Gentlemen and Ladies Start You Engines

Gordon Brown has now been to the palace to visit the Queen to ask for the dissolution of Parliament. There will now be an election on 6 May and election where the voters really can have a bigger say than ever before.

 

If you truly want to vote for change look not at what either Labour or the Conservatives are saying they would like to do, look at what the Liberal Democrats have been trying to do over recent only to come up against the roadblock that is the Labservatives. We've tried to make things more open, we've tried to make the expenses system more like the private sector but we've been knocked back at every attempt to reform.

The way Britain's run means the Government doesn't have to listen to you. One party can get control over Parliament even if only a quarter of people vote for them. So individual people and families don't seem to have a voice to influence what happens. The old parties are comfortable because they know they'll get into government every few years - so they never change things and they never will. But people are fed up of being ignored. It's time to make a real change. We need to have an open political system that's designed to listen to people and deliver what they need. Everyone should have an equal voice - not just people who can pay for big donations.

The Liberal Democrats will throw open the doors of government, reinvigorate Britain's democracy and give power back to people. We will modernise government so that it serves the interests of all people, not just the vested interests of politicians, corporations or rich donors. Liberal Democrats plan to reform government so there will be no more privileged patronage, no more dodgy dossiers, no more excessive secrecy. Government should uphold the law, as well as our liberties, not seek ways to undermine them. We will create a British democracy for the 21st century that people can be proud of.

We've also seen Labour erode our civil liberties. This Government has given up on ordinary people’s rights – like freedom of speech and privacy. They have created more than 4,300 new crimes – one for every day in office.

The Government has over a million innocent people’s DNA on file. Thousands of schools monitor children’s fingerprints, and parents aren’t allowed to stop them. An Identity Card scheme is planned that is more complex and intrusive than anywhere else in the world. And worst of all they keep losing all the information they hold instead of keeping it safe.

Liberal Democrats are the only party committed to defending our most important rights. The threat of terrorist attacks must be taken seriously but it does not mean that we should sacrifice our liberty in the name of security. Previous generations died to protect our freedom, and politicians shouldn’t try to take it from us. That doesn’t just mean warm words about British tradition: it means action. The Conservatives aren’t serious about freedom – they want to scrap the laws that protect our human rights and personal privacy.

Liberal Democrats will introduce a Freedom Bill to restore and protect our most important liberties. We will scrap expensive and unnecessary ID Cards; remove innocent people from the criminal DNA database; restore the right to protest and freedom of speech; and restore other vital freedoms. We will protect people’s privacy by strengthening data protection laws and stopping unnecessary state intervention in our lives.

If you want a change that restores your liberties and restores Parliament to a place where you the vote have sway vote Liberal Democrat on the 6th may.