High Peak Liberal Democrats

In April 2016, I wrote to the UK Statistics Authority over the Vote Leave campaign's claim £350m a week is sent to the EU.

In his reply the Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, Sir Andrew Dilnot CBE, said that VoteLeave's use of the figure was "potentially misleading."

The fact that Boris Johnson continues to use it, despite having been told repeatedly that it's nonsense, means it is just not credible for him to remain in Government.

Today at our Autumn Conference the Liberal Democrats have called on the government to immediately lift the pay cap on the armed forces to address a growing recruitment crisis.

Currently, a newly trained private on £18,488 would see a £351 real-terms pay cut next year once inflation is taken into account. The Liberal Democrats would raise wages in line with inflation, meaning a newly trained private would get a pay rise of £536 up to just over £19,000.

The effects of Brexit are already being felt.

The value of the pound has plummeted.

Inflation has risen. Growth in the economy has slowed, and the government is already borrowing billions more to fill the gap in lost tax revenue.

Growth in the economy has slowed, and the government is already borrowing billions more to fill the gap in lost tax revenue.

The Lib Dem leader intends to restore winning ways

This is the Indian summer of Vince Cable. He had long nurtured ambitions to lead his party, but finally gave up on them when he was one of the casualties of the 2015 election massacre of the Liberal Democrats. He took his ejection from parliament to be the death of his political career.

Deputy leader says Russia has been more measured than US on global crises, and expresses concern about rising intolerance

Russia has been more measured than the US in dealing with global crises, the Liberal Democrats' deputy leader has said, telling her party conference that the victory of liberal values over intolerance was not guaranteed.

The simple fact is that the proposed EU-UK security treaty is likely to fail unless Theresa May drops her opposition to the European Court of Justice.

The government has announced it will seek a new treaty with the EU to preserve vital cooperation against crime and terrorism.

However, access to tools like the European Arrest Warrant, Europol and security databases all require abiding by rulings from the EU Court of Justice, an issue Theresa May has made a red line.

Another motion, which was successful in the emergency motion ballot, will be debated on Monday, was on the chaos around the Implementation of Universal Credit.

The motion reads as follows:-

Conference notes that Liberal Democrats support the principles behind Universal Credit, namely its aims of simplifying the social security system, improving work incentives, increasing take up, tackling poverty and reducing fraud and error.

After successfully coming through the ballot on emergency motions at the Bournemouth Conference, Liberal Democrats will debate the motion that was backed by LDDA, on the UK Government's treatment of disabled people.

The motion reads as follows:-

Conference notes that in August 2017, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) Committee found that the UK Government's cuts to social security and other support for deaf and disabled people had caused a "human catasrophe" which was "totally neglecting the vulnerable situation that people with disabilities find themselves in" and, taken with the UK Government's refusal to either recognise or implement the recommendations fo the previous inquiry by the UN CRPD Committee in 2016, concluded that the Conservative Goverment ahd committed "a grave, systemic violations of the rights of person with disabilities"

Today at #LDConf we have called for the setting up of a tough new watchdog to protect the environment from threats posed by Brexit.

In a conference motion we called for the creation of an Office for Environmental Responsibility that would ensure laws on air quality or the cleanliness of beaches are properly enforced.

Theresa May must use her speech next week in Florence to change course and unilaterally guarantee the rights of EU nationals, to prevent a 'Brexodus' of thousands of nurses and teachers working in Britain's schools and hospitals.

In a conference motion passed today, we demanded that the government urgently publish a review into the impact its Brexit policies are having on staffing shortfalls in public services.

In a motion passed today at our Autumn conference, we have called on the government to set a global example by bringing forward Britain's climate targets ten years from 2050 to 2040.

As part of the motion, we have also condemned, in the strongest possible terms, President Trump's climate change denial and his decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement.