Tag Archives: jim wallace

Caron Lindsay

Jim Wallace’s memorial service – 5th June 2026

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 17th May 2026 - 3:30 pm

Portrait of Jim WallaceWe are all still mourning the loss of Jim Wallace earlier this year.

Alex Cole-Hamilton dedicated his acceptance speech when he won his Edinburgh North Western constituency with a vastly increased majority to Jim, recalling his last conversation with Jim a few days before he died.

We all wish he could have been around to celebrate our election success when we more than doubled our 4 MSPs elected in 2021.

We will have the chance to remember Jim at his memorial service which will take place on Friday 5th June 2026 at Dunblane Cathedral at 11.30 am.

The event will be livestreamed on the Dunblane Cathedral YouTube channel and will be available to watch on catch up.

Travel to Dunblane is quite straighforward:

Rail: Regular trains from Glasgow Queen St ( sometimes involving a change at
Stirling) and from Edinburgh Waverley to Dunblane.

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Caron Lindsay

UPDATED: Jim Wallace’s funeral takes place in Kirkwall

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 10th February 2026 - 8:27 am

UPDATE: A brief reflection on the service that took place earlier today.  If you knew and admired Jim, and haven’t seen it, it will be up for a while here.  I’m not going to tell you too much about it, but there were some stories that illustrate Jim perfectly, from the things he was excellent at, grace and kindness being mentioned a lot, to the things he was less good at. It sounds like he might have been less good at DIY than I am and that’s saying something.  And there are some things you might be surprised to learn. 

His brother Neil gave the most perfect tribute, as requested by Jim a few days before he went into hospital for his operation.  The best euologies are crafted so that you are lifted from sadness with laughter and this was no exception. There was one point where I was about to dissolve into tears and then he said something really funny and everyone laughed. 

Liam McArthur told us about their long working relationship, which started in a noisy pub in Edinburgh Waverley station. Alistair Carmichael shared his one abiding memory of Jim, which may surprise you. It will not be what you think, but in other ways, it will be exactly what you think. 

It is a very fitting summary of a life lived with  love, empathy, kindness,  ferocious intellect, modesty and humour with liberalism at its core. We’ll all be raising a glass to Jim tonight, I expect.

Many Lib Dems have been heading north to Kirkwall over the past couple of days for Jim Wallace’s funeral whihc takes place in the beautiful St Mgnus’ Cathedral in Orkney today.

Theer have been a few photographs of people stopping to campaign with Highland candidates David Green and Neil Alexander on the way, and no doubt we’ll see the same tomorrow as people make the return journey.

Our thoughts are very much with JIm’s wife Rosie, daughters Helen and Clare and brother Neil and all those who were close to Jim.

The service will be livestreamed here

Christine Murdoch and I thought it might be a good idea to open a Zoom room for those of us who will be watching online. We might need a gentle space where we can have a cup of tea and a chat afterwards. If you want to join us between 1 and 2, email [email protected] for the link.

Alistair Carmichael paid tribute to Jim in an article for Politics Home which you can read here. He said:

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Caron Lindsay

Jeremy Purvis’ tribute to Jim Wallace

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 4th February 2026 - 2:57 pm

The House of Lords also paid tribute to Jim Wallace yesterday.

Our leader in the House of Lords, Jeremy Purvis led the speeches. You can watch here.

My Lords, many of us aspire to be a good politician, to do good and to be a good person. More times than not, we fall short. Jim Wallace was a good man who saw it as his role in life to do good things. He did, and they will last. With great sorrow, we have been denied the opportunity of hearing a valedictory speech in this House from Jim. He would have been characteristically modest. We can perhaps be a little immodest on his behalf for a now profoundly missed absent friend.

After his early political days in the lowlands of Scotland, he triumphed in its most northerly part. When he was elected, many said he was the MP for Jo Grimond’s seat, but in short order we referred to it as Jim Wallace’s Orkney and Shetland. As MP, MSP and Peer, he saw serving in Parliament as the means by which good things can be done, not the end in itself. He was what a parliamentarian should be.

When speaking in Parliament Hall on the day of the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, Jim was achieving his ambition and the dreams of many in delivering what Gladstone could not a century before. He said to all those newly elected MSPs:

“As the people’s representatives we should never forget the hopes kindled by this historic opportunity”.

He approached his role to meet those hopes as the first Liberal in office since the Second World War with zeal: land reform, law reform, social reform, education reform, prison reform—radical but workable—and all have endured, none reversed. Jim was a reformer, but he knew that for reform to last, it had to be done well. He said of the new Holyrood:

“Our Parliament must be open and inclusive—willing to consult and willing to listen”.

