Tag Archives: daniel o’malley

31 January 2025 – today’s press releases

  • Police funding: Govt must address police chiefs’ concerns
  • Land use framework: Govt struggles to understand rural communities
  • Chris Philp: No-one can doubt his work ethic after he crashed the economy in 39 days
  • Cole-Hamilton: After half a decade of Brexit damage, we need a UK-EU Customs Union deal
  • Councillor and environmental campaigner selected to take on SNP in Edinburgh Northern
  • Train fares to rise yet again

Police funding: Govt must address police chiefs’ concerns

Commenting on the Home Office pledge to invest an additional £100m for neighbourhood policing in England and Wales. This is after several forces have warned that they will have to make cuts this year, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Lisa Smart MP said:

This is just a drop in the ocean compared to what’s actually needed to restore proper community policing, after years of ineffective resourcing from the former Conservative government.

The Home Secretary needs to urgently address police chiefs’ concerns, who have been warning for months now about devastating budget shortfalls.

The government must step up to fix this by properly funding the officers our communities need – not passing the buck to local police chiefs to put up people’s council tax instead. Only then will communities see the proper frontline policing they need, with more bobbies on the beat stopping and solving crime.

Land use framework: Govt struggles to understand rural communities

Commenting on the government’s announcement of a new land use plan, Liberal Democrat Environment and Rural Affairs Spokesperson Tim Farron MP said:

After years of chaos under the former Conservative government, it’s clear that we need a strategic approach to fix our broken planning system and support British farmers, who are so vital for our economy and environment. Nonetheless, we must show caution in our optimism.

Labour has shown time and again that it struggles to understand rural communities.

Liberal Democrats will continue to be the voice in Parliament for farmers and rural communities. The talk of unproductive land in the government’s framework could pose a risk to hill farmers who need our help now more than ever.

Chris Philp: No-one can doubt his work ethic after he crashed the economy in 39 days

Responding to Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp’s claims that Britons need a better work ethic, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said:

No-one can doubt Chris Philp’s work ethic after he crashed the economy in just 39 days as Treasury minister under Liz Truss.

He also treated himself to a £5,000 taxpayer–funded handout after finally resigning from Boris Johnson’s government.

The British public will no doubt take his advice with a bucketload of salt.

The Conservatives could do with showing a bit more humility after trashing the economy and leaving the NHS on its knees.

Cole-Hamilton: After half a decade of Brexit damage, we need a UK-EU Customs Union deal

Marking five years since the UK left the European Union, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today said that we need a brand-new UK-EU Customs Union deal to boost the economy and tear down trade barriers.

Mr Cole-Hamilton highlighted his party’s plans during a campaign visit to East Dunbartonshire, one of the most pro-remain parts of Scotland, where 71.4% of people voted to remain within the EU during the 2016 Brexit Referendum.

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30 September 2024 – today’s press releases

  • Truss: Conservative Leadership contenders must pledge to strip her of £115,000 allowance
  • Scotland’s trains are ‘erratic and expensive’ under the SNP
  • Rennie responds to MUP rise
  • Scot Lib Dems respond to Truss leadership claims

Truss: Conservative Leadership contenders must pledge to strip her of £115,000 allowance

Responding to Liz Truss’s appearance at Conservative Party Conference, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper MP said:

Liz Truss’s failure to recognise the economic vandalism that she oversaw is a kick in the teeth to all those who endured their mortgage rates spiralling and were worried about losing their homes as a result of her disastrous policies.

It’s outrageous that instead of calling out the damage that she did, the Conservative Party actually allowed her to stand as one of their candidates at the General Election.

Every Conservative Party Leadership candidate must condemn Truss’s terrible record and pledge that they would strip her of her ex-PM allowance of up to £115,000 a year.

Scotland’s trains are ‘erratic and expensive’ under the SNP

Scottish Liberal Democrats have highlighted their plans to make Scotland’s rail services cheap, reliable and frequent as the SNP bring back peak fares today (Monday 30th September), with passengers now being hit by higher ticket prices and a reduced timetable.

In August, the SNP government announced that it would reintroduce peak rail fares, meaning that the price of the top ticket between Glasgow and Edinburgh has now risen by 8.6% to £31.40.

This hike comes as ScotRail continue to operate a temporary timetable with far fewer trains available. In total, about 600 services were slashed from the ScotRail timetable, with only around 50% of services running on Sundays.

