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 Councillors have warned Conservative-run Surrey County Council that it is facing a continuing crisis in adult social care, after the Council forecasted a £7.4m overspend for this financial year. The figures were revealed just weeks after Tory bosses agreed to charge disabled residents over £1m a year more for their care.
Questioning by Lib Dem councillors has uncovered that Surrey County Council youth centres are only open for a very limited number of hours, with one centre in the county that is only open for just over ONE hour per week.
Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council have revealed almost £67m of public money has been spent on buying properties outside the county, using a council-owned property company called Halsey Garton Property Limited. The properties purchased with funding from the Conservative-run Council were mainly warehouses situated in locations such as Wiltshire, Bristol, Worksop and Salford. The most expensive acquisition was an office in Bristol, at the cost of just under £20m.
Liberal Democrat Councillors have criticised Tory-run Surrey County Council after discovering that residents have still not been informed about plans to turn off thousands off street lights at night.
Liberal Democrat Councillors have strongly criticised Conservative-run Surrey County Council for agreeing to hike adult social care charges by over £1m for disabled and vulnerable residents. The new charges, due to take effect from 3rd October 2016, have been pushed through by the Conservative-run Council, despite a consultation which showed strong opposition to the plans by residents and disability groups.
Liberal Democrat councillors are warning that the Conservative-run County Council's plans to charge the public for using Community Recycling Centres, as well as reducing their opening hours, could lead to even bigger increases in fly-tipping across Surrey. Recent figures show that fly-tipping across the county has doubled in the last two years, from 2093 tonnes in 2013/14 to 4441 tonnes in 2015/16.
