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The Voice

How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

By The Voice | Published Fri 11th April 2014 - 5:00 pm

Why not join hundreds of other Lib Dem Voice readers in getting our latest headlines by email?

Some people like regularly visiting a site to see if there’s new stories of interest. Some people like subscribing to its news feed (RSS) and checking that way. But if you prefer email, you can instead sign up to get a daily early morning email with a summary of the previous day’s posts from Lib Dem Voice, complete with a note of how many comments each post has got and convenient links to click on if any take your fancy and you want to take a read.

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Posted in Site news | 1 Comment
Suzanne Fletcher

Opinion: How we made policy on asylum issues

By Suzanne Fletcher | Published Thu 3rd April 2014 - 4:05 pm

Advocates disrupt transfer of asylum seekers from VillawoodEver wondered how party policy is made? I was on the “Immigration, Asylum and Identity” Policy Working Group, and the process has taken a whole year. Living in the north east, I daren’t begin to add up the cost of the fares, and food on the move, for meetings every 10 days on an evening in London, but it was an opportunity to get some good and Liberal policies for the Party for those asylum seekers who seek sanctuary in the UK.

Between March and …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Nick v Nigel: What the commentators say – and don’t say

By Caron Lindsay | Published Thu 3rd April 2014 - 1:12 pm

Farage cleggWell, there’s a surprise. After last week’s largely positive stories, the headlines aren’t so good this week. It’s interesting to see that those who called for Nick to be more passionate and to go less on the detail weren’t satisfied when he did just that. I wonder if last week’s coverage prompted too much of a strategic rethink to an approach that was working fine. In my opinion, the only thing that needed changing from the LBC debate was a stronger answer on the referendum question, especially as it …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , | 49 Comments
Stephen Tall

Time for Nick Clegg to ditch the “Great Britain not Little England” line

By Stephen Tall | Published Sun 30th March 2014 - 11:45 am

england-flag“Great Britain not little England” – it was a line Nick Clegg used in his recent Spring conference speech, setting up the new political dividing lines between those who are optimistic, outward-looking, progressive pro-Europeans and those who are gloomy, isolationst, reactionary anti-Europeans.

It’s a line he used again in this week’s Nick v Nigel debate. “Great Britain, not Little England” was the subject line, too, of the party’s immediate post-debate email to supporters.

Clearly it’s a line the party believes encapsulates the main fault-line in British politics right now. …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , , | 37 Comments
Stephen Tall

Latest Euro poll shows how, in this May’s elections, every %-age point matters for the Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Published Fri 28th March 2014 - 11:45 am

clegg farage lbcInterest in the outcome of May’s European elections is picking up, at least judged by the number of polls the newspapers are commissioning – four have been published in the last fortnight. Here’s the average support for the parties:

    Labour – 30%
    Ukip – 26%
    Conservative – 24%
    Lib Dems – 9%

Converting that into seats using EuroElection predict’s online gizmo would produce the following figures:

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Posted in Europe / International, Polls | Tagged , | 28 Comments
The Voice

LDVideo: Vince responds to the budget (and takes on Labour “hubris” in the process)

By The Voice | Published Sat 22nd March 2014 - 6:17 pm

Business secretary Vince Cable was on his feet in the Commons on Thursday, providing his response to budget. His speech has already proved something of a hit, not least for his deft responses to point-scoring interventions by Labour MPs, including with the Voice’s Stephen Tall.

You can watch (and read) Vince in action below.

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Posted in News | Tagged , , | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

Democratic Audit on the “scandal” of the poor value taxpayers get for the £800m spent on elections in the UK

By Stephen Tall | Published Mon 17th March 2014 - 2:45 pm

Ballot paperDemocratic Audit, an independent research organisation based at the London School of Economics, this week published a report, Engaging young voters with enhanced election information. The title may not be the most exciting ever, but the report itself is worth a read. (You can download it here.)

