- GDP stats: Sunak has failed to get a grip on the economy
- Nutrient Neutrality: Lib Dems to vote against removing water pollution rules
- PMQs: Davey raises Sunak’s failure on cancer as 22,000 people wait more than 4 months for treatment
- Watchdog failing to audit water companies – Lib Dems call for inquiry
- Levelling Up Bill: Government overruled for nutrient neutrality laws
GDP stats: Sunak has failed to get a grip on the economy
Responding to latest GDP stats which show the UK economy shrank by 0.5% in July 2023, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney MP said:
The Conservative government’s mismanagement of the economy is a burden on any chance of growth.
Rishi Sunak has utterly failed to get a grip on the cost of living crisis as mortgage costs continue to spiral and the price of a weekly shop goes through the roof.
Mortgage arrears are now at their highest since 2016 and families are wondering if they will once again be forced to choose between heating and eating this winter.
This out of touch Conservative government has completely failed on the economy.
Nutrient Neutrality: Lib Dems to vote against removing water pollution rules
Today in the House of Lords, the Liberal Democrats are voting against the Secretary of Housing Michael Gove’s plan to remove EU anti-water pollution laws- so called ‘nutrient neutrality’ rules in order to build more houses. This in turn could lead to more pollution in our already filthy rivers.
In today’s vote, Liberal Democrats are calling for housebuilders to continue to prove that new homes will not contaminate rivers, alongside proper guidance for housebuilders and local authorities so new homes can be built while improving river health.
This amendment to scrap nutrient neutrality laws comes after the Conservative government has repeatedly committed themselves to environmental sustainability, with Rishi Sunak himself saying “only one party will protect the environment, and that is the Conservative party”.
Ahead of the vote this evening, the Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson for Communities and Local Government Baroness Pinnock said:
The Government’s plans to remove pollution rules is an outright disregard for British water quality, and the Liberal Democrats are fighting against them by voting to maintain water quality standards.
A vote for Gove’s plan is a vote against clean rivers, we must stop the Conservative government from continuing to allow our rivers to be overrun with pollution. We must – and will – hold the Government to account.
PMQs: Davey raises Sunak’s failure on cancer as 22,000 people wait more than 4 months for treatment
Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey criticised the Conservative government’s record on cancer treatment as he revealed at PMQs that 22,123 people waited four months to start urgent treatment for cancer last year.
That means those 22,123 patients wait more than twice as long as the maximum 62-day wait the government promised. That equates to a staggering one in eight (12.1%) of all patients starting cancer treatment over the past year.
Davey also put to the Prime Minister the shocking fact that the Conservative government has not met this cancer target once since 2015.
A British Medical Journal study found that every four-week delay for cancer surgery is associated with a 6-8% increase in the risk of dying.
The Liberal Democrat Leader asked the Prime Minister when cancer patients, waiting anxiously for their treatment to begin, can expect to see this 62-day target met – but the Prime Minister failed to give any commitment in his reply.
Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:
Having cancer or someone close to you having cancer is one of the hardest things anyone can go through in life. The fear and anxiety of what may come next is a horrible feeling.
In these moments, what the government should be able to offer is certainty. Certainty that you or your loved one will be seen on time to give them the best possible chance to beat this disease.
Instead, cancer patients across the country have been failed by this Conservative government that has brought the NHS to its knees.
Thousands are being forced to wait through potentially deadly delays as Ministers fail to get their act together and make any inroads into cutting waiting lists. Patients deserve better than a Conservative government unable to provide vital treatment on time.
Watchdog failing to audit water companies – Lib Dems call for inquiry
Responding to reports that say that 36% of Environment Agency audits of water companies were not carried out or their records are missing, Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson, Tim Farron MP said:
It is utterly unacceptable that the very watchdog in charge of protecting our rivers and beaches from filthy sewage is missing in action when it comes to doing that very job.
For the agency to claim that they take a “light touch” to auditing water companies is beggars belief. How on earth can we expect the regulator to protect our countryside from vile pollution if they refuse to investigate the scale of the problem properly.
The Conservative government has just rolled over and let the water companies walk all over them.
The Environment Secretary needs to order an immediate inquiry into any missing audits and carry them out immediately. The days of light touch regulation must come to an end.
Levelling Up Bill: Government overruled for nutrient neutrality laws
This evening, Liberal Democrat peers have helped to successfully protect nutrient neutrality laws, following the Government’s attempt to scrap them, leading potentially to even more pollution filling rivers and impacting water quality across the country.
Following the rejection of the Government’s plan to scrap nutrient neutrality laws, the Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson for Communities and Local Government Baroness Pinnock said:
This is a great victory against the Government’s plans to remove regulations that protect British rivers from pollution.
The Conservatives have continually promised not to roll back our environment rules, it is deeply shocking that they can’t be trusted to keep their word.
The Liberal Democrats will continue to stand up for house building and the protection of our rivers. The Conservatives must be held to account for their broken promises on the environment.
2 Comments
” Sunak has failed to get a grip on the economy”
Yes he, and Jeremy Hunt, have failed to do that. But what are you suggesting?
“mortgage costs continue to spiral and the price of a weekly shop goes through the roof.”
Don’t forget the costs of renting which have increased at least as much as mortgage costs. Both are a direct result of increases in interest rates by the BoE. The only tool they have to reduce aggregate demand and so keep the price of our “weekly shop” under control is to make largely the younger generation poorer so they can afford less and therefore the rest of us can afford more.
This clearly is not working. It is time to bring both monetary and fiscal macroeconomic policy back under the same control. It’s never a good idea to have two pilots fighting to control an aircraft in different ways. It’s a sure way to bring about a crash!
Rents typically don’t fall when interest rates fall but see increases as interest rates rise. This is principally a supply/demand issue as RICS reports UK Residential Market Survey. Rents are expected to keep increasing as interest rates fall.
“In the lettings market, in contrast to conditions on the sales side, tenant demand continues to rise firmly according to a net balance of +47% of survey participants (part of the non-seasonally adjusted monthly lettings dataset). What’s more, all UK regions/countries have seen a sustained uplift in the demand for rented accommodation in recent months. Set against this, new landlord instructions continue to fall (net balance -20% in August), with anecdotal comments often highlighting that landlords are leaving the sector.
Given this enduring mismatch between demand and supply, a net balance of +60% of contributors foresee rental prices being driven higher over the coming three months”
Were interest rates set directly by the Government we would almost certainly see a Barber type boom engineered before next years election, reflating the housing and stock markets and an almighty crash after the election.
When interest rates are near zero, a Central bank of government can no longer lower them rendering conventional monetary policy ineffective. Unconventional monetary such as QE is used to increase the monetary base and generate inflation. That’s fine in a deleveraging environment such as in the aftermath of the financial crisis, but not for fiscal spending when inflation has been running at double digits and is persisting.