There have been many more of these slideshows on Liberal England - all of them posted in the days when the Liberal Democrats had 57 MPs. They are: Devon, Bedfordshire, North Lincolnshire, East Sussex, Leicestershire, Herefordshire, Hampshire, Cumbria,Cambridgeshire, Kent and Lincolnshire.
Tim Farron, last heard of taking soundings about whether he should stand as leader of the Liberal Democrats, makes a lunge for the erogenous zone of the party in tomorrow's Telegraph: Mr Farron, one of the party's only eight MPs, is considering running his leadership campaign on a ticket of making a clean break from the recent past. ... Any decision to drop the "Democrats" from the party's name would draw a line under the party's links with the Social Democratic Party which dates from the late 1980s. One source said: "The Liberal party has a long history and it ...
This afternoon Norman Lamb confirmed that he is standing for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats. According to BBC News: He told BBC Look East he made his decision to stand after "an awful lot" of soul-searching in a period of "complete exhaustion" after the election. But he concluded he should do it, he said, as "obviously the party suffered devastating results last Thursday. It's critically important that we reconnect and... have an effective advocate for what modern liberalism is all about." He added: "As health minister I put body and soul into it and I would do the same ...
It is great news that there are over 8,000 (and rising) new members of the Liberal Democrats since election night they are just a part of the fightback. I hope that all local parties will get in touch with these new people as soon as possible to welcome them to the party. Then hold a social gathering so that they can meet the existing members and then find out what they feel they can do to help the party fightback, then enable and encourage them to do just that. But it isn't just the new members that are invigorated. Many ...
On the Guardian Comment is Free, David Steel has a must-read article with remarkably perspicacious observations: Let us hope that we in the Liberal Democrats can, unlike the Labour party, analyse the causes of our disaster without rancour. The first thing that needs to be said is that history will be kinder to Nick Clegg than the electorate has been. Back in May 2010, many politicians and pundits predicted confidently that the coalition would not last. The fact that it did, for five years, was largely due to Clegg's dedication and skill. His typically eloquent resignation speech spelt out legitimate ...
Norman Lamb has this evening confirmed that he will be a candidate in the leadership election. It is widely expected that Tim Farron will also put his name forward, but he has not confirmed that yet. Nominations will not formally open until this Wednesday and will close on 3rd June. The full timetable for the leadership election is here. Anyone who has joined the party by 3rd June may vote. An amazing 8000 people have already joined, or rejoined, since polling day. You can join here. * Mary Reid is the Monday Editor on Lib Dem Voice.
I joined the Liberal Democrats as a Scottish Liberal Party member on merger and have held a membership ever since. Like many, I am keen to turn my grief at last Thursday's results (and, being honest, the results of the last Scottish Parliament elections too) into determination that liberalism is too important to be allowed to die. But, unlike the much appreciated surge of new members, I can't join a party I am already a member of. So what can I do? I pay my party dues by monthly direct debit and phoned up party HQ to make a small ...
"David Cameron will launch a 100-day policy offensive..." states the Sunday Times, reporting on the Conservatives' predicted assault on Europe and Human Rights just days after they secured the most surprising election victory in living memory. While Liberal Democrat and Labour Party opinion-formers are calling for internal debates on the future of their respective parties, the Conservatives are moving in and preparing to push through legislation that is dangerous, destructive and most of all, frightening. The Human Rights Act (HRA) should be esteemed as highly as the NHS. Receiving Royal Assent in 1998, the HRA is, in my view, the ...
In the aftermath of the local elections, held on the same day as the General Election, Labour and Conservatives have formed an alliance to share out committee chairs and vice chairs between them, but have indicated that they do not want to challenge the Lib Dems for leadership of the council. The elections saw the Conservatives gain three seats from the Lib Dems, with one former Labour councillor (Laura Booth, Offerton) joining the Liberal Democrats. Despite their gains, the Tories remain the third party in Stockport. The Lib Dems have 26 seats, Labour have 21, the Conservatives are on 13 ...
Repeal the Human Rights Act? I repeat again for good measure: Repeal. The. Human. Rights. Act? I mean who doesn't want: Right to life, right not to be tortured or subjected to inhumane treatment, right not to be held as a slave, right to liberty and security of the person, right to a fair trial, [...]
I know all the attention is on the Leadership at the moment, but I think it's worth considering the Deputy Leadership, particularly as our 8 MPs will be discussing this tomorrow night. My guess is that they just won't bother electing a deputy at this point before we have a leader. That would certainly be the sensible thing to do. However, I think that we should do something different. The Deputy Leader is, in fact, "The Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons." This post is only referred to in passing in Article 9 of the ...
In the week after the 2010 general election, Labour put on "almost 10,000" party members. With only half a week gone in 2015, the Liberal Democrats have put on over 8,000 members. Quite remarkable – and also a warning given that Labour's 2010 boost didn't lead to victory. If anything, it helped fuel a sense of complacency about the scale of what Labour needed to do. Thankfully there's no sign so far of the Liberal Democrats making the same mistake, but there's still much more to do. P.S. New to the party? You may find this poster about the party's ...
Mon 11th
18:11
I'm pretty sure blaming the Labour Party for last week's results is self defeating (no pun intended)
At the risk of annoying my fellow activists, can we please stop pointing fingers at the Labour Party over their targeting of the Lib Dems in recent years and blaming them for our performance in the General Election. It's time we looked at ourselves. Over the past 5 years we've had ample opportunity to spot that the electorate was not exactly enamoured with our performance. The loss of thousands and thousands of councilors up and down the country. The party of Europe being reduced to a solitary MEP. Deposit after deposit being lost in by elections. And now going from ...
Mon 11th
17:22
Opinion: The LibDems will bring consistency in an unstable British political landscape
A view from the Dutch Social Liberals (D66) Before I dive into my analysis of the present British political instability, my commiserations with all the LibDem activists (& dogs), cadres, councillors and parliamentary candidates who got caught in the pincer of Labour seeking revenge for their well-deserved ousting in 2010, and the Tories repeating the betrayal of their coalition partners of the Electoral System referendum. We in D66 got clobbered in the same way when we participated in our first government coalition (1973-'77; D66 was founded in 1966), but that was because we simultaneously attempted a realignment of Dutch progressive ...
Ealing Council made a decision at the end of last year to reduce the number of groups who were eligible for parking permits. This included the organisers of the Buddhist Vihara on The Avenue, many of whom do not live in the area. Sadly they were not consulted and their initial requests for information were ignored until local Southfield Liberal Democrat Councillors got involved. Me in the Vihara I was asked by one of Vihara's management to visit them and to be presented with a petition. I handed in the petition and since then they have collected more signatures - ...
It shouldn't feel so good to be a Lib Dem at the moment. The electorate has just given us an almighty kicking, almost every bit of good we did in the Coalition is about to be undone, and it's probably going to take at least a generation for us to recover (assuming we do so at all). Yet I do feel good. Not because I don't feel obliged to defend the complete and utter disaster that was our "reining in" of the Tories. Not because Nick Clegg, who in all honesty had achieved a level of toxicity that Tony Blair ...
Only four days after the cataclysm, already there's a rosy (garden?) hue about our ignominious performance - martyrs to the cause of the Coalition, country before self-interest, fallen heroes. History will be kinder to us than the electorate. If we are ever going to recover from our nemesis, this is a very dangerous mindset. Of course it was always going to be tough being in Coalition with the Conservatives, and a price was always going to be paid. But as Lord Steel said right after Nick Clegg's moving farewell speech, it wasn't the Coalition itself that destroyed trust in us ...
