Only the Liberal Democrats are prepared to stand up to the vested interests of the fossil fuel industry (09.08.23)

Last week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak flew to Aberdeen in a private jet to announce that over 100 new licences were being awarded to explore for oil and gas in the North Sea.

"Now more than ever" said Sunak, "it's vital that we bolster our energy security and capitalise on that independence to deliver more affordable, clean energy to British homes and businesses."

But this energy will not be secure, affordable, or clean. The licences are not ring-fenced for UK companies, and the fuel they produce will be sold on the global market, so the price paid by British consumers will continue to be dictated by global events.

The nationalistic argument that if we're going to use fossil fuels, it's better to 'Burn British' completely misses the point that the quantity of oil and gas already discovered exceeds the global Carbon Budget. So every extra tonne we discover in the North Sea will need to be cancelled out by another country deciding not to use a tonne already discovered on their territory. How can the UK, which reaped so much of the benefit of the coal-powered industrial revolution, turn to other countries and ask them to "do their bit" whilst we adopt a policy of "maxing out" our own reserves?!

The PM also employed bogus statistics, claiming that foreign gas released "four times the emissions of North Sea gas". If this were true, I'd have to agree that burning our own was the right thing to do. But that figure simply isn't correct: It ignores the emissions from burning the fuel and only counts the emissions associated with getting it out of the ground and delivering it to the customer. This is the equivalent of claiming you've "gone green" by filling up your diesel car using a solar-powered pump!

Or perhaps a better analogy is Newquay airport: The site is owned and subsidised by Cornwall Council, but its 2030 net-zero target only covers the emissions associated with "ground operations" and completely ignores the emissions from aircraft! I have led the Liberal Democrat campaign for the Council to put a limit on aircraft emissions, reducing it annually to reach net-zero by 2040. This would make Cornwall a global leader in sustainable aviation, and give companies developing low-carbon aircraft a reason to set up shop at Newquay Airport.

Labour's response to Sunak's announcement was to criticise the decision but also to say that if they win the next election, they wouldn't reverse it!

The only way to deliver clean, secure and affordable energy is to commit wholeheartedly to insulation, efficiency and renewable generation, but it's clear that both the Conservatives and Labour are unwilling to do so. Only the Liberal Democrats are prepared to stand up to the vested interests of the fossil fuel industry.

South East Cornwall needs representatives who listen to their constituents and who take action! (02.08.23)

Last week's Conservative Council motion in support of fishing was an empty gesture, motivated more by a desire to give the appearance of supporting one of Cornwall’s iconic industries than actually doing anything meaningful to tackle the serious problems it faces.

I called for the Council to carry out a survey to give everyone involved with the industry a chance to explain the problems they are facing and spell out exactly which practical measures they would like to see. Labour, Mebyon Kernow, the Independents and of course my own Liberal Democrat group all supported this proposal, but sadly the Conservatives voted against it, defeating the proposal by 33 votes to 32!

On Saturday I took part in the protest march across the Tamar Bridge, organised by the Tamar Tolls Action Group. It was very disappointing to see that although every political party was invited to send a representative, only the Liberal Democrats and Mebyon Kernow took part. The Labour and Conservative MPs for Plymouth and the Conservative MP for South East Cornwall both declined (apparently they were all on holiday). Well, I had a holiday booked too, but I cut my trip short in order to show my solidarity with local residents who are being forced to pay millions of pounds per year simply to cross the Tamar. For all the noise we’ve heard over the past decade about the benefits of remaining in or leaving the EU, residents of South East Cornwall don’t even have “freedom of movement” or “free trade” with Devon!

If Labour and the Conservatives really had something worth saying about the Tamar Tolls, they could have sent a substitute, such as their Council Leaders, but the truth is that all of them agree with one another that drivers should continue to pay ever-increasing tolls.

Finally, on the A38, we have seen yet more serious incidents in recent weeks, including at the dangerous little Menheniot turning just East of Liskeard. Since 2010, there have been seven different Secretaries of State for Transport. In 2018, we seemed to be making progress when number four (Chris Grayling) came to Cornwall and met the SAFE38 campaign group to receive the “Case for Action” which had been produced by the Council. But since then, there have been three more changes at the top, and our local MP has failed to persuade any of them to meet with the SAFE38 group, either in Cornwall or in London.

