Coalition Update: 25-31 January
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England's Local Elections 2018: the Lib Dems' Performance Was
Democratic Audit: England’s local elections 2018: the Lib Dems’ performance was underwhelming – but these were not the elections to judge the party on Page 1 of 4 England’s local elections 2018: the Lib Dems’ performance was underwhelming – but these were not the elections to judge the party on Despite media headlines to the contrary, the Liberal Democrats’ performance in the recent local elections was pretty underwhelming, explains David Cutts. But it is the 2019 local elections that will tell us more about the long- term viability of the party, since those will concern a larger number of English districts where the Lib Dems will be seeking to reclaim ground lost to the Conservatives since 2010. Vince Cable. Picture: Richter Frank-Jurgen, via a (CC BY-SA 2.0) licence Liberals have a longstanding attachment to the local. Aside from their enduring commitment to community politics, the Liberal Democrats have always relied on winning council seats and running local councils to counter voters’ electoral credibility concerns. The formula has always been a simple one: grassroots politics provided the basis for winning seats and building local core support. Elected councillors would ‘fly the flag’ for the party through their ‘all year round’ activism. With the help of national party strategists, they would become experienced, skilled local campaigners adept at targeting and recruiting activists, and building local party organisations. Local success boosted the party’s chances in Westminster elections as voters were more likely to support the Liberal Democrats where it had a chance of winning, thereby diluting concerns that voting for the party would be a wasted effort. -
Jo Swinson: the New Liberal Democrat Leader
Jo Swinson: the new Liberal Democrat Leader 22 July 2019 Who is Jo Swinson? Jo Swinson was born in 1980, growing up and going to school in East Dunbartonshire, which she now represents in Parliament. Her mother was a primary school teacher while her father worked in economic development. She cites her earliest political experience as signing petitions against animal testing in the Body Shop. A Liberal Democrat supporter since she was at school, Jo joined the Liberal Democrats aged 17, while studying Management at the LSE. During her time at university, she worked as a Research Assistant for the Employers’ Forum on Disability. After graduating, Swinson moved to Hull, working as Viking FM’s Marketing & PR Manager. Aged 21, she stood against John Prescott at the 2001 general election in Hull East. Relocating back to Scotland, she worked as Marketing Manager for SpaceandPeople Plc and then as Communications Officer for the UK Public Health Association prior to her election as an MP. In 2011, she married Duncan Hames, who was the Liberal Democrat MP for Chippenham from 2010 to 2015, and is now an anti-corruption campaigner. The couple have two sons. What is Jo Swinson’s political background? Swinson was successfully elected to Parliament in 2005, winning East Dunbartonshire from Labour. In the Commons, she became a Lib Dem whip and spokesperson for culture, media and sport, before being promoted to Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland in 2006. Swinson gained additional responsibility in 2007 becoming Shadow Women and Equality Minister. She returned to the backbenches later that year, before becoming Shadow Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in 2008, retaining this role until the 2010 election. -
From 'Greenest Government Ever' to 'Get Rid of All the Green Crap': David Cameron, the Conservatives and the Environment
This is a repository copy of From ‘greenest government ever’ to ‘get rid of all the green crap’: David Cameron, the Conservatives and the environment. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/85469/ Version: Submitted Version Article: Carter, Neil Thomas orcid.org/0000-0003-3378-8773 and Clements, Ben (2015) From ‘greenest government ever’ to ‘get rid of all the green crap’: David Cameron, the Conservatives and the environment. British Politics. 204–225. ISSN 1746-918X https://doi.org/10.1057/bp.2015.16 Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ From ‘Greenest government ever’ to ‘get rid of all the green crap’: David Cameron, the Conservatives and the Environment by Neil Carter (University of York) and Ben Clements (University of Leicester) Published in British Politics, early online April 2015. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copy-edit version of the paper. -
Sir Vince Cable Q&A – Life After Lib Dem Leadership
