Tag Archives: featured

Stephen Tall

Why Cameron is now the ‘Yes to the EU’ campaign’s best hope

By Stephen Tall | Thu 24th January 2013 - 2:30 pm

cameron-europeThere are two very good reasons David Cameron didn’t want the Tories endlessly to bang on about Europe. First, because most of the public just aren’t that interested. Secondly, because the Tories are irreconcilably split on the issue and not even a referendum will settle matters.

That’s why for seven years as Tory leader Cameron tried to quell discussion, and then when that failed sought to steer a mid-course with gestures of Euroscepticism, such as December 2011’s faux-veto. In the end, he couldn’t hold out any longer. The …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 27 Comments
Stephen Tall

5 initial thoughts on David Cameron’s Europe speech

By Stephen Tall | Wed 23rd January 2013 - 10:53 am

David Cameron - License Some rights reserved by Statsministerens kontor David Cameron delivered his long, long-awaited speech on Europe this morning (text here). Caron’s rounding up the reactions from Lib Dems here – but here are my five initial thoughts…

This is the speech Cameron didn’t want ever to have to give.

Let’s be clear, David Cameron is making this speech now to try and keep the Conservatives together. The threat from Ukip and the party’s right has proved too powerful to withstand. Offering a referendum was no longer …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 37 Comments
Caron Lindsay

South Bronx is just as important as Seneca Falls, Selma and Stonewall

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 22nd January 2013 - 1:55 pm

South Bronx - Some rights reserved by Nathan CongletonIt is lovely to watch a US President taking the oath of office and not be scared. The feeling of dread I experienced in 1981 and 2001 when Reagan and the younger Bush took office was not pleasant. While Barack Obama has not been perfect, his heart is generally in the right place. His achievements in his first term are all the more remarkable when you consider that he faced a Congress full of some of the most right wing, conservative Republicans we’ve seen in our lifetimes whose sole aim was to thwart his every move.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 3 Comments
Adam Nathan

Opinion: A new group to urge close EU ties and fight the growing isolationist tide

By Adam Nathan | Mon 21st January 2013 - 9:53 am

European Union flags - Some rights reserved by tristam sparksAs a Lib Dem member who supports membership of the EU but sometimes finds this hard to verbalise to my friends, I have often noticed that Europe brings out strong opinions in people.

It can be a source of heated argument around the dinner table and on TV studio sofas. The stronger the views on one side, the more entrenched the other can become. Facts can be in short supply.

The hard truth is that Europe represents half of all our trade in

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 16 Comments
Libby Local

Libby Local, Episode 8: “Sneering and jeering”

By Libby Local | Sun 20th January 2013 - 2:15 pm

I wasn’t going to be a Lib Dem. And at times during the last two weeks, I have wondered whether I still want to a councillor. As thick snow fell across Demsbury, I poured out my frustration to Melissa over a glass in the Market Tavern.

I leant across the table towards her. “I’m furious. I feel unaccountably angry,” I said. “I think I may have made a mistake in standing for council at all.”

The very good thing about Melissa is that she is both calm and calming. She talked about the weather, the lack of gritting of pavements …

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Posted in Op-eds | 2 Comments
Nick T

Where is the British Borgen?

By Nick T | Sun 20th January 2013 - 12:39 pm

Alastair Campbell asked an interesting (if not altogether original) question on Twitter this morning:

As a massive fan of The West Wing, and an avid viewer of Borgen, it is a question I have also thought about. Britain is the world leader in political satire, yet we must be close to bottom of the league when it comes to political drama.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 17 Comments
Stephen Tall

The flagrant consistency of the Lib Dems’ position on an in/out EU referendum

By Stephen Tall | Sun 20th January 2013 - 8:55 am

EU flag - Some rights reserved by European ParliamentAs a follow-up to my post The surprising truth about that Lib Dem in/out EU referendum leaflet — and as a handy guide for journalists in the future — I thought I’d piece together the timeline of the recent history of the Lib Dems’ position on holding a referendum to give the British people a say on our future relationship with the European Union.

As you can see, it’s a picture of quite shocking, erm, consistency…

2007:

Lib Dems (under Ming Campbell) …

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Posted in Europe / International | Also tagged , , and | 19 Comments
Joe Otten

The speech that never was

By Joe Otten | Sat 19th January 2013 - 10:00 am

David Cameron - License Some rights reserved by Statsministerens kontor While David Cameron’s much hyped speech on Europe has been postponed, it is not clear that this makes much difference. The key points were briefed to the press in advance so we can see the point.

