Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: The Cost

By Tom Arms | Sat 18th April 2026 - 9:43 am

Trump’s War against Iran has upended the world economy. And it has only just begun. As one economist said: “At the moment things are bad. They are going to get worse and they could become catastrophic.”

At the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) spring meeting of world finance ministers the IMF revised down world economic growth for 2026 from 3.3 percent to 3.1 percent. It then went on to warn that if the Iran War continued much longer there was a real risk of a global recession.

Of the world’s advanced economies, the UK is the hardest hit according to both the IMF and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Predicted growth in the UK is 0.8 percent for 2026, down from 1.3 percent.

Even harder hit are the Asia Pacific countries who are dependent on the Persian Gulf for their gas and oil-based energy. Asia is also the most populous continent and accounts for more than half of global manufacturing which means that economic hits to that region have major global impact. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) reckons that the war has already cost Asia-Pacific countries $300 billion.

Fossil fuels are not the only vital commodity exported from the Persian Gulf. The region is the world’s major source of urea which is a derivative of natural gas and a major component of fertiliser. There is a real danger that the lack of fertiliser will hit global crop yields.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned that forty-five million people could be pushed into “food insecurity” and that food shortages could reach “catastrophic levels.”

The Eurozone has also been hit. IMF growth predictions for the Eurozone have been revised down from 1.3 percent to 1.1 percent and inflation is expected to go up from 2.1 percent to 2.6 percent. Trump’s war has made it unlikely that the European Central Bank can cut interest rates. In fact, they may have to raise them. This view is being echoed by central banks around the world.

Germany is the hardest hit of the Eurozone countries. This is because its economy is heavily geared towards manufacturing which in turn is fuelled by oil and gas. Because France derives a large part of its energy from nuclear power plants it will escape a lot of the pain, but the French finance minister has warned about inflation and supply chain risks.

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Mark Valladares

Scottish Liberal Democrats launch manifesto focused on health, cost of living, transport and education

By Mark Valladares | Sat 18th April 2026 - 7:30 am

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has launched his party’s manifesto focused on the issues that matter most to people right now, and made a plea to voters to back his party on the peach regional ballot to deliver change with fairness at its heart.

The manifesto can be found here.

Speaking at the Edinburgh Food & Drink Academy where he baked peach tarts for journalists, Mr Cole-Hamilton set out the party’s ten target constituency seats which would enable it to block the SNP from winning a parliamentary majority as well as the party’s four key priorities for the election:

  • Delivering first-rate health care by embedding 900 new multidisciplinary patient-facing staff like nurses, physios and mental health professionals in GP practices and investing £400m into care over the next three years in order to fix the NHS.
  • Helping you with the cost of living by insulating cold homes with an emergency £100m insulation programme, using Scottish renewable energy to drive down household bills and increasing support for unpaid carers by £400 a year.
  • Getting Scotland moving again – by driving progress on major projects such as dualling the A9 and tunnels for Shetland, passing a Ferries Bill that will end the SNP’s ferries fiasco for good and making £12m available immediately to compensate islanders and coastal communities.
  • Getting Scottish education back to its best by hiring 2,000 more pupil support assistants and banning phones from schools.

    • Speaking at the launch, Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

    Scotland has so much going for it but right now, it feels like our country simply isn’t working.

    Household bills are soaring. There are long waits to see your GP. The SNP’s ferries fiasco is a national embarrassment and Scottish education just isn’t what it used to be.

    We know you feel let down by the other parties. We think Scotland deserves better than this. But it needs to be change with fairness at its heart.

    We believe in fairness for everyone, no matter who you are or where you come from. That’s why we have a realistic plan to get things done, focused on the things that matter most like access to healthcare and the cost of living.

    Let me be straight with you. You have two votes. In many constituencies we are on the verge of winning against the SNP but wherever you are, every vote for the Scottish Liberal Democrats on the second peach ballot will deliver change with fairness at its heart.

    Scotland deserves better. And with the Scottish Liberal Democrats, you can vote for it.

    On tackling the challenges facing health and care he said:

    We will get you faster access to GPs and more local staff, driving early diagnosis and bringing down waits, and getting people back to work. It will be the equivalent of giving every GP practice the benefit of an additional member of clinical staff.

    We will rejuvenate local healthcare facilities and introduce a new Fair Deal for Rural Healthcare. We will roll out a national lung cancer screening programme, recruit and retain more NHS dentists, create walk-in mental health services, and our 10-year workforce plan for the NHS and care will take the pressure off overwhelmed services and get the right staff in the right place.

    You can’t fix the NHS unless you fix care – not with 2,000 people a night stuck in hospital when they don’t need or want to be there, costing the NHS over a million pounds a day. That’s why we will reward care workers with a new career ladder and halve the problem of delayed discharge by investing £400m into care over the next three years. We will increase the Carer Support Payment by over £400 a year for unpaid carers, and give every young carer someone who they can turn to for help balancing learning, life and caring for their loved one.

    That is how we deliver first-rate health and care services.

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Joe Nutt

ALDC by-election report, 16th April

By Joe Nutt | Fri 17th April 2026 - 3:42 pm

There were two principal council by-elections this week, both of which had a Liberal Democrat candidate on the ballot.

Northumberland Council, Cramlington South West

The Conservatives have gained the seat of Cramlington South West from Reform UK, who only won it themselves in last year’s local elections. But the incumbent councillor had to step down owing to illness. The seat was newly created in 2025. Generally, the Conservatives tend to do quite well in Cramlington, though in this specific seat they finished third behind Reform and Labour last year, while the Liberal Democrats did not put forward a candidate.

