10Feb 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani
NHS waiting lists: The Conservatives are playing with people’s lives

NHS waiting lists: The Conservatives are playing with people’s lives

Parliamentary news
In reaction to new NHS waiting list figures being over six million people, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson, Daisy Cooper MP commented: “NHS waiting lists were already at crisis point before the pandemic and now they’re off the charts. “This Government has brought the NHS to breaking point and the public isn’t fooled: the Tory attempts to rehash old cancer targets, and pretend it’s all down to the pandemic just won’t cut it. “After years of driving our health and care services into the ground, the Conservatives need to come up with something better, or it’ll cost people’s lives.”
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09Feb 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Reshuffle is “reward for failure” for Rees-Mogg while people punished with tax hike

Reshuffle is “reward for failure” for Rees-Mogg while people punished with tax hike

Parliamentary news
Responding to the government reshuffle, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Layla Moran MP said: “This reshuffle is a pathetic attempt to distract from the Downing Street partygate scandal, putting Boris Johnson’s political survival ahead of the national interest. “The only real Brexit opportunity so far seems to be for Jacob Rees-Mogg, who will pocket a whopping pay rise after trying to get Owen Paterson off the hook for breaking the rules. “This is a reward for failure while people around the country are punished with a crippling Tory tax hike. “The Conservatives need to focus on tackling the big issues facing the country, instead of doling out top jobs to Boris Johnson’s few remaining allies.”
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08Feb 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Downing Street overhaul: Boris Johnson wasting taxpayers’ cash during cost of living crisis

Downing Street overhaul: Boris Johnson wasting taxpayers’ cash during cost of living crisis

Parliamentary news
The Liberal Democrats have written to Boris Johnson challenging him to set out the cost of the merger of Number 10 and the Cabinet Office into the new Office of the Prime Minister. The party has also challenged Johnson to rule out any public money being spent on renovating the Downing Street flat as part of this change, saying “it should be curtains for Johnson - not more curtains for Johnson.” According to the Institute for Government, the average cost of a departmental merger is £15 million. Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain MP labelled the sums as “staggering”, given the cost of living crisis which is now facing the country. Wendy Chamberlain MP, Liberal Democrat Chief Whip, commented: “The law-breaking Downing Street parties demand only one response - that…
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08Feb 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Javid Statement reveals ‘years of suffering’ ahead

Javid Statement reveals ‘years of suffering’ ahead

Parliamentary news
Responding to Sajid Javid’s statement to the House of Commons on the government‘s proposals to tackle the backlog in NHS treatment, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said: “Patients waiting for treatments in fear and pain have just been condemned to years of suffering with years-long waiting times ahead. “The Government has no idea how upsetting this will be to millions of people and clearly has no idea how to bring waiting times down. “Patients needed to see an ambitious plan to recruit the doctors, nurses and other staff our NHS desperately needs - instead all they got was a poxy waiting lists website. The government should hang its head in shame.”
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08Feb 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani
BP £10bn profits shows windfall tax is about “basic fairness”

BP £10bn profits shows windfall tax is about “basic fairness”

Parliamentary news
Responding to the news that BP has made £10 billion in the past year following surging oil and gas prices, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said: "The truth is that this is about basic fairness. It simply cannot be right these energy companies are making super profits whilst people are too scared to turn their radiators on and terrified there will be a cold snap. The government has said that a windfall tax would harm investment but this is an absolutely bogus argument. These profits have come out of nowhere, no energy company was expecting them, no investor was either. "A windfall tax is the best way to get money to the people who need it quickly, but also to make sure there is some sense of trust and proportionality…
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07Feb 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Energy price hike: Lib Dems set out cost of living rescue package, to save struggling families in Oldham almost £1,000

Energy price hike: Lib Dems set out cost of living rescue package, to save struggling families in Oldham almost £1,000