Full marks for not wasting good copy already written go to the Economist which draws four conclusions, including this one:

The prime minister is trying to Europeanise Euroscepticism. The British often assume they are the

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

Proof that not *all* Tories are bonkers on Europe (and nor was Mrs Thatcher)

By Stephen Tall | Thu 17th January 2013 - 9:25 pm

margaret thatcher europeAmidst all the Tory Euro-hysteria (‘Eurotic’, I’ve heard it described as: and I seriously hope I didn’t mis-hear) it’s easy to forget there are a few Tories, a diminishing if stoic band, who have kept tight hold of their senses.

And though it was David Cameron’s desperate last-ditch pitch for the job of Tory leader — his 2005 promise to his party’s Europhobes to withdraw the Tories from the mainstream centre-right EPP alliance, a policy even David Davis wouldn’t touch — which has, slowly but inevitably, dragged the party ever more fringewards, a few of his backbenchers remain hopeful they can persuade him, even now, to do the sensible thing.

Here’s some of what they’ve written to him:

We acknowledge the EU’s shortcomings and understand the desire and, under the Lisbon Treaty the possibility, to repatriate powers. However, we do our nation, as well as Europe, a disservice by not confidently exerting the same level of engagement and leadership as we demonstrate in organisations such as NATO, the G8, the UN Security Council or the Commonwealth.

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

The surprising truth about that Lib Dem in/out EU referendum leaflet*

By Stephen Tall | Thu 17th January 2013 - 1:25 pm

Clegg-referendum-leaflet-lisbon-2008On Monday morning, Nick Clegg was given a hard time on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme by interviewer Justin Webb, who accused him of changing his position on an EU referendum on the basis of this pictured leaflet (click to enlarge**).

Nick brushed it to one side, correctly pointing out that the party has stuck to its 2010 manifesto pledge (my emphasis):

The European Union has evolved significantly since the last public vote on membership over thirty years ago. Liberal Democrats therefore remain committed to an in/out referendum the next

…

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , , , , , , and | 33 Comments
Mary Reid

Yes, Prime Minister returns

By Mary Reid | Tue 15th January 2013 - 3:39 pm

We know this is a blatant plug for the brand new series of ‘Yes, Prime Minister’ which will be showing on Gold at 9pm this evening – but we will all be watching it, won’t we?

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Posted in News and YouTube | Also tagged | 10 Comments
Steve Webb MP

Steve Webb MP writes… A truly radical pensions reform

By Steve Webb MP | Mon 14th January 2013 - 4:25 pm

As LDV readers will no doubt be aware, this year marks the 105th birthday of the 1908 Old-Age Pensions Act. Through this Act, Lloyd George introduced the first state pension to Britain, providing 5 shillings (£0.25) a week for those over 70. Fast forward nearly forty years to another great Liberal, William Beveridge, and the National Insurance Act of 1946 that gave birth to the modern state pension. Beveridge’s original idea was for a single, simple, decent state pension, paid after a lifetime of National Insurance Contributions and not subject to a means-test.

Beveridge’s principles have been subject to a sort …

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

And the winner of our Liberal Voice of the Year award is… Sam Bowman

By Stephen Tall | Mon 14th January 2013 - 10:45 am

liberal-voiceIt’s a fortnight since we launched our search for the Liberal Voice of the Year with the aim of finding the individual or group which has had the biggest impact on liberalism in the past 12 months. This is LibDemVoice’s sixth such annual award, and as is our tradition, we looked beyond the ranks of the Lib Dems to find the liberal who’s most impressed our readers and is not a member of our party.

We unveiled the shortlist here on New Year’s Day. In total, 755 readers cast a vote in the past two weeks using a preferential voting system. The final (8th) round of voting gave the following result:

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Posted in Polls | Also tagged and | 66 Comments
Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members think about an in/out referendum & the future of the UK in Europe

By Stephen Tall | Sun 13th January 2013 - 2:25 pm

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

By 2:1 majority, Lib Dems reject new EU referendum

EU flag - Some rights reserved by European ParliamentDo you think the Government should or should not call a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union?

    32% – Should

    63% – Should not

    5% – Don’t know

And 92% would vote to remain

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged and | 11 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “It’s not perfect, but then no government is.”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 13th January 2013 - 11:20 am

It’s been a big week for Nick Clegg: the launch of the Government’s Mid-Term ‘Ronseal deal’ Review and his first ‘Call Clegg’ radio phone-in. His latest letter to supporters focuses on these two issues, but also makes a broader point: that coalition government is starting to become accepted, even by the media; that there’s a recognition two parties can disagree on some issues while pursuing a shared agenda on others.

This email would have been the ideal way to share more widely the party’s (excellent) booklet, ‘What have the Liberal Democrats ever done for you?’ — it’s not mentioned at all so here’s the link. For some reason I find baffling there appears still to be a deep-seated reluctance to align these emails with party campaigns or calls to action: the result is Nick on transmit mode, not receive. That’s a shame because the letters are an excellent initiative, and whether actually written by him or not, they read like Nick, are authentic.

libdem letter from nick clegg

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 7 Comments
Rick Muir

Independent View: two cheers for Vince

By Rick Muir | Fri 11th January 2013 - 11:39 am

Landlords and punters across the country should be raising a glass to Vince Cable today after he announced new rules for pub companies (or pubcos) which will help local publicans in these difficult economic times.

His plans include the introduction of an independent adjudicator and a new statutory code for the industry – something I argued for in this IPPR report: Tied Down.

Pubs are an important part of the community – they’re a meeting place for family and friends and host meetings of local clubs and associations, promoting local charities and events. But they’ve faced serious demise with 16 pubs …

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Posted in News and The Independent View | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

So, about that Lib Dem wipeout in 2015 then…

By Stephen Tall | Wed 9th January 2013 - 7:45 am

GB-election-map2Ask most commentators about Lib Dem prospects at the next general election and a couple of words are sure to crop up sooner or later: either ‘wipeout’ or ‘annihilation’.

I understand why. Look at the opinion polls and the party is bobbing around the 10% mark. Compare that to the 23% we won in 2010, get your uniform national swing slide-rule out, and you can see why many folk, even quite sensible ones like Peter Kellner, will say something like this…

The Liberal Democrats are facing political extinction with

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 131 Comments
Stephen Tall

Reviewing the Mid-Term Review. It’s hit and miss. But the biggest miss are the wasted opportunities

By Stephen Tall | Mon 7th January 2013 - 8:50 pm

coalition mid term review 2013I’ve had chance only to scan-read today’s Coalition Mid-Term Review (with its rather grudging, adjective-free title, Stuck Together in the national interest), but here are some initial impressions…

The economy takes centre-stage…

This may seem a statement of the obvious. And yet it’s worth comparing with the May 2010 document, Our programme for government (ahh, that Rose Garden-inspired ‘our’) in which subjects were sorted alphabetically so that you had to wait until chapter 9 to read about ‘deficit reduction’. Back in those days the …

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged and | 34 Comments
Paul Walter

Coalition review – fine words, but any parsnips buttered?

By Paul Walter | Mon 7th January 2013 - 3:23 pm

clegg cameron rose gardenDavid Cameron and Nick Clegg have just presented their mid-term coalition review. You can read the full document here. As a taster, here are the ending words of the foreword:

Today, at the half-way point in this Parliament, we are taking stock of the progress we have made in implementing the Coalition Agreement that we signed in May 2010. But we are also initiating a new set of reforms, building on those already under way, to secure

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 10 Comments
Paul Walter

Cameron and Clegg to renew vows

By Paul Walter | Mon 7th January 2013 - 8:53 am

clegg-cameron-love– That, courtesy of the FT, is perhaps the most florid of a batch of headlines this morning concerning a “relaunch”, or at least a “resomething” of the coalition.

The FT article starts:

David Cameron and Nick Clegg will today alarm some in their own parties with a whole-hearted renewal of their coalition vows, in a midterm relaunch that includes a new

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “The G8 summit is also about combining a strong economy with a fair society”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 6th January 2013 - 2:05 pm

Nick’s first missive of the year to Lib Dem supporters was despatched this weekend, its message combining two stories with the same core message: the role the party and the UK must play in creating a strong economy and a fairer society.

He defends the party’s decision to send a memo to key Lib Dems with key messages for voters, arguing the party has “to be clear, simple and consistent in what we say to voters”. And he argues the G8 summit’s focus on global tax fairness and creating a level-playing field for poorer countries rich in natural resources show the party’s national imperatives playing out at the international level…

libdem letter from nick clegg

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem members tell us what you think of the party’s new magazine, Ad Lib

By Stephen Tall | Sat 5th January 2013 - 1:30 pm

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Ad Lib magazine - cover of first edition

Thumbs-up for new party magazine Ad Lib from Lib Dem members

The first issue of Ad Lib, the monthly magazine replacing Liberal Democrat News, was sent free to all members in December. What is your overall impression of it?

    20% – Positive: I will probably

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged | 8 Comments
Stephen Tall

“Where we work, we win” – will that Lib Dem maxim survive the 2015 test?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 5th January 2013 - 9:50 am

Chris RennardDon’t splutter on your Saturday morning cornflakes, but the Guardian has today published two intelligent articles on the Lib Dems and the strategy which the party is hoping will see us through to the other side of the 2015 election intact.

First, there’s Patrick Wintour‘s analysis — Liberal Democrats bank on ground war to hold on to seats — which uses as its springboard an analysis by Lord (Chris) Rennard, the party’s former chief executive and elections guru:

insists it should not be ground down by low national polls. “The

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , and | 25 Comments
Tom Brake

Marginal gains

By Tom Brake | Fri 4th January 2013 - 9:21 am

Silver bullet - some rights reserved by eschipulToo often people come into political campaigning searching for a silver bullet which will revolutionise their candidacy and transform the electorate into ardent fans overnight. It’s the most common mistake of first time candidates. Those of us who have already spent decades stuffing letterboxes know that a quick fix doesn’t exist.

That isn’t to say there aren’t campaign game-changers – the advent of television or how some candidates have harnessed the internet, but in truth they are few and far between. Instead candidates and campaigns

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Posted in Campaign Corner | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Tim Gordon scorecard, 1 year on

By Mark Pack | Thu 3rd January 2013 - 9:50 am

Tim GordonLast January I wrote an open letter to the party’s then new Chief Executive Tim Gordon, setting out four priorities. One year on, how are things looking?

Here’s what I wrote (with introductory pleasantries skipped), with each of the four points followed by an update and a score. Read on to see how Tim has been doing…

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Posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged , and | 12 Comments
Nick T

2013 can be the year Lib Dems prove the cynics wrong, but we have to get smart

By Nick T | Wed 2nd January 2013 - 12:43 pm

Nick Clegg after his conference speechOne of the most interesting results in Lib Dem Voice’s most recent poll of party members was the answer to the following question: Do you support or oppose the Lib Dems being in the Coalition Government with the Conservatives?

After two-and-a-half years of difficult negotiations with our Conservative partners, deep spending cuts, unpopular tax rises, hundreds of council seats lost and a national poll rating now consistently in the single figures, still only 19% of Lib Dem

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 36 Comments
Rob Parsons

Opinion: 2013’s banana skin?

By Rob Parsons | Wed 2nd January 2013 - 10:47 am

Banana skin - Some rights reserved by purplemattfishThe LibDem Voice end of year survey gives us, as usual, much food for thought.

Net approval of the coalition’s record is down to 14% from 41% a year before. “Three big hits seem to have been responsible: first, the row over the NHS Bill; secondly, the omnishambolic March budget; and thirdly, the collapse of Lords reform”.

What issues might derail us this year? One is slowly poisoning our society, and with it the claims of the Liberal Democrats to be a party of fairness.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 37 Comments
Stephen Tall

So you think Ukip are the new third party? Let’s have a look at the data…

By Stephen Tall | Tue 1st January 2013 - 5:45 pm

Food for thought for John Rentoul (who calls Ukip ‘The new third party’ here), courtesy of PoliticalBetting’s Mike Smithson:

(Hat-tip: Vote Clegg, Get Clegg Facebook page.)

Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 101 Comments
Stephen Tall

NEW POLL: Who is your Liberal Voice of the Year?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 1st January 2013 - 2:15 pm

liberal-voiceToday’s the day we launch our search for the Liberal Voice of the Year to find the individual or group which has had the biggest impact on liberalism in the past 12 months. This is the sixth annual award, and as is our tradition, we’re looking beyond the ranks of the Lib Dems to find the greatest liberal who’s not a member of our party.

The list of 10 nominees appears below. These were sought from Lib Dem members via our most recent survey; 222 nominations were submitted, and each of those short-listed needed to clear a threshold of five separate mentions.

To vote, please use the poll below to rank the nominees in order of preference.

This year’s shortlist for Liberal Voice of the Year is as follows

(in alphabetical first-name order):

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Posted in Polls | Also tagged | 30 Comments
The Voice

The 7 most-read posts of 2012

By The Voice | Mon 31st December 2012 - 5:55 pm

As 2012 draws to a close, here are the 7 most-read posts published on Lib Dem Voice this year. Thank you to the hundreds of thousands of readers who’ve joined us in the last 12 months; we look forward to seeing you again next year.

libdemvoice happy 2013 graphic

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