December 14th, 2009
Coldharbour Residents Welcome Hourly Bus Service
After a long campaign, Coldharbour residents have now been given a timetable for a new hourly bus service in the New Year.
First buses have confirmed that the 58 Yeovil-Shaftsbury service will stop at Coldharbour from 4th January 2010.
Local Campaigner Jan Ross, with the help of Dr Sue Farrant, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, has been leading the fight for a bus service in Coldharbour and after a successful summer surveying residents they were able to show Fist that a new bus stop would be worth their while.
Jan Ross, “It is great to finally have a timetable and a start date for our bus service. I’d like to thank all the local residents for their support during this campaign; I’d also like to thank Sue Farrant for taking up our fight and seeing that we were successful. Without her commitment and hard work it wouldn’t have happened” Read the rest of this entry »
December 14th, 2009
Sue Farrant is fully behind the campaign to save the Breast Cancer Unit at Dorchester County Hospital. Led by local Mum, Wendy Nightingale, the campaign has attracted massive public support. The petition, seen here, has now reached 6,000 signatures.
Sue says, “Wendy and her team are doing a fantastic job, fighting to save an essential local service. It’s no too late to sign the online petition to show your support.”
Go to: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/DorsetCancer/
December 3rd, 2009
Lord Carlile, second from right, joins Sue Farrant and West Dorset Lib Dems
Striking the right balance between protecting the rights of the individual and protecting the country from terrorism was on the menu at West Dorset Liberal Democrats’ annual dinner.
Dr Sue Farrant, the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate and nearly fifty diners welcomed LibDem peer Lord Alex Carlile, the man charged with acting as the Independent Reviewer of UK anti-terrorism legislation.
A Queen’s Counsel and practising barrister, Lord Carlile is also President of the Howard League for Penal Reform and a long standing campaigner for prison reform, mental health and the rights of trans-sexuals. He famously defended Princess Diana’s butler Paul Burrell against charges of theft.
Lord Carlile spoke about his very varied work but particularly focused on the difficulties of countering the threat of terrorism whilst maintaining civil liberties.
A lively question time gave diners a chance to quiz Lord Carlile on a range of topics.
Speaking after the dinner, which was hosted by Beaminster Liberal Democrats, Dr Sue Farrant said, “It was an excellent evening. Alex Carlile is a superb speaker and the topic is a vitally important one for us all.
“We are fortunate that such senior political figures are giving such active support to West Dorset’s Liberal Democrats.”
December 2nd, 2009
Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for West Dorset, Dr Sue Farrant, today welcomed the party’s new plans to bring in a fairer tax system.
Under the Liberal Democrats no-one will pay a penny’s tax on the first £10,000 they earn each year.
Pensioners will each receive a £100 tax cut, giving over twenty-eight thousand pensioners in West Dorset an extra £100 in their pockets.
The proposals give every working person a £700 tax cut – £1,400 less tax a year for every working couple.
Over forty thousand West Dorset residents would either pay £700 less tax a year or pay no tax at all if they are earning less than £10 000 a year.
4 million of the poorest people nationally will be taken out of paying income tax completely.
Sue Farrant said: “While the Tories are only interested in helping out bankers and their super-rich friends, our fairer tax system will give tax cuts to all West Dorset’s workers.
Read the rest of this entry »
November 30th, 2009
Dr Sue Farrant has today written to Monitor, the NHS Foundation Hospital Trust regulator asking it to explain why it was not keeping closer scrutiny on the County Hospital during its first year of operation as a Foundation Trust. She also asked that Monitor provide interim finance to the hospital ease the current crisis. (See attached letter)
She also asked what was being done to hold to account those responsible for the management failure at DCH which has resulted in the current financial crisis.
Demanding greater transparency, Sue Farrant said, “There is great anxiety amongst local people who use and who work at the County Hospital. We need to know much more about what went wrong and why. Those responsible for allowing the situation to reach this point were all paid by the public and so they are accountable to the public.”
Recognising that the new management team has some very difficult decisions to make to stabilise the situation, Dr Farrant has stressed the need to protect patient services. She is calling for the cuts to fall primarily on the administrative and management posts
October 20th, 2009
Sue Farrant and local residents celebrate Coldharbour bus victory
After a long campaign for a bus service to and from Coldharbour, at the eastern side of Sherborne, local residents are finally celebrating. First Somerset has said that the number 58 service will change its route from January 2010.
The residents had been asking for years for a bus to stop at the Coldharbour roundabout to save them from a half mile walk to Greenhill when they wanted to travel into town or go to Yeovil or Shaftesbury. After getting nowhere with writing letters, Granville Way resident Jan Ross asked local Liberal Democrat Sue Farrant for help. With the help of a group of residents, including Jan’s Mum Mrs June Morgan who lives in Chandlers, Sue organised a door to door survey in June to find out just who would use a bus and when and then she and Jan Ross met First managers at Coldharbour.
Read the rest of this entry »
October 14th, 2009
Sue Farrant with the Royal British Legion at Conference
Sue met with representatives from The Royal British Legion at the recent Liberal Democrat party conference in Bournemouth where she was presented with a copy of the Legion’s manifesto for the next general election. The manifesto sets out priorities for the next Government to improve conditions for the British Armed Forces past and present and their families. It encourages MPs and prospective parliamentary candidates (PPCs) to “do their bit” for Service Personnel and their families, the bereaved, veterans and dependants.
Kevin Shinkwin, the Legion’s Head of Public Affairs, said, “We’re really grateful to Sue Farrant for making the time to meet with us and listen to our concerns. Our message to every candidate standing at the general election is very simple: ‘It’s time to do your bit’.
Read the rest of this entry »
September 26th, 2009
Sue Farrant and Nick Clegg at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Bournemouth
Dr Sue Farrant, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for West Dorset, today called for more psychiatric services to be provided to front line troops. Sue Farrant served in the Army herself after leaving school and is an active campaigner for better conditions for servicemen and women and their families.
Sue told the Liberal Democrat Party Conference in Bournemouth this week that troops serving on the front line may begin to suffer from mental illness, most often related to combat stress. “Sadly,” she said, “Due to a shortage of psychiatric medical care in conflict zones, their illness might well go undiagnosed and untreated until it reaches a critical level. By that time the damage is done and we have failed in our duty of care”. Read the rest of this entry »
September 13th, 2009
Young people are being hit the hardest by the shrinking jobs market. 40% of unemployed people are currently aged between 16 and 24. “We know from previous recessions that the longer young people are out of work, the greater the risk that they will become locked into longterm unemployment,” said Dr Sue Farrant, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for West Dorset.
“A whole generation from the eighties were blighted with long-term unemployment – the Liberal Democrats are determined that the same thing should not hapen again,” she added. Too many young people still have no qualifications and once they sign on they often don’t get any specialist help until they have been unemployed for twelve months – that’s simply too long.
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September 11th, 2009
West Dorset Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, Dr Sue Farrant is part of the Liberal Democrat campaign to pay servicemen an extra £6,000 per year.
Sue Farrant is backing Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader in launching ‘Don’t short change our troops: Fair pay for the armed forces’.
Many soldiers fighting on the front line are on salaries lower than those of trainee police and fire fighters. Clegg says that 13,000 members of the armed forces take home less than £17,000 each year. Clegg has also said that “Under Labour, our lions are being paid peanuts. Our servicemen are being sent to fight in treacherous conditions in Afghanistan while living close to the poverty line. It is time to stop short-changing our troops”.
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