Mark Pack

Tory donor, tax affairs, Oakeshott on the case: some things haven’t changed

By Mark Pack | Wed 25th August 2010 - 8:11 pm

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Oakeshott is clearly not put off by coalition from his pursuit of Tory donors and their tax statuses. Today it is Jon Wood, whose tax affairs have been in the papers with Lord Oakeshott saying, “Now is the time to take big money out of British politics”. You can read more here.

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

Councillor for 13 days: Medway Tory resigns

By Helen Duffett | Wed 25th August 2010 - 6:43 pm

Conservative councillor David Craggs has resigned today, less than a fortnight after winning the by-election in River Ward, Medway.

Kent News reports:

The Gad’s Hill headteacher stood down from his position earlier today.

Yourmedway approached Mr Craggs for a comment and was told that a full statement detailing the reasons behind his resignation would be released later this afternoon.

However, we are led to believe that Mr Craggs was told he must choose between serving as a special constable, a position he has held for 17 years, and a Medway councillor.

Conservative Craggs gained the seat from Labour in the by-election on 12 …

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Posted in Council by-elections | Tagged | 5 Comments
John Pugh

Opinion: liberals should cut the deficit and support a strong state

By John Pugh | Wed 25th August 2010 - 2:53 pm

There is a myth that a desire to balance the books is a virtue only of right-leaning governments.

There is myth that those who want to shrink the state are more concerned than others about how the state raises money.

Deficit deniers in one corner – state shrinkers in the other.

But Liberal Democrats can act to reduce the deficit and be positive about the role of the democratic state.

What prompts any given government to run a deficit is usually circumstantial, prompted and encouraged by economists reading the runes. Reaganomics was based both on huge deficits and reducing the role of the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 28 Comments
Stephen Marshall

Opinion: how to restore the incentive to work

By Stephen Marshall | Wed 25th August 2010 - 1:51 pm

It is clearly absurd for anyone to be better off on benefits than in work.

The solution most commonly proposed (whether explicitly or not) is to make benefits harder to obtain and/or to reduce their level.

There is no particularly strong evidence to suggest these approaches might work. Even if they did, they would lead to the creation of an even larger and more alienated under-class than we currently have, with all the social dangers the follow.

A better approach would be to try to integrate more of the unwaged and low-paid properly into society.

Currently, a significant proportion of our population feels marginalised …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 27 Comments
Mark Pack

The MP conference fringe league table

By Mark Pack | Wed 25th August 2010 - 11:27 am

Using the official information on which MP is attending which fringe meeting, this is how the autumn 2010 conference league table looks:

15
Vince Cable

14
Sarah Teather

13
Paul Burstow
Andrew Stunell

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Posted in Conference | 8 Comments
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Iain Roberts

Coalition puts up strong defence on IFS report

By Iain Roberts | Wed 25th August 2010 - 10:33 am

There’s a standard approach people take to reports. If the report happens to back up our position, it’s right – and we certainly don’t need to go as far as reading or critically appraising it to figure it out. If it goes against our view, there’s probably something dodgy about it. Human nature – can’t beat it.

And so it is with today’s report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Depending on how you read it, or which claims you want to pluck out, the report says that the 2010-11 budget is regressive, or perhaps slightly …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 85 Comments
Mark Pack

The mysterious 66 votes in Wolverhampton South West

By Mark Pack | Wed 25th August 2010 - 9:54 am

According to the official election results, Wolverhampton South West saw more votes cast than there had been ballot papers issued.

Wolverhampton signAt the count there were 40,160 votes totalled up in the general election in May. However, the official records show that only 40,094 ballot papers should have been in the count, 66 less than the number of votes counted. This is not a simple matter of a typo in the official records, because Wolverhampton Council has confirmed that these two figures are the ones official …

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Posted in Election law | Tagged and | 10 Comments
Mark Pack

How do you plan cuts? With an overnight trip to a luxury hotel of course

By Mark Pack | Tue 24th August 2010 - 7:37 pm

Labour-run Brent Council has hit the local and regional news for its decision to pay for 27 senior staff and Labour councillors to spend the weekend at a luxury country hotel – where they planned budget cuts.

Brent Town Hall. Photo credit: stevecadman on FlickrThe council is quite right that it is good management practice for senior teams every now and again to spend time together making longer term plans. Going to Latimer Place De Vere Hotel in Chesham, Buckinghamshire isn’t …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 15 Comments
Helen Duffett

Lib Dem Conference returns to Brighton for 2012

By Helen Duffett | Tue 24th August 2010 - 6:08 pm

The Liberal Democrats will hold their Autumn 2012 Conference in Brighton, Brighton and Hove Council has revealed today:

The council’s tourism arm VisitBrighton has said the party is expected to bring around 8,000 delegates to the event, injecting around £10m into the local economy.

The party last held its autumn conference in the city in 2007.

Council bosses say the news justifies recently spending £1m on refurbishments to the Brighton Conference Centre. They expect the event to attract extensive media coverage for the city, given the Lib Dems’ role in the coalition government.

Council leader Mary Mears said: “I’m delighted.

…

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Posted in Conference | Tagged | 13 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: James Graham – Lib Dems must agree to publicly disagree

By NewsHound | Tue 24th August 2010 - 4:29 pm

Over at The Guardian’s Comment is Free website, Lib Dem blogger James Graham argues that Nick Clegg needs to admit the party’s economic differences with the Tories in public – the alternative, he warns, is that the Coalition will become rudderless. Here’s an excerpt:

That the government is embarking on a programme of deep cuts is not in question; but nobody seems to be able to explain what it is all for. The coalition can’t explain because, frankly, the coalition can’t agree. That’s why the government’s “vision” has been dominated by empty flannel such as the “big society”, which can

…

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 46 Comments
Stephen Tall

New LDV members survey now live: what you think of key Lib Dem issues and the Coalition Government

By Stephen Tall | Tue 24th August 2010 - 1:16 pm

The new LDV members’ survey is now live. So if you are one of the 1,000+ registered members of the Liberal Democrat Voice forum – and any paid-up party member is welcome to join – then you now have the opportunity to make your views known.

Questions we are asking your opinion on include:

  • your views on nuclear power;
  • whether the Lib Dems should make any electoral arrangement with the Conservatives;
  • your views on the Alternative Vote;
  • is the media giving the Lib Dems a fair hearing;
  • what you think are the biggest immediate threats to the

…

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Posted in News | 12 Comments
Simon McGrath

Opinion: what happened to the Lib Dem use of Social Media?

By Simon McGrath | Tue 24th August 2010 - 12:25 pm

Before and during the election there was a great deal of talk about the Lib Dem use of social media as a way of getting our message across cheaply and effectively. Since then though the Party seems too place very little importance on social media with the result that an important and effective way of communicating with our members and supporters is being ignored.

Look at the three main Social media outlets, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

On Facebook the Lib Dems official Page has 97,000 fans but is rarely updated – there have been just 5 updates since …

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Posted in Op-eds | 30 Comments
Mark Pack

Knowsley Council pays Labour over £250,000 for conference appearances

By Mark Pack | Tue 24th August 2010 - 10:24 am

Labour-run Knowsley Council is continuing to pump money in to the Labour Party’s coffers by exhibiting at the party’s conference. The council pays to appear only at the Labour Party’s conferences, ignoring other parties, and is continuing to do so even now that Labour is no longer in government.

Back in January 2007 Liberal Democrat Voice revealed Knowsley Council had spent £47,000 on exhibiting at the Labour conference over the previous four years. At the time the council said that, “Knowsley does not attend any other party political conference, it attends the Labour Party Annual Conference as the party in …

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Posted in Local government and News | Tagged | 11 Comments
Mark Pack

Fewer people, venue moved in-house yet costs go up: bravo, Boris

By Mark Pack | Tue 24th August 2010 - 8:42 am

Adam Bienkov has the remarkable story of how Mayor of London Boris Johnson managed to up the costs of the annual ‘State of London’ debate despite cutting back its scope, moving it from an external venue to City Hall and having fewer people attend.

One extra detail I’d add to what Adam has covered: looking at the GLA’s evaluation report, I’m struck by how many opportunities were missed to promote the event online at very little cost. In particular, publicising events via Facebook comes with no charge and can be an effect way of making a high profile event spread …

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Posted in London and News | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem donation figures in full (Q2, 2010)

By Stephen Tall | Mon 23rd August 2010 - 6:53 pm

The Electoral Commission has today published the latest donation and borrowing figures for the political parties, showing that the Lib Dems raised just over £2.05 million in the second three months of this year, and almost £4 million in total in the frst half of the year.

(At the foot of this post is the full breakdown of cash and non-cash donations received by quarter since 2005, and annually between 2001 and 2004.)

By comparison, the party raised £4.4m in the first half of 2005 (leading up to that year’s general election) – but that did of course include

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Iain Roberts

LibLink: every key Westminster model country is hung

By Iain Roberts | Mon 23rd August 2010 - 6:06 pm

A blog post from Prof Patrick Dunleavy at the LSE on the Australian election results points out that, for the first time in history, every key Westminster Model country – the UK, India, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – has a hung parliament.

