MPs debated the Government's emergency Coronavirus Bill. This was the constructive approach set out by the Lib Dems before the debate.

The Coronavirus crisis is an unprecedented threat, leaving the most vulnerable in our communities at risk. People across the country are rightly worried about their loved ones. This is a national emergency and emergency powers are clearly necessary to keep individuals and communities safe from the virus.

Lib Dems set up Coronavirus Community Taskforce

Yesterday Acting Leader Ed Davey set up a Coronavirus Community Taskforce to coordinate Liberal Democrat councillors' members, activists and supporters in their response to the Coronavirus crisis in their communities.

The Coronavirus crisis is leaving the most vulnerable in our communities at risk. People across the country are rightly worried about their loved ones, with many more keen to do something to help.

Everyone is rightly coming together to support one-another as we face the awful COVID-19 disease. The latest information from the NHS is available here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

We are all doing whatever we can to support our NHS and social care systems. One of the ways the local Lib Dems are uniquely well-placed to contribute is by repeating yet again, and as strongly as possible, the message that we are so grateful to have the dedicated EU citizens who have remained here to work in our NHS and social care systems. We repeat this message to these EU citizens:

As the coronavirus crisis continues, people are understandably becoming increasingly worried.

This is likely to be a tough and frightening time for many people. It is vital we all take this incredibly seriously, follow the advice being given, and pull together as a country during this difficult period.

"It's time for better policies on housing & development in Slough" says Robert Plimmer, Chair of Slough Lib Dems. Robert lists 3 key ways Slough's Labour-run Council is failing on housing & development. He proposes new approaches for each one:

• Labour is failing to control Airbnb properly and insist on the affordable houses that Slough residents need: housing is a complex issue, and the Tory Government have caused many of the problems, but Slough's Labour Council should also be doing a better job. In early 2019 Robert Plimmer visited a development site on Bath Rd (see photo) and suggested to Slough Council that they should:
  • within the limits of national policy, do more to insist that developers of sites such as 163 Bath Road do more to meet the needs of Slough residents by providing some social and/or key worker housing and/or properties for local residents under shared-ownership schemes;
  • follow other councils and use planning and enforcement powers to take more steps to control Airbnb better and reduce the likelihood of office to residential conversions attracting Airbnb short-term rentals;

Following careful consideration of the latest health advice and risks, the Federal Board has tonight decided to cancel our federal conference this weekend.

It's not a decision that was taken lightly as conference plays a key role in our democratic party as well as being an important training and information exchange event. However, the health of our members and supporters, the staff who work on conference and the wider public is far more important.

Today's budget does not do enough to deal with the many problems facing our NHS & social care systems. In response to today's budget Slough Lib Dems set our long-standing campaign to save the health & social care services from a series of threats, and improve the local services:

1. Lack of adequate long-term funding or joined up policies for health & social care: Lib Dems have campaigned for years for better funding & joined up policies for our health & social care services. Lib Dem campaigner Sukh Dhillon has been highlighting these points in Upton (see photo).

During the 2016 referendum campaign, Boris Johnson, Priti Patel and Michael Gove issued a joint statement promising to automatically guarantee the rights of EU citizens.

They declared: "There will be no change for EU citizens already lawfully resident in the UK. These EU citizens will automatically be granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK and will be treated no less favourably than they are at present."

Slough Observer reported the success of Cippenham Lib Dem Focus Team in getting utility boxes repaired. They also described Robert Plimmer's call for residents to continue the campaign by reporting any that are unrepaired. Anyone can get in touch with him by emailing: info@sloughlibdems.org.uk

Robert Plimmer and Matthew Taylor have been campaigning in Cippenham for several years to persuade Virgin Media to repair or replace the many unsafe and unsightly utility boxes that are open and the contents exposed. Robert said:

Wera Hobhouse, Lib Dem MP for Bath and Spokesperson for the Climate Emergency, Energy and the Environment, writes:

When a person puts their empty plastic bottle in a recycling bin, they understandably assume it gets recycled.

However, this is not always the case.

Far too often our waste, including recyclable items, are sold to private contractors who can incinerate or export waste to unregulated facilities.