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Tag Archives: featured

Ukraine: Live thread on the political reaction

By The Voice | Thu 24th February 2022 - 5:19 am

You know things are bad when you wake in the early hours and hear the announcement on the BBC World Service that it is to broadcast rolling news from 4am. There is almost no space for other news items other than the situation in Ukraine.

As in the early days of any war, reports are partial, sometimes confused, sometimes contradictory and sometimes downright lies. This is war in Europe and the full impact of the conflict cannot yet be predicted.

We will be adding reactions from Lib Dems to the conflict throughout the day.

This is the darkest day for our continent since 1945. The blood of every innocent Ukrainian who perishes in this illegal invasion is on Putin’s hands.

We must stand with Ukraine. It is time to let rip on the most severe of punitive sanctions.

— Ed Davey (@EdwardJDavey) February 24, 2022

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged russia and ukraine | 16 Comments

Are policy motions at Conference too long?

By Lord William Wallace | Wed 23rd February 2022 - 3:05 pm

All active Liberal Democrats know that the messages you write on a leaflet have to be clear and short. So why when we come to party conferences do we insist on debating motions which are astonishingly long and complex? I challenge most attendees at party conferences on whether they have read through the full texts of all the motions.

I have just ploughed through 1,000 words of a motion for Spring Conference on an issue I care strongly about – having already read the much longer and more detailed policy paper to which it relates. What we want from conference motions is the equivalent of an executive summary – the headlines of our detailed policies, brief and clear enough to be put on the back of our leaflets, ideally: 3-400 words at most. But the established style of LibDem policy motions is far longer and more intricate.

The crush of business in the Lords has made me acutely aware of the need for brevity and focus in making speeches. A generation ago peers (and MPs) were permitted to luxuriate through lengthy speeches of 20-30 minutes; in Victorian times Parliament would listen to speeches of an hour or more. Now we have ‘advisory timings’ of 3-6 minutes in many debates, with 10-12 minutes for front-bench speeches. I’ve therefore had to learn to count the number of words in a draft carefully, to prioritise points and to cut out things I would like to add but are only of secondary importance. At around 130 words spoken a minute, 1,000 words takes between seven and eight minutes to deliver in a speech – twice as long as the conference chairs are likely to offer someone from the floor.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged conference and policy motions | 10 Comments

You are invited to Shirley Williams’ Memorial Service

By The Voice | Tue 22nd February 2022 - 11:51 am

Embed from Getty Images

You are invited to celebrate the life of
Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams

Continue reading »

Posted in Obituaries | Also tagged shirley williams | 5 Comments

Problem of Russia and Ukraine or anywhere inextricably linked to China

By Tom Arms | Sat 19th February 2022 - 8:21 am

Vladimir Putin would not be poised to crush Ukraine without the tacit support of President Xi Jinping. He received it when he was one of a handful of heads of state who graced the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics with their presence.

The statement that followed their meeting pledged mutual protection and stressed their common interests (Taiwan and Ukraine). But it fell short of a blanket approval for a Russian invasion.

China has too much to lose if Russia invades Ukraine and destabilises Europe and the US. It has spent many billions on its Belt/Road initiative linking Chinese factories to European markets. It wants those pesky Europeans to be able to buy Chinese goods. Beijing also holds over a trillion dollars in American debt. Full-throated support for a Russian invasion of Ukraine would hit the value of the dollar and devalue that debt.

The Chinese are an autocracy. They don’t like democracies. They see them as a threat to their interests, values and the all-embracing Chinese Communist Party. But at the same time their growing stake in the success of the economies of the democratic West dictates caution and a long-term approach.

