Liberal Democrat Voice

Can you guess the policy?

By Mark Pack | Sun 4th March 2012 - 9:15 am

See how many clues it takes you to work out what policy this person is talking about.

It is a policy promoted “at the behest of a small minority of activists”.

It is not a minor policy for “it will redefine society”.

What’s more “it will have huge implications for what is taught in our schools”.

It even involves an “attempt to redefine reality”.

Not in a good way, for it “represents a grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right”. And not merely that, for it will “demolish a universally recognised human right” too. Demolish and grotesquely subvert. Now we’re talking.

And please, think of …

Posted in News | Tagged keith o'brien | 19 Comments

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LDV Caption Competition: David Cameron & Alex Salmond “Who’ll take the Highland?” Edition

By Stephen Tall | Sat 3rd March 2012 - 4:45 pm

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

Here’s Prime Minister David Cameron and Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond meeting recently to discuss the fate of the Untied Kingdom. What do you think might be being said or thought by or about them?

And the winner of our last caption comp is…

Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Steve Webb & IDS “Supermarket (Chimney-) Sweep” Edition.

Posted in Caption Comp | Tagged alex salmond and david cameron | 21 Comments

The weekend debate: Who are the five most influential women of all time?

By Mark Pack | Sat 3rd March 2012 - 4:08 pm

Here’s your starter for ten in our weekend slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate…

Borrowing from Lynne Featherstone’s blog:

It’s International Women’s Day on Thursday – and my local paper, The Journal, have asked me to name my top 5 influential women of all time.

I know who mine are but who would be yours?

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged international women's day, lynne featherstone and weekend debate | 30 Comments

The Labour Party. Remember them?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 3rd March 2012 - 2:55 pm

There’s an excellent must-read post on the New Statesman site by Rafael Behr highlighting how Coalition politics is not only eclipsing the Labour party from the media spotlight, but also paralysing its leadership from engaging with internal debate.

First, he notes how both the Lib Dems and Tories are being given the freedom to differentiate their party’s policies from the Coalition’s programme:

The Conservative party does not like the 50p tax rate. That much is clear. It is just as clear that government policy is, for the time being, to retain the rate. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats support a “Mansion

…

Posted in News | Tagged coalition, labour party, new statesman and rafael behr | 35 Comments

Tonge: Clegg acted “very hastily and ill-advisedly” in issuing apologise-or-resign ultimatum

By The Voice | Sat 3rd March 2012 - 12:41 pm

Here’s the Press Association report of Baroness (Jenny) Tonge’s BBC interview following her resignation this week over controversial remarks about the future of Israel:

Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Tonge has claimed her party leader Nick Clegg acted “hastily” in quickly disowning her after she said Israel “would not be there forever”. She was forced to give up the party whip after the Deputy Prime Minister told her to apologise or resign hours after her comments to students at Middlesex University were revealed.

During a talk at the university, she claimed Israel would “reap what it has sown” if the United States

…

Posted in News | Tagged israel, jenny tonge, middle east, nick clegg and palestine | 17 Comments

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Nick Clegg’s speech to Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference

By Helen Duffett | Sat 3rd March 2012 - 10:25 am

Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference started yesterday in Inverness and runs until tomorrow (Sunday). Nick Clegg addressed Conference yesterday afternoon; here is his speech in full:

Liberals from the Highlands and Islands have always been at the heart of our party. From the late great Jo Grimond and Russell Johnston, great leaders like Bob Maclennan, Charles Kennedy and Jim Wallace in Scotland, to our current team at Westminster, Highland and Island voices have shaped who the Liberal Democrats are.

In Danny Alexander and Alistair Carmichael, I have Liberals from the Highlands and Islands with me right at the heart of British Government. …

Posted in Scotland and Speeches | Tagged Alistair Carmichael, bob maclennan, carolyn caddick, charles kennedy, Danny Alexander, jim wallace, jo grimond, nick clegg, russell johnston and scottish liberal democrats | Leave a comment

LibLink: Paddick – we are putting forward an innovative, radical Liberal Democrat agenda for Londoners

By Stephen Tall | Sat 3rd March 2012 - 8:25 am

The Lib Dems’ London mayoral candidate Brian Paddick was interviewed in The Guardian yesterday. It’s a revealing and candid piece in which Brian makes his pitch for the post the paper describes “an office whose holder enjoys the largest personal mandate in Europe – bar the French president”. Here are some highlights:

On the Lib Dems’ London campaign

“It’s quite obvious where I’m positioning myself and it’s to the left of the coalition,” he says in an interview with the Guardian. “What we are saying to Londoners is this has got nothing to do with national politics. We are putting forward an

…

Posted in LibLink and London | Tagged brian paddick and london mayoral election | Leave a comment

Paddick: some Met detectives adopt a “she wants it really” attitude to women alleging rape

By Stephen Tall | Fri 2nd March 2012 - 7:26 pm

The Lib Dems’ London mayoral candidate Brian Paddick is interviewed in today’s Guardian, and has some strong words for his former employers, the Metropolitan police:

Paddick warns that some detectives adopt a “she wants it really” attitude to women alleging rape and sometimes refuse to acknowledge that some types of men, such as licensed cab drivers, can be rapists.

