Andrew Stunell

Over 20 million working people will be better off next year after Liberal Democrats in the Coalition Government delivered the biggest ever increase in the income tax personal allowance in the Budget.

The massive £3.5bn tax cut for working people delivers:

• The biggest ever single uplift in the tax threshold
• A personal allowance of £9,205 in April 2013
• 21 million working people getting an extra £220 tax cut
• Brings the total tax cut for basic rate tax payers to £550
• Brings the total number of people lifted out of tax to 2 million.

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg used his speech to the Party's Spring conference in NewcastleGateshead to call for the forthcoming budget to be a "budget for fairness" and pledged that it would help working familes.

The Deputy Prime Minister pledged that by 2015 Britain would have seen an end to control orders, the first gay marriages and the first elections to the House of Lords.

Fairer taxes, promoting green jobs, protecting your civil liberties - these are just some of the achievements of the Liberal Democrats in government.

We're building a freer, greener and more liberal country - and stopping some of the worst excesses of the Conservatives. Find out more in this infographic.

The first cash payments to tackle the scourge of empty homes will ensure thousands of properties are lived in once again and breathe life into scores of neglected neighbourhoods across the country, Lib Dem Communities Minister and Hazel Grove MP Andrew Stunell announced today.

Almost £70m of funding for 95 projects will bring over 5,600 properties back into use across the country, far exceeding original expectations of 3,300 homes, and with £30m still to be allocated at a later date. Over half of the projects receiving funding today are in the North and Midlands.

LIb Dem Communities Minister and Hazel Grove MP, Andrew Stunell today announced that the Department for Communities and Local Government will make available up to £10 million in funding to help English language training for speakers of other languages.

The Department for Communities and Local Government is making the funding available in the current 2011/12 Academic Year to support additional provision for learners with no, or extremely poor, levels of spoken English. It will be targeted at helping those who are not in employment and are thus unable to afford normal course fees.

Zero-Carbon Homes are a step closer today after new proposals were announced to cut carbon emissions in new and existing buildings by Lib Dem Communities Minister and Hazel Grove MP Andrew Stunell.

Mr. Stunell said changes to the country's building regulations would make new homes, shops and offices warmer and cheaper to run, support growth and take England a step closer to meeting its bold low carbon commitments.

Lib Dem Communities Minister and Hazel Grove MP Andrew Stunell today invited community and voluntary organisations to apply for a share of £100 million that will help revitalise communities and bring the empty homes blighting their areas back into use.

Mr Stunell said that the Government cash would help tackle this national scandal, creating more affordable housing and giving a new lease of life to homes and communities.

There will be no more Post Offices closures in Stockport after Lib Dems in government secured a ten-year deal between the Post Office and the Royal Mail. Hazel Grove MP Andrew Stunell, a long-standing campaigner against Post Office closures, hailed the new deal as "a very welcome move" that will safeguard the future of the Post Office.

A host of new powers to put communities back in charge of their own affairs has become a reality as the Coalition Government's localism agenda takes another major step forward.

The Localism Act, which received Royal Assent in November 2011, takes power from central government and hands it back to local authorities and communities - giving them the freedom and flexibility to achieve their own ambitions.

Hazel Grove MP Andrew Stunell has warmly welcomed the announcement that the full High Speed Rail route from London to Manchester is to get the go-ahead.

Commenting today from Westminster he said:

"It will be a huge boost for jobs in Greater Manchester, it will make it easier for freight to get off our motorway network and onto rail, and it will give us the best ever connections with Birmingham and London.