That sentiment embodied his own approach to politics.

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The Voice

Willie Rennie’s tribute to Jim Wallace

By The Voice | Wed 4th February 2026 - 1:58 pm

It is part of Jim Wallace’s legacy that three of our MSPs worked for him in some capacity. Willie Rennie was the Chief Executive of the Scottish Lib Dems who helped us win 17 seats in the new Scottish Parliament in 1999. He then went to Holyrood to head up our operation there for the first term.

This is his tribute to Jim yesterday:

The text is below:

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The Voice

Alex Cole-Hamilton’s tribute to Jim Wallace

By The Voice | Wed 4th February 2026 - 12:58 pm

Alex Cole-Hamilton also worked for Jim Wallace – in the Scottish Parliament Liberal Democrat staff pool.

Here is his tribute in yesterday’s Scottish Parliament session, detailing when Jim and his wife Rosie first met. The rest of the speeches can be seen here.

The text is below.

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Caron Lindsay

Liam McArthur’s tribute to Jim Wallace

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 4th February 2026 - 11:55 am

There have only ever been two MSPs for Orkney: Jim Wallace and his successor Liam McArthur. Liam worked for Jim as a Special Adviser when he was First Minister. You can see Jim’s influence in the way that Liam works to bring people together.

Yesterday the Scottish Parliament held tributes and flew flags at half mast. We start with Liam’s heartfelt tribute to his old boss and mentor.

The text is below:

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Will Deans

The kindness of Jim Wallace

By Will Deans | Wed 4th February 2026 - 10:19 am

It has been said many times over the past few days that Jim Wallace was a kind man. It speaks volumes that almost everyone you might ask has an example of this kindness. Here is my own. It is a doubly useful anecdote because it is quite embarrassing for me, and very complimentary to Jim.

Just a day or two into the Shetland by-election of 2019, when I was but a stripling in the world of political campaigning, I was assigned to go door knocking with Jim and another gentleman whose name, face and history I have entirely forgotten. Despite being a newbie to the world of canvassing I was the only one of us with the know-how (and perhaps the necessary smartphone) to run the canvass sheet on Connect and work out where to go.

We headed out from Lerwick south towards Levenwick area, on a gorgeous, blustery August day, and began marching up and down hilly roadsides to knock doors. After some time and some progress I noticed that the next nearest place on our list had a whole host of names on the electoral register, and we duly headed in that direction. On reaching the address we discovered that this hub of voters was, in fact, a nursing home. After a brief discussion, Jim and I went in.

Let me reiterate now that I was a novice in the world of canvassing, and had not a clue about what the appropriate approach would be in this situation.

The appropriate approach, as you might now guess, is not to canvass that location. This is partly because it is seen as being an intrusion on the days of elderly people who have a right to a quiet life and a lack of bothersome campaigners, but mostly because in the eyes of seasoned and cynical campaign managers, it is a complete waste of time. If someone is in their 90s and in a nursing home, and they are going to vote at all, they have probably already made their mind up already – and possibly some decades prior – on which party will receive their ballot.

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NewsHound

Christine Jardine: With Jim Wallace’s death, it feels like we have lost part of our conscience

By NewsHound | Mon 2nd February 2026 - 2:45 pm

In her Scotsman column this week, Christine Jardine has made many of us in Scotland cry. She wrote about Jim Wallace, about meeting him as a young reporter and then as a fellow parliamentarian.

I first met Jim Wallace in 1992 when I was a journalist with no political allegiance, and he had just become Scottish Liberal Democrat leader. I remember telling my husband and colleagues that he seemed like a decent bloke, and in some ways too ‘nice’ for politics.

That came back to me on Thursday when I learned of his death. Because in truth, that first impression was the one that stuck with me through the 30 years during which he influenced and shaped my personal and political direction, and the country’s.

It never felt like an overt, interfering influence. More like a favourite wise uncle whose opinion you would seek and whose approval you cherished. He was someone you felt was motivated by doing the right thing, not for political gain or to win votes, but to be fair and just.

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Caron Lindsay

Jim Wallace has died

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 29th January 2026 - 9:28 pm

I know that everyone reading this will be as shocked and sad as I am to hear of the terrible news that Jim Wallace, a giant of this Party, died today. We send our love to his wife Rosie, and his daughters Helen and Clare.

Jim’s death was announced by Alex Cole-Hamilton:

The Scottish Liberal Democrats today announce with great sadness the passing of Jim Wallace, Lord Wallace of Tankerness, former Deputy First Minister of Scotland and a towering figure of modern Scottish liberalism.

Jim Wallace was born in Dumfriesshire and educated at Annan Academy before attending Cambridge and Edinburgh universities. He was called to the bar in 1979, practising mainly in civil law cases, and became a QC in 1997.

Jim was elected to parliament in 1983 as MP for Orkney & Shetland, succeeding Jo Grimond, and held the seat for 18 years, earning a formidable reputation as a diligent constituency champion and a respected voice at Westminster. After becoming leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats in 1992, he led the party through the Scottish devolution referendum in 1997, having also been a member of the Scottish Constitutional Convention which created the blueprint for devolution and a Scottish Parliament.

Upon the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, Jim was elected as MSP for Orkney and became Deputy First Minister of Scotland, serving in government from 1999 to 2005. He became acting First Minister while Donald Dewar underwent heart surgery in April 2000, after Dewar’s death in October 2000 and again following the resignation of Henry McLeish in 2001.

He also held the roles of Minister for Justice and later Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, playing a central role in the early years of devolution and helping to shape Scotland’s modern political settlement. He also established a world-leading freedom of information regime.

He entered the House of Lords in 2007 as Lord Wallace of Tankerness, where he remained an authoritative and thoughtful contributor on constitutional, legal and Scottish affairs, including serving five years as Advocate General for Scotland.

Jim also served as the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 2021 to 2022.

Alex Cole-Hamilton, who worked for our MSPs in the Scottish Parliament when Jim was leader, said:

Jim Wallace was one of the architects of modern Scotland and one of the finest liberals our party has ever produced.

He believed deeply in devolution as a way to give people better services and more control over their own lives and he lived a life of public service right up until the end.

For me personally, he was a mainstay of support throughout my adult life. Even as he went into hospital for the final time, he was still sending me words of advice and I will always try to live up to the standards he set.

Throughout his career, Jim was widely respected across party lines for his integrity, calm judgement and deep belief in liberal values: fairness, the rule of law and respect for communities, no matter how remote.

Scotland is a better country because of Jim Wallace, and the Liberal Democrats are a better party because of his example.

Alistair Carmichael, Jim’s succsssor as MP for Orkney & Shetland, said:

Jim Wallace gave his adult life to serving the people of the Northern Isles, Scotland and the United Kingdom. His sudden and tragic death leaves a huge gap in public life. For those of us who knew him as a friend and for his family that gap is one that we shall struggle ever to fill.

In the world of politics, having people on whom you can truly depend is a rare and precious thing. For me, Jim was someone who was there through good times and bad and I am bereft at his passing. I shall miss his acute political analysis, his warm and occasionally waspish wit and, most of all, his easy company and friendship. He was never someone for whom I had to present a front.

My thoughts are with his wife Rosie, his daughters Helen and Clare, his mother and his brother Neil who I know are heartbroken at this moment. I hope that they may eventually take some comfort from the knowledge that the man that they loved in their family was loved by so many others too.

Liam McArthur, Jim’s successor as MSP for Orkney, said:

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Mark Valladares

12-13 October 2024 – the weekend’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Sun 13th October 2024 - 10:30 pm
  • Blow for new Scot Tory leader as poll shows voters less likely to vote for someone who endorsed Liz Truss
  • Rennie writes to minister as steel staff furloughed
  • Lord Wallace responds to death of Alex Salmond

Blow for new Scot Tory leader as poll shows voters less likely to vote for someone who endorsed Liz Truss

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have today described new polling as a “bitter blow” for the new Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay, as polling carried out by Savanta showed that 31% of Scots said they would be less likely to vote Conservative if their new leader had backed Liz Truss in the 2022 Conservative leadership race. Just 4% said they would be more likely to vote Conservative.

During the leadership election Mr Findlay published a video endorsing Liz Truss’ “positive vision”, describing her as “optimistic and authentic” and declaring “In Liz We Trust”.

The polling also showed that significant numbers of UK voters (35%) would be less likely to vote for the Conservatives if the party leader had said they would vote for Donald Trump if they were an American citizen as Conservative Leadership candidate Robert Jenrick has done.” A similar proportion was also put off by Kemi Badenoch’s maternity pay comments (35%).

Commenting, Scottish Liberal Democrat deputy leader Wendy Chamberlain said:

This polling will be a bitter blow for the new Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay. The Scottish public will have little sympathy for anyone who was happily cheerleading for Liz Truss.

Her disastrous decisions sent mortgage costs skyrocketing and deepened the cost-of-living crisis. It makes Russell Findlay’s judgment look deeply suspect.

Former Conservative voters abandoned the party in massive numbers at the last election. In so many places across the country, people are backing the Liberal Democrats who are speaking up for them on the issues that matter most like bringing down NHS waiting lists, tackling the cost-of-living crisis and stopping the sewage scandal.

Rennie writes to minister as steel staff furloughed

Scottish Liberal Democrat economy spokesperson Willie Rennie has today written to Economy Secretary Kate Forbes to urge her to investigate events at the Dalzell steelworks in Motherwell after he was contacted by plant insiders who told him that employees are at home on 80% wages with no work due to issues with cash flow and input prices.

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The Voice

Senior Liberal Democrats comment on the passing of Alex Salmond

By The Voice | Sat 12th October 2024 - 6:43 pm

Senior Liberal Democrats have commented on the sudden death of former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, highlighting his impact on Scottish politics and expressing sympathy for his wife Moira.

Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

Alex Salmond was a substantial figure who left an undeniable impact on Scottish politics. Our thoughts are with Moira Salmond tonight.

In 2015 and 2016, Christine Jardine fought Alex Salmond in the Gordon Westminster seat. But this was far from the first time she had met him. She first interviewed him as a young reporter in the late 80s.

She said:

I am shocked and saddened to hear of Alex Salmond’s passing. A towering figure in Scottish politics, his talent was undeniable. We may never have agreed politically but I did enjoy our jousts, in journalism and in politics. My thoughts are with his family.

Jim Wallace was Deputy First Minister for the first eight years of the Scottish Parliament when Alex Salmond was the Leader of the Opposition. He said:

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Mary Reid

Jim Wallace and Wendy Chamberlain honoured in Holyrood Political Awards

By Mary Reid | Fri 6th September 2024 - 1:42 pm

Lib Dem peer Jim Wallace (Lord Wallace of Tankerness – not to be confused with our regular contributor from the Lords, William Wallace) has been presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Holyrood Garden Party & Political Awards.

Jim served as the MP and also as the MSP for Orkney and Shetland. He was the Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 1992 – 2005 during which time he was also Deputy First Minister, and Acting First Minister for two periods. He was appointed to the House of Lords in 2007 and served for 4 years as the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Lords.  On top of that, Jim recently spent a year as the Moderator of the Church of Scotland.

Huge congratulations for this well-deserved honour.

Congratulations are also due to Wendy Chamberlain who scooped the award for the Best Scot in Westminster! Wendy has been the MP for North East Fife since 2019, when she beat the incumbent SNP candidate by just over 1000 votes. In July she increased that majority to over 13,000.

In Westminster Wendy is the Liberal Democrat Chief Whip and spokesperson for Work and Pensions. In Scotland she is the Deputy Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

Well done to both of you!

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Caron Lindsay

The Scottish Parliament Election – 25 years on

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 6th May 2024 - 9:30 am

Election night 1997. The tv room at the count in Chesterfield. Two people in the room – me and Tony Benn who was eating a white chocolate magnum and ignoring me. He might have been ignoring me because I was blubbing a bit because I was so happy that we were finally, after years of campaigning, going to have a Scottish Parliament.

The cross-party co-operation that had built the case for that Parliament across political and civil society was a great model. The Conservatives opposed the idea but even the SNP were eventually persuaded to come on board.

Fast forward two years to 6 May 1999 when the first elections to the new Parliament took place, with a nice shiny new proportional electoral system. 129 MSPs, 73 representing constituencies and 56 on regional lists were elected. The campaign had seen Alex Salmond and the SNP get into disfavour for not backing the NATO airstrikes on Kosovo aimed at stopping the humanitarian disaster and ethnic cleaning.  Paddy Ashdown and the Lib Dems were strongly in favour of this action.

Our big issue was tuition fees – we opposed Labour’s plans to introduce them and were very clear about our position on that. And we honoured that.

I couldn’t vote in this election because I lived in England. In fact, on election day, I was, at 37 weeks pregnant,  running a committee room in Chesterfield whee we boosted our Councillor numbers from 9 to 19.  Those were very happy times.

However, I was very invested in what was happening back home. I was up at the crack of dawn watching the final results come in the next day.

The Scottish people had elected 56 Labour MSPs, 35 SNP, 18 Conservative, 17 Liberal Democrats, 2 Greens and a Socialist. The whole system was meant to encourage co-operation and no party was meant to have a majority.

The coalition that eventually emerged after a few twists and turns between us and Labour did some amazing things in its 8 years – abolition of tuition fees, free personal care, free eye and dental checks, land reform, STV for local Government among them. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a functional partnership that was prepared to wring the neck of the powers we had to get stuff done. Our Jim Wallace was Deputy First Minister and Ross Finnie became Rural Affairs Minister.

Alex Cole-Hamilton reflected on the anniversary:

I am proud of the part Scottish Liberal Democrats played in delivering a Scottish Parliament and in the successes we have delivered through it.

In government, the Scottish Liberal Democrats delivered pioneering legislation like the abolition of upfront tuition fees, the introduction of free personal care and the smoking ban. We also legislated for the building of the Borders Railway, gave communities the right to buy land, made dental and eye tests free, introduced free bus passes, and opened up the business of government to proper scrutiny through Freedom of Information law.

These are Lib Dem successes delivered because of devolution, and without which we would never have achieved them.

So what do I want to see our powerful Parliament do next?

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The Voice

Jim Wallace remembers Donald Dewar

By The Voice | Sun 11th February 2024 - 10:39 am

This week, our Jim Wallace delivered the annual Donald Dewar Memorial Lecture in Glasgow. This lecture, held every year in memory of Scotland’s First First Minister, has previously been delivered by senior political figures such as Alistair Darling and Jack McConnell. Donald Dewar died suddenly in October 2000.

Jim served as Deputy First Minister to him and was Acting First Minister when Donald Dewar had heart surgery and in the immediate aftermath of his death while Labour selected a new leader. The Labour/Lib Dem coalition, over 8 years, delivered things like freedom of information legislation, free eye and dental checks, STV for local government, free personal care and land reform.

Jim’s lecture gave insights into the coalition negotiations back in 1999, Dewar’s style of Government and his hopes for the future.

He said:

The most liberating election campaign which I ever fought was the first election to the Scottish Parliament in 1999. To a greater or lesser extent, all the general elections in which I’d been a candidate, had been fought against a backdrop of an ongoing constitutional debate about Scotland’s future. By 1999, we had a Parliament, endorsed overwhelmingly in the 1997 referendum; so now we could debate what the Parliament was going to do.

“With so many challenges today facing our NHS, our education system, our environment, transport links to islands and mainland destinations, in local government and not least in advancing Donald Dewar’s great passion for a more socially just Scotland, wouldn’t it be a refreshing change to think that these would be the issues which should again dominate the Parliament’s agenda.

“In that speech on 1st July, almost a quarter of a century ago, Donald also said,

“We are fallible. We will make mistakes. But we will never lose sight of what brought us here: the striving to do right by the people of Scotland; to respect their priorities; to better their lot; and to contribute to the commonweal.”

“It takes a special politician with great character to admit to fallibility and the possibility of mistakes. But at least they would be our mistakes. I can’t imagine him having the knee-jerk response always to blame Westminster. But compared to many countries with devolved powers, the competences of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Ministers are extensive – more extensive today than they were in 1999. So, wouldn’t a fitting tribute to the legacy of Donald Dewar be for today’s Scottish Parliamentarians to resolve again to focus on using these powers – to better the lot of the people of Scotland, and to contribute to the common weal.

The full text of Jim’s speech is below:

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Caron Lindsay

LISTEN: Jim Wallace on his long career

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 14th November 2023 - 8:57 am

Jim Wallace, who as Scottish Lib Dem Leader served as Deputy First Minister from 1999-2005 and then as Advocate General for Scotland during the Westminster Coalition years, has done an interview for the BBC Podlitical podcast, available here on BBC Sounds or wherever else you get your podcasts.

The programme synopsis says:

The Lib Dem peer and former Deputy First Minister shares thoughts from his career. Lord Wallace talks to Lucy Whyte and Kirsten Campbell about the early days of Scottish Parliament, his conversations with First Minister Donald Dewar and Prime Minister Tony Blair, and his role as acting First Minister. Wallace shares his thoughts Brexit and Independence, as well as the UK Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition of 2010, and why he thinks political parties have a problem with offering things that aren’t possible.

It’s a great listen.  Jim talks about how he was willing to walk away during the 1999 coalition negotiations, but that the deal was done due to him and Donald Dewar’s willingness to work to find a way through the difficulties. He describes receiving a phone call from Tony Blair in the middle of it all, and hearing Donald Dewar in the next room speaking to our Paddy on the phone.

He talks of his pride at introducing Freedom of Information legislation, something that had long been a passion, and his delight when the Act was praised.

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Mary Reid

Jim Wallace to be Moderator of the Church of Scotland

By Mary Reid | Thu 29th October 2020 - 1:21 pm

This week it was announced that Jim Wallace is to be the next Moderator of the Church of Scotland for 2021-2022. Jim is currently a member of the House of Lords, having previously been MP for Orkney and Shetland (from 1983 to 2001). He was our party Leader in Scotland for 13 years.

In 1999 Jim was elected as MSP for Orkney and became Deputy First Minister of Scotland.

The Moderator chairs the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which meets in May, and then acts as an ambassador for the Kirk at civic and public events throughout the year of office.  He or she is a sort of cross between a President and an Archbishop, although the Kirk does not, of course, have Bishops. It is unusual for a layman to be appointed Moderator, but Jim had been an Elder for many years.

The current Moderator was installed in an online ceremony in May this year. Let’s hope that next year’s event will be back to normal.

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Caron Lindsay

+++Breaking: Jim Wallace steps down as Lib Dem Leader in the House of Lords

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 13th July 2016 - 4:07 pm

Jim WallaceJim Wallace has announced this afternoon that he is to step down as Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords.

Jim, the former MP and MSP for Orkney & Shetland, has been leader of the group of 107 Liberal Democrat peers since October 2013, during which time he was also Advocate General for Scotland and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords in the Coalition Government. he of course previously served as Deputy First Minister of Scotland between 1999 and 2007.

Jim explained his decision:

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Caron Lindsay

What does the Queen’s Speech mean for Liberal Democrat strategy?

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 18th May 2016 - 7:48 am

When the Government sets out its agenda for the next year in the Queen’s Speech, it gives the other parties a chance to do the same. What can we learn from the frenzy of Liberal Democrat activity in the press in the past few days about where we might be going.

Well, Tim had a piece in the Huffington Post the other day that put education at the heart of our thinking. This is far from being a new concept. It’s one of our core principles that we’ve always talked about. Tim had developed a 5-point education charter with the aim of giving young people and the economy the skills they need for the modern world.

The future is full of exciting opportunities, as technology changes the way we work and live. However, there are also massive challenges, from giving people the skills they need to adapt to our changing economy, to tackling climate change.

Education is key to meeting these challenges. That is why the Liberal Democrat vision is for a country which enshrines the rights of every child to a decent education. We believe this should be the number one priority of the Government when they set out their agenda. We are calling for a Charter for Education which guarantees every child is taught a curriculum which includes creative arts subjects, sports, languages, technical and vocational courses and practical life skills.

Over the years education has become more about passing tests and getting a good Ofsted rating than making sure children get the skills they need and grow into healthy, happy and confident adults. This is harmful for young people, and my fear is that it will leave them ill-equipped to deal with the challenges – and opportunities – of the future.

It’s a bit more satisfying than the Tories’ battle with teachers and local authorities for the sake of it. It also looks at wellbeing and happiness which are crucially important.

The nuts and bolts of the Charter are:

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NewsHound

LibLink: Jim Wallace: House of Lords must not become an impotent debating society

By NewsHound | Fri 18th December 2015 - 11:46 am

Following the publication of the Strathclyde Review, the Tories’ revenge attack on the House of Lords, Jim Wallace has written for Politics Home to say that we need a strong second chamber to keep the Government under control.

He looks back at the Tax Credits issue and criticises the Government’s strategy of trying to limit the debate in the Lords:

The Government proposed this change in an SI, for which the scrutiny process is considerably weaker. Each House would only have a single debate on an issue, with the Commons’ time severely limited. It could, of course, have brought the measure forward in primary legislation, where much more detailed scrutiny is possible. And if they had inserted clauses into the Finance Bill, the Lords could not have touched it. But Ministers, fearing perhaps that a number of Tory rebels might join forces with the opposition in the Commons to amend the Bill, chose the route which offered least resistance. Or so they thought.

But, the House of Lords voted to delay implementation of the changes to tax credits until transitional protections were put in place. The Government’s response was to throw its hands up in horror at the temerity of the Lords daring to express a view that was contrary to theirs.

Having lost the argument, says Jim, the Government is now trying to change the rules:

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Nick T

IfG interviews former Lib Dem ministers, feat. Browne, Swinson, Hughes, Featherstone, Cable, Huhne

By Nick T | Thu 17th December 2015 - 9:24 am

The Institute for Government did a lot of work during the coalition looking at how this (by English standards) unusual arrangement was working, and could work better. Now we have (for now at least) moved beyond coalition, the IfG has been interviewing ministers who served in the last government, seeking their reflections on their time there.

The IfG website has transcripts of a number of interviews with both Conservative and Lib Dem former ministers. The Lib Dems featured are:

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The Voice

For Human Rights Day: Jim Wallace on falling foul of the Human Rights Act

By The Voice | Thu 10th December 2015 - 10:44 pm

It’s Human Rights Day today. Earlier this week, Jim Wallace spoke to the Legal Services Agency Conference about protecting our rights. He remembered that he had found himself on the wrong end of a Human Rights Act judgement. His attitude was much better than Alex Salmond’s was when the SNP were found wanting 12 years later. At that point, he referred to people bringing actions under the Act as among “the vilest people on the planet.”

For my part, I spent decades as a Liberal and Liberal Democrat candidate and MP, supporting campaigns to incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights into our domestic law. “Bringing Rights Home” was our call; and so I understandably welcomed the passing of the Human Rights Act 1998. What never occurred to me during all the years of campaigning was that I would be the first government minister in the UK to be on wrong end of a decision under that Act. Yet on 11th of November 1999 that’s exactly what happened.

On that day, the Court ruled, in Starr & Chalmers v Ruxton that Temporary Sheriffs were unable to provide an independent and impartial tribunal and, as a result, as Justice Minister, I was forced to suspend every temporary Sheriff overnight.

Let’s not pretend. At the time,I would much rather that the case had been won. Losing put significant pressure on resources and made, for a time, the operation of our sheriff courts more difficult.

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Caron Lindsay

Jim Wallace’s inaugural Charles Kennedy Memorial Lecture: Charles’ legacy should be a call to refresh our radicalism

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 21st November 2015 - 8:45 am

Five days before what would have been Charles Kennedy’s 56th birthday, Jim Wallace, who entered the Commons on the same day as Charles in 1983, delivered the inaugural Charles Kennedy Memorial Lecture in Fort William. Seeing Charles Kennedy and Memorial in the same sentence still freaks me out slightly. It feels very wrong.

Jim has very kindly provided us with a copy of his lecture so that those of us who couldn’t make it up to Fort William can hear what he had to say. His subject was Charles, the legacy he left of internationalism and an example of always conducting his politics with respect and how his values were shaped by his highland background. He talks about the challenges we now face as a party and how we can learn from Charles as we deal with the challenges we face.

Here is the lecture in full. It’s long, over 5000 words, but, do you know what, every single one is worth reading. Go make yourself nice cup of tea, put your feet up and enjoy.

In keeping with many public lectures in the Highlands, albeit of a somewhat different nature, I start with a text: from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, chapter 51, verse 1 –

Look unto the rock from which you are hewn.

It is an enormous privilege to have been asked this evening to deliver the inaugural Charles Kennedy memorial lecture; to speak about one of my closest friends in politics, Charles, and how his politics were shaped by his roots in this Highland community, and the Highland Liberal tradition.

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Paul Tyler

Lord (Paul) Tyler writes…Government is playing a dangerous game by resisting democratic reform of the Lords

By Paul Tyler | Mon 14th September 2015 - 2:56 pm

 

This week the House of Lords is set to do one of the things it loves most: talking about itself. How wonderful it is; how learned are its members, but how beastly it is that anyone new is ever placed here. We will hear many wise heads opine that the Prime Minister is guilty of a gross abuse of process in appointing new peers this year, and that he is making the place “unsustainable”.  We will hear over and over that the “reputation of the House” is under threat. Some Peers seem to imagine that the public would view as entirely peachy an unelected chamber of Parliament predicated on patronage, just as long as only those who have already been appointed are the only ones ever allowed in.

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The Voice

Jim Wallace: Statement on refugees falls short of a moral response

By The Voice | Wed 9th September 2015 - 11:10 am

Here is Jim Wallace’s response to the Government’s statement in the House of Lords on the drone strikes and the refugee crisis. Here it is in full:

My Lords, I also thank the noble Baroness the Leader of the House for repeating the Prime Minister’s Statement on these very profound and serious issues. I also endorse what the noble Baroness the Leader of the Opposition said—we appreciate the fact that there will be an extended period for Back-Bench questions.

Probably nothing is more important than the Government’s primary responsibility of security of the realm and its citizens. The Prime Minister acknowledges that in his Statement. Clearly, we do not have the evidence, nor would it be appropriate to share that evidence publicly, and therefore we must accept the judgment of the Prime Minster in responding to perhaps one of the most serious calls that has been made on him. However, it would be interesting to know whether this is a matter that the Intelligence and Security Committee will be able to look at.

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The Voice

Jim Wallace: The Human Rights Act gives us the ability to challenge the state on ordinary day to day issues

By The Voice | Fri 3rd July 2015 - 4:30 pm

Yesterday was Lib Dem Opposition Day in the Lords and we chose two subjects very close to our heart. We’ve already covered the debate led by Paddy on foreign affairs.  Jim Wallace led one on human rights and civil liberties. He outlined how he frustrated he felt as a minister on the wrong side of a human rights judgement but that made him no less committed to the principles of the Act. Here’s his speech in full.

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Caron Lindsay

Jim Wallace on Charles Kennedy: We loved you, we miss you, will we ever see your like again

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 19th June 2015 - 11:55 am

I was expecting last night’s memorial service for Charles Kennedy at Glasgow University to be a fitting tribute to the man, to be dignified and formal. It was all of those things, but I didn’t expect it to have such a strong under-current of emotion and affection. A series of heartfelt tributes were punctuated with beautiful music and poignant poetry and the whole thing was woven together perfectly by the University Chaplain, Rev Stuart MacQuarrie. At each stage, he talked very personally about the aspect of Charles’ life that the next item would reflect.

What was so clear was the enormous love and affection that senior management, students and academics alike had for Charles. The students clearly felt that he had their backs. The Presidents of the Glasgow University Union and the Students’ Representative Council both spoke about his approachability and his work on their behalf.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Secretary of State for Scotland David Mundell sat together. Each did a reading. Willie Rennie read a poem. Jim Wallace gave a superb tribute to Charles, talking about their experiences as Highland MPs and how they all travelled to each others’ constituencies to get a shared understanding of the challenges faced by each area. He also spoke about the example Charles in his manner towards others and how we could all learn from him:

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Caron Lindsay

Jim Wallace: Team Scotland within the UK – the best solution

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 15th September 2014 - 4:04 pm

Back in the day when we had a Scottish Government that was more bothered about doing everything it could rather than complaining about what it couldn’t do. When it found it didn’t have the power it needed, it found a way round. That Government, which  implemented transformative social and political change from fair votes for local government to free personal care to leading the way on freedom of information, land reform and the smoking ban, would not have achieved all it did without the leadership of our Jim Wallace. This is a guy who knows how to make things happen. …

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NewsHound

LibLink: Sam Ghibaldan: Clegg needs to be assertive

By NewsHound | Wed 4th June 2014 - 5:51 pm

Clegg on OsbourneI’m not going to lie, I bet a lot of you are thinking Sam who? Chances are if you live in Scotland, you’ll be less curious because you will know that he was a Senior Special Adviser to Scottish Liberal Democrat Deputy First Ministers Jim Wallace and Nicol Stephen. As such, his perspective on who the Liberal Democrats should proceed in the run up to the General Election is highly relevant. In a recent Scotsman column, he said that Nick Clegg needs to get out there and shout about our core beliefs.

Some of the headlines faced by Nick Clegg were also seen in Scotland:

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Nick T

LibLink: Lord Wallace – EU membership is essential for Britain’s national security

By Nick T | Thu 15th May 2014 - 9:34 am

European FlagWriting on the European Movement UK blog, Lord (William) Wallace has some interesting thoughts on the importance of European cooperation to Britain’s strategic and security interests.

Here’s a snippet:

The 2010 National Security Strategy stood out from its predecessors by its inclusion of a number of non-military threats among the most serious it sees as facing Britain: global epidemics, organised crime and cross-border terrorism , the impact of climate change, and cyber-attack.

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Jim Wallace

Devo 15: Lord Jim Wallace writes.. Next 15 years represents inspiring opportunity to build on devolution success

By Jim Wallace | Tue 13th May 2014 - 8:29 am

Scottish Parliament 23 May 06 061Before going in to address a class of first year law students at Aberdeen University, last November, the head of the Law School took me aside and said, “Just to be aware. Most of your audience can’t remember a Scotland without a Scottish Parliament.” And, of course, these students were only about four years old, when the first elections to that Parliament were held fifteen years ago last week.

To those of us who campaigned so long and hard to create the Parliament, it doesn’t seem so long ago.

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