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.
The Agriculture Committee of the European Parliament has approved plans to reduce the number of animals used in scientific experiments. These plans are expected to be endorsed by the European Parliament and the European Council in September.
The European Parliament has overwhelming supported a Lib Dem blueprint for reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). George Lyon, Lib Dem MEP for Scotland, has drawn up a report with detailed proposals to make the CAP fairer, greener and more sustainable.
South East Lib Dem MEP Sharon Bowles has been named the most influential woman in European finance, according to a Top 100 list published in the Financial News.
The Conservative administration at County Hall has today announced cuts to the County Council's budget. Responding to the allocation of the cuts, the Leader of the Liberal Democrat main opposition group, Cllr Hazel Watson said: "I disagree with the allocation of the cuts by the Conservative administration. The £3.9m cut to front-line services for Children and Young people is excessive. This will be very damaging to services for vulnerable children and young people in Surrey. It was only about two years ago that children's services were rated inadequate by Government and these cuts will not help to improve the service."
On May 5th 2011, as well as elections for Borough and District Councils, there will be a National Referendum on whether to adopt the Alternative Vote - a fairer voting system where voters can rank the candidates 1, 2, 3 etc instead of marking just one with an X.
A recent survey has revealed that more Surrey residents are dissatisfied with the County Council and its services in 2010 than in 2009. The results of public satisfaction from January to the end of March 2010 were contained in the Joint Neighbourhood Survey, which was commissioned and managed by the Council in partnership with Surrey Police.
