What really matters to people living in Wigan, Leigh and Makerfield? We want to find out!
Whether it’s dog fouling, traffic problems or big issues such as welfare cuts – we want to know about it.
You can access the short survey here. It only takes a couple of minutes to complete, and the responses we get will help us to work hard on the issues that matter to you.
A new cross-party, cross-society campaign led by Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Norman Lamb has been launched to put mental health firmly on the agenda ahead of the Government’s spending review later this month.
The campaign highlights the problems with accessing timely, evidence-based mental health care and calls on the government to increase investment into the provision of mental health services.
Mental ill health is an issue that affects many people in our local area. According to NHS Wigan Borough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), in any given week around 43,594 people in the borough are affected by symptoms of a chronic mental health condition.
It is simply not good enough for people with mental health problems to be treated as second class citizens. It’s a huge injustice which I am determined to end.
– Norman Lamb
More than 200 leaders from politics, business, the arts, sport and faith groups have signed an open letter calling on the Government to end the “historic injustice suffered by those who have mental ill health”. Signatories include Delia Smith, Richard Curtis, Danny Boyle, Annie Lennox, Graham Norton, Steve Coogan, Frank Skinner, Sam Allardyce, Alan Pardew and Sir Steve Redgrave.
The Lib Dems will continue the fight for better mental healthcare both nationally and locally. Wigan, Leigh & Makerfield Liberal Democrats are proud to say that we wholeheartedly support this important campaign.
You can add your name to the campaign and read more at www.equality4mentalhealth.uk
Welcome to our Focus Team, where we will be bringing you the latest local news and campaigns from the Wigan Liberal Democrats.
You can contact us using the contact options on the right-hand side of this page, and find out more about the team by clicking here.
Thank you , we hope you enjoy the site!
Anyone interested in the details of summer budget can find some useful briefings and information here:
BBC
Local Government Association
Liberal Democrats
As a Liberal Democrat, this is obviously a difficult day. Our party spent five years preventing the Conservatives from implementing policies that we felt were unfair, as well as introducing distinctive Lib Dem policies that made our recovery fairer and more sustainable.
Sadly, today’s budget shows the real difference that Liberal Democrats made in government, and are no longer able to make after May’s elections.
Welfare Cuts – The first of an excessive £12 billion in cuts which will fall disproportionately on the poorest. Also, limiting child tax credits and universal credit payments to only cover the first two children in a family sets a worrying precedent for any future Tory changes to child benefit.
Student Maintenance – We protected the maintenance grants for the poorest students and prevented any changes to this in the last parliament. Now the Tories are turning it into a loan and adding it onto students’ debt.
Green Energy – We created a system of subsidies for renewable energy production, funded by taxes on energy companies, to shift our economy away from our dangerous reliance on carbon. In government, we more than doubled the amount of energy the UK gets from renewable sources. Described by David Cameron as “green crap”, these taxes and subsidies are now being slashed. This is a tragically short-sighted cut that undermines the promising green energy foundations we have spent five years struggling to create.
Housing – The mass sell-off of housing association properties is a shameful example of short-term Tory electioneering at the expense of the social fabric of our communities. The plans for replacement of properties are threadbare and this whole plan has been ill thought-through. Now, these plans are being joined by the removal of housing benefit for Under-21s, which is going to make it even harder for young people and the less well off to find a home in our communities.
These are just four areas where the absence of Liberal Democrats in government will soon be felt. There will, no doubt, be more – such as protecting the Human Rights Act, fighting the Snooper’s Charter
Locally and nationally, we will continue to campaign for the fairer Britain. You can join us in this campaign by clicking here.
Join us today, and help us continue the fight to protect our environment, our civil liberties, our housing and welfare systems, and fairness in higher education.