Liberal Democrat Voice

New LDV members’ survey now live: your views on Leveson, the Autumn Statement, Europe and the Coalition

By Stephen Tall | Fri 7th December 2012 - 9:20 pm

The new LDV members’ survey is now live. So if you are one of the c.1,300 registered members of the Liberal Democrat Voice forum — and any paid-up party member is welcome to join — then you now have the opportunity to make your views known.

Questions we’re asking this month include:

what you think of Lord Justice Leveson’s proposals for the press;
what you make of George Osborne’s Autumn Statement;
what you think about Europe;
your views on Nick Clegg’s leadership leading figures within the Lib Dems;
and what you think of the Coalition’s performance to date.

Oh, …

Posted in LDV Members poll | 1 Comment

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Opinion: the case for intervention in Syria

By Mike Green | Fri 7th December 2012 - 3:51 pm

Being up all night does give me somewhat of an advantage as far as news goes. As I’m writing this even the BBC has not yet covered what’s been seen on NBC, CNN, Russia Today and others. Namely, the reports that Assad has had chemical and biological weapons prepared for use. Obviously, at this point we’re unable to establish if this is fact, what we do know however is that Syria is in possession of these weapons and Assad’s regime is clawing along on its last breaths.

I don’t need to establish how devastating chemical and biological weapons like these can …

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged chemical weapons and syria | 7 Comments

Next week in the Lords… 10-14 December

By Mark Valladares | Fri 7th December 2012 - 2:50 pm

Firstly, my apologies for missing a few weeks, mostly due to a rather hectic diary. So, where were we?…

It has to be said that next week is a relatively quiet week for the Liberal Democrats, with no oral questions scheduled, although Monday does see some Liberal Democrat ministerial action, with Jim Wallace taking the Second Reading of the Partnerships (Prosecution) (Scotland) Bill, which is intended to make provision for the prosecution in Scotland of partnerships, partners and others following dissolution or changes in membership. More important, probably, …

Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged courts and crime bill, eric avebury, robin teverson and tax avoidance | 3 Comments

Positive action for women on Westminster shortlists

By NewsHound | Fri 7th December 2012 - 1:52 pm

The English Candidates Committee (ECC) has decided to retain positive action measures to address the under-representation of women in the Parliamentary Party.

Clause 24 in the Westminster Rules for Selection of Parliamentary Candidates stipulates that where the ECC has decided to adopt positive action arrangements which affect a shortlist, those arrangements shall be observed by the Returning Officer and shortlisting committee as if they were contained in this Rule.

The provision is that:

In strategic seats and aspiring strategic seats (those that have ‘opted up’ to the full selection process):

a shortlist of three candidates must contain a minimum of one woman

a shortlist of

…

Posted in News, Party policy and internal matters and Selection news | Tagged candidate selection rules, diversity and english party | 35 Comments

Danny, Don and Nick stand up for Local Government in a way that Pickles never has

By Gerald Vernon-Jackson | Fri 7th December 2012 - 12:51 pm

The Autumn Statement has announced no further cuts to local government in the next financial year, with a 2% cut the following year.

We’re grateful to Danny Alexander, Don Foster and Nick Clegg for stepping in and saying “no” to further cuts to local services over the next year – in a way we just haven’t seen from the DCLG Secretary of State, Eric Pickles.

Liberal Democrat Ministers have stopped an across-the-board cut of 1% to local government next year. That means up to £240m extra that will be in council budgets every year which will help fund youth services, streets, parks, …

Posted in Local government and News | Tagged communities and local government, Danny Alexander, don foster and nick clegg | 1 Comment

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This week in Europe… 3-6 December

By Mark Valladares | Fri 7th December 2012 - 11:51 am

Europe fails on carbon storage and capture

Hopes of Europe becoming a world leader in the development of a key technology to combat global warming have been dashed, and more than €1.5 billion of EU funding available to support carbon capture & storage (CCS) projects will now be diverted to new renewable energy schemes. The announcement today that steelmakers ArcelorMittal will not proceed with their Ulcos project in France means that not one single new CCS scheme is set to proceed.

Europe’s Prime Ministers declared in 2007 …

Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged chris davies, daily express and leveson inquiry | 6 Comments

Rather better day at Black Rock… and Vale of White Horse, Brentwood, Sutton…

By The Voice | Fri 7th December 2012 - 10:43 am

We keep being told that, where we work, we can win. And it’s still true, no matter how gloomy the opinion polls are, as this week’s by-election results demonstrate.

The Liberal Democrats have gained two seats from the Conservatives in a stunning by-election win in Oxford West & Abingdon constituency. Elizabeth Miles and Val Shaw won on a 17% swing from the Tories in Sunningwell & Wootton ward, and their double victory reduced the Conservative majority on the Vale of White Horse District Council to just three.

