Message from Alistair Cameron - Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for Tewkesbury

9.25.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 23rd Oct 2008

This is a worrying time for many people. I would therefore like to set out some measures from the Liberal Democrats to deal with our economic problems:-

Housing

• Allow families struggling with repayments to sell all or part of the equity in their house and rent it back from a housing association or private firm to help keep them in their home.

• Allow councils and housing associations to borrow against their assets to buy up unsold properties and land from building companies in order to replenish the social housing stock.

Tax cuts for people on low and middle incomes

• Cut basic income tax by 4p in the pound, paid for by upping taxes on pollution and closing tax loopholes used by the rich.

• Get tough on unnecessary and wasteful government spending, and use some of the money saved to cut taxes even further for those on low and middle incomes.

Limit Excesses of the City

• Stop destablising short-selling of bank shares by hedge funds

• Require banks to hold more capital in periods of boom and less in recession.

• Curb the bonus culture using regulation where necessary to prevent reckless risk-taking.

• Better regulation of institutions such as hedge funds

Cut energy bills and fight fuel poverty

• Compel energy companies to re-invest the £9 billion profit they have made in kind from the Emissions Trading Scheme into cutting bills to help over two million vulnerable customers and provide a £500 million a year house insulation programme.

Invest in 'green' jobs

• Big investment in renewables, home insulation and railways will create thousands of jobs.

Reinvigorate global trade

• Work within the European Union to unlock the stalemate on agricultural trade between the rich and the developing world, and bring down prices worldwide.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you wish to discuss the above measures or if there are any other issues you would like to raise with me.

With best wishes

Alistair Cameron