We're delighted to announce that Chelsea Whyte has been selected as the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Runnymede and Weybridge – and she's ready to lead a winning campaign to take this seat at Westminster.
While families across Runnymede struggle to afford basic pleasures and treasured local pubs face closure, the Liberal Democrats are putting forward concrete solutions to help real people and businesses facing the cost-of-living crisis.
The Runnymede Council Alliance has secured a major £3.2 million investment in vital healthcare services at St Peter's Hospital in Chertsey, bringing life-saving improvements to cardiac care and neonatal intensive care for families across our community.
A devastating safeguarding review has revealed how 10-year-old Sara Sharif should never have been in the care of her father and stepmother, who murdered her in August 2023 after inflicting more than 70 injuries including burns and fractures.
The Labour government has announced it will abolish Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in England and Wales, bringing an end to what Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood called "a failed experiment" introduced by the Conservatives in 2012.
Meet your local Lib Dem team standing in the Addlestone by-elections on 21st August 2025!
Tory-controlled Surrey County Council is continuing to privatise the services it is legally required to provide. The Council's educational services have been privatised, see "Surrey Schools Services sold to Defence Contractor" dated 31st July 2003. With effect from 1st April 2004, they are now provided by VT Four S Limited. The Liberal Democrats are concerned that the Tories are obsessed with privatising more and more services, even though the Council seems increasingly to be encountering problems with those it has already privatised.
At the County Council meeting on March 23rd, Lib Dem councillor Colin Taylor commented that pictures of the new County Hall show a glass-clad building. Such buildings tend to feel too hot in summer and too cold in winter - or use lots of energy maintaining comfort.
After six years of campaigning, the Liberal Democrats at County Hall have succeeded in convincing Surrey County Council to undertake urgent work to make its properties "disabled friendly". The County Council has approved a Liberal Democrat motion that puts disabled access high on the County Council's priorities. A report recently commissioned by the County Council highlighted the current situation of the County's public buildings.
Surrey County Council Conservatives' claims that extra funding has been put into education, social services and road maintenance by sweeping cuts in administration and bureaucracy could be described politely as misleading or perhaps more accurately as downright lies, according to Councillor Janet Maines, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council. Most of the extra funding in the budget has come either from the government or from prudential borrowing says Mrs Maines.
Councillor Janet Maines, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council, commenting on the County Council budget said, "I welcome the single figure increase in the Council tax for Surrey residents, which is good news for people on fixed incomes including pensioners. But I have opposed the budget because the Conservative administration at County Hall has not gone far enough to reduce bureaucracy and inefficiency within the Council. The base budget has not been examined in detail as was agreed by the Council one year ago. A number of multi-million pound contracts are not being adequately controlled by the Council. Although the Council is now making a welcome start to introduce cost-saving preventative measures such as key worker housing and energy efficiency promoted by the Liberal Democrats, it has been slow to do so."
Liberal Democrats are urging Surrey County Council to keep a commitment to invest in preventative services that will save money in the long term. For example, increasing allowances could encourage more people to become foster parents in Surrey and would save money currently spent on very expensive agency placements outside the County. This approach would take the County Council away from the current culture of crisis management and save taxpayers money at the same time.
Space is no longer science fiction – it underpins our economy, security, and daily lives. Our new policy will renew the National Space Strategy, support UK spaceports and hubs, and designate space as a strategic industry.
The UK’s asylum system is failing, leaving people fleeing conflict stuck in temporary housing, unable to work, and separated from their loved ones. Our new policy gives practical solutions to clear up the broken system left by the Conservatives.
The Online Safety Act was meant to protect people, yet its flawed implementation risks undermining privacy, free expression, and secure communication. Our new policy addresses our concerns and fights for a digital future where rights are protected.