Congleton Liberal Democrats

Dear Sir,

Concerning your recent article about safe journeys and parking at our local schools, one item seems to have been omitted.

I remember when I was young, my parents with others organised rosters so that they shared the task of delivering and collecting us from our primary schools.

As well as reducing pollution and congestion around the schools, this helped build some social networks.

Dear Sir,

The proposals for Brexit, as thrashed out at Chequers by our Prime Minister, will be a disaster for our country as they fail to protect the services sector of the U.K. economy which accounts for about 80% of our G.D.P. The financial services sector alone directly employs about 1.1 million people and in 2017 contributed £ 27.3 billion to the Exchequer. Catherine McGuinness, the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee of the City of London Corporation stated that the Chequers Plan was a real blow for the U.K.'s financial and related professional services sector and warned that the sector would be less able to create jobs, generate tax and support growth across the wider economy. Of 222 financial service companies tracked by Ernst and Young more than a third have said they are considering or have confirmed that they are transferring operations and/or staff from the U.K. to the E.U.

Dear Sir,

Theresa May, in her of role of Chairwoman of the Conservative Party, at the 2002 Party Conference described the Conservative Party as the "Nasty" Party.

Since then with Theresa May as Home Secretary for six years and then Prime Minister for another two years, the Conservative Party has taken a significant further shift to the right.

The dates and locations for Spring and Autumn conference 2019 have been announced.

Spring conference - York Barbican - 16-17th March 2019
Autumn Conference - Bournemouth International Centre - 15-18th September 2019

Conference is where our party makes decisions on our future direction.

You can participate in thought-provoking debates, meet like-minded people, make party policy, hear from experts on a range of topics at our fringe events and learn new skills at our training sessions.

Last year I attended ALDC (the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors and Campaigns) Kickstart weekend as part of their Future Leaders scheme.

15 or so young people in the party are offered individual mentorship to help them get to where they want to be in the party - whether that is an MP, a Councillor, or something else.

It's wise to choose for a private member's bill a discrete topic to address a problem which has been identified and can be relatively easily solved - and which the Government might be prepared to see implemented. But sometimes the concern to take forward a cause overtakes wisdom - thus my Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill which finished making its way through the Lords on 3rd July and has been taken up in the Commons by Tim Farron.

Today the Government reported that patients in need of cannabis-based medicines will be allowed access to them in 'exceptional circumstances'.

This is very welcome and long overdue change, which will be a relief for many patients and their families. It is disgraceful that people have been left to suffer for so long, because the Conservative Government have refused to accept evidence of the benefits of cannabis based medicines.

I want to tell you why I joined the Liberal Democrats and to encourage you to make the same journey.

As first-generation immigrants, my parents could have barely imagined the journey they or their children would make in the mother country. As an immigrant from South Asia, barely able to communicate in English, my mother built up a real estate business in London, in a country which has increasingly diversified in the intervening years.

Since its launch in 2013, the Membership Incentive Scheme has helped our party not just grow, but thrive.

The money from it has helped local parties grow their membership, fight campaigns and demand better for their communities.

In recent years, we've seen a worrying trend developing though. More and more local parties stopped actively recruiting new members.

Dear Sir,

I note that your article on the Brexit White Paper in last week's Chronicle contains a quote by our MP Fiona Bruce that, "my overriding reason for voting as I did was to recover our sovereignty".

Many people did likewise, though perhaps not completely understanding the full implications of doing so.