Search Results for: feed

Mark Valladares

One in six parents say they have gone hungry to feed their children as food prices soar

By Mark Valladares | Published Wed 24th May 2023 - 7:30 am
  • Shocking poll finds some parents of young children have stopped buying both fruit and meat over the past year
  • Parents far more likely than non-parents to have skipped meals and changed spending habits due to high food prices
  • Ahead of new inflation figures to be released, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey calls for expansion of free school meals and more support for farmers

A new poll commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed parents with children under the age of 18 have been hardest hit by rising food prices.

As a result of high food bills, a staggering one in six (17%) parents …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , | Leave a comment
Caron Lindsay

Sue Miller highlights falling breastfeeding rates in Lords International Women’s Day debate

By Caron Lindsay | Published Sun 12th March 2023 - 2:30 pm

Back in the day, I spent a few years as a breastfeeding counsellor, doing what I could to support parents when they hit trouble and helping them find solutions that worked for them.

I got involved in that because I wanted to give something back after my breastfeeding journey was helped back on track by a lovely and patient volunteer called Louise who came to my house and sorted me out with great empathy.

Her help motivated me to help other women who desperately wanted to breastfeed but hadn’t been able to overcome their problems but hadn’t had the support that they needed. The guilt that comes along with that is huge, but misplaced. It is not their fault. Those running the health services failed to provide it.

I also became very interested in the implementation, or lack of it, of the International Code for the Marketing of Breastmilk substitutes and the ways that formula manufacturers got round it and how their powerful lobbying of governments kept regulation at bay.

I was also struck by research at the time that, in this country that showed  a poor breastfed baby had better long term health outcomes than a formula fed baby from an affluent background.

You would hope that we might have made some progress with providing support and regulating the manufacturers in the intervening 15 years.

Unfortunately, Lib Dem Peer Sue Miller, in her contribution to the International Women’s Day debate, highlighted that we are actually going backwards. You can read her whole speech here, but here are the highlights:

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment
Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: Feed me, says Kim

By Tom Arms | Published Sat 19th June 2021 - 8:40 am

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un doesn’t often admit problems. How could the hermit kingdom/nuclear-armed rogue state admit failures or even difficulties? Such a thing is an oxymoron as North Koreans, by definition, live in a socialist paradise.

So, when the Great Leader goes before the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party, swallows his pride, puts his reputation on the line and basically says “the food situation is tense,” it is a political earthquake in North Korea. It also means that North Korea is in a famine situation or, at the very least, heading rapidly in that direction.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | Leave a comment
Caron Lindsay

What is the Tories’ problem with feeding children?

By Caron Lindsay | Published Tue 12th January 2021 - 9:15 pm

Just when you think that the Tories couldn’t sink any lower than their opposition to providing help to families with free school meals during the holidays, they have gone one further.

All over social media, there are pictures of the sorts of food packages that are being sent to children who would normally qualify for free school meals.

Daisy Cooper has written to the Education Secretary to ask him to investigate and sort this out – by giving vouchers to families rather than these “woefully inadequate” and “abysmal” packages:

It is completely unacceptable that parents have received woefully inadequate food parcels in place of free school meals.

The amount of food parents have received to feed their children is not anything like enough to provide an adequate, nutritious lunch every day. Nor do they appear to represent value for money, given what the parcels should theoretically be worth.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , | 30 Comments
Caron Lindsay

WATCH: Jo Swinson on cheating pairs, adorable babies and the realities of working and breastfeeding

By Caron Lindsay | Published Thu 13th September 2018 - 9:30 pm

Here’s Jo Swinson’s speech in the debate on allowing proxy voting for MPs who have had babies.

It was one of the most real and honest speeches I’ve ever heard. Jo talked about her fury when Tory Chairman Brandon Lewis broke their pairing arrangement in July to vote in a key Brexit vote.

She also spoke about some of the appalling comments she got on Twitter after that, including the criticism that she had gone to the Trump demo for 45 minutes but couldn’t manage to vote in Parliament, something which would have meant hanging around for 5 hours.

