Tag Archives: featured

The Voice

Willie Rennie’s penny on tax for biggest investment in Scottish education since devolution

By The Voice | Wed 27th January 2016 - 11:51 am

Willie and ACH on nursery visit

Finally, someone is actually planning on using the new tax-varying powers given to Scotland. Willie Rennie has made a big announcement on education this morning. He intends cleaning up the mess the SNP have made in education with 4 radical measures, paid for by a modest rise in income tax which will not affect anyone who earns £19,000 a year or less.

That £475 million investment will include the Lib Dem Pupil Premium, already successful in England and, thanks to Kirsty Williams, in Wales. That’s all about giving extra money to disadvantaged kids in school. Then there’s investment in nurseries and colleges, as well as a reversal of the SNP’s education cuts.

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Caron Lindsay

Lynne Featherstone’s “Equal ever after” is out now – how same sex marriage became a reality (with added Lib Dem flouncing)

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 26th January 2016 - 5:26 pm

Lynne Featherstone Equal Ever AfterLast night, at a glitzy party, Lynne Featherstone’s book, Equal ever after was launched. In it she tells the story of  her crusade as Equalities Minister to deliver same sex marriage.

The launch was attended by Nick Clegg, Jo Swinson, Julian Huppert and many, many more. Sadly, I wasn’t there, even though I was in London. I was at a meeting of the Federal Finance and Administration Committee instead.

You have to wonder what position Jo Swinson was in when she took this:

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Sal Brinton

Sal Brinton’s Federal Executive report

By Sal Brinton | Tue 26th January 2016 - 1:45 pm

Sal Brinton Sal @ Crohns & Colitis Rec _2 CROPPED Nov 13Just before Christmas the Federal Executive (FE) met for an awayday to receive and consider your responses to the governance review consultation.

Two of the concerns that you told us about were the lack of diversity of our MPs, and how you felt that all the party committees and structures were hard to understand, and often out of touch.

We will be bringing back the next stage of the governance consultation to you in February, and will run a consultation session at the York Federal Conference in March, with some draft proposals and seeking your views on some of the key issues. Following your comments over the summer we will develop proposals, a new constitution and structures, which will then come back to the Autumn Conference in Brighton for your debate and voting. This would mean that the next round of Federal Elections (which will take place after Conference, ready to start at the beginning of 2017) would be run under the new arrangements.

In the meantime, FE wants to report back regularly to members: in addition to the report on the members’ part of the party website, we will let you know as soon as we can after a meeting what is discussed at our meetings. We will ensure that there is a report on Lib Dem Voice and in addition we want to encourage the cascading down through representatives on FE of important information. Clearly, some matters are (and must be) confidential, and others are seriously uninteresting, but we will do our best to let you know what is happening.

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Peter Martin

“How to Pay for the War,” or, Just about Anything! – Keynes 1940

By Peter Martin | Mon 25th January 2016 - 1:22 pm

Whenever a progressive party proposes a better education system, a better NHS,  better public transport or whatever,  the killer question is always “How are you going to pay for it?” The implication is that someone will have to pay by way of an increased tax bill or the money will have to be withheld from some other worthy project to compensate.

Our parents’ and grandparents’ generation had a similar, but much harder, problem to solve when it came to the question of how to pay for the war against Nazi Germany in 1939. If the principles of ‘sound finance’ which held that government budgets must at all times be balanced had been rigidly applied then surrender would have been the only option. Fortunately, the Liberal Party, and the country, had at their disposal the best economic mind of the 20th century in John Maynard Keynes who explained, in his 1940 book “How to Pay for the War” how an inadequately armed country of 40 million people, with an economy which had been performing poorly in the inter war years, could at least start to function well enough to take on a much better performing country, at least economically, of twice its population.

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The Voice

What does it mean to be a Liberal Democrat today? Choose the Agenda 2020 Essay competition winner

By The Voice | Sun 24th January 2016 - 9:45 am

As part of the Agenda 2020 project to restate our values in a way that’s relevant to the modern world, the party ran an essay competition in the Autumn. Members were asked to submit 1000 words on the subject “What does it mean to be a Liberal Democrat today?”

Out of what is described as a “huge” number of entries, the party has shortlisted nine.

You can read them and vote for your favourite here.

We don’t know who the shortlisted applicants are – we just have their words to choose from. So, if you’re on the shortlist, no cryptic clues in the comments, please.

What’s in it for the winner?

