Mary Reid

Great achievement in SW London

By Mary Reid | Sat 4th May 2024 - 4:48 pm

The BBC has shamefully ignored the London Assembly during this election. Nearly 9 million people live in Greater London – more than the populations of Scotland and Wales combined.  And London does not have a Metro Mayor who is accountable to the local authorities that make up the Metro area. Instead it has a full blown Assembly with 25 Assembly Members.  So it is inexcusable that the BBC is not reporting on it in its election coverage.

Rant over, because we do have some very good news to report. We have won our first constituency member ever for the Assembly for the SW London seat (which cover 5 Westminster constituencies). Gareth Roberts won decisively with 66,675 votes against Labour with 50,656 and Conservative with 49,981. This has been a Tory seat from the start.

Congratulations all round!

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Mary Reid

London Mayor

By Mary Reid | Sat 4th May 2024 - 4:35 pm

Sadiq Khan has comfortably won the Mayor of London contest although it hasn’t yet been officially announced. We can be sure of the result because the votes have been counted across the fourteen super-constituencies and their totals have been announced, so it’s a simple matter of arithmetic to work out the final result.

This contest was always a two horse race between Labour and Conservative, and voting reverted to FPTP this time around. We know that many of our voters voted tactically to keep the Tory out. Under those circumstances it is very pleasing that the Lib Dem candidate, Rob Blackie, came in third, albeit by a narrow margin of 70 votes.

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Caron Lindsay

Saturday afternoon round-up: Lib Dems win more Council seats than Tories for first time in 28 years

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 4th May 2024 - 4:13 pm

With just one Council left to declare, the Lib Dems will end the local election second to Labour in terms of Councillors, with 105 gains and 2 more Councils. The last time this happened was in 1996. Second place and a 25% gain is not a bad result for us at all.

The Tories have lost more than half of the seats they were defending and are languishing in 3rd place. The only consolation for them so far is that Ben Houchen held on as Tees Valley Mayor. Even if Andy Street clings on in the West Midlands, it looks as though the result will be pretty close.

 

Ed Davey had this to say about our success:

Up and down the country Conservative MPs will be looking over their shoulder terrified of the Liberal Democrats who have won more seats than them in this election.

This was the final test before the General Election and it’s clear Conservative MPs are on notice.

We’ve moved forward in blue wall battlegrounds and we’ve seen a real collapse in support for Rishi Sunak and his out of touch Government.

The choice for millions of people at the General Election is clear – they can get a fair deal with the Liberal Democrats or have 4 more years of Conservative chaos.

Just for the hell of it, we need to see those dinosaurs from yesterday again:

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The Voice

LibLink: Mark Pack’s round-up of local elections results so far

By The Voice | Sat 4th May 2024 - 1:55 pm

Party President Mark Pack has been recording results and commentary throughout the counts. You can read today’s post here: How are the local elections going for the Lib Dems?

Here are some takeaways:

As of Saturday morning, the results look pretty good.

Before getting into that, it’s important to recognise that’s not the same as universally good. There are, for example, two wards I campaigned in this time around which we lost out on by very small margins. Defeats like those, or losing your seat while others are gaining those on the same council, are in some ways made all the worse by most other people around you celebrating. I hope though that our overall progress means those nursing disappointment this weekend can also take some consolation from the fact that our continued progress means, if they decide to stand again, better times are coming in their ward too.

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Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: Campus Powder Keg

By Tom Arms | Sat 4th May 2024 - 10:22 am

America has for years been a polarised powder keg waiting for the spark to ignite the fuse. It has come in the form of student protests against American support for Israel.

Protesters, counter-protesters and rent-a-mob have violently coalesced around the conflicting fates of Palestinians and the State of Israel.

As of Friday demonstrations have broken out on 140 college campuses in 45 states. More than 2,000 students have been arrested by police storming barricaded encampments and university buildings with riot gear.

President Joe Biden is trying to thread his way through the oft conflicting principles of freedom of speech and the rule of law. “There’s the right to protest but not the right to cause chaos,” he said. At the same time he is standing firm on his support for Israel while privately bemoaning the fact that he is not being given sufficient credit for pressuring the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

The political result could be a November victory for Donald Trump as young people continue their Gaza protest by boycotting the polls and the older generation vote for the strong man politics of Trump.

