David Chappell

Soaring temperatures worldwide, flash flooding in central London and increasing numbers of wildfires. These are just a few ecological disasters we are seeing as a result of climate change. It is painfully obvious we must act.

We need to be ambitious. It is only by working with every single nation across the globe that we can hope to take on this challenge.

More than 800 years ago, St Albans Abbey hosted some of the very first meetings that led to the drafting of Magna Carta - the "great charter of liberties".

That started a proud tradition here in our wonderful city - a proud tradition of fighting for greater democracy, liberties and freedoms.

And in the last few years, there have been many such fights.

The sickening treatmeant of the Uyghur people by the Chinese Government is genocide.

And we cannot stand idly by while these gross violations of human rights are perpetrated.

The Uyghur population are being rounded up and forced into internment camps.

Half a million children have been taken away indefinitely from their parents.

There are almost one hundred thousand children in care in the UK and they face significant disadvantages in life.

they face significant disadvantages in life"

The average child in care enters care at age 14, which is a crucial point academically. Only 12% of care leavers have entered higher education by the age of 23 and many care leavers rely on Universal Credit as their main source of income.

The world's largest and most successful companies, including Google, Amazon and Facebook, are avoiding paying taxes in the countries where they operate. Instead, they shift their profits and hide in tax havens.

they shift their profits and hide in tax havens"

They must pay their fair share. And to do that, we need a global minimum corporation tax.

99% of businesses in our economy are small businesses. Unfortunately the Government is simply not doing enough to protect them.

The pandemic devastated small businesses as they were forced shut overnight. Retail and hospitality were among the hardest hit. As a result, many businesses are in a rent-arrears crisis with unpaid commercial rent totalling £6 billion.

A 2017 government survey found that almost 1 in 13 LGBT+ have been offered or had conversion therapy. This rises to 1 in 7 amongst transgender people. Over half of these conversion therapy practices are carried out by faith organisations.

As Liberal Democrats we champion the Individual right to privacy and autonomy. This must include the right to medical autonomy for adults.

Every year people flock to the beaches around our coastline. They are places of fun, enjoyment and pleasure.

As an islander the sea defines a lot about you.

Conservatives and nationalists will tell you that the sea is something that sets us apart, it divides us from other peoples and countries.

They speak about us being an island nation.

Setting out our vision for the country

Our September Federal Conference has a key trio of debates on our vision for a Liberal Democratic society, our overall policy platform and the strategy to give us the political power to achieve those aims.

Having spent the first part of this Parliament fixing many of the practical organisational issues that caused so many problems in the 2019 general election, we now need to shift up a gear to get the external aspects right too. Sarah Green's victory in Chesham and Amersham is a wonderfully inspiring example of what we can achieve when we get this right. The challenge is now to do that across the country.

The Conservative Government's decision to cut development spending has done extraordinary damage to Britain's reputation with our allies and partners from across the globe.

In a week which will see the eyes of the world on the UK as we host the G7, now is the time for leadership - but instead, the Conservatives want Britain to hide from its responsibilities during a global pandemic.