Families across the UK have had an extremely difficult year being separated from their loved ones. They deserve a Christmas that is as normal as possible.

So far, Boris Johnson's government has been badly prepared and slow to act at every stage throughout the Covid-19 crisis. That can't happen again, especially for Christmas.

Proposed EC3 Constitutional Amendments

Moved: Simon Banks; seconded: Stephen Robinson

{Original explanation: Unsurprisingly, in the first year we've been working to a completely new constitution, albeit one closely based on those of our neighbour CCCs, a few issues have emerged. It appears beneficial to have a changeover of officers on 1 January, in line with the financial year and what is now common practice in the Party. There is not clarity in the present text about whether an officer of EC3 counts as one of his local party's representatives. The present text also does not define who can be officers of EC3, beyond some exclusions.}

This committee knows that to get ourselves back to winning ways, we need to be ambitious going forwards and honest about the recent past.

In that vein, this month we discussed the internal investigation we commissioned into the Liberal Democrat response to the Unite to Remain campaign, and its structural and electoral implications for the Party.

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 19th October

Monday 19th October

Before we moved onto the main business of the day, we had two Ministerial Statements.

In coming weeks, Lib Dem candidate for Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Callum Robertson has secured meetings with influential leaders from religous communities across Essex.

Robertson has secured a series of meetings as part of his efforts to set up a hate crime commission for Essex in response to concerns over rising hate crime figures.

On Thursday 22, Callum Robertson attended the Police and Crime Panel to ask tough questions of Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Roger Hirst.

The Police and Crime Panel, which is made up of representatives of each council within Essex is convened to scrutinise the work of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex.

If ever there was a time for us to act in support of Hong Kongers, it is now.

Many Hong Kongers have suffered grave persecution at the hands of the Chinese Regime.

With repeated reports of police brutality, the UK has a moral and legal duty to stand with Hong Kongers and ensure no one is left behind to suffer under the Chinese Communist Party.

Despite the massive effort people have made to fight coronavirus it's clear that the road to recovery is going to be rockier than we first feared.

With millions of workers worried about their livelihoods, the British people deserve a Government that listens to their concerns and does everything in its power to protect them. Sadly, this isn't the case.

Improving our candidate process

Following the issues with our Mayor of London selection and in response to a request from the London Lib Dems, I asked Alison Suttie - a Liberal Democrat peer and the new chair of the Joint Candidate Subcommittee (JCSC) - to do an investigation to learn the lessons, not only for London but for our selections more generally.

I have a bill going through the House of Lords right now, the Domestic Premises (Energy Performance) Bill.

It requires the Government to ensure (with certain reasonable exceptions) that all fuel poor households are properly insulated and heated to achieve Energy Performance Certificate band C by 2030, and all other households by 2035.