Tag Archives: featured

Jo Shaw

A response to Julian Huppert’s analysis on the Justice and Security Bill

By Jo Shaw | Sat 2nd March 2013 - 7:00 pm

A response to Julian Huppert’s analysis of the Justice and Security Bill

We learned on Wednesday this week that the Justice and Security Bill is being rushed into Report Stage in the Commons. The government has now published its latest proposed amendments to the Justice and Security Bill. Astonishingly I have been told that Conservatives are saying the Bill has been moved forward to conclude in the Commons on 7th March to avoid a further motion at our Spring Conference.

Julian Huppert and Mike Crockart worked very hard during the Committee stage of the debate, and voted (supported by Labour) to defeat secret …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 66 Comments
Joe Otten

Saturday Forum: The bread-and-butter issue

By Joe Otten | Sat 2nd March 2013 - 1:53 pm

One line in David Cameron’s response to his party’s third place in the Eastleigh by-election caught my eye:

I would like us to do far more to focus on the bread-and-butter issue of cost of living. I think living standards are declining. We talk about only a protest vote. One of the reasons why people feel inclined to protest is because they are hurting in their pocket.

Yes, dead right. If you can keep prices down relative to wages, then people are better off. Spikes in food or energy prices can force some very tough decisions in the household budget.

I hope this …

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Posted in Op-eds | 26 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Three things the Liberal Democrats must learn from Eastleigh

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 1st March 2013 - 12:03 pm

Liberal Democrats are entitled to a weekend of being incredibly pleased with ourselves. I have never been as proud of this party as I am now. The way we calmly and professionally got on with delivering a brilliant campaign on the ground was astonishingly good. Activists put their lives on hold and dedicated themselves to Eastleigh for three weeks. My eternal regret will be that I never made it there, due to a horrendous Flu and its lingering aftermath. However, Team Scotland and many others across the country phonebanked their hearts out. Yesterday in Edinburgh, we even had to have …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 50 Comments
Stephen Tall

Eastleigh by-election: my first thoughts

By Stephen Tall | Fri 1st March 2013 - 2:31 am

Let’s consider the backdrop: we’re polling at half the level we were in 2010; the previous MP, Chris Huhne, was forced to resign after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice and faces a prison sentence; we’ve just endured a week of torrid publicity. And yet we’ve held on.

It’s true that, in some ways, Eastleigh was a good seat for us to have to contest. The party is immensely strong in the area, holding every council seat, and runs a popular council.

However, what has been immensely encouraging has also been the clear evidence Lib Dem activists remain …

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Posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Also tagged and | 80 Comments
Stephen Tall

Eastleigh by-election: your essential round-up of the latest campaign news (28 Feb Polling Day Edition!)

By Stephen Tall | Thu 28th February 2013 - 7:25 am

Welcome to the final round-up of the Eastleigh by-election campaign…

goodmorning_ld

It was the week when Mike Thornton’s campaign received a boost from former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown on Tuesday:

Then yesterday as Nick Clegg made his final visit of the campaign:

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Posted in Parliamentary by-elections | Also tagged and | 8 Comments
Stephen Tall

Final Eastleigh poll puts Lib Dems narrowly ahead of Tories – but all within margin of error!

By Stephen Tall | Tue 26th February 2013 - 7:30 am

What will (I assume) be the final poll of the Eastleigh by-election was published this morning. Conducted by Populus and commissioned by Lord Ashcroft, it shows the Lib Dems sustaining a narrow lead — significant in itself, but the more so as Eastleigh voters were interviewed over the weekend during which the controversy over allegations against Lord Rennard were prominent. Figures shown are compared with the most recent Populus poll, published at the end of last week:

    Mike Thornton (Lib Dem)

…

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Posted in Parliamentary by-elections | Also tagged , and | 12 Comments
Paul Walter

