Cooper unveils 30-page Lib Dem growth plan targeting EU return — SkimNews
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- Daisy Cooper unveiled a 30-page growth plan at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton, warning the UK's "computer says no" economy causes too many British start-ups and research breakthroughs to be taken overseas
- The plan proposes a new Department for Growth with a digital one-stop-shop combining tax, regulatory, legal, Companies House and general business services to cut red tape for SMEs
- Cooper proposed a new Growth and Defence Partnership with the EU, calling it "the single biggest growth lever" and claiming Brexit is currently costing the UK £90bn a year in lost tax revenue
- Cooper said re-joining the EU single market and customs union could happen within 12 months, contrasting the UK's geographic proximity with Canada's longer-distance EU deal pathway
- Cooper attacked Chancellor John Healey's recent speech for containing "no vision, no ideas, and absolutely no mention of Europe," and labelled Reform and the Conservatives as locked in "a race to the bottom"
- Cooper warned Nigel Farage is "modelling himself on Trump," a president she said "enriched himself, dismantled anti-corruption safeguards and pardoned crypto criminals"
Why it matters: Cooper's 12-month timeline for EU single market re-entry is far more aggressive than Chancellor Healey's incremental approach of seeking entry into specific schemes like Made in Europe — positioning the Lib Dems as the most pro-European voice in UK politics and sharpening the party's differentiation from both Labour and the Conservatives ahead of the next election.
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