CCTV satellite broadcast channel carried a story on participation of Chinese in UK politics. Merlene was interviewed by reporter Nina Maria-Potts and the story and video clip can be viewed here:

http://english.cntv.cn/program/newsupdate/20120413/108407.shtml

Over 20 million working people will be better off next year after Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government delivered the biggest ever increase in the income tax personal allowance in the Budget.

The massive £3.5bn tax cut for working people delivers:

• The biggest ever single uplift in the tax threshold
• A personal allowance of £9,205 in April 2013
• 21 million working people getting an extra £220 tax cut
• Brings the total tax cut for basic rate tax payers to £550
• Brings the total number of people lifted out of tax to 2 million.

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg used his speech to the Party's Spring conference in NewcastleGateshead to call for the forthcoming budget to be a "budget for fairness" and pledged that it would help working familes.

The Deputy Prime Minister pledged that by 2015 Britain would have seen an end to control orders, the first gay marriages and the first elections to the House of Lords.

Fairer taxes, promoting green jobs, protecting your civil liberties - these are just some of the achievements of the Liberal Democrats in government.

We're building a freer, greener and more liberal country - and stopping some of the worst excesses of the Conservatives. Find out more in this infographic.

In his keynote speech to the Liberal Democrat Conference, Party Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has outlined his goals for the Government and the country over the coming years. He reiterated his commitment to liberal values on the environment and human rights and his determination to ensure a fair chance for every child, saying "every child can do good things, great things, if only we give them the opportunities they deserve."

On 5th May you have a choice. You can keep the discredited First Past the Post system to elect our MPs, or you can choose a new and fairer system - Alternative Vote (AV). Back the campaign for change at www.YesToFairerVotes.org

AV is a small change that makes a big difference.

Saying YES! to Fairer Votes Means:

London Liberal Democrats have today announced their team of candidates for the London Assembly top-up list in 2012. Caroline Pidgeon AM topped the poll of London Liberal Democrat members to lead the London Assembly campaign in 2012.

Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton and Wallington and London Spokesperson Tom Brake said:

PPC Layla Moran chaired final hustings for GLA candidates (attended by 7 out of 11) on 25 Nov at York Gardens Library, Lavender Road in Battersea.

Extract from Merlene's closing speech:

"We need a strong and diverse team on the London Assembly. I offer a unique skills set having worked in the City and in the private sector but also with significant experience as a community mediator and charities champion.

The Government's chief design adviser has warned against the danger of supermarket led developments in town centres. Mixed-use developments involving the building of housing, schools and parks linked to supermarkets are often badly conceived and may not thrive in the long term, said the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) in its report published this week.

On 24 November, some 100 members attended the AGM of Sutton Liberal Democrats at the Civic Offices to hear from their MP Tom (Sellick look-alike, at least in the month of Movember) Brake, Lord Graham Tope and guest speaker Deputy Leader Simon Hughes MP.

Incredibly the local Council now boasts of 43 out of the 54 Councillors being Liberal Democrats, with 20 new Councillors elected this May. Simon Hughes (arriving straight from an earlier interview with the NUS leader on tuition fees) was fulsome in his praise for Sutton's achievements. He warmed up the audience with some trivia questions on Coalitions across Europe. This was followed by insightful observations on both similarities and differences between his own Southwark and Sutton boroughs and how Lib Dem and Coalition policies can be made to work across London boroughs.