The former deputy assistant commissioner is placing the Met’s mixed performance on dealing with rape at the heart of his campaign as the Liberal Democrat candidate in May’s London mayoral election. Paddick, who told the Leveson inquiry this week that he toned

…

Posted in London and News | Tagged brian paddick, crime, metropolitan police and rape | 1 Comment

This week’s council by-election results: 1 March 2012

By Helen Duffett | Fri 2nd March 2012 - 7:13 pm

Almost a clean sweep for the Liberal Democrats this week, winning five out of the six local council by-elections. There were three gains and two holds by the party, and in Castle ward, Cumbria, there was actually a swing towards the Lib Dems, although the party lost the seat to Labour.

Notably, Shamblehurst – in Chris Huhne MP’s Eastleigh constituency – was held by a wide margin, as Chris Huhne’s website reports:

The Liberal Democrats have secured an overwhelming vote of confidence from Eastleigh Borough residents in a Hedge End by-election that took place yesterday.

Liberal Democrat candidate Richard Effeny secured the

…

Posted in Council by-elections | Tagged anne lock, chris huhne, hannah fraser, jake lyne, olwyn luckley and richard effeny | 9 Comments

The LDV Friday Five: 2 March 2012

By The Voice | Fri 2nd March 2012 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

Posted in Friday Five | 1 Comment

Why the rise in Air Passenger Duty matters to BME communities up and down the UK

By James Jennings | Fri 2nd March 2012 - 4:30 pm

Why the rise in Air Passenger Duty matters to BME communities up and down the UK

‘A wicked tax’ as many members of my friends and family explain to me when I am helping them find tickets ‘going home’ to Jamaica or Grenada.

Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats (EMLD) will be holding a fringe event at Spring Conference looking at the effects of the controversial Air Passenger Duty (APD) on BME communities and the economy as a whole. I have real concerns that when the new levy is introduced this April, the party could be seen in a negative light amongst some communities.

APD …

Posted in Conference | Tagged air passengers and black and ethnic minorities | 12 Comments

Opinion: Liberal Left have short memories

By Michael Taylor | Fri 2nd March 2012 - 1:57 pm

Liberal Left want to be careful what they wish for. In 1977 Liberal Leader David Steel struck a one-year deal with Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan that the 13 Liberal MPs would support the Labour Government in votes of confidence and supply. In return a number of Liberal Policies, most notably PR for European elections, would be enacted. After the pact, the Liberals eventually voted for a motion of no confidence that brought down the government. In the subsequent general election we got 13% and 11 seats.

As an exercise in achieving our policies the results were mixed at …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged labour party and Liberal Left | 67 Comments

Opinion: Opening up the benefits of renewable energy means considering much more than just the size of subsidies

By Simon Beard | Fri 2nd March 2012 - 11:25 am

At present for somebody to benefit from the subsidies offered to small scale renewable energy production they must have three things:

1 – Ownership of a property suitable for producing renewable energy

2 – A substantial amount of capital to invest in installing the technology and

3 – The opportunity to invest this capital for 25 years, with no possibility of early pay back unless they sell their house, in which case it is an open question what return they might receive.

Unsurprisingly this leave most people unable to access these benefits, even though many may have something to contribute to renewable energy production, …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged feed-in tariffs and renewable energy | 5 Comments

LDVideo: Nick Clegg – Workfare critics have a “messed up set of priorities”

By Stephen Tall | Fri 2nd March 2012 - 10:10 am

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg this week launched a passionate defence of the Coalition’s work experience initiatives, arguing that they help prepare jobless young people for employment. This follows the controversy about ‘workfare’, which some critics have labelled ‘slave labour’, an attitude Nick condemns here as displaying a “messed up set of priorities”:

Posted in YouTube | Tagged nick clegg and workfare | 17 Comments

The really important issue at Gateshead is a Constitutional Amendment

By Simon McGrath | Fri 2nd March 2012 - 8:44 am

Discussion about the Gateshead Spring Conference has mainly focused on the potential row about the NHS Bill, but the Agenda also contains a Constitutional Amendment which could have a huge impact on our ability to work to with either the Tories or Labour after the next election. The Amendment is called “Support for a Government which contains other Political Parties” and can be seen here.

