Liberal Democrat Voice

Police Commissioner candidate’s team quits after allegations over funding

By The Voice | Thu 25th October 2012 - 7:50 am

Mervyn Barrett has flooded Lincolnshire with expensive leaflets, free DVDs and full-page newspaper adverts in his bid to be elected as its policing supremo next month.

Posted in News | Tagged elected police commissioners and Mervyn Barrett | 7 Comments

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Nick Clegg tells business leaders: Liberal Democrats are a party of business and enterprise

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 24th October 2012 - 9:39 pm

Nick Clegg is at the Mansion House tonight talking to business leaders about the economy. The BBC reports that his speech is covering three main themes: Europe, banking and responsible enterprise, emphasising an approach based on pragmatism, not dogma.

It must be a struggle for the man who knows Europe backwards from his time there working for Leon Brittain to have to work with Tories whose ideas are most often borne out of xenophobic,

Posted in News | 1 Comment

Opinion: Badger cull delay is good news for Liberal Democrats

By Andrew Wigley | Wed 24th October 2012 - 6:55 pm

Owen Paterson’s announcement on the delay of the badger cull is good news for badgers and for the Liberal Democrats.

The ill-conceived policy may have had the backing of significant interest groups such as the NFU – Paterson repeatedly acknowledged their efforts in his speech – but it was always going to be difficult to present and ‘sell’ this policy to a nation with a strong affection to its environment and wildlife, especially after the debacle of the proposal to sell off the country’s forests.Combine public opinion with the …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged badger cull, david heath, defra, nfu and owen paterson | 18 Comments

Rennie: SNP’s assertions blown apart by fact

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 24th October 2012 - 4:02 pm

Scotland has had its share of political drama these past ten days. First there was the Edinburgh Agreement which saw Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore given an honourable mention by CentreForum. Then the Scottish Liberal Democrats unveiled their vision for Home Rule and a federal UK. Then last Friday, the SNP abandoned their opposition to NATO membership ahead of the Independence Referendum, a decision led to the resignation of two of their MSPs. This leaves Alex Salmond’s Government with a tiny single vote majority in Holyrood. In practice, though, the two MSPs will mostly vote with the Government.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged alan cochrane, alex salmond, information commissioner, nicola sturgeon, telegraph and willie rennie | 11 Comments

Liberal Reform and Social Liberal Forum unite on Secret Courts

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 24th October 2012 - 2:25 pm

It’s fair to say that Liberal Reform and the Social Liberal Forum don’t always see eye to eye on economic matters, but on the issue of Secret Courts, they speak with one voice.

Last month, Liberal Democrat Conference in Brighton overwhelmingly passed a motion calling for:

The Coalition Government to withdraw Part II of the Justice and Security Bill; and put in place instead a statutory scheme reflecting the current Public Interest Immunity system to be enacted which will retain judicial discretion, be

…

Posted in News | Tagged jo shaw and secret courts | 8 Comments

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Opinion: Liberal Youth Scotland campaigns for honest lets

By Callum Leslie | Wed 24th October 2012 - 1:29 pm

Brace yourself — you’re about the hear the SNP getting some praise.

Are you sitting down? Good.

Over the summer, the SNP announced something that student groups like the NUS and groups such as Shelter and the CAB had been calling for a long time. They announced that they would issue a clarification on the illegality of any fees that tenants were being

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged landlord rights and liberal youth scotland | 2 Comments

David Cameron’s ‘a little and often’ leadership doesn’t suit him and isn’t Prime Ministerial

By Stephen Tall | Wed 24th October 2012 - 12:25 pm

The Telegraph’s James Kirkup, one of that paper’s few fair-minded political commentators, has written a thought-provoking article, A devil’s advocate defence of David Cameron and No 10. His case for the defence is first, that we (public, media) shouldn’t assume the role of Prime Minister has always to follow the command/control style of Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair:

Implicit – and sometimes explicit – in the various critiques of the Cameron style and No 10 outfit is the idea that a Prime

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged david cameron, featured, james kirkup, margaret thatcher, nick clegg and tony blair | 1 Comment

Fiona Hall MEP writes: Energy Bill must have clear decarbonisation targets

By Fiona Hall MEP | Wed 24th October 2012 - 11:28 am

The long-awaited Energy Bill will be published at the beginning of November and will give Ed Davey a unique opportunity to prove that Lib Dems are the greenest of the main political parties. But in the innermost circles of the Coalition Government a battle royal is currently being played out over crucial details of the text.

