Following the Finchley and Golders Green and the Cambridge constituency polls published by the Liberal Democrats comes one from North East Somerset. That's Jacob Rees-Mogg's seat, where the Liberal Democrats made dramatic council gains in May with his home now having a Liberal Democrat councillor. Headline voting intention (candidate prompt) with changes vs GE 2017 were: pic.twitter.com/6IaG1nW3Ne — Survation. (@Survation) October 30, 2019
Enjoy the footage of steam haulage at the old Euston. Wonder at the tolerance of unsupervised children in a busy working environment. I'm fond of sheep myself, but I'm not sure what they have to do with it.
Sir Alan Duncan, Conservative MP for Rutland and Melton since 1992, will not be defending his seat at December's general election. He told the Leicester Mercury: "It's time to put an end to the Muppet show." I am puzzled by the way people use 'Muppet' as at term of abuse. Kermit and friends put together a variety show every week, often featuring an international star. That would certainly be beyond this Tory government. Duncan may suggest he has had enough of parliament, but I suspect there is another explanation: the craving for Walker's crisps has become too much for him. ...
Responding to the official report into the Grenfell Tower fire, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Kensington Sam Gyimah MP said:"Grenfell was a tragedy that should never have happened but the Government have already failed to take action time and again."The actions of individual firefighters on the night were incredibly brave, but we cannot ignore the effect cuts to the fire service have had not only in their quality of service but their ability to make sure changes are made so that any failures will not be repeated."There is also a systemic lack of accountability and enforcement within current building regulations. ...
It bothers me greatly that for months now, Boris Johnson has been attacking Parliament – in terms that question its legitimacy as the sovereign democratic institution of our constitution – for the crime of having a different opinion on something to himself. Normally, in a Parliamentary democracy, if the Prime Minister has a different opinion to the Commons, it is he, not they who is, constitutionally, in the wrong. Now of course, Johnson is entitle to his view and to express it, as is every other MP, and perhaps the problem is that the "other side" does not seem to ...
Just a few thoughts on Northern Ireland and Brexit. In 2016, not long after THAT referendum, I met a friend from Ballymena. He's someone I've co-operated with and like but he came up to me, smiling and eager and said 'What do you think of Brexit then?' My reply, without a moment's thought was: 'It's [...]
MPs here in Britain have just agreed a General Election on 12 December. I will be much more closely involved in this election than normal, as I am agent for the Liberal Democrats in Battersea, a seat that has become highly winnable for the party. Since I do not use this blog to spout party ... Continue reading And into the general election
Speaking on Radio 4 this morning, Jo Swinson said Our polling shows that are within a small swing of winning hundreds of seats; because the political landscape is so totally changed by what has happened in our country. Neither Boris Johnson nor Jeremy Corbyn is fit to be Prime Minister. Our country deserves a better choice and I am standing as a candidate to be Prime Minister and I would just say to you Martha, it is not up to anybody to tell people what they can or can't choose – what is or isn't possible – this will be ...
And we’re getting one! A brief overview of the situation before the 2019 General Election campaign starts in earnest.
Often in the news for her campaigning against anti-Semitism, TV star and mathematician Rachel Riley will be voting Liberal Democrat this time.
Congratulations to Kaweh Beheshtizadeh, newly announced as the Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) for Bracknell. A former refugee, Kaweh is, I believe, the first former refugee selected as a PPC by the party and has won the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year award: I was inspired to study law by the legal aid solicitor who helped me with my asylum case. My solicitor was really good, but I could see that many other asylum seekers were suffering badly without any proper representation... I was born in a small village in Iranian Kurdistan during the Iran-Iraq war. Some of ...
Because it's cold, it's dark and it's basically wintertime. And my inner caveman is telling me that it's time to hunker down. Continue reading →
Sam tweets: Delighted to be the @LibDems candidate for Kensington for the next GE. The community deserves better than @Conservatives pursuing a reckless hard Brexit & out of touch with modern Britain & Corbyn's @UKLabour & their assault on property rights & pensions https://t.co/0f0N7au4bf — Sam Gyimah MP (@SamGyimah) October 29, 2019 * Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist. He is one of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
A study from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research has found that Boris Johnson's Brexit deal will leave the UK £70bn worse off than if it had remained in the EU. Responding to the news Tom Brake MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary for Exiting the EU said: These figures come as no surprise. We know that there is no deal is as good as the deal we have currently as members of the EU. That is why the Liberal Democrats will keep fighting to stop Brexit. The Tories' obsession with Brexit at any cost puts our future prosperity ...
Tue, 12:56: RT @loveinheadscarf: A THREAD. How hate is created and propagated: a small personal case study. "If you don't like our country - leave." Tue, 14:34: RT @MSmithsonPB: The General Election - identifying the top bellwether seats. Every single GB constituency ranked by how close they've been... Tue, 16:05: Déjà vu in the UK: As a Turkish exile, I've seen this story before https://t.co/FuYqc6wkxf Elif Shafak sees the Erd... https://t.co/47UW8A0naq Tue, 17:11: I wrote in 2016 that only two previous US presidential elections had had both major party candidates over *60* - 18... https://t.co/5OHzGq6EKD Tue, 18:45: Tuesday reading https://t.co/eCPtbXDFQz ...
Stephen Lloyd MP has posted a YouTube video for his Eastbourne constituents. In it, he says that he has kept his word and voted for a EU exit withdrawal bill four times in parliament. He adds that, now he has done that, the slate is wiped clean with the forthcoming general election, so he will now be a 'full throated' "remainer". He states that intends to stand in Eastbourne as the Liberal Democrat candidate. This now means that there are 20 Liberal Democrat MPs in the House of Commons. Here is Stephen's video: And here Layla Moran welcomes Stephen back ...
I've blogged before about the plans by Lydiate Parish Council to upgrade the changing rooms at Sandy Lane Playing Field. The project took another step in the right direction yesterday when we met representatives from the Football association on site to talk about how they can assist us financially via a grant. Here's a couple of photos from the meet up:- What kicked this all off (forgive the pun) is the wish of Lydiate Parish Council to accommodate women's football. We also want to secure a financial package to turn the present down at heel tennis courts into a MUGA ...
Since the December 12th general election became assured, Remain Twitter has gone crazy. We wanted a People's Vote! Now that we don't have it, people have to vote tactically! Tactically, do you understand? Here are some quick thoughts on the subject of tactical voting and in particular, how it relates to the 2019 general election and stopping Brexit from happening. One, please don't rely on tactical voting websites to guide your vote, no matter how well meaning they are, and most of them are not well meaning. They will mostly guide you to vote Labour and the lion's share of ...
As has become traditional at the start of a general election campaign, the Liberal Democrats have set out their position on coalitions: Lib Dems rule out any form of post election coalition with Jeremy Corbyn or Boris Johnson — norman smith (@BBCNormanS) October 30, 2019 Speaking on Radio 4, Jo Swinson said: I can't be clearer. Neither Boris Johnson nor Corbyn is fit to be Prime Minister. Our country deserves a better choice, and I am standing as candidate to be Prime Minister. If you sign up for my blog posts digest you'll get a handy one-a-day email with links ...
And so we head into an election campaign as 'the goose is getting fat' and Brenda from Bristol boards up her front door to keep out invading journalists. We've whirled around and around the entire gamut of constitutional and Brexit permutations many times, and so we end up with a general election when the Rubic's Cube of parliamentary arithmetic will be re-spun. Then the whole darn thing will start again. It is somewhat forbidding to face the prospect of knocking on doors in the 'deep mid-winter'. Even carol singers get cold-shouldered as they try to spread Christmas spirit. I'm now ...
While the House of Commons on Tuesday was voting for a December general election, this week's first council by-election was also taking place. The result? A Liberal Democrat win with a nice increase in the party's vote. Leamington Lillington, Warwick Liberal Democrat HOLD Leamington Lillington (Warwick) with 55% (+7) of votes. CON were 2nd on 28% (+11) & LAB 3rd on 17% (-5). No GRN (-13) as previous. pic.twitter.com/QlUUrOKJuI — Election Maps Spoo-K [IMG: 🎃] (@ElectionMapsUK) October 30, 2019
The Conservative Party restored the whip to ten rebels yesterday but what is more significant is the names of those they left out in the cold. Amongst those still sitting as an in independent is former Tory Chancellor, Phillip Hammond. Hammond launched his own broadside yesterday, when he claimed that Boris Johnson's general election plan is an attempt to fundamentally shift the party to the right. He said the prime minister's intention to get voters to the polls in December would enable party "entryism" and was also an attempt by former Vote Leave staffers who now worked for the government ...
Jo Swinson gave her first interview of the election campaign to the Radio 4 Today programme. She said that neither Jeremy Corbyn nor Boris Johnson were fit to lead the country. Brexit would damage our public services and our economy and people now have the opportunity to stop it and the way to do that is to vote for the Liberal Democrats. She highlighted how we are winning all over the country in places which voted to remain and to leave. In May we beat both Conservatives and Labour. She says that Leave voters respect the fact that we stand ...
As the Brexit skirmishes continue, it is easy to lose track of other important pieces of legislation struggling to get parliamentary time. One of those is the Environment Bill. The second reading of the bill on 23 October was abruptly cancelled to make way for the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. That's ironic as a large part of the Environment Bill is concerned with reinstating the environmental protection the UK will lose if it ceases to a member of the EU. The bill aims for a lot more, including a deposit return scheme for drinks containers, measures to improve air quality, and ...
Pea gin: how your choice of afternoon tipple could help save the rainforest Botanic Garden - Sunday 3rd November Pete Iannetta, James Hutton Institute will discuss a study that found that the environmental footprint of pea gin was significantly lower than for wheat gin across 12 of 14 environmental impacts evaluated - from climate change, through water and air pollution, to fossil energy consumption. Held in the Education Centre in the Garden at 2pm; a free event to Friends of the University of Dundee Botanic Garden; others - donations welcome.
