From the Surrey Comet:

One in three children are living below the poverty line in parts of Kingston and the numbers could rise when they are reassessed this summer.

Poverty-stricken children are still living in cramped, unheated homes, struggling at school, and having to deal with alcoholic or drug-taking parents, according to official reports.

...

Did you miss the Chancellor’s budget in March?

Were you aware the March budget announced large tax cuts for every average working person in Britain?

That this year’s budget contained a £3.5 billion tax cut to help people on low and middle incomes?

My Easter recess from Parliament didn’t go as planned.

My constituency work continued as scheduled. But my ministerial work changed dramatically, and my planned family break was cut short.

The reason? The strike threat by the fuel tanker drivers.

From the Telegraph

In a direct challenge to Tory eurosceptics, Ed Davey said it would be “reckless” and “unwise” to rule out joining the euro.

The Energy and Climate Change Secretary dismissed David Cameron’s veto of a new European Union treaty as nothing more than a “blip” in Britain’s relationship with Brussels.

From Sky News

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey said: "The potential rewards from carbon capture and storage are immense: a technology that can de-carbonise coal and gas-fired power stations and large industrial emitters, allowing them to play a crucial part in the UK's low carbon future.

From The House magazine

The newest member of the Cabinet rejected a career in espionage for the greener mission of keeping Britain’s lights on

From Reuters

The British government on Monday launched a competition to provide 20 million pounds this year to companies developing cheaper and more efficient components for carbon capture and storage (CCS) plants.

The funds are on top of a one-billion pound state tender for CCS projects due in the coming weeks.

From the local Guardian

A controversial polyclinic will benefit from a £5.2m cash boost in the wake of fears over the closure of A+E and maternity wards.

The Government announced Kingston NHS would receive the money which will help pay for the planned centre at the old Surbiton hospital site, due to open early next year.

Letter to The Telegraph:

Diversity is the key to our future energy security (“Shale gas boom may cost billions”). With output from the North Sea in decline, we are now a net importer of gas, making us more vulnerable to volatile world gas prices.

From the Independent

Covered in blood and carrying a stranger in his arms, Ed Davey turned to see the lights of a high-speed train hurtling towards him. A split-second decision to help a woman in trouble late one December night was about to cost him his life. "I decided that I had to go across the live rails to the other side," the mild-mannered Liberal Democrat says, matter of factly.

From the BBC

The UK's energy minister said his "Green Deal" plan for business would be so radical it would be hated by some.

Ed Davey told the Scottish Lib Dem conference in Inverness he would announce details of the project soon.

He said he was "giving notice" to businesses and local authorities to get serious about saving energy and saving people money.

This week I attended events to mark Carbon Capture and Storage Industry Day.

Since I first read about the technology back in 2005 I’ve held the view that carbon capture and storage is crucial to a low carbon future for our planet.

This article has been reproduced from Liberal Democrat Voice:

Some things in politics are symbolic. For dyed-in-the-wool environmentalists like the Liberal Democrats, solar power is one of these things – indisputably clean, green and cutting edge technology. The sort of thing Liberal Democrats in a government that aims to be the greenest ever should be unequivocally behind.

Our commitment to the environment was why I joined the party in the first place.

From the Surrey Comet

Edward Davey has pledged to continue campaigning on Kingston issues after landing his "dream job" in the cabinet.

Read the rest here