Liberal Democrat Voice

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Mathew on Monday: Starmer’s resignation and an increasingly ungovernable country

By Mathew Hulbert | Mon 22nd June 2026 - 5:03 pm

Keir Starmer’s resignation comes as little surprise. In truth, he always appeared ill-suited to the role of Prime Minister. He entered Downing Street with no clear governing project, no driving ideology and an over reliance on advisers and political management. He often seemed more comfortable responding to events than shaping them. Yet focusing solely on Starmer risks missing the bigger picture.

When (as now seems all but inevitable) Andy Burnham walks through the door of Number 10, Britain will have had seven Prime Ministers in just ten years: Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak, Starmer and now, likely, Burnham. This is an …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged keir starmer, leadership and transport policy | 1 Comment

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Fairness First: Why Wealth Taxes Are a Natural Fit for the Liberal Democrats

By Tom Walker | Mon 22nd June 2026 - 2:10 pm

Why are wealth taxes relevant in 2026?

Billionaire wealth in the UK has skyrocketed since 1990. It represented 4% of GDP back then, growing to 22% of GDP in 2026. The trends of rising wealth accumulation for the super-rich and worsening living standards for working families is stark. Consecutive governments have pointed at GDP as proof of economic success and neglected the decline in living standards for the majority. Where families could once live off a single income, families can now struggle with two. Growing anger at the cost-of-living crisis is fuelled by the perception that government is not addressing the root cause – we are not seeing the action that we need. With no political consensus on the root cause and inequality continuing to grow, it is becoming increasingly evident that this Labour government are not equipped to manage this worsening trend.

Where wealth continues to ebb away from families and fall into the pockets of the super-rich, we are almost certainly going to see this inequality trend continue to worsen. The Green Party have gained popularity through the promotion of wealth taxes and we are now seeing Labour leadership hopefuls adopting similar policy ideas to gain support in preparation for their race to Number 10. Wes Streeting’s support for a “wealth tax that works” simply reforms capital gains tax rather than addressing the underlying wealth itself. Regardless of the merits of these specific policies, wealth taxes are now becoming part of the debate; the Liberal Democrats have an opportunity to start owning the narrative with thoughtful economic policy that better promotes fairness in our society.

What could be done?

Where the super-rich choose to accumulate assets over declaring a more realistic personal income, the tax system has become outdated, allowing them to avoid income taxes and benefit from low (or no) rates of tax on their wealth. As a result, they contribute a smaller percentage of their net worth than ordinary working people. A thoughtful wealth tax is an opportunity to close this loophole without ripping up established tax policies. By focusing on both wealth and income, we increase transparency in wealth reporting and reduce the incentives for the super-rich to report their income as wealth. Employed effectively, a wealth tax would share the burden of taxation more fairly across society. The critical message for the electorate is that a more transparent and fairer tax system can address worsening inequality. In the short term, this could provide cost-of-living improvements. In the longer term, it reverses the trend of worsening inequality in our communities that is degrading living standards for so many.

A wealth tax that is values led would close loopholes and would not tolerate the opt-out culture that we have today. The proposed Zucman Tax in France is a shining example whereby the super-rich must pay a minimum 2% rate on their stock of wealth. No ifs, no buts, that is the tax bill that they owe the government. It directly addresses the super-rich by only targeting those with net assets above €100 million. Attempts to move wealth overseas would meet a Wealth Exit Tax. Loopholes are closed with little option but to pay their fair share. Where Streeting can draw criticism from business owners and entrepreneurs who could face higher capital gains tax, the Zucman tax cannot. Positioned effectively, it generates tax revenue from the super wealthy with robust incentives to retain wealth in the UK. The proposition of taxing the super-rich to directly address the cost-of-living crisis is a coherent message that the electorate can throw their support behind.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged wealth taxes | 3 Comments

Starmer goes, and the uncertainty returns…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 22nd June 2026 - 11:06 am

And so, another Prime Minister is gone. Admittedly, it isn’t entirely clear yet in terms of what will change apart from the personnel, even if we can be pretty confident who will be in 10 Downing Street at the end of the transition.

The first question is, how long will this take? An effective coronation would allow the new Leader to take their place before the Summer Recess, whilst a contest might take us into, or close to, Conference season. But Government will falter whilst new ministers get a handle on their briefs …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged labour leadership | 22 Comments

Why did the Welsh Liberal Democrats underperform?

By Elsie Jones | Sun 21st June 2026 - 2:22 pm

It has been frustrating to me, as a politics student from Wales, to see that coverage of the Senedd elections has been nationally overlooked in favour of local elections in England and the Holyrood elections. This is especially true for the Welsh Liberal Democrats, whose modest outcome of holding our only seat has hardly been discussed at all, both by leadership and its members.

The poor performance is the latest stage in a two-decade pattern of contraction that the party has consistently failed to fix. At devolution in 1999, the Welsh Liberal Democrats won six seats and entered government as a coalition partner, with Mike German serving as Deputy First Minister. They held six seats across the next two elections, in 2003 and 2007. Post-coalition, Welsh Lib Dem presence collapsed to five seats in 2011, and a single seat in 2016 which they retained in 2021 only by switching from a constituency to a regional list-seat. In 2026, the party holds one seat in a chamber that has grown from 60 to 96 members, meaning their proportional presence is smaller now than at any point since devolution began.

Internal party messaging attributes our underperformance to the “tough new electoral system” under the new d’Hondt system; I believe that this is an unfair characterisation of Welsh voters. Voters in Wales were not attracted to the Liberal Democrats due to an underdeveloped strategy, and a failure to communicate their strong governing record within Wales. Both issues are symptomatic of what could happen to the Lib Dems at the next GE if they fail to create a national strategy to secure votes, as opposed to the targeted seat strategy that has allowed us to win FPTP seats in Westminster and local councils.