Borough news, Parliamentary news
The Liberal Democrats have set out a “cost of living rescue plan” that would save thousands of struggling families in Oldham nearly £1,000 this year. It comes after Ofgem announced a crippling rise to people’s heating bills, with the energy price cap set to soar by 54% to £1,971 in April. Energy bills for homeowners in Oldham are forecast to soar by an estimated £692 per household in April, according to analysis by the Liberal Democrats. Meanwhile, broadband bills are set to rise by 9.3% with inflation at its highest rate in almost thirty years. The Liberal Democrats warned that Rishi Sunak's proposals to deal with soaring energy bills will just be "spreading the pain over the coming years" while clobbering local families with tax hikes. The cost of living…
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07Feb 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Scrap ‘grossly unfair’ postcode lottery for energy bills

Scrap ‘grossly unfair’ postcode lottery for energy bills

Parliamentary news
The Liberal Democrats have today called for the scrapping of the regional differences in electricity and gas bills, which sees some households paying £124 more for their gas and electricity just because of where they live. Party leader Ed Davey said Boris Johnson's failure to scrap the differences showed he isn’t serious about “levelling up the country.” The UK is broken up into fourteen different pricing regions where it costs different amounts to get electricity and gas to people’s homes. This leads to people in the North of Scotland, Wales and South West England paying more for their gas and electricity bills than other parts of the country. Analysis by the Liberal Democrats based on those who use a high amount of energy - shows that households in North Wales…
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07Feb 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Kwasi Kwarteng repeats Boris Johnson’s misleading claim that crime is falling

Kwasi Kwarteng repeats Boris Johnson’s misleading claim that crime is falling

Parliamentary news
Kwasi Kwarteng has this morning repeated dishonest comments made by Boris Johnson claiming crime has fallen in the UK, when it has actually increased by 14%, on BBC's Sunday Morning Show. He said that the Prime Minister was right to say that crime has gone down, because "on the doorstep people are saying progress is being made." The Liberal Democrats accused the Business Secretary of having "doubled down on a blatant lie." The UK Statistics Authority last week officially rebuked Boris Johnson and Priti Patel for misleadingly claiming that crime had fallen, following a letter of complaint by Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael. The misleading figures excluded fraud and computer stats which have soared by 47%, leading to an overall 14% rise in crime. The Liberal Democrats have…
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07Feb 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Over 90,000 children could miss out on top grades under government’s exam plans for 2022

Over 90,000 children could miss out on top grades under government’s exam plans for 2022

Parliamentary news
90,644 children could lose out on the top grades for GCSEs and A Levels this year due to Government plans on exam grading, new analysis by the Liberal Democrats has revealed. It comes as Ofqual is set to confirm arrangements today (Monday 7 February) for this summer’s GCSEs and A levels, along with details on what mitigations will be in place. The Chief Regulator of Ofqual, Dr Jo Saxton, plans to set the grading boundaries in a way that “reflects a mid-point between 2021 and pre-pandemic grading”. Analysis by the Liberal Democrats suggests this would mean 24,524 GCSE pupils missing out on grade 7,8 or 9, and 66,120 A-level students missing out on As or A*s compared to the grading system used last year. The Lib Dems have called the…
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04Feb 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Winter Olympics: UK Government must recognise Uyghur genocide

Winter Olympics: UK Government must recognise Uyghur genocide

Parliamentary news
Responding to today's opening of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Layla Moran MP said: "As the Olympic flame is lit today in Beijing, Liberal Democrats stand in solidarity with all those oppressed, discriminated against or persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party - from Tibet to Taiwan; from Falun Gong practitioners to human rights defenders; from Hong Kong to Xinjiang. "No matter how opulent the stadiums or ceremonies at these Olympics, nothing the Chinese government can do will ‘sportswash’ the brutal horror taking place in Xinjiang - the persecution of the Uyghurs, which amounts to the crime of genocide. "For the last twelve months, Liberal Democrats have called on the UK Government to boycott these Games and it is right that no British ministers or…
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