Letter to the Reading Chronicle - Liberal Party calls for a clear decision to postpone or for the provision of a universal postal vote for May elections.

Following the suspension of local, mayoral and PCC elections scheduled for May 2021 people could never  have imaged at the time that this country would still be facing a COVD-19 driven public health crisis almost a years later.

As the clock ticks down the opening of the nominating period in March the government has yet to publicly commit itself to the polls although media reports suggest that the elections are most likely to take place.

Yet almost every aspects of the electoral process from collecting nominating signatures, canvassing and the delivery of leaflets potentially falls foul of social distancing restrictions as well as exposing people to the risk of infection.

Candidates and party workers out canvassing will have no idea who is shielding let along in 10 days isolation and should not be disturbed.

The Liberal Party called for a postal ballot back in July 2021. This would have removed the dangers of infection for polling station staff and the public as well as those involved in the overnight counting and declaration of the results.

Not holding elections does produce a democratic deficit, candidates elected for 4 years have now served 5, but the Liberal Party believes a clear decision to postpone or the provision of a universal postal vote should now be made.

The Liberal Party notes the recent fall into business administration of independent energy suppliers Simplicity Energy and Green Network Energy covering over 410000 customers.

Their business failure is the latest in a long line of independent energy suppliers unable to compete effectively in the UK energy market thereby reducing choice and competitive prices and tariffs.

The two firm’s customer base are reported to have already been passed over to British Gas Evolve and EDF respectively by Ofgem as part of its Supplier of Last Resort program but this action simply ensures the big 6 firms retain the market.

The Liberal Party believes that the energy regulator Ofgem should be managing the UK market to ensure a level playing field for new entrants and the availability of the best tariffs to customers and the ability to seamlessly move between suppliers.

We are looking to appoint a convener and regional contact in Scotland before May's elections. We envisage the role would encompass the recruitment of members, potential candidates, and the role of Election Agent.

We welcome applications from like-minded Liberals. Please contact myself Stephen Graham, party Nominating Officer in the first instance.

The Liberal Party notes with grave concern the increased aggressive international and domestic agenda of the Chinese state.
The country has been emboldened by its perceived success in combating the initial outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and is now exploiting the distraction of the international community for its own advantage.

It has adopted a policy of supressing internal discussion of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent protests in Tibet. It has simultaneously increased the arrest of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong and perpetuated human rights violation against Uighurs Muslims in the Xinjiang region in China’s west. The most recent outrage has been the barring from practice and threat to revoke the license of lawyers who seek to defend pro-democracy protesters.

Internationally, it has increasingly intimidated maritime neighbours in the west Pacific such as Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam, as well as fermenting violence with its regional neighbour India.

The party believes that the international community must unite to present a common response and counteract the agenda of China and its authoritarian leader President Xi Jinping.

The Liberal Party welcomes the offer of UK citizenship to eligible Hong Kong residents and the fast tracking of application to enter the UK. We believe this gives a strong signal to the Chinese authorities of our country’s commitment to protecting the rights of citizens which should have been guaranteed by the post 1997 Sino-British Joint Declaration.

Dear Editor

This afternoon I watched prime Ministers question and the reply that the decision to postpone the local elections in May was under review.

This seems to avoid key considerations already known.

Firstly the mutant virus is far more contagious than the initial virus.

Secondly that the medical authorities will be unable to deliver both injections needed for the vaccine prior to the end of March when the local elections nomination period begins.

Thirdly , there is no way to protect election workers from residents who may vote without a facemask under current legal framework.

Local elections require candidates collect ten nomination signatures late March early April- this can not be done practically and keep social distancing.

For these reasons alone a clear decision to postpone or the provision of a universal postal vote should now be made.

This decision should be done in the interests of public health, protecting election and polling staff , being British we should not allow this to become a political football in sharp contrast to the USA.

Cllr Steve Radford
President of The Liberal Party

The Liberal Party has been aproached with an educational discussion document from Mr C A W Walker which we have now made available on the party website via the Discussion DocumentS link on the homepage.

Although not party policy we are happy to make this available to stimulate debate. The sections on distance and computer learning are currently very topical.

I was approached to do this interview on Twitter by @CapnSwiss and was happy to oblige.
 
The hour-long interview is at
 

 
It is also accessible via the YouTube channel link on the home page of @CapnSwiss
 
Please note any deviation from stated party policy is my own view or opinion.

It seems unlikely to me that the Party can have any significant impact on any political issue until it has more members

I have just spent an interesting hour reading this thread [below] on Liberal Democrat Voice [LDV]. As might be expected, it is generally accepted it was the leadership of Nick Clegg that caused the downfall of the Party. He made it clear that he thought it worth risking the Party's very survival in order to prevent Brexit - which he failed to do, but instead left to take up an extremely rewarding job with Facebook.

[Thread: The Independent View – A way forward for the Liberal Democrats
]

What I found most interesting about the discussion was the range of views from the contributors - mostly on whether the Party's MPs should vote against the Brexit bill, for it or abstain - although a number did address the wider issue of what was the way forward for the Party.

Apart from finding the views interesting, I was reminded how good LDV was as a site for political discussion - I used to contribute regularly before joining the Liberal Party. The question that sprung to mind while reading the thread was - why isn't Liberal Talk used in the same way by its members? Admittedly there are far fewer members of LP than the Lib/Dems, however, in my short time with the Party the site seems to be used only for Press Releases by ReadingLib even though there are plenty viewing - no one comments.

It could be that for most members comments are restricted to the Party's Facebook page. If this is the case surely LDV demonstrates that as much, if not more, can be achieved outside of the social media - without the dangers that social media can bring - particularly to the young.

The thread also shows how many talented Lib/Dem members might be attracted to the LP if the website was crisp and clear like the UKIP site. Faced with a decade of consistent effort to remedy the mistakes of the past - even if a plan can be agreed - a good number of Lib/Dems may consider a change of party in a favourable light.

The Liberal Party is shocked to learn of the accusations of paedophilia against one of our former members, and as such we would urge anybody with information on such activities to contact Police Scotland and assist any investigations they wish to undertake. 
 
The Liberal Party will never knowingly accept or support any membership or affiliation to the Liberal Party of any person/s known to be Paedophiles or any other type of predators. We have actively developed policies to fight against any such abuse behaviours.