|
|
Welcome to our web site!
The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.
|
Mon 8th Feb 2010
Figures released today by the Liberal Democrats have revealed that the NHS is facing a £63 billion bill for PFI (Privately Funded Initiative) hospitals which are only worth £11 billion. The PFI option was devised by the Conservative government as a way of raising private capital to pay for public building projects. The Labour government has enthusiastically exploited PFI, trying to ensure at the same time that outstanding PFI debts do not appear on the government's books.
|
|
|
Mon 8th Feb 2010
Nick Clegg will today challenge the other two party leaders to agree an emergency programme of political reform. Speaking at an election summit of parliamentarians and parliamentary candidates, the Liberal Democrat Leader will challenge Gordon Brown and David Cameron to sign up to the programme of political reform as a first step to restore public faith in politics.
|
|
|
Thu 4th Feb 2010
The Liberal Democrats today set out their General Election plans for reducing the incidence of crime in our communities. Launching "Safer Streets - More and Better Police" during a visit to Durham, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg MP and Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne MP will reveal research showing that police numbers have fallen in 18 out of the 43 police forces (42%) in England and Wales since 2005. Two thirds of these police authorities are currently controlled by the Tories and one third by Labour.
|
|
|
Tue 2nd Feb 2010
An independent analysis by VoteWatch, a website set up to monitor the European Union's legislative process, has revealed that Liberal MEPs hold the balance of power in the European Parliament. With no political party having a majority, the 84-strong Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, to which the Liberal Democrats belong, is on the winning side of more than 90% of votes taken in the European Parliament.
|
|
|
Mon 1st Feb 2010
Performance at school is closely linked to children's background. The poorest children are only half as likely to get 5 good GCSEs as other children. Too often, the poorest children start school already struggling and fall further behind as they grow older. To give every child a fair start, the Lib Dems will spend an extra £2.5bn on schools. The money will be targeted at schools taking on children who need more help, but will benefit every child in every school.
|
|
|
Sat 30th Jan 2010
According to the acting Chief Executive of Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust, there could be £240 million of cuts to the county's health budget over the next four years. Lib Dem MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, Dr Evan Harris, has launched a petition against the cuts, supported by Lib Dem constituency parties across Oxfordshire.
|
|
|
Sat 30th Jan 2010
Lib Dem MEPs for the South East, Sharon Bowles and Catherine Bearder, have welcomed European Union plans to force car manufacturers to make cars more fuel efficient. The EU's Strategy to reduce CO2 emissions from passenger cars and light-commercial vehicles hopes to achieve a 20% increase in fuel efficiency over the next six years.
|
|
|
Thu 21st Jan 2010
The Daily Express has today published an article which completely misrepresents the European Union's "Action Plan on urban mobility". Virtually all the claims made about European transport policy are simply false. The article is a prize example of the extent to which some sections of the British media deliberately and irresponsibly demonise the European Union.
|
|
|
Thu 21st Jan 2010
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg will use a new social media initiative co-hosted by the UK Youth Parliament to launch the party's youth jobs manifesto pledge today. The proposals would ensure young people do not spend more than 90 days on Jobseekers Allowance before they get more training, education, an internship or a place on a work programme.
|
|
|
Tue 19th Jan 2010
Commenting on today's report on the Conservatives' marriage tax proposals from Iain Duncan Smith's think tank, The Centre for Social Justice, Lib Dem spokesman Danny Alexander MP said: "These proposals on marriage tax do not address the fundamental unfairness of the Tories' policy. Giving tax breaks to married couples where one person can afford to stay at home, but doing nothing for couples who both work is unfair."
|
|
|
Fri 15th Jan 2010
Charity Age Concern Oxfordshire has joined forces with Oxfordshire County Council to urge those who think they may be entitled to the central government Cold Weather Payment to find out more and claim money that is available to them. The £25 payments are automatically distributed when the average temperature is, or is forecast to be, zero degrees Celsius or below, for a period of seven consecutive days where a recipient lives to those who fulfil certain criteria.
|
|
|
Thu 14th Jan 2010
The Liberal Democrats today set out plans to bring a quarter of a million empty homes back into use, making homes available for people on council waiting lists. There are over 760,000 empty properties across England which are no longer used as homes but can be brought back into use with some investment. People who own these homes will get a grant or a cheap loan to renovate them so they can be used: grants if the home is for social housing, loans for private use.
|
|
|
Mon 4th Jan 2010
In his New Year message, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg MP has laid down a challenge to other party leaders to tell people what they really believe in, rather than what they think people want to hear. "People don't want leading politicians clinging on to power for its own sake, or just telling people what they want to hear," he said. "If we as Leaders want people to turn out to vote at all at the next General Election, we have got to show people our convictions, not just dividing lines, our beliefs, not just soundbites."
