• Elected: Stephen Coen
• Electorate: 9,441
• Votes cast: 1,718
• Turnout: 18.39%
• Majority: 1,006
• Void votes: 16
• Status: Labour hold

Our priorities are clear. In difficult times we must make sure we do all we can to help ordinary working people. That is why, unlike Labour or the Conservatives, every Liberal Democrat council in England has frozen council tax. That is why Liberal Democrat councils are more likely to earmark funds for the lowest paid than any other. And that is why Liberal Democrats in Government are delivering tax cuts for more than 21m working people.

We listen to local people and give them a voice in decisions made about their communities. In power we work to protect the services people most value, and to protect the most vulnerable in society. We do this making best use of public money.

The complete list of polling stations in Irwell Riverside are listed below:-

The Liberal Democrats achieved one of their main objectives in the budget which was to help the less well off. As a result the Government has raised the tax threshold and cut taxes for low and middle earners of which there are an estimated 20 million people. It is likely they may have had no one to press their cause without the Lib Dems in Government.

They were right to join the Government in the Coalition. It can only be positive that the Lib Dems are part of the coalition helping to introduce a more liberal prospective on policies which can be tough on anyone other than the wealthy. It is best to be part of the Government being able to tweak their proposals from the inside than being on the outside and having no power to do so, just being dismissed as the third party.

It is much easier to have a positive effect on Government policies if you are working inside it, than if you are left outside in the cold and can easily be ignored. Business Secretary Vince Cable is one of the few members of the coalition Government who has repeatedly attacked city big bonuses which are long overdue for reform. The city must take its share of the blame for landing the economy in its present mess. However individuals are not really to blame. They took bonuses when they were awarded them but the were handed out for the wrong reasons. City workers got bonuses which were calculated on the volume of business they carried out regardless of the merit of the business. There were no safeguards to ensure that the business they were being rewarded for was in fact boosting the economy. The didn’t have to look further than just getting people to sign on the bottom line so even if the business turned sour they had successfully worked towards their bonus. In the end they had done so many ‘bad’ deals, detrimental to the economy that we all suffered. As Vince Cable put it: “A bad message was sent: that unrestrained greed is acceptable.” The whole system of getting bonuses should be reformed, as the incentive was to do business regardless of the consequences.  No one wants to be in this present economic crisis again.

It is the Lib Dems whose main objective is to fight for those who work long hours for a modest wage rather than the rich and super wealthy. It is the Lib Dems who work hard for people who cannot afford to enjoy a luxury lifestyle thanks to inherited family wealth. Vince Cable is willing to stick his neck out and attack big bonuses. He is a man that understands the vast majority people who have to work hard to keep their head above water. He is still calling for “tighter control on bank pay and bonuses,” and being a determined grafter he hasn’t given up on it yet, he is still working towards it.

The Lib Dems are putting clinicians in the NHS driving seat as it is doctors and nurses who know what patients need therefore it is only right that they decide what treatment patients get, where and when. GPs, nurses and clinicians will arrange the services patients need, rather than managers who are not medically trained and are better at running businesses. Medically trained staff will decide what is needed medically in a local area, and local councils will in future be given a new role to help organize and set up the health services in a community.

Patients who suffer from long term conditions, like diabetes, don’t want to spend their life in and out of hospital, so the Lib Dems are making it easier for the NHS and local councils to work together to make sure the best patient care is provided conveniently and even perhaps in patients’ own home if that’s possible without compromising patient safety. They are committed to making sure waiting times are kept low, while at the clinical standards rise.

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Lisa Armitage is a freelance writer who covers business topics relevant to small businesses across the land including finding deals on shop insurance the fight against big city bonuses which damage everyone and benefit very few.

