So far: An exit poll has predicted 10 seats for the Lib Dems Paddy says he will publicly eat his hat if that is correct Paddy's hat is trending er...that's it Our live blog is here * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist in Newbury and West Berkshire. He is part of the Liberal Democrat Voice team and blogs at Liberal Burblings.
The polls have finally closed and no one's propaganda can make the blindest bit of difference now. The national campaign seems to have been painfully long and negative, without shedding too much light on the issues that will make the most difference to people's lives. I'm glad it's over. Here in North Cornwall I really [...]
We are going to be here all night
It's ten o'clock and the polls have just closed all over the country. From St Agnes island hall in the south to North Unst Public Hall in the north, the presiding officers have just locked the doors and are preparing the ballot boxes for transportation to the local counting centre. I can now say what I like! There has been much dangerous talk in the election campaign. David Cameron has implied that a government with the tacit support of Scottish MPs would somehow be illegitimate. He has accused Ed Miliband of preparing a "con trick" to enter Downing Street with ...
[IMG: A tired beagle]
I note that he was reviewed by Professor M from a cardiac perspective with a view to having knee replacement surgery. He underwent angiography which showed stable disease and that his graphs were still patent. Unfortunately he was told by by the vascular team that they awere a bit reluctant for him to have a total knee replacement because he has such poor blood supply in his affected leg. From an osteoarthritic point of view his knee is getting progressively worse. He says that he gets pain from certain angles but no locking. He clarifies this further and said he ...
Lib Dems Believe Wordle 49 Freedom from Poverty, Ignorance and Conformity - Liberalism
Liberal Democrats Believe... 50 - Alex Wilcock Liberal Democrats believe in freedom and opportunity for every individual. Freedom from poverty, ignorance and conformity. To make that freedom real for everyone needs both fairness and economic responsibility: an economy that works, that encourages enterprise, and where everyone pays their fair share. So freedom from poverty requires responsible spending, not endless debt, built on fairer taxes where lower earners pay less tax and the wealthiest pay more; working with others to boost jobs and tackle climate change; and building green jobs for the future - increasing opportunities for the next generation instead ...
Still plenty of time to vote, polls close at 10pm. The polling station for Bar Hill is at the Church (by the Parish Council Officers).
LD seat. Cause: Resignation. LD prospective candidate: Sue Sanderson sue@alistairsanderson.com
Con seat. Cause: Resignation. LD prospective candidate: Altan Akbiyik. Contact: Diana Iwi 020 8455 7839
Con seat. Cause: Resignation. LD prospective candidate: Alan Rankin
LD seat. Cause: Resignation. LD prospective candidate: Ken Brough
LD seat. Cause: Resignation. LD prospective candidate: Ken Brough
SNP seat. Cause: Resignation. LD prospective candidate: Phil Brown philbrown@perthlibdems.org.uk
Some of the discussion in the comments on my previous post, sent me off to look at the 1992 election coverage I discussed a few days ago to see if I could find the moment when Sunderland South began its run of being the first constituency to declare. Thanks to BBC Parliament showing old election coverage and the existence of YouTube, here it is: The moment we're looking for starts at around 1:09:50 into the video (just after the interview with Ken Clarke in Rushcliffe) where there are three reporters (Kate Adie in Torbay, Philip Hayton in Guildford and Gavin ...
Unsurprisingly, I'll be making my way to the polling station in a few hours time to vote for the Liberal Democrats. It will be a bitter-sweet moment, for many reasons. My ongoing fight against the lymphoma beast is one of them. Statistically, I would appear to have around an evens chance of making it through ... Continue reading »
If the key Lib Dem aims of the last five years were first to prove that coalition government can work in our majoritarian, outdated democratic system and secondly that Liberal Democrats can be trusted to govern in the national interest and deliver liberal achievements, the election campaign has brought positive news on both fronts. It is easy to forget how coalition was talked of before the 2010 election. It was the common view of most of the media and political establishment that coalition government, if even possible, would be weak and unambitious at best. It is therefore a remarkable turnaround ...