This bill will establish the Electricity Market Reform (EMR) that will shape UK energy policy for decades to come. It therefore offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to set the parameters for tackling climate change, the greatest challenge of the twenty-first

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged decarbonisation targets, ed davey, electricity market regulation and energy bill | 11 Comments

Michael Moore’s Westminster Notes

By Michael Moore | Wed 24th October 2012 - 10:28 am

Independence Referendum

Last week, the First Minister, Deputy First Minister, the Prime Minister and I signed an agreement on the terms of the independence referendum which means we can now get on with the real debate over Scotland’s future. In the next two years, it is vital that both sides set out their arguments clearly and robustly and last week the UK Government began this process by submitting evidence to the Defence and Foreign Affairs

Posted in News | Tagged big energy week, michael moore mp, Scottish independence referendum and Westminster Notes | 5 Comments

Baroness Tyler writes… A balanced working life consultation

By Claire Tyler | Wed 24th October 2012 - 9:20 am

Times are tough for people on low to middle incomes. As a group they have seen their quality of life remain stagnate even during times of sustained economic growth. The financial crisis of 2008 and ensuing recession has made getting by much more difficult for large numbers of people who are unable to make ends meet and with no savings to fall back on when the money runs out.

Which is why I was delighted when I was asked to chair the Lib Dem Working group on a Balanced Working Life. Our remit is to

Posted in Party policy and internal matters | 5 Comments

Julian Huppert MP writes… Community sentencing and restorative justice

By Julian Huppert | Tue 23rd October 2012 - 4:40 pm

Our country’s relentless focus on punishment for punishment’s sake, rather than as a tool for crime reduction and rehabilitation, has consigned thousands of individuals to a hopeless life with no way out. A staggering 90% of those sentenced in England and Wales in 2011 had committed a previous offence.

Even in the best of circumstances – where criminals are caught, trials are fair and judges pass sentence – prisoners aren’t rehabilitated; victims remain unfulfilled and citizens are rightly angered.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged rehabilitation of offenders act, restorative justice and sentencing | 16 Comments

Opinion: Mr Quelch muscles in on localism

By Andy Boddington | Tue 23rd October 2012 - 3:50 pm

“Fellows near Mr. Quelch’s study window heard a sound from within—the rhythmic sound of a cane on trousers.”

Just who, I wondered, as I watched the House of Commons Select Committee hearing held last week, does the speaker remind me of? Then, as he spoke about using sticks against the laggards, an image from decades ago slipped into my mind.

Oh crikey! I realised that am listening to Mr Quelch, the merciless form master who beat Billy Bunter and his ill-behaved companions at Greyfriars with jolly regularity in the weekly Magnet. I swear that Nick Boles is Quelch reincarnated.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged Clive Betts, housing, mark prisk and nick boles | 3 Comments

A new magazine for Lib Dems – tell us what you want

By Helen Duffett | Tue 23rd October 2012 - 2:17 pm

Lib Dem News is changing. After 14 years at the helm, editor Deirdre Razzall is retiring and the time has come for us to take a fresh look at one of the key ways members can get information about what’s going on in the party.

First of all we’re going to change the format. In the age of news websites, blogs and social media there’s less of a need for a weekly publication to supply members with news.

By switching to a monthly magazine format we can do a whole lot more – features, interviews, long form journalism, debates.

