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!
Liberal Democrat county councillors have expressed their dismay at the news that Sajid Javid MP, the Conservative Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government, has delayed the pilot scheme that would have allowed Surrey County Council to retain 100% of its business rates next year. The Government had previously agreed to allow Surrey County Council to apply to become a pilot for the scheme in 2018/19 but the sudden announcement of a general election has meant that the parliamentary process to confirm this has been interrupted and the pilot scheme delayed.
Liberal Democrat councillors have welcomed the decision by Conservative-run Surrey County Council to cease the publication of its unpopular "Surrey Matters" magazine. The magazine, which has cost council tax payers over £1.2m since 2011, was axed following a meeting of the County Council's Cabinet at the end of March. The last edition was published in January 2017 and the cancellation will save the County Council approximately £250K a year.
Liberal Democrat county councillors in Surrey have written to the Conservative Cabinet Member for the Environment asking him to name the date that the controversial "Tip Tax" will be scrapped. Following guidance issued by the Government earlier this week, Cllr Stephen Cooksey, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for the Environment on Surrey County Council, has written to Cllr Mike Goodman, Cabinet Member for the Environment, asking him for further assurances that the charges will be dropped.
Liberal Democrats have welcomed the decision of Surrey County Council to write to the 11 MPs that represent the county, asking them to lobby government over the funding shortfall for Surrey schools. Last month, the county council unanimously adopted a Liberal Democrat motion calling for the county council to recognise the shortfall in the government's funding offer and calling for more resources for Surrey schools.
Commenting on his recent selection as Liberal Democrat county council candidate for Walton at the elections in Surrey on May 4th 2017, former Elmbridge Conservative Councillor Chris Elmer said today: "Here in Surrey I became disillusioned with the Conservative administration while I was still a Conservative Elmbridge Borough Councillor. When as a member of the same political group my efforts on behalf of my ward residents were frustrated at every stage, something is very wrong. They have had control for too long and become both complacent and arrogant - so I am very clear that Surrey needs a fresh start with the Liberal Democrats. "With regard to national events, it was the referendum result to leave the EU and the damaging consequences for our living standards and rights that made me decide that my political allegiance now lay with the Liberal Democrats. I suppose the bottom line is that I had to grow up politically - and fast given the alarming result. It was always going to be hard to make such a decision
Liberal Democrats have welcomed the news that the Conservative Secretary of State for the Environment Food & Rural Affairs, Andrea Leadsom MP, has called upon councils to scrap their charges for disposing of household waste at Community Recycling Centres (CRCs). Conservative-run Surrey County Council brought in the unpopular charges in September 2016 despite massive opposition from Liberal Democrat county councillors and residents. Cllr Stephen Cooksey, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Environment & Highways, said today: "I have written to the Secretary of State asking her when the household waste charges in Surrey will be scrapped. She has been very clear in setting out her position but when will her Tory colleagues in Surrey get the message that these charges have to go?". NOTES
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