Caron Lindsay

Last chance to stand for important internal elections – deadline 5pm tomorrow, 18th January

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 17th January 2013 - 4:15 pm

Do you have a head for figures and financial management, an interest in international relations, diversity, SAOs or campaigns?

I wrote last week that there were some important internal elections next week. The electorate is very small, the newly elected Federal Executive of which I am a member. However, you don’t have to be a member of that body to stand. Many of the positions up for grabs are open to any member of the Liberal Democrats.

The posts to be elected are listed in full on the members’ only website.They include posts such as five members of the Federal Finance …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 4 Comments
Advert
Caron Lindsay

Michael Moore MP: “We can’t have the Scottish Government fast forwarding through the difficult bits”

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 17th January 2013 - 2:55 pm

Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore told an audience in Edinburgh today that the SNP must stop talking about the process, must stop trying to get the UK Government to negotiate the terms under which Scotland could separate from the UK and get on with setting out their case.

We cannot have the Scottish Government fast forwarding through all the difficult bits to their longed for ending where they clinch a  referendum victory.

People want to know what independence would mean for them, their families, and their communities.

Planning the summits and designing the constitutional apparatus is like framing and

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

The surprising truth about that Lib Dem in/out EU referendum leaflet*

By Stephen Tall | Thu 17th January 2013 - 1:25 pm

Clegg-referendum-leaflet-lisbon-2008On Monday morning, Nick Clegg was given a hard time on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme by interviewer Justin Webb, who accused him of changing his position on an EU referendum on the basis of this pictured leaflet (click to enlarge**).

Nick brushed it to one side, correctly pointing out that the party has stuck to its 2010 manifesto pledge (my emphasis):

The European Union has evolved significantly since the last public vote on membership over thirty years ago. Liberal Democrats therefore remain committed to an in/out referendum the next

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged , , , , , , , and | 33 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Liberal Youth elect Sam Fisk and Kavya Kaushik as joint chairs

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 17th January 2013 - 12:45 pm

Liberal Youth have recently had a set of elections for executive posts and you can see the results on their Libertine blog.

For the first time, they have elected two job-sharing co-chairs, Sam Fisk and Kavya Kaushik who are now putting in place their Six Month Plan which aims to:

ensure Liberal Youth can be a community which is positive and wanting to make a difference in anyway possible – either through election campaigning or raising awareness of youth issues. We want to show Liberal Youth can make a positive difference not only in our party but our communities.

Sam is …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 3 Comments
Jo Swinson MP

Jo Swinson MP writes…Equality is about more than ticking boxes

By Jo Swinson MP | Thu 17th January 2013 - 11:14 am

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) would never have become a valued and respected national institution if it was allowed to continue on the path it was on. Labour’s tired old way of working was turning equalities into a burden. When people heard the word equality they also heard bureaucracy and red-tape. Instead of being about fairness it was more about frustration.

If Labour’s method of ticking boxes and filling out forms led to equality, then why did they leave behind a society with so much inequality across the board? Twenty percent wage gaps between women and men, nonexistent social …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 40 Comments
Advert
Nick T

Clegg and Cable criticise Tory EU machinations

By Nick T | Thu 17th January 2013 - 10:02 am

First up, the Independent’s Andrew Grice reports Nick Clegg’s comments from yesterday’s Today Programme:

The battle lines over which powers should be returned from Brussels to Britain will be drawn today when Conservative Eurosceptics list their demands for the “new settlement” with the EU promised by David Cameron.

But Nick Clegg and a new all-party pro-European campaign, which includes Kenneth Clarke, poured cold water on the prospect of Britain winning a major repatriation of powers, accusing the Eurosceptics of making unrealistic demands.

