Tag Archives: featured

Caron Lindsay

What has my marriage got to do with the Liberal Democrats?

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 8th July 2013 - 7:53 am

More than you would think, I guess. My long-suffering husband at least went into our union with his eyes open. If there wasn’t actually a large bird of liberty in the room at the registry office, he knew that the party would play a large part in our lives together. And even then, I think it’s played an even bigger part than he anticipated and he’s dealt with it with patience, fortitude and humour. Most of the time, anyway.

Why is this even relevant? Well, it’s a Summer of 25th anniversaries. Next month, we will have been married for 25 years. Yesterday, it was 25 years since Paddy Ashdown was elected as leader and this video was released by the Party to celebrate.

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Stephen Tall

Miliband vs McCluskey: 2 points that strike me about the Labour/Unite row over alleged candidate selection rigging

By Stephen Tall | Sun 7th July 2013 - 8:45 am

Looking in from the outside, albeit as a former Labour member myself, two points strike me about the Labour/Unite row over the alleged attempt by the union to rig the selection of the party’s general election candidate in Falkirk.

The first is this:

How lucky is Ed Miliband in his opponent, Len McCluskey?

Yes, you read that right. Ed is lucky in Len. The reason why is simple: Len McCluskey has gone about his attempted putsch of Labour in an extraordinarily cack-handed manner.

If you wanted to set up a comedy caricature trade union boss, you’d make sure he had a salary of £122,000, had called for a general strike, have him make threats against prominent Labour ‘Blairites’, and then protest against the lefty New Statesman when it reports accurately what you’ve said.

If you wanted to be a smart trade union leader, however, you’d operate below-the-radar. You’d do things just the same: ensure your chosen candidate was elected Labour leader (however dubiously), line up your mate to head up the party’s election campaigns, and guarantee loyal union members are installed in as many key seats as possible.

But you’d do so sotto voce.

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , and | 8 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem MP Martin Horwood socks it to the Tories over their “dramatic flip-flopping” on in/out EU referendum

By Stephen Tall | Sat 6th July 2013 - 11:15 am

martin horwoodWhile most of the country was enjoying yesterday’s sunshine, the Tory party indulged its own carnival of (to coin a phrase) banging on about Europe.

James Wharton’s private member’s bill legislating for an in/out referendum on the European Union to take place by 2017 (a pledge David Cameron has already conceded to his rebellious backbenchers, who don’t believe him) passed its second reading in the Commons by 304 votes to zero.

Only one Lib Dem MP made a speech: Cheltenham’s Martin Horwood. It’s a punchy tour de force which details …

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Posted in Europe / International, News and Parliament | Also tagged , , , and | 45 Comments
Tim Farron MP

Holding out for a liberal hero

By Tim Farron MP | Tue 2nd July 2013 - 11:55 am

Every year at Conference I get the chance to thank the people in our Party that have given the most.

They’re people who have worked tirelessly in their local area to make sure liberal voices are heard – or people who have given years of time and support as councillors or council leaders.

They’re political assistants to council groups who support Lib Dems in local government with all the valuable work they do.

And they’re local parties who have worked to increase representation of ethnic minorities in everything they do.

This is your chance to let me know who we should be rewarding. Click here for an information pack.

You have until 31st July to get in touch and nominate a Party member you know has given a huge amount to the Party.

This is a great chance to make sure our ordinary members are recognised for all the fantastic work they have done for the Party. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Liberal Democrat Party Awards Pack 2013 by Liberal Democrat Voice

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged | 5 Comments
NewsHound

David Laws – “I thought the note was a joke”

By NewsHound | Tue 25th June 2013 - 10:59 am

no money leftITV has revealed the contents of the infamous note left by Liam Byrne for David Laws. Unfortunately it is not possible to embed the video in this post, but you can watch it here.

Three years ago David Laws reported that his predecessor had written ‘There’s no money left’, but it seems that wasn’t quite what the note said.

 

 

Posted in News | Also tagged and | 12 Comments
Nick T

Interview: Nick Clegg on the economy, welfare, Cleggism and the “superb” Kung Fu Panda films

By Nick T | Mon 24th June 2013 - 1:02 pm

CleggWe brought you a taste of the Voice’s exclusive interview with the deputy prime minister yesterday. Here is the full interview, covering the economy, welfare reform, pensions, Cleggism, our approach to the manifesto, Kung Fu Panda and Clegg’s cooking.

