Devizes Constituency Liberal Democrats

Over 20 million working people will be better off next year after Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government delivered the biggest ever increase in the income tax personal allowance in the Budget.

The massive £3.5bn tax cut for working people delivers:

• The biggest ever single uplift in the tax threshold
• A personal allowance of £9,205 in April 2013
• 21 million working people getting an extra £220 tax cut
• Brings the total tax cut for basic rate tax payers to £550
• Brings the total number of people lifted out of tax to 2 million.

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg used his speech to the Party's Spring conference in NewcastleGateshead to call for the forthcoming budget to be a "budget for fairness" and pledged that it would help working familes.

The Deputy Prime Minister pledged that by 2015 Britain would have seen an end to control orders, the first gay marriages and the first elections to the House of Lords.

Fairer taxes, promoting green jobs, protecting your civil liberties - these are just some of the achievements of the Liberal Democrats in government.

We're building a freer, greener and more liberal country - and stopping some of the worst excesses of the Conservatives. Find out more in this infographic.

In his keynote speech to the Liberal Democrat Conference, Party Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has outlined his goals for the Government and the country over the coming years. He reiterated his commitment to liberal values on the environment and human rights and his determination to ensure a fair chance for every child, saying "every child can do good things, great things, if only we give them the opportunities they deserve."

Wiltshire Liberal Democrat Councillors today
condemned Wiltshire Council's claim to be improving leisure
services, whilst slashing opening hours across North Wiltshire.


Lib Dem Group Leader, Cllr Jon
Hubbard, said "I would not be surprised if a cut in opening
hours triggers an increase in anti-social behaviour. Leisure
centres are vital for health, and provide vital services,
particularly for young people. If you take away the facilities
that give people something to do, they will have no choice to
try and find something else. Not everyone will like what they
choose!

"This is another example of
the Conservative administration saying one thing and doing the
opposite. They promise improvements but deliver cuts".

The Conservative-run Council's
campus programme, often centralising services away from where
local people need them, was meant to be compensating with longer
opening hours. This proposal shows the Council's intention is to
move services away from where local people want them, and cut
opening hours.

Jon Hubbard continued "It
stands to reason that the Leisure Centres stand to make money on
the busiest days such as Bank Holidays, so to close at peak
times smacks of an unthinking bureaucracy unresponsive to local
users."

The Conservative Administration on Wiltshire Council
have cut bus services, again!
Wiltshire Liberal Democrats
are worried that big cuts are being hidden by lots of small
cuts.

Lib Dem Council Group Leader
Jon Hubbard stated "Again, rural locations across the western
part of Wiltshire are particularly badly hit. The Conservative
Administration are trying to dodge criticism by reducing
services bit by bit, outside of the towns so they can avoid
publicity. But public transport is particularly important for
keeping rural communities alive, and this second round of cuts
looks like death by a thousand cuts for Wiltshire's villages and
hamlets."

"Again, proper consultation
with local people would show Wiltshire Council where savings can
be made with less damage to Wiltshire. The Liberal Democrat
administration in Bristol show how it should be done; they are
investing in buses, and expect four million more bus journeys
this year as a result, saving thousands of pounds of taxpayers
money from pollution fines"

In a message to staff outlining the cuts they can expect as the cash-strapped council faces up to the difficulties caused by government cut-backs and the costs of going to a single mega-council, boss Andrew Kerr has conceded that the council is going to have to cut bureaucracy and waste. "We are looking at finding significant savings through improving how we purchase goods and services … and how we can transform our services to cut out bureaucracy and waste and focus on what our customers need - systems thinking," he said.

In an astonishing attack on the poor, Claire Perry has suggested that they should not be having children. The ex-merchant banker, who splits her time between a £3.25 million pound property outside of the constituency and a £1 million property in Chelsea, was elected as MP for Devizes in May of this year.

104 Prospective Parliamentary Candidates have signed a petition to urge Liberal Democrat MPs to vote against the rise in student fees. The Liberal Democrat PPC for Devizes, Fiona Hornby, explains why she has signed the petition:

"We individually made this pledge publicly. I hope we all believed it was the right thing to do. Some issues go beyond party loyalty and the inbuilt threat that disagreeing will damage our political prospects.

Lord Lansdowne has attacked the Conservative Council over its handling of potential sites for mineral extraction. Echoing last week's article regarding mismanagement causing huge financial loss Lord Lansdowne lays blame firmly at the council's feet.

In a letter to the Gazette and Herald, Lord Lansdowne states that the council did not specify criteria regarding whether or not a site was viable, which he claims, "has caused unnecessary concern and antagonism".