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 are calling for a fair deal for Surrey, with more local decision making on funding and less central government control. Surrey should be allowed to keep a fairer share of the money generated within the county.
Councillor Hazel Watson (Dorking Hills), the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition on Surrey County Council, has welcomed a number of Surrey County Council Cabinet's decisions about major cycling events and day to day cycling sportives in Surrey, but has expressed disappointment and concern over plans for Dorking and Westcott.
Responding to the interim report by Sir Howard Davies' Airports Commission, Hazel Watson (Dorking Hills), the Leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition on Surrey County Council said:
Liberal Democrats are calling for home to school transport improvements in Surrey at a meeting of the County Council today.
Liberal Democrat County Councillor Will Forster (Woking South) is calling for a ban stopping any culling of badgers on Surrey County Council land.
Questioning of the Conservative run Cabinet of Surrey County Council by Hazel Watson, the Leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition on Surrey County Council, has successfully forced the Conservative Leader to spill the beans about deals struck behind closed doors and payments made for cycling events in Surrey.