Shaffaq's plan
For a Fair Deal
Across Sheffield, people from all backgrounds are working hard, raising families, helping others, and playing by the rules – but struggling to make ends meet.
Everyone deserves a fair deal. You should be able to afford a decent home in a safe, clean neighbourhood and have a comfortable retirement. Every child should have access to a good school and real opportunities to fulfil their potential. If anyone in your family is ill, frail, or disabled, they should receive the high-quality healthcare they need.
Unfortunately, that's not the reality for far too many people.
Despite the hard work of Sheffield's residents, the city has suffered from years of neglect and inadequate support from those in power. It's time for a change—a change that puts people first and addresses the real concerns of the community. Shaffaq Mohammed is committed to ensuring Sheffield receives the investment and opportunities it deserves.
Read more information about Shaffaq's policies below.
Health
Shaffaq and the Liberal Democrats are committed to ensuring that everyone receives the care they need, precisely when they need it. Our goal is to guarantee timely appointments and crucial treatments for all. We want independent, dignified living for everyone, support for those who care for their loved ones, and a system where no one has to sell their home to afford personal care.
- Give everyone the right to see their GP within seven days, or within 24 hours if urgently needed. This includes training, recruiting, and retaining more GPs to make this possible.
- Reform NHS dentistry to prevent individuals from paying exorbitant fees for private care.
- Put mental health on equal footing with physical health.
- Invest in public health and prevention to reduce the number of people who get ill and require treatment.
- Address the crisis in ambulance services and provide emergency funding to improve response times.
- Introduce free personal care to ensure no one has to sell their home to pay for care.
- Hire more social care staff, provide training, and offer a higher wage through a Carer’s Minimum Wage.
- Increase Carer’s Allowance to support unpaid carers.
- Introduce a statutory guarantee of regular respite breaks for unpaid carers.
Environment
Climate change is the biggest threat to human existence. We urgently need to limit temperature rises to 1.5°C or we will face irreversible climate change which will cause catastrophic land loss and make parts of our planet uninhabitable. Millions of people are already being directly affected by large increases in wildfires, floods, heatwaves, droughts and sea level rises. Liberal Democrats place tackling the climate crisis at the center of all our policies. We understand that our whole economy needs to change and if done successfully will create tens of thousands of jobs while cutting emissions and ensuring that the UK becomes a world leader in moving to net zero.
- Cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2045.
- Invest in renewable power to ensure 80% of UK electricity is generated from renewables by 2030.
- Provide free retrofits for low-income homes and tax incentives for others to reduce energy consumption.
- Restructure government to deliver net zero by creating a Net Zero Delivery Authority.
- Plant at least 60 million trees a year and promote the use of sustainable wood in construction.
- Ensure net zero commitments are prioritised in international trade agreements.
- Set binding targets to stop the decline of the natural environment and double nature by 2050.
- Strengthen regulatory bodies like the Office for Environmental Protection.
- End sewage discharges by transforming water companies into public benefit companies and banning bonuses for water bosses until issues are resolved.
Opportunities and growth
Every child can achieve great things. They deserve the best possible start in life and the opportunity to flourish, no matter their background. Shaffaq and the Liberal Democrats believe that education is the best investment we can make in our children’s potential and our country’s future. We also want to give families maximum choice and flexibility over how to juggle work and home life.
- Put a dedicated mental health professional in every school.
- Increase school and college funding per pupil above the rate of inflation every year.
- Invest in repairing and building new school and college facilities.
- Extend free school meals to all primary children and secondary children from families receiving Universal Credit.
- Provide flexible, affordable, and fair childcare.
- Reinstate maintenance grants for disadvantaged university students.
- Create Skills Wallets giving adults £10,000 to spend on education and training throughout their lives.
- Expand opportunities for young people to study, teach, and volunteer abroad by rejoining the Erasmus Plus programme.
- Invest in infrastructure, innovation, and skills to create jobs and tackle the climate emergency.
- Implement a windfall tax on the super-profits of oil and gas producers to help with the cost of living and energy bills.
- Ensure fair taxation, reversing tax cuts for big banks and abolishing separate Capital Gains tax-free allowances.
- Boost high street businesses and reform business rates.
- Develop an industrial strategy to incentivize investments in clean technologies.
- Unlock global potential for British businesses by reducing trade barriers and fixing trade deals with Europe.
