Following huge successes in the May 2019 local election and Europe election, the Lib Dems have surged past the Conservatives to the top of the poll for a general election. Poll results may not be reliable, but there is no doubt the next leader of the Lib Dems will be one that cannot be ignored in Westminster. So who is in the frame to take over from Vince Cable in a few weeks?

On Friday 7th June, Bromley Liberal Democrats hosted a Question Time event.  A top class panel of London Lib Dems took questions from the vibrant audience gathered at the Orpington Liberal Club. The event was chaired by our own Chloe Jane Ross and the diverse panel featured London MEP Luisa Porritt; Roderick Lynch of the Liberal Democrats Campaign for Race Equality; our newly nominated GLA candidate for Bexley and Bromley, Allan Tweddle; and Siobhan Benita, the Lib Dem candidate for London Mayor.

On the party’s recent election wins Luisa Porritt said “We have to keep up that ground campaign no matter how exhausted we all feel”. Siobhan Benita agreed and called for the party to shout louder “We have been saying the right things and we are on the right side of history, but we’ve been saying it too quietly”

My earliest political memory was the election of Barack Obama in 2008, when I was just 8 years old. We were shown a video of one of his speeches, and while most of it went a little over my head, I remember being in total awe of the way he talked about change and how one person could make a difference. It is probably because of Obama that I became a liberal to begin with. It was bought to my attention again when I was 12 and he was gunning for re-election, and again I was blown away by the dignity and sincerity with which he articulated the liberal message.

For too long, landlords had been able to impose huge unfair charges on renters with little government oversight.

Three years ago, Liberal Democrat Baroness Olly Grender introduced a bill to the House of Lords on renters’ rights, to ban letting agents from charging excessive admin fees and protect tenants from rogue landlords.

This bill was left unfinished when the snap election was held in 2017, but the Liberal Democrats have continued to fight for renters’ rights.

The Liberal Democrat move led the Government to introduce a new Tenant Fees Bill last year, and we won a number of important amendments to prevent renters being charged unfair fees, cap tenancy deposits at five weeks’ rent and requiring more transparency when a deposit isn’t returned.

On June 6th that bill became law, giving renters a fairer deal in the private rental sector and protecting them from unaffordable deposits and extortionate fees.

Read a briefing from Generation Rent, which has been campaigning on the issue.

Congratulations to Allan Tweddle, our new Lib Dem London Assembly candidate for Bexley and Bromley photographed here with Siobhan Benita, the Lib Dem candidate for London Mayor.  

While all eyes have been focussed on our recent successes in the Local Council and EU elections, another small contest has been underway around London. The members of all of the capital's local parties have been selecting who should represent them in next year's London Assembly elections.

The votes were counted on the morning of Friday 7 June at Liberal Democrat HQ. Allan Tweddle said: "I'm delighted to announce that the members in Bexley and Bromley borough voted for me to stand as their candidate for the constituency that covers the region.  Thank you to everyone who voted for me."