• Lib Dems urge Labour MPs to back closer trade with EU which could raise £25 billion a year and avoid welfare cuts
• Record low number of frontline NHS staff receive flu jabs this winter as some areas see less than one in 10 vaccinated
• Youth Mobility Scheme news a ‘glimmer of hope’
• Scottish Water urged to get a grip as bills and bonuses rise

Lib Dems urge Labour MPs to back closer trade with EU which could raise £25 billion a year and avoid welfare cuts

The Liberal Democrats have sent a letter to Labour MPs urging them to back closer trade ties with the EU to boost the public finances and avoid “savage” cuts to support for vulnerable families and pensioners.

It comes as House of Commons Library analysis, commissioned by the party, has estimated that if GDP was 2.2% higher, that could mean roughly £25 billion in extra tax revenues a year. The 2.2% figure is from independent analysis by Frontier Economics commissioned by Best for Britain and is for GDP in the long-run based on a new trade deal with the EU that secured deep alignment on goods and services.

This would easily be enough for the Government to U-turn on its cuts to winter fuel payments (£1.5 billion) and disability benefits (£5 billion), along with future cuts to public spending expected to be announced by the Chancellor in the Spending Review next month.

In the letter sent to Labour MPs, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Calum Miller will say his party would be willing to work constructively on securing a new trade deal with Europe, providing the boost to public finances needed to reverse cuts to disability benefits and the winter fuel payment. The Liberal Democrats’ 72-strong group of MPs is the largest third party in 100 years. Over 100 Labour MPs have reportedly signed a letter calling on the Government to back down from the welfare cuts.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a new trade deal with the EU including a new UK-EU customs union, which would significantly reduce red tape for British businesses exporting to the continent. Previous independent analysis has found that close alignment with the EU on goods and services could boost GDP by 2.2%. The House of Commons Library has estimated that if GDP was 2.2% higher, this could boost annual tax revenues by roughly £25 billion.

Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Calum Miller MP said:

A far more ambitious trade deal with Europe, including a new UK-EU customs union, would be the single biggest thing ministers could do to boost growth and fix the public finances.

The Liberal Democrats stand ready to work constructively with Labour MPs to boost trade with Europe and avoid savage cuts for vulnerable families and pensioners.

The local elections showed the Government is facing a massive backlash for failing to deliver the change the country was promised. Ministers now face a stark choice: be bold enough to change course or continue with policies that are harming people and our economy.

Record low number of frontline NHS staff receive flu jabs this winter as some areas see less than one in 10 vaccinated

A record low of 37% of frontline health service staff took up flu jabs this winter, with some areas seeing less than one in 10 receive the vaccine. This came as hospitals battled a surge in those admitted due to the disease, House of Commons Library research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

The data revealed that the proportion of healthcare workers that had received a flu vaccine this winter fell from 64% in 2016/17, when data was first collected, to just 37% this winter. That is a record low and a fall of 26.7 percentage points. There has been a marked fall in vaccine uptake from the peak of 2020/21 where it hit 76%.

The levels of flu vaccine uptake varied hugely between NHS Trusts. The lowest uptake in the country was at Camden and Islington NHS Trust, where just 8.8% of all healthcare workers had received a jab. This was followed by Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust on 9.5% and then Central and North West London Trust on 15.5%. In total, 62 of the 184 NHS Trusts which had reported data for this winter saw less than a third of their staff take-up the flu vaccine.

There have been some drastic falls in some NHS Trusts in the number of staff taking up the vaccines. In Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, there was a fall of 60.5 percentage points in the proportion of staff who received the flu vaccine this winter compared with 2016/17, with just 15.7% of staff now vaccinated. At Lewisham and Greenwich there was a 59.5 percentage point fall and at Birmingham Women and Children’s Hospital it was 59.2 percentage points.

Since 2016/17 the number of healthcare workers with direct patient care has grown by more than 350,000 to close to 950,000, a jump of 45%. Despite the rise of those in these frontline roles, the number of staff who have taken up the flu vaccine this winter fell on 2016/17’s number of 496,000 by 76,000 to 420,000 this winter, a fall of 15.3%.