Mr Cameron is expected to welcome the Fresh Start group’s “manifesto for change” ahead of his landmark speech on Europe on

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | 7 Comments
Nick T

+++Reminder – Call Clegg starting now. Listen live here

By Nick T | Thu 17th January 2013 - 8:55 am

The second week of LBC’s Call Clegg is about to begin live on LBC. What will Clegg cover this week? You can find out by listening live here.

Posted in News | Leave a comment
Stephen Tall

Here’s a ******* awesome Liberal Voice we should hear more from

By Stephen Tall | Wed 16th January 2013 - 9:10 pm

With apologies to those who’ve already seen this story — but it’s too good for us not also to copy and paste from the Telegraph report…

With Nick Clegg about to miss ‘an unprecedented fourth meeting of the Privy Council’ in his role as Lord President of the Council, the Telegraph spotted a mischief-making opportunity and phoned one of the leader’s aides to get a quote. The reporter got more than he …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , , and | 12 Comments
Stephen Tall

Chris Davies wades into Ukip foster care row. Why?

By Stephen Tall | Wed 16th January 2013 - 8:40 pm

chris daviesA couple of months ago you may recall a big row when it was alleged three eastern European children were removed from their foster parents by Rotherham council because the couple were members of Ukip.

Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies certainly recalls it. And on Monday he made a one-minute speech in the European Parliament about it:

Chris Davies (ALDE ). – Mr President, before Christmas there was, rightly, a furore when social workers in Rotherham took away children from foster parents because they belonged to UKIP,

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 14 Comments
Alan Levy

Opinion: We should elect all Liberal Democrat nominees to the House of Lords

By Alan Levy | Wed 16th January 2013 - 3:56 pm

In 2012 House of Lords reform failed. In 2013 it’s time for Liberal Democrats to show their continuing commitment to democratic reform.

We clearly can’t get the law changed at the moment but we can make a clear, unambiguous statement of intent. It’s just simple democracy and it’s easy; the membership should elect the Liberal Democrat candidates for the Lords. One simple motion at the party conference and a bit of commitment from the leadership is all it takes.

Well of course it’s not that simple, so let’s examine a few of the arguments against and the counter arguments:

This is just internal …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 15 Comments
Caron Lindsay

LibLink… Michael Moore MP: Uncertainty of independence can’t be wished away

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 16th January 2013 - 2:52 pm

Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland wrote in this weekend’s Scotland on Sunday about the next steps as Scotland approaches the referendum on independence which will take place in the Autumn of 2014.

Now that the relevant Section 30 Order, giving the Scottish Parliament the power to hold that referendum is clearing its way through Parliament, the focus turns to the issues rather than the process:

But we need the “great debate” to flush out all the issues. Over the next few weeks and months, the UK Government will start publishing a series of papers that look at Scotland’s position in

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 2 Comments
Edward McMillan-Scott

Edward McMillan-Scott MEP writes… In Europe 40 years on: what next?

By Edward McMillan-Scott | Wed 16th January 2013 - 12:30 pm

On Friday David Cameron will make his big speech on Europe. There is only one thing now which will satisfy the Eurosceptics: a firm promise – and not just a ‘cast-iron guarantee’ – for a referendum on Europe.

The speech – which must address the challenge of UKIP, mainly to the Tories – comes as the UK marks 40 years’ of membership of what is now the European Union. Lord Ashcroft’s recent polling of 20,000 Britons suggests that it is not Europe, but immigration which is encouraging Conservatives to switch to UKIP. However, the next national electoral challenge will be the European …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International | Tagged and | 4 Comments
William Hobhouse

Opinion: Euroscepticism is bad for UK manufacturing

By William Hobhouse | Wed 16th January 2013 - 10:59 am

In February 2012, Vince Cable flew to the US to meet with the Chief Executive of General Motors to make the case for why they should continue to invest in the UK for the long term. The BBC reported that the meeting may have played an important role in the company’s decision 3 months later to commit to invest in Ellesmere Port rather than at another of their EU plants.