We have been overlooked in this area for far too long. Our precious funding for road safety and economic development has been given to places with more effective Members of Parliament. South East Cornwall needs representatives who listen to their constituents and who take action, including challenging their own party leaders when necessary.

Seize the opportunity, and join a winning team! (26.07.23)

Last week’s by-election results show a massive swing against the Conservatives, with voters proving that they are capable of figuring out which party has the best chance to beat the incumbent.

In the Somerset constituency of Somerton and Frome, the Conservative vote dropped by 29% and the Lib Dem vote increased by 29%. Last year, the Liberal Democrats achieved an even bigger swing to win the Devon seat of Tiverton and Honiton from third place! Interestingly the vote share in Tiverton and Honiton at the 2019 General Election almost exactly matched the result in South East Cornwall. If this swing were to be replicated here at the next General Election, I would comfortably beat the Conservative to become the first Liberal Democrat MP for South East Cornwall since 2010.

So why do by-election results often deliver bigger swings than those seen in General elections? First, they don’t change who will be the Prime Minister; in turn, this allows people to cast their votes based on local issues and the quality of the local candidates. And finally, in a by-election, volunteers from across the country can travel to help out in one constituency.

Interestingly, the next general election has the potential to deliver a by-election type result in South East Cornwall. After thirteen years of misrule, it is clear that the Conservatives will lose their Commons majority and Rishi Sunak will be thrown out of Downing Street. Labour will become the biggest party in Parliament. Whatever the result in South East Cornwall, Keir Starmer will be the next Prime Minister (though in his quest for power, he is sounding more and more like a Conservative anyway). 

So, with the race for the top job already sewn up, voters in South East Cornwall will have the luxury of being able to use their vote to choose who they want as their local representative. For far too long, our corner of Cornwall has been overlooked by London and Truro alike. Investment in economic development has been focused on the “A30 corridor”, whilst South East Cornwall has missed out. Thirteen years of promised safety upgrades to the deadly A38 have come to nothing, and the Tamar Tolls continue to rise, with Conservative and Labour MPs on both sides of the Tamar supporting the Government line that the ever-increasing costs must be borne by hard-pressed local drivers. As your MP, I would fight without fear or favour to get a fair deal for South East Cornwall.

So, the pitch is set for a by-election-style result. If we can pull together a big enough team, victory is possible! If you can help take this message to the voters, either by delivering leaflets, knocking on doors, or simply displaying a poster at election time, please contact www.seclibdems.uk/volunteer

Cornwall needs an independent Climate Commission to tell the truth about (negligible) "net zero" progress in Cornwall (19.07.23)

It's time for Cornwall Council to tell the truth about climate change targets: In 2019, Councillors voted unanimously to make Cornwall "net zero" by 2030, but papers presented to a Council scrutiny committee last week revealed that we may not reach that point until 2060!

The vast majority of Cornwall Councillors and officers are generally in favour of the aspiration to cut carbon emissions, but it’s clear to me that most are blissfully unaware of how little progress is actually being made.

The four big areas that account for most of our emissions are: making electricity; heating our buildings; transport; and land use. Fantastic progress has been made on decarbonising our electricity supply, with more than half our electricity coming from renewables and less than 2% from coal. But very little has been achieved in the other three areas.

The Council recently approved stricter rules for new homes to be so efficient that they can meet all their predicted energy needs, including heating, lighting and appliances from on-site renewables such as solar panels. But what about Cornwall's 230,000 existing homes? In the past four years, fewer than 1% have had a “whole house retrofit” which provides insulation, solar panels and a new heating system. Without a long-term plan and predictable long-term funding, local businesses simply cannot afford to gamble on training and recruiting the number of new workers we desperately need to make serious progress with this target.

On transport, it’s clear to me that most drivers would be happy to replace their fossil-fuel-powered car with an electric vehicle if (a) they could afford the up-front cost of the car and (b) they had somewhere affordable, accessible and reliable to recharge the battery. The cars are getting cheaper (especially when employers offer ‘salary sacrifice’ schemes) and the number of second-hand vehicles on the market is increasing exponentially. But around half of all drivers don’t have their own driveway, so the pitiful lack of public charging points in Cornwall is a huge barrier to transition. Likewise people cannot switch to public transport if services are unreliable, expensive or infrequent.

