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 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".
Commenting on the publication today of the Surrey Safeguarding Adults Board's Serious Case Review into the death of Gloria Foster, Councillor Fiona White, the Liberal Democrat Opposition Spokesperson for Adult Social Care on Surrey County Council said:
National figures announced today by the Coalition Government have bought welcome news on the large number of "Troubled Families" being turned around by councils across the country, but reveal an exceptionally poor performance by Conservative controlled Surrey County Council.
A recent report issued by Surrey County Council has highlighted poor or delayed performance by its sub contractors in carrying out flood prevention work such as cleaning or unblocking road drains on Surrey's roads and emptying the Council's soakaways.
As a result of a call by Liberal Democrat County Councillor Will Forster, Surrey County Council has now banned access to top payday lenders' websites from all Council computers and networks, including those in public libraries.
