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Tag Archives: featured

The Independent View: Without thriving city economies, there can be no sustained national recovery

By Alexandra Jones | Mon 7th April 2014 - 8:00 am

This year, George Osborne delivered his Budget against a backdrop of better than expected growth, higher than expected employment, and a deficit reduction plan that exceeded previous OBR forecasts.

His speech, unsurprisingly, made much of the success of the “long-term economic plan delivered by a coalition Government and a Conservative Chancellor”. Yet the fact that our cities still lack the powers they need to fulfil their economic potential, and drive growth locally, will constrain future growth for large parts of the UK economy.

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Posted in The Independent View | Also tagged cites, city deal, greater manchester, leeds, local growth deals and Wales | 7 Comments

UPDATED: Full list of Lib Dems standing in our held seats and top 50 targets

By Stephen Tall | Sun 6th April 2014 - 2:15 pm

We’re little more than a year from the May 2015 election so here’s my latest running check on how candidate selection is going in our held and key target seats…

I published a first draft of this list at the start of October, and asked readers to help me update it. Many thanks to those of you who have helped me keep it updated, including the party’s Candidates Services Office. Here’s the latest version of the list of (re-)selections in our held seats and the top 50 targets for the party.

It’s a snapshot of how the party’s doing in getting people in place in the battleground seats that will determine the extent of Lib Dem influence in the next parliament:

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Posted in Selection news | 4 Comments

Alison McInnes MSP writes…The Scottish Justice Secretary is wrong to say stop and search is an operational matter

By Alison McInnes MSP | Sun 6th April 2014 - 10:46 am

1^st April 2014 marked the 1^st anniversary of Police Scotland, a single national police force that replaced our 8 regional forces.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats were the only group in the Scottish Parliament to oppose the national force from the outset.

One of the key strengths of Scotland’s policing up until then had been its local foundations. Funded by local councils, managed by local officers and officials, accountable to locally elected representatives, responsive to local needs.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged civil liberties, justice, Scotland and stop and search | Leave a comment

Chart of the day: how spending on day-to-day public services will have been cut by 37% by 2018-19

By Stephen Tall | Fri 4th April 2014 - 1:55 pm

It is simply not true – as our critics on the left pretend – that we are slashing and burning the state. By the end of this Parliament, public spending will still be 42% of GDP. That’s higher than at any time between 1995 and when the banks crashed, in 2008.

Nick Clegg, 10th March 2013

It’s a soothing line from Nick Clegg, designed to reassure Lib Dems that the Coalition’s austerity programme is simply curbing the spending excess of the Blair/Brown years.

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Posted in News | Also tagged flip chart rick, nick clegg, public spending, steven toft and tax cuts (Lib Dem) | 24 Comments

Opinion: Towards a sensible welfare system

By Adam Corlett | Fri 4th April 2014 - 12:23 pm

Where is the development of Lib Dem welfare policy? It’s hard to see any. Even the recent living standards policy paper (pdf) said “we do not believe that this paper is the appropriate place to determine a Liberal Democrat approach to welfare reform. this is an area that needs further debate within the Party.”

We all want a society in which technology, employment, education, high pay, low inequality, progressive taxation and cheap homes reduce the need for means-tested benefits, but this long-term …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged welfare reform | 12 Comments

The Swiss Wheeze: the Better Off Out argument that’s full of holes

By Stephen Tall | Thu 3rd April 2014 - 2:40 pm

If only we were Switzerland, eh? That’s the dream of the Better Off Out brigade, who long for its freedom as part of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). And it’s a tempting offer: all the benefits of free trade with EU member states, and (if you believe Nigel Farage, Dan Hannan et al) none of the risks.

Except it’s not quite that easy, as The Economist highlighted when it investigated Britain’s options.

