Babergh South Suffolk Liberal Democrats

Since the Coronavirus began to spread the advice of the World Health Organisation on how to combat the spread of the virus has been crystal clear. If you want to control the spread of the virus you have to test on a vast scale. Tests help identify who has the disease and from there who they have interacted with and who might therefore have been infected

With attention quite rightly on the coronavirus outbreak the Government could be excused for forgetting about the climate emergency which will still be there after the virus is bought under control

To its credit therefore the publication by the Department of Transport of an interim report on emissions from transport deserves greater attention than it is getting. The full report is at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/876251/decarbonising-transport-setting-the-challenge.pdf. It is well worth a read

In a time of national emergency such as we have today you have to put aside political partisanship and ideology and do what is right to protect the lives of our citizens and the medics who are looking after them

Which makes the story covered by many national papers more disturbing. At a time when doctors and nurses are complaining of shortages of protective equipment and respirators the story in the Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-boris-johnson-eu-equipment-nhs-a9429001.html and The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/no-10-boris-johnson-accused-of-putting-brexit-over-breathing-in-covid-19-ventilator-row amongst others is a cause for great concern.

Just a quick reminder that at 8 pm on Thursday 26th March, we are all being encouraged to throw open our doors and windows to offer our applause "to show all nurses, doctors, GPs and carers our appreciation for their ongoing hard work and fight against this virus". Our doctors and nurses are putting themselves in harms way to save lives amongst those who contract the virus. It is a small gesture of thanks that everyone in the country can join in with

The Chancellor has announced unprecedented levels of support for British business in the last few days. However, one group of people are not getting what they need to survive.
Self-employed people have been told that they can claim for Universal Credit at the rate of SSP, which would give them a derisory £94 per week.