Following their success at the recent Chelmsford Borough Council elections, where they made a net gain of five seats, the Liberal Democrats have announced their new team. Cllr. Mike Mackrory was elected Lib Dem Group Leader and therefore becomes Leader of the Opposition with Cllr. Chris Rycroft as Deputy. The Group also elected their Shadow Cabinet members.
Lib Dems on Bedford Borough Council have slammed the proposed Riverside Square development in Bedford and welcomed its rejection by the Council's Planning Committee last night.
Employers feel the politically correct language of disability can be a barrier to employing more disabled people, a survey suggests. Remploy, an employment services provider for disabled people, said most of the 400 employers polled believed in working towards a diverse workforce. But some complained a lack of understanding of the terms to use when describing disabilities put them off.
Plans to close factories which employ disabled workers are expected to be announced later. The Remploy company says it wants to cut costs and place more disabled people into mainstream employment rather than in sheltered workshops.
Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Hill Farming called today for the 'FairTrade' brand to be extended to include getting a fairer deal for British farmers during a Westminster Hall debate on the dairy farming industry. At present dairy farmers receive only a very small amount of money for a litre of milk while supermarkets' and processors' profits soar to unprecedented heights.
Local MP Tim Farron has today spoken in a parliamentary debate on the regulation of the franchising industry to support a constituent who had lost tens of thousands of pounds of his own savings. Paul Wakefield of Ackenthwaite invested over £100,000 in a franchise registered with the British Franchise Association only to discover, having lost his money, that the directors of the parent company of the franchise were in fact banned from holding directorships.