Posted in News | Tagged deirdre razzall and lib dem news | 17 Comments

There should be far more rebellions like the one yesterday

By Mark Pack | Tue 23rd October 2012 - 1:25 pm

A brief footnote to Stephen’s piece yesterday Government suffers defeat in Lords over ‘new poll tax’ changes to council tax benefits. Note what the rebellion was over:

An independent review of the changes to be carried out within three years of them being introduced.

Yup, that shocking idea that after a new policy is introduced, we should leave it a little while and then someone should go and take a look how

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged benefits, council tax, featured and stephen tall | 13 Comments

Mothers of Liberty: Women who built British Liberalism

By Mark Pack | Tue 23rd October 2012 - 10:50 am

For an organisation that looks to the past and to party politics, it is almost inevitable that the Liberal Democrat History Group’s publications are rather dominated with accounts of men. Even now, well into the 21st century, we only just have the first female Liberal Democrat ministers, whilst female Liberal Democrat Cabinet members or party leaders are still something for the future.

Posted in Books | Tagged Catherine Gladstone, featured, history, Lady Palmerston, Lady Waldegrave, lynne featherstone, Margaret Lloyd George, margaret wintringham, Mary Gladstone, Mary Wollstonecraft, nancy seear and patsy calton | 3 Comments

Opinion: Preaching to the choir – regional Liberal Democrat conferences

By Sean Davey | Tue 23rd October 2012 - 9:50 am

This weekend I sacrificed both of my two possible lie-ins for London Regional Conference and a Liberal Youth executive meeting respectively.

Both left me feeling frustrated, and cynical about the future of the party for one main reason: our insularity. Regional conferences are diligently organized – usually by the same people – but feature a similar rotation of speakers, uncontroversial debates and excessive coffee breaks.

Posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | 16 Comments

Thoughts turn to the 2015 general election TV debates

By Mark Pack | Tue 23rd October 2012 - 8:25 am

The Guardian reports:

Some senior cabinet members want to limit the number of TV debates in the next election campaign to just one, but they are likely to face a counter-offer from Channel 4 that there should be four debates: two during the campaign itself and two in the months before the election, due to be called in June 2015.

Discussions between the parties and the broadcasters are likely to start soon with initial feelers being put out by the broadcasters.

Posted in News | Tagged leaders tv debate | 13 Comments

A confession: I’m a Lib Dem and I support elected police commissioners

By Stephen Tall | Mon 22nd October 2012 - 9:00 pm

Here’s the thing: I don’t have a problem with elected police commissioners. I know they were a Tory manifesto idea and that the Lib Dems are opposed to them (while reluctantly agreeing to vote for them as part of the Coalition Agreement). But I’m just fine with them. My support for directly elected police commissioners is paralleled by my support for directly elected mayors:

For too long, city council politics have been in the hands of amateur part-time leaders: some have been very good, some not so

…

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged elected police commissioners, featured, jersey and john prescott | 57 Comments

Government suffers defeat in Lords over ‘new poll tax’ changes to council tax benefits

By Stephen Tall | Mon 22nd October 2012 - 7:25 pm

The Government has suffered a defeat today on changes to the system of paying council tax benefit. As part of the Coalition’s existing welfare cuts, council tax relief is being reduced and local authorities are being given the power to set their own eligibility criteria from April 2013. As the Financial Times reported last week:

The coalition has earmarked £100m for councils that promise to limit the sums poorer people must pay to around 8.5 per cent of the full council tax rate – less than half what some local authorities are considering. … Lord Best, president of the Local Government Association, will on Tuesday propose an amendment

Posted in News | Tagged benefits, council tax, lord richard best and tony greaves | 8 Comments

LibLink: Nick Clegg remembering the Holocaust is the greatest antidote to extremism

By Paul Walter | Mon 22nd October 2012 - 2:54 pm

In the Independent, Nick Clegg writes movingly of the need for constant reminders of the horrors of the Holcaust. This follows his recent visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau with students organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust:

