Stockton Liberal Democrats

Do you think we care well enough for the more vulnerable in our society?

Have we figured out how best to care for people who've experienced bereavement, people who get ill in old age, those with mental ill-health or adults with learning disabilities?

My own personal experience tells me we haven't. Whether in my own life or for many constituents in my advice surgeries over 20 years, all too often the care and support systems either don't work well enough or aren't even there at all.

I want to thank you for all your hard work over the last six weeks. Everyone did everything they could in this campaign but the result has been deeply disappointing.

Despite Liberal Democrats gaining 1.2m votes and our share of the vote increasing in every region of the UK, we are now one seat down compared to 2017. Under a proportional system, we would now have 84 MPs.

The latest EU Settlement Scheme Statistics, published by the Home Office, show more than 140,000 EU citizens applied to live and work in the UK after Brexit in November.

These figures show 361,900 people are still waiting for a decision, with 2,592,800 applications received but only 2,230,900 concluded.

This news is yet more evidence that Boris Johnson's government looks set to crash our economy thanks to his disastrous Brexit plans.

Whether its putting people's livelihoods on the line in our factory sector, or increasing prices with the pound weakening in 2020, it is clear that Boris Johnson's promise to unleash Britain's potential is nothing more than empty rhetoric.

We haven't even left yet.

Boris Johnson's government has set out a disastrous agenda which will force through a hard Brexit, undermine our public services, destroy opportunities for our communities and cripple living standards.

Brexit will hinder our ability to safeguard our NHS and reduce our capacity to tackle the climate crisis.

The fact that radical climate action has been ignored is a hallmark of a government which is setting all the wrong priorities.

Voting reform is not about the electoral advantage of any party.

It is about better democracy.

As politicians we have a responsibility to ensure voters across the UK do not feel disenfranchised.

In this election the Liberal Democrats increased their vote share by 4%, more than any other party, but achieved fewer seats in Parliament.

Boris' bad Brexit bill is before the House of Commons today.

So what are we doing to fight the damaging and dangerous effects it will have on democratic scrutiny, workers' rights, the battle against the climate crisis, and more?

Today, we tabled an amendment to block the Withdrawal Agreement Bill because:

A happy and peaceful Chanukah to all Jewish people around the world!

Chanukah is a special time of the year for so many reasons. It's about solidarity with friends and family. It's about overcoming adversity in impossible circumstances. Most importantly, it's about the power of faith and how it can make wonderful things happen.

Councillor David Minchella, Liberal Democrat Councillor of Bishopsgarth and Elm Tree on Stockton Council said, in in response to the Education Policy Institute's Annual Report on access to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS),

"The state of children's mental health services in England is deeply worrying. It is unacceptable that children in Stockton Borough who have experienced abuse or have diagnosable mental health conditions could be turned away from treatment. As the report says "The large majority of lifelong mental illnesses develop in childhood or adolescence, and the individual and societal costs of untreated adult mental ill health are vast, estimated at £105.2bn each year."

"This report should be a wake-up call for the Conservative government. It shows they are failing children, and they will continue to fail if they do not prioritise child and adolescent mental health services.

"Liberal Democrats would ensure that no child or young person who needs help is turned away from mental health services. We are calling on the Tory government to increase the funding for child and adolescent mental health services and urgently tackle the shortages in mental health staff."

Happy New Year!

Over Christmas and New Year, a team of HQ staff and almost 60 volunteer testers from across the party as well as the team at Prater Raines have been hard at work testing Lighthouse, the party's new Local Party Management tool.

The feedback from those users has been really encouraging, they've found the system really intuitive and easy to use.