• Liberal Democrats call on Government to rule out cuts for frontline policing ahead of spending review
• Winter Fuel Payments U-turn: a “debacle” causing “needless misery” and the Chancellor should apologise
• Free school meals expansion: “victory” for campaigners and struggling families
• Greene comments as cost of replacement ferry charter hits £22m
• Jardine: Chancellor must apologise to Scottish pensioners for winter fuel mess
• Lib Dems comment on ferries procurement news for Northern Isles

Liberal Democrats call on Government to rule out cuts for frontline policing ahead of spending review

Sir Mark Rowley, the head of the Metropolitan Police has warned Keir Starmer there will be “far-reaching consequences” if the Government makes cuts to policing in the upcoming spending review.

In response, the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Lisa Smart MP said:

Slashing funding for the police would be a serious mistake and likely worsen the epidemic of unsolved crimes across our country.

The Government must heed the advice of our most senior police officers and rule out any cuts to frontline policing ahead of the Spending Review.

Anything short of this would risk Labour abandoning their pledge to cut crime and keep local our communities safe.

Winter Fuel Payments U-turn: a “debacle” causing “needless misery” and the Chancellor should apologise

Responding to the Chancellor announcing that the changes to the Winter Fuel Payment thresholds will be in place for this winter with the new thresholds to be announced at the Spending Review, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

This whole debacle has caused needless misery for millions of pensioners.

We will look at the details of the changes at the Spending Review next week. In the meantime the Chancellor should apologise to all those pensioners who had to freeze this winter because of this senseless policy.

Free school meals expansion: “victory” for campaigners and struggling families

The Government has finally listened to calls to expand free school meals to all children on universal credit, a longstanding Liberal Democrat policy.

The Liberal Democrats have consistently put pressure on the Government on the issue including a recent amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which the Government voted down, to expand free school meals to all children in poverty.

Responding to the announcement, Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson, Munira Wilson MP, said:

Liberal Democrats have been pushing hard for this crucial change for years. It’s a victory for thousands of passionate campaigners that the Government has finally listened.

Under the Conservatives, struggling families had to skip meals or sacrifice prescriptions to make sure their children had lunch to eat. Their lives will be transformed by this change.

This can only be a first step. To end the cost of learning crisis, the Government needs to commit to auto-enrolling eligible children for free school meals, lifting the two child benefit cap, and capping uniform costs to truly change the lives of children in poverty. We’ll hold their feet to the fire to make sure today’s change is just a start.

Greene comments as cost of replacement ferry charter hits £22m

Responding to reports that Pentland Ferries has signed an agreement with publicly funded CalMac to extend the charter of MV Alfred for a further five months, taking the costs of chartering the catamaran to £22m, West of Scotland MSP and transport spokesperson Jamie Greene said:

My constituents have come to expect that anything involving ferries will take twice as long as promised and cost twice as much.

A similar vessel could have been purchased for less than this lease has cost.

Disruption for islanders and visitors keeps spiralling and I don’t think anyone living on the west coast has any faith that this will be the last expensive sticking plaster.

It’s about time someone in this SNP government carried the can for repeatedly failing our island communities.

Jardine: Chancellor must apologise to Scottish pensioners for winter fuel mess

Responding to the Chancellor announcing that the changes to the winter fuel payment thresholds will be in place for this winter with the new thresholds to be announced at the Spending Review, Liberal Democrat Scottish Affairs spokesperson Christine Jardine MP said:

This entire mess has caused so much unnecessary misery for hundreds of thousands of Scots.

Liberal Democrats will be scrutinising these changes at the Spending Review next week.

Through our budget negotiations, Scottish Liberal Democrats were instrumental in securing a reinstatement of a winter fuel payment. We will be looking carefully at what today’s announcement could now mean for the equivalent Scottish benefit.

In the meantime, the Chancellor must apologise to all those pensioners who had to freeze last winter.

Lib Dems comment on ferries procurement news for Northern Isles

Scottish Liberal Democrats have today said that much more needs to be done to support island communities and strengthen lifeline ferry services after the Scottish Government announced the beginning of the procurement process for two new ferries for the Northern Isles.

Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop has announced that the tender process is underway for two new NorthLink ferries, which will replace the aged Helliar and Hildasay vessels.

Scottish Liberal Democrats have repeatedly called on the SNP to improve the resilience of the Northern Isles ferry network and increase capacity for both passengers and freight.

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for Shetland Beatrice Wishart said:

This news is welcome, as are the plans for greater capacity on the route for both passengers and freight.

We are, however, still in the foothills of the process and will continue to face constrained capacity for several years ahead.

The Scottish Government should have made these plans earlier to ensure a smooth transition and increase in the capacity on the Northern Isles route to meet growing demand.

What the space for 200 passengers looks like on the new vessels remains to be seen but if it’s 200 pods for an overnight crossing then I expect there will be uproar.

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for Orkney Liam McArthur said:

For many years the Northern Isles have been clear that the existing vessels are simply not fit for purpose.

In particular, local businesses in Orkney and Shetland have long reported that the freight capacity on the Aberdeen-Kirkwall-Lerwick route does not need their needs, with a knock-on impact felt across a number of sectors and the local economy.

Whilst long overdue, I am glad to see the Scottish Government have finally announced the beginning of a procurement process for two new freight ferry vessels, where the increase in passenger and freight capacity will help to increase resilience in ferry services for constituents and businesses alike.