Chesterfield's Liberal Democrat Borough Cllrs voted this week to support the 'Vision Derbyshire' proposals for greater cooperation and joint working between Derbyshire Councils.
Paul Holmes, Leader of the 17 Lib Dem Cllrs, explained that, "the Lib Dems support greater collaborative working across Derbyshire but refuse to sign a blank cheque for whatever is suggested. Any proposal to hand over decision making to some Joint Board of Council Leaders will have to be approved by Chesterfield Councillors"
The coronavirus crisis has exacerbated mental ill health for many people across the UK, and although tackling Covid-19 is the most critical battle our health system is facing right now, it's crucial that we remember to take care of our mental health too.
While we can hope to get a grip on coronavirus in the coming months, the mental health impacts will last a lifetime. We must ensure no-one slips through the net as the scale of the mental health impact of this crisis emerges.
Current concerns about a "surveillance culture" are not just around NHS Test and Trace, serious though they are about that. For some time now, worries have been growing about increased use of AFR, Automatic Facial Recognition, by Police. This came to a head in August 2020 when the Court of Appeal upheld complaints by a Lib Dem former Councillor about use of AFR in Cardiff for major events. Ed Bridges, 37, was backed by Liberty, and their lawyer Megan Goulding described the judgement as "a major victory in the fight against discriminatory and oppressive facial recognition".
October is Black History Month - a time to celebrate the enormous contributions Black people have made to our country.
Their contributions have shaped our national identity and are evident in every field from literature, politics, science, business, music and arts.
Throughout this month, we remember icons from the trailblazing composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, to Margaret Busby - Britain's youngest and first Black female book publisher.
We also celebrate those who helped establish our National Health Service, joined the war effort, marched for justice and worked tirelessly to build a better world for all of us.
Just a few months ago, the world watched in horror as George Floyd died at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis.
The violence inflicted on him and so many other Black people across America is abhorrent, and it is time everyone woke up to the multiple injustices Black people face - and not simply in America.
In the wake of George Floyd's killing, the demand for justice, that Black lives matter, has reverberated around the world and a new generation of activists has arisen in the longstanding battle for racial justice.
We must support these movements and help them provoke reform, in America, in our own country and wherever racial injustice and racial discrimination raises its ugly head.
The shocking reality is, systemic discrimination is a lived reality for Black people; we see it in classrooms, in offices and throughout the criminal justice system.
For example, in the UK a Black person is 47 times more likely to be subject to Section 60 'Suspicionless' Stop and Search than a white person. This is unacceptable. That's why I have demanded that the government scrap that power once and for all.
The last few months have made it clear that there must no longer be anywhere to hide for racial injustice: the curtain must be finally being pulled down on systems complicit in the oppression and dehumanisation of Black people.
We can longer be content with the status quo, nor can we merely pay lip service to issues of racial injustice. It's upon all of us to start doing the honest, hard, uncomfortable work of dismantling anti-Black racism.
As a party, we will continue to stand with Black communities and we will keep affirming the fundamental truth that Black lives matter.
This summer the Conservative Government announced proposals to rip up the planning system that has been in place since the 1947 Town and Country Planning act gave Councils control over granting local planning permission, with dire consequences for local communities.
The Conservative Government propose that they should hand out compulsory house building targets from London, to each Local Authority and create local zones in which development is automatically approved.
I'd like to start by thanking my friend Layla Moran. Layla, you fought a passionate campaign, full of energy.
Since becoming an MP, you have inspired so many people, particularly young people. Your future is bright and I look forward to you playing a big role in my team.
To members of the Liberal Democrats, thank you for putting your faith in me and giving me the honour of leading a party I joined 30 years ago.
And I want also to thank a whole host of people who've run this campaign - whether in party headquarters alongside the Returning Officer, or in my own amazing campaign team.
The thousands of people who've volunteered time to campaign with me. Who've donated to my campaign. Who've championed our vision of a greener, fairer, more caring society.
I'd particularly like to thank Claire Halliwell, my Campaign Manager. Claire, you've been fantastic.
And of course Emily, my wife and our two beautiful children, John and Ellie. Thank you Emily for your amazing support, patience and love.
I am sure I am speaking for many people when I say that - for all the stress and uncertainty of the last few months - one positive has been the chance to spend more time with our families. And so I'd like to thank Ellie in particular, for appearing as a surprise cameo in so many of my zoom calls and online hustings.