Jo talked about the intricacies of establishing breastfeeding and how you need to concentrate on it during the early days. Her voice cracked with emotion as she talked about the difficulties she had establishing breastfeeding with her first son. I actually cried too as I remembered what it was like to be syringing expressed milk into my baby, 19 years on. She got there, though, with all the support that she needed.

She was also open about the realities of expressing milk several times a day. I think it’s fantastic that she posted a picture of her breast pump on Instagram the other day.

She talked about the need to have proper breastfeeding and expressing facilities for all nursing babies who work on the Parliamentary estate, recognising it was easier for her as she had her own office and control over her diary.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments
Ed Fordham

P-2: Feeding the team that delivers on its stomach

By Ed Fordham | Published Tue 21st February 2017 - 2:30 pm

I always found one aspect of military history interesting – yes, army logistics.  It’s all very well sending 200 people out but how do you feed them at breakfast, in the morning, at lunch and in the evening and then when they are randomly hungry?

So we have sought to run a HeadQuarters that is warm, friendly, welcoming and well stocked.  Now there have been a few local stalwarts who have been champion at ensuring our kitchen has been well stocked – croissants, biscuits (most variants), savoury biscuits, bread, oranges, bananas, apples (most variants), and yes we also have oatcakes, cheese, tomatoes and some bacon.  And how could we forget the ever ending supply of samosas.

And the atmosphere – well you have all been very willing, cheery and prepared to go out again and again.  It has been really noticeable how many of you who have travelled have a) arrived early, b) have stayed for a full day of work and c) stayed overnight and d) returned again and again.

Now I can say the team here have been bouncy and energetic and focused on making sure you left with a positive impression.  Now I realise that risks sounding flippant, but we have deliberately constructed the campaign in a way that places huge value on a quality and warm reception.  Under the attentive gaze of Simon Drage we try and make sure that you are fed watered and rested between and after your campaign activity.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , | 5 Comments
Caron Lindsay

So why shouldn’t MPs breastfeed in the House of Commons?

By Caron Lindsay | Published Fri 13th November 2015 - 10:55 am

There was a very sensible debate on the family friendliness or otherwise of the House of Commons earlier this week. The press seems to have latched on (sorry) to the issue of whether women MPs should be allowed to breastfeed their babies in the Commons chamber itself, although the debate was much more wide ranging – and we’ll have more about those other aspects later.

The debate was brought by Jess Phillips ,the MP for Birmingham Yardley who recently took such a battering on Twitter for daring to suggest that Parliament might have more important priorities than have a special debate for International Men’s Day. The irony of her being the only woman on the Committee that decides Commons business was not lost on many people.

At any debate on these issues, you get the odd Tory turning up whose only purpose seems to be to make themselves look ridiculous and to basically troll the proceedings. On this occasion it was Sir Simon Burns, the MP for Chelmsford. Early in the proceedings he suggested that the House of Commons did not have an overwhelming majority of white men when asked by fellow Conservative Maria Miller:

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , | 17 Comments
The Voice

ALDE Congress – feedback needed before Thursday

By The Voice | Published Mon 19th October 2015 - 4:35 pm

Belinda Brooks-Gordon represents the East of England on the ALDE Congress. She’s asked us to share the report she gave out to members in her region. Please note the looming deadline of this Thursday for amendments to motions to be discussed at the Congress in November.

ALDE Report

The post of President and five, possibly six Vice-Presidents are to be voted on at the ALDE Congress in Budapest from 19th – 21st November.  ALDE is now the fourth group in the European Parliament, and unable to do accomplish as much as it was able to do when it was the third party (don’t we just know how that feels in Westminster too). The new President certainly has their work cut out.

I was delighted at a briefing for the ALDE representatives and meet a candidate for ALDE Bureau President Hans van Baalen MEP as he laid out his vision. A prominent liberal, Hans spoke of the value of a joint action on sanctions to deal with international threats and of co-operation between liberal parties in the forthcoming referendum, Hans said he and his party VVD of the Netherlands would be helping with the LibDemFightback: “It is vital that we stick together to bring Liberalism together as a force.”

