The Liberal Democrats
Known as the Lib-Dems, this party was created in 1988 from a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party. Often seen as the middle-ground between Labour and the Conservative Party, the Lib-Dems tend to take a central-left libertarian stance on the political spectrum. It has been the third-largest party in the UK for the last 30 years, joining multiple coalitions as the junior party for England, Scotland, and Wales. Being a libertarian party, it calls for constitutional reform, including a change from the first-past-the-post voting system to proportional representation.
Policies
Here are their most recent, relevant policies regarding several different aspects in our society
Environment
The Lib-Dems have expressed a keen interest in protecting our climate and in tackling global warming. They wish to establish a general corporate duty of care for the environment and human rights and also establish a department for climate change and natural resources. Their goal is to generate 80% of all energy in the UK from renewable energy sources and to insulate all UK homes. They would end UK support for non-renewable sources being used overseas.
Equality
They wish to promote and state the value of the Human Rights Act (HRA) and the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). For the goal of improving the situation of UK immigration, they wish to remove the powers of the Home Office and prevent indefinite detention. There would be a 28-day limit on detention for immigrants, and it would be seen as the last resort. They would provide funding for vulnerable areas such as schools or religious centres which are often victims of hate crime. They would increase inclusivity by making BSL a recognised UK language and scrapping the 'Pink Tax' and otherwise helping women to get equal opportunity. They would abolish the minimum income requirement for spouse visas.
People
To end rough sleeping and food poverty, 100,000 social homes would be created and food would become a legal human right under UK government. They would work to create a £50 billion Regional Rebalancing Programme to address the historic investment disparities between the other nations and regions. They want to Reinstate the Independent Living Fund and end fuel poverty by 2025 by providing free energy retrofits for low-income homes as part of our emergency programme to reduce energy consumption from all the UK’s buildings
the economy
They wish to encourage employers to promote employee ownership by giving staff in listed companies with more than 250 employees a right to request shares, to be held in trust for the benefit of employees. Also, they want to require binding and public votes of shareholders on executive pay policies and introduce a general duty of care for the environment and human rights. Restore Corporation Tax to 20 percent. Simplify business taxation to lower administration costs. They believe in supporting smaller companies and reducing opportunities for tax avoidance.
Education
According to their manifesto, they wish to offer free, high-quality childcare for every child aged two to four and children aged between nine and 24 months where their parents or guardians are at work 35 hours a week and 48 weeks a year. They also want to help disadvantaged children by tripling the Early Years Pupil Premium to £1,000. To reduce unnecessary stress on pupils and teachers, they wish to scrap existing mandatory SATs and replace them with a formal teacher assessment at the end of each term. To keep culture rife for young people they want to maintain free access to national museums and galleries.