Chris Perry

Keep the earnings link: don’t repeat the mistakes of the 80s

By Chris Perry | Thu 1st October 2026 - 3:56 pm

The triple lock was introduced in 2010 by David Cameron’s Coalition Government when Steve Webb (Lib Dem) was Minister of Pensions, to restore the erosion which had taken place since the earnings link was replaced with a prices’ link in the 1980s. To replace the triple lock with a prices’ link or 2.5%, as was proposed today, will reverse the progress of the last sixteen years. Clearly it has been proposed to save money, as it was in the 1980s, which means a reducing state pension at the very time Government should have been looking to increase it to reduce demand upon the NHS and social care. It is not just about paying for social care.

Prices are about the cost of living. Earnings are about the standard of living and quality of life. As the economy grows so too do the expectations and necessities of life. For example in the 1950s very few people had a fridge: it would be difficult to live without one today. In the ten years before the introduction of the triple lock in 2010 earnings went up by 41.7%, pensions linked to RPI by 32.4% and those linked to CPI (as now proposed) by 26.6%.

There is a wealth of empirical evidence into the social determinants of health which has demonstrated the correlation between low income and health. Widening income inequality and increasing poverty are the root cause of so many of the problems the Prime Minister was addressing in his speech to the Labour Party Conference.

In 1980 the average house was 3.5 times average earnings and the average pay of a chief executive of a top hundred company 18 times average earnings. In 2026 the average house is 8.5 times average earnings and the average pay of a chief executive of a top hundred company 186 times average earnings. Unless Government addresses the widening income inequality and increasing poverty in our society the NHS will not keep pace with demand and will always be playing catch up. Governments cannot go on throwing more money at the first aid camp at the bottom of the cliff without building a fence at the top. Treating the symptoms not the cause.

Britain has one of the lowest State Pensions in the developed world with 2.4m older people living in poverty. Older people got no benefit from the two pre-2024 General Election cuts in National Insurance, previously lost their free television licence and some their winter fuel allowance and have to pay more income tax due to the freezing of the tax-free allowance. And are now to see a year-on-year erosion of their pension.

Older people account for approximately 70% of the expenditure of the NHS. To raise the State Pension to lift all older people out of poverty would improve their quality of life, reduce demand upon the NHS (saving huge amounts of money) and mean that if they did need long term care in a care home applying the same financial assessment which has been in place since the 1948 National Assistance Act they would be able to contribute more reducing the cost to local authorities and mean that their capital and house would no longer need to be taken into account.

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Jack Meredith

Where have we heard this one before? Labour and electoral reform

By Jack Meredith | Thu 1st October 2026 - 1:46 pm

A Labour Prime Minister has announced a commission on electoral reform. Where have we heard this one before?

For those who remember, or, like me, are interested in political history, you would know that Andy Burnham isn’t the first Labour leader to announce the creation of a commission on electoral reform; that accolade belongs to Tony Blair.

Time for a quick crash course: as part of their 1997 election manifesto, New Labour committed to holding a referendum on an alternative voting system to First Past the Post. After entering office, Blair asked Lord Jenkins to head a commission on electoral reform, later called the Jenkins Commission.

The commission’s result was the “AV+” voting system: 80% of MPs would be elected in single-member constituencies via a run-off system, with the remaining 20% elected via a “top-up” system using regional lists. While it wasn’t supported unanimously by the Commission, with Lord Alexander of Weedon opposed to maintaining single-member constituencies, it was the final product of the Commission. It presented a viable alternative to First Past the Post.

So, with the Commission’s work complete, Blair’s response was… to ignore it. Instead of following through on his party’s manifesto pledge, Blair kicked the can down the road. He faced pressure from trade unions not to change the voting system, along with a cabinet split on whether to honour the pledge. Lord Jenkins even went on record saying he doubted Tony Blair would ever support electoral reform, adding that political parties “rarely had the courage” to make changes that would damage their electoral prospects when they had the power to do so.

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Ruth Bright

A national care service – questions for Burnham (and us)

By Ruth Bright | Thu 1st October 2026 - 11:31 am

On the cusp of sixty, having witnessed so many speeches of unconvincing emotion – Thatcher: the tragic King’s Cross fire, Blair: “I love this party, it was losing I hated”,  or various Lib Dem leaders over the years lecturing Liberal Assembly or the early Lib Dem conferences that we weren’t “serious about power” – it would be churlish not to recognise the raw power and daring delivery of Burnham’s speech about care.

Having been both a politician and a worker in the care sector, I for one appreciated the PM’s direct apology to camera that the former profession had let down the latter one.

Some of the care sector is inspirational, some is positively Dickensian and Burnham has certainly hit the nail on the head about the status of care professions. Physios, chiropodists and occupational therapists are qualified people on reasonable salaries, treated with respect; if you are an activity coordinator brightening the lives of those living with dementia in a care home, you are likely to be on poverty pay. I know. I have done it.

If you work with people with dementia, you know that primarily you work with the amygdala (the emotional brain) rather than the hippocampus (the fact brain). Burnham’s speech too spoke to our emotions yesterday.

But the morning after the speech before how does the Prime Ministerial emotion stand up to scrutiny?

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Callum Robertson

Opportunity at the heart of our vision in local government

By Callum Robertson | Thu 1st October 2026 - 9:22 am

For too many young people, the transition from education into employment is becoming harder. Employers face rising costs and are understandably cautious about taking on additional staff. Young people without extensive experience then find themselves trapped in the familiar catch-22: they need experience to get a job, but they need someone to give them a job to gain that experience.

In Watford, Three Rivers and Hertsmere, the Liberal Democrats are trying to do something different to solve this problem whilst simultaneously supporting local economic growth.

That is why we are calling on the Government to establish a pilot “Special Economic Zone” for young people and the creative industries across Watford, Three Rivers and Hertsmere.

The idea is relatively straightforward. Creative-sector businesses taking on a new apprentice would be exempt from employer National Insurance contributions for that employee.

It would give businesses a direct financial incentive to create genuinely new opportunities for young people, while supporting a sector with enormous potential for our local economy.