It is lucky, perhaps, that this investment decision did not come up one year later. Vince would have had a few less cards in his hand. Michael Heseltine put it …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 5 Comments
Michael Moore

Michael Moore MP’s Westminster Notes

By Michael Moore | Wed 16th January 2013 - 9:25 am

Every week, Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore MP writes a column for newspapers in his Borders constituency. Here is the latest edition.

State Pension

One of the Lib Dem’s top priorities since forming the Coalition Government has been to reform the State Pension and ensure that people can expect a fair and decent level of support when they retire. This is why we introduced the pensions ‘triple lock’ so that every year pensions would rise by either inflation, 2.5% or earnings and end the paltry 75p rises we saw under Labour. As a result of this triple lock, …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Eric Avebury

Eric Avebury writes: Assisted dying

By Eric Avebury | Tue 15th January 2013 - 5:06 pm

Over the last 20 years I have had a few close shaves that made me think about death, including a quadruple bypass, a burst colon, lung cancer and an aortic aneurysm. None of these were conditions that involved more than temporary pain and a fairly low risk, though as Hamlet’s mother says:

‘All that lives must die
Passing through nature to eternity.’

But then in August 2011 I was diagnosed with myelofibrosis, an incurable form of blood cancer, that ultimately leads to various unpleasant and painful symptoms, needing frequent blood transfusions to prevent the arteries seizing up with fibres. Would I then want …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 52 Comments
Mary Reid

Yes, Prime Minister returns

By Mary Reid | Tue 15th January 2013 - 3:39 pm

We know this is a blatant plug for the brand new series of ‘Yes, Prime Minister’ which will be showing on Gold at 9pm this evening – but we will all be watching it, won’t we?

Continue reading »
Posted in News and YouTube | Tagged and | 10 Comments
Ed Davey

Ed Davey writes: How we can tackle rising energy bills

By Ed Davey | Tue 15th January 2013 - 2:04 pm

Energy-bills-006As we enter the first cold snap of the year there will inevitably be a focus on the rising cost of energy – particularly after there have been inflation busting increases in gas and electricity tariffs of 6-10% over the past few months.

No country can stop the main cause of this – rising and high world prices for oil and gas. Yet we must do everything we can, to help people and firms struggling with these bills, especially the most vulnerable. And that’s why helping with energy bills has been and will be one of my top priorities.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 12 Comments
Zoe O’Connell

Opinion: The Burchill controversy – a mixed blessing for the trans community

By Zoe O’Connell | Tue 15th January 2013 - 12:44 pm

I have followed recent mainstream media events unfolding around the transgender community with a mixture of excitement, anxiety and sadness.

Excitement, because it is rare that trans issues get coverage that isn’t designed to portray us as perpetrators of some hideous evil. Even though the stories started with biased coverage in the Guardian about a doctor under investigation by the General Medical Council, it turned into something more positive when the #TransDocFail hashtag lead to LibDem Councillor Sarah Brown discussing the issue on BBC Radio. Even the continuation of bad reporting had a silver lining, when Julie Burchill’s

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 2 Comments
Richard Davis

Opinion: Businesses, politicians and voters speak against a Brixit

By Richard Davis | Tue 15th January 2013 - 11:23 am

Map of the European UnionI have long been a fan of the Westwing, and I was recently reminded of a particular scene where President Bartlett faces a difficult decision on whether to reprieve a man on death row or not. His local priest tells him a tale of a man who prays for help, but refuses all assistance when it is offered, claiming that God would save him. However, on his death he is told by St. Peter that God had sent a multitude of people to help him, but he had not accepted any of their help.

This seems to bear some resemblance to the current situation with Cameron floundering on what to do with the European Union. The problem is that recent polling has shown that the Conservative party is losing votes to UKIP and so his backbenchers believe the only way to regain those ‘lost votes’ is to be harder on the EU and call for a Brixit (British exit from the EU).