Bristol University's student newspaper, epigram, has a piece from Sarah Redrup explaining why she is backing the Lib Dems' Stephen Williams when she heads to the polling station in Bristol West today: It may seem strange to some that a 2012-entry student from an under-achieving state school has chosen to support the Liberal Democrats. There are several reasons why I believe, despite the tuition fee debacle, that the Liberal Democrats are a party that represent my interests as a student. The policies that attracted me the most to the Lib Dems were those addressing the specific barriers to accessing university ...
Lab seat. Cause: Resignation. LD prospective candidates (double-vacancy): Lawrence Hunter and Ian Laverick Contact for helpers: Greg Stone greg@gregstone.org.uk 07747 862582
Lab seat. Cause: Resignation. LD prospective candidates (double-vacancy): Colin Daglish and Helen Laverick Contact for helpers: Greg Stone greg@gregstone.org.uk 07747 862582
Lab seat. Cause: Resignation. LD prospective candidate: Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett
Don't forget to vote! The polling station for Bar Hill is at the Church (by the Parish Council Officers).
Throughout polling day, LDV will be running short pieces by readers giving their personal reasons for supporting the Liberal Democrats when they go to the polling station today. This year, I had to think very hard about this. Despite being a member and campaigning to re-elect Ed Davey, I wasn't convinced. In a safe seat and subsequently we hear little from any party – my decision therefore had to be made on national lines. None of the parties are trying that hard to bribe single, childless, Twentysomething women so there wasn't much there to deliberate. However when the ballot paper ...
LIBERAL DEMOCRATS We are proud of what we have achieved & ambitious for our future. Together we will win #until10pm #GE2015 x
Conservative seat. Cause: Resignation. LD prospective candidate: Yannick Bultingaire
UKIP seat. Cause: Resignation. LD prospective candidate: Val Loseby
Labour seat. Cause: Death. No LD prospective candidate
Election 2015: What CAN'T you do in a polling station? - mostly good but one glaring error If you spoil your ballot the politicians will see your words - politicians from all parties have to agree that a spoilt ballot has no clear voting intention. We ALL see what's written on them (tags: ) Lib Dems necessary to keep other parties 'in check' - Halifax Courier article about @A_C_McGregor (tags: ) "I Do"? We Did! (tags: ) Nigel Farage pulls out of answering questions from PinkNews readers (tags: ) Election 2015: what happens next? - very, VERY useful (tags: ) ...
The first time all women in the UK had a vote, my grandmother and her friend apparently queued up early at the polling station and walked in together as soon as the doors opened, so that they could claim to be the first. Please use your vote today. The Editor
Thu 7th
09:58
Baroness Kishwer Falkner writes... A Lib Dem red line over an EU referendum: Yes or No? The choice i...
So posits Andrew Duff in his letter to the Guardian warning that 'If we Lib Dems accept this referendum as part of a new coalition pact, we will bring ruination on ourselves'. Well that's clear then, isn't it? There are two reasons of principle why we should not be seduced by this simple hypothesis, and a third to do with pragmatism. First, there is the argument that complex issues cannot be dealt with through referendums, and the proposed in/out referendum is somehow alien to our own thinking or political philosophy. The Lib Dems have never subscribed to this Burkean view ...
Via John Band, I found this very interesting chart on Australia's ABC network's coverage of the election: [IMG: counttimes] First, take your moment to be jealous of those in Australia who can have a good night's sleep before watching the results, then take a look at the figures and see if the same question comes to you as me: why have election counts slowed down so much over the last twenty years? In 1992, we had the majority of results by 2am, from 1997-2005 it took until 3am, then last time it took until past 4am to get past 50% ...
I decided to go up to Cambridge for a few days to deliver leaflets in the run up to polling day. Why Cambridge when I could have picked several London constituencies is a long story, one I shan't bore you with. However, I arrived at the rail station Tuesday morning, all ready to go out and win some votes for the home team. Having been to Cambridge many times, my whole idea of the city is based around the really, really nice bits of the place - punting by the canals, you know the routine. Of course, Cambridge, like pretty ...