I want to talk now about the future of the Liberal Democrats.
I joined this party 30 years ago. I met Emily here. I have made so many good friends here.
And with those friends, I have campaigned across our country, knocking on tens of thousands of doors, delivering hundreds of thousands of leaflets.
The reason I have done all this is simple.
I love our party.
I believe in it.
I stand for all the things the Liberal Democrats stand for:
Social justice, political reform, equality and protecting our environment.
I stand for fairness and for fighting to protect the rights of ordinary people.
I'm determined our Party backs a Britain that works with other countries across the world for peace and prosperity.
But, it is my love of our party that makes me recognise that we have to change.
We have to wake up and smell the coffee.
Nationally, our party has lost touch with too many voters.
Yes, we are powerful advocates locally.
Our campaigners listen to local people, work hard for communities and deliver results.
But at the national level, we have to face the facts of three disappointing general election results.
The truth is...
Voters don't believe that the Liberal Democrats want to help ordinary people get on in life.
Voters don't believe we share their values.
And voters don't believe we are on the side of people like them.
Nationally, voters have been sending us a message.
But we have not been listening. It is time for us to start listening.
As leader I am telling you: I have got that message. I am listening now.
Whether you're from the North, South, or somewhere in between
Whether you voted for Brexit or Remain, or just wanted the whole thing settled
Whether you voted Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat, SNP or Plaid
My message for you is this:
I will travel up and down our country to meet you.
To hear about the things that matter most to you.
Your problems and fears, your hopes and dreams.
I will face up to uncomfortable truths.
And I will make your concerns my own.
Our country is going through one of the most extraordinary and difficult periods for generations.
The challenge of Covid will affect our country and the world for decades to come.
Millions of people are suffering.
As Leader of the Liberal Democrats, I want to reach out to help you and your community get through this.
Whether your concerns are your families' health, your children's education or your livelihood.
I want to understand the new future you want after all this - and help to deliver it.
So my job from today is to rebuild the Liberal Democrats to national relevance so we can deliver this future for you, for your family and for the people who need it the most.
None of this is going to be easy.
None of this is going to be straightforward.
And none of it is going to be quick or simple to achieve.
But I want the Liberal Democrats to represent the whole country, not just some people, and to stand for fairness and opportunity for all.
That is my commitment to you as the new leader of the Liberal Democrats.
I'm delighted to be addressing you as the Liberal Democrats' new spokesperson for foreign affairs and international aid.
I'd like to start by thanking my good friend Alistair Carmichael for everything he has done, and will continue to do, to champion human rights and justice around the world.
And of course thank you, too, to the brilliant Wendy Chamberlain for her tireless efforts in protecting UK aid.
I am of course sad to be leaving my role as Education spokesperson.
I spent my career as a teacher before I was an MP.
But once a teacher, always a teacher, and every day is a learning day, and so I look forward to this new challenge.
In this role, I will be able to use another side of my past. You see, I am a citizen of the world.
Or as Theresa May cack-handedly called it, a citizen of no-where.
I've always preferred citizen of everywhere.
I was born in Hammersmith but when I was one my British father took me and my Palestinian mother to Brussels where he started his career as an EU official. His job took us to Ethiopia, Greece, Jamaica, Jordan and Egypt.
My childhood was spent with a front row seat observing aid projects, attending diplomatic dinners and sitting in on trade discussions.From the back of the room, I'd listen and I'd observe how politics across the world played out on the ground in the incredible countries that we lived in.
Which was my favourite, you ask?
I cannot answer that question.
Every single one left an indelible mark on me and how I see the world.
From Ethiopia, through six-year-old eyes, I watched as military parades of tanks and soldiers would filter by our house on an almost daily basis.
A reminder to the country of the power of that dreadful dictator Menghistu who presided over the catastrophic famine made famous by Live Aid.
I remember meeting those children, my age, who had nothing. To this day I will never forget them.
It is why I care so deeply about our country's commitment to 0.7% of gross national income going to aid.
Why I have always been driven to tackle poverty and stand up for the powerless.
Perhaps, had I been born to different parents, I could have been them.
We give aid not just because it is in our enlightened self-interest, but also because it is the right thing to do.
From Jordan, I got to better understand my own heritage.
My mother's family are from Jerusalem.
