The proposals, which will be voted on by members at the conference in Brighton, are designed to boost green growth and jobs, support small businesses, open up access to finance, expand apprenticeships and unlock innovation. The proposals include:

• Expanding the Green Investment Bank's scale and remit and relaxing restrictions on its borrowing
• Creating Small Business Zones and New Enterprise Hubs
• Facilitating the emergence and growth of new lenders, in particular by restructuring parts of RBS into local and community banks
• Expanding apprenticeships on public infrastructure projects
• Introducing a 'supply chain buddying' programme, whereby large companies already engaged in export undertake to support SMEs in their supply chain to find new overseas customers

Thanks to being nominated by the Deputy Prime Minister, Elle Bradley-Cox and Matthew Turner from WORK Ltd will be watching swimming events at the Olympic Park.

Sheffield based WORK Ltd creates opportunities for people with learning disabilities to develop life skills which helps to build confidence, self-esteem and encourages each individual to strive to reach their potential.

26 year old Elle and 18 year old Matthew have both volunteered at the WORK Ltd centre on Ringinglow Road.

Elle said: -

"If we want to remain cohesive and prosperous as a society, people of very considerable personal wealth have got to make a bit of an extra contribution,

"In addition to our standing policy on things like the mansion tax, is there a time-limited contribution you can ask in some way or another from people of considerable wealth so they feel they are making a contribution to the national effort? What we are embarked on is in some senses a longer economic war rather than a short economic battle."

MPs oppose rail fares hike

Last week's inflation figures, which set July's RPI at 3.2 per cent, have caused huge concern amongst Liberal Democrat MPs about the prospect of regulated rails fares rising to 6.2 per cent (RPI plus three per cent) in January.

The Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Committee on Transport, Julian Huppert said:

She was part of the team that was instrumental in the relocation of Barclaycard from London to Northamptonshire which generated local jobs and has worked with young people, helping them find work placements and as an advisor to the University of Northampton.

Commenting, Jill Hope said:

"I'm delighted to have been chosen to stand for election in Corby and East Northamptonshire. Working with the team of local Liberal Democrat councillors I will fight to address the issues and concerns of local people.

"We have already hit the ground running, putting out thousands of surveys, giving us a clear idea of the kinds of things people want us to fight for locally.

"I also want to use this election to set out the good things that Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government are doing for people locally.

"Whether it's the extra Pupil Premium money coming to our schools to help the most disadvantaged children get the best start in life, the biggest ever cash increase in the state pension, or the thousands of workers in Corby and East Northamptonshire who have so far had a £330 tax cut thanks to the Lib Dems.

"Liberal Democrat influence has made this a far better Government for local people than if the Tories were governing alone, and as MP I would make sure we deliver more tax cuts for ordinary people and not for millionaires.

"The people of Corby and East Northamptonshire want a full-time MP who will fight for them and for the things that matter to them. That is what I promise to deliver if they vote for me to be their new MP."

Proposals in three key areas - funding, people and skills, and the role of scientific advice - have been outlined by Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, Julian Huppert in a policy motion which will be put to members at the party's Autumn Conference. Julian was a research scientist at the University of Cambridge before his election to Parliament.

Key proposals include:

The strategy, which will be put to members at the party's Autumn Conference in a policy motion, reinforces the Liberal Democrats' opposition to new runways at London's airports. Key proposals include:

• Pushing for better use of existing capacity in the South-East and at regional airports to meet short to medium-term demand
• Firmly rejecting Boris Johnson's Thames Estuary airport
• No new runways at Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted
• An independent, evidence-based study to find a location for a hub airport or a suitable airport to expand into a hub for the long-term
• No airport capacity expansion which could allow for aircraft movements above the carbon emissions cap set by the independent Committee on Climate Change

"After Labour raised fares by a crippling 66 per cent in cash terms between 1997 and 2010, Britain has the most expensive railway network in Europe, up to 30 per cent more than our nearest competitors. Astonishingly, they still want to raise fares above inflation.

"The Coalition is, quite rightly, investing more in our railways than any Government since the Victorian era in an effort to sort out the mess we inherited. But we can't just pass on the cost to commuters.

"Liberal Democrats in the Coalition, along with the Transport Secretary, managed to negotiate a RPI+1% fare rise for 2012, much lower than planned by some Conservatives.

"But people are struggling to make ends meet against a backdrop of wage freezes and rising utility bills. George Osborne has to realise that people cannot be expected to pay huge rises in rail fares on top."

I support an elected House of Lords because I believe that those who make the laws of the land…
Should be elected by those who have to obey the laws of the land.
That is democracy - and it is what people rightly expect from their politics in the 21st Century.

When the Liberal Democrats came into Government, I knew that creating a democratic Lords would not be straightforward.
This cause has long been blocked by an establishment resistant to change;
And by the vested interests who benefit from maintaining the power of political patronage...
While keeping the power of people out.

However, Lords reform was in each party's manifesto.
It was written into the Coalition Agreement - without argument or controversy.
And I had hoped that, with enough compromise and cross-party involvement...
We could build a consensus…
Delivering it once and for all.

After the election I convened cross-party talks.
The Government then published a draft bill and white paper...
With a clear commitment from myself and the Prime Minister to hold the first elections to the Lords in 2015.
We then established a joint committee, of both Houses, to scrutinise our proposals.
We amended the Bill once the Joint Committee reported - taking on the majority of their changes.
And, last month, in a historic vote...
An overwhelming majority of MPs backed an elected House of Lords during the Bill's second reading.

