Conference, I don’t know about you, but when you knock on doors canvassing, and people say “Oh, you’re all the same”, it can be quite frustrating. 

Brexit has changed all that. Everyone now knows, we are very different from Johnson’s Conservatives and Corbyn’s Labour.   

Only the Liberal Democrats want to stop Brexit. Let’s face it. Our great country could be just 46 days from economic catastrophe.   

The Government’s own Yellowhammer report could not be clearer: Food and medicine shortages, a hard border in Northern Ireland, jobs moving abroad. 

Is this what Conservatives now stand for? Gambling away our children and grandchildren’s futures? Forcing Britain into years of economic chaos? What shocking irresponsibility. 

Is this what Conservatives now stand for? Gambling away our children and grandchildren’s futures?

Britain deserves better. And Liberal Democrats demand better. 

First, we want an economy that works for everyone.  

That offers opportunity for everyone. Everywhere in Britain. And that especially means, saying to people who voted Leave, because they felt ignored and left behind, you will have a stake and a place in a Liberal Democrat economy.  

With Liberal Democrats, your communities will be given the power and the money to rebuild themselves and prosper. So in the first Liberal Democrat budget we will: 

• Back enterprise in communities and towns across our regions by relaunching our Regional Growth Fund that worked so well, and regionalising the British Business Bank, which the Liberal Democrats set up. 

• Find major investment for the East-West railway links the North and the Midlands have long been promised – but have never had.  

• Restore high streets in our towns and cities, devastated by business rates and unfair competition from the likes of Amazon. Our plans to reform and cut business rates will breathe in new life. 

• Embark on a new affordable homes programme, with council housing at its heart, and with Liberal Democrat housing plans led by communities, not developers.  

• Give every adult the chance to invest in their own education and training, with Vince Cable’s proposal for lifelong learning.  

Liberal Democrat opportunity for everyone, everywhere.  

When we stop Brexit, Britain will get a Remain Boost and a Remain Bonus

Imagine what we could do if, we weren’t wasting billions on preparing for a No Deal Brexit. Imagine if all the energies going into Brexit, were going into our NHS. Our schools. Our police service. 

The extra investment. The extra growth. The extra tax receipts for the Exchequer. 

Conference, when we stop Brexit, Britain will get a Remain Boost and a Remain Bonus.  

Extra money Liberal Democrats will spend on tackling inequality and solving the causes of Brexit. We will make Britain a fairer country, a more equal country, a less divided country. A United Kingdom again.  

You know, one of Britain’s longstanding economic problems has been productivity. That matters, because the more productive we are, the more prosperous we are. The higher wages we can earn. 

But Britain’s productivity problem hasn’t been tackled properly for decades. So I’m going to let you into a secret. About our confidential economic plan. How Liberal Democrats will make Britain more productive.  

We will invest. In people. Massive investment. In education. In training.  

And we will particularly invest in people and communities who’ve not had opportunity before. Who feel forgotten. Who voted Leave to put two fingers up to a system they felt had left them behind. 

Liberal Democrats, we must reach out to everyone in our country, especially Leave communities. They are our brothers and our sisters. Our friends. Family. Neighbours.   

And it’s not just people Liberal Democrats demand a better economy for – we demand a better economy for our planet too.  

I’ve coined the phrase – decarbonising capitalism. It’s a major reform, we must do this to respond to the climate emergency.  

I hate to say it, but the economic chaos of Brexit. And the political chaos of Boris Johnson. They will look like tea parties if we don’t stop climate chaos.  

Those pictures of the burnt desolation in the Amazon. The devastation of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas. A record seven million people across the world displaced from their homes in the first 6 months of this year due to extreme weather events.  

And scientists tell us, we ain’t seen nothing yet. 

Britain must lead. At home and abroad. In the face of such environmental chaos, we know what needs to be done

So. Britain must lead. At home and abroad. In the face of such environmental chaos. We know what needs to be done.  

In Government, Liberal Democrats nearly quadrupled Britain’s renewable energy. I’m so proud that this party made Britain the world leader in offshore wind power.  

But it makes me so angry that the Conservatives squandered Britain’s green opportunity, that Liberal Democrats had created. 

My first Liberal Democrat budget will be a budget for people and a budget for the planet. A Climate Emergency Budget.  

We will invest in new technologies, to help tackle climate change. 

And we will create green jobs. Well-paid green jobs. Green jobs outside London, in every nation and region of our country. 

And now we need to decarbonise capitalism. To move the financial markets – the banks, the stock exchanges, the pension funds and the rest – away from investing in pollution, into investing in renewables. 

We’ve got to starve climate-destroying business from the capital that feeds it. And instead, that money must go green.  

