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Welcome to Wantage Constituency Liberal Democrats
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.
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Wed 18th Aug 2010
Liberal Democrat ministers Lynne Featherstone and Norman Baker have announced that car clamping on private land is to be banned. This long-standing Liberal Democrat policy and manifesto commitment will be introduced as part of the Freedom Bill this Autumn. The Bill is designed to roll back the previous Labour Government's intrusive and illiberal laws and curb the excesses of the surveillance state.
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Wed 11th Aug 2010
In a major speech today, Chris Huhne MP, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, reviews Labour's legacy. He said: "Labour were once a serious party. Whatever our disagreements, Labour wanted to tackle the real problems in our society. Independence for the Bank of England. Devolution to Scotland and Wales. A minimum wage. Labour once wanted to prove they could run the economy successfully. They said no more boom and bust. But over the 13 years of Labour's government something changed. The need for a balanced economy gave way to the needs of the city of London. And when the global economic crisis struck, Labour seemed paralysed.
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Wed 11th Aug 2010
Sarah Teather, Lib Dem Children's Minister in the Coalition government announced the introduction of the Pupil Premium, a key Lib Dem election policy which has been adopted by the Coalition. She said: "I'm delighted we are today announcing a new Pupil Premium, which will give extra funding to schools to help them tackle the inequalities that have been a part of our state system for far too long. Thousands of children will finally be getting the extra support they need to succeed."
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Wed 11th Aug 2010
George Lyon, Liberal Democrat MEP for Scotland, has received the overwhelming backing of the European Parliament for his report which sets out the future reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Meeting in Strasbourg at their last plenary session before the summer recess, MEPs supported Mr Lyon's plans for a more sustainable, fairer and greener CAP.
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Sat 7th Aug 2010
Sharon Bowles, Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament for the South-East (which includes Oxfordshire), has been included in the Financial News' list of the top ten financial regulators in Europe, along with Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, and Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank.
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Fri 6th Aug 2010
Going into the general election in May, the Liberal Democrats made clear that they had four key priorities: fairer taxes; a fair start for children; a comprehensive clean up of our politics; and a green, sustainable economy. Thanks to Lib Dem involvement, the coalition Government will deliver on each of these. In just ten weeks since the start of the Coalition Government, the Liberal Democrats have exerted a huge influence over its agenda.
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Wed 21st Jul 2010
Commenting on Baroness Manningham-Buller's evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry, in which she said the conflict in Iraq 'substantially' increased the threat to the UK from international terrorism, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, Tim Farron said: "This is a shattering blow for Labour's claim that the Iraq war did not increase the terrorist threat to Britain. We already knew that this was a disastrous war for our own brave service personnel and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians.
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Fri 9th Jul 2010
Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, has welcomed the Home Secretary's decision to suspend use of "Stop and Search". This widely discredited power, that allowed blanket stop and search without any suspicion of terrorism, was designated in secret by senior police officers and past Home Secretaries often on a rolling basis across whole counties of England and Wales. Ms Chakrabarti said: "Liberty welcomes the end of the infamous section 44 stop and search power that criminalised and alienated more people than it ever protected. We argued against it for ten years and spent the last seven challenging it all the way to the Court of Human Rights.
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Mon 5th Jul 2010
Writing in The Independent, Lib Dem cabinet ministers Chris Huhne and Vince Cable say: "The coalition Government's emergency Budget began to stabilise the public finances and lay the foundations for economic recovery. The next step is to ensure that what emerges from recession is a different kind of economy: rebalanced away from excessive reliance on household debt, property markets and banking, with prosperity spread more evenly across the country, supported by modernised and efficient infrastructure - all of which will support long-term, sustainable growth.
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Thu 1st Jul 2010
At a meeting earlier this week of Didcot Town Council's Finance Committee, Lib Dem Cllr David Rouane accused the Conservative administration of raising taxes unnecessarily, and of failing to provide the facilities and services which they promised when they set the tax level.
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Thu 1st Jul 2010
Liberal Democrats have welcomed the Justice Secretary's assault on the 'prison works' orthodoxy espoused by former Tory home secretary Michael Howard. Lib Dem spokesman for Wantage and Didcot, Alan Armitage, said: "Stopping vast numbers of people being locked up for non-violent crimes on short sentences was a key Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment. The Labour Government liked to talk tough on crime while re-offending rates in this country rose sky-high. Short-term prison sentences don't reduce re-offending or cut crime.
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Wed 23rd Jun 2010
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg has addressed party members about the budget. In a letter to members he said: "We have had to take difficult decisions to tackle the deficit and lay the foundations of a fairer society. These are not decisions any government wants to take but we have no choice except to clear up the financial mess that Labour left us. Today's Budget takes these difficult decisions in an honest and fair way and with the clear stamp of Liberal Democrat values running through it.
