Tag Archives: watford borough council

Callum Robertson

Reform in local government guilty of attacks on those with the least

By Callum Robertson | Tue 16th December 2025 - 10:55 am

No one should be trapped in poverty. That’s a principle that is core to our identity as Liberal Democrats. Another is trust—trusting people to manage their own lives, with the government stepping in only when necessary to help. That’s why we champion universal credit for those who need support and an NHS free at the point of use.

These principles drove us in government: when we raised the personal tax threshold, taking millions out of paying income tax and enabling people to keep more of what they earned. We also did it when we introduced targeted help like the Pupil Premium to give disadvantaged children a fair start.

They guide us in local government too, where Liberal Democrat councils run some of the most progressive council tax reduction schemes in the country—Watford, Three Rivers, and Richmond among them.

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 3 Comments
Mark Hofman

What is in a name? 

By Mark Hofman | Sat 18th July 2020 - 9:01 am

Lib Dem run Watford Borough Council this week voted unanimously to pass a motion in favour of reviewing our town’s street names with links to slave and colonial history.

The Black Lives Matter Campaign and others have rightly highlighted the harm slavery, indentured labour and exploitation inflicted on individuals and whole societies during the cruel period of slavery – the legacy of which continues to this day.

It is important to remember that sickness and destitution were rife amongst slaves, there was a significant need for acclimatisation for immigrants to any slave colony, however, many slave owners failed to do this and as a result thousands of slaves died within weeks of arrival.

Others eventually succumbed to the poor working conditions on plantations and within other slave roles. Slaves were literally worked to death.

As part of the slave trade whole families were imported from Hindu, Muslim, African and European cultures, living together in barracks in often squalid conditions with minimal privacy.

Many slaves committed suicide, with trade unions and strikes made illegal by the governments of the West Indies.

Even indentured slaves had to seek permission to leave their plantations, corporal punishments were enforced for crimes including insulting the plantation owner.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 14 Comments
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