Alistair Carmichael MP, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman, responding to a new report highlighting the cost to the UK of identity fraud, said: "On the one hand the Government's figures are full of holes. On the other they are peddling claptrap about the effectiveness of an ID card in combating identity fraud.
Surrey County Council has outsourced its highways maintenance to two contractors, one for the west and one for the east. Since its start 3 years ago the management of this Tory-inspired arrangement has been heavily criticised, with work not being done on time or to budget. Lib Dems are seeking to ensure that these issues are addressed by beefing up the management of the contract and ensuring that its performance indicator criteria deliver on-time and on-budget results. We are very concerned that yet another Tory reorganisation of the transportation service (proposed in the Business Delivery Review) will damage the county's ability to manage the contractors. Also proposed in the BDR is a cut in the maintenance budget to spend more on capital. In the short term (5 years) that will mean worse roads in Surrey!
As part of the BDR review ordered by SCC's Tory executive - and endorsed at a council meeting with only the Lib Dems voting against - there are plans to close six libraries in order to ensure that SCC hits government CPA targets for the ones that will remain open.The libraries that are proposed for closure are:
Some very good news: Chesterfield Tourist Information Centre (TIC) has once again reached the finals to be held in London in mid - April.
Measures that would curb free speech and even outlaw religious jokes were defeated on Tuesday (31 Jan) in Parliament. 27 Labour MPs joined the Lib Dems to protect British liberties. Sadly not one of Wolverhampton's three Labour MPs was among them. Instead they joined the likes of George Galloway in an attempt to outlaw criticisms of beliefs.
If a week is a long time in politics, the last month has seemed almost endless. Following my assertion in my last column that I wanted Charles Kennedy to continue as leader, its best we avoid comment on the leadership contest. Lembit Opik MP backed Charles, backed Mark Oaten and is now publicly not backing anyone in order to avoid an asteroid hitting their campaign - I know how he feels!
