• Welsh Liberal Democrats Statement for Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday
• GDP stats: People will never forgive this Government for crashing our economy during a cost-of-living crisis
• Conservative stealth cuts leave up to 110,000 children without a free lunch
• Dominic Raab behaviour: Cabinet Office must investigate immediately

Welsh Liberal Democrats Statement for Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday

Commenting Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said:

Today and on Sunday we pay tribute to all who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our country during its darkest hours.

Their sacrifice has allowed us to live in a society based on both freedom and liberty.

Today we think of not only the lives that were lost, but of the wish of survivors of both World Wars that we should strive to build a world free of war and violence.

This year as we remember those who fought for freedom and liberty during previous conflicts, many of us will also be thinking of the brave men and women of Ukraine, who are at this very moment standing in face of tyranny with winter approaching.

We remain ever thankful to those who stood to protect our country. We will remember them.

GDP stats: People will never forgive this Government for crashing our economy during a cost-of-living crisis

Responding to the latest GDP figures which reveal the UK economy contracted 0.2% in the third quarter, marking the first step towards recession, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said:

Today’s figures show the Conservative Government is leaving our economy smaller and all of us poorer.

People will never forgive this Government for crashing our economy during a cost-of-living crisis and putting up their mortgages by hundreds of pounds a month. The Conservative party can never again claim that they are the party of sound money.

Ministers must now do whatever it takes to protect households from the economic downturn they have caused, starting with a mortgage protection fund to ensure nobody loses their home this winter.

Conservative stealth cuts leave up to 110,000 children without a free lunch

Up to 110,000 children may be missing out on a free school meal because the Government has frozen the eligibility threshold for four years. The Liberal Democrats have accused the Conservatives of using the freeze to snatch school lunches away from children by stealth.

Controversial rules introduced in April 2018 mean that households applying for Universal Credit may receive free school meals only if their income is less than £7,400 a year before benefits and after tax.

The threshold has not been increased since it was introduced. Meanwhile, prices have risen by almost 16% since April 2018.

New figures released by the Department for Work and Pensions reveal that 1.07 million children aged 5-16 in England currently live in households below the current threshold of £7,400.

Had the threshold been increased in line with inflation, it would have increased to £8,575. Around 110,000 more children – 1.18 million in total – would then live in households under the threshold.

The figures were published in an answer to a parliamentary question tabled by Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Munira Wilson MP.

The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals had already risen to more than one in five (22.5%), the highest since at least 2015/16. However, the Child Poverty Action Group has warned that 800,000 children in relative poverty still miss out on a free school meal.

Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to extend free school meals to every child in households receiving Universal Credit so that no child goes hungry at school.

Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Munira Wilson MP said:

The Government is snatching school lunches away from children by stealth. Every year that Ministers keep this callous policy, thousands of children in hard-working families, struggling to make ends meet, lose out.

Freezing the threshold is morally, economically and politically bankrupt, trapping families in poverty as the cost-of-living crisis bites. Even Michael Gove agrees.

Liberal Democrats would offer every child, in families receiving Universal Credit, a healthy, nutritious school meal. We will invest in our children so that no child goes hungry at school.

Dominic Raab behaviour: Cabinet Office must investigate immediately

Responding to reports of civil servants being “traumatised” by Dominic Raab’s behaviour in the Ministry of Justice, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said:

This Government hasn’t got a shred of integrity left – every day more chaos, sleaze and scandal is unearthed. These latest reports are deeply disturbing and must be investigated immediately by the Cabinet Office. Britain has had enough of bullies running the country.

Dominic Raab now joins a long list of Conservative Ministers to have allegations made against them for inappropriate behaviour.

These latest reports cannot be brushed under the carpet by Rishi Sunak. He must launch an investigation into Raab with immediate effect.

No staff, whether in the civil service or any other sector, should be subjected to working with or for a bully.