East Midlands Liberal Democrats

Each year at Autumn Conference, the Party President presents three awards to party members who have gone above and beyond for the party for longer than most of us can remember. There are three awards available:

President's Award - this is an award for those party members who have been elected to public office at one point or another - for those who have been councillors or council leaders; for ex-MPs and MEPs. It rewards members who have given an overwhelming amount of time, effort, and support to the Liberal Democrats, and was last year won by Doris Ansari who has been a dominant figure in Cornwall politics for 40 years.

Below is a copy of a letter we have recently sent to all the local press on the issue of school transport in Leicestershire.

To the editor,

Home to School Transport - some detail

Recent articles reporting the County Council's proposed changes to Home to school transport have rightly focused on the issue of increased charges but tucked away in the Cabinet report seeking approval to a big rise in charges was an even more worrying change.

"When your neighbours are Turkey (border closed due to genocide), Azerbaijan (border closed due to war), Iran and Georgia, the temptation towards authoritarianism is strong."

A review of the ELDR Council in Armenia, by Mark Valladares

Read the article here: http://www.libdemvoice.org/eldr-council-between-a-rock-and-some-very-hard-places-indeed-28572.html#utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email

Welcome to Broxtowe Enews, brought to you by the Liberal Democrats and edited by David Watts, the leader of the Lib-Dems on Broxtowe Borough Council.

May I give a special welcome to the new readers that we have this week.

I'm afraid that this edition of the newsletter will be slightly truncated as my computer died on me during the week, taking all the notes that I'd already made for this week's edition with it. (That's not half as bad as the fact that it also took the text of a new book I've been writing which is nearly finished. Thankfully the computer engineer - Mark from Fixed at Home Computers in Stapleford - has been able to retrieve that file for me so all is not lost!)

Information seen by the Liberal Democrats has uncovered further scandal within Leicestershire Tories. Following investigations into Mr Sprason's scurrilous attack on Liberal Democrats at the 18^th April special Council Meeting, show that Mr Sprason has misled Council.

In a detailed letter received from the County Council after a request for information, it is clear that Mr Sprason joined discredited Leader Mr Parsons in his luxury chauffeur driven car to attend a Cecil Club Dinner widely believed to have been a Conservative Party fundraiser.

Frustrated at the time that has passsed since they first raised their concerns about the felling of trees in Great Bowden, Lib Dem councillors Phil Knowles, Sarah Hill and Barbara Johnson have called for an urgent meeting with senior officers at Harborough District Council.

"We should have received some answers by now. It's important that the correct proceedures are followed, but residents want answers and we will be pushing for them to be provided without any further delay," the three councillors say.

A motion from the Liberal Democrat Official Opposition calling for Northamptonshire County Council to work with the police and switch speed cameras back on, after a rise in deaths on the roads, has been voted down by the Conservatives.

Leader of the Liberal Democrats at County Hall, Cllr Brendan Glynane, said "I am appalled at the cavalier attitude of Northamptonshire Conservatives when it comes to the impact of the removal of speed cameras and the switch off of streetlights on deaths on our roads. The Conservative Leader of the Council was openly laughing during the debate. That is disgraceful."

Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesman Councillor Chris Lofts has condemned the Conservatives after they voted down a Lib Dem call to help young people with transport costs to get to job interviews and training.

Cllr Lofts said "I'm really disappointed by the actions of Northamptonshire Conservatives today. They had a chance to stand up for local young people and help them get into work and training opportunities. Instead they turned their backs on Northamptonshire's young people and let them down."

Members of the LDEG executive including George Dunk, Carol Weaver and Jonathan Fryer took part in the ELDR Party Council meeting in Yerevan last weekend soon after Armenia's parliamentary elections. LDEG chair Phil Bennion MEP also spoke at a fringe event on 'Making Liberal Climate and Resource Policies Work'.