The UK is Israel’s third largest trading partner, but Israel is well down the list for the UK, at about sixtieth.  However, our current trade agreement with Israel is the old European Union one, amended by inserting UK instead of EU, and the Department for International Trade (DIT) wants to upgrade the deal to “something more ambitious.” Liberal Democrats at last September’s Conference also called for better trade ties with Israel, but they did so with a very important caveat.  They wanted to have a better trading relationship with Israel and also to observe international law, by ban ..read more

Worried about energy prices? Well, you should start worrying more about the empty bread bin. Twenty-nine percent of the world’s grain comes from Ukraine and Russia. Russia, Belarus and Ukraine have banned the export of all grains as a direct consequence of Putin’s War. And, because of our interconnected world, when there is a shortage of one type of grain it has a ripple effect on every other. Commodity brokers are now predicting shortages and high prices not just for wheat but also for rice, millet, rye, maize, barley, oats and sorghum. This is on top of a 50 percent increase in prices in jus ..read more

Jamie Stone has been making his feelings known on the appointment of Michael Grade as Chair of Ofcom. Jamie is our spokesperson for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. He says: This process has been rigged from the start. Michael Grade’s obvious dislike of his former workplaces BBC and Channel 4 should have ruled him out from the get go. In the midst of the Ukraine crisis and the past years of pandemic, the chair of Ofcom should be a strong independent voice defending the integrity of our iconic public broadcasters – not a card carrying Conservative critic hurling abuse from the sidelines. Ac ..read more

In his budget today, Rishi Sunak cut fuel duty by 5p a litre, raised the threshold at which workers start paying national insurance by £3,000 a year and announced a future 1% reduction in income tax. But the OBR said almost 3 million more people will be brought into paying income because the income tax threshold has been frozen. Ed Davey said: This tax bombshell will send a shiver down the spine of families who are drowning in spiralling bills. Rishi Sunak is trying to swindle the British public by burying the true cost of his disgraceful tax hikes. He has insulted millions of squeezed famili ..read more

It is a year today since Tony died.  I have been talking with other friends and his family about how best to remember him in a way which captures both the essence of the man and the extent of his contribution to Liberalism and his party over 60 years of activism.  I finish by asking how we to remember Tony and build on the massive legacy of his life in Liberalism. Tony had the most secure moral compass for Liberalism of anyone I have known.  Time and again, his reaction to events demonstrated an instinctively Liberal mind.  He applied Liberalism as a profound value to chall ..read more

In a passionate speech in the House of Commons yesterday, Tim Farron condemned the Nationality and Borders Bill saying it is based on a bogus premise, that we are swamped by asylum seekers. He slammed the “utterly bogus, completely contrived and arbitrary notion” that asylum seekers should be treated if they got here by illegal routes. Farron asked why are we not granting asylum seekers the right to work? He said if MPs vote for this Bill, “they are voting for deaths in the channel”. People come here not because of the pull factor, but because of the push factor and the outrages that they have ..read more

HMICFRS report: Met police needs new leadership not stitch up by Johnson and Patel Oligarch ditches UK mansions after government sanctions delay Nationality and Borders Bill: A traffickers’ charter that will cause deaths in the Channel Patel must stop her assault on British rights and freedoms HMICFRS report: Met police needs new leadership not stitch up by Johnson and Patel Responding to the report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) into corruption in the Met Police and the case of Daniel Morgan, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said: This ..read more

The world’s television cameras have shifted to the tragedy of Ukraine. But that does not mean that the problems elsewhere have disappeared. If anything they have worsened as the money and attention has shifted to the danger of a European, East-West war. There are now 89 million displaced people in the world. The greatest number ever in history. Here’s a very brief summary of some of the worst: Syria celebrated (if that is the correct word) the 11th anniversary of the start of its civil war this week (15 March). It has, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the dubious distinction ..read more

Next Thursday and probably Friday and possibly the weekend – will be one of the most important dates in world history. NATO and EU leaders meeting in Brussels will decide – or not to decide – what to do in Ukraine. Ukraine will then decide whether to continue fighting and how. Ditto Vladimir Putin. Australia, Japan and South Korea’s foreign and defence policies will be dramatically affected. China may come off its rickety fence. India and the OPEC countries will have to make big decisions under heavy pressure from both sides of the warring coin. International markets – stock markets, commodity ..read more

Embed from Getty Images We were all shocked by the summary dismissal yesterday of 800 P&O employees. My immediate reaction – as a former trades union branch officer – was “Surely that is illegal?”. The unions are, of course, taking legal advice. And the Government itself, in the person of the Maritime minister Robert Courts, has criticised strongly P&O, describing the action as “wholly unacceptable”. This attack on workers by P&O is an absolute outrage. If the current owners cannot manage this company properly then the government needs to consider how a more responsible owner can ..read more