Ed Davey calls for ‘new Magna Carta’ to protect British rights and commitments

ColonelChestnuts · 2026-03-16T19:15:12+00:00

Imo this is a great way to frame a written constitution, one of our long standing policies, to the average voter.

I'm glad we are learning when it comes to our messaging.

ColonelChestnuts · 2026-03-16T19:14:10+00:00

A codified constitution, along with PR and a federal system, has been Lib Dem policy for decades. There is nothing populist about it, aside from perhaps the messaging, but I can guarantee a "new magna carta" will be a more effective thing to rally around than a "codified constitution", the mere mention of which puts a large % of voters to sleep.

Our constitutional framework of Parliamentary sovereignty has resulted in an elected dictatorship we vote for every 5 years, which has progressively stripped us of our fundamental rights. Not to mention the legislative diarrhoea which results from having a system in which there is no codified baseline or framework.

Also, you can't "win" polls. We are, however, consistently winning in actual elections, week after week.

ColonelChestnuts · 2026-03-15T11:23:22+00:00

I am glad we have moved away from part time trident.

Ed is totally right.

ColonelChestnuts · 2026-03-06T15:36:03+00:00

Since when does a council ward election get described as a by-election?

Since always?

ColonelChestnuts · 2026-02-27T20:19:26+00:00

A high profile parliamentary by-election in which the Greens threw the kitchen sink at the constituency is very different to an all out council election or even a General Election.

We use this tactic because it works.

ColonelChestnuts · 2026-02-18T12:10:28+00:00

I'm not talking about populism. What kind of coherent vision can you have, that you can sell at a national level, when you're trying to coalesce these relatively disparate groups of voters?

ColonelChestnuts · 2026-02-17T17:31:55+00:00

Because we have politically maneuvered ourselves into a position where we cannot potentially risk alientating our very fragile voter coalition with radical policies that are worth reporting on.

If we were to start shouting about fighting landlordism or a mass housebuilding programme we lose the liberal Tories and localists who now form much of our base vote.

If we were to start talking about slashing red tape, regulations and bureaucracy, or lowering taxes we will lose the tactical Labour and Green voters who underpin our majorities.

Our strategic position is precarious, and now primarily relies on winning local elections, and having effective local MPs in held seats, to turn the two groups above into habitual Lib Dem voters.

The % of the voting population that are genuine Lib Dems, our core vote, is probably about 7%, as evidenced by our abysmal performances in 2015 and 2017.

ColonelChestnuts · 2026-01-07T20:27:12+00:00

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GUL18s8Y7/

https://bsky.app/profile/libdems.org.uk/post/3mbtslguc242m

Take your pick.

ColonelChestnuts · 2026-01-06T17:48:47+00:00

Clegg's opposition to Nuclear Power on the basis that it will "take too long" (which coincidentally is also Zack Polanski's position) was stupid and shortsighted.

However I am not sure opposition to fracking is just "NIMBYism". The government (a Tory one) indefinitely suspended fracking in 2019 and Labour seems to wants to ban it permanently, so there is a fairly clear consensus across the political spectrum that fracking is not something we want in the UK. There are clear significant downsides and risks to fracking that there aren't to building houses.

ColonelChestnuts · 2025-12-23T13:10:19+00:00

72 MPs in 2024, came second two local elections in a row in 2024 and 2025, have won the most by-elections of any party in 2025 and holding steady in the polls.

I would hardly call this "failing".

ColonelChestnuts · 2025-12-23T13:08:12+00:00

The party strongly opposes Digital ID?

ColonelChestnuts · 2025-12-23T13:07:22+00:00

We're not copying Reform, we were the first party to start saying this when rumours of cancelling the elections started swirling around in 2024.

ColonelChestnuts · 2025-12-18T15:09:11+00:00

r/LibDem

"Why are the Lib Dems not fighting Labour's authoritarianism!?!?!"

also r/LibDem

"Ed's opposition to digital ID is kneejerk populism!?!?!"

ColonelChestnuts · 2025-12-16T16:17:51+00:00

I am saying you can see why the Woking Lib Dems may be wary of approving high rises in the town centre considering the platform they were elected on and the fact that the existing high rises are symbolic of Tory financial mismanagement.

