Vote for change in London – Ashdown, Steel and Williams

By Paddy Ashdown David Steel and Shirley Williams | Wed 2nd May 2012 - 11:20 am

Tomorrow those of you in London have the chance to make your voice heard by voting in the mayoral and assembly elections. It is vital that you do. We have an opportunity to do something to bring real change to London.

Throughout the campaign it has been clear that huge numbers of Londoners are undecided and unenthusiastic about voting for either Boris Johnson or Ken Livingstone. And the more they have seen and heard Brian Paddick the more they like him and believe he will bring real change. It is only now that election day is upon us that most of …

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Posted in London and Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 3 Comments
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Mark Pack

Nick Clegg trashes Liam Fox’s economic policy demands

By Mark Pack | Wed 2nd May 2012 - 9:55 am

During yesterday’s Radio 4 interview with Nick Clegg there was a feisty exchange over why so much time in the interview was being taken up with the details of when and to who Jeremy Hunt should next answer questions to about his conduct, rather than issues such as the state of the economy.

Certainly the media loves investigatory process stories. Not only the Clegg interview but the subsequent coverage of it neglected the economy, even though Clegg had some choice words to say about former minister Liam Fox:

Martha Kearney: Liam Fox recently accused the Liberal Democrats of being a brake on

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDVideo: What are your memories of 15 years ago today, 1st May 1997?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 1st May 2012 - 8:50 pm

It’s exactly 15 years ago today that Tony Blair led New Labour to a landslide general election victory over John Major’s Tories, and Paddy Ashdown saw the Lib Dems secure the largest third party representation in the House of Commons since 1929. Here are three videos to remind you of a quite extraordinary night…

The exit poll predicts Labour’s landslide

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Posted in YouTube | Tagged , , , and | 31 Comments
Mark Pack

Police arrest BNP candidate for Mayor of Liverpool

By Mark Pack | Tue 1st May 2012 - 5:43 pm

The BBC reports:

The BNP candidate standing for elected mayor of Liverpool has been arrested by Merseyside Police.

Mike Whitby has been detained following an allegation that nomination forms for the mayoral elections had been fraudulently filled in…

The complaint was made to Merseyside Police following an investigation by the Liverpool Echo.

UPDATE September 2012: “The Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to take the case through the courts” – Liverpool Echo

Posted in Election law and News | Tagged and | Leave a comment
Tom Brake

Tom Brake MP writes… A landmark achievement in fight for our civil liberties

By Tom Brake | Tue 1st May 2012 - 4:13 pm

Today the Protection of Freedoms Bill became an Act: a landmark for the campaign to roll back Labour’s surveillance state. Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for this piece of legislation, proposing a “Freedom Bill” more than five years ago when Nick Clegg was the party’s Home Affairs Spokesman.

The Act will protect millions of people from unwarranted state intrusion in their private lives, building on some of the things we’ve already achieved like the ending of ID cards and the destruction of the National Identity Register.

I just want to highlight a couple of things that will now happen. …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , , , , , and | 12 Comments
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Mark Valladares

Yesterday in the Lords: Labour prepare the ground for rejection of Lords Reform

By Mark Valladares | Tue 1st May 2012 - 3:21 pm

We pick up from where we left off earlier…

Onwards into the night, the Lords raged in their own, uniquely genteel, way.

Whilst with his usual radical enthusiasm, Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, put his finger on the problem with the current composition of the House of Lords;

We are the creatures of patronage. There are only two ways to get into this place. One is because you are a friend of the Prime Minister, or at least he does not object to you, and the other is because your great-grandmother slept

…

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Posted in News | 14 Comments
Mark Valladares

ELDR: a caucus in the Caucusus…

By Mark Valladares | Tue 1st May 2012 - 1:52 pm

When I was elected to the Liberal Democrat delegation to the Council of the European Liberal Democrats (ELDR), adventure was not necessarily high amongst my expectations, and trips to Dresden and Palermo last year were, whilst very nice, not particularly off the beaten path. And so, when it was announced that the Spring Council meeting would take place in Yerevan, I have to admit to an awakening of my passion for obscure routes and means of transport. So, why Yerevan, and what will be happening at the end of next week?

Sunday sees Parliamentary elections in Armenia, and this, combined with …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged , , and | Leave a comment
Reg Platt

The True Cost of Energy: why Ed Davey must act

By Reg Platt | Tue 1st May 2012 - 12:22 pm

A poll out yesterday showed that action to address high energy bills is now the top priority for voters, so Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey has a political interest in new research on the True Cost of Energy published by IPPR. The report argues that competition in the energy market is not working and that some consumers are paying higher prices as a result.

IPPR has analysed how much it costs energy companies to supply electricity and gas to UK consumers, finding strong evidence that competition in the market is not in good health.

The UK energy market …

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Posted in News and The Independent View | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
George Potter

Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy: a Lib Dem success story

By George Potter | Tue 1st May 2012 - 10:50 am

A fortnight ago I was in Strasbourg where I was lucky enough to speak to two Liberal Democrat MEPs from farming backgrounds about their work to reform the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Phil Bennion, Liberal Democrat MEP for the West Midlands, explained to me how the CAP, which has two pillars of funds, works.

“Pillar one is common to every country in the European Union, pillar two is devolved and co-funded by member states. In the UK we spend 80% of our pillar two money on environmental schemes, while other countries spend theirs on things …

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Posted in Europe / International | Tagged , , and | 22 Comments
Stephen Tall

‘Brand Clegg’ continues to out-poll ‘Brand Miliband’: what it means for the Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Tue 1st May 2012 - 9:15 am

It’s a harsh reality that ‘Nick Clegg’ has become an easy punchline for many comedians. Nick can perhaps draw some comfort from the truth universally acknowledged that it’s better to be joked about than never to be joked about at all.

But he can draw greater comfort from some of the polling evidence showing him doing better than Ed Miliband, even though the Lib Dems’ ratings significantly trail Labour’s. The Independent’s Matt Chorley noticed this little-noticed phenomenon last week:

Most, though not all, months the Independent on Sunday/Sunday Mirror/ComRes poll has asked voters whether they agreed or disagreed with these statements

…

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Posted in Op-eds and Polls | Tagged , , and | 42 Comments
Mark Valladares

Yesterday in the Lords: flightless poultry call for a postponement of Christmas?

By Mark Valladares | Tue 1st May 2012 - 7:53 am

So, the Joint Select Committee on the Draft House of Lords Reform Bill has reported, and it would be fair to say that the ladies and gentlemen in ermine are, to put it mildly, perturbed. So perturbed that an extra two days were set aside for debate before the House prorogues prior to the Queen’s Speech.

With Lord Richard, the Chair of the Committee, focussing on the work of the Commiittee itself, it was left to Baroness Scott of Needham Market to make the opening speech for meaningful …

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged , and | 5 Comments
The Voice

ITV: Three ex-News International executives misled Parliament say MPs

By The Voice | Mon 30th April 2012 - 10:41 pm

ITV News reports:

The long-awaited and potentially explosive report on phone hacking from the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee is due tomorrow morning.

MPs had their last meeting this morning to sign off the report and ITV News can reveal some of the findings.

MPs are set to find Colin Myler, Tom Crone and Les Hinton guilty of misleading the committee and therefore Parliament.

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Stephen Tall

David Cameron’s jibe at Dennis Skinner: forget the ageism, it was just badly done.

By Stephen Tall | Mon 30th April 2012 - 6:55 pm

David Cameron, it became clear today, was not impressed by Commons Speaker John Bercow’s decision to grant Labour leader Ed Miliband an urgent question on the subject of Jeremy Hunt’s hanging-by-a-thread career as culture secretary. His not-impressedness manifested itself as indignant anger — it was “spectacularly ill-judged” according to the Telegraph’s Iain Martin:

From the off Cameron’s approach was wince-inducingly ill-judged. He rushed his statement and sounded steadily more touchy as he got deeper into it, lashing out and even shouting at one point about Charlie Whelan. It wasn’t very Prime Ministerial.

Mr Cameron has faced particular stick for his dismissive suggestion to veteran Labour backbencher Dennis Skinner that it was time he took his pension:

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged , , , and | 25 Comments
NewsHound

Lib Dems see silver lining in Tories’ cloud

By NewsHound | Mon 30th April 2012 - 6:03 pm

From today’s Times (£):

The string of problems hitting the Tories could save the Liberal Democrats from a catastrophic meltdown in this Thursday’s local elections, party chiefs claimed yesterday. The Lib Dems are still expecting to lose up to half their 650 council seats in England and Wales as voters continue to blame Nick Clegg for joining the coalition. They could do even worse in Scottish local elections. But Gerald Vernon-Jackson, leader of Liberal Democrat councillors in England and Wales, said that in the past two

…

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 7 Comments
Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP

Sarah Ludford MEP writes… Deal on transfer of passenger data to the US was least worst option

By Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP | Mon 30th April 2012 - 2:54 pm

The transfer to the US of EU travellers’ Passenger Name Record (PNR) data – the information we give the airline for booking purposes – has been happening for over a decade. MEPs including me have been battling since then to control the terms on which that transfer takes place in order to build in adequate data protection, and we have secured considerable improvements.

