Changes to boundaries proposed

There is still time to comment on the Boundary Commission proposals to change the constituency boundaries for electing our MPs. These are a result of the Conservative Government's plans to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600 and make sure there are roughly the same number of voters in each constituency.

Under the proposals, most of the existing Thornbury and Yate constituency will join with part of Gloucestershire, taking in areas such as Berkeley, Can, Dursley and Wotton-under-Edge, to form a new constituency of Dursley, Thornbury and Yate. Westerleigh ward would remain in this new constituency but the wards of Frampton Cotterell and Boyd Valley (the area including Pucklechurch, Wick and Marshfield) would move into neighbouring constituencies.

While the Boundary Commission is independent, it has to work with the strict rules set by the current Conservative Government. The 2 million people who registered to vote prior to the EU referendum are not included in these plans and they are not allowed to take into consideration any proposed new housing developments. The new constituencies could be wildly different in size by 2020.

You can read the full proposals and submit a response online until 5th December.

Fact checking websites

If you feel confused by the claims and counter-claims made by the two sides in the EU referendum debate, it's worth checking out the BBC Reality Check and Channel 4 News FactCheck.

Referendum campaign in full swing

On Saturday the Focus Team was out campaigning in both Yate and Thornbury for a REMAIN vote in the EU referendum on 23rd June.

You can find out why we are campaigning for the UK to stay ‪#‎INtogether‬ here- and if you'd like to help us campaign you can sign up here.

Of course you can only vote in the referendum if you're registered to vote. You can register quickly and easily online and need to do it by 7th June to be able to vote in the referendum. If you're already registered, there is no need to register again. If you're going to be away, you can vote by post or proxy.

Make sure you're registered to vote

If you want to be able to vote for the next Police and Crime Commissioner on 5th May but are not yet registered at your current address, you can do it online at www.avonpccelection2016.org.uk/register-to-vote before midnight on Monday 18 April.

If you can’t go to the polling station on Thursday 5 May, then if you have registered by 18 April you can apply to vote by post or you can appoint a proxy to vote on your behalf. The deadline for postal vote applications is on 5pm on Tuesday 19 April 2016, while the deadline for proxy vote applications is 5pm on Tuesday 26 April 2016.

Registering now for the elections in May will also mean you are registered in good time before the EU referendum on Thursday 23 June.

Don't lose your vote

Next week is National Voter Registration Drive week. If you want to have your say in future elections - including the Police and Crime Commissioner elections to be held on 5 May - and haven't yet registered, now's the time to do it.

It only takes a few minutes to register at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Safety check on bad decisions removed

At Wednesday’s South Gloucestershire Council meeting the Conservatives used their majority to remove the rights of opposition councillors to force a rethink on bad decisions.

Previously the lead member for any of the political groups on a committee could “refer up” a decision to full council for further debate, if they felt a mistake had been made or more information was needed to make a properly informed decision. Only a few months ago this safety check was used when the planning committee initially decided to approve the planning application for Top Yard in Westerleigh. Given the chance to review their report and consider case law, officers changed their recommendation from approval to refusal and the application was eventually refused. If our former colleague Alan Lawrance had not had the opportunity to refer up the original decision the application would have been approved and there would have been no way to overturn that.

By referring a decision up to council it also gave a chance for concerned members of the public to go along and have their say. Almost every council in the country has some ability for minority political groups to force administrations to think again. Obviously ultimately the majority view will prevail, as you would expect in a democracy. Sometimes though, having heard differing views or got more information, they make a different decision from their original one. Isn’t that also something you would expect in a democracy? As we saw with Top Yard, referring up was one way to help the council make better decisions. Why is the new administration afraid of that scrutiny?

Join the Lib Dem fightback

Since the election more than 14,000 people have joined the Liberal Democrats nationwide, including dozens in our local area, showing that people want to campaign against the impact that a right-wing Tory government is likely to have on our public services and our communities.

We will be running many local and national campaigns over the coming months and years and if you would like to be part of the team we would be delighted to involve you. You can join the party via the website at www.libdems.org.uk or by contacting any member of the local team. Everyone who is a member at 4pm on 3rd June will be able to vote for the next party leader.