Good news from different parts of the country – three very strong by-election gains tonight so far. One in Cornwall, from UKIP, and another with a huge swing from the Tories in Norfolk, and the third from Independent in Wiltshire. And how nice it is to have to edit the post to add in one more – also in Cornwall where we won from Independent by a LONG way. Figures to follow. And here they are: St Teath & St Breward result: LDEM: 44.8% (+13.0) IND: 17.5% (+17.5) CON: 14.6% (-2.1) IND: 13.1% (+13.1) IND: 5.3% (+5.3) LAB: 4.8% (+4.8) ...
A trio of Lib Dem by-election gains amongst the 10 held this week: Liberal Democrat GAIN Astley (North Norfolk) from Conservative. — Britain Elects (@britainelects) July 14, 2016
So no book reviews for a couple of days.
... goes to Liverpool supporting DJ and sports pundit Colin Murray who refuses to work for the Sun's owner Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch's News Corp has just bought Talk Sport.
Labour seat. Cause: Resignation. LD Prospective candidate: Bradley Hillier-Smith Contact for helpers: Bradley Hillier-Smith 07832 972270
UPDATED DETAILS. Labour seat. Cause: Death. LD candidate- Angharad Griffiths. To help, please contact Brendan Stubbs (07473 845763, brendan_the@yahoo.co.uk).
Plaid Cymru seat. Cause: Resignation. No LD candidate.
Stapleford Alliance seat. Cause: Disqualification. LD candidate- Tim Hallam. To help, please contact Tim Hallam (07590 407336, tim@timhallam.uk) or Matthew Holden (07545 910579, matthew_holden@live.co.uk)
UPDATED DETAILS. Independent seat. Cause: Resignation. No LD candidate.
UPDATED DETAILS. Labour seat. Cause: Death. No LD candidate.
UPDATED DETAILS. Independent seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate- Dominic Fairman. To help, please contact Nik Alatortsev (01566 772734, contact@northcornwalllibdems.co.uk) or John Lamb (07435 975875, johnslamb@hotmail.com)
UPDATED DETAILS. Labour seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate- James Rumsby.
UPDATED DETAILS. UKIP seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate- Paul Summers.
UPDATED DETAILS. Independent seat. Cause: Death. LD candidate- Chris Auckland.
Conservative seat. Cause: Resignation. LD candidate- Pierre Butikofer. To help, please contact Ed Maxfield (ed.maxfield@norfolklibdems.org.uk).
TWO SEATS. Candidates TBC.
Opened in 1797, Saddington tunnel is on the Leicester line of the Grand Union Canal. It is reputed to be haunted by Anna, a headless female ghost. As at Husbands Bosworth, you can still follow the path that the horses that drew the narrow boats used to take over the hill.
Lib Dem MP Tom Brake suggests a 'zipwire network' for Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
Embed from Getty Images A major Whitehall reorganisation. Accomplished plotters like George Osborne and Michael Gove sent to the backbenches. Potential disasters like Boris Johnson and Liam Fox brought in. Others - Andrea Leadsom, Priti Patel - given cabinet positions they will hate. You cannot accuse Theresa May of lacking ambition, with Brexit on the books and a likely economic downturn on the way, it all sounds too much for a prime minister with a majority of only 12. The logic of that, I suppose, is that we should expect a general election in the autumn or the spring of ...
I mentioned this not so long ago and here's a link to that previous posting:- Things are moving on and last Tuesday night Lydiate Parish Council resolved to support a report, brought to it by Cllr. Edie Pope – a Trustee of the Gores Charity, for management of the charity moving to Community Foundations for Lancashire and Merseyside. This organisation manages may other small local charities across the region and is a registered charity in its own right. It is regulated by the Charity Commission. The Parish Council did request however that oversight be retained by nominated Lydiate people. ...
The Shropshire Star reports that Hope Church of England Primary School and St Mary's Church of England Primary School in Westbury are set to close. Under the plans, pupils will be transferred to an amalgamated site at Worthen Church of England Primary School. Heather Kidd, the excellent Liberal Democrat councillor for the area, sees not alternative because young families cannot afford to move to the area. But it is hard not to gasp as the casuistry of the Conservative cabinet member for education on Shropshire Council: "It is very important to understand that this is not a decision to close ...
