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.
The Liberal Democrats launched the "Lib Dem Fightback" to reconnect with Surrey residents and started planning for the County Council elections at a well-attended Conference in Guildford this weekend. The Conference follows on from a series of Council by-election wins in Surrey since the general election where the Party held council seats in Mole Valley, Elmbridge and Woking and gained a seat from UKIP in Mole Valley.
Liberal Democrats are calling on the Conservative administration at County Hall to ditch their controversial plans for changes to Surrey's tips as they would increase fly tipping across the county.
The Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council are calling for urgent action to tackle the sharp rise in the number of people killed and seriously injured on Surrey's roads. This follows the recently released figures for 2014 showing that Surrey had the third largest increase in people killed and seriously injured in England and Wales. The number of deaths on Surrey roads more than doubled, increasing from 18 to 38 deaths.
The Children's Improvement Plan 2015 to improve Surrey's inadequate Children's Services was today published by the County Council. The plan was required following the Ofsted inspection report published in June 2015 that rated Surrey's Children's Service as "inadequate". Inspectors concluded that there were "widespread and serious failures that potentially leave children at risk of harm."
New figures released by the Department of Health show the Conservative Government is planning a £2.2m cut to the public health budget across Surrey.
The Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council are calling on the Council to provide the necessary funding to implement 20 mph speed limits outside Surrey schools where requested by the school and the local community. Cllr Hazel Watson, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council, said "Surrey parents want their children to be safe going to and from school and 20 mph speed limits outside schools help to achieve this by reducing traffic speeds and improving road safety. A reduced speed limit warns drivers that they need to slow down near a school and in general drivers do slow down."
