Lib Dem prospective candidates are lining up to take part in next year’s Worthing Borough and Adur District Council elections. We want them to be good and ready to take their place on the benches, ask the right questions and do their best for their residents.

They will be following in well trodden footsteps as anyone who listens to the recordings of Worthing Borough Council (WBC) on the Adur & Worthing Councils’ website can attest. Liberal Democrat councillors can be heard asking question after question whereas the backbenches of the Tory party are deafeningly silent. It is the same in the Joint Overview & Scrutiny Committee which should be holding the Cabinet to account.

Maybe the Tory backbenches have no need to ask questions as they are fully informed by their Cabinet members. We doubt it from their facial expressions when we ask those difficult questions and they are open-mouthed when they hear the responses.

Lib Dem councillors are kept fully informed with daily briefings on the issues of the day and offered every chance to express their opinion to get a consensus view. Tory councillors appear to be kept deliberately in the dark.

Training on how to be a good councillor starts this week – if you would like to take part and become part of the enlightened team please let us know.

Get in training now.

Wednesday 23rd October – The European Parliament today voted on a report calling more European cooperation to address organised crime, corruption and money-laundering in the EU. The report calls for stronger maritime cooperation and border management to stamp out human-trafficking and the smuggling of counterfeit products, weapons and illegal drugs. It also calls for better information-sharing and coordination between national authorities to enable them to fight organised crime and confiscate criminal assets more effectively. The proposed European Public Prosecutor’s Office would only have responsibility for prosecuting alleged fraud on the EU budget. Any future proposal to widen its powers would be subject to unanimity in the European Council and could therefore be vetoed by the UK.Catherine Bearder, Lib Dem MEP for South East England said: “Shockingly, at a time when governments across Europe are struggling to balance the books, we are losing billions of pounds worth of tax revenue each year to gangs of ruthless criminals. VAT fraud alone is estimated to account for €100 billion of lost revenue a year to the EU, while £4.7 billion of taxes are being lost to criminals annually in the UK. Moreover, up to 14,500 British jobs are being lost in manufacturing and retail because legitimate companies cannot compete with the counterfeit goods flooding our streets. Enhancing European cooperation will not only strengthen the ability of British police to bring organised criminals to justice, it will put hard-earned money back into the pockets of British taxpayers and create more jobs.The Ports in Kent are on the frontline of this fight and we need to give them the tools to properly tackle organised crime.”

Commenting on the call for the formation of European Public Prosecutor’s Office to tackle fraud on the EU budget, which costs over £432mn a year, Catherine said: “The UK, as stated in the coalition agreement, has already decided that it won’t be part of the European wide Public Prosecutor to prosecute criminal activity. However Liberal Democrat MEPs today supported the formation of a Prosecutor to tackle the fraud on our own EU budgets across all European member states, therefore preventing taxpayers’ money from being wasted and stolen. The decision by the Tories and UKIP to oppose this measure smacks of hypocrisy. They like to complain about fraud on the EU budget, but when push comes to shove they aren’t willing to do anything about it.” (Catherine Bearder Press Release)

 

BEARDER CALLS ON EU TO SPEED UP RELEASE OF GREENPEACE ACTIVISTS

Wednesday 23rd October – Catherine Bearder today called on High Representative of the EU Catherine Ashton to press the Russian authorities over the 28 Greenpeace activists, including her constituent Philip Ball, and two freelance journalists currently being detained on charges of piracy. 89 MEPs, including nine Liberal Democrat MEPs, have signed a statement of solidarity with the Arctic 30 on the Greenpeace website.

Liberal Democrat MEP for the South East Catherine Bearder met many of the crew members aboard the Arctic Sunrise last June when it docked in Hastings as part of a UK campaign to support endangered local fishing communities.

She spoke in support of the activists in the European Parliament today and commented: “I welcome the news that the piracy charges have been dropped. Even President Putin had admitted it’s obvious the Greenpeace personnel and independent journalists accompanying them were not pirates. What they were doing is highlighting the risks and dangers inherent in oil extraction in the Arctic region. They were speaking for all of us who, following the Gulf of Mexico Oil spill, worry about extraction in even more vulnerable parts of the globe.The European Parliament needs to show we are doing all we can to support them. That is why I am calling on High Representative Catherine Ashton to take up this issue at the next meeting of EU foreign ministers on 21st November, just three days before the activists’ pre-detention hearing. That way we can help to secure their release, get them all home for Christmas and start working with Gazprom to really ensure safe exploration in the Arctic. My thoughts are with Phillip Ball and his family. I can only begin to imagine what he and his colleagues are going through after being arbitrarily locked up in cold cells and solitary confinement.”

Greenpeace EU director Jorgo Risscommented: “It is encouraging to see that the EU recognises the dangers of drilling in the Arctic’s hostile environment. We welcome its concern about the people who protested against Gazprom’s reckless plans and hope the growing worldwide movement of support will help to get our activists and the journalists released soon.” (Catherine Bearder Press Release).