Russia’s assault on Ukraine has reinforced the need to significantly reduce the UK’s dependence on fossil fuels and invest in renewables –
both to cut energy bills and to deliver energy security.
The Conservative Government has failed to act with anything close to the speed or ambition these challenges demand.
The independent Climate Change Committee warns that the Government is not on track to meet its legally binding targets.
We will take the bold, urgent action needed to tackle climate change,
cut energy bills
and create hundreds of thousands of secure, well-paid new jobs.
Together with innovative British businesses, we will make the UK the world leader in the clean technologies of the future.
We will help households meet the cost of the transition to net zero and make sure everyone benefits from it, leaving no one behind.
and ensure that all new homes are zero-carbon.
establish a new Net Zero Delivery Authority to coordinate action across government departments and work with devolved administrations,
and hand more powers and resources to local councils for local net zero strategies.
with tackling climate change a key priority for development spending.
In addition, we will: Take the action needed now to achieve net zero by 2045, including:
investing in active travel and public transport,
electrifying Britain’s railways,
and reducing the climate impact of flying, as set out in chapter 16.
Cut energy bills and emissions, and end fuel poverty, by: Launching an emergency Home Energy Upgrade programme, with free insulation and heat pumps for low-income households
and a central role for local authorities in delivering this programme.
Implementing the UK’s G7 pledge to end fossil fuel subsidies,
and takes special care of the regions and communities most affected.
located carefully to avoid disruption to local communities and minimise environmental damage.
Support the expansion of community and decentralised energy, including:
Restore the UK’s role as a global leader on climate change by:
Hold businesses to account for their role in tackling climate change by:
and creating new powers for regulators to act if banks and other investors are not managing climate risks properly.
Support British industry to cut emissions by:
Setting out a clear and stable roadmap to net zero,
repairing the damage done by Conservative U-turns
and giving businesses the confidence to invest.
Good health gives people the freedom to live their lives as they choose.
A thriving economy needs a healthy population.
Universal high-quality healthcare, free at the point of use and accessible wherever and whenever it’s needed, is therefore essential for both individual freedom and national prosperity.
Our NHS used to be the envy of the world.
But now, too many people can’t access the care they need.
The Conservatives have plunged the NHS into crisis – as have the SNP in Scotland and Labour in Wales.
With more than a hundred thousand staff vacancies in England alone, a crisis in staff retention, long waiting times, missed targets and poor outcomes, patient safety is being pushed into the danger zone.
Getting an appointment with a GP can take weeks and seeing an NHS dentist is almost impossible.
People are no longer confident that when they ring 999 an ambulance will turn up in time.
Millions are waiting for treatment, unable to work.
The frontline workers who were rightly applauded are now overworked and burnt out.
Liberal Democrats believe that people should be in control of their own lives and health and that means everyone should get the care they need, when they need it, where they need it.
Instead of just spending money firefighting crisis after crisis, we will invest now to save taxpayers’ money in the long-run.
We will strengthen patients’ rights,
fix crumbling hospitals,
recruit and retain a workforce for the future,
invest in technology that improves outcomes and saves money,
and restore the UK as a world leader in health research.
Our plan will tackle the crisis at both the front door and the back door to the NHS:
investing in public health and early access to community services, including GPs, pharmacists and dentists, so fewer people need to go to hospital in the first place