Speaking after …

Posted in Local government and News | Tagged brentwood council, stephen gilbert, sutton council and vale of white horse | 12 Comments

And now, the award-winning Assembly Member for Brecon and Radnor…

By NewsHound | Fri 7th December 2012 - 9:49 am

Big congratulations to Kirsty Williams, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, who was voted ‘Assembly Member of the Year’ at the ITV Wales Welsh Politician of the Year awards ceremony in Cardiff on Tuesday.

Accepting her award, Kirsty Williams quoted Violet Bonham-Carter saying:

I often hear it suggested that women will bring gentleness into politics. I am not altogether sure that this is right.

Kirsty was commended for bringing politicians of all hues together, in Cardiff and in Westminster, for the benefit of Wales.

Earlier on in the year, the Welsh …

Posted in News and Wales | Tagged kirsty williams | 3 Comments

It’s not just this Government that’s unpopular: it’s the idea of Coalition. Here’s what Lib Dems need to do about that.

By Stephen Tall | Fri 7th December 2012 - 8:15 am

There are many arguments the Lib Dems are winning in government. But there is one very big debate we’re currently on the losing side of with the public: that coalition government is capable of working. And it’s not surprising that voters are unpersuaded given we Lib Dems look a whole lot less than convinced by the experience.

The known knowns of Coalition

Let’s get two pieces of mitigation out of the way:
1) Coalition government is always tougher on the junior party: we lack the democratic mandate and …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged coalition, david cameron, ed miliband, featured, john kampfner and populus | 62 Comments

Welcome to my day… 7 December

By Mark Valladares | Fri 7th December 2012 - 7:51 am

I made the mistake last week of suggesting that it would be a quiet day. Which, I suppose it was, at least until I was reminded that we’d had three pretty poor by-election results overnight and felt obliged to write something about them. It seems that there are still comments being posted…

I’ve checked this week, and there are no parliamentary by-elections to report. There have been six by-elections on principal authorities, however, and the results have been excellent so far, with gains in Vale of White Horse, Brentwood and …

Posted in News | Leave a comment

Clarification on fire safety regulations in the Palace of Westminster

By Mary Reid | Thu 6th December 2012 - 4:32 pm

On 27th November we published a post under the headline: Knight: How can we get MPs to take their own fire safety more seriously?.

We have now received a letter from Sir Ken Knight (no relation to Stephen Knight, referred to in the headline) who is the Government’s Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser and Head of the Crown Inspection Premises Group.

Posted in News | Tagged london fire and emergency planning authority and stephen knight | 2 Comments

LibLink: Paddy Ashdown – Fighting climate change is moral, vital, and in our own interests

By Nick T | Thu 6th December 2012 - 2:54 pm

In the Independent, Paddy Ashdown shares his thoughts on the Doha climate change talks, currently ongoing and being attended by Lib Dem energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey.

Here’s an excerpt of what Paddy has to say:

Despite being in the midst of global recession, it is essential that governments in developed nations recognise that tackling climate change is not just a moral

Posted in LibLink | Tagged climate change and paddy ashdown | 7 Comments

LDVideo: Mark Pack gets Paxo’d over the autumn statement

By Nick T | Thu 6th December 2012 - 1:53 pm

Voice co-editor Mark Pack made his debut on Newsnight’s political panel last night, discussing the politics of the autumn statement. You can watch his thoughts below, or on YouTube here.

Posted in News | Tagged Autumn Statement 2012 | 7 Comments

William Powell AM writes… Why we must protect rural banking

By William Powell | Thu 6th December 2012 - 11:23 am

Almost every week brings news of the closure of bank branches in rural areas. As an Assembly Member in Wales representing a large rural region, I know at first hand the real effects of bank closures on local communities and businesses. Latest figures from the Campaign for Community Banking Services, published in September, show that in the last ten years just under 2,000 bank branches have closed. There are now 900 communities that have only one bank branch and 1,200 communities with no bank branch at all. The traditional ‘Big 4’ banks closed 178 branches in 2011. Estimates

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged banking, featured, Wales and william powell | 3 Comments

Opinion: The autumn statement was constrained by a lack of both ambition and funds

By Daniel Wright | Thu 6th December 2012 - 9:59 am

Today we witnessed a government and a chancellor with a lack of wiggle room writhing around to the best of their ability. George Osborne was on surprisingly good form compared to the blundered budget, and Ed Balls was insipid in a response that seemed to ignore the forecasts and measures just outlined before him. Nevertheless, even with the chancellor on song and his opposite number off-key, it will be difficult for the coalition to use the statement as much of a turning point in the narrative of this government.

Whilst both parties would like the press and the public to be …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged Autumn Statement 2012 | 13 Comments

Jo Swinson ensures fair treatment for supermarket suppliers

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 5th December 2012 - 3:56 pm

It’s a key liberal principle that large, powerful organisations whether government or private companies, should not be allowed to abuse that power, to treat those they deal with unfairly.

That’s why the Liberal Democrats have been so keen to set up a Groceries Adjudicator to ensure that the large supermarkets give a fair deal to their suppliers. The Adjudicator will have the power to arbitrate between retailers and suppliers, and

Posted in News | Tagged featured, groceries code adjudicator, Jo Swinson, mark williams and tavish scott | 3 Comments

Danny Alexander: “We are delivering on our number one election pledge”

By The Voice | Wed 5th December 2012 - 3:12 pm

Danny Alexander has just emailed Liberal Democrat members about the Autumn Statement, emphasising that the Liberal Democrats have delivered on their key election pledge, to raise the tax threshold to £10,000. From next April, workers will be able to keep the first £9440 they earn, meaning that someone on the minimum wage has had their tax bill halved by the Liberal Democrats.

Danny asks members to share the picture on your right on Facebook. Already the Voice’s timeline is full of them.

The Autumn Statement set out the tough decisions Liberal Democrats are taking in government to build a stronger economy and fairer society.

Posted in News | Tagged Danny Alexander, featured and tax cuts (Lib Dem) | 18 Comments

Autumn Statement: the good, the bad and the ugly

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 5th December 2012 - 2:17 pm

So, the Chancellor has given his Autumn Statement. Liberal Democrat reaction is likely to be at best mixed. Will people feel that the balance of tax and benefit measures is sufficient to support our claims that we are making the system fairer?

Osborne painted a fairly gloomy economic picture. The growth forecast is under 3% for the next 5 years. Austerity will continue way beyond the next election. It’s in that context that his measures must be judged.

Let’s take a brief look at the key points from a Liberal Democrat activist’s point of view:

The good – Lib Dem gains

Steve Webb’s Pension …

Posted in News | Tagged Autumn Statement 2012, economy, george osborne and nick clegg | 38 Comments

That NHS spending row in full

By Stephen Tall | Wed 5th December 2012 - 12:15 pm

The story: Conservative Health secretary Jeremy Hunt ‘rebuked’ for claiming the Coalition has increased NHS spending in England.

The promise: that the NHS budget in England would be increased in real terms during the Coalition. That promise was kept (just) — the 2010 Spending Review committed the Coalition to a 0.1% real-terms annual increase.

The reality: the NHS did not spend all its budget in 2011/12. As a result, the out-turn in NHS spending has, probably, marginally fallen since 2009/10. Though the UK Statistics Authority concludes: “Given …

Posted in News | Tagged featured, health, jeremy hunt and NHS | 18 Comments

LibLink: Christine Jardine..A coffee with a sweeter taste

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 5th December 2012 - 11:27 am

Christine Jardine was until this Summer a Liberal Democrat Special Adviser at the heart of Government. She is now back working full time in politics in Scotland and writing occasionally for the Scotsman.

This week she’s turned her attention to the fact that large corporations like Starbucks don’t pay tax in the UK and reflects on the good that local, independent coffee shops bring to the community:

As I sat there enjoying my Americano, eyeing up the chocolate cake and cinnamon swirls, I began to think about the value that the entrepreneur behind the counter had brought to my community.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged christine jardine, economy, scotsman, small business and tax | Leave a comment

Michael Moore’s Westminster Notes

By Michael Moore | Wed 5th December 2012 - 10:22 am

Every week, Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore writes a column for newspapers in his Borders constituency. Here’s this week’s edition.

St Andrew’s Day

Last week, as Secretary of State for Scotland, I gave the inaugural speech in the annual St Andrew’s Day Address which is being established this year at the Scotland Office in London. This annual Address will see individuals in business, education, politics, media, charities and the arts speaking to an audience in London …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged leveson, Michael Moore, st andrew's day and Westminster Notes | 2 Comments

Opinion: Will Leveson changes bring about more factual EU coverage?

By Willis Pickard | Wed 5th December 2012 - 8:57 am

Buried away in the Leveson Report is a denunciation of those parts of the press which systematically misrepresent the European Union.

Pro-Europeans like the Liberal Democrats will welcome this recognition of a chronic irritant.

Editors of the offending papers rarely if ever give the opportunity to correct errors. Now, although the anti-Europe

Posted in Op-eds | 11 Comments

Euro 2014 – a cause to fight for, not to hide from

By Mark Valladares | Tue 4th December 2012 - 4:55 pm

So, we’ve selected our candidates for Europe in England and Scotland, and a pretty good bunch they are too – people who are committed to the concept of a Europe of twenty-seven (soon to be twenty-eight) nations pooling some sovereignty for a greater good. So far, so good. But what are they going to do for the next eighteen months?

