http://juliesmithcambridge.co.uk/newsarchive.php Recent News Stories from Julie Smith en-GB Julie Smith http://juliesmithcambridge.co.uk/ Prater Raines Ltd http://www.praterraines.co.uk/ (c) 2010 Julie Smith 2010-09-05T15:13+01:00 United Kingdom http://juliesmithcambridge.co.uk/news/000016/undecided_voters_swing_to_lib_dems_following_final_leaders_debate.html Last night was the final of the three televised Leaders' debates. Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, debated with Gordon Brown and David Cameron about the economy. Subjects discussed included breaking up the banks, creating more jobs and reinvigorating the British economy. 2010-04-30T18:09+01:00 http://juliesmithcambridge.co.uk/news/000015/third_and_final_party_leaders_tv_debate_the_economy.html On Thursday 29th April from 8.30pm, BBC One will host the final live Prime Ministerial Debate of the General Election from the Midlands. Nick Clegg, Gordon Brown and David Cameron will again be going head to head in the run up to the General Election next Thursday. 2010-04-28T14:25+01:00 http://juliesmithcambridge.co.uk/news/000014/clegg_scores_second_win_in_party_leaders_debate.html An average of five polls conducted immediately after the Sky TV Leaders Election debate on Thursday night put Nick Clegg as the winner, with all instant polls showing him ahead of Gordon Brown. After the Foreign Affairs-led debate from Bristol dominated by issues like Iraq, immigration and climate change, Nick Clegg won 3 of the 5 polls on the night, building on his position after the first debate. 2010-04-23T15:06+01:00 http://juliesmithcambridge.co.uk/news/000013/second_party_leaders_tv_debate_foreign_affairs.html The second Party Leaders Debate is taking place this Thursday starting at 8pm on Sky News. Nick Clegg, Gordon Brown and David Cameron will again be going head to head in a TV debate in the run up to the General Election on May 6th, this time leading on Foreign Affairs. 2010-04-21T11:08+01:00 http://juliesmithcambridge.co.uk/news/000012/nick_clegg_storms_first_ever_party_leaders_debate.html The polls following the first ever Party Leaders General Election debate on ITV are showing that Nick Clegg has won a convincing victory over David Cameron and Gordon Brown. The debate was the first ever Leaders debate during a UK General Election campaign, and the pollsters are giving it as a big victory for Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats. 2010-04-16T00:01+01:00 http://juliesmithcambridge.co.uk/news/000011/first_party_leaders_tv_debate_domestic_affairs.html Tonight on ITV, Nick Clegg, Gordon Brown and David Cameron will be going head to head in a TV debate. This is the first of three debates that will be taking place in the run up to the General Election on May 6th. 2010-04-15T00:01+01:00 http://juliesmithcambridge.co.uk/news/000010/fairness__the_liberal_democrat_manifesto_launch.html Nick Clegg has launched the Liberal Democrat General Election manifesto. The manifesto sets out four clear priorities of fair taxes, a fair chance for every child, a fair economy, and a fair deal by cleaning up politics. 2010-04-14T10:24+01:00 http://juliesmithcambridge.co.uk/news/000009/apply_for_a_postal_vote_now_deadline_20th_april.html With the General Election on 6th May, there is still time to arrange a postal vote. Voting by post is an easy and convenient way of voting if you are unable to get to the polling station on polling day - for any reason. 2010-04-12T19:38+01:00 http://juliesmithcambridge.co.uk/news/000008/victory_vince_cable_wins_channel_4_chancellors_debate.html The first ever TV debate between the three candidates to be the next Chancellor has seen Lib Dem Vince Cable win a clear victory. In a Channel 4 on-line poll carried out immediately after the debate, Vince out-polled both Alistair Darling and George Osborne. 2010-03-29T22:32+01:00 http://juliesmithcambridge.co.uk/news/000007/ask_the_chancellors_live_debate_on_channel_4.html At 8pm on Monday 29th March, Channel 4 will stage a live debate between the would-be Chancellors, Liberal Democrat Vince Cable, Labour's Alistair Darling and Conservative George Osborne. Krishnan Guru-Murthy will be asking the questions. 2010-03-28T10:38+01:00 http://juliesmithcambridge.co.uk/news/000006/frontbenchers_brief_parliamentary_candidates.html At the last Lib Dem Conference before the General Election, the PCA was delighted to receive briefings on the party's key manifesto issues from four leading figures: Chief Executive Chris Fox; Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable; Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Simon Hughes; and Shadow Secretary of State for Education, David Laws. 2010-03-20T22:57+00:00 http://juliesmithcambridge.co.uk/news/000005/midsummer_common_community_orchard.html Julie joined the Friends of Midsummer Common (FOMC) planting the first trees of their new Community Orchard yesterday. The initial planting includes 19 apple trees and lots of hedging. The plan is to add pears and gages next winter. All the species are native to Cambridge or Cambridgeshire. Julie commented: "This is a fantastic project which would not have come about without the determination of the Friends of Midsummer Common, particularly its Chair, Dick Baxter, whose vision has ensured a lovely new project that has already brought many residents together. And it will undoubtedly attract many more fans when it literally bears fruit." 2010-03-20T22:50+00:00 http://juliesmithcambridge.co.uk/news/000004/thoughts_from_chair_of_the_east_of_england_region.html Julie succeeded Paul Clark as Chair of the East of England Region in January 2010. The key issue for the first part of 2010 is inevitably the general election and in some cases, like Cambridge, local elections. As Julie wrote ahead of taking office, "In the longer term, it will be really important focus on the Region in a far more strategic way. It's not good enough to target resources, whether money or foot soldiers, at the most likely electoral prospects and assume other constituency parties can just fend for themselves. We will all benefit in the long run by supporting local parties at all stages of development. I am therefore keen to work with the incoming Executive, and especially the Development Committee, to produce a three- to five year Regional Strategy as soon as possible after the General Election. A key part of such a strategy will be to look at how we can foster smaller local parties, helping them to develop in the early years of the new parliament so that they can increasingly expect to win office locally and, come the next election, be more self-sufficient and more likely to attract good parliamentary candidates who will lead enthusiastic teams of activists. The Region as a whole will be stronger if we can achieve this." 2010-03-20T22:31+00:00 http://juliesmithcambridge.co.uk/news/000003/vicechair_of_the_parliamentary_candidates_association.html Julie became a Vice Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidates' Association (PCA) on New Year's Day 2010. A member of the PCA Exec since 2005, Julie has been responsible for initiating and running a series of policy briefings for the Party's aspiring MPs. Julie said, "I've been on the PCA Executive since shortly after the last general election and am aware that candidates can often feel rather cut off from the policy processes in the Party. Over the last two years the PCA has begun to bridge this gap by inviting frontbench spokespeople to give confidential briefings to approved candidates. As Vice-Chair I look forward to continuing this work - though we'll be giving the briefings a rest after Spring Conference so that we can all get on with fighting the general election, spurred on by the insights of the Shadow Cabinet." 2010-01-05T17:05+00:00 http://juliesmithcambridge.co.uk/news/000001/the_wave.html Saturday 5th December saw tens of thousands of people converge on Westminster to highlight the importance of getting a major agreement on climate change at the forthcoming negotiations in Copenhagen. I was in Cowley Street for much of the day but was delighted to be able to join the Lib Dem Wave led by Liberal Youth and Green Lib Dems mid-afternoon. The day ended in Lewisham with a great production by the London Bubble Theatre: "Astronomical: A City of Darker Skies". Appropriately for the day, the play was about the lights going off in London. 2009-12-10T00:45+00:00