The competition winner will be invited to speak to our Agenda 2020 consultation session at spring conference, have their essay published on the party website and in our party magazine, and be presented with a copy of John Stuart Mill’s ‘On Liberty’, signed by Tim Farron.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Nick Clegg: Give doctors the right to prescribe Cannabis for those in real pain

By NewsHound | Sun 24th January 2016 - 8:54 am

Nick Clegg’s Standard column this week tackled the issue of Cannabis prescription:

He tells some real-life stories of people whose lives have been transformed by being able to use Cannabis:

Faye, a corporate PA for a big company who was diagnosed four years ago with rheumatoid arthritis, is about as far away from the cliché of the layabout pothead as you can possibly imagine. An ambitious, outgoing and highly able young woman, the pain threatened to derail the career she had been building since the age of 16. She tried a number of prescription medicines but they came with a range of nasty side effects, from hair loss to constant nausea, that often left her too ill to work.

Four years later, her career is back on track. She makes her own cannabis-based skin cream that she can use at work, which has no psychoactive qualities and can easily be disguised so that no one knows she is using cannabis. To her colleagues, it looks like she simply keeps a small jar of normal hand cream on her desk. As a result, she told me that she can “live my life as I used to four years ago”. But she does so at great expense and at the risk of a criminal record. She is also forced to put herself into potentially difficult situations in order to obtain the cannabis she needs.

Nick makes the point that not one of these people wants to be criminals:

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Will Wilshere

Be careful with home education registration

By Will Wilshere | Sat 23rd January 2016 - 1:55 pm

The media reporting of the tragic death of Dylan Seabridge, blaming the fact that he was home educated, is bringing back bad memories of 2009. Then Ed Balls commissioned the “Badman Review” into whether Home Education could be used to hide child abuse. Whilst the review found no evidence to link the two, it felt very much like Labour was out to get us, like the government was looking for a reason to attack home education in an illiberal way as only Labour could. More often than not, home education is seen as the problem, not the local authority’s failure to act with the powers they already had, or the parents’ failure to seek help. These cases, whilst tragic, are very much the exception and do not reflect the reality of home education.

I was home educated between the ages of 11 – 17 and remember this being discussed by both students and parents. The approach felt like a witch hunt, with the government demanding access to your homes to privately question children. People were worried that the questions would be leading, and due to the number of children who were young or special needs the gut feeling was they wouldn’t realise the severity of the questions being asked.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m in favour of registration, but it would need to be done in a way that didn’t feel like an attack on home education.

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Michael Taylor

What’s the use of an elections database if it isn’t up-to-date during an election!

By Michael Taylor | Fri 22nd January 2016 - 2:10 pm

Mick Taylor and fellow Todmorden Lib Dems out and about

Mick Taylor and fellow Todmorden Lib Dems out and about

I am currently helping in a small local by-election for Todmorden Town Council. Amongst the things I have been doing is making sure that we use Connect properly. Imagine my frustration then when I discovered that it is not possible to add the voters who have come on to the register just in time to vote in the by-election. I have taken this up with the powers that be but have been told that they can only cope with the once a month regular register updates.

So the only way we can deal with this small number of new electors is to do it ON PAPER. I have also discovered that there is no way to remove defunct postal vote information, except by individual voter, a slow and time-consuming process.

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Alistair Carmichael MP

Alistair Carmichael MP writes…Suzanne Fletcher reminds us how one person can make a difference for vulnerable people

By Alistair Carmichael MP | Wed 20th January 2016 - 5:55 pm

Today in Parliament the Minister for Immigration was forced to explain why G4S were housing asylum seekers behind red doors, leaving them open to targeted attacks. The Minister, who said he was “deeply concerned”, in response sprang into action announcing an audit of asylum seeker accommodation in the North East. Good to see the Minister reacting so quickly to something that was only in the papers that morning you might think. Not so.

Suzanne Fletcher, former Liberal Democrat Councillor and now Chair for Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary, has been campaigning on this issue doggedly for years. In fact, it is predominantly down to her campaign work that this became a news story today.

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Caron Lindsay

SNP “talk left but act right” says Willie Rennie in first leaders’ debate

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 20th January 2016 - 1:32 pm

The first leaders’ debate of the Scottish election campaign took place in Dundee this week. Liberal Democrat Willie Rennie faced SNP First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Labour’s Kezia Dugdale, Conservative Alex Johnstone (standing in for leader Ruth Davidson) and Patrick Harvie.

He strongly attacked the SNP’s record, saying, according to the Evening Telegraph:

Nicola presents herself as an anti-austerity party but look at her record in comparison with George Osborne.

