The Liberal Democrats have set out how to help people struggling with rising energy costs with the publication of Tackling Fuel Poverty, launched today by Nick Clegg.

Energy companies should be compelled to use the money from a £9bn European windfall to help protect some of the most vulnerable people from the effects of fuel poverty, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said today.

The call comes as the Liberal Democrats publish their document Tackling Fuel Poverty, which sets out measures designed to help people struggling from rising energy costs.

The energy firms received the multi billion pound windfall thanks to the giveaway of free permits to emit carbon dioxide under the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme. Previous estimates have put the proceeds of that windfall at £9bn, although a recent letter to Nick Clegg from Ofgem estimates the true figure could be even higher.

Proposals in Tackling Fuel Poverty include:

• Making energy companies invest £500m a year into a rolling programme to make sure homes are properly insulated


• Requiring energy companies to roll out social tariffs to over two million vulnerable customers


• Installing smart meters in homes, which display real time consumption costs.

Liberal Democrats in Harlow are calling for tougher action against those caught selling knives to children and young people.

Liberal Democrat council leader Cllr Chris Millington made the call after being sent figures for prosecutions that were uncovered in Parliament by Chris Huhne MP, the party's Shadow Home Secretary.

The figures reveal that:

• Only 71 people have been successfully prosecuted for selling knives to children in the last five years


• None were sent to prison and only one was given a community sentence


• 56 people were fined, but 21 of them were given fines of less than £200

Cllr Millington said:

"This is a completely inadequate deterrent to unscrupulous shop keepers who flout the law to sell these weapons to children and young people.

These tiny fines and a lack of custodial punishment is the wrong signal to those who profit from the illegal sale of knives.

These figures are particularly worrying as they came to light only days after the release of other figures showing 289 serious crimes in Essex involved a knife in 2007/8. Knife crime constitutes 16 per cent of all serious crimes taking place here.

These figures do not record children and young people separately, but they do show that knife crime is a serious problem. It is too easy for children and young people to get hold of knives. Too many are being drawn into a culture of carrying and using knives.

Liberal Democrats believe that the courts must take a much stronger stand against those who are fuelling knife crime by illegally selling knives to children and young people. Cutting the supply of knives will be one of the most effective ways to reducing knife crime in the first place."

Liberal Democrats in Harlow have welcomed the launch of the Liberal Democrats' vision for Britain by Party Leader Nick Clegg MP. Called Make it Happen, the paper will be debated at the party's conference in Bournemouth in September.
In Make it Happen the Liberal Democrats say:

• They will cut taxes for ordinary families


• If your local hospital can't see you on time, they will pay for treatment elsewhere


• They will switch taxes from people to pollution - so it pays to go green


• To improve standards in education, they will fund extra help for those who need it most


• They will put Britain at the heart of Europe to make us a force for good in the world


• They will stop ID cards so we can keep control of our privacy


• They will change the voting system so everyone's voice counts


• They will bring communities together with local people in charge


• They will give communities a say in how offenders pay for their crimes

Harlow Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Chris Millington said: "I am delighted to be able to back Make it Happen. It sets out how the Liberal Democrats will run Britain.

No resident of Harlow has escaped the rising cost of food and fuel. The credit crunch is biting hard and local people are feeling the pinch.

Nick Clegg has set out how we can help ordinary people through cutting taxes on those on low and middle incomes. Thousands of people in Harlow will benefit from this.

We are taking the plans in Make it Happen to the people of Harlow during the summer to get their response. And in September, we will be heading to the Liberal Democrats' conference where we are looking forward to taking part in the debate."

Liberal Democrats at Essex County Council have voted against Tory plans to build large waste treatment plants in Essex. The vote was taken after a debate on waste at County Hall. Commenting on the vote, Cllr Ian Gale, Essex County Council Liberal Democrats spokesman for waste and recycling, said:

"We have repeatedly raised our concerns over the Conservatives' plans to deal with waste in the future. We oppose the massive waste treatment plants favoured by the Tories, as these plants need constant feeding and that is likely to discourage more recycling. We believe that the recycling targets set by the administration are too timid and this view is backed up by an independent Commission that looked at the Conservatives' proposals.

We also have concerns about the proposed finance arrangements of these plans. The plan is for PFI funding from central government and we have reservations about the success of this type of funding, especially as it will lock the council into inflexible 25-30 year contracts.

We had no hesitation in voting against these proposals which we do not think serve the best interests of residents."

Lord Hanningfield, Conservative leader of Essex County Council, has slammed a proposal by the Liberal Democrats to allow the public to speak directly to councillors at council meetings and to ask questions about the work of the council. The Leader made his comments at a debate on public participation at a meeting of the full council.

Responding to the comments, Cllr Tom Smith-Hughes, Liberal Democrats group leader on Essex County Council, said:

"The Leader's comments today show a level of arrogance that is almost impossible to comprehend. There are many district and borough councils across Essex that have had such a permanent and designated spot for members of the public for several years. We are only asking for something that the public is getting already from their councils locally anyway.