Sir Vince Cable Q&A – Life after Lib Dem leadership By Beverley Nielsen, Associate Professor at Birmingham City University’s IDEA Institute and Senior Fellow at BCU’s Centre for Brexit Studies, Liberal Democrat Councillor on Malvern Hills District Council and responsible for the Economic Development & Tourism Portfolio How are you feeling at the end of your term as Leader? I am not sure what the next stage of my career really is. I’m in California over the summer with my son and I’m looking forward to coming back feeling refreshed. I will of course still be MP for Twickenham. I’m writing another book looking at the links between politicians and economics and taking a closer view of the figures who have made a big difference through these links including Alexander Hamilton (1) and Deng Xiaoping (2). [(1) Alexander Hamilton (1755 – 1804), was renowned as one of the founding fathers of the United States of America, leading the way in interpreting and promoting the US Constitution, founding the nation’s financial system, the Federalist Party and the New York Post. As First Secretary of the Treasury, he was promoted the economic policies for George Washington‘s administration, setting up a national bank, enabling funding for state debt, establishing a system of tariffs and trading relations with Great Britain. (2) Deng, credited through economic policy reform with lifting more human beings out of poverty than any other human being, drew on a model of ‘state capitalism’ set within the framework of Communist party rule. Deng himself was pragmatic: a gradualist who believed in ‘crossing the river by feeling for the stones’, being interested in results rather than dogma or doctrine.] What are your proudest achievements? Most of the achievements I’m proudest of were achieved during the five years I spent serving as a Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in the Coalition government. -
The Andrew Marr Show” Must Be Credited If Any Part of This Transcript Is Used
PLEASE NOTE “THE ANDREW MARR SHOW” MUST BE CREDITED IF ANY PART OF THIS TRANSCRIPT IS USED THE ANDREW MARR SHOW INTERVIEW: TIM FARRON, MP PRESIDENT, LIBERAL DEMOCRATS FEBRUARY 5th 2012 ANDREW MARR: The Liberal Democrats have a direct role in government of course for the first time since … well since the party was founded. However, their individual identity and their separate policies have been, I think it’s fair to say, rather overshadowed by the Conservatives who form the larger part of the coalition. The most outspoken Lib Dem sitting at the cabinet table, a man quite prepared to lock horns with the Prime Minister or the Chancellor, was the Energy Secretary Chris Huhne, so what does his departure to prepare for his court appearance mean for his party and the government? The President of the Lib Dems, Tim Farron, is in Cumbria. Good morning, Tim. It looks formidably cold there, so thank you for coming out. TIM FARRON: Oh this is normal, Andrew. ANDREW MARR: Okay. Let me start with some politics as normal. A lot of hostility building up for instance to wind farms at the moment, one of Chris Huhne’s key policies. Do you think that his departure from government is going to blunt the climate change agenda that the Liberal Democrats have been so enthusiastic about? 1 TIM FARRON: Well no, it definitely isn’t. Ed Davey is an outstanding environmentalist and one with years track record in fighting on green issues - absolutely the right person to take over in the job. That doesn’t mean we won’t miss Chris Huhne. -
Ambitious for Our Country; Ambitious for Our Party
Ambitious for our country; ambitious for our party MY MANIFESTO I want to lead the Liberal Democrats because I am ambitious about our future. I believe we are the only party that can represent the millions of liberal-minded people alarmed by the direction this country is taking: people, whether they voted remain or leave, who hate the intolerance, xenophobia and division that the Brexit vote unleashed. I want the Liberal Democrats to be at the centre of political life: a credible, effective party of national and local government, and a voice of sanity on Europe. To achieve this, we will have to fight for every vote and every seat. It can be done: we have a record membership and the enormous energy that thousands of new members have brought to the party. I believe I have the ability to give that energy a lead, to hit the headlines and to put our party at the centre of political debate. Published by Tom Brake MP on behalf of Vince Cable MP at 49 Church Lane, Teddington, TW11 8PA. Designed by Graphical - www.graphicalagency.com Britain needs the Liberal Democrats There is much to be patriotic about in and competitiveness. These issues were beginning to be addressed by Britain today. It is a more tolerant and the Coalition government, but Brexit inclusive place than when my late wife and – pursued by Theresa May with full support from Jeremy Corbyn I started an inter-racial family a generation – is now starting to inflict further ago. It has great resources of creativity and economic damage. -
Web of Power
