Welcome to our Site

Welcome to the Somerset County Liberal Democrats' website. With 22 members, we are the main opposition group on Somerset County Council. Against the background of a massive anti-Labour swing to the right - which happened right across Europe - we achieved 36.6% of the vote. This was the highest recorded Lib Dem vote across the country on June 4th 2009, including the European elections, so puts us in a strong position to fight back.

Tories Pass High-Risk Budget and Break Manifesto Promises!

Their manifesto reads: "The Conservatives have new ideas to improve services and save money." The Liberal Democrat opposition spokesperson for Resources, Cllr. Sam Crabb asked the following questions:

Where in this budget are the new ideas to improve services?

Where in this budget is the innovation and change that the people of Somerset were promised?

Where in this budget is there any attempt to improve the economy of Somerset?

How many young people will benefit from this budget?

How many will get a job as a result - and indeed, how many will lose jobs as a result?

How many affordable homes will be built for them?

Even the Rural Regeneration money has been cut, taking thousands out of the budget when it's most required.

Unlike previous years, the public weren't consulted about these choices, except via the Internet at the very last minute and this wasn't properly advertised. In fact the councillors setting the budget were told the 'low response was not felt to be entirely reliable'. So, we are left to guess whether the public actually wanted a 0% increase in their council tax - a small financial saving - when it means paying a much higher price through cuts to services they've always been able to rely on.

Cllr. Sam Crabb's full budget speech (seconding Jill Shortland, Leader of the Liberal Democrat group) can be found in the 'download' area.

Our Manifesto

Some of you will have voted for us on the basis of our election promises

featured in our manifesto.

It will be harder to achieve these in opposition but whenever we can, we will remind the public of them, sometimes through the Scrutiny process and Full Council.

Archive of earlier news stories.

Archive of earlier articles.

News Story Feed (v1.0).

Press Article Feed (v1.0).