PM's no deal comments further reveal his incompetence Davey: PM must bring back a deal that protects jobs and livelihoods PM's no deal comments further reveal his incompetence Responding to reports that the Prime Minister has said it's time to 'get ready' for no deal, Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Christine Jardine said: Boris Johnson's handling of Brexit has been disastrous and these reckless comments are just further evidence of the Prime Minister's incompetence. It has been more than four years since the referendum and yet here we are with a potential no deal and less than three months until the ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Democrat Voice

Peartree lies a mile or so south of Derby station. Under its original name of Pear Tree and Normanton it was open between 1839 and 1968. It reappeared with a streamlined new name in 1976 as part of the reopening of the Sinfin branch to serve the Rolls Royce works. This was not a success and the last train ran in 1993, though in theory you could present yourself at Derby station and demand a taxi to Sinfin North or Sinfin South until its official closure in 1998. Peartree survived, though almost all trains from Derby to Crewe or Birmingham ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

I am, by nature, an optimist. When the Brexit referendum was lost, I not unreasonably assumed that the victors had a plan for getting us from being in the European Union to not being in the European Union. I admit that, even then, I understood that the various strands of the Leave campaign were mutually incompatible and were merely a means of persuading enough voters to back their cause. Indeed, Dominic Cummings acknowledged that there was no one vision of Brexit that could achieve majority support, or even agreement between the different factions. It allowed them to be all things ...

Posted by Mark Valladares on Liberal Bureaucracy

A Conservative Party agent has appeared in court on charges of electoral fraud. She's accused of tricking people into signing nomination papers for the last Hackney Council elections.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

The Brexit deadline came, went, came again and went again. Both sides look foolish. Which means that if nothing, else, both sides desperately want an agreement and neither side wants to be the one that walks away from the table. Fish appear to be the biggest sticking point. And the two countries at loggerheads are traditional foes Britain and France. Economically speaking, neither country's fishing industry makes much of a contribution to the respective GDPs, although the French industry is almost three times the size of the British. But they both have well-organised community-based political lobbies, backed up by history, ...

Posted by Tom Arms on Liberal Democrat Voice

The Liberal Democrats yesterday led cross-party opposition to the Government's Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill, calling a vote against the legislation in the House of Commons.The Bill, which would create a legal basis for certain government bodies to authorise undercover agents to commit crimes in the UK, has given rise to major concerns among MPs and human rights organisations for its breadth and the lack of sufficient limits, safeguards and oversight. The Liberal Democrats voted against Third Reading this afternoon, but most Conservative MPs backed it and Labour abstained, so the Bill passed by 313 votes to 98.A ...

Posted by Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats on Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats

Responding to reports that the Prime Minister has said it's time to 'get ready' for no deal, Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Christine Jardine said:"Boris Johnson's handling of Brexit has been disastrous and these reckless comments are just further evidence of the Prime Minister's incompetence. It has been more than four years since the referendum and yet here we are with a potential no deal and less than three months until the transition period ends."At a time when the UK is already facing the biggest crisis in generations as a result of coronavirus, we cannot afford to crash out of the ...

Posted by Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats on Aberavon & Neath Liberal Democrats

For anyone following Irish politics, Budget 2021 was announced on Tuesday. In it, something very interesting occurred – €500m was allocated to the 'Shared Island' initiative intended to support cross-border co-operation, joint infrastructure projects and all-Ireland education, health, tourism and climate action projects. This came on the back of the creation of a 'Shared Island Unit' established by the new Government which will be managed within the Taoiseach's Department (the Irish equivalent to Downing Street). It is not the investment that's of interest, it's that over the last few months, the language has moved from 'An United Ireland' to a ...

Posted by Audrey Eager on Liberal Democrat Voice

Second paragraph of third chapter:Men do fall into insanity in such places, but much as vengeful right-wingers might celebrate such mental decay, some among them would be dismayed to learn that Moussaoui will lose his mind for Darwinian reasons. Guy the Gorilla, star of London Zoo in the 1950s, was admired for his solemn disposition. In fact the animal was deeply depressed, kept as he was for years alone in a small cage. Homo sapiens is a social primate, descended, like gorillas or chimpanzees, from an ancestor with the same habits. Had our fore-fathers been more solitary beasts like the ...

Local party members have chosen Cadan ap Tomos in the Welsh Senedd Ceredigion constituency for the elections set to take place in May next year.

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack
YouGov

It's been a little surreal over the last couple of days as Scousers have been piling onto social media to cheer along on Greater Manchester's Metro Mayor Andy Burnham! Yes you've read that right Scousers cheering a Manc', when anything to do with Manchester is usually treated with utter distain probably because of football loyalties in the city of the Beatles where the main religion is indeed football be it red or blue. But the Manc' Mayor is actually all but a Scouser himself having been born in Aintree Village/Old Roan on Merseyside, so I guess that allows Liverpudlians to ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

Yesterday I wrote: I believe local government should be local and that the idea that centralisation always leads to greater efficiency and lower costs is no more true today than it was in the 1970s when it was Labour's creed. And then I discovered an expert report that says much the same thing. I am always happy to cite research when it supports my opinions. That report is Bigger is not better: the evidenced case for keeping 'local' government. It's written by Colin Copus, Steve Leach, and Alistair Jones from De Monfort University and published by the District Councils' Network. ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

I have been very heartened by the news from Wales, and not just because a bit of my heart always lives there. Unlike her English counterparts Kirsty Williams, the Lib Dem Education Minister for Wales, hasn't had to be challenged by celebrity footballers to remember those children whose needs are greater than others – she had already worked up schemes to support them. In the very early days of lockdown, Wales was the first country in the UK to announce that children eligible for free school meals would continue to get them through the Easter and summer school holidays, supported ...