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 30 Comments
Nick T

Lib Dem success as Home Secretary confirms government to back amendment to Public Order Act

By Nick T | Tue 15th January 2013 - 9:51 am

The Guardian reports that, following a high-profile campaign, the government has agreed to retain an amendment to the Crime and Courts Bill going some way to implementing Lib Dem party policy (pdf) on the Public Order Act:

In a government climb down, the Public Order Act that covers speech and writing on signs and states: “A person is guilty of an offence if he uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour”, will be changed to remove the word insulting. The move follows a high-profile campaign which united Christian and secular groups and was spearheaded by the comedian Rowan Atkinson, the human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and the former shadow home secretary David Davis.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 2 Comments
Julian Huppert

Julian Huppert MP writes… Help shape party policy on immigration and identity

By Julian Huppert | Tue 15th January 2013 - 8:50 am

The Liberal Democrat Federal Policy Committee has announced the formation of a new policy working group “Immigration and Identity” and would like to invite members to apply for membership.

Obviously this is a sensitive and important area of policy so we are keen to get as many applications as possible. We hope that you will consider applying and helping us develop new policies in this area as we head towards 2015.

If you are interested please contact [email protected] for an application form.

Update: The deadline has now passed; thanks to all those who applied.

Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Leave a comment
Stephen Tall

Constituency boundary changes are dead.* Unlike the House of Lords.*

By Stephen Tall | Mon 14th January 2013 - 7:45 pm

House of Lords. Photo: Parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of ParliamentThe House of Lords has today voted to block a reduction in the number of MPs from 650 to 600 as part of the review of constituencies that might have seen the Conservatives gain up to 20 seats. The BBC reports:

The House of Lords voted by 300 to 231 to delay until 2018 a boundary review necessary to make the change. … Lib Dem leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced that his party

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 26 Comments
Steve Webb MP

Steve Webb MP writes… A truly radical pensions reform

By Steve Webb MP | Mon 14th January 2013 - 4:25 pm

As LDV readers will no doubt be aware, this year marks the 105th birthday of the 1908 Old-Age Pensions Act. Through this Act, Lloyd George introduced the first state pension to Britain, providing 5 shillings (£0.25) a week for those over 70. Fast forward nearly forty years to another great Liberal, William Beveridge, and the National Insurance Act of 1946 that gave birth to the modern state pension. Beveridge’s original idea was for a single, simple, decent state pension, paid after a lifetime of National Insurance Contributions and not subject to a means-test.

Beveridge’s principles have been subject to a sort …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 28 Comments
Caron Lindsay

LibLink… Steve Webb: A straightforward pension scheme for all

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 14th January 2013 - 2:45 pm

Liberal Democrat Pensions Minister Steve Webb, the man who has already delivered the “triple lock” system for ensuring a decent annual rise in the State Pension, writes in today’s Telegraph about the Coalition’s plans to simplify pension provision and ensure that the basic state pension increases from £107 to £144 from as soon as 2017.

First, he outlined the problems with the complexities of the current system:

In Britain today, we have not one but two state pensions. The first is a basic state pension based on 30 years of National Insurance contributions, with complex rules for people who are divorced or

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged , and | 4 Comments
Paul Walter

John Hayes on that “very public spat” with Ed Davey

By Paul Walter | Mon 14th January 2013 - 1:23 pm

John Hayes - Some rights reserved by bisgovukThere’s an interesting interview with Conservative minister John Hayes in the latest edition of House magazine. We learn that he is the only Tory minister who has worked for two Liberal Democrat Secretaries of State. “He points out he has extensive links to HM Treasury.” And there is this passage about his relationship with his “boss”, Ed Davey:

Of course it was Hayes’ shift to the Energy brief in the September reshuffle – with a reported instruction from the PM to ‘deliver a win for our people on windfarms’ – that shot him to prominence for a wider audience. Hayes didn’t

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | Leave a comment
Mark Pack

Government shifts to back full range of medical care for rape victims in armed conflict

By Mark Pack | Mon 14th January 2013 - 12:42 pm

Lindsay NorthoverWelcome news from the House of Lords last week, where Lib Dem peer and government spokesperson for International Development, Lindsay Northover, for the first time said the British government believes that girls and women raped in armed conflict are protected under international humanitarian law, even when domestic law in the country in question says something else.

