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.
Surrey County Council's Liberal Democrats are opposing the County's Conservative administration's budget at tomorrow's Council meeting as it is "half baked and unrealistic".
Local Liberal Democrat Euro MP, Catherine Bearder, has written to the chief executive of Surrey County Council, David McNulty, to encourage him to apply for EU funding to help rebuild and develop flood defences in Surrey.
Members of Surrey County Council's Overview and Scrutiny Committee were stunned today when the Conservative Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care announced that £19 million of savings in the budget for 2014/15 being discussed at the meeting of the Conservative Cabinet next week "will not be achieved". The savings are planned in the budget by switching care to "social capital" under the Friends, Family and Community Support programme.
Liberal Democrats are calling for a fair deal for Surrey, with more local decision making on funding and less central government control. Surrey should be allowed to keep a fairer share of the money generated within the county.
Councillor Hazel Watson (Dorking Hills), the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition on Surrey County Council, has welcomed a number of Surrey County Council Cabinet's decisions about major cycling events and day to day cycling sportives in Surrey, but has expressed disappointment and concern over plans for Dorking and Westcott.
Responding to the interim report by Sir Howard Davies' Airports Commission, Hazel Watson (Dorking Hills), the Leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition on Surrey County Council said:
