The Liberal Democrats have opposed Surrey County Council's budget as "fundamentally flawed". Surrey council tax payers will continue to receive poor services over the next year, after the ruling Conservative administration adopted a budget that cuts bus services, pot hole repairs, gritting and road gully cleaning.
Arising from a challenge by Capel Parish Council to the Surrey Waste Plan, a High Court judge has stated that he will quash SCC's recent planning permission for the Capel Incinerator. A similar thing happened to the previous planning consent given in 2001, though that was on a challenge by the Capel Action Group to the SCC officers' report to the Planning & Regulatory Committee.
Speaking during the debate at this week's meeting of Surrey County Council, Lib Dem opposition leader Hazel Watson said that the Conservative administration must stop wasting council taxpayers' money.
QUESTION: What does Surrey have in common with Haringey, Milton Keynes and Doncaster? (and nowhere else?). ANSWER: Surrey's Children's Services have been rated 'inadequate' by Ofsted, with a rating for 2008 of just 1 out of 4.
This time last year Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council campaigned, with some success, against a sudden and counter-productive freeze of recruitment to the Youth Development Service. Now the county's (Conservative) Executive have imposed a fresh one.
Sadly, there is little evidence he would. This spring, Surrey failed its Ofsted inspection of safeguarding services for Children, which were inspected during the Joint Area Review. Safeguarding, along with provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, was found to be 'inadequate'.
Ed Davey's Leader's Speech to Spring Conference 2026
After years of neglect, our local councils are in financial survival mode. The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to move past emergency bailouts and deliver a sustainable future for local government.
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.
The UK is facing a mental health emergency. Liberal Democrats have a proud record of pushing Britain’s mental health services forward. Now we are offering the bold solutions we need to fight the crisis unfolding in our communities.