OECD Report: UK economy is "stuck in the slow lane" Revealed: Truss taxpayer handouts now reach over £40k Sunak has failed to embrace the industries of the future OECD Report: UK economy is "stuck in the slow lane" Responding to the lastest OECD report, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Treasury and Business Spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said: This damning report shows that under the Conservatives, the UK economy is stuck in the slow lane. We've had zero apology from Liz Truss for trashing the economy, and now zero plan from Rishi Sunak to fix it. It's time for a proper plan ...
The new issue of Liberator has been posted on the magazine's website in time for the Liberal Democrat Conference. It's issue 419 (September 2023) and you can download it for free. I'll start posting Lord Bonkers' Diary here tomorrow, but first here's my article from this Liberator on For a Fair Deal, the policy document being presented to conference. No Place Like Home Counties "We want to use the by-election playbook across the Blue Wall,' says one Lib Dem insider, encouraged by the party's victories in Chesham, North Shropshire, Tiverton and Somerton." I don't know how many 'Lib Dem insiders' ...
4.4 million children not seen by an NHS dentist in the last 12 months 22 million adults not seen by an NHS dentist in the past 2 years Lib Dem Health Spokesperson Daisy Cooper visits dentist in Mid Bedfordshire and calls for boost to NHS dentist appointments and a cut to VAT on children's toothpaste Over 4.4 million children in England have not been seen by an NHS dentist for at least a year, shocking new figures published by the Liberal Democrats have revealed. The research, commissioned from the House of Commons Library, estimates the number of children who weren't ...
For a brief period Liz Truss was a Young Liberal. We would like to reiterate once again that we did not send her to the Tories as a 'sleeping agent' to destroy them! No-one could ever say that Liz Truss ... Continue reading →
Tue 19th
13:16
Somehow this disqualifyingly moronic assumption did not deter Russell Brand's political acolytes
Embed from Getty ImagesTwitter yesterday was full of people arguing that, because Russell Brand - who denies all the allegations made against him on Saturday's Dispatches programme - was being defended by right-wing conspiracy loons, there were no lessons for the left to learn from his rise and fall. If you pointed out, as I did a couple of times, that Brand had written a Guardian column for years and edited a special issue of the New Statesman, some were outraged. So I was pleased by Marina Hyde's article in the Guardian this morning, which looks at the role of ...
Here's an interesting clip from Ash Sarkar's interview with Rory Stewart for Novara Media. Stewart's membership of this shadowy foreign policy forum Le Cercle, or rather his failure to declare it as a minister, was briefly the subject of controversy in 2019. PoliticsHome reported then: Two senior Conservatives are facing questions over their links to a secretive foreign affairs group. Rory Stewart and Nadhim Zahawi did not declare their chairmanship of transatlantic body 'Le Cercle' despite also sitting on several related Commons select committees, PoliticsHome can reveal. The group organises gatherings of powerful figures from politics, business and the intelligence ...
Bournemouth is going to be a landmark conference for young people in the Liberal Democrats. This is the biggest opportunity in years for the party to answer the question on every young person's mind as the general election approaches: Is the party going to leave us behind? With three key items on the agenda for young people, Conference will have three votes to decide what message it wants to send to the future generation of the party. The first comes in the form of Federal Policy Committee's (FPC) F31: Tackling the Housing Crisis policy paper. As James Bliss writes in ...
"It's a disgrace that someone can say something outrageous like that in a debate at Conference! They should be thrown out of the Party! How can I put in a complaint? I want them expelled!" I have heard this question time and time again over the years during Federal Conference. The answer is simple. If you believe you need to make a complaint about the behaviour of a member of the Liberal Democrats, go to the party website and put in a formal complaint to the Lib Dem's Independent Complaints Process. A decision will then be made by the Senior ...
The Independent reports that more than 1,000 officers in Britain's largest police force are currently suspended or on restricted duties as bosses try to cull corrupt or incompetent staff. The paper says that Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy believes that it will take years to get rid of officers who have breached standards or failed vetting, amid a clean-up following a series of disturbing scandals: About 60 officers could face the sack each month over at least the next two years, with about 30 facing misconduct proceedings and 30 gross incompetence hearings, he said. The new figures come ...
Channel 4 did a preview of the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election last night. You can watch here. Our brilliant candidate Gloria Adebo was interviewed in her garden. Responding to a challenge that the Liberal Democrats weren't relevant in the seat, Gloria, filmed tending her sunflowers, said: Why would I not run? No vote has been cast yet and there's all to grab. We speak to people on the doorstep and there was a lady who said to me "Can you not just press the reset button. We can't go on like this. So there are people out there who ...
Fraser's weekly ward surgeries take place later today and every Tuesday during school term time. They are as follows : Tuesdays at 5pm prompt - Blackness Library Tuesdays at 5.45pm prompt - Ancrum Road Primary School All residents welcome - no appointment necessary.
I could only have ever joined the Liberal Democrats when I came to the UK from Hong Kong. Long before others, Paddy Ashdown fought for our right to come to the UK as British Nationals, and now Ed Davey and our parliamentarians continue to speak out to protect Hong Kongers and support those arriving in the UK. Some are dissidents, some come because they have family members here, but all are horrified at the behaviour of the CCP and the Hong Kong Authorities over recent years, killing democracy and removing human rights. Perhaps a real-life story will explain. "Emily" was ...
