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Welcome !
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
Latest News
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Wed 18th Aug 2010
The Lib Dem group at County Hall has pressed the Conservative administration to be more open and transparent by publishing more information and by making decisions more openly.
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Read ""Through a glass darkly"" in full
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Mon 16th Aug 2010
The Agriculture Committee of the European Parliament has approved plans to reduce the number of animals used in scientific experiments. These plans are expected to be endorsed by the European Parliament and the European Council in September.
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Read "EU proposals to reduce animal testing" in full
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Wed 11th Aug 2010
In July 2009 the County Council's Interim Chief Executive Mr Michael Frater published a highly critical report about the County Council. At that time the Conservative administration said that Mr Frater would be invited to review the Council's progress one year following the publication of his report.
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Read "Progress report refused" in full
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Mon 9th Aug 2010
MEPs have taken an axe to the illegal logging trade by banning the sale of illegal timber in Europe and setting up strict penalties for those caught doing so. Illegal logging is estimated to represent 20-40% of global industrial wood production, and contributes heavily to carbon emissions and the destruction of biodiversity.
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Read "MEPs axe illegal timber trade" in full
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Mon 2nd Aug 2010
The Conservative administration at County Hall has stated its ambition for the Council to be World Class but has not provided any definition of this term. However, it is clear that Surrey residents believe that the County Council has room for considerable improvement.
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Read "Surrey 'World Class'? - Residents still don't think so!" in full
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Wed 28th Jul 2010
The EU's bank watchdog, the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS), is to publish the results of its bank stress tests. Stress tests were implemented last year in the US to identify banks that would require additional capital to survive in case the recession got worse.
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Read "Bank stress tests cannot be a half-way house" in full
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Tue 27th Jul 2010
The Coalition Government has announced a Pupil Premium to target extra money at schools taking disadvantaged pupils. The proposed Pupil Premium would provide additional per pupil funding on top of the existing funding provided to schools. Schools will be free to spend the additional funding as they choose to raise the achievement of disadvantage pupils. This was a key manifesto commitment and one that Nick Clegg made clear was one of his absolute priorities.
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Read "Surrey Liberal Democrats Welcome the Pupil Premium " in full
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Tue 20th Jul 2010
Lib Dem party membership grew by a remarkable 14% in the first half of this year, according to official figures released by the party in England. Thousands of new members have joined the party since the election and the coalition agreement was reached, with the party also having greater success in retaining current members than in previous years.
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Read "Thousands of new members join Lib Dems" in full
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Mon 19th Jul 2010
The European Parliament has approved a reworked EU-US agreement on access to European citizens' banking data for the tracking of terrorist finance, after rejecting an interim deal in February on the grounds that it insufficiently safeguarded privacy. Work to improve the data protection safeguards, such as shorter storage times and stronger supervision and redress rights, was led by MEPs from the ALDE (Lib Dem) group.
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Read "Lib Dem MEPs use Lisbon Treaty to safeguard citizens' privacy" in full
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Sat 17th Jul 2010
South East Lib Dem MEP Sharon Bowles has slammed both UKIP and the BNP for voting against the tough new laws to introduce caps on top bankers´ cash bonuses, which was overwhelmingly voted through the European Parliament by 625 in favour to 28 against, with 37 abstentions. In effect, UKIP and BNP MEPs voted against the legislation in order to keep the status quo, which has seen huge bonus packages continue to be handed out despite unprecedented government intervention.
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Read "Sharon Bowles MEP slams UKIP and BNP for voting against caps on bankers´ bonuses" in full
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Sat 17th Jul 2010
South East Lib Dem MEP Sharon Bowles, who chairs the European Parliament's influential Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, has hailed the new EU law to rein in bankers´ bonuses as a landmark success. The tough new rules voted through the European parliament will be implemented in time for this year's bonus payout. This will stop bank directors such as Fred Goodwin walking away with excessive bonus style pension pots if their bank fails.
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Read "Sharon Bowles MEP hails victory over bankers´ bonuses and casino banking" in full
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Tue 13th Jul 2010
The Conservative administration at County Hall has today announced cuts to the County Council's budget. Responding to the allocation of the cuts, the Leader of the Liberal Democrat main opposition group, Cllr Hazel Watson said: "I disagree with the allocation of the cuts by the Conservative administration. The £3.9m cut to front-line services for Children and Young people is excessive. This will be very damaging to services for vulnerable children and young people in Surrey. It was only about two years ago that children's services were rated inadequate by Government and these cuts will not help to improve the service."
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Read "Surrey Lib Dems oppose Tory cuts" in full
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Wed 7th Jul 2010
On May 5th 2011, as well as elections for Borough and District Councils, there will be a National Referendum on whether to adopt the Alternative Vote - a fairer voting system where voters can rank the candidates 1, 2, 3 etc instead of marking just one with an X.
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Read "Local Elections and a Referendum" in full
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Tue 22nd Jun 2010
Last week Jane Kulka, Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesperson for Reigate, attended Surrey County Council's consultation meeting for the School Special Bus review. The county council are looking for savings in all areas that they fund. "SCC Officers presented their case for cutting some services, she said, "However there were some serious and obvious flaws and omissions in their presentation".
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Read "Surrey taken for a ride by Bus Companies" in full
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Tue 22nd Jun 2010
After months of worry over the uncertainty of the future of Surrey's bus services, there was some surprising good news recently for residents of Reigate, Woking and Spelthorne following the first phase of a county wide bus review triggered by a decision last year to slash millions from the transport budget.
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Read "Lib Dem Pressure brings Good News for Bus Users" in full
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Wed 16th Jun 2010
Despite a call by Lib Dem county councillor Colin Taylor for a quick decision in principle, SCC Tories have voted to defer any decision on the Lib Dem proposal to return to the more democratic Committee System. Instead the proposal will be referred to a Select Committee.
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Read "County Tories defer decision" in full
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Archive of earlier news stories
 News Story Feed (v1.0).
Printed and hosted by Prater Raines Ltd, 98 Sandgate High Street, Folkestone CT20 3BY.
Published and promoted by Surrey County Council Liberal Democrats, County Hall, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2DN.
The views expressed are those of the party, not of the service provider.
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| Quotes of the Week |
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"How can you possibly take on such a large financial commitment as Trident without considering the military and political implications? If fierce cuts are to be made in Britain's conventional forces, surely we have to consider whether replacing Trident can be justified. "
Sir Menzies Campbell
Response to announcement that the Ministry of Defence will be responsible for the cost of replacing Trident - 30 July
"With most of their leadership contenders claiming to back AV for a fairer voting system, it is astonishing they now wish to block the legislation to make that happen. Each and every Labour MP campaigned on a manifesto committing to a referendum. Now they have the opportunity to make this happen but have chosen to say no for opposition's sake. "
Simon Hughes MP
Comment on Labour's decision to oppose legislation for a referendum on the alternative vote - 28 July
"With more than half of ASBOs breached in 2008, this was a policy more about posturing than effective policing. Local communities know that other measures, such as Acceptable Behaviour Contracts can nip problems in the bud before they escalate. "
Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Committee for Home Affairs and Justice, Tom Brake MP
Commenting on speech by the Home Secretary in which she said it was 'time to move beyond Anti Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) - 28 July
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