Paddy Ashdown

Paddy Ashdown writes… Why Vote Yes: Take Courage – make change

By Paddy Ashdown | Mon 21st March 2011 - 11:55 am

This is the second in our series, Why Vote Yes, where prominent Liberal Democrats explain the importance of voting Yes in May’s referendum on the UK Parliamentary voting system.

Yesterday, Charles Kennedy described A chance for change we cannot miss. Today, Paddy Ashdown writes:

Fellow Liberal Democrats – I’ve been in politics for a long time. There’s nothing wrong with people of any age getting involved, from a teenager to a centenarian. We can all make a difference.

But when almost every politician at the top of the “No” campaign was already a dinosaur by the time I was first elected to Parliament in 1983, you have to wonder about the freshness of their arguments.

Think of the changes Britain has seen during my lifetime – and theirs:

We’ve joined the European Union. We’ve established a Parliament in Scotland and an Assembly for Wales. We’ve voted in proportional representation elections for both – a far bigger change than AV – and the sky hasn’t fallen in.

And government, always the last to change under Tory and Labour alike, has often been the last to wake up to the incredible social changes that have changed Britain for the better.

So when those old Labour and Tory hacks gang up to tell you to be afraid of a long-overdue but frankly much smaller change, it tells you far more about their fears than those of the British public. Of course they’re against change. They want to hang on to the present system because it makes life easier for politicians. Well I am more interested in a system that makes life better for the voters!

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Mark Pack

UN says attack on Ivory Coast civilians may have been a war crime

By Mark Pack | Mon 21st March 2011 - 10:25 am

So far, events in the Ivory Coast have received far less attention than those in Libya, even prior to the military intervention in the latter. Ivory Coast may not have the proximity to Europe of Libya, or a ruler to match the eye-catching nature of Colonel Gadaffi, but it has a President who has refused to leave office after losing an election and who has refused to cooperate fully with the UN.

UN troops have already been deployed to the country but a political stalemate has ensued as the UN has not been willing to authorise further steps, such as the …

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Helen Duffett

LibLink… Danny Alexander: We are on course to deliver all four of our manifesto priorities

By Helen Duffett | Mon 21st March 2011 - 8:55 am

Four key Lib Dem manifesto commitmentsAt the start of Budget week, Danny Alexander writes at Comment is Free that the coalition government is about more than balancing the books, but about enacting reform with a foundation of economic recovery.

He returns to the commander’s intent of the Liberal Democrat General Election manifesto, restating its four key policies –

  • Fair taxes that put money back in your pocket
  • A fair chance for every child
  • A fair future, creating jobs by making Britain greener
  • A fair deal for you from

…

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged , , , , and | 16 Comments
The Voice

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #213

By The Voice | Sun 20th March 2011 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 213th 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 (13th – 19th March, 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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Mark Thompson

Opinion: How 295 losers could have been winners

By Mark Thompson | Sun 20th March 2011 - 3:37 pm

I like Simon Wright, the recently elected Member of Parliament for Norwich South. I met him at a training event at Lib Dem conference a couple of years ago and he seemed like a nice chap. Understated but passionate. There were a few other candidates in the room on that day who could have gone on to become MPs but he is the only one who made it.

However Simon has a particular distinction within the House of Commons. He was elected with the smallest proportion of the vote of any MP. He got just 29.4% of the vote …

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Posted in Op-eds | 26 Comments
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Nick T

LibLink: Tim Leunig – Land auctions will help give us the homes we need

By Nick T | Sun 20th March 2011 - 2:25 pm

Tim Leunig, CentreForum’s chief economist, has written a piece for the Local Government Chronicle on the benefits that could be gained from the introduction of Community Land Auctions. This is a policy that has been debated previously in Liberal Democrat circles, but which was rejected at party conference in 2007.

Anyway, here’s how Tim explains the policy:

It works like this. The council first asks all landowners to name the price at which they are willing to sell their land. By naming a price, the landowner gives the council the right to buy the land for 18 months at that

…

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged | 10 Comments
Charles Kennedy

Charles Kennedy writes… Why Vote Yes – A chance for change we cannot miss

By Charles Kennedy | Sun 20th March 2011 - 11:55 am

I’ve campaigned for electoral reform for as long as I can remember. I’m both President of DAGGER (Democratic Action Group for Gaining Electoral Reform) and the Liberal Democrat Group of the Electoral Reform Society, so you can imagine how I felt when I found out that we have a chance to change our outdated, broken electoral system and replace it with something better.

Let’s be clear: AV may not be perfect, but it IS better and fairer than First Past the Post. Even the ‘No2AV’ campaign know that, which is why they’ve resorted to making things up …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 10 Comments
John Howson

John Howson’s review of education policy

By John Howson | Sun 20th March 2011 - 10:15 am

As we approach the end of the first year of coalition government it is worth assessing the balance sheet in respect of education. Can we as Liberal Democrats be pleased or dismayed at what has happened in education?

The two obvious big events provide contrasting pictures. On the one hand there has been the tuition fees debacle, and on the other, the Pupil Premium success. But, there has been much more to consider; new forms of academies; additional schools; changes to the ways schools are funded; abolition of EMAs; and of Quangos such as the GTCE and TDA; provision for deprived …

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Mark Pack

Devolving power to local government: the record in government

By Mark Pack | Sun 20th March 2011 - 8:55 am

Party conference in Sheffield saw the publication of Delivering Localism, a pamphlet from the Liberal Democrat Local Government Association Group which lays out the detailed policies being enacted by government to free up local councils and give them more power.

It’s very reliant on long lists of bullet points at times but it has some excellent content and is well worth a look through.

Oh, and Nick Clegg even uses “community politics” in the foreword; a response, so I hear, to my post on the matter. Ah, the power of blogging 🙂

Click on the icon below to view the document in full screen mode.

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Posted in Local government | Tagged and | 4 Comments
Nick T

LibLink: Julian Astle – Not finking straight

By Nick T | Sat 19th March 2011 - 7:25 pm

Over on his Telegraph blog, director of the Centre Forum think tank and former Paddy Ashdown adviser, Julian Astle, casts his analytical eye over a piece on the alternative vote by the Times’s Danny Finkelstein.

Here’s a short extract from the post, but do go and read the whole piece – there are even some charts, for those of you who are that way inclined:

What is remarkable is the movement of the dots from the red and blue triangles into the white area in the centre, showing the growth in the number of MPs (now around two thirds) who do not enjoy the

…

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Stephen Tall

LDVideo: The People Say Yes to AV (‘No Politicians’ Edition)

By Stephen Tall | Sat 19th March 2011 - 5:25 pm

The No2AV Campaign has been all too delighted to parade has-been politicians to back up its arguments — the Yes2AV Campaign has rather more wisely stuck to letting the public have its say in this first UK referendum in 35 years.

Here members of the public explain why they’ll be choosing the Alternative Vote this May:


(You can watch it on YouTube here.)

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Loz Kaye

Opinion: Pirate Party Perspective

By Loz Kaye | Sat 19th March 2011 - 3:39 pm

As leader of Pirate Party UK I often feel like ‘the elephant in the room’ at debates about the future of the Internet and file-sharing ‘piracy’. Good natured calls of ‘who let him in here?’ notwithstanding at the Lib Dem Voice fringe meeting on ‘who runs the Internet?’, I actually felt quite welcome. I guess that is because, as the panel pointed out, the web was founded on principles that are liberal and democratic in a way that most of us can get behind without needing any kind of orange book.

Unfortunately, these principles are under threat. The …

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Posted in Op-eds | 25 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV Saturday caption competition: “The Webb’s Wonders” Edition

By Stephen Tall | Sat 19th March 2011 - 1:58 pm

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


(Image credit: Alex Broadway / SWPix.com via Flickr)

Here’s Lib Dem Minister of State for Pensions Steve Webb joining in an armchair aerobics session at Bristol Rovers Extra Time project, funded by the Football Foundation and Comic Relief. What do you think Steve or his fellow fitness enthusiast might be thinking or saying?

The winner of our most recent caption competition, “At last, it’s the Nick and Tim Show” Edition — just …

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Posted in Caption Comp | 5 Comments
Sarah Harding

Sarah Harding writes… Fairer Votes: young people are leading from the front

By Sarah Harding | Sat 19th March 2011 - 11:55 am

On the 5th of May, we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to effect a change 100 years in the making.

This is our chance to finally fix the broken system that has failed the people of Britain. And Liberal Youth will not waste it.

Young people are leading from the front in the fight for fairer votes. University and college campuses across the country are coming alive with a new wave of political participation. Young people from all political parties and none are uniting to fix our political system, and to give us a electoral system fit …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 8 Comments
Mark Pack

Weekend voting: not ruled in, not ruled out

By Mark Pack | Sat 19th March 2011 - 10:27 am

As part of Parliament’s deliberations over the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill, this week the House of Lords debated the possibility of moving to weekend voting.

In The two electoral tests the Coalition should run, I made the point that,

Weekend voting has been once briefly trialled (in Watford a decade ago). It was not a success then, but there are good reasons to try again given the details of how the trial was conducted – especially holding the weekend elections just after the usual national round of local elections, with the result that residents in Watford were seeing in all the national

…

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Helen Duffett

Parmjit Singh Gill selected for Lib Dems in Leicester South

By Helen Duffett | Sat 19th March 2011 - 9:25 am

Leicester South Liberal Democrats last night selected Parmjit Singh Gill as their candidate for the Leicester South by-election, at a hustings in the constituency.

Gill was previously the MP for Leicester South from 2004 to 2005, having gained the seat from Labour in the 2004 by-election.

Current MP Sir Peter Soulsby (Labour) is resigning so that he can stand to be Leicester’s first elected mayor.

Commenting on his selection Parmjit Singh Gill said,

It’s an honour and privilege to be selected to fight Leicester South for the Liberal Democrats. Only last May the Labour MP convinced constituents that he was committed to

…

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Posted in Selection news | Tagged , and | 12 Comments
Mark Pack

The weekend debate: Old versus young at work

By Mark Pack | Sat 19th March 2011 - 8:55 am

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

During the week Foreign Secretary William Hague talked of having a network of diplomats who are past their retirement age of 60 but can be called on to help out at times of international crisis. However Labour MP Frank Roy attacked the idea saying that the Foreign Office instead should be “nurturing young talent”.

What’s your view on this and more generally – should we do more to keep on the skills of people beyond 60, or should people be promptly moved out …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
The Voice

Nick Clegg on Libya: “This is not Iraq”

By The Voice | Fri 18th March 2011 - 6:46 pm

From the BBC:

Nick Clegg has voiced his support for possible military intervention in Libya, saying that any action would be carried out in order to “uphold international law”.

The deputy prime minister, whose Liberal Democrat Party opposed the war in Iraq, said: “This is not Iraq. We are not going to war”.

His comments came after Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed that UK forces would join an international operation to enforce a UN resolution which demands an end to attacks on Libyan civilians.

For the full story, and a video of the BBC’s interview with Nick Clegg, see the BBC website.

Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 58 Comments
The Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 18 March 2011

By The Voice | Fri 18th March 2011 - 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

  1. Nick Clegg’s conference speech (130 comments) by Mark Pack
  2. Tony Greaves writes… The health and social care bill. The party has spoken. What happens now? (57 comments) by Tony Greaves
  3. Tim Farron’s speech at the Liberal Democrat conference rally (19 comments) by The Voice
  4. Evan Harris writes… The Draft Libel Bill – A good start, but much still to play for (2 comments) by Evan Harris
  5. Paul Burstow writes… Labour shouldn’t play party politics with the NHS (51 comments) by Paul Burstow

