Archive Press Releases/News

The Liberal Party welcomes the Candian Government’s robust response to the imposition of trade tariffs by the US Government.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has shown considerable patience when dealing with an increasingly irrational and spiteful US President who sees almost all aspects of international diplomacy and trade in transactional terms favourable to the US only.

We believe that the international community should come together to promote free trade.

Global surpluses of goods and services can be redirected between trading nations to reduce their dependency on the US and to ensure frictionless trade.

Having alienated the rest of the free trading world, the US will be faced with the reality of having to find trading partners inclined to deal with its confrontational and ungrateful temperament and the reality of the limited availability of commodities.

The Liberal Party remains concerned at the continued cycle of heatwaves this summer, and the widespread enforcement of drought orders across the UK.

We believe that to ensure security of supply the government and water regulator should be working to securing water supplies in the face of lengthening periods without meaningful rainfall.

There is an urgent need to increase reservoir capacity, with no new reservoirs commissioned since 1992 whilst housing developments continue to be approved without first securing adequate water and drainage provision.

The provision of sufficient reservoirs capacity ensures underground water sources are not over extracted, reducing domestic reserves and causing unnecessary damage to the countryside and wildlife.

The Liberal Party remains committed to bringing the water industry back into public ownership to ensure money is invested in the UK and not paid to foreign owners and investors.

Liberal Party councillors Steve Radford, William Lake and Joe Dunne have been actively pursuing cases of unregistered Houses of Multiple Occupation(HMO) as well as unlicensed children’s homes in their Liverpool wards.

In the last 4 years Liverpool has seen a 240% increase in the creation of such properties, and the city planning department has struggled to regulate and properly license these.

Whilst HMO may be suitable for students or those looking for short term lets, they are not suitable for long-term occupation, and there proliferation changes the character of local communities.

Cllr Steve Radford, Leader of the Liberal Party stated:

“Tuebrook suffers from an increasing shortage of affordable homes. Local families have little chance staying local as only 11% of the housing stock is owned managed by Registered Social Landlords. At the same time companies are moving in to buy up previously private homes and turning them into profitable HMO’s.”

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.

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.