Daisy Cooper sets out Liberal Democrat growth plan and closer EU ties

Daisy Cooper unveiled a 30-page growth plan to cut barriers for business in a speech to the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton.

Cooper is the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats and the party's Treasury spokesperson. She is the MP for St Albans. She said the proposals cover three areas: how Whitehall, the system of central government, is organised, how firms handle official administration, and relations with the European Union.

The central proposal is to break up the Treasury, the department responsible for public money and economic policy, and create a new Department for Growth BBC. Cooper said that department would house a digital one-stop-shop for businesses and investors, acting as one front desk rather than separate queues across departments.

Cooper said growth was being held back by a "computer says no" approach. She said the one-stop-shop would cover tax, regulatory, legal, Companies House and general business services. Companies House is the official register of UK companies. It is presented as a single point of contact rather than separate dealings across departments.

On Europe, Cooper proposed a new Growth and Defence Partnership with the EU. She described it as the "single biggest growth lever", through deeper ties with Europe. She said that in power the Liberal Democrats would strike deals on the single market, the EU's trading zone with common rules, a customs union, with common tariffs, and defence.

She said Brexit is costing the United Kingdom £90bn a year in lost tax revenue. That figure was central to her argument that closer alignment would support the public finances as well as output.

She set out the plan after UK inflation rose to 3.1% Liberal Democrats. Cooper had set out the thinking in advance in 'Liberal Democrats Mean Business,' published on 19 September 2026 Liberal Democrats.

The broader context here is how the party wants to be heard on the economy. Conference speeches of this kind are directed at two audiences at once. One is business. The other is Whitehall.

For those who would have to put this into practice, the two proposals that would require most work are the Treasury split and the EU partnership. A new department means a machinery of government change, with a defined remit, staffing and a settlement with the remaining Treasury. A partnership covering the single market, customs union and defence means parallel negotiations with different legal bases. The one-stop-shop is simpler to describe, but its test would be whether it has authority to clear decisions across departments.

In terms of Liberal Democrat policy, the point to note is sequencing. Growth is placed first. Europe is presented as the route to it. Business administration reform is offered as the domestic delivery mechanism. Whether that package cuts through will depend on costings, negotiating detail and the response from business groups.