Nick Thornsby: What’s your take on where the economy is now, three and a bit years into the coalition?

Nick Clegg: My overall assessment is that it is healing. There are signs of confidence slowly seeping back into the sinews of the economy. Some of the latest data on consumer confidence are better …

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Stephen Tall

‘Red lines’ v ‘a long shopping list’: Clegg sets out plan for slimline 2015 manifesto

By Stephen Tall | Sat 22nd June 2013 - 9:55 am

Nick Clegg will be speaking today at the party’s local government conference in Manchester (Nick Thornsby will be covering it throughout the day here on LDV) and The Independent is one of the newspapers which trails what he’ll say.

Here’s my quick take on the top lines on which they’ve been pre-briefed…

The Deputy Prime Minister will take on his internal party critics by demanding a slimline manifesto at the 2015 election setting out the Lib Dems’ non-negotiable “red lines” in another coalition rather than a long shopping list of policies.

There’s been much discussion recently about ‘red lines’ in …

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Nick T

Local Government Conference live blog

By Nick T | Sat 22nd June 2013 - 9:50 am

Good morning from the Mercure Hotel in Manchester, where Liberal Democrats from around the country are gathered at the Local Government Conference jointly organised by ALDC and the Lib Dem contingent of the LGA.

The agenda for the day is here (pdf). I’ll cover as much as I can of some of the talks, as well as some comments from Don Foster, Gerald Vernon-Jackson and others. There will be a bit of a break mid-morning while I interview Nick Clegg for the site (we’ll publish the interview this week).

I’ll also try and post on the Lib Dem Voice twitter account

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Caron Lindsay

Adrian Sanders vs Miss England

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 21st June 2013 - 10:35 am

Torbay MP Adrian Sanders has come under fire after complaining about the area’s hosting of the Miss England finals. This is Plymouth has the story:

A row has erupted between Miss England organisers and a Devon MP who claimed the staging of the contest finals in Torbay sent out the wrong message about the area.

Adrian Sanders, Liberal Democrat MP for Torbay, has come under fire after telling the BBC the event was “an own goal”.

Mr Sanders said: “There are fantastic events happening in this area. Cycling events, art exhibitions, it’s all there, but this one is such an own goal.

“It’s

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 12 Comments
Stephen Tall

Tory rebels launch their own alternative Queen’s Speech as helpful reminder of why Lib Dems vital to Cameron

By Stephen Tall | Fri 21st June 2013 - 9:05 am

It’s enough to make you feel sorry for David Cameron. The Telegraph report gives the highlights:

Conservative MPs launch attempt to bring back death penalty, privatise the BBC and ban burka

Conservative MPs have drawn up an “Alternative Queen’s Speech” with radical policies such as bringing back the death penalty, privatising the BBC and banning the burka in public spaces.
The 42 bills also include legislation to scrap wind farm subsidies, end the ringfence for foreign aid spending and rename the late August Bank Holiday “Margaret Thatcher Day”. Britain’s relationship with Europe features prominently in the action plan, with draft laws setting

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 21 Comments
Nick T

The Syrian civil war is a humanitarian disaster: the time has come to intervene

By Nick T | Thu 20th June 2013 - 2:57 pm

There are few things about which we can be certain in the Syrian crisis, but there are some. We can be sure that brutal, unspeakable and unimaginable things are happening on a daily basis, particularly and most distressingly of all to the country’s children. We can also be sure that somehow, someday the war will end.

When it will end is anybody’s guess. How it will do so is a slightly easier to guess at. We know that Bashar al-Assad is militarily strong, thanks to the supply of weapons from Iran and Russia, and soldiers from Lebanon’s Hezbollah. We know that …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 36 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “Jobs are right at the heart of the Lib Dems’ agenda”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 16th June 2013 - 2:15 pm

lib dems million jobsThis week saw the Lib Dems launch a major new campaign: A Million Jobs for a Stronger Economy. As a party we have a habit of launching major campaigns and then letting them peter out. Remember the ‘John Lewis economy’ for instance? Or that we were the ‘one nation party’ before Ed Miliband? If not, you won’t be alone. So it’s encouraging that the party’s Million Jobs campaign is scheduled to run for a year — the minimum necessary for it to get any traction — and …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dems set to name 7 new peers for House of Lords, says Sunday Times

By Stephen Tall | Sun 16th June 2013 - 11:30 am

rumi verjeeToday’s Sunday Times front page (£) splashes with a ‘Cash for peerages row hits Clegg’ headline. The reality is slightly less exciting: Rumi Verjee, a prominent donor to the Lib Dems, is apparently top of the list of seven names put forward for peerages:

Rumi Verjee, a multimillionaire who brought the Domino’s pizza chain to Britain, is top of a list of seven names compiled by the Lib Dems who are expected to be awarded honours within weeks. He has given £770,000 to the party since May 2010. … Verjee

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , and | 37 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem MPs to abstain on Tories’ EU in/out referendum bill?

By Stephen Tall | Fri 14th June 2013 - 11:55 am

EU flag - Some rights reserved by European ParliamentOn 5th July, Tory MP James Wharton’s private member’s bill — laying out Conservative plans for an in-out referendum on the EU in 2017 — will get its second reading.

The Tories are on a three-line whip to support it (very unusual for a private member’s bill). Labour has confirmed they’ll shun the vote, branding the bill “a gimmick, a political stunt”. The Lib Dem parliamentary party will decide its position in a couple of weeks’ time, but is likely to abstain with …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , , and | 17 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Helena Morrissey’s Report: No excuses – we have to do what she says and do it well

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 14th June 2013 - 8:33 am

helena morrissey reportMy co-editor Stephen Tall has already published his first thoughts and a follow up post outlining where praise is due, which I agree with pretty much entirely. I’ve now emerged from my trip to London and subsequent burial under a pile of things that need to be stuffed into envelopes to add a few random thoughts of my own.

“A missed opportunity”

Norman Lamb started to draw up procedures for dealing with harassment in 2003. This work was never completed. Morrissey says:

Lamb is unsure why the drafted procedures were

…

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Stephen Tall

The Lib Dem narrative dilemma: forget about 2010, start looking forward to 2015

By Stephen Tall | Wed 12th June 2013 - 9:50 am

your vote matters lib dem leafletWe Lib Dems are past masters of the squeeze message. “The Tories can’t win here: vote Lib Dem to keep Labour out”; “Labour can’t win here: vote Lib Dem to keep the Tories out”.

But since 2010 we have become the victims of a just-as-vicious squeeze message. Labour says: “Lib Dems are propping up a toxic right-wing Tory government pushing through disgraceful policies (which we will quietly sign up to later — viz cutting child benefit for wealthier parents — once we’ve capitalised on public anger).” …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 53 Comments
Mary Reid

The ins and outs of the Snoopers Charter

By Mary Reid | Tue 11th June 2013 - 3:19 pm

web snoopers charterYou may be forgiven for being confused over whether the Snoopers Charter (aka the Communications Data Bill)  is in or out.

Back in December Julian Huppert reported that the Joint Committee that was looking at the Bill had unanimously agreed that it would have to be significantly amended to be acceptable. In an article in the Independent he wrote: “We have gone through the Home Office proposals – and the results are damning. The Bill as it is simply cannot proceed. ”

In April, Nick Clegg vetoed the Bill, and

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Stephen Tall

A personal guide to the 13 most essential political podcasts

By Stephen Tall | Mon 10th June 2013 - 8:45 am

podcastsCommuting is a major part of my daily life, so I find podcasts are an essential way to make use of time I’d otherwise spend staring vacantly out the window or idly refreshing and re-refreshing Twitter. Here, in order of where they appear in my iTunes directory, are the podcasts I listen to most frequently…

The Economist’s podcasts – a good mix of audio recordings of selected articles from the print edition together with brief discussions involving the Economist’s expert correspondents. Slightly irritatingly the sound can vary between recordings, so you …

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Nick T

Would PR spell the end of the Liberal Democrats?