She wants to match him on the income tax, she wants to undercut him on air passenger duty and she is undercutting him on the council tax.

This is not an anti-austerity party, they talk left but act right. They need to match up their record with their rhetoric.

This is consistent with what he’s been saying for some time. In December, the SNP Government were forced into yet another humiliating freedom of information climbdown as they had to release a memo from Nicola Sturgeon’s poverty advisor which highlighted that the SNP’s universal benefits disproportionately helped the better off. At that time, Willie said:

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Andrew Wiseman

Andrew Wiseman writes…Why we are trialling a shorter autumn conference

By Andrew Wiseman | Thu 14th January 2016 - 8:36 am

lib dem conf votingFederal Conference Committee is very mindful of the cost of attending conference. The cost of coming to conference as well as the overall length is often raised in feedback from members. As well as keeping registrations rates as low as possible to members, launching the conference access fund and negotiating discounts on travel costs we have been looking at the length of the autumn conference. The main costs of attending conference, for most people, is having to take time off work and the cost of accommodation. Many members are not able to take the time off work. There is also increasing pressure on all political parties to reduce the length of all political conferences to minimise the impact on parliamentary time.

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Caron Lindsay

Want to go to Spring conference and can’t afford it? Apply to Conference Access Fund by Friday

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 12th January 2016 - 2:40 pm

2015 policy pitch autumn conference by Paul WalterOur Spring Conference in York between 11-13 March is the first to be held under the new One Member One Vote rules. That means that every single party member could have a say as we make our policies.

I say COULD, because not every member can afford to go. Travel, accommodation and childcare costs put going to conference beyond the reach of many members.

This time, however, people can apply for a grant from the Conference Access Fund:

We have established a Conference Access Fund to improve accessibility for members attending conference. The fund consists of a contribution from the core Conference budget as well as donations from party members. Any contributions made by party members are ring-fenced for this purpose only and where applicable, any unused donations will be carried over to the next conference.

All applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis. If there is high demand, priority will be given to members who are attending Conference for the first time and members from underrepresented sections of society.

To do so for this Conference, you have to apply by this Friday. The online form is here.

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The Voice

Farron: We must not pull up the drawbridge because of the Cologne attacks.

By The Voice | Sun 10th January 2016 - 8:00 pm

Reports of crimes and sexual assaults in Cologne on New Year’s Eve have now topped 500.

Tim Farron has said that this incident should not lead to us pulling up the drawbridge. It’s hard to see, though, how much further we could pull up our drawbridge. It’s practically wedged shut already.

Tim said:

I condemn in the strongest possible terms the sex attacks in Cologne on New Year’s Eve.

But we also must not pander to those who say pull up the drawbridge to some of the most desperate people in the world.

The values that cause us to embrace those fleeing war are the same values that refuse to tolerate this kind of violence against women. We believe such crimes should be prosecuted with the full force of the law, regardless of whether they are refugees or not.

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Celia Thomas

Baroness Celia Thomas writes…Derek Ezra 1919-2015

By Celia Thomas | Thu 7th January 2016 - 11:55 am

Liberal Democrat peer Derek Ezra died on 22 December 2015 at the age of 96. Celia Thomas remembers him.

Liberal Peers were absolutely delighted when Derek Ezra took the Liberal whip on becoming a Peer in 1983. He was one of the best known men in public life at the time, having been a well-respected Chairman of the Coal Board from 1972 to 1982. He had been a Liberal since university days, he told us, where he joined the Cambridge University Liberal Club in 1936. There he was a friend of Richard Wainwright, who was later to become the Liberal MP for Colne Valley.

A few years later, when war broke out, Derek became a gunner, rising eventually to the rank of Lt. Colonel; he later joined British Intelligence, where he was secretary of the Combined Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee. After the war, he spent four years in Luxembourg as a member of the UK delegation to the European Coal and Steel Community where he worked with Jean Monnet, largely regarded as the founding father of the European Community. From that time on, Derek was a passionate, but not uncritical, supporter of the European Union.

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The Voice

LibLink: Ed Davey says Government is “butchering UK’s renewables”

By The Voice | Wed 6th January 2016 - 1:13 pm

 

BusinessGreen refers to some of Ed Davey’s recent comments as a ‘blistering attack’ in which he ‘slams Conservative ministers’.

