Your Latest Briefing from the Liberal Democrats in Parliament.

Fixing the health crisis is a matter of life and death, but it’s also crucial for the economy, ensuring people can get back to work.

Ed Davey MP welcomed the extra NHS funding in the Budget, to repair the damage done by the Conservatives, but he criticised the neglect of social care and the national insurance hike, which could impact GPs, dentists, and small care providers, impacting health and care provision further.

At the Second Reading of the Football Governance Bill, Lord Addington endorsed the legislation but emphasised the need for a strong regulator to ensure effective enforcement.

Lord Addington also tabled an amendment to ensure football clubs give back to their local communities; for example, by offering training schemes to teach people how to run voluntary groups and sports clubs. This would enhance football clubs’ roles as social assets.

With the UK seeing higher cancer mortality rates than any comparable country, Clive Jones MP led a debate on the introduction of a cancer strategy for England. Shockingly, the target for 85% of patients to start treatment within 62 days of urgent referral hasn’t been met since 2015.

Clive highlighted our plans to ensure all patients start treatment within that timeframe and called for hospital repairs, new equipment, and more nurses to make this possible.

Welsh Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, led by Baroness Humphreys, tabled an amendment to the Crown Estates Bill to devolve management of the Crown Estate in Wales.

This change would let Wales keep income from renewables owned by the Estate, benefitting local communities. Scotland has had these powers since 2017.

Although the amendment was not successful, the Liberal Democrats backed a separate proposal for a Welsh representative on the Crown Estate, giving Wales greater influence over its revenues.

During a debate on conflict in the Middle East, our Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Calum Miller MP pressed the Foreign Secretary on a number of positions.

Calum urged the Government to proscribe IRGC as a terrorist organisation and recognise Palestinian statehood following Layla Moran MP’s Palestine Statehood (Recognition) Bill, tabled last month.

Sal Brinton led a cross-party amendment to the Passenger Railway Services Bill to ensure that publicly-owned rail services will meet certain accessibility standards. In response the Government brought forward an amendment to ensure that rail services in public ownership are bound by the public sector equality duty.

The Minister also committed to work with the disabled community to develop and publish an “accessibility road map” and committed to provide funding to further develop the Passenger Assist app.

Taken together, these changes will improve consistency in the service provided to disabled people across the rail network.