Liberal Democrats head for conference

12.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sat 15th Sep 2007

Brighton is bracing itself for the arrival of thousands of Liberal Democrats for the party's conference next week and amongst those attending will be local campaigners from the West Midlands.

"The theme of our conference is the environment," said Colin Ross "The big debates will focus on the need to cut down on pollution and to shift the burden of tax from income and onto greenhouse gas emissions.

"Our plans will mean national income tax will be cut from 20p to 16p in the pound and council tax will be scrapped. We will pay for these by shifting the tax burden onto the most polluting, gas-guzzling cars and onto aircraft that cause environmental damage.

"Over the next three weeks, people in the West Midlands will see all three party conferences in action. What is different about ours is that members take real decisions on policy. The Conservatives have discussions but no votes whilst at Labour conference, the Labour leadership either ignores votes or has stopped debates from taking place."