Lib Dems use conference to set oot £2bn plan to cut fuel duty

The Liberal Democrats say they will tax big tech firms to fund a new agency for online crime, as they strive tae sort oot fears that no enough folk ken whit the pairty actually stauns for. The plan, tae be pit forrit at the pairty conference on Monday by the Lib Dem spokesman for hame affairs, Max Wilkinson, wad set up a new Online Crime Agency. This body wad look at crimes sic as the spreadin o indecent images o bairns, the illegal traiffickin o drugs and airms, and the creation o deepfake pornographic material made by AI.

The budjet, which is set at £250m a year, wad be peyed for by an online crime levy on big AI and tech companies. Mr Wilkinson is plannin tae tell the conference that it is time for them corporations tae pyke up the bill for the kin o crimes they hae alloued tae happen on their platforms. Ed Davey, the leader o the pairty, set oot a plan on Sunday tae slash fuel duty by 10p a litre for a set period o three months. He also proposed cuttin the bus fare cap frae £3 doon tae £1, alangside ither policies meant tae help folk wi the soarain cost o livin.

The pairty is gettin mair concerned that, even tho they wan their best ever election result in a hunder year back in 2024, they fail tae get a clear enough message across tae voters in a political landscape that is mair noisy and brokken up than it ever used tae be. Polls cairried oot tae match the conference in Brighton, which were pit oot on Sunday, shawed that Lib Dem policies are no as weel kent as them o Restore Britain. That group only stairted up as a political pairty in Februar and has just the aene MP, Rupert Lowe, compared tae the 71 MPs that the Lib Dems bide wi at the present time.

The research, which was pitten thegither by More in Common and showed tae the delegates, revealed there is a hale lot o uncertainty amang voters regardin whit the Lib Dems actually staund for. Only 39 per cent o the folk questioned said they hid an idea, a figure which is lower than for ony ither muckle pairty, includin Restore Britain, which was biggit by Mr Lowe efter he gaed his ain gait and left Reform UK. Ither pairts o the study showed that a mere 16 per cent o voters had heard ocht frae the Lib Dems in the last few months, against 66 per cent for Reform, while only 3 per cent had seen Mr Davey on social media, in contrast tae 20 per cent for the Reform leader, Nigel Farage.

In a batch o interviews on Sunday mornin, Mr Davey pushed back against the notion that the Lib Dems, who are bidin constant in the national polls at aroond 12 per cent, run the risk o bein fair gotten in the political blether amidst the rise in profile o Reform and the Greens. His pairty, Mr Davey maintained, was makin a genuine difference, and no just makin a lot o noise withoot ony substance. I am speakin aboot real change, no just bletherin aboot the bubbles, he tauld the BBC. We hae been winnin cooncil elections for eight years on the trot. That has never happened afore, and it is the maist successfu period that we hae ever enjoyed.

While there is nae chatter amang Lib Dem MPs aboot a challenge tae Mr Davey, some o them say they are fair fed up that the pairty message is that vague and that their support relies ower much on tactical votin in a sma nummer o places, mostly in the sooth o England. Ane Lib Dem MP tauld a fringe meetin at the conference, where the findings frae More in Common were discussed, that the pairty needed tae widen the geographical and social reach o its influence. If we want tae be a pairty o government, then we need tae hae a message for the whole countrie, no just wee bits o it, said Tom Gordon, the MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, who is ane o just fower Lib Dem MPs based in the north o England, compared wi 58 in the sooth.

Pairty figures look on the conference as a braw chance tae set oot a mair coherent and strikin policy platform, includin plans for the economy and immigration. But there is worry amang some MPs that the trouble goes deeper. We already hae a fair few policies, if folk bother tae look at them, ane said. It is less aboot whit ye get if ye vote Lib Dem than why ye shud, aboot whit we represent. And folk just dinna really ken that.

Ane lang-time activist for the pairty said: The voters only seem tae properly notice us aince every fower year, when there is an election. It is a bit like bein curlin at the Winter Olympics; the rest o the time we are fair forgotten. It wad be gude if we had a mair distinct message, and that needs bouldness.