China is a challenge to the West. It is not an immediate threat.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged russia and ukraine | 8 Comments

The Progressive Alliance isn’t progressing…

By Nick Baird | Thu 17th February 2022 - 11:05 am

I’ll be honest – Compass and the whole “Progressive Alliance” debate frustrates me. Yes, I fully understand the principle of opposition parties working together in some as yet undefined way, but in my opinion the advocates of a Progressive Alliance are failing. Leaving aside what “Progressive” means (if anything), I’m still not clear what the “Alliance” bit means. Compass say they want to “stimulate the debate” but what are we even debating?

Cooperation could mean anything within a wide spectrum – from one party’s activists campaigning for another, through one party simply standing down, to standing but campaigning selectively, or passively standing and not campaigning at all.

The debate doesn’t seem to be moving forward, and it can’t until there are concrete proposals on fundamentals such as what cooperation looks like and, importantly, how target seats are apportioned.

Why do I care so much?

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged progressive alliance | 15 Comments

Partygate: Lib Dem motion to reveal if PM and officials fined by Met

By NewsHound | Thu 17th February 2022 - 7:40 am

The Liberal Democrats have tabled a ‘Humble Address’ motion to force the government to reveal whether Boris Johnson, ministers and senior officials have been fined by the Met police over law-breaking parties in Number 10.

The parliamentary motion would require the publication of a full list of the names of any elected officials, senior civil servants and political appointees given Fixed Penalty Notices as a result of the police investigation. It would also require the Sue Gray report to be published in full alongside any accompanying evidence including photographs.

The motion states that this information should be published no more than two days after the Metropolitan Police investigation is completed. It has been tabled by Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey and signed by all 13 of the party’s MPs.

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Posted in News | Also tagged partygate | 5 Comments

Party reforms are crucial for our fightback

By Hannah Kitching | Tue 15th February 2022 - 10:52 am

Embed from Getty Images
Our party has come a long way since the devastating general election defeat of 2019, when we lost many people including our then leader, Jo Swinson.

As someone standing in a Northern Leave-voting seat, I saw firsthand the effect of the mistakes that cost us so dearly in that campaign and which Dorothy Thornhill’s post-election review documented so clearly.

We must not make the same mistakes again – and that means fixing the party systems and structures that let us down in 2019.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged Dorothy Thornhill review, party reforms, spring conference 2022 and Thornhill report | 29 Comments

Getting our technology and tools right: get in the know.

By Greg Foster | Sat 12th February 2022 - 2:45 pm

Campaign Technology is one of the most important things for the Liberal Democrats to get right.

Whether it’s canvassing apps, websites or even data entry, we can’t campaign effectively without the right tools and the right data.

Over the last 18 months, the LDHQ technology team has been reviewing our data, technology and tools. We’ve also been gathering feedback from the people who use them to help us understand where the problems are at the moment.

That process has identified a number of problems with our current setup, including:

We aren’t getting value for money from our campaigning technology
Our data quality is low and it is scattered across multiple systems
Our websites are expensive, hard to maintain and out of date
We can’t give volunteers easy and high-quality information on how their teams are doing and their campaigns are going
Our tools aren’t easy for activists to use

I think there’d be few Liberal Democrat activists out there who disagreed with that list of big picture issues – so hopefully we’ve got the measure of the problems we need to solve.

Of course, solving those problems will take time and patience: there are no overnight magic wand fixes that will solve everything (sorry!).

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged party organisation and technology | 13 Comments

Observations of an ex pat: A bad special relationship

By Tom Arms | Sat 12th February 2022 - 10:43 am

The Anglo-American special relationship is growing closer—but not for the right reasons.

It has been founded on shared values, history, legal structures, trade, military and intelligence links and an unwavering belief in the democratic institutions which underwrite all of the above.

Today the democratic cornerstone is being undermined by the actions of conservative-minded political parties in both countries– America’s Republican Party and Britain’s Conservative and Unionist Party.

They have veered away from the responsibilities of political stewardship to the naked pursuit of power at all costs and tied their fortunes to personalities rather than policies. Both parties have adopted standard bearers (Donald Trump in America and Boris Johnson in the UK) who have become inveterate liars and slanderers.

