Hinckley & Bosworth Liberal Democrats

There's been an angry response to the seven Leicestershire Conservative MPs, including the MP for Hinckley and Bosworth voting down proposals for free school meals to continue during the holidays.

Over 7,000 children in Leicestershire are entitled to free school meals and are likely to be affected by the decision.

I/we the undersigned call for Leicestershire County Highways to urgently extend the cyclepath from the A47 in Hinckley through to St Martin's School in Stoke Golding. The route to the school is currently dangerous for those children that cycle to school that way and a deterrent to others to cycle to school because of the dangers. A safe cycle route is needed for pupils, parents and residents of Stoke Golding and Hinckley who need to travel this route and we urge the County Council to extend the cycle path here.

The Liberal Democrats have warned malicious calls to the ambulance service are putting lives at risk as they reveal 3,325 hoax calls have been made over the last three years.

With the UK in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Munira Wilson has warned Ministers must ensure ambulance services have "the resources they need to educate people over the dangers that malicious calls pose."

Figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats under freedom of information reveal there have been 23,942 hoax calls recorded by nine out of England's ten ambulance services in the last three years.

Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Munira Wilson said:

"Anyone who maliciously calls for an ambulance is putting lives in danger. An ambulance that is diverted to a hoax is one that is unavailable to save a life elsewhere.

"With the Covid-19 pandemic, we all know the strain that our health staff are under. Ministers must therefore ensure ambulance services have the resources they need to educate people over the dangers that malicious calls pose."

Hinckley Liberal Democrat Councillor Michael Mullaney said:

"The Coronavirus crisis is an unprecedented threat. It is leaving the most vulnerable in our communities at risk and people are rightly worried about their loved ones.

"The people in our ambulance service are putting their lives on the line every single day to protect us. In turn, we have a moral obligation to do all we can to protect them.

Over 100 Liberal Democrat councillors from across the East Midlands have signed a letter to the Secretary of State for Local Government, Robert Jenrick MP, calling for a halt to controversial Government plans to abolish Borough and District Councils across the region and replace them with larger Unitary authorities.

Plans to scrap Hinckley and Bosworth and the other Districts and Boroughs of Leicestershire and create one Unitary authority for all of Leicestershire were condemned at this afternoon's meeting of Leicestershire County Council.

Conservative leader of the County Council Nick Rushton's leaders statement included putting the case for a single Unitary.

Liberal Democrats have warned that the Government's planning proposals will "disempower" local authorities like Hinckley and Bosworth and allow developers to "run roughshod" over local communities' wishes.

A motion agreed at the Party's Autumn Conference, making it official party policy, lays bare the risks of the Government's proposals, which the Party argue amount to a Government "power grab" that will reduce investment in affordable housing in Hinckley and Bosworth and elsewhere.

The plight of manufacturing industry was raised by a local councillor at a national party conference.

Hinckley Lib Dem Councillor Michael Mullaney spoke at the party's national conference on Saturday raising job losses in the region including at Triumph here in Hinckley and Rolls-Royce in Derby.

Michael Mullaney said "Here in the Midlands we have the highest proportion of people working in manufacturing in the country. It's vital manufacturing gets the support it needs. It's devastating to see people here in Hinckley hit by redundancies at Triumph which is such an iconic part of our town.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for a freeze on rail fares. This following the announcement last month that the Retail Price Index rose by 1.6% in July, this is the figure usually used to calculate the increase in fares at the end of the year.

The Liberal Democrats suggest that any increase in fares would be "a slap in the face" for consumers. Given the significant drop in passenger numbers due to COVID-19, the Party is calling for fare freezes to help restore confidence in the railways.

The Party want to see additional funding to increase capacity and build a network "fit for the future", vital if the UK Government are serious about cutting emissions and reducing air pollution.