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4 June 2024 – today’s press releases

  • Long-term sickness risks £18 billion black hole under Conservatives as Lib Dems call for mental health MOTs
  • Debate: The country deserved better than that
  • Cole-Hamilton: SNP’s mishandling of health costing the economy
  • Welsh Lib Dems react to school year announcement
  • Cole-Hamilton: SNP have failed to get to grips with A&E crisis
  • Mental health treatment targets missed again
  • Scottish Liberal Democrats: SNP must go further and faster with rail travel

Long-term sickness risks £18 billion black hole under Conservatives as Lib Dems call for mental health MOTs

  • The Liberal Democrats announce regular mental health ‘MOT’ checks at key points in people’s lives including for new parents and retirees
  • Ed Davey said the Prime Minister’s “failure to cut NHS waiting lists is damaging the economy” and party’s new commitment would “help people get back to work”
  • Analysis reveals that over the course of the next Parliament long-term sickness could cost the economy £18.3 billion

Record levels of long-term sickness under the Conservatives are set to blow an £18.3 billion black hole in the public finances over the next Parliament, new analysis by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

The party said it shows that Rishi Sunak’s failure to bring down NHS waiting lists is holding the economy back and costing taxpayers billions.

Each person out of work due to long-term illness costs an average of £5,200 in lost tax revenue, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. The latest figures show a shocking 2.8 million people were out of work due to ill health in February 2024, up around 700,000 compared to the start of this Parliament in 2019. It means the rise in long-term sickness under the Conservative Party is leading to a staggering loss of almost £3.7 billion in lost tax revenue per year, or £18.3 billion over the next parliament.

Rishi Sunak recently admitted the government has failed to cut NHS waiting lists with 6.3 million people still waiting for treatment, double the number since 2015. Over 1.35 million (53%) of those inactive because of long-term sickness reported that they had a mental health condition such as depression, bad nerves or anxiety.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for the introduction of regular mental health check-ups at key points in people’s lives when they are most vulnerable, to help tackle the root causes of the mental health crisis. This would include new parents, children and young people, men in their 40s, carers and retirees, all of whom are at high risk of mental ill health.

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27 March 2024 – today’s press releases (part 1)

  • NHS satisfaction survey: Govt can’t be trusted with NHS
  • Sewage spills rise: Ed Davey calls for national environmental emergency to be declared
  • Lib Dem comment on E.coli in Thames
  • Scotland’s sewage crisis 40% worse than previously thought
  • Bus journeys plummet by 31%

NHS satisfaction survey: Govt can’t be trusted with NHS

Responding to the British Social Attitudes survey on NHS satisfaction, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

This is a damning assessment of the Government’s management of the NHS. Years and years of neglect and incompetence has run our NHS into the ground.

NHS staff work around the clock to see thousands and thousands of patients but the public are understandably frustrated that they’re often waiting too long to see a GP, or to get a hospital appointments for diagnosis and treatment.

The public know this Conservative Government cannot be trusted with our NHS, and they will want to deliver their verdict at the next general election.

Sewage spills rise: Ed Davey calls for national environmental emergency to be declared

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has called on the government to declare a national environmental emergency after the number of sewage spills in 2023 increased by 54% on the previous year, putting ecosystems already at breaking point on the brink of collapse.

As part of this national environmental emergency, the Liberal Democrats are calling for an urgent meeting of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) to review the impact of sewage spills on human health – for river and sea swimmers in particular. Campaign group Surfers Against Sewage released a report last year showing almost 2,000 people reported getting sick last year after swimming in the sea or rivers.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

The Liberal Democrats have been warning this Conservative government for years that the sewage scandal is ruining the country’s rivers and beaches and pushing ecosystems to the brink of collapse.

Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party have failed to listen and as a result sewage spills are increasing, our precious countryside is being destroyed and swimmers are falling sick.

It is time for this Conservative government to finally deal with this disgraceful situation and declare a national environmental emergency. That must include convening an urgent SAGE meeting to look into the impact of sewage spills on people’s health.

Only by treating the sewage scandal with the urgency it demands can we save our rivers and beaches for future generations to enjoy.

Lib Dem comment on E.coli in Thames

Commenting on findings of high E.coli levels in the Thames by River Action today, Liberal Democrat mayoral candidate Rob Blackie said:

This is the consequence of 72 billion litres of raw sewage pumped into the Thames in London since 2020.

It amounts to an environment catastrophe in the capital.

The Conservative government have let water companies get away with polluting for too long. It must crack down on Thames Water.

Instead of action, we have seen huge increases in sewage dumped into the river.

If elected I will work to stop sewage being dumped into our rivers and campaign to make water companies pay for the damage they’ve done.

Scotland’s sewage crisis 40% worse than previously thought

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today accused the Scottish Government of being “defenders of outdated sewage standards” as figures published by Scottish Water revealed that that there were an additional 5,668 sewage dumps in Scotland in 2022, on top of the initial 14,008 that were reported in March.

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