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.
Liberal Democrat county councillors have handed in a petition with over 2,000 signatures calling for Surrey's Performing Arts Library to be retained. It follows a consultation held by Surrey County Council which outlined 3 options for the Library - closure, fragmentation of the service across other libraries or the service by being provided by another organisation. The Library, which is currently based near Dorking at Denbies Wine Estate, houses a unique collection of music, theatre, orchestral and dance materials available for public loan. Cllr David Goodwin, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Communities, said today:
Surrey County Council has been ordered to pay £18,400 in compensation to the family of a severely autistic child after a highly critical report from the Local Government Ombudsman. The report criticised all aspects of the County Council's handling of the case, which concluded that there was fault by the County Council and that an injustice had taken place.
Liberal Democrat county councillors have expressed disappointment after Conservatives in Surrey voted to rubber stamp their unpopular cuts to Community Recycling Centres across the county.
Liberal Democrat county councillors have condemned a decision by Conservative-run Surrey County Council to award a £400K grant to an art gallery which has £38m of funds and an income of £1.2m a year.
Opposition county councillors can today reveal that Surrey County Council is in the process of planning housing and development across dozens of sites in a secret deal that could be worth over £1bn with a private sector partner.
