Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, has called for an emergency ban on repossessions and evictions this Winter. This comes after the Conservative Government’s mismanagement of the economy caused spiralling mortgage and rental prices.

These measures would stop banks from repossessing people’s homes who have been hit the hardest by soaring mortgage prices as well as bringing forward the promised ban on no-fault evictions, alongside a ban on evictions for arrears over the winter.

We are deeply concerned that both renters and homeowners could face homelessness during one of the most difficult Winters in living memory.

We are making these urgent calls on the Conservative Government as only days of Parliament remain before Christmas for the Prime Minister to take responsibility for the mess his Government has caused.

The Conservatives have failed time and time again to bring forward the ban on no-fault evictions they promised and have made no attempt to stop repossessions caused by their disastrous mini-Budget. They must act now before it is too late.

No-one should face losing their home this Christmas because the Conservative Government crashed the economy.

We need bold and urgent action to help people and businesses through the energy price crisis.

We simply cannot afford more inaction. This is an emergency, and the Government must step in now.

We need to:

Freeze Energy Bills: Block the October price cap rise so nobody pays a penny more on their energy bills.

Warm Homes: Double the Warm Homes Discount and improve targeted support for low income homes and pensioners.

Levy a Windfall Tax: Clamp down on the huge and unexpected profits of oil and gas companies to fund the bills freeze.

Help Small Businesses: £10bn grants to small businesses to stop our High Streets going under due to energy costs.

Insulate Homes: Upgrade all insulation in existing homes by 2030 to improve energy efficiency and keep bills down.

Last year the Government betrayed pensioners by scrapping the “triple lock” which ensured that pensions rose at least by the rate of inflation.

And as inflation continues to soar this decision is costing pensioners hundreds of pounds.

The “triple lock” was introduced by the Liberal Democrats in Government between 2010 and 2015 and resulted in record rises in the state pension.

Now the Liberal Democrats are calling for the “triple lock” to be immediately reintroduced – rather than to wait until next year as hinted at by the Government.

This will help pensioners right now, when they need it, with the rising cost of living.

For everyone struggling to make ends meet, making difficult choices just to get by, fearing the next bill, let us say this: “It know it might not always feel like it but there can be a better tomorrow.”

We can build a country where everyone can get a fair deal.

A country where people who have worked hard all their lives can be looked after in old age.

A country that supports, not penalises, those who look after others in our communities.

A country where families are free from fear of higher bills and higher taxes.

A country where we restore our natural environment by cleaning up our waterways and planting 60 million trees each year.

A country where our leaders stand for what is right and what is decent.

And its the Liberal Democrats, with recent by election victories in Tiverton & Honiton and North Shropshire, who have shown that this is possible and that we can put an end to our uncaring Conservative government.

To help us get rid of them, join us at https://www.libdems.org.uk/joining-local.

Mole Valley District Council continues to press ahead with the introduction of new services for residents.
 
New residents’ parking permits will be introduced in the District Council’s car parks from the end of March, with a permit costing £675 per year. For those who live in the town centres and who commute to work but need flexibility to park off peak in the early morning and early evening the off-peak permit will cost £175 per annum. The permits can be purchased monthly or quarterly and can be for just for certain days of the week and as “virtual permits” they can easily be purchased on-line.
 
The Garden Waste charges have been frozen again as the District Council continues the policy it has adopted over the last three years to bring the charges down to the levels charged by its partner authorities in the waste collection contract.
 
The Parking Enforcement Officers will patrol the areas where there is dangerous parking on yellow lines more frequently and will increase their patrols in the evenings and on Sundays when compliance with the parking restrictions is at its lowest.
 
The District Council’s car parks are to be improved with, where needed, new surfaces and markings for parking spaces and footways, new railings and with the installation of 90 Electric Vehicle Charging Points.
 
In addition to the above, further investment will be made in the online (& physical) Employment & Skills Hub so that it can continue its valuable work.
 
Whilst delivering these new services, Mole Valley District Council has also submitted its draft Local Plan to the Planning Inspector for public examination … a draft Local Plan which protects what makes our area so special and provides housing over the next fifteen years that will allow our children to live in the area in which they grew up.
 
