Surrey County Council Liberal Democrats

Change That Works For You. Building A Fairer Britain.

County Hall
Change That Works For You. Building a Fairer Britain.
Conty Cllr Hazel Watson

Welcome to the website of the Liberal Democrat group on Surrey County Council. We hope you find it interesting. Amongst other things you can:

Hazel V Watson

Group Leader

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Surrey News


Tories abandon Environment New!

Fri 12th Mar 2010

The Conservatives have published a list of "Ten reasons to vote Conservative" which does not include any reference to the environment or climate change.

Vote graphic

Sharon Bowles speaks out on RBS bonuses of £1.3 billion New!

Fri 12th Mar 2010

South East MEP Sharon Bowles (Lib Dem), who chairs the European Parliament's powerful Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, has raised concerns about the ongoing bankers bonus culture, after the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) announced that it would hand out £1.3 billion in bonus shares to its investment bankers.

Sharon Bowles MEP

Surrey Police Plans for more Bobbies on the Beat New!

Mon 8th Mar 2010

The Surrey Police Authority is to hold a widespread public consultation on their plans to expand their force by about 200 new constables over the next 3 years, paid for by cutting about 50 senior officers and relocating Police Stations to council offices and supermarkets. About 100 of the new officers would join the neighbourhood police teams of "Bobbies on the Beat". This initiative has been supported by the Lib Dem members of the Surrey Police Authority.

Police

CFR's Help to Save Lives

Mon 1st Mar 2010

Community First Responders (CFR's) are volunteers who respond to emergency calls on behalf of South East Coast Ambulance Service. Would you like to make a real difference?

South East Coast Ambulance Service

South East MEP Sharon Bowles welcomes 'step in the right direction' on ending cruelty to horses

Fri 19th Feb 2010

Lib Dem MEP Sharon Bowles has welcomed the European Parliament's adoption of a written declaration outlining steps to end cruelty to horses.

Sharon Bowles feeding horses

Localism - Not a Good Start

Mon 15th Feb 2010

The new Conservative administration, following David Cameron's lead, has now proudly proclaimed a conversion to "localism" (the devolution of decision making to the lowest level) which is a complete reversal of the policies of the last Conservative government. However the first test of the new approach revealed that not much had changed.

Stephen Cooksey

Grit Bin Fiasco

Sat 13th Feb 2010

Throughout Surrey there was a failure to fill and top-up grit bins during the periods of heavy snow in December and January resulting in many justified complaints from residents. Just how chaotic the situation was has been revealed following questions from County Cllr Stephen Cooksey.

Grit bin in Epsom (photography: Colin Taylor)

Lib Dems oppose "Damaging" County Council budget

Fri 12th Feb 2010

The Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council have voted against the Tory administration's budget for 2010/11 at County Hall. Leader of the Liberal Democrats Cllr Hazel Watson said: "I support the 2.5% level of Council Tax increase proposed for the Council. Many Surrey residents are struggling to pay their bills during the economic downturn and therefore the Council Tax needs to be set as low as possible whilst allowing for adequate funding for services. I oppose, however, the content of the budget proposed by the Conservative administration as it does the opposite of what Surrey residents want."

County Cllr Hazel Watson outside County Hall

Lib Dems hold balance of power in European Parliament

Mon 8th Feb 2010

An independent analysis of the EU has revealed that the ALDE, the Lib Dem group of MEPs, holds the balance of power in the European Parliament.

ALDE Logo

Liberal Democrats pledge £ 25m extra for Surrey schools

Wed 3rd Feb 2010

The Liberal Democrats have announced a major funding commitment that would boost education in Surrey. Nick Clegg has given a Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment for a Pupil Premium that would mean investing around £ 25m of extra cash in Surrey schools, raising the funding for disadvantaged pupils to private school levels.

Nick Clegg and Sue Doughty at Annual Dinner (photography: Alan Muhammed)

Help for Young People

Fri 22nd Jan 2010

Do you know a young man or woman who has recently left college or university and finds they can't get job?