But what do the protesters want? It varies. Some what the total destruction of Israel. Others are focused on a ceasefire and the two-state solution. Still others have been drawn to the barricades by the issue of free speech. Counter-protesters fear that Israel and Jews in general are facing the problems of the 1930s. Rent-a-mob just sees an advantage in chaos.

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Mary Reid

London waits

By Mary Reid | Sat 4th May 2024 - 8:14 am

It’s going to be a long day in London. The counting process began yesterday in fourteen venues across the region, one based in each of the Assembly super-constituencies.  Votes on the three differently coloured ballot papers were being verified yesterday and then counted today.

To understand the scale of the process you have to remember that the population of Greater London is more than those of Scotland and Wales taken together.

Results will be announced this afternoon in this order: Mayor of London, London Assembly constituency members, London-wide Assembly members (from the top up lists).  We already know that turnout was 40.5%. Previous turnouts have varied from 34% to 46%, so there is nothing particularly surprising in that figure.

Lib Dem interest is focussed on the SW London Constituency (Richmond, Kingston and Hounslow) which we are hoping to win. If we do then it will be the first ever constituency win for us.

The best place to follow the election results is on London Elects.

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Mary Reid

The stragglers

By Mary Reid | Fri 3rd May 2024 - 11:03 pm

Catching up on a couple of councils that I was watching…

Gloucester has certainly seen an upheaval from a clear Conservative majority to a slightly awkward NOC. The good news is that the Lib Dems are the largest party with 17 (an increase of 7), compared with Conservatives on 11, Labour 7 and Others 4. Let’s hope our Council Group can find 3 others they can work with to make a working majority.

I have now moved the news about Elmbridge here. Our team in Elmbridge increased their seats but were just two short of the number needed for an overall majority. They will continue to run a minority administration, no doubt with the support of some of the Residents Associations, which has been working well for the past year.

And then we left Woking at the point where we knew they had won, but before all the results were in. And a great outcome – Lib Dems hold 24 out of 30 seats on the Council – and that included defeating Michael Gove’s election agent. No Conservatives left at all, in fact.

As we wrap up for the night there appear to be five councils that are nowhere near a result, or may not have actually started counting yet. None of them carry much interest for the Lib Dems.

In terms of control of Councils, Lib Dems have held 10, gained 2 and lost none.

And finally, here is the score line for the number of council seats won so far.

Feels good, doesn’t it?

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Mary Reid

And we’ve gained Dorset!

By Mary Reid | Fri 3rd May 2024 - 8:54 pm

Brilliant result! We have an overall majority of 2. Lib Dems 42, Con 30, Others 10. A magnificent gain from the Conservatives. Congratulations!

 

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Mary Reid

Lib Dems gain Tunbridge Wells

By Mary Reid | Fri 3rd May 2024 - 8:07 pm

Excellent news coming out of Tunbridge Wells – probably the archetypal Blue Wall area. We have taken control of the Council winning 22 out of 39 seats.

Congratulations to the team!

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Mary Reid

Early evening results

By Mary Reid | Fri 3rd May 2024 - 7:32 pm

Since my last post we have held on to 3 further councils, making ten in all.

All three will be celebrating increased majorities.  In Cheltenham we now have 36 out of 40 seats! And Mole Valley is not far behind with 31 out of 39. Woking’s results are equally pleasing – a win announced while there are still 7 more seats to declare.

Things were looking very hopeful in Wokingham, but the final result has us holding exactly half the seats, so it is officially No Overall Control.

Our eyes are still on Elmbridge and also Tunbridge Wells where we are doing well. I will update this as news comes in.

Over the last few hours we have been running neck and neck with the Tories in terms of the number of seats we have won in local elections this time. As I write both parties are on 433. Mind you, they have lost 416 and we have gained 80.

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Mary Reid

Ed Davey and the dinosaurs

By Mary Reid | Fri 3rd May 2024 - 7:17 pm

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Mary Reid

Afternoon results

By Mary Reid | Fri 3rd May 2024 - 4:16 pm

As I write we have made a net increase of 44 councillors. The Tories have lost 272 and these have been transferred across the parties with a sizable chunk going to Independents. We have retained control of 6 councils, adding Three Rivers, Watford and Gosport to Winchester, Eastleigh and Hull reported earlier.

