Congleton Liberal Democrats

Much of our campaign since the 2017 general election has revolved around the "Exit from Brexit". We need to win over Remainers; by having a clear and repeated anti-Brexit position, the electorate will know what we stand for.

There are a few problems.

Firstly, we are not "anti-Brexit", we are pro-EU. Every time we say "Brexit", we evoke certain thought patterns within the minds of voters, particularly the so-called ReLeavers (those who voted Remain but feel we should Leave because of the referendum).

Millions of Jewish families and friends across the world will come together tonight to celebrate Passover.

They will reflect on the struggle of the Jewish people to be free.

For people of all faiths and none, the story told at Passover is a reminder of the importance of freedom, and standing up for the oppressed.

Swinson's report, which outlines the use of plastics by all major Easter egg manufacturers, highlights the need for companies to cut down the use of plastics to protect our oceans and reduce the amount of unnecessary plastic waste ending up in landfills.

Key findings of the report:

• According to recent figures, 147.7 million hollow Easter Eggs are sold each year.
An average Easter Egg box as found in this report contains 22 grams of plastic packaging, so this could mean over 3,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year from hollow Easter Eggs alone.

Dear Sir,

Further to your piece on free school meals on p18 of this week's Chronicle, perhaps Coun Sam Corcoran could give some credit where it is due.

The free schools programme introduced by the coalition government formed in 2010 was the work of the Liberal Democrat deputy leader, Nick Clegg and gave them to all infant, four to seven-year-old pupils.

Dear Sir,

I am led to understand that access to our proposed by-pass from Cledford Lane is to be restricted to vehicles using the new ANSA site.

This is beginning to look as if relieving the congestion in Middlewich town centre is of secondary importance.

Those who have been campaigning for this by-pass for many years will be disheartened if this is so.

We're launching the BIGGEST most AMBITIOUS campaign the Liberal Democrats have ever run outside an election.

Why?

Quite simply, we want to stop Brexit.

And why now?

Well, it's a year since Theresa May's calamitous government triggered 'Article 50', formally starting the process for the UK to leave the EU.

A UK torn apart from its closest friends and neighbours is not a future we want and not a future we are going to stand by and let happen.

I couldn't have been prouder of Lynne Featherstone and the Liberal Democrats in government when we changed the law in England, bringing in equal marriage.

It is, without doubt, one of the best things our party did in government.

Equal Marriage is, without doubt, one of the best things the Liberal Democrats did in Government.

Today, I've written to the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Yvette Cooper, calling on her to investigate the alleged illegal activity of Vote Leave.

I believe that the Home Affairs Select Committee should immediately launch an enquiry into the serious accusations against the Vote Leave campaign, including deliberate overspending, illegal coordination and a significant cover-up of their relationship with the smaller campaign group BeLeave.

The allegations against Cambridge Analytica, and the legal opinions of Helen Mountfield QC and Clare Montgomery, only strengthen the case for an urgent investigation.

If true, these allegations call into question the very foundations of our democracy, and I have no doubt Yvette will agree with me that full disclosure must be given to Parliament and the British public on this extremely serious matter.

Although it is a step in the right direction for Theresa May to take a long-term approach to funding the NHS, it is not clear whether the government will commit to new revenue streams to fund the health service.

This is despite the fact that over 100 MPs have taken the same view as the Liberal Democrats in backing an examination of a hypothecated tax, to protect the future of the NHS and social care.

We hope that the Prime Minister will take the first vital step by supporting the Liberal Democrat plan to raise essential extra revenue for the NHS and social care by putting up income tax by a penny in the pound.

'Period poverty' - it's a phrase that only a couple of years ago barely even existed.

Yet, that all changed last March when the media reported of girls in Leeds who had routinely been missing school because they couldn't afford menstrual products.

People's reaction was, understandably, a mix of shock and disbelief. How on earth have we reached a point, in this day and age, where young people are having to miss out on education because they can't afford essential sanitary products?