The situation regarding the coronavirus is changing daily.
It is with regret that all Brighton & Hove Lib Dem face-to-face meetings and events have been cancelled until the end of June, as we feel this is the correct decision under the circumstances.
Latest updates on the situation in Brighton & Hove can be found on the council website. Please take good care of yourselves and your families. If you are in the position to check in with elderly or vulnerable neighbours who may need some help with shopping, dog walking, collecting prescriptions, or if you can make a friendly phone call, please consider doing so.
Making access to support services a right for victims of sexual violence and abuse a right was one of the recommendations of the 2018 APPG on Sexual Violence.
Yet two years on, and throughout the UK survivors are still being told that they have to be added to shamefully long waiting lists, or that waiting lists are closed. The situation is abhorrent.
The choice on the Brexit menu tomorrow is "Let's Get Brexit done" with Boris Johnson, "maybe Brexit, maybe not, for the many not the few, I just need to figure out which is which" with Jeremy Corbyn or "Stop Brexit and build a Brighter Future" with the Liberal Democrats. All three main parties have distinct messages (or at least a distinct lack thereof), which should make voting at this election a very straight forward exercise. However, campaign experience shows that for the average voter absolutely nothing is clear.
For three years, Brexit has been dominating the political agenda wasting a disproportionate amount of time, effort and resources. Meanwhile, our NHS and schools are struggling due to chronic underfunding, our economy is flagging with minimal growth and the climate emergency is left to be tackled by school children.
As a Liberal Democrat I feel strongly about equality, diversity and inclusiveness and am proud that my party has a long tradition for fighting for these values and associated rights. By way of example, the Liberal Democrats abolished the horrible section 28 and we introduced equal marriage. We have still a long way to go to achieve equality and it saddens me to see discrimination and prejudice against transgender people.
In Brighton and Hove many music venues have shut in the last decade, including the Freebutt, Pressure Point, Blind Tiger Club and Sticky Mike's Frog Bar. These grassroots venues were vital in giving bands such as Blood Red Shoes, the Kooks and British Sea Power early opportunities to tour, as well as sustaining our city's vibrant music scene. Beatrice Bass, our Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate for Hove and Portslade, used to be a professional musician who started out at local venues before moving onto international tours. She wants to save our music venues and help keep Brighton and Hove a destination for live music.
The Agent of Change principle in planning law puts an obligation on developers building near live music venues to soundproof new developments, protecting music venues from being shut down from noise complaints ‒ as happened with the Freebutt and Blind Tiger Club. This also applies to other public venues, like pubs or clubs. Thanks to previous campaigns the Agent of Change principle has been added to the National Planning Policy Framework. However many local councils, including Brighton and Hove, haven't fully adopted this and are leaving grassroots venues in danger.
This week, the Office for National Statistics published a shocking set of figures. They show that 726 homeless people died in 2018 - a 22% increase since 2017.
This is an epidemic that is claiming far too many lives, and the Conservative Government is completely failing to get to grips with it. This is an epidemic that is claiming far too many lives
Liberal Democrats have passed the "Music Venues" policy motion at Autumn Conference in Bournemouth.
The new policy, which was introduced by our very own Beatrice Bass, Parliamentary candidate for Hove and Portslade, will protect music venues from closures through legislative changes, listing them as Assets of Community Value and providing more funding. The Liberal Democrats will be collaborating with existing organisations such as UK Music, the Music Venue Trust and the Arts Council.
Commenting on this commitment, Liberal Democrat Shadow Culture Secretary Layla Moran said:
"Liberal Democrats are committed to supporting the creative industries. This is good news for all local areas that have a thriving music scene.
"Too many venues have been shut down over the years and we know how vital grassroots venues are in nurturing local talent. We will do anything we can to protect existing venues.
"We will ask local authorities to implement the Agent of Change principle in local planning law, so that landlords and developers have to provide soundproofing to keep developments next to existing venues noise free."
Beatrice Bass, who submitted the motion to Conference on Monday morning, added:
"I am absolutely delighted that Lib Dem members passed my policy motion to save our music venues. As a former professional musician I am deeply concerned that over 35% of music venues have been closed in the UK in the last decade.
"This policy will ensure that existing venues are protected so that young up-and-coming artists have the space and opportunity to develop into the Coldplays, Muses or Adeles of tomorrow. It demonstrates the Lib Dems' commitment to support the creative industries and our diverse music scene in the UK."
In the three years since we started our calls for a People's Vote on the final deal, your hard work has taken it from a fringe view in British politics to a position that is now advocated by millions of people, and so many more MPs across both sides of the House of Commons.
I went into politics to put something back into the community I am from and to take our country in a progressive direction. My progressive values lead me to strive to work for a fair and open Britain, which has a strong, mixed market economy, in which everyone can achieve their dreams regardless of their background.
So write our local members in the Evening Argus this week.
