Latest News and Press Releases
Liberal Party Defence Statement – Britain’s Military State of Readiness / 27th October 2026
The UK’s Standing Joint Force Headquarters was established in 2016 to provide a deployable headquarters to fight a war. I was its first legal adviser. I joined in its first days as we built a headquarters which combined military, cross government and partner nation capabilities in all domains of land, sea, air, space and cyber. I still wear the tie with a sense of achievement having belonged to something I thought was very special. Joining that headquarters was a continuation of what I was already doing. I started on a Monday morning in the spring of 2016. The previous Friday night I had flown back to the UK from the Middle East where I had been deployed. A couple of weeks before that deployment I was working in the NATO headquarters in Kabul. I was continually ready for war, as were thousands of others in 2016. I made significant sacrifices. There was nothing else for it. Given my experience, I was concerned to hear that ten years later in 2026 we need to be ready for war in 1,000 days. Someone has dropped the ball. We surely need to be ready at all times. It seems obvious that we have lost something over these ten years. We have become complacent, self-indulgent and obsessed with societal fads and opinions which have diverted our attention from what our Armed Forces ultimately exist for: the capacity to rapidly project lawful violence to defend us and our allies. A career in the Armed Forces is now increasingly looked upon as a job. Once that mentality creeps in, failure follows. We end up in this position. That is the retired military officer speaking. Speaking now as a military lawyer, I have this advice to offer to the government: if there is a real sense that war is looming, we need our best war fighters in uniform. With that in mind, I seek an urgent review of the number of discharges of personnel through administrative processes for misdeeds. War fighters are not necessarily the perfect employees. We should not tolerate poor conduct in the Armed Forces, but there are many options short of discharge available when the primary purpose of our Armed Forces is to safeguard the freedoms and even the very existence of our nation. Allan Steele WS, Liberal Party Defence Spokesperson
Liberal Party NEC Statement – The Proposed Windfall Tax on the UK Banking Sector / 20th October 2026
At the Liberal Party Assembly in October 2024 at The Great Barr Hotel, Birmingham we expressed our objections to a windfall tax on the UK banking sector. The party believes that however pressing a government may believe its own financial position to be, the monies it would receive have come in the first instance from business and domestic customers pockets and accounts. As such we believe it would be fairer if banks, and private utilities were instead instructed to reduce the fees on services such as those provided to business customers or to provide rebates to customers returning monies back to its source. We remain concerned that a windfall tax will cause more bank branches to be shut and jobs to be lost whilst increasing lending costs to struggling small businesses and reducing community banking services.
Motions Passed at the 141st Liberal Party Assembly Southport – 10th October 2026 / 18th October 2026
Members of the Liberal Party met at the Royal Clifton Hotel in Southport on the Saturday 10th October for our Assembly.
Assembly is not just an opportunity to renew old acquaintances, it give attendees the opportunity to make new contacts and share insights and experiences in their home communities.
The motioned adopted are accessible below:
Motions Passed at the 141st Liberal Party Assembly Southport – 10th October 2026
Liberal Party Pre-Budget Statement Autumn 2026 / 2nd October 2026
With just under a month to go until the Budget, The Liberal Party anticipates a budget that will unfortunately resort to tax hikes in order to paper over, an ever-bleak economic picture. The party believes this will inevitably have a detrimental impact on long term growth. The Liberal Party would rather see a wholesale root and branch reform of the economic system of the UK, beginning by simplifying the Tax system, for example merging National Insurance with Income Tax. Moreover, by amending the tax system, the party believes that it will allow for organic growth in the economy by encouraging investment. Furthermore, The Liberal Party welcomes the news that Capital Gains Tax are said to be increased in line with Income Tax; however, the party would add a caveat that it should also allow for inflationary gains, to prevent damaging the prospects of entrepreneurs. The party would also like to see the personal tax threshold increased to 15K, thus taking at least five million out of paying income tax and thus stimulating growth by increasing demand in the economy. This would encourage more people back into work including part time, by making work pay. Finally, the party would like to see the freeing up to 1.2 million small businesses from paying corporation tax (over 80% of companies) by lifting the minimum threshold to £100,000. Subsequently, small businesses would pay 15% corporation tax rate, rather than 25%.
RIP Cllr Paul Holmes Redruth, 04/04/1944 – 21/08/2026 / 25th September 2026
The Liberal Party was greatly saddened to hear of the passing of Cllr Paul Holmes, leader of the Cornish Liberals. A long serving county and later parish councillor, Paul had been a lifelong supporter of the Cornish language and advocate for the reform of the governance of the Cornish peninsular. Liberal members travelled to Cornwall in June 2023 for a specially commissioned Cornish and West of England Regional Assembly where we were generously entertained at a local community centre. Our thoughts remain with his family at this time, and an appreciation of him can be seen here: https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/holmes/5315529 The Liberal Party NEC