We’ll do this with a myriad of changes. Regulations to force companies and financial institutions to be transparent about their carbon investments. Laws to require them to publish how their business strategy moves them to net zero carbon.  

These major reforms are a key next step to stop climate chaos. And they will make the UK the green financial capital of the world. 

So Conference, Liberal Democrats have a whole host of economic policies – to invest in people and to save our planet. 

So what else must we do, to win? Friends, it’s now clearer than ever. 

There’s now only one party you can vote for. Liberal Democrats, we are our country’s last hope. 

To stop the sheer chaos of Johnson’s Brexit, Corbyn’s economics and climate change. And to offer hope for our people and our planet.  

So let’s go out there. Campaign. And win for our country. 

Hello Conference!

What a brilliant time to be a Liberal Democrat!

On the 7th May next year, London voters will make a decision of national and international importance. Who will be the next Mayor of London.

They will decide who they believe embodies the very spirit of London. Who will stand up for global, liberal, pro-European, warm-hearted and dynamic values. Who will reflect and reinforce the optimism, diversity and entrepreneurialism of our capital.

I believe Londoners will choose the Liberal Democrats. Londoners will choose me.

I’m asking people to choose me as their Mayor, so I want to tell you a bit about myself.

I’m the daughter of migrants. My mum was born in India. She came to England when she was just ten years old. With my grandma and her two siblings, she undertook a 6-week boat trip in search of a better life.

So much of what she tells me about her arrival and first months in London describes the London that I know and love – a charitable city that welcomes people, understands the value of community and supports the most vulnerable.

And my mum gave so much back to the city that had welcomed her. She worked as a carer and auxiliary nurse, always doing an extra last round in the evenings to check that her elderly patients were all OK.

My dad was also a migrant to London. Only he didn’t come from quite as far as India! He was born in a small village in Cornwall and came to London to work as a teacher.

My mum and dad are like hundreds, thousands of people across the capital and the country as a whole. Hard-working, law-abiding, kind, generous.

My mum and dad are like hundreds, thousands of people across the capital and the country as a whole. Hard-working, law-abiding, kind, generous.

There is something that the architects of Brexit are desperately trying to distract us from. 

Our planet is in crisis, balanced on a knife-edge at the point of no return. 

Our planet is in crisis, balanced on a knife-edge at the point of no return. 

Due to man-made climate change, global temperatures are soaring, the polar ice caps are melting faster than ever before, and whole nations are already facing the existential crisis of rising sea levels and extreme weather. Whole species of animals are being wiped out month by month, and global famine is a very real threat.  

This is something that we can only tackle if we all work together, collaborating with every single nation across the globe. No one will be unaffected, but, just like with Brexit, the poorest in society will suffer first and suffer most deeply.

Conference, it is an honour and a pleasure to be addressing you as a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament and as your Shadow Foreign Secretary.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for making me feel so welcome.  I could not be more at home in the wonderful Liberal Democrat family.

The truth is, all the incredibly difficult decisions I have made on the journey I’ve been on this year were routed in my values and principles. I joined this party out of conviction.

As you know, I am a Remainer and proud of it – we have spent far too long apologising for being pro-European in this country.  Because you cannot be pro-Britain and put our national interest first without seeking to put Britain at the heart of Europe.

I am a Remainer and proud of it – we have spent far too long apologising for being pro-European in this country.

Be in no doubt: this is the battle of our time and it goes far beyond Britain’s borders.

In essence, the society we seek to build is one where if you work hard and play by the rules, you should be free to lead a happy, prosperous and secure life free of domination of either the state or the market. 

I grew up in world in which we took these values for granted.

As a family of mixed heritage – English, Irish and Nigerian – our back story, alongside that of millions of others, stands as an example of Britain’s liberal, open, internationalist spirit.

The notion that we all share the same basic rights and should live together in peace, regardless of background is something we will always fight for. 

This is the Britain we know and love – and Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and the peddlers of hate and division in our country better know that this is what we will fight for at the coming election. 

It is our job to make sure this country’s heart beats in a liberal and internationalist direction; not nationalist, populist authoritarianism.

It is our job to make sure this country’s heart beats in a liberal and internationalist direction; not nationalist, populist authoritarianism.

Make no mistake: there is something that the architects of Brexit are desperately trying to distract us from. 

Our planet is in crisis, balanced on a knife-edge at the point of no return. 

Our planet is in crisis, balanced on a knife-edge at the point of no return. 

Due to man-made climate change, global temperatures are soaring, the polar ice caps are melting faster than ever before, and whole nations are already facing the existential crisis of rising sea levels and extreme weather. Whole species of animals are being wiped out month by month, and global famine is a very real threat.  

This is something that we can only tackle if we all work together, collaborating with every single nation across the globe. No one will be unaffected, but, just like with Brexit, the poorest in society will suffer first and suffer most deeply.