Today is the first Liberal Democrat Opposition Day of this Parliament. This means that we need to set the agenda. Does anyone want to take a guess about the topics we have chosen to debate?

You get no brownie points if you correctly answered Carers and Health – though you could, I guess have chosen sewage. We are highlighting the issues that we ran on during not just the election but in the four years leading up to it.

Our Carer’s Allowance motion says:

That this House recognises the remarkable contributions that the UK’s 5.7 million unpaid carers make to society and the huge financial challenges many face; notes with deep concern that tens of thousands of carers are unfairly punished for overpayments of Carer’s Allowance due to the £151-a-week earnings limit; believes that carers should not be forced to face the stress, humiliation and fear caused by demands for repayments of Carer’s Allowance; condemns the previous Government for failing to address this scandal; calls on the Government to write-off existing overpayments immediately, raise the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit and introduce a taper to end the unfair cliff edge; and further calls on the Government to conduct a comprehensive review of support for carers to help people juggle care and work.

The health one is about access to GPs and dentists:

That this House regrets that the NHS has been plunged into crisis by years of neglect by the previous Government, leaving far too many people waiting weeks to see a GP or unable to find an NHS dentist, and children and adults waiting months or even years to receive the mental health care they need; believes that everyone should be able to access high-quality primary care services when they need them and where they need them; condemns the previous Government for presiding over a fall in the number of full-time equivalent fully qualified GPs and NHS dentists in the last Parliament; further regrets that the Government has not yet set out a plan to invest in primary care at the level needed to meet demand; calls on the Government to boost access to GPs, NHS dentists and community pharmacists; and further calls on the Government to give everyone the right to see a GP within seven days or within 24 hours if they urgently need to and to guarantee access to an NHS dentist for everyone needing urgent and emergency care.

You can read the amendments tabled by the Government here.

Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain set out our mission for this Parliament in recent email to members :

As the third largest party, we have a greater chance to drive change. Expect more Lib Dem amendments, contributions to debates, and two Prime Minister’s Questions every week.

We also get three opposition days a year, where we choose the topics for debate and table motions, with our first on 16th October.

I’m especially excited to have secured a Private Members’ Bill alongside my colleagues Max Wilkinson, Roz Savage, and Danny Chambers. Last year, my Carers Leave Act passed, granting unpaid carers five days of leave.

If I could achieve that as one of just 15 MPs, imagine what we can do now.

But we can’t take these opportunities for granted. We must repay voters’ trust by making their priorities ours. And we must work differently – working together for the good of everyone. We’ll be a constructive opposition, supporting the Government when we agree and offering solutions when we don’t.

We’ll bring you more from our debates later.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social