Tag Archives: liberal democrats

NewsHound

Clegg: ‘I’d form a new coalition with Ed Miliband’

By NewsHound | Mon 23rd July 2012 - 10:23 am

There was an interesting interview with Nick Clegg in yesterday’s Sunday People:

Nick Clegg would form a coalition with Ed Miliband in the next government, he told The People.

The Lib Dem leader could even stay on as Deputy PM if a general election ­replaced one governing party with another.

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 25 Comments
Paul Walter

LibLink: Proof that politics is for young people

By Paul Walter | Tue 17th July 2012 - 2:23 pm

Well done to Councillor Victor Chamberlain who has had an article published in the Manchester Evening News entitled “I’m proof that politics IS for young people” with the byline “Manchester’s youngest councillor aged 22”. Here is a taster:

Many friends think I was mad to get involved in politics at a young age, but in fact it was inevitable after the Iraq War. I felt strongly that the action being taken in my name was completely immoral, and I wanted to find a way to voice my opposition. In Manchester, effective opposition came only from the Liberal Democrats. When I joined

…

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Posted in LibLink and News | Also tagged | Leave a comment
The Voice

Professor John Curtice: ‘Labour cannot afford simply to ignore the Liberal Democrats’

By The Voice | Mon 21st May 2012 - 1:24 pm

On Juncture, the website of the Institute of for Public Policy Research, psephologist Professor John Curtice provides some very interesting data which suggests Labour would do well to keep talking to the Liberal Democrats:

…the hung parliament brought about by the 2010 election was no accident. It was a consequence of long-term changes in pattern of party support that mean it is now persistently more difficult for either Labour or the Conservatives to win an overall majority. Meanwhile, although the current review of parliamentary boundaries will not deliver the Conservatives quite the

…

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Posted in Polls | Also tagged | 43 Comments
Tim Oliver

Opinion: Ideology is not a dirty word

By Tim Oliver | Sat 12th May 2012 - 11:19 am

It has been a year since I first joined the Liberal Democrats. In that time, I’ve slowly learnt but a few of the ropes of a Liberal Democrat member and campaigner; time-limited by my studies, I’ve only been able to savour the joys of leafleting and a couple hours of telling last week. Yet the reasons I joined – my personal Liberal beliefs and a feeling that this party is by far and away the best vehicle for Liberals in Britain to carry their beliefs into action – remain as strong as ever.

I firmly believe this party has managed to …

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Posted in Op-eds | 17 Comments
Caron Lindsay

And I would have succeeded if it hadn’t been for these pesky Lib Dems – Cameron

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 9th May 2012 - 7:55 pm

I read the Daily Mail every day. It’s worth it because in amongst the inaccurate, scaremongering bile, there’s quite often a wee gem which shows off the Liberal Democrat influence in the Coalition.

Today, it carries an interview with David Cameron in which he tells how these pesky Liberal Democrats have stopped him doing things like getting rid of human rights legislation, eroding people’s employment rights and stopping him introducing a tax break for married couples.

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 25 Comments
The Voice

Lib Dems pointing at things #wherewepointwewin

By The Voice | Mon 30th April 2012 - 1:23 pm

As we go into the last few days before widespread elections, what better time to highlight what Lib Dems do best? Yes, pointing at things.

Well done to LibDems who point at things for a providing a comprehensive and voluminous collection of pointy photos.

Why, they’ve even crowned a certain Dr. Mark Pack as King of the Pointies!

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Mark Valladares

Changing the way Liberal Democrats develop policy – some thoughts from the country

By Mark Valladares | Thu 22nd March 2012 - 12:58 pm

Nearly two years into the Coalition, and with the Health and Social Care Bill now on its way to Buckingham Palace for Royal Assent, now seems a good time to reflect on the future of ideas within the Party.

There will be those who will wonder why a self-confessed bureaucrat, not known for a yen for policy wonkery, would be worrying about such things. And I guess that they would have a point. But from a process perspective, I suggest that the way that we make policy is now flawed.

At the moment, the hub through which virtually all policy passes is …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 28 Comments
Jonathan Hunt

Opinion: Lib Dems must replace Labour as the party of the Left

By Jonathan Hunt | Mon 19th March 2012 - 11:24 am

Gateshead is hardly likely to go down in Liberal Democrat history as a mould-breaking or even memorable conference. On the key issue of the NHS, the spoils are divided. But our image among non-committed voters is bound to rise as a result of the look-again victory on Sunday morning.

Back in the real world, polls show us still struggling to reach double figures, the party’s tally of councillors is at its lowest level this century, and continual calls of betrayal from some former voters leave us in urgent need of good cheer.

