Cornish Liberal Democrat MPs Andrew George, Stephen Gilbert and Dan Rogerson have welcomed a landmark move to roll back Labour’s surveillance state.

The Protection of Freedoms Act became law last week after receiving Royal Assent in Parliament.

The Act will put an end to measures such as 28-day pre-charge detention, the storage of the DNA of innocent people, and the ability of local councils to snoop on residents. The Act also makes stalking a criminal offence and will end the practice of wheel clamping on private land.

Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for this piece of legislation, first proposing a “Freedom Bill” more than four years ago.

Commenting, St Austell & Newquay’s Lib Dem MP Stephen Gilbert said:

“This is a milestone in the fight to claw back our civil liberties. Under the Labour government, our civil liberties were steadily eroded by increasingly over-bearing state.“Liberal Democrats have done the right thing by ending these shameful practices with the Protection of Freedoms Act. It builds on the scrapping of the ID card scheme and the destruction of the National Identity Register and is a leap forward in bringing Labour’s surveillance state to an end.”

North Cornwall MP Dan Rogerson, added:

“Liberal Democrats have a long and proud record of fighting to protect our civil liberties. We firmly opposed Labour’s illiberal legislation while in opposition, and can be proud of having repealed much of this while in coalition government.

“The Freedoms Act will also help boost volunteering in Cornwall by ending overburdening requirements to get a CRB check. The new system will be more targeted and sensible, for example by allowing CRB checks to be transferred between jobs to cut down on cost and bureaucracy.”

Local MP, Andrew George, has welcomed another major milestone having been reached as Superfast Cornwall announced this week that over a third of all Cornish homes and businesses now have access to the high speed technology on the BT fibre network.

Superfast Broadband has just started to become available in 52 Cornish exchanges including Helston, St Ives, St Just, Mawgan, Mullion, Germoe, Rosudgeon, Ashton, St Erth, Lelant and Canonstown in Mr George’s constituency.

Mr George said: “More than 95,000 Cornish premises can now get the service. More than 6,000 people have already signed up to it. This is reassuring and I congratulate Superfast Cornwall on the progress so far.”

Superfast Cornwall expects to make fibre optic Broadband available to at least 80% of premises in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly by the end of 2014.

Around £53 million of the funding for Superfast Cornwall is coming from the European Regional Development Fund Convergence Programme, whilst BT is investing up to £78.5 million.

Cornwall’s Liberal Democrat MPs have welcomed the start of the new £1 billion Youth Contract this week.

The Youth Contract was announced last year by Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, to tackle youth unemployment and started on 2nd April.

The Youth Contract aims to ensure that all jobless young people are earning or learning again before long-term damage is done.

In Cornwall, around 3,700 18 to 24-year olds are currently in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance and would stand to benefit.

The Youth Contract will provide at least 410,000 new work places nationally for 18 to 24-year olds over the next three years. This includes 160,000 wage subsidies and 250,000 new work experience placements.

A new programme to will help 16 and 17-year olds who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs). This will help the most disengaged of the 8,000 young people not in employment, education or training in the South West get back to school or college, onto a proper apprenticeship or into a job with training.

In addition, there will be at least 20,000 more incentive payments to encourage employers to take on young apprentices in England.

Commenting, North Cornwall MP Dan Rogerson said:

“In these difficult times Liberal Democrats are doing the right thing by making sure we help those who need it most.

“If young people are out of work, the consequences of that will be felt for a long time afterwards. We have to ensure that the young people of today do not have a false start to their careers.

“The Youth Contract will help those who need it most through effective advice, support, training and by giving people in Cornwall the experience necessary to be successful in the work place.

St Austell and Newquay’s MP, Stephen Gilbert, added:

“While we’re clearing up the economic mess that Labour left behind, the Coalition Government is ensuring that our children do not bear the consequences of Labour’s mistakes.

“As a Liberal Democrat, I am proud that the Coalition Government is doing the right thing to prevent another lost generation.”

Commenting further, Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg said:

“Youth unemployment is a slow-burn social disaster and an economic waste.

“We can’t lose the skills and talent of our young people – right when we need them most. We need the next generation to help us build a new economy.

“The aim of the Youth Contract is to get every unemployed young person earning or learning again before long-term damage is done, giving them the skills for a lifetime of work.

“This is a £1bn package and it will get young people into proper, lasting jobs.”

Local MP, Andrew George, is urging Chancellor George Osborne to “back off” from his threat to tax pasties, warning that “someone may get hurt” in the ensuing pasty war. He is also urging local people to respond to the Government’s “Pasty Tax” proposals by responding to the Government’s consultation before the deadline on 4th May.

Mr George is urging the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon George Osborne MP, to respect the Cornish pasty’s special status by exempting it from the extended VAT rules on “hot takeaway food”.

Lib Dem MEP for the South West Sir Graham Watson has sent a stark warning to be wary of con artists ahead of the start of the holiday season.

The Euro-MP has received several letters regarding scams in Spanish shops where victims are lured into a store by a group of con-artists and pressed into buying ‘exclusive tax free bargains’. After purchasing a high quality camera, laptop or mobile phone for a fraction of the cost you would expect to pay in a UK shop, the scam artists then persuade the victim to buy a better product. Victims are then intimidated into purchasing a so called better model believing to have received a refund only to later find they have been charged twice.

