Wera Hobhouse MP: ‘The party’s well and truly over’

Party after party, lie after lie, Boris Johnson has dishonoured the office of Prime Minister and lost all public credibility. The party is well and truly over and my Lib Dem colleagues and I have been calling on him to resign.

■ Hundreds of constituents have written to me about the Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. One of the things this illiberal bill would rob us of is our basic human right to peacefully protest. I joined hundreds of residents in Bath at a peaceful protest against the bill. As an opposition MP, it is not within my power to stop this bill but I will continue to stand against it. All of us on the progressive left must work together to defeat the farright, authoritarian Conservatives at the next general election.

■ The House of Lords voted for an amendment to make misogyny a hate crime. MPS must now do the right thing and keep this provision in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill when it comes back to the House of Commons. Making misogyny a hate crime will encourage women to come forward and report their experiences and it will stamp out the root cause of violence against women and girls. ■ Constituents expressed concern about the Elections Bill, another bid by this government to undermine our democracy. Requiring ID to vote is an expensive solution to a problem that doesn’t exist, and will disenfranchise voters.

■ I spoke in a Parliamentary debate on the NHS dentistry crisis. Constituents young and old are unable to access dental services, and NHS dentists are under tremendous pressure. The Government must fully fund this sector to stop people suffering and professionals leaving. ■ The cost of living, from food prices to energy bills, is soaring. Bath & North East Somerset Council is working hard to provide a local Household Support Fund which will grant the least well-off £250 to help offset their energy costs this winter. The Lib Dems support a windfall tax on oil and gas companies to fund support for those who need it.

■ I am fighting for our city’s bus services, which remain under threat. I am working closely with my Lib Dem colleagues at Bath and North East Somerset Council and with West of England Combined

Authority Mayor Dan Norris to find solutions with First Bus and with the government, which must fully fund bus services still suffering from reduced passenger numbers and which are struggling to hire drivers.

■ I spoke in the Holocaust Memorial Day debate about the ongoing fight against intolerance, exclusion and inhumanity. I feel a collective responsibility for what happened in my country of origin, and that we should never forget and should work towards a world in which such awful suffering never happens again.