John’s April Briefing from the Liberal Democrats in Parliament.

At Spring Conference in York, during a Q&A session with party leader, Ed Davey (MP for Kingston and Surbiton) answered a question by Shiva, a British-Iranian woman.

Shiva explained how hopeless she felt, watching the awful scenes in Iran and the brutal repression of those brave women who have taken to the streets. She asked what we were doing, and whether there was any more we could do.

Following this exchange, Liberal Democrats tabled a motion in Parliament calling on the UK Government to take a stronger stance against the Iranian regime.

As an internationalist party standing up for human rights around the world, the Liberal Democrats will stand up for Iranian people being persecuted by the regime.

And Layla Moran (MP for Oxford West and Abingdon and Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs) has been leading calls in Parliament to get the UK Government to do more as part of her continued campaigning on this issue.

Layla has also been working hard on another important international matter - recently putting forward a Bill which would ensure the British Government formally recognises the sovereign and independent state of Palestine.

One of the big political moments of this past month was Jeremy Hunt delivering the latest Budget. Sarah Olney (MP for Richmond Park and our Treasury Spokesperson) led our response in the House of Commons, which you can watch below.

“Nearly three million people are expected to fall into poverty over the next two years. And in four years’ time, over a third of children could be growing up in poverty, the highest at any point this century. That’s the true cost of the cost-of-living crisis under the Conservatives.

And that’s why Liberal Democrats are calling for more help with energy bills, mortgages, and investment in our public services.” - Sarah Olney MP

Sarah also reflected on the Budget a couple of days later in her speech at Spring Conference. You can read the full text of Sarah’s speech here, or watch it here.

Liberal Democrat Peer Kath Pinnock tabled a motion calling on the Government to fix a mistake they made which proved costly to leaseholders.

The Government made an error which created a loophole allowing landlords to pass the costs of remedying building defects to their leaseholders.

Baroness Pinnock triggered and won a vote on her motion which called on the Government to identify those affected and provide them with guidance on how to remedy the costs incurred as a result of the Government’s incompetence.

Four Lib Dem MPs questioned Michael Gove during Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities questions last week:

Daisy Cooper (MP for St Albans) on the national planning policy framework, Sarah Olney MP on service charges for leaseholders and social housing tenants, Wera Hobhouse (MP for Bath) on affordable housing, and Wendy Chamberlain (MP for North Fife) on giving overseas voters the right to vote.

Gove was clearly rattled by our questioning, at one point remarking “Honestly, the Liberal Democrats have a right cheek on this” - but we won’t apologise for campaigning hard for the rights of our constituents and the British people.