Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
Ed Davey on why he is rejecting Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal – and why his Liberal Democrat colleagues will join him in doing so. In a week when the Prime Minister interrupted the holidays to finally announce the long overdue terms of the UK’s future relationship with the EU, you would think he would be […]
Liberal Democrats
Lib Dems confirm they will vote against Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal
The Liberal Democrats have confirmed that they will vote against Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union. In a statement, the party described the Bill as “threadbare” and claimed it is “bad for jobs, business, security and our environment”. A reasoned amendment to the Bill has also been lodged by the party which […]
Liberal Democrats
Lib Dems indicate they will vote against Brexit deal
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey indicated the party is likely to vote against the Brexit trade deal with the European Union. He told BBC Breakfast: “If the details turn out to be what we’re hearing, we cannot support it. This will be so bad for British business, so bad for families to mean they’re […]
Liberal Democrats
A paper-thin Brexit deal isn’t befitting of Great Britain
The Brexit deal we end up with won’t be worth the paper it’s written on, and Boris Johnson is to blame, writes LUISA PORRITT, the Liberal Democrat candidate for mayor of London. Like many Brits, I have been on a streaming spree of The Crown over lockdown. For those who haven’t been watching, the latest series […]
Liberal Democrats
Ed Davey warns Boris Johnson that Lib Dems could vote against tier system
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has warned Boris Johnson that his party may not back the government’s plans for a tiered system of coronavirus restrictions to replace England’s national lockdown. Increasing pressure amid a potentially large Tory rebellion, Sir Ed wrote to prime minister Boris Johnson to say the 11 Lib Dem MPs would […]
Liberal Democrats
Ministers accused of leaving UK business ‘in deep distress’ after not answering 60 questions on post-Brexit rules
Ministers have been accused of leaving Northern Ireland businesses ‘in distress’ after failing to answer 60 questions about post-Brexit trading rules. A business leader slammed ministers for leaving firms in the dark with just six weeks to go until the end of the transition period. “We asked 67 questions at the beginning of the summer,” Manufacturing NI’s […]
Liberal Democrats
Roy Jenkins – the man that helped Britain join the EU
Roy Jenkins – the man that helped Britain join the European Community. This week sees the 100th anniversary of the birth of Roy Jenkins, one of the outstanding British statesmen of the post-war period. He was one of the greatest reforming home secretaries in history, arguably the most successful chancellor of the exchequer since the […]
Liberal Democrats
Lib Dem mayoral hopeful Luisa Porritt on city plans and rejoining the EU
‘Rising star’ can be an overused term in politics, but here’s Luisa Porritt’s CV over the past four years. In 2016 she joined the Liberal Democrats. In 2018 she was elected as a councillor. Last year she became an MEP and the party’s deputy leader in Brussels. Now she’s their candidate to be Mayor of […]
Liberal Democrats
New YouGov poll puts Greens in third place at Westminster
The Green Party has become the third biggest party in new YouGov polling for Westminster. Despite limited amounts of media coverage for the Greens, the polling is the first time the pollster has recorded the party overtaking the Liberal Democrat since March 2015. The new polling puts the party on 6% (+1) of support, ahead […]
Liberal Democrats
Don’t expect a Lib-Lab pact at the next election
How did it come to this? We are a moderate nation; most of us stand somewhere around the centre politically. Get on with your life without too much interference from the state, work hard, pay your taxes, be tolerant, do what you can to help those worse off than yourself, create safety nets for the […]
Liberal Democrats
Ed Davey says the Tories are failing people ‘in our darkest hour’
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey accused the government of “unbelievable incompetence” in handling coronavirus, and said that the Tories are failing people “in one of our darkest hours”. In his first conference speech as leader, Sir Ed claimed Boris Johnson “refuses to take even the slightest responsibility” for the “chaos and harm” caused by […]
Liberal Democrats
Lib Dems could vote down Brexit trade deal
