Shepway Lib Dems would like to wish all members, supporters and web site users a very happy Christmas and a successful 2006. Many thanks for your support throughout the last year, and we look forward with new optimism to the New Year.
Lynne Featherstone MP has uncovered figures showing a staggering rise of 55% increase of families spending Christmas in temporary accommodation. In the South East, there has been a 29% rise in families in temporary accomodation in the last 5 years.
Shepway Lib Dems have elected their team to lead the Party locally for 2006, with a mix of new faces and experience. Tim Prater will take over as Chair in the New Year, with Neil Matthews as Vice Chair.
In an article in todays Guardian, Lib Dem MP Chris Huhne responds to the recent suggestion from new Conservative leader David Cameron that Lib Dems should consider backing the Conservatives.
You are cordially invited to a public carol service in Parliament Square at 6pm on Wednesday the 21st of December 2005. This inclusive service will contain both Christian and secular verse, and is expected to last no more than an hour. Candles and song sheets will be made available, with donations going to Medical Aid for Iraqi Children.
Cllr Lynne Beaumont has been elected as the new leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Shepway District Council. Cllr Beaumont was elected by a convincing margin at a special meeting on Thursday 15th December. She replaces Cllr David Dickinson who is stepping down, as he does not intend to stand for the district council again in 2007.
People in Kent have delivered a resounding 'yes' vote to retain their own county police force. Kent Police Authority was told at a meeting on Wednesday 14 December that nearly four out of five people do not want their police service to merge with others under Home Office proposals to create new strategic regional forces.
New figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show that since the beginning of 2003, over 119 million calls to Government helplines and call centres - or 36.6% of all calls - have been abandoned, were met with an engaged tone or went unrecorded by the system.
In a bid to reduce crime over the Christmas period, Kent Police have issued the following advice:
Maya Anne Evans, a peace protester from Hastings who was arrested at the cenotaph in London in October for reading out loud a list of solders who who had laid down their lives in Iraq, has had her case come to court. She was arrested in Whitehall under new laws the forbid protest within a 1km zone around Parliament.
The election of David Cameron as the new leader of the Conservative Party marks the end of the leadership of Folkestone and Hythe MP Michael Howard. Commenting, Simon Hughes MP, Liberal Democrat President, said:
Questions asked by the Lib Dems to Tory run Shepway Council have revealed that the new recycling scheme has broken its budget by more than £500,000. The majority of the losses are due to the withdrawal of the collection vehicles and reduced income from the recycling being collected together rather than separated at kerbside.