Finally on land use, we need farmers and landowners to be given the right package of support to ensure that cutting greenhouse gas emissions, reducing water pollution, improving soil and enhancing biodiversity can all be achieved at the same time as doing the essential job of providing the food we eat.

Cornwall needs an independent Climate Commission to tell the truth about progress in Cornwall as a whole, and the Council needs a dedicated Scrutiny Committee to hold its leaders to account.

This month has seen the highest global average temperatures ever recorded. We cannot afford to wait for the next election or the next convenient point in the economic cycle. The time for real action is now!

NHS Reflections (12.07.23)

Last week marked the 75th birthday of the NHS, and this was the focus of many discussions at the Local Government Association annual conference which I attended in Bournemouth.

On the first day of the conference, I had lunch with an official from HM Treasury and explained my frustration that they always seem to be able to find money for crises when ambulances are stacked up outside hospitals, but claim there isn’t any funding available for the early interventions and preventative measures which could have avoided the queues in the first place.

I urged the Treasury official to support the Liberal Democrat policy of paying care workers at least £2 per hour above the “National Living Wage” so that Councils can compete with the wages offered by the private sector. I also suggested creating a new funding rule so that for every £1 spent on emergency and acute care, a fixed percentage has to be allocated to "upstream" measures such as school counsellors and drug rehabilitation programmes.

On Wednesday, I met with Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation and Mark Rogers, Chief Executive of the Leadership Centre. I asked why NHS and Council leaders are failing to divert funds towards prevention and early intervention. They told me that even though local leaders want to do the right thing, they are being forced to do the opposite by the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary, who are both obsessed with short-term headlines.

On Friday, back in Truro, I met with the Chief Executive of Cornwall's "Integrated Care Board" to discuss these issues.  It was reassuring to hear that the ambulance crisis has eased for the time being, but the system will soon come under pressure as the holiday season hits its peak. The Chief Exec also revealed that 60% of those turning up at our Emergency Departments should have been treated elsewhere, so there is clearly a problem with the way the wider system is working. When people can’t get an appointment with their GP, can’t access mental health treatment, or can’t use their local Minor Injury Unit because it has been “temporarily closed due to staffing shortages”, then it is inevitable that more people will end up at the Emergency Department.

After meeting all these high-flyers, it was great to get my feet back on the ground at the Liskeard show to discuss these ideas with the most important people of all; the residents and businesses of South East Cornwall. Our Liberal Democrat stand was the busiest I’ve ever seen it, with a remarkable number of lifelong Conservative supporters dropping in to tell us how disgusted they are with the actions of that party’s MPs, and letting me know that they will be voting Liberal Democrat at the next election.

Leaders should be judged by their actions, not their words! (05.07.23)

On his first day as Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak sought to distance himself from his predecessors by declaring that his premiership would be defined by "integrity, professionalism and accountability". Millions of people hoped that this would mark the start of a more decent kind of politics, but last month when 354 MPs voted to condemn Boris Johnson’s lies, Cornwall’s six Conservative MPs followed their leader and simply didn’t turn up.

In January, the Prime Minister tried to set the bar for success as low as possible by giving himself a year to achieve five very specific, but totally unambitious “priorities”. Four of them were predicted to happen anyway (inflation halved, economy growing, debt falling and waiting lists shrinking).

Yet despite this lack of ambition, halfway through the year, Sunak's lack of leadership has put him off target on all five measures (the fifth being a pledge to stop migration in small boats). Failure to resolve NHS pay disputes has led to waiting lists getting longer, not shorter. With 7.4 million people awaiting treatment and millions more quitting their jobs to provide unpaid care, employers cannot find the workers they need, fuelling inflation and economic stagnation. Government debt has risen above 100% of GDP for the first time since 1961. Meanwhile, the Government is spending over £7 million per day on accommodation for around 130,000 people who are waiting for their asylum claims to be processed: That’s a four-fold increase in just five years!

