A decision by the Speaker of the House of Commons to refuse to have a debate and vote on a Liberal Democrat amendment calling for a referendum on whether to be in or out of Europe has met with an angry response from Liberal Democrats in Wiltshire
Commenting on today's events in Parliament following the refusal of the Speaker to allow a vote on the Liberal Democrat amendment calling for an in-out referendum on the EU, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said:
Bedford Borough Council's current system of delegating planning application decisions from the Planning Committee to officers has been running for nearly four years despite being authorised as only a twelve-month trial back in May 2004, the Liberal Democrats have discovered. The startling revelation confirms that hundreds of planning decisions have been made behind closed doors by council officers using powers that were due to expire in May 2005.
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg has demanded that the British people are asked the real question on Europe: should we stay in the EU?
Local MP Tim Farron today questioned the Housing Minister Caroline Flint over the crippling lack of affordable housing available for rural areas. In constituencies such as Mr Farron's, where average house prices are around ten times the average wage - an eye-watering £210,000, first-time buyers find it almost impossible to get on the housing ladder.
Tim Farron MP, the Liberal Democrat Countryside Spokesman, today spoke out against the paltry rise in the DEFRA budget of just 1.4% (after inflation). This small increase has come in spite of the Government committing several hundred million pounds to flood defences and renewable energy sources.