I have been watching West Oxfordshire, Brentwood and Wokingham. In West Oxfordshire we are now the largest party but without overall control. In Brentwood, where all the council seats were up for election, Lib Dems increased theirs by 1 while the Tories lost 2, but that wasn’t quite enough to overtake the Tories – however it has gone into NOC. We are still awaiting results in Wokingham.

Again – do add further news in the comments.

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Mary Reid

Overnight results

By Mary Reid | Fri 3rd May 2024 - 10:07 am

The results overnight were much as expected. Lib Dems held onto control in three local councils – Winchester, Eastleigh and Hull – and have made a net gain of 18 councillors. In Portsmouth we gained one councillor, which leaves us still running a minority Council.

This afternoon we can expect to hear from West Oxfordshire, Brentwood and Wokingham where we are hoping to increase our councillors and possibly take control.

Later this evening watch out for Elmbridge and Gloucester.

Please add any updates to the comments below.

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Mark Valladares

2 May 2024 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Thu 2nd May 2024 - 10:30 pm
  • OECD report: This Conservative government is economically illiterate
  • Polls close: Voters want an end to this appalling Conservative government
  • Cole-Hamilton responds to SNP leadership news
  • “End this nonsense and give the money back”- Welsh Lib Dems urge First Minister to return dodgy donations

OECD report: This Conservative government is economically illiterate

Responding to the OECD report which says that the UK will have the slowest growth of the largest developed nations next year, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson, Sarah Olney MP said:

This Conservative government is economically illiterate. Their no-growth policies have left the public enduring sky-high mortgage rates, the price of a weekly shop going through the roof, and stealth taxes hammering both pensioners and working people.

The only way through this quagmire of economic stagnation that the Conservative party has led us into is a general election. This Conservative government is out of touch, out of ideas and should be kicked out of office.

Polls close: Voters want an end to this appalling Conservative government

Responding to polls closing for this year’s local elections, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey said:

The message across the country today was loud and clear. Voters want an end to this appalling Conservative government.

People are sick of the Conservative party’s endless infighting, unaffordable mortgages, an NHS in freefall and filthy sewage being pumped into their rivers and seas.

They want change and they want to see the end of Rishi Sunak’s Conservative party in office. That is why, up and down the country, so many lifelong Conservative voters backed the Liberal Democrats today, because they know Liberal Democrat councillors will never take them for granted and fight for the issues they care about.

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Mary Reid

It’s Polling Day

By Mary Reid | Thu 2nd May 2024 - 9:50 am

I don’t need to remind our readers to vote today. But I thought you might like to know when the results are likely to be declared.

It is a rag bag of an election with 10 Metro mayors (including the Mayor of London) on the ballot paper along with Police and Crime Commissioners, London Assembly members and local councillors where they are elected by thirds. On top of that there is a Westminster by-election in Blackpool South.

Most of the counts are taking place on Friday – and Saturday as well in the case of London, amongst others.

Overnight we can expect results from a number of local councils. We should keep an eye out for Portsmouth, where we run a minority administration, which should be declaring at around 2.30pm. The Blackpool South by-election result is also expected in the early hours.

Then tomorrow Lib Dems should be watching West Oxfordshire, Brentwood, Wokingham, Tunbridge Wells, Elmbridge and Gloucester.

Do tell us in the comments if you have any useful local knowledge.

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Mark Valladares

1 May 2024 – yesterday’s other press releases

By Mark Valladares | Thu 2nd May 2024 - 8:30 am
  • Sadiq Khan’s record of failure exposed
  • Fiefdoms of filth: Scottish Lib Dems unveil new sewage league table
  • Lib Dems on verge of historic breakthrough in London
  • “Bringing truth back into politics”- Welsh Lib Dems back anti-deception proposal
  • Rennie speaks in motion of no confidence in Scottish Government

Sadiq Khan’s record of failure exposed

Sadiq Khan has once again failed to deliver on key manifesto promises, says Liberal Democrat London Mayoral candidate Rob Blackie.

