Constitutional reform law ‘lacks scrutiny’

By politics.co.uk staff Nick Clegg’s constitutional reform bill will not receive the level of parliamentary scrutiny it deserves, a committee of MPs has argued. In a letter to the deputy prime minister, Graham Allen, chair of the political and constitutional reform committee, claimed the parliamentary voting system and constituencies bill and the fixed-term parliaments bill […]

Lib Dem support hits new low

By politics.co.uk staff Support for the Liberal Democrats has hit a new low, with just 12% of voters saying they would now back the party. The Sunday Times/YouGov poll shows the party now receives barely half the level of support it got during the election campaign. The data suggests Lib Dem voters who consider themselves […]

Glass half empty for Liberal Democrat voters

By Rebecca Burns Liberal Democrat voters have rejected the coalition, according to a poll conducted last week. Four in ten people who voted Lib Dem at the election would not have voted for their party if they had known a coalition would be the outcome, in contrast to just 14% of Conservative voters. The poll, […]

AV referendum wording published

By politics.co.uk staff The government has published the wording of the referendum on voting reform. Voters will be asked: “Do you want the United Kingdom to adopt the ‘alternative vote’ system instead of the current ‘first past the post’ system for electing members of parliament to the House of Commons?” The referendum will take place […]

Clegg’s PMQs unravels

By Alex Stevenson Nick Clegg’s apparently strong debut at prime minister’s questions has slowly disintegrated as government officials watered down and distanced themselves from his comments. The Liberal Democrat leader appeared to have seen off attacks from Jack Straw over withdrawn government funding for Sheffield Forgemasters. Review our as-it-happened coverage of PMQs here But Mr […]

Clegg to conduct his first PMQs

By Ian Dunt Nick Clegg is to conduct his first prime minister’s questions this week, in an event that would have been considered unimaginable just a few months ago. With David Cameron in Washington, the deputy prime minister will fill his shoes at this week’s regular battle against acting Labour leader Harriet Harman. Mr Clegg’s […]

Sketch: Clegg as patronising as Osborne was defensive

Constitutional reforms, it turns out, are much easier to defend than emergency Budgets. By Alex Stevenson While George Osborne was sweating before the Commons’ Treasury committee, Nick Clegg was enjoying a much easier ride in front of the political and constitutional reform committee. The deputy prime minister, by way of a warm-up for his ‘away […]

Lib Dem to confront concerns on away-day

By politics.co.uk staff Nick Clegg will seek to reassure party members as Liberal Democrats meet to discuss their future. The junior coalition partners will address concerns about how initial developments in the coalition government have damaged support for Britain’s third party. Mr Clegg’s work as deputy prime minister has already seen him announce the date […]

Lib Dem fears party ‘wipeout’

By Alex Stevenson A frustrated Liberal Democrat council leader has warned his party could be “wiped out” if it continues to support the Conservatives’ cutting agenda. Warren Bradley, leader of the Liberal Democrats’ 37 councillors in Liverpool, told the Liverpool Daily Post newspaper that the cuts to the Building Schools for the Future programme was […]

Labour fumes over AV referendum

By Ian Dunt Labour desperately tried to adopt a coherent strategy towards the impending AV referendum today, as senior figures in the party seethed with anger over the proposals. Nick Clegg set the date for the referendum for May 5th 2011 in a statement to the Commons yesterday, but Labour officials complained that the policy […]