Hinckley & Bosworth Liberal Democrats

A local Councillor has raised with the government minister responsible for Fire services the need for fair funding for Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service.

Councillor Michael Mullaney, Liberal Democrat group leader on the Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Authority raised the issue at an online meeting with the Fire Minister Lord Greenhalgh.

Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council last night backed a campaign calling for the government to raise the Carers Allowance for hard-working local carers.

The motion proposed by Hinckley Lib Dem Councillor Michael Mullaney, called on the government to raise the Carers Allowance by £20 a week. Michael Mullaney said "Carers do an amazing job, however during the Covid19 pandemic they have had to provide care under even more challenging conditions. With it being nearly a year now since the first lockdown began, many carers have been providing help without a break during this time and many are both physically and mentally exhausted.

The Hinckley and Bosworth Liberal Democrat Council group have tabled a motion which calls for better support for carers across Hinckley and Bosworth, including increasing the Carers allowance by £20.

Liberal Democrats tabled the motion for the forthcoming Borough council meeting on Tuesday 23rd February calling for more financial support for the over 1,000 full time carers throughout Hinckley and Bosworth.

Residents in Leicestershire are to be hit with the maximum 4.99% Council Tax rise, an equivalent of over £67 for a band D household, after the Conservative County Council passed its budget today.

Opposing the rise the Liberal Democrats, who are the official opposition group on the County Council, hit out at the failure to get fair funding for Leicestershire from the Conservative government.

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to "give carers a break", by giving councils immediate emergency funding so they can provide the support services unpaid carers need to take a weekly break.

More than 11,000 people in Hinckley and Bosworth are looking after elderly, disabled or vulnerable people during the Covid pandemic.

Liberal Democrat Councillors in Hinckley and Bosworth are urging residents concerned about rural bus services to back a petition on the issue.

The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England are running a petition to Grant Shapps the Secretary of State for Transport calling for the protection of bus services in towns and villages in England.

A Hinckley County and Borough Councillor has attended a national online conference in support of Care Workers and urged residents to back a campaign to support them.

Hinckley Lib Dem County and Borough Councillor Michael Mullaney attended the online Pay Fair for Care Day conference. It was attended by numerous figures in social and health care including former Health Secretaries Stephen Dorrell and Jeremy Hunt and representatives from Age UK, the National Care Association, Mencap and numerous other care organisations and Unions.

The Conservative Government will only reimburse less than one-third of the overall costs incurred by English schools in making their premises 'Covid-safe' according to a publication published recently by a leading education think-tank.

A report issued by the Education Policy Institute claims that government money made available through its exceptional costs fund will only cover 31% of overall costs, and in a survey covering 700 schools conducted in November, over half (57%) reported that they are using reserves to cover the shortfall, jeopardising their ability to achieve a balanced budget by the end of the current financial year.

A group of Hinckley and Bosworth Councillors have joined Councillors from across the East Midlands in signing a letter to the Chancellor Rishi Sunak calling for more support for those excluded from government Covid support schemes.

An estimated three million people across the country and thousands here in Hinckley and Bosworth, largely self employed people have not been included in past government support schemes.

Calls have been made for fair funding for Leicestershire Police. The call comes from local Liberal Democrats after figures reveal that residents in Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland are being shortchanged in police funding to the tune of £20 million in funding from the government.

Lib Dem Cllr Michael Mullaney Executive member for Community Safety in Hinckley and Bosworth said "People want more police on local streets. Sadly the Conservative government is shortchanging residents in Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland by £20 million. If our area's Police was funded the same as the national average we would have £20 million extra to spend putting more police on local streets. Sadly this underfunding of our Police service is yet another example of how this Conservative government puts Leicestershire to the back of the queue.