This result, alongside Reform’s loss in Kent last week and their reduced majority in the second of this week’s by-elections, may point to a possible “retention problem” for the party. While they finish top of the leaderboard both in terms of gains in by-elections and overall by-election wins since the 2025 locals, they finish third on seats successfully defended, only being able to hold onto less than half at 47%. For context, the Liberal Democrat retention rate over the same period is 80%. It could point to a problem that voters generally seem less enthusiastic about letting Reform back in again once they’ve tried them.

A huge thanks to Nick Cott for ensuring there was a Liberal Democrat option on the ballot paper this time.

Conservatives: 278 – 34.2% (+9.0)

Reform UK: 212 – 26.0% (-13.6)

Labour: 187 – 23.0% (-5.8

Green: 116 – 14.3% (New)

Independent: 13 – 1.6% (New)

Liberal Democrat: 7 – 0.9% (New)

 

Conservative GAIN from Reform UK

Turnout: 26.88%

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Mills Dyer

The Quiet Revival, my Roman Empire, and other times that I’ve been proven right

By Mills Dyer | Fri 17th April 2026 - 1:38 pm

It is rare that a podcast will make me immediately stop what I am doing.  However, this was the case last summer, when the brilliant ‘Since Churchill and Attlee’ podcast highlighted a study from The Bible Society called ‘The Quiet Revival’. The report claimed to show that 16% of 18-24 year olds surveyed (by YouGov) in 2024 were Christian and went to church at least once a month, rising from 4% in 2018. This survey result was not just extraordinary, but frankly, unbelievable. As I read the Bible Society report for myself and googled the coverage surrounding it, I realised with shock that this report was being picked up as if it was itself gospel.

This brings me to my Roman Empire, something that a person thinks deeply about on a regular basis. My Roman Empire is that, Christianity worldwide (but particularly in North America and Western Europe) is dying out, and that no one else is noticing. This is not to say that I do not have skin in this game. I left Christianity a few years ago, when I realised that I could no longer believe in a deity, much less attend a church, that was less compassionate than I was. A ‘casualty’ of the Christianity’s move towards the political right.

As an observer of the church in the UK and certified data nerd/psephologist, I knew that the data in the Bible Society’s report went against all available evidence. Attendance data from the Church of England and the Catholic Church, data from the UK Census, and the British Attitudes Survey all disagree to a sharp increase in Christian attendance or identification as the Bible Society are suggesting. The British Attitudes Survey even showing the reverse pattern the The Bible Society claim for an uptick in the identification with Christianity. Moreover, the consistent data picture is one of decades of steady decline.  In 1960, just under 7% were on the Church of England’s electoral roll, in 2019, that had dropped to just 1.5%. The 2021 Census shows that identification with Christianity has dropped below half the population for the first time in England and Wales (46.2%, down from 59.3% in 2011).

Why this is all relevant now is because a fortnight ago (27th March) The Bible Society pulled the report and the data/claims that went with it. Now YouGov, which carried out the research, has told the Bible Society that an internal review of the data found that some of the respondents who completed its survey were “fraudulent”.

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Josh Matthews

A UK Wellbeing Economy: The start of a Liberal Democrat vision and plan

By Josh Matthews | Fri 17th April 2026 - 10:07 am

We are at our best, as Liberal Democrats, when we have radical vision, challenge the status quo, AND have the plan to match.

Too few people in positions of power truly realise just how deep the failing of the current economy goes. It does not work for too many people.

But the question is not just what a new economy looks like, but how we unpick the old one and move forward.

This article outlines how the Liberal Democrats could construct and communicate a plan for a Wellbeing Economy in the UK. You can find more detail on each of the seven steps below published recently at Critical Mass for Sustainability.

The next stage of economics must be a transition to an economy judged not only by GDP, but by whether people can access care, find fulfilling and secure work, access a thriving local environment, afford a decent home, breathe clean air… all on a liveable planet.

A wellbeing economy matches our party’s deepest values: liberty, equality, community, democracy, and environmentalism.

Freedom, fairness, and equality of opportunity also cut across Liberal Democrat values and form the core of what a wellbeing economy could be:

  • A platform and the freedom to live your version of a best life.
  • Freedom in a fair society that works especially for the least advantaged.
  • Genuine equality of opportunity, not just theoretical opportunity written in law.

That new economy needs a practical route from the current, complex, globally connected system to a better one, built from inside the institutions, incentives, and fiscal realities we have now.

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Mark Valladares

15 April 2026 – the glitch-affected press releases (part 2)

By Mark Valladares | Thu 16th April 2026 - 11:45 pm

SNP candidate laughed at for education comments

Responding to SNP candidate Deirdre Brock’s comments on education at a hustings on Wednesday night, Scottish Liberal Democrat Edinburgh and Lothians East list candidate Jane Alliston Pickard said:

It was utterly bizarre to see a wannabe parliamentarian declare that basic skills are no longer needed.

People in the room were literally laughing at her.

Then again, when your only real goal is pushing SNP plans for breaking up the UK, perhaps it helps to have kids who are mathematically illiterate.