What that means in practice is that the UK government is willing to fund the full range of medical care for the victims, including abortion where medically necessary – even if domestic law in that country …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 2 Comments
Tam Langley

What do women Lib Dems want?

By Tam Langley | Mon 14th January 2013 - 11:53 am

Last summer I wrote a survey that was sent to all party members, as part of informing the creation of a new Lib Dem women’s organisation. Colleagues at the Campaign for Gender Balance and the Women Liberal
Democrats are working on a new constitution, and I hope many Lib Dem Voice readers will consider joining, so please get in touch if you would like further details. Please email me at tamoralangleyATgmail.com, replacing “AT” with “@”.

Perhaps the trickiest issue to resolve, in a party characterised by people who tend to think of themselves as individuals rather than members of a group, is …

Continue reading »
Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

And the winner of our Liberal Voice of the Year award is… Sam Bowman

By Stephen Tall | Mon 14th January 2013 - 10:45 am

liberal-voiceIt’s a fortnight since we launched our search for the Liberal Voice of the Year with the aim of finding the individual or group which has had the biggest impact on liberalism in the past 12 months. This is LibDemVoice’s sixth such annual award, and as is our tradition, we looked beyond the ranks of the Lib Dems to find the liberal who’s most impressed our readers and is not a member of our party.

We unveiled the shortlist here on New Year’s Day. In total, 755 readers cast a vote in the past two weeks using a preferential voting system. The final (8th) round of voting gave the following result:

Continue reading »
Posted in Polls | Tagged , and | 66 Comments
Kirsten de Keyser

Opinion: Straphanging now takes a quarter of your wages – what do the continentals do?

By Kirsten de Keyser | Mon 14th January 2013 - 9:54 am

Virgin trainHappy New Year Britain! Stand by for more cuts! cuts! cuts! Except in rail fares. There it’s a case of “let the train drain you dry”. As part of the festive fireworks, rail fares exploded by 4.3% so, if you are privileged enough to have a job at all, you can kiss good-bye to up to a quarter of your pay packet just to get you to work.

A season ticket will cost as much as 23% of gross salary or, put another way, you’ll effectively have to work till …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | 36 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Lynne Featherstone calls for Julie Burchill to be sacked for post attacking transgender people

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 14th January 2013 - 9:25 am

As Equalities Minister, Liberal Democrat Lynne Featherstone put into place the Government’s Transgender Action Plan. She will be acutely aware of the issues facing transgender people, particularly in relation to violence and discrimination. Hate crime towards that community has been rising as the Independent reported.

Yesterday, the Observer published a piece by controversial writer Julie Burchill which was peppered with hate filled language. Had the target of Burchill’s invective been a particular ethnic group, and she had used similar language, then her piece would have found its way onto the editor’s spike and she would most likely have been …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 34 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Hywel
    Also whatever you think of this proposal, for the Lib Dems to set policy positions based on not getting attacked by the Telegraph for wanting closer integration...
  • Hywel
    This seems to be (according to BBC news) the source document. Though in that case why it isn't linked in the party website article I'm not sure https://bestfo...
  • Tristan Ward
    @Jack "It will take the Telegraph 5 minutes to claim that we are advocating closer EU alignment in order to help the already comfortable" Great. Telegrap...
  • Hywel
    It's a poor policy on a number of fronts 1) The costing side is at best a little vague (IFS say this will be a lot more than £17bn and Reform cost it as hig...
  • Peter Davies
    @Expats. No he didn't have conference approval for that either....