Commenting on Sir Gus O'Donnell's report on the release of the Lockerbie Bomber, former Leader of the Liberal Democrats and member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Sir Menzies Campbell said:

"The Labour government completely failed to take into account the horrific nature of the crime, the consequences and the sentence imposed when it took the view that it could assist the release of Mr Megrahi.

"Equally in Scotland, the Justice Secretary failed to take account of these three significant factors when reaching a conclusion about the exercise of compassion.

"If both had paid proper attention, the Labour government would not have been so embroiled and the Scottish Justice Secretary would not have been so easily persuaded.

"Neither Westminster nor Holyrood comes out of this affair with much credit. "

It appears that Ken's campaign to highlight the mysterious disappearance of several litter bins from our streets has started to pay dividends.

After complaints from residents about the litter in and around Inkerman Way, Ken did a little investigating and found that at least five bins had just vanished and nobody at the Council seemed to know anything about it.

Woking Liberal Democrats welcome the decision made by the Council Executive last night to refund council tenants, who were overcharged for their energy usage in the 2009/10 financial year.

This follows strong Lib Dem pressure two years ago forcing the council to look at the way it charges tenants for energy use. The Conservative-controlled Executive imposed energy charge rises of over 60% two years ago at the height of the recession.

I am grateful to be here with a group of businesses who are at the forefront of the UK's drive to build a new economy.

I will be saying more about the specific issue of carbon capture and storage, and our plans for a green economy, in a moment.

First I want to make some remarks about the Government's approach to economic growth - and about the kind of economy we want to grow. This is of course a topical question in light of last week's disappointing figures for GDP growth.

We are under no illusions in the Government about the difficult economic circumstances that we inherited from Labour. The Chancellor and the Governor of the Bank of England have said that recovery from the recession is likely to be 'choppy' for some time. The Prime Minister and I have both said that the nation faces a long, hard road back to prosperity.

It is perhaps worth saying that there are also some strongly positive signals in the economy. During the course of this week, we have seen the publication of three sets of important economic indicators on manufacturing, construction and services - all moving in a positive direction. Things are difficult, but it is not all bad news.

But let me also assure you that we are determined on our course of action to tackle the deficit. The outgoing Labour Chief Secretary to the Treasury said in his now famous parting note that 'there was no money left'. Of course it was much worse than that. They left us well and truly in the red. This year we'll be spending over £43bn just on the interest on our debts.

That's £830m per week. Just under £119m a day. For that money, we could build a new primary school every hour. We could buy a new Chinook helicopter every day. We could take 11 million people out of paying income tax. We could triple the number of doctors in our hospitals.

But the broader point I want to stress today is that the deficit and debt left by Labour are simply the most obvious symptoms of a much deeper economic malaise. When the financial crisis struck, the economy was fragile, founded on personal and state debt rather than investment; lopsided in favour of financial services and the South East; and overly-reliant on carbon consumption rather than green growth.

Labour's economy was weak, and this weakness was exposed when the financial storms came.

So the Coalition Government is determined to eliminate the deficit. But let me be clear: paying off the deficit is a means to an end, not an end in itself. We are determined to foster a new model of economic growth, and a new economy - one built on enterprise and investment, not unsustainable debt. We seek nothing less than a new model of sustainable growth.

Paying off the deficit is a vital part of our plan for growth. Necessary for restoring confidence in Britain; necessary for keeping down the cost of borrowing for families and business; necessary to avoid paying extra interest to the bond markets. Necessary - but not sufficient. If the Coalition Government simply pays off the deficit, but leaves the underlying economy unchanged, we will have failed.

We are not in Government simply to clean up Labour's mess. We are in Government to lay the foundations for a better, stronger economy. People want their politicians to be leaders, not accountants.

It is important to be crystal clear about the problems we are addressing. Most people know that we inherited a crippling deficit. But perhaps it is not yet clear enough that we also inherited a failed economic model. The model of economic growth based on debt and on financial services is broken for good. So the Coalition is undertaking two very difficult tasks at the same time - dealing with the deficit and building a new model of economic growth.

