Whilst the detail is not yet fully understood and warrants closer scrutiny, The Liberal Party welcomes the historic trade agreement reached between the UK and the EU, which sets a forward direction providing essential balance in free trade, with political cooperation and without EU control. 
 
The UK should now look to maintaining our trade with the EU whilst looking to strengthen our trade and cooperation in wider global markets.

Liberal Party Special Assembly and Open NEC Meeting – Midday Sunday 7th February 2021 - To be run over Zoom - Motions for debate welcome - please contact a member of the NEC for a meeting invite

The Liberal Party is confident that the period after December 2020 will be more hopeful for the UK, than at any period since the UK definitively voted to leave the EU.

We must now turn our attention to actions we can take independent of the EU.

We must encourage investment to return manufacturing and diverse and sustainable agriculture and horticulture to the UK.

We must secure our fishing waters and invest in delivering sustainable forms of fishing to our costal fishing communities.

We must support local growers to reduce waste by ensuring more of the product they grow is sent to market or to a local processing cannery to be preserved to meet future needs or export.

We must enter into trade deals favourable to the commonwealth and other developing countries and the goods and services they supply.

We must form strategic trade and reciprocal migration alliances with our closest allies. It's time for the UK to take its place in CANZUK.

We must exploit our world leading role in medical science, research, banking and other professional services to the benefit of the UK and our strategic partners.

In all endeavours, we must ensure that standards are maintained or improved.

Environment Policy Motion - Climate Change

The Liberal Party acknowledges that there is now little doubt that we humans, along with most other species on the planet, will face the most challenging time in recorded history during the remainder of this century – and that challenge for each species will be survival.

We humans have a particular responsibility to do whatever we can to minimise the extent other species are being forced into extinction, primarily through climate change and loss of habitat, more so as it is we who have knowingly and recklessly created the conditions that have caused these events - which have rightly been described by Sir David Attenborough as CRIMES.

The Liberal Party accepts it is not all humans who are responsible for these criminal acts, but a select few.

The primary task for The Liberal Party and others with similar concerns, is to expose and publicise these culpable acts by all legal means available. Additionally, we must network with like-minded groupings at home and in other countries to ensure they too are working to expose global corruption and to press their government for change.

David Attenborough in his book and supporting video ' A Life on Our Planet' has set out his vision of what we must do to prevent a catastrophic mass extinction. As part of our Post Pandemic Recovery & Renewal manifesto, the Liberal Party adopts his vision to guide the establishment of policies that support the delivery and promotion of practical solutions.

Following this the Liberal Party will be revising its green and environmental policies to reflect the current scientific consensus.

Motion passed at Liberal Party Special Assembly 6th Dec 2020

The latest edition is now available on the Liberal Party website within the Liberal Library section.

The motions for debate are now accessible from the front page of the party website:

A Local response to the COVID Pandemic

School Meal Provision

Discouraging the D word

Environment Policy Motion - Climate Change

A Zoom meeting invite will be made availabe shortly for all those wishing to attend.

Grenfell Tower Cladding Replacement

The Liberal Party notes with concern a media report (2nd Sept 2020) that the Mayor of London has written to 51 city
landlords requesting an urgent update on the removal off lammable cladding from high rise properties.

These private and social landlords received government funding to remove cladding on their buildings and are
amongst a reported 100 such building in the London area needing urgent remedial action.

This situation is replicated across the country where many private residents have been left in the intolerable
situation of facing substantial bills to fund the replacement process whilst living in potentially unsafe
roperties.

The party believes that the removal of ACM (aluminium composite material) cladding is a national priority and
whilst we welcome the £1bn Building Safety Fund to deal with unsafe ACM cladding on buildings but believe c
entral funding should be provided for all such residential properties.

Motion passed at the Liberal Parrty annual Assembly 3rd October 2020

The Liberal Party observes the reinstatement of a national lockdown to contain the renewed spread of the Covid-19 virus.

Whilst the party understands the urgent need to protect the NHS from being overwhelmed and to flatten the curve such a move will greatly impact further on society and business which will only be partly mitigated by the renewal of the furlough scheme.

The current situation has come about partly through the policies of government but equally a significant minority of the population has lacked the maturity to adhere to basic social distancing rules and restrictions on the size of public gathering which have accelerated the spread of the disease to older age groups.

The Liberal Party calls upon the government to support a national shielding scheme for care homes and at risk individuals by organising for immediate family members to be tested and if free of infection, to be suitably trained and provided with PPE so they can visit safely and offer support.

The Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS) Bill

The Bill has been passed in Parliament to amend the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 to permit the carrying out of certain criminal acts by authorities in the United Kingdom.

Amongst its provisions special agents can now be given licence to commit criminal acts under the CHIS Bill, which could potentially allow the public to become victims to 'legalised crime'.

The Liberal Party stand vehemently against the Bill and call for it's immediate repeal.

Any act that infringes upon the rights of another individual should be illegal.

This attempt to legislate for criminal activity carried out by those acting for the state, fails to provide oversight that is capable of ensuring that unlawful decisions are identified before they can cause harm. It also fails to ensure those affected by unlawful decision can make a robust and open challenge in a court of law. It puts the state beyond the law!

Many of the Key Facts/Figures made for justifying the CHIS Bill are testament to a system that broadly works, with adequate safeguards in law.

Further efforts should focus on methods of investigation into crime culture without the risk of inequalities in the law and/or risk to the public.

After extensive revision and review the Liberal Party Policy Development Committee is proud to present an updates version of our party’s Individual and Group Rights policies which have now been uploaded to the Policies section of the party website.
 
We would like to thank the members of the Policy development Committee for their time and effort in the lengthy discussion's culminating in its presentation at the last Special Assembly.
 
Please circulate this information to anybody you fell would be interested in viewing the topic area’s covered.
 
Our next project will be the updating and revision of the Environment, Energy and Resources policy section of our party website.
 
We would again like to ask for input from the membership and other interested in this area.

If ypu feel you can contribute please contact a member of the Liberal Party NEC.