• Urgent theft from vehicle reports in London up 31%
• Welsh Lib Dems look ahead towards Cardiff Spring conference

Urgent theft from vehicle reports in London up 31%

London is facing an epidemic of thefts from vehicles, new figures show.

Data obtained by Lib Dem London Mayoral candidate Rob Blackie, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI), show that there has been a 31% increase in 999 calls relating to theft from vehicles since 2015 – the year before Sadiq Khan took office.

There were 27,584 theft from vehicle emergency reports in the capital in 2023 – up from 21,009 in 2015.

Lib Dem Mayoral Candidate, Rob Blackie, said:

This is yet another damning indictment of Sadiq Khan’s record as Mayor over the last eight years. Londoners tell me they are worried about cars being broken into on their street. They want the police to act because the problem is getting so much worse.

We need every officer out there investigating crime and focusing on what’s important to Londoners. That’s why I will be ensuring that the Met spends less time wasting effort on stop and searches for cannabis and more time on tackling serious crime.

Fixing the Met will be my top priority and the Liberal Democrats will give it the funding and focus it needs.

Welsh Lib Dems look ahead towards Cardiff Spring conference

The Welsh Liberal Democrats will be hosting their annual Spring conference this weekend in Cardiff.

Over a two-day period (Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd of March), party members are expected to be debating motions on Childcare, Local Government funding and providing a Fair Deal for Wales amongst others.

The conference will be opened by the Rt.Hon. The Mayor of Cardiff, Cllr Bablin Molik, the first woman of colour to be appointed as the Lord Mayor of the Welsh capital.

Party leader Jane Dodds is expected to use her keynote speech to set out the party’s vision for Wales ahead of a potential election year. Whilst also criticising both the Welsh Labour and UK Conservative governments for their failings in protecting the NHS and resolving current economic woes.

Commenting, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said:

We currently find ourselves in difficult circumstances, surrounded by economic uncertainty and global instability that has clouded our future.

Our economic woes and current deprivation of public services have been fuelled by an indifferent UK Conservative government intent on running our country into the ground.

Never before or since have we been faced with a government so out of touch with the needs of its people.

Meanwhile, Labour have been too busy moving the goalposts and changing their promises to offer anything substantial for the people of Wales.

If you want to get rid of the conservatives, don’t vote Labour.

Plaid Cymru, through their obsession over independence, have lost sight of their principles. Choosing instead to compromise in their co-operation agreement with Welsh Labour on some of the promises they have previously made, which includes their abandoning of the Single Transferable Vote system.

We have every reason to be hopeful about the party’s prospects for the future, and at the next general election I can promise you that the Welsh Liberal Democrats will be playing their part in kicking the Tories not just out of Number 10, but also out of Wales for good.