This is an update of the “Triple Lock” dating back to 1998 after Paddy was thought to be getting too close to Blair’s Labour Party. (Mark Pack has a history of the Triple Lock

Posted in Conference and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged constitution | 21 Comments

Opinion: Job Guarantees – an economic stimulus worth considering?

By Joe Bourke | Thu 1st March 2012 - 5:56 pm

India introduced a job guarantee programme, for the rural poor in 2005. It was dismissed by many as fiscal folly. Yet this developing country has weathered the financial storms of the economic downturn far better than most European countries. Argentina ran a successful programme in the wake of their debt default and Canada has had a good experience with such programmes.

Job guarantee as an economic policy builds on the concept of employer of last resort. The policy requires that the public sector offers a fixed wage job to anyone willing and able to work. The job pool expands when private …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged economy | 26 Comments

The Local Government Slot: Fighting for a Better Deal for Park Home Owners

By Annette Brooke MP | Thu 1st March 2012 - 3:23 pm

We have recently seen a lot of activity in Parliament on the issue of park homes and the problems park home owners are facing across the country.

To some extent 2011 saw familiar frustrations and delays that have, unfortunately, often characterised attempts to solve park homes problems in the past.

However 2011 also saw headway being made. The tireless efforts of campaigners and activists have built real momentum and an appetite for change amongst my colleagues in Parliament. I firmly believe this is filtering through and that the Government will be drawn to action soon.

Events such as the Park Homes Justice Campaign’s demonstration in October have been hugely successful in raising awareness. As part of this campaign Downing Street was presented with new evidence showing that as many as 23,473 homes from across the UK could be living under the regime of an unscrupulous park owner. The fantastic work of this campaign, and of its organiser Sonia McColl, has had a real impact over these last months. Also of real importance has been the large number of letters written to MPs. I can only encourage this – the more letters that are written, the more MPs will push for change and the more chance we have of succeeding.

Posted in Local government | Tagged andrew stunell, park homes and stephen gilbert | 3 Comments

Norman Lamont is an excellent example of why the Lords should be reformed

By Mark Pack | Thu 1st March 2012 - 12:25 pm

Yesterday Conservative peer Norman Lamont was the latest in a sequence of Tory peers to take to the pages of ConservativeHome to argue against their own party’s policy and opposed elections to the House of Lords.

However, he is also an excellent example of why the Lords should be reformed, for he is just the sort of MP I had mind when writing a piece for Left Foot Forward last year:

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged constitutional reform, house of lords, lords reform and norman lamont | 10 Comments

ToryBoy: John Walsh portrays life on the campaign trail as it really is

By Mark Pack | Thu 1st March 2012 - 10:25 am

Southwark Liberal Democrats have started a great series of slightly different local party events, as a result of which I was in the Shortwave Cinema earlier this week for a screening of ToryBoy. It is a documentary by John Walsh of his experiences getting selected as a Conservative Parliamentary candidate and then fighting Middlesbrough against the controversial Labour MP Sir Stuart Bell at the 2010 general election.

It is a hugely enjoyable documentary, which mixes humour, drama and education. Humour such as John Walsh’s attempt to explain flash-mobbing to the massed ranks of Middlesbrough Conservatives (viz 6 people, mostly aged over 60 by the looks of it).

Posted in News | Tagged featured, graham neale and john walsh | 4 Comments

Fiona Hall MEP writes… Join the Lib Dems’ campaign to boost small businesses across Europe

By Fiona Hall MEP | Thu 1st March 2012 - 9:21 am

On Thursday and Friday this week, heads of governments from all EU Member States – including David Cameron – will come to Brussels for the Spring European Council which is dedicated to promoting competitiveness and economic growth.

Liberals & Democrats in the European Parliament (ALDE) are stepping up to the challenge by turning the usual Council rhetoric on the ‘need to stimulate economic growth’ into a concrete plan of action and measures that will help small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) create and safeguard local jobs. With SMEs making up to 99% of all businesses in the EU, providing two-thirds …

Posted in Europe / International | Tagged sharon bowles | Leave a comment

Why Conservatives should back Lords reform

By Nick T | Thu 1st March 2012 - 7:56 am

There’s a certain irony to the fact that it seems to regularly escape the memory of Conservatives that they failed to win the general election in 2010. Despite Tory MPs having to negotiate on a daily basis with a rival political party just to keep their leader in Number 10, no substantive discussion seems to happen among Conservatives about why, in such conducive conditions, they failed to win a majority.

