can catch up on my round-up of the first day-and-a-bit here.)

Let’s start with the positive…

First, if you haven’t yet, do read the Independent’s editorial today (I suspect someone in Nick Clegg’s office will have it framed for him):

The Lib Dems are walking tall
the party is gathered in Brighton for its spring conference this weekend in better heart than it has been at any time since that glad confident morning in the Downing Street garden. The immediate source of its good spirit was its success in holding Huhne’s seat in Eastleigh in the by-election last month. … the party is buoyant because it is more than just a vote-harvesting machine.

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Stephen Tall

“On message. In volume. Over time.” That’s the real text of Nick Clegg’s speech today

By Stephen Tall | Sun 10th March 2013 - 2:30 pm

Double Clegg 2 - Some rights reserved by Liberal DemocratsIt took 3,000+ words and Nick Clegg 30 minutes to deliver them — but there was only one message he wanted to be heard in his leader’s speech today:

Only the Liberal Democrats can deliver a stronger economy and a fairer society, enabling everyone to get on in life.

That’s the core message, one that’s been tested in polling and was tested in real polling in Eastleigh. And it’s the message the party leadership wants the party to get sick of repeating ad infinitum …

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Posted in Conference, News and Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 19 Comments
The Voice

Text of Nick Clegg’s speech to the Lib Dems’ spring party conference

By The Voice | Sun 10th March 2013 - 12:40 pm

Here’s the text of Nick Clegg’s speech to the Lib Dems’ spring conference in Brighton today:

Eastleigh. Conference, I have never seen anything like it. Thousands and thousands of activists flooding in from every part of the UK. Young people arriving in their droves. Hitting the pavements, the phones, Facebook, Twitter, email – finding any and every way to drive our message home. I want to thank you all – you were just brilliant.

They said we’d never win it. The same critics who try to write us off time and time again. But, you know what? The naysayers can tear

…

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Posted in Conference and News | Tagged and | 15 Comments
Stephen Tall

It’s not just the Lib Dem leadership trying to ignore the ‘secret courts’ row: the news media is too

By Stephen Tall | Sun 10th March 2013 - 12:10 pm

I had an odd experience on Friday. I was doing a round of media interviews – 3 for TV, 3 for radio – previewing the Lib Dem conference. I’d been called by researchers in advance to ‘get my take’ on the key issues. Each time, I said there was a big issue on which the party leadership could expect to be defeated and which would see activists from across the broad spectrum of the Lib Dems united: opposition to secret courts. This received an “Uh-hum” response which I took for baffled boredom. And as expected, each interview in turn dwelt …

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Stephen Tall

++ Lib Dem conference overwhelmingly votes to oppose ‘secret courts’. Again.

By Stephen Tall | Sun 10th March 2013 - 10:40 am

You may be forgiven a sense of déjà vu: the Liberal Democrats have voted overwhelmingly to oppose secret courts legislation. Just as we did last September.

Here’s the text of the motion which was just passed:

Conference believes:

1. That the measures in Part II of the Justice and Security Bill will mean the courts system of the United Kingdom will provide neither justice nor security in cases involving

…

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Stephen Tall

Jo Shaw quits Lib Dems in protest at leadership’s pro-secret courts position

By Stephen Tall | Sun 10th March 2013 - 10:05 am

Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Jo Shaw dramatically announced her resignation from the party as she moved this morning’s emergency motion calling on our MPs to stick by the party’s policy of opposing ‘secret courts’. You can read Jo’s full statement at the foot of this post.

It was Jo’s speech at the party’s autumn conference that captured everyone’s attention, including her line ‘Kafka was a warning not a manual’. Together with another parliamentary candidate, Martin Tod, Jo set up LibDemsAgainstSecretCourts.org.uk and has waged a determined campaign to persuade the parliamentary party to back the party’s line.

And it’s not …

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Posted in Conference and News | Tagged , , and | 27 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Conference Rally: Confessional, motivational and defiant

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 9th March 2013 - 8:29 pm

A conference rally without Tim Farron is a bit like strawberries without cream. When he wasn’t there telling his bad football jokes, I wondered if he’d been put on the Naughty Step for his interview earlier. But, no, he hadn’t even arrived in Brighton.

What we did have was a sense of almost cleansing, confessional, cathartic and heartfelt speeches tackling the pain of the last few weeks head on.

Nick Clegg made clear that he wanted to change the culture in the party. What he said is not new for him. He’s always been very pro equality, but this was a new …

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Stephen Tall

That Was The Day That Was – your essential Lib Dem conference round-up

By Stephen Tall | Sat 9th March 2013 - 7:10 pm

Autumn 2012 conference - Some rights reserved by Liberal DemocratsHere’s a few highlights from the first day-and-a-bit’s action at Brighton…

Secret courts rouse conference passions – on both sides

It’s no secret that many Lib Dem members are angry with the vast majority of Lib Dem MPs for their decision to over-ride the vote of the party conference last September and approve legislation extending the use of Closed Material Procedures, aka ‘secret courts’. Ming Campbell is one of the few MPs so far publicly to make the case in favour – which …

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Posted in Conference | Tagged and | 9 Comments
Nick T

Steve Webb’s speech to conference

By Nick T | Sat 9th March 2013 - 5:03 pm

Steve Webb, Lib Dem minister for pensions, delivered his speech to conference earlier today. The text of his speech is below.

