My eve of poll email to voters was published this afternoon. It reiterates my key points about being the local, experienced and energetic candidate. There's also a bit about my key policies and about the Lib Dems being the only serious challenger to Labour here. You can see my message on this link.
Tim Farron talks about his childhood, his first proper job and why he got stuck into politics.
On Monday this week, just days before general election polling day, the government was forced to table a new set of rules for the general election after numerous errors in a key statutory instrument drawn up by the Cabinet Office came to light. Both the original faulty and sudden replacement statutory instruments cover the costs Returning Officers can claim from central government for the running of the election in their constituencies. The Parliamentary Elections (Returning Officers' Charges) (No. 2) Order 2017 replaces the previous legal order from 4 May because of problems with the 'maximum recoverable amount' (MRA) which the ...
BBC Radio Shropshire has just reported the following. "The trust which runs Shropshire's main hospitals is proposing to shut its midwife-led maternity units around the county and replace them with a system of on-call midwives who will come out if needed. The Shrewsbury and Hospital NHS Trust insists it is not pre-empting the outcome of a review into the future of the services. But it says wants to avoid the recent situation where the units have been closed at short-notice because of sickness." I fear this is the end for the three rural maternity units in Ludlow, Bridgnorth and Oswestry. ...
Is it insanity, stupidity or senility that has led me to volunteer to deliver so many pigging Good Mornings tomorrow? Eight bundles! Tim Farron says he'll be up at 5am, so I will be up at 5am. I am not going to be outdone by Tim Farron. But I have had to carefully choose the sequence of the roads I will do. One has to carefully judge the extent to which residents in certain roads will tolerate some numpty stumbling around at 5am delivering "Good Morning" leaflets. (By the way, if you knock over some milk bottles, take a tip ...
It's time to decide how to vote – and this is why that vote should be for the Liberal Democrats. I'm not a prescriptive sort of person – when the list below says "Vote Liberal Democrat If", I certainly don't mean to imply that people who vote a different way don't care about those things [...]
And so we come to the end. Seven weeks of electioneering enter their last few hours, and now we just have to wait for the people to go and vote (excluding all those who've done it by post already, of course). Several forests worth of leaflets have been delivered, millions of doors have been knocked (and some of them have even been opened), and thousands of carefully micro-targeted Facebook ads have been blindly scrolled past as people look for amusing things involving cats. And what have we learned at the end of it all? On Brexit, the subject that the ...
Second paragraph of third chapter of The Case for Impeachment, by Allan J. Lichtman:As a private citizen, Donald Trump has escaped serious retribution for his crimes and transgressions. He's settled civil lawsuits charging him with breaking racketeering and civil rights laws, paid fines that he could well afford, protracted litigation, and concealed lawbreaking for many years. There are two avenues of impeachment opened by Trump's practice of disregarding the law. First, although unlikely, the House of Representatives could vote articles of impeachment and the Senate could convict Trump for illegal acts that occurred prior to assuming office. The Constitution specifies ...
[IMG: Folkestone Charivari Festival 2017 Poster] Charivari Day comes of age this year, as this is the 21st carnival, and will take place on Saturday 8th July. To celebrate the Charivari organisers Strange Cargo are partnering with the 2017 Folkestone Triennial and all the costumes in the parade will be inspired by the Triennial theme double edge. So as the parade makes its noisy way through Folkestone, pay careful attention to the hundreds of colourful costumes, because amidst the miles of floating ribbon and the sea of glitter, there are glimpses of what to look out for when the Triennial ...
Wed 7th
16:35
Photo feature: Ballot box goes off to Rathlin Island, Northern Ireland, a day early due to weather c...
Some great photos from Getty Images (click on the arrows to see the slide show) which give a great view of the workings of democracy on "these islands" (as they say). Mandy Hassan, an assistant area electoral officer for Antrim and mid Ulster, accompanies the ballot box on the ferry destined for Rathlin Island, Northern Ireland. There are 99 voters on the island and they usually have a 80% turnout. Embed from Getty Images * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist. He is a councillor and one of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
Thanks to York Membery for pointing us in the direction of the First News election poll. The newspaper aimed at children polled its readers and found that the Liberal Democrats are on 20%, which compares very well with our current poll ratings of rather less than that. The Tories were only able to muster 27%, while Labour were ahead with 32%. The Greens took 15%. This shows that there is definitely hope for the future. It's interesting to see that so many young children have a good impression of us, especially as we have had far from our fair share ...