I made a conscious decision not to write about the general election campaign during the official campaign period. Actually with everyone knowing the date of the election it seemed as though the campaign ( by all parties ) began in about November or December, Like many people I did not expect us, the Liberal Democrats, to do as badly as we did. I expected us to halve our number of seats, and I thought that it was being pessimistic at that. So the Parliamentary Party can now concentrate on pushing our own values, supporting those issues that e believe in ...
Where can the Liberal Democrats start to rebuild? How can they reassert their identity as a party with a distinctive philosophy? How do they remind voters that they can make a real difference? The answers can in part be found in an unexpected place. It's worth remembering that there are two Houses in Parliament. And, treating cross-benchers as neutral, the House of Lords now has an opposition majority of something like 90-100. Every single piece of legislation that Mr Cameron wants to introduce will not only have to negotiate his own wafer-thin majority in the Commons, but this hurdle in ...
[IMG: phoenix] It's been a few days now and hopefully most of the hurt is over, though for some it'll take a long time. Jobs have been lost and decades of work finished overnight. The country lost some of its best MP's, and we lost some of the best of our own. I've heard a lot of people saying that we're dead. We're wiped out in politics. Insignificant. Clearly the 6000 people who have joined us didn't get that particular memo. And it's lit a fire in me personally and I'm sure many more people feel similarly invigorated. I realised ...
A lot of Lib Dem friends, from all wings of the party, have been enthusiastically recommending an article by long time Lib Dem activist and thinker David Boyle. It essentially contrasts what he believes the party represented at the point he joined, with how it presented itself in the election campaign just gone: I remember [...]
The count for Birkdale was much delayed and for a while we couldn't understand why until a super sleuth journalist got to the bottom of the story. Apparently a couple of UKIP guests to the count had arrived, and it being their first count didn't know the procedure. They proceeded to sit down at the Birkdale table and for some time helped to count the votes. Upon discovery we had to start all over again and had the equivalent of four recounts as they struggled to reconcile the votes. This count had the tightest 'security' I have ever encountered: letters, ...
The only runner so far Without wanting to sound too much like Middle England at Wimbledon - Come on Tim.
I was lucky enough to attend the 30th anniversary celebrations of the Gunnersbury Triangle Nature Reserve on Bollo Lane recently. Fellow local Southfield Councillor Andrew Steed was also present. Despite there being a large set of flats next door the wildlife reserve gives a great chance for kids to learn about nature in this hidden beauty off Bollo Lane. The two mayors cutting the special cake We were lucky to have the Mayors of both Hounslow and Ealing to cut the cake which was baked by a volunteer of the Triangle. I still regret the time when the flats which ...
Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Willie Rennie, and Welsh Liberal Democrats leader Kirsty Williams, have today endorsed Tim Farron to be the next leader of the federal Liberal Democrats. In a joint statement, they said: Thursday's results were devastating for the Liberal Democrats. Our pain is eased by the knowledge that our liberal gains in government will endure. Despite our loss our party remains optimistic, hopeful and confident about what we can achieve on behalf of Britain. However, we now have to earn the right to be listened to again. To move forward we need a fresh start. With that in ...
I am one of the many who quit the party in 2010, and for what I felt were good reasons. I could not conceive that my party – who stood for true liberalism, who I believed fought for the downtrodden and the exploited - would go into a coalition with a partner who was so against my core beliefs. I regret that now. I regret not staying and fighting what I saw as the inevitable descent. I regret not becoming one of the few party members speaking out against a coalition deal. I regret not attempting to convince our party ...
This is by way of a pre-rebuttal ... Here at LDV we have been overwhelmed by wonderful contributions from readers, and it is taking time for us to go through them all, so please bear with us. As the Monday editor I have been sifting through about thirty posts just today. Not surprisingly, many of them make very similar points, so I am trying to select ones that add something new to the debate. So please understand if we don't respond immediately to you, or are unable to post your contribution. We have a similar issue with comments. Every time ...
