Scotland's A&E performance continues to slide
Responding to new figures showing that only 63.4% of patients were seen across Scotland within the 4 hour target, Liberal Democrat Scottish Affairs spokesperson Christine Jardine said:
4 Apr 2023
Wera Hobhouse MP urges government to incentivise solar power
29 Feb 2024
As 172,000 suffer Long Covid, Yousaf must come good on promises
Following new statistics by the Office for National Statistics which show that 172,000 Scots are suffering from Long Covid, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today urged the First Minister to “come good” on his promi
4 Apr 2023
Car thieves “getting away with it” as just 5% charged
Leicestershire's Liberal Democrats have accused the Conservatives of letting their communities down as new analysis reveals that just 5% of car thefts in Leicestershire result in a charge.
4 Apr 2023
District Council Elections May 2023 Manifesto published
The manifesto on which Derbyshire Dales Lib Dems will campaign for the May elections has been published.
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4 Apr 2023
930 children’s operations locally cancelled over past five years
245 children's operations have been cancelled at hospitals locally last year, many due to a shortage of staff and beds, shocking figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats have revealed.
4 Apr 2023
Thousands of children have had their operations cancelled or delayed
New research by the Liberal Democrats using FOI (freedom of information) has shown that about 15,000 operations on children were cancelled during 2022, some children having waited several years. The number is up over 20% on the previous year. The figure may be higher as not all hospitals, including our own UHBD seem to have returned the replies in time. Behind these shocking figures are countless children and parents in our community having to wait in pain and distress.
4 Apr 2023
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!”
