Tag Archives: energy policy

16 July 2025 – today’s press releases

  • Lib Dems: Bolster energy security to tackle “stubbornly high” inflation
  • Ed Davey calls for public inquiry into Afghan data leak and unprecedented superinjunction
  • Davey speech warns of Farage’s plan to tie Britain to Putin’s Russia
  • Carmichael to lead parliamentary debate on Global Plastics Treaty

Lib Dems: Bolster energy security to tackle “stubbornly high” inflation

Responding to June’s inflation figure of 3.6%, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

These stubbornly high inflation figures are hammering the pockets of households who are still struggling with a cost-of-living crisis that refuses to go away.

The Conservatives’ mismanagement of the economy led us here and now Donald Trump’s senseless trade war and the Government’s wage suppressing jobs tax are only adding to people’s pain.

Only by building an economic coalition of the willing to stand up to Trump’s bullying, scrapping the Government’s jobs tax and bolstering our energy security will we see pressure ease for families across the country.

Ed Davey calls for public inquiry into Afghan data leak and unprecedented superinjunction

Ed Davey has called for a public inquiry into the MOD data leak that put at risk the lives of up to 25,000 Afghans who supported the British campaign in Afghanistan, and the unprecedented superinjunction used to keep it hidden from the public for years.

The Liberal Democrats have criticised the Conservatives’ cloak-and-dagger efforts to protect Ministers’ identities via an unprecedented 600-day superinjunction, only revealed following a concerted effort by the British media to bring the details into the public domain.

The party’s leader, Ed Davey, has called for an urgent public inquiry – to report by the end of the year – which would allow for the level of scrutiny appropriate to the “size and significance” of the data breach and subsequent Government efforts to keep the details hidden from public view.

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15 July 2025 – yesterday’s Federal press releases

  • Adass survey should make Government “heed warning” they cannot fix the NHS without fixing social care
  • Thames Water results: time for Governmentt to end “nightmare” and put Thames Water into Special Administration
  • Ed Davey sets out plan to halve energy bills in a decade and takes on Farage’s fossil fuel myths
  • Afghan data breach: Government must confirm how many other MoD super injunctions exist
  • Lib Dems on Reeves speech: “spaghetti junction of red tape” between country and continent

Adass survey should make Government “heed warning” they cannot fix the NHS without fixing social care

Responding to The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services survey which found that recent overspend by councils in England on their adult social care budgets was the highest in a decade, Liberal Democrat Care and Carers spokesperson Alison Bennett MP said:

The Government needs to heed this warning that without fixing social care the NHS 10 Year Plan will fail to deliver the change that people are crying out for.

We will continue to see people stuck in hospital beds when they could be cared for at home, patients treated in A&E corridors and council budgets stretched to breaking point.

If the Government is to break with the years of neglect that the Conservatives oversaw, they need to get on with reforming social care, and that starts by completing their review by the end of the year. We cannot afford to wait any longer.

Thames Water results: time for Government to end “nightmare” and put Thames Water into Special Administration

Responding to Thames Water reporting a £1.6bn loss over the last year and sewage spills increasing by a third, Lib Dem MP for Witney Charlie Maynard said:

These are terrible results. The nightmare needs to stop.

After months of pressure, Steve Reed has now finally admitted that it is highly likely to cost the Government nothing in the medium term if Thames Water is put into Special Administration. He now needs to get on and do this.

Every day he holds off means that customers continue to get stuffed by ridiculously high interest charges and advisory fees. We can’t afford it, and nor can our rivers.

Ed Davey sets out plan to halve energy bills in a decade and takes on Farage’s fossil fuel myths

  • Liberal Democrat Leader gives major economic speech at IPPR setting out new plan to slash energy bills
  • Ed Davey says “we have got to break the link between gas prices and electricity costs” so people get the benefits of cheap, clean power
  • Speech takes on Farage and Badenoch’s myths on renewables and warns tying Britain to fossil fuels will only benefit dictators like Putin

In a major speech on the economy tomorrow, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey will set out his party’s plan to halve energy bills for a typical household by 2035.

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Govt energy announcement: Half-baked plan shows they simply don’t care about cutting energy bills

Responding to the Government’s embargoed energy announcement, Liberal Democrat Climate Change and Energy spokesperson Wera Hobhouse MP said:

The fact the Government had to be dragged to court in order to announce this half-baked plan shows they simply don’t care about tackling climate change or cutting energy bills.

This updated Net Zero strategy once more falls far too short. There is no clear pathway to ending our fossil fuel dependency, a de facto ban remains on onshore wind and there is no remit for the regulator Ofgem to have a clear net zero objective.

This is just compounding the Government’s legacy

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17-19 March 2023 – the Conference weekend press releases (part 2)

  • Lib Dems call for emergency action to end dental deserts
  • Banks’ £17.8 billion tax cut could have funded pay rise for 150,000 carers
  • Lib Dems call for long-term strategy to end energy crisis

Lib Dems call for emergency action to end dental deserts

The Liberal Democrats have blasted the Government for the spread of ‘dental deserts’ across the UK.

Vast areas of the country are without access to NHS dental appointments, often in rural or deprived areas.

The Party passed a motion at its Spring Conference today which called for urgent reform to the NHS dental contract to ensure everyone can get the care they need and isn’t forced to go private.

The plans also call for an emergency scheme to ensure children, pregnant women and young mothers have access to their free check ups on time.

This comes as Healthwatch England found that 41% of people are struggling to get an NHS dental appointment, with one in five unable to access all the treatments they needed.

Under the proposals, there would be an increase to the number of dentist training places in the UK and continued recognition of EU trained dentists’ qualifications.

