The Lib Dems called on Surrey County Council to support EU citizens living locally and lobby the Government to grant EU citizens the automatic right to stay in the UK.

During this week's Full Council meeting, Councillor Chris Botten and the Lib Dems tabled a motion after new Home Office figures reveal that 4800 people in Surrey are still waiting for a decision on their 'Settled Status' application.

Ellen Nicholson, Lib Dem candidate for Mount Hermon and Woking South East in the local elections on 6^th May, is demanding a fair pay rise for NHS and social care workers.

"We are calling for a proper and substantial real-terms pay rise now, recognising the sacrifice and hard work of all NHS and social care workers throughout this pandemic," said Ellen Nicholson, a senior nurse who in her spare time has signed up to provide Surrey residents with Covid vaccinations.

Surrey County Council unanimously agreed a motion from the Lib Dems today which would see the Council look at holding meetings remotely after lockdown as finished.

The County Council hopes virtual meetings will save taxpayers money and reduce its environmental impact, as well as encourage more working age people and those with caring responsibilities to become Councillors.

Woking Lib Dems have formally requested that Woking's Returning Officer removes the request for additional postal voter identification, from the Council's website. Woking Council is the only one in the country to make this request, which goes against current Electoral Commission guidelines.

The following email was sent on 5 March - to date no reply has been received.

Cllr Paul Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner, is calling on Priti Patel not to impose centralised crime targets on local police forces, warning it "would be a grave mistake" that "risks seriously undermining" police officers.

In a letter to the Home Secretary, Paul Kennedy, alongside the party's Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael and 26 other candidates for Mayor or Police and Crime Commissioner, writes that "the police need to be responsive and accountable to their local communities, not micromanaged by Ministers in Whitehall."

The Lib Dems have slammed the Conservative Government's insulting 1% pay offer to nurses.

Councillor Will Forster, Lib Dem Spokesperson for Woking, said:

"In our country's hour of need, our NHS nurses and doctors have been there for us. A decent pay rise is the least we can do for them in return."

"Boris Johnson was happy to stand outside Number 10 and clap for carers, but his 1% pay offer is a slap in the face for those same people."

An estimated 1,647 care home residents - 17% of Surrey's care home population - have tested positive for COVID-19 since the Government lifted the last national lockdown on 2 December 2020.

This distressing information came in response to a public question - to Surrey County Council's Adults and Health Select Committee - from Cllr Paul Kennedy, Liberal Democrat Candidate for Surrey's Police and Crime Commissioner, and Mole Valley District Councillor for Fetcham West.

Dale Roberts, Lib Dem candidate for St Johns, calls for council decisions to be based on the dramatically changing needs of Woking constituents

Increasingly we have to think about what our communities are going to look like post Covid and one thing is for certain, we are going to see change and some of it dramatic. For example, many businesses have already adopted a policy of 'remote-first'. Some industry commentators are predicting that this could mean the end of traditional corporate Headquarters by 2030 and whilst this seems unlikely the demand for commercial office space is going to reduce, perhaps severely, over the coming years.

The Lib Dems are calling on the Government to grant EU citizens the automatic right to stay in the UK with the physical proof they need, as new Home Office figures reveal that 700 people in Woking are still waiting for a decision on their 'Settled Status' application.

The latest EU Settlement Scheme statistics show that, as of the end of December, there have been 10,560 applications from people living in Woking, but only 9,860 of these have been concluded.

Lib Dem plans for openness and transparency. 

Politicians today are creating a growing gap between what they say and what they do. The result is an increasing lack of trust in politics.

"Fide et Diligentia". This is the motto of Woking Borough Council. It means 'Faith and Diligence.' Ironic, given how the Tory-led council have been making decisions. It's no surprise that politicians are seen as less trustworthy than bankers when they bypass formal processes and obfuscate the findings of independent reports. They insist they want to be transparent, but time and again fail to be anything other than opaque.