Tag Archives: martin horwood

Martin Horwood

Martin Horwood MEP writes… Gibraltar, Trump and Iran: the Brexit connection

By Martin Horwood | Tue 20th August 2019 - 8:30 am


Embed from Getty Images

Gibraltar has just controversially released the Iranian oil tanker formerly known as the Grace 1 with a new name and a written assurance from Tehran that its shipment won’t be used to break EU sanctions on Syria.

As a member of the European Parliament’s Iran delegation and one of the LibDem MEPs for Gibraltar, as well as the South West of England, I have warmly welcomed this move. And I’m pleased to be in a position to strengthen our co-operation and influence with Europe on this critical issue. Its no exaggeration to say that peace in the Persian Gulf hangs in the balance. While the Conservative government flirts with Donald Trump, we’re working with our European allies to de-escalate crises like this.

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Caron Lindsay

WATCH: Martin Horwood’s speech to the European Parliament: Brexit is not inevitable

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 4th July 2019 - 6:44 pm

Lib Dem MEP Martin Horwood was cheered in the European Parliament today as he gave his maiden speech, saying that Brexit was not inevitable and asking that the EU continue its policy of patience with our Government which, he waist, was acting like it was in Mr Bean or Monty Python.

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The Voice

Martin Horwood standing for local council

By The Voice | Thu 29th March 2018 - 8:13 am

FORMER CHELTENHAM MP Martin Horwood is putting on his rosette again – this time to stand for Cheltenham Borough Council. There’s an unexpected vacancy in Leckhampton ward following independent councillor Ian Bickerton’s recent resignation. That means the ward will be electing two councillors in the borough council elections on 3 May instead of one. Glenn Andrews is the other Lib Dem candidate.

Martin handed in his nomination papers at the council offices today – and the retiring independent councillor Ian Bickerton was one of his nominators. Martin stood down as Lib Dem …

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Martin Bennett

Opinion: Nick Clegg unapologetic about forming a coalition, but next time we may opt out

By Martin Bennett | Mon 13th April 2015 - 2:02 pm

On a flying visit to Cheltenham last week, Nick Clegg gave an interview for the local paper, the Gloucestershire Echo. When asked about whether he is looking to form a new coalition he said:

Not necessarily, not necessarily, I don’t think the Liberal Democrats should be in government just for the sake of it but we should always, if we can, play a role in doing the right thing for the country and do it in line with our policies and values.

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Caron Lindsay

Snapshots from the Lib Dem campaign trail

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 15th February 2015 - 10:25 am

Lib Dems being out campaigning is such a normal thing – we have always been proud of our all year round work ethic. So what have our councillors and candidates been up to this weekend?

It seems to have been lovely weather everywhere:

Martin Horwood and his team were out in his Cheltenham constituency:

But, look, how sweet is this? He still found time to remember someone special:

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NewsHound

LibLink Special: Martin Horwood’s cartoon column for his local newspaper in tribute to Charlie Hebdo victims

By NewsHound | Mon 12th January 2015 - 10:26 am

Martin Horwood, Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham is also a skilled cartoonist.

He writes a regular column for the Gloucestershire Echo. This week, he felt it was time to pick up the pen again “for the right to write and draw and think in freedom.”

Martin Horwood cartoon column

 

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The Voice

Horwood and Burstow take part in Westminster Dog of the Year

By The Voice | Thu 23rd October 2014 - 10:02 am

Guide dog puppyThis year’s Westminster Dog of the Year gets underway shortly. The aim is to celebrate that great bond between dog and human and to promote responsible dog ownership.

Last year, the Liberal Democrats were represented by Tessa Munt and Poppy. This year Paul Burstow and Martin Horwood are taking part.

Paul takes part with his dog Indy, who came to them as a rescue dog 4 years ago:

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The Voice

28 Lib Dem MPs vote for recognition of state of Palestine, 1 against

By The Voice | Tue 14th October 2014 - 9:10 am

As we trailed here, last night saw the House of Commons debate a backbench motion (which is therefore not binding on the government): ‘That this House believes that the Government should recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel.’

By my count, 28 Lib Dem MPs backed the motion – their names are below – with just one against (Sir Alan Beith). As the BBC notes: “It is convention that ministers abstain when voting takes place on a backbench MP’s motion and those of both the Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties did so. It is, however, Lib Dem policy to support recognition of Palestinian statehood.”

The debate was a relatively short one, so there was time for only one speech from a Lib Dem: Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood’s contribution is reproduced below. You can catch up with the debate via Hansard here.

