-
Tools to make the recovery stronger, fairer
September 12, 2013 8:00 PM
The Social Liberal Forum’s amendments to Nick Clegg’s economy motion – supported by an unprecedented number of voting representatives – seek to ensure that the party retains distinctive, independent economic narrative up to and beyond the next election. The narrative behind Nick’s motion – which, to be clear, has a great deal that Liberal Democrats can be proud of – is clear enough. Here is the rationale behind our amendments. On housing, the motion highlights government guarantee schemes that -
The next coalition negotiations
September 11, 2013 10:22 AM
In an earlier post (28th May, 2013) I suggested that at least ten days after a general election be allowed for the formation of a government - time which would be especially important when a coalition government of two or more parties was being put together. I want now to suggest that it is rather silly to try to apply to a coalition government the same rules of collective responsibility as have traditionally applied to one-party governments. I suggest that an -
The Lib Dems Must Stand Up For Better Living Standards in 2015
September 10, 2013 12:19 PM
In 1929, a general election took place while Britain was in the grip of economic difficulty and unemployment was high. Under the leadership of David Lloyd George, the Liberal Party chose to stand for election under the slogan “We Can Conquer Unemployment.” What Lloyd George proposed was a radical set of economic policies designed to tackle unemployment by stimulating public infrastructure through house bu -
The manifesto – or how words matter.
September 09, 2013 12:16 PM
In the run up to party conference you get all kinds of media stories. Usually what happens is the party identifies some key issues and pushes those hard. Meanwhile the media looks for a few key stories and goes for them. Most of the debates will be overlooked in the quest to find a simple narrative which is usually about which side is winning, who’s up and who’s down. You could be forgiven for thinking that party conferences only ever debate one or two topics and that only a handful of peopl -
Huge support for SLF's amendments for the economy debate
September 07, 2013 11:06 AM
More than 100 Lib Dem Conference representatives have signed up to support amendments on the economy moved by SLF. As a show of support for a statement Party policy as opposed to opposition to a Government action, this is exceptional and possibly unprecedented.
SLF decided to table two separate amendments, one tailored to generating shorter-term economic growth
-
Race Equality Policy - Getting it right in the Lib Dems
September 06, 2013 9:49 AM
New research from Operation Black Vote has concentrated minds across Westminster: it has revealed that the ethnic minority vote could have a major impact in 168 marginal seats at the next election. In all these seats – including nearly 40% of those in London – the number of BAME voters outnumbers the majority held by the sitting MP. In Ilford North, the Tories have a majority of 5,404 and a BME electorate of 35,051; in Cardiff Central our majority is 4,570 with a BME electorate of 12,445 and in -
The case for the 50p tax rate - John Leech writes
August 29, 2013 10:58 AM
As far as tax changes are concerned, the Liberal Democrats have a lot to be proud of. At the last election our manifesto commitment on tax was to take the poorest taxpayers out of paying tax altogether, so that nobody would pay income tax on earnings below £10,000. The Tories promised to raise the threshold for inheritance tax to £1 million. In Government we will deliver our pledge to raise the personal allowance to £10k, a year ahead of schedule. This is no mean achievement for a party -
Time for Change - Julian Huppert writes on the Cohabitation Motion
August 27, 2013 4:29 PM
A few months ago Liberal Democrats celebrated a landmark achievement for equalities, with the passage of the Same Sex Marriage Act. Starting with a motion three years ago at our conference, introduced and championed by Lynne Featherstone as Equalities Minister, bolstered by Nick throughout and supported by MPs and Peers alike, we proved that we were prepared to stand up for our core liberal values, and secure what I think will be seen as one of the great historical achievements of this Coalition -
Clegg’s Crimea
August 20, 2013 2:35 PM
an abridged version of an August 2013 Liberator Article A senior Liberal Democrat, when recently asked about their view of the prospects for the Party is rumoured to have replied, “The Valley of Death”, evoking thoughts of the Crimean War. That was an accurate assessment born out of the formation of the Coalition in 2010. The causalities, in terms of membership losses however, have been greatly in excess of the 800 British cavalrymen at the Battle of Balaclava in October 1854. Indeed,
