Neath Port Talbot cabinet post for local Liberal Democrat

 The council includes the following in the media release which followed Wednesday's AGM:

the council’s Liberal Democrat and Green Group, led by Coedffranc West member Cllr Helen Ceri Clarke, became full members of the Rainbow Coalition having previously supported it on a confidence and supply basis.

Cllr Hunt said after the AGM: “I am humbled to have been given the leadership of the council for 2023/24 and our Rainbow Coalition welcomes the Liberal Democrat and Green Group as full members.

Cllr Cen Phillips takes over in the Cabinet from [Dyffryn Independent] Cllr Peters with a new title of Cabinet Member for Nature, Tourism and Wellbeing while existing Cabinet Member [Independent] Cllr Jeremy Hurley adopts the new title of Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Economic Growth.

Our Carer’s Leave Bill has just passed its final stage in Parliament

The Bill will give an estimated 2.4 million carers across the UK a statutory right to take five days of unpaid leave per year, helping carers to better balance work and care. Introduced by Wendy Chamberlain MP, and steered through the House of Lords by Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Fox, the Carer’s Leave Bill has been described by the charity Carers UK as a ‘landmark’ piece of legislation. This is a fantastic step forward in our continued campaigning to stand up for the rights of carers.

“Unpaid carers are the backbone of our society. Yet far too many go without adequate support and struggle to balance caring responsibilities and work. My Carer’s Leave Bill is a first step to providing greater support. It will allow carers to take time off work to manage caring responsibilities. I hope that it will provide many people with the flexibility they need. I am also confident that the law will have benefits for employers too. Many businesses already provide a version of Carer’s Leave to their staff and report reduced recruitment costs, and improved retention and wellbeing.” - Wendy Chamberlain MP “I have had the privilege to hear first-hand from unpaid carers what a difference this Bill will make. I am proud to support it and hope that it will help millions of unpaid carers better balance work and care.” - Lord Fox You can join our campaign to Stand up for Carers by adding your name below. I'll Stand up for Carers  ➜ With best wishes, Liberal Democrats

Ed Davey: the man behind the politician

 An interview by Zoe Williams, published in the Guardian, reveals the personal side of Ed Davey. The article details the many trials and tribulations Ed and his wife Emily have had to overcome in their political careers. There are political insights:

They have a good ground game, the Lib Dems, and they’re scrappy: even accounting for the way all parties manage expectations before local elections, they sailed way over their targets. “Our central scenario was about 250 [councillors] in five councils; we ended up with over 400 in 12 councils. So we’re pretty happy,” he says. They made 704 gains in the 2019 local elections, so this is shaping up into a solid recovery after the party’s post-coalition doldrums. “Because the next election is all about getting rid of the Tories …” he begins, and maybe I smirk a bit because he stops – he’s the last man standing of the Lib Dems who served in the coalition cabinet, so fierce anti-Tory rhetoric is still faintly incongruent – “… that is exactly my mission.” Will this party ever enable another Conservative government? “This is really important: we will not put the Conservatives back into government or do any deal with them. What. So. Ever. Personally, I’ve fought them all my life: I fought them in government, I’m fighting them now. They’re beyond the pale, as far as I’m concerned.”

Of his time in government, working with Conservatives:

“I didn’t trust them an inch. I didn’t trust George Osborne an inch. We didn’t tell people how much we were fighting the Tories, that was by design, from Nick [Clegg]. He wanted to show that coalitions work. I argued that we should show the bit of the Liberals that’s anti-establishment, that’s reformist, that’s internationalist. But he was the leader. We served at his pleasure.”

He names a few big wins over the Conservatives from those years: the Liberal Democrats successfully locked in the government’s offshore wind contracts, so Osborne couldn’t rescind them after 2015, as he tried to; they stopped the Tories freezing benefits when inflation was running at 5%. “I believe in our environmental stuff, I believe in our political reform, I believe in our internationalism, I believe in civil liberties, I believe in our support for public services, I believe we’re caring, that’s who we are. And we weren’t showing it enough. We’re not going to make that mistake twice.”

England local council elections: an incredible set of results

Over 1000 councillors elected, major gains and 20% of the national vote - our highest vote share in a decade.

