Now that the date for the General Election has been called I am delighted to be contesting the Brentwood & Ongar seat for the Liberal Democrats at this key moment in our country's history.
Responding to the publication today (23/10/19) of the Education Select Committee's report on children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Brentwood & Ongar David Kendall said: "Children with SEND have borne the brunt of the schools funding crisis. Teaching assistants and other support staff have been sacked. Meanwhile, parents struggle to get the support their child needs as schools, healthcare providers and local councils squabble over who should pay. "The Conservatives have left local councils floundering. Councils cannot provide support on time and are unable to to create the new specialist school places that some children with the most complex needs require. "Liberal Democrats demand better for our children. We will give councils thousands of pounds a year extra for every child with the most complex needs, so they can deliver the support children deserve on time and we will create a new National SEND strategy, stopping councils from cutt
Statement from Cllr Mark Lewis:
At the Full Council meeting at County Hall on Tuesday 8th October County Councillor David Kendall asked the Leader of the Council, Cllr David Finch the following verbal question regarding Hong Kong: Question: Dominic Rab the Foreign Secretary recently said that Britain's support for Hong Kong and it's freedoms is unwavering. If this Conservative administration agrees with that statement then what action is the County Council going to take with regards to it's business dealings with China to show our support for the Democracy movement in Hong Kong? Reply: Essex County Council would be guided by the UK Government. David said: "The response from Cllr Finch shows it is very unlikely the County Council will take any direct action to support the Democracy movement in Hong Kong. Essex County Council has an office in China and has had business dealings with China for many years. It could certainly express it's deep concerns to the Chinese authorities about what is currently happening in Hong Kong but is failing to do
County Cllr David Kendall raised the following written and verbal question regarding a "No Deal Brexit" at the Full Council meeting at County Hall on 8th October with the Council Leader, Cllr David Finch Question: Having attended the Brexit briefing I remain unclear what the effects of a no-deal Brexit will be for Essex. Can the Leader of the Council please clarify this? Reply: The changes that a no deal Brexit may bring to Essex reflect the national effects.There is uncertainty, but official guidance on the worst case national economic effect is provided in the BoE guidance updated 4th September and on the worst-case disruption in the Yellowhammer document of 2 August published 11 September. We cannot locally provide greater certainty against national uncertainty However we know that Central Government has accelerated plans for no-deal since that date which will act to reduce but not eliminate, the probabilities and scale of impacts and are participating in that response. Locally we are engaging businesses t
Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Brentwood & Ongar, David Kendall has spoken out in support of the Kurds in Syria who are being attacked by Turkey. He believes the Kurds have been badly let down by President Trump and his administration following the decision made by the US to pull out of Syria.