A major error of the Senedd campaign was their decision to place opposition to Welsh independence at the centre of the party’s manifesto – literally titled ‘A Stronger Wales in a Stronger UK’. Although this position is consistent with the Liberal Democrats’ longstanding commitment to federalism, its salience within the Welsh political context is comparatively low.

While it likely secured them some votes in Brecon and Radnor, where opposition to independence is markedly higher than in much of Wales, survey data consistently indicates that Welsh voters prioritise issues of health, poverty, and the cost of living over independence. We were also aligned with more right-wing parties on this issue, to some detriment; any voter for whom unionism is an absolute and non–negotiable priority was, in the current political landscape, more likely to vote for the Conservatives or Reform UK. In this context, our emphasis on unionism was unsuccessful as it had a low issue salience and was unlikely to mobilise new support for the party.

The party’s focus on this is particularly frustrating given that the Welsh Liberal Democrats had a demonstrable governing record that went mostly uncommunicated. As the sole opposition MS whose support was required to pass the Welsh Government’s budget, Jane Dodds had successfully extracted many policy concessions from Welsh Labour. In February 2025, a deal worth more than £100m secured £1 bus fares for all 16 to 21–year–olds across Wales – a genuinely progressive and visible intervention in the cost–of–living pressures facing young people. The success of the scheme is evidence that Welsh Liberal Democrats, even if small, had been making major impacts within Wales. In the same period, they also achieved a ban on greyhound racing, additional funding for universal childcare, and the protection of the Heart of Wales rail line.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged welsh elections 2026 | 14 Comments

The next General Election Manifesto should commit to joining the EU

By Nick Hopkinson | Sun 21st June 2026 - 12:14 pm

Last week Ed Davey gave a well received keynote speech advocating a new Growth and Defence Partnership (‘Partnership’) with the European Union (EU) at the European Movement UK’s event marking the tenth anniversary of the 2016 Brexit referendum. For many members, having and making a clear overarching national message to complement our local strengths is long overdue. This became apparent in the 7 May local elections. Although we gained more council seats for the eighth time in a row, our national vote share was 2% down on last year’s 16%. In my part of the world and elsewhere, it was concerning we lost votes, often because we did not have a clear national message, notably on joining the EU.

Ed’s speech lays the foundation for one. He rightly linked a bold commitment to a deep EU Partnership to alleviation of the urgent crises facing our country, notably cost of living and chronic underfunding of public services. Progressing the Partnership is urgent: many struggle to pay bills, hospital waiting lists remain long, social care is inadequate and the Russians regularly infringe our sovereignty on land, sea, air, and cyber.

The party, in particular the leadership, needs to keep outlining how the Partnership can help generate up to an extra £90bn a year for the Treasury’s coffers. That is roughly 10 times more than our EU membership fee at the time we left. I have heard few other policies which could contribute as meaningfully to the growth, well-being and defence of our country. Once secured, it is vital that the fruits of that growth are managed sustainably and equitably.

The considerable damage of Brexit is well documented and is increasingly understood, but understanding how we might join the EU is less so. A new vision setting out a roadmap for joining the EU therefore needs to complement the Growth and Economic Partnership.

We were the first party to affirm our commitment to the longer term goal of ‘rejoining’ the EU (at Autumn 2020 conference). Since then we have repeatedly reaffirmed our commitment to gradual steps including a working paper and Al Pinkerton’s Customs Union Bill. Incremental measures progressing closer relations with the EU were appropriate to immediate post-departure circumstances, but they no longer offer a bold message which will attract public attention and support. Ed’s speech last week implicitly recognises the gradual step by step approach to full EU membership has been overtaken by developments and the deteriorating geo-political context, not least the Trump Administration’s continuous undermining of the NATO alliance and its members, notably a more vulnerable UK outside the EU.

A bold national campaign centred around the Partnership, and ultimately joining the EU, is important not only to promote our peace and prosperity but also to face down Reform and distinguish ourselves from other progressive parties. The disjuncture between referendums and parliamentary democracy mean Farage and his successive parties have yet to be held to account for their Brexit fiasco. It is ironic, if not outrageous, that the main instigator of our current mess is the leader of the party leading in national opinion polls. The Conservatives and Labour in government decided to progress the unworkable Brexit proposition which has so badly damaged the UK’s economy, unity, governance and international standing. Not surprisingly their support has collapsed.

Our poll ratings have lagged behind too, in part because we have not been bold in our opposition to Brexit. Ed’s call for a meaningful Growth and Defence Partnership ends that. Ed has called time on Brexit, and in so doing, called on a future Labour leader to ditch its hitherto slavish adherence to red lines on not joining the Customs Union and Single Market.

Some argue that a Customs Union and Single Market means we would not have a say in the legislation which might bind us. Whilst that may be largely true (non-EU members in the European Economic Area (EEA) can be consulted), Ed clearly outlined the Partnership is not the end goal.

Should any new Labour leader drop the Government’s red lines, it will take time for the Government to negotiate new arrangements. A first step would likely have to be joining the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), a process which could take 2-3 years unwinding inconsequential post-Brexit trade agreements, and then joining the EEA. It is unlikely the EU would want to replicate its time-consuming bespoke series of bilateral agreements with Switzerland. By the time of the 2029 General Election, barring a surprise snap poll, any Government progress on the Partnership is likely to be either slow or non-existent. Therefore our next General Election manifesto should make a headline commitment to making an application to join the EU along with a call for fair votes (introduction of a proportional voting system). Both commitments should be red lines should there be an opportunity to a form a future coalition Government or conclude a supply and confidence arrangement.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged brexit, european union and manifesto | 10 Comments

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Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 21st June 2026 - 11:10 am

Iran

The Iran War has forced American motorists to reconsider long road trips. At the same time a farmer in Kenya is facing a drastic drop in his $2,200 income and a Sri Lankan construction worker in Dubai is worrying about how his wife and children would survive without his remittances. The Iran War has been little more than an inconvenience for most people in the West. For those in the developing world it was—still is – a matter of life and death.

