The United Kingdom has a proud tradition of fairness. Many of the most fundamental components of our modern society were created by Liberals, such as the introduction of state pensions, unemployment benefits, health insurance and free secondary education. It is now hard to imagine what this country would be like without those things, but when Liberals introduced them they were regarded as radical ideas that threatened the status quo. More recently Liberal Democrats have continued to challenge both Labour and the Conservatives on crucial matters such as the invasion of Iraq and for Hard Brexit.
But today's Liberal Democrats are much more than just a collection of anti-Brexit campaigners. We want to help make this country into a stronger, fairer society. The Liberal Democrats, through the work of MPs such as Lynn Featherstone, Danny Alexander, Stephen Webb and David Laws were able to introduce Same-sex Marriages, greatly raised Income Tax thresolds (freeing many of our least well-paid workers from paying Income Tax), pension reforms and free, nutritious school meals for all infant school pupils and a Pupil Premium to provide targeted help to ensure children from poorer families aren't held back.
The Liberal Democrats are unafraid to champion less fashionable causes. We speak up for those who who struggle to have their voice heard. Norman Lamb has campaigned for many years for mental health funding to be increased. Sadly the Conservative government too often selects mental health facilities as the first to be cut back, as happened to Spencer Ward in Buxton's Cavendish Hospital. Only the Liberal Democrats are honest enough to admit that providing the NHS we need will mean that we have to pay a bit
more in tax to fund it.
If you want to help make Britain a fairer, more tolerant and more successful society, please join us. We are fighting to keep Britain in the EU which helps ensure a peaceful and prosperous future for us and our children. We are fighting to ensure proper, sustainable funding for the NHS. We are fighting homelessness and believe nobody should have to sleep rough.
![Christine Jardine (Chris McAndrew [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)](https://i2.highpeaklibdems.org.uk/en/image/61CNnG/720/720/christine-jardine.png "Christine Jardine (Chris McAndrew [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)")
You can watch the whole of the online presidential hustings below.
The event was chaired by Lorely Burt on Monday night.
Questions were submitted by members on a range of issues.
You can see the two candidates, Christine Jardine MP and Mark Pack, outlining their vision for the role of the President and the future of the party.
South Cambridgeshire MP is the latest in a string of high-profile defections to Jo Swinson's party
Former Conservative MP Heidi Allen has been unveiled as the latest recruit to the Liberal Democrats, declaring that at least 20 more "One Nation" Tories would like to follow suit.
Ms Allen told The Independent the Tory Party no longer offered a home for MPs from its centrist tradition, though she admitted she did not know if any would have the "bravery" to jump ship.
This feels like the endgame for Brexit - and quite possibly for Boris Johnson. Briefings in Sunday papers on how the prime minister will refuse to resign when Parliament next votes him down - remember, he hasn't won a single vote yet - to force the Queen to dissolve Parliament and let him fight an election on the 'betrayal' of Brexit suggest that he doesn't expect the latest negotiations to succeed, and doesn't know how to evade the terms of the Benn 'Surrender' Act.
I am delighted to announce that Heidi Allen has joined the Liberal Democrats.
I'm delighted to welcome Heidi to the party. She has been a tireless campaigner for a people's vote and has time and time again put the country's interests ahead of her own.
I'm absolutely thrilled for Heidi to join our fantastic and ever-growing team and I know that her skills, experience and passion will be a real asset to our party.
When I became an MP in 2015, I could never have imagined we would find ourselves in this position. Through the prudent and practical decisions taken during the coalition years, the economy was recovering and our country was on the up.
Coming from business, joining the Conservative Party seemed the logical thing to do. But two general elections and an EU referendum later, the landscape has shifted beyond all recognition.