Other scams involving false advertising at currency exchanges and Jet Ski hiring scams have also been reported in Spain as well as other major holiday destinations across Europe. MEP Sir Graham Watson has warning all holiday makers to beware.

‘What is most callous about these criminals is that they play on the ‘cringe factor’ and an innocent person’s unwillingness to create an awkward or embarrassing situation. I urge everyone to be cautious when purchasing products or renting services from a vendor or individual, particularly when hiring equipment such as Jet-Skis where you should ensure that insurance is available and the correct paperwork has been agreed.

‘Anyone who is believed to have been a victim of these types of scams should immediately contact their credit card company and also report their case to the UK European Consumer Centre.

Andrew George MP joined the owners of Mounts Bay Pasty Company at their Penzance shop and café today to support the firm’s high street protest against the Chancellor’s Pasty Tax.

Mr George, MP for the West Cornwall and Scilly constituency of St Ives, took the opportunity to discuss the issue with proprietors Hilary Searle and Ali Keskeys and to find out their concerns regarding the affects the addition of VAT on pasties would have to their business.

He urged everyone in Cornwall to respond to the Government’s consultation process which ends on May 4th so that the Chancellor understands the huge depth of feeling and concern caused by this “regressive and damaging proposal.”

West Cornwall MP, Andrew George, is urging Treasury Ministers to rethink their proposal to impose a “pasty tax”.

Mr George who, last week, warned the Government that the Cornish would “fight them on the beaches” is urging the Chancellor of the Exchequer to think again before the implementation of the tax on 1st October.

Mr George said, “Pasties are not luxury food. It’s not like caviar or lobster sandwiches, which would be zero rated.

“For the Chancellor to tell working Cornish folk that they can ‘eat their pasties cold’ fails to recognise the long tradition and how important this humble square meal is to working people in our country.

“This may be a way for the Government to generate consistency between hot take away chicken which is VATable and hot take away chicken from supermarkets which is not.

“The Cornish pasty has special designation – Protected Geographic Indication status – which the Government has supported. If the Government is simply trying to achieve consistency between VATable takeaway outlets and supermarkets then they could make an exception for the ‘protected’ pasty.”

Local MP, Andrew George, has committed to switching off the lights for WWF’s Earth Hour 2012 later this month in support of the forthcoming environment summit in Rio.

Hundreds of millions of people across the world are expected to turn off their lights on March 31st at 8.30pm to demonstrate their support for a brighter future for the planet.

Last year, 135 countries took part in the event.

Earth Hour comes only a few weeks before the Rio Summit in June. This will be an opportunity for world leaders to discuss vital themes for the future, such as sustainable food, water and energy, and to assess what progress has been made since the first summit 20 years ago.

Mr George said: “I am delighted to be able to support this campaign; it is an innovative way to show that we care for the environment.”

Following the detection of Schmallenberg Virus (SBV) in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, South Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, Lib Dem MEP for the Westcountry Sir Graham Watson has called for better coordination among European states to tackle the threat.

The virus, first detected last autumn in Germany and The Netherlands before making its way across the channel earlier this year, has now been identified in the South West too. MEPs in the European Parliament on Thursday asked the European Commission to confirm exactly how it plans to ensure EU coordination to tackle the problem.

Sir Graham Watson said after Thursday’s debate:

“The recent discovery of SBV cases across the region is indeed a very worrying development. With lambing season about to get fully underway we will all be watching carefully, and hoping that the number of infections in the South West is kept as low as possible.

“However, this is something that must be tackled in a coordinated way at EU-level. Like climate change or cross-border pandemics affecting humans, no single country can hope to deal with such a problem on its own. The UK couldn’t stop the wind blowing the midges to our shores and midge numbers will inevitably increase as warmer weather approaches. So we need to ensure EU member states provide the Commission with full and timely information, and cooperate to develop common approaches to the disease.

“That is what we have asked of the Commission today – to ensure it gathers all EU member states together to monitor this new disease and the changing situation, so that we will be prepared to act effectively whatever direction it might take, and avoid panicked, knee-jerk reactions.

Expressing his disappointment at the passage of the Health and Social Care Bill last night, Liberal Democrat Health Select Committee Member and critic, Andrew George MP, warned that those who care about the NHS will have to fight hard to protect public services from the risk posed by the Government’s legislation.

Mr George said: “I regret that the Government has pressed on with this legislation. It is a grave error and puts the future of our NHS at risk.

“We will all now have a massive challenge to somehow protect our NHS from the high risk this legislation poses.”

Mr George warned that GPs commissioning services from themselves would be left in a vulnerable and “conflicted” position and that amendments requiring a declaration of interest merely represented “a sticking plaster on one of the already crumbling pillars which underpinned the edifice of this ill thought through legislation.”

Mr George had opposed the legislation since it was published as a White Paper in the summer of 2010 and has voted against the Government throughout.

Yesterday there were few opportunities to protest as most of the amendments brought forward from the House of Lords helped, as Mr George described it, to make the Bill “less bad.”