|
|
|
Thu 17th Dec 2009
Lib Dem Euro-MP Catherine Bearder has set up a part of her website designed to explode the many myths made up by opponents of Britain's place in Europe, and gleefully repeated by much of the British media. You can visit Catherine's Euro-myth pages here: http://www.bearder.eu/pages/Euromyths.html
|
|
|
Mon 14th Dec 2009
Three young people from the Sweatbox Union Youth Forum recently spoke at Oxfordshire County Council's Children's Services Scrutiny Committee to oppose the proposed cuts in youth work funding, which the Conservative controlled County Council is considering as part of its budget setting exercise. They also met their local Lib Dem Councillors, Zoe Patrick and Jenny Hannaby, at Oxfordshire County Hall.
|
|
|
Mon 14th Dec 2009
Commenting on David Cameron's plans to bar people not paying full UK tax from Parliament and the Government, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Chris Huhne MP said: "David Cameron's plan is a sham. The super-rich like Lord Ashcroft, Zac Goldsmith or Labour's Lord Paul can be fully resident for tax purposes in the UK, but if they are able to opt for non-dom status they will not pay a penny in UK tax on their main fortune outside Britain. It is the height of hypocrisy for the Tories to suggest a new law now when they recently opposed a Lib Dem bill to stop non-doms sitting as peers."
|
|
|
Sun 13th Dec 2009
The details of Oxfordshire County Council's plans to cut over £106 million from its budget are very alarming. The opposition Leader on the county council, Grove and Wantage's councillor Zoe Patrick, said: "Liberal Democrats at County Hall will be checking these plans very carefully as they come before scrutiny committees, to ensure that the front line services that people depend on are not first in line for cuts."
|
|
|
Thu 10th Dec 2009
Responding to Alan Johnson's comment that the public feel 'terrorised' by the idea of the population rising to 70 million, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne MP, said: "Labour and the Tories seem more interested in what the population will be in 30 years time than in re-establishing control of our borders and a firm but fair immigration system. We need to halt illegal immigration and ensure migrants move to where they are needed. The Liberal Democrats would immediately reintroduce exit checks, give a border force police powers and introduce a regional points-based system."
|
|
|
Mon 7th Dec 2009
"We don't need a bigger Heathrow to keep London competitive," said the Liberal Democrat Heathrow Spokesperson Susan Kramer MP. Commenting on the Transport Select Committee endorsement of the economic case for a third runway at Heathrow, she said: "In light of the new Government guidance on the cost of CO2 emissions, Heathrow expansion will actually cost us billions. Only this Government could dress up a loss of billions of pounds as a reason to have a third runway."
|
|
|
Tue 1st Dec 2009
Commenting on the latest ComRes opinion poll, The Independent reports that Britain is on course for a hung parliament after the general election amid growing optimism about the economy. The poll puts the Conservatives on 37 per cent (down three points on last month), Labour on 27 per cent (no change), the Liberal Democrats on 20 per cent (up two points) and other parties on 16 per cent (up one point). It is the second poll taken in the past two weeks to point to a hung parliament.
|
|
Archive of earlier news stories.
 News Story Feed (v1.0).
Printed and hosted by Prater Raines Ltd, 98 Sandgate High Street, Folkestone CT20 3BY.
Published and promoted by Simon Thompson on behalf of Alan Armitage, both at 12 Blakes Field, Didcot, Oxon OX11 7BE
The views expressed are those of the party, not of the service provider.
|
| Wantage General Election Result |
|
Turnout: 51931 (68%)
43%
Conservative: 22354 (+3.4%)
27.6%
Liberal Democrat: 14337 (−0.4%)
24%
Labour: 12464 (−4.2%)
View the results in detail.
|
| Quotes of the Week |
|
"I hate to say it, but only one party leader seems to have grasped that, if you construct a system where unskilled people are worse off by taking a job than by staying on welfare, they remain trapped in poverty - and that is Nick Clegg. "
Lord Norman Tebbit
Daily Telegraph online - 13 Jan
"It's unbelievable that the Tories are still planning to cut taxes for a handful of millionaires when the majority of people across the country are feeling the squeeze. We need fair tax cuts that put money back in the pockets of ordinary people. The Tory sums simply do not stack up. It is irresponsible and highly misleading for George Osborne to continue to pretend that they do. "
Vince Cable MP
Responding to Conservative Spending Plans - 4 Jan
|
|
