This is one of a series of articles in which representatives of the main parties make their pitch for the Catholic vote.
Liberal Democrats are passionate about making the world a better and fairer place. We recognise the importance of protecting the planet for future generations. Our principles as Liberal Democrats are thus close to the heart of Catholic social teaching, especially solidarity, subsidiarity and human dignity.
The UK has appeared deeply divided in the wake of the EU referendum last year. Liberal Democrats seek to overcome divisions in society, and we have a set of inclusive policies designed to do so. We believe that everyone should be able to use their talents and achieve their potential whatever their background. Individuals cannot do this alone, hence the importance we place on education, particularly on early years education for those from the least privileged backgrounds. That was why we pushed for the Pupil Premium while we were in government before and why are calling for it to be increased now. Targeting support at the poorest is crucial in making our country more equal.
Intergenerational fairness is essential. The baby boom generation benefited hugely from state-funded education and many other policies for decades. Their children and especially their grandchildren often cannot aspire to the same levels of material wealth. Of course, materialism is not a Catholic value; adequate food, shelter and human dignity undoubtedly are. We are committed to reducing homelessness, and have pledged to build 300,000 new homes a year by 2022.
Health and social care are vital to ensuring people can live happy and fulfilled lives, and to living in dignity when they are old, ill or dying. Liberal Democrats don’t want to pretend we can adequately fund the NHS within the current government budget – a growing and ageing population as well as the cost of medical advances make that unrealistic. We would therefore raise income tax by a penny in the pound with the extra revenue to be spent on the NHS and social care. Mental health must be properly diagnosed and treated; it must no longer be the Cinderella of the medical world.
Liberal Democrats recognise a duty of hospitality, whether to refugees fleeing famine or, increasingly, religious or political persecution, or people who come to the UK for a better life, and who contribute so much to British culture and the workforce, not least the NHS. We would give sanctuary to 50,000 Syrian refugees during the course of the next five years, including 3,000 children. We would continue to welcome immigrants, and would immediately secure the rights of EU nationals currently living and working in the UK, who have been subjected to unnecessary insecurity ever since the referendum.
As an internationalist party, we recognise a wider duty not just to our family, friends and neighbours in the UK but also to our fellow citizens of the world. Liberal Democrats have long been committed to the target of 0.7% of GDP for international aid. When in Government we ensured this commitment was enshrined in law. We remain determined that such money should be used to alleviate poverty and other problems in developing countries; it should not be used as a way of plugging other holes in defence or Foreign Office spending. Rather it is an important aspect of international solidarity, a small but significant attempt to choose for the poor.
Our wider global responsibilities include defence and foreign policy as well as climate change. We would retain nuclear weapons because on balance their deterrent effect helps maintain peace, but we would reduce the UK’s nuclear capabilities and seek to leverage global reductions in nuclear weapons. While not a pacifist party, we are acutely aware of the problems associated with the arms trade, so we would strongly regulate arms exports to countries with poor records on human rights.
As for the environmental concerns which Pope Francis expressed in Laudato Si’, Liberal Democrats have long sought to tackle global climate change – it is indeed a major factor in our support for the EU, as we recognise the importance of international cooperation in dealing with this massive challenge, which will have dramatic effects on the world, submerging some islands and causing a new category of “climate refugees”.
We understand the importance of internationalism in this and so many other areas where the most vulnerable face death and the destruction of their way of life. By working within international institutions we can together achieve so much more than acting as a single country; environmental policy is just one, albeit powerful example of our approach to the world.
Baroness Smith of Newnham is a Liberal Democrat peer and Fellow of Robinson College, Cambridge
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