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 gathering Eurozone crisis - particularly the dramatic summit on Friday when David Cameron dug his heels in - has generated a variety of comments from Lib Dem spokespeople.
Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council are presenting a motion to next week's Full Council raising concerns about the County's performance with regard to child adoption and children in care.
The controversial waste processing development in Charlton Lane, Shepperton has been given clearance to go ahed by Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, despite calls from local residents' representatives for a call-in for review of Surrey County Council's decision by his department.
Surrey County Council Liberal Democrats have launched a Facebook page to increase the County Council group's social networking profile in campaigning on issues for the residents of Surrey.
Commenting on the announcement that the Coalition Government will not go ahead with a planned 2% increase in the maximum amount by which train operators can raise fares, Co-chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Committee for Transport, Julian Huppert MP said: "This is good news for train passengers. The Liberal Democrats are determined to stand up for passengers and I am glad the Coalition has done the right thing and protected them from the planned increase."
Surrey County Council's Liberal Democrats have welcomed the major U-turn by the Conservative administration in its plans to turn a further nine libraries into "Community Partnership Libraries", but say it doesn't go far enough.