Baroness Ros Scott selected for VP of ALDE Bureau

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , | 2 Comments
The Voice

REMINDER: Helena Morrissey’s call for feedback: reply by 7th November

By The Voice | Published Sat 1st November 2014 - 3:05 pm

Just a gentle reminder about Helena Morrissey’s call for feedback on progress since her report was published in June last year. She wants your comments by this coming Friday, 7th November. Here’s what she wrote on 13th October:

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 5 Comments
Helena Morrissey

Call for feedback on progress since Independent Inquiry of June 2013

By Helena Morrissey | Published Mon 13th October 2014 - 12:00 pm

As set out in my Report into ‘Processes and Culture’ within the Party, I would now like to assess progress made against my recommendations. Taken together, the recommendations formed a suggested – but by no means exhaustive – blueprint for change over both the medium and long term. Less than 18 months has passed since my initial Review, so it was never my expectation that all would be resolved by now, rather that the direction of travel be firmly established.

A number of people attended a ‘surgery’ I hosted with the Pastoral Care Officer, Jeanne Tarrant, during Conference last week. Those inputs have been very helpful – thank you.  I’d now like to hear from anyone who has relevant experiences and views to help me assess the degree of progress made. As in my original Call for Evidence, it would be helpful if feedback could be given around three areas, with specific examples being particularly useful:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , | Leave a comment
Caron Lindsay

Liberal Democrat Voice Awards 2014 – get your nominations in NOW, and never let it be said that we don’t listen to feedback, Mr Calder

By Caron Lindsay | Published Mon 1st September 2014 - 11:45 am

The Liberal Democrat Voice Awards will take place with its usual glamour and fun on the Saturday evening of the Glasgow Conference.

Here’s all the details:

There will be a fantastic selection of Liberal Democrats presenting the awards. You can read about last year’s ceremony, where Nick Clegg called us infuriating and inspiring here.

We revamped the Awards last year and people seemed to like what we have done, so we’ve kept the format the same with one wee tweak. We think that we should give your imaginations free rein with the photoshopping and the parliamentarians so there’s a separate category for them.

This year’s awards are as follows:

  • Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year
  • Liberal Democrat Blog-post of the year
  • Liberal Democrat Tweeter/Facebooker of the Year
  • Best use of social media by an elected representative (Tim Garden award)
  • Best online campaign run by a Liberal Democrat
  • Lib Dem Councillor of the Year
  • The Lib Dems’ Favourite Tory MP award
  • The Lib Dems’ Favourite Labour MP award
  • Best online campaign of the year (non Lib Dem)
  • Best photograph of a Liberal Democrat Parliamentarian or senior Councillor or party figure (real life)
  • Best photo-shopped photo of a Liberal Democrat Parliamentarian

We are asking for nominations by email to me at [email protected] for the shortlists for these awards. They will then be judged by our esteemed panel of judges. Liberal Democrat Voice and any official blogs run by the party aren’t eligible either. We are extending the deadline to midnight on 15th September, so you have an two weeks.

Send us your nominations plus a very brief – and I’m talking no more than a sentence – reason why. We will then compile the shortlists from those and poll to our members’ forum.

Send in your nominations by email to [email protected] and remember to state which award category you’re nominating for, in each case.

The shortlists will then be put to a vote of our forum of party members. That’s right. This year, we are giving our readers who are members of the party the chance to choose the majority of our winners.

There are other awards that you will have the chance to vote for:

  • Lib Dem Minister of the Year
  • Lib Dem MP of the Year
  • Lib Dem parliamentarian (non-minister) of the Year (open to MSPs, MEPs, Peers, AMs GLAMs

All will be eligible for these categories.

And there’s even more than that…

  • Best Political Commentator (print/online) of the Year
  • Best Political Broadcaster (TV/radio) of the Year

These last two awards are being decided slightly differently. They will be chosen form a shortlist based on the answers in our pre-Conference survey. Again, all members in our members’ forum will have the chance to vote.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , | 1 Comment
Pete Mills

The Independent View: Harnessing the “BuzzFeed” effect to boost turnout in the Euro elections

By Pete Mills | Published Tue 13th May 2014 - 11:50 am

Only 26% are certain to vote in the European elections, and 77% say they know less about the issues in a European election than a general election, according to the Hansard Society. At Unlock Democracy, we’ve been looking at new techniques to combat low turnout and the worrying lack of political knowledge about European institutions.