Team EastLY – making a difference

By Paul Walter | Mon 25th February 2013 - 12:53 pm

Some rights eserved by Helen Duffett

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Posted in Parliamentary by-elections | Also tagged and | 5 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s statement on Chris Rennard: 5 key points

By Stephen Tall | Sun 24th February 2013 - 8:55 pm

It’s just over an hour since we published Nick Clegg’s statement concerning the allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour levelled against Lord (Chris) Rennard. Here are some quick, initial thoughts:

1) Nick Clegg has stuck by his position, repeated earlier today by Vince Cable and Danny Alexander, that he “did not know about these allegations until Channel 4 informed the party of them shortly before they were broadcast.” However, he was aware of “indirect and non-specific concerns about Chris Rennard’s conduct” in 2008, his first year as party leader. He asked Danny Alexander to put these allegations to Chris Rennard, who …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 11 Comments
The Voice

Statement from Nick Clegg on Chris Rennard allegations

By The Voice | Sun 24th February 2013 - 7:35 pm

The following statement by Nick Clegg has just been issued:

The allegations made on Channel 4 concerning Lord Rennard last Thursday were extremely serious and distressing to the women involved. It is critical they are investigated thoroughly and dealt with properly and they will be.

But I would like to make one thing crystal clear. I did not know about these allegations until Channel 4 informed the party of them shortly before they were broadcast. I have today spoken to one of the women in the broadcast who I respect and admire and who confirmed that she had never raised the issue

…

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Libby Local

Libby Local, Episode 12: “Vox Pops”

By Libby Local | Sun 24th February 2013 - 2:30 pm

“No I won’t vote for you,” the man growled as he began to shut the door in my face.

“Why…” I began to say.

“In a word,” he snarled, “Jewellery Tax.”

And the door was slammed shut. I was rather glad.

It was the last doorstep of the day and overall it had been a good afternoon. I’d met a lot of retired people, mothers at home for half-term and home workers. And a good number had pledged their votes.

The evening was spent with Melissa putting my Focus newsletter together. It was rather fun. I’d gathered a fair few vox …

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “Five days to make a difference.”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 24th February 2013 - 11:45 am

Just one issue dominates Nick’s weekly letter: the Eastleigh by-election and the close contest between the Lib Dems and Tories. Here’s his letter in full…

libdem letter from nick clegg

Five days. That is all we have got left to make sure the people of Eastleigh send Mike Thornton to Westminster as their new MP. Five days to make a difference.

I went back to Eastleigh this week. And each time I visit, I am overwhelmed by the number of volunteers, from all over the country, who are giving up their spare time to

…

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Stephen Tall

Eastleigh by-election: your essential round-up of the week’s campaign news

By Stephen Tall | Sat 23rd February 2013 - 5:28 pm

Lib Dem chief executive Tim Gordon summed up the week so far in his weekly email to activists:

Liberal Democrats have broken their own party’s by-election campaign records with more volunteers, more money raised and more campaign literature delivered in the opening days of the Eastleigh by-election campaign than any other.

And today’s been no exception:

…

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The Voice

Eastleigh Tory candidate “running scared” from hustings

By The Voice | Thu 21st February 2013 - 9:52 am

Missing Tory candidateThe Conservative candidate has pulled out of the BBC Radio 5 Live hustings this morning, and is facing accusations of running scared of voters.

From The Guardian:

There is growing concern within the party that with a week to go before polling day her no-nonsense and frequently off-message approach is damaging its chances of seizing the seat from the Liberal Democrats.

Candidates from the other major parties were attending the debate – chaired by Victoria Derbyshire – on Thursday morning for 5 Live, a major set-piece of the week. But Conservative

…

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Posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Also tagged , , , , and | 8 Comments
Stephen Tall

Half a defence of John O’Farrell’s comments on Margaret Thatcher

By Stephen Tall | Mon 18th February 2013 - 8:50 pm

OFarrell-things betterI wonder if Labour HQ wish they’d read John O’Farrell’s 1998 book, Things Can Only Get Better, a little more carefully before he was selected to fight the Eastleigh by-election?