Fundamentally, this proposal is about giving young people a chance by removing the financial disincentives that Labour have put in place through successive employment reforms.

When we talk about young people who are not in education, employment or training, it is very easy for discussions to become dominated by statistics and acronyms such as “NEET”. Behind those statistics, however, are real people who want the opportunity to build their independence, develop their skills and start their careers.

Yet because entry level jobs in every sector are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, young people remain locked out of many sectors. The evidence on this is clear, the longer somebody remains outside employment, the harder that first step can become.

At the same time, we need to recognise the pressures facing employers. A small or growing business might want to give an 18 or 19-year-old their first opportunity but ultimately decide that the costs and risks involved are simply too high.

Our proposal would change that calculation.

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Vince Cable

Vince Cable writes: Drill, baby, drill…or not

By Vince Cable | Wed 30th September 2026 - 11:28 am

Now that the Prime Minister is back from his trip to see Donald Trump and has enjoyed the emotional warm bath of his party conference, he rejoins the world of hard choices. The budget looms. A more immediate question is to decide on whether to proceed with drilling for gas and oil in the Jackdaw and Rosebank fields in the North Sea.

The politics are awful. Environmentalists regard the issue as central to the government’s credibility on climate change. The Labour v Green battle in Camden provides context. On the other hand, rejection of the developments will send a negative signal to those, including bond traders, who are looking for signs of commitment to economic growth and those who worry about energy security. Both sets of voices have been loudly heard at Labour conference not least from the new Scottish Labour leader, Michael Marra, who wants to press ahead with both developments. For her part, Kemi Badenoch has made this a signature issue for the Tories and will be shouting ‘Drill baby drill’ next week. President Trump will undoubtedly provide his own, loud backing for fossil fuel exploitation: if he can tear himself away from his plans to construct a giant ballroom and a triumphal age honouring his rule

In fact, the serious arguments are complex and allow for a nuanced approach. I took to the airwaves last week to defend Ed Davey’s decision to back the Jackdaw field on its own separate merits. Jackdaw is a Shell development (spoiler alert: I used to work for them 30 years ago). The gas field, east of Aberdeen, is already underway but was paused by a Greenpeace injunction seeking a climate change assessment. The field should provide around 5% of gas demand in the UK and that gas would be otherwise imported. Gas will remain a transitional fuel while renewables are developed and there are good reasons for producing it in Britain rather than importing it (Norway is the major and uncontroversial source; the USA and Qatar more subject to political intrusion). Ed was right on this issue and his experience as Energy Secretary gives credibility to his assessment. (I confess that I had more difficulty defending the proposed subsidy on motor fuel). 

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Victor Chamberlain

123 days in power: putting our new strategy for urban Britain into practice

By Victor Chamberlain | Wed 30th September 2026 - 9:28 am

Picture of Southwark Lib Dems surrounded by diamonds and placards with achievementsLast week at Liberal Democrat Conference, I was delighted to pass an amendment to our party strategy making clear that, if we are serious about growing our party, we must become more relevant to people living in urban areas, diverse communities and younger generations.

Our recent electoral successes give us an extraordinary platform. But we cannot be satisfied with consolidating our support only where we are already strong. We should be ambitious about winning and governing in cities and diverse communities across Britain too.

For Southwark Liberal Democrats, this is not just a discussion about party strategy. We are already putting it into practice.

Following May’s elections, Liberal Democrats entered a Joint Administration with the Southwark Green Party, ending 16 years of majority Labour rule.

This week we marked 123 days in office. We are demonstrating what Liberal Democrats can achieve in one of the most diverse and densely populated urban boroughs in Britain.

We have announced the return of Community Councils, putting neighbourhood democracy and devolved decision-making back at the heart of the council. We have reintroduced One Stop Shops, announced community skips, invested more in community safety and created a free school uniform bank for families who need it most.

We have launched an empty homes task force to get council homes back into use, secured a better deal from developers of student accommodation to fund local community projects and defended our affordable housing requirements.

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Caron Lindsay

Andy Burnham’s speech was good: Here’s how Lib Dems can make the implementation better

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 30th September 2026 - 8:05 am

Chris Bowers talked about the lack of a “Yesss” moment at our Conference yesterday.

Well, like buses, if you wait long enough, several come along at once – the problem is that they were in the speech of the leader of another party.

Andy Burnham’s speech yesterday was quite simply one of the best I have ever heard from a UK politician. It had heart and soul and ideas and emotion and mission. I had goosebumps and it’s a long time since a speech has done that to me. I’d have to go back to Obama for that.

A speech that targeted the good emotions, ignited the things that bind us together. You have to give it credit.

I will never, ever join the Labour Party a) because I am a liberal to my core and b) because they, whatever good they do are so authoritarian and centralising and one size fits all that they need a liberal party to stop them when they go too far.

But the job of a liberal party is to help rebuild a culture of togetherness to combat the horrific targeting of marginalised communities we have seen from Reform and its evil twin Restore, the Conservatives and, yes, from the Labour Party when it’s tried to ape Reform in a cowardly quest to get its vote back.

We should broadly welcome Andy Burnham’s clear enthusiasm to get moving on closer relations with Europe, social care, electoral reform, getting utilities into more public ownership. So what has our reaction been:

“Andy Burnham spent years telling the country what he would do if he were in power. Now that he is sitting in Number 10, what we got was a lot of ‘Definitely Maybe’ and a total absence of action today.

“Families struggling with a broken social care system cannot wait until after another election and it can’t be funded from the pockets of our poorest pensioners. Communities blighted by sewage cannot wait yet another decade to finally stop profit trumping morals in our water industry.

“This Prime Minister had a historic opportunity to start to fix our broken voting system and rebuild our relationship with Europe, but everything remains a maybe.

“This looks too much like Starmerism with a veneer of panache.”

It’s all a bit po-faced.

Surely we should be saying that there are things we can work with him on?

Now, it’s not surprising that we are rushing to defend the Pension Triple Lock that was our idea. Over the past decade and a bit it’s worked to restore poorer pensioner’s incomes. And pensioners on fixed incomes have a lot to lose as, for example, energy bills get higher leading to wider inflation.

I get that it’s an important thing for us, but I do think we need to look at whether there is some wriggle room here. Has it done its job? Do we need to look at what Burnham is proposing in more detail and look at what it does to affect older people’s lives in a holistic way?

The right are going to go after Burnham on this big time. Do we really need to be part of that chorus? Using some savings from the triple lock while protecting poorer pensioners does seem like an idea that we should not immediately dismiss.  We could perhaps be more nuanced in our comments.

Yet I suspect we will be contributing to the noise with petitions and campaigns and votes against. Let’s be a bit more constructive. Let’s listen to young people as well who feel as though their generation is being forgotten.

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Anton Georgiou

Britain should be proud, but never afraid of the stranger

By Anton Georgiou | Tue 29th September 2026 - 11:55 am

Anton Georgiou speaks at Conference Rally Photo credit: John Russell

More than 50 years ago, my grandparents, mother and aunts came to Britain as refugees from Cyprus. They arrived in London with just £20.

My grandfather took whatever job he could find. My grandmother spent long days in front of a sewing machine. They worked, saved, bought a home and raised their daughters.

Britain gave my family something they could not take for granted: the chance to be safe and build a future.

That history is personal to me. It also shapes how I think about the debate around refugees and asylum today.

The asylum system needs to be faster and more effective. Claims should be processed more quickly. Decisions cannot be allowed to drift for years. Public money should not be wasted through delay. Criminal gangs exploiting vulnerable people must face the full force of the law. Where someone has no right to remain, the state must be capable of enforcing its decisions.

A functioning asylum system should be able to do these things. Saying so isn’t hostility towards refugees.

The latest Home Office figures show that 85,891 people claimed asylum in the year to June 2026. At the end of June, more than 40,000 people were still waiting for an initial decision on their application. Those figures show the scale of the challenge. But they tell us very little about the people behind them.

It’s easy, in political debate, for a family to become a “case” and a person arriving here to become a statistic. We should resist a politics that turns administrative failure into an excuse to blame people who had little control over the circumstances that forced them to flee their homeland.

There are legitimate questions about immigration that liberals should be willing to answer.

The state has a responsibility to control its borders, and not every asylum claim can succeed. A liberal society should be able to enforce its rules without abandoning the principle that the people subject to them still deserve dignity.

For me, that is what liberalism should mean in practice.

Individual freedom and human rights are easy to defend when everyone agrees with you. The harder test is what you do when the politics becomes divisive and uncomfortable.

This is why Liberal Democrats should be willing to lead this debate. We shouldn’t leave questions of borders, asylum and migration to the far right. If people are worried that the state has lost control, liberals should be willing to address that concern. We shouldn’t retreat from the conversation, but neither should we abandon our values.

Communities are understandably frustrated when basic systems aren’t working. But directing that frustration at refugees does not fix these failures.

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Chris Bowers

Where is that ‘Yesss’ moment going to come from?

By Chris Bowers | Tue 29th September 2026 - 8:22 am

The past week has been marked by plenty of people asking what I made of Conference. My general answer has been that it was OK, but we still need to feel from our most prominent representatives that Liberalism is inspiring.

I don’t want to hark back to a golden era that may never have existed, but a feature of the Paddy Ashdown years – and to a large extent the Steel and Kennedy leaderships – was that, whatever our electoral fortunes happened to be, you tended to leave conference feeling “Yesss, I will go out and deliver some more leaflets!” That moment of inspiration was still missing in Brighton.

Let’s avoid the rabbit hole of whether we need a different leader. We might, but that might not solve the problem, because (a) a new leader may not be better, (b) there isn’t an obvious one, certainly from the 2024 intake of MPs for whom it’s probably too soon, and (c) the problem may not be the leader but the party. But I’m convinced the problem is not Liberalism – it’s the way we present it.

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Mathew Hulbert

Mathew on Monday

By Mathew Hulbert | Mon 28th September 2026 - 8:02 pm

Brighton was wonderful but I’m still left asking: what are the Liberal Democrats for?

There is much I love about Lib Dem Conference.

Brighton last week reminded me why. Seeing friends and colleagues from across the country, some of whom I only ever see at Conference, was wonderful. There were fascinating fringe meetings, including the one on Assisted Dying that I was honoured to chair on behalf of Dignity in Dying, passionate debates and the reassuring experience of spending a few days among people who, whatever part of the party they’re from, share a belief in liberalism, internationalism and social justice.

But I returned home with the same nagging question I took to Brighton: what, exactly, is our party trying to become? To be fair, the party knows it has a problem. The new party strategy talks about the need for a clearer national Liberal identity and a distinctive message. Conference itself was full of conversations about what-and who-we are for.

Yet I’m not convinced our gathering in Brighton provided the answer. Are we becoming a sort of One Nation Conservative Party, offering a home go moderate former Tories who are repelled by the direction of their old party?

Are we returning (as I’d certainly prefer) to our radical, centre-left traditions, talking about inequality, redistribution, public services, Europe and constitutional reform? Or are we, as I suspect, still rather vulnerable to that oldest accusations against Liberals: that we face both ways?

Ed Davey’s announcement of £17 billion of income tax cuts, funded through the growth the party believes would follow from rejoining the Single Market and a customs union, illustrated the dilemma perfectly. There was plenty there I welcomed – particularly the much stronger argument for rebuilding Britain’s broken relationship with Europe but what bigger story are we telling about the society we want to create?

And there is another question our party must answer: what are we saying to urban, Labour-facing England? Our spectacular advances against the Conservatives transformed the party’s parliamentary strength and should be celebrated.

But Liberalism cannot become something practised only or mainly in prosperous southern constituencies where the Tories are the principal opponent.

What is our offer to Leicester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham and Newcastle, to name but a few? What do we have to say to people in communities where inequality, struggling public services, poor transport connections and insecure work shape everyday life (which, of course, includes pockets in the South too)?

