Tag Archives: featured

Dick Newby

Lord Dick Newby writes…We have more chance of breaking the mould of British politics than we had in 1981

By Dick Newby | Fri 16th September 2016 - 4:57 pm

House of Lords chamberIt was a great honour to be elected Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group in the Lords earlier this week. The challenge facing me and my colleagues is straightforward. How do we help the Party occupy as much as possible of the centre and centre left of British politics – ground which is currently vacant?

Obviously we can do our bit by trying to defeat or amend the worst of the Tory legislation. We face a Tory government unrestrained, Labour are not doing their job as the opposition. It is the Liberal Democrats who have to step up to the plate and be the real voice of opposition. We held the Government to account last session on tax credits, trade union reform and refugee children. We will seek to do so in coming months, for example on Investigatory Powers. And if we ever see any legislation promoting grammar schools, we can guarantee it a rough ride in the Lords.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 6 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Conference Countdown 2016: Five things to do this weekend to prepare for Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 9th September 2016 - 3:21 pm

This time next week, many of us will be heading down to Conference in Brighton. I won’t be as I have the particular joy of the 6:25 am flight from Edinburgh to look forward to on Saturday morning.

Here are some top tips for pre-conference preparation which will help you get the best out of the event. Once you are in the fast moving frenzy of our four days in Brighton, it’s difficult to find the space to take stock and plan. Putting the time in now to work out what you want to do will pay dividends.

So, here are a few things you can do this weekend to make sure you are properly prepared. In no particular order…

Get your ticket for the Lib Dem Disco

Cambridge Lib Dems have captured the Saturday evening conference market with their annual disco. It is hilarious, with guest DJs competing against each other. Last year Jo Swinson triumphed in spectacular style. Buzzfeed were there to report it all and take video, so don’t be under any misapprehension that what happens at Lib Dem Disco stays at Lib Dem Disco.

I came second to Alistair Carmichael in the DJ competition 2 years ago. I went slightly off-message with the Disco theme as we were in Scotland. I thought it might be a really good idea to get lots of people who may have had the odd wee drink doing the Gay Gordons at 11 o’clock at night. When I suggested this to the organisers, they replied: “Your proposal for carnage is appealing.”

In the end it was pretty civilised and, thanks to Paul Walter, there is video.

Continue reading »
Posted in Conference and Op-eds | 5 Comments
Adam Corlett

Reversing Conservative cuts remains the big social security challenge

By Adam Corlett | Fri 9th September 2016 - 11:55 am

The conference policy paper on “Mending the Safety Net” contains lots of good stuff on a wide range of welfare policy, even if I say so as a member of its working group. But, at Conference and beyond, I think it’s important not to get distracted from the big issue of the £13bn of cuts planned by the Conservatives. Reversing these – and indeed going further – is what will make the biggest difference to people’s lives, to UK inequality and even to the economy (and hopefully win a few votes in the process). Within this, here are three goals that the party should be fighting for.

Increasing working-age benefits in line with inflation – and ultimately earnings

George Osborne announced that most non-pensioner benefits would be frozen at their 2015 levels for 4 more years. Even before the Brexit vote, this was expected to be a massive drag on living standards. But inflation over the next few years is now expected to be higher than previously predicted – driven by rising import prices due to the weaker pound – and unemployment is predicted to rise too. This means the freeze will be even harsher than Osborne intended. And if the economy at any point needs a boost through fiscal policy, cutting the incomes of poorer households would be just about the worst policy you can think of, as The Economist recently noted.

So the party should be pressuring the new Chancellor to scrap the freeze and increase working-age benefits in line with inflation. But the policy paper goes further and argues that benefits should ultimately rise in line with average earnings – alongside a return to some form of housing cost link for Housing Benefit (soon to be part of UC). This would help ensure that when the economy and tax receipts are growing, everyone shares in that and inequality doesn’t widen. It may sound boring, but choices about benefit uprating in the long-term can compound to be more important than almost any other welfare or tax choice for poverty and inequality.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 12 Comments
Tim Farron MP

Tim Farron MP writes…A Liberal Democrat plan for Britain in Europe

By Tim Farron MP | Wed 7th September 2016 - 6:45 am

Today, I am announcing a plan to keep Britain at the heart of Europe. First and foremost, I believe the British people should be given the right to vote on the government’s negotiated Brexit deal.

Voting for a departure is not the same as voting for a destination. This is not an attempt to re-run the first referendum; we must respect the result. But the British people should be allowed to choose what comes next, to ensure it is right for them, their families, their jobs and our country. Our relationship with Europe affects our economy, our security, climate change, our influence in the world and so much more.