Mon 11th
13:00
Lib Dem meltdown: things I got right, things I got wrong & some thoughts about where next
[IMG: lib-dems-defeat-election] It could have been worse First, three ways in which the Lib Dems were actually quite lucky (yes, you read that right) on Thursday: 1. We were fewer than 25,000 votes away from being wiped out 24,968: that's the combined majorities of the 8 rump Lib Dem MPs. Scary, yes? 2. Caroline Lucas wasn't leader of the Greens A plausible, likeable, articulate Green party leader would have inflicted much greater damage on the Lib Dems, maybe even pushing the party into fifth place in the popular vote. 3. After boundary reforms, our notional number of seats is just ...
The countdown to the election screen in HQ has a new Purpose...
Since 10pm on election night I have been in utter despair. I joined the party five years ago at the age of 10 and I was told that the Lib Dems would never be in Government. I was overjoyed when Nick Clegg walked into Downing Street in 2010. By contrast, I was in tears when Nick resigned. Since then I have been thinking about how the party can learn from mistakes and move on. My starting point is what Nick said in his resignation speech, 'Fear and grievance have won, and liberalism has lost.' The first thing the party has ...
My reflections on General Election Results 2015 as the impact on loosing all 3 LibDem M.P's sinks in. My fears came true Evidence of what voting according to beliefs might deliver in St Ives and one of my hopes for 2015, (Cllr Sue James shares her hopes for 2015) to keep Andrew George as our M.P, has been dashed. In my view, the success of The Green Party in convincing their supporters to 'vote according to their beliefs' to deliver radical change, delivered a Conservative majority Government. The majority of voters in Cornwall and the Country did not vote Conservative ...
Nibley Lane (between Badminton Road and Westerleigh Road) is expected to close for cleaning between 9.30am and 2.30pm tomorrow, Tuesday 12th May.
The first phase of the Labour party's inquest on their election defeat has unearthed the view that their campaign concentrated too much on those at the bottom of the pile - the unemployed, social security recipients, those on zero-hours contracts - and neglected to appeal to "middle England" - the aspirational middle classes. In the words of Chuka Umunna, already the bookies' 2 to1 favourite in the race for the Labour leadership: "Our vision as a party must start with the aspirations of voters: to get on and up in the world, to see their children and grandchildren do better ...
As the dust settles from Thursday, one key question is what will David Cameron do with his unexpected Conservative majority? Here are a couple of predictions for the upcoming Parliament. Where the £30bn of proposed cuts will fall is largely unknown until the autumn. Health spending is protected though – which means bigger cuts elsewhere, such as £12bn to welfare. The only bright spot could be the linking of the personal allowance to the national minimum wage - raising it to around £13,000 pa. Constitutional reform will only happen on Europe, where a referendum vote will be rushed through as ...
Guidance from Kent Highways where vegetation from gardens is obstructing footpaths, lamp columns, reducing the width of the carriageway and affecting visibility splays. "Every year throughout the spring and summer KCC Highways & Transportation receive numerous complaints regarding trees, hedges and other vegetation, which overhang the highway from private property. This matter can pose a number of problems for people trying to use the footways, especially if they are trying to pass with buggies, wheel chairs and scooters. "It would be greatly appreciated if you could ensure that any trees and hedges that are bordering the Highway are maintained and ...
[IMG: David Howarth] On the Social Liberal Forum website, David Howarth (who was MP in Cambridge before Julian Huppert) has been telling us five things that we should never do again: We must never again accept coalition with the Tories We must never again promote coalitionism We must never again push centrism We must never again ignore evidence We must never again fail to have the will to change and three things we should do now: Clarify our values Find new ways of promoting our values Rebuild a core vote You can read his justifications in the article but we ...
Mon 11th
10:25
Reminder: Returning Officers who mess up will no longer be paid in full - but only if you complain
When I first covered the new powers to reduce Returning Officer pay I said it was something mostly to remember for after polling day. So now we're there, here's a reminder. A long-running theme of mine has been how Returning Officers used to get paid in full, regardless of how well or badly they did their job. Add to that the bizarre way Returning Officer pay was increased significantly just before the 2010 general election without anyone first working out how much it would cost and on the basis of an extremely implausible argument and it's been a classic little ...
