LDDA - The Liberal Democrat Disability Association

In 2019/20, 4.9 million women were victims of sexual assault in England and Wales. This statistic is appalling. We must put an end to this.

The justice system is failing victims of domestic abuse. Only 2.4% of reported rape cases end in convictions. Out of 139,000 rapes estimated by the ONS, only 58,848 were reported to the police.

What a conference we've had!

From motions to keynote speeches to training, there was something for everyone and the quality of debate was, as ever, excellent.

We also got a huge amount of press coverage. Our stunning win in Chesham and Amersham has put us back in the spotlight - and the media are beginning to see that only we can dismantle the Tory Blue Wall.

Online fraud has risen by a third in the pandemic. We must ensure justice is delivered to victims and need to tackle this endemic of scams and frauds head on.

The push to a virtual world in the pandemic has increased the rate of online fraud and scams. Hackers and fraudsters take advantage and prey on people over the internet.

Boris Johnson's woeful government has done it again.

Their needless belligerence towards our neighbours has devastated the national supply chain. Shelves are bare and prices will rise.

By refusing to work with the European Union, importing and exporting goods has become much harder. The skilled worker visa system brings high costs, inflexibility and bureaucracy. It's too hard to hire from the EU, and many EU nationals have gone home. And that's all thanks to this divisive government.

I want to take you back to May 1999, and the first-ever elections to the then Welsh Assembly.

Almost 600 years after the first Welsh Parliament was established in June 1404, the people of Wales once again had its own national democratic institution.

Wales was entering a new dawn - an opportunity to meaningfully hand power to people, to communities, away from the corridors of power.

We have enjoyed fantastic links with our European neighbours for decades.

Our school children have benefitted from easy language exchanges and visa-free school trips. Young people have been able to live, study, and work across 27 different countries. Students have enhanced their education via the Erasmus scheme. Artists and musicians have been able to travel freely between us and the continent.

Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western (Constituency) and Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats delivered an emotional speech to conference today.

We've gathered the highlights for you to explore, or you can read or watch his full speech here:

See Alex's full speech

Alex kicked things off by expressing his heartfelt thanks to his Scottish Liberal inspirations:

Conference, it is a tremendous honour for me to address you for the first time as the leader of our Scottish party.

I'm conscious that today I am addressing some of my political heroes.

I cannot overstate the sense of responsibility I feel to the great Scottish Liberals on whose shoulders I stand, and whose legacy I inherit, among them friends and mentors like Jim Wallace, Jo Swinson and Charles Kennedy.

During the awful violence in May, Britain was absent from the world stage - despite our historic responsibilities to the region.

That's why today we have set out a route map for the UK Government to follow in its engagement with the region. It is vital that long-term underlying tensions are to be addressed if we hope to achieve a lasting peace rather than a short term truce.

Leader of the Welsh Lib Dems Jane Dodds gave her speech at conference today! We've put together some highlights below or you can read the speech in full here.

She started with a reminder of a longstanding democratic tradition in Wales and the 1999 election to the Welsh Assembly

"Almost 600 years after the first Welsh Parliament was established in June 1404, the people of Wales once again had its own national democratic institution"