Can we talk about the Lib Dem leadership contest

[Cinammoncake]

Anyone who's voting in it. I'm a member so can vote, but having had a look at them, I really like them both. Anyone got an opinion either way to persuade me?

I am not a Lib Dem member, nor a Lib Dem voter.

However, a strong Lib Dem presence in the House of Commons will ensure that even if we leave the EU, there will not be a race to the bottom in matters such as employment laws, which a Tory majority will bring.

I think of the two, Jo Swinson is better at putting over the Lib Dem message than Ed Davey. Having someone who is from the next generation of politicians and representing a constituency outside of London or the South East would be no bad thing either.

Have you seen the first hustings? It's on YouTube. To be honest, when we started I was all for Jo, who has a great record, spoke well at the Brexit rally and would be a young, fresh (female) face. However, I was hugely impressed by Ed's performance. His speech was superb and I really liked what he had to say about climate change and carbon-free capitalism. He has a lot of presence; my concern is that Jo is milder, and risks being totally 'Borised' is any head on debate. I'm not completely decided, but given you can't really get a fag paper between them on policy, and they both have strong parliamentary and ministerial records, I'm inclining towards Ed.

At the moment I’m inclined to vote for Jo, but I haven’t done sufficient reading up yet so that might change.

Thanks for all these replies. Will take a look at the youtube hustings, thanks boogle

Ed was making a big thing about not taking internal flights. Easy for him, as his constituency is an easy daily commute to HoP. I wonder how much of the rest of the UK he has visited?
Jo's constituency is 400 miles from HoP, and as she has family there as well, she travels up and down a lot. She's a keen user of the train, but accepts sometimes there's a need to fly.

I don't know who to vote for either. Jo comes across well when being interviewed on TV - she has more charisma and I think she will get us on air more but Ed talks much more about policies that I have a strong interest in and goes into more detail.

The thing is with the Lib Dems is we seem to often plump for the people with a really sound knowledge base who understand the complexities well, but that doesn't get the votes because it doesn't make for good sound bites.

I think I'm inclined to go for Jo as leader, if it means that we have Ed as the policies driven deputy leader iyswim.

And how fortunate we are that we have a competition between two really good candidates rather than a competition full of numpties like the other parties have currently.

I’m not a member so cannot vote, but have seen Jo speak in person at a hustings - she was the best in the platform, with a young green, who is now an MSP, a close second.

Yes just a pity the lib dems policies in relation to women are so awful.

Genuinely interested birdsdestiny - which policies are you talking about?

Legalizing prostitution, in favour of self ID, no age verification for porn (that's a particular obsession for them)