Education can be transformational but under the SNP Scotland is no longer the best in the world. Scottish

…

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Mark Valladares

13-15 April 2026 – the glitch-affected press releases (part 1)

By Mark Valladares | Thu 16th April 2026 - 11:25 pm

With apologies to all, as it seems as though my primary e-mail account has decided to glitch, only accepting some but not all e-mails directed to it… here are some press releases that have been issued over the past few days that we missed…

  • Legislate to make schools smartphone free, says Cole-Hamilton
  • Scot Lib Dems comment on Green manifesto launch
  • Scottish Lib Dems launch plans to revive high streets
  • Scot Lib Dems warn of “farming fuel crisis” as red diesel prices soar

Legislate to make schools smartphone free, says Cole-Hamilton

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today set out how his party will legislate to make schools smartphone-free environments, as part of its plan to get Scottish education back to its best.

The party’s manifesto, to be published later this week, will enshrine the right of children to learn, and teachers to teach, by making every school a smartphone-free environment.

Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

Education is the best investment we can make in our children’s potential and our country’s future.

But after 19 years of the SNP, Scottish education just isn’t what it used to be. Every week I meet families worried that their child’s additional support needs aren’t being met, worried their teenager is frequently absent or worried about the violence in their schools. Fights and bullying are captured on phones and spread like wildfire. Our children deserve better.

Scottish Liberal Democrats will legislate to make schools smartphone-free environments, so children can learn and teachers can teach. We need to make the cultural change that this requires – it’s just not fair to leave this up to headteachers and ministerial guidance any longer.

Studies show the link between problematic smartphone use, poor mental health and poor sleep amongst teens. Phones are a distraction, apps are built to be addictive and there are relentless notifications. The classroom ought to offer a break to our young people from all of that – a bit of peace and quiet to learn, to focus, and properly connect with classmates and teachers.

That’s why making schools smartphone free is an essential part of the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ plan to get Scottish education back to its best.

Scot Lib Dems comment on Green manifesto launch

Responding to the Scottish Greens manifesto launch, Scottish Liberal Democrat campaign chair Wendy Chamberlain said:

The Scottish Greens came very close to promising every voter a free puppy. There were so many freebies on show that it blew any hope of credibility.

In government the Greens were responsible for wasting millions on a bottle deposit scheme that fell apart, cut £200m from the housing budget in the middle of a housing crisis and pushing plans for marine areas that would have cost coastal communities their livelihoods.

Unless you want a repeat of the Green tail wagging the SNP dog you should vote for Scottish Liberal Democrats on your peach regional ballot. We will deliver change with fairness at its heart, after years of SNP-Green neglect.

Scottish Lib Dems launch plans to revive high streets

Scottish Liberal Democrat economy spokesperson Jamie Greene has today set out his party’s plans to support Scottish high streets, as he pledged to review vape shops, improve public transport and explore a new system of business rates.

After successfully securing £178 million for the year ahead to help businesses with crushing rates rises, Scottish Liberal Democrats are now setting out a series of measures to get high streets thriving.

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Mark Valladares

16 April 2026 – the press releases

By Mark Valladares | Thu 16th April 2026 - 11:05 pm
  • Chamberlain: Peach ballot key to holding SNP to account on secrecy and broken promises
  • Vote to cut the cost of living urges Scot Lib Dem leader
  • Scottish Lib Dems lay out manifesto plans to tackle violence against women
  • Greene: Tory downfall due to Findlay and Badenoch’s leadership

Chamberlain: Peach ballot key to holding SNP to account on secrecy and broken promises

Speaking ahead of the SNP’s manifesto launch, Scottish Liberal Democrat deputy leader and campaign chair Wendy Chamberlain MP has urged Scots to use their peach ballot paper to …

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Tom Reeve

Three chords and the truth

By Tom Reeve | Thu 16th April 2026 - 11:58 am

The new Fabian pamphlet, Common Endeavour, has one of the sharpest lines written about populism this year. In chapter 8, Labour MP Liam Byrne borrows the old country music saying that all you need is “three chords and the truth.” Populism works, he argues, because it plays three simple emotional chords: patriotism, nostalgia, and moral combat. Pride, loss, fight. Simple, repeatable, and perfectly tuned to social media algorithms that reward feeling over thought.

He’s right. And he’s honest enough to admit that mainstream politicians have been answering with word salads while populists holler a battle cry. Reform UK doesn’t win arguments. It wins feelings.

But Byrne’s own answer is where it falls short. His formula for beating populism is “optimism plus fairness plus performance.” That’s a strategy memo, not a song. It tells a government what to do. It doesn’t tell a movement what to feel. You can’t knock on a door and sing optimism plus fairness plus performance.

Liberals need our own three chords. Here are mine.

Power. Security. Respect.

Start with power, because that’s where liberals are different. Labour’s instinct is to fix things for people from the centre. Reform’s trick is to offer the feeling of power by handing it to a strongman. One is paternalism. The other is surrender dressed in a flag.

As countless leaders of radical movements have noted, power is not given, it is taken. I believe that’s not only a radical proposition, it’s liberal as well. 

The preamble to our party’s constitution states that power belongs at the lowest level that works. The implication is that the centre must justify each power it possesses, not the other way around.

Yes, the consequences of this are significant at the local level – neighbourhood budgets and planning decisions made by people who live with the outcome. But power isn’t only a local question. 

As a species, we are wealthier than at any point in history, but the people in the bottom half of the economy aren’t feeling it. That’s not a local problem; it’s a national and global failure of power. Who sets wages, who controls housing costs, who decides where investment goes, who writes the rules of the economy, and for whose benefit? 

Liberals may have cracked the local argument. The national one – dispersing economic power, not just political power – is harder. But it matters, and we haven’t begun to answer it seriously.

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Josh Babarinde

100 things @ 100 days

By Josh Babarinde | Thu 16th April 2026 - 9:31 am

Hello lovely Liberal Democrats!