Hope for Young People

Mandelson forcing universities to lower standards and offer less choice

Sat 2nd Jan 2010

Commenting on Government plans to cut university funding by more than £500m, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Universities Secretary Stephen Williams said: "The Government failed to live up to its commitment to fund extra university places and now it seems to be punishing the universities that went out of their way to help the pupils that had been let down."

Stephen Williams

Surrey Police Seven Point Plan

Fri 1st Jan 2010

The Surrey Police Authority has recently approved a seven point plan for Surrey Police in order to address their anticipated funding shortfall over the next three years to increase front-line police officers and further improve policing. This initiative has been supported by the Lib Dem members of the Police Authority.

Surrey Police Authority Crest

Copenhagen Comedown

Wed 30th Dec 2009

Lib Dem Euro MP for the South East, Catherine Bearder, has expressed her huge disappointment at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen.

Catherine at The Wave

South East MEP Sharon Bowles calls for Eurostar overhaul

Sat 26th Dec 2009

Lib Dem MEP Sharon Bowles has called for an overhaul of Eurostar following weekend failures of its service which left thousands of passengers trapped in the Channel Tunnel and up to 60,000 people stranded. Sharon Bowles said: "Having seen the distress of people who were trapped in the Channel Tunnel over the weekend, some for up to seven hours, it is imperative that Eurostar gets its act together."

Sharon Bowles MEP at the Eurostar

Liberal Democrats Oppose County Council Cuts in Services

Tue 15th Dec 2009

Liberal Democrat County Councillors have voiced their strong opposition to cuts in services by the Conservative administration. The Conservative run Cabinet has this Autumn decided to terminate all Pegasus school bus services in July 2010, to reduce the ordinary public bus services and reduce the number of roads to be gritted in winter in advance of ice and snow.

County Cllr Hazel Watson outside County Hall

Liberal Democrats welcome Tory U-turn on Incineration

Tue 15th Dec 2009

For many years the Liberal Democrats have been arguing that there are better and safer modern green alternatives to mass burn incineration. The announcement by the Tories that they will abandon "energy from waste" (mass burn incineration) has finally recognised that the Lib Dem position has been correct all long. Apart from the environmental impact, mass burn incineration is known to discourage councils from recycling waste.

Cty Cllr Will Forster

Surrey County Council Rated "Adequate" by Audit Commission

Wed 9th Dec 2009

The Audit Commission has today published a report rating Surrey County Council's performance as merely "adequate". The Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) rated the performance of the organisation with scores from 1 to 4 for managing performance, use of resources, managing finances, governing the business and managing resources. The County Council only achieved a score of 2 out of 4 which means that it meets only minimum requirements and only performs adequately.

Cty Cllr Hazel Watson

The Liberal Democrats Carry the British Torch in Europe

Tue 8th Dec 2009

A number of concerns have recently been expressed over the appointment of Michel Barnier, the new EU Commissioner for the Internal Market.

Michel Barnier, the new EU Commissioner for the Internal Market

Green or a Deeper Shade of Blue?

Sat 5th Dec 2009

David Cameron's Tory MEPs have launched a last minute attempt to scupper the EU's Copenhagen position of cutting carbon emissions and increasing climate change aid for developing countries.

Copenhagen Pledge

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Liberal Democrat TV
Quotes of the Week

"Anyone who wants to pass laws in this country should pay this country's full taxes and not hide behind the special offshore status of non-doms. Non-doms have to tell the taxman that their first allegiance is to another country. No-one should be a British lawmaker whose first allegiance is not to Britain."

Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary

www.libdems.org.uk - 2 March

"I think people are entitled to expect a sensible, stable government at a time when the country is facing very, very acute choices. We take what the markets are worrying about immensely seriously. We will not take any risk with the creditworthiness of the economy."

Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Financial Times - 3 March

Downing Street Says

President Sarkozy

Unite

Economy

High Speed Rail

President Sarkozy Visit

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