This week NHS England released statistics on the NHS’s key performance measures – and they are abysmal.

Almost 1 in 5 patients attending A&E in England were not treated or admitted within four hours. This is the worst performance ever recorded since the target was introduced in 2004.

Meanwhile, just 76.9% of cancer patients are starting their treatment within target waiting times. And only 85% of patients referred for non-urgent treatment were seen within 18 weeks.

And this is not a one-off. By all measures, the NHS has done much, much worse under Tory rule.

These are not just statistics. They represent millions of patients who are not getting the quality of care that they need.

Patients waiting for hours in A&E for treatment. Patients being left alone on trolleys in corridors. Some patients even spending months waiting to begin treatment for cancer.

The Conservatives have failed patients and have failed the NHS.

They have refused to invest properly in our health service. Local hospitals are underfunded, overstretched and understaffed.

Instead of working hard to address these issues, they are spending countless hours and millions of pounds on their extreme Brexit.

And they are planning to make the situation worse. The Tories want to impose the cruel nurse tax, which will drive away the European nurses the NHS desperately needs to staff services.

We have to fix this.

And the Liberal Democrats have a plan for how to do just that.

We will stop Brexit, and allow the NHS to continue to recruit the highly skilled staff it needs from EU countries.

And we will put a penny on income tax for the NHS. This will raise an extra £35 billion, to invest in the staff and equipment that are so badly needed.

Everybody deserves access to excellent healthcare, free at the point of use. For over 70 years, people in the UK have had just that.

And under a Liberal Democrat government, we will continue to have a world-class NHS for decades to come.

The election campaign has started in earnest, and we’re delighted about how it’s going.

Jo Swinson has introduced herself to the country as a potential Prime Minister.

We’ve released our ambitious plan to change Britain for the better, and ensure a brighter future for all.

We’ve even put Jo on the side of a bus.

“Finally, a British Bus without lies on it” – @GuyVerhofstad

The election is only 4 weeks away, but there’s a very important date coming even sooner.

The deadline to register to vote is 5pm on 26th November – less than 2 weeks from now.

Register to vote now!

If you haven’t already, please register today to make sure your voice can be heard. It takes less than 5 minutes and all you need is your address and national insurance number.

You can do it in the time it takes to make a cuppa.

If you aren’t registered, you won’t be able to vote, and you’ll miss out on having your say in possibly the most important election that we will ever see. Yeah, that would be pretty bad.

Register to vote now!

You might also want to arrange a postal vote.

A postal vote means that even if you’re busy or something unexpected happens on polling day, you’ll still be able to have your say. It’s just a short form that you post to your local council.

…but at least he already sent his postal vote

The deadline to apply for a postal vote is also 5pm on 26th November, and you can find out how to apply by clicking the button below.

Apply for a postal vote today!

We need to win this election to stop Brexit and ensure a brighter future for Britain.

You can help us to do just that by:

1. Registering to vote today
2. Applying for a postal vote
3. Sharing this page with friends and family to encourage them to register –

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If you’ve done all that and you’re hungry for more, have a look at this post for ideas!

If you do all that we might just see this after the election!

Hate crimes against trans people have gone up by 81% in the UK.

This Transgender Awareness Week, we must reflect on how much further we must go.

The profile of trans issues is higher than it ever has been, yet we are no closer to trans people being treated as equals.

Our system is ill-equipped to meet the needs of those who are transitioning. It is a long, arduous and expensive process.

We must do more to help those who wish to transition.

But this is by no means the worst situation facing the trans community.

Horrifyingly, a recent report stated that hate crimes against trans people have gone up by 81% in the UK.

This is an appalling statistic.

Unfortunately, it is hardly anomalous. The most recent Trans Report by Stonewall makes for disturbing reading. From those trans people interviewed:

• 41% had experienced hate crime or a similar incident
• 25% had experienced homelessness at some point in their lives
• And 28% of those in a relationship had faced domestic abuse from a partner.

These statistics illustrate how far the trans community is discriminated against. There is so much more that we all must do.

Yet the government continues to drag its heels on this issue.

The Liberal Democrats continue to be allies of and advocates of the trans community.

Last year’s consultation on the Gender Recognition Act descended into dangerous farce. The media circulated wildly inaccurate and misinformed newspaper articles. These fanned the flames of vitriol against the trans community – any goodwill around the consultation was all but undone.

Since then, the government has been largely silent on the issue.

In recent weeks the Prime Minister has used increasingly inflammatory rhetoric. This has doubtless made a bad situation worse.

The trans community is one of the most marginalised in our society, and most at risk. The fact that our government would stoke the fire of unrest, knowing the damage it might do to those in danger, is shameful.

But the Liberal Democrats continue to be allies of and advocates of the trans community.

We will continue to push as hard as possible for reforms to the Gender Recognition Act (GRA). At conference this year, the Liberal Democrats voted to remove the Spousal Veto from the GRA. Baroness Liz Barker has since raised this as a Private Members Bill in the House of Lords.

We will continue to push for it to be swiftly passed through Parliament.

Removing the Spousal Veto is only a small part of GRA reform, but it will be the first step towards more widespread change.

The Liberal Democrats will continue to live up to the values as we set out in our Constitution:

“The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity. We champion the freedom, dignity and well-being of individuals, we acknowledge and respect their right to freedom of conscience and their right to develop their talents to the full….”

Being advocates and allies of the transgender community is at the heart of that message.

The Liberal Democrats will fight to give hope to our friends in the trans community. Together, we will build a brighter, more inclusive future.

It was a pleasure to be in Leeds today to give my keynote speech as Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor. 

Things need to change. Too many people can’t live a secure, happy and fulfilling life. And too many businesses face crippling uncertainty over their future. 

The economic debate in this election has been between two fantasies. Between Conservative fantasies of the days of empire or Labour fantasies of failed ’70s socialism. Both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn will only take our country backwards.

The climate crisis is doing irreversible damage to our planet, and our country deserves a government that has a clear, ambitious plan to tackle the climate emergency. That’s the Liberal Democrats.

We previously announced our bold green plan to build a brighter future, and today we go a step further as Ed Davey unveils the Liberal Democrats’ latest economic pledge in taking urgent climate action. 

A Liberal Democrat government will jump-start an economy-wide programme to tackle the climate emergency. Across a five year parliament, we will spend and invest an extra £100 billion of public finance on climate action and environmental preservation. 

A Liberal Democrat government will jump-start an economy-wide programme to tackle the climate emergency.

This will include a new £10 billion Renewable Power Fund to leverage in over £100 billion of extra private climate investment.

This will fast-track deployment of clean energy, to make Britain not just the world leader in offshore wind, but also the global number one in tidal power too. There will also be a £15 billion investment to make every building in the country greener, with an emergency ten-year programme to save energy, end fuel poverty and cut heating bills.

This election debate on the economy and public spending has Brexit at its heart, and the simple fact is, no party’s economic plan is remotely credible unless it starts with stopping Brexit.

With stopping Brexit as our number one economic policy, the Liberal Democrats won’t just grow the economy faster, but we’ll generate a £50 billion Remain Bonus and invest it in public services and tackling inequality.

Learn more about our Plan for the Future here.