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.
Conservative-run Surrey County Council has been forced to release a damaging financial report which warned in December 2016 that a 15% council tax referendum was "highly likely to fail". The report, produced by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy (CIPFA), cost nearly £25,000 and was commissioned in December but was only released to councillors on March 21st 2017, six weeks after the Council's budget meeting. The report states "In CIPFA's view a referendum is highly likely to fail" and goes on to note that the Council's financial position is "extremely worrying" and "the absence of a credible cost-reduction plan", and that "The council's financial plans are not robust and it is at risk of becoming financially unsustainable". It concludes that the council's financial resilience is "dependant on winning a referendum process, high levels of unidentified savings and rapidly declining reserves - not a good place!". Cllr Hazel Watson, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council,
Liberal Democrat Councillors have successfully called for Surrey County Council to oppose the Government's funding proposals which could leave schools in Surrey with a £37m hole in their budgets by 2019/20. It follows the release of a letter from a Surrey Headteacher warning his local Conservative MP that schools in Surrey may be forced to implement a 4-day week. Cllr Will Forster, who moved the motion at a Council meeting yesterday, said:
Cllr Hazel Watson said today:
Liberal Democrat councillors and residents have welcomed the news that the well-used 465 bus service from Kingston to Dorking, via Leatherhead, has been guaranteed for the next five years. Cllr Stephen Cooksey, Liberal Democrat County Councillor for Dorking South and the Holmwoods, said today:
Liberal Democrat county councillors have launched a petition to fight against school funding cuts in Surrey. Recent figures from the National Union of Teachers show that schools in Surrey will lose £37 MILLION in real terms by 2020. New government estimates obtained by the National Audit Office show that schools in England will have to make cuts of £3 billion by 2020 in order to cope with increased costs. The Government wants over half of these cuts to come from schools' teaching budgets. Cllr Will Forster, Liberal Democrat county councillor for Woking South, said: "Current levels of funding in Surrey are not enough if schools are to manage new cost pressures such as increases in National Insurance and a new tax to pay for apprenticeships. In addition, the County Council is being squeezed by the Conservative Government's 75% cut in the funding it uses to support school improvements and provide local schools with music lessons, ICT equipment and accounting advice" "Schools across the county are considering dra
Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council have called for the Leader of the Council, Councillor David Hodge, to resign or face a Motion of No Confidence following the release of emails last night which revealed he had written to the Prime Minister asking for more cash "so that Surrey will continue to be a heartland for the Conservatives". In another email he bemoaned the fact that the Conservative Government "ties my hands and fails to support...(the)...largest Conservative Group in UK".
