North West Liberal Democrats

I am pleased to announce today our new spokespeople who will speak out on the most important issues we face in Britain today.

While Parliament is consumed by Brexit, we need to remember that people are also affected by a whole host of other challenges.

We will continue to speak up for them as we continue our fight for the public to have a say on the Brexit deal with a People's Vote.

The Liberal Democrats have welcomed today's guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service that imagery of consenting adults, for an adult audience, engaging in legal acts will no longer be prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act.

Ed Davey MP, the Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesperson, said "At last a victory for free speech and privacy with someone in Government exercising some common sense. Liberal Democrats should be proud that we argued and campaigned for this freedom, in the face of an out-of-date law and illiberal attitudes."

The title of this article should be common sense, shouldn't it? writes Layla Moran MP

And yet, between 2014 and 2016 alone, over 3000 people were dragged before the court. Not for doing anything wrong, but for falling foul of a 195-year-old law.

The 1824 Vagrancy Act was drafted with soldiers coming home from the Napoleonic Wars in mind. It's a cold, archaic relic from a bygone age. I will do everything in my power to ensure it doesn't reach its 200th birthday.

Last night, MPs finally got a chance to vote on bringing Parliament into the 21^st century by introducing a year-long proxy voting trial. I've been working hard for this change along with MPs from all parties for a long time. This is a welcome - if long overdue - victory.

Our conventional pairing system is painfully outdated and vulnerable to abuse. Brandon Lewis broke one such arrangement with me on a crucial Brexit bill last year - in fact, he specifically broke the pair only for the two closest and most important votes that day. Worse, afterwards, it emerged that this was deliberate - the Conservative Chief Whip had also asked other MPs to break their pairs (though they had honourably declined to do so).

This afternoon I delivered our letter to Jeremy Corbyn calling on him to back a people's vote.

The response to the letter has been astounding - over 31,000 people joined our campaign demanding Jeremy Corbyn stop playing party politics and act in the national interest.

Many of Jeremy's MPs back a vote, his party membership overwhelmingly do and, most importantly, the public are calling for it too. Yet still he prevaricates.