Liberal Democrats Target 'Computer Says No' Economy, Propose EU Partnership

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper has stated that the United Kingdom's economic growth is being hampered by an overly restrictive, "computer says no" approach, and has proposed a 30-page plan to address these barriers.

Speaking at the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton, Cooper, who also serves as the party's Treasury spokesperson, argued that many promising ideas, start-ups, and research originating in Britain are ultimately developed or commercialized overseas. "We build brilliant start-ups, and watch too many leave to scale somewhere else. We produce world-class research, and too little of it becomes a British product," she said. "Britain has the potential. The system holds it back. The computer says no. This plan tears down the barriers to investment, to innovation, and to skills."

Cooper called for the establishment of a centralized digital one-stop-shop service for businesses and investors. This service would integrate tax, regulatory, legal, Companies House, and general business support functions. She suggested that creating this within a new Department for Growth would streamline bureaucracy and enable small and medium-sized businesses to compete more effectively.

A key component of the Liberal Democrats' proposal is a new Growth and Defence Partnership with the EU, which Cooper described as the "single biggest growth lever we could pull." She claimed that deepening ties with Europe could "turbo-charge our economy and start to reverse the economic damage of Brexit which is currently costing us £90bn a year in lost tax revenue." If in power, the party pledges to pursue deals on the single market and a customs union, alongside defense cooperation.

Cooper positioned the Liberal Democrats as distinct from other parties, stating her party would avoid "more punishing tax hikes from Labour or painful spending cuts by the Conservatives and Reform UK." She criticized Labour's Shadow Chancellor John Healey for a recent speech that she claimed "contained no vision, no ideas, and absolutely no mention of Europe." Additionally, Cooper attacked the Conservatives and Reform UK for engaging in a "race to the bottom without a single credible costing between them," and specifically referenced comments from Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith regarding the Liz Truss mini-budget, which she asserted "crashed the pound, it spiked your mortgage, it cost the country billions."

Cooper also voiced concerns about the political direction associated with Nigel Farage and Reform UK, stating, "Farage is modeling himself on Trump." She warned against allowing "that kind of politics to take hold in our country" and preventing Farage from gaining influence or the Conservatives from enabling it.