It is important to recall that the US has a sovereign right to impose whatever conditions it wishes on airlines and …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 5 Comments
The Voice

Lib Dems pointing at things #wherewepointwewin

By The Voice | Mon 30th April 2012 - 1:23 pm

As we go into the last few days before widespread elections, what better time to highlight what Lib Dems do best? Yes, pointing at things.

Well done to LibDems who point at things for a providing a comprehensive and voluminous collection of pointy photos.

Why, they’ve even crowned a certain Dr. Mark Pack as King of the Pointies!

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Simon Holbrook

Opinion: Vince for No.11 – for growth and investment

By Simon Holbrook | Mon 30th April 2012 - 11:54 am

Coming after several weeks of self-inflicted damage, the news that the UK economy has gone back into recession risks further undermining public confidence in the Government’s ability to deal with the problems the country faces.

Nick Clegg says the principles of the coalition’s economic strategy remain sound – repairing the public finances, reforming the financial system and rebalancing the economy – and I agree. The problem is that we are only making progress on the first one of these …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
Duncan Stott

Opinion: We can’t let councils discriminate against house-sharers

By Duncan Stott | Mon 30th April 2012 - 10:15 am

With the option of becoming a first-time buyer becoming ever more elusive for young adults, increasing numbers are turning to the Private Rented Sector (PRS) for their housing. Nationally there will soon be more tenants living in the PRS than in social housing. In areas with high housing costs and in university cities with a young population, the PRS has become a major part of the housing mix.

This shift in occupancy type has led to rather rapid changes to some communities, which has …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

How much chocolate can you put on a gingerbread man before he becomes standard-rated for VAT?

By Mark Pack | Mon 30th April 2012 - 8:25 am

You may not have considered this question before, so I’ll give you a little time to ponder it.

So, got your answer?

Here’s the official one from HMRC: standard-rate VAT applies to “Gingerbread men decorated with chocolate unless this amounts to no more than a couple of dots for eyes”.

But, but, but… what if the eyes are not chocolate and instead the gingerbread man has a couple of chocolate buttons instead? And what if, hurtling dangerously out of the 19th century, the gingerbread man is actually a gingerbread …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 30 Comments
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #271

By The Voice | Sun 29th April 2012 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 271st 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 (22-28 April, 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.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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Stephen Tall

In other news… Lib Dems close no libraries, Paddick pledges 360,000 homes, & Newby is new Lords whip

By Stephen Tall | Sun 29th April 2012 - 5:15 pm

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

Tim Farron: No library closed under Lib Dem leadership (LibDems.org.uk)

Last year, more than 40 libraries were closed by Conservative and Labour councils. In stark contrast, for the second year in a row, no Liberal Democrat-controlled council in England and Wales closed any library. Liberal Democrat-controlled Cardiff is opening five new libraries and Portsmouth and Bristol are also opening new libraries.

Tim Farron said: “Cutting services like Labour and Tory councils are doing will do long-term damage. Liberal Democrats are doing the right

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , , and | 1 Comment
Stephen Gilbert MP

Stephen Gilbert MP writes… The Pasty Tax is unfair, unworkable and unenforceable

By Stephen Gilbert MP | Sun 29th April 2012 - 2:05 pm

There’s an awful lot that we, as Liberal Democrats, should be proud of in this year’s budget: the uplift in the personal allowance that takes almost 2million of the lowest earners out of income tax; the support for small businesses to help stimulate growth and create jobs; and measures to give a helping hand to aspiring home owners.

But, there’s one measure which I’ve been unable to accept. Not just because it’s politically unpopular, but also because I believe Osborne has – on this occasion – got it wrong. I’m talking, of course, about the VAT extension to hot food dubbed …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 32 Comments
Chris Rennard

Chris Rennard writes: Dick Newby to be new Liberal Democrat Chief Whip in the House of Lords

By Chris Rennard | Sun 29th April 2012 - 1:17 pm

Lord Newby (Dick Newby) has just been appointed as the new Liberal Democrat Chief Whip in the House of Lords. This appointment is made by Tom McNally (as our Leader in the House of Lords) and at the same time Nick Clegg has asked Dick to serve as Government Deputy Chief Whip in the House. Dick will take up his duties in time for the State Opening of Parliament on 9th May.