Our own strategy now talks explicitly about expanding in the North, Midlands and urban Britain. Good. But organisational strategy, important though it surely is, isn’t enough. We need a story to tell, too.

For me, that begins with confident Liberalism: internationalist, socially just, decentralising, environmentally ambitious, unapologetically pro European and determined to redistribute, power, wealth and opportunity.

Brighton reminded me just how much I love this party and its people.

Sadly it didn’t exactly answer my question about where we’re going next.

Christine Jardine deserved better

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Elin Kingston

You can’t elect a Community Champion without a community

By Elin Kingston | Mon 28th September 2026 - 3:27 pm

As Liberal Democrats, we pride ourselves as being “local champions”.

It’s on every Focus leaflet, in every direct mail. Our spatulas, fitbits and our friends and family who are oft abandoned in favour of doorknocking on a Saturday morning can attest to the fact that we are community people who believe in community politics.

But how can you be a champion of a community that doesn’t exist?

This is the question that has been running around my head after speaking to hundreds of residents in my ward of Waterloo and South Bank, the most central ward in London, in the lead up to May’s elections.

I remember meeting seven people on the same estate who had the same long-standing disrepair issue. But they’d never met each other. Young professionals living in the area for under a year and unable to name the street parallel to theirs before they’re priced out. Families living in social housing longing to move out because the nursery their kids go to was closing.

And those were just the people you could meet – there’s a whole hidden electorate behind intercoms and concierges, inaccessible to the humble community champion. Inhabiting space without any concept of where they are, who they live with, or what the problems may be.

I missed out on being elected in Waterloo and South Bank by 86 votes.

Josh Mitte and Patrick Stillman have both already written on LDV about why campaigns like mine came up short across London. Much of what they say is absolutely spot on, and if we are to win in new places we must have another layer of messaging on top of being a “community champion”. (The Greens won votes in my ward with a paper candidate because their message didn’t rely on locality. “Hope” is a pretty universal concept.)

But though it is no longer sufficient, it is absolutely still essential that we Lib Dems continue to be community champions.

As Tim Farron said in our 2024 General Election Review:

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Leon Duveen

Words matter, use them carefully!

By Leon Duveen | Mon 28th September 2026 - 1:23 pm

There are any number of slogans linked to the Palestine / Israel conflict that mean different things to different people. Accordingly we must be incredibly careful in how we speak. Our words can have a different meaning for those who hear them from the meaning we intended to convey.

 Some well known examples spring to mind. 

Those who shout “Free Palestine” at demonstrations, marches or concert stages may well mean a free Palestine alongside a secure Israel. However, to many Jewish Israelis and British Jews these words are heard as a call for an attack on all Jewish residents between the Mediterranean and the Jordan and their expulsion from there to any country that might take them in. 

Another phrase “Am Israel Chai” (עם ישראל חי – The People of Israel Live) can sound like a war cry against the Palestinian people.  But when it is shouted by a Palestinian Israeli playing for the Israeli national football team, it takes on a quite different implication.

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 27th September 2026 - 10:50 am

Canada and Europe

Liberal Democrats around the world cheered when Mark Carney and Ursula Von der Leyen announced that Canada would become an associate member of the European Union.

It was the first substantive circle in Carney’s Venn Diagram diplomacy.

And it made sense. Canada is a liberal democracy governed by the rule of law, international norms and respect for human rights and individual liberties. The EU is the same. The problem is that Europe is in danger of changing dramatically.

The populist right is on the rise across Europe and it is especially dangerous on Europe’s two key states—nuclear power France and economic engine Germany.

This week in elections in the German Lander of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania,  the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) trounced the CDU—the senior partner in Germany’s ruling coalition. The AfD also did well in elections in Berlin and the latest opinion polls show it to be the most popular party with 27 percent of  the vote.

The AfD leadership has links with Neo-Nazis. It wants to end German support for Ukraine and improve relations with Russia. They argue that climate change is a hoax; are Euro-sceptics; believe that Germany’s Nazi past should be re-examined in a positive light; want to expel hundreds of thousands of immigrants and question the value of NATO and the rule of law that political leaders like Mark Carney are trying desperately to preserve.

Across the border in France far-right perennial presidential candidate Marine Le Pen mirrors many of the AfD’s policies with a French twist. Ms Le Pen is projected to win 34 percent of the vote in the  first round of presidential elections next April. This is far ahead of any of the other candidates and makes her the favourite to be the next occupant of the Elysee Palace.

The success of the populist right is mirrored in Italy where Giorgia Meloni governs with the Brothers of Italy. In Austria the Freedom Party is at 37 percent in the opinion polls. Vox in Spain is holding steady at 17-19 percent share of the projected vote; Geert Wilders PVV remains a force in the Netherlands and Sweden’s Sweden Democrats stand at 19  percent in the latest opinion polls. Britain’s Reform Party has dropped  from the lead position after allegations of illegal funding, but it still commands the support of 23 percent of the projected vote and is level with the conservatives who have been forced to move further right in response to the threat from Reform.

There is no single right-wing party platforms that transcends European borders. But there are strong similarities. Across Europe, populist parties of both left and right are challenging the established political consensus, particularly over immigration, national sovereignty and the powers of Brussels. On the right, a significant faction is also questioning Europe’s support for Ukraine and its confrontation with Russia—but the populist right is itself deeply divided over NATO, Russia and the future of the Atlantic alliance.

All of which threatens the cohesion of the European project with which Mark Carney wants to link. The problem is that the European project is the dream of a political elite. For years the public went along with the dream because it was producing prosperity. Now growth in the EU is stuck at 1.2 percent and unemployment in France is 8.3 percent and in the double figures for young people.

Carney wants Canada closer to Europe. The irony is that Europe itself may be moving away from the liberal consensus that made the relationship so attractive.

Greenland

Denmark wins. Greenland wins. NATO wins. Trump thinks—and says—he wins.

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Donna Harris

Lib Dem Women: Amplifying women’s voices at Conference

By Donna Harris | Sun 27th September 2026 - 8:55 am

Donna Harris speaking at Autumn Conference 2026I’ve just about emerged from the mayhem of Brighton — and I’m most definitely ready for a break!

