Tag Archives: Plastic Pollution

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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Alistair Carmichael’s Commons First “President-Elect Biden”

Alistair Carmichael had a Commons first today. He was the first person in the UK Parliament to refer to President-Elect Biden.

He was presenting his Bill to tackle plastic pollution. When Speaker Dame Rosie Winterton asked him when it would be debated, he said “Nine days after President-Elect Biden’s inauguration.”

If he has tempted fate, he will be in massive amounts of trouble…

So what is his bill about?

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Lib Link: Wera Hobhouse MP on banning exports of plastics

Wera Hobhouse had a piece published on Politics Home yesterday on banning the export of plastics.

It goes without saying that the wealthiest countries, like us, who have the privilege of the means to be able to sustainably deal with waste, need to accept responsibility instead of shipping plastic waste around the world for poorer countries to deal with.

This begins with increasing and developing our recycling facilities. If we cannot recycle it, we shouldn’t be using it. 

In the article, Wera also discusses the Plastic Pollution Bill, presented to Parliament in February by Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael. It sets out to

  • ensure that by 2042 no plastic which is not capable of being recycled is
    produced or used
  • eliminate the use of non-essential plastics by 2025; and
  • progressively reduce plastic pollution.

Just as Lib Dems led on the 5p plastic bag charge, we are leading the fight against plastic pollution and fighting for measures to protect our environment.

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25 February 2019 – today’s press releases

Lib Dems produce Bill to properly tackle plastics crisis

Today, Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for the Environment, will present his Plastic Pollution Bill to Parliament.

The Bill will set targets to help fix our plastics crisis and require the Secretary of State to publish a strategy for the reduction of plastic pollution.

The Bill has been backed by a cross-party group of MPs as well as Friends of the Earth and the Women’s Institute.

Ahead of presenting his Bill, Mr Carmichael said:

Plastic pollution is the scourge of our oceans. The Government must start taking action to reduce our plastic to change our

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18 February 2019 – today’s press releases

Amidst the conjecture caused by the launch of The Independent Group this morning, it might have been easy to forget that there’s plenty of other stuff going on…

  • Lib Dems: Rail reform proposals signals change needed
  • Govt consultations on plastic must be followed by action
  • On short prison sentences, Tories say one thing and do another
  • Cable: Honda decision another hammer blow to the UK economy
  • Lib Dems will work with like-minded MPs – Cable
  • Statement on the death of Paul Flynn

Lib Dems: Rail reform proposals signals change needed

Responding to the release of the report containing the Rail Delivery Group’s proposals to the Williams Rail Review, …

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Plastic Pollution

Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Tim Farron said about the “latte levy”:

“We’ve been calling for this for years and the Conservatives have continued to do nothing – each year over 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups are thrown away and I now hope a small levy will finally be introduced to slash this waste.”

There is public support for using tax to reduce waste for single-use plastics. Firms that use unrecyclable plastic should be taxed to drive them to use other forms of packaging. This is part of the government target to abolish all plastic waste by 2042. The proposal is to use the funds raised to research into new recyclable/degradable plastics.

As Tim suggested, we need a tax on coffee cups that are very difficult to recycle. This is to deter the massive waste of plastic use that is having such a detrimental effect on our environment. This call follows the successful introduction of the 5 pence tax on plastic bags, by the Lib Dem, that has dramatically reduced their use.

From 2005 firms have had to buy a packaging recovery note (PRN), those firms who manufacture packing waste, to help offset the cost of dealing with the packaging. The PRN was to drive firms to more greener packaging. We, as a party, should push the government to increase the PRN to drive manufacturers to develop and use recyclable plastics.

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