Stephen Tall

LDVideo at Conference | A Chris Huhne double-bill

By Stephen Tall | Wed 21st September 2011 - 7:55 am

At Birmingham and so missing out on how the Lib Dem conference is being reported? Not at Birmingham and so missing out on seeing Lib Dem MPs and government ministers up close and personal? We hope these videos will help re-connect you…

It was Lib Dem energy secretary Chris Huhne’s day in the limelight yesterday, with his speech to the party’s Birmingham conference generating acres of coverage. Here’s how the BBC reported it.

Chris Huhne on fuel poverty and energy prices


(Available on the BBC website here.)

Huhne inspects energy efficient house

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Chris Huhne MP

Chris Huhne’s speech to Liberal Democrat conference

By Chris Huhne MP | Tue 20th September 2011 - 10:47 pm

One abiding set of values that all Liberal Democrats share is a respect for our environment, natural systems and sustainability.

With this conference’s backing, we will hold course to be the greenest government ever.

No more, no less.

But are we still on course?

Well, I can hardly pick up a Tory paper these days without a whinge about energy and climate change policies.

It’s been nip and tuck between Vince and me in recent months to win an unpopularity poll – that’s on Conservativehome among Tory activists.

So as we assert Lib Dem values within government, we must be doing something right – or is …

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Mark Pack

Vince Cable does gloom

By Mark Pack | Tue 20th September 2011 - 4:25 pm

The public’s attitude towards gloomy politicians is a curious one: only too happy to mock politicians who only talk up the positive but also frequently going off politicians who talk up the negatives. It happens across all parties, as we saw in the last Parliament where both Alistair Darling and George Osborne tried talking gloomily about the country’s economic difficulties and, far from being met by public support for their frankness, saw widespread criticism and slipping poll ratings. Journalists may love knocking politicians for not having been gloomier during the 2010 general election, but all the nearly all the signs …

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Stephen Tall

What is the Lib Dem position on ‘The Big Society’?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 20th September 2011 - 3:25 pm

I was called by a colleague I know through my day-job last week: ‘What is the Lib Dem position on charitable giving?’ she asked. Beyond a bland ‘We’re in favour of it,’ I found myself a bit stuck for an answer.

Initially I put it down to my ignorance, and decided I should do some research, call a few people up, and find out something a bit more helpful, a bit more substantive. But coincidentally that day I happened to read this article — How can charities exert an influence on Lib Dem policies? — in Third Sector.

And it …

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NewsHound

LibLink | Norman Lamb: Lib Dems are helping to make Britain a fairer country

By NewsHound | Tue 20th September 2011 - 2:05 pm

Norman Lamb, Lib Dem MP for North Norfolk and political advisor to Nick Clegg, writes over at The Guardian about his view of how the party is delivering in government. First he defines the audience he is addressing: open-minded progressives:

For some on the left, the mere act of working with the Conservatives is a sin. We’ll never convince those people driven by hatred of the other tribe. But for progressives willing to examine the facts rationally, it is time to reassess the case. After all, 13 years of Labour government ultimately disappointed.

Norman then identifies two specific policy areas where he …

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Mark Pack

The significant part of Tim Farron’s speech

By Mark Pack | Tue 20th September 2011 - 12:55 pm

Tim Farron is probably the Parliamentary Party’s best funny speech maker (though I’d pay good money to see him head-to-head in a laugh off with Alistair Carmichael), so it’s not a surprise that Tim’s speech to Liberal Democrat conference caught the headlines mostly for his humour and his stress-testing of political marriage analogies to destruction.

Yet there was a significant section about how Liberal Democrat ministers act and his own role:

There are 18 Liberal Democrats who don’t have the luxuries that I do.

They can’t just sound off if they don’t like government policy or trot through the no lobby on

…

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The Voice

The Independent View: Sorry ActionAid – it’s time to put people in charge of their own development

By The Voice | Tue 20th September 2011 - 11:27 am

This is a response article to ‘The Independent View: Centre Forum is wrong about aid – UK aid makes a difference’ by Centre Forum’s Pauline Dixon and Paul Marshall

Failure to allocate international aid more effectively on a rising budget will lead to a rapid decline in public support for it. This is what the CentreForum paper ‘International aid and educating the poorest’ seeks to address, and this is why ActionAid’s concerns about our paper, set out last week on Lib Dem Voice, are misplaced.