However, despite these painstaking efforts…
The Labour party and Conservative backbenchers united to block any further progress...
Preventing government from securing a timetable motion…
Without which the Bill effectively becomes impossible to deliver.
At that point, the Prime Minister said he needed more time, over the summer, to persuade his MPs …
And I, of course, agreed to that reasonable request.
Unfortunately, the PM has confirmed to me, since then, that an insufficient number of his MPs have been persuaded to support the Bill.

In my discussions with the Labour Party leadership, they have made it clear that:
While they continue to back Lords reform in principle…
They are set on blocking it in practice.
Supporting the ends, but - when push comes to shove - obstructing the means.

I invited Ed Miliband to propose the number of days that Labour believe is necessary for consideration of the Bill.
He declined to do so.
Instead he confirmed Labour would only support individual closure motions - which could bog down parliament for months.
Regrettably Labour is allowing short-term political opportunism to thwart longterm democratic change.

So, after a long process - almost two and a half years...
We do not have the Commons majority needed to ensure this Bill progresses through Parliament.
It is obvious that the Bill's opponents would now seek to inflict on it a slow death:
Ensuring Lords reform consumes an unacceptable amount of parliamentary time.
Clearly, it would be wrong for me to allow Parliament to be manipulated in this way...
Not least at a time when there is so much else for us to concentrate on.
So I can confirm today that we do not intend to proceed with the Bill in this parliament.
The government will make a full statement on this - to parliament - as soon as it returns in September.

To modernisers and campaigners, let me say this:
I am as disappointed as you that we have not delivered an elected Lords this time around.
But Lords Reform has always been a case of two steps forward, one step back.
And my hope is that we will return to it, in the next Parliament…
Emboldened by the overwhelming vote in favour of our Bill at second reading.
An unelected House of Lords flies in the face of democratic principles and public opinion.

It makes a mockery of our claim to be the mother of all democracies.
And - even if you put all of that to one side - the ever increasing size of the Lords makes it an unsustainable chamber.
It cannot keep growing; reform cannot be forever ducked.



As you know, an elected House of Lords was part of the Coalition Agreement:
A fundamental part of the contract that keeps the coalition parties working together in the national interest.
A contract not just to each other, but a set of commitments we have made, collectively, to the British people.

My party has held to that contract even when it meant voting for things that we found difficult.
The Liberal Democrats are proving ourselves to be a mature and competent party of Government...
And I am proud that we have met our obligations.

But the Conservative party is not honouring the commitment to Lords reform...
And, as a result, part of our contract has now been broken.

Clearly I cannot permit a situation where Conservative rebels can pick and choose the parts of the contract they like...
While Liberal Democrat MPs are bound to the entire agreement.
Coalition works on mutual respect; it is a reciprocal arrangement, a two way street.

So I have told the Prime Minister that when, in due course, parliament votes on boundary changes for the 2015 election…
I will be instructing my party to oppose them.
When part of a contract is broken, it is normal to amend that contract...
In order then to move on.

Lords reform and boundaries are two, separate parliamentary bills…
But they are both part of a package of overall political reform.
Delivering one but not the other would create an imbalance - not just in the Coalition Agreement, but also in our political system.
Lords reform leads to a smaller, more legitimate House of Lords.
Boundary changes lead to a smaller House of Commons, by cutting the number of MPs.
If you cut the number of MPs without enhancing the legitimacy and effectiveness of the Lords...
All you have done is weaken parliament as a whole…
Strengthen the executive…
And its overmighty government that wins.

So, for these reasons, I have decided, reluctantly...
To push the pause button on these controversial parliamentary reforms.
Throughout this process my aim has always been too honour the Coalition Agreement in full - no more, no less.
I stood ready - and stand ready - to deliver reforms that are controversial for my party…
Because that is part of a wider, reciprocal arrangement.

That is why, for instance, in a last ditch attempt to keep both sides of the bargain intact…
I suggested a solution that would have allowed us to progress with both reforms:
A referendum on Lords Reform on election day in 2015…
With first elections to the Lords taking place in 2020…
While deferring boundary changes to 2020 too.
That would have been in keeping with the Coalition Agreement - in which neither policy had a set timetable.

But that offer was not accepted.
So we must now restore balance to the Coalition Agreement…
Allowing us to draw a line under these events…
And get on with the rest of our Programme for Government.



My Liberal Democrat colleagues and I remain focused on the urgent task that brought the Coalition together:
Rescuing, repairing and rebalancing our economy.
And, just as we are determined that this Government delivers economic reform...
We are determined to deliver social renewal too.
There are many things that brought me into politics...
Many things which animate my party:
Political reform is one. A fairer tax system is another. Internationalism. The environment. Civil liberties.

But the thing I care about most - the central purpose of the Liberal Democrats in this government...
Is to build a fairer society.
A more socially mobile society, where a person's opportunities do not depend on the circumstances of their birth...
Where every individual has the chance to flourish.
We will continue with that critical work.
We will continue to anchor this government firmly in the centre ground.

Jon, who is Deputy Leader of Bristol City Council, was a GP in the city for 30 years and is a governor of St Werburgh's Park Nursery and Children's Centre and a trustee for Full Circle, which provides after school clubs and holiday activities for young people.

Commenting, Jon Rogers said:

"As a family doctor for 30 years, I know this city inside out - the people, the places, the issues. I know what makes Bristol great and I know what makes life hard for too many Bristolians.

"That's why I'm determined to be a mayor for all of the city, not just one part of it."