We don’t know about you but we had a wild Saturday night!

Our leader Jo Swinson kicked off her election tour of the UK with a supporter’s rally in Battersea. We’re taking the fight across the country – starting last week with our plan for a brighter future.

The UK is in a knife crime epidemic, but successive Governments have taken the wrong approach to dealing with it.

For 25 years, Conservative and Labour Governments have been competing to seem tough on crime, without doing enough to actually prevent it.

“Liberal Democrats will build a brighter future for young people by investing £500 million a year in youth services and taking a public health approach to youth violence.”

The Liberal Democrats have set out ambitious plans to tackle soaring levels of knife crime, and we will do this by investing £500 million in youth services and adopting a public health approach to youth violence.

A Liberal Democrat government would create a £500 million ring-fenced fund for Local Authorities in England to spend on youth services. This would provide young people with positive, safe and healthy opportunities to prevent them being drawn into youth violence and gang-related crime. We would also make local youth services a statutory service, protecting them from future cuts.

The Tory approach to youth violence has been conducive to a broken relationship between police & communities.

By investing £500m a year in youth services, the Lib Dems will provide young people with the support they deserve, communities will be stronger & people will feel safer. pic.twitter.com/dpf1e5HxIk

— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) November 13, 2019

We would take a public health approach to tackling youth violence, modelled on the successful approach taken by Scotland’s Violence Reduction Unit. This would involve identifying risk factors and treating them early on, with youth workers, police, teachers, health professionals and social services all working closely together to prevent young people falling into gangs and violence.

With a Liberal Democrat government, young people will have the support and opportunities they deserve, our communities will be stronger and people will feel safer.

Lib Dem and Remainer social media is aflutter today with discussions of the Canterbury situation.

Some people argue with great passion that we should be standing aside for Labour’s candidate Rosie Duffield. I know Rosie and she is a good person. I think she would be a much better fit in the Liberal Democrats, but she has chosen to stay in Labour. I understand people’s instinctive desire to give her a clear run at her seat in the name of Remain.

Jo Swinson would make a better Prime Minister than either Johnson or Corbyn.

Yesterday, the Liberal Democrats filed legal proceedings against ITV. 

They have refused to include Jo Swinson in their Leaders Debate numerous times. This is despite Jo being the leader of the biggest and strongest Remain party in the country. 

In its current format, the debate will be between just two men. One is Boris Johnson, who has repeatedly lied to the country about Brexit and has just made an election pact with Nigel Farage. The other is Jeremy Corbyn, a Eurosceptic since the 1970s.

Remainers will not have a voice in the debate, despite opinion polls show that more people now back Remain than Leave. 

This is completely unacceptable.

Of course, the underlying reasons behind this format are clear for all to see. 

Jo Swinson would make a better Prime Minister than either Johnson or Corbyn. Why on earth would either of these men accept a debate against someone they knew they would lose to?

However frustrating this situation may seem, all is not lost. We are taking the fight to court in the interests of fairness and equality. 

This is not over.

Jo will be appearing in a televised debate with other leaders on the BBC. We are in discussions with Sky for a three-way head-to-head debate. 

And, perhaps most tellingly of all, over 47,000 people have signed our online #DebateHer petition calling for ITV and BBC to include Jo in their debates.

Click here to sign the petition

This is not over. Not by a long shot.

As the biggest party of Remain, the Liberal Democrats will continue to represent the voice of Remain.We will fight for as long as it takes.

If we win our case in the coming weeks, Jo will be able to show the country that there is a choice for a brighter future. If we lose, then the country will know that the two other leaders are terrified of us.

Because we are the only party that will move us forward, rather than backwards. Together, we can show Corbyn and Johnson that we are the only party with a real Plan for the Future.

As the world grapples with a climate emergency, the Conservatives are turning their backs on communities most at risk by failing to provide adequate flood defences.

Following the flooding across northern England this week, we’ve announced that a over the lifetime of the next parliament, a Liberal Democrat government will create a £5bn flood prevention and adaptation fund. The fund will help the UK build resilience against future flooding, and ensure all communities can access the funds they need during periods of crisis.  

“The Liberal Democrats are committed to investing in our flood defences and protecting communities from the devastation we have seen in the last week.”

The Tory Brexit agenda risks the UK losing access to vital EU funds for improving flood defences and flood relief. This would starve local communities of a key revenue stream to tackle flooding and build resilience for the future.

It’s only by voting for a Liberal Democrat government that we can stop Brexit and stay in the EU, meaning that the UK will retain access to vital EU funds to deal with flooding. 

The floods in northern England should be declared a national emergency.

A Lib Dem government will create a £5bn flood prevention fund to help build resilience against future flooding & ensure communities can access the funds needed during these crises > https://t.co/n55H6rxEDy pic.twitter.com/mS9fkVDzOp

— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) November 12, 2019

We will also increase DEFRA’s budget by £1bn per year, ensuring that non-departmental bodies like the Environment Agency receive more funding. 
 
A Liberal Democrat government will stop Brexit and build a brighter future, tackling key issues like the climate emergency. 

Learn about our Plan for the Future here.