Only the Liberal Democrats have the combination of ideas and integrity needed to get Cornwall and the rest of the country heading in the right direction. 

The cost of living would fall if farmers were allowed to recruit the number of seasonal overseas workers they need to harvest and process the food we eat, rather than leaving it to rot in fields across Cornwall and elsewhere.

Workforce shortages would also be eased if the Government allowed asylum seekers to work while they wait for their applications to be processed.

Small boat crossings would end if safe, legal routes were created, and the cost of refugee accommodation would be drastically reduced if the Home Office processed applications promptly. 

Agreeing fair NHS wages and paying all care workers at least £2 per hour above the National Living Wage would allow the NHS and the Council to fill 2,000 vacancies, ensuring everyone in Cornwall gets the treatment or care package they need, and enabling thousands of people to return to work.

A brighter future is possible for Cornwall and the UK, but only when the Conservatives recognise that they have run out of ideas and call a general election to make way for a new set of MPs who are prepared to show real leadership.

Observations on Cornwall's Armed Forces Day (24.06.23)

As I wrote this column, the Wagner "private army" was driving towards Moscow, with their leader demanding that the Minister of Defence and the Head of the Russian Armed Forces be replaced.

However that situation may have changed by the time you read these words, one thing I can say for certain is that the British Armed Forces would never behave this way.

While soldiers in Russia were turning against one another, Saturday 24th June was a day of spectacular celebration in Falmouth for Britain's loyal Armed Forces.

They cannot join a union, have no right to go on strike, and of course they face the risk of being injured or killed in the line of duty.

Yet regardless of which party is in power, they go wherever the Government of the day sends them, and they are world-renowned for their professionalism and skill.

One military wife I spoke to this week told me "I know it looks like a lot of money to spend on a big parade, but partners and children sacrifice so much by moving from base to base. They often feel like outsiders, and they worry for months on end when their loved one is away in action. So Armed Forces Day is just one day in the year for the community to say to those families, 'We see you, we acknowledge your sacrifice, and we welcome you as part of our community' and it's great that Cornwall is willing to make that statement."

This conversation convinced me that Armed Forces Day is an important mark of respect and gratitude from the country to those who serve it, but does our Government demonstrate that respect on the other 364 days of the year?

In 1996, the Conservative Government privatised Service Family Accommodation, leaving tens of thousands of Armed Forces families with cold, damp, poorly maintained homes. [The 2019 Liberal Democrat manifesto expressly sought to address this disgraceful issue, seeking to "Improve the quality of housing for service personnel by bringing the Ministry of Defence into line with other landlords, giving tenants the same legal rights to repair and maintenance as private tenants."]

Over £6 billion has been spent on two new aircraft carriers, one of which broke down within months of being launched.

Just two years ago, Boris Johnson tried to scrap all of the UK’s tanks, claiming that land wars in Europe were a thing of the past. 

Even today, £30 million per year is spent on maintaining decommissioned nuclear submarines, most of which sit at Devonport dockyard, but there is still no plan or funding in place to actually dismantle them or remove the nuclear fuel rods.

Over the past decade, the size of the Army has been cut by the Conservatives from 97,000 to 76,000 and there are plans to cut it further still.

The Conservative Government is spending a record amount on Defence, but a series of terrible decisions by Ministers has left our forces in a weakened state, unable even to provide decent homes for their families.

Cornwall deserves MPs who are diligent, intelligent, sober, and above all, committed to the truth! (21.06.23)

Throughout the COVID pandemic, millions of people across the country protected one another by following COVID rules and guidance. Health and care workers across Cornwall wrapped themselves in uncomfortable PPE (or in bin bags when PPE wasn't available), teachers like me had to educate our students online, and many work colleagues didn't see each other in person for months on end. It was an awful and unpleasant experience for almost everyone. And of course those with sick, frail or dying relatives faced the greatest pain of all, unable to see their loved ones or even to attend their funerals.

Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Privileges Committee report (which I've read from cover to cover) reveals that the rules imposed on the rest of us were being ignored in Downing Street by the very people who wrote them. Obviously some staff needed to be in the building, but they should have taken every possible precaution to prevent the spread of the virus. They should have maintained social distancing, used screens between workstations, avoided unnecessary meetings, and above all, they should have left the building each day as soon as their essential duties were completed. All of these rules were routinely flouted.