On the eve of the elections he listed 2021 manifesto pledges that the London Mayor failed to implement:

  • Deliver a ferry at Hammersmith Bridge
  • End rough sleeping
  • Pilot a new City Hall housing developer to directly build

…

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Mark Valladares

1 May 2024 – yesterday’s Federal press releases

By Mark Valladares | Thu 2nd May 2024 - 7:30 am
  • Waters containing shellfish suffer from 200,000 hours worth of sewage
  • Conservatives “legalising car theft” as over three in four cases go unsolved
  • Up to 1 million pensioners in Tory seats to be dragged into paying income tax
  • Davey: Time for Sunak to face the music

Waters containing shellfish suffer from 200,000 hours worth of sewage

  • Amount of sewage spilled into shellfish water jumps by a fifth
  • South West Water and Southern Water sewage discharges into shellfish water doubles
  • Liberal Democrats call for urgent action and increased testing

This year saw a large jump in the number of hours sewage was discharged into waters containing shellfish, Liberal Democrat analysis of Environment Agency data shows.

Last year, high levels of E.coli were discovered in oysters and mussels In Cornwall, leading to the closure of 11 shellfish fishing waters, with the Environment Agency blaming sewage discharges.

Now, it has been revealed that water firms in England discharged 192,248 hours worth of sewage into shellfish areas, up 21% from the year before (158,797 hours).

The worst offender was South West Water, which doubled the hours of sewage dumped into shellfish water from 49,863 in 2022, to 98,149 last year. Their total sewage spills into these designated areas also rose to a staggering 12,927.

Southern Water also doubled the hours of sewage discharged into these areas, to 72,943 hours this year.

Since 2020, there have been 108,360 sewage spills into shellfish designated waters.

Some of the country’s best known fishing areas have been hit by these dumps. The longest spills recorded were:

  • Chichester Harbour: A total of 6542 hours of sewage discharged over 286 spills
  • Exe: A total of 4089 hours of sewage discharged over 214 spills
  • Morecambe Bay: A total of 3927 hours of sewage discharged over 223 spills

The Liberal Democrats have called for an urgent investigation into water quality in shellfish habitats, as well as a clampdown of sewage being discharged into waters used by the fishing industry.

Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson, Tim Farron MP said:

This environmental scandal is putting wildlife at risk of unimaginable levels of pollution. The food we eat, and the British fisheries industry, must be protected from raw sewage.

The public will be rightly furious that England’s precious shellfish, including lobsters and crabs, are also being subjected to filthy sewage dumping.

We need the Environment Agency to carry out an emergency investigation into the water quality of shellfish habitat. Ministers need to clampdown on water firms polluting fishing waters. It is a national scandal that this Conservative government is letting water firms destroy shellfish habitat. It is getting worse on their watch and there will be real concerns for the fishing industry if this trend continues.

Conservatives “legalising car theft” as over three in four cases go unsolved

The Liberal Democrats have accused the Conservative Government of “legalising car theft” as new figures reveal that in 2023, three in four car theft cases went unsolved and police took up to 24 hours to respond to calls.

The Home Office’s own latest figures show that in 2023, a whopping 108,934 cases of car theft went unsolved – equivalent to 298 cases a day. This accounted for a staggering 77% of all car thefts recorded. Meanwhile, just 3% of cases resulted in a suspect being charged or summonsed.

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Mark Valladares

30 April 2024 – yesterday’s (other) press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 1st May 2024 - 11:00 pm
  • Suspected drug deaths up by 11%
  • Welsh Lib Dems criticise Tata’s “heavy handed” approach to steel workers concerns
  • Cole-Hamilton speaks in abortion safe access zones debate
  • UK Governments Rwanda plans are “cold and callous”- Welsh Lib Dems
  • Blackie: scrap business rates, boost our high streets

Suspected drug deaths up by 11%

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today warned that the country’s drugs crisis continues to “end lives and blight communities”, as new quarterly statistics revealed that suspected drug deaths have increased by 11%.

Figures published today show that between December 2023 and February 2024, the total number of suspected drug deaths was 278, which is 11% higher than the previous quarter in which 267 suspected drug deaths were recorded.

