Your Update from the Parliamentary Liberal Democrats

We are pleased to share that Wera Hobhouse’s (MP for Bath) Private Member’s Bill passed its Committee Stage last month.

The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Bill aims to make employers responsible for creating safe workplaces with preventative measures to stop sexual harassment from happening.

The Government’s Sexual Harassment Survey (2020) showed that 29% of the workforce had been sexually harassed in the last 12 months. That is 10.6 million people, highlighting the importance of this Bill.

“Workplace sexual harassment plagues UK society. It remains widespread and vastly underreported. Too many people have been left to suffer for too long.

“This Bill will help to prevent harassment, protect victims and change the culture around victim blaming. Obviously, the Bill is not enough on its own to tackle workplace sexual harassment. However, it is a step in the right direction in protecting employees from sexual harassment in the workplace.” - Wera Hobhouse

Not sure what a Private Member's Bill is? Click here to find out more.

Whilst all Liberal Democrats are outraged at the rate sewage is being pumped into our rivers and seas, for Richard Foord (MP for Tiverton and Honiton) it has become personal after his son became ill from swimming in a local river.

Richard raised this with the Leader of the House, calling for a proper debate on this matter following a report released by Surfers Against Sewage on water quality with shocking findings.

We also recently released an analysis of DEFRA data which shows that dozens of Britain’s Blue Flag beaches could be closed because of their appalling safety levels.

Our environment spokesperson Tim Farron (MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale) said: "Britain’s beaches are becoming ruined by profiteering water companies that show complete disregard for where they dump sewage. Whilst they rake in multi-billion pound profits we are left to swim in raw sewage. The whole thing stinks."

Add your name to our Stop Sewage Dumping campaign:

Lib Dem Peer Lord Sharkey led a debate in the House of Lords in early November on the importance of stability in the financial markets and the impact it has on pensions, mortgages and the rental market.

Research commissioned by us shows that the impact of inflation on a typical pensioner on a Basic State Pension would be a real terms cut of over £170 a year. Lord Sharkey commented that it is unacceptable that those most exposed to the impacts of the cost of living crisis are experiencing falls in their income like this.

Lord Sharkey made clear that we would double the Warm Homes Discount this year, giving up to £600 to 11.3m pensioners to fight fuel poverty and continue our fight for the triple lock.

It’s now been over 175 days since Lord Geidt resigned as Boris Johnson’s Ethics Adviser. 3 Prime Ministers have failed to appoint a successor. With no one in post to make sure Ministers behave properly and respect the role they are in, the public are quickly losing faith in all politicians.

Christine Jardine (MP for Edinburgh West) now wants Parliament to take over if a PM doesn’t do the right thing and appoint a new one. Her Private Members Bill is due to return to Parliament on December 9th, and would give MPs the power to vote on the final appointment and speed up the process.

Listen to Christine talk about the need for an Ethics Advisor on BBC Radio 4’s Woman's Hour and The Week in Westminster.

After Marcus Rashford scored twice against Wales in the World Cup, Munira Wilson (MP for Twickenham) told Rishi Sunak during PMQs that Conservative MPs and Wales’ defence might have something in common…

Munira highlighted Marcus Rashford’s fantastic campaigning on child hunger and called on the Prime Minister to expand free school meals to all children on Universal Credit.