Until people get that choice, we will hold the Conservative Brexit Government to account and fight to make sure that Britain gets the best deal possible. So I am also setting out our approach on everything from the triggering of article 50 to the rights of EU citizens in the UK. While all the other parties are ducking these vital issues, we are tackling them head on. These questions are simply too important to ignore.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 73 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Tim Farron to launch Lib Dem plan for Britain in Europe

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 7th September 2016 - 12:01 am

Last week, I took part in a Conference call with Tim Farron and was very reassured at the strength of his resolve to ensure that the UK has the strongest possible role in Europe. Our commitment to campaign to stay in the EU, or rejoin if we leave remains at the heart of what we will offer the British people at the next General Election.

In that call, we found out that Tim would be doing something that the Government with all its massive resources hasn’t managed to get it together to do – launching an actual plan for Britain’s future in Europe which he will do tomorrow morning.

He sets out a seven point plan which covers everything from free movement and access to the single market, to environmental and law and order concerns. He insists that the British people should have the chance to vote on any Brexit deal before it becomes final. It has to be said that there’s not a huge distance between the criteria for negotiation and actually keeping Britain in the EU but all of these things are absolutely essential for the next generation’s future prosperity.

This plan should reassure those members who were concerned that we were stepping back from our earlier statements. IN fact, what Tim will say later today reinforces what he’s been saying since the referendum:

We demand that the British people should have their say on the final deal in a referendum. And in the meantime we will hold the Conservative Brexit Government to account and fight for the best possible deal for Britain.

Voting for departure is not the same as voting for a destination. Brexit means Brexit but we still don’t know if that means £350m a week extra for the NHS, immigration controls or membership of the Single Market. This is not an attempt to re-run the first referendum. It is to enable the public to vote on the final deal, reflecting that there is disagreement even in the cabinet over every major aspect of Brexit.

The British people should be allowed to choose what comes next, to ensure it is right for them, their families, their jobs and our country. Our relationship with Europe affects our economy, our security, climate change, our influence in the world and so much more.

“Our policy on Europe is simple: we want to stay in the European Union. We wanted that the day before the referendum, we wanted it the day after and we want it today.

The Liberal Democrats are now the real opposition to the Conservative Brexit government, and are fighting to keep Britain open, tolerant and united.

In Summary: The Lib Dem Plan for Britain in Europe

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 24 Comments
Catherine Bearder

Catherine Bearder MEP writes: Churchill and Mandela would have been with us on the March for Europe

By Catherine Bearder | Tue 6th September 2016 - 11:57 am

As thousands of Brits marched across the uk to show their support for our continued EU membership relationship I was with Liberal Democrat president Sal Brinton, past MEP Sarah Ludford and many other activists, PPCs, councillors, new and old members and others who wanted to be with the Liberal Democrats in our fight to get the best for our country post the referendum result.

The organisers were initially determined not to allow any elected political speakers on to the platform.  It seems the phrase ‘cross party’ had again been confused with ‘no party’, despite the speakers from the world of entertainment and media clearly having political affiliations.  However, sense and justice prevailed and I was allowed to speak to the assembled crowds.  It seemed only fair as the Liberal Democrats formed a major part of the March, and for that I must say thank you to Kelly-Marie Blundell and her team for organising us all and making sure our voice is heard across the country.

This then is the gist of what I said….

For every one who is marching to day, not just here in London, but right across the country, there are hundreds who are not on a march, but are with us in spirit.  They know as you do that this campaign was fought on lies and untruths and the question was simplistic.  The result cannot therefore be allowed to stand.  Reasons for voters supporting leave were varied, and we now know that what they were asked to vote on – Brexit – is a total unknown.  No one knows what it is.  Even the Brexiteers still don’t know what they want.

So many people and European flags flying is good to see, but there are two other people in this square with us who would be joining us if they could, one is Winston Churchill, the other is Nelson Mandela.  They both recognised that working together across borders is the best way to deliver peace and prosperity for all. They would be horrified to think there is a possibility of the UK leaving the best and biggest club on the planet.   We have to do all we can to stop that, and if we can’t we must make sure that we get the best deal possible – and then put that deal to the voters in the UK.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 14 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Clegg in the Guardian: “Why on earth would you not want to try and do s**t?”

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 3rd September 2016 - 11:08 am

We’re going to be hearing quite a lot from Nick Clegg over the next couple of weeks in the run up to his book being published on 15 September.

Today he has a long interview with the Guardian in which he talks at length about some of the key moments of the Coalition. Just to get this over with. I come from the Highlands of Scotland. If any journalist had written about some of the villages I love in the same patronising way that Clegg’s interviewer, Simon Hattenstone, did about Miriam’s home town in Spain, I’d be furious.

