Tag Archives: citizen rights

Daisy Cooper: Liberal Britain needs you

By The Voice | Sun 19th September 2021 - 9:29 am

In her conference speech, Daisy Cooper – MP for St Albans since 2019, deputy leader and Lib Dem spokesperson for education – tackles liberty and rights. She talks about how how individual liberties and freedom of expression have been eroded by Labour and Conservative governments. And about how Liberal Democrats have challenged and protested over decades. Rights and liberties are under attack again from a nationalist Tory government which is attacking our right to peaceful protest and weakening the right of every individual to take the government to court when it fails them. A liberal Britain would give people the freedom to be whoever they want to be and live their lives as they choose. There will be more power to people to make decisions in their communities, at work and in their everyday lives.

Posted in News | Also tagged daisy cooper and liberal britain | 2 Comments

Citizens Britain: a radical agenda for the 2020s

By Ian Kearns and Jon Alexander | Mon 14th December 2020 - 12:47 pm

On Saturday, the anniversary of last year’s disastrous General Election, we published a new report. Citizens’ Britain is the follow up to our previous collaboration, Winning for Britain, which was the first data-rich review of 2019. That earlier report concluded with the challenge of identifying “a distinct, progressive, liberal alternative”. Citizens’ Britain, a country where every voice is heard, and where we work together to solve the problems we face, is that alternative.

We must be honest with ourselves: liberalism itself is now under threat in this country. A year on from the General Election, the Conservative government’s approach to the pandemic and Brexit is endangering lives and livelihoods. Since his re-election, Boris Johnson and those around him have enabled nationalism and right-wing conservatism while also stifling progressive voices and ripping up the liberal institutions and frameworks that underpin our daily lives.

The mandate that Johnson and his cronies are claiming for this is rooted in a myth. The myth says people are uninterested in politics and just want government to get on with running things while they are left alone to get on with their lives. The Tories, to be clear, believe that Brexit and the hoarding of power in the central executive, at the expense of parliament, the devolved administrations, and local government, is no more than a response to the popular demand for government to ‘just get on with it’. To the extent that their governing philosophy extends beyond that, it is to say only that people should occasionally be called upon to use their consumer power to boost the economy.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged liberal philosophy | 11 Comments

Protecting the welfare of families with parents of different nationalities

By John Shardlow | Tue 19th May 2020 - 10:27 am

I’m a British citizen, living in Malaysia and have been married for nearly ten years to a Malaysian citizen. I have a stepson and a daughter both of whom hold Malaysian passports and my daughter is also eligible to have a British passport (however, Malaysia does not recognize dual citizenship so she would eventually have to choose one or the other).

For a long time, my wife and I have mulled over the pros and cons of staying in Malaysia or moving to live in the UK.

There are lots of factors to consider but one of the big ones is …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged migration policy and visas | 4 Comments