Of course, in America, everything is bigger and better. And in the case of Donald Trump and his falsehoods, the former president is definitely in the world beater category. According to analysts at the Washington Post, he issued more than 30,000 lies during his presidency. And, of course, there is the “Big Election Lie” with which he is attempting to undermine the electoral system.

Boris Johnson is no slouch in the falsification stakes. But he goes more for quality than quantity. His Brexit lies were notorious. And as Prime Minister he regularly stands before the dispatch box of the House of Commons and rolls out statistics which Britain’s own Office of National Statistics immediately denies. But, of course, his most recent big lie was that there were no parties at 10 Downing Street during covid lockdowns. The police are currently investigating 12 such incidents.

The problem is that under parliamentary rules, MPs cannot call another member of parliament a liar; at least not in the precincts of the Palace of Westminster. To do so is a grave offence and results in temporary expulsion of parliament. Ian Blackford, leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party in the House of Commons, found this out to his cost.

Slander is also now a common tool of both party leaders. Boris Johnson recently stood in Parliament and accused Keir Starmer, Leader of the Opposition, of refusing to prosecute notorious celebrity paedophile Jimmy Saville. In both Parliament and Congress speakers are protected by absolute privilege which means that they can say whatever they want without fear of prosecution for libel or slander. The result was that Keir Starmer was cornered by an angry mob shouting “paedophile protector.”

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged observations of an ex pat | 20 Comments

The EHRC is utterly broken

By Helen Belcher | Fri 11th February 2022 - 2:48 pm

February is LGBT History Month – a month where we take the time to reflect on our history and honour those who fought for our rights.

Last week the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) issued a letter to the Scottish Government asking them to pause consideration of reforming the Gender Recognition Act. Apparently two consultations over 5 years was not enough. Not content with that, on the same day they wrote to the UK Government proposing that the new proposals for banning conversion practices should NOT cover trans people. The Equality and Human Rights Commission there, proposing inequality.

Yesterday, VICE magazine revealed that the EHRC is actively considering guidance for single-sex spaces which would bar all but a very few trans people from the spaces appropriate for them. The Equality and Human Rights Commission there, actively considering removing human rights and promoting inequality.

It’s for this reason that TransActual (which I chair) said this afternoon that the EHRC is “no longer fit to be called an equalities organisation. Trans and non-binary people will rightly now consider the organisation to be a hate group.”

For the avoidance of doubt, a good legal phrase there, any such guidance would plainly be unlawful, as it runs completely against the actual wording of the Equality Act, let alone breaching all sorts of basic human rights such as privacy. As such it would be challenged in the courts, as Good Law Project has indicated. But let this run for a moment.

The EHRC is utterly broken. Lest you think this is just about trans rights – it isn’t. In September, the EHRC agreed with the Government that there was no evidence of systemic racism in Britain, causing a huge outcry from race equality groups. Individual Commissioners have history in supporting the “hostile environment” against immigrants, supporting “white self-interest”, and that wariness about Muslims is justified. The Commission has made statements overtly supporting the Government’s political agenda, so it’s not even independent.

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | 5 Comments

Sex, gender and everything in between: why we need new language to help people understand trans rights

By Sam Al-Hamdani | Thu 10th February 2022 - 3:22 pm

I am a trans ally. Trans rights are human rights, and we should be doing everything that we can to ensure that they are enforced and everyone is given the respect and dignity they deserve.

Unfortunately, all too often when engaging in this area one of the first hurdles is getting past inaccessible language.

First of all, there is the term “assigned”. People are “assigned a sex at birth”. That’s a really misleading phrase. What we actually mean is that they were assigned a description of their sex – typically male or female, based on characteristics that they have.

But that’s not really very accurate. I have a daughter, and we definitely didn’t go through a process of checking levels of oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone. We didn’t check her chromosomes, there was no extensive check for genital abnormalities. We “assign” a description of their sex, based on a whole raft of assumptions. It can be years later that people figure out that that was inaccurate.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged Trans Rights | 16 Comments

Is democratic dystopia now the order of the day?