We are not opposed to international aid (ActionAid comes close to implying we are). Nor do we oppose …

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Stephen Tall

Polling the Lib Dems: the good, the bad, and the inbetween

By Stephen Tall | Tue 20th September 2011 - 10:25 am

‘Less anger, but less clarity’ is how UK Polling Report’s Anthony Wells characterises the latest YouGov polling looking at the public’s attitudes to the Lib Dems. It’s interesting to read through the full data, available here, especially as the responses are directly comparable with a year ago, before the Lib Dems’ U-turn on tuition fees sent the party spiralling downwards in the polls.

The bad news

  • Nick Clegg’s popularity has taken a hit: from a net positive of +8% a year ago, to a net negative of -29% today. Worth noting, however, that this is primarily due to Nick’s toxicity with Labour supporters, with whom he has a rating of an astonishing -79%! Both Lib Dem (+51%) and Tory (+17%) supporters have net positive views of the Lib Dem leader.
  • There is greater opposition to the Coalition than a year ago. In September 2010, 43% supported it, while 46% opposed it (net -3%): today the split is 34%/57% (net -13%). Interestingly, among the group identified as ‘lost Lib Dem voters’ — ie, those who voted for the party in 2010 but no longer would — 29% support the Coalition, while 63% oppose it.
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Posted in Op-eds and Polls | 22 Comments
Tom Papworth

Opinion: I’d rather be boring than bonkers

By Tom Papworth | Tue 20th September 2011 - 9:35 am

Monday night’s Channel 4’s coverage of the Liberal Democrat conference ended with Michael Crick interviewing Ann Treneman and Michael White about the general feel amongst Lib Dems.

Among the usual sniping from a reactionary sketch-writer and the doyen of the urban intellectual elite came a lament that the Liberal Democrat conference did not feel like a Liberal Democrat conference. People were too on message, they moaned; there was not enough rebellion; nor enough eccentricity. Michael White in particular bemoaned the absence of beards and sandals. Lib Dem conference, they felt, had become boring.

Too right.

We are not in the 1970s, when …

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Kayte Lawton

The Independent View: Lib Dems should look beyond the tax system to help low-to-middle income families

By Kayte Lawton | Tue 20th September 2011 - 8:05 am

The Liberal Democrat conference has seen the party reiterate its commitment to using increases in the income tax personal allowance to raise the incomes of low-to-middle income families. Senior party figures have used conference to stress their long-term ambition to work towards an allowance of £12,500, roughly equivalent to the earnings of a full-time worker on the minimum wage.

This would be a significant tax cut that the Institute for Public Policy Research estimates would cost around £24 billion if implemented today. The Liberal Democrats argue that raising the allowance demonstrates ‘fairness’ by removing many low wage workers from income …

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Posted in The Independent View | 13 Comments
Mark Pack

Liberal Democrats Conference round-up and preview: Monday/Tuesday

By Mark Pack | Tue 20th September 2011 - 7:19 am

What happened on Monday in Birmingham at Liberal Democrat conference and what to watch out for today, Tuesday:

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Stephen Tall

LDVideo at Conference | Clegg & Cable on the economy; Andrew Neil’s take on the conference; and the power of Lib Dem conference reps

By Stephen Tall | Tue 20th September 2011 - 7:10 am

At Birmingham and so missing out on how the Lib Dem conference is being reported? Not at Birmingham and so missing out on seeing Lib Dem MPs and government ministers up close and personal? We hope these videos will help re-connect you…

Clegg welcomes Jaguar jobs boost; Cable warns of economic equivalent of war


(Available on the BBC website here.)

Andrew Neil’s Liberal Democrat conference report

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Mark Pack

“All-Women Shortlists May Be Necessary, Senior Lib Dems Accept”

By Mark Pack | Mon 19th September 2011 - 10:23 pm

So reports the Huffington Post:

Senior Liberal Democrats have accepted that the party may need to resort to all-female shortlists or other tough measures to increase the representation of women and minority groups among its MPs…

Tim Farron MP … said that he was “utterly embarrassed” that only seven of the party’s MPs were women.

He said:

“Over the years we’ve had several debates on the crushing lack of women in the House of Commons, and our zero lack of representation from black and ethnic minority communities, and the debates we’ve always had are about the practical way to create equality and the

…

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Jo Swinson MP

Jo Swinson MP writes: Quality of Life – A New Purpose for Politics

By Jo Swinson MP | Mon 19th September 2011 - 8:27 pm

Decade on decade, the UK has been getting richer. For the most part, people today are materially considerably better off than they were back in the 1970s; however, statistics stretching back all those years show that our satisfaction with our lives has barely improved. We have more money and we’re pumping out more carbon emissions – but we don’t appear to be getting much pay-off for our own wellbeing.
 
