At Home and Abroad
With a meeting of the Scrutiny Committee to chair on the Council’s budget and a Lib Dem response to coordinate at Full Council, much of my focus over the past few weeks has been of necessity local. Yet given the recent dramatic events in the USA my thoughts have often wandered to other parts of the world.
For this Liberal News review, I’ll start locally.
I was proud that the Liberal Democrat Group put forward a budget resolution at Full Council on 26 February. Our proposals included greater investment to develop the desolate Toys’R’Us site in the city centre and to finally establish Park and Ride facilities for our city. These policies would help to encourage further investment in the city, get new housing built, and tackle the city’s transport failures. Importantly it put down a marker for greater sustainable development of our city. I’m very grateful to Cllr Sam Chapman for his excellent work on preparing the Liberal Democrat budget, which has distinguished us from the tired and timid approaches of the other parties.
Looking further afield, I was – like so many – sickened by the scenes from the White House, seeing Volodymyr Zelenskyy being bullied by Donald Trump and JD Vance. That the latter seem to be prepared to sacrifice Ukraine and its democratically elected leader to a despot in the Kremlin is simply astounding. In response, Europe has thankfully begun to get its act together with Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron forging an encouraging path. At the end of last month, we saw federal elections in Germany – and as a former student of German politics – I took heart from Chancellor-elect Friedrich Merz’s statements on election night about the utmost importance of Europeans working for European security. Back home our leader, Ed Davey, has been resolute and impressive in his support for Ukraine
One can often feel powerless and worried in the face of global change and crisis, but knowing that I’m working with people of a similar outlook on a liberal democrat vision in and for Southampton gives me some hope that we can stem the tide of authoritarianism elsewhere.