Liberal Democrats Manifesto 2019 This document tells you what we believe in and why we think you should vote for us www.libdems.org.uk/manifesto Published and promoted by Mike Dixon on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, both at 8-10 Great George Street, London SW1P 3AE We are the Liberal Democrats. Our leader is Jo Swinson. This is a summary of our manifesto. It tells you the main things we believe in and what we want Britain to be like now and in the future. Our website is www.libdems.org.uk if you want to find out more. Voting for a better future The Liberal Democrats are getting stronger and stronger. We have done really well in recent elections where we have beaten the Conservatives and Labour. We are the only party that has a real plan to make our country great and fair for everyone. And we are ready to make the plan happen. Voting for us means voting to save the planet we live on, the European Union and the United Kingdom. It means voting for a better and hopeful future. Our plan to stop Brexit (Britain leaving the European Union) In 2016 Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU). The European Union is 28 countries in Europe that work on important things to do with Europe and the world. We will fight to keep the UK in the European Union. We will stop Brexit if we can. If not we want people in Britain to choose if they want to stay or leave. If we stay in the European Union we will use the £50 billion we save and make in the next 5 years to: • Improve important services like healthcare and education • Help everyone to be treated fairly and have the same chances in life Some people from the UK live in other parts of the European Union. And some people from other parts of the European Union live in the UK. We will keep their rights safe. Our plan for a stronger economy The economy is about things like money, businesses and buying and selling things. It is about how this all works in Britain and the world. We will spend a lot of money (£130 billion) on things that will really help the country now and in the future. For example, better transport and new schools, hospitals and homes. We will give every adult £10,000 to spend on education and training so they can learn new skills all through their lives. It is very important for people to be happy and healthy. This is called wellbeing. We will think about people’s wellbeing when we decide about new laws and how to spend government money. Our plan for better education and skills We will give free childcare to all children over 9 months old if their parents work. Schools have not had nearly enough money from the government. We will change this. For example, we will: • Pay for many more teachers (20,000 teachers) • Fix the school and college buildings that need repairs We will stop unfair tests called SATs that children take at primary school. We will have better information to show how well schools are doing. Our plan to save the environment The environment is the earth we live on, the countryside and the things around us. There are big problems with the environment that need to be fixed. For example, the world uses too much petrol, coal and gas that damage the environment. This is dangerous for our future. We will start work straight away to save the environment. We will: • Start a 10 year plan to stop damage to the environment • Make sure all homes in Britain have insulation by 2030 Insulation keeps homes warm and saves on gas and electricity We will: • Make sure most electricity in the UK is made by the wind, sun and sea by 2030 • Stop all fracking. This is a bad way to get gas and oil from the earth • Keep the countryside, seas, plants, animals and other things on earth safe • Plant 60 million trees a year. Trees are very good for the environment • Make sure all trains and new cars in Britain run on electricity Our plan for better health and social care We will ask people to pay a bit more tax. (1p for every pound they earn). We will spend this money on the NHS and care services. We will change mental health care. We will make it just as important as other care. We will change the law to help all parts of the NHS work better together. Our plan to make Britain fair for everyone We will make benefits work in fair way for people who need them. At the moment people can wait 5 weeks for their first benefits payment. We want it to be 5 days. We will make sure everyone can get the basic services they need. We will start by building many social homes every year (100,000 homes). Social homes are cheaper to rent and people can usually stay there longer. We will stop people having to sleep on the streets. We will give people the right to have food by law. This will stop people going hungry. We will give money to help all parts of the UK grow and do well. Not just some parts. We will start a new and better way to deal with violence like knife crime. We will help to stop violence in the first place by making sure: • There are local services to support young people when they need it to help them stay away from violence • The police and many other services work together in local areas to stop violence Our plan for human rights Human rights are rights that we all have. They help keep us safe. We will stand up for human rights. We will work to keep important human rights laws that the UK and Europe have made. We will stop people being treated unfairly when they try to come to Britain to work, study or live. We will make quick and fair decisions about this that work for everyone. Some people come to Britain to be safe from war, violence and other problems. We will give them the right to work 3 months after they ask to stay. Some children arrive in Europe without their families. In the next 10 years we will help 10,000 of these children to stay in Britain. Our plan for better voting and politics We will start a new way of voting called proportional representation. We think this is fairer and will help everyone’s vote count. We will give votes to: • Young people when they are 16 • British people who live in other countries • People from other European Union countries who want to live in the UK for a long time We will give more power to other parts of Britain. This will give people in local areas more say in important decisions. For example, how services are run and how to spend tax money. Our plan for a better world We think it is important to work with other countries to: • Stand up for human rights • Help people who are very poor • Save the environment • Keep us all safe We will help countries work together to solve problems, instead of them working on their own. We will support organisations in the world that work together on human rights, like the United Nations (UN). We will keep spending some of Britain’s money to help poorer countries. We will stop selling weapons to Saudi Arabia and other countries that don’t look after people’s rights. Note: this manifesto says what the Liberal Democrats want to happen in the United Kingdom (UK). The Scottish and Welsh Liberal Democrats decide some things they want to happen for Scotland and Wales. This means some things in this manifesto are only for England. The party we work with in Northern Ireland is called the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. They decide what they want to happen for some things in Northern Ireland. 3 3 3 3