Vince Cable writes: Escaping the Brexit dilemmaThere is a Brexit dilemma: a growing consensus that Brexit was a bad mistake together with the fatalistic acceptance that nothing much can be done about it. For committed Remainers, there is the smug satisfaction of having been right all along. The predicted economic costs have duly materialised. The less predicted global upheaval has left Britain dangerously stranded in a geo-economic no-mans-land. Public opinion polls are increasingly negative about Brexit. If the mistake is so obvious, surely then Britain can and will re-join, with some urgency? But there is a big difference between the virtual reality of opinion polls and ... (more) |
Scotland's electoral system has reached breaking pointOur biggest success of the May 2026 elections was undoubtedly in Scotland, where the Scottish Liberal Democrats played a blinder to reverse years of challenging Scottish Parliament elections. The Scottish Party won 10 MSPs, up from four in 2021, an outcome that is, surprisingly, our first net gain at any Holyrood election. However, there's a broader electoral issue that needs to be addressed. And that's the disproportionality of the Scottish Parliament's supposedly proportional system. The Additional Member System (AMS) used to elect MSPs at Holyrood gives voters two ballots. One elects their local First Past the Post (FPTP) MSP, with ... (more) |
The Moody Blues: Go NowThis Sixties classic is a cover of a record by Bessie Banks. The singer here is the late Denny Laine, who went on to form Wings with Paul McCartney. (more) |
Londoners need hope - our Party offers noneThese local elections were successful for many, and yes, we should be celebrating. But as someone who fought in Central London — a Zone 1 ward, as central as it gets — I can't honestly say I feel happy. Everyone keeps talking about the Lib Dem tortoise, the slow and steady march forward, but all I can think of is the Blackadder episode where they measured gains on the Western Front with a tape measure. Being a Lib Dem in Central London feels exactly like trench warfare. It feels like we have out-of-touch generals sitting miles behind the lines, poring ... (more) |
Will replacing Starmer make a difference?As I write, Keir Starmer's demise as Prime Minister is looking more and more inevitable. Over 90 Labour MPs have called for him to go, junior ministers are jumping ship and Wes Streeting is no doubt putting the fundamentals of his leadership campaign into place. But would a new leader make such a difference to Labour's fortunes? The Independent reports on the views of one Labour MP, who believes that replacing Starmer as prime minister will solve none of the country's problems: Southport Labour MP Patrick Hurley issued a powerful appeal to his party to "stick with Starmer". Far from ... (more) |
A View from the Island of MullI am clearly not alone in sharing a sense of deflation at the election results UK wide. While in Scotland there was some degree of recovery it was from an appalling position. It is sobering to note we are now the sixth party in Scotland. We should bear in mind too that our gains in the Highlands and islands were aided by the ferry fiasco which the SNP has overseen. Ferries are the lifeline of not simply the islands they serve but integral to the economies of the communities from which they leave. The scale of utterly avoidable devastation to ... (more) |
Opposition on a knife edgeThe election results in Gateshead last week were horrendous for Labour and disappointing for the Lib Dems. Labour dropped from 48 seats to 12. The Lib Dems dropped from 18 to 13. It means the Lib Dems remain the official opposition as the party has a single seat advantage over Labour. The Lib Dems' 13th seat, in Dunston Hill and Whickham East, was a tight race. Reform took the other 2 seats in (more) |
The most unfortunate result possibleIn my view the results of this week's local elections are the most unfortunate possible. They illustrate perfectly the limitations of our strength and of the nature of our offering to the public. We made enough gains for the party leadership to pretend to be victorious - and, yes, eight gains in a row is something to be very proud of. But our gains were incremental on a night when Reform and the Green party hoovered up millions of votes. (The limits of Reform's success are not lost on me by the way - they reflect Reform's current standing in ... (more) |
The Liberal Democrats and Yesh Atid: a fundamental incompatibility?In 2021, I wrote a Lib Dem Voice article warning that our Party's stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is misaligned with that of our 'sister' party in Israel, Yesh Atid. Over four years later, those concerns have not diminished. Yesh Atid continues to pay occasional lip service to a two-state solution. In practice, however, the party has repeatedly aligned itself with the assumptions and priorities of the Israeli nationalist mainstream, while failing to meaningfully challenge, and at times actively enabling, the blatantly illegal actions of the Netanyahu-Smotrich-Ben Gvir government. Lapid's hardline rhetoric on territorial expansion and Palestinian statehood, admonishment of ... (more) |
From commenting to campaigningThe 2026 Senedd elections have come and gone. Labour is out of power, Plaid is seeking to run a minority government, Reform made many gains, and the Greens have made their Senedd debut. While we were hoping for better results, this election cycle will remain especially significant to me forever, as it was the first time I've gotten involved in politics beyond just voting (an important task in itself). I volunteered to work on Sam Bennett's team in Gwyr Abertawe, where we faced strong opposition from Labour, the Tories, the Greens, Reform, and Plaid Cymru. From my very first day, ... (more) |