• Rennie comments on embargoed care system report
• Davey visits Edinburgh College and sets out plans to cut bills
• UK Government must strike steel deal to save what’s left of Welsh industry

Rennie comments on embargoed care system report

Commenting on the embargoed joint report by the Accounts Commission and the Auditor General, which warns that the care system in Scotland lacks clarity and accountability, Scottish Liberal Democrat communities spokesperson Willie Rennie MSP said:

Care-experienced children have told MSPs on the education committee that they aren’t feeling the change which was promised. They were angry and today’s report only makes clearer that they are right to be.

The report shows that the SNP has let down children in care by promising major reform without any assessment of the resources and skills needed to bring it about. There has been a vacuum of clear leadership, and a lack of urgency and cohesion.

The government must now prioritise the development of a comprehensive roadmap with clear actions and timescales if the transformation of care is to be fully realised.

Davey visits Edinburgh College and sets out plans to cut bills

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has today visited Edinburgh College sector-leading Renewables Centre, located in his party’s key target seat of Edinburgh Northern, where he set out his party’s ambition to halve energy bills.

The Renewables Centre aims to upskill and reskill current and future professionals in green technologies.

He was joined by Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, Christine Jardine MP and Edinburgh Northern candidate Sanne Dijkstra-Downie to meet with students studying at the college and was taught how to fit a solar panel in a hard hat and hi-vis.

The Liberal Democrat plan would involve:

• Investing in cheap, clean renewable power.

• Making homes warmer and cheaper to heat with a ten-year emergency upgrade programme – starting with free insulation for those on low incomes, and ensuring that all new homes are zero-carbon.

• Moving older renewable projects off expensive Renewable Obligation Certificates and onto cheaper Contracts for Difference – which were introduced by the Liberal Democrats in government. This was proposed by the UK Energy Research Centre in 2022, and three major energy sector bodies – Energy UK, RenewableUK and Solar Energy UK – have all backed these proposals.

• Using new technologies to help people use energy more flexibly, at times when it’s cheaper – and pay less as a result.

• Working together with the EU to trade energy more efficiently, cutting costs and reducing reliance on gas.

• Extending the life of new Contracts for Difference from 15 to 25 years.

Speaking after the visit, Ed Davey said:

I’d like to thank everyone at the Edinburgh College Renewables Centre for welcoming me today.

The College is doing vital work to ensure that in the years to come we have the skills that we need to put Scotland and the whole of the UK at the forefront of the renewables revolution.

That’s not only good for cutting our carbon footprint, it’s good for workers and households across the country.

Generating electricity from renewables is now significantly cheaper than gas, but people aren’t seeing the benefits in their bills. That’s because the wholesale electricity price is set by the most expensive fuel in the mix – and in the UK, that’s almost always gas.

So if we’re going to bring energy bills down – and make sure people see the benefits of cheap renewable energy – we have to break the link between the cost of electricity and the price of gas.

The right policies now could cut energy bills in half within ten years.

That is a Liberal Democrat energy policy in service of the British people while Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch would tie us to Vladimir Putin’s expensive fossil fuels.

Families and businesses struggling to make ends meet deserve better. Liberal Democrats have a realistic plan to get things done, helping you with the cost of living by insulating cold homes and using homegrown renewable energy to drive down household bills.

UK Government must strike steel deal to save what’s left of Welsh industry

Commenting on the threats of EU tariffs on British steel exports, Welsh Liberal Democrat Westminster Spokesperson David Chadwick MP said:

The EU’s proposed steel tariffs are deeply worrying for workers and communities across Wales who depend on this vital industry and are a stark reminder of the lies told by those who led the campaign for Brexit.

My grandfather worked in the Port Talbot steelworks and I know how central this industry is to our communities and to Wales’s identity.

If what remains of the Welsh steel industry is to survive, we must rebuild a secure, fair trading relationship with our closest market. This is exactly why the Liberal Democrats have been calling for a new UK-EU customs union.

The UK Labour Government must act urgently to reach a deal with the EU that protects Welsh jobs, supports investment, and safeguards an industry vital to our economy and national security.