Your local Liberal Democrat team is delighted that all Derby City Councillors from all parties unanimously supported a motion put forward by the Liberal Democrat Group at the Full Council meeting on 22nd July 2020. It calls on the government to provide specialist sector support for Rolls-Royce and the UK Aerospace industry in general.

Liberal Democrat Derby City Councillor Steve Willoughby, Chair of the Council's Audit and Accounts committee, has called on the Council's controlling Conservative administration to hold a "mini budget" to cover the changes in expenditure and financial challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Councillor Willoughby said "the budget was agreed by the Council in February this year before all the challenges and obvious refocusing of expenditure due to Covid-19 occurred. I am aware the Conservative Cabinet member responsible for the Council's finances has said in response to a question I asked at the Full Council meeting on 22nd July that this can be addressed via changes to the Council's financial plan through the year. However, this is just agreed by the small number of Conservative Party Councillors who are on the Cabinet.

The recently imposed lockdown in Leicester came as a bolt out of the blue. The data the local council and Director of Public Health had available to them showed only a few new cases of COVID-19 each day. But the local data the Government was giving them didn't show the full picture.

The Government publishes the numbers of positive tests for COVID-19 each day. This includes tests processed at Public Health England and hospital labs (known as Pillar 1) plus tests done via NHS Test & Trace and commercial testing labs (known as Pillar 2).

This year the council elections were postponed until next May because of the COVID-19 virus. So, the City Council remains with no party having an overall majority. The Tories continue to run the Council via their Cabinet, which takes most of the decisions. But earlier this year, they refused to bring in the committee system (where there is better scrutiny). So, the Lib Dems have had to do the next best thing - make sure that opposition councillors are leading the scrutiny function on the Council. The Tories cannot be allowed to mark their own homework.

Dear Amanda,

I'm sure that, like me, you were shocked to hear the news that Derby's Rolls-Royce would be cutting 9,000 jobs, half expected to fall in Derby. This is a terrible blow to Derby, and risks several thousand more job losses in suppliers.

We're all proud of Rolls-Royce's 112 years of history in Derby. Combined with Bombardier and Toyota, generations of Derby people have had great, skilled high technology jobs. But you'll also know how badly Derby was hit in 1971 when Rolls-Royce had to be rescued from collapse by the government. We can't afford to see Derby's engineering excellence left at risk.

Teachers and parents have been left in an anxious and seriously concerned position since the Government announced that schools should reopen in a phased return from the 1st of June following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The government has failed to take in to consideration the serious health risk to all teachers, parents, extended household families and students by the reopening of schools without clear, concise and conclusive scientific evidence that it is safe to do so.

Back our campaign - Schools Should Not Rush To Reopen Before It Is Safe

Teachers and parents have been left in an anxious and seriously concerned position since the Government announced that schools should reopen in a phased return from the 1st of June following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The government has failed to take in to consideration the serious health risk to all teachers, parents, extended household families and students by the reopening of schools without clear, concise and conclusive scientific evidence that it is safe to do so.

Rolls-Royce today announced that 9,000 jobs were to be cut from across their workforce, with about half expected to go in Derby.

Lib Dem Council group leader Cllr Ruth Skelton said "Our hearts go out to the thousands of families who woke up across Derby this morning unsure about their future. With the Covid-19 pandemic putting many more jobs at risk, this is a worrying time for so many.

In the lead up to the lockdown and in the weeks since, quite a lot of people have had to self-isolate for 7 or 14 days either because they or a member of their household has had Covid 19 symptoms or they are shielding.

This has had an impact on companies, organisations, shops and Derby City Council too as a significant minority of staff have had to self-isolate.