Economic development can be defined as efforts that seek to improve the economic well-being and quality of life for a community by creating and/or retaining jobs and supporting or growing incomes and the tax base.

Economic growth means an increase in real national income / national output. Economic growth should enable more economic development. Higher real GDP enables more to be spent on health care and education.

Last night Theresa May suffered yet another series of damning defeats in the Lords, exposing the ever-increasing anger at her administration's undemocratic, destructive approach to Brexit.

So far the government has been defeated a total of 14 times, with the Lords rejecting the Brexit deadline and exit date, securing a meaningful vote in the Commons, and quashing attempts to hand ministers 'blank cheque' powers.

Specifically, the Privacy Policy and a set of Fair Processing Notices (FPN). Both are vital to telling people how we will use, store and collect their data. This is a major milestone in our preparations for GDPR. All information gathered under the new legal notices will be compliant.

You can view the notices and related guidance here: https://www.libdems.org.uk/privacy-advice

An online webinar covering the specifics of the notices has been arranged for Thursday 10th May from 6.00pm. https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8679668325408153603

Amendments to the legislation have meant publishing has taken longer than hoped. For our lawyers and the Project Team, it's meant some late nights.

Now is the time to start adding a suitable version of the new FPN wherever you are gathering information. Be this online, in emails or on leaflets. The next step is the reconsent campaign, asking email recipients to opt-in to receiving communication. You will receive advice on this shortly.

For parties using Nationbuilder or Prater Raines websites, the information will be auto-updated. However, if your local party is on a different system then please let us know at help@libdems.org.uk immediately.

The Government have received their eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth defeats in the House of Lords during the Report stage of the EU Withdrawal Bill.

A vote on an amendment to ensure our future interaction with EU law and agencies was passed by a cross-bench majority of 298 to 227

A further vote on an amendment to remove the exit date from the bill passed by a cross-bench majority of 311 to 233.

On Thursday, England went to the polls in the local elections - and going in the pundits weren't exactly predicting a great night for us:

Net seat changes prediction from @StephenDFisher at Oxford (and also of the GE exit poll team):

CON +8
LAB +131
LD -83https://t.co/wzhjyaUwi6 pic.twitter.com/5QxOtforCy

- Number Cruncher Politics (@NCPoliticsUK) May 2, 2018

Firstly, I want to thank everyone who has worked so hard in these elections.

Whether you got the result you hoped for or not; you have done a fantastic job. Thank you.

So far it looks like we're on course for a great set of results.

We've defended our Councils in Eastleigh, Cheltenham and Sutton. We have also pulled off a spectacular victory in taking control of Richmond.

We've made gains in Hull, Liverpool, Sunderland, Gosport, West Oxfordshire, Cambridge, Sheffield, Portsmouth, Winchester and St Albans. We've held our ground in places like Southwark.

All over England, people are voting Liberal Democrat today - because they know they'll get Councillors who will champion quality social care, strong local schools, and well-funded services.

And - even better, thousands of people have been tweeting to say why they're voting for their local Lib Dem candidates - here are a few of our favourites:

Experienced the loss of your phone coverage in rural Norfolk? Just in the middle of an important conversation or even worse not being able to connect to a call at all? Ever had problems trying to access the internet?

According to the government's own figures, three of the 10 worst local authority areas in England for indoor 4G coverage are in Norfolk.