On behalf of The Liberal Party can I express our deepest sadness at the passing of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth.

Her dedication and public service to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of some 70 years has been an inspiration to us all.

We pray for King Charles as he takes up the role of sovereign of the United Kingdom.

Cllr Steve Radford
Leader of the Liberal Party

The Liberal Party notes with increasing horror the latest projections on inflation and energy bills over the coming winter and the rise of the energy prices cap to £3,549 per year for domestic customers.

Latest projections see inflation exceeding 18% and annual energy costs approaching £6000 a year, forcing an ever-increasing number of families into fuel poverty whilst businesses are already suffering after being excluded from this protection.

Many small businesses in our high street  will be unable to meet these increased energy costs, in particular hairdressers, pubs, and cafes for example. An additional concern is the number of people who will be made redundant or laid-off due to increased energy prices as business falter. 

The Liberal Party believes that the first responsibility of government is to protect the livelihoods and health of the citizens of this country.

We believe targeted assistance should be delivered through a combination of tax cuts, lifting the income tax threshold to £20k, and through the benefits and pension’s systems whilst we propose a rise in the threshold for VAT registration for small businesses and the self-employed to £150k.

The Liberal Party notes the recent decision to bring the financial management at Liverpool City Council within the responsibility’s government appointed commissioners.

The commissioners were originally sent into the council in June 2021 to oversee the authority and carry out limited functions for at least 3 years, specifically to  manage Liverpool’s planning, highways, regeneration, and property management functions.

We believe that the commissioner's role should be open to scrutiny by elected councillors and to this end Liberal Cllr Peter Mitchell has tabled questions over how the city scrutiny committees will work, whilst Cllr Steve Radford has asked how the city region’s mayor will be scrutinised in this role?

The Liberal Party believes the commissioners should be in place not a moment longer than absolutely needed to bring good governance and management to the city administration and for it to return to providing value for money to local council taxpayers.

Liberal Party Supports Small Businesses to Grow and Prosper

In a review of polices we wish to promote small businesses we urged Government to

    1. Raise the threshold for registration for VAT to 150k pa from its current 85k
      
     2 Small businesses should be given an equality of evidence required in Industrial Tribunals
     
     3 Employees should opt in for work place pensions to reduce needless admin
 
     4 Income tax threshold should increase to 20k to give incentive older and casual workers return to
       job market without being trapped in the Tax benefits trap

If you have ideas on how to promote small businesses, please a mail us via our party website.

Cllr Steve Radford
Leader of The Liberal Party

The Liberal Party welcomes news of a major Polio vaccination campaign in London, prompted by the discovery of the Polio virus is sewage samples in the capital.

Even before the disruption caused by the COVID pandemic, vaccination rates in the country, and in particular London have been allowed to fall below the critical levels need to contain infectious disease such as Polio and Measles
.
Vaccination acts as the first line of defence again infectious disease in our communities and where there is hesitancy towards vaccination, we believe education and engagements allows for better informed choices and a better uptake.

The ongoing Covid vaccination program has again proven the ability of the NHS and local health providers to deliver successful and targeted vaccination campaigns and we support more community health inititives promoted by local councillors, GPs and health professionals.

The Liberal Party notes with concern the continued absence of any meaningful rainfall this summer and the increasing number of hosepipe bands and other restricts to save water as the country experiences its driest July on record.

In a time of increased climate extremes, we believe the water security must rank alongside energy security in the nation’s calculations and urgent steps need to be taken to stem the loss of an estimated 3 billion litres of water each day through leaks and burst pipes.

Excess extraction for the water table to meet demand causes significant and long-lasting environmental damage but has repeatedly failed to receive the urgent attention that it deserves and is intensified by the wastage in transit of what is a precious commodity.

To reduce this waste, we believe that the Governments and the water regulator should initiate an intense 5-year program of repair and modernisation, coupled with upland tree planting schemes to encourage water retention and carbon reducation.

Where necessary addition reservoir storage should be constructed to ensure the availability of water to homes and businesses.

The annual Liberal Party Assembly will be held on the 15th of October 2022 at St Columba's United Reformed Church, 32 Priory St, York YO1 6EX. We have used this venue before and look forwarded tobeing welcomed by the Rev Alison Micklem.
 
The meeting will commence at 9:0am until 5pm and the party would welcome any motions for debate.
 
Please contact a member of the LIberal Party NEC for more details on attending this event and to submit motions.

The Liberal Party notes the recording setting July 2022 heatwave and the subsequent national disruption to a wide range of daily activities and services.

We believe that this episode further highlights the fact that the world is undergoing a period of accelerated climate change swinging between extreme heat and drought, and periods of torrential rainfall.

To meet these challenge’s the UK needs to development a strategy to both address the root causes of global warming through human activity, and to mitigate their effects both nationally and globally.

The heatwave has had adverse effects on transport, business, and the environment, as well as brought further pressure to bear on an already stretched NHS.

A wide-ranging discussion needs to be held between both national and local government, business and the charity sector and covering such diverse subjects as the resilience of the transport network, the supply and storage of water, the response of the emergency services through to the ability of supermarket chillers to function at elevated temperatures.

"[b]Making life affordable in the face of a cost-of-living crisis"[/b]


                        Liberal Party Statement of Policy Direction,July 2022
 
The Liberal Party is please to present the above document addressing the current cost-of-living crisis.

The doument is available to download from the frontpage of the party website and the Liberal Library section.

The Liberal Party Special Assembly will be held on the Saturday the 30th July in Warrington  and will be a physical meeting which is open to all.

The event will commence at 12:30pm and will be at the Friars Green independent Methodist Church, 37 Cairo Street, Warrington, WA1 1EH.

A digest of the motions to be debated will be available shortly.