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.
In a final act as outgoing Leader of Surrey County Council, Dr Andrew Povey and his Cabinet have pushed through unpopular plans to remove full-time staff from up to 19 of the County's libraries and end the mobile library service from this week.
It has been announced that the Conservative leader of Surrey County Council, Cllr Dr Andrew Povey is to resign at the Council's next full meeting on 11 October.
The list of libraries which the Conservative administration on Surrey County Council plans to force local communities to run, or be closed, has grown from 10 to 19 in a report for the September meeting of the County's Cabinet.
Lib Dem MP Tim Farron has welcomed news that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is calling for debit card surcharges to be banned, following a 90-day investigation focusing on the passenger transport sector.
Conservative run Surrey County Council has rejected proposals by the Liberal Democrats that would improve consultation and involvement of residents in the Council's decisions.
Plans by Surrey County Council to impose on-street parking charges across the County were thrown into chaos last night when Guildford Local Committee unanimously rejected putting the plans for the Borough out to public consultation.
