1. Purge policykit (please note that this will remove ubuntu-desktop as well) from Synaptics
2. As Ubuntu-desktop has been removed I had to manually reconnect to the LAN (the network manager applet has been removed as well)
3. Reinstall ubuntu-desktop
4. Reboot the machine
What solved the issue for me has been:
1. Purge policykit (please note that this will remove ubuntu-desktop as well) from Synaptics
2. As Ubuntu-desktop has been removed I had to manually reconnect to the LAN (the network manager applet has been removed as well)
3. Reinstall ubuntu-desktop
4. Reboot the machine