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Fri 11th Jun 2010
As reported in The Times, it was, everyone seemed to agree, an historic moment. A senior British politician had come to the heart of Europe and spoken German. In fact, Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, turned out to speak better German than Guido Westerwelle, Germany's Foreign Minister, spoke English. And so, in the faintly sinister 1930s building that houses the German Foreign Ministry - where the lift is still a jump-on, jump-off paternoster - the buzz was that of a new Anglo-German partnership.
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Sun 6th Jun 2010
In his first major speech as Business Secretary, reported in The Independent, Vince Cable has warned that the nation still faces a "very fragile" recovery, being held back by the crisis in the eurozone, the "massive" budget deficit and a "dysfunctional banking system". Mr Cable pledged to tackle "an economy that is seriously unbalanced both in its sectoral mix and in its regions".
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![Vince Cable [Photo: LDD Pics]](/images/sites/217.160.173.25-3e54d75166df56.63810547/thumbs/316.jpeg "Vince Cable [Photo: LDD Pics]")
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Thu 27th May 2010
Victims of the Equitable Life collapse can finally expect compensation as Liberal Democrat MPs push forward new legislation. Liberal Democrat spokesman Alan Armitage described the announcement as a "massive relief" for the millions of people who lost up to half their pensions in the collapse.
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Tue 25th May 2010
A large number of Liberal Democrat policies were announced in today's Queen's Speech, including the party's major priorities: fair taxes, a fair start for children, a green and sustainable economy, and a comprehensive clean up of politics. In detail, the policies to become law were:
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Sun 23rd May 2010
Speaking at his first major speech as Deputy Prime Minister, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg today said: "I have spent my whole political life fighting to open up politics. So let me make one thing very clear: this government is going to be unlike any other. This government is going to transform our politics so the state has far less control over you, and you have far more control over the state.
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Mon 17th May 2010
A special conference of the Liberal Democrat Party in Birmingham yesterday overwhelmingly approved the party's Coalition Agreement with the Conservative Party. Speaking after the vote, Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg said: "It is five days since I accepted the position of Deputy Prime Minister. Just five days, and we now know there will be no ID cards, no third runway at Heathrow, no more fingerprinting in schools without parents' consent, no more child detention. Changes Liberal Democrats have spent months, years, campaigning for, are happening. Promises we were making to people on their doorsteps just a few weeks ago are becoming realities."
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Wed 5th May 2010
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg writes: "The ballot boxes are being put in place, the polling stations are being prepared, and voting starts in less than 24 hours. But this election is still wide open. We have before us the most incredible opportunity to transform our country for the better and to put fairness back into our society.
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Sat 1st May 2010
As reported today by Reuters, Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg has said that Britain's political parties should work together to devise a credible plan for tackling a record budget deficit and not become distracted by a dispute over when to start a fiscal squeeze, the Liberal Democrats said. He told Reuters that the Labour government and the Conservatives were indulging in point-scoring before next week's national election.
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Archive of earlier news stories.
 News Story Feed (v1.0).
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Published and promoted by Simon Thompson on behalf of Alan Armitage, both at 12 Blakes Field, Didcot, Oxon OX11 7BE
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| Wantage General Election Result |
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Turnout: 56341 (70%)
52%
Conservative: 29284 (+8.9%)
27.9%
Liberal Democrats: 15737 (+0.3%)
13.9%
Labour: 7855 (−10%)
View the results in detail.
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| Wantage General Election Result |
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Turnout: 51931 (68%)
43%
Conservative: 22354 (+3.4%)
27.6%
Liberal Democrats: 14337 (−0.4%)
24%
Labour: 12464 (−4.2%)
View the results in detail.
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| Quotes of the Week |
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"How can you possibly take on such a large financial commitment as Trident without considering the military and political implications? If fierce cuts are to be made in Britain's conventional forces, surely we have to consider whether replacing Trident can be justified. "
Sir Menzies Campbell
Response to announcement that the Ministry of Defence will be responsible for the cost of replacing Trident - 30 July
"With most of their leadership contenders claiming to back AV for a fairer voting system, it is astonishing they now wish to block the legislation to make that happen. Each and every Labour MP campaigned on a manifesto committing to a referendum. Now they have the opportunity to make this happen but have chosen to say no for opposition's sake. "
Simon Hughes MP
Comment on Labour's decision to oppose legislation for a referendum on the alternative vote - 28 July
"With more than half of ASBOs breached in 2008, this was a policy more about posturing than effective policing. Local communities know that other measures, such as Acceptable Behaviour Contracts can nip problems in the bud before they escalate. "
Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Committee for Home Affairs and Justice, Tom Brake MP
Commenting on speech by the Home Secretary in which she said it was 'time to move beyond Anti Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) - 28 July
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