For years services for young people such as the Youth Development Service have been Surrey's Cinderella. Budgets have been cut, with staff posts left unfilled and then frozen.This year a re-organisation at the top takes away the Youth Development Officers who lead the work in each Borough and District and further managers, replacing all thirteen posts with just four operations managers to run youth work for the whole county.
Improving services for disabled children was one of the requirements of the Improvement Notice issued to Surrey County Council in 2008, after inspectors said Surrey services for vulnerable children and young people were 'inadequate'. Yet Ruth House, the residential facility for respite care attached to Freemantles School for autistic children, is reducing the number of beds offered from twenty to ten, whilst the opening of Applewood, the new children's home at Banstead built to provide respite care for disabled children with complex needs, has been deferred, even though it has recently been approved by Ofsted as ready for use.
Following the problems caused by the severe weather last winter, which left residents stranded at home and many parts of the County isolated, Liberal Democrat County Councillors called upon Surrey County Council to prepare adequately to cope with ice and snow next winter. However despite their proposals receiving support from two cross-party scrutiny committees, the Conservative administration has rejected them.
Colin Firth, Daniel Radcliffe, Floella Benjamin, Bianca Jagger and many other celebrities are asking you to back the Lib Dems on Thursday.
Lib Dem MEP Sharon Bowles, Chair of the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, joined Sue Doughty, Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Guildford, to meet victims of the Equitable Life scandal in Guildford and pledge their support for the campaign to compensate those affected.
UK citizens who own property in Spain are in danger of having their homes bulldozed due to an unfair interpretation of Spanish law.
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.