For years, the Liberal Democrats have been campaigning to scrap the archaic Vagrancy Act, which makes it illegal to sleep rough.

And yesterday, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick conceded that we were right, and that it's time to get rid of this cruel and outdated law.

Delighted to hear Robert Jenrick thinks the outdated, cruel Vagrancy Act should go.

Together with @tracey_crouch @CarolineLucas @ToniaAntoniazzi @LSRPlaid @Jamie4North @timfarron I've introduced a Bill that would repeal it in a heartbeat.

Time to pick it up and #ScraptheAct. pic.twitter.com/zeNE9yzVsE

- Layla Moran 🔶 (@LaylaMoran) February 25, 2021

In an interview with the BBC's R4 Today programme on 25^th January, Serco's CEO Rupert Soames announced that the company's profits had grown to over £150 million and that they would be paying a dividend to shareholders. They had previously announced that they would be sharing their bounty with their employees with each one receiving a £100 bonus.

The claim made by Matt Hancock that there was never a shortage of PPE in the UK last year has not surprisingly been met with a barrage of criticism from health professionals.

Rachel Clarke, the palliative care doctor and author, has described the Health Secretary's claim this morning in his interview on the BBC Today programme as a "lie".

After the Prime Minister's announcement on the roadmap out of lockdown, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey MP said:

"Millions of people across the country have made untold sacrifices in the past year. People have been isolated from their families, hundreds of thousands of businesses have been shuttered and our precious freedoms have been curtailed.

JOIN US AT OUR CONFERENCE

East Midlands Liberal Democrats
Spring Regional Conference - Saturday 6th March 2021

****BOOKING OPEN HERE****

Opens at 10:00am
Introduction & Welcome
Talk & Q&A with Party President, Dr Mark Park

ACTIVITIES FOR THE DAY

Policy Hall * Agent Training * ALDC
Digital Campaigning * Using Lighthouse
Membership Engagement

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has launched the party's campaign to "give carers a break", calling on the Government to give councils immediate emergency funding so they can provide the support services unpaid carers need to take a weekly break.

In a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, Ed Davey highlights research from Carers UK showing that:

Suffolk MP and Health Secretary Matt Hancock is a busy man. Not content with fighting the pandemic he has also found time to announce plans to reorganise the NHS

As the White paper says "These changes will enable the NHS and local authorities to avoid needless bureaucracy in arranging healthcare services while retaining core duties to ensure quality and value". The fact much of this complexity was added by the last set of reforms to the NHS undertaken by a Conservative Health Minister in 2010 is somewhat glossed over but that's generally the way!

On the 11th February Nick Gibb, Schools Minister for England, wrote to all Returning Officers in Local Authorities urging them to look for alternative venues if schools were required to close in order to act as Polling Stations for the May 6th elections. A reasonable request you might think, in order to minimise the time lost from the classroom although the simple solution of holding elections at the weekend (as in many other countries) might seem preferable.

Responding to the defeat of the Genocide Amendment by the Government, Liberal Democrats Foreign Affairs spokesperson Layla Moran MP:

"Yesterday the Government used outrageous procedural manoeuvres to avoid any straight vote on the Genocide Amendment and avoid defeat, in a flagrant attempt to deny MPs from having their democratic say. If they were confident in their arguments, why do that? They are running scared of the Commons. By allowing parliamentary committees to rule on genocide, the Government has contradicted its own policy that genocide is a matter for the courts. Both relevant committees have already rejected these proposals.

"The Uyghur people have been betrayed and denied their day in court. The Government has turned a blind eye and has chosen to not put human rights first, despite clear cross-party support. Now is not the time for parliamentary games. Now is the time to stand up together against genocide and do the right thing when it comes to our trade policy. We will continue this fight in the House of Lords.

"The Liberal Democrats will always fight to protect human rights around the world, and we'll continue to push this government to do everything it can to end the genocide being committed against the Uyghurs and other persecuted peoples."

How often have we heard phrases like ' we have found no instances of such and such a problem in this area'?

This may be true but begs the question - how hard were they looking?

A recent study from Harvard reported in the Guardian suggests that fossil fuels caused 8.7 million deaths worldwide in 2018 Almost 17% of all deaths of those over 14 in Europe were found to be attributable to one specific type of pollution produced by these fuels - fine particulate matter, usually classified by particle size .