Some statistics for England and Wales:

• Knife crime is up 80 % in 5 years, a record
• Robberies are up 65 % since 2015
• 999 call response times are the worst they've ever been
• Children as young as 12 are being exploited by hard drugs gangs including County Lines
• Fewer than one in 10 of crimes results in a charge - that's halved in 5 years
  
  Is this a surprise when we have 7,500 fewer frontline police on our streets and many police stations closed?
  Derbyshire Constabulary has been doing slightly better than this on some counts, but is starved of funding just like any other, and was criticised in the January 2020 report by HM Inspector of Constabulary on several points including less good protection for the most vulnerable.

  Kate Smith Lib Dem candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner says:
  "We will bring back proper community policing, ensuring officers are visible, trusted and known personally to local people. Police and PCSOs must have protected time to gather intelligence, forge relationships and expand partnership working with schools, youth services and other community organisations. Some of this collaborative work is already good, but it needs imaginative expansion and a lot more funding".
  "We recognise the increasing trend towards cybercrime and online-enabled crime such as dealing, fraud and harassment. Whilst 'boots on the beat' are crucial, it's also important we increase the numbers of officers who can work at speed to gather, evaluate and channel online evidence, whilst keeping up their face-to-face communication skills and community relationships".
  "We must take a fresh and effective, public-health approach to youth violence. We will work to reverse the up to 70 % cuts to youth services over the last decade".
  "And we must value and protect our officers. Solo-crewed patrols must be minimised, and we will argue that all police staff should have an immediate 2% pay rise to help with recruitment and retention. All frontline officers should have training in response to mental ill-health, and mental health practitioners should be stationed in police control rooms 24/7. We will work to ensure that officers themselves receive occupational mental health assessments twice a year to help identify and mitigate work-related trauma".

Sir Ed Davey, the acting Lib Dem leader, has said that it was hypocritical of Boris Johnson to be declaring his support for free trade while at the same time making trade with the EU harder. Commenting on Johnson's speech, Ed Davey said:

For the last four years, the Liberal Democrats have proudly fought to stop Brexit.

I am immensely proud of everything we did. We stood up for our values. We campaigned so hard. But I also accept that we will no longer be members of the European Union.

Our European story is not over. Tomorrow our fight continues, to make sure Britain has the closest possible relationship with our allies in Europe.

Chesterfield Museum is celebrating the lives of local women who have made a significant contribution to their communities and the country overall.

The exhibition features the lives of many inspirational women, including political campaigners Emma Miller and Barbara Castle who were both born in Chesterfield, and the story of suffragette Winifred Jones who grew up in Spital Lodge, Chesterfield.

Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey has today called for a new governmental department to get the UK to Net Zero as soon as possible.

In comments at the Institute for Government, Ed Davey said the new department would take on all the powers of the previous Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) but would have "much more teeth and responsibility", with influence over transport, housing and finance.

Speaking at the Institute for Government today, Ed Davey, Acting Leader of Liberal Democrats said:

"When Liberal Democrats ran the Department for Energy and Climate Change we managed to more than treble Britain's renewable power and led Europe to adopt tougher climate change targets. As the world is waking up to the threat of the climate emergency, DECC is needed more than ever.

"But rather than building on the work we did, the Conservatives abolished the Department. And alongside it they halted progress in its tracks, banning onshore wind, abolishing zero carbon homes and privatising the Green Investment Bank.

"If Britain is to regain a leading role ahead of hosting this year's UN conference on climate change, we must make action on climate change a much higher priority. Liberal Democrats are calling for a new government Department - a Department for Net Zero. It would have the power and responsibility to transform our country and to take tough but necessary decisions on transport, housing and finance.

"If the Tories fail to do that, they are simply not serious about tackling the climate emergency."

1. Introduction

The key driver of the December 2019 election result was the group of voters who chose to vote differently from 2017. Using polling data, Electoral Calculus has identified and analysed these voters to see which parties they switched to and from.

Since Brexit was obviously an important factor in people's decisions, voters were also identified by how they voted in the EU referendum of 2016 (as Leavers, Remainers, or those who didn't vote then).

Layla Moran, Lib Dem MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, has tabled a motion with cross-party support calling on the Government "to seek full association to the 2021-27 Erasmus programme".

Continuing her campaign to protect Erasmus, which saw her push an amendment to the Withdrawal Agreement Bill two weeks ago, Layla has reached out to colleagues in the Lib Dems as well as the SNP, DUP and Greens to co-sponsor her motion.

Robert Court is the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Derbyshire Dales at the 2019 General Election.

He worked as a physics teacher in London and then until retirement as headmaster of Birkdale School in Sheffield. He has lived in Derbyshire Dales with his wife Andrea for over 20 years. He has played village cricket and taken part in amateur drama. He is involved in his village church and is governor of a local primary school. He has been a member of the Liberal Democrats since 2016 and was selected as our candidate in October 2018.