Posted by Mary Reid on Liberal Democrat Voice

Councillors raise concerns about the implications for Sutton of the Planning System reforms proposed in the Government's White Paper

Posted by jaynemccoy on Diary of a Sutton Councillor

Continuing the current diet of one council by-election a week in Scotland, this week saw another one, again in Scotland: Ellon and District, Aberdeenshire Ellon & District (Aberdeenshire), first preference result: SNP: 42.4% (+10.5) CON: 41.7% (+0.8) LDEM: 10.2% (-9.5) LAB: 2.9% (-4.7) GRN: 2.8% (+2.8) Seat change: SNP HOLD. Con were placed first on first preference vote in 2017. Chgs. w/ 2017 — Britain Elects (@BritainElects) October 16, 2020

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

Remember the scandal over Sheffield's Labour-run council and tree-felling? The council had signed a ridiculous PFI contract that saw many healthy street trees felled. When this caused an outcry the council turned on the protestors. They even tried to have an opposition councillor jailed for demonstrating. There was a good article on the affair by George Monbiot. Yesterday the Yorkshire Post covered a report on the affair by the local government and social care ombudsman: A 25-page report by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has recommended an unreserved public apology is issued by the council to the people ...

Posted by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England

We conclude our series celebrating this year's party award winners with Southwark's Anood Al-Samerai who won the Patsy Calton Award, set up by Liberal Democrat Women to recognise exceptional women. You can watch the video of the whole party awards segment here and the submission made by Anood's nominees is under the cut. Cllr Anood Al-Samerai is an inspirational leader who for the last 20 years has embodied Liberalism through fighting tenaciously yet with kindness for her community, running Simon Hughes' MP office (8 years) and bridging superbly with the ruling Liberal Democrat Council group, becoming a local councillor (13 ...

Posted by The Voice on Liberal Democrat Voice
Fri 16th
11:00

My tweets

Thu, 12:56: "No ministry that actually cared about the United Kingdom's long-term integrity would behave as this ministry has done." - @AlexMassie https://t.co/QNtVlpLi5a Thu, 16:05: Why we should move all statues into a sculpture park and use blue plaques instead https://t.co/JAOnh4Oe1w Good points! Thu, 16:10: RT @Mikepeeljourno: This striking .@Reuters .@jgesilva photo showing Queen Suthida of Thailand's shock as protesters confront the royal mot... Thu, 17:11: Top non-US state and intergovernmental funders of the top 50 US thinktanks 2014-2018, from @BenFreemanDC's Jan 2020 report. https://t.co/Cjelac3tLM https://t.co/yGWsMWahKa Thu, 17:22: RT @BarendLeyts: At #EUCO conclusions on EU-UK relations have been adopted https://t.co/Nr20hA9JcB ...

Selection news from Essex Liberal Democrats... Essex Liberal Democrats are delighted to announce that Callum Robertson has been selected as their candidate for the next Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner election, due to take place in May 2021. Callum has been vocally supportive of calls for drug legalisation and focusing more resources into tackling domestic abuse and cyber-crime. Callum represented the party in the Clacton Constituency at the 2019 general election, tripling the vote. He was also an active member of the working group who produced the Crime and Policing policy paper for the Liberal Democrats. A party member since ...

Posted by Mark Pack on Mark Pack

We have been discussing plans to build housing in the former garden of Linney House since May 2012. There is a growing sense of exhaustion with a series of plans that have taken more effort than most major housing developments. Yet the scheme is only for four homes or possibly eight. Four if the Southern Planning Committee approves plans at its meeting next Tuesday. Eight if the planning inspectorate approves a previous scheme which is now at appeal. Both outcomes could happen. That would mean that the site would have three sets of permission for three, four and eight homes. ...

Posted by andybodders on Andy Boddington
eUKhost
Fri 16th
10:05

Time to End Child Hunger

We're campaigning to increase access to free school meals and give children from low-income families access to food vouchers when schools are closed too. Liberal Democrats are campaigning to increase access to free school meals and give children from low-income families access to food vouchers when schools are closed too. What are we calling for? We want the Government to commit to three steps which will make a world of difference to struggling families and help end child hunger: Extend eligibility for free school meals to every pupil in primary and secondary school, whose parents or guardians are in receipt ...

