I read with concern the media report(Reading Chronicle 13th December) on the commencement of the council’s 2025/26 budget planning, presumably laying the groundwork for a further unwelcomed 4.99% increase in council tax.

Whilst we all understand councils are seeing increased demands on their services through the ongoing cost of living crisis, and inflation, the Labour run council risks impoverishing  residents in its quest to spend money.

The hand wringing over demands for services cannot district from the fact the council appears incapable of running a balanced budget or controlling costs.

The council is now forecasting a £4.1 million deficit for 2024/25, a projected and unchallenged £6.4 million deficit for 2025/26 and an unimaginable deficit of £15.6 million by 2027/28.

One must seriously ask at which point the council reserves are exhausted, and the inevitable Section 114 insolvency notice is triggered? The actions and changes to behaviour needed to stop this happening need to be taken today.

The Liberal Party notes with disappointment the decision of the government to decline to hold a public enquiry into child sexual exploitation in Greater Manchester and to instead pass the responsibility back to Oldham Council to conduct their own inquiry.

The Jay enquiry into sexual abuse in Rotherham covered similar ground but largely seems to have been ignored or glossed over in the 27 months since its publication and recommendations made in the report have yet to be fully implemented.

The Jay report specifically identified ‘predominantly men of Pakistani heritage’ being involved in such activity.

The Liberal Party would support a root and branch judge led statutory enquiry in England (which gives the power to compel witnesses) into the whole issue titled:

Child Sexual Exploitation from 1997 to Date

Including within its remit would be the response of:

Councils
Police
Crown Prosecution Service(CPS)
Social Services
The courts - family and criminal.
Other child focussed bodies - schools and the NSPCC

The full enquiry would potentially take years but an interim report to be published within 18 months into the current situation with interim recommendations, would not be unachievable

The Liberal Party believes that the removal of the Assad regime in Syria offers an opportunity for the creation of a self-governing Kurdish region including Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey.

We recognise that the Kurdish regions include mixed communities, and those nations mentioned are unlikely to ever not concede independence.  However, we urge them to support devolution in their territories in order to promote stability and dignity for all their communities.

We  urge all governments to show restraint in facing the expansion and aggression being pronounced by President Erdogan of Turkey. The course of stability and participation of the Kurdish region of north and east Syria will be undermined by Turkish aggression and could lead to the release of thousands of ISIS prisoners.

We hope that a Kurdish nation will emerge in due course, but we believe that limited autonomy, which can be done without full independence, is a reasonable starting point.

The Liberal Party notes the fall of the Assad regime in Syria after over 50 years of authoritarian rule.

Should the country decide on a form of representative democracy, the people of Syria have the right to determine their own future free from the interference of foreign actors such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Israel etc.

The party believes many in the west are too quick to assume that other nations should adopt our democratic models, and the experiences of Iraq and Afghanistan have proven that attempts to transplant western intuitions in isolation only lead to resentment and instability.

The west should recognise it is the forces within Syria liberated themselves whilst the west stood aside, and its people have the right to lead on that after decades of repression and anguish.

The Liberal Party welcomes the announcement of a settlement to the long running equal pay claim against Birmingham City Council.

Low wages blight lives and disproportionately affect women workers, 6,000 of whom will benefit from this settlement subject to confirmation by the council.

The party acknowledges that the settlement has been supported by a £1 billion loan from central government and that the council remains in a serious financial situation, having issued a section 114 notice in August 2023, acknowledging its effective insolvency.

The party now believes the issue of compensation for those claiming discrimination and hardship as a result of  the changes to the state pension for women, led by the action group Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI), should now also be settled.

The Scottish Liberal Party welcomes some of the announcements made by the Scottish Government. However, Scottish Liberals maintain that more could have been done to improve the lives of the Scottish people. The Scottish budget had three main areas of concern: responding to public services badly in need of repair, reducing child poverty and boosting economic growth.
 
Scottish Liberals welcome the reversal of the two child benefit cap, increase in NHS spending and no change to the income tax rates .
 
Scottish Liberals would have liked to have seen an increase in the personal tax threshold for Scottish taxpayers to at least £15,000, a reform of council tax (to be replaced with a Land Value Tax) and greater fiscal autonomy for Scottish councils to allow them to raise (and reduce) their own taxation without being restrained by Holyrood.
 
Scottish Liberals note with concern the lack of any real meaningful economic growth in the Scottish economy; Scotland’s economic growth has averaged at 1% over the last 20 years. We call for a more comprehensive set of policies aimed at simplifying the tax system, increasing the proportionality of tax paid by those with the wherewithal and finally, a substantial increase in infrastructure spending across the whole of Scotland. 
 
Kayed Al-Haddad (Chair, Scottish Liberal Party)

The Liberal Party notes with concern the impending cuts to the UK Defence budget, representing a half billion-pound cut to spending.

These cuts will include the early retirement of HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, a frigate,  two Royal Fleet Auxiliary  vessels and over 30 Chinnock and Puma helicopters.

Despite repeated warning from Defence chiefs that our Armed Forces are no longer adequate to fulfil our military commitments, this Labour Government is downsizing our national military assets at a time of heightened international tension.

The cuts signal a reluctance to meet our commitment to fund and invest 2.5% of GDP in defence at a time the USA has elected a President sceptical of other nation’s willingness to share the burden of global defence.

The Liberal Party wishes to be seen as the party for small business and is proud to be launching its Small Business Big Communities Policy Initiative.
 
Small and micro business, not for profit organisations and charities should be at the heart of our communities to create economic activity, prosperity and employment.
 
We would welcome feedback from small business owners, people in the charity sector and others within this sector to enhance our policy initiative.
 
This  includes a 4-point plan to support them to reach their full potential within our communities.
 
The full document can be accessed from the Liberal Library section of our party website.

The Liberal Party notes with considerable concern the deterioration of the UK economy just 5 months after the general election.

In just a matter of days we have seen stagnant economic growth in the third quarter, a widening month budget deficit and an unwelcome rise in inflation.

The uncertainty over the government’s tax and spending priorities prior to the Autumn Budget have stifled business confidence and they have then chosen to impose an unnecessary increase in employer NI contributions which will stifle employment.

Whilst the Labour Government has inherited a weak economy, the party believes the budget was a missed opportunity  to support small businesses, and reform the wider tax system more broadly including tax simplification and a review of rebates, allowances, and exemptions.

The Liberal Party notes the open-ended Israeli military campaign on Gaza.

After more than 12 months of military operations, Israel can no longer claim that it is acting simply  to safeguard its land and people from the hostile actions in the wake of the 7th October attack.

The open-ended military operations across Gaza are increasingly being seen as being directed solely towards creating depopulated buffer zones with no regard for international law.

The party believes that the international community has yet to show the resolve that is required to bring about a humanitarian ceasefire, restore humanitarian aid and deliver a lasting regional peace.

The Israeli proposals to annex 150 West Banks settlements put by their finance minister should be condemned robustly as undermining any framework for a lasting peace settlement.