By Andy Boddington | Tue 8th February 2022 - 2:42 pm

It has been the stuff of dystopian science fiction for centuries. We have read the novels and watched the dramas. The typical thread is that the normal order of society breaks down due to alien invasion of beings, mutant plants, disease or nuclear war. Or that society descends entropically into chaos because that is the natural order of things.

I am a fan of dystopian writing. But I am not a fan of dystopia when it spills onto the streets and threatens democracy.

Yesterday’s abuse of Kier Starmer was not the usual rough and tumble of politics as some have claimed. It was clearly an organised attempt to intimidate the leader of the opposition.

We witnessed deaths on Capitol Hill last year. Ottawa, that most gentle of capitals, is in a state of emergency. Are we now living in a political dystopia we once only thought was science fiction?

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged law and order and protests | 9 Comments

Davey: We need leaders who can act over energy supplies

By NewsHound | Mon 7th February 2022 - 10:42 am

Writing in today’s Times, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey says that Boris Johnson has spent much of the past two weeks shacked up in his parliamentary office pleading for his own skin. Meanwhile, one hundred thousand Russian troops have massed on Ukraine’s border threaten the largest military action in Europe since the Second World War. Telling the Tories they need to get a grip fast, he warns that the gas Russia supplies to Europe could fall by up to 30 per cent and that already high gas prices will treble or worse.

Liberal Democrats have called for a “Robin Hood tax” on the super-profits of oil and gas producers and traders, including Russian energy giant, Gazprom.

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Posted in News | Also tagged ed davey, energy bills, russia and ukraine | 8 Comments

Is the Big Squeeze set to become the Big Freeze?

By Andy Boddington | Thu 3rd February 2022 - 3:06 pm

Ofgem today announced the price cap will rise by £693 in England, Scotland and Wales, an increase of 54 per cent. This means bills for the average customer will rise to £1,971, up from its previous limit of £1,277.

This is just one factor in the soaring cost of living. Food prices are rapidly increasing. National Insurance is due to be hiked. Borrowers, including some mortgage holders, will feel the impact of the 0.5% hike in interest rates announced by the Bank of England today. Council taxes are due to rise in many areas, though lessened by a one off reduction of £150 to ease the burden of the surge in energy prices.

Those on pre-payment meters, who are often the most insecure in their finances and housing, will typically see their annual bills rise by £708 from £1,309 to £2,017. around £14 a week.

Even for relatively wealthier households, the loss of an average £13 a week to the energy companies will suck money out of the local economy.

The big fear is that households already skimping on heating will begin to sit in the cold affecting their health and wellbeing. The Big Squeeze could become the Big Freeze.

Rishi Sunak's announcement gives just £350 per family to help with soaring energy bills. £200 of this has to then be paid back. This is barely half of the £693 rise in bills this April.

Inadequate. Offensive.

— Wera Hobhouse MP 🔶 🇺🇦 (@Wera_Hobhouse) February 3, 2022

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged council tax, energy prices and wera hobhouse mp | 31 Comments

Farron: Nationality and Borders Bill impact on LGBTQ+ refugees

By NewsHound | Thu 3rd February 2022 - 10:09 am

While the main attention in parliament yesterday was on tributes to Jack Dromey and Michael Gove’s statement on Levelling Up, an important debate also took place in Westminster Hall. Olivia Blake, Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam had secured a debate on the impact of the Nationality and Borders Bill on LGBTQ+ asylum seekers l. Tim Farron made a major and passionate contribution to the debate. It is notable that no Conservative MPs spoke during the debate.

Farron described the Nationality and Borders Bill as a peculiarly awful piece of legislation that is designed to solve problems that do not exist and to ignore problems that do. It is playing to the gallery rather than seeking to make a difference. The negative impact the Bill will have on LGBTQ+ asylum seekers is a prime example of what is wrong with it.

