Thank you so much to all of you supported us during the election campaign in 2005, especially our dedicated team of deliverers and canvassers, not to mention the County Council candidates who gave up their free time in the name of local democracy.
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.
For many years the Liberal Democrats have been arguing that there are better and safer modern green alternatives to mass burn incineration. The announcement by the Tories that they will abandon "energy from waste" (mass burn incineration) has finally recognised that the Lib Dem position has been correct all long. Apart from the environmental impact, mass burn incineration is known to discourage councils from recycling waste.
The Audit Commission has today published a report rating Surrey County Council's performance as merely "adequate". The Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) rated the performance of the organisation with scores from 1 to 4 for managing performance, use of resources, managing finances, governing the business and managing resources. The County Council only achieved a score of 2 out of 4 which means that it meets only minimum requirements and only performs adequately.
The Care Quality Commission, the government agency in charge of assessing the quality of care available to vulnerable people, has rated the care services provided by Surrey County Council as "adequate" - the lowest rating awarded to Adult Services this year, shared only by another seven Councils in the country. According to their report, Surrey is still in need of special measures and the Council will be closely monitored by the Government to make sure services improve.
Surrey Highways are currently not repairing street lights except in the most urgent cases. A new PFI street lighting contract is expected to start early next year, which will involve replacing 80% of the existing lamp columns, so they are not spending money on repairing columns that will be replaced.
The Conservative Cabinet at County Hall have refused to reconsider their decision to axe the Pegasus school buses as from July 2010. The Tory administration is reneging on a decision made only last December 2008 to continue the service for at least two more years until July 2011. The Conservatives do one thing before the election and another thing after.
Due to the pressure and the thorough examination of Liberal Democrat councillor David Goodwin, Surrey County Council Transport Select Committee have forced the Council's Cabinet to reconsider their decision to axe the popular Pegasus school bus service and to proceed instead with a proper investigation to find out how it can be maintained in future for the benefit of Guildford children and parents.
