A Unite/Mori student survey carried out in January 2004 on voting intentions gives the Lib Dems a leading share of 34%, with Labour on 28% and the Tories third on 19%. Students will have a major impact in 2005, as the elections are expected during the university year, on May 5, unlike in 2001 when the elections fell during the holiday period.
Commenting on the launch of an online map to tell homeowners about flooding risks in England and Wales, Norman Baker MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary, said:
Liberal Democrat Leader Charles Kennedy today launched the Liberal Democrat Pre-manifesto - the first important stage in the manifesto process, which will take the Party into the General Election.
Under new Liberal Democrat proposals police chiefs would sign contracts with local communities setting out how many officers they would deploy. The "minimum policing guarantees" would set funding levels for local police for a rolling three-year period. The guarantees are part of the party's new plans to tackle crime. The plans include using money earmarked for the government's ID card plan to hire an extra 10,000 front line police and 20,000 community support officers.
The Liberal Democrat Group on Surrey County Council has called for greater clarity from the Conservative-run Executive after the Council announced its proposed plans to close 18 youth centres county-wide were being "revised". The Lib Dems had been opposed to the closures ever since they were first proposed in the Business Delivery Review, designed to cut £50 million from the Council's budget. Together with voluntary and community groups, the Lib Dems have been urging the Council to rethink the proposals.
The Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council, Cllr Hazel Watson, has welcomed the abandonment of plans to close four libraries in Surrey. She said: "I am pleased that proposals to close the libraries in Hersham, Caterham Hill, Ewell Court and New Haw are to be abandoned. However, it is regrettable that the libraries in Bagshot and Virginia Water are still under threat."
Head Teachers and educationalists were appalled by Surrey County Council's intention to remove 14 posts and make all four Surrey Local Education Officer teams redundant as part of the Business Delivery Review.
The Liberal Democrat Group on Surrey County Council is calling on the Conservative-run Executive to reconsider its plans to close six of Surrey's libraries. Diana Smith, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Schools and Communities, said that over the years a lack of investment by the Tories in one of the county's key resources had left it unable to grow to meet modern needs, with the number of people using libraries falling. "In an increasingly 24 hour society it's no wonder people aren't using the libraries, when opening hours are so limited. And when they get there, often the choice of books is restricted and there isn't room for the range of computers that a modern information centre needs."
Conservative-run Surrey County Council today refused to maintain current funding to the county's voluntary sector, choosing instead to oppose a Liberal Democrat motion which had called for an end to the proposed £838,000 cut in funding. Fiona White, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Adults and Community Care, said after the meeting that the Tory amendment to the motion was "woolly" and had no funding substance to it on which the voluntary organisations could rely.
This Motion to Council is not an attempt to ignore the financial situation in which we find ourselves. Rather, it is a recognition of that situation and the need to get the best possible returns for the investment of the Council's money. Let me ask councillors a question. What sort of return do you think we get for every one pound given in grant to a voluntary organisation? Is it three pounds, six pounds, ten pounds? The information which I have gleaned leads me to believe that it is ten pounds or above; if so, the effect of the cuts will be more than £8 million in service provision. I think that any business would be delighted to have such a return on their investment and within a very short space of time.