Rob Heale wrote:
The statistics tell the story... the Lib Dems tripled their share of the vote and number of seats here in the South East Region in the European elections. In Brighton & Hove, they secured an excellent 22.2% of the vote and are the second party in the City, probably for the first time in a century. People can now vote for a progressive, forward-thinking party in the knowledge that their vote really does count.
So as you may have heard - Vince is stepping down. That means a leadership contest has been triggered. Here's how to have your say on the future of our party!
But who can vote for the next Lib Dem leader?
The answer is simple - to vote, you need to join the Lib Dems as a member.
The Liberal Democrats have secured the best ever European Election result in the party's history, returning 16 MEPs nationally and taking second place in vote share.
Lib Dems and Greens both beat the Brexit Party in Brighton and Hove and Labour came 4th.
Local election agent Paul Chandler said: "Many thanks to all in the city who voted Lib Dem today. We realise that for some people this is the first time they have voted Lib Dem. Please, don't make it the last!"
In the South East Region we have returned 3 MEPs on 26% of the vote, finishing in second place. We secured 8% in 2014 and our previous best result was 15.3%.
We have a chance on May 23rd to send a very loud message to Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn.
They're trying to cobble together a deal to get Brexit over the line and we need to tell them that the "will of the people" has changed. A recent YouGov poll showed 61% of people would vote to remain versus May's deal - there is no longer a majority in the country for Brexit!
The Liberal Democrats will fight these elections as an unapologetically pro-European Party campaigning hard for People's Votewith an option to remain in the the EU.
We are determined to give a voice to the millions of people who demand better than Brexit Britain.
We've announced a strong, diverse mix of candidates, from those who've joined the Liberal Democrats recently to those with long experience of the European Parliament.
On Thursday 2nd May we will have 26 council candidates standing across Brighton & Hove.
Vote for the Liberal Democrats for 1,500 new homes, improvements to local mental health services and cleaner air in our city. Vote for the Liberal Democrats to support trans rights, our city's vibrant music venues and more cycle lanes. Vote for the Liberal Democrats to stop Brexit, celebrate freedom of movement and embrace diversity.
The Liberal Democrats will fight these elections as an unapologetically pro-European Party campaigning hard for People's Votewith an option to remain in the the EU.
We will fight these elections on a clear message: a Liberal Democrat vote is a vote to stop Brexit.
Across the country, the strength of our membership of 100,000 is being deployed to prepare for both the European elections and for council elections. Please vote for our EU candidates in the South East Region on May 23rd:
Local election campaigns around the country are going well with just under two weeks left. Like many of you, our home has moved into our regular election machine, and our driveway is the Watford garden poster factory!
If you haven't yet, make sure to ask your local team for a garden poster (or window poster if you cannot have a garden one) and show your friends and neighbours that the Lib Dems are winning here!
On Wednesday 27th March, Brighton & Hove Community Land Trust held the first hustings ahead of the local elections on 2nd May. Duncan Moore was our council candidate representative for the Liberal Democrats, and there is an excellent write-up of the event by Sarah Booker-Lewis of Brighton & Hove News.
We have launched our local manifesto for the 2019 elections, packed with ideas to make our great city even better - by standing up for affordable housing, supporting Save Our Schools and, of course, opposing Brexit and advocating a People's Vote. Check out the web verison here or click on the image for a shareable, printable version. You can also find out who your local candidate is here (updated regularly).
Over 1,000 Liberal Democrats traveled to York and were rewarded with some beautifully crafted and delivered speeches and some from nervous first timers but they were all united in their passion for justice. Delegates from all over Europe spoke about their sadness at the possibility we might be no longer a part of the European Union and all speakers were united in their anger that we will be cast away from the biggest market in the world and the union that had brought peace, solidarity and free movement to so many diverse nations.
Jo started out with a heartfelt tribute to those killed in the Christchurch mosque shooting this morning. "The forces that sow hate and division and seek to turn fellow citizens against each other must not and cannot win"
She then paid tribute to outgoing leader Vince Cable - "a powerful champion for liberalism"
This week Jeremy Corbyn stuck two fingers up at Remainers.
When the time came to vote on the People's Vote amendment, he sat on his hands and ordered his MPs to do the same. My colleagues and I were livid - and judging by the reaction on social media, so were millions of Remainers.
If we've learnt anything this week, it's that Brexit is too important to be left in the hands of the politicians - a People's Vote is the only way forward.
![Chuka Umunna (Chris McAndrew [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)] https://pds.blog.parliament.uk/2017/07/21/mp-official-portraits-open-source-images/)](/en/image/65WnN3/600/600/chuka-umunna.png "Chuka Umunna (Chris McAndrew [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)] https://pds.blog.parliament.uk/2017/07/21/mp-official-portraits-open-source-images/)")
![Jo Swinson (Chris McAndrew [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)](/en/image/61CNnG/600/600/jo-swinson-24.png "Jo Swinson (Chris McAndrew [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)")