GAINED control of 12 Councils Including: Chichester, Dacorum, Guildford, Horsham, Mid Devon, South Hams, South Oxfordshire, Stratford on Avon, Surrey Heath, Teignbridge, West Berkshire & Windsor and Maidenhead HELD control of 15 Councils Including: Bath & North East Somerset, Chelmsford, Cotswold, Eastbourne, Eastleigh, Hinckley & Bosworth, Kingston upon Hull, Mole Valley, North Devon, North Norfolk, Oadby & Wigston, St Albans, Three Rivers, Vale of White Horse, Watford, Winchester & Woking GAINED over 400 Councillors We’ve increased our councillor numbers in countless areas, including: East Riding of Yorkshire (+14), Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole (+13), East Devon (+10), Wealden (+9), East Suffolk (+8), Rutland (+8), Tewkesbury (+8), Central Bedfordshire (+7), Lewes (+7), Bracknell Forest (+6), Elmbridge (+6), Herefordshire (+6), Hertsmere (+6), Liverpool (+6), Maldon (+6), Welwyn Hatfield (+6), West Lindsey (+6), Test Valley (+5), Wealdon (+5), East Hertfordshire (+4), Newcastle upon Tyne (+4), Torridge (+4), Blaby (+3), Brentwood (+3), Rochford (+3), South Gloucestershire (+3), North Hertfordshire (+3), Luton (+3), Slough (+3), South Gloucestershire (+3), Torbay (+3) & Wokingham (+3) Among our gained councils is Surrey Heath, where we have taken control from the Conservatives in Michael Gove’s back garden. Senior Conservative cabinet ministers will now be looking nervously over their shoulders. Another key target where we have done well is Elmbridge, which contains Dominic Raab’s Esher and Walton seat. We have gained 6 councillors here, taking 4 from the Conservatives, and are now the largest party. It’s clear that sleaze and scandal surrounding Conservative Ministers over recent months has had a profound impact. Nadhim Zahawi is experiencing a Shakespearean Tragedy in Stratford on Avon as his seat is now controlled by the Lib Dems after we gained 15 seats and took control. Just a few weeks ago we launched the English Local Election campaign in Dacorum in Hertfordshire, where Ed Davey foreshadowed today’s results by toppling a Blue Wall of hay bales in a tractor. This May we took control of the council here - the first time Liberal Democrats have run the council since its creation. Following our stunning victory in Tiverton & Honiton last year, we’ve had a great result in Devon in these elections. We gained Mid Devon and Teignbridge, held North Devon, and made a total of 52 gains across the county. After we made gains in Hull overnight to keep control of the council, we’ve also won seats from Labour in Liverpool - gaining 6 seats from Labour as they lost 9.

Council gains in England "way above expectation"

 The Guardian reports:

Ed Davey has hailed what he called “ground-breaking results” for the Liberal Democrats in local elections, as party activists predicted they were on track to oust large number of Conservative MPs in so-called “blue wall” seats.

In early results, the Lib Dems defeated the Conservatives to win control of Windsor and Maidenhead council, Theresa May’s home territory.

Across England the party had gained nearly 60 seats, with the bulk of the Lib Dems’ target areas still to count, and maintained control of seven other councils.

“These are groundbreaking results for the Liberal Democrats, far exceeding the expectations,” Davey, the Lib Dem leader, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “We’ve been beating Conservatives, and I think it’s going to get worse.”

Lib Dem campaigners had anticipated a reasonable number of gains before the vote, but emphasised the context that the last time these seats were contested, in 2019, the party won more than 700 councillors against the Conservatives under Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour.

On Friday morning, Lib Dem officials said the party had performed “way above expectations” and seemed set to win a swathe of seats and councils in blue wall seats, mainly affluent, commuter belt areas where the Conservatives have traditionally dominated.

See also Mark Pack's rolling news.

Flying start to 2023

 [Data from ALDC}

In total 38 principal council by-elections were contested in the first quarter of 2023. The Lib Dems are net up by 5 seats, while the Conservatives are down by 9 councillors.

The New Green Liberal Democrat Executive

The Green Liberal Democrats elected their new executive committee at Lib Dem Spring Federal Conference in York last weekend.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Chair: Keith Melton
Honorary Treasurer: Jordan Summers
Vice Chair Policy: Kevin Langford
Vice Chair Organisation: Anne Robson
Vice Chair Communications: Jules Ewart & George Miles
Vice Chair Campaigns: Jed Marson
Youth Officer: VACANT

Local party secretary Frank Little writes:

It is sadly typical of our times that no younger person has come forward to work to further the development of the organisation. 

Tory MPs vote for 15 more years of sewage dumping

 

New regulations passed by Conservative MPs will allow water companies to continue dumping sewage into our rivers and seas for another 15 years.

In the last two years water companies in England dumped raw sewage 775,568 times lasting 5,768,679 hours.

