Surge in rough sleeping shows more funding needed to prevent homelessness

Vince Cable is making the resolution of Homelessness a major area of action for the Lib Dems.

 

Rough sleeping in England rose by 15% in the year to autumn 2017, according to new government figures. 

A 15% rise in rough sleeping is shameful and shows the Conservatives have failed to take real action to tackle the housing crisis.

The number of rough sleepers is hard to record and so these figures are likely to be an understatement of the full extent of the crisis.

Until the Government commits to the funding needed to prevent homelessness and builds more genuinely affordable homes, and invests properly in mental health care, the number of rough sleepers will continue to rise at a shocking pace.

This is why I’m putting tackling rough sleeping, and the wider issue of homelessness, at the heart of my leadership of the Liberal Democrats.

Ed Davey: Disgrace Government had to be dragged through courts on air pollution

The Government has announced it won’t challenge the High Court judgement and will publish a draft plan to tackle air pollution next week, after having attempted to delay the plans until after the election.

Ed Davey, former Liberal Democrat Energy and Climate Change Secretary and the party’s candidate for Kingston and Surbiton, commented:

It is a disgrace this Conservative government had to be dragged through the courts before agreeing to publish a plan to tackle air pollution. How much taxpayers’ money has been wasted because of the failure of ministers to do the right thing?

There is an urgent threat to people’s health from air pollution, yet time and again this government has dithered and delayed instead of taking action.

The Liberal Democrats will fight to ensure action is taken to tackle the air pollution crisis that is claiming thousands of lives in UK each year.

Tories ‘relaxed’ about NHS crisis shows why we need the Lib Dems to be the Official Opposition

The government is ‘relaxed’ about the crisis in general practice because it thinks Labour can’t win the general election, Dr Phil Hammond, a former GP and health commentator has said. Commenting on the news, Shadow Health Secretary Norman Lamb said:

The Tories have acted with outrageous complacency by repeatedly failing to take action to tackle the crisis in our NHS and care services. Time and again, I have called on Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt to give the NHS and social care the extra funding they desperately need to keep pace with growing demand, but this has fallen on deaf ears.

This election is a chance to show the Conservatives that they cannot continue to put the future of our most essential public services in jeopardy. A vote for the Liberal Democrats will be a vote to give our health and care services the resources they desperately need.

Vote Liberal Democrat in the General Election to stop a hard Brexit

If you want to avoid a disastrous Hard Brexit. If you want to keep Britain in the Single Market. If you want a Britain that is open, tolerant and united, this is your chance.

What this means for Britain

Only the Liberal Democrats can prevent a Conservative majority.

Labour won’t win any seats off the Conservatives.

The SNP could only possibly win one seat off the Conservatives.

But there are dozens of Conservative seats where the Lib Dems are the challengers. The only way to stop Theresa May winning a majority is by the Lib Dems winning in those seats.

The only way to prevent a Conservative majority is by voting Liberal Democrat.

The Liberal Democrats are the real opposition to the Conservative Brexit Government and the only party fighting for a Britain that is open, tolerant and united.

The Liberal Democrats are STILL the only party with a plan for Britain

 

If you were hoping for a clear and sensible plan for Brexit Britain from Theresa May youíll be disappointed Theresa May’s 12 point speech contained no plan for Britain.

The one thing we did learn is the Conservatives have ditched their 2015 manifesto promise to stay in the Single Market and have now decided to take Britain out whatever the cost.

It’s clear the government has no idea of how to move forward and no opposition from Labour, who are also backing Brexit.

Many local people are choosing to back the Liberal Democrats because they have a positive plan for Britain and are the only party united in delivering an open and tolerant Britain.

The Liberal Democrats positive plan for Brexit Britain 

We will fight to keep the UK in the single market. 
We will give the public not just MPs the final say on a Brexit deal. 

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron says, ìI think even people who disagree with us will respect the fact we are standing by what we believe.î

And for the many millions of people who agree with us, my message to them is: join us

Tim Farron’s speech to the IPPR: Lib Dems will find a “more humane, effective, successful way of doing economics”

Like so many people, I felt shocked and emotional about the result of the vote on 23 June.

I know many people who wept at the news.

I can understand that.

Not because I love the specific institutions of the European Union, but because I feel European.

I also feel British. And English.

And northern. And I don’t feel any conflict between those identities, in fact they reinforce each other.

But the result seemed to throw this balance into doubt.

