Conservatives at Herts County Council have refused to back Herts businesses affected by Covid closures and to help businesses recover from the impacts of the pandemic. Liberal Democrat councillors had proposed that the council should tell the government that more support for businesses was needed alongside timely, evidence based and effective action to tackle the pandemic as the survival of many local businesses is on a knife-edge thanks to the second wave.

The Conservatives have continually promised to back British farmers throughout the Brexit process, but their failure last week to uphold our high food standards reveals just how hollow those promises were.

Our high agricultural standards must be protected in international trade deals and after the transition period.

Conservative MPs have rejected all 10 cross-party amendments to the Government's Immigration Bill passed by the House of Lords earlier this month, including three from the Liberal Democrats.

The 28-day time limit on immigration detention (Amendment 6) - introduced by Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Hamwee in the House of Lords - was rejected by 328 votes to 264.

Welcome to the Weekly Whip. Your one-stop shop for Lib Dem Parliamentary updates, covering the week that was and the week to come.

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Weekly Whip w/c 12th October

Monday 12th October

Monday was a key day for British Farming, but the House started off with a Prime Ministerial Statement from Boris Johnson regarding the new tier system for Covid-restrictions. Ed Davey and Munira Wilson led the charge for the Lib Dems, with Ed stressing that time is of the essence; the British people have made painful sacrifices and the government cannot squander the opportunity to get solid testing systems in place. Munira raised another glitch in the trace system which attributes positive cases for students to their home addresses, rather than university addresses, skewing critical data.

Today, Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael led cross-party opposition to the Government's Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill, calling a vote against the legislation in the House of Commons.

Writing in the Independent ahead of the debate, Alistair set out our concerns:

People across the country have endured terrible hardships over the past six months. They've lost loved ones, lost livelihoods and been cut off from friends and family.

We have made huge sacrifices and played by the Government's rules - we deserve to have confidence that these rules will work.

Instead, our efforts are being squandered by the incompetence of Boris Johnson. His Test and Trace system is not fit for purpose, and scientific advice is being ignored.

I am pleased to announce today that in Wales we have secured free school meal provision for all school holidays until at least Easter 2021.

The coronavirus pandemic has presented countless challenges this year, but with the Welsh Government now guaranteeing £11 million for these provisions, we can help support those who look to school for more than just education.

The Government have completely lost control of coronavirus across vast swathes of the country, and the situation in London is looking very difficult.

In the north of England, and now in London, the sacrifices of millions of people have been squandered by this Government.

Because of Boris Johnson's failure to ensure our test, trace and isolate system worked, millions of people will have to make those sacrifices again.

Conservative and Labour councillors have joined forces at North Herts Council to block a Liberal Democrat plan to save the Green Belt from thousands of houses that latest predictions say are not needed in the district.

In July the Office for National Statistics (ONS) updated their predictions cutting the expected number of new households in the districy by 2031 from over 13,000 to under 7,000. Even after adding factors that might increase the number and an entirely arbitary 10% for "market signals" the professional planners could not justify a number more than 11,600.

On behalf of the Liberal Democrats, I have written to Equalities Minister Liz Truss calling on her to stop all forms of hair discrimination.

We must combat racism wherever we find it in our society, and this all-too-prevalent form of prejudice must end.

Read my letter in full...

Dear Liz,

We are writing to urge you to take action to end hair discrimination in schools, colleges and workplaces, and throughout society.