The following has been circulated to councillor who we are aware of who have rejected their own party’s stance on a ceasefire in Gaza.
 
Dear Councillor
 
I appreciate your principled stand on the issue of Palestine.
 
Here in Liverpool, we were thankfully able to get a consensus among all the 5  parties, Labour, Lib Dem, Green, Community Independents, and my own Liberal Party Group.
 
Please find some press  coverage  which I hope you find encouraging.
 
I  know how difficult it may be outside one of the 3 mainstream parties and if we can assist you overcome the hurdles which will be undoubtably be put in your way please feel welcome to contact me
 
Regards
 
Cllr Steve Radford
Leader of The Liberal  Party
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The Liberal Party has watched with increase despair the resumption of violence in Gaza following the recent pause in hostilities to facilitate prisoner exchanges.

The brutal Hamas attack of the 7th October has unleashed an Israeli response which now threatens to reduce the Gaza Strip to an uninhabitable condition, threatening to envelope its 2.3 million inhabitants in an humanitarian disaster.

This operation has now exceeded any military justification other than to inflict unrecoverable damage on the Palestinians, reducing civilian infrastructure including hospitals to ruin.

According to a UN spokesperson, 5 out of 6 Palestinians have now become a refugee in their own land, driven from one end of the Gaza Strip to the other as the Israeli army continues its operations.

The Liberal Party again calls for an immediate ceasefire, and the resumption of  humanitarian aid to Gaza. We believe that the only viable long-term solution to the cycle of conflict is the implementation of a 2-state solution which provides for a viable Palestinian State.

The Liberal Party is currently undertaking its elections to the party NEC and party leader.

There are currently 2 candidates seeking nomination for the role of party leader:

Kayed Al-Haddad from Glasgow, who is the party treasurer and resides in Glasgow

Cllr Steve Radford from Liverpool, the current office holder

If any members are interested in serving in any capacity with the party, please let a member of the NEC know.

Contact details are on the party website.

Regards

Stephen Graham
Liberal Party NEC Member and Nominations Officer

 
The next open Liberal Party NEC will be held on the 3rd February 2024 at the Christ Church, C of E, Sandford Close, Leeds, LS15 8EY.

It is envisaged this will be the first meeting of the newly elected NEC and will cover party business and is open to both party members and general observers.

A Zoom video conference  facility will be available, and a link can be request6ed prior to the meeting.
Travel options for the venue are available via he Traveline website.
 
For further details please contact the Secretary of the NEC, Stephen Graham

Jeremy Hunt’s Budget was unfortunately a lot more anti-climatic than what it ought to have been.

Fiddling round the edges in terms of national insurance contributions and uprating benefits might be welcome, but unfortunately, he was a long way off the mark in terms of delivering something substantial for the ordinary person or indeed small business owner.

The Institute Fiscal Studies (IFS) has already warned that the chancellor was able to reduce NI in part because he had not increased spending on public services and taking into account inflation, unprotected departments would face budget cuts of more than £20bn by 2027-28.
 
Given the realities of the cost-of-living crises and the anaemic growth rates that the country has been facing for the best part of 15 years, the chancellor should have been a lot more radical in terms of delivering for the British people - he was far from it!

As a party, we would like to have seen the personal tax threshold increase to at least 15K (with NI scrapped altogether), the rate at which small businesses start paying corporation tax to at least 100,000 (20% rate thereafter), replacing Business Rates/Council Tax with LVT and finally equalising Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax/Dividends Tax.

It is no surprise that the Conservative chancellor has failed to deliver again and we thus as a party encourage those looking for a radical but moderate approach to economics to join The Liberal Party.

Kayed Al-Haddad

Member of the NEC and Economics Spokesman 

15a Humanitarian crisis in the Middle East by Councillor Steve Radford, Liberal Party,  seconded by Councillor Tom Crone, Green Party

Liverpool City Council recognises the significance of the tragic situation in the Middle East to our city. We have Jewish and Palestinian communities and, if the crisis were to escalate, we could be required to offer sanctuary to refugees.

Liverpool City Council condemns the massacre of Israeli civilians and the taking of hostages by Hamas on October 7th.

We further condemn the collective punishment of the Palestinian people that has ensued, costing the lives of over 9,000 people, 3,500 of them children. Innocent Palestinians should not have to pay the price for the atrocities of October 7th. There is no purely military solution to the 75-year-long crisis in the region, rooted in the occupation of Palestinian land, as recognised in United Nations resolution 2334. The indiscriminate levelling of areas of Gaza is totally unacceptable. An immediate ceasefire and the return of all hostages are preconditions for a renewed peace process.

Palestinian and Israeli citizens have an equal right to live free from fear and insecurity.

We call on the UK government to renew efforts to end attacks on civilians and to return all hostages immediately as a precondition for a lasting peace.’

I note from my calendar that Reading Burrough Council has inevitably failed to publish its 2022/23 accounts by the 31st of October, the  6th time is 7 years that the council has failed to meet the publishing deadline.

This now leaves local council taxpayers with 3 sets of missing account, those being 20/21, which exists only as a draft, and the subsequent sets for 21/22 and 22/23.

Since taking over from KPMG, the councils auditors EY are believed to have billed the council over £1 million pounds in additional auditing fee’s up to and including the 2017/18 accounts, which suggest the cost has continue to climb towards the £1.5 million pound mark.

The fact that a council with an annual budget of £160 million pounds can’t deliver publicly accessible accounts to the council tax paying public seems to be a mere inconvenience for the ruling labour party.

In fact, timely published accounts act as a reassurance that the council taxpayers’ monies are being spent wisely, and that the council’s finances are on a sustainable footing, with no unwelcome surprises for council taxpayers.

Liberalism is our cause. The word has been abused and misused more than most in politics.

We believe that one of the greatest dangers faced today is the rise of populism from both the left and right. Many movements have honourable objectives, but unchecked some can go too far and lead to imbalance and injustice. That is where liberals have a part to play. We must stand up for individual rights but balanced with common sense and compassion.

For that reason, we propose the slogan ‘Empathetic Liberalism’. We will fight for the individual, but we never lose sight of the feelings of any. That will require us to speak up against the excesses of certain political movements that transcend party politics. In our view, we must be brave and resist the ‘cancel culture’ and movements that seek to impose guilt for past wrongs on the generations or demonise those whose views do not correspond to the latest fashion. We  must be anti-populist and brave. In practical terms, we need to adopt specific causes as a party and champion the underdog, particularly if that involves taking risk.

Allan Steele WS, Defence Spokesperson
Motion adopted at Liberal Party Assembly October 7th 2023

Cllr Steve Radford and other Liberal Party members joined the Liverpool Peace for Palestine demonstration on Sunday.
 
Following the demonstration Cllr Steve Radford, Leader of The Liberal Party endorsed comments by the Leadership of The Palestinian Authority that only a long term solution involving viable Palestinian State covering the West Banka and Gaza would break the cycle of violence and desperation.

The elections for Liberal Party leader and the NEC are due in the Autumn of 2023 and
the nomination window will be open between the 1st November and the 31st December 2023.
 
A total of 20 nominations from party members will be required for nomination as party leader.
 
A total of 3 nominations from party members will be required for admission to the NEC for which the party constitution allows 20 members.
 
We would ask that all nominations are e-mailed to the address to be advertised on the party website.


Once the tally of nominations has been completed, the Secretary of the NEC will be advised if any elections need to be held and ballot papers distributed.
 
It is envisaged the newly elected NEC will hold its first open meeting on the 3rd February 2023, with the venue to be announced.