And yes, I also felt angry.

I still feel angry now, but perhaps for a different reason.

Because never in recent history have we, in the political classes, let down the people of this country so disastrously.

And I make no distinction here between those who voted to Remain and those who voted to Leave.

They were battered with dodgy statistics. From both sides.

They were lied to.

On both sides too – though it is the NHS and the £350 million that particularly sticks in the throat.

And worse than that.

They were misled by lackadaisical politicians, playing games, who had campaigned for years to leave the EU – but hadn’t bothered to come up with a plan about what to do if it happened.

We, the political classes, have left a country bitterly divided as a result.

Between parents and children, families, neighbours.

Between the nations of our own union, who have worked and fought together for centuries.

Between us and our continental neighbours.

And now the biggest danger of them all.

That because of those divisions, we are in danger of letting malevolent forces hijack the result.

Plenty of my mates voted leave and I can tell you that the overwhelming majority of those who did vote leave are utterly appalled that Farage, Le Pen and their ilk now seek to claim the result as a victory for their hateful brand of intolerance, racism and insularity. Britain is better than that.

But I’m not so blinded by those emotions that I don’t see the new divisions that are opening up between us.

New political boundaries which chop the old certainties of Tory and Labour into little pieces.

Because there’s a new battle emerging.

Between the forces of tolerant liberalism and intolerant, closed-minded nationalism.

And, of course, you know that, as leader of the Liberal Democrats, which side I’m on.

But I also know what side most people in this country are on too.

In the 48 per cent and also in the 52 per cent.

So let’s be clear about this.

I am absolutely committed to the cause of an open-minded, open-hearted United Kingdom.

United in every sense of the word.

Because, as Jo Cox said, we have more in common with each other in this country than what divides us.

And, yes, I campaigned my heart out to stay a member of the European Union. And would do again given the chance.

But a nation divided against itself can’t stand.

Nor can it hammer out a way forward from the current impasse.

And our combined history cries out for some more inspiring political leadership.

Which can say that, in or out, we remain an open-minded, outward-looking nation.

Which can say, in or out, we will be European and British and from our own towns, villages and cities.

And be proud of all of them.

Which can say to those from other countries who have committed their lives alongside us in the UK: we will stand by you, no matter what.

Let me just say that again.

We will stand by you.

As we stood by each other across Europe in the Second World War.

We will stand by you, who have chosen British communities to live in.

Not only that but we need you.

If the tens of thousands of people who make it possible to run our schools and health service were to worry about our commitment to them…

So much so that it threatens their commitment to us…

It would seriously undermine services that are used by some of the most vulnerable people in this country.

The Conservative and Labour parties may have so forgotten themselves that they’ve missed this urgent consideration.

But we haven’t.

So I make this absolute promise.

To use what power we can muster, to make sure that those who have committed their lives and families to this country will be protected.

That no kneejerk populism will be allowed to threaten them or uproot them.

And I ask now all the many candidates for high positions in Westminster to join me in this undertaking.

I don’t just say this as the leader of a political party.

I don’t just commit my own party to this.

I speak as a Member of Parliament in one of the most open-hearted nations on earth.

I speak as a proud citizen of this country.

We will not stand by to let Nigel Farage or Marine Le Pen dictate our policy, our direction, or our morality.

So, yes, I campaigned to remain. I’ll carry on campaigning to remain.

But we have gone beyond June’s referendum now.

There are more fundamental, more urgent issues that we must face today.

Existential issues about our nation.

About what they’re saying about us in the rest of the planet.

The newspapers.

The investors.

About protecting neighbours and friends born in other countries from hate.

So, yes, I recognise and understand the motivations of many of those who voted the other way to me.

I’m a white, working class, middle aged, northern male. By voting remain, I pretty much confounded the predicted behaviour my demographic might suggest! And for once it put me at odds with lots of the people I grew up with.

Who are as proud as I am about the same things I’m proud of in our country.

I understand their fears for their own communities.

I completely get why being talked down to by Cameron and Osborne, threatened with a ‘punishment budget’ might push even the most internationalist person to vote leave!

And nobody ever said the European Union was perfect. Least of all me.

Its aspiration of peace and co-operation in Europe is vitally important.

It still is.

But I’m aware that the reality of the EU can often be inflexible.

I understand that people’s liberal commitment to local communities, which I absolutely share, sometimes led them to vote differently to me.