For the European elections, we worked with organisations from 14 countries across the EU to produce Vote Match Europe, an online quiz app which matches user to the parties that best represent their views in the European elections, based on the issues which they select as …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds, The Independent View | Tagged , | 13 Comments
Caron Lindsay

5 things you didn’t know Nick Clegg loves – another clever use of Buzzfeed by LDHQ

By Caron Lindsay | Published Mon 10th March 2014 - 8:57 am

Screen Shot 2014-03-10 at 08.53.06Back in January, when a character from Sherlock was analysed as a disillusioned Lib Dem, those clever people at Party HQ came up with a Buzzfeed thingy giving 1o reasons why she should come back to us.

They’ve now done the same with five of the things from Nick Clegg’s speech that he loves about Britain.

I liked that part of his speech – here’s a reminder:

I love that a country capable of extraordinary pomp and ceremony can still retain a spiky irreverence towards its establishment. A

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Actually, Nick, there might be something in the vouchers for breastfeeding idea…

By Caron Lindsay | Published Sat 16th November 2013 - 1:37 pm

Nick Clegg was asked yesterday, on his LBC phone in, what he thought about the plan to give women in deprived areas £200 in High Street shopping vouchers. This was one of these questions which he had to answer by instinct because he didn’t know the detail and to give him credit, he said a lot of the right things. He talked about how no mum should feel pressured to breastfeed, but those who do should get the support they need. Whether he knows on a practical level what that actually means, though, is not clear.

He was unambiguous about …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments
Lewis Redfern

Lib Dem Conference app – your feedback please

By Lewis Redfern | Published Mon 23rd September 2013 - 5:41 pm

Thanks to all of you who came to Federal Conference in Glasgow – I hope you enjoyed it!

We made many changes to the Conference App for Autumn Conference 2013 and we’d really like your feedback. We strive to improve the App each Conference so it would be much appreciated if you could spare a few minutes to give us your thoughts by filling in our survey here.

If you have any further questions on the App please email [email protected]

Posted in Conference | 8 Comments
Jenny Ricks

The Independent View: Fill your 4 x 4 with biofuel, or feed an African child for 200 days?

By Jenny Ricks | Published Wed 17th October 2012 - 4:40 pm

From time to time the solution to a problem ends up being worse than the original dilemma. Such is the case with making fuel from food crops – biofuels – in place of burning fossil fuels. What started off as such a well-intentioned idea to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has ended up not only doing the opposite, but also contributing to world food price rises and driving poor people off their land in developing countries and into hunger.

But as the tide turns against biofuels, there are sustainable alternatives which can take their place. And that’s where the Lib

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds, The Independent View | Tagged , , | 11 Comments
Tim Gordon

Tim Gordon writes… Feedback from the members’ survey

By Tim Gordon | Published Sat 22nd September 2012 - 8:14 pm

Earlier this month I launched a national Members’ Survey, which went out to all members currently on the Party’s email list. Given that a previous survey told us very clearly that members want to be surveyed more it is perhaps no surprise that we had a great response rate.

As well as the multiple choice responses, we had hundreds of more detailed comments letting us know exactly what you think about the party strategy, policy and your experience of being a member. This information is invaluable and I have already presented your views to Nick Clegg, key Ministers and our MPs.

The …

Continue reading »
Posted in Party policy and internal matters | 10 Comments
Lucy Care

Opinion: Feed-in tariffs and the Lib Dem fight to ensure the Coalition really is ‘the greenest government ever’

By Lucy Care | Published Mon 7th November 2011 - 11:40 am

Feed-in tariffs, a policy mechanism designed to accelerate investment in renewable energy technologies, have been used successfully in many countries to increase the amount of electricity being generated from renewable sources.