The Liberal Democrats are also calling for the removal of VAT on children’s toothbrushes and children’s toothpaste.

Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Health and Social Care, Daisy Cooper MP said:

Our NHS dental system is completely broken. NHS appointments are scarce at best and in some places don’t exist at all. People are being forced to spend hundreds if not thousands of pounds on private dental care with some even resorting to their own at-home DIY dentistry.

This Conservative Government has done next to nothing to tackle this crisis.

Rishi Sunak would rather engage in divisive culture wars to cover up his government’s appalling record on the NHS, which is leaving dental patients in pain and distress.

The Liberal Democrats believe that everyone should be able to access a dentist when they need one.

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17 January 2019 – today’s press releases

  • Davey: UK facing energy crunch
  • Cable: Corbyn determined to play party political games
  • Lib Dems: Outrageous that army reserves are on standby due to Tory Brexit mess
  • Lib Dems: Only way forward is through a People’s Vote
  • Govt back-payment for modern slavery victims is too little too late
  • Cable: Government wrong on People’s Vote timetable

Davey: UK facing energy crunch

Responding to the news that Hitachi have stopped work on the Wylfa plant, former Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Energy Ed Davey said:

Japanese businesses have warned about Brexit’s economic consequences since the 2016 referendum, so this latest set back to the Conservatives’ energy policy is

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21 November 2018 – today’s press releases

Having completed another meeting of the Federal International Relations Committee, featuring an exploration of the distant reaches of Article 7 of the Federal Constitution of the Party, your editor’s mind turns to press releases…

  • Moran: Gov must recognise state of Palestine
  • Cable: Prokopchuk’s Interpol position is still ‘an insult to the victims of the Salisbury attack’
  • Sanctions needed to get Matthew Hedges home
  • Davey: PM must publish immigration white paper now
  • Lib Dems announce Siobhan Benita as London Mayoral candidate
  • (covered separately here)

  • Lib Dems lead fight to protect vulnerable people in care
  • Davey: Something going very wrong in energy market

Moran: Gov must recognise state of Palestine

Liberal …

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William Powell AM writes…How will we power Wales’ future?

This weekend Gregynog Hall, Montgomeryshire will host the Welsh Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference for the first time in many years. This iconic setting is the perfect place to debate the policies that matter to Wales. Our Leader Kirsty Williams, Montgomeryshire Parliamentary Candidate Jane Dodds and I will be speaking, and Lord Alex Carlile will be addressing our Conference Dinner. In a real sense, it promises to be a case of Welsh Liberalism coming home.

The event will also mark the launch of the Welsh Liberal Democrat’s consultation on Energy Policy in Wales: Powering Wales’ Future.

It is no understatement to say that …

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Energy – where we are and what we need to do

Our society is energy hungry. Cutting carbon from this diet is vital. And we mustn’t forget gas!

Decarbonising our electricity supply is an on-going hot issue, and challenging too. For example, the technology is not yet all proven – like the uncertainties of carbon capture and storage (CCS) – and for some technologies the reality is harsh – like maintaining wind turbines and tidal barrages in marine environments. There’s also the big challenge of matching a variable supply of power with actual demand.

If we don’t decarbonise our electricity effectively, then transferring from diesel locomotives and petrol cars to electric …

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ELDR Congress: I’m not about to craic up…

Welcome to the former lair of the Celtic Tiger, a city of stories, some of them true, and enough cliche to bury an elephant, Dublin, the host city for this year’s ELDR Congress, hosted by Fianna Fail.

The focus of this year’s event is on energy transition and, given that the EU remains worryingly dependent on imports of oil and gas from some rather unstable corners of the world, it is a subject that might not be obviously sexy, it is one that has a huge impact on European citizens.

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Opinion: Give us an energy policy

Our party’s energy policy is totally inadequate, consisting only of motherhood and apple pie statements in favour of efficiency and green policies. We went into the last election on the populist platform of no new nuclear power generation and no new coal power without carbon sequestration. Like the student fee policy, this has also proved predictably unsustainable. It was seriously irresponsible. Hence the familiar u-turn

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Independent View: Danny Alexander’s green line

Danny Alexander is right to recognise Liberal Democrats will not be forgiven for delivering George Osborne’s attacks on the environment. Alexander’s ‘Generating Growth and Jobs in a Time of Austerity’ conference motion is pretty bold and we hope it is an opening salvo in a serious re-adjustment in the Liberal Democrats’ environment agenda in Government.

Alexander’s intervention is needed. Osborne has seized the environment as an issue and is using it to play to the Tory right in an attempt to save his political skin. This has involved much tilting at wind turbines and charming his friends and relatives by proposing …

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Join the Party Congress of the European Liberal Democrats!

The Congress of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) is the number one event for Liberal Democrats who want to adopt policies, network and debate in the European context.
 
The 2012 Congress will take place in Dublin on 8-10 November. The main theme of this year will be a liberal roadmap for energy transition in Europe. In addition to debates on this issue, there will be a fringe programme to cater for a broad range of interests, as well as exclusive sessions for parliamentarians.
 
Join the 500 ministers, party leaders, European commissioners, national and European parliamentarians, local councillors and party …

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European Parliament’s 2050 low-carbon roadmap backs an interconnected European supergrid

The European Parliament will today debate and vote on its report on the Commission’s Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy by 2050. The report establishes a policy framework for the EU to achieve a 80-95% reduction in its CO2 emissions by 2050, and it is expected that MEPs will endorse it by a large majority.

Sir Graham Watson MEP, who is the Chairman of a global network of MPs and MEPs from all mainstream political parties campaigning to increase government investment in renewable energy and electricity supergrids called the Climate Parliament, as well as a Liberal Democrat MEP …

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