This week, we reached 100 days since I took office as Party President – and what an honour it’s been so far!

I’ve been working with incredible members, activists, councillors, parliamentarians and staff across our party to help us to reach more people – voters, donors, volunteers, media and more – with our liberal message and to reinforce our position as the last line of defence against populism and division in our country.

Below are 100 things that I’ve been doing since I was elected to play my part in that fight as Party president. It’s not an exhaustive list but I hope it gives a flavour of what I’ve been up to!

(PS It’s in a random order, so please don’t read too much into that!)

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Mark Valladares

14-15 April 2016 – the press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 15th April 2026 - 11:05 pm
  • Scot Lib Dems comment on Nigel Farage’s visit to Shetland
  • Abysmal A&E figures show SNP need to be removed from government

Scot Lib Dems comment on Nigel Farage’s visit to Shetland

Commenting on Nigel Farage’s flying visit to Shetland, Emma Macdonald Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate said:

Nigel Farage is welcome to visit Shetland the same as any tourist, but folk here will judge him on what he’s actually done for our islands.

Farage was on the fisheries committee in Brussels for years and barely made an appearance – then when there was a big debate on the fishing industry in the UK Parliament, led by

…

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Jack Meredith

Attendance Allowance should not stop at the hospital door

By Jack Meredith | Wed 15th April 2026 - 1:30 pm

My grandfather, or as I affectionately call him, Bampa, is currently in the hospital awaiting urgent heart treatment.

It’s frightening enough on its own. The hospital is 40 minutes away, so I’m relying on phone calls during the day to keep up to date on my bampa, get on with my work day, and keep my family members updated on what the hospital tells me; suffice it to say, it’s a lot.

And then, recently, my mum had a letter. My mum has been told that, due to how long my bampa has been in the hospital, if he is still there by Sunday, 26 April, his Attendance Allowance will stop.

Now, we’re not expecting him to be in there that long, and he should (we hope) be home by the end of the week. But what kind of state treats its citizens like this? A man who has worked his entire life, never complained about the cards he was dealt in life, having lost his wife only a few months ago, is now in the hospital, and the response from the state is, “Yeah, sorry about that, but if you’re there any longer, we’ll punish you.”

It’s one of those moments when the welfare state shows you why, once again, it is not fit for purpose. What should be a humane system built around the realities of illness, frailty and care is just an administrative machine that is constantly scanning for the point at which it decides support no longer counts.

Attendance Allowance is designed to support older people with the extra costs of disability and ill health. It can range from £76.70 to £114.60 per week. But if someone has the misfortune of being ill and being in hospital for 28 days, their support is suspended, and only resumes when they’re back home.

While this makes sense to Whitehall, considering they fund the hospital stay and therefore the benefit is not needed, life is not lived on a spreadsheet.

Extra pressures do not disappear when someone is in the hospital. Families need to travel, buy essentials for the person in the hospital, spend money on food, parking and transport, manage calls and paperwork, chase updates, prepare for discharge, and carry the emotional and practical stresses of caring. Depending on the treatment, the person coming home from the hospital will need more support than before, not less.

This is what makes the rule on Attendance Allowance so cruel. It operates on a fantasy version of illness, one in which the hospital somehow automatically removes the burdens of care, rather than intensifying them.

The impact on Attendance Allowance has a knock-on effect on the carer’s allowance, too. If the Attendance Allowance stops, the linked Carer’s Allowance also stops, triggering a second financial impact on the same family. This is a direct penalty on ill health and care itself, delivered by a system supposedly in place to support both.

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Jenny Wilkinson

Why Birmingham is ready for a Liberal Democrat administration 

By Jenny Wilkinson | Wed 15th April 2026 - 11:28 am

Ed Davey with Lib Dem campaigners in BirminghamBirmingham is at a turning point. After years of Labour failure, a sense of frustration is palpable across the city. A year-long bin strike, which has left streets filthy and strewn with litter, combined with bankruptcy and council tax increases of 24% over 3 years have left residents fed up and looking for an alternative to the failed Labour administration. This widespread discontent has created a unique opportunity for the Lib Dems to provide the leadership that residents are crying out for. With all 101 Birmingham City Council seats up for election on May the 7th, we have the opportunity to make this a reality. 

As a member of Sutton Coldfield local party in Birmingham, I’ve witnessed first-hand voters turning away from Labour and the Conservatives. When Steve Darling MP visited us recently, he found scores of residents looking for an alternative and expressing their support for the Liberal Democrats. They are tired of being let down by failures in local and national government, and they see in us a party that champions local communities. 

Our candidates across the city are finding that the tide is changing towards us and this isn’t just anecdotal. In October we gained a seat from Labour in the Moseley by-election. This win sends a message to the electorate – that the Liberal Democrats are capable of taking on Labour and winning. 

Our leader, Sir Ed Davey, emphasized this last week when he visited Birmingham for the launch of our manifesto stating:

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Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg to give Charles Kennedy Memorial Lecture – how to watch

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 15th April 2026 - 9:52 am

Next Tuesday, 21st April, at the National Liberal Club, Nick Clegg will give the Charles Kennedy Memorial Lecture on the future of Europe organised by The European Movement UK, in association with the National Liberal Club European Forum and Liberal International (BG).

Charles was a lifelong committed European, and Nick started his career working for Leon Brittain when he was an EU Trade Commissioner and was then an MEP.

