• FIRS scheme has a “China-shaped hole”, say Lib Dems
• Welfare concessions: Govt should “put this bill out of its misery”
• Davey: Welfare Bill “no way to run a country”
• Carmichael challenges EDF on imposed inferior tariffs for RTS customers
• Cole-Hamilton: Delayed discharges another SNP broken promise
• Operations activity stagnating below pre-pandemic levels

FIRS scheme has a “China-shaped hole”, say Lib Dems

Responding to the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS)’s publication today, Calum Miller MP, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, said:

It’s clear that there’s a China-shaped hole in today’s FIRS announcement. Labour’s failure to include China on the enhanced tier sends a terrible signal to pro-democracy Hong Kongers and Chinese activists living in the UK, and undermines our security.

The government has offered no reasons why China – which poses similar threats to our interests and ideals – is excluded when Iran and Russia are rightly on the enhanced tier.

As we mark the anniversary of the Hong Kong handover today, it’s astonishing the Government has chosen now to broadcast its lax approach to Chinese interference here at home.

With reports also that the Chinese ‘mega-embassy’ is about to be greenlit, the Government needs to get serious about the threat posed by China – or risk mirroring the Conservatives’ utterly incoherent response to Beijing while in power.

Welfare concessions: Govt should “put this bill out of its misery”

Responding to reports that the Government is offering further concessions on the welfare bill to the Labour rebels, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

The Government should stop tying themselves in endless knots and put this bill out of its misery.

This has been a mess from start to finish and it’s clear that this legislation is not fit for purpose. Ministers are asking MPs to vote on a bill on which the ink hasn’t dried before it is blotted out once again.

The Government needs to go back to the drawing board and pull this bill. The Liberal Democrats are clear we cannot support this legislation that puts up more barriers to work and strips away vital support from disabled people and those who care for them.

Davey: Welfare Bill “no way to run a country”

Following the news that the Government’s Welfare Reform Bill has passed, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

This is no way to run a country.

The Government should scrap this failed bill altogether and work cross-party to actually bring down the welfare bill by getting people into work.

Carmichael challenges EDF on imposed inferior tariffs for RTS customers

Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael, has today written to the Chief Executive Office of EDF Energy Simone Rossi, to raise concerns about letters written to EDF customers on RTS energy meters in the Northern Isles, who are being forced onto inferior tariffs.

In the letter Mr Carmichael highlighted correspondence received from multiple isles constituents showing that EDF was forcing them onto the more expensive “Standard Variable” tariff, while stating that “today’s smarter tariffs help you participate in the electricity system of the future – but to access them you’ll need a smart meter”. This is despite the fact that thousands of people on RTS meters in the isles have been unable to secure a smart meter due to the mismanagement of the RTS switch-off by the energy companies, and despite energy regulator Ofgem’s new requirement that “the licensee must take all reasonable steps to provide a tariff that leaves the consumer ‘no worse off’ than their existing arrangement as a result of an RTS meter upgrade”.

Mr Carmichael has called on Mr Rossi to give an urgent response to the issues raised.

Mr Carmichael said:

For EDF to force their RTS customers onto inferior energy tariffs is utterly unacceptable. It begins to appear as though EDF have pocketed the extension to the RTS deadline while using it as an excuse to bilk the very families they have failed.

It is all the more galling that these letters talk about the opportunities of having access to smart meter tariffs when EDF – like the other energy companies – have left thousands of families unable to secure a smart meter due to their own fecklessness.

Ofgem has stated that energy companies should give equivalent tariffs to RTS customers so that no one is left worse off as a result of switching. At best what EDF is doing goes against the spirit of that commitment – at worst it looks like an active attempt to evade the new rules. Ofgem and the government must come down hard on this sly behaviour.

Cole-Hamilton: Delayed discharges another SNP broken promise

Responding to new Public Health Scotland figures showing 1,840 people were stuck in hospital at the May census due to their discharge being delayed, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

The SNP have completely failed to get people the care they need at home or in the community so they can leave hospital on time. It’s creating a shortage of hospital beds for incoming patients, adding to the pressure in emergency departments and ramping up waiting times.

The SNP broke their promise to fix this scandal and wasted time, energy and millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on a top-down takeover of social care which did not address the actual problems the system faces.

Fixing the care crisis is at the very heart of the Liberal Democrat offer to the country. We want to see a new UK-wide minimum wage for care workers, £2 higher than the national minimum wage, to tackle the chronic staff shortages in care and make social care a profession of choice.

Every vote for the Liberal Democrats next year will be a vote to fix social care and save our NHS.

Operations activity stagnating below pre-pandemic levels

Responding to figures that reveal the number of planned operations is still falling short of pre-pandemic levels, with 49,000 fewer operations conducted in the last year compared to pre-pandemic levels, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

The SNP have had countless chances to get the health service back on its feet after the pandemic, but they’ve failed at every turn, causing misery for patients and staff.

There is a significant question mark over the future of five already delayed NHS treatment centres, which were supposed to deal with the operations backlog. Yet again, the SNP have promised the earth for our NHS but delivered next to nothing.

My party want to see an end to the excuses and for these centres to be installed in towns and cities which are too often forgotten by the SNP.

Making sure people can get swift access to local care should be the top priority for every Member of Parliament. That’s what you get with the Scottish Liberal Democrats. I don’t believe the SNP can say the same.