For the first time in history, the Australian outcome means that every key ‘Westminster model’ country in the world now has a hung Parliament. These are the former British empire countries that according to decades of political science orthodoxy are supposed to produce strong, single party government. Following Duverger’s Law their allegedly ‘majoritarian’ electoral systems (first past

…

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged , and | 8 Comments
The Voice

BBC: Nick Clegg hails England’s ‘unbeatable’ World Cup bid

By The Voice | Mon 23rd August 2010 - 5:18 pm

The BBC reports:

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has told Fifa inspectors England’s bid for the 2018 World Cup is “unbeatable”. The Fifa delegation, which will write a report on England’s bid to host the World Cup, began their four-day visit with a reception at Downing Street. Mr Clegg said: “I believe this is an exceptionally strong, unbeatable bid. We in this government believe in it, we hope that you will believe in it.”

You can see Nick welcome the Fifa delegation here:

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 11 Comments
Iain Roberts

Lab ex-MP plans to write to LDs asking them to defect. Yes, that really is the story.

By Iain Roberts | Mon 23rd August 2010 - 4:15 pm

Are we in for a couple of weeks of random Labour people trying to get media coverage merely by suggesting that Lib Dems might like to join the party of the Iraq war, ID cards, state-authorised torture and enormous deficits?

If the inciteful journalism down Gloucester way is anything to go by, it seems we may.

Former Labour MP Parmjit Dhanda has managed to wangle the headline “Could Gloucester Lib Dems defect to Labour?” merely by telling a journalist he’s planning to write to Lib Dem councillors inviting them to join the Labour Party. No talks, no defectors in the …

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Posted in News | 52 Comments
Mark Pack

Lembit for London campaign watch

By Mark Pack | Mon 23rd August 2010 - 3:26 pm

Lembit Opik’s plans to run for London Mayor have been widely trailed for some time and the man himself has taken steps such as a lengthy interview on London’s LBC radio station with Conservative blogger Iain Dale. His campaign for the Liberal Democrat selection has provoked many negative responses from Liberal Democrat members (such as in previous coverage on this site). The most vocal are not always the most representative, however, so a relevant extra piece of evidence is how the Lembit Opik for London Mayor Facebook page does.

Lembit’s own campaign describes the page as “the main point of …

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Posted in London and Selection news | Tagged | 25 Comments
Joe Taylor

Opinon: when will the Press Complaints Commission wake up?

By Joe Taylor | Mon 23rd August 2010 - 1:50 pm

On Friday, the Daily Mail splashed with a story headined “England Star’s Gagging Order”. The story concerned an unnamed member of the England football team who had used the courts to stop a story about him from being published.

It was the second such injunction granted in a week, the Mail reported. The injunctions were granted by a High Court judge on the grounds that the stories would breach the players’ right to a private life.

For Liberal Democrats, such injunctions will be seen as a worrying development.

Our party’s constitution emphasises that we must “defend the right to speak, …

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Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Tagged and | 5 Comments
Stephen Tall

LibLink: Mark Pack – We are now facing sobering reality of sharing power

By Stephen Tall | Mon 23rd August 2010 - 12:28 pm

For a brief few weeks during the election campaign, the Indy became quite a readable newspaper, offering some balanced coverage which was at least some relief from the right-wing papers’ slavish Cameron obeisance. The paper didn’t back the Lib Dems, but it did give the party a fair hearing. Well, normal service is now resumed, with the Indy today devoting its front page to some idle, cliched speculation (“growing pressure”, “jittery atmosphere”, “braced for a backlash”).

Compare and contrast these two assessments of Nick Clegg’s demeanour, by the way.

  • In the Indy: ‘One MP said last night: “Nick just does

…

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Posted in LibLink and News | 10 Comments
Norman Lamb MP

Facing the future – the Lib Dem policy approach

By Norman Lamb MP | Mon 23rd August 2010 - 10:45 am

Now is an exciting time for Liberal Democrats. We have the chance to implement ideas in Government – an opportunity denied our predecessors for many decades. For the next five years, instead of contributing ideas from the national sidelines with no real prospect of them ever being adopted, we have a real chance to realise key elements of our agenda. We have all come into politics to make a difference, to be effective. Liberal Democrat Ministers know that they carry the weight of the party’s principles and expectations as they work in coalition with Conservatives.

But even as we …

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Posted in Conference | Tagged | 17 Comments
Stephen Tall

What prospect for Lib Dem / Labour cooperation in the next Parliament?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 23rd August 2010 - 9:55 am

The message from Labour-sympathising Guardian columnist Jackie Ashley in this morning’s paper is a stark one: “Labour is playing bad politics.” The reason?

