The Liberal Party encourages all candidates and supporters to consider using this draft letter to respond to climate changel obbying and the Friend of the Earth(FoE) Climate Action Pledge:

Thank you for your email regarding the FoE Climate Action Pledge.

I have signed the pledge and will encourage other Liberal Party candidates to do likewise.

Climate protection, damage reduction and repair will certainly influence how I use my vote on the many issues that
impact climate and which will be on the political agenda.

Special interest groups like FoE are so important in helping us keep our focus, thank you for keeping the climate
issue high on the political agenda.   Beyond this election we will continue as a party to develop policies and would
welcome FoE input into our policy development process.

For your information I am attaching a motion which was carried by a special Liberal Party assembly in June this year.

Climate Emergency - Motion carried at the Liberal Party Special Assembly 22nd June 2019

The Liberal Party accepts there is sufficient scientific evidence of climate damage, for a Climate Emergency to be
declared and actions taken to reduce the impact humans are having on our planet.

We therefore open up the Liberal Party policy set to scrutiny and resolve to review and edit any policy which is
demonstrated to cause or exacerbate climate damage.

We also encourage our elected representatives and wider membership to ensure a request is submitted to local
authorities in their area, to debate and consider a Climate Emergency motion.

Promoted by Stephen Graham on behalf of the Liberal Party, 12 Dayworth Mews, Lundy Lane, Reading, RG30 2RR

Response from BBC on election coverage and info-graphics.
 
Thank you for your email and request. The BBC is required, under the terms of its charter and agreement, to ensure political issues are covered with due accuracy and due impartiality. It has election guidelines that help govern this:


 The issue of coverage and prominence given to parties, is covered in section 3 of the guidelines which states:

3. Due Impartiality in coverage of parties and issues
3.1 Coverage of the Parties

To achieve due impartiality, each bulletin, programme or programme strand, as well as online and social media channels, must ensure that the parties are covered proportionately over an appropriate period and overall across the Election Period.

Determining appropriate levels of coverage should take into account levels of past and current electoral support, as consistent with the approach set out in Ofcom’s Digest (and see Appendix).



Electoral support in the most recent equivalent elections (that is, the 2017 and 2015 General Elections) is the starting point for making those judgements.

However, other factors should be taken into account where appropriate, including evidence of variation in levels of support in other sorts of elections, changed political circumstances (e.g. new parties or party splits) as well as other evidence of current support. The number of candidates a party is standing may also be a factor.

 How does this work in practice? For the website Policy Guide, for example, we have clearly set out the methodology that governs how parties were chosen and ordered:

Linked from this, we also have a page of all parties taking part in the election:
[url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50381819][/url]
 With regards, BBC News online

Promoted by Stephen Graham on behalf of the Liberal Party, 12 Dayworth Mews, Lundy Lane, Reading, RG30 2RR

Respect the EU Referendum result and work towards making 'Brexit' a success.

Guarantee the rights of EU citizens already working in the UK, simplifying residency qualification rights,
thereby ensuring that key skills stay in the UK economy.

Increase skills training and vocational education and lessen the need for immigrant workers.

Leverage preventive healthcare and public promotion to avoid long term costs to the NHS and restore
democratic accountability to the NHS.

Move from a punitive to a harm reducing approach to drug legislation.

Simplify the tax system by raising personal allowances, taking more of the low paid out of taxation
altogether and allowing those who are moderately paid to keep more of their earned income.

Radical reform of inheritance tax. Reduce the level of taxation but abolish the extensive exemptions
and allowances which mean the wealthiest pay little by way of inheritance tax. Provide for a
Universal Inheritance' to give everyone a tax fee lump sum at the age of 25, which can be used to pay
university tuition fees or towards a business start-up.

Encourage growth by reducing the huge regulatory and bureaucratic burdens on the small business sector.

Encourage local authorities to build and maintain more affordable homes for rent and give them greater
powers to combat derelict houses and waste land sites.

Increase defence spending to pre-2010 levels to increase the manpower and equipment of UK forces.
British forces deserve the best. This can be funded by scrapping Britain's nuclear weapons immediately.

Restore Police funding to pre-2010 levels adjusted in line with population growth, whilst tackling the
problems associated with criminal reoffending and overcrowded prisons.
 
Promoted by Stephen Graham on behalf of the Liberal Party, 12 Dayworth Mews, Lundy Lane, Reading, RG30 2RR

"To whom it may concern,
 
We note with interest that Change UK: The Independent Group is listed among the parties mentioned in much of the BBC’selection coverage and info-graphics.
 
