In their 2005 Election Manifesto, the Lib Dems said they would:

What they've actually done since 2005:

...continue to work closely with schools to ensure a high quality of education and opportunity for all young people in Somerset.

Under the Lib Dems, for the last 3 years, Somerset schools have performed worse than the national average for GCSE results.

In the whole of the south-west, only the inner-city areas of Bristol and Swindon perform worse than Somerset.

Less than half of school leavers in Somerset achieve 5 A*-C grades, including English and Maths.

...endeavour to give parents a 99% assurance of a place for their child at their preferred school.

Under the Lib Dems, almost 1 in 10 children don't get in to their first choice secondary school.

...re-double their efforts to recruit more volunteers for Social Services.

The Lib Dems initiated a process for re-letting of contracts for outreach family support services in such a way that the existing providers were unable to tender for the new contracts.

...support people with disabilities so that they can live independently.

The Lib Dems cut the budget for social care transport by almost £1million, increasing the risk of Somerset's most vulnerable adults becoming more isolated.

...encourage safer and cleaner streets throughout Somerset.

Conservative-run Mendip District Council won top marks for its street cleanliness at the 2009 Clean Britain Awards; the Lib Dem-run Somerset districts were nowhere to be seen.

...continue promoting the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund, which re-invests in community projects in areas affected by mineral extraction.

The Lib Dems have cut the fund by £200,000 just to balance the books at County Hall, disappointing scores of community groups who would otherwise have benefited from grants from this fund.

...continue to build new libraries, taking advantage of developer contributions. Our target is to open 4 new libraries over the period 2004-2009.

The Lib Dems have opened no new libraries in the last 8 years, and were recently named in the national press as a council that was considering closing some of its existing libraries.

...pledge to stop deterioration of the Highway network, i.e. potholes and uneven surfaces and remove the maintenance backlog, moving to a programme of pro-active rather than reactive maintenance.

The Lib Dems recently cut the £1.25million backlog maintenance budget, and have had to admit that the number of safety defects has increased significantly, and that there has been a deterioration in the condition of both major and minor roads across the county. The current backlog on road repairs is valued at £179million.

...install a system for recording personnel and payroll information which will keep a tighter check on staffing levels and costs.

The Lib Dems paid £30million for SAP, which was due to go live in February 2009. However, the personnel system is still not operational, and is unlikely to be implemented in the near future.