We're putting the party back on track so we can achieve the sort of successes in future that we all so desperately want, and that our country needs.

Problems with the current way of doing things make it harder for us to win elections and to give members a real say in what happens. This was one of the major conclusions from the Dorothy Thornhill election review, which called for major improvements in how the party runs its own affairs.

The Federal Conference Committee met via Zoom call on Saturday, 11 July for the agenda selection for our first virtual conference. The meeting was a lengthy one, which was in part due to the large selection of varied motions we received, but also to give us breaks from staring at computer screens for a number of hours.

Welcome to the Weekly Whip. Your one-stop shop for Lib Dem Parliamentary updates, covering the week that was and the week to come.

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Weekly Whip w/c 13th July

Monday 13^th July

After the Chancellor's statement last week announcing an update to the fiscal response to Coronavirus, Monday saw the House consider all stages of the Stamp Duty Land Tax (Temporary Relief) Bill, legislation that removes the tax on buying a home under the threshold of £500,000. During the single day of proceedings, Sarah Olney, Tim Farron, and Wera Hobhouse all raised the Liberal Democrat concerns that this measure, one that has become somewhat of a flagship policy, does nothing to ease the worries of struggling people across the United Kingdom.

The UK's creative industries went into the COVID19 pandemic as world leaders, but without the necessary recovery support, they will emerge smaller, weaker and with lasting damage.

But with so much continuing uncertainty, the Government must do much more to prevent a cultural catastrophe and protect people's livelihoods from the twin threats of COVID and Brexit.

I am excited for the future of the Liberal Democrats. I know that together, we can put more Liberal Democrats in town halls, council chambers and Parliaments across the country and kick Boris Johnson out of Downing Street.

The maths are simple. We are in second in 91 seats across the country and in 80 of them, we're against the Conservatives. If we want to make sure we don't have a Tory government in 2025 then Liberal Democrats have to take seats off the Conservatives.

Yesterday, Acting Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey secured a commitment from the Prime Minister to an independent inquiry into the Government's handling of the Covid-19 crisis and called for the timetable to be set out immediately.

The UK has suffered one of the worst death rates in the world.

Speaking during Prime Minister's Questions yesterday, Ed Davey warned that under Boris Johnson's leadership the country has suffered one of the worst death rates in the world and Europe's worst death rate of health and care workers.

Coronavirus has had a devastating impact on this country - on our lives, on the economy and on our futures. We desperately need to learn from the experiences, including the mistakes, of the last four months so that we are better prepared in the future. That includes being ready for a second wave.

I'm proud to have been elected chair of the APPG on Coronavirus.

What is Stop and Search?

There are two main powers used by the police to stop and search people:

'Reasonable grounds' Stop and Search: under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 ("PACE") and associated legislation (such as the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971), officers can stop and search someone if they have "reasonable grounds" to suspect that the person has "prohibited articles" (usually offensive weapons), stolen property or controlled drugs.