The people in the developing world were already reeling from the effects of cuts in foreign aid, the covid pandemic and the Ukraine War before the Iran War closed the Strait of Hormuz.

Petrol prices rose by as much as 50 percent in the US. They rose by the same amount in Kenya. The difference is that the average household income in America is $80,000. In Kenya it is $2,200.

East Africa imports about 25 percent of its fertiliser supplies from the Gulf region. The start of the Iran War coincided with the start of the planting season. If a farmer is unable to afford fertiliser than he buys less. This means lower farm incomes, higher maize prices, higher prices for animal feed, higher meat and milk prices. Greater food insecurity.

In the United States, agriculture contributes approximately one percent to the country’s GDP. In East Africa it contributes about a quarter and employs half of the population. Roughly 70 percent of Africa’s 1.5 billion people are directly or indirectly employed in agriculture.

Remittances to developing countries are also suffering. The Gulf countries are not known for their enlightened labour practices. In fact, for many migrant workers, conditions have been described as akin to “modern slavery.”

Millions, however, leave their families in Africa and South Asia to live up to ten in a room while working on construction sites in the Gulf region. When the bombs started to fall many of those workers were laid off. For countries such as Nepal—where 25 percent of the economy is remittances—this meant financial ruin.

Families from Mombasa to Kathmandu suddenly faced the cruel arithmetic of paying more food and fuel with less money arriving from sons and daughters working in Dubai or Riyadh.

Americans and the rest of the world

Americans often struggle to understand the rest of the world. That is an over-generalisation. America has produced some of the world’s finest experts on China, Russia, Britain and the Middle East. But the average American has little need to look beyond his own borders.

Why should he? America spans a continent. It possesses almost every climate, every landscape and nearly every natural resource. Its entertainment industry dominates the globe. Most Americans spend their lives without needing another language and only about one in five owns a passport.

That self-sufficiency has bred a certain assumption: that what works in America should work everywhere. It is not unique. The British Empire convinced itself that imperial rule brought civilisation. Vladimir Putin appears to have believed that Ukrainians would greet Russian tanks with flowers. Great powers have always had a tendency to mistake their own preferences for universal truths.

The tragedy is that military and economic power can reinforce this misconception. If you are powerful enough, people often tell you what you want to hear. Success breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hubris.

Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and now Iran all share a common thread. Again and again, Washington has assumed that superior force could overcome history, culture and nationalism. Again and again, it has discovered that people usually prefer imperfect governments of their own choosing to enlightened rulers imposed from outside.

America’s problem is not that it is uniquely arrogant. It is that, like every great power before it, it has become convinced that its own experience is universal.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged iran and north korea | 1 Comment

Ministerial hand-wringing over Palestine continues

By John Kelly | Sun 21st June 2026 - 10:09 am

This week, Lib Dem MPs raised some very good questions in Parliament.

Andrew George: The Secretary of State says she is looking at options and that she wishes to work in partnership in the international sphere. She must accept that the UK has significant history and responsibility in this region. Does she not listen to the words of her Back Benchers? It is incumbent on her to take action now—not simply to look at things and to seek partnership—to have real effect on this appalling, continuing outrage.

Calum Miller: The prospect of a two-state solution rests on at least two essential conditions: the protection of Palestine’s territorial integrity, and political reform within the Palestinian state. This weekend in London, we saw the selling of properties in illegal settlements. The expansion of such settlements must instead be reversed by cutting off their finance at source. Will the Foreign Secretary commit to withdrawing the licence to operate of any UK financial institution facilitating credit or services for illegal settlement activity? Given that President Abbas has now announced that legislative and presidential elections will be held in early 2027, what measures are the Government taking to ensure that those elections will be free and fair?

Caroline Voaden: A UN report from March last year laid bare the evidence of Israel’s systematic use of rape and sexual violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Israeli settlers are committing sexual violence in sight of Israeli forces, according to a recent report by the West Bank Protection Consortium. Given the Government’s commitment to the safety of women and girls, will the Secretary of State commit to publishing a response to both of those reports?

Edward Morello: On 28 May, Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to seize control of 70% of the Gaza strip, in breach of the ceasefire agreement. Some 90% of the homes have now been destroyed, and an estimated $53 billion is required to rebuild the strip. Meanwhile, settlement expansion in the west bank has increased by 80%, with Israeli settlers now comprising one in six of the population. What is the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office doing with European allies to help the Palestinian people?

I won’t bore readers with the responses but as usual we had the usual hand-wringing from ministers which I fear will continue until Keir Starmer is replaced as PM. Just one example was the Foreign Secretary’s response to Caroline Voaden:

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged andrew george, calum miller, caroline voaden, edward morello, lib dem mps and palestine | 1 Comment

At war with Chinese windmills

By Vince Cable | Sun 21st June 2026 - 8:55 am

Economics and ‘national security’ often pull in different directions. This is especially true when we look at relations with China.

Consider the strange case of the Scottish wind turbine project. At the end of March, the UK government blocked a planned Chinese investment in the Scottish Highlands to manufacture wind turbines on ‘national security’ grounds. The issue got lost in the fog around the Scottish parliamentary elections. But it hasn’t gone away. The Chinese have indicated that they will switch the plant from Scotland to Spain. The British partners who spent years negotiating the project, in good faith, are furious and are questioning the capricious nature of UK government decision making around ‘security.’

The planned Chinese investment, at Ardersier, to manufacture wind turbines was potentially the largest turbine factory in the world, employing 1,500 people with more in the supply chain. For British partners and the Scottish government, utilising China’s impressive ‘green’ technology was thought to be a safe and sensible form of collaboration. The project involved making the most technically sophisticated bit of the turbine – the nacelle – in Scotland.

I don’t normally warm to the Scottish National Party but I have some sympathy with the then Scottish Deputy Chief Minister and Economics Minister, Kate Forbes, who said the decision was: ‘simply, sabotage of Scotland’s industrial future’.

The £1.5 billion project involving the Chinese company Ming Yang was to be on a site on the Moray Firth once used to employ 4,500 people for oil and gas platform assembly. Ming Yang is recognised as one of, if not the, leading company in the world for wind technology where China is the dominant producer with 70% of global wind capacity. Ming Yang is already a trusted partner of Octopus Energy, a reputable and popular British energy supplier.

Political dinosaurs in Britain and the USA may regard wind power as a ‘woke’ response to the ‘climate hoax’. But the Chinese long understood and planned for its development as a source of cheap, secure and clean energy. They are now being vindicated, not least by the disruption to oil and gas supplies from the Gulf. So, why is it a problem to utilise Chinese investment and technology to develop our own wind-power sector?

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged china, energy, energy security and wind turbines | 10 Comments

Observations of an Expat: Surviving Iran

By Tom Arms | Sat 20th June 2026 - 9:23 am

America will survive the Iran War. It has survived worse. Israel may not be so fortunate. Superpowers can afford mistakes. Small countries living in dangerous neighbourhoods cannot.

People have been predicting the decline of American power since Vietnam. America lost in Vietnam, failed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and suffered humiliation in Somalia. Yet the United States remains the world’s dominant military and financial power. Superpowers can absorb defeats. They possess strategic depth.

Of course, the same may not be said about individual politicians. Donald Trump has been seriously weakened inside and outside MAGA world. So have the Republican politicians who have hitched themselves to the Trumpian star.

But in the case of Israel, there is more at stake than a few right-wing security-minded politician. Israel is a country of fewer than ten million in a hostile region. Its security rests on three pillars: military superiority, American support and deterrence—the belief among its enemies that resistance is futile.

If the Iran War has weakened any of those pillars, the consequences for Israel are potentially much greater than for the United States. America’s allies may doubt Washington’s judgment, but they are unlikely to abandon the dollar or NATO. Israel, by contrast faces increased diplomatic isolation; reduced confidence in US support; strengthened adversaries convinced that Israel’s power has limits; domestic political divisions and—most important of all—the end of the aura of invincibility that has been central to Israeli strategy since 1967.

In Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu thought he had found a kindred spirit who believed in solving problems through the barrel of a gun with a few dollars thrown in for good measure. In Gaza he humbled Hamas with American help. It cost 73,000 Palestinian lives and a great deal of international support. Americans, for the first time, began to question their unquestioning support for Israel.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged benjamin netanyahu, donald trump, iran and israel | 6 Comments

A bit of hope

By Ruth Bright | Fri 19th June 2026 - 7:30 pm

In recent weeks I have found myself in a WhatsApp group with a flood of photos coming in from sun-drenched climes. Pictures of lovely people, cloudless skies and a most astonishing array of urban cafes!

Where is this paradise? Have my in-laws been messaging me from the glorious Philippines? Have I stumbled into an exhibition of Mark Valladares photos of European capitals staging Liberal International meetings?

No, the travelogue I have been enjoying is from North Acton ward, London Borough of Ealing where a by-election takes place on June 25. Arguably, in my 35 years of witnessing council by-elections, one of the sunniest, busiest and cheeriest by-elections by far.

The outstanding Lib Dem candidate is 27 year old Abdikhaliq Ahmed. Having worked with Abdi for 18 months in a constituency/parliamentary office I know he has a humble charisma, bags of energy and a wonderful connection with the area where he grew up.

There are lots of council by-elections coming up in the next two weeks. Many, it appears, caused by Green or Reform councillors who have resigned after just a few days. So, whether they are in a close contest like Abdi, or just flying the flag of the bird of liberty so voters have a choice – here’s to all our wonderful by-election candidates and their fantastic teams.

Why not give this weekend’s BBQ and football a miss in order to give them a hand? Contact abdikhaliqahmed1@gmail.com for more information.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged by-election | 3 Comments

Forced adoptions – not quite what it seems

By Mary Reid | Fri 19th June 2026 - 3:02 pm

Yesterday the Church of England apologised for the part it played in forced adoptions in the past. Some years ago the Catholic Church issued a similar apology.

Earlier this week we heard that the Government is also planning to issue an apology, when the Education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, told the Education Select Committee:

The prime minister will have more to say on this shameful period in our history, reflecting the gravity of what has happened. But here and now, let me say to all of those affected, you will get the apology that you so profoundly deserve.

It is quite right that these three institutions should recognise the distress and harm caused by their actions.

However I want to bring a more nuanced understanding to the issue. We are talking about the time from the end of World War II to the mid 70s – the period that I grew up in. I can remember clearly how different the attitudes of society were then from today.

For context, in the 40s and 50s reliable contraception was not available. When the contraceptive pill was offered by the NHS in the mid 60s it was only prescribed to married women – I asked my doctor for it and he reluctantly prescribed it exactly three months before my wedding, so I could “get used to it”.

Until the Abortion Act in 1967 abortion was always a crime. I can remember a girl in my class at school having a back street abortion, and how I reacted in horror at the way this was carried out.

There was no social service support for unmarried mothers (the term always carried judgemental overtones), and it was not uncommon for parents to throw their daughter out if she became pregnant. She would not be able to just go and live with her boyfriend, even if he wanted to, mainly because couples never lived openly together if they were not married. No landlord would rent them a room.

