Hounslow Borough Liberal Democrats

Jo Swinson has been elected unanimously as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

The result was announced on Tuesday evening at the Liberal Democrat parliamentary party meeting.

Jo will continue in her role as Liberal Democrat Shadow Foreign Secretary.

Jo said: "I am very proud to have been elected by a newly energised and strengthened parliamentary party.

Theresa May is reported to have dropped plans to scrap free school lunches for infant pupils from tomorrow's Queen's Speech.

It comes after the Liberal Democrats strongly criticised the Conservatives during the election campaign over their manifesto plans which would have deprived 1.7 million children of free school lunches, including 700,000 living in poverty.

Chancellor Philip Hammond has called for a transitional deal on Brexit to protect the economy at a speech at Mansion House, while Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has admitted that Brexit will make us all poorer.

It comes as the government is under pressure from the Liberal Democrats and business community to soften its stance on Brexit, including by protecting Britain's membership of the single market and customs union.

Commenting on the terrorist incident near Finsbury Park mosque in north London, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: "The Finsbury Park attack is senseless barbarism. Yet again we are rocked by a horrific incident for which there is no rhyme or reason.

"People who commit these heinous acts want to divide us, force us to turn in on ourselves and fight each other. We cannot and must not let them win. Our values matter, we must stand together.

Liberal Democrats have announced a new Shadow Cabinet. The party which gained seats in the election now have 12 MPs in the House of Commons.

Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron said: "I am delighted to announce our new shadow cabinet team, which brings together a wealth of experience. The party has people with a range of skills from within government, business and the charity sector.

On Friday, it will be one year since the appalling, hate-filled murder Labour MP Jo Cox.

Her friends and family don't want it to be a mournful occasion. Jo was a passionate campaigner, and inspired by her, they want us to channel our horror and grief into something positive.

So, they're spending the weekend celebrating what we have in common, and they've asked us to join them. It's called The Great Get Together, and it's a very simple idea: they're asking you to do something -- big or small -- to bring our communities together on 16 - 18 June. Will you join in?

Retail sales fell by 1.2% between April and May, worse than economists had expected, figures from the Office for National Statistics have shown.

The ONS said that average store prices have risen by 2.8% over the year, which has been a significant factor in slowing growth.

Liberal Democrat MP Vince Cable said: "The economy has been kept going for a year on the basis of consumer debt, which was always artificial and unsustainable.

The Liberal Democrats have called on the government to urgently publish a long-awaited review of building regulations on fire safety and implement its recommendations, following the deadly fire at Grenfell Tower.

Sal Brinton, Liberal Democrat Party President and member of the All-Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Group, commented:

This afternoon Tim Farron resigned as Liberal Democrat leader.

At party HQ in London he gave the following speech to party staff:

"This last two years have seen the Liberal Democrats recover since the devastation of the 2015 election.

That recovery was never inevitable but we have seen the doubling of our party membership, growth in council elections, our first parliamentary by-election win for more than a decade, and most recently our growth at the 2017 general election.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has set in train a deputy leadership election for the parliamentary party in the House of Commons.

Tim Farron said: "In the last parliament we didn't have any women in our parliamentary party and we didn't feel it was right to elect a deputy in those circumstances. But I wanted to revive the role as it gives the party another powerful voice and has helped give prominence to many of our notable MPs, including Ming Campbell, Simon Hughes and Vince Cable.