LibDem Blogs - Archived!

The campaign, strictly speaking, is now finished. Polling Day itself, however is the busiest day of all. We will be up with the larks and will continue until the polls close in just under 24 hours time. The result is expected about 1.30, although last time it was not until 3.30. A further complication is the number of postal votes- over 14,000! It may make the count quicker, but there are already several problems, so this adds some uncertainty as to when we can make the declaration.We have had a great campaign. Our team has come together and has been ...

As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government.George Washington With just hours to go until polling opens here in the United Kingdom for the General Election, the rhetoric is mounting as we apparently just have days to Save the Pound, the Third World, the N H S or whatever else it is we are meant to believe that one of the three main parties is against. The good news is that ...

There have been few posts here since the weekend, because I've moved down to Teignbridge for the duration, to work on the local election campaign. Work-wise, I've sampled a bit of everything - from strategic advice to making the tea - and this feels a strange election in all sorts of ways, as you will probably have noticed.The Tory campaign in this Lib Dem marginal is, like in the rest of the country, going on mostly "under the radar". In place of a weak local organisation, the Tories are relying on various sorts of centrally-organised phone and mail techniques.Unless you ...

It's eve of poll and much of the election betting will have been done today (which probably explains why the Political Betting site crashed earlier today!). Party insiders will have a good idea of how voting is going, through intelligence gathered from the verification of postal ballots.The betting markets for individual marginal seats are traditionally dominated by punters with inside knowledge, so by now the odds should be a good guide to the final outcome (or, if they're wrong, a good guide to where you can still make money). Where are the punters currently predicting gains or losses?This betting portal ...

in a vain effort to save the seat of Lawrie Quinn, the slavishly loyal, pro-war, soon to be ex MP for Scarborough and Whitby. The faltering Labour campaign has already had to bus in help from Hull University to get leaflets delivered, and has not even been able to find a candidate to stand in the Esk Valley County Council ward. Now, in a final fling to shore up Labour's collapsing vote, Tony

Extremely cold for our walkabout in Marlow, but plenty of people on the street. At the farmers market I talk to some of the stallholders. One is from Wokingham. She says that the Liberal Democrat campaign is very strong over there- and she thinks that John Redwood is going to be under real pressure. Wokingham is not a seat that is on any Radar screens- As the Tories fall below 30% in the polls, I wonder if we might not be seeing a few extremely unexpected results. The dramatic rise in the polls puts the Liberal Democrats above 25% for ...

Talking about reconnecting with popular culture the Labour Assembly Member for Alyn and Deeside, Carl Sargeant, tried to do just that in Plenary yesterday: Carl Sargeant: At the weekend, a community safety officer and a Neighbourhood Watch community safety partnership, which includes Flintshire County Council and Connah’s Quay Town Council, helped to organise a music festival day in one of the old hangers at the RAF Sealand camp, which was attended by over 1,000 youngsters who engaged in moshing, rapping and mixing—it was also new to me. Engaging young people is the future. Will you join me in ...

Welsh Secretary, Peter Hain, has got himself in trouble by publishing a photograph of himself with opera singer, Katherine Jenkins, on his campaign literature without her permission. The photo implies that she is supporting him for re-election when, in fact, she reportedly has "no political leanings whatsoever."Why Mr. Hain felt the need to imply a celebrity endorsement in the first place is puzzling. After all it does nothing to enhance his arguments or to promote his policies. This obsession with celebrity is a New Labour thing and very much reflects the cult of personality that dominates much of American politics.In ...

I've not had much time to update my blog for the past few days. To top it all I keep being sick literally with excruating stomach pains. Not sure if it is something I ate or reaction to some tablets given to me by the doctor. It sort of hit me like a thunderbolt Sunday evening. It's most annoying. I've not been able to go to Lynne's HQ for two days. They have been wondering what happened. Will go later today but I have to be fit for tomorrow. There will be much to do.

Unusual for the Mail and the Mirror to be much in agreement on anything!

Well, this is a turn up for the books.Forced myself to spend 40p on a copy this morning because I was aware that there was a guide to tactical voting. Was amazed to read Edward Heathcoat Amory saying "in the seven seats where the Liberals are best placed, Tory voters should back Charles Kennedy".Interestingly there was no advice about what to do in Lib Dem held seats with a Tory challenge. DHA had an interesting premise and I quote "The fact remains that many people, even those who will vote Labour, would like to see Mr Blair's majority dramatically cut. ...

I was handed a Tory leaflet from Swansea West yesterday that really got me thinking. Headed "Liberal Democrats tax sting", it had a picture of a scorpion and listed 40 mostly fictional new taxes, which they allege we plan to introduce. Those that are not fictional are revenue-neutral replacements for an existing tax, such as local income tax. The only tax rise proposed by the Liberal Democrats in this General Election is the 50% rate on incomes earned over £100,000. Anyway, amongst the list was something called a "speed camera tax". This is the first I have ever heard of ...

What nutter is ringing at 11:30 at night thought I as I was trying to make my bleary-eyed way to bed.None other than Simon Hughes - who keeps stranger hours than I do - who was ringing around wishing people good luck. Nice to be thought of and it seems the party is getting a bit better at keeping in touch with people and generally being a bit more human.

Have picked up a few people recently who say that because they are Christians they will be voting Tory (they haven't always been Tory voters) because (or so they reckon) the Tories views are closer to their own.These matters have previously fallen into the personal conscience camp so this is a worrying development and I sincerely hope that links between politics and religion will not develop along American lines. The really worrying thing though was that one constituent was convinved that she had got this information via Songs of Praise. Yikes Aled - get off that soapbox!

Visit from Clare Rayner who has decided, after fifty years with the Labour Party, that we are now the party she has has most in common with.This decision ultimately stems from the differences between the parties on the subject of free personal care for the elderly. She was a member of the Sutherland Commission which the Labour Party set up to decide on these issues. The only problem was that Labour ignored the key recommendation of the commission which was that personal care, related to illness, should be free. We met a group of carers for coffee and had a ...

I spent many years as a Labour supporter. I know that there are many decent, principled people in the Labour Party who genuinely believe in a better, fairer society. Many of those people are on the horns of a dilemna today. Do they 'hold their noses' and vote for a Prime Minister who stinks, or risk letting the Tories in by abstaining or voting Lib Dem? Once again, Not Labour are repeating the lie about letting Howard in 'by the back door'. Once again the lie has been comprehensively rubbished - this time by the 'Unspun' feature on last night's ...

The last day of the campaign. As I reflect on the course of what has happened, I am quite proud of the Liberal Democrats. Nationally we have been able to set out a Liberal vision- greater freedom, more openness, more autonomy for workers in health and education, less regulation, but also a greater commitment to fairness and much, much greater accountability. Our detailed, costed policy programme has earned respect- it is surprising how often we have had the upper hand about such issues as the Local Income Tax. Indeed, we can now genuinely say, that whatever the result, we have ...