By Nick T | Thu 6th June 2013 - 12:23 pm

It is one of the biggest yet most under-appreciated ironies of British politics that the policy that unites the Liberal Democrat party membership in its most fervent rapture — the introduction of proportional voting to Westminster elections — is also, probably, the thing most likely, if implemented, to lead to the end of the party is we know it.

That is not to say that PR would necessarily lead to the break up of the party, but it is undeniable that majoritarian electoral systems force together the relatively broad coalitions that are the pre-requisite to winning elections.

The way in which individuals …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 39 Comments
Mary Reid

Meat is a treat

By Mary Reid | Tue 4th June 2013 - 4:48 pm

barbecued-chickenParliament’s International Development Committee, chaired by Lib Dem MP Sir Malcolm Bruce,  has been turning its attention to global food supplies. According to The Independent the committee reports that even in the UK we are never more than few days away from a significant food shortage. You can read the full report on Global Food Security here.

We all throw away far too much food – up to one third of all food produced globally – so the committee is urging the Government to develop strategies that will help us to reduce the amount of food wasted in the UK.

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 19 Comments
Stephen Tall

Ed Balls shifts Labour’s position closer to the Lib Dems: is this the start of a Lib-Lab realignment?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 4th June 2013 - 11:15 am

Ed Balls and Vince CableEd Balls’ speech to Thomson Reuters yesterday grabbed headlines for its concession that paying a winter fuel allowance to the wealthiest 5% of pensioners could no longer be justified. The likely saving — at c.£100m a year, no more than a rounding error in the national accounts – may be modest, but the symbolism is significant.

This is Labour accepting (at long last) the new normal of austerity: current departmental spending will continue to be reduced in the next few years even as the long-hoped-for economic …

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 27 Comments
The Voice

Lib Link… Nick Clegg: Sadly, I’m not surprised by these revelations. Westminster is crying out for reform

By The Voice | Mon 3rd June 2013 - 12:45 pm

I know that the absence of the register from last month’s Queen’s Speech raised some concerns. So let me be clear: it will happen.

That was Nick Clegg writing in the Telegraph following accusations that an MP and three peers were engaging in paid lobbying.

Also on the table is the power of recall of corrupt MPs – something also raised by Tories Dan Hannan and Douglas Carswell elsewhere in the Telegraph. The point at issue between the two positions: whether there must be wrongdoing, or whether recall is at the absolute discretion of the petitioners and …

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The Voice

Jo Swinson: Don’t tell your kids they’re beautiful – they’ll get issues

By The Voice | Tue 28th May 2013 - 12:24 pm

jo swinson by paul walterJo Swinson, the Women’s Minister, has been interviewed by the Daily Telegraph anticipating the progress report due today on the Body Confidence campaign.

Her research has shown that 25% of all 11 to 15 year old boys and girls are unhappy about their appearance. 70% of girls think there is too much emphasis on how celebrities look.

She said:

Parents that praise their sons and daughters for looking “beautiful”, wearing a pretty outfit or having a nice hair do risk sending the wrong message to children that looks

…

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged and | 45 Comments
Stephen Tall

“Is the coalition government doing enough to encourage social mobility?”

By Stephen Tall | Thu 23rd May 2013 - 8:45 am

social-mobilityThat was the question I was asked to answer for a new magazine, The New Idealist (available online here). Here’s what I said…

Social mobility: it’s a phrase much-beloved by politicians from all three parties. Who, after all, can possibly disagree with the fine sentiments of Nick Clegg in his social mobility strategy paper, Opening Doors, Breaking Barriers (April 2011)?

In Britain today, life chances are narrowed for too many by the circumstances of their birth: the home they’re born into, the neighbourhood they grow up in or the jobs their

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 28 Comments
Stephen Tall

Opinion polls yadda yadda. OR “Does Nate Silver mean nothing to you? Did he write in vain?”

By Stephen Tall | Tue 21st May 2013 - 8:45 am

Two new polls last night: the daily YouGov tracker and the first post-local elections poll from Survation. The spread is interesting:

    Labour: 35% (Survation 39% (YouGov)
    Conservatives: 24% (S), 31% (YG)
    Lib Dems: 11% (S), 10% (YG)
    Ukip: 22% (S), 14% (YG)

As Anthony Wells points out, Survation asks whether people will vote Ukip (most other firms just ask about the main three parties and ‘Others’) so usually gets the highest Ukip poll numbers. This latest survey is in line with the bounce other firms have shown and which the perceived winner of an election often records.

