Wakefield and Morley Liberal Democrats

“The UK has one of the most flexible labour markets in the world and reforms to tribunals by Vince Cable have improved it even further.

“I don’t believe that tearing up employment rights is going to pave the way for economic recovery.

“People worrying they may be fired at will is only going to undermine consumer confidence at a time when we want people spending on their local high street.

“Liberal Democrats believe the right way to sort out Labour’s mess is to get spending under control, get the banks lending, rebalance the economy away from the City through the £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund and invest in the future and skills of our young people as we have through the £1bn Youth Contract.”

Help us fight Labour lies says council chief

Senior local government Liberal Democrats are going on the offensive after voters in many parts of the country where local elections are taking place received leaflets from the Labour Party containing blatant lies about the Liberal Democrats.

The party is used to the usual strident propaganda put out by the opposition, but in this case senior Lib Dems believe it is time to fight back and rebut serious untruths.

The Leader of the Liberal Democrats on the Local Government Association and Leader of Portsmouth Council,

Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, is determined to take on this negative campaigning.

“Have you seen the kind of lies and scares Labour are attacking local Liberal Democrat candidates with?” he asks.

“I didn’t know that we had scrapped free prescriptions for pensioners. Not to mention axing free TV licences and bus passes too!”

“That’s because it’s not true,” stresses Gerald.

“Millions of pensioners who use these services every day can verify this! Gerald is urging members to help the party counteract these underhand tactics.

“Our candidates need your help now to fight Labour’s lies and scares,” he says.

“Because this kind of campaigning should not be allowed to succeed. With your support, we can elect more local Liberal Democrat councillors to fight for communities across Britain.”

If you have local elections in your area, here’s how you can help today.

• Make 5 calls to our supporters to remind them to vote on Thursday (http://bit.ly/JLaZqB)
• Donate £5 to help pay for 10 calls to remind our supporters to vote on Thursday

Commenting on the draft budget, Senior Liberal Democrat MEP and Vice President of the Budget Committee in the European Parliament, George Lyon said:

“During tough economic times when households budgets are shrinking and people are worried about their jobs it is hard to justify any EU budget increase.

“People expect the European budget to reflect the gravity of the economic situation we face.

“However, this proposed budget increase has nothing to do with increased spending in Brussels. It is the direct result of increased demand for co-financed EU spending by Member States as they scramble to draw down EU funds before the end of this seven year financial planning period.”

Mr Lyon, who is in charge of a new working group set up to find savings in the administrative budget of the European Parliament, added:

“MEPs are determined to find more savings and efficiencies from the EU administrative budget, which is around 6% of the total budget.

“However, if we want to cut the budget back to the level that people across the EU demand then Member States must engage with Parliament to find savings out of the 94% of the budget that is spent directly in the backyards of EU Member States.

“The Budget Committee would like to hear representations from national governments on which roads, bridges and other projects in their own countries they want scrapped or delayed.”

Liberal Democrat-controlled Cardiff is opening five new libraries and Portsmouth and Bristol are also opening new libraries.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Party President, Tim Farron said:

“While Conservatives and Labour councils their budgets without regard for the most vulnerable, Liberal Democrat-controlled councils know how to protect essential services.

“Encouraging and enabling reading is vital to the development of children and adults alike. If we don’t give our children the opportunity to practice and perfect their reading skills at a young age, they will struggle to catch up later in life.

“Libraries are a life-line for local communities, especially for those who are less well off, and give people the opportunity to relax, learn new information and skills or to use the internet if they don’t have it at home.

“Cutting services like Labour and Tory councils are doing will do long-term damage. Liberal Democrats are doing the right thing thanks to our financial competency in the councils we run. That is also the reason why not only have Liberal Democrat councils kept libraries open, but councils in England have also frozen council tax and are most likely to be giving the lowest-paid council workers a pay rise.”

The statement is a correction to an answer to a Parliamentary Question asked by Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Committee on Transport, Julian Huppert.

Commenting, Julian Huppert said:

“Today’s figures show that you can’t trust Labour with our railways. Their record is appalling: foisting yearly rail fare increases on to passengers while failing to use that money to invest in services.

“Instead, they let inefficiency cripple our system, burdening taxpayers and passengers alike.

“Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government are doing the right thing to clean up this mess by investing more in our railways than at any time since the Victorian era.

“The Coalition Government has committed to electrifying over 800 miles in 5 years but electrification is just one part of our huge program of investment.

“We’re delivering Crossrail, creating a national High Speed network, reopening old lines, lengthening trains and bringing down costs.

In a debate in the European Parliament, the long-standing campaigner against sexual exploitation of children, women and men said:

“While UEFA should be commended for launching campaigns to tackle racism in the game, I believe it is not doing enough to raise awareness of human trafficking.”

Pointing out that many mega brothels opened in host cities at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Bearder disputed UEFA's claim that large football events are 'irrelevant' when it comes to trafficking.

Ahead of this year's Eurocup in Poland and the Ukraine, strip clubs are already opening near the football stadiums in Kiev. Ms Bearder continued:

“Where there is a spike in demand for sex workers, there will also be a spike in the number of women trafficked. This summer is a massive year for sport in Europe and millions of people will enjoy the games. We must ensure that such great events are not tarnished by trafficking.”

Lib Dems push for equal marriage

Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone and Party President Tim Farron are urging members to get involved in the government consultation on how best to deliver equal civil marriage. The consultation will lead to new legislation enacted in this Parliament.
The party Conference agreed that the best way to do that is in the context of full equality of marriage and civil partnerships.

“This party has always stood for individual liberty and the right to choose how we lead our lives,”

said Tim.

“That’s why we came into being in the 19th Century to protect the rights of religious minorities, it’s why we led the support for equality for women and why we decided before any other major party that civil marriage should be open to same-sex couples equally.
“The Liberal Democrats in government are now delivering on that. But it’s important that as many people as possible respond to this consultation now.
“We’ve waited to get clarification from the Home Office on some ambiguously-worded questions, which we’ve now received. Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transexual Plus (LGBT+) Liberal Democrats have prepared a guide to the consultation, what it means, and how to respond to support the Liberal Democrat policy of equality.

More information is at www.abouttime.org.uk.

Local parties can also order leaflets from LGBT+ Lib Dems to distribute around local venues – not just ones specific to the LGBT+ communities, since equal marriage affects everyone. For more detail on our LGBT+ campaigning, please see http://lgbt.libdems.org.uk or follow @lgbtld on Twitter.

“It is worrying that the two Eds don’t understand the fundamental principles of our tax system, despite having worked in the Treasury for many years as Gordon Brown’s backroom boys.

“It took them 13 years to introduce a 50p rate and then they only did so shortly before a general election. Now that the local elections are coming up, suddenly they care about it again and put down ill-thought through amendments that remove the top rate altogether.

“Labour’s biggest tax change was to remove the 10p tax rate hitting people on low and middle incomes while Liberal Democrats are giving nearly 25m basic-rate tax payers an Income Tax cut and have lifted more than a million people out of paying Income Tax altogether. At the same time, we’re making the rich pay their fair share by cracking down on loopholes and excessive tax relief.”

“With all the controversy surrounding lobbying and tax at the moment, it’s astonishing that a Tory peer is now the lead advocate in Britain for one of the world’s biggest tax havens.

“While the Coalition is trying to make the rich pay their fair share, this exposes an element of the Conservative Party which wants to keep helping their wealthy friends hide their money from the taxman.

“If Lord Blencathra is using his very privileged position in the House of Lords to lobby for a government that wants to see money that should be for our schools, hospitals and our armed forces sailing off in luxury yachts to be stored on the Cayman Islands, it is yet another mockery of the Parliamentary system, and reinforces a need for an elected upper chamber.”

“We’re pleased that Labour has finally recognised that big money should be taken out of politics and that this includes trade unions. But questions remain over how committed Labour is to real reform.

“Why does Ed Miliband still disagree with the Kelly proposals that people should have the freedom to opt-in to donating to the Labour party, rather than the complex system of opting out?

“Over the years there has been much talk of cleaning up party funding, but this has failed to materialised under successive governments. It is now essential that all political parties work together to find a lasting solution to party funding.

“Thanks to a commitment laid down in the Coalition Agreement, cross party talks are currently underway and Liberal Democrats will continue to lead the campaign to clean up party funding once and for all.”