LDDA - The Liberal Democrat Disability Association

The Liberal Democrats have made political history by winning in Tiverton and Honiton.

Richard Foord overturned a Conservative majority of 24,239, the biggest ever!

Richard polled 22,537 votes, winning a majority of 6,144 with a swing of 29.9%.

The Liberal Democrats have made political history with this stunning victory in Tiverton and Honiton.

I'm delighted that @RichardFoordLD will be joining us as our 14th MP. He's going to be a brilliant local champion for the people of Devon.

- Ed Davey MP 🔶 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@EdwardJDavey) June 24, 2022

Richard Foord will be our Liberal Democrat candidate for the upcoming Tiverton & Honiton by-election.

I was proud to serve my country in the Armed Forces for ten years and now want to serve my community in Westminster.

Richard Foord

Richard lives in Uffculme with his wife and family. He grew up in the West Country and served for ten years in the army after graduating from Sandhurst, reaching the rank of Major and receiving three campaign medals for service in Iraq and the Balkans.

We saw last year what a huge boost it gave to the party getting two new excellent MPs elected in Parliamentary by-elections. It's good for their constituents and also good for the party's prospects across the whole country.

We've also seen this month how Conservative MPs have failed to do what our country needs - to remove Boris Johnson from 10 Downing Street.

It's Carers Week - a chance to recognise, celebrate and, most of all, listen to the stories of unpaid carers.

People looking after their loved ones are doing a remarkable job in difficult circumstances. As a carer for most of my life - first for my mum, then for my gran, and now for my disabled son, John - this is something I know all too well.

We all have our own special memories of the Queen's Jubilees. For me, they have spanned my entire life. So it is with great pleasure that I will join the entire nation in celebrating seventy years of Her Majesty's reign - on this Platinum Jubilee bank holiday weekend.

In her coronation speech, the Queen said: "Throughout all my life, and with all my heart, I shall strive to be worthy of your trust." I think the whole country will agree that our Queen has more than fulfilled her promises made to our nation.

Today is the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.

Many Lib Dems have sent messages of support including tweets like these:

The #LGBTQ+ community still face discrimination right across the world. This is simply not right. As a liberal I will keep fighting passionately to ensure everyone can be free to love, without prejudice or discrimination.

Love is not a crime.❤️#IDAHOBIT #IDAHOBIT2022 1/3 pic.twitter.com/1gPoDJMutV

- Caroline Pidgeon 🔶 🇺🇦 (@CarolinePidgeon) May 17, 2022

Since Spring Conference, most members will have been focused on the Local Elections which took place in many parts of the country - and rightly so: the hard work has paid off, with some truly fantastic gains made from both the Conservatives and Labour. Particular mention should go to our amazing Chief Steward at Conference, Mike Ross, who is now the Leader of Hull Council! Massive congratulations to Mike and the whole team.

This year as part of marking International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia we will be having a history talk.

We can only understand where we are now in LGBT liberation through understanding where we have been, and there are striking parallels between the battles of the past and the present.

Scottish Liberal Democrat communities spokesperson Willie Rennie MSP today said disabled people are paying the price of the SNP/Green Government's failure to use the full powers of devolution after it was revealed how their asking the DWP to run systems is hitting the value of disability benefits.

As the cost-of-living crisis deepens, new Scottish Liberal Democrat analysis shows:

Thank you

With nominations now closed for the May elections, many thanks to everyone who has put in so much work to getting candidates approved, selected and safely nominated. From a first look at the numbers, we've seen a good increase in our candidate totals in Scotland and Wales, with the numbers broadly the same in England compared with last time.