I'm coming to the conclusion that the Great British Public (they don't call it that any more) is not nearly as switched off the election as we are given to believe. Everyone I know seems to be wrestling with it, and their specific decision. They are not wrestling with the issues, exactly. They are wrestling with the BBC version of the election - a decision between various different marketing strategies. Another thing entirely. I find that gap frustrating but, finally, I ran across a story which sums up the issues for me. It is the one about exams. This is ...
If you don't already know, the "Glee Club" is a Liberal tradition where Party members, on the last night of Conference, get wicked drunk and sing songs satirising all aspects of politics, including yourself. The below is one such song, to the tune of "Waltzing Matilda", by Andrew "Banjo" Paterson, itself already repurposed for the classic Liberal song "Losing Deposits": Once a left-wing voter came across a polling booth. Went inside to vote for Ed. When the votes were in we got a hung parliament. Who'll join this grand coalition with me? Chorus: Grand Coalition! Grand Coalition! Who'll join this ...
[IMG: Two women taking a selfie] Last year I covered the Electoral Commission's verdict against allowing selfies in polling stations due to the numerous legal issues they raise, such as the ban on sharing "information obtained in a polling station". The Electoral Commission told Returning Officers: The law relating to obtaining information in polling stations and disclosing such information is complex. Given the risk that someone taking a photo inside a polling station may be in breach of the law, whether intentionally or not, our advice is that you should not allow photos to be taken inside polling stations... You ...
The Times's David Aaronovitch has a piece in today's newspaper that will put just a bit more wind in the sails of Liberal Democrats heading out for the all-important get out the vote operation. First, he deals with his local situation in Hampstead and Kilburn in North London: In other seats I think you should reward bravery and political honesty. We rejected voting reform in 2011 but that shouldn't force us to cast our own clumsy ballots for candidates purely on the basis of which party they represent. If someone stands out, reward them, whichever party they belong to. Labour's ...
[IMG: Hall Road Station 3] Sat in the very well to do part of northern Crosby/Blundellsands is Hall Road Station. It has an interesting history and next to it used to be a very significant maintenance facility for previous generations of Merseyrail Electrics stock. Now the maintenance facility is gone and houses are likely to built on the site soon it seems. This is all that was left of the old railway buildings in April this year:- [IMG: Just a few pieces of railway track left] Just a few pieces of railway track left The size and extent of the ...
I'm supporting Daniel Coleman for Dundee West - for a hard-working MP for the West End and right across the constituency :
Voting in person Polling stations are open between 7am and 10pm today. One small change since the last general election: being in a queue to vote at 10pm is now ok and you will still be allowed to cast your vote. You don't need your polling card to vote. You have to vote at your local polling station, which is indicated on the card. If you've lost your card and aren't sure where to vote, you can contact your local council. In some places there are also local council elections being held, so you may be given more than one ...
Click to release Libby.
The political landscape has changed beyond recognition since the last election. The arrival of the Liberal Democrats into Government ensured that politics in Britain would never be the same again. We tore up the rulebook, no longer allowing people's decisions to be narrowed to only the old parties, red or blue, left or right. There is one thing certain in this election: no party will win outright. At this time of writing, there have been 176 polls published this year: 174 of them predicted a hung parliament. This will be the first election where people decide who, alongside Labour and ...
[IMG: Vote] Yesterday's Independent newspaper appropriated this title for its unprecedented editorial backing something that is clearly impossible. The Independent abandoned its traditional, and commendable, stance of remaining independent. It threw its support behind a second Conservative-Lib Dem coalition. The editorial added the caveat that it would like a second coalition to be more liberal and less conservative. Which is precisely why it is supporting the impossible. Whatever happens later today, we know that the Conservatives have swung to the right and the Liberal Democrats will be fewer in number come Friday morning. So the chances of a second Con-Lib ...
