They have already called for a 10p fuel duty cut until at least Christmas to ease cost-of-living pressures and Sir Ed said further proposals would be unveiled in his leader’s speech at the annual party conference in Brighton.
asserted
proposals → call → Brighton
The party also wants to rejoin the EU’s customs union and single market, which they say will boost the UK’s economy and allow them to cut taxes.
asserted
them → want → taxes
“It’s really critical.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
People are suffering with a terrible cost of living.
asserted
People → suffer → living
Taxes are now at a post-war high, and the best way to help people who are struggling with their bills is to cut their taxes,” Sir Ed told Sky News.
asserted
Ed → help → News
He later added: “We’ve got the best growth strategy.
asserted
We → add → strategy
“So getting closer to Europe, getting back in the single market, back in the customs union, that will take down those barriers to trade, those costs to businesses brought in by the Conservatives, cheered on by Nigel Farage.
asserted
that → get → Farage
“And if we get those costs down on businesses, get that red tape out of the way, our British businesses, who are fantastic, will thrive in trade, and that will bring jobs and prosperity back to our country, and it’s sorely needed.
asserted
it → get → country
“And it will bring tax revenues to the exchequer, which boy do we need, given the state of our public finances, and it will enable us to offer fair tax cuts,” he told Sky.
asserted
he → bring → Sky
The party is seeking to firm up a platform for the next general election at its four-day conference, and as polling has consistently put the Lib Dems behind the other major parties, Sir Ed said he doesn’t look at them, insisting “What I look at is elections”.
asserted
look → seek → What
They are facing a challenge to cut through to the public amid a crowded field that sees them competing for attention with Labour and the Conservatives as well as rising parties such as Reform UK and the Greens.
asserted
them → face → UK
Few have seen Sir Ed on social media, heard from the Liberal Democrats, or know what they stand for, polling from More in Common suggested.
uncertain
polling → see → Common
The party was described as “weak” by more than half of those surveyed in recent YouGov polling.
asserted
party → describe → polling
And Sir Ed is facing concerns from within as MP Roz Savage said the party was “struggling for relevance” and Devon council leader Julian Brazil said the Lib Dems were “not saying the things that people can relate to”.
asserted
people → face → that
Sir Ed said this was a result of the party’s growth, after it won a record 72 seats in Parliament in 2024 and took council seats in local elections.
asserted
it → say → elections
“We’ve grown really fast in recent years under my leadership.
asserted
We → grow → leadership
We’re running more councils than the Conservatives – councils up and down the country.
asserted
We → run → country
“Really proud of that record and it means when you have a bigger party, you can’t please everyone all the time,” he told BBC Breakfast.
asserted
he → mean → Breakfast
He insisted he would lead the party into the next general election.
asserted
he → insist → election
Elsewhere at the conference, the party is set to vote on its stance on transgender guidance which sets out single-sex toilets and changing rooms must be used on the basis of a person’s sex at birth.
asserted
toilets → set → birth
Sir Ed said he backed the move and would vote in favour if he was in the conference hall.
“What we’ve been saying is we don’t think this guidance is fit for purpose.
asserted
guidance → say → purpose
We’re not challenging the law.
asserted
We → challenge → law
We’re saying the guidance doesn’t help,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
asserted
he → say → programme
The Lib Dems have also pledged they would plough £600 million into maternity care, including by bringing in one-to-one midwifery for every woman in labour, which they say a drop in negligence payouts that has totalled £1.3 billion in past years would pay for.
asserted
that → pledge → years
And they would tax big tech firms to fund a new online crime agency to tackle offences involving deepfake revenge porn and drugs and weapons trafficking, with plans to raise around £250 million a year.
asserted
they → tax → million
Home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson, MP for Cheltenham, donned a pair of smart glasses on stage as he spoke about a Lib Dem push for legal loopholes to be closed around covert filming, which members are set to vote on later on Monday.
asserted
members → don → Monday
“You may know them as, let’s be honest, perv goggles, freak glasses, stalker specs,” he said calling them “more than a benign piece of tech that provides a little bit of fun”.
uncertain
that → know → fun
“The technology in these glasses could be a force for good, but it needs regulation because women and girls are being secretly filmed and sexualised without consent, for clicks and for profit,” he said.
uncertain
he → need → profit
The Aporia