Whilst I have often disagreed with decisions that Nick took during the Coalition years, I stand by my long held view that he was often unfairly criticised, too. We can see with ever-increasing clarity that he brought a lot of common sense and stability to government. The minute he and the Liberal Democrats vacated Whitehall, everything started to fall apart. We are suffering the consequences of an arrogant Tory party governing exclusively in its own interests.

Naivety

Any feeling that we might have had that we could have been a lot better prepared for the realities of government is confirmed by the interview. However, the caveat is, of course, that we onlookers have the benefit of hindsight now and detachment at the time. Nick does admit to what appears to be astonishing naivety. It perhaps underlines the fact that he should maybe have had more people around him who had spent years fighting the Tories and knew first hand what they were capable of.

Continue reading »
Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged and | 151 Comments
Caron Lindsay

What the SNP’s listening exercise on independence actually means

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 2nd September 2016 - 1:46 pm

It is no surprise that the SNP continues to focus on independence. They are a nationalist party. It’s what they do. This morning, Nicola Sturgeon shifted her focus away from finding options for Scotland post Brexit, from fixing the education system that’s falling apart, from sorting out the huge bottlenecks in the health system, from ensuring decent mental health care and all the other things that she’s paid to do to concentrate on the next push for independence.

Scotland’s people are invited to take part in a survey giving their views on independence. All 120,000 SNP members are charged with speaking to 5 people a month for the next 3 months. This is not a government initiative. It’s an SNP one. People should be very clear what they are doing when they respond to the survey.

Although it’s introduced as a National Survey, without any SNP branding on it, it is simply a massive data collection exercise for the SNP.  People could answer this thing without realising that.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 23 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Liberal Democrats must enthusiastically occupy the clear pro EU space – nobody else will

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 29th August 2016 - 12:01 pm

The Liberal Democrats have historically been enthusiastically pro EU. The strength of that enthusiasm, it’s fair to say, has not always been uniform. While a small number of Liberal Democrats campaigned to leave the EU, the vast majority of us wanted to remain. That was very clear to the tens of thousands who have joined us in the aftermath of the vote to leave.

As a party during the referendum, we did more than any other to campaign for a Remain vote. That’s quite a staggering achievement given our size and resources compared to the Labour party.

However, there are signs now that the consensus is starting to develop some fault lines. Our position in the aftermath of the referendum has been very clear. We campaign to stay or go back in to the EU at the next election. We want the voters to have their say on the Brexit deal. It’s only polite, really, given that they weren’t given any indication about what it would look like before they voted.

I don’t want to over-egg this particular pudding, but it looks like our general unity as a party on this is now under threat. Many Liberal Democrats  have been very concerned to see that Norman Lamb and Nick Clegg have endorsed Open Britain, the organisation formerly known as Britain Stronger in Europe.  Open Britain accepts the referendum result as final even though they also accept that nobody knows what they actually voted for. They will not be calling for a second referendum which seems to be a bizarre and contradictory stance to me.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 93 Comments
Chris Bowers

Please understand what The Alternative is about

By Chris Bowers | Sun 28th August 2016 - 8:01 pm

The AlternativeJudging by the reaction to Andrew George’s post last week  there seems to be a lot of unnecessary fretting among Liberal Democrats caused by ‘The Alternative’, the book I have co-edited with the Labour and Green MPs Lisa Nandy and Caroline Lucas. Allow me to explain why I think some people are getting the wrong end of the stick.

I fully understand the views of those who say Labour is not a progressive party, and that we sometimes have more in common with the liberal wing of the Conservatives than we do with Labour or the nationalist parties. Those views can be defended, but they don’t alter the practical reality of what we face.

Everyone is talking about how we were hammered at the 2015 election, which we were in relative terms, but the 8% of the vote we polled would have given us around 55 seats if we’d had a proportional election system, which was roughly what we had in the last parliament.

As a liberal, I’d happily accept whatever our core vote is – probably something between 8% and 20% – under PR. We’d probably never be a party leading a government, but we’d have real influence, and could pursue liberal-democratic policies in association with whichever other parties were receptive to our ideas.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 36 Comments
Andrew George

Andrew George writes…Can progressives unite to defeat the Tories?

By Andrew George | Wed 24th August 2016 - 12:30 pm

The AlternativeFailure to fully fathom the ‘shy Tory’ at the 2015 general election didn’t just leave egg on the faces of opinion pollsters. It produced shock waves across the political spectrum; from a delirious Conservative party to Paddy Ashdown’s exasperated milliner.

Of course psephologists weren’t really suggesting that a significant proportion of Tory voters are bashful by nature but were perhaps politely implying there may be a sense of ‘shame’.

Politics in its most basic form is polarised between, on the one hand, those who feel ‘shy’ about their self-absorption and (when the mask slips) their distaste for those they consider are ‘low achievers’, and on the other, ‘progressives’ who seek to appeal to our better instincts (for others, a wider community, the common good, future generations, the climate etc). Less bashful ‘progressives’ may believe they are in a majority when in fact the country may be evenly divided.

Indeed, there’s an assumption amongst many ‘progressives’ that the 2015 general election represented a high water mark for the Tories; that the pendulum will inevitably swing back at the next election, and that scores of Tory marginals will be comfortably won back. A reality check is needed.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 102 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Could train-gate derail Corbyn’s leadership campaign?

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 23rd August 2016 - 5:36 pm

I travel up and down to London pretty frequently. I haven’t often had a problem getting a seat on the East Coast mainline – and when there has been an issue, it’s usually because there has been some extreme weather issue and two trains worth of people have been decanted into one train.

So when I saw that Jeremy Corbyn had had to spend a journey to Newcastle on the floor of a train, I was a bit surprised but didn’t let it distract me from enjoying my holiday.

Today’s development in that story is worthy of some comment though. It appears that the Labour leader could have had a seat on the train after all. Virgin’s media people have ridden a convoy of coaches and horses through his claims.  In an unusual step, they have released CCTV footage and said:

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 87 Comments
Lord William Wallace

William Wallace writes: Could Brexit split the Conservative party?

By Lord William Wallace | Fri 19th August 2016 - 10:29 am

 

How deeply could Brexit divide the Conservative Party, as the contradictory choices involved in negotiating an alternative relationship with the EU become clearer?

Media focus since the Referendum outcome has been on the widening divisions within the Labour Party.  Press comment has praised the self-discipline of the Conservatives, by contrast, in resolving the issue of leadership so quickly – though in reality it was resolved by the implosion of ‘Leave’ candidates, one after the other, leaving Teresa May in command of the field.  But the divide between practical Eurosceptics and ideological Europhobes is wide, and often bitter.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 22 Comments
Sarah Noble

Pressing questions on the iPlayer tax

By Sarah Noble | Thu 4th August 2016 - 8:37 am

The BBC has announced that, from September 1st, the “iPlayer loophole” will be closed and access to the BBC’s iPlayer will require payment of the licence fee. Of course, there was never a loophole; the licence fee is meant to apply only to live television broadcasts.

Of course, the blame cannot be put at the BBC’s feet. The BBC has been forced to make severe budget cuts leading to the scaling back of services that cost relatively little such as Radio 6 and BBC Three – services disproportionately used by people aged 18-34, while at the same time having to shoulder £750 million per year for concessionary licences for over 75s: the biggest cost to the BBC after BBC One. Indeed, TV Licensing emphasises the disproportionate effect on students, who increasingly exclusively use on-demand services.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 36 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Some questions for More United

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 24th July 2016 - 9:41 am

In a blaze on social media. the More United project, supported by Paddy Ashdown, launches this morning.

It’s certainly ambitious:

MoreUnited.uk is a new movement setting out to change British politics. We’re going to transform the way politics is funded, giving a voice to the millions of open and tolerant people in Britain who feel the political system no longer works for them.

It has a Facebook page here and you can follow it on Twitter here.

They intend to fund candidates who subscribe to a series of pretty broad principles:

 A fair, modern, efficient market based economy that closes the gap between rich and poor and supports strong public services

A modern democracy that empowers citizens, rather than politicians

A green economy that protects the environment and works to reverse climate change

An open and tolerant society where diversity is celebrated in all its forms

A United Kingdom that welcomes immigration, international co-operation and a close relationship with the EU

There some example policies to flesh this stuff out.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 81 Comments
News Meerkat

+++Tim Farron calls for general election as Theresa May is set to become Prime Minister

By News Meerkat | Mon 11th July 2016 - 1:19 pm

Yet another dramatic turn of events. Theresa May is a drive up the Mall away from being Prime Minister as Andrea Leadsom withdrew from the Tory leadership race.

Tim Farron commented:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 82 Comments
Catherine Bearder

Catherine Bearder MEP writes…Thanks to all for a positive campaign

By Catherine Bearder | Wed 6th July 2016 - 12:43 pm

IntogetherThis has been a tough week for us all. It’s followed the hard work in the build-up to voting day, the exhaustion of the day itself and the dreadful night as the results saw the collapse of the political and structural certainties we have all come to understand.