Past experience says, “not much to do with Europe”. Yes, they’ll be campaigning to a lesser or greater extent, but what will they be

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged euromyth and european elections | 50 Comments

Scottish Euro-selection: George Lyon reselected at top of list

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 4th December 2012 - 4:22 pm

George Lyon MEP has been reselected at the top of the list in the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ European selections. Although the votes were counted last Thursday, the results were only announced this afternoon because of a delay in contacting one of the candidates.

Lyon attracted 80.7% of first preferences which will give him bragging rights over Sir Graham Watson in the South West who must have thought his total of 79% would not be beaten.

Posted in News | Tagged christine jardine, european selections, george lyon, jade holden, lisa strachan and richard brodie | 2 Comments

The Lib Dem vote share: not always the best guide to how successful the Lib Dems have been…

By Stephen Tall | Tue 4th December 2012 - 3:30 pm

An important point, with graph to match, from PoliticalBetting’s Mike Smithson:

Chart showing how the total of Lib Dem seats has been or not linked to vote share from 1987 – 2010. twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st…

— Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) December 4, 2012

To illustrate the point further:

Posted in News | Tagged general election, mike smithson and politicalbetting | 30 Comments

Launch of Labour for Democracy

By NewsHound | Tue 4th December 2012 - 1:51 pm

Today, an influential group of Labour members are launching a new movement within their party: Labour for Democracy.

Its aim is to reach out to Lib Dems (and possibly Greens as well) in order to prepare a pluralist agenda around progressive issues. Although it does not explicitly say so, it is presumably also preparing the ground for a possible Labour-led coalition after 2015. Their position is based on polling evidence:

On all the major issues Labour and Lib Dem voters tend to give similar levels of support to broadly ‘progressive’ value statements, with Labour voters giving slightly stronger levels

…

Posted in News | Tagged john denham, labour for democracy and labour party | 38 Comments

Vince Cable criticises Starbucks over ‘tax dodging’

By NewsHound | Tue 4th December 2012 - 12:32 pm

In the Guardian today, Vince Cable says that he understands why people are boycotting Starbucks.

The business secretary, when asked by the Guardian if he would consider boycotting their products, said:

I don’t shop at Starbucks so this doesn’t apply to me, but I can fully understand why people would vote with their feet as a result of their tax dodging.

Posted in News | Tagged Danny Alexander, starbucks, tax avoidance and vince cable | 13 Comments

LibLink: Lynne Featherstone in Zambia, part 3

By Mary Reid | Tue 4th December 2012 - 10:49 am

Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat International Development Minister has been visiting Zambia and blogging about her trip. In her first day she wrote about a UK-funded empowerment programme for adolescent girls. She followed that with an account of programmes in the rural south supporting education, health care, private sector development, social support, and reducing gender-based violence.

She spent the final day of her visit with the Minister for Gender, and together they launched 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence in Zambia.

Posted in LibLink | Tagged lynne featherstone and Zambia | Leave a comment

The Autumn Statement: what the press says about Lib Dem influence

By Mary Reid | Tue 4th December 2012 - 8:45 am

We are hearing many rumours about the climb-downs to be expected in Osborne’s Autumn Statement, which is due tomorrow, and how the Liberal Democrats are positioning themselves.

In the Guardian we learn the welcome news: George Osborne set to drop plan to end housing benefit for under-25s. “Lib Dems revolt against David Cameron’s ‘unjust’ move in runup to chancellor’s autumn statement”

The Guardian also devotes a whole article to Matthew Oakeshott’s comments: Lib Dems urge Nick Clegg to stand up to Tories over spending plans. He said “he wanted Clegg to show the same vigour and forthrightness as he had demonstrated over …

Posted in News | 1 Comment

Op-eds

I watched Ed Davey’s speech. Here’s why it matters (Kamran Hussain)
Citizens abroad and party strategy (Tom McAdam)
How to capture the Tonbridge Tories (Cody Butler)
The bigger your car, the bigger your fuel duty cut (Mark Hofman)
A call for reform with a small “r” (Keith Creswell)

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What does a Lib Dem “trans activist” look like?

Caron’s kitchen table diary

Victoria Collins MP writes.. The ask that changes everything

To get Britain growing, we must cut business costs

New LDV members’ survey now live: your views on Leveson, the Autumn Statement, Europe and the Coalition

Opinion: the case for intervention in Syria

Next week in the Lords… 10-14 December

Positive action for women on Westminster shortlists

Danny, Don and Nick stand up for Local Government in a way that Pickles never has

This week in Europe… 3-6 December

Rather better day at Black Rock… and Vale of White Horse, Brentwood, Sutton…

And now, the award-winning Assembly Member for Brecon and Radnor…