We took a day off yesterday, due to the absence of releases on polling day, so it’s time to get back into the groove…

Lib Dems respond to leaked Govt plans for new mass surveillance powers

The government has secretly drawn up details of new bulk surveillance powers under the Investigatory Powers Act, according to leaked documents obtained by The Register. According to the documents all communications companies would be obliged to provide real-time access to the full content of any named individual within 24 hours, including encrypted content.

The Investigatory Powers Act was passed last year, after Labour failed to join the Liberal Democrats in opposing it.

Liberal Democrat President Sal Brinton commented:

This lays bare the extreme mass surveillance this Conservative government is planning after the election. It is a full frontal assault on civil liberties and people’s privacy. The security services need to be able to keep people safe. But these disproportionate powers are straight out of an Orwellian nightmare and have no place in a democratic society.

This shows why we need a strong Liberal Democrat opposition to stand up for people’s civil liberties and hold this government into account.

Air quality plan – Govt is passing buck to local authorities

Responding to the government’s draft air quality plan and consultation published today, Liberal Democrat former Energy and Climate Change Secretary and candidate for Kingston Ed Davey said:

This is not a plan, it’s a cop out. Instead of bold commitments to improve air quality, the government is hiding behind yet another consultation and passing the buck to local authorities. The Conservative government is shamefully failing in its duty to tackle deadly pollution that is claiming thousands of lives a year.

This shows why Britain needs a strong opposition that will hold the Conservatives to account.

Lib Dems promise £6bn extra a year for the NHS and care

The NHS and social care would receive an extra £6bn a year from the Liberal Democrats, it has been announced. The new funding is the first of the party’s election manifesto commitments and will be paid for through an immediate 1p rise on all rates of income tax. The funding will be ring-fenced to be spent only on the NHS and social care and will provide vital services with the money they desperately need until a longer-term solution can be found.

This is the party’s flagship spending commitment and its first major policy announcement for the election. The Liberal Democrats manifesto will set out a ‘five-point recovery plan’ for NHS and social care services in their manifesto.

Liberal Democrat Leader, Tim Farron, said:

Theresa May doesn’t care about the NHS or social care. People are lying on trolleys in hospital corridors and she has done nothing. The truth is you can’t have a strong NHS with a Hard Brexit.

The Liberal Democrats will rescue the NHS and social care. We are prepared to be honest with people and say that we will all need to chip in a little more.

It is not too late to change Britain’s future. The Conservatives want absolute power, Labour are too weak to stand up to them, so we will. The Liberal Democrats will be the strong opposition Britain needs.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Health, Norman Lamb, added:

The NHS was once the envy of the world and this pledge is the first step in restoring it to where it should be.

A penny on the pound to save the NHS is money well spent in our view.

Simply providing more money on its own is not enough and that’s why this is just the first step in our plan to protect health and care services long-term.

We also need to do much more to keep people fit and healthy and out of hospital, and that is why this new funding will be targeted to those areas that have the greatest impact on patient care such as social care, general practice, mental health and public health.

Lib Dem response to IFS report on recovery in incomes grinding to a halt

A new IFS Briefing Note, released today, shows that the short-lived recovery in incomes grinding to a halt. Commenting on the news, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor Susan Kramer said:

This report shows that the Conservatives are doing nothing to help ordinary working people, or the ‘just about managings’. Instead of investing in our economy and our workers, they have chosen to commit one of the largest acts of economic self-harm this country will ever experience: leaving the Single Market. A vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to change this direction.