It was Lib Dem conference this week in Bournemouth. Our membership has grown by more than a third since the election and it was the first Conference speech from our new Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron MP.

Tim spoke passionately about his main priority housing. Stating that we have a national emergency when it comes to housing. There are 90,000 children in the UK who donít have a place to call home because there simply isnít enough social†housing with 1.6 million people on social housing waiting lists.

Thatís why the Liberal Democrats oppose the Conservatives plans for the forced sell off of housing association homes. Liberal Democrat MPs and Peers will vote against any measure that encourages the sell-off of housing association homes when it comes to Parliament.

Tim and the Lib Dems also want to see more homes being built, introducing a target of building 300,000 homes a year, by lifting the borrowing cap for local authorities so they can build more houses as well as establishing a Housing Investment Bank to boost house-building.

As Tim said: Housing is the biggest single issue that politicians donít talk about. Well, we are going to talk about it, campaign on it, go on and on and on about it, and make a difference to the millions who have been ignored.

Communities up and down this country have spent 25 years building†housing†association homes, picking up the pieces of Mrs Thatcherís destruction of council†housing, and we will not allow David Cameron to destroy that work too.

Importantly, Conference highlighted the Lib Dem difference. Since May, David Cameron has taken the Government veering off to the right, undoing many vital Lib Dem achievements in Government while, at the same time, the Labour Party has resigned from all responsible opposition ñ choosing instead to elect a leader who believes in the kind of fantasy economics that will only lead to more austerity, more disappointment, and more suffering for the poorest in our country further down the road.

Labour are clearly incapable of standing up to this Conservative government, and it has fallen to the Liberal Democrats to fill that gap. That is a responsibility that we must meet, for the sake of our party and the future of our country, but if our Conference is anything to go by I can tell you we are more than up for the fight!

Watch Tim’s full speech, below:

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