Media Briefing MAIN HEADING PARAGRAPH STYLE IS main head Web of power SUB TITLE PARAGRAPH STYLE IS main sub head The UK government and the energy- DATE PARAGRAPH STYLE IS date of document finance complex fuelling climate change March 2013 Research by the World Development Movement has Government figures embroiled in the nexus of money and revealed that one third of ministers in the UK government power fuelling climate change include William Hague, are linked to the finance and energy companies driving George Osborne, Michael Gove, Oliver Letwin, Vince Cable climate change. and even David Cameron himself. This energy-finance complex at the heart of government If we are to move away from a high carbon economy, is allowing fossil fuel companies to push the planet to the government must break this nexus and regulate the the brink of climate catastrophe, risking millions of lives, finance sector’s investment in fossil fuel energy. especially in the world’s poorest countries. SUBHEAD PARAGRAPH STYLE IS head A Introduction The world is approaching the point of no return in the Energy-finance complex in figures climate crisis. Unless emissions are massively reduced now, BODY PARAGRAPH STYLE IS body text Value of fossil fuel shares on the London Stock vast areas of the world will see increased drought, whole Exchange: £900 billion1 – higher than the GDP of the countries will be submerged and falling crop yields could whole of sub-Saharan Africa.2 mean millions dying of hunger. But finance is continuing to flow to multinational fossil fuel companies that are Top five UK banks’ underwrote £170 billion in bonds ploughing billions into new oil, gas and coal energy. -
Thecoalition
The Coalition Voters, Parties and Institutions Welcome to this interactive pdf version of The Coalition: Voters, Parties and Institutions Please note that in order to view this pdf as intended and to take full advantage of the interactive functions, we strongly recommend you open this document in Adobe Acrobat. Adobe Acrobat Reader is free to download and you can do so from the Adobe website (click to open webpage). Navigation • Each page includes a navigation bar with buttons to view the previous and next pages, along with a button to return to the contents page at any time • You can click on any of the titles on the contents page to take you directly to each article Figures • To examine any of the figures in more detail, you can click on the + button beside each figure to open a magnified view. You can also click on the diagram itself. To return to the full page view, click on the - button Weblinks and email addresses • All web links and email addresses are live links - you can click on them to open a website or new email <>contents The Coalition: Voters, Parties and Institutions Edited by: Hussein Kassim Charles Clarke Catherine Haddon <>contents Published 2012 Commissioned by School of Political, Social and International Studies University of East Anglia Norwich Design by Woolf Designs (www.woolfdesigns.co.uk) <>contents Introduction 03 The Coalition: Voters, Parties and Institutions Introduction The formation of the Conservative-Liberal In his opening paper, Bob Worcester discusses Democratic administration in May 2010 was a public opinion and support for the parties in major political event. -
Energy Futures Network Paper No. 13
Energy Futures Network Paper No. 13 The first 100 days of Conservative energy policy Dieter Helm Professor of Energy Policy University of Oxford 20th August 2015 Amber Rudd, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, has had a very busy start. She has ended new subsidies for onshore wind, reined back the Green Deal, removed the exemption from tax for renewables, ended the zero- carbon homes plan, removed guaranteed subsidy for biomass, borne down on solar PV subsidies, speeded up the rules on fracking planning process, and at the same time fully come in behind the Paris climate negotiations and the UK’s commitment to tackling carbon emissions. For some in the green lobby, this smacks at best of inconsistency and at worst it is disingenuous – saying one thing, and doing another. Unsurprising Renewables UK, the powerful and vocal lobby group, has screamed about the scale back of the subsidies its members have to date so effectively campaigned for. It claimed that Rudd’s commitment to tacking climate change was “like saying you want to win the Tour de France on a bike without wheels”. So what can we learn from the first 100 days of Conservative energy policy? Does it add up to a coherent framework, or is it just ad hoc and made up as the new government has been going along? The case for the initial changes 1 Energy Futures Network Paper No. 13 The Conservatives inherited a mess, partly of their own making during the Coalition. Energy policy has for almost a decade been dominated by the framework laid down by Ed Milliband in 2008, and faithfully followed through by Chris Huhne and Ed Davey – what might be called MHD. -
The Liberal Democrat Journey to a LIB-Con Coalition and Where Next?