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged daniel hannan, eea, efta, european union, nickvnigel, nigel farage, Norway, switzerland and the economist | 19 Comments

Opinion: The reason an EU Referendum is a bad idea is one that no politician dare utter

By Nick Tyrone | Thu 3rd April 2014 - 12:13 pm

We are constantly told that we “need” a referendum on Britain’s continued membership of the European Union. Here’s the thing: we don’t. We don’t actually need a referendum on anything just now. Referenda are, in general, actually a bad idea.

They are vital every once in a while: the vote happening in Scotland on September 18^th of this year is a good example. The government of Scotland is made up of nationalists who want to make Scotland an independent country. To legislate directly for this would be unthinkable, so …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged democracy, eu and referenda | 63 Comments

Nick v Nigel: the polls call it for Farage. Disappointing, but don’t panic! Here’s 3 reasons why you shouldn’t…

By Stephen Tall | Wed 2nd April 2014 - 10:30 pm

Last week we had one post-debate poll. It showed Farage won overall, but the split was more interesting: Labour and Lib Dem voters went for Nick, Tory and Ukippers for Nigel. As you’d probably expect.

This week we had two post-debate polls, and their results are remarkably similar. ICM says Clegg was reckoned to have won by 31% of viewers, Farage by 69%. YouGov says 27% preferred Clegg, 68% Farage.

ICM has released the breakdown of its poll. This week, Labour voters split (narrowly) in Farage’s favour, by 57% …

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Posted in Op-eds and Polls | Also tagged european elections 2014 and nickvnigel | 56 Comments

Nick v Nigel, Round 2: My second thoughts

By Stephen Tall | Wed 2nd April 2014 - 8:22 pm

Last week, there was no doubt in my mind that Nick Clegg won the debate – he quite simply out-classed Nigel Farage, and YouGov’s poll showed Labour and Lib Dem voters agreed (though not Tory and Ukip voters).

This week, it was much more evenly matched. The early part belonged to Nick. With the focus on the Ukip leader’s praise for Vladimir Putin as a “brilliant operator”, Nigel Farage was always going to be on the back-foot. He was, and Nick was able successfully to claim the calm …

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Posted in News | Also tagged european elections 2014 and nickvnigel | 41 Comments

Liberal Democrat membership grows by over 500 in first quarter of 2014

By The Voice | Wed 2nd April 2014 - 1:56 pm

Liberal Democrat membership hit 44,000 in the first quarter of 2014, a rise of more than 1500 since the beginning of 2013. Parties in government tend not to increase their membership and last year’s results for the Liberal Democrats were the first time in recent history that this had been done.

This is in no small part down to new financial incentives to local parties if they increase their membership. If they have more members, they get more money to spend on their local campaigns. That means that they …

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Posted in News | Also tagged party membership | 29 Comments

Opinion: Young people benefit from the EU. We need to persuade them to vote for the party of IN

By Ab Brightman | Wed 2nd April 2014 - 10:59 am

Each one of us who was glued to a screen or radio for the Nick vs Nigel EU debate last Wednesday will have our own opinion of who lost and who won as facts, rhetorical points and the affection of the audience were fought over. But I’ll tell you whose affection wasn’t fought over – that of Britain’s young people. And I, along with friends in and outside the party, was disappointed.

The lives of young people in this country – your children, your activists, you …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged eu, nick clegg, nickvnigel, nigel farage and young people | 9 Comments

Liberal Democrats launch innovative – but controversial – online fundraising plan

By Mark Pack | Tue 1st April 2014 - 9:16 am

News reaches me of a potentially very effective but highly controversial fundraising move planned by Liberal Democrat HQ for the general election.

Back when I worked at party HQ, I was involved in trademarking the party’s logo so that the party was in a stronger legal position when dealing with cyber-squatters or producers of fake literature.

Now the party is planning to go one step further, trademarking the party’s name and starting to enforce the trademark, charging royalties for its use.

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Posted in News | 11 Comments

LDV Debate: Could One Member One Vote work for Liberal Democrat Conference?

By The Voice | Mon 31st March 2014 - 2:20 pm

Sue Doughty and Gareth Epps discuss the issues.

