Tag Archives: featured

The Voice

Lib Dems mark International Women’s Day

By The Voice | Tue 8th March 2022 - 1:21 pm

Today is International Women’s Day and the event has been marked by senior party figures.

Christine Jardine reminds us of the especially poignant reason we celebrate International Women’s Day on 8th March:

Welsh Lib Dem Leader Jane Dodds called for changes to make it more appealing for women to stand for election at all levels, but particularly local Government:

We urgently need our councils and politics to be more representative of communities they serve. If local governments are so unrepresentative of the population they serve, they cannot possibly hope to deliver for that community effectively.

“So this May I want to see more women from different backgrounds, different classes and different ethnicities standing for election. All political parties have a duty to encourage this. And if you are someone in a position of power of influence then make sure you ask them to stand.

“It may seem obvious, but my own political career wouldn’t have started had someone not asked me to stand for council elections. At the time, I had the same view of local Government that many women do, a club for white men over a certain age. I hadn’t thought of entering politics before because I hadn’t believed my voice would be listened to.

“However, we also need structural issues to be resolved. Introducing more flexible schedules for council meetings should be the top priority. Council meetings are often too long and involve unworkable and unsociable hours for those with family, caring and work commitments.

“Society works better when those making decisions are representative of the communities they serve and this International Women’s Day we must remind ourselves of what needs to be done to reach that.”

Lib Dem Women are using the day to highlight women candidates for May’s elections on their Twitter feed,kicking off with one of our most senior and experienced council leaders

ALDC is doing similar:

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NewsHound

Ed Davey calls for nuclear power plant military exclusion zones

By NewsHound | Fri 4th March 2022 - 2:06 pm

The news this morning that the Russians had seized control of the Zaporizhzhia power plant in Ukraine has send shock waves across the world.

Ed Davey has said the the UK must take the lead and call for the UN Security Council to place military exclusion zones around nuclear power plants.

He says:

People all across Europe – including in Russia – will have woken up today with fear in their hearts, following the reckless shelling of Zaporizhzhia power plant. While thankfully it looks like disaster has been averted, it is vital that we now use every diplomatic lever available to prevent any further strikes on nuclear facilities.

We simply cannot allow what is already a dire humanitarian tragedy to deteriorate in this manner.

The UK has a seat at the UN Security Council – we must use it today, to try and declare a military exclusion zone around nuclear power plants.

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NewsHound

Carmichael: Seize oligarch mansions to house Ukrainian refugees

By NewsHound | Thu 3rd March 2022 - 10:30 am

The Liberal Democrats have demanded that the Government seize mansions and houses belonging to oligarchs linked to Putin’s regime and use them to help house Ukrainian refugees.

In a letter to the Home Secretary, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said UK properties owned by Putin’s cronies should be used to house Ukrainian refugees temporarily while they await permanent resettlement.

He added this could prevent the situation faced by Afghan refugees last year, many of whom were left languishing for months in hotel rooms or military barracks while they awaited permanent accommodation.

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Ed Davey

Ed Davey: The Battle for Liberal Britain

By Ed Davey | Thu 3rd March 2022 - 8:32 am

The Conservatives disappearing into infighting and cheap populism has left the Liberal Democrats with our biggest opportunity in generations. As our stunning by-election wins in Chesham & Amersham and North Shropshire proved last year, we can provide a political home for thousands of former Tory voters who are decent people dismayed by the party’s incompetence, scandals and sleaze under Boris Johnson.

And the stakes have never been higher. Around the world, populism and nationalism – liberalism’s enemies – are on the rise. There is a battle for Liberal Britain and to win it, Liberal Democrats must offer a clear vision for the future of our country.

But people constantly ask me: “what do the Liberal Democrats actually believe?” I don’t think we as a party have answered that question – or in recent years, even asked it of ourselves.

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Carmichael on Ukraine refugees and Russian oil tankers in Orkney

By Andy Boddington | Sun 27th February 2022 - 2:29 pm

A steady stream of media releases is emerging from the Lib Dems as the Ukraine crisis deepens. As Newshound reports two of the most recent statements, Reuters reports that Vladimir Putin has ordered his military command “to put nuclear deterrence forces on high alert after aggressive statements by NATO countries”. While we nervously wait for confirmation of that, Alistair Carmichael has written to Boris Johnson urging him to deny Russian-owned vessels access to UK ports and attacked Kevin Foster’s comments on Ukrainian refugees saying: “We should stand with all Ukrainians, not only those prepared to pick kale and cabbage.”

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms World Review: The global impact of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine

By Tom Arms | Sun 27th February 2022 - 11:55 am

Russia’s attack has started a worldwide rearrangement of the political order. Old alliances need to be reinforced. Some will be reconsidered. New Alliances, treaties and trade deals will be made as governments decide where their vital interests lie—with the autocratic but advancing Russia or the the democratic but defensive America and Europe or in the narrowing neutral land somewhere in between. Washington and Moscow will declare: You are with us or against us. We are not entering Cold War Two. We are entering a significantly new warmed up war.

