Congratulations to all the very many Liberal Democrats who stood for local council seats this month.

Local democracy relies on those who put themselves forward to represent residents, so whether you won or not, I hope you will be proud of having stood.

As a party, we saw results greatly exceeding expectations, with a big net gain of 75 councillors and four new councils under Liberal Democrat majority control.

We're looking for members for two new policy working groups: one on health and social care and one on climate change.

Do you have expert knowledge of the healthcare system? Of social care? Or climate change and energy policy?

If so there is an opportunity to help set the direction of party policy on these issues by joining a policy working groups. The party's Federal Policy Committee is launching two new working groups: a Health and Social Care working group and a Climate Change and the Low Carbon Environment working group.

I've been blown away by the thousands of people who have joined the campaign to ban upskirting so far.

Together, I know we can achieve a change in the law.

Two weeks ago at Prime Minister's, Questions the Prime Minister said the Government were considering supporting my bill ban upskirting. We need to make sure her warm words are backed up with action

Trump's decision to scrap US participation in the Iran nuclear deal is reckless and short-sighted.

The deal is far from perfect, but it is better to work with our partners to make changes than to pull out altogether and risk heightened tensions in the Middle East.

Trump's careless actions serve as another reminder of the enormous value of our EU partners.

Thank you! Thank you for everything that gave us the best election night in some years.

We took control of four councils: Richmond & Kingston in London, Three Rivers District in Hertfordshire, and South Cambridgeshire District.

We also had a great increase in the net councillors across England, +75, just behind Labour on +79. The Tories had -33, with UKIP -123.

The Liberal Democrats are seeking a highly qualified volunteer with significant experience of financial and compliance matters at a high level to become their Registered Treasurer and Chair of the Federal Finance and Resources Committee.

The FFRC Chair and Registered Treasurer of the Party is a senior role within the party that requires a substantial commitment beyond the Chairing of the FFRC, including attending and contributing to both the Federal Board and the Operations Committee (a sub-committee of the Board comprising the Vice Chairs, English and Welsh Chairs, the Scottish Convenor and all the Federal Committee Chairs), as well as being an ex-officio member of the Federal Audit and Scrutiny Committee.

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.

At the local elections on Thursday Janet Whitehouse was re-elected in the Epping Hemnall with a majority of 602 votes.

Elsewhere in the district the Liberal Democrats won second places in Buckhurst Hill West (Joseph Barkham) Chipping Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash (Pesh Kapasiawala), Epping Lindsey and Thornwood Common (Cherry McCredie), North Weald Bassett(Ingrid Black) and Theydon Bois (Clive Amos), with Joseph and Cherry both more than doubling the vote from 2016.