Sue: During the consultation at conference and before conference there were many positive reasons to support this. For example, younger members who may not have a permanent address find it difficult to maintain links with a local party and so don’t get elected as voting reps and sadly some parties didn’t notify HQ of their voting reps. Although conference can be expensive the work by Federal Conference Committee with York Local Party meant that there …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged gareth epps, internal party democracy, liberal democrat conference and sue doughty | 22 Comments

Time for Nick Clegg to ditch the “Great Britain not Little England” line

By Stephen Tall | Sun 30th March 2014 - 11:45 am

“Great Britain not little England” – it was a line Nick Clegg used in his recent Spring conference speech, setting up the new political dividing lines between those who are optimistic, outward-looking, progressive pro-Europeans and those who are gloomy, isolationst, reactionary anti-Europeans.

It’s a line he used again in this week’s Nick v Nigel debate. “Great Britain, not Little England” was the subject line, too, of the party’s immediate post-debate email to supporters.

Clearly it’s a line the party believes encapsulates the main fault-line in British politics right now. …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged british future, england, ippr, nick clegg, nickvnigel and sunder katwala | 37 Comments

A longer read for the weekend: How important will incumbency be to the Lib Dems in 2015?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 29th March 2014 - 12:52 pm

Last year I wrote a piece, So, about that Lib Dem wipeout in 2015 then…, highlighting that – though the polls are grim for the Lib Dems – the assumption of many pundits that this will automatically translate into Lib Dem annihilation at the next election is flawed.

That brief analysis was based on looking at the lists of Lib Dem-held seats that Labour and the Tories are targeting. Now Craig Johnson from Newcastle University has taken a more …

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters and What do the academics say? | Also tagged craig johnson and political studies association | 8 Comments

Steve Webb MP writes…Tackling rip-offs, standing up for savers

By Steve Webb MP | Thu 27th March 2014 - 1:15 pm

Earlier today, I had the pleasure of announcing in the House of Commons a raft of new measures designed to make sure that when people save for a pension they get value for money.

One of the Coalition’s most successful policies, for which I have had lead responsibility, is the introduction of ‘automatic enrolment’ into workplace pensions. Starting with the biggest firms in October 2012, and reaching the smallest ones by 2017, employers now have a legal duty to put their workers in a pension scheme and to make an employer …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged pensions | 15 Comments

Norman Lamb MP writes… Improving patient safety in the NHS

By Norman Lamb MP | Thu 27th March 2014 - 11:55 am

Back in 2012, an independent study of NHS case notes from hospitals concluded that in about 2.3% of hospital deaths there was strong evidence that death could have been prevented. In practice, this equates to around 6,300 preventable deaths in hospitals every year.

This is a shocking statistic. As Liberal Democrats, we should never fall into the trap of talking down the NHS – our health and care services do fantastic work day after day savings lives and providing excellent care. But we must also be willing to confront …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged NHS | 4 Comments

YouGov’s Nick v Nigel poll: Clegg wins with Labour, Lib Dem voters; Farage with Tory, Ukip voters

By Stephen Tall | Thu 27th March 2014 - 8:52 am

My overall view of last night’s Nick v Nigel debate was that Mr Reasonable won it. But then I would think that, wouldn’t I? What did rest of the British public think?

Well, the vast, vast majority of rest of the British public would have had no view either way: they didn’t watch it. But polling firm YouGov did ask those who did watch it – though as Anthony Wells notes, “to get 1000 people for our poll of people …

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Posted in News | Also tagged nickvnigel and yougov | 38 Comments

Nick v Nigel: My first thoughts

By Stephen Tall | Wed 26th March 2014 - 8:15 pm

This was Mr Angry v Mr Reasonable.

Nick Clegg started with one advantage – he’s a veteran of leaders’ debates – and one big disadvantage – his pro-Europeanism is unfashionable. Tonight, though, the Clegg of 2010 was back on show. He looked directly down the camera lens at the viewer, hand nonchalently in pocket, first-named the questioners.

