After years of British politicians calling for a 'points-based immigration system', the government today unveiled what it hopes will be the answer. Under its plans for a new post-Brexit way of managing migration, ministers are dropping visas for low-skilled workers. Anyone wishing to come to the UK for work must reach 70 points under the system. 'Skilled' will now be defined as those educated to at least A-level/Scottish Higher standard, with a rejig of the different types of worker covered so that carpenters, plasterers and childminders are included, while people waiting tables will not be. Workers must have a job offer with a minimum salary of £25,600, though that will be at a lower level of £20,480 for those with PhDs that are important to a specific job, and certain sectors where there are shortages, including nursing, civil engineering, and classical ballet.

As Storm Dennis buffets the country, Scottish Liberal Democrat rural affairs spokesperson Mike Rumbles MSP has called on the Scottish Government to scale up flood protection as he revealed that only a third of flood protection schemes identified for delivery by 2021 have been completed.

According to documents published by the Scottish Environmental Protection agency (SEPA), "There are 42 prioritised flood protection schemes identified for delivery between 2016 and 2021". This was confirmed by the Cabinet Secretary for the Environment in response to a Scottish Liberal Democrat parliamentary question. However freedom of information requests published by the Scottish Government reveal that as of December 2019, only 14 schemes have been completed.

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today warned malicious calls to the Scottish Ambulance Service are putting lives at risk as new figures revealed that in the past five years there have been more than 7,000 malicious emergency calls requiring almost 2,000 hours of staff time.

When a person puts their empty plastic bottle in a recycling bin, they understandably assume it gets recycled.

When I was the Cabinet member for the environment on Rochdale council, and when we sent our paper and cardboard to be recycled, we knew it had new lives as cardboard inserts to kitchen roll.

The Liberal Democrats have today urged MPs to oppose "decisions that fly in the face of climate change commitments" and back their amendment to cancel Heathrow's third runway. Munira Wilson, the Liberal Democrats' Transport Spokesperson and MP for Twickenham, has lodged an amendment to a Labour motion calling for the cancellation of Heathrow's third runway. This move, to be debated in the House of Commons on Tuesday [05/02/2020], will give MPs the first opportunity to reject Heathrow expansion in this Parliament. It is also the first vote MPs will have on the issue since June 2018. Munira Wilson, Liberal Democrats' Transport Spokesperson, said: "Heathrow is already the UK's biggest source of carbon emissions and a third runway will increase the number of flights by 300,000 a year. We cannot continue to make decisions that fly in the face of our climate change commitments. "The utter cheek, therefore, of Tory Ministers claiming to be committed to achieving net-zero emissions whilst pressing ahead with one of the most damaging projects is beyond me. "Liberal Democrats will continue to fight against expansion of Heathrow airport and will hold the Tories to account on their poor record on tackling the climate emergency. We will therefore give Parliament an opportunity to put action to warm words and vote to reject a third runway."

Scottish Liberal Democrat Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today announced that he will bid to make MSPs and all other elected members in Scotland subject to a PVG check, introducing a new safeguards for children and vulnerable adults and helping protect against people using elected status as a platform for predatory or exploitative behaviour.

Responding to the announcement that the Scottish Government will hold a drugs conference in Glasgow, the day before the UK Government holds its own drugs summit in the city, Scottish Liberal Democrat public health spokesperson Rosemary Bruce said:

"The Scottish and UK Governments ought to be working together to solve this crisis, not engaging in petty point scoring by holding separate conferences on the same issue in the same city only a day apart.

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today voiced concern about the mounting and "colossal costs" of the unopened Sick Kids hospital, as he revealed staff costs for the empty hospital are topping £139,000 a month.

Staff costs from March to August 2019 totalled £834,000, which covered domestics, catering and logistics. There were 137 staff whose employment covered working at the new hospital either part or full time during September 2019.

Of late the news worldwide has been dominated by the spread of the "Wuhan" coronavirus. We wish to express our concern for all those who have been infected or at risk and note that the repercussions of the coronavirus have been far reaching. These range from the lock down and quarantine of the whole Chinese nation, to cancellation of flights to and from China, to the plunging of Chinese as well as other stocks affected by the epidemic.

For the last four years, the Liberal Democrats have proudly fought to stop Brexit.

I am immensely proud of everything we did. We stood up for our values. We campaigned so hard. But I also accept that at 11pm tonight, we will no longer be members of the European Union.

Our European story is not over. Tomorrow our fight continues, to make sure Britain has the closest possible relationship with our allies in Europe.