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Posted in News | Also tagged asylum seekers, LGBTQ+ and tim farron | 2 Comments

Amna Ahmad is our new Vice President

By The Voice | Tue 1st February 2022 - 6:29 pm

The following announcement has been published on the party website today by Chief Executive, Mike Dixon:

Amna Ahmad has been elected and will take up the role of Vice President responsible for working with ethnic minority communities.

Thank you to Amna and all of the candidates for taking part in the election. The results can be found in full here.

As this was a by-election, Amna’s term will run until January 2023.

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Posted in News | Also tagged amna ahmad and lib dem vice president election 2021 | 3 Comments

Mark Pack writes…Why we need more Council candidates

By Mark Pack | Mon 31st January 2022 - 9:10 am

When we debate party policy, strategy or election tactics, questions about what might attract or put off voters often – and rightly – come up. But there’s one sure-fire, 100% guaranteed, rock-solid way of repelling voters from us, and it’s one we use far too often. It’s not having a Liberal Democrat on the ballot paper. Zero votes for the party guaranteed.

Both Labour and the Conservatives, for example, get very close now to having a full slate of candidates in local elections. Despite improvements in recent years, we are still lagging a long way behind, and not yet back to where we used to be. So we know we can do better – because we have.

Even in wards where multiple seats are up for election and where we stand someone but not a full slate it is still a problem – as we’re still forcing people to vote for someone other than us.

With the important exception of STV elections in Scotland, of course, where the way the voting system works means standing ‘too many’ candidates harms our election chances in a way that doesn’t happen under first past the post. So in Scotland, it’s at least one candidate in each ward that’s the equivalent of the full slates we should be aiming for elsewhere.

Of the council seats coming up in May, we fought 63% of them in England and Wales last time out, and we had at least one candidate in 73% of Scottish wards. Those numbers are on the up – but still short of where we want to be. Remember – every single voter gets a ballot paper, showing them whether we are standing or not.

Standing candidates isn’t only about credibility and relevance. It’s also the way to get more people into the habit of regularly voting for the Liberal Democrats – a crucial step in building the sort of larger core vote for the party that will help us succeed more often.

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Posted in News | Also tagged local government elections | 5 Comments

Ed Davey on Holocaust Memorial Day

By The Voice | Thu 27th January 2022 - 3:21 pm

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day.

#HolocaustMemorialDay is an opportunity to pause, reflect and remember. We must never forgot the stories of those persecuted or murdered in the Holocaust.

We must learn from this dark time in our history and continue to fight against anti-Semitism and hatred. #HMD2022 pic.twitter.com/6G1YnYPpO2

— Ed Davey MP 🔶 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@EdwardJDavey) January 27, 2022

And from HQ:

Today on #HolocaustMemorialDay we remember those murdered during the Holocaust and other genocides.

We must learn from the past to create a better future.

We must stand firm against hatred and discrimination wherever we find it.#HMD2022 pic.twitter.com/9QNFMdIBzF

— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) January 27, 2022

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Posted in News | Also tagged ed davey and holocaust memorial day | Leave a comment

John Pugh writes…Lord Ronnie Fearn 1931-2022

By John Pugh | Wed 26th January 2022 - 11:55 am

Most people who knew Ronnie have a Ronnie story. If there is a book written about how to become an MP or a Lord, Ronnie never read it.

He was never going to be one to tick all the boxes in a bloodless modern selection process and yet he was loved by his constituents and possibly the only one who could have in the 1987 General Election delivered the only Liberal gain in England. He won because he was no political careerist using the constituency as a stepping stone, but because his only ambition was to represent the town of his birth and the people in it.

Southport, albeit it has its eccentricities and detractors, has deep Liberal roots and the heart of Southport liberalism is valuing each individual regardless of where they stand in the social hierarchy.

