Category: Government

Liberal Democrat policies and beliefs 

Liberal Democrat policies and beliefs – check out this collection of links to web sites providing further information

Here is a collection of links to web sites providing further information.  A good starting point is Sir Ed Davey’s speech to the 2023 spring conference of the Liberal Democrats:  Ed Davey’s speech to Spring Conference  (52 mins)  This link also gives the text of his speech (very useful)

Along with this: What Liberal Democrats stand for – beliefs, principles and values

You may also find this article by Mark Pack (President of the Liberal Democrats) useful

What do the Liberal Democrats believe?

The Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors (ALDC), also have policy and information to support campaigners with advice, resources and training ☎️: 0161 302 7532 📧: info@aldc.org  Twitter: @ALDC  https://www.aldc.org/  You may find this helpful: 

ALDC Guidance and Resources

Regarding Europe check this short piece by Ed Davey:   

We must fix our broken relationship with Europe 

The UK needs an ‘Operation Nightingale’ for Ukrainian refugees

The UK needs an ‘Operation Nightingale’ for Ukrainian refugees – Over 100,000 UK families are offering rooms in their homes but staging post accommodation is needed now!

The British people have demonstrated this week that they are very willing to help the Ukrainian refugees with over 100,000 families offering accommodation in their homes. This is great news and again shows to the Government we are a humanitarian nation.

However, the process of getting people to these homes could be long and drawn out so why not stage an “Operation Nightingale’’ for the refugees? We did it in Covid so why not now?

The Ukrainian refugee crisis is an emergency, and it requires emergency action. The UK needs an ‘Operation Nightingale’ approach to helping these victims of Mr Putin’s aggression. The UK Government should use its emergency powers to commandeer empty buildings which could be used to house refugees whilst better accommodation is being sought. Here in Lewes District, there are examples of empty buildings such as the former NHS building in Friars Walk, Lewes (feature photo above) and the UTC building in Newhaven.  Such buildings already have toilet facilities, and it wouldn’t take much to kit them out with temporary shower units and kitchens.

There is a big role also for the Lewes District Council and the East Sussex County Council. We already know that the District Council are intending to rehouse themselves at the County Hall building taking up already vacant office space at County Hall. The District Council could delay the leasing of their building to Charleston House Trust and turn over their officies for emergency accommodation.

This approach could be repeated across the UK. In England alone, there are 333 district, county and borough councils. Each of these should be asked to review publicly owned property with a view to setting up a ‘Ukrainian Refugees Operation Nightingale’

This should be linked with one important, but simple step, the British Government needs to bring down the barriers and allow Ukrainian refugees to come to the UK visa free. The rest of Europe has taken such a measure so why not the UK?