TIG is fielding 3 candidates and has had no members directly elected into any chamber in the United Kingdom. While it
has held 5 seats in Westminster during the last Parliamentary session, none of these MPs had been elected by the
public on a TIG platform and therefore do not have a proven mandate.  
 
The Liberal Party which has existed since 1859 (or 1989, depending on your viewpoint), is fielding candidates in 19
parliamentary seats and holds 9 district / unitary council seats and 15 Parish seats. We believe the Liberal Party
has substantially greater reason to be represented in your parliamentary election coverage than the TIG and urge
the BBC - in the interests of fairness and political neutrality (representing a 'Remainer' party while not
representing a substantially larger and longer standing pro-leave party may be construed as biased, for example)
- to include the Liberal Party in it’s content and info-graphics.
 
I hope very much that this matter is given the serious and measured attention it deserves.
 
I thank you for your time.

Yours faithfully,
Farès K Moussa
Liberal Party parliamentary candidate for Bridgwater & West Somerset
on behalf of The Liberal Party"

To offer voters a party which respects the LEAVE vote and wants a socially just UK the Liberal Party has 19 Parliamentary
Candidates standing for election from Liverpool West Derby to Bridgewater and West Somerset, from the City of Lincoln
to the Cities of Westminster and London, from Cornwall to Calder Valley.

It is an old principle of Liberalism that governments should 'put trust in the people'. The 2016 European Referendum
result and how we go about leaving the EU is plainly one of the principle issues in this General Election.

The party wishes to put a clear emphasis on negotiated compromise and the relationship with the EU that will evolve.

It is time Government moved beyond Brexit and tackled the real issues like working people living in poverty, break
down in communities   leasehold reform, steps to save the environment, reform of the House of Lords to an elected
Senate, help for small businesses and community charities.
 
Let us as Liberals focus on issues of social justice, strengthening small businesses, strengthening local and public
services, fighting crime by community policing and proactive youth services and addressing wealth inequality.
 
This is in line with our party constitution which plainly states the Liberal Party exists to build a Liberal Society
in which every citizen shall possess liberty, property and security, and none shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance
or conformity. Its chief care is for the rights and opportunities of the individual and in all spheres, it sets freedom first.
 
Stephen Graham
Elections Nominating Officer for The Liberal Party

Promoted by Stephen Graham on behalf of the Liberal Party,
12 Dayworth Mews, Lundy Lane, Reading, RG30 2RR

Many thanks to our candidates and party officers for their patience and support as I present a confirmed list of parliamentary candidates.

There are 19 confirmed candidates:

Liverpool West Derby -                                        Cllr Steve Radford
Liverpool Walton -                                                Cllr Billy lake
Liverpool Wavertree –                                          Mike Coyne
Garston and Halewood                                          Hazel Williams
Knowsley -                                                            Raymond Catesby
Sefton Central Constituency                                 Angela Preston

Calder Valley -                                                        Cllr Richard Phillips

Altrincham & Sale West Constituency in Trafford -  Neil Taylor
Stalybridge and Hyde in Manchester -                    John Edge

Bridgwater and West Somerset -                           Farès K Moussa

Blaydon, Gateshead -                                            Kathy King

City of London and Westminster -                        Dirk van Heck

Lincoln City Constituency -                                   Cllr Charles Shaw

St. Ives and The Isles of Scilly -                             Dr. Robert Smith
Camborne/Redruth/Hayle -                                  Cllr. Paul Holmes
Truro /Falmouth -                                                Paul Nicholson
Newquay/St. Austell -                                           Richard Byrne
North Cornwall -                                                  Elmars Liepins
South East Cornwall -                                          Jay Latham
 
 
Parish Council By-election – ballet to be confirmed 15th Nov
Pentewan Valley, Cornwall - Elmars Liepins

If you haven't already, please like the official Liberal Party Facebook page: 

And don't forget to like and share posts. A great way to promote the party to friends and family!

According to the BBC: 

My question is this: if there is no Liberal Party candidate in your area, who do you vote for?

This is my first post in terms of a thread and the first time I have engaged in some thought in terms of developing political ideas. The things that I will talk about as part of this thread are merely ideas and my current thoughts right now and I am hoping they will generate some further discussion.

The first key point I want to raise is my feelings around the NHS and the current crisis that exists. For a bit of background, I have family members who work for the NHS and have put forward similar views to that I am about to suggest. 

