The Liberal Democrat Party has published a 'pre-manifesto policy'
entitled A Fair Deal for Equality.
A mail-out states:
As we gear up for the General Election, we're sharing our
pre-manifesto policies through a series of emails, focusing on
the Fair Deal we're championing in key areas.
The pre-manifesto is an early version of the party’s manifesto
for the General Election, setting out our core values and vision.
More details on these policies, and how they will be implemented,
will be outlined when the full manifesto is published.
As today marks the first day of LGBT+ History Month, here's a
snapshot of our plans for rights and equality.
Why we need a Fair Deal for Equality
The term ‘liberal’ is in our name because we exist to champion an
open and free society.
We believe everyone should be able to live their lives as who
they are, free from judgement and persecution, and with the
ability to realise their full potential. Diversity is one of the
UK’s greatest strengths and should be celebrated.
But in the past few years, progress has stalled. The Government
has yet to ban conversion “therapy” practices, it flirts with
tearing up the Human Rights Act, and it openly challenges
international norms with legislation like the Rwanda Bill on
asylum seekers. Too often, their language divides rather than
unites.
We cannot let progress backslide. We must confront prejudice and
discrimination wherever it exists.
Promoting equality
We will stand up for people of all backgrounds and walks of life.
To advance equality, we will:
✅ Develop and implement a comprehensive Race Equality
Strategy.
✅ Tackle institutional biases, ensuring that diversity is
reflected throughout public life.
✅ Respect and defend the rights and identities of all LGBT+
people, including trans and non-binary people.
✅ Ban all forms of Conversion Practices.
Empowering all
Everyone deserves to be able to live to their full potential. To
these ends, people must have full control over their lives, able
to make the decisions which work best for them.
We will:
✅ Give everyone the right to flexible working and every person
with disabilities the right to work from home if they want to,
unless significant business reasons prevent it.
✅ Protect everyone’s right to make independent decisions over
their reproductive health without interference by the state, and
ensure access to high-quality reproductive healthcare.
Legislative protections
We must defend existing laws which offer us fundamental
protections and pursue new laws to cover areas where policy is
lacking.
We will:
✅ Champion the Human Rights Act and resist any attempts to weaken
or repeal it.
✅ Scrap the Conservatives’ draconian anti-protest laws, restoring
pre-existing protections for peaceful assembly and public
safety.
✅ Make misogyny a hate crime and give police and prosecutors the
resources and training to prevent and prosecute all hate crimes
while supporting survivors.
✅ Place a statutory duty of care on all social media platforms to
prevent well-defined harms, based on clear evidence, and
introduce a Digital Bill of Rights to protect everyone’s rights
online, including the rights to privacy, free expression, and
participation without being subjected to harassment and
abuse.
