Meet Your Local Lib Dem Candidate for Ottershaw
Hello! I'm Ronan McCaughey, and like many of you, I fell in love with our wonderful Ottershaw community when I moved here 10 years ago.
Hello! I'm Ronan McCaughey, and like many of you, I fell in love with our wonderful Ottershaw community when I moved here 10 years ago.
This week’s vote on the Bill to remove the remaining 92 hereditary peers from the House of Lords is a step in the right direction. But we need to go further.
Virginia Water Councillor Karin Rowsell is expressing support for the Rose and Olive Branch to continue as a pub after its current tenants finish trading this Christmas.
The Liberal Democrats are pleased to report that the lifts at Virginia Water station are finally operational again after a four-month period of restricted service that caused significant hardship for disabled and elderly residents.
The Liberal Democrats have welcomed changes to Carer's Allowance earnings limits in yesterday's Budget, while emphasising that more action is needed to improve local healthcare services including GP and dental appointments, and cancer care waiting times.
Runnymede Liberal Democrats have criticised Ben Spencer’s decision not to support a motion that would have seen the Government rescue community healthcare and end the carer's repayment scandal.
Willie Rennie's election as the new MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, home of chancellor Gordon Brown, takes the total of Liberal Democrat in the House of Commons to 63. His by-election victory not only saw a 16% swing from New Labour to the Liberal Democrats, it also saw David Cameron's Conservatives retain fourth place with a swing of 9% from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats.
Surrey County Council's Tory budget brought bad news for parents and youngsters in Sixth Forms and Colleges.
At the County Council meeting today, the Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council opposed the 2006/07 budget proposed by the Conservative administration.
After an initial period of close secrecy, the names of 18 youth centres in Surrey planned for closure following the Tories' BDR review have been released. This had earlier been presented as 15 closures, apparently because 3 new facilities are also planned. Councillors representing the divisions affected by the closures have been offered a meeting where the reasons behind these decisions will be explained. Meanwhile the names of the 18 youth facilities at risk are:
The issue of waste remains high on the agenda in Surrey, with not one but two draft waste plans up for discussion. The first, which ended its 6 week period of public consultation in December 2005, comes from the position of Surrey County Council (SCC) as the Waste Planning Authority (WPA) and is called "The Surrey Waste Plan - The Preferred Plan". This basically sets out the County's overall strategy of where and how waste should be handled, giving site specific details. The Liberal Democrats at County Hall criticised this plan as being fundamentally flawed, back in September, because it was predicated on incineration and highlighted a preferred site, Capel. We are still awaiting the results of the public consultation.
Surrey County Council has outsourced its highways maintenance to two contractors, one for the west and one for the east. Since its start 3 years ago the management of this Tory-inspired arrangement has been heavily criticised, with work not being done on time or to budget. Lib Dems are seeking to ensure that these issues are addressed by beefing up the management of the contract and ensuring that its performance indicator criteria deliver on-time and on-budget results. We are very concerned that yet another Tory reorganisation of the transportation service (proposed in the Business Delivery Review) will damage the county's ability to manage the contractors. Also proposed in the BDR is a cut in the maintenance budget to spend more on capital. In the short term (5 years) that will mean worse roads in Surrey!
The Liberal Democrats have long championed proportional representation, advocating for a voting system where every vote truly counts. We believe that reforming our electoral system is crucial for a fairer democracy and better governance.
We believe everyone deserves high-quality healthcare, accessible when and where it’s needed and free at the point of use.
The Liberal Democrats have laid out a bold and ambitious plan to restore the UK’s natural environment and ensure that everyone can access a clean, healthy, and thriving green space.