Public Health Scotland also confirmed that: “Based on the latest post-mortem toxicology testing, nitazenes were detected in 38 deaths (from the first detection in June 2022 to 31 December 2023).”

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

Scotland’s drug deaths emergency continues to end lives and blight communities.

We are also seeing increasing evidence of nitazenes, a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin, contributing significantly to that crisis.

I have joined with campaigners in warning that these substances represent a growing part of the drugs death crisis, highlighting that their presence in Scotland will require an immediate response. That’s why I asked Humza Yousaf about nitazenes during First Minister’s Questions in early January.

Despite these emerging threats, the Scottish Government have delivered a brutal real-terms cut to drug services.

Well-meaning words and promises just won’t cut it. As well as delivering radical and transformational action to help all those suffering, I want ministers to protect and strengthen the drug and alcohol budget so that everyone can access care when they need it.

Welsh Lib Dems criticise Tata’s “heavy handed” approach to steel workers concerns

Today in the Senedd, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have called out Tata Steel for threatening to withdraw redundancy packages from workers at their Port Talbot site if they decide to go on strike over potential job losses.

The company also rejected plans submitted by the unions which would have kept at least one of the blast furnaces running at the site.

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Mark Valladares

30 April 2024 – yesterday’s (Federal) press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 1st May 2024 - 10:00 pm
  • Uber Ambulance: Thousands in need of urgent care making their own way to A&E
  • Homelessness figures: Ban no fault evictions before more families made homeless
  • Ed Davey says voters are fed up with “out of touch Conservatives” on visit to Tunbridge Wells
  • First Rwanda flight is “cynical nonsense”

Uber Ambulance: Thousands in need of urgent care making their own way to A&E

  • Patients in need of “very urgent emergency care” making their own way to A&E increased by nearly 40% since 2019
  • The number of elderly patients in need of emergency care going to A&E not in an ambulance has shot up by more than 20%
  • The Liberal Democrats warn Conservative government is creating an “Uber ambulance crisis”

There has been a near 40% increase in the number of patients in need of “very urgent emergency care” making their own way to A&E over the past five years, Freedom of Information requests (FOIs) by the Liberal Democrats have revealed.

NHS Trusts were asked for the number of patients who arrived at their A&E departments not in an ambulance, broken down by the urgency and severity of their condition.

504,276 patients classed as Code 2, meaning they were deemed to be in need of “very urgent emergency care”, arrived at A&E not in an ambulance in 2023. This was up 11,500 (2.4%) compared to the previous year, and up 141,000 (38.9%) compared to 2019.

The Liberal Democrats warned the Conservative government is creating an “Uber ambulance crisis” and called on ministers to urgently invest in ambulance services, staffed hospital beds and social care to reduce delays.

The figures also show there has been a particularly sharp rise in elderly patients making their own way to A&E despite needing urgent care. 96,000 patients aged over 65 in need of “very urgent emergency care” made their own way to A&E last year, up 45.4% since 2019.

53 of 140 NHS Trusts responded with complete data meaning the true numbers of patients needing urgent care making their own way to A&E is likely to be far higher.

Some Trusts saw staggering rises in the number of patients arriving in A&E not in an ambulance with very urgent emergency care needs. In York and Scarborough there was a more than eight-fold rise in Code 2 patients coming to A&E not in an ambulance with the figure last year reaching 7,669, up from just 808 in 2019.

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Alex Hosking

FPTP is worse than you realised

By Alex Hosking | Wed 1st May 2024 - 8:17 pm

As we approach another election, it’s worth noting just how flawed First Past the Post (FPTP) voting is as a system for electing candidates in single-winner elections. David Cameron saw his career destroyed by not supporting Alternative Vote (AV), and now it appears Rishi Sunak will witness the rise of The Reform Party, potentially increasing the Tories’ losses at the election.

The biggest issue with FPTP isn’t merely that it encourages dishonest voting or that the concept of ‘most votes wins’ seems intuitive. Rather, its main flaw is that it can result in the election of the least popular candidate.

I have previously pointed out that first-past-the-post voting can indeed lead to the election of the least popular candidate. While discussing this in a forum with supporters of electoral reform, I was told, ‘That’s not true.’ It wasn’t that they insisted on this misconception; they simply assumed it couldn’t be the case until it was explained how. This isn’t an opinion, it’s a mathematically provable fact.

