1. SLF News

Lib Dem Spring Conference 2026

Thank you to the hundreds of people who joined the SLF across our fringes, lunches, workshops and at our stall, at Lib Dem Spring Conference 2026.

Don’t worry if you missed us, you can find out about our activity here, including:

🟠 Pre-Conference Lunch

🟠 Vision Workshop

🟠 Fringe: Liberalism

🟠 Fringe: Economy

Read here: https://www.socialliberal.net/2026_spring_ldconf

SLF Summer Conference 2026

Have you heard? The Social Liberal Forum is returning to St Albans for our Summer Conference 2026.

Last year, we were joined by Lib Dem Leadership, Spokespeople, Select Committee Members, Presidents, Academics and Think Tank leaders so make sure to keep the date free!

Save the Date: 18th July 2026

2. Social Liberalism in Westminster

Fragile ceasefire diplomacy and the battle over the Strait of Hormuz

The dominant Westminster story this week was the continuing fallout from the Iran crisis and the fragile ceasefire that followed. Keir Starmer’s Gulf trip quickly became the focal point for British diplomacy, with the Prime Minister arguing that reopening and securing the Strait of Hormuz was essential not only for regional stability but also for protecting British consumers and the wider economy. Across the week’s London Playbooks, the recurring themes were crisis management, the vulnerability of shipping routes, and the pressure on Britain to shape a diplomatic response without being dragged into a wider war. 

From a social liberal perspective, the week underlined the value of calm internationalism over performative militarism. Ministers and officials were forced to confront an old truth in a new form: in an interdependent world, instability abroad reaches British households very quickly. The case for serious diplomacy, alliance-building and de-escalation looked stronger than ever, particularly when the alternatives were spiralling energy costs, disrupted trade and a more insecure global order. 

The cost-of-living aftershock returns to the centre of politics

The second major thread running through the week was the economic shock flowing from the conflict. Rising oil and gas prices, disruption to shipping and the closure of Hormuz pushed energy costs back to the top of the political agenda. By the weekend, Rachel Reeves was signalling new support for businesses facing high energy costs, while wider commentary focused on the inflationary risk to households and the possibility of another squeeze on living standards. 

That matters politically because Westminster is once again being forced to talk about resilience rather than simply growth. The question is no longer just how to expand the economy in good times, but how to protect people when global shocks hit. For social liberals, that means renewed attention to energy security, targeted support for lower-income households, and faster investment in the clean energy transition so that families are less exposed to the geopolitical volatility of fossil fuels. 

Electoral pressure and Labour’s increasingly crowded political battlefield

Alongside the foreign policy crisis, there was a clear sense of domestic political strain. Labour continued to campaign aggressively against both Reform UK and the Greens ahead of the May elections, warning that votes for rivals could put public services and workers’ rights at risk. At the same time, polling and campaign coverage suggested a more fragmented and volatile political landscape, with Reform making inroads on Labour’s right and the Greens threatening it from the left. 

The result is a Westminster mood marked by insecurity as much as authority. International crisis may have given Starmer an opportunity to look prime ministerial, but it has not removed the underlying pressure on Labour’s electoral coalition. For liberals, the lesson is that voters are still looking for competence, fairness and honesty at the same time — and they are unlikely to be satisfied by a politics that offers only managerial caution on the one hand or populist grievance on the other.

Liberal Democrats Media Magnates

The Liberal Democrat media team have, in recent weeks, seen a surge in new ways of working. From a number of new content creation roles to the new HQ press room, where Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey MP recently called for cuts to fuel duty and rail fares, as well as cuts in the VAT on public charging of Electric Vehicles. An important move in this new age of digital communications and an increasing need to tackle populist messaging on the left and the right.

All this was complemented by the launch of the Liberal Democrat Party Election Broadcast ahead of the May 7th Local Elections, where Davey led on the local champion credentials that have long acted as one of the founding values of the Party.

3. Reports out this week

Government, security and institutions

• Policy Exchange: Defence and National Security: Fixing the Machine (9th April)
  • This essay argues that Britain’s existing national security machinery is not adequately prepared for a more volatile strategic environment. Rather than calling for wholesale reorganisation, it makes the case for stronger central leadership, better use of existing institutions, and a more honest political account of the scale of the defence challenge facing the UK. 

• Institute for Government: Managing the economic consequences of the Iran war (8th April)
  • This IfG paper looks at how government should respond to the economic fallout from the crisis in the Middle East, especially prolonged disruption to shipping and energy markets. It is particularly relevant this week because it links geopolitical instability directly to domestic questions of prices, resilience and state capacity. 

Education, universities and skills

• Social Market Foundation: Byte the Budget? (9th April)
  • This report examines the state of digital transformation in UK universities, arguing that better adoption of technology could strengthen both institutional finances and strategic decision-making. At a moment when universities are under heavy financial pressure, it is a timely contribution to the debate about how higher education can adapt rather than simply absorb further strain. 

• HEPI: A degree of regulation: Building a more financially sustainable and resilient higher education sector (9th April)
  • HEPI’s latest debate paper argues that excessive risk-taking by higher education providers needs to be curbed if the sector is to become more financially sustainable. It speaks to the mounting concern about university finances and the growing debate over how far regulation should go in stabilising the sector. 

Health and Social Care

• The King’s Fund: Social Care 360 (8th April)
  • This report pulls together the latest adult social care data and says councils are spending more, more people are getting publicly funded care, but the outlook remains precarious, with local authorities increasingly relying on reserves. 

Economy / business-related

• Institute for Fiscal Studies: How is wealth distributed across British households? Reassessing the valuation of pensions (9 April)
  • This is a substantial economics report on household wealth distribution, using a revised methodology for pension wealth. It is more macroeconomic than business-facing, but it is a strong economy-related publication from that exact week.