Ronnie practised rather than theorised about Liberalism showing an omnivorous and genuine interest in the daily life of ordinary and not so ordinary folk, patronising ,in the proper sense, all sorts of groups and associations.

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Posted in Obituaries and Op-eds | Also tagged obituaries and ronnie fearn | 6 Comments

Erlend

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 25th January 2022 - 11:34 pm

You might know sad news is coming, but when it actually arrives, it still smacks you round the chops.

That’s how so many people in the party will feel tonight. Few people were as loved as Erlend Watson.

We knew time was short. His update on Boxing Day was very him.

FAREWELL
I wanted to break it to you all personally.

I am more certainly not going to make it through more than the next few months. Any extra events could shorten that so my best guess is 3 to 6 moths. I will put myself down for a proxy vote for May (not Theresa) in case of any survival. Cynical to the end.

The affection shown on social media since my op was lovely but I have lost a quarter of my weight and I no longer have the physical reserves to do that.

I am currently able to communicate and will do so as long as possible but clearly the timetable is very loose and the end could be sudden.

My final affairs I am leaving to my siblings and my social media executor as Simon Drage as he knows more of you than they do.

In the meantime I will take/return calls as and when I can. Some longer some shorter according to what I can do.

There will be a funeral and I think a memorial service (probably the latter in London during parliamentary session for those who that works for. Elements of English and Norwegian I hope the committal of ashes to be in Orkney next summer about the time of the shows next August subject to to Covid but that is obviously an open story..

In terms of my politics I haven’t a Liberal and a Liberal Democrat since age 10. I see there being anti liberal forces working in the world and that makes me very sad. These must be fought. I am partisan but include on the side of good not just my own leaders but many Labour, Conservative and other politicians and obviously many non Party folk. I am a multiple identity person. In terms of nationality I am an Orcadian who was born in Fife with other IDs through my genome (but that leaves the key flag at the funeral as a St Magnus one rather than a rainbow 🌈 one).

To end with a couple of (mis)quotes.
1)You are not wholly gone from Earth until the last soul you touched comes up to heaven to greet you..

2) Well dear friends, now we have come to the end of our fellowship in Middle Earth. I will not say do not weep for not all tears are an evil. Or in Norwegian, Vel kjære venner nå har vi kommet til enden av vårt felleskap i Midtgård. Jeg vil ikke si gråt ikke, for ikke alle tårer er av det onde.

Number 2 may be familiar to readers of The Lord of the Rings.

Within days, both the Young Liberals and ALDC had honoured him.
And tonight the news came that he had died, very peacefully, and with a friend by his side.

We’d been hoping that he would somehow defy the odds.

Erlend was a familiar sight at by-elections and at the Conference Glee Club. He devoted so much of his life to the party, working to elect parliamentarians and councillors alike.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged erlend watson | 13 Comments

Helen Morgan’s inaugural: In the footsteps of the Women of Wem

By Andy Boddington | Tue 25th January 2022 - 5:36 pm

In her inaugural speech in the House of Commons today, the country’s newest MP Helen Morgan told MPs:

“I will not give up fighting for the issues that matter most to North Shropshire: better access to health and ambulance services, a fair deal for farming, and proper provision of public services.”

"I will not give up fighting for the issues that matter most to North Shropshire: better access to health and ambulance services, a fair deal for farming, and proper provision of public services."

ICYMI: Our newest MP @helenhalcrow makes her maiden speech in the Commons ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/FZlGy0iEP4

— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) January 25, 2022

Helen began by setting herself in the context on North Shropshire:

“While I am the first woman to represent North Shropshire in parliament, I am continuing a fine tradition of women in North Shropshire defending our democracy.”

She follows in the footsteps of the Women of Wem and made clear the Lib Dems opposition to the Judicial Review and Courts Bill.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged helen morgan MP and North Shropshire by-election | 1 Comment

FOUR Lib Dem Council GAINS – What a night!