Firstly I want to give a huge thanks to all those up and down the country who have worked their socks off campaigning to keep the UK in the EU. Ours was a positive, passionate and patriotic campaign. It was always going to be a tough fight, trying to reverse in a matter of weeks the anti-EU propaganda and anti-establishment mood that built up over many years. But the Lib Dems stood firm, and our thousands of activists can be proud that when the time came, they stood up for the values we hold dear and for what we believe was firmly in the national interest.

On my return to Brussels on Monday, the overwhelming mood amongst my fellow MEPs was not one of anger, but of huge shock and sadness. Sad that a country that they love and admire could be so led astray by the lies and deception of the Leave campaign, and sad for the millions of young people who overwhelmingly voted to remain but who are set to be deprived of the opportunities EU membership brings. There was a spontaneous sign written on the windows of the European Parliament that simply said: “We will miss you.” This is the real European Union. Not faceless bureaucrats, but real people from all over Europe working together, celebrating our differences and eccentricities and doing our best to respond to big common challenges. That’s a vision that millions of people in the UK share. And it’s one we must stand up for in the difficult months and years ahead.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 8 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Should Parliament put a stop to Brexit?

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 3rd July 2016 - 11:06 pm

Most suggestions for resolving the “What the (insert expletive of choice) do we do now?” conundrum tend to involve various degrees of access to the Single Market or a General Election. Few are brave enough to suggest that Parliament simply declines to invoke Article 50. Until now.

Professor A C Grayling, Master of the New College of Humanities in London, has written to all MPs telling them that they have a responsibility not to support any such motion. He lists several reasons, not least the paucity of the campaign, the likelihood of the break up of the UK if we leave the EU and the fact that the threshold for such a huge change was set way too low. He has a point. You can’t change the number of places on a toddler group committee without a 2/3 majority. When the party conference considers a vast swathe of constitutional amendments in September, they will need a 2/3 majority to pass. With hindsight, you have to wonder why on earth we let such a major change through on a simple majority.

Harvard’s Professor Kenneth Rogoff agrees that the threshold is too low:

In terms of durability and conviction of preferences, most societies place greater hurdles in the way of a couple seeking a divorce than Prime Minister David Cameron’s government did on the decision to leave the EU. Brexiteers did not invent this game; there is ample precedent, including Scotland in 2014 and Quebec in 1995. But, until now, the gun’s cylinder never stopped on the bullet. Now that it has, it is time to rethink the rules of the game.

Grayling isn’t a fan of referenda anyway:

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 82 Comments
Holly Matthies

The Liberal approach to immigration

By Holly Matthies | Fri 1st July 2016 - 12:55 pm

The Liberal approach to dealing with the unpopularity of immigration and immigrants is to challenge that concern. It’s to robustly make a positive case for immigration as a policy and — crucially — immigrants as human beings.

The Liberal approach is to shift attention unfairly directed at them to where it belongs: Government unwillingness to fund housing, the NHS and other public services.

The Liberal approach includes strongly differentiating between migrants and refugees, which lately have all too often conflated by media and politicians, so that everyone understands the different reasons that people want to be welcomed into the UK, be they economic migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, students, or any of a host of other categories that people in different circumstances will find themselves in.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 63 Comments
Vince Cable

Vince Cable writes…The birth of the 48 movement

By Vince Cable | Thu 30th June 2016 - 12:40 pm

For our party and its supporters in the country the last few years have brought one defeat after another:  local councils, devolved government, national government, AV referendum, now the EU referendum.  There is a limit to the number of times a boxer can climb back up off the floor.  What fortifies me is the adage that winners are losers who never give up.  And perhaps we should think bigger: not as a small party with an 8% core vote but the centre of gravity of a broad movement of 48% of voters who chose Remain.

The first step in responding to defeat has been to look for scapegoats: the people who led a poor and failing campaign.  Cameron has gone and (hopefully) Corbyn and Osborne are going.   But in truth the Remain campaign as a whole failed to grasp the strength of the opposing coalition: not just conservative pensioners who want the past back but the’ left behind ‘who have suffered declining living standards and public services, the Commonwealth voters who felt Europe was at their expense and many who felt this was the best way to give an unpopular and unrepresentative government a good kicking.

That is why we have to approach the result with some humility.  There is nothing to be gained by denial: crying foul. We wuz robbed, ref.  I see petitions demanding a re-run, legal challenges and appeals to parliament to ‘do something’.  Dream on.  Of course the Leave campaign was mendacious; of course the referendum shouldn’t have happened; of course parliament was negligent in not building in thresholds. But the public was clearly told by both sides that the result would be final. And there was a big turnout.  That is it..

