• Steel tariffs: Business and Trade Secretary needs to toughen up against Trump
• PM speech: Starmer “tinkering around the edges”
• Bathing Water Monitoring Announcement: Ultimately, this is not enough
• Rennie calls for statement to Parliament on future of University of Dundee
• Cole-Hamilton responds to Sturgeon stepping down

Steel tariffs: Business and Trade Secretary needs to toughen up against Trump

Responding to Trump’s levelling of 25% tariffs on steel and comments by Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds this morning, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader and Treasury Spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

Being repeatedly kicked by the other side and doing nothing is not an effective negotiating position. The Business Secretary needs to toughen up.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives would roll over and beg Trump for a bad trade deal that sells out British farmers and our NHS.

Enough is enough. We must act from a position of strength, standing up for British steel and the UK economy through retaliatory measures.

PM speech: Starmer “tinkering around the edges”

Commenting ahead of the Prime Minister’s speech tomorrow, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

The Prime Minister is tinkering around the edges while our economy continues to stutter.

The last Conservative government left behind mountains of waste, but these measures are doomed to fail without far more ambition to get the economy growing.

Keir Starmer needs to act now by reversing his devastating National Insurance jobs tax and moving much faster to fix social care – the only way to save the NHS.

If the Prime Minister is committed to kickstarting growth he must urgently negotiate an ambitious new deal with the EU to boost trade, grow our economy and create jobs.

Bathing Water Monitoring Announcement: Ultimately, this is not enough

Commenting after the UK Government announced that monitoring for swimming sites in England and Wales will be updated for the first time since 2013, Welsh Liberal Democrat Westminster Spokesperson David Chadwick MP said:

Ultimately, this is not enough. The Government must get tough on water companies and finally replace Ofwat with a new regulator with the power to actually protect our rivers and lakes for bathers.

Increased monitoring is welcome and something the Liberal Democrats have long called for, but it needs to be followed through with real and tough enforcement action against polluters.

Welsh rivers and coastlines have been destroyed after successive ministers both in London and Cardiff Bay have allowed disgraced water firms to get away scot-free polluting swimming spots.

Rennie calls for statement to Parliament on future of University of Dundee

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Willie Rennie has today called on the Scottish Government to take questions from MSPs on the future of the University of Dundee after it was announced that 632 jobs are to be cut.

Mr Rennie said:

This is incredibly tough news for the workforce at the University of Dundee and a clear and present threat to the wider economy of Tayside and Fife.

While the scale of the job losses are huge, this has not come as a bolt from the blue. The Government had plenty of warning that severe cuts were coming. Their response has been a droplet in an ocean.

I want ministers to answer questions today about whether they really believe their response matches up to the scale of this crisis and what will be done to fix the broken Scottish Government funding model.

We need progress on an urgent review of funding arrangements before other universities join Dundee in making steep cuts.

Cole-Hamilton responds to Sturgeon stepping down

Responding to the announcement that Nicola Sturgeon will stand down as an MSP, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

Whatever you think of her legacy, Nicola Sturgeon’s impact on Scottish politics has been undeniable.

The SNP have been in power for too long, and the departure of another big figure is further proof of their decline.

For so many people across Scotland, it feels like nothing works anymore. Next year, they will have a chance to draw a line under SNP division and neglect. At the 2026 election, Scottish Liberal Democrats will be focused on standing up for faster access to local healthcare, lifting up education and giving our economy the attention it deserves.