Cameron should enjoy his 'sweet victory' - before it turns sour - Rawnsley spot on. again. (tags: ) We Must Not Repeat the Mistakes of Cleggmania (tags: ) I see the bansturbationists have started early this parliament. What the hell would banning polls achieve? (tags: ) On left-wingity, right-wingity, and the Lib Dems - oh so much this. (tags: ) Homophobia in sport (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
As I said tonight, our plan is working – and securing a better future for families across Britain. Let's keep going. #BattleForNumber10 — David Cameron (@David_Cameron) March 26, 2015 Throughout his campaign, David Cameron argued that the success of his government was evidence that voters should continue to support the Conservatives. Want more of the same, to continue on this path? Vote Conservatives, he said. And voting Conservative was exactly what English voters did, giving Cameron's party a completely unexpected majority. With fear of what Labour had done to the economy in the past, and the threat of the SNP ...
As I explained here a couple of days ago, last week's election count in Birkdale Ward was much delayed for one of the most bizarre reasons that any of us could ever recall. This was that a couple of UKIP guests to the count ended up "helping" to sort and count hundreds of Birkdale ballot papers. For those who want to know more, here's my (shortly to be re-elected) colleague Cllr Simon Shaw, explaining in the middle of Friday's count, what had gone wrong:
Following the sad death of our highly respected colleague Colin Hall, the process has to begin to elect a new councillor to take his place in Wallington South. Our Liberal Democrat candidate is Steve Cook. Steve has lived in Wallington for 35 years, ran a prestigious sound and post production business in the film industry [...]
Political GroupNumber of Councillors Labour 42 Liberal Democrat 16 Conservative 7 Formby Residents Action Group 1 Total 66
The latest phase of the Lib Dem improvements to Cheadle village start next week around the Cheadle Green area: flagging the pavements as has been done in the village centre replacing signs where needed new LED signs new road markings improvements to footway drainage new pedestrian refuge on Stockport Rod The letter below is being sent to local residents and businesses today.
"We're British people, with all their qualities and faults, with feelings and emotions, and not denationalised, impersonal polyglot cynics with the generous emotions of a fish, intimidated by fears that what we feel like saying will be 'bad propaganda'." Any guesses? It was the morning directive written by the director of the BBC European Service, Noel Newsome, on the news of the fall of Singapore in 1942. It isn't quite how we would express ourselves now, but I thought of it on Friday after the news of the general election results. Newsome led a staff of 500, broadcasting in more ...
Election Candidate Party Votes % Nigel Ashton Liberal Democrats 2065 32% Elected Georgia Pactor Conservative Party 1733 26% Not elected Patricia Elaine Shanks United Kingdom Independence Party 1375 21% Not elected Debbie Bannon The Labour Party 1141 17% Not elected Rick Furness The Green Party 237 4% Not elected
As well as my own post on this matter, lots of other people have written long and/or interesting posts on this, not least on Lib Dem Voice. As much for myself as for you, gentle reader, I'm going to collect the links to my favourite ones here.Nick Barlow is a proper political scientist, and you can tell this reading his article which is logically structured and argued, and contains a lot of clear and understandable points, most of which I thoroughly agree with. Anders Hanson, former chair of the Yorkshire and Humber regional Liberal Democrats, has a very long, thoughtful, ...
I woke up this morning to the news that David Cameron has reappointed Iain Duncan Smith to the job of Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. It is not good news. Whatever people may think about the last Government's record on benefits (and it wasn't always pretty) it could have been a lot worse. There were many cuts that the Liberal Democrats vetoed. Now it seems that the Tories have a free hand. The Independent sets out 11 reasons why the poor should be worried. These include lowering the benefits cap further, scrapping housing benefit for those under the ...
