2026: Week 24 - EU, Defence and Ponies

This week the Lib Dems have called on the Government to negotiate a new Growth and Defence Partnership with the EU, as proposed by party leader Ed Davey, that would turbocharge local economic growth and bring real relief to hard pressed residents.

The plans would see the UK join the EU single market and a customs union, tearing down trade barriers and boosting economic growth. It would reverse damage from the Conservatives' botched Brexit deal, which cost the country an estimated £90 billion in lost tax revenue in 2025 alone.

As we approach the 10 year anniversary of the referendum, there is no denying that Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson’s Brexit experiment has been a failure. It has done real damage to our local economy and worsened the cost of living crisis - the effects of which are being felt by families, traders and businesses across the country.

Now the same politicians who got us into this mess are telling us that it doesn’t matter how bad it gets, people just have to live with the terrible deal they left us.  The Conservative Brexit deal has meant money taken away from our local schools and hospitals, and out of our pockets in higher taxes and generally left the average person in the UK worse off.

We are also calling for deeper defence ties with European partners, to keep Britain safe and counter growing threats from Vladimir Putin and an unreliable Donald Trump.  This is especially urgent, as just this week a pleasure yacht sailing from the UK to France along the English Channel was shot at by a Russian warship; the reasons for which have not been sufficiently explained. It is extremely concerning - Russia is quite literally on our doorstep. Aggression and intimidation from Putin in the English Channel cannot be tolerated. This is a clear reminder that the government cannot afford any further delays to the Defence Investment Plan.

Closer to home a row is growing over the potential cull of Dartmoor's ponies as campaigners warn Natural England's approach to conserving the landscape could "devastate" the endangered breed. Whilst Natural England denies that they have mandated a cull, their plan to reduce livestock on the moors, which includes the ponies, indicate that the current numbers potentially have to be reduced by up to 92%.

I am deeply dismayed by these recommendations.  Ponies aren't the problem on the moor, they are part of the solution by helping to graze back the invasive species that are choking out everything else. Treating them the same as sheep and cattle is a bureaucratic mistake that threatens a heritage breed which has been there for thousands of years. The Dartmoor Pony has been granted rare breed status, and as such we should be encouraging the increase of their numbers to sustainable levels, rather than decreasing them.

Whilst the plan to include ponies in the total number of livestock permissible on the moor was created under the previous Conservative government, it is the job of the current Prime Minister to stop it.  I shall be adding my voice to the growing cross party support for the ponies, and calling for the Government to provide long term protections for this rare and cherished breed.