Watch, comment or ask questions below the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOOhxjCp7SA

National

I am representing the Liberal Democrats as their local election candidate in Irwell Riverside ward because I believe they are the fairest party who try their hardest to stick up for the poorest and most vulnerable. Here are a few examples of Liberal Democrat policies that I support:

• £5 a week pension rise this year following on from the £4.50 last year (compare that with Labour’s paltry 75p pension rise whilst they were in power)
• 2m people in the UK lifted out of paying income tax altogether including nearly 4,000 Salfordians
• 21m people receiving a £546 income tax cut (77,500 Salfordians to benefit)
• £2bn on the pupil premium – an extra £600 for the education of the country’s most disadvantaged children
• Nearly half a million new apprenticeships in 2010/2011 up by over 50% on the previous year
• 150,000 new homes being built over the next 4 years
• Saving our Post Offices (Labour closed 7,000 post offices – we’ve closed NONE.ZERO.ZILCH)

Locally

I have become frustrated and annoyed that Salford’s Councillors no longer directly represent Salfordians on the city council. Instead, residents wishes are ignored and elected councillors decide depending on what they or their party think best.

If you elect me to represent you on Salford Council, that is exactly what I will do by:

• Holding weekly one-to-one surgeries – come to me with your problems, comments or questions. I will help.
• Holding monthly public Q & A sessions across the ward – ask me anything, tell me what you want. I will do it.
• Publish regular videos on my website – you will see and hear me speak on a range of issues. I will not hide behind press releases.
• Write regular articles in print and online. I will express my opinions and tell you how I am representing you.
• Regular resident contact – I will talk to you all year round, not just when I want your vote at election time.
• Available 24/7 – telephone me, call on me, email me. I will be available to suit you, not just 9-5.

I promise that Salford Liberal Democrats will not ‘whip’ me to vote on any particular issue in any particular way. That’s not the way we work. We discuss issues as a group, but Liberal Democrat councillors are free to vote how they wish. If residents wish for me to vote for or against a policy, I will do that.

Why would you vote for someone as your councillor who would do otherwise?

On Thursday, vote Steve Middleton, look for the bird, vote Liberal Democrat

The technology worked fine – I hope I passed the test as well.

Registration is not necessary, all you need is a standard PC with any web browser – simply click on the link below just before 7pm later this evening and you will be able join the debate and ask me any questions relating to Salford’s local elections.

Q & A link – http://www.anymeeting.com/libdems1

We must remain committed to reform and must work together with all parties to remove big money from politics.

All three parties had a commitment to reform party funding in their manifestos. In our manifesto we set out plans to get big money out of politics by capping donations and limiting spending throughout the electoral cycle.

There has been much talk of political reform over the years, but nothing has happened. Parties dependent on money from the unions and big businesses have always have worked to block reform, determined to protect their paymasters.

No party has clean hands, but it is important that we all work together to make sure reform needs to be delivered by political consensus.

• Liberal Democrat Manifesto: “We will get big money out of politics by capping donations at £10,000 and limiting spending throughout the electoral cycle.”
• Coalition Agreement: “We will also pursue a detailed agreement on limiting donations and reforming party funding in order to remove big money from politics.”

The Deputy Prime Minister has made it clear that he will not support any proposals which are not able to protect both national security and the principle of open justice. He feels that current government proposals go too far and said that Liberal Democrats will not sign up to plans as they currently stand.

Liberal Democrats believe that changes to the current system should be made only in the most exceptional cases where there are real national security concerns; that they complement the current system of public interest immunity; that judges, and not ministers, will decide when the special courts are invoked; and that they will not apply to inquests.

Remember, Liberal Democrats have ensured that the Coalition Government has:

• Repealed the introduction of expensive ID cards
• Scrapped the storage of innocent people’s profiles on the DNA database
• Reduced the maximum detention period to 14 days from 28
• Introduced the Freedom Bill to reclaim civil liberties
• Scrapped control orders and ended internal exile
• Ended child detention
• Introduced safeguards to stop CCTV and council snoopers got out of control

Don’t let Labour forget:

• In 2006 then Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, tried to introduce a centralised database that would store all communications data in one place and would be readily accessible by the Government department in real time and at will. This was successfully opposed by the Liberal Democrats.