Here’s the new year message for 2018 from Liberal Democrat leader, Vince Cable, emphasising his ambition to mobilise the strength of the party’s 100,000 membership to win the arguments on the major issues facing our country.

That includes:

• the need to convince the government to build thousands of affordable homes so that younger generations are no longer cut off from the housing market;
• the urgency of properly funding a woefully under-invested NHS – the Liberal Democrats argue for a penny in the pound on income tax for the NHS and social care; and
• the need to win the argument for an Exit from Brexit, but democratically, through a public vote on the terms of the divorce and any EU trade deal.

He also highlights the core Lib Dem characteristic of being unafraid to swim against the tide. That’s included:

• fighting for and defending LGBT rights, including same sex marriage, secured when the Lib Dems were in government;
• standing up for the rights of citizens in Hong Kong;
• leading political opposition to the Iraq War;
• warning about the looming 2007 credit crunch and 2008 financial crisis and then rebuilding the economy through initiatives like the industrial strategy and Green Investment Bank; and
•  the only main national party consistently standing up against a destructive hard Brexit that would damage the economy, while demanding the British people have the option of staying in the EU.