Phil Reilly, Nick Clegg's former head of government comms and his chief speechwriter during the coalition government, has been appointed director of comms for the Lib Dems.
There is a smell of defeatism in the air, a widespread view that the people have spoken and that we must respect them and accept their verdict. What nonsense! There is nothing sacred about a referendum vote, any more than the result of a General Election. We Lib Dems cannot accept Brexit because it would be a calamity that would undo everything we have always fought for. Furthermore reversing Brexit is not a hopeless cause. When the time is right, there is every justification for a new referendum. A referendum must offer a clear choice, which the last did not. ...
A guest post from Lauren Keith on the so called Northern Power House The Northern Powerhouse is fast becoming a political cliché. The 8 Lib Dem MP's (led by Southport's own MP John Pugh) have recently published a report claiming that the initiative is in danger of becoming little more than smoke and mirrors. It's about time that there was a thorough analysis of what the Northern Powerhouse actually means and what it has really achieved. The report argues that rather than being a comprehensive and new plan bringing additional funding to the North it is in fact just semantics. ...
As Theresa May forms her new government, she has certainly sprung a few surprises. The appointments of Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary, David Davis as the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU and Liam Fox as International Trade Minister have placed a large part of the future interaction between the UK and the EU in the hands of the Brexit campaigners. Some regard this as a subtle plan to ensure that the Leave campaign takes responsibility for what they have wrought. To be honest I think the jury is still out. The utter chaos of the last few days ...
Finally the report from The Committee of Climate Change on fracking has been released and produced some interesting results, raising concerns of the effect of fracking on the UKs climate change targets. Shale gas production of the UK is not going to be the answer to our energy needs when it comes to meeting our climate change targets. It is now obvious the UK has missed the boat on this 'payday' unless development is done on a huge scale, industrializing vast areas of rural England. The recommended regulations in the report to facilitate the size of expansion needed will never ...
A familiar face heads back to Lib Dem HQ. Phil Reilly, the man who wrote Nick Clegg's brilliant resignation speech which inspired 20,000 people to join the party, has been appointed interim Head of Communications following the departure of James Holt to pastures new. Phil has been working for Nick since then – including helping Nick with his new book which is coming out in September. Since the election, he's shared some funny stories on his blog, Blimey O'Reilly. The most recent involves his old colleague Mr Holt, who had a bit of a brainwave at the Eastleigh by-election to ...
Thu 14th
13:33
BBC poll suggests by 2:1 voters want PM May to prioritise single market over restricting free moveme...
Embed from Getty Images Mark Easton presented some interesting "Brexit expectations" polling by ComRes for the BBC last night on the Ten O'clock News. Here are a couple of highlights: Most Britons think that maintaining access to the single market should be the priority for the Government when negotiating the UK's withdrawal from the EU (66%), while just a third say this of restricting freedom of movement (31%). Half of Britons (52%) say they think that the UK will stay in the single market with some limits on freedom of movement. On that second point, even 54% of Leave voters ...
Councillor Peter Black, former AM for South Wales West, has been named by Mark Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats in his team of spokespeople. Peter will speak on Finance and Local Government, Heritage and Housing. Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats congratulate Peter on his appointment.
Who living today will forget the appalling EU Referendum campaign with all its lies, exaggerations and misleading information. And who will ever forget the leadership crisis it precipitated in the Tory, Labour, Green and UKIP Parties. We got the world's attention alright and then made utter fools of ourselves and our democratic and tolerant values right in front of it. We could not have damaged the UK's reputation any more if we had sent Cameron to the sea to hold it back or even appointed Boris to be say Foreign Secretary. We have sadly become the fool of the western ...
Three weeks after the EU referendum, our panel of research and university leaders reflects on ways forward for science and society Related: There is turmoil ahead, but UK scientists can weather the post-Brexit storm Continue reading...