The World Economy

One of the first causes of concern is the economy. Governments cannot fight cold or hot wars without cash. The world economy as a whole has already been severely weakened by the pandemic. World stock markets—the source of equity finance– dislike instability and uncertainty. Ukraine has created both, and the markets around the world have plummeted. Energy prices have also climbed as Russia is the world’s largest supplier of natural gas and second largest producer of oil. Nearly half of continental Europe’s energy originates in Russia. Germany—the EU’s economic engine—is especially dependent on Russian fossil fuels. But Russia is also a large exporter of gold, nickel, and the other rare but important mineral element palladium. The black earth of Ukraine is Europe’s bread basket. World bread prices will rise. Governments will need to borrow more money which will drive up interest rates and inflation. There will be more investment by Russia, NATO and others in troop numbers, missile deployments, cyber warfare, space, and intelligence gathering. This means there will be less money for social welfare, civilian infrastructure projects and any other vote-winning projects. More resources to defend Europe means less to protect other regions from Jihadism or to fund foreign aid programmes. These are the sacrifices of which politicians speak.

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Tom Brake

Tom Brake writes: The route to Proportional Representation

By Tom Brake | Sun 27th February 2022 - 9:55 am

Proportional Representation is in the Liberal Democrats’ DNA.

It might not always, or indeed ever (the party’s historians will correct me if I am wrong) have featured on the front page of the Lib Dem manifesto.  But it has always been a main plank of the party’s package of modernising democratic reforms.

If this were ever in doubt, Alistair Carmichael MP, the party’s Spokesperson for Home Affairs, Political & Constitutional Reform nailed the party’s colours to the PR mast by adding a new clause to the Elections Bill on the 17th January.  He was supported by MPs from 3 other political parties.

Its purpose: to abolish First Past The Post for UK general elections and require the Government to take all reasonable steps to introduce proportional representation.  In his speech, Alistair made the case for PR declaring, ‘we must have a system that gets rid of safe seats so that everybody’s vote, no matter where they live, is of equal value.’

Unfortunately, House of Commons’ support for PR wasn’t tested.  The FPTP system guarantees that voters who support parties like the Lib Dems never secure fair representation in Parliament. This in turn deprives Lib Dem MPs of the parliamentary numbers that would require the Speaker to grant them frequent voting opportunities.  So, no vote was granted or held on the PR amendment.

In contrast, at the last Labour conference, a vote was held on the subject of PR.

This followed a concerted and well-organised campaign by Labour for a New Democracy (L4ND) with around 150 constituency labour parties submitting PR motions.

The PR motion debated at their conference had the overwhelming support of local party delegates.  80% supported the call for reform.  However, the motion was narrowly defeated after block votes cast by a number of the trade unions.

The campaign continues, with a renewed focus on the trade union movement.  L4ND is confident of securing sufficient union support to win any future vote at the Labour conference on PR.

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George Cunningham

Lib Dems Abroad about to join the party’s campaigning mainstream

By George Cunningham | Sun 27th February 2022 - 7:55 am

This week, I was pleased to join forces with our Lib Dem Peers at the second reading of the Elections Bill at the House of Lords.

For us at Lib Dems Abroad, the Elections Bill is a gamechanger that will bring us into the campaigning mainstream of the party.

A huge 8% of all Brits are living outside the UK. The likely abolition of the 15-year rule will allow all Brits abroad of voting age the right to register and vote at the next UK General Election.

Our members, led by the three “local” party chairs – Lib Dems in Europe (Tom McAdam), France (Jenny Shorten) and Overseas (Mark Iliffe) – and myself, will fly the flag for the party by organising an extensive voter registration campaign for British citizens across the world once the law is implemented and the government’s own campaign has started.

Brits living abroad will need to be included in the party’s manifesto for the first time (previous Lib Dem manifestos had already supported the abolition of the 15-year rule and overseas constituencies).

Then, of course, Lib Dems Abroad will work in partnership with UK local parties to coordinate the party’s campaign for the overseas vote at the next UK General Election in 2-3 years’ time, groundwork for which will start shortly.

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Tom Arms

Observations of an expat: Putin’s disastrous time machine

By Tom Arms | Sat 26th February 2022 - 10:13 am

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has thrown the world back in time to a world order based on the dangerous dictum: might is right.

We have been pushed through the looking glass into a new world where laws and treaties are irrelevant and life and death decisions are made on the basis of blatant lies and where the morally bankrupt prevail.

Overshadowing this frightening reality is that Vladimir Putin has his finger on the button that controls the world’s largest nuclear arsenal.

Facing this disaster scenario is an unprepared West. For years it has over-focused on the economic challenge of China while downplaying the more immediate threat of an increasingly bitter, autocratic, militaristic, nationalistic, messianic and possibly unhinged Vladimir Putin.

