"Freedom, Fairness and Trust"

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 14th Sep 2004

Launching the draft manifesto, Party leader Charles Kennedy said, "This is an important document setting out the direction of Liberal Democrat thinking leading up to the General Election. It gives a clear insight into the policies we believe would improve the lives of everyone in Britain today." Explaining the title of the draft manifesto, Mr Kennedy said, "Freedom is about giving people the opportunity to make choices for themselves. Fairness is about equal access - a decent health service, a quality education; and Trust is about telling the truth when it counts and trusting people to make decisions."

The key policies include free personal care for the elderly, free off-peak transport for all pensioners and disabled people, and boosting state pensions by £25 for the over-75s. In addition, there would be increased investment in children's early years, tuition fees for students would be scrapped, council tax would be replaced with a local income tax, doctors and nurses would be freed from 'Whitehall meddling' and more police would be recruited to tackle crime and the fear of crime.

Party leader Charles Kennedy said the policy ideas were all "tried and tested" and already working for them. They had been costed out and could be met by a fairer tax system, related to people's ability to pay. Mr Kennedy insists that his party would remain independent, and not form "pacts" with any other party, should the opportunity be offered after the next general election, expected to be in May 2005.