An old Greek Orthodox family with a long proud history of living within the city walls.
I got to know my cousins and my mother's school friends as the family moved to Amman when my mother was in her teens.
By this time, I was the teenager, and I got a glimpse into the incredibly complex politics of the Middle East.
I am proud to be the first British-Palestinian MP.
I am proud to speak about my family's history in the context of peace, and to press for recognition of Palestine by the UK.
Self-determination is not a carrot or a stick for the US or the UK to use for their own ends.
For me it is personal, it speaks to a deeper sense of being recognised to simply have the right to exist.
And that is the approach I take to this brief; like all politics, it's always personal to someone.
Reading the news today, and over the past weeks and months, you could be forgiven for thinking that the UK's place on the world stage has been utterly undermined. And that it's beyond repair.
We have a Tory Government that is considering scrapping our aid spending commitments.It's turning a blind eye to human rights atrocities abroad, and flouting international law. And I don't care if it's in a "limited and specific" way - breaking the law is still breaking the law!
The Liberal Democrats will always stand with the oppressed and the marginalised across the globe, as the most internationalist party in Parliament today.
Human rights, equality, and the rule of law are at the heart of who we are as a party. Those values are at our very core.
Just look at our legacy - I am so proud that it was our party who enshrined the 0.7% UK aid spending commitment in law.
But now, 'Global Britain', under the Tories, is abandoning the world stage. The Tories' mask has slipped. To them, it's just Brexit and jingoistic national pride.
To us, it means so much more.
This year marks 50 years since the Liberal Party, as it was then, became the first political party in the UK to adopt the gross national income spending policy at its party conference.
Helping to lift people out of poverty, tackling some of the most deadly diseases, and enhancing the lives of children across the world: this commitment does vital work that helps the most vulnerable and it transforms lives.
I cannot believe that the Chancellor is even considering reneging on that pledge in the upcoming spending review;
With the merging of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the Department for International Development, the Government is sending entirely the wrong message. It says 'eradicating poverty is an afterthought', not a top priority.
That's wrong.
With illnesses like Covid-19, no one is free from it until everyone is free from it. Our world is more connected than ever before and to pretend that we can tackle this virus at home without doing the same abroad is just beyond ignorant.
Our response is only as strong as the weakest healthcare system. And we cannot forget the biggest issue threatening our species' very existence: climate change.
To withhold aid now is not only morally wrong, it's against our own interests too.
That's why I'm working with MPs from across Parliament to urge Rishi Sunak to take this threat off the table.
And beyond that, I'd like us to look at increasing aid spending to 1% of gross national income, with the extra 0.3% used to help tackling climate change abroad.
Helping the poorest.
This is what 'Global Britain', as the Tories have been so fond of talking about, really means - I want us to be proud of our role on the world stage, not ashamed.
The Tory shenanigans over the Northern Ireland protocol in the Withdrawal Agreement have fundamentally undermined trust in our nation.
It used to be that you could trust the UK to do as it promised. Our word was our bond. Our integrity beyond reproach.
No more. And this matters.
How can we expect countries like China to respect the international rule of law if we're not championing it ourselves?
The UK has a responsibility to the people of Hong Kong, which is why the Liberal Democrats, led by Alistair Carmichael, introduced a cross-party bill in February to give all the people of Hong Kong the right to live in the UK.
The new national security law imposed by Beijing aims to stamp out protests, in the name of protecting national security.
From what we've seen on the Chinese mainland under similar laws, this is about silencing people.
Silencing dissent. Silencing democracy.
How can we, as Liberals, let that stand?
Now is the time for Britain to step up, to reopen the BNO passport offer to give more Hong Kongers, including young people who have been excluded until now, the right to live in the UK.
The Liberal Democrats stand with Hong Kong.
Now is the time for the Government to stand up and join us.
ut of course it is not just Hong Kong where China's repression and brutality are laid bare for all to see.
Because what is happening to the Uyghur population in Xinjiang province is nothing short of genocide.
Detailed reports show that more than one million people are being kept in so-called re-education camps in the region.
That's not all.
Physical abuse.
Squalid conditions.
The forced denouncement of their Islamic faith.
Forced sterilisations and abortions.
The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide includes in its definition:
"Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group"
For me, that's clear.
This is a genocide.
History is watching us.
The world is looking to the UK and the international community to stand up and take action.