I understand those who voted for Brexit and their frustration about the way that the big banks were allowed to torpedo the economy.

And torpedo so many people’s lives.

Without sanction. Without even a loss of bonuses.

While those who have tried to make a more tangible contribution their whole lives, have been sidelined, bullied and left behind.

I understand that, possibly better than any other leader. Because whilst South Lakeland voted remain, it was the only place in Lancashire or Cumbria that did. And I grew up in and I belong to the very part of British society that most heavily voted leave.

And yes I understand their fears that their communities have been changed. Maybe even overwhelmed.

Not so much to satisfy Brussels, but specifically to reduce the wages of the big food manufacturers.

Or the cleaning contractors.

Or the care homes.

Because what June’s vote did reveal, above everything else, is how angry people have become.

And though we might argue about the reasons for it, their anger is justified.

We have banking institutions that have let them down, suffocating their businesses.

We have an economic policy that favours the rich over everyone else, middle class, working class alike.

We have a housing crisis that’s consuming our children.

We have a Treasury so cut off from reality that they urged people not to vote for Brexit – because it might mean property prices would rise more slowly.

As if people weren’t struggling now to get a foot on the housing ladder.

To help their children scrape enough together to rent a place of their own.

We have people treated like cattle with zero-hour contracts.

We have those who worked as pillars of their community all their lives…

Running small businesses.

Managing farms…

Making a difference…

Only to see themselves gazumped by salaries ten or a hundred times as much by cash-hungry bankers in their twenties. The devastation of our communities n the Lakes overwhelmed by excessive second home ownership is a case in point.

In short, we have an underlying, aching discomfort which goes to the heart of the reasons for the immediate crisis.

More than a discomfort.

It is a great and abiding fear, gnawing away at the heart of our society.

And we have a political class, which I don’t particularly like having to accept I’m a member of, which has abandoned people disastrously to their fate.

I believe that, in the national interest, we remainers and brexiters can most of us understand the motivations of voters on the other side to us.

We’re able to see beyond the stereotypes.

And to say together.

This open-minded nation will survive.

It will survive because these Liberal values are shared by so many of us.

The right to say ‘this is who I am’. ‘This is who we are’.

And the enterprising commitment to challenge the big bureaucracies and the big businesses from below.

That’s why we will defend people wherever they came from originally.

Those who were born and bred here who are locked out of success by boneheaded cuts in adult education.

But also the Polish families who have work three jobs just to pay the rent, but who still help to run the school fete.

And the refugees who provide lynchpins to hospital after hospital from one side of the country to the other.

Right across the nation, and woven together, from Cornwall to Caithness.

Again, I say this not just as a party leader.

I don’t just say this to commit my party to it.

I say it as a proud citizen of this country.

With a shared history that’s always been outward-looking.

Connected through trade to other corners of the world in a way that no nation ever was before.

We provided the international language of the world.

We led the world in industrial development, moral development and scientific development.

And we stood up against tyranny even when it didn’t threaten us directly.

When all over Europe, those suffering under occupation, risked their lives to huddle around their wirelesses to listen to broadcasts from London.

There never was a moment in our history when we pulled up the drawbridge.

There never will be.

It just isn’t true that Britain voted to do that.

So that’s also my commitment as leader of the Liberal Democrats.

To listen to that fear and take it seriously.

And then to hammer out and enact a more humane, more successful, more effective way of doing economics.

More challenging, more enterprising and more ambitious.

Which shares the rewards of success so that the state doesn’t have to step in so much.

To take on the real vested interests that hold us back as a nation.

The zero hour contractors.

The speculators.

The monopolists.

Those who would hijack people’s anger for their own racist agenda.

So that we can shape a fairer nation.

But also keep those outward-looking British values of tolerance and mutual respect that we all believe in.

Because there are going to be difficult, maybe dark, times ahead.

We’ve been made a laughing stock abroad.

We’ve had to watch the shaming pictures of Nigel Farage sneering on our behalf in the European Parliament.

We have to find a solution when both the biggest national parties have preferred to unravel than to take a lead.

But I’m a Liberal.

I believe in people.

And I especially believe in our people.

In their sense and their humanity, whether they voted to stay or to go.

People have been let down for decades by short-termist politicians who put the needs of one part of society above the rest.

Now, in the wake of the Brexit vote those divisions are more exposed than ever before.

