• PAC Covid loans report: unacceptable still no sign of the billions “mugged from taxpayers”
• Lib Dems demand mandatory vote in Parliament before any British forces sent to conflict zones as nearly 60% of Britons back a vote ahead of any UK action in Iran
• Trade Strategy has “missed the mark” and shows a Government “cowering in the corner” – Lib Dems

PAC Covid loans report: unacceptable still no sign of the billions “mugged from taxpayers”

Responding to the Public Accounts Committee report which states that the Government has been “dangerously-flat footed” in recovering taxpayer losses from fraudulent Covid loans, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

Nearly a year after the Government announced its Covid corruption czar, it’s unacceptable that there’s still no sign of the billions of pounds that were mugged from taxpayers.

The Conservative Party oversaw awful abuse of the public finances, essentially allowing a dodgy get rich quick scheme to operate at the expense of people struggling with the catastrophe of the Covid pandemic. But now under this Government, those people seem to be getting off scot free.

Ministers cannot allow this situation to drift any longer. We must see real focus at the top of Government so that these people have to bear the full force of the law and these billions are returned to taxpayers pockets.

Lib Dems demand mandatory vote in Parliament before any British forces sent to conflict zones as nearly 60% of Britons back a vote ahead of any UK action in Iran

The Liberal Democrats have tabled a bill to legally require a Parliamentary vote ahead of the Government deploying British soldiers abroad, as compelling polling commissioned by the party shows that nearly 6 in 10 Britons (57%) believe Parliament should vote on any UK military action taken in Iran.

The Liberal Democrats are pushing measures that would require a mandatory vote in Parliament before any Government deployment of British troops, as the conflict in the Middle Ease continues to escalate.

A ceasefire brokered by Donald Trump and the US administration broke down yesterday morning (Tuesday 24 June), UK time, with reports suggesting violations by both Iran and Israel.

The party’s Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, Calum Miller, has tabled a bill which would mandate parliamentary approval for the deployment of UK armed forces into overseas conflict zones.

Miller said that “the strongest democratic scrutiny our country can offer” would allow for the best possible decisions to be made regarding British soldiers’ deployment – including protection from any future potential decisions made by an overexcited executive, in the model of Donald Trump.

The bill makes clear that emergency military deployments or responses – including requirements to comply with treaty obligations, or the need to defend a UK asset or resource under attack, for example – could come with the provision for retrospective parliamentary approval.

The bill comes as the party’s polling reveals that a striking 57% or nearly 6 in 10 Britons would support Parliament having to vote ahead of any UK military intervention in Iran, with just 24% opposing Parliament voting on the issue. A huge 64% of 2024 Labour voters believed that Parliament should vote on whether the UK launches military action in Iran. In opposition, Keir Starmer himself backed a Prevention of Military Intervention Act, legislation which would have given Parliament a formal role in authorising military action.

Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, Calum Miller MP, said:

With the Middle East in the throes of an all-out regional war, we are reckoning once again with the prospect of the UK becoming embroiled in foreign conflict.

No one knows the fragility of peace in that region, or the price paid for our safety, better than our British troops. It’s critical that, if they are asked to put their lives on the line for the UK in active conflict zones, this decision is subject to the strongest democratic scrutiny our country can offer.

If the Government chooses to put our troops directly in the line of fire, Parliament must be granted a vote on that choice before they are deployed – especially now, as the Prime Minister weighs up following another American President into war in the Middle East.

Trade Strategy has “missed the mark” and shows a Government “cowering in the corner” – Lib Dems

Responding to the Government’s trade strategy announcement, Daisy Cooper MP, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson and Deputy Leader, said:

It’s shocking that it’s taken so long since Brexit for the country to have a proper trade strategy.

After the Conservatives’ terrible trade deals sold out our farmers, and at a time when Donald Trump’s senseless trade war is putting people’s jobs at risk, it’s more important than ever to give British businesses the tools they need to compete. This announcement appears to have missed the mark.

Ministers are right to focus on strengthening trade defences, but the most obvious defence is a deeper and closer relationship with our biggest and closest neighbour through a bespoke UK-EU customs union, which would turbocharge the economy and bring in the billions needed to rebuild our public services and protect household budgets.

Given the unpredictability of Trump, it’s vital that we build an economic coalition of the willing with our European and Commonwealth allies. Instead, the Government looks set to continue its approach of cowering in the corner.