I wonder, has Dominic Raab seen the footage of people being led off trains to internment camps?
I simply don't believe he hasn't.
Which begs the question: why is he ignoring it?
Why aren't we automatically granting refugee status to Uyghur fleeing persecution?
What does Global Britain mean if not that?
To me, it means open arms, it means leading on the world stage in taking firm action against hatred and repression.
We must not turn a blind eye.
The Chinese Communist Party must be held to account.
And it starts with us. As consumers, we have a responsibility that the products we buy, and the companies we support, aren't connected to human rights abuses.
Any company selling products produced in the labour camps should not receive our support.
I call on our Government to ban the sale of those products immediately.
I'm sure many of you have seen the calls to boycott Disney's new film Mulan, due to its ties to the atrocities.
Disney's feeling the heat, and rightly so, as is Huawei following reports that it developed a monitoring system being used in the camps.
And then there's TikTok, which allegedly removed a teen's viral video about the repression of the Uyghurs.
ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, also stands accused of working with the Chinese state to censor and monitor Uyghurs.
This is about transparency as much as anything else.
A cutesy dance video may seem innocuous, until you realise that your money and your data is supporting a company that stands accused of helping to repress human rights in another country.
The onus is on TikTok to prove this is not the case.
As consumers, we have choices to make.
But while we can all do our bit, what we really need is for the UK Government to take a firm stance, to take action and show that we won't accept what is being done to the Uyghurs.
The Government must do the right thing and quickly.
That includes using Magnitsky-style sanctions against state and non-state individuals who are involved in implementing these clear violations of human rights.
The Liberal Democrats, along with colleagues across the political spectrum, are calling for an independent UN investigation, and for the High Commissioner for Human Rights to be allowed to freely enter Xinjiang.
And if we allow these companies to move their operations to the UK, or we fail to take the security threat seriously, we're tacitly accepting that repression, the 're-education', the sterilisation and other inhumane abuses as OK.
It is not OK.
So, Dominic Raab, pull your finger out. You will find support across Parliament.
Freeze dirty money and assets held in the UK.
And send a clear message: Global Britain won't tolerate this.
Or is 'Global Britain' just a branding exercise after all?
But while I've dwelled on China, there is so much more that we need to fight for.
In Belarus people's democratic rights and freedoms are being crushed with Putin's help. Those responsible for these heinous acts must not feel that the UK is a haven for their dirty assets. I welcome the sanctions announced on Thursday by the Government, although they should have come far sooner.
Civilians in Yemen are being killed by bombs, arms and equipment we've sold to Saudi Arabia.
How can this Government look itself in the eye?
And we mustn't forget the atrocities committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar.
I've nearly reached the end of a foreign policy speech without mentioning Donald Trump.
Well, let me tell you: there will be no one happier to see the back of him in November. I'm sure you all agree.
Just take his so-called 'peace deal' in the Middle East: it is a sham.
Excluding the Palestinian people from any settlement undermines any chance of stability.
This is another perfect example of the much-hyped 'Global Britain' hiding from its historic responsibilities, and letting others fill the political vacuum.
Donald Trump doesn't care about peace.
He cares about being re-elected.
Britain should be stepping up to the plate in the Middle East - but instead it hides away.
To the Tories, I'm afraid, 'Global Britain' means one-upmanship, brinkmanship and playing economic games with people's lives.
That is not the Liberal vision for a Global Britain.
We must set the example, no other party is going to.
My litmus test is to be able to face those six year olds I met over 30 years ago and say to them that together we helped to make the world a better place now than it was then.
Our Liberal vision means we want the UK to take a leading role globally in standing up to repression, genocide and hatred wherever it appears. To fight against poverty and for human rights and social justice, and the international rule of law. We can make our values shine brightly for everyone to see.
As a party we have never been afraid to lead from the front when it comes to Britain's place in the world.
Ten months ago, I was standing on a doorstep. It was dark. It was freezing cold. It was a few days before polling day. I was talking to a lovely couple, one of whom broke down in tears. She was a nurse at our local hospital and she was telling me how she and her colleagues were struggling to cope. They were stressed out, burnt out and desperately needed more staff.
So when I got elected and Ed asked me to be Health & Social Care Spokesperson for the party, I knew I had my work cut out: waiting lists skyrocketing, vacancies at record levels, many hospitals falling apart at the seams and no solution to the long-running crisis in social care.
