In a show of apparent petulance, Labour's Council Group fought off two attempts by the Opposition to ensure a proper debate on the vital vaccine rollout scheme that is central to our country's return to normal life.

Blaming "long questions" from Opposition members holding them to account, the Labour Group first refused to bring forward the motion on vaccines, before refusing to extend the meeting by a mere 30 minutes to ensure a debate could be had.

Opposition Liberal Democrats' councillors are in a state of shock as it has become clear that the Labour Administration have failed to fully account for the Climate Emergency in the Council's budget proposals for 2020-21.

Responding to questioning at the Finance & Budget Monitoring Scrutiny Sub-Committee, Officers admitted that the numerous committees established with great fanfare by Leader of the Council, Cllr Forbes, to address climate and environment matters would have no formal role in feeding into the Council's budget consultation process, and may even report too late to influence the Council's spending priorities for the coming financial year.

Liberal Democrats councillors and activists will be out in force tomorrow in Newcastle City Centre following up their Climate Emergency motion and the stratedy approved by their Party Conference with a street protest locally.

"Our children have shown us the way. Come and join us and make your voice count - we only have one world, it's our responsibility to do everything we can to stop any further damage to the environment and climate change. We'll be joining other protests at the Civic Centre at 11am.

The Liberal Democrats Opposition believes the revised plans to tackle air pollution from traffic on Tyneside merely a case of delaying possible charges for driving in the city centre rather than scrapping them. They continue to be concerned the council's plans are neither legally compliant with air quality legislation nor likely to tackle growing citywide problems. (The press statement by the Labour councils is below, including daily charges of up to £50 a day for some non compliant vehicles including buses)

"The news that the councils seem to be no longer considering the possibility of the £12.50 daily charge for the Central Motorway and Coast Road will be a relief to many people, but it isn't immediately obvious that the new proposals comply with the relevant air quality targets", says Cllr Greg Stone, Liberal Democrats opposition spokesperson on transport and air quality. "These plans appear to do nothing to improve identified air quality problem areas like Shields Road, the Cradlewell, Gosforth High Street, and the Coast Road.

What is the true cost of the reduction in the number of litter bins across the City by the Labour run Council?

At last Cabinet Members and Service Directors have decided to come out of the Civic Centre to see what residents and we have been complaining about all this time.

They are annoyed about what it looks like. But what about the impact? Here are some examples observed by Liberal Democrats councillors who are often out and about in their wards litterpicking, frequently with local volunteers :

NEWCASTLE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS LOCAL ELECTION MANIFESTO 2019

'Forward to a better future with the Liberal Democrats'

OUR PARTY'S PRINCIPLES AND VALUES AND AMBITION

I. Introduction
Newcastle Liberal Democrats hold firm to the values of the wider Liberal Democrat party. Our national vision is set out in the preamble to our party's federal constitution:
The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.
In Newcastle, we aim to stay true to our national vision.
In all that we say and do, we will strive to be open, tolerant and united and to demand better for the residents of our city.
We add one more proviso to our vision locally in our desire to be close to the communities in which we serve, to listen to local people, to work with community organisations, and to act on their behalf where it is possible to do so, in line with our Liberal Democrat principles.
We believe passionately that our focus as a local party and actions should be rooted in communities.

Here's what Cllr Colin Ferguson (pictured with Cllr Phil Hall, right, who chairs the Budget and Finance Scrutiny Committee) said in launching the Liberal Democrats' approach to Newcastle's 2019 budget which saw Labour hiking Council Tax by 3.95% and cutting services by £20 million, highlighting that the budget is based upon Labour's choices.