Liberal Democrats are the first UK party to call for an inquiry into Covid19

The latest Guardian Editorial calls for the Government to undertake a full independent public inquiry into the Covid19 crisis and states that the Liberal Democrats were the first party to call for it.

• Boris Johnson is accountable for the mistakes this government has made through the Coronavirus crisis.
• We have seen a disaster in our care homes, one of the worst death rates per capita in the world and we are yet to see a comprehensive test and trace system.
• There must be an immediate public and independent inquiry so the government can be held accountable for their mistakes and we can make sure they are never repeated.

It is a concern that the governments apparent choice for chair of the intelligence and securities committee is none other than Chris Grayling, referred to as a man appears to 'fail upwards'.

Best known as an error-prone minister who has presided over many disasters; the collapse of Northern and Thameslink rail services, the granting of a no-deal Brexit ferry contract to a company with no ships.As justice secretary, he part-privatised the probation service and banned prisoners from receiving books from relatives, a measure that was overturned in the courts. The probation service privatisation has since been criticised in a series of damning reports by parliamentary committees and watchdogs who found the restructure put public safety at risk and was "irredeemably flawed".

Over the last 2 weeks, members have been nominating candidates to stand as the next leader of the Liberal Democrats.

This is the first time that the system has been run mostly online and also the first time we have published these totals.

We decided to publish the totals as we felt it gave candidates a chance to demonstrate some of the key skills they'll need as leader.

Responding to Boris Johnson's comments during Prime Minister's Questions that "no one knew early on in the pandemic that the virus was being passed on asymptomatically", Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Munira Wilson said:

"Yet again, we are seeing more lies from the Prime Minister. He and his Ministers knew about the asymptomatic transmission of this virus, but they still allowed those who hadn't been tested to enter our care homes.

"It was not the case that we didn't know coronavirus could be asymptomatic, and it is not fair to say that care homes were not following procedures. The truth is there was no protective ring around care homes.

"Our social care system was left tragically exposed under Boris Johnson's watch. It is time he stopped trying to dodge the blame.

"The Prime Minister must start taking some responsibility for his Government's handling of the coronavirus crisis and back Liberal Democrat calls for an inquiry. The mistakes that have been made cannot be allowed to happen again."

Another case of coronavirus has been recorded in Wiltshire over the last 24 hours official figures show.

Public Health England figures show that 1,240 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 by 9am on Tuesday (July 7) in Wiltshire, up from 1,239 the same time on Monday.

Following last week's announcement by government on additional emergency funding for local authorities, Wiltshire Council's administration thinks this has reduced the chances of issuing a default notice.

On 2 July, the government said local authorities would receive an additional further £500m in a non-ring fenced grant to cover expenditure. The government also confirmed that it will introduce a new income loss scheme that will pay a percentage of all lost income from sales, fees and charges. This, together with the council's own measures, means reserves are not expected to be exhausted.

Wiltshire Lib Dems have launched a Petition Calling on Wiltshire Council to deliver its £100,000 promise to the Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

🔸 Demand Better for Wiltshire's Air Ambulance: https://wiltshirelibdems.org.uk/Air-Ambulance-Petition 🔸

Salisbury Liberal Democrat Councillor, Brian Dalton is demanding Wiltshire Council deliver on its promise to make good the £100,000 loss incurred by the Wiltshire Air Ambulance in responding to the Novichok attack.

Like others in our excellent emergency services, the Wiltshire Air Ambulance team responded bravely to both waves of the Novichok attack in Salisbury and Amesbury.

We are very proud of how everyone in our hospital, ambulance service, police, fire service, armed services and council staff responded to that appalling crisis.
Our Air Ambulance were to the fore in the immediate response.

As a direct result of their courage, responders not only put themselves at risk but the charity also lost expensive equipment, valuable fundraising and had the lives of their people and core operations disrupted.

The pledges made at that time to help those that were impacted directly must be honoured. Breaking that solemn promise is totally unacceptable.

We the undersigned, demand that Wiltshire Council deliver its £100,000 promise to Wiltshire's Air Ambulance.

The Liberal Democrats have hailed as "historic" the Domestic Abuse Bill, which is due to be passed by the House of Commons today [Monday 6th July], while also securing cross-party support for amendments to protect migrant survivors of abuse.

Christine Jardine, the party's Home Affairs Spokesperson who sat on the Public Bill Committee last month, praised the cross-party pressure that has finally brought the legislation to this point and forced the Government to include children as victims in the new statutory definition of domestic abuse.

Jardine also vowed to continue the Liberal Democrats' efforts to improve the Bill further. The party has tabled two amendments to protect migrant women who experience domestic abuse: one to grant them leave to remain in the UK and the other to prevent their personal data being shared with the Home Office for immigration enforcement.

Both amendments are backed by cross-party MPs, including Labour's Harriet Harman, Stella Creasy and Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Plaid Cymru's Liz Saville Roberts, the Greens' Caroline Lucas and Alliance's Stephen Farry. The data-sharing amendment is also co-sponsored by Conservative MP Richard Fuller.

Ahead of the debate in the House of Commons, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Christine Jardine said:

"More than two million people experience domestic abuse every year. Survivors desperately need the new legal protections and support that this Domestic Abuse Bill will bring.

"The Conservative Government has been far too slow bringing this legislation forward since they first promised it more than three years ago.

"I'm relieved that our cross-party pressure has paid off and the House of Commons will finally have the chance to pass this long-awaited and historic legislation today. I'm also delighted that we have succeeded in ensuring that the Bill properly recognises children as victims of domestic abuse.

"The Liberal Democrats are continuing to work to improve the Bill, with amendments to add specific protections for migrant women, so that fears over their immigration status do not prevent them from coming forward to report violence or abuse. We must ensure that the Bill protects all survivors of domestic abuse, no matter where they were born."

This year marks the 72nd birthday of the NHS.

The idea, conceived by a liberal - William Beveridge - transformed healthcare in this country. And as a nation, we have been rightly proud of the NHS for 72 years.

This year we haven't just felt proud however - we have also felt profoundly grateful. Our NHS staff have been incredible.