This party has more than its fair share of grammar nerds. I have to say that a misplaced apostrophe brings me out in hives. For others, the misuse of punctuation is no laughing matter. Many of us will therefore be pleased to see this critique of the manifestos for grammar and literacy. We do quite well. It is a funny piece and some of the award titles are inspired. My particular favourite is The "Oh S**t, We Double-Booked The Brewery P**s-Up" Award for Complete And Utter Grammatical Incompetence This is won by the Labour Party. We, however, scoop the ultimate ...
Last night I was pulling together various legal reference works into one folder ready for helping to give advice on polling day. Which reminded me of my favourite polling day election law query, featuring a polling station, a door and a gust of wind. One of the polling stations being used for the local elections that year was in a portacabin. A sudden huge gust of wind had slammed the door shut. So tightly, in fact, that the polling station staff couldn't open the door again. They were trapped inside, voters stuck outside. What do you do when a polling ...
Teresa May is an appalling politician in my view. She comes across as harsh and uncaring. Her attack on pensioners is breathtaking via her Dementia Tax. And on the very Brexit issue she claimed to have called the election on she has clarified nothing whilst looking just like the very last person you would want to be negotiating with the EU for us. Jeremy Corbyn is an old fashioned socialist from the 1970's with a hankering for nationalisation. However, on the issue of poverty he is far from being robust. My view is that despite what looks like a left ...
It was 24th April when I made my first (and, 'til now, only) prediction of this campaign. I forecast a Tory landslide, a Labour drubbing and a very small Lib Dem recovery. Six weeks' later, I stick by one-and-a-half of these expectations. I didn't expect the Conservative campaign to be this poor (by which I mean the 'air-war' – I suspect they've done very well in the targeted 'ground-war'). And I didn't expect the Labour campaign to be this successful, somehow uniting the two squabbling 'because of' and 'in spite of' Corbyn wings of the party. As a result, the ...
After 50 days, voters go to the polls tomorrow. Liberal Democrat activists across the country will be doing what they can to get voters to the polls. People will be out on the street from 5am until the polls close at 10. It's a gruelling experience, especially if you then have to go to the count. That means more than 24 hours on the go. Tomorrow is the day that determines how many MPs we will have on Friday. We know that in our key seats, we are in with a real shout to significantly increase our MPs. That will ...
I wondered how long it would take for Theresa May to roll back on her always flimsy commitments to human rights. They didn't even make it till polling day. She said last night that she's prepared to rescind human rights legislation as part of a counter terrorism review. Nick Clegg criticised this approach on the Today programme, saying that there was no evidence that human rights laws had anything to do with the attacks. Listen here. We know that Theresa May has made spurious claims in the past – most notably about the cat case which was pretty quickly proven ...
The Lib Dem team for Liverpool say, "Thank You" to the people of Liverpool for the wonderful and friendly reception we have received during the 2017 Geberal Election I am writing and posting this on behalf of all the Lib ... Continue reading →
Twitter Instagram photo: Mum and Pippin. It's almost like doggy snuggles are a thing the entire family likes... [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Watching the UK election from afar has been a sad and chastening experience. The fact is that neither the Prime Minister nor the Leader of HM Opposition are fit for office. The partisan media scream for their particular political brand but have utterly failed to dissect the issues that threaten to wrench the UK into crisis and possible collapse. Biased, incoherent and feral, the British press has systematically undermined democratic debate and even basic rules of decency. Frankly the drivel that most of the print media serve up is a slop of insults to the intelligence and out-and-out depravity that ...
