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.
Cllr Hazel Watson, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council, said: "I am horrified that despite huge public opposition the Leader of the Council is talking about a referendum and a large council tax rise next year - he has clearly not listened to local residents.
Liberal Democrat county councillors are calling for the release of an "invisible" report, for which the Conservative administration at County Hall paid nearly £25,000. The report was quoted in the papers for the council's budget meeting on 7th February and relates to a "financial resilience review" which was carried out in November 2016 by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy (CIPFA) at the request of the Leader of the Council, and cost £24,500.
Liberal Democrat county councillors in Surrey have expressed their anger as the Conservative County Council was forced to reveal cuts of £346K to library resources over the next two years.
Liberal Democrat Councillors on Surrey County Council have called for the release of a list of 103 properties and parcels of land owned by the County Council and described as "assets" but details of which the council is refusing to share with councillors and residents. The 103 assets are "not in operational use" and were first referred to in council papers in December 2016 and despite repeated assurances from the county council that the information would be provided, the list has still not been shared with councillors. Cllr Hazel Watson, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council, then tabled a question at a meeting of the Cabinet on 31st January 2017 requesting more information but a list of the 103 assets was still not provided. Furthermore, the minutes of the meeting state that "to provide a full list was not an efficient use of time". Cllr Watson said today:
Liberal Democrat County Councillors have expressed their concern as new figures were released that reveal poor levels of public satisfaction with Conservative-run Surrey County Council.
