Happy New Year from Rugby Liberal Democrats
2016 was another year that the Liberal Democrats stood up for local residents and championed liberalism in our local communities.
RLD
17 Jan 2017
National News
15 more days to claim your free tablet from ALDC
You've got until 31 January to get a free tablet from ALDC, the must-join campaign organisation for Liberal Democrats. Here's how: The latest ALDC offer to grow your team and the number of Lib Dem campaigners across the country ends on Tuesday 31 January.
17 Jan 2017
Andy Kelly response to the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework Consultation.
Dear GMSF, RE: Objection to the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework.
17 Jan 2017
Poorest are paying for social care
Putting up council tax is not the answer to the social care funding gap says a leading Liberal Democrat. This year's 2 per cent increase brought in about £360 nationally and still leaves a predicted gap of £2.6 million by 2020, according to Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson CBE, who leads the Liberal Democrat Group on the Local Government Association. This suggests council tax would need to increase by 14% to deal with this problem, ignoring any other inflationary issues faced by any provide of services. Which will never happen. If council tax were a fair tax, this might be acceptable. But it is not. People who own a small terrace house in Newcastle already pay as much as the owner of a mansion flat in Westminster or Kensington because of the way that the system works. Poor people pay a much higher proportion of their income in council tax than rich people. In places like Newcastle, the needs of the extremely poor will be paid by the very poor if council tax is the route for dealing with this need. Raiding the N
17 Jan 2017
Price of food up again as Brexit effects start to bite
Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rose to 1.6% last month, up from 1.2% in November, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announces. Rising air fares and food prices helped to push up UK inflation to its highest rate since July 2014 in December. #priceofbrexit Exports cheaper but imports more expensive as pound has crashed in value against most of world's currencies.
17 Jan 2017
Lib Dems call for Government Minister to scrap Surrey’s Tory Tip Tax
A Liberal Democrat county councillor in Surrey has written to a government minister asking him to scrap Surrey County Council's unpopular charges for taking household waste to Community Recycling Centres (CRCs). Cllr Stephen Cooksey, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Highways & Environment, has written to Marcus Jones, Minister for Local Government, as part of his long-running campaign against the charges. The unpopular fees were introduced by the Conservative-run County Council in September 2016 despite a consultation in which residents made clear their opposition to the charges and their fears that fly-tipping would increase across the county as a consequence.
17 Jan 2017