The constant threats of racism, Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism still lurk every day. Anti-Semitism has been described as a light sleeper. Cemeteries are still vandalised, discredited conspiracy theories are spread over the internet, Jewish people

Posted in LibLink | Tagged holocaust and nick clegg | 25 Comments

Unravelling the US election – or not, as the case may be…

By Paul Walter | Mon 22nd October 2012 - 1:23 pm

There are just 16 days to go until the US Presidential election. Liberal Democrat Voice will be live-blogging the election results as they come in on the night. Hopefully, the count won’t go on as long as it did in 2000, or we might be in for a very long live blog.

I should declare, up front, that I am inveterately

Posted in LDVUSA | Tagged barack obama, featured, Mitt Romney and usa | 3 Comments

Campaign Corner: The four groups in good local party membership strategy

By Mark Pack | Mon 22nd October 2012 - 11:50 am

I’ve written before about ways to recruit more party members and related issues such as the need to respond well to people who are interested in joining or helping. Underpinning that latter post is an important point – a good strategy for getting more people involved and helping isn’t just about formal membership of the party.

Pretty nearly all local parties recognise that these days. The idea that the “members newsletter” only goes to paid-up members, as used to be the case, is now a rarity. Instead …

Posted in Campaign Corner | Tagged sutton liberal democrats | 2 Comments

Lib Dems raised concerns about withholding Prince Charles’ letters

By NewsHound | Mon 22nd October 2012 - 10:23 am

From the Sunday Times (£):

A CABINET rift over the Conservatives’ decision to block the release of letters from the Prince of Wales to government ministers has raised fresh questions about the government’s openness agenda.

Liberal Democrats have claimed that not allowing the letters to be released could breach the spirit of freedom of

Posted in News | Tagged prince charles | 13 Comments

Why the Lib Dems are standing for barely half the elected police commissioner posts

By Stephen Tall | Mon 22nd October 2012 - 9:15 am

With nominations closed and the elections less than a month away, time for a quick recap on where the Lib Dems are at in the forthcoming police commissioner elections.

As ConHome has taken some pleasure in pointing out, the party is standing in 23 out of the 41 contests, little more than half. A little self-righteously, they argue: ‘This is a political party that is supposed to believe in radical change, in making the state more accountable to the citizen, and in boosting local democracy.’

Posted in News | Tagged ConservativeHome, elected police commissioners, featured and policy exchange | 19 Comments

Lynne Featherstone MP writes… First ever Lib Dem DFID Minister, first trip to Africa

By Lynne Featherstone | Mon 22nd October 2012 - 7:50 am

A month after taking up my new role as Minister for Africa in the Department for International Development, I’m currently on my first trip to the continent – South Sudan, via an overnight stop in Kenya.

Though I’ve actually been to Africa in my role as International Champion for Tackling Violence against Women Overseas, a role I’ve held since soon after the Coalition was formed, I’m anxious to see first-hand the work that DFID does toward alleviating suffering, bettering people’s lives and working with partner governments to improve their

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged africa, dfid and south sudan | 2 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #296

By The Voice | Sun 21st October 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 296th 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 (14-20, 2012), 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.

Posted in Best of the blogs | Tagged featured | Leave a comment

In other news…

By The Voice | Sun 21st October 2012 - 5:50 pm

Here’s a round-up of stories we haven’t had time to cover on the site this past few days…

Disabled benefits: Tanni Grey-Thompson and Steve Webb (BBC News)

The paralympian and cross-bench peer Tanni Grey-Thompson tackled the Liberal Democrat work and pensions minister Steve Webb over government changes to benefits. … minister Steve Webb told her the changes, which will be phased in over a number of years, would mean “spending more money overall”, adding that the amount of cash disabled people get will be protected.

…

Posted in News | Leave a comment

Opinion: We should be making the positive case for immigration

By Tom Richards | Sun 21st October 2012 - 3:50 pm

The Economist’s front page this week signals its leader on immigration – which says that the Government is getting it wrong on immigration.