As some of you know, I used to teach at Bath University. And I enjoyed nothing more than setting my students tough questions to get them thinking.

So when I was planning what I would say today, I thought – why not set all of you a tricky exam question instead. You may have thought that you had come to Brighton for a good time. But not while I’m on the platform!

And my exam question is this: “How do …

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The Voice

Paddy: “You’ve heard the saying it’s not the winning that matters, it’s the taking part. That’s b*****ks.”

By The Voice | Sat 9th March 2013 - 11:00 am

Paddy Ashdown video screenshotPaddy Ashdown, Chair of the Liberal Democrat General Election Campaign, is about to speak to the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference. Here’s what he’ll say:

You know, making this speech today gives me a strong sense of déjà vu. I gave a speech at the Conference here in Brighton, right after the last time we won a by election in Eastleigh!

Some things haven’t changed. Orange diamonds. Fighting against the odds, Simon Hughes. But one big thing has changed. We were a Party of Opposition then. We’re a party

…

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The Voice

Jo Swinson talks directly to Lib Dem members about her role in the Chris Rennard allegations

By The Voice | Sat 9th March 2013 - 10:45 am

jo swinson Alex Folkes/Fishnik PhotographyLast night, Danny Alexander wrote this post for LibDemVoice explaining his role in the allegations concerning Lord Rennard, confirming he spoke directly to the party’s then chief executive to make clear any future conduct would have consequences: “These were not easy conversations, nor should they have been.”

Jo Swinson, whose only previous public statement on the issue was posted here on LibDemVoice, took to the stage at last night’s party conference rally to talk directly to members about how she’d handled the allegations which were …

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Nick T

Nick Clegg’s speech to conference: what I’ll be looking out for

By Nick T | Sat 9th March 2013 - 10:17 am

nick cleggHuhne, Pryce, Rennard, Eastleigh. A mass of events converge this weekend as Brighton once again becomes centre of the Lib Dem universe for a weekend.

These topics will inevitably dominate conversations in the conference bar. But when Nick Clegg stands up on Sunday lunchtime to make his speech he has to look beyond the short-term events that have dominated Liberal Democrat discourse for the last few weeks and months.

It’s often said of a speeches that they are “one of the most important X has made in the course of his leadership”. …

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Stephen Tall

My Tim Farron interview – the unexpurgated version

By Stephen Tall | Sat 9th March 2013 - 9:55 am

faron ad lib intvw I interviewed Lib Dem president Tim Farron for the February issue of the party magazine, Ad Lib. Here’s what I wrote… together with a few quotes at the foot that didn’t make the final cut…

I meet Tim Farron – the party’s un-spun, down-to-earth, heart-on-his-sleeve president and über-campaigner – in his Westminster office. A vast grid, running almost the entire length of one wall, pin-points Tim’s campaigning activities over the next few weeks. It’s hard to imagine his well of enthusiasm ever running dry.

Yet the previous night …

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Opinion: A rousing campaigning message from Lord Ashcroft (of all people)

By Tom Richards | Sat 9th March 2013 - 8:45 am

Lord Ashcroft has done another enormous piece of polling, this time into the Lib Dem vote. A few of the more encouraging findings:

    • More people want a coalition including the Lib Dems (31%) than a Conservative majority (30%)
    • 30% of people could see themselves voting Lib Dem at the next general election
    • Only 1 in 5 think the Lib Dems have no real influence
    • Lib Dems outpoll the Conservatives on:
    o“Represents the whole country, not just some”(24% v 21%),
    o “Its heart is in the right place”(47% v 35%),
    o “stands for fairness”(41% v 30%)
    o “Stands for equal opportunity for all”(39% v 28%)
    o “Wants to help ordinary

…

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Posted in Op-eds and Polls | Tagged , and | 7 Comments
Ming Campbell MP

Ming Campbell MP writes… Why I support the Justice and Security Bill

By Ming Campbell MP | Fri 8th March 2013 - 8:50 pm

Supreme Court - Some rights reserved by cphoffman42Last September in Brighton, the Conference voted to remove part 2 of the Justice and Security Bill. That Bill is now completing its final stages in Parliament. But let me assure you, that because of Liberal Democrat pressure, the Bill is now radically different. Amendments have been made such as unfettered discretion for the judge and increased safeguards in order to meet previously raised objections.

The Bill is no longer the one that was before Conference last September and I believe it is now right …

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Joe Otten

Conference report – Europe policy consultative session

By Joe Otten | Fri 8th March 2013 - 8:09 pm

Europe remains a political challenge for the UK and for the Liberal Democrats. Where the national interest clearly demands British membership of the EU to access and influence the single market, and to leverage British influence globally, the political debate often revolves around a caricature of the EU  that brings no benefits and big responsibilities. Where the liberal reform agenda to make European institutions more accountable and cost-effective, to make Europe more economically competitive have widespread support in Europe, there is a danger that a repatriation narrative will fail at the diplomatic hurdle, and hand victory to those in Europe who …

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Posted in Conference, Europe / International, News and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 2 Comments
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