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has not ruled out voting down a possible Brexit deal between the UK and EU “if it harms our economy”. Appearing on LBC, Davey was asked if he would vote for a future trade deal, despite criticisms that Johnson had failed to secure the deal he had promised at the last […]
Liberal Democrats
Lib Dems vote to support Rejoin movement – but rule out campaigning immediately
Liberal Democrat members have ruled out an amendment to a motion at conference which would have seen the party campaigning to rejoin the EU immediately after the transition period ends. But the party did vote in favour of an amendment which backs supporting a “longer term objective” of the UK being a member of the European Union. In a […]
Liberal Democrats
Liberalism is in a fight for its life but each of us can defend it
To read the papers at the moment is to watch the concept of truth decompose in front of your eyes. The debate over the Withdrawal Agreement is the kind of thing which makes you question your sanity. We’re told that the document is intolerable. It’s the result of European “dirty tactics”, according to the Sun’s political […]
Liberal Democrats
Without a rejoin policy there’s little to stop pro-Europeans in the Lib Dems from moving to Labour
For Tim Walker, who stood briefly for the Lib Dems in Canterbury in the last election, Sir Ed Davey’s announcement the party would no longer push for Britain to rejoin the EU was ‘the last straw’ Short of The New European coming out for a no-deal Brexit, or the Pope renouncing Catholicism, it’s hard to […]
Liberal Democrats
Lib Dem acting leader Ed Davey on the art of opposition homeworking
TIM WALKER talks to Lib Dem acting leader Ed Davey about the role of politics during the pandemic, and what Keir Starmer’s success could do for his own party’s prospects. Sir Ed Davey is working from home in his south London constituency, but, while his daily commute from his bed to his desk is shorter, […]
Liberal Democrats
‘Old party politics must go’: Lib Dem Layla Moran on the coronavirus response
Layla Moran talks to TIM WALKER about how parties and political opponents should find ways to work together to tackle the coronavirus. In this brave new world, politicians are gasping for relevance. Holed up in her constituency home in Oxfordshire, Layla Moran, a former teacher, is managing to keep us attentive. More than that, she’s […]
Liberal Democrats
Why my party missed its big moment
Former Lib Dem candidate TIM WALKER reflects with sadness, but also frankness, on what went wrong for his party. If Boris Johnson made me look not to the stars but to the gutter throughout the election, Jeremy Corbyn made me glaze over… and Jo Swinson made me sigh and think of what might have been. […]
Liberal Democrats
New leader, new hope: How Jo Swinson has energised the Lib Dems and terrorised Labour
Political itinerant and, latterly, Liberal Democrat member TIM WALKER on why the election of Jo Swinson to the party’s leadership fills him with optimism Jo Swinson was barely three minutes into her victory speech when I realised I’d already heard more conviction and good sense than Jeremy Corbyn had managed in the three long years […]
Liberal Democrats
‘This is still a racist country’ – Lib Dem leadership candidate Jo Swinson speaks to The New European
TIM WALKER meets Lib Dem leadership candidate Jo Swinson to talk about the challenges facing liberalism, coalition mistakes and… Brexit Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson. Photograph: Andrew Milligan. – Credit: PA Wire/PA Images I ask Jo Swinson why she should lead the Liberal Democrats and she takes a deep breath and manages to get […]
Liberal Democrats
Sir Ed Davey: MPs defecting to Lib Dems must join ‘on our terms’
Liberal Democrat leadership candidate Sir Ed Davey tells TIM WALKER how the party now leads the opposition to Brexit. As secretary of state for energy and climate change and a member of the privy council during the coalition years, Sir Ed Davey sat on the national security council. “We met each week and the heads […]
Liberal Democrats
LAYLA MORAN: I don’t know how Tory MPs sleep at night
With the Liberal Democrat conference opening in Brighton this weekend, Layla Moran talks to Tim Walker about Brexit, Vince Cable’s proposals for the party – and those rumours she’s about to succeed him. Layla Moran, the 35-year-old Lib Dem MP touted as the next leader of her party, was relaxed to the point of insouciance […]
Liberal Democrats
Menzies Campbell: “I fear it will take a major convulsion to jolt politics back to normal”
Lib Dem elder statesman Menzies Campbell talks about the polarised nature of modern politics. In common with a great many others, ‘Ming’ Campbell was impressed with the speech that Theresa May delivered from the steps of Downing Street when, almost two years ago, she became Prime Minister. ‘She made it clear how much she wanted […]