Unfortunately, some people, despite favouring other forms of single-winner elections, still view FPTP voting as at least an acceptable method for conducting elections.

In an election, our aim is to identify the most popular candidate, right? There’s an assumption that the FPTP winner is the most popular, while an AV winner might be more of a compromise. This narrative was propagated by the NoToAV campaign in 2011, with insufficient opposition from the Yes campaign.

In reality, the winner under AV is much more likely to be the most popular candidate. While FPTP often does elect the most popular candidate, it can also fail to do so. Although less common, AV can also fall short in this regard; however, it cannot elect the least popular candidate.

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The Voice

Lib Dem MPs contribute to Commons debate on assisted dying

By The Voice | Wed 1st May 2024 - 9:21 am

On Monday, MPs debated a petition, supported by Esther Rantzen, aimed at changing the law to allow assisted dying. Several Lib Dem MPs contributed to the debate, all making points in favour of changing the law.

Here are their contributions in full:

Christine Jardine

I was thinking today about all those evenings when I was allowed to sit with my parents and watch “That’s Life!”, and how I could never have envisaged this moment. With all the successful campaigns in which Dame Esther Rantzen has been involved in her astonishing career, there can surely be none that has touched a nerve with the British public in so widespread a way as this one. Her involvement with this petition, which 555 people signed in my constituency alone, shows me that there is a momentum among the British public: a desire to see a national debate on the subject and for their Parliament to reflect their view, which we see in so many opinion polls nowadays. It is not a party political issue, but for the record my party, which believes in the freedom, dignity and wellbeing of individuals, has long supported the idea of a free vote in Parliament and would welcome a free vote in the next Parliament for us all to make the choice.

I find myself in the strange position where my colleague Liam McArthur is currently steering a private Member’s Bill on this issue through the Scottish Parliament. If he is successful, I would hypothetically have a choice denied to so many other people in this room—a significant choice. Another Bill that is about to be introduced to the Scottish Parliament by a Conservative MSP is about improving palliative care. Liam and Miles Briggs are working together, because the two are not mutually exclusive. We should see it as a choice between assisted dying or palliative care not for us, but for the individuals affected. They should have the choice.

The time has come when we need to recognise that there is momentum; other parts of the UK will make decisions on this shortly. I must be honest with Members and say that I do not know what decision I would make. I saw my parents die very different deaths: my father suddenly from a heart attack when very young, and my mother very slowly of a horrible asbestos-related disease. I do not know what they would have wanted. I do not know what I would want, but I do know that I want everybody to have the choice that they want. The time has come when we should recognise this petition and what it asks us to do, and look at a very narrow form of agreement to assisted dying when someone has a terminal diagnosis and has made that decision at a time when they were mentally capable of doing it, and when a medical intervention is involved. Ultimately, they get to make the last, perhaps most important and most personal decision that they could make.

Sarah Dyke

It is an honour to serve with you in the Chair, Mrs Latham. I thank the hon. Member for Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi) for bringing forward this important debate. I also thank the petitioners, including 645 in Somerton and Frome, and everyone who reached out to me ahead of the debate. Your experiences have touched me deeply, as have the experiences of hon. Members here.

One constituent wrote to me about her son, Jonathan, who died in a hospice at the age of 46. His family told me that the tragedy of his death was made so much worse by the lack of provision for assisted dying. Jonathan’s mother, Denise, gave me a quote that I think sums up today’s debate very well:

“It’s not about ending life, it’s about shortening death”.

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The Voice

Andrew Stunell’s last speech – on Leasehold and Freehold reform

By The Voice | Tue 30th April 2024 - 4:21 pm

Embed from Getty Images

As part of our tributes to Lord (Andrew) Stunell, who has died, here is the text of his last speech, made in the House of Lords on March 27th this year, in the debate on the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill:

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, and I am sorry that his speech was somewhat interrupted by technological problems.

I declare an interest as a vice-president of the LGA simply because it is one of many organisations which have contributed evidence and views on the Bill. I also want to declare that I am the joint leaseholder of just one residential flat, which I occupy during my parliamentary work, and I am in the same block of construction that the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, referred to, with exactly the same issues; I shall certainly work alongside her at later stages of the Bill. However, that will not be the central point of what I want to say. There have been some powerful contributions so far, and many of the things I want to highlight have already been properly drawn into the debate by people who have created the policies I want the Government to advocate, never mind persuading them to join with me.

