Author: Web Secretary

The Liberal Party welcomes the start of the public enquiry into the Post Office scandal which saw over 700 sub-post masters and mistresses wrongly convicted of fraud, theft and false accounting.

The treatment of these people represents the most blatant miss-carriage of justice imaginable, aggravated by the disclosures that flaws in the Horizon system were known to both the supplier and Post Office management.

The party supports the payment of compensation to those wrongly convicted but believe that taxpayers should not be expected to shoulder the entire cost now estimated to run to potentially hundreds of millions of pounds.
We believe that that both Fujitsu, the chief contractor of the Horizon project as well as senior Post Office management who received bonuses during this time should contribute to the payments and should face further legal scrutiny.

Cllr Steve Radford
Leader of The Liberal Party​

The Liberal Party notes with great sadness the news on the 22nd January that a 16-year-old youth has lost their life in Manchester after a fatal knifing incident. It is reported that the 4 teenagers arrested after the incident were all aged between just 15 and 17 years old.
Knife crime amongst the nations young people has extracted a tragic cost, with London alone recording 30 deaths in 2021, the highest total since 2008 when 29 lives were lost.
The party again calls for a comprehensive national response to such violence which blites communities and the families of both the victim’s, and those convicted of such offences who face lengthened custodial sentences.
Violent urban crime can only be tackled with a combination of community and police engagement, intervention, and where necessary enforcement with safeguards on the sale of bladed weapons.
As first step to mitigating knife crime the Liberal Party would support the creation a £1bn fund for local authorities to spend on youth services in the worst affected regions to guide young people away from knife and gang related crime.

Cllr Steve Radford
Leader of The Liberal Party​

As a party, we are proposing that we increase the Income Tax threshold from the current £12,500 phased to £20,000. 

There is a tripartite argument in favour of such a proposal: 

• it would incentivise work and encourage the work ethic’ back onto the agenda. 
• it would take people out of the lower end of the income spectrum out of paying tax completely. Free up 6 million people from income tax, by lifting the minimum threshold to £20,000, from £12,500 pa. This is 1 in 5 taxpayers. Basic income tax rate stays at 20%. This would be paid for by a tapered progressive tax rate
• Would, stimulate the economy: tax cuts should be focused on low- and middle-income households who tend to have a higher propensity to spend high degree of their income than high-income households. 

Motion approved at November 11^th Liberal Party Special Assembly.

The Liberal Party notes the increasing disruption caused to commercial goods deliveries, most publicly fuel due to a national shortage of HGV drivers.

This situation is the combination of Covid related delays to driver training and testing, and long-term issues improving working pay and conditions to retain experienced staff.

Noting the real anguish expressed by both the agricultural sector and the Road Haulier’s Association we urge the UK Government to take immediate steps to allow work visa entry for both seasonal agricultural workers and HGV drivers.

The Liberal Party supported Brexit so we could have control over key issues affecting our society and political economy, we did not pursue the policy with an obsessive negative view to the role of none UK citizens coming to work in the UK.

We also need a more flexible approach for those working in the nursing and social care.

Over and above this fuel supplies should be supported by Armed Forces Drivers and driving instructors to assist this critical industry.

We also see merit in a review to merge C and D class drivers into one category (eg Bus and rigid lorry drivers) to provide more flexibility in the workplace.

Not to respond to such immediate needs will aggravate cost led inflation with a detrimental impact on the UK economy.

Whilst these are immediate steps to deal with an immediate problem in the longer term, we will continue to campaign for a system of Industrial Training Boards to be re-established to look at the skills needed for each industry and support training plans and facilities required across their respective industries.

Cllr Steve Radford
President of The Liberal Party​

Long term community activist and Croxteth councillor Peter Mitchell has crossed to the Liberal Party in Liverpool and discussed his contribution to the city and his opposition to the boundary commission.

The Liberal Party recognises the vital role of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME’s) or small businesses in the need to create growth to increase economic recovery from the Covid pandemic.

This means that we need to create the balance of social needs and business flexibility to encourage growth whilst protecting workers rights.

Therefore, we call for an immediate review of rules applicable to SME’s or small businesses with reference to employment law and to this end propose:

SME’s be subject to the same balance of proof by any employee in any unfair dismissal proceeding

That the proof of being an unfair dismissal must not rest on procedural issues alone, but the substantive judgment by the employer was unreasonable 

We would like to see greater use of arbitration and reconciliation.

We believe this protection be given to SME’s or small business of equivalent to 20 full-time employees as one tribunal’s case alone could threaten the viability of the business.

To improve the rights of employees the threshold for unfair dismissal claims would be reduced to 1 year.

The Liberal Party expresses huge concern in regard to the withdrawal of U.S. and Allied troops and support staff from Afghanistan.

Once the Taliban had breached the terms of the U.S. led agreement for withdrawal, an immediate revoking of the withdrawal agreement should have been undertaken.

Allied forces had little option but to withdraw their troops to safety when US Air cover was withdrawn. The primary focus now had to become an evacuation effort.

The UK government was right to press the U.S. to delay their withdrawal to afford both them and allied forces more time to undertake a safe withdrawal including vulnerable staff and families who have worked with NATO forces.

Allied force governments also need to work with pro-democratic forces such as those in the Panjshir Valley, to establish alternative evacuation routes.

At home, we must welcome the returning troops who have been withdrawn in the most unwelcome circumstances. We must also hold out a hand of friendship to Afghani refugees, who have been forced to leave their homes in fear, for their part in supporting British efforts.

The Liberal Party believes the U.S. and allied forces were wrong to go into Afghanistan because regime change is not a permitted reason for invasion under international law. However, having gone in, an early departure following the defeat of Al Qaeda would have been appropriate.

The International community should concentrate its efforts on rescuing those who are vulnerable to reprisals by the Taliban regime.

Party President Steve Radford