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.
Questioning of the Conservative run Cabinet of Surrey County Council by Hazel Watson, the Leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition on Surrey County Council, has successfully forced the Conservative Leader to spill the beans about deals struck behind closed doors and payments made for cycling events in Surrey.
Following revelations that the Conservative run cabinet of Surrey County Council made decisions in private about the Prudential RideLondon Surrey Classic (formerly Marathon on Wheels) and the Tour of Britain cycle events, Councillor Hazel Watson, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition on Surrey County Council, is calling for this information to be made public.
Following questioning, Cllr Hazel Watson, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council and County Councillor for the Dorking Hills Division has uncovered that the Conservative run Cabinet of Surrey County Council 's only formal decision taken by them to allow the event (formerly the Marathon on Wheels) to take place in Surrey was taken in December 2011 in private.
Surrey County Council Liberal Democrats have welcomed a new law giving councils greater powers to combat the blight of scrap metal thefts on communities across the country.
Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council are opposing moves to pay four Conservative councillors an extra £5,000 a year. Speaking in the debate today, Hazel Watson, the Leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition said:
Surrey's Conservative councillors have voted today to amend a motion from Hazel Watson, the Leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition on Surrey County Council, calling for the use of social media and the filming of meetings to "be permitted at all times, without written permission, in the public part of meetings provided it does not disturb the business of the meeting and there is sufficient space".