He was responding to some research, including Freedom of Information requests, that was carried out by the Carbon Brief. In a nutshell, Conservative ministers  have been claiming that household energy bills were rising because of a projected overspend of £1.5 billion by 2020 on subsidies for clean energy. Hence, they claim there was an urgent need to cut the subsidies for renewables.

But the disclosed emails between officials at the Department of Energy and Climate Change show that by last summer they already knew that energy bills would be 7% lower than originally projected.

According to BusinessGreen, Ed Davey claimed that ‘the revelations provided further evidence the government had slashed renewable energy subsidies on the false premise there was excessive upward pressure on energy bills. He also urged ministers to now release the full detail of the calculations used to project a £1.5bn overspend.’

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Caron Lindsay

Five New Year’s resolutions for Liberal Democrats #1

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 1st January 2016 - 1:35 pm

So, it’s the morning after the New Year parties. Everyone else in my house, including the dog, is sleeping off a fun evening of Monopoly in which the two teenagers comprehensively bankrupted the adults over some seven hours. I therefore have time to suggest a few New Year’s Resolutions for Liberal Democrats to see us through 2016.

Don’t let anyone put us in the corner

I don’t know about you, but I am done with caution and contrition. Sure, we were in government for a few years and we seriously screwed a few things up. You’d think we were the only party ever to make mistakes, but we also did a lot of good things for good, liberal reasons. It was our Deputy PM who insisted that a judge-led enquiry investigate phone hacking when the Tories wanted to sweep it under the carpet. It was our Business Minister who brought in shared parental leave. It was our schools minister who gave extra money to disadvantaged kids in school. It was our Climate Change Secretary who faced down the Tories and made sure money was put into renewable energies. It was our Health Minister who started the long job of reforming appallingly poor mental health services which left many without the treatment they needed. Whatever you might think of Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander, the Tories’ recent welfare proposals show exactly what they would have stopped. It took a while for Nick Clegg to come round to the idea that Theresa May’s Snooper’s Charter was ridiculous, but once he got there he stood firm, for years. Oh, and there’s the small matter of protecting human rights legislation, too.

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Tim Farron MP

Tim Farron’s New Year Message: 2016 can be a year of hope and opportunity

By Tim Farron MP | Fri 1st January 2016 - 6:00 am

The New Year is a time to look forward and it is as important for us as a party to set ourselves new goals and ambitions as it is as individuals.

I am determined that the Liberal Democrats face the new year with a new sense of purpose, a new drive and a sense of ambition.

David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn both lead parties that are fundamentally divided. Whether it is over Europe, like the Conservatives, or their leader, like Labour, both the government and the official opposition are at war with themselves.

This obsession with their own internal problems is bad for politics and bad for Britain.

For the Conservatives, David Cameron and George Osborne are more and more obsessed with appeasing their backbenchers, resulting in policies that are punishing people that are trying to provide for themselves and their families. To make things worse, they are taking a wrecking ball to public services, particularly local government.

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Willie Rennie

Willie Rennie’s New Year Message: Let’s unite Scotland with a positive liberal message

By Willie Rennie | Thu 31st December 2015 - 6:00 am

So what can we look forward in 2016? The Forth Road Bridge’s continued opening (we hope). Scots athletes excelling as part of Team GB at the Rio Olympics. Andy Murray mounting another challenge at Wimbledon.

And the small matter of a Scottish Parliament election that will set the direction of the country for five years.

As ever, at this election voters face a choice.

They can choose five more years of constitutional division and grievances with the SNP who have failed to protect crucial services.

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Kirsty Williams AM

Kirsty Williams’ New Year message: Welsh Lib Dems are “united, growing and up for the fight”

By Kirsty Williams AM | Wed 30th December 2015 - 1:30 pm

2016 will be a big year for Wales.  With the Assembly elections just around the corner, people will soon decide who they want representing them in Cardiff Bay.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats head into these elections with our heads held high and a record to be proud of.  During this Assembly, we have used our influence in budget negotiations to secure, amongst other things, over £200 million extra investment in schools through our Welsh Pupil Premium.  This policy, directed at pupils that need it most, is central to what we believe in: ensuring that everyone, no matter their background, will get a fair start in life.  Despite being a small group in the Assembly, we have made a big difference to the communities we represent.

We combine this dedication to fairness with a pro-enterprise agenda.  We believe in supporting people who have ambition and ideas.  We understand that it’s not just government that creates jobs, but business too.  We recognise that in the real world, even our brightest need support to create and innovate.

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Caron Lindsay

Help us find the Liberal Democrat stars of 2015 – starting with Rosie Farron, Janet Rennie and Richard Rees

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 26th December 2015 - 10:00 am

For the last couple of years, around this time,  we’ve  asked you to name your Liberal Democrat Stars of the year.  Little did we know that in 2013, what we thought might be an interesting comments thread for a day or two would turn into a six part Liberal Democrat Roll of Honour  with some really lovely tributes to some fabulous people.

This year has been the worst time ever to be a Liberal Democrat, I’m not going to lie about that. What’s kept me going, though, is the camaraderie, inspiration and sheer dedication of so many people in this party. This coming year has its challenges, mainly in Scotland, Wales and London and with the EU Referendum. Our colleagues will sustain us in so many ways. It’s good to celebrate them.

This isn’t just about honouring the Great and the Good, although they are as eligible as anyone else. It’s about appreciating anyone from grassroots activist to Cabinet Minister who has made your Liberal Democrat journey easier, more stimulating and satisfying or who has provided comfort and inspiration for the future.

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Caron Lindsay

Tim’s top tunes: How many have you heard of?

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 24th December 2015 - 10:25 am

Tim Farron features tomorrow in a Christmas Day Lakeland Radio broadcast. Between 12pm and 3pm tomorrow, the pre-recorded show will air and Tim will count down his top 40 tunes.

Cumbria Live has the story:

There will be no Slade or Wham Christmas hits with Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron picking the music – instead there will be songs from the Sex Pistols, The Clash and X Ray Specs.

The show will feature on Lakeland Radio on Christmas Day with a selection of Tim Farron’s favourite hits from across the years including Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now by The Smiths which might be viewed as an unusual festive tune.

It is well known that Tim and I move in very different musical circles. One of us is the essence of all that is cool. One of us loves everything trashy, cheesy and camp. It’s therefore hardly surprising that I have only heard of a handful of his choices.

Here is his list in full. How many have you heard of?

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The Voice

Tim Farron: A message of hope at Christmas

By The Voice | Tue 22nd December 2015 - 1:56 pm

Tim Farron has delivered his first Christmas message as leader of the Liberal Democrats and reflected on a message of hope for the festive period.

Tim Farron's Christmas message

Tim Farron's Christmas message

Posted by Liberal Democrats on Tuesday, 22 December 2015

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Caron Lindsay

End of Term Report: Tim Farron

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 17th December 2015 - 9:30 pm

It’s five months since Tim Farron’s first full day as leader. As the political term comes to an end, how has he done in the role so far? What has he done well, and where is there room for improvement? Be warned, this is a long one. You might want to get a cup of tea and a biscuit.

First, let’s look at the highlights:

Those amazing speeches

That first one, just after his election. Have you embraced your diagnosis yet?

And then that emotional debut Conference speech with that impassioned section where he called out David Cameron for his failure to help refugees:

One of the reasons I supported him for leader was because of the heartfelt way he articulated our values:

We have a hell of a mountain to climb at the moment. It’s going to take a lot of work. It’s going to take a leader who’s zingy, persistent, gutsy, noisy and awkward who can articulate a liberalism that’s relevant, practical, optimistic and joyful. Tim Farron fits that bill as close to perfectly as it gets.

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Martin Petts

Spain’s historic liberal opportunity

By Martin Petts | Thu 17th December 2015 - 12:41 pm

Albert_Rivera_-_02Buckling under the weight of economic stagnation, endemic corruption and institutional failure, the old duopoly in Spanish politics of the right-leaning Popular Party (PP) and centre-left Socialists is finally breaking down. With just days to go until the general election on 20 December, voters look to be splitting four ways. On the hard left, Podemos has profited from the frustrations of many, but in the centre ground Ciudadanos (C’s) offers new hope for liberal minded voters.

Liberalism tends to be a dirty word in Spain. The country has had precious few popular liberal movements in its history and the label tends to be hijacked by the right, meaning many Spaniards equate the term with a “one rule for them, one for us” mentality, or corporate cronyism.

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Paul Tyler

Lord Paul Tyler writes…Votes at 16: Labour flunks it again

By Paul Tyler | Tue 15th December 2015 - 5:04 pm

As soon as it was known that 16 and 17 year old would have a say in the referendum on Scottish independence, I tabled a Bill in the Lords for a comprehensive change in the franchise. I have long believed that there is a strong case for lowering the voting age, in light of the maturity and political awareness of this group, and the many, much rehearsed adult responsibilities they take on. There is a pragmatic argument too, which is simply that creating a seamless link for as many young people as possible between citizenship education in schools, electoral registration in the classroom, and then actual participation at the ballot box, is likely to instil the habit of voting throughout later life.

With the advent of the EU Referendum Bill, I thought that even those who had reservations would surely accept that 16 and 17 year olds who had so successfully been given a say in the 2014 Scottish referendum could not be excluded from the franchise in a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union.  Labour told us that they agreed.

Our campaign then started out quite well.  With cross-party support for the principle at Committee Stage (when the Lords rarely votes), and then a thumping majority of 82 for the amendment at Report Stage, we were set-fair to force a government rethink. Or so you would think.

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Sam Lomas

Sustainable food the liberal way

By Sam Lomas | Tue 15th December 2015 - 11:00 am

veggies

Globally, the way we produce food is unsustainable. In the UK alone millions of tonnes of food are being thrown away, soil quality is deteriorating and dairy farmers are shutting up shop on a daily basis because of crazy supermarket price wars.

At the moment 800,000,000 people are ‘food insecure’ meaning they go hungry periodically. Not many are predicting the situation to improve, there is forecast to be a 69% gap between the crop calories produced now and those needed by 2050.

I see the problem as divided into 3 main sections: not enough food for a growing global population, an increasingly unsustainable global food production system and resource intensive diets.

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Joe Otten

The role of profit in ambition for housebuilding

By Joe Otten | Tue 15th December 2015 - 8:54 am

We have planning permission for around 8000 units granted and unstarted in Sheffield, and numerous brownfield sites which are considered unviable for development. The authority is in danger of not meeting its housing land supply, and a green belt review is looming. This is a northern perspective, and I daresay the issues are different in the south.

Now a common feature of the planning system as it operates in practice seems to be the negotiation between planners and developers to add conditions and extract gains from developments to serve public interest goals, such as:

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Ed Davey

Ed Davey writes: On the eve of a climate breakthrough …

By Ed Davey | Sat 12th December 2015 - 10:00 am

 

Whatever the press report on the Paris UN Climate Change agreement, it’s already clear there are 3 things we should remind people about:

  • first, it’s great news the whole world has come together to make the first ever global climate change agreement, so elusive over the last 25 years;
  • second, the impressive commitments to cut greenhouse gases are huge steps forward – and should make the remaining vital steps easier and cheaper;
  • third, Liberal Democrats played a major role towards this agreement – in leading the UK’s policy for Paris, in shaping the European Union’s and by representing the UK at the previous 5 UN climate summits – the essential building blocks for this weekend’s success in Paris.
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Caron Lindsay

++ BREAKING: Carmichael election stands – petition refused

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 9th December 2015 - 10:36 am

My anxiety-meter was at maximum this morning. I was pretty much at the throwing up stage first thing. I will be eternally grateful to the person who put me out of my misery as soon as they knew that the petition to overturn Alistair Carmichael’s election had been thrown out.

If I was that worried, what on earth must the last seven months have been like for Alistair and his family? On the face of it, the petition looked as if it had no basis in law, but legal proceedings are uncertain, expensive and incredibly stressful. Even the smallest of small claims can be tough to get through and this was a high profile national case.

I’ve known Alistair for a long time and he’s one of the most decent, honourable, liberal, tolerant people I know. He’s spent his life standing up for the powerless, for human rights, against the death penalty, for freedom and civil liberties. It’s been hard to see him and his family being put through this case on the basis of one mistake which was nothing to do with the election in Orkney and Shetland. 

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Vince Cable

Vince Cable writes…Where we can all agree on Syria

By Vince Cable | Sun 6th December 2015 - 8:00 pm

The political debate on Syria has produced a bewildering array of people proceeding from the same premises to opposite conclusions and from different premises to the same conclusions.   We have an ‘anti-war’ coalition which unites Nigel Farage, David Davis, Jeremy Corbyn, the SNP, the Greens and the Mail and the ‘pro-war’ camp includes the Tory government, a sizeable chunk of the parliamentary Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, the Financial Times and the Indy.

At recent party events I have attended there is disquiet and confusion.  I see that two thirds of Lib Dem Voice readers oppose the British air strikes. Veterans of Iraq war marches ask why we are not marching again to recapture one of the party’s finest hours.  I share some of the confusion no longer having the benefit of participating in discussions amongst parliamentary colleagues. I have had the benefit of Cabinet-level briefings, which led me to endorse air strikes 18 months ago; but much has changed since.

It would be useful to identify a series of propositions on which I believe most reasonable people, on either side of the debate, can agree.

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