Sam Al-Hamdani – Page 49 – Saddleworth Liberal Democrats

04Dec 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Revealed: Areas with most small businesses set to pay new National Insurance levy

New analysis reveals 144 constituencies have more than 2,000 small businesses set to pay Conservative manifesto-breaking tax rise. Hardest hit areas include Cities of London and Westminster (28,500), Manchester Central (4,500) and Bristol West (3,500). Together, the two Oldham constituencies have 2,500 businesses that will be affected. Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey will call for the planned tax hike to be scrapped during a visit to North Shropshire to mark Small Business Saturday. Research published by the Liberal Democrats has revealed the areas of the country with the most small businesses set to be hit by Boris Johnson’s manifesto-breaking National Insurance tax rise. Analysis by the House of Commons Library commissioned by the party estimates that in 144 constituencies, over 2,000 small businesses are set to pay the new levy.…

04Dec 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Booster jabs: Government cannot afford any more delays and mistakes

Parliamentary news

Responding to the news that most under-40s are unlikely to be able to book their booster jab until the new year, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said: "For months the government's booster programme has been a botch job. Millions of eligible people are still waiting for their booster. "On top of that ministers have have failed to fix the vital third jab roll-out for clinically vulnerable people, leaving thousands without this extra protection this winter. "Ministers must pull out all the stops to sort out this mess and speed up the booster roll-out in the coming weeks. The government cannot afford any more delays and mistakes."

04Dec 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Government crazy to ignore SAGE advice on working from home

Parliamentary news

Responding to the latest SAGE advice on Omicron, which says that working from home is a "highly relevant" measure for reducing Covid cases, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said: “How many times does SAGE need to recommend ‘working from home’ before the government actually listens? "Working from home is a cheap and simple way to reduce contacts and COVID transmission, and the government is crazy to ignore it."

04Dec 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani

PM panic visit to North Shropshire a cynical attempt to gloss over decades of neglect

Parliamentary news

Commenting on Boris Johnson's visit to North Shropshire, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader and Health Spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said: "The Prime Minister turning up in North Shropshire is nothing less than a panic visit, two weeks out from the election because he’s scared of an upset. "His visit will be seen for what it is - a cynical attempt to gloss over the fact that people are worried sick about ambulance wait times and feel taken for granted. "The people of North Shropshire are ready to send a message to Johnson’s government: their local health services have been failed, local farmers are being failed, and Shropshire couldn’t be further away from his levelling up agenda. “We need to send this Prime Minister a message that he can’t just jump in…

03Dec 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Andy Burnham and GMP fail to provide matched funding for child safeguarding

Borough news, CSE, domestic abuse and violence

A year after the child and safeguarding teams in all 10 areas of Greater Manchester wrote to highlight the failure of Greater Manchester Police and the GM Mayor to provide equitable funding for child safeguarding across the whole of the region, there has been no change to the funding made. At November’s Overview and Scrutiny meeting in Oldham (14/11/21), Liberal Democrat Councillor Mark Kenyon identified the funding gap, and demanded to know why it still existed. Councillor Kenyon said: “Safeguarding children is crucial work in Oldham and across the whole of Greater Manchester so I was alarmed to see that despite the funding inequalities being highlighted to the GM Mayor’s office over a year ago, nothing has changed.” Government guidance indicates that safeguarding partners – in this case the local…

01Dec 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Liberal Democrat call for Oldham Borough to support Small Business Saturday

Borough news

This Christmas, Liberal Democrat councillors are once more calling on local residents to support their local retailers on Small Business Saturday (4 December). Liberal Democrat Group Leader, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, explained why: “Local shops, cafes and pubs are the lifeblood of our high street; without them our district centres would be ghost towns. Every pound spent with a local retailer is a pound that goes into our local economy. It supports local business owners, helps support local jobs and sustains local suppliers, instead of going into the back-pocket of a multi-billionaire with enough money to go space travelling!” Small Business Saturday was first started in the United States in 2010 to highlight the criticality of shoppers spending with independent small businesses, rather than big chains. The campaign is now…

01Dec 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Carers taken for granted by Conservative Government

Parliamentary news

Responding to the Government's new white paper proposals on social care, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey MP said: “Carers and their loved ones deserve far more support, but with these proposals the Conservative Government is taking them for granted yet again. “More than 1.5 million people are missing out on the care they need. To pretend you can fix that with no new funding, and without addressing the huge shortage of staff, is just insulting people’s intelligence. “Boris Johnson has broken promise after promise on social care. He’s hitting people with an unfair tax rise while failing to protect people from losing their homes. “Social care is far too important for another Boris bodge. Let’s finally have the serious cross-party talks we need to agree a long-term solution…

01Dec 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Zahawi breaks yet another promise as school absences soar by 80,000

Parliamentary news

The Liberal Democrats have accused Education Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, of breaking more promises as new statistics from the Department for Education revealed 216,000 children have missed school over two weeks, a rise of 47%. Despite the Education Secretary’s promises to tackle these absences “head on” in October, these figures show 1 in 50 students have missed school during the last two weeks. This is in addition to his broken promises on “investing in schools” to beat Covid, with the Government only stumping up one-third of the recommended catch up funding. Zahawi also promised to “do far more for vulnerable children”, yet IFS figures show that the most deprived schools have been hit the hardest and the failure of the National Tutoring Programme. The party also says he has not listened…

01Dec 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani

“At long last”, Oldham Liberal Democrat Leader is delighted to hear sexual offences loophole finally to be closed

Parliamentary news

After a two-year campaign this was the response of Oldham Liberal Democrat Group Leader Councillor Howard Sykes MBE on finally receiving confirmation that a loophole in sexual offences law will be closed. Under current ‘Position of Trust’ legislation, certain individuals with responsibility for young people aged 16 and 17 years can legally engage in sexual activity with those young persons, even though they are often very vulnerable. For over two years, Councillor Sykes and his Oldham Liberal Democrat colleagues have been campaigning to close the hoop hole by making it a sexual offence for any person in authority to engage with a young person in their care. In October, Councillor Sykes wrote to the newly appointed Lord Chancellor asking the government to move forward with the necessary new legislation. Finally…

30Nov 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Storm Arwen: Government “abandoning” rural communities hit by power cuts

Parliamentary news

The Liberal Democrats have demanded that the Government provide emergency support to rural communities who have been left without power for days after Storm Arwen. In a letter to ministers from Liberal Democrat Communities Spokesperson Tim Farron MP, Welsh Party Leader Jane Dodds MS and local North Shropshire candidate Helen Morgan, the party warns that rural communities in areas like North Shropshire are being taken for granted and “abandoned by the Government in their time of need.” Tim Farron also raised the issue in Parliament yesterday and criticised the Government for failing to make an official ministerial statement on the issue. The letter calls for ministers to step in and provide food, emergency accommodation and other essential supplies to vulnerable people on the ground impacted by the storm. It also…

Author: Sam Al-Hamdani