5 sample LDV Members’ Forum threads

  1. Income tax / NI merger rumours
  2. Call for Libya no-fly zone
  3. Tim Farron at glee club
  4. Does the LibDem diamond cut any ice with voters
  5. We appear to have won a by-election in Tunbridge Wells

5 from the LDV archive

(18th March, 2007-10)

  1. Opinion: Today is a good day to be a Lib Dem (4 comments) by Jack Holroyde, from 2010
  2. How Liberal is your MP: Lib Dem MP rankings in full (4 comments) by Stephen Tall, from 2010
  3. Jeremy Browne writes… Why I voted against the UK Youth Parliament meeting in the Commons (10 comments) by Jeremy Browne, from 2009
  4. Would you like to be President of the Liberal Democrats? (8 comments) by The Voice, from 2008
  5. Top of the Blogs: the Golden Dozen #4 (0 comments) by Stephen Tall, from 2007

5 top reader search returns to get to LDV

(excluding Liberal Democrat Voice or its variants)

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Mark Pack

Two major tax reforms the government should see through

By Mark Pack | Fri 18th March 2011 - 3:23 pm

There’s been some promising chatter in the run up to next week’s Budget about two major changes to our tax system, both of which have often been talked about across the political spectrum and both of which politicians have previously ended up shying away from because of the political hurdles involved.

First is integrating income tax and national insurance. As The Independent reported,

The move is expected to be signalled by George Osborne in his Budget next Wednesday. Although such a huge change would take years to implement, the Chancellor is determined to be seen as a reformer and not just

…

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Helen Duffett

Delighted of Tunbridge Wells: Lib Dems gain from Tories in by-election

By Helen Duffett | Fri 18th March 2011 - 1:45 pm

The Liberal Democrats have gained a seat from the Conservatives on Tunbridge Wells Borough Council in yesterday’s Pembridge by-election, with a swing of more than 13%.

The result in full:

LD Claire Brown 578 (43.3; +2.7)
Con 460 (34.5; -24.9)
UKIP 296 (22.2; +22.2)
Majority 118
Turnout 35.41%
LD gain from Con
Percentage change is since May 2010.

New Liberal Democrat councillor Claire Brown said,

I am delighted and honoured to win this seat in Pembury and serve the village. I am a local mother of three young children who runs my own business. We fought an excellent campaign against the Tories who put up a candidate from outside the

…

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Posted in Council by-elections | Tagged , and | 7 Comments
Tim Farron MP

Tim Farron writes… Join the Lib Dems YES! to Fairer Votes campaign

By Tim Farron MP | Fri 18th March 2011 - 12:23 pm

Tim Farron launches the Lib Dem YES! campaign

This morning I launched the Liberal Democrats’ Yes! To Fairer Votes campaign in Manchester.

Over 100 local members and supporters came along to hear speeches from Simon Hughes, John Leech, Gordon Birtwistle and Floella Benjamin about how monumentally essential it is that we win this Fairer Votes referendum.

As Nick Clegg has already argued, this is “a battle between reformers and conservatives” and this is our chance, our one opportunity for genuine electoral reform.

By winning this referendum …

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Helen Duffett

Tim Farron’s speech at the Lib Dems’ YES! to Fairer Votes campaign launch

By Helen Duffett | Fri 18th March 2011 - 12:00 pm

Party President Tim Farron has this morning launched the Liberal Democrats’ YES! to Fairer Votes campaign in Manchester.

Along with Floella Benjamin, Simon Hughes MP, John Leech MP, Gordon Birtwistle MP and Liberal Youth’s Sarah Harding, Tim spoke of the importance of winning the referendum, calling it “a momentous opportunity” and welcoming Labour leader Ed Miliband to the Yes campaign.

Here’s Tim’s speech in full:

We have a medieval voting system that has failed. It’s failed to give most people the MP they voted for, its failed to hold MPs to account, its failed even to do the one thing it was

…

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Alex Paul Shantz

Opinion: our growing military impotency is restricting our foreign policy

By Alex Paul Shantz | Fri 18th March 2011 - 11:15 am

Recent events in the Middle East have demonstrated how the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) is cutting the British military back to the barest of bare bones. In doing so, we risk losing our position as a leading world player, as befits a nation with a veto on the UN Security Council. Instead we are becoming a two-bit regional player, all diplomatic swagger but militarily impotent.

