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 Liberal Democrats in Surrey have launched their manifesto for the County Council elections on May 5th. The manifesto includes the Liberal Democrat "Programme of Action" for Surrey from 2005 to 2009 and highlights their "Top Ten" priorities for action to improve services for Surrey residents.
The Lib Dem "Top Ten" Priorities for Surrey are:
Liberal Democrats welcome the single figure increase in Council Tax and the Tories allocating £1m to key worker housing and £100,000 to improve the energy efficiency of the Council's buildings in response to Liberal Democrat initiatives. However, we oppose the way this figure has been achieved because this Conservative budget is not only a missed opportunity to improve services for Surrey's residents by cutting wasted spending by the Council, but it carries hidden risks that could lead to cuts to Council services later in the year.
At the budget meeting of Surrey County Council the Liberal Democrats proposed cuts in spending on consultants, communications and "policy initiatives" in order to fund improved services for Surrey residents.
During the last four years the Liberal Democrat councillors on Surrey County Council have worked hard to achieve the best for the people of Surrey. Of their many initiatives and achievements, the main ones are listed below:
"The Adult and Community Care Committee kept hearing about poor service caused by staffing problems," explains County Councillor Diana Smith. "So it set up a task group to look at recruitment and retention. Proper statistics were hard to come by. We eventually got figures for the reported high vacancy rates in 'front line' teams, from 18% among the essential home based care staff to 31% of highly-skilled occupational therapists. We heard of one team of occupational therapists entirely consisting of stand-ins.