The Economist is right. The Government is getting it wrong. All the evidence points towards skilled migrants having a positive impact on the economy for everyone that’s already in the country. And the evidence for unskilled workers having any negative impact on wages or jobs is at best ambiguous. As the article points out (give it a read if you haven’t), making it near on impossible for …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged immigration | 33 Comments

LDV Caption Competition: “Knowing Me” Nick Clegg, “Knowing You” Steve Coogan Edition

By The Voice | Sun 21st October 2012 - 2:10 pm

There’s no prize at stake – just the opportunity to prove you’re wittier than any other LDV reader…

(Photo by Dave Radcliffe from Lib Dems’ Flickr photostream.)

Here’s Nick Clegg meeting comedian, actor and Hacked Off campaigner Steve Coogan. What do you think might be being said or thought here?

And the winner of our last caption comp is…

Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Clegg meets Bono “Not U2″ Edition.

Posted in Caption Comp | Tagged dave radcliffe, nick clegg and steve coogan | 11 Comments

LibLink: Ed Davey – Our £1,000 giveaways will help with rising bills

By NewsHound | Sun 21st October 2012 - 1:15 pm

On the off-chance that Voice readers missed The Sun’s interview with Lib Dem energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey on Friday, here’s an excerpt:

In a grim admission to millions of hard-pressed Brits, Energy Secretary Ed Davey said ministers cannot reverse rising global fuel prices. But he insisted that they can help to ease the blow for millions of households hit by the global trend. In a bid to placate furious consumers, he today

Posted in LibLink | Tagged ed davey, energy bill and fuel poverty | 5 Comments

Op-eds

Conference or What? (Roderick Lynch)
Where next on the Triple Lock? (Shaun Ennis)
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)

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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

Police Commissioner candidate’s team quits after allegations over funding

Nick Clegg tells business leaders: Liberal Democrats are a party of business and enterprise

Opinion: Badger cull delay is good news for Liberal Democrats

Rennie: SNP’s assertions blown apart by fact

Liberal Reform and Social Liberal Forum unite on Secret Courts

Opinion: Liberal Youth Scotland campaigns for honest lets

David Cameron’s ‘a little and often’ leadership doesn’t suit him and isn’t Prime Ministerial

Fiona Hall MEP writes: Energy Bill must have clear decarbonisation targets

Michael Moore’s Westminster Notes

Independence Referendum

Baroness Tyler writes… A balanced working life consultation

Julian Huppert MP writes… Community sentencing and restorative justice

Opinion: Mr Quelch muscles in on localism

A new magazine for Lib Dems – tell us what you want

There should be far more rebellions like the one yesterday

Mothers of Liberty: Women who built British Liberalism

Opinion: Preaching to the choir – regional Liberal Democrat conferences

Thoughts turn to the 2015 general election TV debates

A confession: I’m a Lib Dem and I support elected police commissioners

Government suffers defeat in Lords over ‘new poll tax’ changes to council tax benefits

LibLink: Nick Clegg remembering the Holocaust is the greatest antidote to extremism

Unravelling the US election – or not, as the case may be…

Campaign Corner: The four groups in good local party membership strategy

Lib Dems raised concerns about withholding Prince Charles’ letters

Why the Lib Dems are standing for barely half the elected police commissioner posts

Lynne Featherstone MP writes… First ever Lib Dem DFID Minister, first trip to Africa

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #296

In other news…

Opinion: We should be making the positive case for immigration

LDV Caption Competition: “Knowing Me” Nick Clegg, “Knowing You” Steve Coogan Edition

And the winner of our last caption comp is…

LibLink: Ed Davey – Our £1,000 giveaways will help with rising bills

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

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Victoria Collins MP writes.. The ask that changes everything

To get Britain growing, we must cut business costs

Independence Referendum

And the winner of our last caption comp is…

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