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 21st January 2022 - 12:11 am

I’m doing the by-election results for ALDC tonight, with the help of some strong painkillers. I had a bit of a fall yesterday and hurt my hip. Nothing serious, but it is sore.

Tonight’s results got the endorphins flowing though. Not one, not two, not three but FOUR gains.

One gain came in one of the Toriest parts of Oxfordshire, where we haven’t had a councillor for 15 years.

BY-ELECTION RESULT

Carterton TC, Shillbrook

Lib Dem 294
Con 139

Lib Dem GAIN from Conservative

First win in Carterton for more than 20 years!

Congratulations to Cllr Natalie King pic.twitter.com/P8YYMq1kLL

— ALDC (@ALDC) January 20, 2022

BY-ELECTION RESULT

Dawlish TC, South West

Lib Dem 644
Con 486

Lib Dem GAIN from Independent

Congratulations to Cllr Rachel Hardy pic.twitter.com/cLM4zS5KTW

— ALDC (@ALDC) January 20, 2022

And then came gain number 3:

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Posted in News | Also tagged aldc and local government by-elections | 5 Comments

Lib Dems take part in Kill the Bill protests around country

By Andy Boddington | Sun 16th January 2022 - 1:30 pm

Lib Dems across the country joined protests across the country against the Policing, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. Protests too place in London, Bristol, Cardiff, Coventry, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and Plymouth, as well as a lot of smaller towns. The protests come ahead of a critical vote tomorrow in the House of Lords on amendments introduced in the Lords in November which greatly increase the authority of police to control protests including an increase in stop and search powers.

On Friday, Labour Lords belatedly said they will oppose the protest clauses. With the Lib Dems, Greens and independents opposing the restriction of the rights to protest, the amendments are likely to fall. As they were introduced in the Lords, they cannot be sent on to the Commons if peers vote against them.

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged crime and policing bill and protest | 3 Comments

Beatrice Wishart: We need to do better at tackling Endometriosis

By The Voice | Sat 15th January 2022 - 10:30 am

This week, the Scottish Parliament debated the horrible, painful, debilitating condition Endometriosis.

Shetland’s Lib Dem MSP Beatrice Wishart highlighted the distress this condition can cause and the impact it can have on women’s whole lives – and says that we must do better than the misogynistic dismissal of this condition that we so often see. Here is her speech in full:

I congratulate Rachael Hamilton on securing this important debate. So much has already been said about the impact that endometriosis has across all aspects of life, but I make no apology for repeating some of what has already been highlighted today.

I want to start by outlining exactly what is at the heart of this discussion: the lives of women and girls. Endometriosis is a condition in which tissue similar to that in the lining of the womb starts to grow in other places, such as ovaries and the fallopian tubes. Symptoms include, among others, painful or heavy periods, painful bowel movements and pelvic pain. An estimated 1.5 million women in the United Kingdom are affected, which is similar to the number of women who have diabetes.

However, as we have heard, it takes an average of eight and a half years to receive a diagnosis, which means eight and a half years of pain, of missing out, of uncertainty and of explaining. How tiring must all of that be? Relationships break down because the pain and struggle are too hard to comprehend. There is the misogynistic dismissal of so-called women’s issues and people saying that it is just painful periods or, even worse, that it is perfectly normal for women to experience pain.

There are long waiting lists and a postcode lottery for treatment. There is a serious problem with delays in getting an initial appointment with a consultant, and Covid has only made the long waits even longer. Non-urgent appointments have been delayed because of Covid, but, for patients, endometriosis is not non-urgent.

One person told me that, although their GP has been good, before being referred to a consultant, their daughter had to go through various other options to rule out cysts, irritable bowel syndrome and food intolerances. More than a year after their GP’s referral, they are still to receive an appointment.

