And the first piece of hard news is from Scottish MP Christine Jardine, who has been named previously as someone who might run particularly if otherwise the party risked facing another coronation. However, she has declared that she is not running, alongside saying positive things about one of the likely runners, Jo Swinson.
[IMG: Akaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism] The hard reality is that Canadian horses and horsepeople suffer when our voice goes unheard in the corridors of power. The Guelph Equine Public Policy Group will ensure that Canada's governments understand how they can - and why they must - serve the equine community public interest.
I'm in York for the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference. The main job will be grandstanding the party's position on Brexit. That is uncontroversial. For insiders there is a much more interesting debate about changing the rules for electing party leaders. This has become much more pertinent because the current leader, Vince Cable, has decided to ... Continue reading Why I support opening up the Lib Dem leadership contest
Friday 15 March 15.00-17.30 Consultative sessions: A Fairer Share for All Crime and Policing Health and Social Care You can read the consultation papers here. If you are thirsty after that, there is a Civic reception at the Barbican at 5:15 and then the rally at 6:30. Now I was going to ditch the rally and go to the pub with my friends because I was feeling like a bit of a rebel. However, I then discovered that my wonderful friend, Borders candidate Jenny Marr is speaking. Now, when she introduced Willie at Scottish Conference a few weeks ago, she ...
Back in September, I wrote on the subject of the proposed party reforms here on Lib Dem voice. In my article, I raised a number of questions over how balloting of these new supporters would work and what was being put in place to create a robust internal democracy based on full and comprehensive debate, accessible from across the liberal movement. Well, I'm here to tell you how many of my questions have been answered in the intervening months. The answer is, precisely, none of them. Others have written better than myself on the possibility of entryism and the lack ...
Last night I was at BAFTA for the European launch of the Kurdish Memory Programme, a new national archive of modern Kurdish history. The Kurds often refer to themselves, with justification, as the largest nation without a country; although there are regional and cultural variations, including in the language they speak, they do have a [...]
If you are a Liberal Democrat, chances are you might be getting excited now about who the next leader of the Liberal Democrats will be.
Agricultural lime may affect validity of strontium isotope maps. A news article exploring claims by Danish researchers that the application of agricultural lime to the soil may cast doubt on the validity of strontium isotope maps used by archaeologists to understand ... Continue reading →
Three council by-elections in the week the Lib Dem leader announced when he's standing down, and all three with Lib Dem candidates. That is one up on last time these wards were contested, hooray. Wingate, Durham Edwin Simpson stood for the Liberal Democrats and what a good thing he did: Wingate (Durham) result: LAB: 64.1% (-11.7) LDEM: 22.8% (+22.8) NEP: 10.3% (+0.1) FBM: 2.8% (+2.8) Labour HOLD. No Con (-14.0) as prev. FBM: For Britain Movement — Britain Elects (@britainelects) March 14, 2019
Thu, 12:47: RT @jonworth: #Brexit Diagram V17, after yesterday's votes. 👎 No Deal was already priced in, so little change on that. No Deal 32% ↔️ Gen... Thu, 12:56: Fintan O'Toole: 'Yeats Test' criteria reveal we are doomed https://t.co/kXZqZXD6gq If Heaney is fashionable, the ti... https://t.co/DnKX0gJDnH Thu, 14:57: RT @LBC: Eddie: "What about people who have changed their minds on Brexit?" Liz Truss: "I don't think people have changed their minds"... Thu, 15:08: RT @Dublin2019: Tomorrow, the 15th of March, is the deadline for nominating @TheHugoAwards. So if you haven't done so yet it's time to star... Thu, 15:46: RT ...
Fri 15th
10:15
Chuka Umunna and Anna Soubry write: The Independent Group and the Lib Dems working together is grown...
Today one of The Independent Group of MPs (TIG), Anna Soubry, will be speaking at a fringe event organised by IPPR North at the Liberal Democrats' Spring Conference. Inevitably, the Westminster village will ask why and speculate as to what this means. But outside of Westminster, the idea that people who share similar values and have common views on things should work together is not news, its common sense. There is no doubt that our politics is broken and needs fundamental change. We have a Government and an Official Opposition who are deeply divided, have failed to provide coherent leadership ...
It's another trying day, with the ghastly news from New Zealand overnight, and one does despair at the ability of human beings to do inhuman things, but politics rolls inevitably onwards. So, here are yesterday's releases... Lib Dems: Short prison sentences for knives don't work Responding to the figures showing the number of crimes related to knives and other offensive weapons dealt with by the courts has reached a nine year high, Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson Wera Hobhouse: Both the Justice Secretary and the Prisons Minister have admitted that short prison sentences don't work and actually increase the risk of ...
[IMG: Image result for vince cable] Vince Cable (Photo: The Independent) Yesterday evening Vince Cable sent the following message to party members: "This has been a dramatic week in Parliament with Theresa May's Brexit proposals heavily defeated, and a very clear statement that a 'no deal' Brexit must be avoided. It is now clear that Brexit will be postponed, and very possibly stopped."The future is very uncertain but despite Labour's continued prevarication, there is still a real chance of securing a People's Vote and, indeed, of stopping Brexit."The fact that these possibilities are still alive is a great tribute to ...
As some of us set off for the Lib Dem Conference in York for the next two days we were met with the e-mail from Vince saying that subject to there being no snap election he would stand down as ... Continue reading →
Once upon a time there was a venerated institution in the not so distant land of Great Britain called parliament. In fact, it was called "The Mother of Parliaments" as countries around the world emulated its structures and system of representative democratic government. Parliament became the legal and political platform on which the largest empire in the history of the world was built. Its members were respected and their opinions were sought in world councils. But times change. The empire sank below the waves. If Britain was going to continue to prosper and retain political power than it needed to ...
Amidst the chaos of this week in Parliament, the one thing that stands out is how deeply and irrevocably split both Labour and the Tories are over Brexit, and indeed other issues emanating from it. Whether it is the farcical sight of eight cabinet members refusing to back Theresa May's plan to delay Brexit by three months, or Labour ordering MPs to sit on their hands rather than vote for a measure which is allegedly their own policy, only to see 24 MPs, including shadow ministers, defy that whip, the two major parties are as chaotic as Brexit itself. The ...
I have recently had complaints about the extent of rubbish and litter along the western end of the path running from Roseangle to Greenmarket. The problem area has been the part from Seabraes west towards the Roseangle car park. The council's Rapid Response Team, at my request, kindly did a litter-pick there recently. However, I wrote to Scottish Enterprise to get its assurances that it would ensure the area is kept clean in future, as I was sure responsibility would rest with Scottish Enterprise. The Director of Business Infrastructure at Scottish Enterprise has now advised me : "I am advised ...
A reasonable number of people will know that before Christmas I was asking them about whether or not I should stand for the Party Presidency when it comes up for election later. A smaller number know that as a result of those discussions I have decided after Christmas that I will indeed be a candidate. However, whilst I am not keeping it a secret, I am not yet starting a proper campaign. I am not acting this way because of indolence. In my 52 years in the Party I have never left an election to chance or thought that I ...
Late last night, former Liberal leader David Steel's membership was suspended by the Scottish Liberal Democrats last night pending an investigation into the evidence he gave to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse on Wednesday. A spokesman for the Scottish Party said: Following the evidence concerning Cyril Smith given by Lord Steel to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse on 13th March 2019 the office bearers of the Scottish Liberal Democrats have met and agreed that an investigation is needed. The party membership of Lord Steel has been suspended pending the outcome of that investigation. That work will ...