The UK has actually been fairly slow off the mark on this. Our aim to be ‘the greenest government ever’ included support for feed-in tariffs.

Indeed, in the Coalition Agreement the preamble to the section on Energy and Climate Change said: ‘We need to use a wide range of levers to cut carbon emissions, decarbonise the economy and support the creation of new green jobs and technologies.’ It went on to say ‘We will establish a full system of feed-in tariffs in electricity,’ and ‘We will encourage community-owned renewable energy schemes where local people benefit from the power produced.’

So what is happening to the system of feed-in tariffs? And how are the changes going to encourage community-owned renewable energy systems?

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments
Greg Muttitt

The Independent View: Feeding cars or people? The case for food sovereignty

By Greg Muttitt | Published Mon 24th October 2011 - 10:22 am

Zero-carbon energy from plants might sound like a good idea. But that’s not the view of Luis Muchanga, a peasant leader from Mozambique, who spoke at a seminar on the global food crisis in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

Mozambique, Luis pointed out, ought to be well placed to feed its people, with 70% of the population living in rural areas and practising subsistence agriculture. In reality though, around 35% of families go hungry, as the government prioritises export agriculture. And an increasing proportion of this export production is devoted to feeding the appetite of the rich world’s cars and …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds, The Independent View | Tagged , | 5 Comments
John Pugh

John Pugh MP asks for Lib Dem members’ feedback on health issues

By John Pugh | Published Wed 14th July 2010 - 11:20 am

As part of the empowerment (sorry about the cliche!) of ordinary members it might be useful if you let us in the Westminster village know how you react to unfolding coalition policy.

I’m tasked as Co-Chair for the Backbench Health Committee to ensure that distinctive Lib Dem policy on health goes into the Coalition Government equation.

So I have decided to seek party members’ views on the much-reported Health White Paper – especially from those who have a bit of hands on experience of the NHS.

Please post here or alterantively e-mail me at [email protected]

The issues are not insignificant, with …

Continue reading »
Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 163 Comments
Mark Pack

Five tech tips for the new year: use a feed reader

By Mark Pack | Published Tue 29th December 2009 - 10:20 am

Each day this week I’m giving a tip related to computers and campaigning. The exact details of how you follow each tip will vary depending on your own situation, so if you’re not quite sure what to do by all means pop up a question in the comments.

Today’s tip: use a feed reader.

Feed readers (also known as RSS readers or news readers) are a massive time saver. Rather than having to slog round different websites to see if they’ve got any new stories or blog posts on them, you subscribe to them via the feed reader. The feed reader then …

Continue reading »
Posted in Online politics | Tagged | 3 Comments
Alex Foster

#ldconf feedback questionnaire

By Alex Foster | Published Mon 28th September 2009 - 12:57 pm

A message arrives from the Conference people asking for our feedback on all matters Conference.

Conference is important to the Liberal Democrats. Your input, debates and votes are vital in shaping the Party’s policies and campaigns, and ensuring that we remain the only truly democratic party in British politics.

So we want to make sure you come back! Your views are important to us, as they help us improve conference year after year. If you attended autumn conference this year, please take the time to give us your feedback. By clicking on the link below and filling out our online questionnaire, you’ll

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Conference | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments
Alex Foster

Official conference twitter feed

By Alex Foster | Published Sat 19th September 2009 - 8:45 am

Just a quick reminder that there will be an official conference twitter feed, available here: www.twitter.com/LibDemConf. Conference staffers and stewards will be updating the account with information as it happens at conference – who’s speaking, when sessions start, and how Conference votes.

If you’re using twitter at conference yourself, don’t forget to liberally sprinkle your updates with the hashtag #ldconf – this will help other people find the messages you send.

And if you want to see those messages for yourself, whether or not you’re a signed up twitter user – click here.

Finally, there’s also Ryan Cullen’s …

Continue reading »
Posted in Conference | Tagged , | Leave a comment
Mark Pack

Feed your appetite for information

By Mark Pack | Published Wed 12th March 2008 - 10:52 am

The party has a growing range of popular news feeds, designed to supply direct to you the latest information on a range of topics from mistakes at the Home Office through to the latest interviews with Nick Clegg.