War with Russia was unthinkable. It defied common sense as the rest of the world understood it. Surely the threat of massive sanctions would force Russian business to control Putin. No, the Russian president sits at the apex of an unprincipled kleptocracy and has skilfully tied Russian business interests to his own extreme views.

Successive US administrations have not helped. George W. Bush unilaterally scrapped the ABM Treaty and turned a blind eye when Putin attacked Georgia. Obama over-pivoted towards Asia while his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed reset buttons with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

But worst of all was Donald Trump a self-confessed admirer of strongmen in general and Putin in particular. He pushed recognition of the Russian annexation of Crimea. As Russian tanks rolled across the Ukrainian border this week Trump and his ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised Putin as a “genius.”

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Dick Newby

Lord Newby on the Ukraine crisis

By Dick Newby | Fri 25th February 2022 - 2:48 pm

Speaking in the House of Lords this morning, Lib Dem peer Lord Newby said the invasion is a failure of the West to recognise that Putin was pursuing an aggressive forward foreign policy which was aimed not just at those territories which he wishes to control but also at the values of democracy and rule of law which the territories embodied.

He said we must recognise we are not a global military power. That our most important security and economic relationships are with Europe and that we need to strengthen global structures and programmes which promote our values. We should set an example in the way our leaders conduct themselves. What part will the government play in the resettlement of refugees? What protection will we offer to the Baltic States? We must also make sure that Ukraine does not become the model for future tragedies in the future.

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NewsHound

UK must lead humanitarian response to stop Putin destabilising Europe

By NewsHound | Fri 25th February 2022 - 10:42 am

The Liberal Democrats are calling for the UK to lead a coordinated humanitarian response to Putin’s war in Ukraine, with safe passage and support for Ukrainian refugees fleeing violence and persecution at the hands of Russian forces.

The party’s MPs have written to the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary, urging them to work with humanitarian agencies and Ukraine’s neighbours to provide accommodation and support to the people now fleeing Russian troops, who are now advancing on the capital of Kyiv.

It comes in the wake of the news that visa applications from those Ukrainian nationals without close British relatives and who are stuck in the country are suspended, meaning no legal route exists for them to enter the UK and claim asylum.

The letter calls for “an ambitious commitment to resettle Ukrainian refugees in the UK”, and urges the Government to withdraw its Nationality and Borders Bill – currently going through Parliament – because it would criminalise Ukrainians and other refugees who come to the UK seeking asylum. This is a sentiment shared by a number of leading charities such as Amnesty International and Save The Children in a letter to The Times today.

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The Voice

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.

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Lord William Wallace

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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The Voice

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

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Tom Arms

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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Peter Thornton

Help tackle the housing crisis

By Peter Thornton | Fri 18th February 2022 - 9:28 am

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England’s housing market is fundamentally unfair; it has left millions of people in insecure, unaffordable and low quality housing, whilst many others have seen their wealth increase dramatically. For many people, especially the young, the prospect of a secure home is a pipedream. The Federal Policy Committee’s working group on Homes and Planning wants your help to fix the English housing market and deliver the homes the country needs.

Although housing and planning is a devolved matter, we would welcome contributions from members outside of England about how their approach works and if there are any lessons we can learn from them.

There have been a wide range of estimates of how many homes England needs to build, ranging from 380,000 to around 200,000 a year. We believe that with a shortage of labour, skills, materials, available sites for development means that we should prioritise building social homes first and foremost – since the sector is currently struggling to build its current number of homes. These meet those in the greatest need, and can help bring down rents more generally.

We also want to ensure that homes are built to the highest standards. At the last election, we had robust and ambitious proposals for making homes fit for a carbon-neutral future, but we’d welcome any ideas you have to improve on those proposals.

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Nick Baird

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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NewsHound

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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Hannah Kitching

Party reforms are crucial for our fightback

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

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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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Greg Foster

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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Tom Arms

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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Helen Belcher

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.

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Sam Al-Hamdani

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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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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NewsHound

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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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.

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NewsHound

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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The Voice

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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Mark Pack

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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The Voice

Ed Davey on Holocaust Memorial Day

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

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day.

And from HQ:

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Recent Comments

  • Hywel
    @Jana - hence the word 'blanket' As it stands a political party cannot discriminate against someone for a belief 'worthy of respect in a democratic society, ...
  • Jason Connor
    Well said Chris Nicholson. What an encouraging post and for recognising that party's blatant anti semitism....
  • Jana
    @Hywel “ It is inherently nonsensical for a blanket prohibition on discrimination on the grounds of belief to apply to political parties which are founded on...
  • Hywel
    " 65 seats on 8% is a possible outcome which would see us overrepresented significantly under fptp." That may be possible. The actual electoral arithmetic g...
  • Chris Nicholson
    Theakes, nowhere does that article say there was a coalition or a confidence and supply agreement so there is no agreement for us ‘to pull out of forthwith’...