Fortunately, the Liberal Democrats have recognised this problem.
 
For over two years, a working group has been studying the evidence to see whether Government can actually do anything to set us on a …

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James Kempton

Opinion: Conference perspective – media, message and motivation

By James Kempton | Mon 19th September 2011 - 6:22 pm

Looking at the media coverage of the last 24 hours at Conference, it’s all been about tax, boardroom pay and jobs – tackling Labour’s economic legacy. 

But yesterday in the Main Hall, and today in many of the fringes, delegates have also been debating another theme – social mobility, or as Sarah Teather, our Education Minister, powerfully put it – the challenge of breaking the link between the circumstances of a child’s birth and his or her fate. The fact that in this country the richest 16 year-olds are three times as likely …

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Vince Cable

Vince Cable’s speech to LibDem conference

By Vince Cable | Mon 19th September 2011 - 4:39 pm

You can watch Vince’s speech to the Lib Dem conference here…


(Available on the BBC website here.)

Or you can read the text in full here…

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Sarah Teather

Poverty and achievement: breaking the link – Sarah Teather’s speech to conference

By Sarah Teather | Mon 19th September 2011 - 3:50 pm

Sarah Teather, Liberal Democrat Minister of State for Children and Families, gave this speech yesterday to Liberal Democrat conference:

“Education… beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery.“

The quote is from HoraceMann, the great 19th century American reformer. But it speaks to the instincts of liberals here with as much resonance as then.

The scandal is that though it should be true, it isn’t.

You will hear many people talk this week about the shocking state of the nation’s finances that was Labour’s legacy. I want to talk about another …

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Mark Pack

Mary Ann Sieghart: Clegg’s chance to fill a central vacancy

By Mark Pack | Mon 19th September 2011 - 2:58 pm

Writing in today’s Independent, Mary Ann Sieghart says,

The as-yet-untold story of British politics at the moment is that space has opened up again in the centre – for the first time in two decades – and that the Lib Dems are in the best place to fill it. Yesterday, Danny Alexander quoted his predecessor as Highlands Liberal MP, Russell Johnston: “Liberal positioning in politics is like the nose in relation to the rest of the face: somewhere in the middle and out in front.”

The “out in front” has always been one of the most attractive elements of the Lib Dems.

…

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NewsHound

LibLink | Tim Farron: Community is our priority

By NewsHound | Mon 19th September 2011 - 1:52 pm

Over at The Guardian, Lib Dem president Tim Farron acknowledges the bumpy ride of the first 15 months of Coalition, and stresses the centrality of community politics to the party. Here’s an excerpt:

The Lib Dems have led the way in the practice of community politics since, serving local communities across Britain in a way that engages them in the political process. Community politicians immerse themselves in their communities – empowering people to take action over the issues they face rather than the alternative, where politics is “done to” communities. Community politics is not just what liberals do, it’s part of who they are.

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NewsHound

LibLink | David Laws: The Lib Dems must serve not as the government’s brake, but as its engine

By NewsHound | Mon 19th September 2011 - 12:05 pm

Over at the Guardian, Yeovil MP David Laws sets out his hopes for how the Coalition will be remembered by 2015 — as a movement for fixing the economy and promoting economic change with the Lib Dems in the vanguard of both. Here’s an excerpt:

We must use our precious years in government constructively, to reshape Britain – to sort out the economic mess, tackle Britain’s unfair and broken society, and clean up our environment. Securing growth and reducing bloated borrowing remain top priorities. We helped create “Plan A”, and we will stick with it. Now is not the time for

…

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Stephen Tall

LDVideo at Conference | Hugh Grant, Nick Clegg and Party Animals

By Stephen Tall | Mon 19th September 2011 - 10:45 am

At Birmingham and so missing out on how the Lib Dem conference is being reported? Not at Birmingham and so missing out on seeing Lib Dem MPs and government ministers up close and personal? We hope these videos will help re-connect you…

Hugh Grant presses phone hacking issue at Lib Dem conference


(Available on the BBC website here.)

Don’t forget our LDV caption competition — Nick Clegg meets Hugh Grant — is still open for entries…

Nick Clegg: Immoral to drop 50p tax

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The Voice

LibDem Conference passes drugs motion

By The Voice | Mon 19th September 2011 - 10:15 am

From a party press release:

Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference passed Protecting Individuals and Communities from Drug Harms, which calls for an independent panel to review current drug laws.

Commenting, Co-Chair of the Home Affairs Parliamentary Party Committee, Tom Brake MP said:

“Drugs can have a devastating impact on individuals and families and can fuel organised crime. Evidence shows that our current drug policy is costly, ineffective and it is the poor and marginalised who suffer most.

