Welsh Liberal blogs

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have accused the Conservative Government in Westminster of levelling down Wales in yesterday’s budget, stating that measures announced by the Government do not even come close to replacing lost EU funding. The accusations come as a newly released impact study by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) showed that the UK economy will be 4 per cent smaller as a result of Brexit, in addition to the 2 per cent smaller it is set to be from the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement from Chancellor Rishi Sunak yesterday also outlined that Wales will receive a £254 million cut in development funding after it was revealed Wales will receive just £121 million in funds from the so-called ‘Levelling-Up’ Fund in comparison to the £375 million a year it would have received if the UK had remained in the EU. Commenting Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader, Jane Dodds MS, stated: “We are now seriously beginning to feel the consequences of this Conservative Government’s ob

  Conference, it is a tremendous honour for me to address you for the first time as the leader of our Scottish party. I’m conscious that today I am addressing some of my political heroes. I cannot overstate the sense of responsibility I feel to the great Scottish Liberals on whose shoulders I stand, and whose legacy I inherit, among them friends and mentors like Jim Wallace, Jo Swinson and Charles Kennedy. But I would not be standing here, I would not have a seat in the building behind me were it not for Willie Rennie. With the most recognisable smile in Scottish politics,  Willie has silenced any talk of our extinction in Scotland  and with record breaking majorities in our constituencies he has redefined the meaning of the word fortress. Willie, you are one of my best friends and we will never be able to repay the debt we owe you. Bobby Kennedy once said: “Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it.” In recent times it’s felt like we’ve been walki

    I want to take you back to May 1999, and the first-ever elections to the then Welsh Assembly.  Almost 600 years after the first Welsh Parliament was established in June 1404, the people of Wales once again had its own national democratic institution. Wales was entering a new dawn – an opportunity to meaningfully hand power to people, to communities, away from the corridors of power. It was an opportunity to cast off the dust and to set about creating our own destiny here in Wales.  Our job here in Wales is made all the more difficult by Conservatives in Westminster and their assault on devolution and our national parliament. But that quiet earthquake in 1999 has passed many people in Wales by. 22 years on and that radical, reforming streak that ushered in a new era has, in too many ways, been replaced by a steady incrementalism, slow to move when the world is hurtling on. Now, granted, even after 1999 Wales operated with two hands tied behind its back and we don’t yet

Read Ed Davey's full speech to Lib Dem Conference now! Boris Johnson’s Conservative Government is steering us all into another terrible crisis. Shoppers greeted by empty shelves in the supermarket. House building stopped for a lack of materials. Pubs running dry. Fears that there won’t even be enough toys or turkeys for Christmas. It’s enough to make you need to go and lie down –  but we’re even facing a shortage of mattresses! The reasons are clear. There aren’t enough lorry drivers. Or enough people to work on our farms and provide our food. Thanks to the Conservatives our country is hurtling towards a cliff edge, with a Prime Minister asleep at the wheel. Again. Not enough staff for our pubs, restaurants and hotels as they try to recover from the pandemic. From farms to factories, from an energy crisis to a food crisis. Thanks to the Conservatives our country is hurtling towards a cliff edge, with a Prime Minister asleep at the wheel. Again. The Conservatives ignored all the war