A hurried shotgun wedding was one solution, but only if both were over 16, and then only if their parents gave permission (up to the age of 21). And this would only work if he was old enough to bring in enough money for the young family to survive.

Occasionally the grandmother would agree to bring up the child as her own, but this was by no means universal and required some subterfuge.

So perhaps it is understandable that the broad attitude of society was to discourage girls from having sex outside marriage, given the serious impact of pregnancy. Of course, it was always the girls who bore the consequences, so they were always blamed. However, what is not clear from a modern perspective is the level of shame involved. Shame which made it often impossible for a pregnant girl to attend school, shame which settled on the girl’s family, shame which labelled the child as illegitimate.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged forced adoption | 8 Comments

Ed Davey’s bold step

By Mark Corner | Fri 19th June 2026 - 11:58 am

Ed Davey’s call for Labour to drop its ‘torpor and timidity’ and rejoin the single market is welcome and shows the EU’s one consistent supporter in UK politics, the Lib Dems (and the Liberals before them).

The first thing to say is that his statement puts paid to all those ideas about Lib Dems having no policies (beyond mending the local church roof, of course) while other parties at least make it clear where they stand. Really? Is that how Starmer’s Labour Party behaves? Ed Davey is right to say that the Labour Party’s talk of a ‘reset’ just seems like a more polite ‘No’ than the Conservatives managed. But rejoining the single market is clear.

Secondly, rejoining the single market is not rejoining the EU. It was one of the options – often it was called the ‘Norway option’ – that was considered after the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016. The referendum never mentioned what arrangement with the EU the UK should adopt after leaving – that was part of the mess Farage left us with.

Norway was one of the countries that had a referendum on entering the EEC (as it was then) in 1973, alongside Denmark and Ireland. The UK entered without a referendum but then in 1975 voted in a referendum to stay in. But Norway voted in 1973 not to join the EU. Their reasons had a lot to do with concerns about the Common Agricultural Policy and (perhaps more important) Common Fisheries Policy – they have 2,000 miles of coastline to protect. These are probably the two policies that the UK had the most concerns about during its time inside the EU, and they don’t apply to Norway as a member of the EEA (European Economic Area). Agriculture and fisheries are completely excluded from the core EEA agreement. Because Norway is a single market member through the EEA, its farmers and fishermen remain outside of both EU policies. The UK can do the same thing if it rejoins the single market as a member of the EEA.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged brexit, ed davey and single market | 19 Comments

That by-election

By Mary Reid | Fri 19th June 2026 - 9:42 am

At the end of our weekly council by-election reports from ALDC they usually thank the Lib Dem candidates for flying the flag in unwinnable wards. And that is what we must do today.

So a big thank you to Jake Austin (Makerfield), Mel Sullivan (Aberdeen South) and Tanvir Ahmad (Arbroath and Broughty Ferry) for putting up with all the hoo-ha and making sure Lib Dems were on the ballot papers.

This now provides our readers with an opportunity to discuss the results and their wider implications, in the comments below.

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Posted in News | Tagged makerfield by-election | 42 Comments

The government’s £1bn school sports revamp talks a good game on SEND inclusion. So why are disabled children being benched?

By Jean-François Burford | Thu 18th June 2026 - 2:53 pm

The government’s headline-grabbing £1 billion overhaul of school sport is wrapped in the shiny vocabulary of modern progressive policy: equity, accessibility, and an explicit promise to end the “fitness postcode lottery.” On paper, it looks like a long-overdue victory for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The policy promises a needs-led system where “one-size-fits-all” gym classes are scrapped, replaced by specialist coaches from Paralympics GB, adapted sports like boccia, and a massive facility fund to tear down physical barriers.

But talk to any headteacher or parent of a disabled child this week, and the mood is not one of celebration. It is one of sheer panic.

Beneath the utopian rhetoric of the new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network lies a classic bureaucratic blunder: a gaping chasm between killing off an old system and launching a new one. In its haste to centralise control, the Department for Education has abruptly ended the direct Primary PE and Sport Premium; the ring-fenced bank transfers that schools have relied on for over a decade to hire their own local, trusted SEND sports coaches.

The catch? The new centralised network, which is supposed to deploy replacement coaches into playgrounds, will not be fully operational until Spring 2027. To bridge the gap, Ministers have thrown schools a financial crumb: a transitional payment worth a measly one-third of their usual annual sports budget.

The real-world math of this shortfall is devastating. School leaders are not dealing in “short-term adjustments”; they are dealing in cancellations. A recent poll by Schools North East revealed that nearly half of all schools expect to cut extra-curricular clubs this autumn, with a staggering third predicting direct cuts to specialized SEND-inclusive provisions. Two-thirds of schools expect to lay off local coaching staff.

For a neurodivergent child or a young person with physical disabilities, a sports club is rarely just a game. It is a vital sanctuary for mental health, sensory regulation, and social connection. Building the trust required for a SEND student to participate in physical activity takes months, sometimes years, of dedicated work by specialised coaches. Sweeping those familiar faces away this term because a centralised government portal isn’t ready to launch yet is a betrayal of the very children this policy claims to rescue.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged SEND and sports funding | Leave a comment

Don’t slam the brakes on Britain’s EV revolution

By Mark Hofman | Thu 18th June 2026 - 12:30 pm

Reports that the Government is considering watering down the 2030 Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate should concern anyone who cares about Britain’s economic future, energy security, and the cost of living.

At a time when other countries are racing to adopt the industries of the future, weakening the UK’s commitment to electric vehicles would be a step backwards. It risks leaving Britain tied to the economy of the past rather than embracing the technologies that will drive growth, create jobs, and reduce our dependence on imported fossil fuels.

