For a Fair Deal

Submitted by: Federal Policy Committee.
Mover: Layla Moran MP (Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, International Development, and Science, Innovation and Technology).
Summation: Lord Newby (Chair of the Manifesto Working Group).

Conference applauds the remarkable decency and strength of people across the United Kingdom, from all backgrounds and all walks of life: working hard, raising families, helping others and playing by the rules, even in very tough times.

Conference reaffirms that the Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, welcomes the enormous strides that Britain has taken towards that goal over the centuries, and celebrates the role that Liberals and Liberal Democrats have played in leading that change.

However, Conference believes that, after years of Conservative neglect, the social contract - or fair deal - between people and government has been shattered.

Conference condemns the out-of-touch Conservative Government for letting the British people down and taking them for granted, and in particular for:

1. Failing to help struggling families and pensioners in the face of the biggest cost-of-living crisis since the 1950s, and instead making it worse by badly mismanaging the economy and recklessly damaging the public finances.
2. Plunging the NHS into crisis, running local health services into the ground and putting people, buildings and beds under immense pressure, and breaking their promise to fix the crisis in social care.
3. Neglecting education and failing to grasp the scale of the damage that the Covid pandemic has done to children's learning and mental health.
4. Damaging our natural environment, failing to bring forward credible plans to tackle climate change, and allowing water companies to pump raw sewage into rivers, lakes and coastal areas.
5. Failing even to get the basics right on crime and policing, allowing far too many criminals to get away with it.
6. Failing to stand up to hatred and prejudice or tackle entrenched inequalities, and repeatedly undermining fundamental British rights and freedoms.
7. Creating a crisis for democracy with their cronyism, rule-breaking and constant sleaze scandals.
8. Damaging British families and businesses with their botched deal with Europe, and undermining the UK's international reputation by threatening to break international law, slashing the international development budget and trashing our relations with our allies.
9. Conference utterly condemns the Prime Minister’s scrapping or delaying of key net zero policies, which will accelerate global heating, undermine business confidence and investment and increase the cost of living.

Conference also condemns the Labour Party for failing to offer an ambitious vision for the country or long-term solutions to the challenges we face, and the SNP for its record of failure, chaos and division in Scotland.

Conference decries the UK's political system as fundamentally broken - millions of people feel powerless and excluded, robbed of their rightful say and unable to hold the powerful to account.

Conference believes that the British people deserve a fair deal that gives everyone the power to make the most of their potential and real freedom to decide how they live their lives.

Conference calls for a fair deal with five key themes:

1. A fair, prosperous and innovative economy that promotes opportunity and wellbeing.
2. Fair access to good public services and a strong social safety net.
3. A sustainable and flourishing global and national environment, with fair access to nature for all.
4. A strong United Kingdom and a fair international order.
5. A truly fair democracy, where everyone's rights are respected and individuals and communities are empowered.

Conference therefore endorses policy paper 153, For A Fair Deal, as the basis for constructing the party's manifesto for the next general election, and welcomes its key commitments to:

1. Place tackling the climate crisis at the heart of our agenda, including investing in renewable power and home insulation, driving a strong economic recovery, bringing down energy bills, creating clean, secure, well-paid new jobs and leading international efforts to address the emergency globally.
2. Give everyone a new right to see their GP within seven days, or 24 hours if it's urgent, with the extra doctors needed to make it happen.
3. Hold big companies to account by giving them a duty to protect the environment, including banning water companies from dumping raw sewage into rivers, lakes and coastal areas.
4. Immediately fix our broken relationship with Europe, forge a new partnership built on cooperation, not confrontation, and move to conclude a new comprehensive agreement which removes as many barriers to trade as possible.
5. Introduce proportional representation for electing MPs, and local councillors in England and reform the House of Lords with a proper democratic mandate.
6. Build a strong, fair economy that benefits everyone in the UK, through investment in infrastructure, innovation and skills, fair taxes and responsible management of the public finances.
7. Ensure that everyone can get the care they need by recruiting, training and retaining more doctors and nurses, reforming NHS dentistry, and fixing the crisis in social care.
8. Invest in education, from early years throughout adulthood, and give every child the support and attention they need to flourish at school.
9. Repair the broken benefits safety net and set a target of ending deep poverty within a decade.
10. Restore proper community policing, where officers are visible, trusted and focused on preventing and solving crimes.
11. Mend our broken politics by strengthening democratic rights and participation and ensuring that MPs, and especially Ministers, are held to account for corruption and sleaze.
12. Empower local communities and regions to take the action they need to improve their areas and ensure that everyone has access to housing that meets their needs.
13. Champion the freedom, dignity and well-being of every individual, and resist any attempts to weaken or repeal the UK's Human Rights Act.
14. Ensure that the UK stands tall on the world stage, championing the values of equality, democracy, human rights and the rule of law including by creating a comprehensive UK strategy to challenge regimes such as that led by the CCP in China, restoring the UK's reputation as an international development superpower, reinstating the 0.7% of GNI aid target, re-establishing a Department for International Development and fixing the UK's broken relationship with Europe following the four- step roadmap set out in policy paper 144, Rebuilding Trade and Cooperation with Europe.
15. Protect the BBC, Channel 4, S4C and BBC Alba as independent, publicly-owned, public service broadcasters, and support growth in the creative industries.

