- Lib Dem poster attacks Johnson for lying to Queen, Parliament and people
- Lib Dems: Trump to profit from Brexit Britain
- Lib Dems – Immigration detention must be absolute last resort
- Welsh Lib Dems welcome votes at 16
- Leaked documents show US offered PR advice to UK over chlorinated chicken
Lib Dem poster attacks Johnson for lying to Queen, Parliament and people
The Liberal Democrats will today unveil a poster attacking Boris Johnson for lying to the Queen, Parliament and the people.
Another poster will show Boris Johnson flanked by Donald Trump and Nigel Farage, stating: “Brexit is good for them, how is it for you?”.
The posters are being launched in London this morning on four poster vans, that will then tour Conservative Liberal Democrat marginal seats that could deny Boris Johnson a majority.
Liberal Democrat Shadow Brexit Secretary Tom Brake said:
Boris Johnson and his backers Nigel Farage and Donald Trump may stand to benefit from Brexit, but it is families across the country who will suffer.
Johnson has shown time and again that he can’t be trusted. He’s lied to the Queen, he’s lied to Parliament and he’s lied to the British people.
Now he is trying to dupe the public into believing that voting for him will make Brexit go away. This is the biggest lie of all and it must be challenged head on. His disastrous Brexit plan would mean years more uncertainty and damage to our economy, NHS and public services.
Liberal Democrats have shown that we can stop Boris, stop Brexit and build a brighter future, by taking seats off the Tories across the country.
Lib Dems: Trump to profit from Brexit Britain
Following the release of a document laying out the details of talks involving UK and US officials regarding a post-Brexit trade deal, Liberal Democrat Shadow Brexit Secretary Tom Brake said:
The public will be absolutely horrified by what looks like a deal cooked up between the Tories and Donald Trump that puts our NHS on the table.
The fact that the US trade representatives have said a no-deal leaves ‘all to play for’ hits home how Boris Johnson must be stopped. It could not be clearer that Brexit will make the UK weaker, and that Donald Trump wants to profit from this weakness.
Only the Liberal Democrats can prevent Boris Johnson getting a majority in this election. Voters have a vital chance to stop Johnson from pursuing either his damaging Brexit deal or crashing the UK out with no-deal in 2020.
Lib Dems – Immigration detention must be absolute last resort
The Liberal Democrats have criticised the Conservative government following today’s Supreme Court judgment, which found that five asylum seekers had been unlawfully detained. The Liberal Democrats are committed to making immigration detention an absolute last resort.
The judgment concerns five asylum seekers, each detained for more than a month in 2015. One was detained for 16 weeks, from 18 August to 8 December. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that they were wrongfully detained, and that they are entitled to compensation.
The Liberal Democrat manifesto commits to making immigration detention an absolute last resort, introducing a 28-day time limit on detention and closing seven of the UK’s nine detention centres.
More than 24,000 people are put into detention centres each year, at a cost to the taxpayer of £90 million a year. On top of this, the Home Office had to pay out £8 million last year in compensation for 312 cases of wrongful detention.
Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Christine Jardine said:
The Conservatives’ excessive use of immigration detention is inhumane, unnecessary and expensive – as this case demonstrates.
Not only did the Home Office cause misery and waste money unlawfully detaining these people in the first place, they then wasted even more taxpayer money fighting this case all the way up to the Supreme Court. And now they’ll have to pay compensation too.
The Liberal Democrats will put compassion and common sense at the heart of our immigration system by ending indefinite detention and making any detention an absolute last resort.
We will build a brighter future where everyone is treated with dignity and respect, and where taxpayers’ money is not wasted defending unlawful Home Office actions.
Welsh Lib Dems welcome votes at 16
The Welsh Liberal Democrats have welcomed the passing of the Senedd and Elections Bill. The Bill gives 16 and 17-year-olds in Wales the vote in Senedd Elections.
This will add 70,000 people to the franchise in Wales, the largest increase for 50 years. This is alongside the 33,000 foreign nationals who will be given the right to vote in Senedd elections due to the bill.
The bill also establishes the twin names of Senedd Cymru and Welsh Parliament for the National Assembly for Wales and gives AMs the new name of Members of the Senedd.
Welsh Liberal Democrat Party President William Powell, commented:
We welcome the passing of this bill and in particular the introduction of votes for 16 and 17-year-olds for Senedd elections.
This important step will ensure the voices of young people are heard within Welsh politics and help us create a better Welsh democracy.
The consequences of marginalising the views of young people are clear for all to see. Young people have had to watch older generations restrict their opportunities through Brexit and fail to take appropriate action to tackle the climate emergency. Without a vote, young people have been powerless to change this or help create the society they want to see.
This will be a vital first step in giving young people a real voice within our politics. We will continue to campaign for votes for 16 and 17-year-olds in general elections across the UK.
Leaked documents show US offered PR advice to UK over chlorinated chicken
Leaked documents from the US-UK trade deal talks reveal that US negotiators offered PR advice to their UK counterparts on how to sell the controversial practice of chlorine-washing chickens to UK consumers and the British media.
The document show that in November 2017 the US team agreed to share their “public lines” on chlorine-washed chicken to help “inform the media narrative”.
The leaked documents also show that US negotiators had ‘the most angst’ about EU limits to the use of chemicals in food production, trying to persuade the UK to change seek a clean break from EU rules that protect UK consumers by maintaining high standards in farms and the food industry across the UK.
Liberal Democrat Shadow Trade Secretary Chuka Umunna said:
The fact the US are offering PR tips on how to force chlorinated chicken down our throats tells you everything you need to know.
The Tories’ desperation for a trade deal with Donald Trump risks leading to lower standards for the food on our tables.
We must stop Boris Johnson ramming through a damaging Trump trade deal that threatens British consumers and farmers.
The Liberal Democrats will stop Boris, stop Brexit and uphold our world-leading food standards.