Posted by timpickstone on Tim Pickstone

That two Labour frontbenchers were forced to resign to oppose the Government legislation that allows MI5 and police informants to commit crimes, tells us everything we need to know about Keir Starmer's attitude to civil liberties. As the Guardian reports, Starmer had wanted Labour MPs to abstain on the bill once their amendments were defeated, arguing that statutory regulation of informants' conduct would have been necessary if the party had been in power. But critics of the covert human intelligence sources bill argued it did not explicitly rule out crimes such as murder, torture or serious sexual offences - and ...

Posted by Peter Black on Peter Black

"We are going bankrupt as a nation — there will not be the money to pay for the NHS or pensions." This was the impassioned cry from Sir Edward Leigh (Con, Gainsborough) in Tuesday's Commons debate on public health restrictions. He referred in particular to the closing of pubs at 10pm and more generally to what he saw as a need to let businesses "get on and do business". Fortunately he was wrong. We won't go bankrupt as a nation. This is because we create our own money. He no doubt thinks that business activity is always needed, through taxation, ...

Posted by John Medway on Liberal Democrat Voice

I am pressing Durham County Council for further information on the position of Consett's Swimming Pool and the broader issue of whether the loss of water from the pool is wreaking further damage on the building as a whole. After being assured that a specialist report would be completed in September, I have still not been able to find out whether that report has been completed and whether the process of getting tenders for the remedial work has started. It's very unsatisfactory. There's no way the council can give us any indication as to when the pool will be open ...

Posted by Owen Temple on Owen Temple

That Marcus Rashford has highlighted the fact that even in 2020 too many children live in such poverty that they don't have sufficient nutritional food to eat is a given. His well known solution is to try to get government to provide free school meals in school holidays, a battle he won for the last summer holidays but is presently losing for the next Christmas holidays. The BBC has the latest on its website – see link below:- www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/54550587 I support his campaign but is it really a long term solution to fix child poverty? Is it not just another ...

Posted by Cllr. Tony Robertson on Sefton Focus

broadcast anniversaries 16 October 1965: broadcast of "Temple of Secrets", the first episode of the story we now call The Myth Makers. Achilles slays Hector (who was distracted by the Tardis appearing) and decides that the Doctor is Zeus. Steven is captured by Odysseus, and the Tardis stolen. 16 October 1976: broadcast of third episode of The Hand of Fear. The RAF fail to destroy the reactor; but the hand regenerates into Eldrad the Kastrian. The Doctor agrees to take her home, but she is impaled by a booby-trap. 16 October 2009: broadcast of second episode of Prisoner of the ...

Please see below a list of planning applications received in the last month. Please just let us know if you have any queries. Non material amendment following approval of application 65090- Change eternal walls from timber ... Former Stables, Nutt Lane, Simister, PrestwichRef. No: 66053 | Received: Fri 09 Oct 2020 | Validated: Thu 15 Oct 2020 | Status: RegisteredFirst floor side extension 7 Chatsworth Avenue, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 1LZRef. No: 66023 | Received: Fri 02 Oct 2020 | Validated: Fri 02 Oct 2020 | Status: RegisteredRetrospective planning permission, As-Built garage/storage within rear garden. 7 Parrenthorn Road, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 ...

Posted by timpickstone on Tim Pickstone

Prestwich Library has re-opened for limited use from this week. Through the Order and Collect Service, readers can order books online or by phone: (see here) Library staff will process the orders and customers will be contacted when the order is ready to be collected at a specific time. The library will be then be open for collection and return every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons from 1pm-4pm. Staff will set up a collection area in the library to allow customers to collect their books and also return any items they have from before the lockdown began. There will ...

Posted by timpickstone on Tim Pickstone

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 BT cable repair works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Blackness Road (from its junction with Bellfield Street to approx. 25 metres east), Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Monday 19 October for 3 working days. Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. Alternative routes for vehicles are available Bellfield Street / Hawkhill / Horsewater Wynd / Guthrie Street / Urquhart Street ...

All children who were 2 or 3 years of age on the 31st August 2020 are eligible for a free flu vaccination, which is the best way to protect them against the influenza virus (flu). (Information from NHS Bury.) The children's flu vaccine is offered as a yearly nasal spray to young children to help protect them from flu. Flu can be a very unpleasant illness for young children, with potentially serious complications. Vaccinating your child helps protect your child, family and friends by preventing the spread of flu. Even if your child was vaccinated last year, it is important ...

Posted by timpickstone on Tim Pickstone

This week is Work Life Week 2020 (12-16 October), which is an opportunity for both employers and employees to focus on wellbeing at work and work life balance and with the economy and job market in flux at the moment due to the coronavirus pandemic. Bury Council's Fostering Team are saying that now could be the perfect time to think about fostering as a career: "If your job is at risk, or the past few months has allowed you to take stock of your life and reassess what is important to you and where your life is heading, Foster with ...

Posted by timpickstone on Tim Pickstone

Prestwich Library is back open again from yesterday (Thursday 15 October 2020). The branch has launched its Order and Collect Service means readers can order books online or by phone: please see https://www.bury.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=15605. Library staff will process the orders and customers will be contacted when the order is ready to be collected at a specific time. The library will be open for collection and return every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons from 1pm-4pm. Staff will set up a collection area in the library to allow customers to collect their books and also return any items they have from before ...

Posted by timpickstone on Tim Pickstone