But the Privileges Committee report is not really about whether Downing Street staff followed COVID rules; it's about whether Boris Johnson told the truth to Parliament. 

The former Prime Minister repeatedly told the House of Commons that "all COVID rules and guidelines were followed at all times", even though day-in, day-out, this clearly wasn't the case at 10 Downing Street.

Johnson claimed that any rule-breaking was a complete shock to him, and only happened after he had left the various events.

But this is clearly absurd. It is obvious to everyone who followed the lockdown rules that gathering a large group of staff for the purpose of "boosting morale" was clearly not allowed, regardless of whether or not any suitcases of wine were opened.

The privileges committee (which has a Conservative majority) has reached the unanimous conclusion that Boris Johnson repeatedly and intentionally misled the House of Commons.

Any MP who fails to vote in favour of this report is telling us one (or more) of the following:

• They haven't read the report
• They've read it but don't understand it
• They believe that drinking alcohol in the office is an "essential workplace activity to boost morale"
• They understand the report but think it's acceptable for the PM to lie to Parliament.

So whether they're lazy, easily confused, drink at work or simply don't care about telling the truth, anyone who fails to support this report is clearly not up to the job of holding the Government to account.

Cornwall deserves MPs who are diligent, intelligent, sober, and above all, committed to telling the truth!

Tories' Broken Promises (14.06.23)

South-East Cornwall's Conservative MP has been all-in behind Boris Johnson from start to finish, but neither she nor her constituents have anything to show for it.

The Conservatives promised that Brexit would be great for fishermen and farmers, that Cornwall wouldn't lose a single penny of economic development funding, and that the cost of living would fall. Obviously the opposite turned out to be true.

They promised to build new hospitals in Plymouth and Truro, but both are still stuck on the drawing board, with no funding in place for construction.

Johnson promised "Project Speed" for safety measures on the A38, but funding has been delayed until at least 2030.

Their 2019 promise to cap social care costs has been postponed until after the next election, meaning thousands of older people will be forced to sell their homes to pay for care.

But what's worse than all these broken promises is the damage Johnson has done to the reputation of Parliament. MPs are called "Honourable Members" because they are expected to uphold some basic minimum standards. When a Prime Minister stands up in Parliament, we expect them to know what's happening in their own Government, accept responsibility for any wrongdoing and, at the very least, tell the truth. And backbench MPs, whatever their party, have a duty to call out their leaders when they fail to live up to these expectations.

So whilst it's been depressing to see Johnson break every promise he's ever made, and find a way to blame every one of his failings on someone else, it's been utterly sickening to watch our local MP cheer him on every step of the way.

But I suspect Sheryll Murray may be feeling a little sick herself this week. Honours such as Knighthoods, Damehoods and CBEs have been given to many of Johnson's supporters, including Martin Reynolds, of the infamous "bring your own booze" email, and Jack Doyle, who helped cover up the fact that the lockdown parties had taken place. Even fellow MP Andrea Jenkyns, who stood beside Sheryll to cheer Johnson on the day he resigned as Prime Minister has been made a Dame. But Ms Murray, who has defended Johnson's actions through thick and thin, voting countless times to support measures which hurt South East Cornwall, has been left with nothing.

It had been rumoured that Murray would be made a Baroness, given a seat for life in the House of Lords alongside Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams. But apparently someone in Government decided that a line had to be drawn somewhere, and these peerages were blocked. Dorries and Adams have now followed Johnson and quit as MPs. Perhaps Sheryll will have the decency to do likewise, then at least South East Cornwall would have gained something…

Polarisation has poisoned our politics. Liberalism is the cure! (07.06.23)

On Saturday I spent a day in the glorious sunshine at Saltash Pride. Hundreds of people from across South East Cornwall and Plymouth came along to enjoy the music and celebrate diversity.

