Dundee has two Liberal Democrat Councillors - Fraser Macpherson and Helen Dick. Fraser represents Tay Bridges Ward (City Centre/West End) and Helen Strathmartine Ward (Downfield/Kirkton). Both produce regular FOCUS newsletters to local residents and you can find out the local news by clicking the "FOCUS and Downloads" button to the left.
At this time of year, we need to remember those worse off than ourselves. This Labour government keeps telling us that Britain is getting better; but it's not getting better for everybody. Unfairness divides our society. Inequality is worse than under Margaret Thatcher. We have an unfair tax system which means those on the lowest earnings pay more of their income in tax than the richest. Yet the new economy and the new information society have brought challenges and opportunities which should enable every individual to have the chance to make the best of their lives. These are challenges which I am determined my party will rise to.
Cllr Fraser Macpherson, Liberal Democrat Group Leader on Dundee City Council, has highlighted the unfairness of the Government's plan to switch-over to digital television which will leave thousands of Dundee people who are served by the Tay Bridge Transmitter without access to digital terrestrial television until 2010.
Mobile phone base stations, or phone masts, have been a source of considerable debate, not just in Dundee but across Scotland and the rest of the UK. Concerns over their siting typically centre around health and aesthetic issues, while people's increasing use of mobile phones, and particularly new 3G services, constantly drives the need for new masts.
Dundee Liberal Democrat Local Party Convener, Raymond Lawrie, has today welcomed news that the European Parliament has adopted a new Regulation giving disabled air passengers new rights when travelling by air, aimed to ensure that recent cases of airlines refusing to carry such passengers because of their disability are a thing of the past.
Members of Parliament voted last week on whether a Bill should be introduced to reduce the voting age to 16. The vote was on a move by Liberal Democrat Stephen Williams MP to introduce a Private Members Bill but unfortunately the bill was defeated by only eight votes. Cllr Fraser Macpherson, Dundee City Council Liberal Democrat Group Leader, said the defeat of the bill was "really disappointing and very short-sighted."
