Liberal Democrats

All power to Dr Lee, who seems to stand a very good chance of beating Redwood at the election.

varian for you

John Rentoul
@JohnRentoul
·

There's been another
@Survation
constituency poll & it's a shocker: Lib Dems close to taking John Redwood's Wokingham seat

Jo Swinson is going to gain a lot of votes in the election, maybe the LDs will get 50 seats or so, that seems a realistic aim. In the current political climate with Tory and Labour at the extremes, if they can’t get big gains in the middle ground they are dead.
If as they hope big gains are realized they could be a realistic force at the next election, which might be sooner than we think.

Some very nasty comments about Jo Swinson on some of the Labour facebook pages, a lot of them quite sexist as well, which I find quite disappointing.

It would be a dreadful irony if the Lib Dems do as well as some of the polls predict, but Jo Swinson fell victim to the SNP. It's not impossible.

Jo Swinson is being heavily targeted by both the Labour Party and the SNP who see her and the Liberal Democrats as a serious threat.

The Labour Party do not want to stop brexit.

The SNP say they do want to stop brexit but many of their supporters think that brexit would be good for the separatist cause and so they will not support the Liberal Democrats In the way the Welsh Nationlists are prepared to do.

Lib Dems Pledge To Bring Back Climate Change Department Scrapped By Tories

Party says move needed to fight climate change "emergency".

Liberal Democrats leader Jo Swinson makes a speech at a rally at the Battersea Arts Centre in Lavender Hill, while on the General Election campaign trail in London.
The Lib Dems have promised to bring back the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to fight “the climate emergency”, should the party win the election.

DECC was abolished by the Theresa May in July 2016 and merged into the newly created Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.

Wera Hobhouse, the Lib Dem climate spokesperson, said the move was part of efforts to “undo” to damage done to the environment by the Conservatives.

DECC was created by Gordon Brown in 2008. May’s decision to scrap it when she became prime minister was widely criticised by environmental campaigners, with Friends of the Earth branding it “shocking”. Ed Miliband, the first secretary of state for the department, said it was “plain stupid”.

Ed Davey, the current Lib Dem deputy leader, served as energy secretary during the coalition years. He said at the time DECC’s demise was “a major setback for the UK’s climate change efforts”.

The promise to reestablish the department is expected to be in the Lib Dem general election manifesto.

Hobhouse said: “The planet is on the brink of being irreparably damaged and we are responsible.

“The UK should be leading the world in tackling the climate emergency and building a brighter future, but the Conservatives are failing to take the climate emergency seriously.

“The Tories have banned on-shore wind, slashed subsidies for solar power and brutally scrapped the vital Department for Climate Change.

“Their Brexit mess is persistently hindering and delaying Climate Action.

“The Liberal Democrats would undo the damage done. We would restore the Department on day one and ensure tackling the climate emergency is at the heart of Government.

She added: “We are the only party who have a clear, ambitious plan to cut harmful emissions by 2030 and get to net zero by 2045.”

The Conservative government currently has an aim of reaching net zero by 2050. Labour’s conference in September committed the party to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2030, although the party’s election manifesto is yet to be finalised.

Jonathan Bartley, the co-leader of the Green Party, predicted on Sunday morning his pary would secure the “biggest Green vote ever” on December 12.

“I think at this election we’re seeing climate change right up there at the top of the agenda,” he told BBC 5 Live’s Pienaar’s Politics.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/lib-dems-pledge-to-bring-back-climate-change-department-scrapped-by-tories_uk_5dc81b52e4b0fcfb7f680c43

I think those of us who are concerned about climate change will be voting Labour if zero can be achieved by 2030 as promised.

Former Tory minister Nick Boles says he will vote LibDem

www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/appalling-choice-contest-must-start-the-process-of-building-something-new-a4283876.html

Politicians, campaigners and voters are joining the Liberal Democrats from all over the old political spectrum

twitter.com/LibDems/status/1194581970023571456?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

I am voting Liberal for the first time. I hope it works as I am depressed by the prospect of this country slipping into a pit of obscurity.