First there was his call for Labour voters to vote tactically for the Lib Dems to beat the Tories, as uncovered by Mark Pack here: Should Labour supporters vote tactically to beat the Tories? “Go for it” said John O’Farrell. (Incidentally, the Telegraph then ran the story here without any credit.)

And then yesterday, the Mail ran with …

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Posted in Parliamentary by-elections | Also tagged , , and | 68 Comments
Mark Pack

What Google reveals about the current state of play in Eastleigh

By Mark Pack | Sun 17th February 2013 - 5:34 pm

The search results thrown up by Google often provide a neat little insight into what angles of a story are dominating coverage and people’s attention. The angles that get the most prominent coverage and the most interaction and responses are the ones that rise to the top of the search results. So what do they tell us about the current state of play in the Eastleigh by-election?

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Posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Also tagged , , , , and | 7 Comments
Libby Local

Libby Local, Episode 11: “Door knocking”

By Libby Local | Sun 17th February 2013 - 4:15 pm

“It’s lovely to see a face on the door step.”

The genial middle-aged woman had invited me out of the bitter cold into her hall after I had explained that I was standing for in the May elections.

“And it’s lovely to see someone under fifty in politics,” she added.

It took me a little time to extract myself from her house, but I walked away with a promise of her vote and completed survey form. I felt distinctly cheerful, which was quite a turnaround as the day had not started well.

After a hectic morning trying to catch up …

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Stephen Tall

Your essential weekend reader — my personal pick of the week’s must-reads

By Stephen Tall | Sun 17th February 2013 - 1:35 pm

Papers - Some rights reserved by NS MewsflashIt’s Sunday lunchtime, so here are a baker’s dozen of thought-provoking articles to stimulate your thinking juices culled from all those I’ve linked to this last week. You can follow me on Delicious here.

The lesson from Poundland: work pays – Tim Harford looks at the workfare which didn’t work and the workfare which did work. Guess which one the Government scrapped? ‘It is ironic that this is one of the few areas where the government is carrying out rigorous tests of what …

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “From Eastleigh to Africa – and back again!”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 17th February 2013 - 11:00 am

Nick’s latest weekly missive focuses on two places: his visits as party leader to the Lib Dem by-election campaign in Eastleigh, and his visit as Deputy Prime Minister to Mozambique and Ethiopia to focus on ‘the three Ts’ – tax, transparency and trade. Here’s his letter in full…

libdem letter from nick clegg

Like so many of you, I’ve been to Eastleigh this week. I was there to visit a local college with our excellent candidate Mike Thornton on Monday, and after a brief stop off to see the kids, I headed straight

…

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Stephen Tall

Eastleigh by-election: your essential round-up of the week’s campaign news

By Stephen Tall | Fri 15th February 2013 - 3:45 pm

Mike_ThorntonIt’s only just over a week since the Eastleigh by-election was called. But this first Lib Dem / Tory by-election battle of the parliament has attracted a lot of interest. One aspect that hasn’t been noted much in the media is the level of enthusiasm within the Lib Dems to fight this by-election, and fight it to win.

As the party’s weekly briefing itself noted, Mike Thornton’s campaign has broken the party’s by-election records, with “more volunteers, more money raised and more campaign literature delivered in the opening days of the Eastleigh by-election campaign than any other”.

Here a few of the stats:

  • Well over 1,000 Lib Dem volunteers have visited the by-election HQ since it was officially opened on Saturday morning.
  • On Thursday alone, 2,200 phone calls were made to prospective voters and activists knocked on 1,700 doors.
  • More than 650 individual donations have been received through the party’s website and through email appeals in the last six days.
  • 21 of the party’s 57 MPs have already visited: Nick Clegg, Danny Alexander, Ed Davey, Vince Cable, Sir Malcolm Bruce, Sir Nick Harvey, Tim Farron, Jo Swinson, David Laws, Duncan Hames, Andrew Stunell, Simon Wright, Sir Robert Smith, Stephen Gilbert, Tom Brake, Roger Williams, Don Foster, John Leech, Tessa Munt, Mark Williams, John Pugh and Adrian Sanders.

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Posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Also tagged , , , , , , , and | 11 Comments
Stephen Tall

IFS verdict: Labour’s 10p tax idea “has no plausible economic justification”

By Stephen Tall | Fri 15th February 2013 - 8:00 am

institute-for-fiscal-studies-logo-370x229Ed Miliband’s announcement yesterday that Labour will re-introduce a 10p starting rate of income tax paid for through the introduction of Vince Cable’s mansion tax has received a tepid response from the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The IFS put out a note yesterday headed simply, Better options exist to help low earners than 10p tax rate:

A 10p tax rate would reduce taxes for those on low incomes and strengthen their work incentives. A far simpler and more sensible way of achieving these aims would be to spend the same

…

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Stephen Tall

Rejoice! Labour has a policy. Even better it’s a Lib Dem policy.

By Stephen Tall | Thu 14th February 2013 - 11:35 am

Yesterday at PMQs Ed Miliband channelled Ronald Reagan. Today he’s channelling Vince Cable:

Here’s what Ed has just announced:

Let me tell you about one crucial choice we would make, which is different from this government. We would tax houses worth over £2 million. And we would use the money to cut taxes for working people. We would put right a mistake made by

…

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Nick Clegg MP

Nick Clegg writes … A fairer and more prosperous world

By Nick Clegg MP | Tue 12th February 2013 - 1:00 pm

Lynne Featherstone in Zambia. Photo: some rights reserved by DFID http://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/8220719712/Lynne Featherstone and I are travelling to Mozambique and Ethiopia this week, which will be my first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as Deputy Prime Minister. We will see the changing nature of our relationship with these African countries, as well as the UK’s international development programmes in action.

By working with Mozambique, Ethiopia and other developing countries, we are helping to create a world that is fairer, more prosperous and more secure.

This year the Coalition Government will meet our commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income on international development – an achievement that comes with much controversy but one I am proud to deliver.

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Mark Pack

The real political battle isn’t Conservative vs Labour or Cameron vs Miliband

By Mark Pack | Mon 11th February 2013 - 11:53 am

Diversion sign - photo courtesy of Michael Casey on Flickr. Some rights reserved, see http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelcasey/2959557643/Skim the political news – or brace yourself and watch some of festival of braying adults that is PMQs – and you could easily think that British politics is primarily a contest between Cameron and Miliband, Conservative and Labour, to be top dog. You could – and you would be wrong. It’s a diversion from where the real action is.

The real political contest is both elsewhere and not one single contest. It is not about Conservative versus Labour, except by incidental outcome.

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Posted in Op-eds | 13 Comments
Mark Pack

Maria Hutchings, Eastleigh Conservative candidate, plays hide and seek with the media

By Mark Pack | Mon 11th February 2013 - 8:50 am

Norman LamontOne of my favourite moments from the 1997 general election campaign came when I was stood on a street corner in Harrogate, talking to a report about the challenge from Lib Dem candidate Phil Willis, who was trying to take the seat from the Conservatives. Suddenly, the journalist looked over my shoulder, muttered ‘excuse me’ and ran off down the street, partially dignified, chasing a van that had driven past behind me.

The reason? The van was that of the Conservative candidate, Norman Lamont, who had been spending the whole campaign trying to avoid talking to the press. The result? Much of the press coverage was dominated by stories of journalists trying to track him down around the constituency.

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Posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Also tagged , and | 1 Comment
Libby Local

Libby Local, Episode 10: “Stalled!”

By Libby Local | Sun 10th February 2013 - 2:15 pm

The day after a crazed man confronted me in Demsbury, Mark, the local community support officer came to see me. I had met him at a number of police and community meetings and we get on well.

Mark told me quite a bit about the man who confronted me. Whenever trouble erupted in Demsbury, it was like as not that this man was at the heart of it. Yet, because he mostly engaged in petty crimes and antisocial behaviour, they could do little to control him.

It was all rather depressing. Mark was very thorough, giving me advice on …

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Posted in Op-eds | 5 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “If you want fairer taxes, there’s only one party for you: the Lib Dems.”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 10th February 2013 - 12:00 pm

No prizes for guessing which subject dominates this week’s letter from Nick Clegg to party supporters: the forthcoming Eastleigh by-election. Nick reflects on his own experiences campaigning in by-elections of yore – “exhilarating, exhausting and exciting in equal measure” – and urges all party activists to help in whatever way we can in the next three weeks. A major feature of the campaign in Eastleigh and across the country will be the Lib Dems’ push for Fairer Taxes, and it’s great to see Nick’s message including web-links to enable readers to take action for themselves on this key message. Here’s …

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Stephen Tall

Your essential weekend reader — my personal pick of the week’s must-reads

By Stephen Tall | Sun 10th February 2013 - 10:50 am

It’s Sunday morning, so here are 12 thought-provoking articles to stimulate your thinking juices culled from all those I’ve linked to this last week. You can follow me on Delicious here.

In Search of Monsters – Stephen W. Smith looks at the background to France’s military intervention in Mali: ‘One could even say that they will provide the Saharan Taliban with the very thing they were thirsting for: an expeditionary force of infidels on home turf.’

Trident is no longer key to Britain’s security …

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Helen Duffett

Mike Thornton selected for Lib Dems in Eastleigh

By Helen Duffett | Sat 9th February 2013 - 6:54 pm

.@dannyalexander congratulates @Mike4Eastleigh on his selection by local Lib Dems tonight
Photo by Helen Duffett on Flickr.

Eastleigh Liberal Democrats have selected a local Business and Development Manager as their candidate for the upcoming Parliamentary by-election in the constituency.

Mike Thornton, a parish and borough councillor since 2007, plays an active part in the community. He is involved with the annual Bishopstoke Carnival and is a member of the local church.

Mike lives with his wife and daughter in Bishopstoke and …

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Posted in Parliamentary by-elections | Also tagged and | 39 Comments
Stephen Tall

The PM and the EU: Cameron’s zen art of compromise maintenance

By Stephen Tall | Sat 9th February 2013 - 10:25 am

David Cameron - Some rights reserved by The Prime Minister's OfficeCredit where it’s due. If David Cameron had returned to Britain empty-handed or walked out of the EU budget talks in a fit of pique he’d have been pilloried. Plenty of his opponents were hoping he’d do just that.

As it is, he’s able to boast (not without justification) that he’s successfully negotiated a 3% real-terms cut in the EU budget — to a cumulative €960bn (2014-20) — and protected the British rebate. Nick Clegg, who’s been a particular critic of …

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Posted in Europe / International | Also tagged , , , , and | 13 Comments
Stephen Tall

5 reasons for Lib Dems to campaign in Eastleigh (just in case you needed any more)

By Stephen Tall | Fri 8th February 2013 - 8:15 am

eastleigh campaignMark Pack has posted last night’s poll findings from Eastleigh, showing the Tories narrowly ahead with both Labour and Ukip out of serious contention. In case you needed some reasons to help the Lib Dem campaign in the next three weeks in whatever way you’re able here are 5 from me…

The Lib Dems can win…

Lord Ashcroft’s poll is pretty ideal for the party: it piles the pressure on the Tories as early front-runners, while confirming how tight the contest will be. The Lib Dems’ local strength is significant …

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Posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Also tagged , , and | 7 Comments
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