http://www.shepwaylibdems.org.uk/articlearchive.php Recent Press Articles from Shepway Liberal Democrats en-GB Shepway Liberal Democrats http://www.shepwaylibdems.org.uk/ Prater Raines Ltd http://www.praterraines.co.uk/ (c) 2010 Shepway Liberal Democrats 2010-03-11T23:16+00:00 United Kingdom http://www.shepwaylibdems.org.uk/articles/000134/lost_labours.html Today I launched my pamphlet, Lost labours, with Nick Clegg. As somebody who has a long involvement with the Labour party, including editing the New Statesman magazine, I have been able to give a frank and honest appraisal of a decade and a half of New Labour. And in it I explain why I can no longer support them, and am instead turning to the Liberal Democrats. 2010-03-09T18:47+00:00 http://www.shepwaylibdems.org.uk/articles/000133/a_sad_day_for_shepway_residents_as_lydd_airport_expansion_plans_approved.html Protect Kent is shocked and saddened at Shepway Councils decision last night, to approve plans for an extended runway and new terminal building at Lydd airport. 2010-03-04T14:19+00:00 http://www.shepwaylibdems.org.uk/articles/000132/vote_blue_go_green_feel_sick.html Last night, by 27 votes to 12, Shepway District Council gave Lydd Airport (LAA) the go ahead to expansion plans, against expert advice from its own advisers, officers, Natural England, the RSPB and others. 2010-03-04T10:37+00:00 http://www.shepwaylibdems.org.uk/articles/000131/residents_have_a_right_to_know.html It is understandable that KCC is concerned about the leak of a confidential document concerning a top officer's pay to the KM. However, I agree with the view of Caroline Spelman's Tory spokesman on Local Government who said this week that "Residents have a right to know how their council tax is being spent". 2010-02-22T07:35+00:00 http://www.shepwaylibdems.org.uk/articles/000130/snow_get_it_right_next_time.html Over the past week, like many others in Folkestone, I've had to walk to home after becoming stranded, my child has fallen repeatedly due to icy pathways (and I've seen plenty of evidence that she isn't alone in doing so) and I've been called by an elderly person who has been trapped indoors for days (in my case, not a relative). 2010-02-17T00:00+00:00 http://www.shepwaylibdems.org.uk/articles/000129/where_were_they.html Snow had been forecast for the East of Kent, 4 days in advance of the latest snowfalls. Kent County Council have been announcing, proudly, that they have plenty of salt. So why, oh why, was it not on the roads of Shepway last night and today? 2010-02-11T12:56+00:00 http://www.shepwaylibdems.org.uk/articles/000128/a_new_era_for_europe.html This is a period of great change in the European Union, but also one of great uncertainty. With the final accession of the Lisbon Treaty on 1st December much has changed to the structure and workings of the Union, but if we work carefully the threatened turmoil will be avoided. I remember Paddy Ashdown saying after the 2004 accessions (when 10 countries joined the EU) that what was needed was a period of deepening the Union rather than widening, and it seems as if the last decade has been consumed by institutional wrangling, but that time is now over. We must now walk together into a new era of European cooperation, one where the principle focus is on working to improve the life of our citizens. 2010-01-27T12:00+00:00 http://www.shepwaylibdems.org.uk/articles/000127/its_time_for_real_change_in_folkestone_and_hythe.html Protecting services like schools, the Royal Victoria Hospital, Fire Services and Post Offices. Fighting Lydd Airport expansion. Justice for Gurkhas. All are campaigns I've fought alongside local people in the last 4 years. 2010-01-22T13:37+00:00 http://www.shepwaylibdems.org.uk/articles/000126/2010_the_year_of_the_political_reset_button.html I have a confession to make: 2009 tested my belief in politics to breaking point. I remember once looking round the House of Commons during another Punch and Judy session of Prime Minister's Questions. In the real world, youth unemployment had just reached its highest level ever, our brave soldiers were facing extraordinary dangers in Afghanistan, the bankers were still gorging themselves on bonuses, and the economy was in the middle of the worst recession in generations. And what were the politicians doing? Yelling and guffawing at each other as if the world outside didn't exist. 2009-12-30T14:42+00:00 http://www.shepwaylibdems.org.uk/articles/000125/fresh_lib_dem_commitment_to_axing_student_tuition_fees.html I'm writing to let you know some good news about the Liberal Democrat manifesto - good news for students and for everyone who wants a fairer Britain. This week the Party's federal policy committee agreed a way to deliver one of our most important policies, the scrapping of unfair tuition fees. We've developed a plan to phase out tuition fees over the course of the next six years, to ensure this vital policy is affordable even at this time of economic crisis. 2009-12-18T15:22+00:00 http://www.shepwaylibdems.org.uk/articles/000124/dungeness_the_real_nuclear_option.html It's easy - and understandable - for the recent decision on Dungeness to be seen as a hammer blow to the Marsh economy. The decision to provisionally exclude Dungeness from the list of 10 sites being considered for new Nuclear build seems to put at threat the potential of 600 local jobs - maybe more. Of course we want those jobs locally, and Dungeness has a long and proud association with the safe generation of nuclear power. 2009-11-24T09:35+00:00 http://www.shepwaylibdems.org.uk/articles/000123/creating_a_banking_levy_a_fair_deal_for_the_taxpayer.html The UK banks owe their very existence to the British taxpayer with the Governor of the Bank of England estimating that they have received the equivalent of £1 trillion in taxpayer support. 2009-11-17T10:10+00:00 http://www.shepwaylibdems.org.uk/articles/000122/shepways_tories__frightened_of_democracy.html What is becoming increasingly clear with Shepway's Tories is their intention to keep democracy in the dark. Because of an inability to defend their actions through honest debate they have now stooped to the level of silencing criticism of any sort by whatever possible means. 2009-09-10T12:02+01:00 http://www.shepwaylibdems.org.uk/articles/000121/parliament__root_and_branch_reform_needed_now.html Remember the MPs' expenses scandal of duck houses, moats and mattresses? The public outrage has diminished since our MPs disappeared on their summer holidays. But MPs who do not wish to derail the gravy train hope that time will be a good healer and the public will forget. This long wait for MPs to sort out their own scandal should be finalised as soon as possible. Sir Christopher Kelly, Chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, attacked MPs for allowing themselves to scrutinise their own expenses. His first thoughts were, quiet rightly, that even if they did, it would not command full public confidence. There should be no doubt that Sir Christopher's expenses review should be accepted, in full. 2009-09-03T09:00+01:00 http://www.shepwaylibdems.org.uk/articles/000120/nhs__its_time_for_much_needed_reform.html Every week people talk to me about health care and the NHS. The NHS is one of our most cherished institutions but its future is not in the hands of the people it is there to serve. Its future is at the mercy of the changing whims of politicians and unaccountable managers. Patients should come first and local people know what they need for their area. Having centrally imposed targets placed on doctors or hospitals has put the patients' needs in second place. Responsibility and accountability needs to rest with a Local Board - answerable to us through elections. 2009-08-31T17:09+01:00