Whether renting or buying, too many people across the country – people who work hard and play by the rules – are struggling to afford good homes in in the right location. 

We are facing a national housing crisis. Both Labour and the Conservatives, in pursuing Brexit, show they are wiling to risk 10% of our construction workers who are from the EU, making this crisis worse.  

Everyone deserves to have a safe and secure home. Liberal Democrats will tackle rogue landlords with mandatory licencing, and promote long-term lettings.

A Liberal Democrat government will tackle the housing crisis by ensuring that 300,000 new homes are built per year, including 100,000 social homes for rent. 

We will also establish a Rent to Own model for social housing and provide government-backed tenancy deposit loans for all first-time renters under 30.

Everyone deserves to have a safe and secure home. That’s why the Liberal Democrats will tackle rogue landlords with mandatory licencing, and promote long-term lettings.

We’ll tackle wasted vacant housing stock by allowing local authorities to increase council tax by up to 500% where homes are left empty for more than six months.

Building secure homes which are fit for the future is at the heart of the Liberal Democrats’ plan for a brighter future.

Learn more about our Plan for the Future here. 

The Liberal Democrats have officially launched our 2019 General Election Manifesto! 

In it, we have outlined a clear plan to build a brighter future, where every person, every community and our planet can thrive. 

Don’t have time to read the full manifesto right now? Here, we explain our top 5 steps:

1. Stop Brexit

Labour and the Conservatives can’t offer the country a brighter future because they both want Brexit.

The national humiliation of Brexit puts so much at risk; we know that it would be bad for our economy, bad for our NHS and bad for our environment.

Jo Swinson is the only candidate for Prime Minister who unequivocally believes that the UK is stronger as part of the EU.

By keeping the UK in the EU, we can get on with tackling the real issues facing our country, and we can do this by investing the £50 billion Remain Bonus in public services and tackling inequality.

2. Tackle the climate emergency

We are the first generation to know we are destroying the environment, and the last generation with a chance to do something about it before it’s too late.

Liberal Democrats offer a new plan to innovate our way out of crisis. To mobilise every community in the country, and the resources of both the public and private sector to achieve it. To turn the birthplace of the industrial revolution into the home of the new Green Revolution.

This starts by generating 80% of our electricity from renewables by 2030 and insulating all low-income homes by 2025.

3. Give every child the best start in life

Our schools should be world class, helping every child make the most of the challenges ahead. But instead, they are trailing behind.

The Conservatives have cut school funding to the bone and children have paid the price, especially those with the most complex needs.

Liberal Democrats will build a brighter future for every child. By stopping Brexit, we can spend £10 billion of our Remain Bonus on reversing school cuts and hiring 20,000 more teachers – so that pupils can leave school happy, healthy and with the skills they need to succeed in life.

This is an investment in our children’s future.

4. Build a fairer economy

In an ever changing workplace people often need to develop new skills, but the cost of courses and qualifications shuts too many people out.

Liberal Democrats will create a new era of learning throughout adult life with Skills Wallets for every individual, providing them with £10,000 to spend on education and training at various stages of their lives.

With Skills Wallets, we will empower people to develop new skills so that they can thrive in the technologies and industries that are key to the UK’s economic future and prosperity.

Another key factor in building a fairer economy is by providing free, high-quality childcare for every child aged two to four, for 35 hours a week, 48 weeks a year. This offer is extended to children aged between 9 and 24 months where their parents are in work. 

This offering will finally give parents more choice about when they return to work and unlock their untapped potential for our economy.

5. Transform our mental health services

Approximately one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year. But for too many, treatment is a postcode lottery.

No one should be forced to travel unreasonable distances away from home, and that’s why Liberal Democrats will invest £11bn into mental health to provide parity of urgency with physical health.

We want to break down the barriers of stigma and shame, which leave those suffering, alienated and isolated, and we want to make the UK a world leader in keeping our nation well with our push for greater emphasis on wellbeing.

Only Jo Swinson and the Liberal Democrats have a plan to stop Brexit and build a brighter future for everyone.

Last night, we held our Liberal Democrat manifesto launch event in Camden, North London, where Jo Swinson laid out our ambitious government plans for both people and the planet.

In her speech, Jo emphasised that the Liberal Democrats are the only party that can take votes away from the Conservatives, the only party that will stop Brexit and the only party that can build a brighter future for our country.

She also laid out the key points in our Plan for Britain’s Future:

1. Stop Brexit and invest the £50 billion Remain Bonus in public services and tackling inequality. 

2. Tackle the climate emergency by generating 80% of our electricity from renewables by 2030 and insulating all low-income homes by 2025.

3. Give every child the best start in life by recruiting 20,000 more teachers as part of an extra £10 billion a year for schools. 

4. Build a fairer economy by providing free childcare from 9 months and giving every adult £10,000 to spend on skills and training throughout their lives. 

5. Transform our mental health services by treating mental health with the same urgency as physical health. 

Watch Jo’s full speech above and learn more about our Plan for a Brighter Future here. 

Today, we can finally share our full Plan for the Future with you!

This manifesto is a bold plan to build a brighter future for our country.

That starts with stopping Brexit.

The Liberal Democrats will build a brighter future for people and our planet.

Labour and the Conservatives can’t offer the country a brighter future because they both want Brexit. We know that will be bad for our economy, bad for our NHS and bad for our environment.

Our politics has been dominated by the two, tired old parties for too long. This election provides an opportunity to change the future of our country.

The Liberal Democrats will build a brighter future for people and our planet.

Our ambitious plan includes:

• Stopping Brexit.
• Then, investing the £50 billion Remain Bonus in public services and tackling inequalities
• Tackling the climate emergency
• Building a fairer economy and transforming opportunities
• Giving every child the best start in life
• Transforming our mental health services
• Adopting a public health approach to serious violence
• Fixing the broken immigration system

Read Our Full Manifesto

Please help us spread our vision by sharing this manifesto far and wide.

Together, we can create a future for our country where every person, every community and our planet can thrive.

For too many people, things aren’t working as they should be. The Conservatives and Labour are stuck in the past, failing time and again to deliver a better future.

Brexit chaos has distracted from the real issues facing our country. While the Tories and Labour are squabbling over the latest Brexit deal, the country is in crisis.

The NHS can’t afford to help the huge numbers of people facing battles with their mental health. Noone’s taking the radical action needed to tackle climate change. Schools are so chronically underfunded that some can only open 4 days a week.

It doesn’t have to be like this.