Dignity and respect should be at the core of our criminal justice system. 

This is crucial if we are serious about reducing reoffending rates, supporting young people who have grown up in poverty and caring for people with poor mental health. 

Well, hello Conference and hasn’t everything changed since we last met in March!

Wow! Just wow! We asked you to all go on the Stop Brexit march on 20 March to make it clear we are the strongest Remain party.

You did that.

It was my privilege to help lead thousands and thousands of Liberal Democrats along with Vince Cable at that march that had over a million people on the streets of London.

We asked you to go out and give us the best results ever in the local elections.

You did that.                           

We made over 700 gains, and now control 18 councils. We’re still making gains in by elections too.

We then said please go out and campaign for our best ever European Elections results, in a snap election, with very little time.

You did that. 16 MEPs.

Our health and social health services are at crisis point in the UK.

They have been at crisis point for years now – and it is a credit to our brilliant healthcare workers that our NHS has continued to take care of millions of us every year

It is a credit to our brilliant healthcare workers that our NHS has continued to take care of millions of us every year

But the UK’s healthcare provisions are getting less reliable every year.

Waiting times have increased, staff feel undervalued and patient care is suffering.

Our social care is severely underfunded and we are failing our elderly population.

Our mental health services are severely underfunded and we are failing those we need to support.

And Brexit will make all of this even worse.

Brexit will threaten the ability of our staff from elsewhere in Europe to work here.

In our country right now, around 6.5million people are classified as carers. And an enormous 700,000 of those are young people. What they do often goes under the radar, but has a huge impact on the people they care for.

Our new policy will unlock the potential of those young people with care responsibilities

But despite how much they support their loved ones, young carers also undergo a huge amount of stress and hardship. I know the physical and emotional labour of taking on care responsibilities for a family member as a young person. It is one of the most exhausting and often upsetting things I have ever had to do.

The Liberal Democrats demand better for young carers. That’s why, in collaboration with leading care charities, we’ve just passed a radical new plan. Our new policy will unlock the potential of those young people with care responsibilities.

Highlights include:

We’ll offer significant support to young carers, and make sure that they don’t miss out on the chance to live life as a young person.

• Offering support workers for young carers
• Giving bus passes to young carers
• Enabling young carers with the most responsibilities to be eligible for Carers’ Allowance, so they won’t have to live through hardship because of their care responsibilities
• Giving additional educational support so young carers will no longer have to miss out on educational and employment opportunities

With it, the Liberal Democrats are at the forefront of policy on this issue. We’ll offer significant support to young carers, and make sure that they don’t miss out on the chance to live life as a young person.

It is time we care for the carers and support those who give so much support to others. And with the Liberal Democrat plan, that is exactly what we can do.

You can read the full text of the motion here.

Harry Samuels is the Communications Officer of the Young Liberals. You can find out more about our youth wing’s work on Facebook and Twitter.

One of the crowning achievements of our time in the coalition was legalising same-sex marriage.