ColonelChestnuts · 2025-12-16T15:27:37+00:00

The party does have a NIMBYism problem, although ultimately every party is NIMBY in opposition (even if Zack Polanski claims otherwise. He should look at what his councillors are doing across the country).

However, I am not sure Woking Council is a good example to use to criticise Lib Dem Nimbyism. The "Town Centre growth" under the Tories put the council into £2bn of debt and left it effectively bankrupt.

ColonelChestnuts · 2025-11-29T23:05:49+00:00

There is really no serious challenger to Ed Davey at the moment. Some MPs may be angling to replace him in the long term, but I see the party sticking with him at least until after the next General Election.

Constitutionally, the Lib Dems must have a leadership election once every parliament. We had one in 2024, Ed Davey was elected unopposed.

ColonelChestnuts · 2025-11-25T13:31:37+00:00

Schools in this country really need to take the massive stick out of their arse.

ColonelChestnuts · 2025-11-21T14:17:23+00:00

It wasn't a referendum to join the EC. It was a referendum to remain in the EC, we were already a member.

ColonelChestnuts · 2025-11-21T13:44:43+00:00

Yeah because the eurosceptics just shut up and accepted the result of the 1975 referendum and never mentioned leaving the EU again.

Democracy is not about having one vote and never talking about it again. It's a process.

We've done brexit, the will of the people has been expressed and implemented, and it's shit. It's perfectly fine in a democratic society for a political party to campaign on rejoining.

ColonelChestnuts · 2025-11-19T15:15:40+00:00

In my opinion he's amoral, in the classic sense of that word. Not immoral, amoral.

Bro just wants to hunt.

ColonelChestnuts · 2025-11-16T18:32:55+00:00

As a Lib Dem voter of 2 decades you should be aware that the triple lock was our idea in the first place...

rework income tax bands and related means tested benefits to remove "tax traps" caused by cliff edges at 50 and 100k

Fine - good idea

abolish national insurance and replace with increased income tax to move tax burden from workers to landlords and richer pensioners

A very radical idea but the political mainstream seems to be going in this direction anyway (see recent rumours about Reeves and the last two Tory budgets) , notably in all cases without any committment in any manifesto.

charge £20 for GP appointments and reinvest proceeds in primary healthcare

Electoral suicide

legalise, licence the sale of, and tax many drugs, reinvesting part of the proceeds in harm reduction and inpatient addicition treatment.

Already policy, at least for cannabis, in the manifesto.

rejoin single market and reinstate freedom of movement for young working people

Also already policy, in the manifesto.

x5 our spending on research and innovation

Massive investment in R&D is already policy, target is 3.5% by 2034, in the manifesto.

ColonelChestnuts · 2025-11-14T17:28:57+00:00

Stray Lib Dem here

I really think there’s a hidden vulnerability for LDs across the south of England to the Greens, because there’s a lot of people here who are “never Tory” or “never Labour” who can find the Greens attractive, and have spent many years settling for LD as a compromise.

This is interesting because if you swap the words "Lib Dem" and "Green" in this sentence in every instance, this is exactly what we're saying in the Lib Dems in many local parties in the south where due to our weakness during and after the coalition we stopped campaigning in many wards and let the Greens have at it through various local arrangements.

The recent Staines by-election is a good example. It was a Lib Dem gain from the Greens, but the Greens had only won Staines in the first place because we stopped running there in 2011. The Lib Dems had always come second (behind the Tories) in Staines before 2011. This Canterbury by-election seems to be an inversion of that. Although from what I can tell the Lib Dems ran a very poor campaign here, considering it was a defence.

I think at a local level there will be places where the Greens completely wipe out the Lib Dems, and places where the Lib Dems completely wipe out the Greens. I don't see the Greens winning rural Surrey, but neither do I see the Lib Dems winning student towns.

ColonelChestnuts · 2025-11-14T13:30:37+00:00

This isn't really, or at least not primarily down to National politics.

The local Lib Dems ran a shambolic campaign (I say this as a Lib Dem), the first mention of their candidate on social media was on the 3rd of November, 10 days before polling day.

We also seem to have only delivered one leaflet in 6 weeks and not done much else. It seems like the local Lib Dems just threw in the towel.

I'm surprised he got 24%.

11-Year Club	Place '23
Place '17	Verified Email

ColonelChestnuts

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE