Tag Archives: gareth roberts

24 September 2024 – today’s press releases

  • Winter Fuel Payments: Hundreds of thousands more pensioners set to lose out
  • NHS Scotland Stop Smoking Services fall short of target
  • Cole-Hamilton challenges Health Secretary to tackle cancer crisis
  • Worst ever homelessness figures on the SNP’s watch
  • Jardine responds to GB Energy Aberdeen announcement
  • Cole-Hamilton demands action on Highlands care home closures
  • Just 3.2% of acid attacks in London have resulted in charge this year

Winter Fuel Payments: Hundreds of thousands more pensioners set to lose out

Responding to the latest Winter Fuel Payment statistics showing that there was a 214,000 increase in the number of recipients of the payments in the winter of 2023/24 compared to the previous year, Liberal Democrat Work and Pensions spokesperson Steve Darling MP said:

Hundreds of thousands more pensioners are now set to lose out on these desperately needed payments that protect so many from having to choose between heating and eating.

Cutting these payments for pensioners, which include millions who are just scraping by and are now worried about how they will get through the winter, is totally wrong.

It is not too late for this new government to change course and Liberal Democrat MPs will push them every step of the way to reverse these cuts and protect vulnerable pensioners this winter.

NHS Scotland Stop Smoking Services fall short of target

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has warned that efforts to deliver a smoke-free Scotland are falling short as new figures released today showed that NHS Scotland Stop Smoking services only achieved 74% of their target for helping people to stop smoking.

The new figures also reveal that only Western Isles and Dumfries & Galloway met their yearly targets. NHS Shetland and NHS Borders achieved less than 50% of their yearly targets, with Lothian, Lanarkshire and fife also performing poorly.

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19-21 July 2024 – the weekend’s press releases

  • IT outage: Government urged to call COBRA meeting
  • ICJ opinion: UK should recognise the independent state of Palestine
  • Incoming government must recognise Palestine and redouble efforts for peace
  • Rennie files parliamentary motion on schools’ access to Microsoft programs
  • Rennie presses government over implementation date for Children Care and Justice Act provisions
  • Mayor of London questioned over summer preparedness plans

IT outage: Government urged to call COBRA meeting

The Liberal Democrats have called on the government to hold a COBRA meeting to coordinate an urgent response to the IT outage causing major disruption including to airlines, railways and GP surgeries.

Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office Spokesperson Christine Jardine MP said:

The government must call an urgent COBRA meeting to address the chaos being caused by these IT outages across the country.

The public needs to be reassured that the disruption to their travel or their desperately needed GP appointments will be minimised.

Getting critical infrastructure up and running again must be priority number one. The National Cyber Security Centre should also be working with small businesses and other organisations to help them deal with the outage.”

This once again lays bare the need to improve our digital infrastructure and truly modernise our economy in order to prevent the incidents from happening again.

ICJ opinion: UK should recognise the independent state of Palestine

Responding to today’s advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs spokesperson Layla Moran MP said:

This decision is a wake-up call. Liberal Democrats have always championed international law and the independence of the courts.

The only way to give Palestinians and Israelis the security and dignity they deserve is through a peace process and a two-state solution.

The UK should lead that push by immediately recognising the independent state of Palestine.

Incoming government must recognise Palestine and redouble efforts for peace

Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael, has backed calls for the incoming Labour government to uphold international law and support efforts towards a lasting peace in Israel and Palestine, including the recognition of a Palestinian state. Signing Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran’s parliamentary motion, Mr Carmichael warned that with the election past, now was the time to renew efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza, while welcoming the government’s announcement today of the restoration of funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the agency which supports aid for Palestinians.

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And, finally – we have 2 Lib Dem London Assembly members

In this last round-up of the day, we bring news of the final London result, the 11 list Assembly Members who work alongside the 14 constituency members.

We have always had list members because until our Gareth Roberts won South West London this afternoon nobody other than a Conservative or Labour had won a constituency.

Once the list votes had been counted, the absolutely brilliant news is that Hina Bokhari has been re-elected. The rotten news is that Rob Blackie, our fantastic mayoral candidate who has run such a good campaign and took us to third place in that contest,  missed out on a place. It would have been so good if all three of them had got in. It’s the tough aspect of these list systems. If Gareth hadn’t won the constituency, I’d have been as sad for him as he would not have got in on the list as he was in 4th place. Huge thanks to Rob for putting together such a good campaign with significantly less resource than the other parties.

The new Assembly comprises 11 Labour, 8 Conservatives, 3 Greens, 2 Lib Dems and 1 Reform.

There is still much number crunching to do, but it is way too late at night to start wrestling with spreadsheets.

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