In my eyes the problems with the NHS are more often than not reported as problems with funding or the amount of resources that the NHS is gaining from the Government. This idea however, I believe is partially incorrect. What the NHS needs right now are two key changes. Firstly, it needs to be restructured and re-organised and made into a more centralised organisation which leads to the second point which I am suggesting and that is the use of Economies of Scale to reduce the amount of spending the NHS has to have for all its equipment and drugs etc etc. Two examples which highlights the need for these changes out of many are as followed;

One relative of mine when working in the servers department in IT installed a new set of servers for a local NHS run minor injuries unit. 2 weeks later the unit was shut down and the servers had to be taken out again. Although that is a shortened version of the actual events, it shows that there can be a lot of miscommunication or lack of communication amongst the various units and hospitals which exist. Another relates to myself where I spent around 30 mins in an appointment at a hospital where they asked my questions based on an operation I was going to have, despite the fact that I had been to that same hospital less than month earlier and was asked the exact same questions. This is a waste of the doctors time as they already know the answers to the questions and through a small change in the efficiency of the running of the hospital that appointment could have been given to someone who needed it more desperately than I did at the time. 

An example to prove the benefits of economies of scale is that n the area I am from there are 3 towns which are all joined and these have a main hospital, a minor injuries unit and another smaller unit for paediatrics. These all use differing IT equipment and resources despite the fact they are all within the same area. This is because the individual surgeries and units have control over what they buy when really this should be left to a more centralised unit which could then use its increased size to gain discounts on products bought and therefore save money which could be re-invested in areas which are struggling such as recruitment. 

The next idea I would like to discuss is the proposed points system that Boris Johnson has put forward in his current Brexit deal/plan. This involves focusing more on ensuring that educated people come to the UK and not any Tom, Dick or Harry so to speak. This idea I believe is problematic as instead of targeting immigration based on where someone is from and how educated they are, it would be more beneficial to limit immigration based on other factors in my eyes. For example those innocent civilians caught up in wars or whose countries are in a state of turmoil such as Venezuela. It would seem a lot better if we granted these people the opportunity to reach their potential rather than shutting them out. Another point I want to raise in regards to this is the idea that what do you define as being well educated. The work a tradesman completes is just as difficult or as challenge as the degree I am currently taking. So in that sense I say we target immigration based on what jobs or roles in the economy are most needed. There is no point having 50,000 bankers arrive every year in the country if we need nurses or social workers more pressingly as we would just have an imbalance. By all means keep a points system but maybe design it in a way that would mean if we needed certain types of worker, it would be easier for them to gain a work permit/Visa. 

The final point I will make now is over the recent claims that Northern Ireland wants to charge those who served during the Troubles wit historic offences. This bothers me not because I believe the actions were at all justified but mainly because of one reason that being: The Good Friday Agreement. It is extremely hypocritical and unjustified to charge the soldiers after the UK signed an agreement to let all the terrorists from both sides go free and drop any charges. At least the soldiers that served in Northern Ireland went with the intention of doing the right thing, ok some may or may not (I don't comment on this specifically as I was neither alive nor have enough knowledge of the individual instances that occurred to come to a reasonable conclusion) but their primary aim was to save lives. The various terrorist organisations on the other hand did not have intention in doing the right thing after their initial setting up and as a consequence killed plenty of innocents and more so than the soldiers. All in all I believe we should do more to protect our soldiers rather than the current situation where the Government seems to leave them out to dry.

Dear Editor

During the Queens Speech the government announced plans to introduce compulsory photo ID for voters, This is despite reliable sources suggest 3.5 million voters do not have such ID.

We have to ask what is the evidence that there is a problem that ID cards are needed to resolve?

According to the Electoral Commission report for 2018.

"There is no evidence of large-scale electoral fraud relating to the 2018 local election.

Of the 266 cases that were investigated by the police, one led to a conviction and two suspects were given police cautionsOutcomes of cases where the suspect was either convicted or accepted a police caution.

At the local elections in 2018, a Peterborough Green Party candidate pleaded guilty to forging all signatures on his nomination form so that he could stand in the election.

At the local elections in 2018, a Labour Party candidate seeking re-election registered to vote at two different addresses in Rochdale.

He applied to vote by post at both addresses and voted twice in the Rochdale council elections.

It is an offence to vote more than once in the same local election area.

West Yorkshire police received a report that a postal vote cast in the 2018 local elections appeared to have been completed and returned by someone who had died.

Police interviewed the deceased elector’s widow. She had been his sole carer and often did his paperwork. It appeared to be a genuine mistake in the midst of grief.

Of the three actual serous cases not a single case would have been prevented by the introduction of Voter ID card checks.

Therefore one can only conclude the legislation is a deliberate and calculated obstruction to prevent 3.5 million voters having the right and carrying out their civic duty to vote

Cllr Steve Radford
President of the Liberal Party