In his New Year Message Liberal Democrat Acting Leader, Ed Davey, highlights the opportunities and priorities for Liberal Democrats in 2020, including tackling the climate emergency and social injustice alongside, opposing Brexit and promoting internationalism.
Penwortham's name is derived from Pen (a hill), Wort (green) and Ham (settlement); at the time of in the Domesday Book the place was called Penverdent.
The Preamble to the Constitution of The Liberal Democrats tells us:
HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE EAST SUFFOLK LIB DEMS WEBSITE Its been our busiest year for the East Suffolk Lib Dems website. With 17,000 unique visitors and 400,000 hits we have clearly proven to have been a valuable source of news, information and comment about the Liberal Democrats, locally and nationally. Getting our stories and news into the mainstream media continues to be difficult as the 2019 election campaigns have proved yet again. We must therefore continue to create and develop our own channels of communication and sources of information. We are still a comparatively new website, making steady progress within the limitations of our platform. This year we have published 177 articles (almost 15 each month) and numerous supporting pages, events and downloaded documents. In 2020 we want to do more. So: We want you to send us your news and views These can be in the form of a 'letter to the Editor', an article that you have crafted or just a comment about something that we have published.
Few of us can say 2019 went exactly the way they wanted it to.
Following the civil partership of Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan today, LGBT+ Liberal Democrats welcome the introduction of mixed-sex civil partnerships in England and Wales.
Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath and spokesperson for Energy Security and Net Zero, called on the government to provide incentives for energy providers to develop solar power in the UK.
Mrs Hobhouse slammed the government for falling behind on meeting the UK’s renewable targets for solar energy capacity. The government plans to deploy 70 GW of solar power across the country by 2035. However, as of 2022, the UK had only installed 14.3 GW of solar pv.
Following a visit to a rooftop solar system installed by Bath & West Community Energy (BWCE) at Beechen Cliff School last year, Wera Hobhouse is keen to encourage the development of similar solar projects across Bath. The solar system is predicted to significantly cut the school’s fuel costs and reduce their carbon emissions by 52 tonnes a year.
In the House of Commons on the 27th February, the Bath MP noted that the UK is lagging behind the rest of the world in renewable energy investment, she urged the government to offer incentives to energy providers to improve solar capacity.
However, Andrew Bowie, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Energy Security and Net Zero, ignored Hobhouse’s proposals, failing to describe the ways in which the government could incentivise solar energy. Instead, Bowie said that the government’s Solar Taskforce would publish recommendations for solar power and reiterated the government’s target to deploy 70 GW by 2035.
Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath and spokesperson for Energy Security and Net Zero, commented:
“The Conservatives are falling dangerously behind on meeting our targets for renewable energy production. It is no good the government setting an ambitious 70 GW solar target if they are nowhere near reaching it.
“It is clear that they have no plan to get us back on track to reach Net Zero. Evidently, they are more than happy to dismiss perfectly good proposals like incentivising solar power. That is why I am so proud that Bath is home to many community energy projects like the solar system at Beechen Cliff School, so that we can lead the way in renewables.”
“It is not just our climate targets harmed by the Conservatives’ delay. Families in Bath and across the country are struggling to pay soaring energy bills which investment in renewables could curb. That is why we Liberal Democrats would build significantly more renewable energy, aiming to generate 80% of our electricity from renewables by 2030.”
Peter Capener, Managing Director of Bath & West Community Energy said:
“Our work with schools is really demonstrating the value of community energy in both addressing the climate crisis and reducing fuel bills. Rooftop solar installed last year has already saved local schools a combined total of £134,209 and has reduced carbon emissions by 224.3 tonnes, which is equivalent to 12,173 journeys from Bath to Edinburgh by train!”