With the global environment changing beyond recognition, it’s never been more important to think about how Europe can work together and Nick’s contribution to this will be incredibly …

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The Voice

Ed Davey: Hillary Clinton told me to “stand up to bullies” like Reform UK

By The Voice | Tue 14th April 2026 - 4:19 pm

Embed from Getty Images

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Paul Walter

A very warm Highland welcome for soft southerners

By Paul Walter | Tue 14th April 2026 - 1:23 pm

It was a huge privilege and pleasure to spend an extended weekend in the Highlands. Blue letter delivery rarely comes with such a vast helping of scenic delights.

We were very fortunate to have very sunny weather as we delivered in Fort Augustus – a fine tourism centre for Loch Ness (above) visitors.

A stiff breeze on Saturday made our Isle of Skye (below) outing even more photogenic – with white horses on the surrounding sea.

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Gareth McAleer

Rejoining the EU – what £1.2 trillion really means for Britain (part 2)

By Gareth McAleer | Tue 14th April 2026 - 12:37 pm

If the UK economy were permanently £180 billion larger every year, and that translated into around £54 billion of extra tax receipts annually, the real‑world impact would not be abstract. It would be measured in hospitals built, nurses hired, waiting lists cut, teachers recruited and classrooms made smaller. This is where the story moves from macroeconomics to people’s lives and to the choices a government can make with new, sustainable revenue.

The NHS: more staff, shorter waits

Take the NHS first. Recent estimates suggest that one additional NHS doctor costs the public sector roughly £100,000 per year when salaries, training and overheads are included, while a nurse costs around £40,000 to £50,000. If even a quarter of the extra £54 billion a year – about £13.5 billion – were directed into health and care, it would support a transformation on the ground.

That level of funding could pay for roughly 135,000 extra doctors or around 270,000 extra nurses, or a mixed workforce of, for example, 60,000 doctors and 110,000 nurses. In practice, a phased approach would be more realistic and more powerful. A government could plan to recruit 5,000 new doctors and 20,000 new nurses each year for a decade, backed up by thousands more radiographers, physiotherapists and paramedics, as well as sustained capital investment in scanners, theatres and digital systems.

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Lord William Wallace

Defending Liberalism against the illiberal counter-attack

By Lord William Wallace | Tue 14th April 2026 - 9:37 am

In Britain, the USA and across Europe an active cultural war is being fought between liberalism and nationalistic reactionaries.  I regret that British Liberal Democrats are playing so small a part in this conflict – fought through the intellectual media and think tank world, within Christian churches (and within Judaism) and across university campuses. Anti-liberal tracts and articles spill out from well-funded think tanks and newspapers in the USA, Britain and elsewhere. Liberal rebuttals are fewer. But Allen Lane/Penguin have just published one full-length rebuttal: ‘Centrists of the World Unite: the lost genius of Liberalism’, by Adrian Wooldridge, who has spent most of his career on the staff of The Economist.

In over 300 pages Wooldridge takes us from the 16th and 17th century origins of liberalism to its contemporary dilemmas. His underlying theme is that liberalism – defined as ‘the belief that society starts with the individual rather than the collective that power is so dangerous that it needs to be restrained, that truth can be striven-for only through open discussion’ – has twice been successfully reinterpreted to meet the challenges of social, economic and international changes, and that we now need a third confident reinterpretation to counter the anti-liberal onslaught we face today.

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Patrick Baga

The Independent View: Lib Dems would be backing a winner on greyhound racing ban

By Patrick Baga | Tue 14th April 2026 - 8:55 am

This week, greyhound advocates and adopters assembled at a parliamentary reception hosted by Neil Duncan-Jordan MP. Our organisation, international greyhound protection group GREY2K USA Worldwide, jointly released a report entitled Reaching the Finish Line, alongside the League Against Cruel Sports. It is the most comprehensive policy argument in favour of phasing out greyhound racing in the UK ever assembled.

The timing of this release coincides with reporting that there are Labour MPs, as well as sympathetic Labour Ministers, urging Keir Starmer to follow Scotland and Wales and call time on greyhound racing.

It is our belief that it is now time for the Liberal Democrats to adopt a party position of banning greyhound racing. After all, this is both the mainstream consensus and in line with Lib Dem compassionate instincts on animal welfare and gambling harm. Polling in both Scotland and Wales showed approximately 60% support for ending greyhound racing versus 20% opposition. 

Further, Lib Dems are already leading on this issue. Jane Dodds MS played an integral role in securing the Welsh ban and Liz Jarvis MP is carrying the torch in Westminster. Her Early Day Motion calling for an end has 34 signatories, including 22 Lib Dems. 

The evidence base for a ban is also clear. Animal welfare experts in Scotland determined that racing greyhounds sustain more traumatic injuries than companion greyhounds and that the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) is incapable of safeguarding their welfare.

For most of these dogs, the journey begins in Ireland, where they must survive an initial cull of thousands of greyhounds that are deemed too slow. They are then transported from Ireland to the UK, where hundreds are lost.

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The Voice

Greene: Offord must tell Scots if he’ll risk free prescriptions

By The Voice | Mon 13th April 2026 - 11:10 pm

Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate for Inverclyde, Jamie Greene, has called for Reform UK’s Malcom Offord to come clean on whether he would make Scots pay for medicine.

In 2025, Lord Offord wrote in a Centre for Policy Studies paper that “dialogue” was needed on making people in Scotland pay prescription charges.

Mr Greene claimed that it was Offord’s responsibility to tell the Scottish people exactly what the consequences of voting for Reform UK would be for hard-pressed Scots.