The executive summary from the report’s authors, Patrick Dunleavy and Richard Berry, sets out the current problem as they see it:

Current arrangements in the UK only give very poor, fragmented and old-fashioned feedback to voters about what effect their participation has had, and what election outcomes were.

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Posted in What do the academics say? | Tagged , , , , | 15 Comments
NewsHound

Vince Cable: I don’t understand why bankers need to earn a million quid a year

By NewsHound | Published Mon 17th March 2014 - 1:26 pm

Vince Cable speaking York Europe Jobs Some rights reserved by Liberal DemocratsIn an interview for the Observer magazine’s “This much I know” feature, Vince Cable has shared his life lessons.

He shares his incredulity that anyone needs a salary/bonus of over £1 million to live on:

I don’t understand why people need a million quid a year. I’ve asked one or two of the more sympathetic bankers to explain it to me. The response has been: “It’s not that I need the money, it is because others get it so I should, too.”

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Posted in News | Tagged , | 37 Comments
Caron Lindsay

So, what’s been going on at Conference?

By Caron Lindsay | Published Sat 8th March 2014 - 6:29 pm

It’s not always easy to blog from Conference. Wifi can be temperamental and distractions are plentiful. However, your team will have lots to tell you over the next few days.

Here’s a quick snapshot of what’s been going on so far:

The Rally:

Vince Cable got really personal. He said that he’d had a fair bit of pressure put on him to slash adult education. He refused to do it, because of his own family experience.

His mother had a long spell in hospital following a nervous breakdown. He talked about how adult education had given her a second opportunity to build a career.

That …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , | 3 Comments
Nick Harvey

Nick Harvey writes: Making free school meals work

By Nick Harvey | Published Fri 7th March 2014 - 5:42 pm

school mealsYesterday in Parliament I joined with the Children’s Society to chair a roundtable to discuss the Government’s new free school meals policy.

Announced at last year’s Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference, from the start of the next school year (2014/15) all children at infant school in England will receive a free school lunch. The policy, which is projected to cost around £1bn over the next two years, will apply to all children aged 4-7 regardless of their family’s income.

Yesterday’s event brought together MPs with experts in the fields of education and nutrition …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 12 Comments
Helen Flynn

21st Century Education: A Social Liberal Approach

By Helen Flynn | Published Fri 7th March 2014 - 3:32 pm

slflogoThe Social Liberal Forum are proud to announce the publication today of our newest publication: 21st Century Education.  The contributors to this publication are all experts in the world of education—the majority of whom are teachers—who are also members of the Liberal Democrats.   Grass roots members at that, many with long years of party membership.  As the editor of the booklet I am grateful that all the contributors were happy to write under the Social Liberal Forum banner.

What we are predominantly grappling with in this publication are not the usual battlegrounds of …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 1 Comment
Caron Lindsay

South East UKIP Euro candidate says businesses should have right not to serve women and gay people

By Caron Lindsay | Published Wed 5th March 2014 - 5:43 pm

On the day that Nick Clegg has pointed out how, well, useless UKIP MEPs are, I had a look back 5 years to a post I wrote two days before the 2009 European election in which I pointed out why they are really bad news. I could have written it today. Nothing really has changed.

And over that 5 years, we’ve had a stream of UKIP councillors and parliamentary hopefuls say silly things. We’ve had the floods being related to equal marriage and Godfrey Bloom’s fridgegate. Not to mention one of their major donors describe women wearing …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , | 13 Comments

Opinion: Tell us your views on a fair, liberal criminal justice system

By Geoff Payne | Published Wed 5th March 2014 - 4:51 pm

The prevention, detection and prosecution of crime and the sentencing and rehabilitation of offenders is one of the fundamental roles of the government and the independent judiciary. It is also something that matters enormously to the electorate. No-one wants to be a victim of crime. No-one wants to be accused of a crime they did not commit.  Many offenders would want to rehabilitate themselves and live a decent life in the future.

