North West Liberal Democrats

Cumbria's Lib Dem MP Tim Farron has criticised the Government's "perverse" funding scheme which is leading to schools not being able to afford to take on children with special needs.

Speaking at the NAHT Cumbria Education Summit in Penrith today, Tim said that the policy of schools having to pay for the first 11 hours of support for children with learning disabilities meant that the Government had made it too expensive for local schools to take children with learning disabilities.

Gina Miller's Speech

Gina Miller delivered an impassioned speech on the need to continue with a unified fight against Brexit.

Let's be clear, in the debate we had in 2016 about Europe, there was scant idealism. Lies were told.

Miller called on people to put the national interest ahead of political divisions:

The Liberal Democrats are opposing Government proposals to:

• criminalise "reckless" speech,
• make it a crime just to travel to certain places,
• criminalise what you read on the internet,
• give police more power to hold innocent people's DNA, and
• allow officers to detain people at airports without suspicion.

The party expects these reforms to raise an additional £15 billion per year, though this is likely to grow as the rate of wealth passed down increases in the coming years.

Liberal Democrat members will debate and vote on the proposals at the party's Autumn Conference in Brighton next week.

Proposals include:

Jo Swinson's Speech

In her keynote speech Jo Swinson declared that the Liberal Democrats are the only party who will put people at the heart of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

When society demanded better, it was liberals who delivered. The Fourth Industrial Revolution gives us the same opportunity, and Conference - we must deliver again.