Tag Archives: ian swales

The Voice

LibLink: Ian Swales on why he is standing down from Parliament

By The Voice | Mon 9th February 2015 - 10:35 am

Photo by Keith Edkins - 640px-Ian_Swales_at_Sheffield_2011Ian Swales has been explaining to the Telegraph why he is standing down as MP for Redcar.

There are two types of MP, there are those that retire at the election they turn pension age, like me, and there are those that stay here until forever, and I’m one of the former. It was never my intention to take on a full time, full-on job again at this stage.

He tells the story about how he campaigned from an apparently hopeless position 19,000 votes behind Labour, reducing the difference to 12,000 in 2005 and moving into second place. Five years later he achieved the biggest swing since WW2 winning the seat with a majority of 3000.

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NewsHound

Trouble and strife for Labour in Redcar

By NewsHound | Sat 10th January 2015 - 12:55 pm

In 2010, Liberal Democrat Ian Swales won the Redcar seat with a swing of 22% from Labour. He announced last July that he was standing down and in September local Councillor Josh Mason was selected to defend his 5200 majority.

It seems that while the Liberal Democrats in Redcar are working hard to elect Josh, all is not so well in the Labour camp where local leaders have been likened to North Korea and a neighbouring Labour MP has taken to using Freedom of Information legislation to find out what his party’s council is doing.

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The Voice

Josh Mason selected for Redcar

By The Voice | Sat 27th September 2014 - 9:05 am

Josh Mason RedcarRedcar Liberal Democrats have selected their local party Chair and Deputy Leader of their council group Josh Mason to fight the seat at the General Election. Current Liberal Democrat MP Ian Swales announced in July that he was standing down.

From Ian Swales’ website:

Local man Josh, who is chair of the party, has worked very closely with Ian for the past 4 years supporting his campaigns for jobs, on flooding, against intrusive wind turbines, saving post offices and for better use of Redcar Hospital. Josh also sits on the board of Coast and Country Housing, is a local school governor, and represents Redcar’s Zetland Ward as deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats on Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council. Josh has spent the last four years campaigning hard against council waste. He has led calls to freeze council tax for the last three years and called for George Dunning’s resignation. Josh strongly opposed the council’s Draft Local Plan and has repeatedly campaigned for action to be taken on TunedIn, the council’s failing new youth facility.

Ian Swales described 26 year old Josh as “an outstanding talent of the next generation.” He has represented Zetland ward on the Council since 2011 and  is currently the spokesperson on culture, leisure and tourism.

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NewsHound

++Ian Swales MP to stand down at next election ‘for personal reasons’

By NewsHound | Fri 11th July 2014 - 4:43 pm

Photo by Keith Edkins - 640px-Ian_Swales_at_Sheffield_2011GazetteLive has the details:

Redcar MP Ian Swales is to stand down at the next General Election.

The Liberal Democrat, who was elected in 2010, said the decision was due to personal reasons.

“It has been an honour and a privilege to represent my local area in Parliament,” he added.

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Caron Lindsay

Tim Farron “set to vote against the “Bedroom Tax” while Swales, Mulholland, R Williams and Sanders table motion against it

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 12th November 2013 - 4:24 pm

From the Guardian‘s live politics blog (3:15)

Tim Farron, the Lib Dem president, is set to vote against the government on the bedroom tax tonight, I’m told. A friend of Farron’s tells me: “Party conference in Glasgow expressed its will very strongly against the bedroom tax and so Tim is listening to party members and will probably be voting against the government tonight. Tim is the voice of the party members, they have expressed their view and Tim wants to make sure that their voice is heard.”

Here’s the motion on the bedroom tax that the Lib Dems passed at their party

…

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Caron Lindsay

Liberal Democrat Job Watch – 24 July 2013

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 24th July 2013 - 2:45 pm

Fancy working for the Liberal Democrats? There are a fair few jobs to choose from over on Work for an MP website which includes both party jobs and jobs with parliamentarians.  There are opportunities in the north, south and east of mainland UK.

North

There are two jobs in Scotland. Jo Swinson is looking for a caseworker in her East Dunbartonshire office:

An empathetic, organised, highly efficient individual is sought for the role of Caseworker to Jo Swinson MP. The role is permanent, based on a working week of 37.5 hours. The position is based within a lively and dynamic team in

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Caron Lindsay

Teather, Swales and Mulholland urge Government to rethink Legal Aid proposals

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 28th June 2013 - 2:45 pm

Listening to the Commons debate, secured by Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather, I felt relieved that I live in Scotland where the measures don’t apply. The big issue that’s hit the headlines is the withdrawal of choice of solicitor, but there are many more problems with it including the one year residence test. As Sarah Teather pointed out, how would representation be secured for a baby who is the subject of care proceedings.

Sarah talked about the effect of the measures on refugees:

Were it not for the intervention of lawyers, many refugees would be homeless at the very time when the

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Ian Swales

Ian Swales MP writes…The crucial role of education in a manufacturing revival

By Ian Swales | Thu 7th March 2013 - 12:29 pm

The Lib Dem Spring Conference will debate the motion: Creating a strong manufacturing sector in a stronger economy. Part 3 of the motion calls for: ‘Government to continue its commitment to apprenticeships, and, additionally, to promote science education in schools and science and engineering degrees at universities – these are essential for building the skills sets necessary to support a strong manufacturing sector.’

Science and engineering education is an issue close to my heart as I actually graduated with a degree in chemical engineering from Manchester University.  My science based degree opened up many doors to me, leading to a career …

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Helen Duffett

George Selmer selected for Lib Dems in Middlesbrough

By Helen Duffett | Mon 29th October 2012 - 3:24 pm

Middlesbrough Liberal Democrats have selected a local jobs expert as their candidate for the upcoming Parliamentary by-election in the constituency.

George Selmer, who grew up and went to school in Middlesbrough, has outlined his plan for the town – focusing on jobs, housing and safeguarding local facilities under threat from Labour cuts.

Commenting on his selection, George said:

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Posted in Parliamentary by-elections and Selection news | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

In other news… Thurso on banking, Ward on immigration, Swales on G4S & other stories

By Stephen Tall | Sun 15th July 2012 - 5:25 pm

Here’s a round-up of stories we haven’t had time to cover on the site this past few days…

John Thurso MP to lead banking inquiry (John O’Groat Journal)

CAITHNESS, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP John Thurso has been elected to lead an inquiry into how the banking system is run. The Lib Dem politician has been chosen as one of five representatives who will

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Andrew Stunell MP

Andrew Stunell MP writes… Tackling empty homes is shaping up to be a Coalition success story

By Andrew Stunell MP | Tue 13th December 2011 - 12:45 pm

As some of you will no doubt be aware, last week was National Empty Homes week. It managed to garner a lot more attention than normal thanks to a week of action from the Empty Homes Agency, who worked together with Channel 4 presenter George Clarke on a series of programmes that focussed on tackling the housing crisis, and in particular on empty homes.

George’s campaign is a welcome one, and comes at an important time. I regularly describe the number of empty homes we have in the UK as a national scandal. We have enough long-term vacant …

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Paul Walter

PMQs: Penguin in the menage à trois

By Paul Walter | Fri 9th December 2011 - 10:45 am

The first big subject at Prime Minister’s Questions this week was Europe. Tory MP Andrew Rosindell asked if David Cameron would show “bulldog spirit” at the forthcoming summit. Later, similar points came from various Tory Eurosceptic MPs, including the Father of the House, Sir Peter Tapsell. He is always heard with great respect, despite his long-winded, rather pompous and, in this case, halting mini-speeches which have barely inquisitive constructions stuck on the end of them.

Ed Miliband started on Europe as well, asking if Cameron would fulfil his promise that treaty change might give the opportunity to “repatriate powers”. The Prime …

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Andrew Wiseman

Spring Conference 2012: registration now open

By Andrew Wiseman | Tue 6th December 2011 - 1:21 pm

I am pleased to announce that registration for Spring Conference 2012 is now open.

For the first time, conference will be hosted by NewcastleGateshead. The Liberal Democrats have a proud history in the North-East. We control Northumberland County Council and Ian Swales MP, Sir Alan Beith MP and Fiona Hall MEP represent the Region in London and Brussels respectively.

Fiona said, “Conference is going to be a great boost for the area ahead of vital local elections in May. The region is gearing up to make it a fantastic weekend for everyone. I hope representatives also take …

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Helen Duffett

End of term report for Lib Dem MPs’ Class of 2010

By Helen Duffett | Sat 16th July 2011 - 10:51 am

As the House of Commons rises this Tuesday, the BBC’s Gavin Stamp gives new MPs of all parties his end-of-term report.

Here’s what he has to say about the new Lib Dem intake:

New entrants were small in number but still accounted for almost one in six of the Parliamentary party.

No new MPs made it into the ranks of ministers or were asked to head up a series of backbench committees designed to help the party retain an independent voice on issues outside the coalition.

However, Gordon Birtwhistle and Duncan Hames became parliamentary private secretaries, the latter also finding time to

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Mark Pack

Nick Clegg visits rescued Redcar steelworks

By Mark Pack | Mon 28th February 2011 - 11:14 pm

Nick Clegg has been visiting Redcar, welcoming the deal to save its steelworks:

Last week Redcar owners, Tata and Thai buyers, SSI announced a deal which will safeguard 700 existing jobs at the huge site in Teesside. Nick Clegg said that the deal will also employ a further 800 new people and may see another 1,000 jobs created in the wider local economy.

He said: “It’s a great thumbs up for Teesside and the North East, for the steel industry and the UK. It’s a breath of fresh air at a time of difficult news about the British economy. I would

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Paul Walter

PMQs: Cameron’s wheels start falling off

By Paul Walter | Wed 9th February 2011 - 10:29 pm

For the third week out of the last four, a Liberal Democrat asked the first question at Prime Minister’s Questions. This is turning into a tradition! Yay! This week it was the turn of Roger Williams to go through the charade of asking the PM for an entirely predictable list of his engagements for the day. Rather cleverly, albeit interrupted by some harrying from the Speaker, Roger manage to squeeze in two points: a) the key role played by the Sennybridge ranges and the infantry battle school in his constituency and b) a question about foreign students and universities: “Can …

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NewsHound

LibLink: THE shock of election night

By NewsHound | Thu 12th August 2010 - 12:20 pm

The BBC have an interview with Ian Swales, the Redcar MP who turned a 12,000 Labour majority into a 5,000 one for the Lib Dems.

The interview may not be the toughest he’ll face, but it covers the throny issue of a Lib Dem MP in coalition with the Conservatives but representing a traditionally Labour area.

But what about the thousands of traditional Labour voters who defected to him last May?

I didn’t find it too tricky last May to find Swales supporters who felt they hadn’t voted for him to see the Tories in government.

Equally, I found others prepared

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Posted in LibLink | 29 Comments
Baroness Ros Scott

Ros Scott’s campaign diary

By Baroness Ros Scott | Mon 5th April 2010 - 8:16 pm

During the general election campaign we will be running a series of diary pieces from party president Ros Scott. To kick off here’s her campaign diary of this month so far:

1 April

I’m fed up with waiting for Gordon Brown to call the election, so I’ve started without him.

Maundy Thursday saw me up bright and early to catch the 8.35 train to Sheffield for my first official visit of the campaign. I met up with Paul Scriven, leader of the City Council, and our Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) in Sheffield Central. Paul is both a highly effective council leader and …

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