But now I’ve had a chance to catch my breath, it has really struck me just how much Lib Dem Women, the official organisation representing women in the Lib Dems,  achieved over the course of conference.

From motions and amendments to our childcare campaign, new bursaries, fringes, campaigning and celebrating the achievements of women in our party, the voice and representation of women was truly amplified throughout conference.

And I’m incredibly proud of what our LDW team achieved.

Standing up for mothers and babies

We started the weekend with our amendment to F4: Mortality of Children in Temporary Accommodation, highlighting the particular impact of poor and temporary housing on mothers and babies and the importance of ensuring families receive the care and support they need.

LDW Executive member Cllr Hina Bokhari spoke powerfully on the issue, helping to ensure that the experiences of women and children were firmly part of the debate.

Jo Swinson and Donna Harris pose in "No Childcare, no changemakers, photo frame.Launching our campaign for childcare at conference

Saturday afternoon gave us our first opportunity to hear reactions to our new LDW Campaign for Childcare at Conference.

LDW has pledged £1,000 to get the initiative started, and we asked members to sign our petition so that we can take it to those with the power to make the scheme happen.

It was a huge pleasure to have Jo Swinson kick off the petition by backing the scheme.

We’re determined that parents and carers should not be prevented from participating fully in our party because they have childcare responsibilities.

Investing in women’s progression

We also announced a new LDW bursary and support programme at conference, designed to help women participate, develop and progress at all levels of our party.

The scheme includes:

  • Conference Fund: £500 each for two women
  • Online Conference Tickets: up to 10 tickets each conference
  • Conference Childcare Fund: £1,000
  • Future MPs’ Weekend: £500 each for two women
  • ALDC Kickstart: £320 each for two women

For me, this is a really important part of what LDW wants to achieve.

It is not enough simply to say we want more women involved. We need to help remove some of the financial and practical barriers that can prevent women from participating and progressing.

Whether that means being able to attend conference, develop campaigning and leadership skills, explore standing for Parliament or take the next step in their political journey, we want to invest in women and give them the opportunity to progress.

We don’t want our money sitting in the bank. We want to use it to support women.

Celebrating the women who built liberalism

Saturday afternoon also saw our long-awaited joint fringe with the History Group: Women for Liberty: Women Who Built Liberalism.

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The Voice

Christine Jardine to stand down as MP at next election

By The Voice | Sat 26th September 2026 - 7:22 pm

Official portrait of Christine Jardine @HouseofCommons/Roger Harris

Many of our readers will be very sad to see that Christine Jardine MP will not fight the next election.

In a statement tongiht she said:

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Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: When Donald met Xi

By Tom Arms | Sat 26th September 2026 - 9:44 am

Donald Trump met Xi Jinping this week. Little of substance was agreed. But the meeting itself was of considerable substance.

The symbols of protocol send powerful messages. Where people meet. The colour of the carpet. The body language and the strength of the hand clasp and the sincerity of the smile can set a diplomatic agenda for years to come.

The Xi-Trump Summit was all about diplomatic signals. Trump’s messages were clear from the red carpet to the flyover to the state banquet, he was telling Xi: We respect you. We need you.

Xi, on the other hand, arrived knowing that several cards that Trump wanted were in his hand.

The fact is that Trump’s tariffs backfired. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported that since early 2025, Chinese imports from the US—especially the  politically important agricultural products—have fallen by 15 percent. But the amount it has imported has remained relatively stable as China replaced American imports from elsewhere.

Trump went into this week’s summit wanting China to buy more from America. Xi arrived having demonstrated that China could buy less from America without any bad consequences.

And the tale from the other side of the trade coin—exports—is even more lopsided. According to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) the loss of the US market created by tariffs was more than offset by trade with other countries. Tariffs caused Chinese exports to the US to drop by $105 billion. Chinese exports to other parts of  the world increased in 2025 to $301 billion.

Nor does the fall in direct Chinese exports necessarily mean that fewer Chinese-made products reached American consumers. Some Chinese manufacturers have responded by shifting production and intermediate-input trade to Vietnam, Mexico and other countries, allowing supply chains to be rerouted around the tariffs.

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Joe Nutt

ALDC by-election report, 24th September

By Joe Nutt | Fri 25th September 2026 - 6:30 pm

Six principal authority by-elections took place across England on Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th September.

The Conservatives were defending two seats (in South Staffordshire and Berkshire), Labour defended two seats (in Milton Keynes and Brighton & Hove), localist party Tunbridge Wells Alliance defended one in Kent, and the Green Party defended one in Gloucestershire.

The highlight of the week came from Kent, where the Liberal Democrats staged a sensational victory in Tunbridge Wells – surging from third place in May to win the ward with 37.4% of the vote. In Berkshire, we came within a whisper of another major gain in Bray, boosting our vote share by +20.1% to fall just 26 votes short of the Conservatives on a council we flipped in 2023. Over in the Cotswolds, Danny Loveridge delivered an impressive performance from a standing start to take a clear second place as the Green vote collapsed, while Labour and the Greens exchanged seats on Brighton and Hove Council.

South East

Tunbridge Wells DC, Cranbrook, Sissinghurst & Frittenden

In Kent, the Liberal Democrats secured an extraordinary gain in the Cranbrook, Sissinghurst & Frittenden ward of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council.

The Liberal Democrats took control of Tunbridge Wells Council in 2024 before going on to win the parliamentary constituency at the July 2024 General Election. When this three-member ward was run on new boundaries in 2024, the Conservatives took two seats and the localist Tunbridge Wells Alliance won the third. In the local elections earlier in May 2026, the Conservatives held their seat while our candidate finished third behind Reform UK.

This by-election saw a dramatic turnaround. Supported by an energetic campaign team, Harry Wormington achieved a huge +22.9% surge in vote share to leapfrog both Reform UK and the Conservatives, winning the seat outright with 37.4% of the vote.

Huge congratulations to Cllr Harry Wormington and the team on a phenomenal win against both the Tories and Reform UK!

