Stafford & Stone Liberal Democrats Winter 2022 Newsletter

Welcome to this newsletter.
In this, we have a brief round-up of what your local party branch is up to.

But first, any newsletter worthy of the name must reflect on the horrifying events in Ukraine.
Ed Davey's response on the first day of the invasion (reproduced at the bottom of this newsletter) reflected the terrible sombreness of the moment and the shock that all liberals felt. Since then, the parliamentary party has constantly been trying to get this British government to act more decisively and supportively.
The current Lib Dem national campaign is to demand a greater commitment to refugees than the government's present mean-spirited approach. Please sign the petition if you can: https://change.libdems.org.uk/ukraine

Local news

Although there are no elections in Stafford or Stone this year, there are in Newcastle under Lyme and Cannock Chase, in May. Inevitably our colleagues in these two areas will need support, so we will be posting news of their rallies and leafleting activities on our Twitter feed. Please keep checking there if you have some hours to spare to go help them.

However, the majority of Staffordshire's local elections take place next year; and we already have candidates lined up in a number of wards in Stafford Borough.
But we need many more. If you feel you could be a Lib Dem candidate in the borough somewhere, please feel free to contact us…
(If you want more convincing, here's a nice article:
https://stonelibdems.org.uk/en/article/2021/1418150/why-we-must-stand-in-more-council-elections)

Fund-raising

Running elections doesn't come cheap, so we have already started fund-raising for the 2023 elections. If you are a party member, please consider joining our lottery, which we call the '49 Club'. It is only £1 a week, but the nature of the system means that, according to mathematical probability, you'll get half of that back!
See: https://stonelibdems.org.uk/en/page/join-the-49-club

For legal reasons, the '49 Club' is only open to Liberal Democrat members.
If you are not yet a Lib Dem member, it's an easy process, and only costs £1 a month. It's worth joining if only for the fact that, at times like these, truth-loving liberal politics are needed more than ever. Check out the party membership page here:
https://libdems.secure.force.com/LiberalDemocrats/NewMemberLocal

Incidentally, in the endless need to raise funds, we are starting to sell second-hand books through sites like Ziffit. Do you have boxes of books that you can contribute? Someone will pick them up from your house if you can't deliver them to us. Contact info@stonelibdems.org.uk Thanks.

Exec News

The Stafford & Stone executive group now meets once a month again, now that the worst of the pandemic is behind us.
We meet next on March 17th, at The Star Inn in Stone, and there's an open invitation to members & supporters to join us at 1pm, after the meeting. It would be good to see you.

We must however say a sad farewell to Nigel McBride, who has moved house, and is now living down south. As Treasurer, he so brilliantly oversaw the finances of our group and also managed the website, as well as taking a full role in policy-making. These are not easy tasks, so our gratitude and best wishes must go out to him.
Thanks go also to Kate Madge, who has now stepped down from her post as Secretary on the exec. She performed some sterling work!
Their places have been taken, respectively, by new members, Mark Stewart and Roxanne Sandiford. Welcome to them.

Keep informed

The easiest way by far to keep informed of our local Lib Dem news is to subscribe to our website's update email.
See https://stonelibdems.org.uk/en/subscribe-by-email
If you choose to receive it monthly, you'll get an email with links to our local press releases, links to the top announcements from the party, and also information on relevant local events; it's a brief but nicely collated guide. Well-recommended!

Also… please use the website's Comments page to keep us informed on local issues that you think the local party branch should be addressing, and what policies you think it could pursue. (You don't need to be a party member to use the website). See: https://stonelibdems.org.uk/en/views

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As promised, that statement on Ukraine from Ed Davey, on the day Russia invaded Ukraine.

...I have been a Liberal Democrat for my entire life.
And I cannot remember a worse day for the liberal values we all hold so dear.
You are a member of our party because you believe in those values too: in internationalism, in democracy, and the right of people to live without fear.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy's party in Ukraine is our sister party. An attack on them is an attack on everything we believe too.

We warned yesterday that the sanctions imposed by the British government were threadbare and toothless.
So as we woke up this morning to the terrible news and pictures coming from Ukraine, we called for the most punitive sanctions possible.
Over the past weeks our reduced standing and influence in the world has been plain for all to see. And the taint of Russian money on our Conservative Government has pushed our allies away from us.

Our first priority must be to help the Ukrainian people.
Britain must restore its aid budgets and put as much humanitarian support to Ukraine as we can.
We must welcome Ukrainian refugees - especially the LGBT+ people, activists and journalists who are at dire risk of persecution under Putin.
And we must get the fiercest sanctions in place as soon as possible.

Over the coming hours and days, I will do everything in my power to pressure our Government to live up to the liberal values that Britain has at its best. I know you expect nothing less...