Amidst the criticism of the Government’s evacuation of British citizens from Egypt and Libya, one success story was the deployment of HMS Cumberland, a Royal Navy frigate, to Benghazi in February. Whilst other countries were having …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 28 Comments
Mark Pack

How should the official opposition operate?

By Mark Pack | Fri 18th March 2011 - 10:27 am

‘Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition’ is the full title for the largest non-government party in Parliament and has been around long enough for the oddity of its phrasing to be easily overlooked. But “Her Majesty’s”? And “Loyal”? They come from the idea that, however much those in power may wish the opposition to firmly stay out of power, there is a recognition that an effective Parliamentary democracy requires an effective opposition. “Loyal” too reflects the willingness of those who have lost an election to accept the result. Calmly leaving office, or accepting another period in opposition, may be a long established …

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Mark Pack

Economic statistic of the week: 0.3%

By Mark Pack | Fri 18th March 2011 - 8:55 am

It’s been a common political refrain: Labour planned massive cuts in public spending, Labour lost the election and but then Labour campaign repeatedly against cuts without ever saying what it would have cut.

We’ve never been told how Labour would have cut that £44 billion it was planning on. Nor have we heard why Labour think the government is an extreme right-wing baby-eating one even though after all the cuts the level of public spending will still be higher than it was for seven years under Labour.

But with the Budget round the corner, Labour has broken its silence …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 30 Comments
Paul Walter

PMQs: Will the LibDem motion on the NHS make any difference? – Will it ‘eck as like

By Paul Walter | Thu 17th March 2011 - 9:58 pm

I do like Ed Miliband’s short opening questions. They always get David Cameron tied up in a convoluted response. This week it was: “Following the Liberal Democrat conference at the weekend, is the Prime Minister planning any new amendments to his Health and Social Care Bill?”

The government is “anti-cherry-picking” was Cameron’s (very) abridged reply. He was a day early for DEFRA questions (warf, warf).
Ed Miliband repeated his question to “give the Prime Minister another go at answering”.

No “Cherry picking”, no “price competition”, reform and “extra money”, said Cameron. Get away from “pre-scripted questions” he said. Miliband replied that Cameron should …

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Posted in PMQs | 13 Comments
Mark Pack

Lord Falconer, wrong again

By Mark Pack | Thu 17th March 2011 - 6:42 pm

Having failed to derail the AV referendum with his highly implausible legal arguments, Labour peer Lord Falconer (who served in the previous Labour government, and was one of those who put the pressure on to have the Iraq war ruled legal) is at it again. This time he is trying to argue that people should vote No to AV because it will bring down the Coalition government and hasten Ed Miliband into 10 Downing Street without having to wait for any general election.

Except that it won’t.

Lord Falconer is right in as much as the Coalition’s program of …

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
Mike Storey

Lord Mike Storey’s maiden speech

By Mike Storey | Thu 17th March 2011 - 6:22 pm

In recent months, LDV has been bringing its readers copies of our new MPs’ and Peers’ first words in Parliament, so that we can read what is being said and respond. You can find all of the speeches in this category with this link. Today, Baron Storey, of Childwall in the City of Liverpool made his maiden speech in the House of Lords during a debate on early intervention for children. His words are reproduced below.

My Lords, I first thank noble Lords for making my entry into the House so welcoming. Indeed, the generosity of that welcome

…

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Helen Duffett

LDVideo: Spring Conference speeches by Tim Farron and Nick Clegg

By Helen Duffett | Thu 17th March 2011 - 3:53 pm

Videos of Tim Farron’s rally speech and Nick Clegg’s closing speech to Conference are now online:

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Posted in Conference and Lib Dem TV | Tagged and | 5 Comments
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