Lib Dem MPs backing the motion to recognise the state of Palestine:

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Posted in Parliament | Also tagged , , and | 39 Comments
The Voice

It’s been a while since Liberal Democrats got 25% in a ballot…

By The Voice | Thu 12th June 2014 - 12:45 pm

JUMP 4 JOYThat got your attention, didn’t it?

Actually, it wasn’t so much a ballot but a great big raffle. This morning the annual draw took place to select twenty MPs to select Private Members’ Bills. Five Liberal Democrats were allotted slots, with the top two places going to Andrew George and Michael Moore. John Hemming, Sarah Teather and Martin Horwood complete our quintet.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Martin Horwood – Lib Dems clamping down on the arms trade

By NewsHound | Thu 17th April 2014 - 9:07 am

martin horwoodOver at the Lib Dems’ website, Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood has welcomed today’s announcement that Vince Cable has put out a call for evidence on a new register of arms brokers, introducing tougher regulations on the arms trade. Here’s an excerpt:

Arms brokers act as intermediaries in many arms deals by bringing together potential buyers and sellers in return for a cut of the transaction. Currently UK companies require a license before they can export military goods, but brokers are somewhat of an unknown entity. Under the proposals all brokers will

…

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Caron Lindsay

Huppert warns against “sleepwalking into a surveillance society”

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 2nd November 2013 - 11:15 am

huppert_caption compIt’s become a truth universally acknowledged in the Liberal Democrats that wherever there is a threat to our freedoms, Julian Huppert will be there trying to thwart it, whether that’s convenient for the party leadership or not.  Most of the time, it has to be said, it is convenient for the leadership, but it’s worth remembering that if it hadn’t been for the combination of him and some angry bloggers, we might be in a world where the Communications Data Act of 2012 had been passed.

And so it was on …

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Newsmoggie

Vote for the Westminster Dog of the Year

By Newsmoggie | Tue 8th October 2013 - 1:38 pm

Call the Feline Rights Commission! How, in these equality sensitive times, did anyone think it appropriate to set up a beauty contest for MPs’ dogs whilst ignoring all the much-loved cats in MPs’ homes?

Last year’s winner of the Westminster Dog of the Year even got interviewed by Andrew Marr! Where’s the fairness in that? When did you last see him talking with a cat?

Of course, while dogs are owned by their humans, cats own people.  So getting my fellow moggies to express our collective opposition to such undeserved canine fame is like – well – herding cats. But a tactical Early Day Motion from a cat-loving Parliamentarian would not go amiss (can you hear me, John Hemming?)

But – I am a Liberal Democrat cat, so I am used to forcing my political loyalties to overcome my distaste. I therefore feel obliged to draw your attention to two of the entries.

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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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Stephen Tall

Lib Dem MP Martin Horwood socks it to the Tories over their “dramatic flip-flopping” on in/out EU referendum

By Stephen Tall | Sat 6th July 2013 - 11:15 am

martin horwoodWhile most of the country was enjoying yesterday’s sunshine, the Tory party indulged its own carnival of (to coin a phrase) banging on about Europe.

James Wharton’s private member’s bill legislating for an in/out referendum on the European Union to take place by 2017 (a pledge David Cameron has already conceded to his rebellious backbenchers, who don’t believe him) passed its second reading in the Commons by 304 votes to zero.

Only one Lib Dem MP made a speech: Cheltenham’s Martin Horwood. It’s a punchy tour de force which details …

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Posted in Europe / International, News and Parliament | Also tagged , , , and | 45 Comments
Mary Reid

Work places are communities too

By Mary Reid | Tue 25th September 2012 - 1:34 pm

As Liberal Democrats we are committed to the concept of people participating and exercising democratic rights in their communities. But we usually identify communities geographically, in the villages or the wards where we can deliver our Focuses.  During yesterday’s debate on Mutuals, Employee Ownership and Workplace Democracy (F22 in the Conference Agenda) Alan Sherwood reminded us that the workplace is also a significant community for many people. So workplace democracy is a natural extension of community politics.

In moving the motion, which derived from a policy paper, Martin Horwood went further and claimed that not only should Liberal Democrat …

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Helen Duffett

Martin Horwood MP to chair Lib Dems’ 2013 local election campaign

By Helen Duffett | Thu 20th September 2012 - 4:23 pm

From a Party news release:

Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham, Martin Horwood has been appointed as the Chair of the Liberal Democrat 2013 Local Election Campaign.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg said:

I am delighted that Martin will be heading our 2013 local election campaign.

With Martin’s wealth of local government and campaigning experience, I know he will do an excellent job.

I look forward to working with him to deliver the results our hard-working councillors and activists deserve.

Commenting further, Martin Horwood said:

I’m honoured and a little daunted to be asked to take on this role. It’s no secret

…

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged and | 8 Comments
Paul Walter

PMQs: Balls! Balls! Balls! Balls!

By Paul Walter | Thu 12th July 2012 - 10:53 am

By golly by gosh, I think Ed Miliband has finally got in the swing of this Prime Minister’s Questions thing. While Cameron reeled from his Tuesday night beating by a right Jesse, the leader of the opposition appeared poised, relaxed and skilful. He’s learnt the knack of brevity and humour, as his first question demonstrated:

At this last Question Time before the recess, may I remind the

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Paul Walter

PMQs: Your boys took a hell of a beating

By Paul Walter | Wed 14th March 2012 - 8:49 pm

I’m looking forward to the comments this week.

We saw a newly confident Nick Clegg at Prime Minister’s Questions today.

I’ve written before that Nick’s early Dispatch Box appearances were a bit like bear bating. He stood there, red-faced and growling as Labour MPs jabbed at him from all angles.

But, today, we saw an assured and relaxed Nick Clegg who was convincingly combatative. Most impressively, he discharged the session with barely a single reference to a piece of paper. Not for him the “chained to my indexed folder” look of David Cameron. In short, Nick Clegg was Prime Ministerial. “Best ever” was …

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Posted in PMQs | Also tagged , , and | 19 Comments
The Voice

Horwood calls for National Defence Medal awarded by “truly independent” body

By The Voice | Sat 31st December 2011 - 2:35 pm

Lib Dem MP for Cheltenham Martin Horwood has stepped up calls by the party for a National Defence Medal to be available for all veterans who have served in the Armed Forces.

Here‘s how the Press Association reports the story:

    Martin Horwood, co-chairman of the Parliamentary Party Committee on International Affairs, said a new body was needed which was recognised by veterans as “truly independent”. Currently, any decision to award new medals is made by the Honours and Decorations Committee behind closed doors. But Mr Horwood believes it needs to be disbanded and reformed with a new independent chairman. It must

…

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Ed Davey

Ed Davey writes… Glass half full – or half empty?

By Ed Davey | Mon 28th November 2011 - 9:54 am

My announcement last week on pubs hasn’t won me or the Government three cheers from the likes of CAMRA or Fair Pint. Yet I believe it is a notable success for tenants and lessees across the country – and time will prove it so.

For the pubcos have till Christmas to make their Codes of Practice legally binding – so tenants and lessees can enforce their rights – and they know that if they don’t, Parliament would be very happy to make it legally binding for them.

Coupled with the other reforms we negotiated from the pubcos and brewers, real change has …

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The Voice

Martin Horwood: the real issue facing Europe today is an unprecedented economic crisis

By The Voice | Sat 22nd October 2011 - 7:26 pm

Earlier today, we ran a guest post calling on the Liberal Democrats to back the forthcoming Parliamentary vote on a European referendum. Here is the press statement issued today by the party’s International Spokesman, Martin Horwood MP:

The Conservative right and UKIP seem hell bent in stoking a row which will threaten our stability.

The real issue facing Europe today is an unprecedented economic crisis. For Britain to start a constitutional argument at this critical moment would be fantastically irresponsible and could damage Britian’s ability to influence.

Billions of pounds of European investment in Britain is at stake as we watch an

…

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged | 13 Comments
Paul Walter

PMQs: You can’t gesticulate your way out of a Balls-up

By Paul Walter | Fri 21st October 2011 - 6:53 pm

He still looks like a clever sixth former to me, but it is fair to say that Ed Miliband has cracked Prime Minister’s Questions. His performance this week was excellent.

“Just a bit late” was David Cameron’s description of Miliband’s raising of the Fox affair. It is easy to understand why Miliband did not raise the subject last week. Labour played a canny game with Dr Fox. They did not call for his resignation and at the last PMQs, Miliband did not ask directly about the issue. This allowed Dr Fox to swing in the media wind, without obvious Labour encouragement. …

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Posted in News, Parliament and PMQs | Also tagged , , , , , and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Government takes action over ‘vulture funds’

By Mark Pack | Mon 16th May 2011 - 7:52 pm

When Labour were in power, Liberal Democrats regularly attacked the government for its inaction over so-called vulture funds (that is, in this context, financial funds who buy up debt from poor countries and try to make a profit out of it). For example, then International Development spokesperson Lynne Featherstone said,

Gordon Brown has said this is immoral but so far it’s been all talk and no action.

The Government needs to take a stand and use its influence in the IMF to help devise an internationally binding system to ensure companies can’t prey on heavily indebted developing countries in this way.

The

…

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Mark Pack

Brooke, Horwood and Huppert join the list of Liberal Democrat co-chairs

By Mark Pack | Mon 28th March 2011 - 12:27 pm

A news release from the party brings the news of the following three appointments:

  • Martin Horwood, co-chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Committee for International Affairs (replacing Tim Farron, who has stood down on becoming President)
  • Julian Huppert, co-chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Committee for Transport
  • Stephen Lloyd, co-chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Committee for Northern Ireland
  • Annette Brooke, co-chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Committee for Communities and Local Government (covering for Simon Hughes for six months during his tenure as the Government’s Advocate for Access to Education

The full list of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Committee …

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged , and | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

Parliament debates Libya: what Liberal Democrat MPs have been saying

By Mark Pack | Mon 21st March 2011 - 8:45 pm

Here are some selections from today’s debate in Parliament so far on the United Nations resolution on Libya and subsequent military action which touch on the questions of international law, the Liberal Democrat position, what is happening in other countries and the question of Iraq:

Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD):In view of the obviously barbaric attacks by Gaddafi on his own people, does the Prime Minister agree that those officials and military chiefs who are still standing firm with Gaddafi stand every chance of being hauled before the war crimes tribunal?

The Prime Minister: The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point. The

…

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Stephen Tall

Horwood: coalition deal on nuclear power creates possible “win-win situation” for Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Fri 11th June 2010 - 9:55 am

Part of the coalition deal between the Lib Dems and Conservatives allowed for Nick Clegg and colleagues to abstain on three key issues which divide the parties – raising student tuition fees, the Tories’ marriage tax allowance, and nuclear power.

However, written into the agreement, too, was the pledge that no new nuclear power station will receive a public subsidy – which, as Mark Pack has previously noted, means that if the figures don’t stack up, they won’t happen.

It’s a point Cheltenham Lib Dem MP Martin Horwood re-inforces today in an article on politics.co.uk, Lib Dem hopes for ‘win-win’ …

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Mark Pack

Deputy Leadership contest latest: Huhne backs Farron

By Mark Pack | Wed 2nd June 2010 - 9:15 pm

A news release from the Tim Farron campaign says:

Tim Farron today announced that Secretary of State for DECC, Chris Huhne, will be supporting Tim’s candidacy for Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Mr Huhne’s support comes on the same day as candidates for Deputy Leader put forward their nominating signatures to the Parliamentary Party. Other MPs who have now confirmed their support for Mr Farron include MP for Cheltenham, Martin Horwood and newly elected MP St Austell and Newquay, Stephen Gilbert.

Commenting Mr Huhne said:

“Tim Farron has the passion, experience and energy to be highly effective as deputy leader. Working alongside Nick …

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Stephen Tall

3 to see: Lib Dem #GE2010 campaign coverage

By Stephen Tall | Thu 8th April 2010 - 10:00 am

Pushed for time, but want to keep up-to-date with how the campaign’s going? Here are today’s must-reads ….

Nick Clegg launching Scottish Lib Dem election campaign (BBC)

It will be almost like old times for the Lib Dems, with former leader Charles Kennedy joining Nick Clegg to launch the Lib Dems’ Scottish campaign – as CK himself tweeted earlier today. Here’s how the BBC reports it:

Mr Clegg will get the Scottish campaign under way in Glasgow along with Scottish Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott and senior party figures, including Charles Kennedy.

The party – Scotland’s second biggest in Westminster terms –

…

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The Voice

Tory councillor in Cheltenham defects to Lib Dems

By The Voice | Wed 16th December 2009 - 6:57 pm

Here’s the text of the press release from Cheltenham Lib Dems just received by The Voice – the defection of Cllr Klara Sudbury from the Tories to Lib Dems takes Cheltenham Borough council from Lib Dem minority control (20 seats out of 40) to overall control.

County and borough councillor Klara Sudbury has today announced that she will be leaving the Conservative Party and applying to join the Liberal Democrats and the party’s groups on the county and borough councils.

Statement by county and district councillor Klara Sudbury

‘After giving it a great deal of thought I have decided to leave

…

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Posted in Local government and News | Also tagged , , , and | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

Revisiting Jo Swinson and the Telegraph’s #mpexpenses stories

By Stephen Tall | Thu 11th June 2009 - 6:30 pm

Remember the Telegraph’s hatchet job on Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson during their series of revelations about MPs’ expenses? (Lib Dem blogger James Graham has followed-up the issue on his own Quaequam Blog! HERE).

Well, on Monday evening, as billed here, I had the chance to put these points direct to the Daily Telegraph’s assistant editor, Andrew Pierce, at a debate posing the question, A triumph for journalism? (You can watch the debate online here – worth watching in full, but the section focusing on Jo starts about 29 minutes in).

The issues of dodgy …

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Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged , , , , and | 6 Comments
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