Members of Powys County Council’s Welsh Lib Dem - Green group are urging people in Powys to take regular lateral flow tests to help reduce Covid spread within local communities.

"When the First Minister moved us to level 0 he gave us more freedom but also more responsibility. We can now attend more events and if double vaccinated we no longer need to self isolate if in contact with someone who has returned a positive test." commented Group leader Cllr James Gibson-Watt.

The Brecon & Radnorshire Liberal Democrats are urging the UK Government to take urgent steps to admit more refugees from Afghanistan after the rapid NATO withdrawal from the country and takeover by the Taliban.

Britain saw 457 military personnel die (including 32 from Wales) in the 20-year conflict.

2, 448 American personnel died, as well as 1, 144 from other NATO and allied countries. Approximately 69, 000 Afghan troops have been killed.

The total figure for Afghans who have died in the war is unknown, but Brown University estimates the number to stand above 100, 000.

According to the UN, between 2012 and 2021, at least five million people have been internally displaced within Afghanistan or neighbouring countries, with many millions more displaced in the past few weeks.

Jane Dodds, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats and Senedd Member for Mid & West Wales has criticized what she described as the “disgraceful treatment” of Gurkha veterans by the Conservatives and Downing Street.

Gurkha Veterans on hunger strike outside of Downing Street (Photo courtesy of Forces.Net)

Dodds comments come as a number of Gurkhas entered their 6th day of hunger strikes in front of Downing Street over the government’s refusal to grant them pensions equal to that of the British soldiers they fought alongside.

The Gurkhas, an elite group of Nepalese troops who have fought for the UK during both the World Wars and major conflicts since won their right to citizenship in 2009 after a high-profile campaign by the actress Joanna Lumley. However, those who fought for the UK before 1997 are still being paid pensions on Indian Army Rates, rather than British Army Rates like their counterparts. These rates are a fraction in comparison, not being designed for a high-income country like the UK where most Gurkha veterans now reside. Around 25,000 Gurkhas who retired before 1997 are thought to have been denied a full pension.

Almost a year after Powys County Council passed a historic ‘Climate Emergency’ Declaration, two Welsh Liberal Democrat Councillors are calling for the Council to also recognise the extent of ecological crisis.  

 Jake Berriman (Llandrindod North) and Jackie Charlton (Llangattock), who both played a key role in passing last year’s cross-party Climate Emergency motion, are continuing their work to build a green future for Powys.

They are submitting a new motion calling on the County Council to declare an ‘Ecological Emergency’, take steps to protect the county’s biodiversity and wildlife, and endorse the Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) Bill that has been introduced at Westminster and backed by Liberal Democrat MPs.

The CEE Bill (which has been co-written by dozens of leading scientists and leading academic experts and practitioners in the field of environmental policy) sets ambitious but necessary targets for the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems and reduction of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions taking into account the country’s entire carbon footprint (including through international flights and shipping).

The Brecon & Radnorshire Liberal Democrats have expressed profound disappointment after Conservative MP for Brecon & Radnorshire Fay Jones, voted to end the UK’s commitment to contribute 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) on international development aid.

The decision, which broke a key Conservative manifesto pledge, follows the abolition of the Department for International Development last year. 

The sharp cut to the UK’s international development operations, which had previously been widely regarded as amongst the most cost-effective and successful in the world, has been criticised by the United Nations and some NATO allies and strikes a blow to the UK’s national security interests and ability to tackle emerging strategic threats around the world.

Jackie Charlton, Welsh Liberal Democrat Councillor for Llangattock, and Jake Berriman, Welsh Liberal Democrat Councillor for Llandrindod North, joined protestors affiliated with the Sustainable Food Knighton group, as they took to the streets of Llandrindod Wells to demand that Powys County Council take action to address bio-diversity and natural habitat loss.