With our country facing huge challenges…

– from inequality and injustice to an NHS in crisis and an economy in jeopardy –

…we are left with a reckless, divisive and uncaring Conservative Government and Labour fighting among themselves with no plan for the economy or the country.

That’s why the Liberal Democrats are needed more than ever.

We are the real voice of opposition to the Conservative Brexit Government and the only party fighting to keep Britain open, tolerant and united.

Britain is the most sophisticated and welcoming and innovative nation in the world and, in or out, we will stay that.

And we Liberal Democrats will do whatever we can, in Parliament and outside.

To reshape the way the nation works, to bring it back together.

To stay civilised.

To stay united.

Because, wherever we were born, we love our country.

Chilcot Report – Proud of my party for leading the way

Today is a day for reflection, as we consider the consequences of the fateful decision to go to war in Iraq.

Our first thoughts need to be with the families across the world who have grieved loved ones, experienced life-changing injuries, and witnessed destruction and despair often beyond description.

There is no justice that can compensate their loss, and today we have learned from the Chilcot Report (http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/the-report)

what we all knew already in our hearts – it did not have to be this way

For many members in my local party, the Iraq war was a genuine turning point.

Many others chose to join the Liberal Democrats when they saw Charles Kennedy step up to the challenge, in difficult times, and provide the strong, principled leadership our country so desperately needed.

In 2003, every Liberal Democrat MP voted AGAINST going to war in Iraq.

It was the right thing to do, and that has been proven again today. Sir John Chilcot’s report has shown that this was a war of choice, that options for a peaceful resolution still existed, and that our Prime Minister wilfully mislead parliament and the British people to march us into a war he had already decided to launch.

I was proud to see our leader Charles Kennedy refuse to compromise, despite enormous pressure and abuse pouring in from all sides, on the Liberal Democrats’ commitment to internationalism and respect for international law.

You can see Charles’s speeches below, he was a real example of principled leadership in a time of crisis. It is not just Liberal Democrats who are missing Charles today. Our whole country is all the poorer without him.

Finally, while Chilcot gives us the chance to reflect on past mistakes, we still have a duty to oppose the mistakes that our leaders are making today!

Right now, Britain risks cutting herself off from our most valuable allies and trading partners, putting millions of jobs at risk and doing massive harm to our economy. I’m proud of Tim Farron for showing equal determination and leadership to fight Brexit and put Britain back where we belong, at the heart of an open, tolerant, free, and prosperous Europe.

If you agreed with us in 2003, if you agree with us now in 2016 it is time to join the party that is proudly and passionately fighting for the better future we all believe in. (https://libdems.secure.force.com/LiberalDemocrats/NewMemberRegistration)

You can see some great videos of Charles Kennedy’s speeches on Iraq in Parliament and at the anti-way rally in Hyde Park here :

http://www.libdemvoice.org/one-big-thing-to-remember-about-the-iraq-war-as-the-chilcot-report-is-published-51216html

 

TIM FARRON’s RESPONSE TO BREXIT

I am devastated and I am angry. Today we woke to a deeply divided country.

Nigel Farage’s vision for Britain has won this vote, but it is not a vision I accept.

An institution that we built, that delivered peace, that promoted equality, kept us safe and opened the doors of opportunity, will no longer play part of Britain’s future.

With this vote, the very fabric of our country has changed.

The whole fabric of Europe has been changed.

Even though the vote was close, the majority of British people want us to leave.

But we refuse to give up on our beliefs.

Our fight for an open, optimistic, hopeful, diverse and tolerant Britain is needed now more than ever.

Together we will continue to make the case for Britain’s future with Europe, a future millions of people have voted for.

Together we cannot afford to let that vision die.

The Liberal Democrats will continue to stand and fight for a better kind of Britain than the one painted by the leave campaign.

If you are as angry and heartbroken as I am, I need you to join us today.

As Gladstone said almost 130 years ago – ‘We are part of the community of Europe, and must do our duty as such.’

Hope and optimism, openness and tolerance, cooperation and togetherness can succeed.

We must not let this vote allow our country to turn to division, isolation and decline.

Fellow Liberal Democrats, your efforts, in every corner of Britain, have been incredible, and I am immensely proud of the role you have played in this campaign.

As Charles Kennedy said, this party – our family – has Europe in its DNA.

I am a northerner, I am English, I am British and I am a European. I am proud of all four, and I am not alone.

It has been a privilege for me to lead people so committed to our internationalist values and united behind a vision of Britain that is tolerant, outward-looking and compassionate.

While others sat on their hands, you guys pulled a shift in every community in Britain. I am proud of you.

For years we have been told we have had to hide our vision on Europe.

Today we stand alongside millions of people who share in that vision.

16M people.
Those people share our values, our belief and our ambition for Britain.

What stands out to me more than anything, is the great injustice to future generations.

It looks like younger voters voted to remain at a staggering margin – almost three-quarters wanting to stay in.

Their future has been taken away by older generations.

What a tragedy that older voters, the people who have been able to benefit from European integration, have removed the opportunity for those coming behind them.

So, Boris, Michael Gove, Nigel Farage. You’ve got your wish. Britain is out.

Now, what do you intend to do with it?

Simple catch phrases, bluff and bluster no longer cut it.

What do you say to the millions of Europeans who have made Britain their home?

What do you say to the millions of Britons who livelihoods are on the line?

You must look those people in the eye, and tell them what you can offer.

Overnight, sterling has plummeted
£120 billion was wiped off the market in the first 10 minutes
Our banks are now more precarious
People’s pensions are at risk

In a matter of moments we are no longer the 5th largest economy in the world, we’re sixth, behind France, and falling.

We are at serious risk that last night’s vote will inflict damage to our economy that can’t be undone.

Economics isn’t about numbers on a spreadsheet it’s about people, people’s homes, jobs, livelihoods – now all put at risk.

For decades, politicians on all sides have pointed the finger of blame at Europe.

Lies and invented claims were left unchallenged.

No wonder that the British people don’t trust it, and don’t believe it.

And when the PM backed remain, after a career of criticising Europe, it should be no surprise that no one trusted or believed him either.

Successive Prime Ministers – Conservative and Labour –allowed the myth to grow that ‘Europe’ interferes in our sovereignty in ways it never has.

Even when you consider the referendum itself, it only came about because it was politically expedient for David Cameron to hide from the European issue before the general election.

This vote has been a collective howl of frustration – at the political class, at big business, at a global elite.

This was not a vote on the European Union alone.

Years of frustration, dissatisfaction and people feeling ignored have been building to this point.

Too often the European Union has been used as a distraction from failures in government.

The pressures on our schools, the pressures on our hospitals and GP surgeries, the pressures on our infrastructure are problems made in Westminster, in our own Parliament, by British politicians.

The insecurities from zero hours contracts, the housing crisis, the desertion of the industrial north, the expenses scandals and the banking crisis, these are all problems made in Westminster.

No wonder people feel ignored and neglected by politics.

They have seen their living standards falling further and further behind the rest of society.

They are angry.

They are right to feel angry.

I share that anger.

But Nigel Farage is not the answer.

12 months ago David Cameron had the best result of his career. Today, the worst.

I was honoured to share a platform with the Prime Minster on this campaign, but this result, this self-inflicted wound, will be his legacy.

There have been many things I did not agree with the Prime Minister on, but I must thank him for his stewardship of the country and for the way he took the very bold move to create a Coalition Government in 2010. It was an incredible act of bi-partisan cooperation.

The result of the referendum has left him with no choice. In this immediate period, the Government must act quickly to steady the economy, reassure the markets, and immediately set a new course.

Greater instability will lead to job uncertainty, falling investment, and greater pressure on public services.

There is no doubt this is going to be an incredibly testing, difficult and fractious time.

David Cameron has become the latest Conservative leader to fall victim to his party’s dangerous obsession with Europe. The Conservative’s political manoeuvring has taken our country to the brink, and today we have toppled over the edge.

And what he does with this moment is pivotal.

He is right not to invoke Article 50 immediately, but to take time to set out a constructive vision of our relationship with Europe.

People on both sides of this debate must be brought together to set the course for how we leave.

There is no doubt this is going to be an incredibly testing, difficult and fractious time.

There were some genuinely amazing cross party moments in this campaign.

I really enjoyed standing alongside some of this country’s greatest progressive politicians.

But with politicians of all parties working together, one of the things that stood out in this campaign, was Jeremy Corbyn’s bizarre refusal to share a platform in the face of the greatest challenge our country was faced in a generation.

I have stood alongside Gordon Brown, Harriet Harman, Chukka Umuna, Andy Burnham and Sadiq Kahn.

Great progressive Labour politicians that I admire – forced to campaign with their hands tied behind their back because of short sighted demands from their Leader’s office.