The following list shows the main feeds available from the party centrally. They are all RSS feeds which you can subscribe to via a feed reader (e.g. Google Reader or Bloglines) or a modern web browser (e.g. Firefox or Internet Explorer 7) and you are welcome to republish any of the feeds on your own sites. If you click on any …

Continue reading »
Posted in Online politics | Leave a comment
Richard Huzzey

Feed The Voice

By Richard Huzzey | Published Fri 10th August 2007 - 9:55 am

Lib Dem Voice is written by Lib Dem members for Lib Dem members. If you have a burning opinion or forceful argument waiting to be expressed, please submit it to us, as detailed on the contributions page.

Book reviews, opinion pieces or anything else are heartily welcomed.

Stephen Tall is away for a few weeks, but the usual address ([email protected]) will still reach us.

Posted in Site news | 1 Comment
Jack Meredith

Britain has privatised care into the family

By Jack Meredith | Published Wed 3rd June 2026 - 12:15 pm

At the heart of Britain’s care settlement lies a contradiction: unpaid carers are thanked for their work, while the growing responsibilities and stresses they face are ignored, with little to no reprieve.

Unpaid carers across the UK provide care worth approximately £184 billion a year, with more and more responsibilities absorbed by households, which increased by 29.3% between 2011 and 2022. Those same care responsibilities usually fall on one family member, with women aged 55-59 years old and living in the highest levels of poverty being most likely to provide unpaid care in Wales alone.

Public Health Wales …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , | 6 Comments
Jack Meredith

Swansea relaunches – a small story about why young Liberals matter

By Jack Meredith | Published Sat 30th May 2026 - 11:48 am

After a short hiatus, the Swansea University Liberal Democrats are back. The Swansea and Gower local party, working alongside university staff and students, is reviving the society at a moment when both local and national politics need it most.

Student political organising in Wales is not new. The Bangor Debating and Political Society has been running since 1849, and generations of Welsh public life have passed through rooms like it. The Swansea society is a small addition to a long tradition, and a welcome one.

The standard line is that young people have walked away from politics. It is not true. On the issues that matter most to them, such as housing, climate change, and civil liberties, they are more engaged, more informed, and more morally clear than any generation before them. The problem is not apathy; it is our political culture, which locks out far too many young people and refuses to evolve.

This is where student societies matter. They are not a nice extra; they are the most reliable pipeline a political party has for engaging young people. Every councillor, organiser, activist, and candidate I have ever met found their politics in a room not much bigger than a seminar suite. Relaunching our society is not symbolic. It is infrastructure.

That same infrastructure is essential to rebuilding the Welsh Liberal Democrats after the 2026 Senedd election. In Swansea and Gower, we canvassed every day, throwing everything we had into getting Sam Bennett elected. There was not much more we could have done, but an active university society collaborating with us would have helped us secure and grow the youth vote. Re-establishing the society now and giving it the durability to last does two things at once. It gives young people a real voice in the party, and it ensures we never again fight a Senedd election without their organised support.

The proof of what that organising delivers came in May 2026, when Beth Rowe won the Fairwood by-election for the Swansea and Gower Liberal Democrats. The Welsh Liberal Democrats came from fourth place to take the seat from the Conservatives, the product not of luck but of people knocking doors, having conversations, and showing up week after week. That is what a serious local party looks like. A thriving student society would feed more energy straight into that effort, allowing us to replicate that result across Swansea and Gower, Wales, and beyond.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , | 4 Comments
Rob Blackie

The biggest risk is playing it safe

By Rob Blackie | Published Tue 12th May 2026 - 8:58 am

It’s a few years into a Labour government, who are making unpopular decisions. And in the London elections – we surge to power as the biggest party, or main opposition party, in Lambeth, Southwark, Brent, Camden, Islington and many other London boroughs.

2002 was a great year for us in London, and other cities where we fought Labour. We leapt forward as progressive voters switched from Labour to us.