Reform’s UK boss Nigel Farage has a history of flirting with NHS charging and privatisation, once advocating that the health service moves …

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Mathew Hulbert

Mathew on Monday: Hungary shows us that the populist Right can be defeated!

By Mathew Hulbert | Mon 13th April 2026 - 5:00 pm

For years, Victor Orban’s Hungary has been held up – by admirers and critics alike – as proof that the populist Right, once entrenched, is almost impossible to dislodge. A self-described “illiberal state,” tight media control, constitutional engineering, and a politics built on division and grievance all seemed to point in one direction: permanence. And yet – politics has a habit of reminding us that nothing is permanent.

Yesterday’s election result in Hungary has sent a jolt through that assumption. After more than a decade and a half dominating Hungarian politics, Orban’s grip has been broke by a broad, pro-European opposition. It wasn’t inevitable. It wasn’t easy. But it was possible.

For liberals and democrats here in the UK that matters. Because too often we hear a weary fatalism: that once populists take hold, the game is up; that institutions bend and never recover; that voters, once captured by grievance politics, don’t return. Hungary suggests otherwise.

Here are five takeaways we should take seriously.

  1. Unity beats purity. Hungary’s opposition didn’t win by fragmenting into ideological silos. It came together-liberals, social democrats, greens, conservatives who believe in democracy-around a shared goal: restoring democratic norms. In the UK we too often default to internal squabbles. Hungary shows that when the stakes are high, cooperation across traditions isn’t a betrayal of values-it’s how you defend them.
  2. Democracy still matters to voters. Orban’s project relied on the assumption that voters either wouldn’t notice or wouldn’t care about the erosion of democratic checks and balances. But, over time, many did. People care about fairness. They care about whether the system works for them. They may not always use the language of ‘liberal democracy,’ but they recognise when something isn’t right.
  3. High turnout changes everything. One of the most striking features of the Hungarian result was turnout. When more voters engage, the electorate becomes broader, less polarised, and less easily captured by a narrow base. If liberals and democrats want to win, we shouldn’t just persuade-we should mobilise. Apathy is the populist Right’s quiet ally.
  4. The populist Right is not invincible. Orban cultivated an image of inevitability. That’s a core part of populist strategy: to appear unstoppable, to sap the opposition’s confidence before a vote is even cast. Hungary punctures that myth. However dominant a movement may seem, it is still subject to the same basic truth: if enough people vote against it, it can be removed.
  5. Offer hope, not just opposition. Crucially, Hungary’s opposition, led by the new PM-elect Peter Magyar, didn’t just say “not Orban.” It offered a different direction-pro European, outward-looking, and rooted in democratic renewal. Here in the UK, liberals must do the same. Critiquing the populist Right is necessary, but not sufficient. People need something to vote for.
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Mark Valladares

This week in the Lords – 13-16 April 2026

By Mark Valladares | Mon 13th April 2026 - 3:02 pm

it looks like a relatively gentle week in the Lords, although there will be an opportunity for the Lords to ask the Commons to think again… again… on the Victims and Courts Bill and the Crime and Policing Bill. Yes, it’s ping-pong time in the Lords…

Bills

Today sees Day 3 of the Report stage of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. Kath Pinnock has two amendments down promoting the Town and Parish Council sector, whilst John Shipley and Shaffaq Mohammed are attempting to persuade the Government that there are alternatives to the “strong leader” model of local government that Labour are so fond of. Meanwhile, former LDV team member, Mark Pack has an amendment in trying to take the Government further from the supplementary vote to the alternative vote for local government elections.

The Grenfell Tower Memorial (Expenditure) Bill and the Ministerial Salaries (Amendment) Bill will both have their Second Readings (and all subsequent stages!) on Tuesday.

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Jean-François Burford

Is Football losing its head?

By Jean-François Burford | Mon 13th April 2026 - 1:06 pm

English football likes to think of itself as the most competitive, compelling league system in the world. And in many ways, the Premier League still delivers on that promise every weekend. But financially, the game is drifting into something far less credible: a system where losses are disguised, rules are gamed, and profit increasingly exists only on paper.

The rise of intragroup sales is not a clever innovation. It is a symptom of a broken model. When clubs such as Newcastle United or Chelsea can transform massive losses into tidy profits by selling assets to companies owned by the same people, …

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Gareth McAleer

Rejoining the EU: A £180 Billion‑Per‑Year Power‑Up for Britain (Part One)

By Gareth McAleer | Mon 13th April 2026 - 11:11 am

Imagine the UK economy suddenly becoming £180 billion richer every single year – not as a one‑off sugar rush, but as a permanent, compounding uplift. That is what rejoining the European Union could mean: a structural transformation that boosts national income, raises living standards, strengthens public finances and restores Britain’s economic confidence. It would mark a deliberate, strategic shift away from managed decline and towards a confident, outward‑looking economic future.

An economy on turbo

Britain’s economy today is worth around £2.7 trillion. Add £180 billion more in real GDP each year and you get a 6–7 per cent permanent uplift – a lasting improvement that compounds over time. These step changes happen when countries remove trade barriers and integrate fully into large markets, allowing businesses to plan, hire and invest with far greater certainty.

Rejoining the EU would cut through customs red tape, restore full access to the single market and send a clear signal that Britain is open for business again. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s analysis of fiscal multipliers shows that deeper trade integration raises GDP permanently. Over a decade, the result is not just recovery but renewal – a richer, more stable UK economy with stronger foundations and better prospects in every region.