The leadership campaign is turning into a tin-ear, foot-in-mouth competition about who can be nastiest to the Liberal Democrats. As candidates desperately try to prove themselves more true Labour, more tribal than the next guy, they are in danger of missing the big picture about our changing politics. They could end up wrecking their party’s position for the next generation, which is their own.

All political parties sometimes reach for their tribal comfort blanket, especially after a …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 32 Comments
Iain Roberts

Iain Dale’s voting system confusion

By Iain Roberts | Mon 23rd August 2010 - 8:33 am

Iain Dale yesterday posted a piece attacking the Alternative Vote system which doesn’t bode well for a well informed campaign.

That’s a shame because there’s a sensible debate to be had – with Lib Dems being the first to admit that the Alternative Vote system isn’t the best of all possible options, though most would rate it as a great improvement on what we have now.

Dale writes

There’s a reason only one other country in the world uses AV. It’s a half way house. It tries to be a PR equivalent of the First Past the Post system, but in reality

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 27 Comments
Stephen Tall

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #183

By Stephen Tall | Sun 22nd August 2010 - 7:27 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 183rd 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 (15th – 21st August, 2010), 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
Mark Pack

Music revenue figures show industry outperforming economy despite online piracy

By Mark Pack | Sun 22nd August 2010 - 5:56 pm

The UK music industry’s revenues declined by less than 1% in the last year, a smaller drop than in previous years and a change that looks particular good given the economy overall was in sharp recession at the same time. These figures are likely to reinforce the views of critics of the Digital Economy Act who have attacked its approach to online piracy.

As The Register’s story says:

Reporting research that will further fuel the debate about the effect of copyright-infringing file sharing on the music industry, Ofcom said that a jump in single sales of 27 per cent and

…

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

“The voting system is broken, back the Alternative”: ads to help win May’s voting referendum

By Stephen Tall | Sun 22nd August 2010 - 4:35 pm

Last month, The Voice asked the question, Can you design a poster to win the AV “Yes” campaign?, highlighting TakeBackParliament.com‘s competition to crowd-source the design talent of bloggers who support abolishing first-past-the-vote and replacing it with the Alternative Vote in readiness for next May’s referendum.

The winner has now been announced (and sorry, guys, but it doesn’t do it for me). Runner-up was Lib Dem blogger Stuart Bonar, who produced an excellent series of designs.

Here’s an example from one batch:

And an even more inspired …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 27 Comments
Stephen Tall

Kennedy defection rumours – another reason journalists are losing the public’s trust

By Stephen Tall | Sun 22nd August 2010 - 2:28 pm

So today, at last, the news media is finally reporting the pretty unsurprising news that Charles Kennedy, leader of the Lib Dems from 1999 to 2006, is not leaving the Lib Dems in 2010.

Now it is of course the silly season, and we can easily write off this journalistic confection as mere desperation to fill some column inches / dead air-time. But actually I think it’s a symptom of a wider malaise in political journalism, its ‘tabloidisation’.

How an unsourced rumour went viral

Let’s go back to Friday afternoon, when the Kennedy defection rumours started circulating, and work out how …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , , and | 54 Comments
Stephen Tall

87% back Lib Dem Lynne’s rogue wheel clamping clamp-down

By Stephen Tall | Sun 22nd August 2010 - 12:45 pm

Lib Dem Voice reported earlier this week the news that Lynne Featherstone had secured government support for a new policy to ban wheel clamping and towing away of vehicles on private property, bringing England and Wales in line with Scotland.

YouGov asked the following question directly of members of the public:

The government have announced they intend to ban wheel clamping on private land. Under their plans only
the police and local councils would have the right to use wheel clamps or tow cars away. Would you support or oppose a ban on private wheel clamping firms?

The result? 87% supported the …

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
Stephen Tall

Tessa Munt on being a newbie MP: “It’s a very serious job, but I’m having a ball.”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 22nd August 2010 - 11:55 am

As this BBC Somerset report excitedly notes, Tessa Munt is “the first Liberal Democrat MP for Wells since World War II”, having defeated Tory incumbent David Heathcote-Amory in May.

You can read here about how she’s settling into her new office (“The most important thing for me was making sure we were actually accessible from ever single part of the constituency”), furnished with recycled fittings (“I did actually do a raid on some of the outgoing MPs offices. … I don’t frankly mind if my box files are second hand.”).

And as for how she’s taken to the …

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Recent Comments

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    Could not agree more Caron - fantastic post....
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