Liberal Democrats have achieved a higher vote share than in the General Election a year ago - coming ahead of the Labour Party for only the second time. The BBC projected national share of the vote:
If you were going to come up with a good working definition of a "bad news week", a diary from the Labour Party over the past few days would probable do it. A Labour Health Secretary being mauled by a nurses conference, the Home Secretary admitting to "losing track" of prisoners without considering them for deportation, and John Prescott. The less said about the latter, the better - it makes Season feel queasy.
The latest Government figure show crime in South Kent (covering Shepway district) increasing, with reported robberies up a huge 30% and violent crime up 6.4% in the last year. Overall, crime figures have dropped slightly, mainly due to a large fall (13.1%) in the burglary rate.
![Menzies (Ming) Campbell [Photo: LDD Pics]](/fileadmin/_processed_/e/7/csm_menzies-ming-campbell-photo-ldd-pics-1_7a2ac9e833.png)
In a hard-hitting speech today, Menzies Campbell has spelt out the Liberal Democrat challenge on the environment. He outlined five key principles to form a cross party agreement of tackling climate change, and criticised "A failure of nerve from the government. And a surfeit of spin from the Conservatives."
The latest on government figures released today show that almost 30,000 5-7 year olds are being taught in classes of 31 or over, an increase on 2005. The Liberal Democrats are calling for class sizes to be cut especially for the youngest pupils.
Bob Worcester of MORI has revealed that the Liberal Democrats are now on 28% in the areas that are having elections next Thursday. This is one the highest ever ratings for the Liberal Democrats and with still a week to go before the local elections bodes well for the Liberal Democrats.
Both the Lib Dems and Folkestone MP Michael Howard have called on Charles Clarke to resign after he admitted losing track of 1,023 foreign prisoners who should have been considered for deportation. The missing prisoners include three murderers and nine rapists.
Lib Dem support has surged by 3% while Labour's support among the public has slumped to its lowest level since the 1987 general election, according to a new poll. The Tories' position is the same as last month - meaning the real winners from Labour's slump are the Liberal Democrats.
The Post Office network is crumbling. Over the last two decades, post offices have been closing at a rate of over 300 a year. Under the last Conservative Government, 3,500 local post offices closed, and under Labour another 4,000 have closed, hitting communities across the country.
The international stage has been shaken by a series of reckless and illegal actions from Donald Trump’s White House. Liberal Democrat members have passed a new motion to bolster our national defence and strengthen our alliances with reliable partners.
For too long, tech giants have treated children as data to be mined, using addictive algorithms and harmful content to keep them scrolling. While some are calling for blanket bans, we know these are impractical and risk isolating vulnerable groups.
If the answer to “Is our nuclear deterrent working?” depends on what Donald Trump had for breakfast, then the answer is no, it’s not. And our deterrent is not truly independent.
Ed Davey is a husband, a father and a carer. He is the Leader of the Liberal Democrats.
It is Ed’s experience of caring that drives much of his politics, and motivates his tireless campaigning for a fair deal.
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