The Liberal Democrats are celebrating today after an extremely strong showing in the European elections.
Irina Von Wiese, Dinesh Dhamija and Luisa Porritt have been elected as London’s new Liberal Democrat MEPs where the party beat Labour overall, topping the poll in the capital.

Brexit is a national embarrassment.

And while they're trying to keep their position on Brexit as vague as possible, Labour has aided the Tories in pushing it through every step of the way. They're a pro-Brexit party.

In fact, we did some digging. The Labour whip has instructed parliamentarians to abstain or vote with the Tory government on 29 Brexit votes. These include:

• Voting with the government on 6 occasions for pushing ahead with Brexit and abstaining in a further 23 important votes.
• 1 time Labour MPs abstained on preventing a no-deal Brexit.
• A key vote on 14 March to have a People’s Vote on the Brexit deal. Labour stopped this happening.
• 5 times Labour abstained on keeping the UK in the EU single market and/or customs union, and 1 time they voted against it.
• 1 time Labour peers abstained on safeguarding the rights of EU citizens in the UK.
• There were 10 votes on the EU (Withdrawal) Bill in 2017 and 2018 in which the Labour party abstained.

A German-born lawyer, the daughter and granddaughter of refugees, will lead the Liberal Democrats' London list in Euro elections now scheduled for May 23rd.

Hackney Lib Dem’s accuse the Town Hall of not taking the problem of fly-tipping seriously as the council admit to losing track of the figures for a whole year.

Last week, following pressure from the Hackney Liberal Democrats , Hackney Council finally debated and passed a Brexit motion at the full council meeting.

Good news right? Well not really.

The Liberal Democrats have again urged Meg Hillier to back a People’s Vote on the final Brexit deal.

The Liberal Democrats have called on local Labour MPs Meg Hillier and Diane Abbott to publicly back a People’s Vote on the Brexit deal.

Hackney Liberal Democrat Vice Chair Darren Martin has contacted the Mayor of Hackney to express deep concern that planning permission waved through for the controversial Britannia Leisure Centre development will now put open park space at risk across all of Hackney and London parks.

Liberal Democrat London assembly member Caroline Pidgeon will also be asking the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan a question on the issue.

Justifications given to allow Hackney Council to build on the outdoor hardstanding ball courts in Shoreditch Park as part of the Britannia development classify the tennis courts and 5-a-side football pitches as previously developed land rather than open space.
The Council have also claimed to be making equivalent space available elsewhere to the 3421 sq ft being lost in the development.
CPRE London who campaign to protect open green space in London’s parks have challenged the justifications given by the council in their planning permission applications that were approved at London level last week.

Pippa Morgan, the Liberal Democrat by-election candidate for the Victoria ward in Hackney, has made fighting to save the 48 bus route from being cut a key priority if she is elected to Hackney Council.

The 48 bus route is set to be cut completely under plans set out by the Labour London Mayor Sadiq Khan along with changes to other bus routes in Hackney including the 242 and 149.

Pippa Morgan has launched a petition to save the 48 bus and says of the planned cuts,

”There has already been cuts to bus services in Hackney with routes like the 277 being changed. 1 in 4 people in Hackney rely on buses to travel to work and these cuts will lead to overcrowding, more difficult and longer journey times and more expensive commutes when residents already have it tough.

”Hackney Council needs a strong voice to stand up to the London Mayor and seeing as the council is run by Labour at the moment, they are just going to roll over and follow the party line in the end.

”The Liberal Democrats have been holding Sadiq Khan to account at London level on bus cuts, and I will continue to work with my colleagues to fight to save this vital bus route for the Victoria area and Hackney.”

You can vote for Pippa Morgan in the Victoria ward by-election on Thursday October 18th.

Darren Martin, Vice Chair of the Hackney Liberal Democrats, has welcomed the Mayor of London adopting the Glasgow public health model that his party championed during the Local Elections in the Summer, but insists Hackney can use this as an opportunity to show real leadership in tackling violence.