To obtain it, it would help to ignore …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 106 Comments
Robin McGhee

Opinion: LibDem campaigning must be kept local

By Robin McGhee | Mon 19th March 2012 - 9:54 am

In a recent article on Lib Dem Voice, Scott Hill talked of the need for ‘modernisation’ of the party’s campaigning mechanisms. Some of his ideas are excellent: for example, who could argue with putting more emphasis on internet campaigning? However, I think he has gone somewhat off the rails in his adulation of what can only be described as aggressively centralising tendencies. ‘Message and projection is everything’, he writes. ‘As a party, it is vital that we sing from the same hymn sheet. Undoubtedly, debate and deliberation is necessary, but unity must be maintained right the way through the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 14 Comments
The Voice

James Graham leaves the Liberal Democrats

By The Voice | Mon 5th March 2012 - 1:22 pm

Winner of the 2007 Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year award, James Graham has announced he has resigned from the Liberal Democrats.

Writing on his blog, Quaequam Blog!, under the title “Pressing reset”, James says:

Last night I formally resigned as a member of the Liberal Democrats, effective immediately. To answer some likely questions:

1) No, I’m not joining another party. As if.
2) No, I’m not making a protest or resigning because of a specific issue.
3) No, I’m not planning to write a self-aggrandising article about my personal reasons for resigning, at least not this week (and when I do I’ll

…

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Posted in News | 40 Comments
Paul Walter

LibLink: Chris Rennard – David Cameron wants nothing less than Tory hegemony

By Paul Walter | Mon 27th February 2012 - 12:54 pm

On the Guardian’s Comment is Free, Chris Rennard warns that Libdems should beware becoming part of a grand plan to secure permanent Conservative domination:

Thirteen years of opposition were especially painful for those Tories who formed their political opinions in the years when Margaret Thatcher appeared to reign supreme. Opposition from 1997 was humiliating and served to increase the fiercely competitive instincts of the Cameron circle. Time in opposition helped them to plan to try and ensure that, if Labour let them win back power, they would never lose again – even with historically low levels of support for the

…

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged | 9 Comments
Mary Reid

LibLink: Are the Lib Dems Giving Up More Than the Tories in Government?

By Mary Reid | Tue 21st February 2012 - 8:03 pm

Louise Phillips, a former Lib Dem staffer, asks this question in the UK version of The Huffington Post.

There have been a lot of sacrifices from the Liberal Democrats in the past two years. Tuition fees (obviously); mansion tax; free schools. But, and this is the argument I make in the pub whenever someone finds out I used to work for the party, the Tories are giving up more. They have sacrificed long held beliefs on taxation to allow the Lib Dems to raise the tax threshold to £10,000, putting money back into the pocket of most working people in the

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged | 51 Comments
Richard Clare

Opinion: The Liberal Democrats must welcome disaffected Blairites and One-Nation Tories

By Richard Clare | Mon 20th February 2012 - 2:54 pm

Campaigning alongside a Lib Dem councillor recently, I mentioned the several recent high profile defections of Blairites to the Conservatives. I was a little disappointed they’d felt that the obvious choice was to go to the Blues.

People that liked Tony Blair more than they liked the Labour brand in general are precisely the kind of people that handed the party thirteen years of office. Their exodus from Labour, a backlash fuelled by the anti-New Labour revolution that put Ed Miliband in power, was a sign that the party was letting an election victory slip out of its sights.

To my surprise, …

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Posted in Op-eds | 23 Comments
Lord Bonkers

LibDems – the hopeless romantics – Lord Bonkers comments…

By Lord Bonkers | Tue 14th February 2012 - 10:24 am

Yesterday we covered a survey which suggests that the Liberal Democrats are strongly romantic. Today, Lord Bonkers gives the LDV readership the benefit of his insight on this subject…

We are great romantics here in Rutland. This morning I watched swains, as tradition demands, gather the first snowdrops of the year to take to their loves. (This afternoon I phoned the Oakham Royal Infirmary and Matron is confident that no toes will be lost to frostbite.)

I was pleased to see from this survey that we Liberal Democrats are great romantics too. If one thinks about it, however, it should …

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Posted in Humour | 3 Comments
The Voice

Survey: LibDems are hopelessly romantic

By The Voice | Mon 13th February 2012 - 10:24 am

The Liberal Democrat Voice team is normally very circumspect about surveys. But, it being Valentine’s Eve, our romantic natures got the better of us on this occasion…

UK Dating site FreeDating.co.uk has carried out a survey which reveals differing attitudes to Valentine’s Day, based on political persuasion. According to the survey, Liberal Democrats are particularly positive to Valentine’s Day.

The site says:

Liberal Democrats are hopelessly romantic – along with lawyers, Christians, and women who don’t read books.

Both Tory and Labour voters

…

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Posted in News | 10 Comments
Luke Tyson

Opinion: LibDems are the natural home for Blairites

By Luke Tyson | Mon 6th February 2012 - 12:24 pm

There have been some high profile (if not high level) Blairite defections to the Tories. While there are some similarities between the Blair legacy and our coalition partners, the defectees seem to have overlooked or discarded one idea – joining the Liberal Democrats.

As Jonathan Powell says in his book, The New Machiavelli, and as was evident during his time in office, Tony Blair was strongly pro-Europe. He understood, as we do, that a) the largest common market in the world is something that we should be actively engaging with and leading, and b) there are threats and issues …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 30 Comments
NewsHound

Diana Wallis MEP resigns

By NewsHound | Thu 19th January 2012 - 6:08 pm

European Voice reports:

Liberal Democrat MEP announces that she is to quit just days after failing in bid to become president of the European Parliament.

Diana Wallis, a British Liberal MEP who this week failed in her bid to become president of the European Parliament, today announced that she is to stand down as an MEP.

Wallis said that after 12 years as an MEP she wanted “to take a break from politics,” adding that it was time “for someone with fresh eyes to take over”. Wallis said she would give up her seat on 31 January.

Wallis came third in

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 19 Comments
George Kendall

Opinion: Political Heroes

By George Kendall | Thu 19th January 2012 - 11:56 am

I used to think of heroes as valiant individuals, standing alone against impossible odds. But, too often, they are media myths, their achievements the work of others.

And so with political heroes. They don’t change the country for the better without help. Too often, the real heroes are unsung, toiling away for little recognition and less reward because it is the right
thing to do.

Ten years ago, my political heroes were the grass roots of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). Unexpected from a Liberal Democrat:  the UUP is close to the Conservative party, and, in Northern Ireland, were the establishment, but it is how I feel.

During …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 10 Comments
George Potter

Opinion: What’s happened to democracy in the Liberal Democrats?

By George Potter | Wed 18th January 2012 - 3:55 pm

What’s happened to democracy in the Liberal Democrats? Is it dead? Or is it just comatose?

The reason I ask this question comes from my own experience of our internal democracy.

When I joined the party at the age of 18, I was impressed by how, unlike any other major party,  ordinary members had a real say. That I, as a member, had a voice equal to anyone else in the party, be it my local councillor or the party leader and that everyone’s vote was equal.

So, last year, when I learned about the shocking plans by the government to drastically cut …

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Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 72 Comments
Iain Roberts

Welcome to the new politics – risks and all

By Iain Roberts | Wed 12th May 2010 - 8:27 am

A few months ago we were waiting for David Cameron’s stately procession to 10 Downing Street as leader of yet another majority Conservative government. No point voting Lib Dem, we were told – they had no chance of getting power and putting their policies into practice.

And yet here we are, with a Lib/Con coalition after Labour decided they preferred to be in opposition. Those who voted Lib Dem look like they will get Lib Dem policies put into law. Not all of them, but a surprising number of the important ones.

Is it risky? Hell, yes. …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 62 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Nick Clegg’s demands for a post-election deal

By NewsHound | Thu 11th March 2010 - 6:06 am

As reported in today’s Independent, Nick Clegg has been talking about what the Lib Dems would do in the event of a hung parliament, and flags up some of the announcements due at the party’s spring conference in Birmingham this weekend.

the Liberal Democrat leader also revealed that his party would try to calm jitters in the financial markets about a hung parliament by calling for a £10bn “repayment” to cut Britain’s public deficit. It would be found from £15bn of spending cuts to be outlined this month.

Mr Clegg declined to speculate whether his party would

…

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged and | 12 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: why John Kampfner is backing the Lib Dems

By NewsHound | Tue 9th March 2010 - 7:53 am

John Kampfner, journalist and former New Statesman editor, has a Comment is Free piece on the Guardian website explaining why he’s backing the Lib Dems.

My decision to back the Liberal Democrats in 2010 is based on a more fundamental appraisal of Labour’s record, together with a positive assessment of the Lib Dems’ platform.

Their analysis of the failures of the deregulated market has been consistently, and painfully, accurate. Their tax reform plans, taking 4 million low-paid workers out of tax altogether, are the most redistributive of any party, alongside green taxes, a “mansion tax”

…

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged and | 1 Comment
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