Where was the leader of that party?

Even when the future of our country depended on him, he could not bring himself to reach across the aisle.

When the call went out for help, Jeremy Corbyn refused to answer.

The once-proud working class Labour vote has abandoned Corbyn in droves.

Great Labour cities have been driven into the arms of UKIP and Nigel Farage.

It is clearer than ever that Jermyn Corbyn has more concern for his own position in his own party, rather than his country.

This has been a brutal campaign.

Tempers ran high, allegations were flung, and animosity crept into friendships.

Today I stand for the 48%. I stand for the 16 million.

Because I believe that we are instinctively an optimistic, hopeful country.

We are diverse, welcoming and open-hearted.

In this spirit we must move forward.

In this campaign we stood together against campaigns that sought to stoke bitterness and English nationalism.

Together, our progressive unity must not now be allowed to fade away.

Our liberal, progressive values are true British values and we must fight so hard to ensure they remain at the forefront of our politics.

In many ways this referendum has shown how our politics is broken

There is a very black cloud hanging over our country, but under that cloud, under the narrow painful defeat, there is a silver lining.

Because for the last few weeks I have stood alongside progressives, in Labour, Greens, SNP even Conservatives. It felt so much like there was more that united us than divided us.

We must not allow this unity to fade away.

When other parties are divided and wounded, I will reach out.

I am proud of the campaign that my party has run.

Positive, energetic and hopeful.

That’s the sort of party we are, and that is my offer to the country. It is my offer to all people who share our values.

I can offer you a home for a new modern breed of politics – liberal, hopeful, international, rational – driven by real British values.

Positive about Europe, furious with those who led us to this disaster. Determined that we will not walk away from this fight.

Together we can lay foundations for a better Britain.

Together we can heal the rifts of a divisive and negative campaign.

Be proud that you’re one of the 48%. The 16 million.

Help us build a better, more effective and more representative politics.

Help us fight for real British values at home and abroad.

Show our fellow Europeans that Britain is a good neighbour. Is proud to be a European country. Is proud to lead.

So join us.

Already, today, a thousand new members have joined the Liberal Democrats in a spontaneous act of those who refuse to allow Farage’s vision of a bitter Britain to win.

They want a better Britain.

If you share their anger, if you share my anger, join us, and join us now.

16 million people. 48%. In need of a voice.

A politics of hope and optimism.

We will not give up.

You must not give up.

DAVID RENDEL an appreciation

 

David Rendel came to the attention of the general public in May 1993 when he won the Newbury By-Election for the Liberal Democrats with a record majority of 22,055.

I joined the party in December 1991, after taking early retirement.

I was soon working with David for the 1992 general election Our canvassing was going well until Kinnock made his infamous Sheffield speech, the rest is history.

The sitting MP died in January 1993, and the Newbury By Election was called for May 6th, the same day as the County Council elections, where I was standing in the Tory Division of Newbury Downlands. (I gained the seat with a Lib Dem majority of 627)

I came to know David well during the campaign. The first obvious quality was his energy, to be expected from an Oxford Blue. He canvassed the Newbury Downlands at a gallop, most appropriate for a Division where horse racing is the major industry.

As I worked with David on a number of projects I came to appreciate a conviction politician of integrity and honesty. As Chair of the Local Highways Committee I campaigned with David for the Newbury By-Pass, which
did not endear us to Liberal

Democrats outside Newbury. He opposed hunting, in an area where the horse ruled. He was the only member of the National Executive to vote against going into national coalition with the Tories.

Nothing was too much trouble for David. He looked after Newbury and has left a imprint from his campaigning. Not just the By Pass, but a Hospital, a Cinema and the historic Wharf area saved from destruction.

David had courage in spades.
He addressed thousands of by pass protestors at the third battle off Newbury. He had a rough ride, but when the gathering broke up and the protestors went home in their cars he returned to Newbury on his bike.

David was my political mentor and my friend. We kept in touch when I left Berkshire, by e-mail, visits to Newbury and dinners at conference.  He came to North Staffordshire to address students at Keele.

We shared concerns as to the way the party was heading.

I am one of hundreds who will miss him, a caring man who made a positive impact on the lives of many.

Alderman David Becket

 

UPDATE

As I am no longer a councillor I am considering the future of this site.

In the meantime local Lib Dem news can be obtained from our Newcastle Site

www.newcastlelibdems.org.uk