Cllr Ken Joynson
An obituary written by Bryan Lee for Ken Joynson
An obituary written by Bryan Lee for Ken Joynson
Stephen Gilbert is the primary sponsor of the IDAHO motion ...
First impressions are important at election time. Everybody heard the Lib Dems are doing badly as the results came in on Friday, May 6. But unless you were glued to the TV that day, you will probably have missed the subtler messages being delivered by the electorate up and down the country.
This morning at the National Liberal Club, Nick Clegg gave a speech to party members to mark the first anniversary of the Coalition Government. In the light of the past year, and of last week's election results, Nick set out to answer what these mean for the Liberal Democrats - both as a party and in government. I think it is obvious that this is a moment when as a party we need to take a hard look at ourselves. We were given a bloody nose by the voters last week. We lost almost 750 council seats. And of course the AV referendum delivered a clear 'no' vote.So, a year into coalition government, some vital questions are being asked. In particular - what does this mean for the Liberal Democrats? And what does it mean for the Government? I am going to try and answer those questions today.
South Lakes MP Tim Farron has today called on the county council to change course over controversial plans to cut the salary of teaching assistants by up to 33%. Tim says that the end of the stage 2 appeals process gives the county council a window of opportunity to re-grade teaching assistants fairly and to honourably admit that they have got it wrong.
South Lakes MP Tim Farron has today backed calls for lowering the voting age to 16.