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The Voice

Tributes paid to Andrew Stunell

By The Voice | Tue 30th April 2024 - 4:02 pm

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Tributes have been paid to Andrew Stunell, whose death was announced today.

Ed Davey has put up this statement:

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Paul Walter

Doesn’t Rishi Sunak pay people to stop him doing stunts like this?

By Paul Walter | Tue 30th April 2024 - 2:00 pm

Embed from Getty Images

With Boris, I often thought that all you needed to know about him is the state of his hair. Having been brought up in a household of seven males, we had the morning hair procedure drummed into us. A bit of water, a comb, and do it nicely. All seven of us did it everyday and that was that. We carried a comb in our back pocket to neaten the old barnet during the day. So if someone in public life can’t master the hair neatening procedure then one begins to wonder if they are fit for office.

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News Meerkat

Alex Cole-Hamilton calls for Scottish election

By News Meerkat | Tue 30th April 2024 - 11:15 am

Embed from Getty Images

Responding to the resignation of Humza Yousaf as First Minister, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

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Mark Valladares

29 April 2024 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Mon 29th April 2024 - 10:30 pm
  • Lib Dems: Protect swimming pools and leisure centres from closure with “critical health infrastructure” status
  • Welsh Lib Dem leader meets Aber student union following scrapping of teacher training

Lib Dems: Protect swimming pools and leisure centres from closure with “critical health infrastructure” status

The Liberal Democrats have called for swimming pools and leisure centres to be designated as “critical health infrastructure” to protect them from closure.

It comes as new analysis by the party shows 266 local authority swimming pools and 261 leisure facilities have been closed since 2015.

Once new openings are taken into account, there has been a net loss of 31 local authority swimming pools and 19 leisure facilities since 2015.

A series of Parliamentary Questions from Helen Morgan MP to Ministers showed year on year closure of swimming pools across the country alongside the loss of leisure centres.

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Mark Valladares

29 April – 2 May: this week in the Lords

By Mark Valladares | Mon 29th April 2024 - 4:10 pm

Before I move on to the week ahead, I thought that I couldn’t do so without mentioning last week’s debates on the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act which saw its final stages in the Lords last Monday. Dispiriting though it was to see such a ghastly piece of legislation passed, I take some (very) slight comfort in the fact that Liberal Democrat peers were in the forefront of the attempt to first defeat the Bill at Second Reading and then to salvage what could be salvaged from the wreckage that ensued, as outlined by Mike German in his speech.

I’m going to try something a little different this week, focussing on my own personal highlights for the week ahead, rather than simply reciting the week’s events. If that’s what you’d like, why not look here?

Liberal Democrat intervention of the week

Jonny Oates is essaying a Motion of Regret over the Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules (HC 556), published on 19 February. As he rightly notes, the changes will deprive migrant care workers of the basic right of caring for their own children, increase workers’ dependency on their sponsors by removing the safety net of a partner’s income, and make it harder for workers to report and change sponsors, increasing the risk of exploitation.

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Caron Lindsay

Alex Cole-Hamilton responds to Humza Yousaf’s resignation

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 29th April 2024 - 2:15 pm

Humza Yousaf bowed to the inevitable this lunchtime. Knowing that he could not win the vote of no confidence due to take place this week, he announced his resignation as First Minister and leader of the SNP. He will stay on until his successor is chosen.

This should mean that there is no 28 day limit to when the SNP choose their next leader. The rules of the Scottish Parliament state that if there is no First Minister, the Parliament has 28 days to choose another and if they can’t agree, there’s an election. But if Humza stays on, as Nicola did, the SNP can take longer to run its leadership contest.

There’s a lot of talk about John Swinney, the former Deputy FM, standing. Potentially, Kate Forbes, who came within a whisker of winning last time, could stand as well. Swinney would have a decent chance of getting the support of a majority of MSPs – the Greens would probably either back him or abstain. His major challenge would be getting a budget through next February or March. Kate Forbes would be unlikely to get the support of the Greens, given her socially conservative views, so we could be looking at a Scottish Parliament election on or round 4th July if she were the new First Minister.