“Today, Liberal Democrats reaffirmed our support for an evidenced based drugs policy, calling for an independent panel to review current drug laws.

“We want to ensure the Government …

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Posted in Conference and News | Tagged and | 6 Comments
The Voice

Did you miss Tim Farron’s speech? Catch up with it (and the reaction) here…

By The Voice | Mon 19th September 2011 - 9:55 am

Lib Dem party president Tim Farron’s conference speeches have quickly established themselves as must-see events: bluntly honest and genuinely funny, Tim always gets a reaction. And not just from Lib Dem conference-goers if the media reaction is anything to go by…

If you missed Tim’s speech you can catch up with it here. Full text follows…

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Posted in Conference | Tagged and | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

Top 50 most influential Lib Dems (according to Iain Dale)

By Mark Pack | Mon 19th September 2011 - 8:50 am

In what has become a regular of party conference season, the Daily Telegraph has published a list of the 50 most influential Liberal Democrats assembled by “Iain Dale, Brian Brivati and a team of Liberal Democrat insiders”:

As one MP put it, the year has been “about the rise of the left”. Confidence in the party outside Westminster has grown even as polling numbers remained minimal. Liberal Democrats seem to have discovered that even in government the world does not end if you disagree. And this has given rise to a new breed of rebel, personified in Tim Fallon, Lib

…

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Mark Pack

Liberal Democrats Conference round-up and preview: Sunday/Monday

By Mark Pack | Mon 19th September 2011 - 8:21 am

What happened on Sunday in Birmingham at Liberal Democrat conference and what to watch out for today, Monday:

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Chris White

Opinion: Why I’m supporting creators but opposing the Digital Economy Act

By Chris White | Mon 19th September 2011 - 7:55 am

Kevin (not his real name) drives his son Danny to the shops. Danny pops in and emerges with various items in a bag, for which he has paid. In his pocket there is a packet of biscuits which he trousered while collecting the other items. CCTV spots the fact that he has done it and he is prosecuted for shoplifting.

A few weeks later, Kevin’s garage makes contact and says that the Government has issued an order that he take his car into the garage to be adjusted so that it can do no more than 30 miles per hour. He …

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Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Tagged | 10 Comments
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #239

By The Voice | Sun 18th September 2011 - 7:59 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 239th 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 (11-17 September, 2011), 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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Posted in Best of the blogs | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

LDV Caption Competition | Hugh Grant and Nick Clegg “one for the family album” edition

By Stephen Tall | Sun 18th September 2011 - 6:45 pm

So Hugh Grant dropped into the Lib Dem conference in Birmingham today.

He met with Nick Clegg and then addressed the Social Liberal Forum’s fringe event on the issue of phone-hacking, privacy and libel. He wasn’t there to endorse the party, but as the BBC reports here Hugh did give us credit for our long-standing opposition to the murky practices of the tabloids:

“You, more than any of the other parties, have a good bill of health. You have never been in bed with these scumbags.”

Here’s the moment Nick met Hugh (I think it’s that way round rather than Hugh met Nick, yes?)… and as it’s been a while since our last LDV caption competition, what better moment for a reprise? Here you go then…

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Posted in Caption Comp and Conference | Tagged , and | 17 Comments
Laura Willoughby

Opinion: Will the Lib Dems stand up for creative industries?

By Laura Willoughby | Sun 18th September 2011 - 4:50 pm

A Labour friend of mine was smugly telling me about last week’s launch of the Labour Creative Industries Network. Much of this reminded me of their ‘Cool Britannia’ efforts circa 1997.

However, it also got me thinking about how the creative industries see us. We too have some nice words about creative businesses on our website – but do we really have a sense of how we want to support and promote this economically and culturally important sector? The DCMS is the only department where Lib Dems have no ministerial presence. There is a hair’s breadth in arts policy between …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

Monday, 9am looks rather interesting: Liberal Democrat conference

By Mark Pack | Sun 18th September 2011 - 3:08 pm

On matters of policy and strategy, the Liberal Democrat conference is turning out to be rather more good-natured and unified than journalists were expecting/hoping (as Sky’s Sophy Ridge has had the grace to admit).

When it comes to matters of party business, however, there is rather more spark than usual. It’s not only the attempt to suspend standing orders – related to how the NHS is being discussed at conference – or the passing of a critical motion about the security checks for conference this morning.

There has also been a noticeable surge in questions to party committee and two pieces …

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Posted in Conference and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 2 Comments
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