Dundee Liberal Democrats today (Friday 6th July) backed calls for Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond MP/MSP to quit his Westminster seat. It follows the passing of the 100th day since Mr Salmond last spoke in the Commons.
An independent watchdog has slammed the marathon counting process which saw the recent Mayoral and Borough elections in Bedford descend into a fiasco. In its report on electronic voting and electronic counting processes used in May's local elections in England and Scotland the Open Rights Group, a nationwide Non-Governmental Organisation which works to protect civil liberties and prevent data fraud, concludes that it 'cannot express confidence in the results of the electronic counting pilots it observed' and lists a catalogue of concerns with the Bedford Borough count in particular.
Park Ward's Liberal Democrat candidate, Claire Darke, is calling for a blitz on unsightly graffiti. Walls, post boxes, telephone kiosks and even footpaths can be seen disfigured with spray paint. Claire said, "It can make any neighbourhood look shabby, rundown and neglected. It is very difficult to catch the offenders but if their mess is not removed quickly then more follows and the downward slide has begun."
The Liberal Democrats' new spokesperson in the House of Commons on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues is Jo Swinson. At 27 Jo is one of the youngest MPs in the house, winning the new seat of East Dunbartonshire in 2005. She was appointed Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland after Ming Campbell's election as party leader last year, and now takes on the Women and Equality portfolio which includes LGBT rights.
In this week's Liberal Democrat reshuffle, Ming Campbell has moved Lorely Burt from the Shadow Women & Equalities post - which covers lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues - to work alongside Lembit Opik on business, enterprise and regulatory reform.
The Conservatives running Surrey County Council have thrown out Liberal Democrat proposals to increase public involvement in its affairs by agreeing in principle to the webcasting of meetings. They also vetoed proposals to permit members of the public to address meetings of the full Council.
