South Hams Liberal Democrats

• Cafes, shops and start-ups are all looking at this winter with dread, yet all Boris Johnson can muster up is a massive new tax bill. The Conservatives must be living on another planet if they think the answer to business owners' problems is to put up their taxes.
• This country was promised tax cuts by the Conservatives, but yet again their promises have been proven not to be worth the paper they are written on.
• People and businesses need help now. We want to give our dedicated local business owners and entrepreneurs a helping hand, and to truly unleash Britain's potential.
• The proposed tax cut would save small businesses an average of £5,000 a year by aiding them with staff costs. It would be achieved by quadrupling the Employment Allowance to £16,000 for a period of two years.

Dear Sir Geoffrey,

I am writing to you in relation to ongoing concerns about the amount of time you dedicate to your professional activities in the British Virgin Islands, and the allegation that you infringed parliamentary standards by using your Westminster office for these purposes.

It's often said that how a society treats its most vulnerable is the measure of its humanity, but if that's the case, then this Government does not measure up. People who are clinically extremely vulnerable and their families are incredibly worried about the news of a new variant on our shores. For too long, the Government has ignored these people, their concerns around the vaccine programme and the lack of guidance and support. The Government must not ignore them any longer: it must be proactive in tackling this new variant and protect those most at risk. The clinically vulnerable deserve clear guidance and support from ministers instead of being treated as an afterthought. The decision to end the shielding programme - when many continued to shield - left our most vulnerable feeling like the rug had been pulled out from underneath them. It's high time the Government put support measures back in place, including getting on top of the utter mess surrounding third primary doses and introducing a shielding programme that genuinely supports those who need it.

The social Care vote represents yet another broken Tory promise. The Conservatives have rammed through half-baked proposals which break a promise to struggling families and make savings exclusively from the least well off. Far from levelling up, these changes double down on inequality between the rich and poor. Now, struggling families face the double whammy of tax hikes and potentially losing their home to fund spiraling care costs. Liberal Democrats opposed these unfair and divisive plans and will continue to fight for a fair and long term solution which will address the social care crisis facing families every day.

Since waste collection has been outsourced to a private company, the service in the South Hams has been patchy at best. OK in some areas but shocking in others. And now brown bin collections have been suspended until at least Spring 2022. We'd like to hear about your experience and what you would like to see moving forward.

A Conservative minister has failed to rule out triggering Article 16 before Christmas, risking disruption to families and businesses over the festive period.

Responding to an urgent question in Parliament this morning by Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael, Conservative Paymaster General Michael Ellis failed to rule out triggering the mechanism this side of Christmas, adding that "we want a negotiated outcome but we are willing to use Article 16."

Several people set up a "Missing MP" banner in Tavistock last Saturday, in protest at Geoffrey Cox allegedly moonlighting in the Virgin Islands, and not being available in his constituency. A lot of people seemed to find it amusing, as it made a point about standards in government, with which they largely agree.

Cllr John Birch, a Totnes district councillor, says

"Executive Committee member Cllr Hopwood voted to suspend the brown bin collection and not allow a one-off collection. A few days later she ignored council rules by organising a brown bin collection in her ward of Woolwell at a cost of £3150.

She hoped the Council would pay the bill so that she could get the credit in her ward for getting the brown bins emptied. At the same time the rest of South Hams had to do without a collection. The Council's solicitor was having none of this and Cllr Hopwood was forced to apologise for her breach of the Council's code of conduct.