I am voting Labour because of the Green Industrial Revolution thousands of new jobs to tackle climate change.

And saving our NHS proper funding. Only Labour will save our NHS

The Lib Dems helped cause austerity with the Tories no change there

And saving our NHS proper funding. Only Labour will save our NHS

Oh Grany it was Liebour who introduced the Private Finance Initiative which repayment costs have crippled NHS Trusts - some Trusts now spend 20% of their budget on their loans!!

Yes Urmstongran We all know that New Labour Blair tripled PFI not good I agree

But Socialist Labour under Corbyn is a different matter. They will save our NHS from privatisation and properly fund it.

Today @ChukaUmunna and @lucianaberger laid out our vision of how to build a #BrighterFuture where everyone’s rights and liberties are protected.

twitter.com/LibDems/status/1194972814207541248?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

It is time we heard the truth about free movement of labour in the EU

www.newstatesman.com/politics/elections/2019/11/ed-davey-exposes-awkward-truth-about-free-movement-and-infrastructure

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2019/11/17/the-libdems-are-promoting-the-most-hard-right-neoliberal-callously-indifferent-economic-agenda-of-any-mainstream-party-in-this-election/

I’m sad to read this, but I think it all stems from Swinson. This isnt what the libs should be about

This is rubbish. If you are interested in the LibDems economic policy here is the text of Ed Davey's speech

www.libdemvoice.org/in-full-ed-daveys-speech-on-the-economy-62642.html

The Lib Dems still back Austerity when asked about this Swinson in an interview saying we have to tighten our belts. So not a party to back to help Britain on its feet again after 10 years of punishing Austerity.

As far as this Brexit is concerned Labour have said that they will put it to the people with remain as an option.

See here. Would you vote for this?

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2019/11/17/the-libdems-are-promoting-the-most-hard-right-neoliberal-callously-indifferent-economic-agenda-of-any-mainstream-party-in-this-election/

I think what he actually said was "the Lib Dems would run a 1 per cent surplus on current spending - meaning that day-to-day costs of public services would be lower than the amount raised in taxes"

The Lib Dems also said "they could work with a minority government led by Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn on an "issue by issue" but ruled out a formal coalition or confidence and supply pact."

And "Sir Ed said the party would raise spending, for example on childcare, but would balance it out by a rise in corporation taxes and capital gains tax. He added: "You can still meet fiscal rules and be economically responsible, and make important environmental, social and economic investments. You just have to be honest about where the money's coming from. So on the revenue side we've talked about a Remain bonus, but we've also talked about modest tax rises."

They're just locking in the myth that tax revenue funds expenditure.

If you inherited a company that was struggling because of lack of investment you would not expect to fund the investment needed to bring it back to profitability out of its meagre profits (it's a struggling company, don't forget). There wouldn't be enough money to do it. You would borrow to invest in measures that would restore it to health.

Governments which run a sovereign currency don't even need to borrow, they can 'create' money to invest in the country. That's where £240+ billion of quantitative easing came from after the bankers' crash, the fall in the pound after the EU Referendum and May's £1 billion bribe to the DUP. Most of the invested money comes back to the government by way of tax.

The Lib Dem's policy locks us into only spending what we have. As a significant amount of this will go abroad through the purchase of resources from other countries, or into offshore tax havens as some companies and individuals squirrel away their profits where the tax man can't get hold of them, or into personal savings, then the available supply of money from tax revenue diminishes, thus (if you really want to believe that taxation funds spending) leaving less and less available for state spending.

Result? Cuts and austerity...

The policy is to control "running costs" but to borrow to invest for the future. Fortunately if we stop brexit we will be much better able to do both.

This afternoon Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson addressed the Confederation of British Industry.

Having heard Tory and Labour leaders, they were eager to hear from a party which supports British Industry and agrees with the CBI that we should stop brexit.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nTEjranPHg