Bury Lib Dems had three representatives at Party Conference in Glasgow last week (Helen, Paul and Tim).

Here’s a quick report back on some of the main announcements at conference.

Personal Allowance
Liberal Democrats believe in opportunity for everyone not just a few at the top and letting people keep more of their own money is central to that. We have already raised the income tax threshold to £10,500 and in Glasgow we announced that we will raise the income tax personal allowance threshold to £11,000 in the first year of the next Parliament – a further tax cut of £100 for 29m working people. We would make this change in the Autumn Statement of 2015, meaning that the tax cut would kick in in April 2016.

This is the first step on the way to raising the personal allowance to £12,500 – which will put £400 back in the pockets of 30m taxpayers and take one million people out of tax altogether We will pay for the tax cut in 2016 by raising Capital Gains Tax for the wealthiest and cutting down on tax avoidance. Once the party has raised the tax-free threshold to £12,500, we will then start to increase the National Insurance threshold, continuing to cut taxes for working people.

Mental Health waiting times
Nick Clegg used his conference speech to make a major Government announcement about mental health treatment and care. He announced that treatment for mental health conditions will be brought into line with other NHS services, with the introduction of the first ever waiting time standards. He said that it is wrong that someone needing a hip operation can expect treatment within a clear timeframe but someone with a mental health condition has no clarity about when they will get help.

We will end the injustice and from April 2015 most patients needing talking therapies will be guaranteed the treatment they need in as little as six weeks, with a maximum of 18 weeks.

NHS investment
The Liberal Democrats committed to a £1 billion real term investment in the National Health Service. The manifesto commitment will see the health service receive an extra £1 billion of real term funding in 2016/17 and 2017/18. It will be funded by reversing Conservative tax breaks for the wealthiest.

Apprentices and minimum wage
Business Secretary Vince Cable announced plans from the Lib Dems in Government to boost pay for thousands of apprentices. A proposal to create a single national minimum wage for 16 to 17-year-olds in work and first year of apprentices will be presented to the Low Pay Commission (LPC). It would mean around 31,000 apprentices in the first year of their programme will benefit from a pay rise of more than £1 an hour.

Affordable homes
We need to build 300,000 homes a year to tackle under supply and stop housing costs from spiralling out of the reach of ordinary families. Liberal Democrats reaffirmed our commitment to building the 300,000 new homes, as well as create a Housing Investment Bank. The bank will boost housebuilding and help low-income working families earning too much for social housing but unable to afford a home on the open market.

 

Here’s Nick Clegg’s speech at the end of Conference: