The Liberal Democrats are calling for an extension of the Government’s furlough scheme until the jobs market is “ready to bounce back” in the wake of “staggering job losses” across the country. 

With 5.8% of people now relying on Universal Credit in Poole, the Party claims that extending furlough would help “stop this crisis getting even worse” and protect jobs for the future. 

The Liberal Democrats are calling for EU citizens to be given the automatic right to stay in the UK, as new official figures show 11,360 EU nationals living in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council area have not been granted permanent Settled Status to remain in the UK.

The Liberal Democrats are urging the Government to extend income support for self-employed workers after they declared victory in convincing the Government to extend furlough payments for employees, preventing redundancies.

Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey, who is asking the public to join his campaign to protect workers, warned "taxi drivers, hairdressers, cleaners, childcare providers and millions of other self-employed people are still not getting the help they need."

The call comes after the Chancellor annouced the Job Retention Scheme, currently covering nearly a quarter of UK jobs, will continue to October with employees receiving 80% of their monthly wages up to £2,500.

The Liberal Democrats are at the forefront of cross party calls for urgent additional funding for local authorities going “above and beyond” in their response to the COVID-19 crisis. 

The Liberal Democrats have launched a campaign to protect furloughed workers and their families with proposals to continue furlough payments when lockdown measures are eased, preventing redundancies.

Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey, who is asking the public to join his campaign to protect furloughed workers, said his party's plans would give people "that time and that confidence and help avoid further large-scale job losses."

Brexit is making the staffing crisis at Poole Hospital even worse, the Liberal Democrats have warned.

Figures published by the Liberal Democrats reveal that 66 EU staff working at Poole Hospital have already left the health service this year including 24 nurses and midwives. 

The Conservative Governments' funding cuts to the NHS have directly led to plans to downgrade Poole Hospital’s “Highly-Rated” A&E services and the closure of the maternity unit in Poole, at a time when have been shown to treat record numbers of patients. This is an absolute travesty, and we must continue to fight to stop that downgrade, protect Poole Hospital and the NHS.

The Liberal Democrats announce today that they would allow Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole to increase council tax by up to 500% on empty homes that are left empty long-term.

On Saturday 19th October, One Million people marched in London to demand a People’s Vote on the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal. The Poole Liberal Democrats were there in big numbers to demonstrate our undivided and continuing support for our place in the heart of Europe.

Along with our friends and colleagues in Dorset for Europe, it was an early start on coaches from Poole to London, our presence at the march showed our love for our community, our country and our future.

As the rain started to fall this did not dampen our spirits, we all stood together in Parliament Square anticipating the result of the Letwin Amendment taking place in the Commons only yards away. The scenes outside Parliament were electric after we once again defeated the Government on their extreme hard Brexit position.

The speeches given by the Liberal Democrat MPs were some of the best of the day, with our leader Jo Swinson stealing the show demonstrating the unashamedly Pro – European stance of the Lib Dems what a contrast to that of the Labour Party. Former Leader of Poole Council, Brian Clements started the chanting of “Where’s Jeremy Corbyn”, with the leader of the opposition once more sitting on the fence on the biggest issue of our time. Also, Cllr Millie Earl was there flying the Dorset flag high from Hyde Park to Parliament Square. The Poole Liberal Democrats are proud to be from Dorset, the UK and also Europe.

Our Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, Victoria Collins stated her strong Pro-European position with the following statement;

“The million people who came together in London to march for a Europe and a People's Vote is incredible. That included many from Poole who travelled together for this momentous occasion. This clearly shows how the public mood has shifted and our place is at the heart of Europe. A recent study showed that Poole would be among the top 30 towns to be most negatively affected by Brexit”.

Victoria added that, “We strongly believe that Poole deserves to thrive and to do so in a thriving Europe”.

All in all, a very successful day, with the PM suffering defeat once again and another extension seeming very likely, we will be ready to march once again for our place in the heart of Europe very soon.

Poole Liberal Democrats are pleased to announce the selection of their new prospective parliamentary candidate, Victoria Collins, to represent them in the next General Election.