Following Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Menzies Campbell's article in the Guardian the Party has launched their new strategy for Iraq. The full document can be downloaded from the party website - http://www.libdems.org.uk/internationalaffairs/issues below is a brief summary of what the Liberal Democrats are proposing.
The Freedom of Information watchdog ordered the Department of Work and Pensions to publish its findings about how the cards could fight ID fraud, the department has decided to appeal against the ruling. Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said "The public has a right to know if the billions of pounds the government is committing to this massive project will be money well spent. It is a measure of the government's failure to justify ID cards that during the passage of the bill they never once released a full estimate of its costs and impact."
The Liberal Democrats will tomorrow table an 'Extradition (United States of America) Bill' which would require the presentation of evidence to a judge before a person can be extradited to the US. Sir Menzies Campbell yesterday became the first party leader to call for the suspension of the treaty, which allows suspects to be extradited even when, as in the NatWest case, the alleged offence took place in the UK and is not being pursued by British authorities. Challenged on the issue by Sir Menzies at PMQs today, Tony Blair rejected criticism of the treaty but said he would try to try to help the bankers get bail.
Writing in today's Guardian Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Menzies Campbell says the government cannot justify the continuing presence of our troops unless it shows it has learned from its failures and that only a UN-led peace process can halt the Iraq catastrophe.
The Conservatives only just retained their seventeenth safest seat in the country with a tiny 633 majority, despite a huge swing to the Liberal Democrats from both the Conservatives and Labour. A swing repeated in Bedford would see the Liberal Democrats gain the Parliamentary seat at the next General Election.
Gordon Brown has given his support for maintaining Britain as a nuclear power, angering some on the Labour left. Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Nick Harvey said "We are rushing headlong into a decision on nuclear weapons which should be considered over a much longer timescale."
