Paul Holmes, Leader of 17 Liberal Democrat Cllrs says "Although Covid is easing, residents face a very difficult year with huge energy price increases, rising tax and rising inflation. Labour politicians are always calling on the Government to do something about this."

"Now they can put their money, or rather taxpayer's money, where their mouth is. They can actually do something instead of just trying to pass the buck to others all the time."

At the Cabinet meeting on Tues 18^th Jan, Labour Cllrs voted to increase car park charges by more than inflation in order to take an extra £143,000 from Town Centre shoppers. Liberal Democrat Cllr Paul Holmes voted against this, telling Labour Cllrs that:

"The effects of Covid are not over yet even if things may soon start to ease. If we want the Town Centre to recover, then we should not be putting shoppers off with any increases this year - let alone such above inflation increases."

Bath MP Wera Hobhouse has called for urgent action to tackle decreases in arrests for indecent exposure perpetrators. Mrs Hobhouse argues that this is the latest example of the justice system failing women and girls.

This comes after a recent report from the Victims Commissioner revealed that just 1% of rape cases made it to trial. Mrs Hobhouse has tirelessly campaigned against violence against women and girls, calling for misogyny to be made a hate crime, public sexual harassment to be made a specific offence, and for immediate action to tackle the misogynistic culture that permeates schools and throughout society today.

The stunning Liberal Democrat victory in North Shropshire was one of the largest by election swings (34%) of modern times.

Boris was not just defeated; he was humiliated as the Conservatives saw a huge 17,957 vote majority come crashing down and turn into a Liberal Democrat majority of 5,925.

Such a huge swing from Cons to Lib Dem is a mark of the sheer scale of public disgust at the Conservatives behaviour and failures in Government over the last two years. Boris' Leadership of the Conservative Party must now be in question but simply replacing him will not end the Government's failures.

PACKED PUBLIC MEETING DEMANDS COUNCIL THINK AGAIN OVER CONTROVERSIAL ROAD PLANS.

A meeting organised by Chesterfield Civic Society was packed to full capacity last night with over 250 residents attending. Local County Cllr Paul Niblock was among those addressing the meeting. Paul was elected in May this year when the supposed County Council consultation was already underway. He told the meeting that whilst knocking on doors on Chatsworth Road and the adjoining side streets he found barely a single resident who knew anything about the proposals.

Budget leaves many in Chesterfield worse off

The Liberal Democrats have said the Chancellor is "living on another planet" after he claimed in interviews that changes to the Universal Credit taper amount to cutting taxes. Even the Institute for Fiscal Studies says the gap between the "generosity of the furlough scheme and the meanness of our out of work benefit system could hardly be more stark."

Daisy Cooper has said that many aspects of the budget are sorely lacking, including those regarding the NHS, children's education and building fire safety.

Reacting to the budget announcements, Daisy Cooper MP said:

On the cost of living

"The Chancellor is clearly out of touch with the cost of living crisis. People won't be fooled by the toxic cocktail of tax rises and universal credit cuts which will create an enormous gap between what's in the Tories' budget and what's in people's pockets.

The COP26 Climate Conference dates run from 31^st October until 11th November, having been postponed from last year due to Covid. This is the most important climate summit since the landmark Paris Agreement was agreed at COP21 in 2015 (COP stands for Conference of Parties).

The Paris agreement committed nearly all of the worlds' countries to take actions to limit global warming to 1.5℃ above preindustrial levels. The postponement means that the COP26 will now take place after the 'by 2020' deadline for numerous components of the Paris Agreement. This year's COP26 will be held in Glasgow hosted by the British Government.