Lib Dems: Extension offers a lifeline out of Brexit chaos

Responding to the reports that the UK and the EU have agreed a “flexible extension” of Brexit until 31 October, Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake said:

The British people have been given a lifeline. The Conservatives have dragged the country into chaos, but the extension agreed in the early hours of this morning offers a route out from the Brexit mess they have created.

A flexible extension until 31st October is long enough to hold a People’s Vote. The Prime Minister must now show leadership by handing the decision back to the British public.

It is long overdue that Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn abandon their party political games, stop wasting time, and give the people the final say with an option to stay in the EU.

Davey: EU citizen data breach proves Home Office cannot be trusted

Speaking after the Home Office admitted to a breach of EU citizens data, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Ed Davey said:

The Settled Status scheme only launched two weeks ago, and already the Home Office is proving it can’t be trusted to manage it properly.

We’ve already heard far too many cases of EU citizens facing technical problems or being wrongly refused. Now 240 have had their privacy compromised.

And it will only get worse if Brexit goes ahead. On this evidence, we are heading straight for another Windrush scandal.

The 3.5 million EU citizens in the UK deserve better, and the Liberal Democrats demand better for them. The only way to fix this mess and give EU citizens the certainty they need is a People’s Vote and an Exit from Brexit.

Lib Dems: Govt must not assist US on lethal injections

Today Brian Paddick, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson in the Lords, has attacked the Government’s stance on the death penalty.

This was in response to the Government’s Statutory Instrument which would give Ministers more powers to allow the export of goods that could be used for capital punishment or torture post-Brexit.

After his speech, Lord Paddick commented:

The direction of travel of this Conservative Government appears to be to reverse the UK’s long-standing commitment to encourage the abolition of the death penalty.

We’ve already seen Ministers prepare to assist with prosecutions in the United States without seeking assurances that the death penalty will not be used. They have made clear that, should the US refuse to sign a data-sharing treaty that contained a death penalty assurance, the UK would not include one.

Our concern is that a future free-trade agreement with the US might be so valuable that the Government might be prepared to allow the export of goods that could be used for capital punishment if the US insisted on it.

The UK should be upholding people’s human rights, particularly the right to life, not sacrificing them for the sake of an agreement with the United States, or any other country that still has the death penalty.