Applicability: Federal; except 2 and 3. (lines 70-76),'and local councillors in England' in 5. (line 82), 7 and 8 (lines 87-92), 10 (lines 95-97) and 12 (lines 101-103), which are England only.

Motion before amendment

Conference applauds the remarkable decency and strength of people across the United Kingdom, from all backgrounds and all walks of life: working hard, raising families, helping others and playing by the rules, even in very tough times.

Conference reaffirms that the Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, welcomes the enormous strides that Britain has taken towards that goal over the centuries, and celebrates the role that Liberals and Liberal Democrats have played in leading that change.

However, Conference believes that, after years of Conservative neglect, the social contract - or fair deal - between people and government has been shattered.

Conference condemns the out-of-touch Conservative Government for letting the British people down and taking them for granted, and in particular for:

1. Failing to help struggling families and pensioners in the face of the biggest cost-of-living crisis since the 1950s, and instead making it worse by badly mismanaging the economy and recklessly damaging the public finances.
2. Plunging the NHS into crisis, running local health services into the ground and putting people, buildings and beds under immense pressure, and breaking their promise to fix the crisis in social care.
3. Neglecting education and failing to grasp the scale of the damage that the Covid pandemic has done to children's learning and mental health.
4. Damaging our natural environment, failing to bring forward credible plans to tackle climate change, and allowing water companies to pump raw sewage into rivers, lakes and coastal areas.
5. Failing even to get the basics right on crime and policing, allowing far too many criminals to get away with it.
6. Failing to stand up to hatred and prejudice or tackle entrenched inequalities, and repeatedly undermining fundamental British rights and freedoms.
7. Creating a crisis for democracy with their cronyism, rule-breaking and constant sleaze scandals.
8. Damaging British families and businesses with their botched deal with Europe, and undermining the UK's international reputation by threatening to break international law, slashing the international development budget and trashing our relations with our allies.

Conference also condemns the Labour Party for failing to offer an ambitious vision for the country or long-term solutions to the challenges we face, and the SNP for its record of failure, chaos and division in Scotland.

Conference decries the UK's political system as fundamentally broken - millions of people feel powerless and excluded, robbed of their rightful say and unable to hold the powerful to account.

Conference believes that the British people deserve a fair deal that gives everyone the power to make the most of their potential and real freedom to decide how they live their lives.

Conference calls for a fair deal with five key themes:

1. A fair, prosperous and innovative economy that promotes opportunity and wellbeing.
2. Fair access to good public services and a strong social safety net.
3. A flourishing environment, with fair access to nature for all.
4. A strong United Kingdom and a fair international order.
5. A truly fair democracy, where everyone's rights are respected and individuals and communities are empowered.

