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.
Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council have welcomed a review of Surrey County Council's road safety policy that is taking place throughout Surrey's boroughs and districts.
Liberal Democrats are proposing a six point action plan to tackle Surrey's flooding. The proposals aim to reduce the impact of future heavy rain by putting in place preventative measures. They are:
Claims by Surrey County Council's Conservative administration that they will "invest up to £10m to support the response to flooding" have been criticised as "propaganda that muddies the water rather than giving hope to residents and businesses", according to the Liberal Democrats at County Hall.
Surrey County Council's Liberal Democrats are opposing the County's Conservative administration's budget at tomorrow's Council meeting as it is "half baked and unrealistic".
Local Liberal Democrat Euro MP, Catherine Bearder, has written to the chief executive of Surrey County Council, David McNulty, to encourage him to apply for EU funding to help rebuild and develop flood defences in Surrey.
Members of Surrey County Council's Overview and Scrutiny Committee were stunned today when the Conservative Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care announced that £19 million of savings in the budget for 2014/15 being discussed at the meeting of the Conservative Cabinet next week "will not be achieved". The savings are planned in the budget by switching care to "social capital" under the Friends, Family and Community Support programme.