Clik here to view.
What Lib Dem members think about an in/out referendum & the future of the UK...
Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members...
View ArticleClik here to view.
5 initial thoughts on David Cameron’s Europe speech
David Cameron delivered his long, long-awaited speech on Europe this morning (text here). Caron’s rounding up the reactions from Lib Dems here – but here are my five initial thoughts… This is the...
View ArticleJust what was Ed Miliband thinking of at PMQs today?
Ed Miliband was always going to be on a loser today. Eurosceptic Tory MPs (ie, pretty much all of them) are cock-a-hoop at their Tory leader finally giving into their demands, and giving them what...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why Cameron is now the ‘Yes to the EU’ campaign’s best hope
There are two very good reasons David Cameron didn’t want the Tories endlessly to bang on about Europe. First, because most of the public just aren’t that interested. Secondly, because the Tories are...
View ArticleTimothy Garton Ash is right: there is only one logical way for me to vote in...
Timothy Garton Ash wrote recently in the Financial Times of the looming — and profoundly paradoxical — choice facing the British voters at the 2015 general election in two years’ time: If … your...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lib Dem MPs to abstain on Tories’ EU in/out referendum bill?
On 5th July, Tory MP James Wharton’s private member’s bill — laying out Conservative plans for an in-out referendum on the EU in 2017 — will get its second reading. The Tories are on a three-line whip...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Will Ed Miliband “do a John Smith” and push for an early EU in/out...
Could Labour be about to “do a John Smith” to the Tories over the timing of an in/out referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union? In the 1990s, Labour wrought havoc on the fourth-term Tory...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lib Dem MP Martin Horwood socks it to the Tories over their “dramatic...
While most of the country was enjoying yesterday’s sunshine, the Tory party indulged its own carnival of (to coin a phrase) banging on about Europe. James Wharton’s private member’s bill legislating...
View ArticleAn in/out EU referendum? Lib Dem members say no, by 55% to 36%
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. More than 600 party members...
View Article“The EU has provided us with the best Europe we’ve ever had”
That was the claim in this very interesting essay by Robert Cooper – a visiting professor at the London School of Economic and a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations – in last week’s New...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Principle and Realpolitik: why the Lib Dems should back an EU in/out referendum
My co-editor Caron Lindsay has asked the following question, amid reports senior Lib Dems want the party to commit to an in/out EU referendum in the next parliament: “What do you think? Stay as we are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Europe and the Election (2): In defence of Nicola Sturgeon
(You can read Europe and the Election (1): Blair’s back, but wrong here.) Nicola Sturgeon has taken some stick today for hinting the SNP might call for another independence referendum in their 2016...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Who will speak for England? Turns out, it’s David Cameron
Much deserved mockery greeted the Daily Mail’s portentous front page plea for a plucky patriot to take up cudgels on behalf of Brexit: Today the Mail asks a question of profound significance to our...
View ArticleMy Brexit take in 7 tweets
[View the story “Views of a Lib Dem Eurosceptic on Leave / Remain” on Storify]
View ArticleThe Brexit rupture: sorry if I take it personally. But it is.
Honestly, I’ve not known what to write this past fortnight: so much things to say. But, then, so’s everyone else. I was at a big dinner last night in the Remain stronghold of Oxford (numerous ‘in’...
View ArticleWhy I think Theresa May is pretty much the ideal prime minister for our times
Embed from Getty Images Theresa May is pretty much the ideal prime minister for the times we live in. Not because she gives every appearance of being reassuringly tough, shrewd, hard-working and very...
View ArticleTheresa May’s Hard Brexit: politically and tactically smart
It’s official: it’s a hard Brexit. We’re not just exiting the EU, confirmed Theresa May today, we’re also exiting the single market and probably the customs union also. Now, I’m a Remainer and last...
View ArticleWhat Vote Leave said about UK membership of the single market
So this morning I tweeted: Fellow Remainers, please stop pretending Vote Leave said UK would stay in the single market. It didn't. Let's not join the fake news rush. pic.twitter.com/TrFHclaZ5c —...
View ArticleArticle 50 and the Great Brexit Opportunity Cost
Embed from Getty Images Brexit could be okay. It might happen. Maybe it will be possible for the UK to negotiate constructively with the other EU states an exit which respects the rights of EU...
View ArticleElection 2017: actually, this is good for all parties
Well, who saw that coming? Not me. But Theresa May’s decision to call a ‘snap’ election actually suits all parties pretty well. First, the Tories will win, and will win big. Two recent polls suggest...
View Article
