Tag Archives: 2014 month by month

It was the last Autumn Statement before the General Election and Lib Dems were keen to show what we had put into it. Nick Clegg announced £150 million to help improve treatment for young people with eating disorders.

The beginning of September saw squeaky bum time in the Referendum went ahead in one poll. What, I wondered, could the pro UK do to pull it back?

There is very little chance of this vote now being decisive enough to put the issue of independence to bed for a generation. If the UK doesn’t deliver on not just more powers but greater social justice as well, then Scots will insist on another referendum. Nicola Sturgeon has already talked about doing it all again in 5 years if we vote no. We need to get those people back who want a Federal UK but are voting yes. It’s important that these people believe that the chance of achieving that goal is better after a No vote. It certainly isn’t after a Yes vote which is irreversible.  The likely narrow no vote is the option which gives people the most power. Voting yes would be handing it over to an SNP establishment which is very comfortable with power and for all the talk of a written constitution, is unlikely to want to cede much. The fact that it’s centralised everything that sits still for more than two minutes shows that. The very last thing I want to do is to trust them with more power. Imagine what Clear Desk Kenny MacAskill would do with counter-terrorism measures.

In August, the referendum got serious, but if it’s a laugh you want, skip to the 4th post. It’ll make you squeal.

The SNP and Yes saw the writing on the wall so started using desperate tactics saying the NHS, which is completely devolved to Scotland anyway, was under threat, using a much depended upon institution as a political weapon.

Some Liberal Democrats supported independence, though, as Denis Mollison wrote:

Crucially for Liberal Democrats, how will the prospects for further devolution look on 19th September if we vote No? Any progress will depend on Tory or Labour support, and what they are offering is minimal: indeed the limited devolution of income tax could in practice leave us worse off. Our own current policy is much watered down from the original Home Rule concept, with separate parliaments for each country and a federal parliament for foreign affairs and macro-economics. Until we reach that stage the `West Lothian’ problem will just get worse and worse.

If we couldn’t achieve Home Rule 100 years ago, when there was a majority Liberal government and 6/7ths of the Scottish MPs were Liberal, we’re not likely to do so now.

So we get to July. Time for a long, hot Summer unwinding by the beach? Not a chance. Not with a referendum on… But first, there was emergency legislation to cover internet data loopholes. In a mammoth post, we looked at the pros, cons and dangers for our party.

The papers covered the promotion of some Tory women by comparing their outfits rather than their competence. Nick Clegg mocked them on Twitter. He did that quite a few times over the year, being random and funny and getting talked about.

There was a change of heart from the party on the Bedroom Tax based on the evidence of its first few months. To be honest, the conclusion was almost inevitable and highly predictable, but credit to the party for at least acting when the evidence was irrefutable. It wasn’t working, there were no smaller places for people to move to and it was causing hardship.

And so we reach the mid-point of the year. Already bruised, battered, fraught and fretful and along comes a Tory-UKIP bunfight in the form of a by-election in Newark to cheer us up. Not.

Stephen Tall pored over the results:

It was another dire night, to cap a dire fortnight. We didn’t just lose our deposit, we came sixth. Our vote collapsed. Four years ago, 10,246 Newark voters marked a ‘X’ beside the Lib Dem box. Yesterday, just 1,004 did so. In contrast to the Tories, not a single Lib Dem MP turned up to campaign. To be fair, they’re doubtless all knackered after a gruelling election period: but if our MPs couldn’t be persuaded to show up for our candidate why should we be surprised if the voters didn’t?

Much credit to our candidate, David Watts, who did his best in what was clearly a tricky campaign. Commenting on the result last night, David was phlegamtic: “Well it wasn’t a good result, but smaller parties often get squeezed in by-elections and that’s what’s happened to us here. We knew, from talking to people today, that a lot of our voters had transferred to vote against UKIP to make sure UKIP didn’t get elected and some have clearly gone to Paul’s campaign on the hospital which is a very important campaign.”

May saw the start of a campaign that was to eventually change the law on what has become known as Revenge Porn. The friend I quoted in the article wasn’t going public at that time, but it was Hannah Thompson who so eloquently and with real grace and dignity told her story and persuaded the likes of Maria Miller, Julian Huppert and Sal Brinton to fight for change.

Remember that interview where LBC’s James O’Brien took apart Nigel Farage on such issues as UKIP’s dodgy  immigration claims and its MEPs’ expenses? We shouldn’t forget that infamous moment when he said …