The new legislation set a target of an 80% reduction in phosphates in rivers by 2038. Phosphates are naturally occurring minerals found in human waste and can lead to a dramatic growth in algae and deplete oxygen levels when they are dumped in rivers.

This is a pathetic target which allows water companies to get away with a staggering 15 more years of shameful sewage dumping. This is a betrayal of the British public who rightly want tougher action against water companies.

Why on earth would you do this? https://t.co/0F2bfDzaXw

- Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) January 26, 2023

The water companies that are responsible for dumping sewage into our rivers, lakes and coastal waters every day, now have 15 years to clean up their act. Meanwhile their top execs have paid themselves £51 million, including £30.6 million in bonuses over the last two years.

Conservative MPs should be ashamed of themselves. It will be swimmers and treasured wildlife which pay the price for the flimsy target. Water company execs will be cheering this through parliament.

Liberal Democrats proudly voted against these unacceptably weak targets.

Happy International Women's Day to all women across Wales!

 

Let down by Labour/Plaid cooperation

 The current emergency in our A&E departments is directly linked to a failure to reform social care.

Reforming social care was a key promise of the Labour and Plaid Cymru Co-operation Agreement, yet things appear to be worse than ever.

We need action now.

Save families in Neath and Port Talbot from £500 energy bill rise in April

Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats demand that the Government cancel plans to hike the average household energy bill by £500 in April, and bring in a tax on the “bonanza bonuses” of oil and gas bosses.

The party is calling for cuts to people's bills instead, combined with a new energy support package for businesses and essential public facilities,

In April the Conservatives are planning to hike the energy price guarantee by £500. 

The Liberal Democrats' plans would mean that in Neath Port Talbot the average household would be £410.64 better off. In total, Neath Port Talbot would save a huge £26,202,586.

Local Lib Dems see new price hikes now as a “hammer blow” to families and businesses already struggling and that action is needed now to save people from a “cost of living cliff-edge.”

Nationally, the Liberal Democrats have set out their plan to tackle the energy crisis including: 

1. A windfall tax on oil and gas companies to raise billions of pounds

2. A cancellation of the Governments £500 energy bill rise in April 

3. A one-off bonus tax on oil and gas executives

4. Doubling the Warm Homes Discount to £300.

5. A U-turn on plans to slash energy bill support for businesses, leisure centres, schools and hospitals by 85%, and instead extend current levels of support for another six months.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey added:

“Rishi Sunak must act now to save families from a cost-of-living cliff edge, by cutting energy bills instead of increasing them. People deserve a fair deal - with a large cut to their energy bills, paid for by a proper windfall tax and a one-off levy on the bonuses of oil and gas bosses.”

A year on, our unequivocal support continues

 

Lib Dems in parliament force government retreat on sewage

 This message came through tonight from Richard Foord, our MP for Tiverton:

Frank, after nearly 18 months of campaigning at every level across our party, we Liberal Democrats have finally worn down the Government on sewage. I have just tabled an amendment to the UK Infrastructure Bank Bill, which has just been passed in the House of Commons, with the Government standing down their opposition to our campaign. The amendment ensures that the Government’s new Infrastructure Bank will not invest in water companies unless they produce a costed and time-limited plan to end sewage discharges into local rivers. The prospect of taxpayers' funds going to water companies who are paying their executives millions of pounds in bonuses, while permitting prolific sewage discharges is scandalous. Together, we have stopped this from happening. This is a victory for millions of people across the country who have voiced their outrage at water companies being allowed to get away with polluting rivers, lakes and coastlines. As the only political party tackling this issue, the Liberal Democrats have been their voice on this environmental scandal and we will continue to champion their cause. This has truly been a victory for our entire party. From grassroots activists protesting on beaches and at riversides to local campaigners, councillors, MPs and Peers tackling this matter on every level of Government. Our Parliamentary staff and advisers have worked tirelessly to produce damning research and get this amendment passed, and our Media and Digital teams have made sure our story hit the headlines and our social media campaigns are seen by millions of people across the country. We have proved that when we work together, we can win together. However, there is still a long way to go. The Government is still refusing to ban sewage discharges into swimming water and areas where protected wildlife live. And they are still refusing to ban water company CEO's rewarding themselves with bonuses whilst this environmental scandal happens. Will you join our campaign to Stop Sewage Dumping today, and help us continue to fight for what we know is right?

Back our Campaign  ➜ A further example of the value of Liberal Democrat representation at Westminster.

Lost £4.3 bn, recovered only a fraction

 

By the end of last year, the authorities had recovered only £18m of the money lost over fraudulent PPE contracts.