Liberal Democrats launch fightback in Surrey with keynote speech from Tom Brake MP

The Liberal Democrats launched the "Lib Dem Fightback" to reconnect with Surrey residents and started planning for the County Council elections at a well-attended Conference in Guildford this weekend. The Conference follows on from a series of Council by-election wins in Surrey since the general election where the Party held council seats in Mole Valley, Elmbridge and Woking and gained a seat from UKIP in Mole Valley.

The Conference was opened by Tom Brake, Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton and Wallington, setting out the Party's core values. He said, "I am proud to be a Liberal Democrat. We want to build a caring society, to ensure that the country makes an appropriate humanitarian response to the refugee crisis, and to work within the European Union which gives us the best chance to tackle climate change and keep our economy strong."

In his speech he also touched on the Liberal Democrats' role in challenging the two parties of the establishment (the Conservative and Labour parties) and the Liberal Democrats' achievements in government, including growing the renewable energy sector.

Tom Brake concluded, "The Liberal Democrats have a bright future. We are a resilient and professionally organised party which puts local residents at the forefront of our campaigning and we will recover through rebuilding from the ground up through promoting our core values and delivering on local initiatives, such as 20mph speed limits outside schools and superfast broadband to all premises in the county, that Surrey residents want."

The Liberal Democrat County Group then presented the campaigns that they are running and developed the theme of building a "Caring, Connected, Climate-Friendly Surrey." The meeting approved campaigns in the run up to the County Council elections on:

• introducing 20mph speed limits outside schools in Surrey where parents want them;
• stopping the introduction of the proposed charges at the community recycling centres or the reduction of opening hours;
• improving the recruitment and retention of social workers;
• fixing the problems with the rollout of the superfast broadband infrastructure in the county which has left many communities unconnected; and
• improving the condition of roads and footways.

Liberal Democrat County Councillor Hazel Watson (Dorking Hills), the Liberal Democrat Leader on Surrey County Council, said, "With these policies, we are developing a manifesto for the County Council elections which will resonate strongly with Surrey residents, which will allow us to rebuild our Party in Surrey, and which will deliver services that residents in Surrey want and need."