Terry Stacy and the Islington Liberal Democrats have announced their new scheme to help new homeowners get on the housing ladder: Rent to Buy.

2,300 workers in Islington will see a boost to their pay packet from October this year, thanks to Liberal Democrats in government.

The National Minimum Wage is set to rise by three per cent, which means workers will get a new rate of £6.70 an hour.

It is the largest real-terms increase in the National Minimum Wage since 2008, and over 1.4 million UK workers are set to benefit.

Islington Liberal Democrats were delighted to learn that James Kempton has been appointed to serve on the Ofsted board by Education Secretary Nicky Morgan.

The announcement from the Department of Education can be found here. 

Local party Chair, Nick Manners, said "I am delighted to hear that James has been appointed to the Ofsted Board and I am sure all members of the local party will join me in congratulating him".

James was the Lib Dem leader of Islington Council between 2006 - 2009.

Islington Housing Campaigner and Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Islington South and Finsbury Terry Stacy joined Liberal Democrat Communities Minister Stephen Williams today (Thursday 5 February) to announce measures giving tenants greater protection against rogue landlords.

Thanks to Stephen's work and support by Liberal Democrats in government, people living in rented accommodation will now be protected against revenge evictions.

After the news of leaked council proposals to cut Islington’s street cleaning, figures released last week revealed that a tiny number of fly-tipping penalties have been issued by Islington’s Labour-run Council in Canonbury since 2010.

Whilst Council figures show 165 recorded incidents of fly-tipping in Canonbury between August 2012 and 2013, the Council only issued 29 fines have been issued since 2010 and only seven since 2013.

This latest street cleaning scandal is another blow to the Council's reputation for street hygiene.  Last year the Labour Council became subject to both national and local ridicule for spending £240k on a 22 man 'dog squad' to tackle Islington's endemic dog mess problem, which only issued 36 penalties in a 12 month period. Added to that, in 2014/15 the Labour Council received 265 street cleaning complaints, an increase on the previous year of 215 and well above the target of 180.

When Council contracts are mismanaged, it is residents who suffer.  The scaffolding on Ecclesbourne Road in Canonbury has now been taken down after six months, all to do just a bit of painting.   Who is it that has bear the brunt of the Council’s mismanagement?  It is the residents.

According to the Council, the scaffolding was there for six weeks.  Did the Council not know it was up for six weeks, or did they turn a blind eye to the scaffolding company warehousing its materials on residents’ properties?

Islington Liberal Democrats agree with Labour for ditching the disgraced MP, Emily Thornberry from the shadow cabinet as a result of her offensive Tweet that she posted whilst campaigning in the Rochester by-election on Thursday. She has been widely criticised for sneering at voters with this Tweet which is being hailed as evidence of the disconnect between Labour and its former supporters. At best her Tweets yesterday were crass and insensitive, at worst sneering and out of touch.

Islington Lib Dems have caught sight of a leaked council document which contained a detailed programme of cuts to front line services that the Labour run council is planning to make over the next four years. Rather than the council’s bloated back office budget taking the hit, or the council cutting back on the various vanity projects that Labour have thrown money at, it is services that local residents use and rely on that are going to be cut when Labour propose their next budget.

Included in Labour’s hit list is the Cally Pool, which itself went through a major refurbishment at the cost of £350k just last year. It could see its doors closed for the last time if these proposals get the go ahead.

At the stroke of midnight on 29 March, history was made when same-sex couples in Islington were able to get married and equal marriage became law.

Couples currently in civil partnership will be able to marry and have all the same rights and legal recognition as straight couples. Existing marriages of gay couples that took place overseas will also be legally recognised in England.