I've already had journalists ring me up to ask when was the last time Liberals did so badly. The answer is 1970, when the Liberal Party won six seats on the back of 2.1 million votes, 7.5 per cent of those who voted. Last week's result was similar: eight seats from 2.4 million votes, 7.9 per cent of those who voted. There are other parallels. The opinion polls in 1970 had pointed consistently to a victory for Harold Wilson's outgoing Labour government; Ted Heath's win for the Conservatives came as a considerable surprise. On the other hand, then the polls ...
There are people both inside and outside of the Liberal Democrats for whom the answer to the above question is obvious. Of course it was, you fool. Were you watching last Thursday? However, I disagree. I don't think it was a mistake for the Lib Dems to have gone into coalition with the Tories and I'll spend the rest of this article explaining why that is. If you go back to the start of the 2010 election short campaign, the Lib Dems were polling in the late teens. Then came the first TV debate after which they started pulling in ...
So, apparently, there are well over seven thousand of you guys now. Welcome! In order to help you acclimatise to the culture of the party there's a couple of things you ought to be reading.The back of your membership card* is the first and most important thing for you to read as a new Lib Dem. The front will have some sort of pretty picture on it, and your name, and your membership number. The back will say on it:The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the ...
I am pleased to advise of upgrading to several roads, unadopted and adopted pavements in the West End by the City Council planned for the 2015/16 financial year as follows - Roads :Adopted pavements :Unadopted pavements :A map of the sites and planned work mentioned above can be downloaded here.
[IMG: Stability, unity, decency photo op - Lib Dems 2015 general election] [IMG: Labour leader Ed Miliband unveils Labour's pledges carved into a stone plinth in Hastings during General Election campaigning. Photo credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire] Ones to file alongside Enoch Powell on a pogo stick for improbable yet real photos.
The Liverpool has the story – see link above I have also blogged about this Station previously – see links below to my blog and Flickr sites:- [IMG: 16229657061_a91d1f5cbb_z] Click on the photo to enlarge it
Mon 11th
07:55
Maghull – It's a Liberal, Social Democrat & Lib Dem free zone for the first time since 198...
The first Liberal councillor to be elected in Maghull in modern times was my dear old friend Andrew Beattie in 1983. Andrew sadly passed away in 1999. [IMG: rsz_maghull_town_council_logo] The photo montage above is an excellent pictorial representation of the Maghull logo produced by Lydiate photographer Keith Page. Following after every tide thereafter another Liberal or Social Democrat councillor was elected in the Town until it became a Tory free zone, with every Town and Borough Councillor being a Liberal Democrat. Yes it is now hard to imagine now but back in the early 1980's Maghull was a solid Conservative ...
Even while the Lib Dem £100 million investment to properly re-lay all the bad roads and pavements across Stockport is underway, we need to keep on top of the potholes. The Lib Dem team have spotted and reported quite a few potholes to the Council recently which have been repaired or should be fixed shortly, including: at Kingsway junction (Gatley side) on A34 by junction with Broadway Pendlebury Road – outside number 36 South Park Road – outside numbers 8, 14 and 16 Frances Street – outside number 7 Oakfield Avenue – outside number 23 Stockport Road – opposite entrance ...
Labour didn't lose the election because of Scotland by James Bloodworth (Left Foot Forward) it would be a mistake to claim the election was lost in Scotland. Labour has performed disastrously right across the UK due to a lacklustre campaign that was big on financial bean counting but devoid of vision. Miliband ditched New Labour [...]
Blog Categories: Political Comment Vote: 0 votes + Vote up! - Vote down! Wow, three posts in three days. My disdain for the political process is clearly not enough for me to ignore all its ramifications! Of course you decide how much of this, like so many post mortem/what next posts, to give any weight to. The best I can say is that I have never left the party. In spite of close shaves. I was a conference delegate in 2010 and didn't actually vote for the coalition, but that's not to say "yah, boo, sucks" just by way of ...
