A glimmer of sense breaks out in the Libdems

[ArabellaScott]

Heartened to see this open letter yesterday, from Liberal Voice for Women. This is protesting at recent cancellations of Filia and LGB Alliance stalls at Libdem conference:

liberalvoiceforwomen.org/blog/cancelcultureletter

'Our party is founded on values of freedom, democracy and equality. We understand there will always be some people who object to aspects of LGB and women’s rights. Those people have the right to make their objections known to the party as they see fit. But we don’t expect organisers to buckle so easily under pressure from those who seek to censor others. It is an insult to the intelligence of Lib Dem Conference-goers to suggest that they are not capable of making their own reasoned judgements about the merits of these two charities based on what they see and hear from them themselves, at Conference and beyond.'

Letter was signed by 'over 150 Liberal Democrat party members, including former MPs, 6 peers and over 60 Councillors (from metropolitan authorities to parish councils), Diversity Officers and local party Chairs across the UK'

That's great news, can't wait for Ed Davey's response.

That's good news indeed. They have been captured by some really illiberal people.

Surely with Liz Truss just put in place the Lib Dems can see there is a massive opportunity for them here if they just behave sensibly. Millions of former conservative voters are up for grabs since a shift from conservative to labour is just too big a change. Hopefully this is the first sign of them sorting themselves out.

I really hope this shift makes a difference.

Hm. Naive as I am, I would hope the Libdems would stand up for women and LGB people because it's the morally correct thing to do, as much as because it's a vote winner.

It's good to see those numbers of people standing up for democracy and free speech in the lib dems. Given the gibbering that falls out of Davey's mouth when he's forced to utter the word woman or speak about facts and science it's a relief to know that there are some in the party not captured by trans extremists.

It really is, MrsOvertonsWindow. Hoping this will encourage more in the party to speak out.

former MPs

It's quite telling that no current ones have signed. I don't think the party membership as a whole is likely to be particularly in thrall to gender identity ideology, just a loud and difficult group of TRAs and their allies, that no one wants to provoke the wrath of.

aaaaaaaaaaand a call to have signatories 'expelled'. That didn't take long.

Noting this isn't even signing in support of Filia and/or LGB Alliance, it's signing in support of them being allowed to have a stall.

twitter.com/LisaAnnSimpson2/status/1566388133972819970

😂😂
There it is - the usual tactics: threaten, silence and bully. Never changes.

I despair of the Libdems and Ed Davey is the daftest in a crowded field. www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4351321-Ed-Davey-there-should-be-no-spaces-where-biological-men-cant-go

I wish politicians would get challenged on dangerous and mad statements like "there should be no spaces where biological men can't go".

Good for LiberalVoice for Women for trying to change things from the inside.

Good to see some grown up voices in politics and FFS on the calls to expel. I know it's because TRA orthodoxy cannot stand up to even the mildest scrutiny but for pity's sake come on LibDems. You are alienating the majority and privileging the violent minority

I don’t know. We’ve swung from Labour to Conservative and back again for the pretty much the past century. It only takes a relatively small section of floating voters switching sides to radically change the government.

Obviously it’s still the goal of every party to win as many seats as possible.

I think you’re probably right, because I’m not sure that everyone Labour have caught on to the fact that this could be a vote winner yet.

@Dannexe
Excellent point. Sadly, they are still wedded to misogyny. It's an ideological position for them so, like Labour, the leadership will choose being "progressive" over increasing their vote share..