Liberal Democrats Launch Ten Positive Proposals For Congleton and Britain

12.00.00am GMT Tue 22nd Mar 2005

The Liberal Democrats today launch ten positive proposals that will form the centrepiece of their General Election campaign. The launch has been backed by the most substantial advertising campaign in the party's history - with full page adverts in the Daily Mail, The Independent and The Times to be followed up by a fleet of touring poster vans.

The party proposes

• abolition of hospital targets to put patients first

• scrapping tuition fees which discourage people from going to university

• reducing class sizes in early years

• recruiting 10,000 more police officers and giving them the tools to spend more time tackling crime and less time form-filling

• introducing free personal care for the elderly

• raising pensions by over £100 a month for all pensioners over 75, tackling the discrimination against women in our pension system

• taking climate change and the environment seriously, with a green focus to all policy areas

• scrapping council tax and replacing it with local income tax saving a typical family £450 per year

• no hidden tax rises, one income tax increase for the top one percent of earners

• a commitment never to go to war again in the way it was done for Iraq.

In contrast to the other parties, the Liberal Democrats are not merely listing what they oppose, but are publishing specific positive alternatives. Party leader Charles Kennedy also features prominently in the advertisement and poster. The Conservatives and Labour have shown a marked reluctance to use imagery of their own leaders.

Charles Kennedy said:

"We are promoting positive policies for Britain. It is different approach from that of the other parties. I am determined that we will fight a campaign which concentrates on real solutions to the real problems that people face in Britain everyday.

"A vote for the Liberal Democrats is a positive vote. We have shown that we can stick to our principles. We opposed the war in Iraq. There were no weapons of mass destruction. We were misled by Tony Blair and George Bush. We say never again.

"Our policies would make Britain better, fairer, safer. What they demonstrate is that the Liberal Democrats are the real alternative to Labour and the Conservatives. Increasingly, I believe it's an alternative that people really want."

Sir Menzies Campbell, Deputy Leader and Shadow Foreign Secretary said:

"Public trust in government matters. The British people are entitled to expect integrity and competence in government - which the Iraq war has put in doubt. The Liberal Democrats would restore trust, transparency and accountability to British politics."

"We opposed war in Iraq; and would ensure that any similar British action - unjustified and illegal - would never be repeated."

Baroness Williams said:

"I have served in Parliament for thirty years, nearly twenty in the Commons and ten in the Lords. I have never felt so worried about the safety of our democracy. It is being eroded bit by bit.

"Liberties, once lost, are rarely restored. The freedom of the individual lies at the heart of liberal democracy, and we Liberal Democrats are determined to defend it."