Thank you so much to all of you supported us during the election campaign in 2005, especially our dedicated team of deliverers and canvassers, not to mention the County Council candidates who gave up their free time in the name of local democracy.
According to Henry Bolton, the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Runnymede & Weybridge, there is a real need to introduce a pension that ends means testing for the oldest pensioners and removes discrimination against women. He says, "Women should be entitled to a pension in their own right. The LibDems would address this immediately once in power."
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 Tories' Business Delivery Review (BDR) will hit Surrey Arts, Music and Museums. Surrey County Arts currently provides 278,000 music lessons annually. However, tuition fees in Surrey are already 30% higher than the national average. Some 42% of local authorities do not charge any tuition fees.
Amongst the cuts in Surrey County Council front line services proposed by the Conservatives' "BDR review" is the closure of the local libraries, at Bagshot, Caterham Hill, Ewell Court, Hersham, New Haw and Virginia Water. The decision will be taken at the County Council meeting on 11th April. If it is agreed to go ahead, the libraries will be closed from September 2006. County Councillor Diana Smith, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Community Services. said: "It makes no sense to close these popular facilities, especially as the BDR itself admits that the aim is not to save money, only to meet a CPA target imposed by the Labour government."
Willie Rennie's election as the new MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, home of chancellor Gordon Brown, takes the total of Liberal Democrat in the House of Commons to 63. His by-election victory not only saw a 16% swing from New Labour to the Liberal Democrats, it also saw David Cameron's Conservatives retain fourth place with a swing of 9% from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats.
Surrey County Council's Tory budget brought bad news for parents and youngsters in Sixth Forms and Colleges.
At the County Council meeting today, the Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council opposed the 2006/07 budget proposed by the Conservative administration.
After an initial period of close secrecy, the names of 18 youth centres in Surrey planned for closure following the Tories' BDR review have been released. This had earlier been presented as 15 closures, apparently because 3 new facilities are also planned. Councillors representing the divisions affected by the closures have been offered a meeting where the reasons behind these decisions will be explained. Meanwhile the names of the 18 youth facilities at risk are:
