Archive Press Releases/News

The annual Liberal Party Assembly will be held on Saturday the 10th October at the Royal Clifton Hotel, Promenade, Southport, PR8 1RB, between 9am and 4:30pm.

https://www.britanniahotels.com/hotels/royal-clifton-hotel

Travel options for the venue are available via https://www.traveline.info/

Details of accommodation will be available shortly.

Assembly is where party policy is debated and agreed and is open to all members and observers.

For those unable to attend in person there will be a timetabled Zoom video conference link available, but for the best experience we would like to encourage personal attendance. We extend a warm welcome and will be pleased to see you.

We are as ever keen to have more input from women members to ensure we are covering all policy areas in a balanced and fair manner.

We are now open for the submission of motions for debate, please e-mail these to the Secretary to the NEC, stephen.grahamg5@gmail.com.

This recording was made in July 2026 and feature Stephen Graham who is Secretary to the Liberal Party NEC as well as election Nominating officer.

The show is designed to encourage debate, dialogue and discussion most notably on the topic of Liberalism and is hosted by Kayed Al-Haddad.

https://youtu.be/IHQaD6WWWn0

Earlier Podcasts can be accessed here

https://www.youtube.com/@theliberalpartyuk1892

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

The Liberal Party notes the confirmation by the Chancellor that the 2026 Autumn budget will be published on the 28^th October.

The government’s pre-election pledges to adhere to stringent fiscal rules and its own compulsion to tax and spend has left its chancellor with limited room to fund government spending commitments proposed by the new PM.

The Liberal Party has long argued that the government should prioritise making work pay, commit to increasing the personal tax threshold in the long term to 20K (15K in the short to medium term) potentially taking five million out of the income tax, and lastly, simplifying the tax system as well proportionally increasing taxes on wealth by equalising Capital Gains Tax/Dividends Tax with Income Tax.

We also believe the government should aim to run a surplus before interest payments of 2.5% GDP and look to invest £2.5% GDP in infrastructure to support economic growth and to work towards controlling public debt now hovering just below £3 trillion pounds.

The Liberal Party welcomes the recent government announcements on the future of social care in the UK. In doing so it properly acknowledged the tireless efforts of those who work within the care system and the family members who support their relatives.

We are however disappointed to hear that the Labour government is entertaining funding through further taxation or a health and social care levy at a time when families budgets are already stretched by the cost of living crisis and general taxing is at a post war high.

We believe that sufficient funding can be provided for social care by the consolidation of existing budgets across the various strands of social care provision.

Indeed the failure of successive governments to get to grip with the cost of living crisis is a major driving force behind people’s unwillingness to plan for their future care provision and retirement.

The Liberal Party welcomes the long-overdue publication of the Strategic Defence Review 2025 and the commitment to sustainable increases in defence spending in an unpredictable world.

We remained concerned that whilst defence expenditure will increase to 2.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2029, it is likely to remain below the desired 3% target and the funding is partially dependent on further undisclosed cuts in government budgets.

We also note that whilst the plans outlines the development of the Royal Navy into a “hybrid navy”, using self-controlled vessels and drones, the country still requires a surface fleet and logistics train to meet internally commitments and to project overseas power.

Many of the initiatives outlined in the plan, such as autonomous fighter jets and further drone developments are long-term projects which do not meet the urgent issues of preparing and equipping our armoured forces’ for the immediate threats to our nation.

At the same time Armed Forces personnel face an unprecedented challenge with morale.

The Liberal Party is deeply concerned about the increased use of internal procedures being used to end careers, with limited rights to legal representation in cases which did not involve conviction at the court martial.