Lib Dem (Harry Wormington): 697 (37.4%, +22.9%)

Conservative: 590 (31.6%, -14.6%)

Reform UK: 392 (21.0%, -4.4%)

Green Party: 188 (10.0%, -3.9%)

Liberal Democrat GAIN from Tunbridge Wells Alliance

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Barry Rhodes

Conference from the other side of the barrier

By Barry Rhodes | Fri 25th September 2026 - 5:10 pm

Four conference ago, I walked into Liberal Democrat conference as a delegate. I arrived on my own, not knowing many people and not really knowing what to expect.

This year’s conference has now come to an end. It was my fourth conference overall and my third time stewarding, so I thought it was a good opportunity to reflect on what conference looks like from the other side of the barrier.

When you attend as a delegate, you naturally see the debates, speeches, motions and fringe events. What you don’t necessarily see is everything that happens behind the scenes to make it all work.

That’s where the stewards come in.

There are people arriving who need directions, rooms to check, questions to answer and all the little things that need to happen throughout the day. It can be busy, but that’s part of what makes it enjoyable. You’re part of a team and everyone is there to help make sure conference runs as smoothly as possible.

Being a steward also doesn’t mean giving up your own conference experience. You still get opportunities to attend debates, fringe events and other sessions you’re interested in. With a bit of planning around your stewarding duties, you can still get along to the things you really want to see.

That’s important because we’re all there for our own reasons. For me, there are debates I want to hear, fringe events I want to attend and, of course, people I want to catch up with.

And the people are probably my favourite part of conference.

I’ve been lucky to work with a fantastic stewarding team, led by our chief steward Jodie. She does a brilliant job of keeping everyone organised and making sure the team feels supported.

Over the three conferences I’ve stewarded, I’ve met some brilliant people and made friendships that have grown beyond the stewarding shifts. There are people I might not see for months, but when conference comes around again, it’s like no time has passed.

Sometimes the evening can be just as memorable as the daytime programme. You can sit down with friends for a chat about the day’s events and end up talking about politics, life and everything else until much later than you intended.

That’s the thing about conference. The politics brings people together, but the friendships are what make it special.

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Jack Meredith

Proper Grimond liberalism

By Jack Meredith | Fri 25th September 2026 - 2:54 pm

On Tuesday, 22 September, Tim Farron MP delivered a speech at our 2026 Autumn Conference during the F36 policy motion, “Restoring our waters: Britain’s water company crisis”, on the need for water mutualisation amid repetitive failures of privately owned water companies.

During this speech, he said, “proper Grimond liberalism”, referencing former Liberal Party leader Jo Grimond and his support for cooperatives and mutuals to manage public services over nationalisation and laissez-faire economics. For many people, this would have simply been just another niche reference, but for us at the Grimond Society, it meant a great deal.

Since July 2026, the Grimond Society has advocated for greater support for cooperative and mutual business models, social enterprises, shared ownership models, and co-determination in Liberal Democrat policy. We believe spreading power and wealth doesn’t stop at the ballot box; it extends to our communities, our workplaces, and every facet of everyday life.

We have grown significantly since our founding. We boast almost 70 members, including lay members, councillors, elected members of devolved parliaments, and party grandees. We have been featured in Co-op News, and the ever-fantastic Josh Matthews delivered the Society’s launch speech at Conference.

So hearing Tim mention “Grimond liberalism” on Tuesday reaffirmed the need for our party to show greater support for collective ownership. Rt Hon Sir Vince Cable, as Business Secretary during the 2010-2015 coalition government, advocated greater support for employee-owned businesses, but more recently, that same level of support has been lacking. If it weren’t for Josh Matthews’ earlier speech during the F6 policy motion “Liberal Democrats Mean Business,” there would have been only a passing mention of “mutuals, social enterprises and community interest companies”.

And for good reason, too, our party should once again become more supportive. According to Cooperatives UK’s “Cooperative and Mutual Economy 2026 report“, the cooperative and mutual economy generated £241.3bn this year alone, an 8% increase from last year. 1.7m people work in the democratic economy, with the number of cooperatives and mutuals increasing to 11,113; those are 3.2% and 4.9% increases, respectively. More people than ever are getting involved in democracy beyond voting and campaigning, and we should be there to support them and the causes they care so deeply about.

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John Kelly

Is Conference still supreme?

By John Kelly | Fri 25th September 2026 - 12:48 pm

Aspects of the recent Party conference in Brighton raise an important question in my mind: what has happened to democratic policy-making in the Liberal Democrats?

When Nick Clegg was leader, he repeatedly distinguished us from Labour and the Conservatives by emphasising how we made policy. Conference, he reminded us, was supreme.

I remember many conferences where that principle was visible in practice. There were robust debates, speakers for and against, amendments carried and defeated, and motions sometimes lost. Conference was not there simply to endorse a predetermined position. Its purpose was to debate and decide.

The contrast with the conference just gone is striking. Every motion debated was approved and, as far as I am aware, so was every amendment.

That should make us ask whether something has changed.

It appears increasingly difficult for a motion, or even an amendment, to reach the agenda unless the Federal Conference Committee has reason to believe the relevant party spokesperson is content for it to be discussed. If that is how the system operates in practice, it creates a formidable barrier for individuals, local parties and affiliated organisations wanting to put forward new or challenging ideas.

The problem does not end with motion selection. At this conference, remarkably few speakers were called to oppose motions or amendments. Many amendments were so uncontroversial they might better have been treated as drafting changes, leaving precious conference time for genuine disagreements.

I find it difficult to believe there were not more members willing to speak against. In at least two debates, I know there were.

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Hugh Andrew

Ed Davey’s Conference speech

By Hugh Andrew | Fri 25th September 2026 - 10:29 am

Caron threw down a gauntlet in her article on Ed’s conference speech.

Most of the comments seem to have been negative on two main grounds – that the radical proposals on taxation had been bounced on the party and that whatever gains are made from Europe should be spent by the state. While I agree with much of what is said about Ed – the failure to inspire, the lack of ability to clearly define what Liberalism is, the instinctive tendency to see every vote of protest and none of purpose, in this case I suspect that a very cautious man played a blinder.

