Category Archives: Press releases

• Food prices set to rise: news will be hammer blow for millions already choosing between heating and eating
• NHS stats: winter “one of the most brutal on record” as Lib Dems call on Streeting to bring forward emergency plan to protect patients
• ‘Bed blocking’ has already cost NHS £165 million this winter as Davey calls on govt to finish social care review this year
• Market turmoil: Chancellor should cancel China trip for emergency growth statement
• Oxford Farming Conference: Reed’s “regret” not good enough – Starmer must reverse family farm tax
• More than 440,000 police officer and staff days lost to mental health since 2019

Food prices set to rise: news will be hammer blow for millions already choosing between heating and eating

Responding to the British Retail Consortium saying that food prices will rise by 4.2% in the latter half of this year as “retailers battle the £7 billion of increased costs in 2025 from the Budget”, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

This news will come as a hammer blow to families across the country. Millions of people are already having to choose between heating and eating and the prospect of even more pressure on stretched budgets will be incredibly worrying.

The new government is faced with the enormous challenge of cleaning up the Conservative Party’s economic vandalism, but their approach so far risks repeating more mistakes.

It’s now clear as day that the Chancellor’s misguided national insurance hike is only going to hammer household budgets further by forcing up prices. Ministers must recognise their error and scrap this tax hike immediately.

NHS stats: winter “one of the most brutal on record” as Lib Dems call on Streeting to bring forward emergency plan to protect patients

Responding to NHS England saying that this is the busiest year on record for emergency services, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said:

This winter threatens to be one of the most brutal on record. Patients are suffering through deadly delays and staff are already at breaking point.

There can be no overstating just dangerous this situation is after years of the previous Conservative government’s shameful neglect of our NHS.

It is of paramount importance that the new government grips this crisis urgently. That must start with the Health Secretary producing an emergency plan in the coming days to protect patients from this ongoing disaster.

‘Bed blocking’ has already cost NHS £165 million this winter as Davey calls on govt to finish social care review this year

• This winter has already seen 417,220 bed days taken up by patients that were well enough to be discharged – costing the NHS £165 million or £4.8 million a day

• 12,271 of England’s 103,277 hospital beds have been taken up by people who are fit to be discharged everyday this winter – the equivalent of just under one in eight

• Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey has called on the government to complete its social care review by the end of the year to take pressure off hospitals

This winter has already seen 417,220 bed days taken up by patients that were fit enough to be discharged, the equivalent of 1 in 8, costing the NHS £165 million in just over a month research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.