Unsurprisingly, it’s Survation’s poll which has attracted most interest because it shows a gap if just 2% between the Tories and Ukip. Cue cries of ‘Tory meltdown!, ‘Cameron in crisis!’ and every other journalistic cliche.

At the risk of precipitating on the parade of those who love nothing better than to indulge in over-excited hyper-speculation, can I make the following point. Or rather can I ask the following question: Does Nate Silver mean nothing to you? Did he write in vain?

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Posted in Op-eds and Polls | Also tagged , , and | 24 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “Of course the EU has to change”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 19th May 2013 - 10:45 am

No prizes for guessing which subject Nick Clegg tackles in his latest weekly letter to supporters: Europe. He rattles through the three positions: ‘calamitous outers’, ‘inconsequential renegotiators’ and ‘achievable reformers’. No prizes for guessing which he identifies with the Lib Dems. Over to Nick…

libdem letter from nick clegg

I’m writing this week’s Letter to you from Kirkwall in Orkney. Alistair Carmichael and Jim Wallace have been trying to persuade me to make the trip for a while and I’ve finally made it in order to join the celebrations of the centenary of Jo Grimond’s birth.

The big debate this week in British politics, which featured strongly in PMQs – where I was standing in for the PM (you can watch it here) – has obviously been about our future role in Europe. An issue on which Jo Grimond was a pioneer and leader.

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Stephen Tall

“They’re all mad, swivel-eyed loons”: a top Tory on the Tories

By Stephen Tall | Sat 18th May 2013 - 12:15 pm

Conservative Party logoHere’s the remark attributed to ‘a member of the Prime Minister’s inner circle’ according to the Telegraph:

“There’s really no problem,” the Conservative figure said about the parliamentary turmoil. “The MPs just have to do it because the associations tell them to, and the associations are all mad swivel-eyed loons.”

There is an obvious point here (and it’s the reason why whoever said it will soon be resigned): don’t diss your own supporters. ‘Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican,’ was Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment. It was as …

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 12 Comments
Ed Davey

Edward Davey writes… Helping consumers to get cheaper energy bills

By Ed Davey | Sat 18th May 2013 - 11:25 am

Energy-bills-006As we finally emerge from what felt like a never ending winter, many consumers are rightly concerned about the energy bills landing on their doormats.

In Government I’m doing everything I can to ‘cushion’ people from bill increases. Wholesale energy prices make up nearly half of the typical household bill and controlling the recent increases is outside of our control. However, there’s a whole range of measures that we’re introducing to help people to keep their homes warm and their bills down – particularly the Green Deal, with the latest …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 16 Comments
Stephen Tall

That EU vote: 6 thoughts on what it means for the Tories, Lib Dems and Labour

By Stephen Tall | Thu 16th May 2013 - 8:40 am

clegg cameron miliband116 Tory MPs last night backed an amendment to the Queen’s Speech and called for an EU referendum bill. Here’s six thoughts from me on what it all means…

This wasn’t about Europe (much): this was about Cameron’s leadership

The Tory outers/Eurosceptics had already won: David Cameron capitulated in January, conceding an in/out referendum he’d tried hard to dodge. But that wasn’t enough for them. So they forced the Tory leader to capitulate again this week, forcing him to rush out a draft Bill legislating for just such a …

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged and | 17 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Liberal Democrat MPs to be given free vote on all aspects of Same Sex Marriage Bill

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 15th May 2013 - 7:27 pm

Rumours reach my ears of a surprise decision at last night’s Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Meeting. The Same Sex Marriage Bill comes back to the Commons next Monday for two days of debate on a number of amendments.

At Second Reading in February, no votes were whipped. Chief Whip Alistair Carmichael stepped out of the shadows to explain why to Lib Dem Voice readers.

The view of my parliamentary colleagues that came up time and again was that they supported equal marriage and were keen to see it on the statute book. They wanted, in fact, not just to support the

…

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 26 Comments
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