Alex Cole-Hamilton’s comments on Humza Yousaf’s resignation struck the right note between hammering the SNP Government for its many failings and also being dignified and respectful to the outgoing First Minister. This is in contrast to the rather distasteful gloating coming from the Tories.

Alex said:

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Vince Cable

Made in Britain

By Vince Cable | Mon 29th April 2024 - 12:30 pm

In a factory in rural Durham, the government’s commitment to ‘levelling up’ and to manufacturing industry is being tested to destruction. The Hitachi railway manufacturing plant, employing 700 and thousands more in the supply chain, is threatened with closure. Procrastination over HS2, lack of joined up planning for the railway industry and Covid’s negative effect on travel have, together, led to a three-year gap in the company’s order book. The Japanese owners cannot realistically be expected to mothball the plant for three years and so it will most likely close.

I got to visit the plant (along with Lib Dem candidates including Aidan King the prospective Mayor for the North East). I went the day after Keir Starmer had been on a well-publicised visit, making reassuring, if non-committal, comments about the future of the plant under Labour. For me, the visit had deeper significance. A decade ago, I had opened the plant: then, a tent in a muddy field. Attracting Hitachi to build trains in Britain was one of the successes of the Coalition’s Industrial Strategy and, until very recently, it seemed to be an inspired investment decision for Hitachi.

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Amanda Clark

Caring for carers: what next?

By Amanda Clark | Mon 29th April 2024 - 11:15 am

It’s been a pivotal month for us carers in which our dedication to our loved ones has made the headlines for various reasons,  good and bad.

The good news was that Liberal Democrat MP Wendy Chamberlain’s Carer’s Leave Act finally became law on 6th April.

This provides all carers in employment with a new statutory right to take five days of unpaid leave from work each year to fulfil their caring responsibilities. Wendy, herself, said she would have wanted this to be paid leave but the principle is now enshrined in law and at least doors have been opened. 

 It must come as some relief to many families that are balancing having to work and care in this cost-of-living crisis. 

Both my husband and I worked full time to pay the bills whilst we were bringing up our two kids in the South East. We are proud of them both: one neurotypical, artistic daughter and our son who has Autism and a Learning Disability. 

Archie, now 21, needs constant care and supervision. Even when he reached an age that most teenagers could self-administer paracetamol and have a duvet day, we would have to take it in turns to negotiate time off with our bosses to look after him.  My husband used up countless days of Annual Leave when he was sick or I had an INSET day. We also needed to pay for a childminder after school as his special needs transport would deliver him home by 4pm and neither of us could leave work by then. 

As if that wasn’t hard enough, at the age of 16 he developed Epilepsy.

The months after this crushing diagnosis were made of nightmares while the neurologist tried to balance his meds. Right in the middle of teaching a French lesson, I would get a call from his school saying he had fitted, injured himself and they had called the paramedics. Trying not to panic, I would rapidly set work for the class, inform a colleague I needed to leave immediately and try to stick to the speed limit as I drove the twenty miles down the motorway to my injured son. The worst was time when he gave himself a black eye as he collapsed, convulsing on to a urinal – poor thing!

My Head Teacher was always supportive in the various emergency scenarios that arose but there was always the expectation that I would make up the time at some point with extra cover or more duties. It also came with the guilt that my colleagues had to compensate for my absences. 

I was, though, lucky and can imagine that other employers and employees may be less sympathetic. I really hope that the Carer’s Leave Act will remove the onus on us to make up for lost work time and lead to more empathy with colleagues. Quite frankly, we carers have enough on our plates. 

This new law is hopefully a stepping stone to so much more that can be done for the 2.4 million unpaid carers in the UK who save the economy an estimated £164 billion. 

Carer’s Allowance- changing to Carer’s Support Payment in Scotland, is now a meagre £81.90 per week or £4,258.80 per annum. For those of us lucky enough to live north of the border we can add in the supplements we get in June and December and we get a grand total of £4,836. That’s an hourly rate of 49p in England and Wales and 55p in Scotland -if you consider most of us are on duty day and night.

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