Next month marks the tenth anniversary of the legalisation of same-sex marriage. This was one of the most significant achievements of the Liberal Democrats in Government. Moderate Conservatives like David Cameron supported this law, but it wouldn’t have happened without the Liberal Democrats because most Conservative MPs actually opposed it. All three of Cornwall’s Liberal Democrat MPs voted in favour of the bill, but by a strange coincidence, all three of Cornwall’s Conservative MPs were absent…

A decade later, gay marriage is just a normal part of life, yet the Conservatives were also absent from Saltash Pride, neither taking part in the parade nor bringing a stall to the festival. Perhaps this shouldn’t surprise us, given that the party’s Deputy Chairman Lee Anderson has said that “In 2019, there was three things that won us the election… It was Brexit, Boris and Corbyn. It was as simple as that: Those three things together was a great campaign. Great ingredients. At the next election we haven’t got those three things so we’re going to have to think of something else: It will probably be a mixture of culture wars and trans debate…”

As I marched along at the front of the Pride Parade carrying the LGBT+ Liberal Democrats banner, it was heartening to see the reaction of shoppers in Fore Street: Without exception, everyone stopped and smiled at the sight of the joyful and colourful procession. It’s clear to me that once again the Conservatives are not only out of touch with the way most people feel about diversity, but sadly they are actively trying to stoke up fears of minority groups as a way to distract from their own failures in Government.

Both the Conservatives and Labour seek to divide society into “us against them”. Both parties claim to represent “the people” as though we all think the same way, and to label certain “others” as being responsible for all our problems. Often those “others” are the most vulnerable people in our society: At the last election, Jewish people and migrants from the EU were the targets of abuse. This time around it looks like refugees and trans people are going to be the political footballs.

Polarisation has poisoned our politics. Liberalism is the cure! Thankfully, in our modern, liberal society, most people recognise that life is complicated and there are at least two sides to every story. Rather than “us against them”, Liberal Democrats seek to represent “one and all” by simply treating people as individuals who deserve respect and dignity, regardless of labels.

The UK's supposed "Democracy" is predominantly anti-democratic! (24.05.23)

At national and local levels, our elected representatives are pursuing policies & laws based entirely on their own viewpoint; no account taken of alternative perspectives & ideas, even when the controlling group was elected by less than 50% of voters. 

A democracy is meant to bring together elected representatives from a wide range of viewpoints to debate ideas, explain their own suggestions and genuinely listen to those who disagree, so that through a combination of compromise and persuasion, the best possible outcome can be achieved.

Sadly, our unfair voting system means that although since 1931 no party has won more than 50% of votes cast, the Conservatives or Labour almost always end up with a majority of seats in Parliament. As the opposition can always be outvoted, Governments can plough ahead with laws and policies based entirely on their own viewpoint, completely ignoring any opposition. 

When persuasion and compromise are unnecessary for the Government, and unachievable for the opposition, we end up with politics by soundbite: If a party only needs 40% of the vote to win a majority, the incentive is to just talk to your own voters with simplistic slogans whilst refusing to engage in constructive conversations with anyone else.

Boris Johnson’s “oven-ready Brexit deal” turned out to be half-baked. Liz Truss’ plan to “scrap all UK laws which derive from EU laws by the end of 2023” turned out to be impossible (though Rishi Sunak still wants to scrap rules which protect water quality, clean air and workers’ rights).

Last week, the “National Conservative” conference took politics by soundbite to a new level by refusing to allow speeches to be broadcast in full, only releasing selected clips to the media. Conservative MPs ranted about the terrible state of the country; the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, the weak economy and the loss of community spirit. I wonder who they think has been in charge of the country for the past thirteen years!

Shockingly, former Cabinet Member Jacob Rees-Mogg admitted that the new voter ID law was intended to “gerrymander” a voting system which already worked “perfectly well”.

This week at Cornwall Council we will see another example of propaganda dressed up as democracy: The Conservative Council Leader will give a “report” on “The State of Cornwall in the National Context”. But there will be no vote and no questions, just a twenty-minute uninterrupted party-political broadcast.

Finally, there will be a Conservative motion asking Councillors to “support Cornish Farming” by insisting that when biscuits are served at public events, they are accompanied by Cornish cheese and meat. The Lib Dems will submit an amendment to address the far more important issues of farm support payments, the lack of agricultural workers, barriers to exports, and the consequences of trade deals which will allow food produced abroad to lower welfare and environmental standards to be sold in the UK. Will Conservative councillors be open to persuasion, or will they put party-politics ahead of Cornish farmers?

