The current president of Taiwan is in America. Her immediate predecessor is in China. Meanwhile Beijing and Washington are slipping deeper into a dangerous stew of suspicion, enmity and mutual recriminations. The visit to America by President Tsai Ing-wen is unofficial. It has to be to mute Chinese objections. But even unofficial visits by the Taiwanese raise the ire of Beijing and in this case the protests will be louder than usual because on April 5th President Tsai flies to California to meet Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and other Republican leaders. President Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party ...
The six councils with the highest recycling rates in England are all led or run by Liberal Democrats.
Helen Morgan appeared on Question Time last night – and she was in battling form. She addressed the first question, on proposals to house migrants in ex-military accommodation and on ships, and said that the way we treat migrants at the moment is inhumane and shameful. The next question was on climate change and net zero targets. She pointed out that we did make progress when we had a Lib Dem Energy Secretary, and we quadrupled the energy output from renewables, but that things had gone downhill since then. Here she is on the housing shortage ... "The government have ...
There has, rightly, been an outcry against the Home Office announcement that child asylum seekers will be forcibly restrained if they 'resist deportation. But we shouldn't forget that restraint is widely used on children living in the care system. In July 2021, Children & Young People Now reported: Dozens of MPs have joined forces to call on the government to ban the use of handcuffs on children in care. Ministers are backing the Hope Instead of Handcuffs campaign, launched by Emily Aklan, chief executive of children's social care provider Serenity Welfare, which is calling for legislation allowing a child in ...
I really hope that the other four Council Groups will accept the Liberal Democrat call for greater cooperation after the local elections In advance of the close of nominations for the Council on Tuesday I have written to the other ... Continue reading →
The Liberal Democrats approved a new Code of Conduct for Members and Registered Supporters at their spring conference, which was in York earlier month. It was announced to those members and supporters last night in the briefest of emails - though it still managed to misspell the name of the party. Most members don't attend conference and probably weren't expecting this new code, so it would have been good to have received an email that explained why it has been produced and what it is designed to achieve. The code is potentially draconian, but it would be wrong to condemn ...
The concept of a Christmas Tree Bill was new to me. Don Foster has been talking to PoliticsHome about them. There are very many bills like Christmas Tree Bills, where it's perfectly possible to move amendments that dangle further baubles on to the Christmas tree. A very good example of that is the Levelling Up Bill, which really opens up the possibilities for almost anything to be moved as an amendment. He has been commenting on the backlog in the House of Lords caused by hugely complex legislation making its way through the system. In particular the Levelling Up And ...
The Independent reports that the UK will become the first European nation to join an Indo-Pacific trade pact in a deal Rishi Sunak has hailed as putting the UK in a "prime position" globally. The paper says that the deal, which would see the UK join countries including Malaysia, Japan and Australia, would "boost the UK economy by £1.8bn in the long run", a figure dwarfed by the long term cost of Brexit. The unanswered question however is why the British public has not been given a say in this decision. After all we had a referendum to both join ...
From NHS Tayside : Most GPs in Tayside will be closed on Monday 3rd April. Please ensure you have enough of your regular medication before the public holiday and only order what you need.
Here's the latest tally of seats changing hands in principal authority council by-elections held since the last May round of local elections.
Three principal authority council by-elections this week, all with Liberal Democrat candidates – and that's a reason to be cheerful as it's two up on the last time these wards were up. Liberal Democrats GAIN a Westgate ward seat on @GloucesterCity. Results: Ben Baker (OMRLP) 22, Trevor Howard (Lab) 351, Peter Sheehy (Con) 455, Rebecca Trimnell (LD) 658, Gill White (37). Rebecca Trimnell is elected. #LocalElections pic.twitter.com/qkpFehSuvj — Carmelo Garcia (@CarmeloGarc1a) March 30, 2023
