You begin to sense the uncertainty emanating from Whitehall, but there's plenty going on elsewhere in the governance jungle... Brexit plans could lead to European Windrush scandal Mental Health Review must lead to more investment Universal Credit Causing Housing Crisis - Welsh Lib Dems Brexit plans could lead to European Windrush scandal Responding to the Department for Exiting the EU's policy paper on Citizens' Rights, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Home Affairs Ed Davey said: The Government has finally admitted that free movement of labour won't end this March. The fact they tried to sneak this out shows yet again that ...
Boris Johnson, the man who perfects an act straight out of The Thick of It, has been caught out repeatedly breaking the rules over £50,000 he's received whilst being an MP. He has been ordered to apologise to Parliament for repeatedly breaking the rules for MPs on declaring their earnings. He didn't break the rules over just the one payment. Or two. Or three. Or four. Or five. Or six. Or seven. Or eight. Rather, he broke the rules over a full nine payments – with the independent investigation finding that the repeated infractions were not due to "inadvertent error". ...
When Willie Rennie and Alex Cole-Hamilton get together in a car, fun and mayhem usually result. Their General Election stunt in a De Lorean was just such an example. Today they were both at the Scottish Parliament when double Formula One World Champion Mika Häkkinen, showed up with a racing car to launch a festive campaign to encourage Scots to never drink and drive known as #JointhePact. The initiative encourages people to make a commitment never to get behind the wheel if they've had a drink. In the 10 years it has been running, 14 million people have apparently signed ...
The National Forest covers 200 square miles of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire. It contains both ancient woodland and new planting, much of it on former mining and industrial land. Put at its most romantic, it is an attempt to join the ancient forests of Charnwood and Needwood. This charming little film shows the use a local of school is making of the forest for education - campfires, climbing trees and all.
Thu 6th
20:23
Councillor accidentally sends photo of topless woman to mothers' WhatsApp group during meeting
The Independent, with the help of Sheffield Labour's Mohammad Maroof, wins our Headline of the Day Award.
If Stephen Lloyd were determined to back Theresa May because he believed in Brexit, I would not be pleased, but I would understand him. But he is determined to do so even though he believes Brexit is against the national interest. That is because, at the last election, he promised voters in Eastbourne that he would support the result of the referendum and not campaign for a second one. I presume he did this because he thought it was the only way he would get elected. That is not an approach to politics I admire, but it is his third ...
Every year since 2005, I have posted a list of the cities where I have spent a night away from home in that calendar year. (In each of the last three years, I then found myself doing one more trip to a new place later in December. Not expecting that this year, but then I didn't in 2015, 2016 or 2017 either.) Previous years: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017. This year's list is as follows (an asterisk marks places where I spent more than one non-consecutive night): *Sofia, Bulgaria Strasbourg, France *London, ...
Photo from @vincecable on Twitter Vince Cable was in Leicestershire today and did a lunchtime meeting in Market Harborough with representatives from various community groups. I usually work from home on Thursdays, so I was able to drop in for some of it. You can see Vince in the photograph above with Cllr Phil Knowles (leader of the Lib Dem Group on Harborough district) and Zuffar Haq, who was our parliamentary candidate at the last three general elections. Vince came over well in the session - there was something of the kindly professor about him. He said he thinks there ...
As an MP, do I have to vote for any Brexit that is put in front of me in parliament? My duty in our representative democracy is to listen to the people and respect their views. It is also to use my own informed judgement of what is the best for my constituents and the country as a whole. So to the question, my answer is no. If any Brexit brought to parliament is, in my judgement bad for my constituents and my country, I should not vote for it. The Prime Minister is using a different argument. She says ...
