Stafford and Stone
Liberal Democrats

The IFS has demolished Boris Johnson's repeated claim that Brexit will lead to an £350m for the NHS.

In a letter to The Times, the IFS's deputy director Carl Emmerson points out that overall Brexit is actually set to damage the public finances and lead to "net fiscal loss."

This is a point made by the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast and adopted by the government.

At our conference today, the Liberal Democrats have agreed to a raft of new policies which will see stricter penalties for companies that break the law, as part of a series of measures to improve corporate governance.

This would include scrapping the need to establish intent or guilt of a senior executive in cases of corporate failure, meaning that companies themselves could be held criminally liable.

In the wake of the recent terrorist outrages it's clear that we need a bold change of strategy to defeat terrorism and counter violent extremism.

To do that, at our Autumn Conference today we have proposed a bold new strategy to defeat terror. At the heart of the strategy being proposed is proper funding and resourcing for the community police.

In surprising news today, the Head of the Deparment for Exiting the European Union, Oliver Robbins has quit to take up a new role after a series of disagreements with David Davis.

I'm glad someone has found an exit from Brexit.

Unfortunately for the government, it's the civil servant who was meant to be leading it.

According to charities, councils and housing associations, the rollout of the universal credit is a disaster in slow-motion.

A mandatory six-week wait to receive a first payment is causing people serious difficulties, with over half of new claimants having to borrow money to make ends meet. Universal Credit's policy of making claimants pay landlords

Fire safety has to be put at the forefront of new building regulations in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

That is abundantly clear - and that's why, today, the Liberal Democrats have voted to give a stronger role to the social housing regulator, and are pushing for a package of measures to improve fire safety and building regulations.

In April 2016, I wrote to the UK Statistics Authority over the Vote Leave campaign's claim £350m a week is sent to the EU.

In his reply the Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, Sir Andrew Dilnot CBE, said that VoteLeave's use of the figure was "potentially misleading."

The fact that Boris Johnson continues to use it, despite having been told repeatedly that it's nonsense, means it is just not credible for him to remain in Government.

Today at our Autumn Conference the Liberal Democrats have called on the government to immediately lift the pay cap on the armed forces to address a growing recruitment crisis.

Currently, a newly trained private on £18,488 would see a £351 real-terms pay cut next year once inflation is taken into account. The Liberal Democrats would raise wages in line with inflation, meaning a newly trained private would get a pay rise of £536 up to just over £19,000.

The effects of Brexit are already being felt.

The value of the pound has plummeted.

Inflation has risen. Growth in the economy has slowed, and the government is already borrowing billions more to fill the gap in lost tax revenue.

Growth in the economy has slowed, and the government is already borrowing billions more to fill the gap in lost tax revenue.

The simple fact is that the proposed EU-UK security treaty is likely to fail unless Theresa May drops her opposition to the European Court of Justice.

The government has announced it will seek a new treaty with the EU to preserve vital cooperation against crime and terrorism.

However, access to tools like the European Arrest Warrant, Europol and security databases all require abiding by rulings from the EU Court of Justice, an issue Theresa May has made a red line.