The LiberaL Democrat Journey To a LIB-CoN CoaLITIoN aNd where NexT? Southbank house, Black Prince road, London Se1 7SJ T: +44 (0) 20 7463 0632 | [email protected] www.compassonline.org.uk richard S Grayson The LiberaL Democrat Journey To a LIB-CoN CoaLITIoN – aNd where NexT? richard S Grayson 2 about the author Dr Richard Grayson is Head of Politics at Goldsmiths, University of London, and is one of three vice-chairs of the Liberal Democrat Federal Policy Committee, but writes here in a personal capacity. He was the party’s Director of Policy in 1999–2004 and stood for Parliament in Hemel Hempstead in 2005 and 2010, adding over 10% to the party’s vote. He was one of the founders of the Social Liberal Forum and was the first chair of its Executive. In September 2010 he takes up the post of Professor of Twentieth Century History at Goldsmiths. Published by Compass − Direction for the Democratic Left Ltd Southbank House, Black Prince Road, London SE1 7SJ T: +44 (0) 207 463 0632 [email protected] www.compassonline.org.uk Designed by SoapBox, www.soapboxcommunications.co.uk 3 The Liberal democrat ning both needs to be understood. Doing so begins with a story about how it is possible that a journey to a Lib–Con party which has often over the past decade been seen as ‘left of Labour’ on civil liberties, demo - coalition – and where cratic reform, taxation and public services is engaged quite so enthusiastically in reducing the next? size of the state. -
David Cameron and Nick Clegg Are Stretching the British Constitution, but Our Confrontational Style of Politics Looks Set to Continue
democraticaudit.com http://www.democraticaudit.com/?p=8468 David Cameron and Nick Clegg are stretching the British constitution, but our confrontational style of politics looks set to continue By Democratic Audit UK Few expected the Coalition Government formed in the wake of the 2010 General Election to last as long as it has. This has been made possible by a process of what Stephen Barber described as ‘stretching’ of the constitution, disregarding some conventions while altering others. Despite this, our confrontational style of politics doesn’t look set to end any time soon, with a power-sharing culture and tone of respectful difference seemingly as far off as ever. Credit: Nick Page, CC BY 2.0 Conference season before a general election is the opportunity for parties to present themselves as credible occupants of ministerial office. Three things are different this year, however. Firstly, the date of the general election is actually known. Secondly, the parties which have been in coalition government together for four years are openly distancing themselves from each other. And thirdly, policy pledges are being framed not only to attract voters but also as potential bargaining chips to negotiate a new coalition should a hung parliament result in May. The Fixed Term Parliament Act aside, planned constitutional reform has fallen well short of expectations since 2010 as House of Lords reform, ‘equalising’ boundaries, reducing the number of MPs and the Alternative Vote have all fallen by the wayside. That said belated pledges to devolve even more power to Scotland will be meaningful in time. But the biggest impact has been the stretching of the constitution to accommodate two parties in office by way of collective responsibility and prerogative powers – not to mention the new role of manifestos as documents to negotiate a Coalition Agreement. -
Sir Vince Cable: the US and China Must Engage to Avoid a New Cold War
Sir Vince Cable: The US and China must engage to avoid a new cold war Speaking on RBC Global Asset Management’s Bookclub podcast, former leader PUBLISHED February 2021 of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Vince Cable spoke about his dealings with China when he was in the coalition UK government, and why there is an opportunity READ TIME 10 minutes for China and the US to work together sensibly under the Biden administration. Cable’s new book Engage!: Avoid The New Cold War ponders whether the deteriorating political and economic relations between the West and China over the Covid-19 crisis could be the start of a new cold war. When you were in the coalition government, investigations into Huawei in particular over how did you balance the trade-offs when whether they were conducting themselves as Sometimes, faced with a rising superpower? good citizens, or whether they were engaged when dealing in unfriendly activities - we had no negative with Cable: When I was in government, my dealings evidence. representatives were usually with high-level Chinese representatives. They are extraordinarily smart people. Sometimes, But there were difficult cases. A senior executive of other when dealing with representatives of other at GSK was imprisoned in China for reasons that governments, governments, you sense that they’re there for were linked to corporate politics and we found you sense that reasons of patronage or corruption. difficult to understand. Things like that certainly they’re there got in the way of smooth, easy relationships. for reasons of We were conscious there was a trade-off when patronage or we alienated the US over the infrastructure bank.