More revenue without raising tax

A stronger economy means higher revenues without increasing tax rates. Britain currently collects about 27 to 28 per cent of GDP in taxes, mainly through income tax, national insurance, VAT and corporation tax. As GDP grows, revenues rise automatically through higher wages and profits, rather than through stealth tax raids or emergency fiscal events.

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Michael Taylor

Another cockup by this ham-fisted government

By Michael Taylor | Mon 13th April 2026 - 9:04 am

For years, our political opponent, especially the hypocritical Labour party, have lambasted us for our role in tuition fees during the coalition, conveniently overlooking Labour’s role of introducing them in the first place after saying they wouldn’t and then introducing top-up fees when they said they wouldn’t.

This ham-fisted government has messed about with student fees ever since getting back into power, first raising the interest rate and then capping it. Saying they would reintroduce maintenance grants and then not doing so.

Now a group of mainly poor working-class students are being told that the people responsible for student loans have mistakenly …

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Mark Valladares

Welcome to my day: 13 April 2026 – Hungary for change?

By Mark Valladares | Mon 13th April 2026 - 8:17 am

I’m in a good mood this morning, following the glorious victory for the Hatters over… the Hatters…

I’ve been doing European politics with the Liberal Democrats on and off since 1989, long enough to know that it’s always worth waiting a little before declaring that a change of government is good news or not. Indeed, I’ve been around so long that I remember when FIDESZ were a welcome part of the liberal family – and Viktor Orban was its leader in those days too.

But the news that FIDESZ have suffered what looks like a pretty crushing defeat, despite controlling the domestic media, organising constituency boundaries that favour their traditional rural supporters and endorsements by a who’s who of, at best, lukewarm democratic leaders from across the European hard-right, looks at first sight to be a positive. Peter Magyar’s Tisza Party may not be a liberal party in any sense – you’d have to describe it as conservative – but the prospect of a Hungarian government that isn’t cheerleading for Russia and might actually work for a stronger Europe should offer a little hope in the face of the current depressing global events.

Under Orban, Hungary has been a important nexus in the effort to undermine both the European Union and western liberal democracy, which might explain some of the efforts made to prop up the FIDESZ vote in the last weeks of the campaign. And it would be reasonable to expect that the enemies of democracy won’t give up easily, as we’ve seen in Moldova. So, rather than watch this space, supporting the Hungarian people in their efforts to rebuild and secure a democratic future should be the first order of business.

I’ve been a supporter of Israel’s right to defend itself as part of a two-state solution for a long time. But there’s no doubt that this current Israeli administration is, at the very least, hard to love. Regular readers here will know that we’ve published articles supporting both sides of the Israel/Palestine argument, even though it might be easier from an editorial perspective not to – the amount of moderation required places a significant strain on a volunteer editorial team.

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Mark Valladares

11-12 April 2026 – the weekend’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Sun 12th April 2026 - 10:30 pm
  • Scot Lib Dems set out plans to improve childcare for working families
  • Scottish Lib Dems will fix NHS staffing as almost all GPs retiring early

Scot Lib Dems set out plans to improve childcare for working families

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today used a visit to a sports club in the Lothians to set out how his party will give parents more choice and help juggling work and family through funded early learning and childcare.

Scottish Liberal Democrats would ensure families can access flexible, affordable and fair early learning and childcare (ELC). As well as protecting the existing entitlements and ensuring …

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The Voice

Wendy Chamberlain to run London Marathon

By The Voice | Sun 12th April 2026 - 2:15 pm

It says something about Wendy Chamberlain’s capacity for hard work that in amongst being Chief Whip, an energetic constituency MP, and running the Scottish elections that she’s going to be running the London Marathon two weeks today.

Here she is talking to Radio 5 Live about it this week:

Obviously we wish Wendy all the best in her endeavour, but we should all really put our money where our mouths are too. Wendy is using her run as an opportunity to raise money for two charities very close to her heart.

Wendy has been raising the issue of PANS PANDAS ever since a constituent came to her not long after she was elected. Donate here.

PANS PANDAS UK is a charity that was established by a dedicated group of parents with children that are affected by these conditions who were determined to make a difference to how these conditions are understood by both the general public and the medical profession.

I came across the conditions during my constituency work when I was contacted by a family who were struggling to support their daughter and navigating health and education challenges. I became a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for PANS PANDAs and led a debate in Parliament. Following the General Election in 2024 I secured a meeting for the charity with the relevant health minister.

Support for PANS PANDAS remains very patchy with families often dependent on having a supportive GP who is willing to consider the conditions as the cause of the very distressing symptoms that include OCD, tics, restrictive eating behaviours, anxiety and enuresis. The money raised from my maraton efforts will be used to support further research.

And we know from her Carer’s Leave Act how much supporting carers means to her. She is also raising money for Fife Carers’ Centre. Donate here.

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Caron Lindsay

Ed Davey on Kuennsberg to talk about “Trump’s idiotic war” and need to act on food security

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 12th April 2026 - 12:15 pm

Ed Davey was interviewed by Victoria Derbyshire who was sitting in for Laura Kuennsberg this morning. He wanted to talk about our plan to ensure food security by giving a billion to England’s farmers and introduce a Good Food Bill in next month’s King’s Speech.

Unsurprisingly, though, the first question was about whether we supported the UK sending military help to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. Ed said:

I think we should work with our international partners, particularly at the UN if possible but certainly with our allies in NATO and elsewhere and in the Gulf Region in particular to see whatever we can do to open the Strait of Hormuz. I think diplomacy would be the best way forward rather than using military assets.

“But you are not against it in principle if it’s with other countries?” asked Derbyshire.

Well, I’d start with diplomacy. You have to open the Strait of Hormuz for the world economy, for British families and businesses who are suffering. This idiotic war prosecuted by Donald Trump and PM Netanyahu, initially supported by Kemi Bademoch and Nigel Farage, let’s not forget, has been a total disaster. It was so predictable and no doubt many American experts would have counselled the President  against this. And let me give some praise to our Prime Minister. He was right to keep us out of this war. We’ve argued from the get-go that he should have stood up to Trump far earlier on the economy and defence and all these foreign policy issues.

We have already asked the Government for  pressing for a price cap and a three-month VAT holiday to cut the cost of heating oil as well as an emergency Fuel Duty cut that would bring the cost of red diesel used by UK farmers down by around £5 million over the next three months.

We are also calling for a £1 billion increase in the farming budget to support British farmers to produce food sustainably and profitably, and for farm payments to recognise food security as a public good. Currently, England is the only country in Europe that doesn’t use its farm payments scheme to support food security. In the interview, Ed said EU rather than Europe. If only…

Ahead of the interview, Ed had said:

Donald Trump’s idiotic war with Iran – cheered on by Reform and the Conservatives – is squeezing British families from every direction: at the pump, on their energy bills, and now in the supermarket. In such an unstable world, Britain needs to become much more self-sufficient, especially when it comes to food.

That is why we are calling for a Good Food Bill in the King’s Speech, to put food security at the heart of the government’s agenda, back British farmers to produce food sustainably and profitably, and make sure everyone can afford the food they need.

The last Conservative Government disastrously undermined Britain’s food security, undercutting our world-class farmers with botched funding and bad trade deals. Labour has shown it doesn’t understand the rural economy, with their terrible mess over the family farm tax.

Only the Liberal Democrats are standing up for British farmers and British food production. It is crazy that England is the only place in Europe where farm payments don’t recognise the importance of food security. That has to change.”

Derbyshire pressed him at length on how exactly this would bring food prices down urgently and how our cut on VAT  would be paid for and wouldn’t accept that the Government is already raking in extra tax as the oil price is going through the roof. 

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 12th April 2026 - 10:04 am

UK and Russia

UK-Russian tensions have been ratcheted up several notches this week. It started when Vladimir Putin sent a Russian frigate to escort two shadow fleet oil tankers through the English Channel.

The move was a response to Sir Keir Starmer’s threat to board and impound any of the sanctioned tankers moving through British waters. Result: stand- off.

The tankers issue was followed by a press conference at which Defence Secretary John Healey announced that British forces—in cooperation with Norway—had foiled a Russian attempt to cut a key undersea cable north of the UK.

Not revealed at the press conference was that the cable in question is the FARICE-1 undersea cable which goes through the Faroe Islands to Iceland and then along the west coast of Greenland into the Canadian Arctic. It is the only cable in the region and is used extensively for military communications in the Arctic where the Russians have established military superiority.

NATO has recently awakened to the Arctic. Trump’s move on Greenland is part of that awakening. Another part is Britain’s decision to this summer send a carrier group to the “Far North.”

The Russian cable-cutting attempt by three Russian submarines was a clear bid to disrupt communications between the carrier group and its command headquarters. If the submarines had been successful, then the British force would have had to rely on satellite communications. These are highly sophisticated but more susceptible to jamming and cyber-attacks than communications through an undersea cable.

Britain should expect more Russian attempts to cut seabed communication cables. The UK is a global hub for undersea communications. Seventy cables run in and out of Britain. They carry normal internet traffic, trillions in financial data and military comms. To cut these cables the Russians have developed a new Gugi and Akula class of submarines that can operate deep undersea levels.

To counter this Defence Secretary Healey this week’s press conference to announce that he is investing $137 million in RAF sub hunters. The government is also increasing the overall defense budget to $350 billion—or 2.5 percent of GDP—by the end of next year.

Germany

Germany is also upping its defenses. But it is created domestic problems on the way.

In January, the government launched its Military Service Modernisation Act. This requires that all men—when they turn 18—complete a government questionnaire about their suitability and willingness to serve in the military. Women can also volunteer to complete the questionnaire.

The aim is to build a database of people who can be called upon to voluntarily serve in the military if there is a sudden increase in tensions.

Many however, fear that the act is a step towards conscription. Their fears seemed to be justified by a clause in the act that all men—regardless of their willingness to serve or not—must notify the Bundeswehr (the German army) before leaving the country for more than three months.

This week Defense Secretary Boris Pistorius tried to allay conscription fears by announcing that men would NOT have to reveal that they were leaving the country for more than three months.

However, fears remain, that Germany’s Military Modernisation Act is a back door to a return to conscription.

Hungary

It has been a long-established diplomatic convention that governments do not interfere in other countries domestic affairs—especially elections.

The Trump Administration is no respected of conventions and this week they proved it by dispatching Vice President JD Vance to Hungary to campaign for incumbent “illiberal” prime minister Viktor Orban.

Vance claimed that his appearance did not really constitute interference in Hungarian elections. He went on to say that he was not telling people whom to vote for “but what I am telling you is that the bureaucrats in Brussels…should not be listened to.” He added the clarion cry: “Go to the polls… stand with Viktor Orban because he stands for you.”

To counter any claims that he was not interfering in the Hungarian electoral process, Vance said that he was in Hungary to counter interference in the elections by the European Commission.

The truth of the matter is that Brussels has carefully refrained from making any comment for fear that they would be accused of interference. Orban and Vance submit that this silence is a form of interference.

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