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SThe government’s own estimates state that the size of the UK’s economy will only add 0.08% to the size of the UK’s economy, in 10 years. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) had also said that Brexit would REDUCE the UK’s potential economic growth by about 4% in the long term.

TWe were also told during the Brexit debate that Boris regarded a bilateral free trade agreement with the US would be a key Brexit win. That remains a pipe dream, with nothing on the horizon. No trade deal with India, either!

I would suggest that with Sunak’s emphasis on mathematics, maybe he, Badenoch and others need to work out the figures to show that joining CPTPP in no way, will make up for the loss of trade with our

Labour under Tony Blair had introduced civil partnerships, but they were not on an equal par with the concept of marriage.

Thanks to Lynne Featherstone, everyone in the UK can now marry the person they love. To those who still oppose the concept of same-sex marriage, no one is forcing them to marry someone of the same sex.

If you have any issues or comments, please contact me at andrew.lye@pembslibdems.wales

FOR LABOUR to win the next General Election - and it’s still (only just) an “if” - it must set out a compelling vision for voters.

It must show why voting for Labour will positively affect voters’ lives.

With a General Election due before the end of 2024, it’s not yet done so.

Not being quite as rubbish as the Conservatives isn’t going to cut it.

Rather like the “Remain” campaign in 2016’s Brexit referendum, Labour is very hot on the negative consequences of not voting for it. It is far weaker about explaining the positive why.

In 1997, when Tony Blair’s Labour Party swept the Conservatives from power after eighteen years, Labour’s communications were far sharper. They offered hope and change.

The change was couched in general terms. Things could only get better, after all. The hope came from an almost evangelical campaign led by Tony Blair himself.

The parallels between today and 1997 are uncanny.

The Conservatives are hopelessly divided on a range of policies. The UK’s relationship with Europe has splintered the Party into factions, all squabbling and attacking the leadership.

Immigration policy divides the Party between the fiercest of BluKippers and those who treasure the rule of law. Economic policy is a mess of conflicting opinions and views, with Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak cast as the prisoners of the market and unable or unwilling to exercise independent control of monetary policy’s levers.

Around the UK, public services are in increasing disarray. While privatesector pay growth has outstripped inflation for over fifteen years, public-sector pay has fallen in real terms. The utility and public service industries privatised under the Conservatives - and Tony Blair - are in crisis. Granting private monopolies to companies largely owned overseas has exported profits and left UK taxpayers to pick up the bill for their mismanagement of resources and infrastructure.

And, on all of this, Labour is more-or-less silent.

Kier Starmer stands by and wrings his hands. It’s the Conservatives’ fault for over a decade of underinvestment, he says. It’s the Conservatives’ fault for pursuing the wrong economic policies. It’s the Conservatives’ fault that our relationship with our nearest and most valuable trading partner is in the crapper. The Conservatives’ welfare policies penalise the poorest and most vulnerable. Those beastly Conservatives have increased the tax burden through stealth.

If you accept that narrative, you would like to hear the fix next. Dr Starmer reaches into his doctor’s bag and presents solutions.

But nothing. The doctor’s bag is empty, and Labour’s