What is particularly disappointing is that ministers appear not to have learned the lessons of recent years. The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East exposed just how vulnerable the UK remains to global fossil fuel markets. Families and businesses paid the price through higher energy costs, while the Government was left scrambling to respond to events entirely outside its control.

The obvious response to these shocks should be to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels. Instead, the Government now appears willing to slow it down.

The economic consequences of continuing our dependence on petrol and diesel are significant. The Office for Budget Responsibility has estimated that repeated fuel duty freezes cost the Treasury around £120 billion between 2011 and October 2024. That is £120 billion that could have been invested in modern transport infrastructure, hospitals, clean energy projects, and the industries that will underpin future prosperity.

The scale of our reliance on fossil fuels is often overlooked. Every year, the UK consumes around 70 billion litres of petrol and diesel. Yet that figure tells only part of the story. A further 23 billion litres of energy are used extracting, transporting and refining those fuels before they even reach motorists. Consumers are not simply paying for fuel at the pump; they are supporting an inherently inefficient system that increases energy demand, deepens our reliance on imports, and contributes to poor air quality.

The national interest is clear. We should be reducing our dependence on fossil fuels as quickly as possible.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged EV | 20 Comments

“How will you pay for it?” – The reply I’d love to hear Ed Davey give

By Jamie Dalzell | Thu 18th June 2026 - 10:18 am

Picture the scene. Ed Davey is on Question Time. He has just made the case for fixing social care, rescuing our crumbling roads, or matching our European allies on defence. And then it comes, the question every politician dreads: “That all sounds lovely. But how are you going to pay for it?”

Here is the reply I would love to hear.

“I’m glad you asked, because it’s the wrong question, and I think most people at home suspect as much. You’re asking how we’d fund twenty-first-century public services with a tax system built for a different century. Council tax based on what your house was worth in 1991. A National Insurance system designed so governments can raise your taxes without admitting it. Thresholds frozen so quietly that a nurse is dragged into the higher rate while the genuinely wealthy barely notice. That isn’t a tax system: it’s a museum with a collection box.

“So no, I won’t promise you a magic number. I’ll offer something better: a Liberal Democrat plan to reform the whole thing, simpler, fairer, built for growth, so most working people pay less. It draws together the long-held views of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the Resolution Foundation and a long list of tax experts. What’s been missing is a party honest enough, and free enough, to act on it. That’s us.”

Of course, Ed did not say that. But there is no earthly reason he could not.

Everyone is stuck in the same trap

Every party is trapped by that question, because every party plays the same rigged game. Promise not to touch income tax, National Insurance or VAT, two-thirds of all revenue, and you’ve boxed yourself into the same dingy corner. What’s left are the levers nobody defends in daylight: frozen thresholds, stealth raids on savers, and a council tax so out of date the Resolution Foundation calls it “the modern poll tax.”

Labour walked straight into that trap, exactly as the Treasury Select Committee warned in 2021, and the Conservatives before them. The script never changes: impossible promises, then the lever voters can’t see, then the U-turn. November’s threshold freeze, billions raised quietly through fiscal drag, is the latest verse of a very old song.

We don’t have to sing along.

Why this is our fight to lead

There’s a reason this argument belongs to us. Reforming the system means saying the system itself is broken, and neither Labour nor the Conservatives can say that, because they built it and still defend it. We can.

We also have form. Our biggest coalition achievement, taking millions of low earners out of income tax by raising the personal allowance, was a tax idea, and a member-led one. A platform that scraps council tax for a fair property tax, ends the National Insurance con by taxing all income the same, and cuts the bill for most modest households is exactly that kind of idea: liberal to its bones, on the side of the person trying to get on.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged taxation | 11 Comments

The Lib Dems created the triple lock – we should be the ones to set the terms for its end

By Adam Shaw | Wed 17th June 2026 - 3:35 pm

When Sir Steve Webb introduced the triple lock as Lib Dem pensions minister in the coalition government, the aim was to close the gap between the state pension and average earnings and reverse years of real-terms decline during which the state pension had not kept up with living costs.

In 2010, the basic state pension was just £97.65 per week, or just over £5,000 per year, for a single person – a truly pitiful amount for someone who had worked for at least 39 or 44 years (depending if you were a man or a woman), even when you consider …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged state pension and triple lock | 16 Comments

Dear United Kingdom: Anti-white racism and the attack of diversity, equity and inclusivity (DEI)

By Michael Bukola | Wed 17th June 2026 - 10:25 am

On the day of the 10th anniversary of the tragic passing of Labour MP, Jo Cox, who will poignantly be remembered for her maiden speech in which she said “We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.” We contrast that with the juxtaposition of what emerged on Sunday when Nigel Farage had taken to social media and laid claim to Anti-white racism after he said that Britain was now a “two tier state against white people”.

Tragic events over the last fortnight have triggered memories for me long since buried, some 23 years ago now, of my younger self from south-east London, who would embark on a journey for liberalism seeking enlightenment and a future where no one is judged on the colour of their skin but on the content of their character.

These events affect me personally, my family, friends, colleagues and the wider communities in which many of us live and work. What troubles me, however, is the increasingly familiar patterns that follows. The actions of one individual quickly become a justification for collective blame, suspicion and hostility directed towards entire communities.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged racism | 9 Comments

WATCH: Charles Kennedy Memorial Lecture

By The Voice | Tue 16th June 2026 - 8:55 am

You might remember that a few weeks ago we told you about the Charles Kennedy Memorial Lecture organised by the European Movement.

Nick Clegg talked about the path to closer alignment with the European Movement.

You can watch his speech courtesy of the European Movement’s You Tube channel.

The text is below:

We are here in part to remember a much-missed friend and colleague, Charles Kennedy. It has been just over a decade since Charles passed, and we are all the poorer for it. He was one of the lights of liberalism in this country, and his absence in public life is felt …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged charles kennedy memorial lecture, eu, europe and nick clegg | 1 Comment

J.M. Keynes “Anything we can actually do, we can afford.”