It was (and yes, I would say this wouldn’t I but it doesn’t make it any less true) a class act from Nick. His crisp opening statement framed the key point we wanted to …

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Posted in News | Also tagged nickvnigel | 64 Comments

Kate Parminter writes … Jumping in at the deep end: Lib Dem successes on the Water Bill

By Kate Parminter | Tue 25th March 2014 - 5:08 pm

Today marks the first day of Report Stage of the Water Bill in the House of Lords. As the Party’s Co-Chair on Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs I have been leading for the Lib Dem Group on the Bill. I wanted to share with you some of the work our team has been doing.

I should start by saying that there are a great many aspects of this Bill which are thoroughly Liberal Democrat. The Bill’s main focus is on aiming to meet our increasing needs for water, against a backdrop of limited water resources. The Bill also introduces a new system of flood reinsurance, or ‘Flood Re’, that will help people in high flood risk areas get affordable insurance. It will also ensure that we are better able to encourage adaptations and preventative measures to try and limit the kind of horrendous floods so many people experienced over recent months.

While the Bill was in the Commons, our Minister, Dan Rogerson, strengthened even further a welcome new primary duty on Ofwat to ensure water resilience. At a time when water resources are becoming more and more scarce this is a vital step towards the sustainable system Lib Dems want to see.

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Posted in News | Also tagged water bill | 3 Comments

Should prisoners have unlimited access to books?

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 24th March 2014 - 8:55 pm

The bees are buzzing around my bonnet today. Earlier I had a bit of a go at Danny Alexander for falling in with the Better Together dourness in the Scottish Referendum campaign. Now, I have Chris Grayling in my sights. The Justice Secretary, under the guise of making the prisoners’ incentive scheme more “effective” has banned a number of things. The issue being given most prominence is that prisoners can no longer be sent books. The Howard League for Penal Reform’s Chief Executive Frances Crook condemned the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged frances crook, howard league for penal reform and ministry of justice | 32 Comments

Opinion: The new tuition fees argument – having your cake and eating it

By Maria Pretzler | Sun 23rd March 2014 - 8:50 am

On Friday, the Guardian published an article pointing out that a lot more public money than expected will have to be contributed to tuition fees loans.

This has been greeted with a certain amount of glee by the usual suspects. On some level, I can understand the excitement, but nevertheless, it looks like a case of trying hard to have this particular cake and keep eating it.

People who used to shout about fees are now upset that after all, the state is putting more money into the system than …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged higher education and tuition fees | 117 Comments

LDVideo: Vince responds to the budget (and takes on Labour “hubris” in the process)

By The Voice | Sat 22nd March 2014 - 6:17 pm

Business secretary Vince Cable was on his feet in the Commons on Thursday, providing his response to budget. His speech has already proved something of a hit, not least for his deft responses to point-scoring interventions by Labour MPs, including with the Voice’s Stephen Tall.

You can watch (and read) Vince in action below.

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Posted in News | Also tagged budget 2014 and vince cable | 6 Comments

The price of trusting people with their own money

By Joe Otten | Thu 20th March 2014 - 4:29 pm

The world of the private “Defined Contribution” pension is one that sees so many hidden fees it has been described as generating a greater return for the financial services industry than it does the saver. A large bite of this comes with the annuity purchase, where the pension pot, built up over the years, is spent on an annuity, converting a cash sum into a fixed (or index-linked) income for life.

Annuity purchase represents a kind of insurance against getting too old and running out of money.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged annuities, pension reforms and pensions | 52 Comments

Some first thoughts on the Budget

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 19th March 2014 - 2:23 pm

So the Chancellor has just sat down. Here are my first thoughts on the Budget.

Nick gets his Workers’ Bonus

The personal tax threshold rises to £10,500. I doubt it was anything to do with the petition being pushed on social media in the last few days. This was down to the hard work of our ministers staying on message, in volume, over time, in budget negotiations. Nick Clegg has stuck with this through the entire Parliament and given us a very tangible promise kept – and more. “I am proud of what we have achieved”, said Osborne. Aye right.