Ah yes, Liberal International. Seventy years of bringing together liberals from around the world, but for what? I had reached Andorra, and was thus able to consider the question in situ, so to speak. And it is an interesting question. Our membership of the ALDE Party has some practical value, especially whilst we remain in the European Union, in terms of allowing input into policy making, and the pooling of knowledge and experience within political models similar to our own. On the other hand, the tangible benefits of being able to interact with liberals from West Africa, or of policy ...
On Saturday night and throughout Sunday, NHS staff in London worked flat out in the aftermath of yet another awful terrorist attack. Their work is as admirable as it is professional. Yet moral in the NHS is pitifully low and resources are stretched to breaking point. In rural counties like Shropshire, it is proving near impossible to recruit staff while the uncertainty about reorganisation of the service under Future Fit and the Sustainability and Transformation Plan continues. Before last weekend's attack, Eric Smith on Radio Shropshire asked the Ludlow candidates for their views on the NHS during two live hustings ...
Here we are – at the end of what I've found to be a depressing and disheartening general election campaign. Part of this has been watching the Left suddenly psyche themselves up about the prospect of taking power, all off the back of opinion polls that only a few weeks back they were deriding as nonsense. I remain convinced that we are heading for a large Tory majority, with Labour putting in a result that is the worst of all possible results: a slight increase in overall vote share which allows Corbyn a convenient excuse to hang on as leader ...
The New Statesman has a profile of the East Dunbartonshire seat where Jo Swinson is hoping to regain the seat she lost to the SNP in 2015. It's clear that she is held in great affection by the voters: The Liberal Democrat candidate is happy to play on her personal connection to the constituency where she was raised. This election has come so soon after the last one, at which Swinson lost the seat to the SNP, that she can run on her record. She had a reputation as a hard-working local representative, and voters seem to have retained a ...
The consensus amongst the opposition parties today appears to be that Theresa May's threat to rip up human rights laws to fight terror is a cynical attempt to revive her failing election campaign. As the Independent reports, both Labour and the Liberal Democrats insisted there was no evidence that human rights legislation had allowed the Manchester and London attacks to take place, or prevented action against terrorists: Instead, Keir Starmer, Labour's Brexit spokesman, accused Ms May of a "diversion" from criticism of huge police cuts - while Nick Clegg said she was trying to revive her "lacklustre, flagging election campaign". ...
Wed 7th
08:55Willie Rennie's final rallying call: Lib Dem MPs will put Scotland at heart of UK & UK at heart ...
Willie Rennie holds his last campaign rally in North East Fife where he hopes Elizabeth Riches will take the seat for the Scottish Liberal Democrats. He will say In place like East Dunbartonshire, Edinburgh West, North East Fife, the North East, Argyll and the Highlands people have a chance to have a MP that will stand strongly against independence and put the local community first. In this election we have set out a clear and positive message that Scotland is best served when it is at the heart of the UK and the UK is at the heart of Europe. ...
Volunteers' Week 2017 - drop in event at Blackness Library later today :
I always enjoy receiving an occasional email from my former MP Zac Goldsmith. He has managed to maintain seamless email communication through various guises - Cameroon Liberal Tory, May loyalist Tory, Independent airport campaigner and finally 'Strong and Stable' Brexit Tory - without appearing to trouble those pesky data protection rules at any time. (Or indeed his own sense of self awareness). But regardless of this (no doubt Brussels inspired) pettyfogging data protection bureaucracy - I was intrigued to read his claim that: "Here in Canbury, I have worked hard for local residents over the past six years... I campaigned ...
Nick Clegg today on Brexit and the General Election: "There has been a pact of silence on Brexit between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn. It is one of the most cynical acts of political collusion between the two larger parties in a generation. "Strip away the contrast in tone and the differences in language and [...]
Wed 7th
00:01Tim Farron's final rally speech: Lib Dems will stop a bad Brexit deal, public service cuts and the D...
Tim Farron ends his tour of target seats in Oxford on Wednesday night. This is part of his final pitch for votes at a rally there: This election is only taking place because Theresa May is taking you for granted. She wants a blank cheque to do as she pleases and expects you to just hand it to her, even if what she proposes to do is as awful as the dementia tax, no questions asked. And as if to prove the point she has spent every day since she called the election trying to avoid answering any questions. The ...