Conference therefore endorses policy paper 153, For A Fair Deal, as the basis for constructing the party's manifesto for the next general election, and welcomes its key commitments to:

1. Invest in renewable power and home insulation, to drive a strong economic recovery, bring down energy bills and create clean, secure, well-paid new jobs.
2. Give everyone a new right to see their GP within seven days, or 24 hours if it's urgent, with the extra doctors needed to make it happen.
3. Hold big companies to account by giving them a duty to protect the environment, including banning water companies from dumping raw sewage into rivers, lakes and coastal areas.
4. Immediately fix our broken relationship with Europe, forge a new partnership built on cooperation, not confrontation, and move to conclude a new comprehensive agreement which removes as many barriers to trade as possible.
5. Introduce proportional representation for electing MPs, and local councillors in England.
6. Build a strong, fair economy that benefits everyone in the UK, through investment in infrastructure, innovation and skills, fair taxes and responsible management of the public finances.
7. Ensure that everyone can get the care they need by recruiting, training and retaining more doctors and nurses, reforming NHS dentistry, and fixing the crisis in social care.
8. Invest in education, from early years throughout adulthood, and give every child the support and attention they need to flourish at school.
9. Repair the broken benefits safety net and set a target of ending deep poverty within a decade.
10. Restore proper community policing, where officers are visible, trusted and focused on preventing and solving crimes.
11. Mend our broken politics by strengthening democratic rights and participation and ensuring that Ministers are held to account for corruption and sleaze.
12. Empower local communities and regions to take the action they need to improve their areas and ensure that everyone has access to housing that meets their needs.
13. Champion the freedom, dignity and well-being of every individual, and resist any attempts to weaken or repeal the UK's Human Rights Act.
14. Ensure that the UK stands tall on the world stage, championing the values of equality, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, restoring the UK's reputation as an international development superpower, and fixing the UK's broken relationship with Europe following the four- step roadmap set out in policy paper 144, Rebuilding Trade and Cooperation with Europe.

Applicability: Federal; except 2 and 3. (lines 70-76),'and local councillors in England' in 5. (line 82), 7 and 8 (lines 87-92), 10 (lines 95-97) and 12 (lines 101-103), which are England only.

Mover and summation: 16 minutes combined; movers and summation of any amendments: 4 minutes; all other speakers: 3 minutes. For eligibility and procedure for speaking in this debate, see pages 110-111 of the agenda.

The deadline for amendments to this motion is 13.00 Monday 11 September. Those selected for debate will be printed in Conference Extra and Sunday’s Conference Daily. The deadline for requests for separate votes is 09.00 on Saturday 23 September.

In addition to speeches from the platform, voting members will be able to make concise (maximum one minute) interventions from the floor during the debate on the motion. See pages 109 and 111 of the agenda for further information.

Amendments

Drafting

The FCC has agreed to make the following drafting amendment to the motion:

In 11. (line 99), delete ‘Ministers’ and insert ‘MPs, and especially Ministers,’

Amendment One

PASSED

Submitted by: Chippenham
Mover: Katie Vigar.
Summation: Sarah Gibson.

In C. (line 59), delete ‘A flourishing environment’ and insert ‘A sustainable and flourishing global and national environment’

Delete 1. (lines 67–69) and insert:

1. Place tackling the climate crisis at the heart of our agenda, including investing in renewable power and home insulation, driving a strong economic recovery, bringing down energy bills, creating clean, secure, well-paid new jobs and leading international efforts to address the emergency globally.

Amendment Two

PASSED

Submitted by: Ealing
Mover: Cllr Jon Ball                                                                                           
Summation: to be announced.                                                                            

In 5. (line 82), after ‘England’ insert: ‘and reform the House of Lords with a proper democratic mandate’.

Amendment Three

PASSED

Submitted by: 15 members
Mover: George Cunningham.
Summation: Baroness Smith of Newnham (Lords Spokesperson for Defence).

In 14. (line 109), after ’and the rule of law’ insert ‘including by creating a comprehensive UK strategy to challenge regimes such as that led by the CCP in China’.

Amendment Four

PASSED

Submitted by: Basingstoke & Deane
Mover: to be announced.                                                                                       
Summation: to be announced.                                                                            

In 14. (line 110), after ‘superpower,’ insert ‘reinstating the 0.7% of GNI aid target, re-establishing a Department for International Development’.

Amendment Five

PASSED

Submitted by: Basingstoke & Deane
Mover: to be announced.                               
Summation: to be announced.                    

After 14. (line 113), add:

15.     Protect the BBC, Channel 4, S4C and BBC Alba as independent, publicly-owned, public service broadcasters, and support growth in the creative industries.

Amendment Six

PASSED

22 members
Mover: Ruth Gripper.

After VIII. (line 42), insert:

Conference utterly condemns the Prime Minister’s scrapping or delaying of key net zero policies, which will accelerate global heating, undermine business confidence and investment and increase the cost of living.