It comes as this winter, a record number of hospital bed days were needed for patients with flu – over 315,000 compared with around 174,000 in 2023/24 and around 211,000 in 2022/23. This contributed to bed occupancy rates hitting 96% at points this winter, causing a backlog in A&Es, with people forced to endure ‘trolley waits’ whilst waiting to be admitted. A safe bed occupancy rate is considered to be 85%.

Previous analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine found that by the time a patient reaches a stay of more than 12 hours in an Emergency Department, they are twice as likely to die within 30 days as those treated, admitted or discharged within two hours. The RCEM calculated that there were almost 14,000 deaths associated with long A&E stays before admission in 2023.

These pressures across hospitals led to some harrowing stories with the NHS saying that flu had contributed to the risk of a ‘quad-emic’ this winter as hospitals come under immense strain. There have been cases of patients dying in corridors and glorified cupboards with some NHS Trusts even advertising positions for ‘corridor care nurses’ to work shifts in their corridors and provide care there.

The Liberal Democrats have called for the Government to increase awareness amongst healthcare workers about flu vaccinations by coordinating a campaign across the health service.

Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson, Helen Morgan MP said:

Many A&Es resembled a war-zone at times during the winter. People were waiting in intolerable pain, treated in corridors and dying in glorified cupboards. The system is broken from top to bottom, with hospitals unable to move people into the community because of a lack of care provision, leading to deadly backlogs in our hospitals.

The surge in those staying in hospital because they had flu, leading to fewer beds for those coming into A&E was a major problem contributing to these awful scenes.

That’s why it is absolutely vital that the Government boosts vaccine uptake through a coordinated awareness campaign across the health service, ensuring that staff are properly supported as they continue to do life-saving work for our NHS.

Youth Mobility Scheme news a ‘glimmer of hope’

Responding to comments by the Prime Minister that a Youth Mobility Scheme could be part of a new UK-EU deal, Liberal Democrat Europe Spokesperson James MacCleary said:

The Liberal Democrats have long been clear that a Youth Mobility Scheme with the EU – similar to the arrangements we already have in place with countries like Australia and Japan – would be a welcome step in the right direction.

The reintroduction of a Youth Mobility Scheme would begin to repair some of the damage by offering vital opportunities for our young people to live, work, and study across Europe. We’re pleased that the Government has finally recognised this, after months of repeatedly ruling it out.

We will of course wait to see what is agreed, but this news is a glimmer of hope for young people who have been so badly let down by Brexit. The Government now need to follow through.

Scottish Water urged to get a grip as bills and bonuses rise

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has marked a weekend of major environmental protests at beaches across Scotland by urging Scottish Water to get a grip on sewage discharges, as well as soaring bills and bonuses.

In recent weeks it has been revealed that:

• There were 24,398 sewage dumps recorded in 2024, which lasted for a staggering 208,377 hours.

• Scottish Water have admitted that dozens of “high-priority” projects to stop the worst sewage releases in Scotland have still not been carried out more than two years on.

• Scottish Water have increased bosses bonuses by more than a third.

• Water bills increased by 9.9% in April.

Campaign group Surfers Against Sewage will hold a paddle out protest on 17 May to demand an end to sewage pollution. In Scotland events will take place in Dunbar, Stonehaven and Nairn.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

Surfers Against Sewage are absolutely right to be highlighting the state of our beaches and waterways.

24,398 sewage dumps is bad enough but as a result of the lack of data it will be an underestimate. In England 100% of sewage overflows are monitored, whereas Scotland is lagging badly behind.

People can see the impact of sewage dumping on their local beaches and in their local rivers.

The government-owned water company needs to get a grip. Scottish Water bosses are getting eye watering bonuses while presiding over outdated sewage standards. Meanwhile the Scottish Government make excuse after excuse.

To turn the tide on this scandal, Scottish Liberal Democrats have published plans for a Clean Water Act that would see a clamp down on discharges and get to the bottom of this disgusting practice.