Following news of his plan to vote for Theresa May's Brexit deal, Lib Dem MP Stephen Lloyd has decided to resign the party's whip in the House of Commons. He is remaining a member of the party. Here are his exchange of letters with the party's Chief Whip, Alistair Carmichael. Stephen-Lloyd-Alistair-Carmichael-exchange-of-letters
According to BBC South East's Helen Catt. BREAKING: #Eastbourne MP @StephenLloydEBN has resigned the #LibDem whip due to "irreconcilable differences" between his pledge to honour the #Brexit vote and his party's position — Helen Catt (@BBCHelenCatt) December 6, 2018 It's because of what he called "irreconcilable differences" between what he sees as his obligations to his Eastbourne constituents and the party's anti Brexit position. Stephen promised his constituents, a majority of whom voted to leave that he wouldn't block Brexit. Perhaps the party's mistake was allowing him to stand on that basis in 2017. It's sad but probably inevitable and ...
Here is Roger Roberts' speech to the House of Lords on the Brexit deal. His theme was what sort of life are we setting up for future generations? Leave and Brexit are about my seven grandchildren, all your Lordships' grandchildren and all the children in our country. Will it be better for them to have fewer benefits than we have had, or should we think first of them when we vote on this deal? Just after the Second World War, the community of Llangollen in north Wales established the international musical festival, which has brought people from many countries together. ...
Wed, 12:56: Brexit: From revelation to re-accession https://t.co/u9TCXfmB73 @AndrewDuffEU argues that Remainers should support... https://t.co/YySzIOotQj Wed, 15:31: EU Court declares aviation deal invalid in Western Sahara - https://t.co/5pSCgu1TQ9 https://t.co/P4bHSMShYr via @wsrw Wed, 16:05: RT @byhayley: I do have a hammer and yet I have no desire to hammer in the morning. Or in the evening. And I don't even want to hammer at h... Wed, 16:42: Thread. https://t.co/4TgYkdD0jS Wed, 17:11: Why lobbying in Brussels is not always an obscure activity https://t.co/ubpcFWP6qb "a lobby group's resources and t... https://t.co/nuXWjru3JP Wed, 18:51: Fools, by Pat Cadigan https://t.co/IiauKUX5HY Thu, 10:45: Well worth reading ...
Every year, the Patchwork Foundation holds its MPs of the Year awards ceremony. The Patchwork Foundation believes in promoting and highlighting best practice. Each year MPs across the country work closely with diverse communities, with many MPs delivering excellent representation and coverage to otherwise underrepresented segments of society. The Patchwork Foundation rewards those winning MPs - nominated by members of the public or grassroots community organisations and selected by an independent panel of judges - by acknowledging them as the MPs of the Year. Three Lib Dems, Layla Moran, Christine Jardine and Ed Davey, received awards. The wonderful @LaylaMoran receiving ...
I'm indebted to Roy Connell for bringing my attention to this article on the Mail Online* website – see link below I have covered this matter quite a number of times on this blog site as the rollout of smart meters has been little more than a farce from day one. There's nothing particularly new in the Mail story to those of us who have been tracking this saga but it does highlight the utter mess that has potentially been created by industry standard smart meters not being installed from the start of the programme. And that's putting to ...
The Times reports that Theresa May has pledged to review government's contracts with charities after an investigation found that dozens of the organisations had been banned from criticising ministers, an issue I covered a few months ago. The paper says that the Prime Minister has written to charities to say that officials were looking at how their contracts could be rewritten so that there was no doubt that they could speak out against policies: The Times found that 40 charities and more than 300 companies with government contracts worth a total of £25 billion had been gagged. Charities working with ...
In the Commons chamber this week, Home Secretary Sajid Javid was asked about lifting the ban on asylum seekers working in the UK. He said "We currently have no plans to change that arrangement but it is one of the areas that I would like to review."Responding to these comments, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Ed Davey said: "I'm pleased to hear that the Home Secretary is open to lifting the ban, but asylum seekers don't need a review. They need action now. "Along with employers, charities and refugees, the Liberal Democrats are demanding better for asylum seekers. We are ...
The next West End community police surgery takes place tonight at the Harris Academy community facility - details below and all residents welcome :
I have now just a week to go in my long trip to Australia. I'm not all that surprised that I haven't managed to update this blog regularly on my travels. It turns out that it is quite hard to fit into my holiday routine. But witnessing the mounting political tension on Brexit in the ... Continue reading Are there Australian lessons for Brexit?
