This week saw 6 principal council by-elections held across England and Scotland, with the Conservatives, Labour, and Lib Dems each defending 2. The Lib Dems lost a seat to the Tories while Labour lost both of their Scottish defences to the SNP. The Lib Dems and Tories both held the remaining seats. The headline win this week belongs to Cllr Bradley Nelson and the team in Mole Valley DC, who won the seat in Holmwoods & Beare Green by a huge margin. Congratulations to Cllr Bradley and the team on the win! Mole Valley DC, Holmwoods & Beare Green Liberal ...
My greatest acheivement in my political career was helping to craft the Scottish Liberal Democrat policy, that certainly inspired Federal Policy on marriage equality, which in turn became (although somewhat amended Marriage (Same Sex Couples Act 2013). Before coming back to Northern Ireland and working with any party, politician and group that wanted to get invovled in doing the same here. At that Scottish Spring Conference I actually moved an amendment on the issue to allow people seeking to obtain a GRC to remain in their marriage without having to go through the ludicous process of having to annul the ...
The Guardian reports that the government is to introduce a GCSE in Natural History. It had previously said that the new qualification was in doubt because it was "seen as a Conservative Party initiative". This led me to recall the George Orwell column that began: Last time I mentioned flowers in this column an indignant lady wrote in to say that flowers are bourgeois. But now, says the Guardian: Announcing the new GCSE in parliament, the education minister Catherine McKinnell said it would equip young people "to understand and respect the natural world and contribute to the protection and conservation ...
Six principal authority council by-elections this week, two on Wednesday and then four on Thursday. Let's start with a successful Lib Dem defence: Holmwoods & Beare Green (Mole Valley) Council By-Election Result: [IMG: 🔶] LDM: 46.5% (+1.1) [IMG: 🌳] CON: 27.2% (-2.8) [IMG: ➡] RFM: 21.6% (+11.5) [IMG: 🌍] GRN: 4.7% (-3.6)No LAB (-6.2) as previous.Liberal Democrat HOLD.Changes w/ 2024. — Election Maps UK (@electionmaps.uk) 2025-03-21T08:26:51.749Z
I suggested in the LibDem Voice the other day that the collision in the North Sea was Russian sabotage. There were some sceptical comments. But was it just a coincidence that the captain of the offending vessel was Russian and most of his crew were too? The police are investigating and are discouraging such speculation. But I'm writing this when the headlines are 'Major disruption as Heathrow closed all day after nearby fire causes power outage'. The Fire Brigade are investigating. I wonder what they will find? The US-based Centre for Strategic & International Studies says Russia is conducting an ...
The Guardian reports that more than 9,000 unpaid carers looking after ill and disabled loved ones have become the latest to be hit with carer's allowance overpayment debts in the past year, prompting calls for ministers to suspend the controversial practice. The paper says that while the government has promised to tackle the carer's allowance scandal and launched a review, the latest figures show carers continue to be unwittingly caught by the system, landing them with debts often running into thousands of pounds: In total, 144,000 carers now have outstanding repayments after falling foul of drastic "cliff-edge" rules limiting the ...
So this happened: .@rthonjennie has crossed the floor for some cross party petting pic.twitter.com/KP7Gen9YCb — PARLY (@PARLYapp) March 19, 2025 Update According to The Mirror: After seeing Jennie being petted by a gaggle of Labour MPs, chief whip Wendy Chamberlain summoned her for a breach of party discipline. The dog was pictured looking sheepish in Ms Chamberlain's office. But party members have demanded justice for Jennie at the Lib Dem spring conference. They put forward a motion urging activists to acknowledge that "establishing good relationships across parties is a sign of grown up politics". The motion also called for recognition ...
Yesterday Steffan Aquarone, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk, led a backbench Commons debate on coastal communities. Here is part of his speech: I have covered just some of the key pillars of the challenges that our coastal communities face, as well as their resilience and our opportunity as a whole country to support them. What frustrates me greatly is that despite the wide-ranging and various challenges, responsibility for supporting them is fragmented and siloed across Government. I am delighted to see the Minister in his place; however, his remit contains only the communities aspect of our coastal communities. ...
Last month, we highlighted that we had received further concerns from residents about the deteriorating condition of the roadway of Saggar Street - Michael is pictured near the junction with Pentland Crescent. At the time we asked the roads maintenance partnership to undertake repairs, but, given its really poor state, also asked about the possibility of resurfacing the street which we feel badly needs done. We have now received the following feedback from the roads maintenance partnership : "Thank you for bringing the pothole issues on Saggar Street to our attention. We understand the inconvenience and potential hazards these defects ...
Embed from Getty ImagesA word of uninvited advice for the Conservatives: listen to Margaret Thatcher on the climate crisis, not Kemi Badenoch. Here, thanks to a 2013 Guardian article by the late John Vidal, are some of the Iron Lady's words of wisdom on the environment. Here is an extract from a speech she made to the Royal Society on 27 September 1988: For generations, we have assumed that the efforts of mankind would leave the fundamental equilibrium of the world's systems and atmosphere stable. But it is possible that with all these enormous changes (population, agricultural, use of fossil ...