For too long, crime policy has suffered from an obsession shared by successive Labour and Tory Governments of seeking to be ever tougher than the last and yet completely …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments
Caron Lindsay

David Laws challenges Tories on child poverty

By Caron Lindsay | Published Fri 28th February 2014 - 9:28 am

The frustrations of being in government with the Tories are no greater than when they are concerned with issues of poverty and vulnerability. Many Liberal Democrats have ongoing concerns about welfare reforms which remove support from people who need it. However much we might try to console ourselves with the fact that we are making a difference with things like free school meals, the raising of the tax threshold, extra childcare for the poorest, an early start to education for the poorest 2 year olds and making sure that the whole country enjoys the benefits of the economic recovery and …

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

LibLink: Lynne Featherstone: In praise of civil servants

By The Voice | Published Thu 27th February 2014 - 4:39 pm

Lynne Featherstone, writing on her own blog, has given us a very interesting insight into the mechanics of Government and is full of praise and appreciation for the people who have brought about her two key acts as a minister, equal marriage, and the fight against the abhorrent practice of female genital mutilation.

She described receiving invaluable tips from Michael Heseltine and Andrew Adonis when she first became a Minister. It’s interesting that just a short time after Adonis left office himself, he was providing sensible advice for the newbies. Politics is a lot more civilised behind the scenes than you …

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged , | 1 Comment
Jonathan Brown

Launching the new ‘Lib Dem New European Network’

By Jonathan Brown | Published Tue 25th February 2014 - 10:30 am

lib dem new european networkThe purpose of this network is to put Lib Dems of Central and Eastern European origin, as well as those with an interest in the region and the issues effecting our new European friends, neighbours and citizens, in touch with each other.   It should promote more effective campaigning, the sharing of advice on how to better represent residents of such a background, and spread awareness of the specific issues that affect these communities.

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Posted in News | Tagged | 9 Comments
Caron Lindsay

My first foray into the world of student debating…

By Caron Lindsay | Published Sat 22nd February 2014 - 3:10 pm

St Andrew's DebateA few weeks ago, out of the blue, I had an email from the President of the St Andrew’s University Debating Society inviting me to take part in their annual Parliamentary Debate on the subject “This House has no faith in Her Majesty’s Government.”

I was heavily encouraged by my co-editor Stephen Tall (who had taken part last year) and others to accept, despite my reservations. It had been a long time since I’d been at a university debate and I’d never spoken in one, not even from the floor. They key thing for me is that I write, I don’t speak. My gob is not equipped with the advantage of a backspace key. Nor can I tell jokes or do all the theatrical stuff. I allowed myself to be talked into it, though. By the morning of the debate on Thursday, I was alternately hyperventilating and mewling into a pillow, wondering why on earth I’d put myself in this situation. I had no alternative, though, but to embrace the fear and get on with it.

My satnav took me on the scariest route possible to North East Fife. I had thought of defying her, but she gets incredibly passive aggressive if you do so. I joined members of the Debating Society’s Board of 10 for a pre-debate meal. Unusually, I was the only speaker there. Chatting to them and finding out about the university and the society really helped settle my nerves. They were very lovely and hospitable. 

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

How should PMQs be reformed?

By Stephen Tall | Published Sat 15th February 2014 - 8:00 am

Hansard-SocietyPrime Minister’s Questions, the half-hour weekly pantomime that transfixes Westminster and the SW1 media, got a deserved pasting from the Hansard Society this week which released a report, Tuned in or Turned off? Public attitudes to PMQs.

The results couldn’t be clearer. PMQs is a significant ‘cue’ or ‘building block’ for the public’s perceptions of Parliament, and it provides a lot of the raw material that feeds their negative assumptions about politicians.

The public like the ‘theory’ of PMQs but dislike the current practice of it. They recognise that the opportunity

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , | 15 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Bluff, bluster and bullying, says Salmond. Pot, kettle and black come to mind

By Caron Lindsay | Published Fri 14th February 2014 - 3:38 pm

That the SNP would dismiss yesterday’s announcement on currency by George Osborne should not come as a surprise to any of us.

Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon have taken to the airwaves to complain of “bluff, bluster and bullying” by those nasty big boys from Westminster. It’s actually quite brazen to sit there and say, having been told a very firm “no” that the answer was really yes. But their aim was to whip up fury amongst their own supporters, to incite an emotional reaction in those who don’t like English Tories telling things like they are.

That was always going to …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , | 30 Comments
Stephen Tall

Wythenshawe and Sale East by-election: Labour win easily, Ukip beat Tories to 2nd, Lib Dems lose deposit

By Stephen Tall | Published Fri 14th February 2014 - 9:10 am

Labour comfortably won yesterday’s Wythenshawe and Sale East by-election, caused by the sad death of Paul Goggins just five weeks ago. Here are the results:

    Labour: Mike Kane – 13,261 (55%, +11%)
    UKIP: John Bickley – 4,301 (18%, +15%)
    Conservative: Daniel Critchlow – 3,479 (15%, -11%)
    Liberal Democrat: Mary di Mauro – 1,176 (5%, -17%)
    Green: Nigel Woodcock – 748 (3%, +3%)
    BNP: Eddy O’Sullivan – 708 (3%, -1%)
    Monster Raving Loony: Captain Chaplington-Smythe – 288 (1%)
    Turnout: 23,961, 28%

It’s clear there were two winners from the election – though the very low-turn-out (barely one-quarter of the registered electorate bothered to vote in what was a foregone conclusion by-election) …

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Posted in News, Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged , | 128 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Ruling out currency union: Locking the horse inside the stable?

By Caron Lindsay | Published Wed 12th February 2014 - 6:48 pm

MoneyThe currency in an independent Scotland has been the subject of much frenetic debate in recent months. The Scottish Government’s White Paper on independence is clear that their preferred option is to continue to use sterling within a monetary union with what would remain of the UK:

The Commission’s analysis shows that it will not only be in Scotland’s interests to retain Sterling but that – post independence – this will also benefit the rest of the UK.

Under such an arrangement, monetary policy will be set according to economic conditions across

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , | 33 Comments
Dee Doocey

Wanted: Your views on slavery

By Dee Doocey | Published Mon 10th February 2014 - 8:36 am

“Slavery?” I hear you cry. “In this day and age?”

Sadly, slavery is still very much with us. And it’s not a problem found only in far away countries. It’s happening right here, right now, in Britain.

The extent of the problem and proposed remedies were set out in the Report of the Modern Slavery Bill Evidence Review, chaired by Frank Field MP and published on 16th December 2013.

The government is now proposing new legislation to tackle the problem. As part of the process of preparing this legislation, a Joint Committee on the Draft Modern Slavery Bill has …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

Editors’ note: How we intend to handle ‘sponsored posts’ in the future

By Stephen Tall | Published Sat 8th February 2014 - 8:45 am

Last November, LibDemVoice – after some internal debate among the editorial team and with quite a few qualms – published our first (and, to date, last) ‘sponsored post’, an article published in return for payment to the site. Both the principle – publishing an article in return for payment – and the subject matter (support of expansion at Heathrow) made it pretty controversial.

Some readers thought it was quite the wrong thing for the site to do; others thought that, so long as the posts were clearly marked as sponsored, then it was fine. We paused for thought …

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Posted in News | 23 Comments
Fadel Galal

Opinion: Protecting journalists and foreign correspondents – it’s about time

By Fadel Galal | Published Sun 2nd February 2014 - 4:45 pm

What is currently happening in Egypt in my view is a very sad and violent transformation. Yet as a native of this country, I believe this to be an internal process and should be shaped only by Egyptians living in Egypt.

However, what should not be accepted as an internal matter is the level of intimidation and violence against journalists and foreign correspondents, particularly foreign journalists and those working for foreign media organisations.