And then Covid happened. In the face of a catastrophe that has cut across every aspect of our lives, we have watched Boris Johnson's Government blunder through crisis after crisis, failure after failure.
We are seeing the shocking impacts of isolation and bereavement on the mental health of people across the country, as well as the devastating physical toll of this virus.
We have witnessed the failure to protect our frontline workers with adequate equipment.
And - more than six months into this crisis - we still don't have the "world-beating" test and trace system that Boris Johnson promised us months ago.
As we head into a second wave, not only is this completely and utterly unacceptable, it is reckless. This Government's incompetence is putting lives and livelihoods at risk.
We need the Government to fix things here and now, to avoid the need for another national lockdown, and to ensure our NHS doesn't collapse this winter. But we also need Ministers to accept that this is a moment for real change.
The coronavirus has not just laid bare the fundamental problems facing our NHS and care sectors, it has exposed in technicolour the health inequalities facing the UK, and shown us why we need to rethink the way we see healthcare as a whole.
We have seen the impact of poor and overcrowded housing, insecure employment and our broken welfare system on not just our physical health, but also our mental health and wellbeing.
For years we've heard stories of how, for example, if you lived in Chelsea you would be expected to live on average nine years longer than someone from Blackpool.
Somehow, health inequality had become accepted. But coronavirus has cruelly shone a spotlight on this scourge in our society.
We have seen those health inequalities play out in real time, most shockingly in the disproportionate impact of COVID on people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups, on people with disabilities, and on the poorest.
When we think about the future, it's clear that going "back to normal" is not an option.
It is time to re-boot and re-think the way we live our lives - and the Government's role in helping us to do so in a more sustainable, healthier way.
This is not just about how we care for our physical health, but how we ensure we support mental health and wellbeing too.
Whilst we all want people to live longer lives, we want them to enjoy a good quality of life as long as possible. Health is wealth.
As a country we must decide that health can no longer just be about treatment. We need to prioritise prevention.
We cannot just rely on the NHS to always pick up the pieces.
Especially not when people's lives and wellbeing are shattered by the Government's own policies. Like the failure to provide adequate housing, or to ensure children don't go hungry, or to keep people from tipping over a financial precipice.
It simply makes no sense to have a welfare system which pushes people into poverty, with knock-on health impacts and costs, or to fail to tackle air pollution, which has such damaging health consequences. We need a society where our housing, our education, the jobs we do and the air we breathe are helping to keep us healthy.
Not only do we need to reinstate the funding that was cut from public health budgets by the Conservatives, but we need a much more joined up approach to public health. This means thinking about the health impact of decisions taken at every level of government, from local authorities to Whitehall Departments.
Liberal Democrats have long-championed a public health approach. We already advocate a public health approach to serious violence. And we also know the public health benefits of excellent education, high quality housing and environmental stewardship.
It's about creating virtuous circles, not vicious cycles.
That is why, as well as getting a grip on the immediate COVID crisis, I want to see Boris Johnson put public health at the top of his agenda in the long-term.
That starts with making someone at the Cabinet table responsible: a Minister for Wellbeing who will scrutinise the Government's actions and ensure they are fundamentally in keeping with health and wellbeing.
As well as this, in the same way that Equality Impact Assessments pushed equality up the agenda, we need to introduce wellbeing assessments to make sure new laws empower people to live healthier lives.
Underpinning it all - as ever - we need a well-funded, well-resourced, resilient healthcare system, to support our physical and mental health in "normal" times, and in times of crisis.
We still don't know what the future holds when it comes to COVID-19, but, after the chaos and heartache we have endured this year, we should not have to fight to put health and wellbeing at the top of the agenda. It's what people expect.
Yesterday's Derbyshire County Council decision was a disgrace" says Cllr Paul Holmes, Leader of Chesterfield's Lib Dem Cllrs. "Conservative Council bosses are fighting like ferrets in a sack as they try to grab more power."
"Derby City have launched a bid to take over their neighbours and create a huge Council of up to 600,000 people. The County Council are talking of a rival bid to take over all of Derbyshire, creating a vast, remote and out of touch Council of up to a million people."
![CCTV cameras (Hustvedt [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)])](/en/image/68kqQR/600/600/cctv-cameras-3.png "CCTV cameras (Hustvedt [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)])")
