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.
Paul Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Surrey's next Police and Crime Commissioner, has described as "very worrying" the continuing decline in positive outcomes for victims of high harm crimes such as rape and serious sexual offences, domestic abuse, child abuse and hate crime. He praised the efforts of domestic abuse and other victims' organisations to highlight the issue.
We have all become more aware of the need for free school meals in the last few months, but child food poverty did not start with Covid19. Surrey Lib Dems have called on the Surrey County Council administration to take steps to address this growing problem across the county.
The Surrey Lib Dems are asking people across the county who care for relatives to get in touch and share their story - to mark national Carers Rights Day.
Surrey's Liberal Democrat PCC candidate Paul Kennedy is calling on Surrey's Police Commissioner to act, as Lib Dem research reveals 30-40% of non-emergency calls to Surrey Police went unanswered in late summer. In August alone nearly 10,000 callers - representing 32% of total 101 calls - gave up in the face of a 4 minute average waiting time, while nearly 1,000 callers had to wait more than 20 minutes to get through.
Surrey Liberal Democrats have welcomed the Early Day Motion tabled by Liberal Democrat MP for St Albans Daisy Cooper which raises concerns regarding the proposed new M25/A3 junction alongside RHS Wisley.
Last week the Conservative Government voted against extending free school meals for children in need during the holidays, including Angela Richardson, MP for Guildford, Cranleigh and our Villages. This means that during October half term, the Christmas holidays and beyond, there will be many parents struggling to feed their children.