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 132 Comments
The Voice

6000 and rising

By The Voice | Mon 27th June 2016 - 1:33 pm

HQ tells us that by last night 6000 new members had joined the Liberal Democrats, echoing the big increase in membership after the General Election last year.

We love having new members so we hope you will all get involved and help push the party forward. Encourage your friends to join; if they think like you then they probably won’t need much persuading.

Caron Lindsay has written a post full of useful information for new members. Also, search us out on Facebook and Twitter (@LibDems, @timfarron, @libdemvoice) if you haven’t found us already. Lots of local parties and activists are active on both.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 16 Comments
Caron Lindsay

1000 new members join Lib Dems as Farron says “We will keep the vision of an open, optimistic, hopeful Britain alive”

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 24th June 2016 - 2:10 pm

So I still haven’t gone to bed yet. I feel just about alive. There seems little point in sleeping now as I need to get up at 4:30 tomorrow morning to catch a flight to London for Federal Executive where we have a whole day of constitutional amendments ahead of us. I suspect we may mention the Referendum result as well. Just a bit.

“I’m for the 16 million, the 48%” said Tim Farron in a speech on the referendum result. By 1pm,1000 people had joined the party, reminiscent of the surge last year.

Tim’s speech was heartfelt and hopeful. He was furious about the way the campaign had been fought, so divisive and deceitful. He understood the concerns of those disengaged people who had voted for Leave but he also empathised with young people, who had voted for Remain in huge numbers but “whose future had been taken away by older generations” who had enjoyed the benefits of greater European integration.

He also announced that 1000 new members had joined the Lib Dems today.

You can watch the speech here on the party’s Facebook page. It darned well made me cry. Up until seeing it, I had been shocked. This tugged at the heartstrings. .

I am devastated and I am angry. Today we woke to a deeply divided country.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 28 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Referendum Results open thread

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 23rd June 2016 - 10:00 pm

So, it’s all over bar the counting.

First of all, thanks to every single person who pounded the streets and melted phone lines today getting out the Remain vote. You are all legends. I want to say a particular thanks to the fantastic West Lothian Stronger In team.

If you are not going to a count, the best thing I can advise is having a nice mug of cocoa and going to bed. Seriously. Set your alarm for 4-ish. It’s likely that nothing is going to even start to become clear before then and, as Stephen Bush wrote in his guide in the New Statesman,  it’s likely that Leave will be well ahead in the early part of the night and that’s just bad for the blood pressure.

This has been the most unpleasant few weeks in politics that I can remember. It was when someone told me in all seriousness outside Morrisons this afternoon that if we voted to stay in, 76 million Turkish people would be arriving here in September. It’s total nonsense and straight from a Leave campaign leaflet.

I asked them to think about how that would happen. When in history had an entire population of a country just upped and legged it to somewhere else? I asked them to think about the logistics of moving half way across a continent. How much would it cost? What arrangements would have to be made. I asked them to think about the number of flights that would entail. Would there be enough capacity for all those people? Of course not. I wish I’d brought to mind Meral Ece’s oft used stat that only 7000 Turkish people resident in Turkey actually have passports.

They got it in the end, but, sadly, because one side had been caught out in a lie, it didn’t make them trust the other lot. It made me more angry about Leave’s cynical manipulation, their barely disguised racism. I don’t actually think that any of Leave’s key figures are fit and proper people to hold office of any sort. I don’t think a Prime Minister should have them in his cabinet and he should be upfront about saying why.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged | 40 Comments
Nick Clegg MP

Nick Clegg writes…Europe makes Britain great

By Nick Clegg MP | Thu 23rd June 2016 - 7:55 am

Unlike many of our neighbours, Britain did not join the EU as a way of embracing a new, modern identity. For the Germans, French, Italians and the Benelux countries, European co-operation represented the victory of peace over war. For Spain, Greece and Portugal, membership signified the victory of democracy over fascism. For many newer members, it was about throwing off the tyranny of Soviet communism.
Not us. Joining the European Community was a pounds and pence calculation of what was good for us, done with a shrug of the shoulders and an ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ acceptance that the age of empire was over.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 5 Comments
The Voice

Kath Pinnock’s tribute to Jo Cox

By The Voice | Mon 20th June 2016 - 6:25 pm

Kath Pinnock was supposed to be campaigning for Remain with Jo Cox on the afternoon she died. This is the tribute she gave this afternoon in the House of Lords.

My Lords, Jo Cox was my MP. She was savagely attacked and murdered on a street just yards from the market place where we were due to meet that very afternoon to campaign together on an issue about which we both cared passionately: being part of an open, co-operative EU.

That was not to be.

Jo had strongly held, principled, views. She was willing to work with all those who would help to

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged | 2 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Towards a more inclusive politics

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 18th June 2016 - 2:26 pm

There tends to be a load of solidarity between women across party anyway. Many of us put up with the same issues within our parties and in politics generally, so there’s a great deal of common ground.

Jo Cox chaired Labour’s Women’s Network and our own Women’s organisation, Liberal Democrat Women, made its own tribute to her.

We have been deeply saddened by the news of Jo Cox’s death. It is particularly heart-breaking to see that this happened whilst she was working for her constituents. Jo was a woman who fought for equality and justice daily through her role as a Member of Parliament and also as Chair of the Labour Women’s Network. The Liberal Democrat Women commend her for her work in being a charismatic and thoughtful leader in Parliament as well as an inspiration to women and girls in the UK.

We hope that we can all pull together to ensure her memory and her work is never lost or forgotten. We also hope that in light of this tragedy we all remain confident in the democracy we have in our country and that we do not let political views divide or silence us. Our sincere condolences to her husband Brendan Cox and her two young children.

One really lovely sight in an utterly hellish week happened at the Glasgow vigil for Jo Cox last night, attended by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and Scottish Labour Leader Kezia Dugdale, who knew Jo well. As they both lay their flowers, Nicola put her arm round Kez. This is how things should be.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | 2 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Liberal Democrats are being excluded from referendum debate – don’t put up with this

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 15th June 2016 - 11:55 am

We Liberal Democrats are used to not getting our fair share of media attention. Since last year’s general election, that has got even worse. However, we still aren’t getting anything like the coverage we should have based on our size.

Research carried out by the University of Loughborough during the EU referendum campaign shows that we are only being included in 1% of both press and broadcast media. Mind you, the official opposition doesn’t fare that much better, although that has definitely changed in the last few days.

Coverage by party during EU Ref

 

If you were thinking that there was a gross over-representation of right wing men, the study confirms your instincts.

The debate is highly presidential in character, focussing on key individuals. The top six individuals are all right-of-centre and are all men. Despite concern expressed by left-of-centre and female politicians about media coverage it’s still largely a ‘Tory story’ and a male dominated, ‘blue-on-blue’ tale at that.

So who are the main media performers?

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 21 Comments
Caron Lindsay

It’s time to drop everything and concentrate on the EU Referendum

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 12th June 2016 - 10:25 am

That poll in the Independent which showed Leave with a 10 point lead should concentrate our minds.  We have a lot of work to do over the next 11 days and, frankly, it’s time to drop everything that isn’t absolutely vital and get ourselves out there making the case for Remain, even more than we have done already. I know Liberal Democrats probably more than any other group of people have thrown their backs into it, particularly south of the border, but whatever we are doing, we need to do more and ask very unreasonable things of ourselves over the next few days. It’s not exaggerating to say that the future not just of this country, but the whole European continent, is in jeopardy.

The poll in question comes with a caveat because it didn’t have a “don’t know” option so it’s indicative really of people’s gut reactions at this time not, perhaps, of what they will actually do a week on Thursday. However, the overall state of the polling leads us right into the middle of squeaky bum territory.

It’s too close for comfort and Leave only need a one vote margin.

I’ve been here before, though. At the same stage before the Scottish Referendum, a poll put Yes slightly ahead, leading to a frenzy of activity. While No won out in the end, it was a very scary time. I was shocked by quite how emotional I felt about it. The atmosphere on the “front line” was pretty awful, with those of us who were campaigning for a no vote being told, variously, that we were stupid or treacherous. That came as a shock at the time, as it is now to some Remain campaigners who are experiencing the same thing from Brexiteers. Young Remain campaigners in the West Country were told yesterday, for example, that they were traitors and should be executed. That’s a glimpse into the minds of some of the people we are dealing with and it’s not an attractive one. If anything, this campaign is even worse.

Part of the reason I was so against Scottish independence was the uncertainty around our future membership of the EU. Being a citizen of the EU is an important part of my identity. I really don’t want to lose it. I definitely don’t want to lose it because people believe the lies that the Leave campaign are telling. So, this campaign is quite emotional too. There is a huge amount at stake and I really, really don’t like the thought of the country we would become if we succumbed to the narrow-minded isolationism of the Leave campaign. Brittie No Mates trying to forge her way in an increasingly complex world is not an appealing thought.

