Liberal Democrats launch their manifesto for young people

8.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 31st Mar 2005

The Liberal Democrats yesterday launched their manifesto for young people.

Their policies include promising to reform the New Deal to get more young people into work; focus on vocational and skills training so that young people are helped to achieve their potential; scrap tuition fees and top-up fees - making Higher Education affordable for every student; tackle social exclusion by dealing more effectively with anti-social behaviour and drug abuse and improve health and transport services for young people. The manifesto also highlights the need to give young people a voice in how society is run by encouraging political involvement.

Matthew Green MP, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Young people said "The Lib Dems want to get away from the 'Government knows best' attitude, which has characterised youth policy through successive governments. We believe that it should be as easy as possible for young people to help themselves, by devolving to them meaningful decision making power. This Manifesto shows why the Lib Dems are the party for young people - we want to give young people responsibility, and are sure that they will rise to the challenge."