Liberal news for a more liberal world
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…
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…
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…
The Liberal Democrat Education Minister in Wales, Kirsty Williams, has today made £33million of extra funding available to local authorities in Wales for the provision of free school meals during the summer holidays. In what ITV is reporting as a “UK-first move”, the Welsh Liberal Democrat minister will ensure that eligible children receive the equivalent of £19.50 a week in free lunches, with various public health-compliant methods for delivering the…
Interim acting co-leader of the Lib Dems, Sir Ed Davey MP, has today signed a cross-party letter to the Chancellor calling for a Universal Basic Income (UBI) to be implemented post-lockdown. The letter, signed by over 100 MPs of different parties and today published in the Financial Times, will put pressure on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to implement the basic income scheme, which would see regular, unconditional payouts made to every…
Sir Simon McDonald, the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office, today revealed that the Government had refused vital equipment from the European Union in what he described as a “political decision”. Responding to questioning from MPs before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Sir Simon revealed that ministers had been briefed about the EU procurement scheme for personal protective equipment, but that the government had made a “political decision”…
The Liberal Democrats have proposed a whopping pay rise of up to £200 a week for frontline NHS staff dealing with the coronavirus crisis. The “frontline service reward” would mirror the deployment allowance given to armed forces personnel serving on active duty, and would be valued at £29 a day. Based on the median salary of nurses, this could represent as much as a 50% pay rise. Acting Lib Dem…
Savage infighting in the Labour Party, caused by the release of leaked emails and WhatsApp messages, threatens the party’s financial stability, according to a report in The Guardian. The dossier, leaked by figures sympathetic with the Corbynite left, details trenchant factional infighting within the party, with one source telling The Torch that “it’s like half of the party hates the other half”. The report also confirms the sheer scale of…
The Liberal Democrats are set to hold a leadership election closer to the originally intended timetable after their chief executive body, Federal Board, was overruled last week. Since the loss of Jo Swinson’s seat at the 2019 general election, the party has been due to hold a leadership election. It was originally timetabled for May 2020 by Federal Board, but this was punted all the way until May 2021 due…
A Labour MP has today provoked controversy by saying in an interview that she would rather go into coalition with Nigel Farage’s xenophobic, homophobic Brexit Party than the Liberal Democrats. In the interview with ITV’s Paul Brand, Emma Lewell-Buck, a former Shadow Minister and the MP for South Shields, made the startling confession, and admitted that it was because of how passionately she wants Brexit to happen – even though…