Let me say too that as Government, we are determined to get this right. It is very tempting in a time of economic difficulty for governments to churn out initiative after initiative, in a desperate attempt to stimulate the economy or - all too often - to try and give the appearance of doing so. And politicians can fall prey to the myth that somewhere there is a lever they can pull to generate growth, and that they should simply pull as many as possible in the hope of finding it.

The last Government introduced, in the name of economic growth, over 3,000 publicly-funded schemes aimed at business support and an almost monthly diet of tax breaks and so-called 'business solutions'.

And the result of all this activity and spending? In the first decade of this century - all years in which Labour was in power - growth was the slowest since any decade since the 1960s. Over the past decade, business investment has grown by just one per cent a year, a quarter of what it was in the 1990s.

Of course I am not claiming that all of the previous Government's schemes were ineffective. Many were valued and valuable. My point is that we have to do a very much better job of targeting public money in a way that has a genuine impact on economic growth.

That is why the Government is currently conducting a growth review, consulting with businesses and economists to ensure that our approach is grounded, evidence-based and properly thought-through. Some have expressed concern that we haven't published it yet, and that we are waiting for the Budget. I do not think we should apologise for treating this issue with the utmost seriousness.

We need to be clear about the fundamental factors that drive economy growth; clear about the areas in which government can effectively play a role; and clear about the interventions than make the most difference.

We need, in short, a grown-up approach to growth, based on hard-headed analysis - in place of the 'pick and mix' approach that has characterised too much recent government activity, grabbing at instant initiatives rather than taking the big decisions that really count.

There are four important steps we need to take to build a new economy:

Commenting on today's speech by Ed Miliband, Liberal Democrat Party President Tim Farron said:

"Ed Miliband is showing utter contempt for the intelligence of the British people. The Labour Party's gift to the next generation was an economic crisis and massive debt.

"It is depressing that someone who was at the heart of the Labour Government and was a key part of the legacy they left, is now denying any responsibility. His selective amnesia and attempts to blame others for his party's failings are shameful.

"Under Labour, social mobility stalled, youth unemployment rose and educational inequality increased. As Liam Byrne said, they left us with no money and a toxic debt to clear.

"By cutting the deficit and re-balancing the economy, this Government will put Britain back on its feet."

The No health without mental health strategy outlines how a new emphasis on early intervention and prevention will help tackle the underlying causes of mental ill-health. It sets out how the Government will work with the NHS, local government and the third sector to help people recover and challenge stigma.

Central to these plans is an additional investment of around £400 million to improve access to modern, evidence-based psychological therapies over the next four years.

At least one in four people experience a mental health problem at some point in their life and mental ill-health represents up to 23% of the total burden of ill health in the UK - the largest single cause of illness.

Click here to read reaction to the new Mental Health Strategy from charities and NGOs
Click here for more information on the No health without mental health strategy
Click here to watch Paul Burstow introduce the new Mental Health Strategy


Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said:

"The evidence is clear: mental health needs to be addressed with the same urgency as physical health. We need to end the stigma attached to mental illness, to set an example by talking about the issue openly and candidly and ensure everyone can access the support and information they need.

"The strategy today shows how we will put people at the heart of everything we do, from a new focus on early intervention to increased funding for psychological therapy, so that everyone has a fair opportunity to get their lives back on track."

Care Services Minister Paul Burstow said:

"For too long mental health has been the poor relation in the NHS. Yet we know that good mental health and resilience are fundamental to our physical health, our relationships, our education, our work and to achieving our potential.

"What this strategy does is ensure that modern, evidence-based therapies are available for all who need them. Working with others, the Government is determined to promote good mental health and wellbeing and challenge the stigma and discrimination that still affects so many people with mental health problems today.

"With one in four of us likely to suffer from a mental health problem at some point in our lives, it's not a question of them and us. Good mental health is everyone's business."

Commenting on Ed Balls interview on the Andrew Marr Show today, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Treasury Committee, Stephen Williams, said:

"Today, Ed Balls firmly confirmed his credentials a deficit enthusiast, denying that Labour ran the biggest structural deficit of the G7.

"Whilst the OECD, the IMF and the Bank of England support the Government's plans to deal with the empty coffers Labour left behind, Ed Balls denies he had anything to do with the toxic state of affairs the Coalition inherited.