Dick is a greatly respected and much liked figure amongst all those who have worked with him (and in roles in which it is sometimes difficult to be both). …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 3 Comments
Helen Duffett

David Shutt steps down as Lib Dem Lords’ Chief Whip

By Helen Duffett | Sun 29th April 2012 - 12:20 pm

David Shutt, Liberal Democrat Chief Whip in the House of Lords, announced last week that after 7 years of service he is standing down from the front bench. David entered the House of Lords in 2000, bringing with him not only the expertise and experience as a chartered accountant, but as a lifelong activist and campaigner for the liberal cause. As well as contesting 6 general elections, David also served as a councilor in Calderdale in his native West Yorkshire.

The Lib Dem leader in the Lords, Tom McNally said,

David has been a great friend to me personally, but a huge

…

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Posted in News | Tagged | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

Barbara Janke to step down as Lib Dem leader in Bristol

By Mark Pack | Sun 29th April 2012 - 11:25 am

Via the BBC:

Barbara Janke said she would stand down as council leader and as leader of the Liberal Democrat group.

Ms Janke announced her decision to the Lib Dem-controlled authority’s cabinet earlier. She said she made the decision as she approached her 65th birthday.

She said it had been an “enormous privilege” to serve as council leader in 2003-2004, 2005-2007 and from 2009 to the present.

She will remain leader of the Lib Dem group until the group’s annual meeting on 8 May, when a new leader will be chosen.

Posted in Local government | Tagged and | Leave a comment
Mark Pack

Simon Hughes challenges Harriet Harman over Labour’s record in Sheffield

By Mark Pack | Sun 29th April 2012 - 9:55 am

From a party news release:

Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, Simon Hughes, joined Liberal Democrat councillors in Sheffield to highlight more than £4m of wasteful spending by Labour locally.

The figures were revealed while Labour Deputy Leader, Harriet Harman, visited the city, attempting to defend Labour’s waste on Sheffield City Council.

Local Liberal Democrat councillors are campaigning to save Sheffield’s weekly bin collections, vital recycling services and local dementia homes, placed under threat of closure by Labour councillors.

Senior Sheffield Labour councillors have argued that no money is available, but there has been a staggering £4.2m of wasteful spending.

In the last 12 months Labour councillors have:

  • Approved

…

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Posted in Local government and News | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
Richard Morris

Opinion: I don’t think Jeremy Hunt should resign

By Richard Morris | Sun 29th April 2012 - 9:25 am

Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t a post I really wanted to write. But I don’t think Jeremy Hunt should resign over the Murdoch affair. Lord, I hate myself.

Anyway, ‘why so?’, you’re all bellowing at the screen. Let me explain

As of now, Jeremy Hunt has not been shown to have done anything wrong, and he maintains he has been whiter than white. The blame has been laid firmly at the door of his SpAd, Adam Smith, who has dutifully fallen his sword. Innocent until proven guilty and all that, so no reason for Hunt to go as yet.

Hence the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 31 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV Caption Competition: David Cameron & Jeremy Hunt “Human shield” Edition

By Stephen Tall | Sat 28th April 2012 - 4:50 pm

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

Here is Conservative leader David Cameron with his culture secretary Jeremy Hunt. After this week’s Leveson Inquiry revelations, what do you think might be being said or thought by or about them?

And the winners of our last caption comp is…

Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Nick Clegg & Kirsty Williams “Spooning Here” Edition.

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Posted in Caption Comp | 25 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDVideo: Clegg – we don’t need Hunt inquiry. Hughes – we need Hunt inquiry

By Stephen Tall | Sat 28th April 2012 - 2:55 pm

Here’s Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg saying that the Leveson Inquiry is the best place for culture secretary Jeremy Hunt to give evidence about his role in the BSkyB takeover bid…

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Posted in YouTube | Tagged , , , , and | 13 Comments
Mark Pack

Poll shows Labour’s vote up but Livingstone’s vote down

By Mark Pack | Sat 28th April 2012 - 1:15 pm

When phone polling was first introduced in the UK it attracted flak over its accuracy (least remembered about those ASL polls the better), but also gained popularity through both its lower costs compared to the then dominant face to face polling and also its greater flexibility. The same pattern has been seen again with the spread of internet polling the UK. Just as face to face polling used to be the gold standard and phone polling the upstarts, now phone polling is the gold standard and internet polling the upstarts.

The merits or otherwise of YouGov have been much debated elsewhere …

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Posted in London and Polls | Tagged and | 6 Comments
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