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"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."

From the Preamble to the Constitution of the Liberal Democrats

 

Heathrow Third Runway Victory

A High Court judge has ordered the Government to review its decision to build a third Heathrow runway.

A coalition of local councils, residents, Lib Dems and environmental groups have argued that the expansion of Europe's busiest airport was at odds with the UK's environmental targets under the 2008 Climate Change Act. The Government had argued that it attached proper environmental conditions to the project when it decided to support it.

In a long-awaited ruling on 26 March 2010, Lord Justice Carnwath ruled that the Government's argument was "untenable".

Liberal Democrat Susan Kramer (MP for Richmond Park up to May 2010), who led the Lib Dem campaign against Heathrow expansion, was reported in The Times as saying: "This is a declaration of victory, the final nail in the coffin for the Government’s attempts to steamroll over local and national opposition to its disastrous third runway plans."

She added: "The expansion of Heathrow would be a catastrophe for our climate and for the thousands of Londoners who would be forced to live with the huge disruption it will cause. "There is no way the Government can tear up what it has already done and start again – because we know the real climate change figures prove that there is no economic case for expansion at all. Labour's tough talk on climate change is just hot air."

Campaigns

Lib Dems are renowned for achieving things through effective campaigns

Here are some current campaigns which Liberal Democrats are leading or actively supporting

Local Campaigns

Victory against Heathrow expansion - environment damage averted. In close coalition with environmental groups, residents and local councils, Liberal Democrat Susan Kramer led the Lib Dem campaign against the third runway at HeathrowExternal link. In a long-awaited High Court ruling on 26 March 2010, Lord Justice Carnwath ruled that the Government's argument was "untenable" -- see story in right panel.

Local Liberal Democrat MP Edward Davey and Susan Kramer are fighting plans to close A&E and Maternity services. Senior NHS staff have blown the whistle on Labour proposals to close Accident and Emergency services and Maternity services at Kingston Hospital. Sign the petition to save A&E and Maternity servicesExternal link

Lib Dem National Campaigns

Lib Dems are proposing the Freedom Bill: freedom.libdems.org.ukExternal Link. Here's a selection of the measures incorporated in our first draft: Scrap ID cards for everyone; Restore the right to protest in Parliament Square; Scrap the ContactPoint database of all children in Britain; Remove innocent people from the DNA database; Reduce the maximum period of pre-charge detention to 14 days.

An action plan to save Britain's democracy: Expenses reform; House of Lords reform; Party funding reform; Fixed-term Parliaments; Referendum on PR; Commons reform to reduce executive power.  Almost all the reforms needed can be achieved in the next 100 days, and we should not let the process go on longer than this. This is possible because most of the necessary legislation is already before Parliament - it is just currently being blocked by establishment figures.

Liberal Democrats launch a campaign against airbrushing in advertisingExternal link. The Liberal Democrat airbrushing campaign is backed by the National Centre for Eating Disorders, Girlguiding UK and leading academics. It encourages people to report adverts featuring heavily airbrushed images of women to advertising watchdogs.

Lib Dems fight to protect our green spacesExternal link. The Government’s current planning policies treat your back garden as a “brownfield site” - like an old industrial site - which means they are vulnerable to infill development. You can help tell the Government that you want your back garden protected, by supporting the Lib Dem Hands off our Back Gardens petitionExternal link.