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.
Commenting on the letter published by OFSTED today, Councillor Chris Botten, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Children & Families, said:
Liberal Democrats have called upon Surrey County Council to improve and expand its provision of services to children with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND). The County Council spends a total of £237 million on SEND services for children and young people, educates 822 SEND students outside of the county, and spends nearly £27 million on travel costs for SEND students. Liberal Democrat county councillors have tabled a motion, to be discussed at Council next week, calling for the Conservative-administration to invest in more SEND provision within Surrey, in order to reduce the number of placements outside of the county, as well as reducing travel costs and times for children and parents alike.
A petition of over 2,000 signatures was today presented to a meeting of Surrey County Council's Cabinet, calling for Surrey's Performing Arts Library to be saved. The petition, which was launched by Liberal Democrat county councillors in September, was handed in by Ges Ray, Vice-Chair of the Leith Hill Music Festival. Recommendations as to the future of the service will be proposed by the Communities Select Committee at their meeting in February 2018, with a final decision taken by the Council's Cabinet in March.
Liberal Democrat county councillors have expressed their concern after it was revealed that Surrey County Council's spending on consultants has more than doubled from the previous year. Following an information request to the County Council by Cllr Hazel Watson, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, it was revealed that spending on consultants rose from £305,000 in 2015/16 to £663,420 in 2016/17 - a staggering rise of 118%. The maximum day rate paid was a shocking £1800 per day - meaning that at least one consultant working for the Tory administration was earning the equivalent of £468,000 a year. Cllr Hazel Watson said today: "At a time when the County Council is under extreme financial pressure and cutting vital services, spending on consultants should not be going up and certainly not by 118%. The Conservative administration cannot on the one hand say they have been forced to cut services because there is a lack of funding and at the same time double spending in areas such as this. "This use of consultants need
Liberal Democrat county councillors today welcomed the decision by Conservative-run Surrey County Council to amend its unpopular street lighting policy. The policy, which was introduced in 2016 and early 2017, saw thousands of street lights turned off across the county without any consultation with the residents affected. The change of policy means that lights will stay on until 1am rather than midnight from Thursday 23rd November 2017.
