Environment, opportunity, fair taxes focus of Brighton Conference

10.25.37am BST (GMT +0100) Sat 15th Sep 2007

The Liberal Democrats are set for a conference which will take the party's already strong environmental policies and develop them still further, adopting a roadmap to a carbon neutral Britain by 2050.

Fair taxes and opportunities for all will be other key themes of the week, as the Lib Dems develop and strengthen the party's policy platform in preparation for the next general election, which could be as soon as next month, if media reports are to be believed.

In a message to conference representatives, Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell said:

"This week we will take decisions on a wide range of policy matters: tax, the environment, poverty, and many others. These will form the foundation of our election platform. They are a clear demonstration of our determination to change British politics and break with the conservative consensus that we have witnessed in recent years.

Some of the major policy developments being put to this conference include -

• 4p cut in the basic rate of income tax

• Route map to get to a carbon neutral Britain by 2050, including radical proposals for 'energy mortgages' and incentives for energy companies to help their customers become energy efficient

• £1.5 billion Pupil Premium to raise significantly funding for pupils from deprived backgrounds

• New charges on road freight and internal flights to fund doubling of investment in Britain's railways

• Increasing Child Benefit by around £5 per family per week, taking 150,000 children out of poverty

• UK Constitutional Convention to draw up a written constitution

• Earned route to citizenship for irregular migrants who have been in the UK for 10 years

• Introducing a single working age benefit

• New requirement on supermarkets to take back packaging (as already exists in Germany)

• Setting out in detail our innovative plans for Community Planning Auctions

Strong results in recent parliamentary by-elections, where the Lib Dem showed themselves to be the challengers to Labour in their heartlands in both the north and the south, relegating the Conservatives to two poor third places, have demonstrated that three-party politics is very much a fact of life in current British politics.

Urging the party to seize on this momentum, Menzies Campbell said:

"After a decade in power Labour is vulnerable. Gordon Brown cannot disown a decade of decision-making in which he has enjoyed unparalleled input, and David Cameron cannot persuade his party to look forward rather than back.

"The opportunity for our party to make progress is real. People are seeking a political alternative that is radical and progressive - and we are that alternative."