06Oct 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Level up premium: Drop in the ocean for lost learning

Level up premium: Drop in the ocean for lost learning

Parliamentary news
Responding to Boris Johnson's solitary policy announcement during his keynote speech at Conservative Party conference today, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Education Daisy Cooper MP said: “What Boris Johnson has announced today is a drop in the ocean. We can't level up unless our children can catch up on all the learning they've lost to Covid. "Parents and children have worked hard and made huge sacrifices during the pandemic, but Boris Johnson and his Conservatives are still refusing to support them with proper catch-up funding. "If the Conservatives cared about education they would invest the £15 billion their own expert said our children need. One third of that should go directly to parents in the form of Catch-Up Vouchers to spend on whatever their children need most."
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05Oct 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Soaring school infection rates show 220,000 pupils absent and reckless government inaction

Soaring school infection rates show 220,000 pupils absent and reckless government inaction

Parliamentary news
New Department for Education figures released today (12:00pm) show infection rates in schools are rising at a concerning rate with over 220,000 pupils now absent from school. Government statistics show that 2.5% of pupils were absent from state-funded schools on 30th September, up from 1.5% on the previous update on 16th September. Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson, has written to the Education Secretary demanding a faster roll-out of the CO2 monitors promised in August and for the government to provide schools with much needed ventilation equipment. In the letter she expressed concern that “government inaction will lead to even more school closures and even more lost learning.” She added, that just a few weeks into the school year “schools are reintroducing some of these measures - which your…
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29Sep 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Extend furlough for top ten hardest hit sectors to avoid ‘Black Thursday’

Extend furlough for top ten hardest hit sectors to avoid ‘Black Thursday’

Parliamentary news
The Liberal Democrats are today (30/09/21) demanding that furlough is extended for the ten sectors hardest hit by the pandemic, to avoid a “tidal wave” of job losses as the scheme comes to an end. The party has warned that the country risks facing a “Coronavirus Black Thursday”, akin to the economic crisis of Black Wednesday in the 1990s unless the government rethinks its approach. In a letter to the Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Christine Jardine has said the furlough scheme should be extended for another six months for the ten sectors most reliant on it. She points out this would cost £600 million in total – or £100 million a month, well below the £850 million cost of last year’s “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme.…
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20Sep 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Davey announces radical flagship Catch-Up Voucher policy at Lib Dem Conference

Davey announces radical flagship Catch-Up Voucher policy at Lib Dem Conference

Parliamentary news
Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has announced a new flagship Education policy on the third day of the party's conference - Catch-Up Vouchers. The Liberal Democrats are calling for a £15 billion package of education catch-up funding, as recommended by the Government’s former Education Recovery Commissioner, Sir Kevan Collins. As part of this, the party is calling for a £5 billion programme of Catch-Up Vouchers for every school child, putting the money directly into parents’ hands to spend on whatever their children need most: tutoring in reading, writing or maths; music lessons; swimming classes or other physical education. This idea of a three-year programme of education Catch-Up Vouchers would become the world’s biggest ever parent-listening exercise. These Catch-Up Vouchers would be doubled and in some cases tripled, for children in…
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15Sep 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Government risks sleepwalking into another winter lockdown

Government risks sleepwalking into another winter lockdown

Parliamentary news
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has warned the government's Plan B risks being "too little too late" if it is only implemented once the virus is out of control. It comes after the Health Secretary Sajid Javid said this morning that the government’s Covid Plan B will only be put in place if the pandemic “gets out of control.” Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said: “People looking at this so-called winter Covid Plan B will be deeply concerned that the government still doesn’t understand how to control this virus. “Time after time throughout this pandemic the government has acted too late, failing to provide people with the right support and failing to control the virus, costing tens of thousands of lives. Plan B is the same thing all over again,…
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14Sep 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Sajid Javid fails to rule out closing schools again in future Covid lockdown

Sajid Javid fails to rule out closing schools again in future Covid lockdown

Parliamentary news
The Health Secretary Sajid Javid has today failed to rule out closing schools in any future lockdowns, after being challenged to do so in Parliament by the Liberal Democrats. The Government's Covid winter plan published today says that the "the nature of the virus means it is not possible to give guarantees,” adding that “more harmful economic and social restrictions would only be considered as a last resort.” Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care Spokesperson Munira Wilson MP said: “It is deeply concerning that the Covid winter plan keeps open the possibility of school closures, and that ministers have refused to rule them out. "Children have done everything asked for them during this pandemic, yet too often the impact on their education and mental health has been overlooked. “The Conservatives…
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14Sep 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Government makes 10 U-turns on Covid passports in one year

Government makes 10 U-turns on Covid passports in one year

Parliamentary news
The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to finally rule out the illiberal, anti-business vaccine passports once and for all after they were included as part of “Plan B” in the Coronavirus winter plan. The Liberal Democrats have also slammed the Government for flip-flopping 10 times on Covid passports from November 2020 to their latest announcement today. The winter plan states that in the event of a Covid surge, vaccine passports would be legally required at all nightclubs, indoor settings with 500 or more people, outdoor settings with 1000 or more people, and anywhere with 10,000 people or more. Commenting Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said: “It is time for the Conservatives to end their chaotic flip-flopping and rule out these illiberal, unworkable vaccine passports once…
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14Sep 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Covid winter plan: PM must guarantee schools will stay open

Covid winter plan: PM must guarantee schools will stay open

Parliamentary news
The Liberal Democrats are calling on Boris Johnson to give a “cast-iron guarantee” to parents that schools will not be shut again as part of the Government’s Covid winter plan, after the chaos of the last year which saw pupils miss out on 33 million days of schooling. The Liberal Democrats are also calling for more funding to ensure schools can stay open safely as Covid cases rise, including to improve ventilation and install an air purifier in every classroom. The Government still refuses to fund these vital safety measures, and instead suggested children learn outside in the cold during the winter months. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “Our children have been failed by the Conservatives throughout this pandemic. Pupils have missed out on millions of days of vital…
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13Sep 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Vaccine passports U-turn: Victory for the Lib Dems

Vaccine passports U-turn: Victory for the Lib Dems

Parliamentary news
Reacting to the Health Secretary's announcement that the Government are abandoning the vaccine passport scheme, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Home Affairs Alistair Carmichael MP said: "This is a victory for the Liberal Democrats and all those campaigners who stood up for our civil liberties against these deeply illiberal and unworkable plans. "The Conservatives have needlessly sown confusion among businesses for months by threatening to introduce Covid passports, and will not be forgiven for it. "After this inevitable U-turn, the Conservatives must now see sense and scrap the unnecessary and draconian Coronavirus Act altogether."
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08Sep 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani
Lib Dems demand Parliament vote on vaccine passports

Lib Dems demand Parliament vote on vaccine passports

Parliamentary news
The Liberal Democrats have demanded that MPs are given a vote on vaccine passports before they are introduced at the end of the month, in an urgent question in Parliament today. Responding in Parliament, Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi failed to offer clarity on whether MPs will be given a vote on the plans, instead only promising there would be "appropriate scrutiny". Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said: “Vaccine passports are illiberal, unworkable and will hit thousands of struggling businesses with extra costs and bureaucracy. “The government is failing to address the concerns of those impacted and failing to listen its own backbenchers. “Yet Nadhim Zahawi’s weasel words today suggest ministers are running scared of holding a vote in Parliament before vaccine passports are introduced. “Never before in…
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