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Posted in News | Also tagged budget 2014, george osborne, nick clegg and vince cable | 54 Comments

A longer listen for the weekend: Can liberalism be better advanced by Lib Dems or Tories?

By The Voice | Sat 15th March 2014 - 11:07 am

That was the topic up for debate at a fringe event a week ago at Spring Conference, hosted jointly by the Electoral Reform Society and Liberal Reform.

Lisa Smart, PPC for Hazel Grove, chaired the discussion, with Lib Dem MP Jeremy Browne, Conservative and Director of Bright Blue Ryan Shorthouse, and the ERS’s Nick Tyrone completing the panel.

As Jeremy indicates at the beginning of his remarks, he can answer the question shortly: the Lib Dems are the proper home for liberals. But fortunately for the audience he elaborated a little, including some challenges that he thinks the party has to meet if it is to remain at the liberal cutting edge.

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Posted in News | Also tagged electoral reform society, jeremy browne, liberal reform, lisa smart, nick tyrone and ryan shorthouse | 46 Comments

By-election update: Lib Dems take two seats from Tories in Canterbury and Ludlow

By ALDC | Fri 14th March 2014 - 8:34 pm

It has been a busy week for by-elections with ten in principal authorities and one parish council by-election reported to the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors (ALDC).

The Liberal Democrats gained a seat from the Conservatives yesterday in Barnham Downs ward, Canterbury. Michael Sole was 52 votes ahead of his Conservative rival, taking 37.3%. It was a bad result for the Conservatives who lost 11.4% of the vote despite the Tory Council Leader living in the ward. UKIP took 18.15 to come third, Labour finished fourth with …

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Posted in Local government and News | Also tagged andy boddington, canterbury, ludlow and michael sole | 31 Comments

17 policies on which the Lib Dems and Labour now agree

By Stephen Tall | Fri 14th March 2014 - 7:28 am

It was a fiery Prime Minister’s Questions this week: with Nick Clegg standing in for David Cameron, Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman was joined by her backbenchers in hurling insults at the Lib Dem leader, which he returned with equal force.

It wasn’t edifying or enlightening. And it may not be a good guide to what could happen after May 2015 if the electoral arithmetic leaves Labour and the Lib Dems with little choice but to team up to form a Coalition government.

In fact, if …

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Posted in News | 24 Comments

New poll: Voters credit low-earner tax-cuts to Lib Dems, Clegg’s ratings spike following Farage debate challenge

By Stephen Tall | Thu 13th March 2014 - 8:11 pm

Here’s a poll finding that will relieve Lib Dems and worry Tories – according to Ipsos-Mori more voters (45%) credit the Lib Dems with the Coalition’s tax-cuts than credit the Tories (33%):

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Posted in News and Polls | Also tagged ipsos-mori, nick clegg and tax cuts (Lib Dem) | 31 Comments

Opinion: Good co-ops, bad co-ops and the funding of the Labour Party

By William Hobhouse | Thu 13th March 2014 - 2:37 pm

We Lib Dems do not need persuading of the merits of the Co-operative Movement. Founded in Rochdale in the 1840s, it continues to this day to provide an alternative model for business.

However, it cannot be said that there are many takers for this business approach. Apart from a good number of small co-operatives, there are two dominant players. The John Lewis Partnership, which is owned by its employees, and the Co-operative Group, owned by its members.

John Lewis is a success. It is often cited as an example for others. Not so the Co-operative Group which seems to go from one crisis to the next.

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Posted in News | Also tagged cooperative group, cooperative movement and party funding | 30 Comments

Most Read

Op-eds

Spread it out: the liberal case for a wealth tax (Tom Reeve)
We need a long term strategy with vocational education and apprenticeships at the heart (Dino Schreuder)
Separation of Powers and Civil Liberties in the UK are now at breaking point (Tara Foster)
Welcome to my day: 15 June 2026 – some boldness on Europe… at last… (Mark Valladares)
Actually, this Summer of Strategy could be quite good… (Caron Lindsay)

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