By contrast in 2026 our vote share in inner London boroughs was the worst since 1978. We aren’t running any inner London boroughs. We are only even the main opposition party in one, Brent.

This isn’t just a London, or a city, problem though. Our 2026 local election vote share of 14% is worse than in the coalition year of 2011 – and our lowest in 8 years.

Why is this?

The youthfulness of modern cities seems an easy place to turn for an answer – dominated as they are by working age people. But this is simply a sign of our failure to reach these voters.

Liberal values in Britain are, generally, most strongly held by younger people. We should be doing much better among the working age voters.

We have this opportunity – but why aren’t we exploiting it?

Pollster Chris Annous points out that most voters do not believe that the Liberal Democrats actually want to change our country. In fact they see us as representatives of the status quo, alongside Labour and the Conservatives. And the public desperately wants to see Britain changed.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , | 37 Comments
David Vigar

The far-right nightmare looms. What are we doing about it?

By David Vigar | Published Mon 11th May 2026 - 9:02 am

Am I alone in thinking our response to the local election results is a little too self-congratulatory? Of course we should broadcast our success in increasing our councillor count yet again and congratulate everyone who worked hard to make it happen.

But for me, the main message of the elections is that Britain now faces the nightmare prospect of a far-right totalitarian government. William Hill now has Reform 11-10 on to win the most seats in 2029. The next takeaway is that we, the Liberal Democrats, have a critical role in stopping it.

Almost exactly a year ago, Lib Dem Voice ran a piece that I wrote after the 2025 local elections when I was part of a winning team in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, beating Reform into second place in six out of seven divisions.

There, we developed an anti-Reform playbook based on our doorstep experiences. It included some rebuttal of Reform claims – to make people pause for thought – but more importantly, it offered a positive alternative in the shape of strong candidates and their vision for the town. Reform appealed to the worst instincts of voters. We appealed to the best.

Reform also appeal to the heart rather than the mind, so the response has to be directed to the same place. Logic doesn’t work – no more than it does with someone who’s fallen in love with a rat.

Last year I wrote that this needed a proper strategy, “a solid and well-researched plan for the rest of this Parliament”. I sent that blog to senior party members and I was told that action was underway. We even had a “Reform Watch” group. Anyone heard of it? It seems to be a self-help group for councillors, anything but a national campaign.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , | 14 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Friday morning update – Lib Dems gain Stockport and Portsmouth but lose Hull

By Caron Lindsay | Published Fri 8th May 2026 - 8:14 am

So with only about 10% of the results across the nation in, we are doing ok.

We have gained control of Stockport, a success that had Hazel Grove MP Lisa Smart dancing on live television.

We also gained Portsmouth.

The results in the London Boroughs of Richmond and Sutton were almost embarrassing. We took all 54 seats in Richmond and 51 out of 55 in Sutton, wiping out the Tories there completely.  While it is a huge endorsement of the good work our Councillors are doing, it’s also not healthy in any democracy for any party to have so much power.

There was less good news in Merton where we had hoped to get closer to control. Labour held on, though we gained two seats.

The sad news is that we lost our majority control in Hull, though we are still the largest party by a very long way. Reform picked up 10 seats, 7 from Labour and 3 from us. We also gained one from Labour.  We almost lost another to Reform by a handful of votes.

Overall, we have gained 35 Council seats so far, retaining control of Eastleigh along the way.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 35 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Ruth Bright
    Such a heartening Question Time from Jake 👏...
  • BigTallTim
    A very good article Mark....
  • Daniel Walker
    @Tom Bailey "How many voters of Holborn and St Pancras, Lisbon, or Seville voted for Ursula von der Leyen? Answer : None, because 250 million Europeans, neve...
  • Richard Good
    I first met Michael in the Ripon By-Election in the mid seventies when Leeds Bookseller David Austwick won the seat . He was a good friend and adviser when I wa...
  • Matt (Bristol)
    Jenny, the whole thread discusses the opinion of LGBT+ Lib Dems that the party should argue for a new piece of legislation redefining and replacing the GRA as i...