When we got to this stage in the Scottish Referendum, I wrote a piece saying what we needed to do in the last few days. Many of these principles apply now.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 54 Comments
Alistair Carmichael MP

Alistair Carmichael MP writes: Snoopers’ Charter debate was a circle of Hell even Dante could not have imagined

By Alistair Carmichael MP | Thu 9th June 2016 - 6:56 pm

This week in Parliament we debated the Investigatory Powers Bill or, as some would have it, the Snooper’s Charter take 2. It was two days of my life that I will never have back and, after fifteen years as an MP, it was two of the most depressing days I have known. Being an MP is a great job and when parliament works as it is supposed to it can be exhilarating. When it fails to do what it is elected to do, namely to hold the government of the day to account, then it is hell. The debate on this bill took us to a new circle of hell that even Dante could not have imagined.

The Bill is rotten to its core and I wish we could have blocked it as we did in Coalition when faced with the Communications Data Bill. Dealing with Tories in government was difficult. Dealing with Tories in government and Labour in opposition is impossible.
We had two days to debate hundreds of amendments in the House of Commons. The government alone brought forward one hundred and four amendments on the first day and a further twenty on the second. After all the amendments the provisions on bulk data collection and the retention of “internet connection records” are not even half-baked. They are raw.

You would have thought that this would be grist to the mill of any decent opposition. You would be right in that. Unfortunately we don’t have a decent opposition, we have the Labour Party. There was not a single amendment in the whole two day debate on which Labour considered worthy of voting. For two days they were absent from the voting lobbies. We did get a little excited on day two when we heard through the usual channels that they were “going to vote on something”. We need not have got our hopes up – it turned out that “something” was a third reading of the bill (ie on the bill as a whole) and the vote they cast was to support it.

For our part, despite our overarching opposition to the Bill we had tabled a raft of amendments in an attempt to make the Bill a little less awful. The SNP took the same approach. I will not bore you with them all but give you a flavour below.

First, I proposed – and pushed to a vote, an amendment which would have deleted provisions in the Bill for the introduction of the collection and storage of Internet Connection Records (ICRs). Now, I’m not yet 100% clear what an internet connection record is. Nobody is – even the Home Secretary. I surmise that it will probably be your web history. This will then be stored for 12 months just in case you ever come under suspicion. Meanwhile, that information can be hacked and stolen revealing an enormous amount of detail about your life, activity and even your state of mind. I knew that when I pushed the amendment it would not pass. Andy Burnham the shadow Home Secretary had already said that whilst he accepted that ICRs were incredibly intrusive and might not even be helpful in solving crime he supported their collection in principle (God alone knows what the principle was but by this time I had given up on trying to understand the Labour Party’s position).

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 3 Comments

Referendum polling day is fast approaching and the polls are narrowing

By Dave McCobb and Tim Pickstone | Wed 8th June 2016 - 4:45 pm

Pledge card00The result is going to be decided by whichever side can get their supporters out to vote.

As the Chief Executive of ALDC and the Deputy Director of Campaigns (as well as us both being local councillors in Bury and Hull respectively), we know Lib Dem campaigners are the best in the country at driving up turnout.

That expertise and experience is what the referendum needs – and has been recognised by a £30,000 donation given specifically to incentivise Lib Dem activity in the next few weeks to win the referendum for Remain.

We’re using that money to fund the Referendum Pledge Challenge.

In short, here’s how it will work:

– Every local party will receive 1,500 pledge cards in the post this week. A Riso-friendly version is available on the Google Drive now, so you don’t have to wait for the printed cards to arrive. In the meantime, you can print on the riso or even a laser printer. If you don’t have access to the Google Drive, you can get access to it by emailing [email protected].

– Use the target pools in Connect that identify the most likely Remain voters to pick which doors to knock on. When you speak to a Remain voter, ask them to sign on the dotted line and pledge to vote on June 23rd. Make sure they give you an email address so we can keep in touch with them about our campaign. When someone signs their name to say they will do something, extensive research has shown they’re more likely to go on to do it.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 12 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • David Allen
    Tristan, You're right in the sense that you didn't specifically call for PFI. But you did say "if you can persuade private money to provide the funding on t...
  • David Garlick
    Touted as bringing power to people. Power brought down from Govt sounds good but power still not reaching the lowest possible levels in our Communities....
  • Tristan Ward
    @ David Allen "PFI won’t help stop the planet burning" Who said anything about PFI - I didn't. The private money that is building (not enough) house...
  • Joey Vimsante
    I think the EU and UK needs to support not for profit, social media platforms that put the interest of the public, vulnerable people, young people, and nation a...
  • Nick Baird
    With regard to client-side image scanning, the danger of mission creep are real, but I have other concerns. One is whether this is truly a practical and effecti...