By David Moon | Mon 15th June 2026 - 7:15 pm

Reading Chris Bowers’ recent Yorkist post, I thought it to be an excellently optimistic paper – the diagram grouping the Liberal Democrats in the Progressive Left, Anti-System group is very persuasive.

The idea of promoting a Keynesian economic philosophy is brilliant and needs to challenge the current economic orthodoxy.

The final paragraph on page 22 of The New Deal reads:

The Lib Dems need to be unashamedly Keynesian in their approach to the 2029 election. This will not be an easy task, as it means challenging the orthodoxy that has taken root in both the Treasury and the Bank of England. It will also involve strengthening provision for national well-being so it cannot be sacrificed at the altar of shareholder dividends – it will mean companies will have to fulfil certain social and environmental responsibilities before they make payouts to shareholders.

Keynes famously said “Anything we can actually do, we can afford.”

He delivered this famous line during a BBC Radio Address on April 2, 1942, which was subsequently published in The Listener and later collected in his Collected Works (Volume XXVII) under the title “How Much Does Finance Matter?”

The context behind the quote

At the time of the broadcast, Britain was deep in the Second World War, and people were beginning to look ahead to post-war reconstruction. Many were anxious about how the country could possibly fund rebuilding its cities, expanding education, and establishing what would become the welfare state, given the massive national debts piled up during the war.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged keynesianism | 8 Comments

Mathew on Monday: Banning Under-16s from Social Media is the Wrong Answer

By Mathew Hulbert | Mon 15th June 2026 - 5:45 pm

The newly announced ban on social media for under-16s may be politically popular, but popularity alone does not make good policy. As liberals, we should be deeply sceptical of blanket bans that restrict freedom while failing to tackle the root causes of a problem.

There is no doubt that social media can be harmful. Young people are exposed to bullying, misinformation, unhealthy content and algorithms designed to maximise engagement rather than well-being. These are serious concerns and they demand action. But the question is whether an outright ban is the right response.

I do not believe it is.

First, the proposal is likely to prove largely unworkable. Teenagers are often more technologically adept than the adults seeking to regulate them. VPNs, alternative platforms and borrowed accounts will inevitably undermine enforcement. Even child-safety campaigners have warned that a rushed ban could quickly unravel in practice.

Second, it risks creating a false sense of security. The real problem is not simply that young people are online. It is what some tech companies allow and actively promote online. Harmful content, addictive design features, endless scrolling and opaque algorithms are business choices. A ban focuses attention on children rather than on the corporations profiting from their attention. Critics have rightly argued that stronger action should be directed at platform design and algorithmic harms.

Third, social media is not universally negative. For many young people, particularly those who may suffer from social isolation and so on, it can provide friendship, community snd support that may not exist elsewhere. An outright prohibition risks cutting them off from those connections.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged assisted dying bill, makerfield by-election and social media ban for under 16s | 31 Comments

Spread it out: the liberal case for a wealth tax

By Tom Reeve | Mon 15th June 2026 - 12:51 pm

We are at a crossroads.

Trust in politics is low, and people are right to feel let down. The economy works beautifully for those at the top and barely at all for everyone else. Across the West, that frustration is being picked up by people who offer someone to blame rather than something to fix.

Liberals can offer something better. It’s in our DNA, but sometimes we get confused about what liberalism is and fail to make the case.

So let’s say it plainly. Liberalism has one founding fight, and we have fought it in every century – the fight against power piled up in too few hands. We took on kings. We took on the established church. We broke up monopolies and old boys’ networks. Wherever power gathered in a small group, liberals were the ones who said: spread it out.

Now look at where power is gathering today.

Since 1989, the wealth of the 200 richest families in Britain has grown from £42 billion to £711 billion. Over the very same years, the public wealth of the country fell from a positive £337 billion to minus £1 trillion. Their fortunes grew more than three times as fast as the economy as a whole. That is not a story about clever people doing well. It is a story about power collecting in fewer and fewer hands while the rest of the country goes backwards. A liberal who shrugs at that has forgotten what liberalism is.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged wealth taxes | 39 Comments

We need a long term strategy with vocational education and apprenticeships at the heart

By Dino Schreuder | Mon 15th June 2026 - 10:34 am

At a time when students face increasing academic pressure, uncertainty about future careers, spiralling debt and challenges related to mental health and wellbeing. Now is a good time to review our post 16 and further education system.

In a recent article by Jon Henley, and Senay Boztas titled What can the Dutch teach the UK about how to tackle the youth jobs crisis? The article argues that the Netherlands has the lowest NEETs (Not in Employment, Education or training) rate in the EU, at around 5%. Researchers and policy experts attribute the low youth unemployment partly to the country’s strong vocational education system, where around 70% of 16–19-year-olds follow vocational pathways that combine classroom learning with substantial workplace experience. This close link between education and employment helps young people transition smoothly into work, reducing the likelihood that they become unemployed or disengaged from education and training. The UK should learn from the Netherlands and adopt a long term-term strategy with vocational education at its core.

According to recent figures, degree apprenticeships remain a relatively small route into higher education. In 2024/25 there were about 60,000 degree apprenticeship starts in England, representing 17% of all apprenticeships and roughly one-tenth of the number entering traditional university courses. Around 36% of UK 18-year-olds enter higher education each year, whereas only around 6% of young people begin an apprenticeship before age 19, making apprenticeships a much smaller but increasingly important post-16 pathway.

