• Energy price cap: Government must cancel rise and take up plan to halve bills
• Mounjaro supply chaos: Lib Dems call for CMA investigation
• Farage u-turn shows he “has taken as much time reading his own plan as he does his constituents’ emails”
• Thames Water fines: Govt should stop “wheeling and dealing” and finally put customers first
• Ed Davey to boycott Trump state banquet in push to end Gaza’s humanitarian disaster

Energy price cap: Government must cancel rise and take up plan to halve bills

Responding to Ofgem announcing that the energy price cap will rise by 2%, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

The last thing struggling families and pensioners need is higher energy bills this winter. The Government should cancel this rise and take up our plan to halve energy bills instead.

Ministers should be cutting bills by making sure energy firms pass on the benefits of cheap renewables, not putting up bills yet again.

Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage would only make things even worse by shackling us to expensive, dirty fossil fuels, pushing us into the arms of Vladimir Putin.

Mounjaro supply chaos: Lib Dems call for CMA investigation

Responding to reporting by LBC that the US manufacturer of Mounjaro will halt UK orders of the drug following Trump’s attempts to encourage America’s drug manufacturers to increase their prices in foreign markets, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said:

“Trump’s economic vandalism is now threatening the health and wellbeing of people here in the UK. Ministers should be instructing the Competition and Markets Authority to launch an investigation into this price gouging and make plain the sanctions that can be levelled if Eli Lilly continue down this path.

“Global pharmaceutical companies are the latest industry to be put under Trump’s thumb through his relentless bullying and Brits are the ones paying with their wallets and their health.

“It is time the Government made it crystal clear to the White House and Eli Lilly that the health of our nation will not be held to ransom, demand that this price hike is reversed and ensure these drugs are available for those who need them.”

Farage u-turn shows he “has taken as much time reading his own plan as he does his constituents’ emails”

Responding to Nigel Farage appearing to u-turn today on his announcement yesterday where he suggested that women and children would be included in Reform’s deportation plans, a Liberal Democrat spokesperson said:

It appears Nigel Farage has taken as much time reading his own plan as he does his constituents’ emails. Reform’s plans do not even stand up to the scrutiny of their own leader.

His band of plastic patriots are taking the country for fools. Farage’s Taliban Tax would give millions in taxpayers’ money to terrorists all whilst failing to stop these crossings and end the crisis in our asylum system.

Thames Water fines: Govt should stop “wheeling and dealing” and finally put customers first

Responding to Ofwat staving off fines for the imperilled Thames Water, Tim Farron, Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson, said:

Ofwat is a defunct regulator that needs replacing urgently. Water companies must be held to account so that companies like Thames Water cannot continue to ramp up billions of pounds of extraordinarily expensive debt while pumping tonnes of disgusting sewage into British rivers and seas.

We don’t need more wheeling and dealing with Thames Water. What we need is for the Government to put customers first. They can start by putting Thames Water into Special Administration so that much of the debt can be written off and the company put onto a stable financial footing.

Ed Davey to boycott Trump state banquet in push to end Gaza’s humanitarian disaster

Today Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has announced he is to decline an invitation to the state banquet for Donald Trump next month, to raise the issue of Trump’s complicity in the humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

Ed has made clear the decision was an extremely difficult one given his huge respect for the King, but he concluded he had to use the occasion of Trump’s state visit to make the point that “if Donald Trump tells Benjamin Netanyahu to stop this, it ends tomorrow.”

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

Emily and I have spent all summer thinking about this and have prayed about it. There is no honour like an invitation from the King, and not to accept his invitation goes against all of our instincts.

But I fear we could have a situation where Donald Trump comes to our country, is honoured with a lavish dinner at one of our finest palaces, yet no one reminds him that he has the power to stop the horrifying starvation and death in Gaza and get the hostages released.

If Donald Trump tells Benjamin Netanyahu to stop this, it ends tomorrow. If Donald Trump uses his influence over Qatar and other Gulf states that Hamas relies on, all the hostages could come home tomorrow.

Boycotting the banquet is the one way I can send a message to Donald Trump and Keir Starmer that they can’t close their eyes and wish this away. We have to speak up, they have to act. Donald Trump has to end this humanitarian crisis.