It is no great secret that the Burnham government is desperate for ideas to kickstart Labour. It is no secret that the freezing of thresholds has had a disproportionate impact on the poorest in our society and is felt to be deeply unfair. It is also no great secret that this idea has been swirling in the political ether for some time. So is it not simply possible that Ed knew that this was either going to happen in the budget or was a very serious runner?

He therefore took a policy which Labour wanted to trumpet as a flagship change and identified it once again with us – that of raising thresholds.

So the Chancellor faces a problem, he either doesn’t enact the policy. In which case we identify ourselves and not Labour as the party addressing the cost of living crisis with an immediate real impact on the poorest paid. Or he does. In which case he is enacting a Liberal Democrat policy proposal and highlighting it.

The Chancellor has another problem which we as an opposition party do not face. He has to pay for it now. It is highly likely he will fill the gap with Capital Gains Tax increases. We on the other hand once again highlight the price we pay for not being in Europe. The real price, paid from our pockets.

So on this issue I congratulate Ed.

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Roderick Lynch

Conference or What?

By Roderick Lynch | Thu 24th September 2026 - 6:58 pm

Who can actually afford to take part in Liberal Democrat democracy?

A conversation with Donna Harris about her campaigning on childcare got me thinking. Donna’s work is fundamentally about removing barriers. Barriers that prevent women from participating fully in society, work and public life.

It made me wonder whether we sometimes overlook the barriers within our own party. Because there is a slightly uncomfortable question we should be asking after Brighton 2026: Who actually gets to participate in Liberal Democrat democracy?

The Liberal Democrats proudly say that conference is where the party makes its decisions. Every member has an equal say and an equal vote. That sounds wonderfully democratic. But equality of voting rights isn’t necessarily equality of access.

The Autumn 2026 full conference pass was £225 at the late rate. A weekend pass was £140. There are concessionary rates, first-time discounts and a £10 rate for under-18 members. There is also an Access Fund.

But those are only the starting costs. Add a train ticket. Hotel. Food. Local transport. Potential childcare. Time away from work. Suddenly, conference isn’t a £225 decision. For many people, it is a £500, £700 or £1,000 decision. And that changes who can realistically be in the room.

Think about an 18-year-old member. Or a student. Someone working part time. Someone starting their first job. Someone renting in London. Someone supporting a family. Someone from a lower-income household.They may passionately believe in Liberal Democrat democracy. They may simply not have the money to participate in it.

The party offers an online solution, however it cost £25.00. Sounds reasonable, but you have to make sure you have the relevant Data and WiFi service. There is also no conference experience, that’s a given.

And that brings us to representation.

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Shaun Ennis

Where next on the Triple Lock?

By Shaun Ennis | Thu 24th September 2026 - 4:27 pm

At conference this weekend, there was a rare – and welcome – moment of controversy in the hall.

During Ed Davey’s Q&A, journalist Carolyn Quinn asked for a show of hands.  Should the Liberal Democrats continue supporting the triple lock pension?

It was close.  The triple lock survived the straw poll, but only narrowly.

For a party which proudly introduced the triple lock, that tells us something.  There is an appetite among Liberal Democrats for a serious conversation about intergenerational fairness.

We should have it.

The triple lock was the right policy for its time. When Liberal Democrats entered government in 2010, too many pensioners had seen the value of the state pension eroded over decades.  Linking annual increases to whichever was highest – earnings, inflation or 2.5% – was rooted in a liberal instinct.  Giving people dignity and security in retirement.

It worked.

The question is whether a mechanism designed for Britain in 2010 should continue indefinitely, irrespective of how Britain changes.

Today the state spends around £154 billion a year on the state pension.  The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that this is now £16 billion higher annually than it would have been without the triple lock.  Looking towards 2050, it estimates the additional annual cost of maintaining the lock could plausibly be as high as £40 billion.

That is not an argument for impoverishing pensioners.  Nor should we succumb to lazy generational warfare which portrays pensioners as universally wealthy. It is an argument for asking where state support can best deliver fairness in Britain today. I believe the answer is children and families.

The triple lock has achieved something important.  It has deliberately increased the state pension faster than earnings over time.  But no equivalent promise exists to families bringing up the generation which will ultimately finance tomorrow’s pensions, NHS and social care system.  That needs to change.

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Kamran Hussain

I watched Ed Davey’s speech. Here’s why it matters 

By Kamran Hussain | Thu 24th September 2026 - 2:01 pm

Whilst those in the media world and the Westminster bubble speculate about the future of our party leader, Ed Davey, Ed focused on what matters most – a plan to end the squeeze on middle-income earners, put hundreds of pounds back in the pocket of millions of people, and take ordinary workers out of paying the higher tax rate that was designed for stockbrokers.

Ed announced that the Liberal Democrats would raise the tax-free personal allowance to £15,000 and increase the higher rate threshold from £50,270 to £56,000. He said that would mean taking two million more people out of paying tax altogether and giving most taxpayers a £680 tax cut.

£680 doesn’t sound like much to some people, but to others, it means a great deal more – carers doing early morning calls and spending a chunk of their wage keeping a car on the road. Lads on nights in the warehouses off the M62. People on the tills doing 30 hours and still checking the banking app before they go shopping. Taxi drivers who’ve watched fuel, insurance and licence costs go up while fares haven’t kept pace. For them, £680 is a couple of months of gas and electric. It’s school shoes without putting them on a card.

What gets me is that many of these people have been paying more tax for years without anyone announcing it. The allowance has been frozen, so when your wage goes up just to keep up with prices, more of it gets taxed. You don’t feel any richer, but you pay more. Under the current plans that freeze runs until 2031. Ed’s plan would lift it.

He didn’t pretend this is only about low earners, either. The higher rate change helps people on better wages, and some will say that’s where a lot of the money goes. That’s a fair point. But in towns and cities across our nation, the people creeping over £50,000 aren’t bankers. They’re senior nurses, teachers who’ve moved up to deputy head, engineers who’ve been with the same firm for twenty years. Ed said a ‘tax band designed for stockbrokers is now holding back teachers and nurses’, and I think most people would recognise that.

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Tom McAdam

Citizens abroad and party strategy

By Tom McAdam | Thu 24th September 2026 - 11:15 am

There were many things to support in the party strategy motion. It includes confident liberalism, modern campaigning, and reaching new communities. However, there is one notable exclusion. In fact, around five million notable exclusions: citizens abroad.

The strategy talks about reaching out to all communities in our country. These five million people are not in the UK, but they are served by our democracy. I live in Switzerland now, having moved for a job. Yet decisions made in Westminster continue to affect my life.

The starkest of those in recent years was of course Brexit. Many of the million British citizens living and working in Europe spent years in limbo after the referendum, not knowing what residency status they would eventually be afforded in the country in which they had built a life. We continue to see Britons being removed from EU countries, most recently Charles, a British citizen deported from Sweden.

All because of a decision made in Westminster. 

It doesn’t stop there. A pensioner retiring to Australia from the UK in 2006 would now receive less than half the basic State Pension of a pensioner who stayed in the UK, despite having made exactly the same contributions.

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The Voice

New party political – with the orange bench

By The Voice | Thu 24th September 2026 - 8:48 am
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Caron Lindsay

WATCH: Max Wilkinson’s speech to Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 23rd September 2026 - 3:55 pm

Creep glasses and jokes at Robert Jenrick’s expense were high on the agenda for Max Wilkinson in his speech to Conference.

I am used to being disappointed by Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesperson’s speeches. I’d rather a more positive message on immigration but this was better than we have had in recent times.

I was glad to see him prioritise tackling violence against women and girls. While I had been worried about the packaging of the campaign about smart glasses,it’s an important issue to tackle. Anna Sabine and Wera Hobhouse’s amendment at Conference called for it to be very clear when …

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Cody Butler

How to capture the Tonbridge Tories

By Cody Butler | Wed 23rd September 2026 - 2:30 pm

In 2025, a think-tank director pressed several volumes on Ted Heath, along with Ian Gilmour and Mark Garnett’s Whatever Happened to the Tories?, into my hands. That led to a lethal intellectual falling-out with the Conservatives, and then to a thesis: the centre ought to unite. I heeded the call and joined the Liberal Democrats. But such a project cannot live on tactical votes. It requires a serious occupation of the Tonbridge Tory.

To do that, you need representatives. Voters can be spoken to in public. Ground is held by people. That means a garrison. Some will want to slot in a Liberal of their own and call the job done. That mistakes a Dieppe raid for D-Day. So long as a better centre-right alternative exists, the voter is only on loan. What is needed is a Légion étrangère of Liberal Tories. They need not sit for Tonbridge. They only need to be in the party. That gives the party room to lean left or right when the election requires it, without either move looking like a desertion of the other. It is the same bargain that keeps Liberal Tories and Brexiteer Tories in the Conservatives: the chance that, one day, it will be their turn at the wheel.

This prophecy can be fulfilled because the centre-left have little patience for a formal deal with the Conservative Party. Once that is admitted, ‘unite the right’ writes itself. A weakened Conservative Party would have little reason to preserve its old balance, leaving moderates stranded. Many MPs will stay from loyalty, habit, or the touching belief that next year will be more sensible. But it may be their Arnhem.

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Mark Hofman

The bigger your car, the bigger your fuel duty cut

By Mark Hofman | Wed 23rd September 2026 - 1:00 pm

Ahead of Ed Davey’s conference speech, the Liberal Democrats launched their cost-of-transport campaign. With households facing higher costs from the conflict in Iran, the party wants an emergency three-month package: a 10p cut in fuel duty, cheaper rail and bus fares, and lower EV charging costs. The bill is around £2 billion, funded from the extra revenue higher fuel prices generate.

There is a clear case for helping people through a sudden shock. But a party that has long argued for tackling climate change should ask a bigger question: are fuel-duty cuts really the best way to help people in the long term?

Britain has a familiar pattern. Prices rise. Households feel it. Government makes fossil fuels cheaper. Billions are spent, the pressure eases, and a few months or years later we are back in the same place.

None of it changes the underlying vulnerability. We remain exposed to international oil markets, and transport costs feed straight into the cost of living. A fuel-duty cut provides relief. It doesn’t reduce our dependence on oil, the majority of which is imported.

Fuel-duty cuts are also poorly targeted. The more fuel you use, the more you save, so someone driving a large, inefficient SUV gains more than someone in a smaller family car. That is hard to square with directing scarce public money at the households who need it most.

The OBR estimates successive fuel-duty freezes cost the Treasury around £120 billion since 2010-11. That money could have gone into transport infrastructure, clean energy and the industries underpinning Britain’s future prosperity.

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Keith Creswell

A call for reform with a small “r”

By Keith Creswell | Wed 23rd September 2026 - 11:30 am

Suella Braverman’s recent statement on making hymn singing mandatory in English schools shows just how out of touch Reform is with modern British society.

Reform UK’s proposed “patriotic curriculum,” explicitly rooted in Christianity, raises a basic question: what does it mean to be British today?

Christianity is central to Britain’s history and cultural inheritance, shaping its institutions, architecture, literature, music and traditions. Children should learn about that heritage. But teaching Christianity’s role in national life is different from requiring children to take part in Christian practice. That is what the proposal would do: every school would have to make pupils sing Christian hymns regularly, backed by law and potentially monitored by Ofsted.

The policy would not reflect modern England. In the 2021 Census, 46.2% of people in England and Wales identified as Christian, down from 59.3% in 2011, while 37.2% reported no religion. Identification also overstates practice: the British Social Attitudes survey found that only about 5% of adults were both Christian and weekly worshippers, while about 9% attended at least monthly. Britain is also religiously diverse. NatCen found that around one in three weekly worshippers attend a mosque, mandir, gurdwara, temple or synagogue rather than a church, with the share higher among younger people.

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