The conversion of polytechnics into universities in 1992 brought many benefits, including widening access to higher education. However, some critics argue that it also contributed to the decline of a distinct vocational route between apprenticeships and traditional university education.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged vocational education | 4 Comments

Separation of Powers and Civil Liberties in the UK are now at breaking point

By Tara Foster | Mon 15th June 2026 - 8:22 am

Please note that this article has been updated by the author to reflect one key aspect of the events of 6 August 2024.

We need to discuss, as a Party, how we are going to put ourselves forward in defence of civil liberties.

In March 2024, I, along with my girlfriend, helped a friend move from Wales to London, because we had access to a van and were looking for an excuse to meet up and hang out. On the long drive along the M4, we had several long discussions about my friend’s unique experiences, notably in refugee volunteering and work in the charity sector. These conversations have shaped my identity as a Radical Social Liberal. Suffice to say, that car journey had a profound impact on me.

Right now, as I write this, that same friend is on her way to incarceration, having been sentenced to 6 years imprisonment. She has been sentenced and jailed as a terrorist, which will have far reaching consequences for her life. She, along with her actionist comrades, broke into Elbit Systems’ site in Filton in August 2024 with the stated and public aim of dismantling weapons of war, which were being manufactured to further enable the Israeli Armed Forces to commit genocide in Gaza. These people did not set out to hurt anyone. The conviction is already precarious due to what been alleged to be an unsafe conviction. I do also wish to state, for the record, that I am only writing this now as sentencing has been carried out and reporting restrictions have now been lifted. Almost everything I have said here is echoing what has already been said by various press and public outlets.

The real kicker for me has been that despite the offence was ruled to be not terrorism, the defendants were not being tried for a terrorism offence, and the jury had no knowledge where their vote to convict would lead. Regardless of your feelings on the actions of the Filton actionists, the way their trial has been handled is highly suspect and it could be said that the CPS were seeking to make an example of them to prevent further direction against Israeli arms manufacturing in the UK.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged anti-terrorism legislation | 29 Comments

Welcome to my day: 15 June 2026 – some boldness on Europe… at last…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 15th June 2026 - 7:30 am

So, I ought to declare an interest as a former member of the Party’s Federal International Relations Committee, and a member of the Liberal Democrat European Group on and off over the years. You might therefore imagine that I’d be pleased that Ed Davey is finally talking about our future as a member of the European Union. I’d put it more as relieved, though, as it’s been an open door that we’ve rather shied away from in recent years.

Now I do get it, in that calling for us to renew our membership too soon was a risk – remember 2019, anyone? – but we are a pro-European political party, retaining strong links with our sister parties across the continent and with a historic belief that pooling sovereignty in pursuit of economic growth and freedom is a thoroughly good thing. And, given that public support for returning to our place on the European stage runs at four times the level of our support in the opinion polls, it feels like an obvious step to talk about an ultimate goal to rejoin.

No, it won’t be easy. After putting the Member States through the psychodrama of Brexit, the United Kingdom, and not just the Liberal Democrats, will need to persuade them that any move to return will be long-term and not vulnerable to the next spin of the British electoral wheel. The terms will have to be discussed, and the reality of those terms might not be immediately attractive. But the discussion has to start here, and who better to lead it than a political party that believes in the concept of closer co-operation and understands that the pooling of sovereignty requires some sacrifices on both sides.

The European Union has demonstrated beyond doubt that it doesn’t need us more than we need it, and that protecting the Single Market was more important to retaining a not entirely committed member, so British politicians will have to enter talks with a touch of humility – the economics suggest that we need them rather more than they need us, although both sides should benefit, the British through access, the existing Member States through a larger internal market.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged europe | 9 Comments

Actually, this Summer of Strategy could be quite good…

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 14th June 2026 - 12:28 pm

Party President Josh Babarinde wrote to all members and on this site this week inviting us to share our views on the development of the party strategy which will be debated at our Brighton Conference in September.

The consultation process involves a Typeform which has to be completed by this Thursday and 3 online consultation sessions over this weekend. The final one is tomorrow night at 5:30pm and I can promise you that if you go to it, you will retain your will to live and will feel that your time has been well spent.

This is not usually the case with party consultations, I’ll be honest. I have come out of many before wanting to pull off my own toenails because they involved some party luminary talking at you and power-pointing you within an inch of your life.

I went to this morning’s one tired and hungover after the football and not expecting much. In fact, I was cursing Josh for organising it 5.5 hours after the match ended. However, it was actually very good. Even some of our grumpier members thought so, too.

Josh set the scene for 20 minutes or so and then there were two breakout sessions on what our party is for and organisational priorities. We were put in breakout rooms of 4-5 people with a series of questions to answer and feed back. There were some really useful discussions with a lot of common themes, particularly about developing an emotional message which connects with people. “Stop the word salad” was my contribution to that – we need to show our sincere trust in people, our ambition for everyone to be able to live the best life they choose and show a hopeful vision where we fix things together not do nothing and turn on each other like Farage wants.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged featured, josh babarinde and party strategy | 2 Comments

The most Lib Dem question ever?

By Newspuppy | Sun 14th June 2026 - 10:55 am

It’s 2070 and at a Royal Mail sorting depot in London, staff gather to wish a very special person a Happy 100th Birthday. Mark Pack (no longer a Lord since he helped ensure the abolition of the House of Lords in the late 2040s during the first majority Lib Dem administration in 140 years led by Eleanor Kelly) had become something of a hero to the Royal Mail workers over the years.

Back in June 2026, Mark Pack had asked the most Lib Dem of questions in the House of Lords, on one of the party’s key obsessions:

When the Minister invited him to a meeting to discuss the problem, Mark brought along his collection of leaflet delviery spatulas, complete with data on which one was most effective at deterring canines lurking behind the door. This led to every postie in Britain being issued with a spatula, which soon became known as a “spackula”

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Posted in News | Tagged Mark Pack and sunday fun | 5 Comments