The Torch

Posted on: 13th June 2020 Posted by: thetorch Comments: 0

Labour MP breached expenses rules in campaign against Lib Dems

Daniel Zeichner, the Labour MP for Cambridge, has been found to have breached rules surrounding MPs’ expenses by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, by misusing Parliamentary stationery as part of his party political campaigning. Zeichner, whose majority was shrunk by the second-placed Liberal Democrats in 2019, has been issued a rebuke by Parliament, and has had to pay back several hundred pounds. The Commissioner found that in 2019, Zeichner sent…

Posted on: 9th June 2020 Posted by: thetorch Comments: 0

Tories exploit tragic death of beloved councillor for party political gain

The Conservative Party in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) has tonight been accused of “disgusting moral failings” as it set in motion plans to exploit the tragic death of a beloved councillor in a cynical attempt to wrest control away from the present Liberal Democrat-led progressive coalition administration. BCP Council has been governed by an alliance of progressive parties since May 2019, but the death of independent councillor Colin Bungey…

Posted on: 8th June 2020 Posted by: thetorch Comments: 0

Lib Dems support fall of Colston; Labour equivocate

All three candidates in the Lib Dem leadership race have come out in support of the toppling of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol yesterday, lending their support to the Black Lives Matter movement. Layla Moran tweeted that statues of slave merchants shouldn’t still be standing, while also putting her words into action, sending a letter to the Government calling on them to expedite the process of…

Posted on: 6th June 2020 Posted by: Layla Moran Comments: 0

LAYLA MORAN: Putting members’ ideas into action

After months of waiting, the Government finally launched its Test and Trace scheme this week to much fanfare. Since then there have been several well-publicised issues with the programme including IT problems, contact tracers not having any work and the delayed launch of the app it relies on. But aside from these serious teething problems, the scheme faces another fundamental issue that urgently needs to be addressed. Those being asked…

Posted on: 20th May 2020 Posted by: thetorch Comments: 1

Key debates: what to look out for in the Lib Dem leadership race

With the Liberal Democrats having announced that their leadership election will start next month, this article will detail what to look out for with some of the key debates currently going on in the party, and where the dividing lines could be drawn between members and candidates alike. Pro-Coalition vs anti-Coalition Attitudes towards the 2010-2015 Coalition with the Conservatives have remained one of the dominant discussion points within the Liberal…

Posted on: 20th May 2020 Posted by: thetorch Comments: 0

Johnson announces he views frontline heroes as cash cows

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has today openly confirmed that he views care workers and other frontline heroes as mere cash cows. Answering a question about the Tory plans to charge migrant care workers and NHS staff over £600 just to be able to use the very same NHS they work for, Johnson admitted that he viewed them as simply a source of revenue, saying “those contributions help us raise £900million”…

Posted on: 18th May 2020 Posted by: thetorch Comments: 0

Labour grandee refuses to oppose restrictions on migrant care workers

The Conservative government and a senior member of the Labour Party have tonight voiced their support for moving the Immigration Bill onto its next stage in Parliament. The Bill, put forward by wildly unpopular Home Secretary Priti Patel, would effectively ban unskilled migrants earning less than £25,600 from coming to the UK – which could stop foreign care workers, refuse workers and vegetable pickers who have shown their heroics during…

Posted on: 17th May 2020 Posted by: thetorch Comments: 0

Lessons from 2005: regaining our Kennedian edge

The pinnacle of Liberal Democrat success was in 2005. Standing loudly in opposition to the Iraq War, and with Charles Kennedy leading us, we were a constant thorn in the side of an authoritarian Labour government, and reaped the electoral rewards. But while Iraq and our opposition to it is what most people remember of the Kennedy era, our success can be more broadly attributed to our anti-establishment attitude and…

Posted on: 6th May 2020 Posted by: thetorch Comments: 0

Finnish UBI experiment reduces unemployment and stress, increases wellbeing

Finnish authorities have today released the final report analysing Finland’s 2018 universal basic income experiment. The results show that those in receipt of the basic income payments experienced lower unemployment, lower stress and anxiety, and greater wellbeing than a control group who were not in receipt of UBI payments. According to Kela, the Finnish Department of Social Security, “The basic income recipients trusted other people and the institutions in society…

Posted on: 1st May 2020 Posted by: thetorch Comments: 0

Moran makes UBI political priority

Layla Moran, one of the frontrunner candidates to be the next leader of the Liberal Democrats, has today honed in on UBI, investment in public services, and wage increases for frontline workers as political priorities moving forward. In a pair of tweets responding to today’s news that coronavirus death rates are disproportionately in deprived parts of the country and amongst BAME communities, Moran pledged to tackle inequality and poverty. One…