Thu 14th
11:58Brexit minister (10th July): PM has promised to put border controls ahead of economy in negotiations
Embed from Getty Images The new Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, David Davis, has already helpfully set out his Brexit negotiating positions in a speech to the Institute of Chartered Engineers in March (carried in full on his website). He has also more recently written a detailed article on the subject on Conservative Home. David Davis seems to be in reasonable agreement with his new boss on triggering Article 50. Theresa May said at the launch of her leadership bid: And there should be no decision to invoke Article 50 until the British negotiating strategy is agreed ...
The Federal Policy Committee is traditionally very busy in the immediate run-up to the summer holiday. That is because of conference deadlines and the need to get everything concluded before August when a lot of people are away. The most recent meeting of the committee, which came hot on the heels of the last one, was on 13th July 2016. It also happened to be the day that Labour plunged further into disarray following the revelation that Jeremy Corbyn will appear on the ballot paper in their leadership election and, of course, the country had a new Prime Minister foisted ...
Thu 14th
09:28
David Cameron's last PMQs felt sad - it is the end of an era the Left should consider carefully
I was never the biggest fan of David Cameron's. I didn't dislike him either – I just felt he prized party unity over the hard yards his modernisation project needed if he was to have done it in real earnest. I always thought the Coalition provided him with the opportunity to redefine the Tories as the party of the centre for the foreseeable future, one he was too squeamish to take up. As it turns out, Labour and Jeremy Corbyn have done the job for the Tories anyhow. The Conservatives would have to travel very far to the right to ...
[IMG: Margaret Sharp] It does seem that the news over the past fortnight or so has been dominated by people saying goodbye to spend more time with their families or whatever. In some cases, they will be more missed than in others, and, on this occasion, it is time to mark the retirement from the House of Lords of our longtime spokesperson on Universities, Baroness (Margaret) Sharp of Guildford, who has decided to take up the option to retire at the still relatively spritely age of 77. Margaret is another of those whose work over many years led to a ...
Those Brexiteers persist in their assertion that all the money that goes to the EU is ours and that we need not worry because we will get it all back and more to secure key infrastructure projects, investment in jobs and training and agricultural subsidies, had a reality check yesterday. As the Western Mail reports, UK Government has now refused to pledge that the same level of funding that Wales receives from the EU today will be provided post-Brexit: Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns came under pressure in the House of Commons to guarantee that Wales will not lose any of ...
From the City Council : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 : SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of SGN mains repair works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Park Place (between Old Hawkhill and Smalls Lane), Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Monday 18 July 2016 for 5 working days. Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. Alternative routes for vehicles are available via Smalls Lane / Smalls Wynd / Old Hawkhill. For further information contact 433168. Executive Director of ...
A new planning application has been received in Holyrood Ward as below: Reference 60291 Alternative Reference PP-05266651 Application Received Fri 24 Jun 2016 Application Validated Fri 24 Jun 2016 Address 6 Sandgate Road, Whitefield, Manchester, M45 6WG Proposal First floor rear extension Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require further information or help with this. The details will be on the Council's website here. Tim
Assembly Member expenses are complex and it is right that an independent remuneration board is in place to oversee them and to ensure that everything is above board. Wales in fact led the way in taking responsibility for their pay and expenses away from Assembly Members, but that does not mean that the remuneration board always gets it right. The £10,000 a year pay rise for AMs they brought in from May this year clearly misjudged the public mood and did nothing to assist public trust in politicians. Now they are on the verge of another public relations boob with ...
A host of "authorities," some of them died in the wool democrats, are arguing that parliament should ignore the referendum result and refuse to trigger Article 50. One such is my friend Michael Meadocroft, liberal and Liberal to his fingertips, who calls upon what's left of the Liberal Democrats in parliament to do just this. Tim [Farron] has taken the right decision - to campaign for UK in Europe at a forthcoming general election - but it will be nugatory if parliament has already agreed to invoke Article 50. I am surprised and highly disappointed that the parliamentary party - ...
What Theresa May really thinks - trawl of speeches over 20 years *Very* interesting. (tags: ukpolitics ) 8 Reasons Why Pokemon GO Is the Greatest Game Ever Haven't tried it yet. Am sure I will! (tags: games ) From Thatcher's private secretary to yogi Fascinating. I knew him in the Balkans! (tags: religion Balkans )