Terrible Value for Money of Tories' "Sticking-Plaster" Policies (17.05.23)

Last week, Lostwithiel received an extraordinary amount of news coverage after a frustrated resident used concrete to repair a huge pothole which had closed a road for over a month. This was covered by the national media because it struck a chord with millions of people who feel that the Government simply isn’t there when we need it any more: People are pulling out their own teeth because they can’t find an NHS dentist; People are waiting over eighteen months for hospital treatment; People are quitting their jobs to care for elderly relatives, or for grandchildren (or sometimes both at once); People are living in their parents’ spare rooms, or even in vans and cars because there is a desperate lack of affordable housing.

The standard answer given by Conservative MPs to every one of these problems is to say “we’re spending record amounts” on whatever area is mentioned. And whilst this is technically true, this money is spent on expensive “sticking-plaster” interventions which provide terrible value for money.

We all know that prevention is better than cure, and we’ve all heard the saying “a stitch in time saves nine”, yet for all the billions being spent on crisis measures, the Government continues to underfund the actions which would save the most money in the long-run:

Paying care-workers at least £2 per hour above the minimum wage would attract tens of thousands more carers to the profession, freeing up thousands of hospital beds and enabling hundreds of thousands of relatives to return to paid employment.

Paying doctors and nurses better wages would prevent hospitals having to spend a fortune on expensive agency staff to cover unfilled vacancies.

Re-writing the NHS dental contract to prioritise children and vulnerable groups would reduce the number of people needing expensive treatment after years without seeing any dentist at all.

Funding councils properly would enable them to resurface roads before they start to crumble, drastically reducing the cost of pothole repairs.

Building more affordable homes would reduce the amount of housing benefit being paid to private landlords.

And above all, investing in renewable energy, upgrading the grid and insulating our homes would protect us all from high fossil-fuel prices.

Liberal Democrats on Cornwall Council have fought for all of these policies, but they have all been blocked by Conservative councillors and MPs who only ever seem interested in cutting costs today rather than doing what actually offers the best long-term value for money. 

After thirteen years in power, they know that they have left it too late to see the fruits of any new long-term investments before the next General Election, so we can expect to see a succession of expensive sticking-plasters from now until polling day.

The Conservatives do NOT have our consent to rule! (11.05.23)

In the past week we have seen over a thousand Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors being elected to replace Conservatives, and one man being crowned King. The way they achieved these positions of power appears to be very different, but they are both held by public consent. This may seem a strange thing to say about a monarch who has not been democratically elected, but I believe there is more than one way to earn the consent of the community. 

The monarch does not have to win an election, so they must earn our consent by the way they do their job. Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth took this very seriously and most people agree that she used her position to serve the country. King Charles seems keen to follow his mother’s example. His first words at the start of the Coronation service were “I come not to be served, but to serve”. If he sticks to that promise, he stands a good chance of maintaining public support for many years to come. 

Ironically, politicians who win elections often believe that they have unquestionable legitimacy until the date of the next election. First of all, the consent given on election day is based on promises made in the election campaign. If those promises are broken, then that consent can quickly be lost. Secondly, our electoral system often gives majority control to politicians even when the majority vote against them. In 2019, fewer than 44% of voters chose the Conservatives, but that party ended up with over 56% of the seats in Parliament, meaning that they can pass any law they choose, even if opposed by the other MPs who represent the majority of voters. This is clearly undemocratic, undermining the legitimacy of our system.

Liberal Democrats have led the campaign for a fairer voting system, but even if a Government won the support of a genuine majority of voters, they would still have a duty to serve the whole country, even those who voted against them. 

We support the fundamental right to remind those in power about this responsibility through non-violent protest. But our illiberal Conservative Government has now made it a criminal offence to shout things which other people find annoying, or even to have the intention to do so! Sixty four people were arrested before the Coronation and charged with “conspiring to cause a public nuisance”. I am sure that His Majesty would have been perfectly comfortable to hear a few voices reminding him that he hasn’t done enough to earn their support. If our Conservative rulers in London and Cornwall are afraid of free speech, it is because they know they no longer have our consent to rule.