I have also been told by women that endometriosis has made them infertile, and how the inability to have children has affected their marriages. As many as 30 to 50 per cent of women who are affected by infertility have endometriosis.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged beatrice wishart, endometriosis and scottish parliament | 4 Comments

Changes to comments and posting policies on Lib Dem Voice

By The Voice | Fri 14th January 2022 - 7:33 am

We are from today making changes to the comments policy on Lib Dem Voice. We also will more proactively encourage female voices on LDV, both in making comments and in authoring posts.

This change comes after a meeting of editors (online as we are scattered around the country) to discuss where we are on LDV and where we want to go.

We are concerned that LDV posts and comments are dominated by men. In recent weeks, three quarters of posts have been authored by men and nine in ten comments were by men.

We intend to change that gender balance and make LDV more representative of the Lib Dems and liberal values.

We will be proactively managing the comments debate to prevent it being dominated by a small number of individuals. They are nearly always men and seem to want to slug it out to the end between themselves – to win a debate that LDV readers have long lost interest in. Too often that debate is tangential to the subject of the article. Too often it is a debate that should take place elsewhere.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged LDV policy | 81 Comments

Daisy Cooper: Boris Johnson must resign #bbcqt

By NewsHound | Thu 13th January 2022 - 11:57 pm

In a confident performance on BBC Question Time on Thursday night, Daisy Cooper tackled the question of the day. Should Boris Johnson resign?

She was forthright. The prime minister has broken the law. He has lied to parliament and the public. He must resign and the police should investigate.

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Posted in News | Also tagged boris johnson, daisy cooper mp and partygate | 6 Comments

Mark Pack’s January report – the plan to build on our success in 2022

By Mark Pack | Tue 11th January 2022 - 3:54 pm

In 2021 we achieved something we’ve not achieved since 1993: winning two Parliamentary by-elections in the same year off the Conservatives. We start this new year with a larger Parliamentary Party than any of us would have dared dream of a year ago. (A winning run that has continued with the first council by-election of this year too – congratulations to now councillor Andrew Dunkin who won a seat from Labour from third place.)

The question now is how do we build on that success in 2022, and how do we make the most of our limited resources? Here’s the plan.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged Mark Pack and party president | 15 Comments

Helen Morgan: “Anger at Conservative Party like nothing I’ve heard”

By NewsHound | Fri 7th January 2022 - 4:31 pm

The first Lib Dem MP elected to the North Shropshire seat, held by the Conservatives since 1832, has been writing in the Independent today. Helen Morgan says:

The result has been described by many as a “shock” and “totally unexpected”. Yet when you heard the anger and frustration that I heard on the doorstep each day, the result should have shocked nobody.

Helen speaks of her arrival at Westminster expecting to find a prime minister and a government willing to listen to voters in North Shropshire.

How wrong I was. The anger at Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party was like nothing I’ve ever heard before… It begs the question, why won’t Boris Johnson and his Conservative colleagues listen to voters?

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Posted in News | Also tagged blue wall and helen morgan MP | 8 Comments

Boris Johnson’s stealth tax to cost families £10.9 billion by 2026

By NewsHound | Fri 7th January 2022 - 8:16 am

The Conservative government’s stealth tax raid will cost the average family in England and Wales £430 a year by 2026, or a total of £10.9 billion, research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

The figures reveal the scale of the cost to families of the government’s decision to freeze the personal tax allowance and higher rate tax threshold until 2025/26, compounding the growing cost of living crisis.

The new analysis by the House of Commons Library has found the freeze will mean an additional 1.5 million people on low pay will be dragged into paying income tax by 2026, while a further 1.25 million people will fall into the higher rate tax bracket. The research is based on modelling using the latest inflation forecasts from the Office of Budgetary Responsibility.

The Liberal Democrats are demanding that the government drops their planned stealth tax raid that will “clobber families who are already feeling the pinch,” amid soaring energy bills and the rising cost of living.

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Posted in News | Also tagged budget 2021 and income tax | 10 Comments