The general arguments over the Local Plan have been whether to build a significant number of five and six storey blocks of flats in a concentrated area on the edge of our towns similar to the flats along the riverbank in Central London and in the London Borough of Sutton or seeking to keep the character of our market towns with very limited building in the Green Belt on the edge of our towns.
 
The Local Plan takes the approach that the best way to protect what makes our area so special is not to build a new residential quarter made up of moderate rise blocks of flats on the edge of our towns but to spread the development around the District with affordable houses albeit with some sites being developed in the Green Belt.

With new services and the draft local plan, the Liberal Democrats are taking Mole Valley District forward to a bright future.

Now is the time to cut VAT and help households struggling with rising household bills … with a cut in VAT from 20% to 17.5% for one year likely to save households £600.

The Conservative’s cost of living crisis is hitting many households hard. Sadly it is only going to get worse unless urgent action is taken.

An emergency cut to VAT would be a massive boost to people feeling the pinch by putting money back into their pockets. It will also help support local businesses by boosting spending on the high street.

The emergency change to VAT could be introduced quickly and easily by the Government for one year.

The Liberal Democrats believe that this action should be taken now – as well as scrapping the Conservatives National Insurance tax hike – to bring a much needed respite to local families.

Water companies pumped sewage into our rivers and lakes more than 400,000 times last year, with a significant number taking place on the River Mole at Pixham and Leatherhead.

It is clear that healthy rivers are vital for biodiversity and human health. But, neglected by the Conservatives, they are turning into into sewers.

We believe that urgent action is needed now to stop pollution of our precious rivers and rein in those water companies who are freely dumping waste.

In short, it’s time for a 16% sewage tax on their £2.2 billion annual profits to improve our sewage system and protect our rivers.

The dangers of our rural roads were revealed when accident statistics were published late last year.

3,115 people – car drivers, horse riders, cyclists, and pedestrians, – were killed on rural roads between 2018 and 2020.

In addition, almost 30,000 people were seriously injured on rural roads over the same period.

In comparison, 1,880 were killed on urban roads where speed limits are generally lower.

We have sought, with support from the police, to make our rural roads safer by introducing lower and more appropriate speed limits in place of  the existing  “derestricted” speed limits on our rural roads.

The speed surveys for phase one of this project were undertaken last autumn with proposals set to come to the Local Committee in early 2022.  Phase two will follow.

It is currently expected that many speed limits on rural roads around Leith Hill will be reduced from 60mph to 40mph, with some possibly being reduced to 20mph.

In addition, Liberal Democrat County Councillors have called for more funding to be made available to introduce 20mph speed limits across Surrey with priority being given to reducing the speed limit on roads outside schools.

The Government has blocked our bill to improve ambulance waiting times, continuing their neglect of health services, and patients are suffering as a result.

Our plan would relieve some of the immediate pressure and help fix the ambulance crisis for good:

Community Ambulance Fund: Make emergency funding available to reverse closures of community ambulance stations.

Army Drivers: Call up members of the Armed Services to drive ambulances and ease staff shortages.

Staffing: Launch a campaign to retain, recruit and train paramedics and the ambulance staff.

New Waiting Times Law: Pass the Ambulance Waiting Times Bill requiring accessible, localised reports.

Inquiry: Establish a Care Quality Investigation into ambulance service delays.

The Liberal Democrats are the party of empowering people and supporting parents and children is our top priority in the new fair deal we offer.

To deliver this we are calling for a £15billion investment in education to help a generation of young people whose education has been affected by the pandemic. A third of the money would go direct to parents to spend on whatever help their children need most: tutoring in reading, writing or maths; music lessons; swimming classes or other physical education.

The £200 Catch-Up Vouchers would be doubled, and in some cases tripled, for children in care, for disadvantaged children, and for those with special needs.

We have to remember that our schools were woefully underfunded before the pandemic and pupils from poorer backgrounds were already falling behind. Months of school closures and disruption has only made the problems worse and more urgent.

We need a massive education catch-up fund. The Government’s own expert recommended a £15 billion investment but the Conservatives have offered only a fraction of this.

The Liberal Democrat Plan would give vital extra funding to every school and empower every parent to spend their Covid cash on the support their child needs to get back on track and fulfil their potential.