"This former City Minister, who repeatedly praised the light-touch regulation that failed to reign in the banks' reckless and careless attitude, now refuses to take responsibility for egging Gordon Brown on to spend and spend, leaving us with the biggest structural deficit of the G7.

"It is clear that Labour have no regrets, no apologies and no answers. It is time Ed Balls left his Never-Neverland and started supporting the plans to get this country back on it's feet."

"With details of reform of counter-terrorism laws unveiled in the House of Commons, today is a proud day for those who cherish the freedoms that we in Britain have enjoyed for centuries and that our ancestors fought and died for. These civil liberties have been chipped away at over recent years, with the fundamental principle of innocent until proven guilty abandoned and the increasing power of the state to spy on its citizens.

There will always be a fine balance to be struck between freedom and security, but the proposals detailed today mark a decisive move away from the paranoid, authoritarian state presided over by Labour. No longer will people who have had no charge brought against them be locked up for 28 days or placed under de facto house arrest. No longer will police be able to indiscriminately stop and search British citizens on a whim. No longer will councils be able to use anti-terrorism powers to snoop on the contents of your bins. And no longer will trainspotters be treated like terrorists for photographing the 13.32 from York to Darlington.

The ridiculous, heavy handed and easily abused powers brought in by the last Labour regime trampled over centuries of British tradition and liberty. That's why the Liberal Democrats and other civil liberties campaigners fought to prevent them and railed against them once they were imposed. And that's why we should all be proud of the steps taken by the coalition government today.

These measures will not weaken our country's defences against the threat of terrorism, quite the opposite in fact. Time and time again Labour's measures were proven ineffective and counter-productive, antagonising the very communities we need to support in order to tackle the problems of extremism in the UK.

These are not the first measures the government has taken to restore our civil liberties and they won't be the last. I was proud when Nick Clegg announced an end to the disgraceful and cruel practice of locking up innocent children during the immigration removal process. Under Labour, more than 7,000 children were detained - hundreds for weeks and months on end. In far too many cases this inflicted serious physical and psychological damage.

Ending this horrendous practice was a key Lib Dem manifesto commitment and one that no other party was prepared to make. And when the government unveils its freedom bill, the brainchild of Chris Huhne when he was Lib Dem home affairs spokesperson, we will see huge swaths of Labour's unnecessary and intrusive lawmaking repealed.

Labour brought in more than 4,300 new laws during its 13 years in power, creating a new offence for virtually every day it spent in power. This government is often judged solely through the prism of the measures it is taking to deal with the deficit and clear up the financial mess Britain found itself in, but it is doing so much more than that. When the next general election rolls round in 2015, Britain will be a more liberal country. These measures are a crucial part of how we get there."

Commenting on the Home Secretary's statement following the Counter-Terrorism and Security review, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs and Justice, Tom Brake said:

"Sanity and justice have been restored to British life.

"Today is a victory for those who have campaigned to restore the historic freedoms that Labour spent 13 years destroying.

"Control orders are gone, 28 days detention without charge is gone, indiscriminate stop and search is gone and the abuse of anti-terror powers by councils to pursue petty offences is over.

"There will always be a balance to be struck between freedom and security and these proposals protect British citizens while upholding their centuries-old values."

Commenting on today's interview in the Independent and yet another appeal from Ed Miliband to Liberal Democrats, Liberal Democrat Party President, Tim Farron said:

"We are very flattered that Ed Miliband is so enamoured with Liberal Democrats that we appear to be the only thing he talks about these days. I suspect most Labour MPs would prefer him to develop some policies instead.

"This is Jekyll and Hyde politics: he flutters his eyelashes in sugar-and-spice interviews trying to woo the Liberal Democrats and at the same time he orchestrates his unelected dinosaurs in the Lords to obstruct real reform

"If Ed is serious about working together on progressive politics, then there is the perfect opportunity to do so on fairer votes.

"Every progressive in Britain will be disappointed that Ed's talk about reform are eclipsed by his actions to block the most important democratic change since universal suffrage. He will be judged by his actions, not his words."