One reason for that is perhaps that would involve some rather uncomfortable truths.

It’s a fairly uncontroversial statement to say that more Britons share the fundamental beliefs of the Conservative party than …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged david cameron, featured and lords reform | 8 Comments

Michael Moore MP’s Westminster Notes

By Michael Moore | Wed 29th February 2012 - 6:55 pm

Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore writes regular columns for local newspapers in his constituency. Here’s this week’s edition.

Scottish Questions and the Referendum

My work in Westminster was particularly busy last week with Scottish Questions and a session at the Scottish Affairs Select Committee. Unsurprisingly, the Scottish Government’s independence referendum was high on the agenda at both, with numerous questions being raised on the timing, the question and the SNP’s plans for an independent Scotland.

During Scottish Questions I highlighted the concerns felt by many people across Scotland that the SNP have not spelt out what an independent Scotland …

Posted in News | Tagged agriculture, alex salmond, Michael Moore and Westminster Notes | Leave a comment

Jenny Tonge resigns Lib Dem whip over controversial “Beware Israel” remarks

By Stephen Tall | Wed 29th February 2012 - 6:08 pm

A quick follow-up to our story, Jenny Tonge resigns…

Baroness (Jenny) Tonge has this afternoon resigned the Lib Dem whip after coming under intense pressure following the widespread reporting of remarks she made last week declaring that Israel “will reap what they have sown” once the USA gets “sick of giving £70bn a year to Israel to support what I call America’s aircraft carrier in the Middle East”.

It is by no means the first time Baroness Tonge has landed herself in hot water for her out-spoken views on Israel:

She was sacked by then leader Charles Kennedy as the Lib

…

Posted in News | Tagged israel, jenny tonge, middle east, nick clegg and palastine | 73 Comments

Jenny Tonge resigns

By The Voice | Wed 29th February 2012 - 5:34 pm

Baroness Jenny Tonge has resigned from the Liberal Democrats after refusing to apologise over her remarks about Israel.

According to Nicolas Watt of the Guardian, this follows Nick Clegg’s ultimatum that she should apologise for her remarks or resign.

HuffpoUK has the story:

Baroness Tonge has resigned the Lib Dem whip in the House of Lords, according to reports, after refusing to apologise for claiming that Israel would not “last forever”.

The Liberal Democrat peer, who once said she would consider becoming a suicide bomber if she were Palestinian,

…

Posted in News | Tagged jenny tonge | 15 Comments

Liberal Futures publishes the Little Yellow Book

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 29th February 2012 - 3:56 pm

First, there was the Orange Book. Then Liberal Democrat Voice published the Tangerine Book. Now, tomorrow, Scottish based Liberal Futures will publish The Little Yellow Book, a collection of essays on Liberalism in Scotland today edited by former MSP and Education Minister Robert Brown and Nigel Lindsay (no relation). It aims to move beyond the Orange Book of 2004, and to articulate a Liberalism of the people that speaks to modern Scotland with a mission to make our country a more equal and buoyant one.

Liberal Futures was established last year to promote thought and policy development among Scottish Liberal Democrats in …

Posted in News | Tagged books, liberal futures and the little yellow book | 7 Comments

The Independent View: The major environmental tests facing the Liberal Democrats in 2012 Part 2

By Joss Garman | Wed 29th February 2012 - 2:53 pm

In my last post, I looked at the most significant environmental decisions facing the Liberal Democrats here at home in 2012. In this follow up blog, I’ll look at what Nick Clegg and his team can do on the global stage to clean up our economies and help curb the emissions driving dangerous shifts in our climate. As Nick Clegg has said, “Because we are leading by example, we can make stronger demands of the international community.”

International leadership on climate change and the green economy

Chris Huhne wrote in his resignation letter to the Deputy Prime Minister, “Climate …

Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged climate change, environment and greenpace | 10 Comments

Op-eds

Conference from the other side of the barrier (Barry Rhodes)
Proper Grimond liberalism (Jack Meredith)
Is Conference still supreme? (John Kelly)
Ed Davey’s Conference speech (Hugh Andrew)
Conference or What? (Roderick Lynch)

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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

Can you guess the policy?

LDV Caption Competition: David Cameron & Alex Salmond “Who’ll take the Highland?” Edition

And the winner of our last caption comp is…

The weekend debate: Who are the five most influential women of all time?

The Labour Party. Remember them?

Tonge: Clegg acted “very hastily and ill-advisedly” in issuing apologise-or-resign ultimatum

Nick Clegg’s speech to Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference