Let me start by welcoming the money that has been made available for new social housing in the Spending Review. As ever it is shrouded in mystery, and we have little idea how much has been already committed and how much is new. In fact it comes to £3.9 billion a year which is only £1.6 billion a year more than put in by the Tories. But I think it is a positive and there will be some new money contained within it. The question for us all is, "Can we spend it properly?" The sad fact is that in ...
In the afterglow of Rachel Reeves' Spending Review, Labour's press machine was quick to declare victory. Behind the slogans, the figures, and the bumptious cheers from the Labour benches, reality reared its head — fast and unflinching. Yes, the NHS has gotten a financial uplift. Day-to-day spending is to increase to 3% per year. A welcome move. But let's not uncork the bubbly just yet - since 1999, most parliaments have averaged a 4% increase. And anyone who's ever tried to buy medical equipment knows, health inflation tends to swagger above consumer average. And behind the figures and planted slogans; ...
In a recent article on Liberal Democrat voice (What Rachel is Doing Right, 9th June) Sir Vince Cable, who was Business Secretary in the Coalition, describes the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, as "competent, decent and economically literate." He itemises three reason for praising her. 1. 1. She has succeeded in persuading the Treasury to regard government expenditure for investment purposes as separate from current expenditure. This it has been traditionally reluctant to do. Gordon Brown circumvented the prohibition by the expensive PFI scheme. Serious proposals for public investment during the Coalition were blocked by Treasury resistance, but, on ...
Some Conservative MPs could be tempted to defect to the Liberal Democrats over their leadership's opposition to the European Convention on Human Rights, says a story on Politics Home this morning: Several Lib Dem figures told PoliticsHome that there have been informal discussions with Tory MPs on the 'left' of their party who are uneasy with shifting further to the right to combat the threat of Nigel Farage's Reform UK. One Lib Dem MP involved in talks said: "Doors are not being slammed in our faces." Another told PoliticsHome they have spoken to at least two Conservative MPs who are ...
In what I think is a Liberal England first, the Financial Times wins our Headline of the Day Award. The photograph shows a branch of the chain in Lincoln. The Lost Pubs Project says:The Lion Hotel was situated at 169 High Street. This pub was present by 1826 and closed in 1988. It was also known as The White Lion. It is now used as a branch of Poundland. At one time it contained a cattle pound for cattle that grazed Holmes Common.
When you work for someone else, you play by their rules. You work the days they want you to work. You turn up at the office when they tell you to and go home when they say you can. You take your holiday when they let you. You do what you're told. Day in, day out. And then you retire. When you work for yourself, though, these rules no longer apply. Consequently, when you're starting up or growing your solo consulting practice, you get to think beyond simply what clients you'll work with and what services you'll provide. You also ...
This past week, Nigel Farage took to Wales Online to outline his vision for Wales, ahead of the 2026 Senedd elections. His article, published on Sunday, June 8th, at 10:30 PM, bears all the hallmarks of what is to be expected from a regressive, right-wing populist voice such as Mr Farage. Firstly, his first reference to Wales isn't of the 20s, the 10s, the 00s, or any time in modern history; it's 1851. Mr Farage's entire argument relies upon the 1851 census to justify Reform's manifesto, citing the number of people in industrial jobs rather than agricultural ones, and even ...
This is why I stay working for Lord Bonkers despite everything: these precious snippets of Liberal history that somehow never make it into the textbooks. Thursday Those bad hats who chopped down the tree at Sycamore Gap are, by all accounts, in for a stiff sentence without the option. I am reminded of the tales told me by colleagues who had been in the House in Mr Gladstone's day. When the Grand Old Man wasn't rescuing fallen women or scourging himself, he was to be found felling trees. The problem was that he didn't confine himself to the woods at ...
We are holding a Thursday street surgery tonight to speak with residents on any local issues or concerns they may have. Should you have an issue you wish to discuss with us, e-mail us at westend@dundeelibdems.org.uk or call Dundee 459378 and we will be pleased to meet you - many thanks.
The Mirror reports that the UK Government will finally tear up the "shameful" 200 year old laws criminalising rough sleepers. They say that deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has announced she will abolish the Vagrancy Act, which makes rough sleeping illegal in England and Wales: The 1824 legislation has long been criticised by homelessness charities, and the move has been branded a " landmark moment that will change lives". It will be included as an amendment to the flagship Crime and Policing Bill - with new laws instead targeting organised begging by gangs and trespassing. The Act will be scrapped ...
10-Year rail funding reaction – Labour showing contempt to Wales Greene criticises potential closure of Scottish bus builders Rennie: Swapping around a few ministers won't erase SNP failures 10-Year rail funding reaction – Labour showing contempt to Wales Responding to Labour's announcement that the £445 million they announced for rail funding this morning will, in fact, be spread out over 10 years, Welsh Liberal Democrat Westminster Spokesperson David Chadwick MP said: Labour's contempt for Wales just gets worse and worse. The indefensible decision to spread this measly amount of rail funding over 10 years not only robs Wales of what ...
[IMG: A factory building in Fleckney] Nina Stibbe, another member of the Market Harborough school of literature, once wrote about Fleckney in the Guardian: Fleckney became industrialised in the late 19th century when hosiery companies fled the city. Rowley & Co, whose Leicester works had been stormed by weavers in riots in 1885, built a factory on Saddington Road. Its red brick design included a high wall along the street for protection in the event of further unrest. This wall (itself now protected) reinforces Fleckney's identity as working-class compared with its more cottagey neighbours. Leicester's second best pop, Furnival's of ...
"Smoke and mirrors" spending review could leave a blackhole for social care Police funding short-fall as families face council tax bombshell to pick up the tab Spending review: Reeves has put farmers "at the back of the Treasury queue" Welsh rail funding announcement - Wales getting the scraps again Lib Dems comment on defence, Acorn, supercomputer in spending review "Smoke and mirrors" spending review could leave a blackhole for social care Responding to the spending review, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said: This spending review was a missed opportunity to repair the damage done by the Conservatives and ...
The Liberal Democrats have reacted to the Spending Review. Daisy Cooper has warned that Rachel Reeves may have left a black hole for social care funding. This is based on local government having their funding cut by 1.4% during the period of the review. Councils have a statutory duty to provide social care and this does not help them. This spending review was a missed opportunity to repair the damage done by the Conservatives and finally deliver on the promise of change. Behind the smoke and mirrors is a potential blackhole for social care as local government budgets remain at ...
Jeff Buckley died at 30, his father Tim at 28. I felt sorry for Jeff, often discussed with reference to a father who hardly bothered with him. But Tim Buckley was a brilliant musician. Here he is on The Old Grey Whistle Test, with Charlie Whitney from the Leicester band Family one of those backing him.
Lord Bonkers continues to be untroubled by issues of low self-esteem. Those ubiquitous - and least on his estate - birds the hamwee and the wheway are named after Sally Hamwee (now a Liberal Democrat peer, but a Liberal councillor in Richmond when I first came across her) and Rob Wheway, a Liberal activist from Coventry. Wednesday You find me sousing in a deckchair and enjoying the view across my gardens to the moat. Swifts swoop low across the lawn, snapping up insects to feed their young in nests under the eaves of my stables; flocks of hamwees and wheways ...
Yesterday Ed Davey and his wife Emily, who is also the Housing Portfolio holder at Kingston Council, went on This Morning to talk about Ed's book, Why I care and why care matters. which you can buy from the publishers Harper Collins or from other bookstores. They talked about their own experience of caring for their disabled son John and about why supporting family carers is so important. Without them, the NHS and social care would literally fall apart. You can see the whole interview on ITVx or STV Player or watch this clip: "If we can support family carers ...
Today Rachel Reeves announces her spending review. What are Liberal Democrats looking for from it? It will surprise nobody to hear that social care is top of the agenda, alongside a closer relationship with Europe. Without the latter, Treasury Spokesperson Daisy Cooper says, Labour will be trying to drive the economy forward with the handbrake on. And anyone who has tried to do that in a car will know how impossible that feels and how much of an idiot you feel when you realise that you have forgotten to take the handbrake off. Daisy said: People have been left desperately ...
Dundee Cinéma les Auteurs is a unique 3-day event dedicated to celebrating the creativity bubbling within our city. It offers a platform for filmmakers of all levels to share their stories with a local audience. It is taking place at The Vine, 43 Magdalen Yard Road. You can read full details at https://sites.google.com/view/dundeecinema - all welcome!
The Guardian reports that more than 300 Foreign Office staff have been told to consider resigning after they wrote a letter over fears the government had become complicit in Israel's alleged war crimes in Gaza. The paper says that this is the fourth internal letter from staff about the offensive in Gaza, which started in October 2023 in response to Hamas's deadly attack on Israel: In their letter of 16 May the staff, from embassies around the world and at various levels of seniority, questioned the UK's continued arms sales and what they called Israel's "stark ... disregard for international ...