Liberal Democrats look for extra jobs and growth policies

Interesting and welcome email from Jo Swinson today, in her role as chair of the Liberal Democrat Federal (i.e. UK) Policy Committee, asking for views on how to encourage job creation and growth.

My response unsurprisingly features capping the ISA tax breaks at £15,000 and using those funds to invest in labour-intensive infrastructure projects.

A note for those interested in the details of how to write emails too: the prompt to email Jo and colleagues appears three times. Looks like the message about how if you want people to do something you should write an email only about that action and moreover repeatedly push it in the email has got through, hooray.

Liberal Democrats in Government are continuing to put jobs and growth at the heart of our priorities. And as we redouble our efforts, we want to hear your views.

Vince Cable and Danny Alexander are coming to a meeting of the Federal Policy Committee on 20 June to discuss the party’s ideas, and that is why we want you to feed directly into our thinking.

Below are some of the ideas that have already been put forward for consideration. We would like to hear what you think, and how they could be applied in your area.

Email us at jobsandgrowth@libdems.org.uk

Given that we also have to stick to our deficit reduction commitments, we’d also like to know what you would see as the most important, so please put them in your order of priority:

• Increased infrastructure investment, as Nick argued for in the FT recently
• Increased credit easing and bank lending, which Danny has been pushing for, to help small and medium sized companies grow, invest and employ more people
• Further encouraging house building, especially affordable and sustainable housing, as Andrew Stunell has been working on
• Extra support for young people seeking employment through Nick’s £1bn Youth Contract or Vince’s massive apprenticeship scheme
• More support for entrepreneurs, as the government recently announced, to help create new businesses

If you have any other suggestions about generating jobs and growth please contact us at jobsandgrowth@libdems.org.uk.

Best Wishes,

Jo Swinson MP
Chair, Liberal Democrat Federal Policy Committee

PS Email us at jobsandgrowth@libdems.org.uk before 20 June to put forward your ideas.