Liverpool City Council held a debate on homelessness in the city on Wednesday the 17th of  January.

The Liberal Party amendment put forward during the debate was agreed by all parties. It called for an assertive campaign, including threat of use of Compulsory Purchase Powers be used to bring the current 3721 long term vacant homes in the city back into use.

Liberal group leader Cllr Steve Radford demanded to know why the council isn’t doing more to CPO empty properties in the city and bring them back into use? The leader of the green group on LCC agreed and said there are 3 sites in his ward which could be used in this way.

The Liberal Party has adopted a policy of increased council tax payments on empty properties to encourage more of the 261,189 long-term empty properties in England to become homes again.

The Liberal Party notes Chancellor Jeremy Hunts hints at tax cuts in the spring budget as a spur to greater economic growth.

We believe that the chancellor’s priority should be to lift the income tax threshold to £20k (phased in 15K, 17.5K, 20K) taking at least five million out of the tax benefits trap, reduce benefits proportionally thus reducing the administrative burden of both tax and benefits.

We also believe there needs to be reform to reduce not just the tax burden on people and businesses but also the administration burden of the overly complex tax benefits system.

We also propose raising the VAT thresholds to help the self-employed and small businesses. 

BBC regional news has reported that Lib Dem East Devon District Council’s planning committee has approved the construction of 115 new homes at Middle Northcote Farm, near Honiton by building firm, Taylor Wimpey.

Liberal Councillor Roy Collins (Honiton St Michaels) said he had worked at the farm as a teenager in 1968 and argued that it was a "heritage site" that should not be touched. 
 
It was home, he stated to a wide diversity of wildlife including bats and otters.
 
"I hope we will turn this down because it is unfair on the people of Honiton," he said. “It shouldn’t be allowed."
 
The development was opposed by residents highlighting the potential loss of their peace and privacy.

The Liberal Party believes that housing developments much be proportionate and sympathetic to the local community with developers’ Section 106 contribution used to properly fund expanded local services.

The full text of the article can be found on the BBC website by search for the title: More than 100 new homes approved near Honiton.

Stannington By-Election Result 2024

NAME                                       DESCRIPTION                               VOTES

BRAGG, Chris                            Green Party                                       328
DAGNALL, Lewis William             Labour and Co-operative Party           1212
RODGERS, Rod                         The Liberal Party                             118
SAPWELL, Will                           Liberal Democrats                            2258
WOOLLARD, Ben                       The Conservative Party Candidate        372

Stannington by-election turnout - 30.27%

Many thanks to our local member for offering to stand in this by-election at short notice.

The Liberal Party welcomes the recent the rooftop renewables supporter survey by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) which asked contributors about their views on solar panel provision.

The vast majority of the 2600 respondents believed that the government should prioritise rooftop solar panel installations and solar panels should be a standard requirement on all new housing.

The Liberal Party had an agreed policy of mandating all new build properties to accommodate solar energy, supported by an adequate feed-in tariff to reward those investing in the technology.

We also believe that we should not keep building solar farms on Best and Most Versatile (BMV) arable land as this reduces the availability of prime growing land and as well as affecting wildlife in the shade of the solar farm’s rows of panels.

In step with this, the national electricity grid will need investment to allow it to accommodate the increase in domestic renewable energy production which is critical in the country's journey to net-zero.

In recent weeks the Liberal Party has received several e-mails critical of Ed Davey, the leader of the LibDems for his response to the Horizon Post Office Scandal.

As Minister for Postal Affairs in the Coalition government and now leader of the LibDems Ed Davey met Mr Bates in October 2010, but has yet to explain his reluctance to meet campaign groups or ask probing question of the post offices management and civil servants.

We would like to reaffirm that the Liberal Party claims continuity with the pre-1988 Liberal Party. and is in no way linked with Ed Davey or the LibDems, a party with which we now have little in common.

Our party  was perpetuated by a dedicate group who believed the merger between the SDP and Liberal Party was an unworkable compromise, which contributed to the Coalition Government and the imposition of a stringent policy of austerity in 2010.

We believe those affected by the failures of the Horizon IT system must be exonerated and compensated in the name of justice and probing question asked of all those involved in the scandal from its onset in 1999.

The Liberal Party urge’s government to fast-track recognition of the injustice done to so many sub-masters by instituting an all-embracing cancellation of flawed convictions and a fast-track compensation scheme.

We believe that the government must investigate seriously the claim civil servants misled ministers on an industrial scale by scrutinising all civil service ministerial briefings on the issue and making that evidence public.

The party however notes that 4 years after the first convictions were overturned in this long running case of the miscarriage of justice, it has taken an ITV drama,  Mr Bates v The Post office to galvanise parliament to act.

We also recognise this case is not exceptional. For example, the case of victims of contaminated factor 8 blood have not been universally compensated after decades of neglect.

The Liberal Party notes with great sadness the aftermath of widespread flooding after the recent heavy rainfall which has left homes and land underwater.

The party believes that recent extreme weather is another warning of climate change, and that urgent action is required to mitigate such extreme  events both nationally and locally.

Urban planners need to discourage housing developments that  encroach onto floodplains and taken action to increase urban drainage which is increasingly reduced by over developments and the loss of gardens which soak up the water.

In rural area’s action need to be taken to contain excess hillside runoff with tree planting, the restructuring of rivers carry away  the water efficiency and to invest in floodplains to disperse the excess.

Flood water is often contaminated with sewage as water companies continue to discharge into rivers to release the build up of water within the drainage systems.

This is an unwelcome practice which OFWAT and the environment agency should be working to eliminate as it adds to the damage from such flooding events.

Open letter to Lord Cameron
 

Copy to 
Commonwealth Secretariat 
Marlborough House, Pall Mall, St. James's, London, United Kingdom, SW1Y 5HX

Dear Lord Cameron
We read with great interest that the prime minister of Ethiopia has signed the MoU with Somaliland's President Muse Bihi Abdi to open up access to the port of Berbera on the Red Sea.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr Abdi said the agreement included a section stating that Ethiopia would recognise Somaliland as an independent country at some point in the future.
 
Somaliland's foreign ministry said in a statement later that the "historic agreement ensures Ethiopia's access to the sea for their naval forces, reciprocated by formal recognition of the Republic of Somaliland, marking this as a significant diplomatic milestone for our country".
 
This progress could generate stability and much needed economic growth in the Horn of Africa.
 
The Republic of Somaliland has been the most stable part of Somalia and operated as an independent country since 1991 with a current population of nearly 6 million people.
 
The territory is a distinct continuation of what was the British Protectorate of Somalia.
 
The United Kingdom owes a moral obligation to support the development and security of what is the largest de facto unrecognised state in the world.
 
It would be in our country best economic and security interests to support this country by taking steps to recognise it and invite it into membership of the Commonwealth of Nations.
 
Cllr Steve Radford Leader of The Liberal Party
Allan Steele Liberal Party Defence Spokesperson

The Liberal Party notes the publication of the resignation honours list of the former PM Liz Truss's as part of the traditional new year’s honours.

We believe that nomination of members of the House of Lords as a parting gift to former prime ministers adds nothing to the function or competence of the upper chamber.

The Liberal Party believes that whilst performing the same role of scrutinising legislation, the upper chamber should be entirely elected, with seats reserved only for representative from Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands.

This would allow candidates to be subject to proper scrutiny of their suitability by the electorate and democratic approval at the ballot box.