The Liberal Democrats have tabled an amendment to the Queen's Speech for debate on Monday 19 January. The amendment details the key reasons why Liberal Democrat MPs will oppose Boris Johnson's agenda for government, including:

• failure to introduce ambitious plans to tackle the climate emergency;
• failure to set out measures to tackle poverty and inequality;
• failure to protect human rights or to strengthen the voice of citizens.

In response the decision by Wiltshire CCG to close Trowbridge's maternity unit, South West Wiltshire's Parliamentary candidate Ellen Nicholson said "It's very disappointing that the Trowbridge maternity unit in the County town of Wiltshire has been selected by @NHSWiltshireCCG for closure whilst Chippenham, which has seen fewer births and is predicted to receive fewer births than Trowbridge in the coming years, is retained".

Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Willie Rennie has today called on the SNP government to "see sense" and immediately withdraw its longstanding support for Heathrow's expansion after it was revealed that the extra flights to Scotland alone would pump out an additional 600,000 tonnes of emissions by 2040.

Do you think we care well enough for the more vulnerable in our society?

Have we figured out how best to care for people who've experienced bereavement, people who get ill in old age, those with mental ill-health or adults with learning disabilities?

My own personal experience tells me we haven't. Whether in my own life or for many constituents in my advice surgeries over 20 years, all too often the care and support systems either don't work well enough or aren't even there at all.

Today responding to news that the Government intends to bail out Flybe, Liberal Democrat Transport spokesperson, Munira Wilson MP, said:

"Flybe provides a vital service in connecting many regions of the UK which are otherwise hard to travel between, not least as a result of poor rail infrastructure. Keeping these routes open has to be a top priority.

"However, Boris Johnson's decision to bail out Flybe is a misuse of taxpayers' money to say the least. If Flybe is a failing business, then it is not the right business to run these routes.

"The fact that the Tories are considering cutting air passenger duty is even worse. Our planet is under threat, yet this Conservative Government is offering to cut taxes for high-polluting aviation instead of investing in rail. This is the only way to reduce reliance on domestic flights in the long term."

Responding to the HM Inspectorate of Probation report, which has found that the National Probation Service (NPS) is hampered by staff shortages, stretched middle managers and poor facilities, Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson Daisy Cooper said:

"This Conservative Government is failing in its most important duty: keeping people safe. Staff shortages in the Probation Service mean that high-risk individuals in our communities are not being properly supervised.

"This alarming report shows that ending private probation contracts and unifying the system, while clearly necessary, will not be nearly enough to fix the major problems in probation.

"Liberal Democrats are calling for a fundamental rethink about the way probation works. It must be far more coordinated and tailored to the individual, based on the risks they pose and the support they need to build a life free from crime.

"Probation and rehabilitation must also be properly funded. The Government needs to recognise that spending to prevent reoffending would mean fewer victims of crime and yield major benefits - for both society and the public finances."

Lib Dems MPs recently tabled an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill to save Erasmus, so that students can live, study & work across the EU.

Last week, the Tories voted it down.

We will keep fighting to stop Boris Johnson limiting the horizons for young people.

The Liberal Democrat amendment would have inserted a clause in the withdrawal agreement bill requiring the government to seek continued participation in Erasmus+ on existing terms after Brexit, and to report on the progress of negotiations to parliament. But on Wednesday MPs voted down a second reading of the amendment, by 344 to 254.

Next Saturday is the first meeting of the new Liberal Democrat Federal Board (FB), which will see a mix of old and new faces either around the table or joining via video conference. It'll also be my first outing chairing the Board, so with a bit of luck, we'll have finished by Monday lunchtime…

Watch out for my report on the party website which will follow a few days after, but as lots of people have been asking, it's worth noting in advance some of the key points we'll have on the agenda.

Responding to this week's House of Commons vote on protecting child refugees, Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron said that Tory MPs had "earned the labels" of "insular and inhumane" by voting against the cross-party amendment.

Every Liberal Democrat MP voted for an opposition amendment to the Withdrawal Agreement Bill to retain a statutory duty on the Government to negotiate an agreement with the EU that protects family reunion rights for unaccompanied child refugees in Europe. However, Conservative MPs voted down the amendment by 348 votes to 252.

Responding to the vote, Tim Farron said:

"Tory MPs love to talk about 'global Britain' and claim that Brexit is really some great internationalist project. By turning their backs on child refugees they have shown it is anything but.

"These Tory MPs get irritated when they are labelled as insular and inhumane, but by blocking our amendment today they have earned those labels.

"We must do all we can to protect child refugees and Liberal Democrats will continue to fight for them - including when this Bill moves to the House of Lords."