Getting the job done: Our latest wins in Westminster

As part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, the Liberal Democrats delivered huge wins for pupils, teachers, and families. 

We forced the Government, despite their initial opposition, to ban mobile phones during the school day. And, unlike the Conservatives’ proposals, the Government has adopted the Liberal Democrat approach, which ensures that those with medical and educational needs, or caring responsibilities, are not unfairly penalised.

Through active negotiations and political pressure, we also forced the Government to move towards our smarter approach to social media, from legally requiring any measures to consider addictive design harms and the need for age-ratings, to securing powers to ban social media giants from collecting our childrens' data. 

The work of Liberal Democrats also prevented Conservatives from imposing their plans for an ineffective blanket ban on under 16s accessing social media.

We have also strengthened contact rights for children in care who are separated from their siblings to maintain those important relationships and enshrined financial literacy as part of the support given to care leavers.

We have been fighting to outlaw the practice of ‘fining for profit’ - where local councils hire private firms to issue fixed penalty notices. These firms are often paid per fine and keep 85-90% of the revenue.

We have had to push the Government hard to recognise the sheer scale of this cowboy enforcement economy preying on the public to make profit.

After significant Liberal Democrat pressure, progress has been made; the Government tabled and passed its own amendment which will require statutory guidance on the issuing of fixed penalties - giving much better protection against the cowboys who abuse their enforcement powers for their own profit. 

Sentencing Reforms

The Liberal Democrats secured a huge win in relation to the Unduly Lenient Sentences Scheme, after defeating the Government in the House of Lords.

The scheme allows anyone to ask for certain sentences to be reviewed by the Attorney General if they think the sentence is too lenient.

The Government accepted the premise of two of our amendments which would allow an extension of the ULS scheme in specific circumstances and to introduce a statutory duty to inform victims of their rights in relation to this scheme.

It is vital that victims have a clear picture of the options that they are entitled to following sentencing.

Court Transcripts

We have not given up pushing the Government to make court transcripts free to victims, following a hard-fought campaign led by Sarah Olney MP and Baroness Brinton.

After Baroness Brinton tabled an amendment to extend the free access to court transcripts to victims, the Government committed to undertaking a study to explore the use of AI transcription in the criminal courts. This study, if successful, has the potential to significantly reduce fees and improve access to court transcripts.

Victims of Murder Abroad

We tabled amendments in both the Commons and the Lords to make the Secretary of State outline how the Victims’ Code applies to those whose close relatives were the victim of murder, manslaughter or infanticide outside the UK.

Because of this Lib Dem pressure, the Government has confirmed that the Ministry of Justice will also work jointly with the Foreign Office and the Home Office to undertake a review of how support is provided to these families and to assess how current arrangements are operating.

Private Prosecution

We also won a critical concession from the Government on private prosecutions.

The Victims and Courts Act would have given the Secretary of State powers to change the reimbursement rate for private prosecutions - how much of your legal costs you can get back from the Government after bringing a successful private prosecution. These changes may have made it more difficult for private prosecutions to be brought, a real concern for charities who often have to pursue private prosecutions when the state fails to act.

The Liberal Democrat concession requires that the Government publishes and responds to an impact assessment of the potential impact of these measures. 

Buried within the Pension Schemes Act, the Government sought powers to compel pension funds to invest in assets of its choosing, potentially including unproductive assets and mismanaged government projects like HS2.

This power, known as mandation, posed a serious risk to savers, pensioners and the wider investment industry's ability to deliver strong returns. That is why Liberal Democrats in both Houses, led by Steve Darling MP in the Commons and Baroness Sharon Bowles in the Lords, united in opposition to mandation.

As a result of this joint effort, the Government's power has been capped to just 10% of pension funds. Fiduciary Duty - which forces pension trustees to act in the best interests of their members - will now continue to be the priority for trustees.

This yet again proves that Liberal Democrats are the party leading the way on the economy, business and investment.

In the House of Lords, the Government was defeated by a Liberal Democrat amendment on Youth Diversion Orders - a new, specialised, court-ordered measure to manage young people (often aged under 18) involved in terrorism-related activity or radicalisation.

While we support expanding youth diversionary measures as a preventative measure rather than just relying on punishment, with the aim of reducing re-offending rates, we want to ensure that non-prosecutorial interventions for young people at risk are considered first.

Thanks to Liberal Democrat pressure, the Government has committed to publishing mandatory guidance on the issue so that the police must consider alternative interventions before issuing a youth diversion order.

We managed to secure a whole host of wins in relation to this Act, which gives more power to local communities - something we, of course, support.

This wide reaching piece of legislation covered a number of important areas, so here are a few things we managed to achieve in it:

• Forced the Government to ensure that rural affairs and coastal communities are specifically considered in relation to devolved powers and funding.
   
• Secured stronger safety measures to protect passengers using Private Hire Vehicles, following concerns raised in the Casey Review, and forced the Government to introduce new powers related to the enforcement of licensing of these vehicles.
   
• By working directly with the Government, we secured changes to strengthen councils’ powers to block new gambling licences in high-risk areas and shifted the burden onto operators to prove they meet licensing objectives.
   
• Secured flexibility to extend the transition period for councils changing governance structures, preventing unnecessary reorganisation where councils are likely to be dissolved. We also introduced safeguarding to avoid short-term, impractical governance changes.