A trivial historic footnote for your delectation. During the 1966 general election campaign, Prime Minister Harold Wilson, one of Labour's most successful leaders, visited the Birmingham Rag Market for a public meeting. The location had been the scene of a famous* public meeting in the 1964 campaign when the then Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home got shouted down. Compare and contrast the media coverage of the time about how this meeting went. Exhibit A: a Labour supporting paper WILSON GETS THE BETTER OF TORY HECKLERS (The Worker) Exhibit B: a Conservative supporting paper HECKLERS GET THE BETTER OF WILSON (Daily Sketch) ...
Liberal Democrat Newswire #206 came out last week and you can now also read it in full below. But if you'd like to get future editions emailed direct to you as soon as they are published, sign up now: Welcome to Lib Dem Newswire #206 and a big thank you to everyone who has already responded to my annual appeal to help cover the costs of producing this newsletter and related activities. This year I've gone for something a little different, and instead encourage you to take out a subscription to the paid-for edition of my weekly newsletter about opinion ...
It's a Liberal Democrat Opposition Day in Parliament today and we have chosen to devote half of it to asking for an investigation on how Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was ever appointed a Trade Envoy and for the Government to publish all the papers relating to his appointment at the time. The motion says: That an humble Address be presented to His Majesty, that he will be graciously pleased to give directions to require the Government to lay before this House all papers relating to the creation of the role of Special Representative for Trade and Investment and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's appointment to ...
On 29 October last year, Nigel Farage put forward his European Convention on Human Rights (Withdrawal) Bill. You can read his speech in Hansard. This, in full, was Ed Davey's reply: The speech we just heard totally misrepresents the European convention, and the failure of the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage) to mention the huge benefits and rights that the European convention has brought to millions of British people says it all. Let me give those attracted by the argument we have just heard one strong reason to think again. Russia under Vladimir Putin is the only country to ...
The gaming industry contributes £188.4 million annually to Scotland's economy and provides 2181 full time jobs but it's been facing some challenges in recent years, not least from funding streams drying up thanks to Brexit. A motion introduced by our candidate and, we hope, future MSP for Inverness and Nairn, Neil Alexander. Neil knows what he is talking about as he worked in the industry for 8 years. By the way, Neil's social media output is the best in the business. Follow him on Instagram here. The motion calls for: Establish regional "hubs" across all areas of Scotland for both ...
my Today marks the fourth anniversary of the second phase of Russia's war on Ukraine. Phase one started in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and parts of the Donbas – Putin's response to ordinary Ukrainians' refusal to disavow their European future. Now is a good time to remember why we are supporting Ukraine; not just because it is right but because we must if the liberal order and the rule of law on which it is based is to survive. It is also time to recognise Ukraine as central for Europe's security and prosperity in an increasingly unstable world. ...
The Guardian reports that Reform UK's plan to create an ICE-style deportation agency has been condemned as "sadistic", after the party's home affairs spokesperson vowed to face down "progressive outrage". The paper says that Zia Yusuf, introduced as "the shadow home secretary" at a press conference in Dover, said mass deportations carried out by a planned UK Deportation Command would not trigger the same kind of violent showdowns seen in the US because "policing is done by consent" in the UK. He also described the number of migrants arriving in the country as an "invasion". His remarks came as Reform ...
We had a good turnout on Saturday for our Lobley Hill and Bensham action day. 15 members turned out to help deliver the latest Focus. I was given 2 patches to do in Lobley Hill. I was raised there so for me it was a journey through my memories of the area.
Last night I watched the film Murder by Decree on Talking Pictures TV. I've watched it several times because the cast and premise (Sherlock Holmes tracking down Jack the Ripper) are so appealing, and because I always forget how disappointing it is. But Holmes was the not first fictional detective to investigate the Ripper murders. In 1973 the BBC screened a series in which the nation's most celebrated television detectives Charlie Barlow and John Watt, played by Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor. It was this series that introduced the public to the theory that the Ripper had been the eldest ...
Here is a list of the councillors which Reform has shed from the May 2025 local elections and from those elections in by-elections since. The latest update is the departure of Chris Large who, only a few weeks ago, was due to become a Reform council leader but is now an independent. Donna Edmunds (Shropshire, suspended by Reform UK and then quit the party) Luke Shingler (Warwickshire, now an independent) Desmond Clarke (Nottinghamshire, resigned as councillor) Andrew Kilburn (Durham, resigned as a councillor) Wayne Titley (Staffordshire, resigned as a councillor) Mark Broadhurst (Doncaster, expelled by Reform) Adam Smith (West Northamptonshire, ...
Today's Schools White Paper on SEND reform is, in certain respects, a document Liberal Democrats should welcome. The investment is substantial: £1.6 billion for an Inclusive Mainstream Fund, £1.8 billion for specialist services, and a long-overdue write-off of 90 per cent of local authority SEND deficits that were pushing councils toward effective bankruptcy. The aspiration, a well-resourced, inclusive mainstream, with early intervention, genuine specialist support, and families treated as partners rather than adversaries, is the right one. The problem is not the destination. It is the route the government has chosen to get there. A right is not the same ...
Hope from The Hague: What Rob Jetten's victory means for liberals everywhere Today, in the Netherlands, something quietly historic has happened. Rob Jetten, leader of Democrats 66, has become Prime Minister. The youngest ever (at 38) and the first openly gay person to hold the office. Pause on that. In a European political landscape where we are so often told that the future belongs to the angry, the polarising and the populist, the Dutch electorate has chosen something else. They have chosen the broad, confident Centre. They have chosen liberalism. For we Liberal Democrats, there is real encouraging here. Yes ...
BBC News wins our Headline of the Day Award with this tale of mysterious Lincolnshire: Is it a UFO? Is it the Northern Lights? No, it's the "Flying Banana". A blue glow that has lit up Lincolnshire's night sky in recent weeks has been traced to an unlikely source: a bright yellow train. Network Rail said the mysterious light comes from its new measurement train - nicknamed the Flying Banana - which looks for faults on the line for engineers to repair. The company said on hazy nights, equipment from the yellow train can create a blue glow "that looks ...
In mid February, UK dual nationals were alerted by media reports to an imminent change in immigration regulations. This involves the requirement that dual nationals present their UK passport at the overseas airline check-in desk before boarding any flight to the UK, or that they present (alongside their foreign passport) a 'Certificate of Entitlement' to Right of Abode in the UK, priced at a whopping £589. This deeply concerns many of us in Liberal Democrats Overseas, and we expect the Party to speak out loudly and forcefully on this matter. Will Forster MP, our shadow immigration and asylum minister, has ...
There were three council byelections last week (I don't include town and parish councils). Things to note about these contests:Labour were defending all 3 seats. They lost all of them.The seats fell to Plaid Cymru, Greens and Lib Dems.Reform won nothing. I think this is the first time since the May 2025 elections in which Reform came away empty handed.In Caerphilly, PC's share of the vote was
Sanne Dijkstra-Downie will, we hope, be an MSP in May. She is standing in the target constituency of Edinburgh Northern and heads the Lothians list. At Scottish Conference this week, she spoke in our pre-manifesto debate to highlight one particular commitment which is particularly important to her – the provision of Pupil Support Assistants in schools. The pre-manifesto commits us to: Boost in-class support in every school by inflation-proofing Pupil Equity 270 Funding, hiring more pupil support assistants (PSAs), and ensuring teachers 271 are given proper stable contracts instead of short-term and zero hours work. Sanne said: As one of ...
On Friday last week, I carried out a tour of Sunniside in my council ward to look at flood risk areas and solutions. I was accompanied by my ward colleague Marilynn Ord, and engineers from both Gateshead Council and Northumbrian Water. They are working on plans to tackle flooding. We are hoping that the plans will be completed and go out to public consultation in the coming months. I had
A staple of election campaigns for several decades has been the (lookalike) handwritten letter, usually on one or two pieces of A5 paper and delivered in a handwritten envelope. The letters are typically handwritten by the candidate and then printed, while the envelopes are more frequently individually hand addressed by volunteers. The whole effect is to stand out from other election literature, and also to provide an appropriate medium for a more personal message from a candidate. Common now, and even spreading to organisations outside politics, their origin is usually dated to well into the second half of the twentieth ...
Richard Reich argues that employers will not share the gains from AI unless they are made to: "If the five-day workweek with five days of pay shrinks to four days with four days of pay, and then to three, and to two, and perhaps one, AI will supplant most people's work and drive down our take-home pay. We may see a dazzling array of products and services spawned by AI, but few of us will be able to buy them." "In opposing these children's homes, neighbours resort to language about children in care that they would not use for other ...
I've watched the images of two American aircraft carriers moving toward the Middle East and I don't feel reassured. I feel uneasy. Let me say something clearly before anyone tries to misrepresent this: I despise the Iranian regime. I despise what it does to its own people. I despise its repression of women, its crushing of dissent, its morality police, its execution of protesters, its export of proxy militias, and its cynical use of religion to entrench power. The Iranian people deserve better than the system that rules them. But despising a regime does not mean losing the ability to ...
It's become all too common for Mid Wales to be neglected by the Welsh Government whenever rail investment is announced. This week's announcement from the Prime Minister and First Minister, endorsing Transport for Wales' long-term rail vision, is more of the same. Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe Liberal Democrats have recently commented on this, highlighting that of the confirmed £445 million out of a possible £14 billion from the 2025 Spending Review settlement, seven new stations have been announced: six situated between Cardiff and Newport, and one in North Wales. Mid Wales, meanwhile, will receive no new stations or any ...
Nation Cymru reports that fresh calls have been made for a UK-EU customs union after a major new economic study found that Brexit has reduced UK GDP by between 6% and 8% by 2025. The news site says that the research by leading economists Nicholas Bloom, Philip Bunn, Paul Mizen, Pawel Smietanka and Gregory Thwaites concluded that the impact of leaving the European Union has been large, persistent and cumulative: The report found that, compared to similar advanced economies, the UK has suffered significantly weaker growth since the 2016 referendum. According to the study, business investment is now 12-18% lower ...