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"The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity."
From the Preamble to the Constitution of the Liberal Democrats
Heathrow Third Runway Victory
A High Court judge has ordered the Government to review its decision to build a third Heathrow runway.
A coalition of local councils, residents, Lib Dems and environmental groups have argued that the expansion of Europe's busiest airport was at odds with the UK's environmental targets under the 2008 Climate Change Act. The Government had argued that it attached proper environmental conditions to the project when it decided to support it.
In a long-awaited ruling on 26 March 2010, Lord Justice Carnwath ruled that the Government's argument was "untenable".
Liberal Democrat MP Susan Kramer (Richmond Park), who has led the Lib Dem campaign against Heathrow expansion, was reported in The Times as saying: "This is a declaration of victory, the final nail in the coffin for the Government’s attempts to steamroll over local and national opposition to its disastrous third runway plans."
She added: "The expansion of Heathrow would be a catastrophe for our climate and for the thousands of Londoners who would be forced to live with the huge disruption it will cause. "There is no way the Government can tear up what it has already done and start again – because we know the real climate change figures prove that there is no economic case for expansion at all. Labour's tough talk on climate change is just hot air."
Campaigns
Lib Dems are renowned for achieving things through effective campaigns
Here are some current campaigns which Liberal Democrats are leading or actively supporting
Local Campaigns
In close coalition with
environmental groups, residents and local councils,
Liberal Democrat MP Susan Kramer has led the Lib Dem
campaign against the third runway at Heathrow
. In a long-awaited
High Court ruling on 26 March 2010, Lord Justice Carnwath
ruled that the Government's argument was "untenable"
-- see story in right panel.
. Senior NHS staff have
blown the whistle on Labour proposals to close Accident and
Emergency services and Maternity services at Kingston Hospital.
creeping closures of local community hospital beds across Surrey have sparked a campaign by concerned residents, which local Lib Dems strongly support. This looks worryingly like the start of a covert reduction of community hospital facilities. We want Surrey NHS to come clean on their plans.
Lib Dem National Campaigns
freedom.libdems.org.uk. Here's a selection of the
measures incorporated in our first draft:
Almost all the reforms needed can be achieved in the next 100 days, and we should not let the process go on longer than this. This is possible because most of the necessary legislation is already before Parliament - it is just currently being blocked by establishment figures.
Liberal Democrats launch a campaign against airbrushing in advertising. The Liberal Democrat airbrushing campaign is backed by the National
Centre for Eating Disorders, Girlguiding UK and leading academics. It
encourages people to report adverts featuring heavily airbrushed
images of women to advertising watchdogs.
Lib Dems fight to protect our green spaces. The Government’s current
planning policies treat your back garden as a “brownfield
site” - like an old industrial site - which means they
are vulnerable to infill development. You can help tell
the Government that you want your back garden protected,
by supporting the Lib Dem
Hands off our Back
Gardens petition.