Lynne Featherstone & Councillor Chris Lucas at Three Rivers House, Rickmansworth

On Tuesday February 15th 2011, Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone came to Rickmansworth to review the recent move of the Police Station to the Council offices at Three Rivers House: (http://preview.tinyurl.com/69hz7sf).

Lynne also took the time to meet with a delegation of Councillors and candidates from Watford BC and Three Rivers District Council to discuss with us her push within government for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Trans-gender (LGBT) equality, putting forward legislation enabling civil partnerships to take place within religious buildings if they wish to do so. She also expressed her desire to move towards civil partnerships and marriages being on an equal footing, including looking at civil partnerships between non-same sex couples.

Lynne also gave us a candid view of how the Coalition Government is performing after almost 10 months in. She reiterated the fact that it was Labour who were unwilling to engage in any meaningful dialogue about forming a governing partnership and that a full coalition with the Conservatives was the only sensible option to fix the economy, secure our financial future and implement a progressive agenda for the next 5 years. Lynne also distributed a list of manifesto promises and Lib Dem achievements since we’ve been in government (I shall add this to my site shortly). It is quite some list – one that we can duly feel proud of. Lynne then invited questions from the attendees… Suffice it to say there was a frank and forthright exchange on (you guessed it!) tuition fees, changes to welfare provision (universal tax credits) and, as one should expect from a group of Councillors, changes to local government service provision and funding. I asked after 10 months what lessons had we learnt and what I took from her answer was we should have been better prepared to be in government. This is something we should never allow to happen again – especially, as I hope is the case, the public loses their fear of collaborative governance and votes to change the voting system.

Whilst Lynne may not have always agreed with us, she listened and said she would report back to the leadership our thoughts, concerns and insights. That’s all we could ask for…

What is clear is that Lynne feels passionate about her brief at the Home Office and it was refreshing to see a Lib Dem doing what we do best – fighting for fairness and equality for those in society whose voices often go unheard.