I'm sure the public is as fed up as I and my Liberal Democrat colleagues are, with this high-handed Conservative Leader and administration, fobbing us off with loaded questions on public consultations and passing those off as meaningful public engagement. There is no direct public involvement at the decision making level of the county council and the public is only involved when specifically invited in.

The Conservative talk of localism and devolvement of power to the people is clearly just talk. The Conservatives are simply not to be trusted on this issue."

Liberal Democrats at Essex County Council have put forward plans for members of the public to take part in open council meetings at County Hall. A motion submitted by the group proposes a 'public questions' spot at meetings of the full council, where any member of the public can put a question directly to the administration. Speaking about the idea, Cllr Tom Smith-Hughes, Liberal Democrats group leader on Essex County Council, said:

"It is about time that local residents and taxpayers were given an opportunity to take an active role in how their council works, what their council tax is used for and why decisions are made. It is not enough to talk the localism talk, residents must be included in the democratic process in a real and meaningful way.

As Liberal Democrats, we are fundamentally committed to sharing decision making powers with members of the community and that must start with a formal and permanent place for the public at open council meetings, similar to other authorities. In addition, we are also calling for an investigation to be carried out into further and innovative ways of opening up the council's meetings and processes to the public."

The motion will be debated at the next full meeting of Essex County Council on 15 July.

Liberal Democrats in Harlow have launched a stinging attack on Bill Rammell, Labour MP for Harlow, for siding with phone company giants rather than residents in a row over the power of communities to stop inappropriately sited phone masts.

Currently, fewer restrictions govern planning applications for phone masts up to 15 metres in height, often making it difficult for councils like Harlow to refuse permission for controversial proposals.

Liberal Democrats in Parliament recently moved an amendment to the Planning Bill which would have meant applications for phone masts would have required full planning permission and therefore be considered in the same way as applications for new buildings or change of use of existing ones.

But Labour MPs, including Mr Rammell, voted against the call - and Conservative MPs did not bother voting at all. Local Liberal Democrat planning spokesman Cllr Lorna Spenceley says:

"Bill Rammell had the opportunity to side with local communities or with giant phone companies. It is extremely disappointing so see that he decided to back the latter - and that the Conservatives just sat on their hands.

The change the Liberal Democrats proposed in the House of Commons would have given residents a fighting chance to stop inappropriately sited phone masts. It would have meant the phone companies would have had to apply for full planning permission in the same way that any other business would need to."

Local leader Cllr Chris Millington has welcomed the announcement by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg that his party is committing to unilaterally introduce proposals rejected by Parliament yesterday on the audit of MPs' expenses. These include independent spot checks of the expenses of the party's MPs. Chris said:

"It is good to see Liberal Democrat MPs setting an example and showing that they have nothing to fear from open, independent scrutiny of their expenses.

I hope that the Labour and Conservative leaderships will follow Nick Clegg's lead in implementing these measures, and we can begin to restore public confidence in politicians."

Harlow Labour MP Bill Rammell was absent from the vote in parliament on external audit of MPs' expenses. No Liberal Democrat MP voted against the proposals for independent external audit.

Councils should be set free from depending on Whitehall funding by raising three-quarters of their money locally, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said today in a speech to the Local Government Association Conference in Bournemouth.

Explaining the Liberal Democrats' position as the only party willing to properly devolve power and money away from central government by re-localising business rates and scrapping the council tax, Nick accused the Government and the Tories of only 'talking the talk' about empowering communities. Nick also labelled the regional ministerial posts introduced a year ago by Gordon Brown as 'pointless gimmicks' and call for them to be scrapped. Nick said:

"Centralised government simply doesn't work to deliver the change I want for Britain. It doesn't improve services fast enough. And it certainly doesn't deliver fairer outcomes - where everybody gets opportunities no matter what their background is.

If the New Labour decade has taught us anything - this is surely it. The great experiment of trying to improve our public services for everyone by pouring money in through a tight funnel in Number 10 Downing Street has failed."

Speaking about radically reforming how local government is funded, he said:

"The Liberal Democrats are committed to scrapping Council Tax. It's Britain's unfairest tax. Based on property values nearly twenty years ago, instead of what people can afford to pay.

But our commitment to Local Income Tax isn't just about fairness. It's about localising power, too. Because with a local income tax in place, we can decentralise our tax system. Transferring tax-raising powers from national to local government.

My ambition is to switch from a regime where councils raise just a quarter of the money they spend, and get the rest in handouts from the centre. To a regime where they get a grant for just a quarter of the money they spend - and get the rest from local taxes, decided by local people."

Calling for regional ministers to be scrapped, Nick said:

"It's time to scrap regional ministers and spend the money on something useful. Devolving power isn't about having a national minister 'advocating' national policy in the regions. It's about letting the regions - and below them, councils, communities and people - make decisions for themselves.

I've looked into this - and by the time of the next general election we taxpayers will have spent well over two million pounds on this futile project. In fact, it's not clear what these pointless gimmicks spend their time doing. Except costing us a lot of money."