They are unwittingly being sucked into a political turmoil they do not control. They are seasoned professionals caught in the line of fire while doing their …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , | 3 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Julian Huppert welcomes advertising ban rethink

By Caron Lindsay | Published Sat 1st February 2014 - 4:23 pm

The Advertising Standards Authority is a funny old body sometimes. There are occasions when it overlooks quite outrageous flouting of infant feeding regulations in formula advertisements (although one such ad was banned this week for making misleading claims). Then last week it tried to ban a Cycling Scotland advert on public safety grounds because it showed a cyclist not wearing a helmet and cycling too far into the road. The positioning was later proven to be entirely consistent with the Highway Code and it is not a legal requirement to wear a helmet.

There is, in fact, some controversy in the …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

Marriage tax breaks: Lib Dem members oppose Conservative plans by 62% to 22%

By Stephen Tall | Published Sun 26th January 2014 - 3:44 pm

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 750 party members responded – thank you – and we’ve been publishing the full results.

(There were a couple of results I ran out of time to publish during the Christmas holiday period – I’ll be publishing them this week.)

Lib Dems oppose married couple tax-breaks by 62% to 22%

The tax break for married couples and civil partners was a Conservative election pledge that has lain dormant during Coalition. Not because of Lib …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments
The Voice

Tim Farron’s email to Lib Dem members explaining the suspension of Lord Rennard

By The Voice | Published Mon 20th January 2014 - 4:35 pm

The following message from Lib Dem party president Tim Farron has just been emailed to members:

It has been a difficult few days for the party. Many of you have contacted me directly to express your anger and disappointment at Lord Rennard’s refusal to apologise following the recommendations of the investigation into his behaviour. As President, I wanted you to hear from me.

Along with Nick Clegg, I made my view absolutely clear – Lord Rennard’s refusal to apologise is unacceptable. Most importantly, Lord Rennard is actively rejecting calls to apologise from party members and is refusing to comply with a formal

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , | 66 Comments
Stephen Tall

First Euro poll of 2014 shows Lib Dems at 7%. Can we make being ‘The Party of IN’ work for us by the time of the real election?

By Stephen Tall | Published Thu 16th January 2014 - 10:55 am

The first poll this year asking how people will vote in May’s European elections has been published today by YouGov. It gives the following headline ratings compared with the last elections in 2009:

    Conservative 17% (-11%)
    Labour 24% (+8%)
    Lib Dem 7% (-7%)
    Ukip 19% (+2%)

Feed these numbers (plus those for the Greens, SNP/Plaid and others) into euroelection.co.uk and here’s what it means for numbers of seats:

euro results forecast 2014

The Lib Dems would be reduced from 11 seats to just 4, if these numbers are to be believed. The Tories number of MEPs …

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Posted in Europe / International, Polls | Tagged , , , | 40 Comments
Caron Lindsay

10 reasons why Mary from Sherlock should stick with the Liberal Democrats

By Caron Lindsay | Published Sun 12th January 2014 - 8:14 pm

As this post appears, we’ll be getting ready for the season finale of Sherlock. If my Twitter feed is anything to go by, we includes many of this site’s regular readers.

We’ve waited two years for the third season and it’s all over in a week and a half. I loved the nods to the fandom, the tube line geekery and the usual ingenuity of the first episode. I also liked the fact that the eccentric guy with the beard was right.

The second episode dragged in places but had the best Best Man’s Speech since Four Weddings and a Funeral 20 …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Should MPs be allowed to take their babies into the voting lobby?

By Caron Lindsay | Published Thu 9th January 2014 - 11:28 am

There’s been a bit of controversy over the issue of breastfeeding in the House of Commons and taking babies into the voting lobby sparked by comments by Jo Swinson, who gave birth to her son Andrew on 22 December. The argument goes that you can take a sword into the Commons voting lobby, but not a baby. On face value, it sounds like yet another way in which Westminster needs to be dragged into the 21st century.

Jo said to the Guardian:

“I think it’s been lovely the way people have been really supportive in parliament of my pregnancy,” she said. ” I think some of the structures of the institutions of the House of Commons probably don’t make it as easy as it could be, in particular that you don’t get maternity cover. As a minister, I get cover for my work … but nobody else will be being the MP for East Dunbartonshire.”

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , | 29 Comments
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