The Spring Lib Dem conference in Harrogate starts at 4.30pm on the Friday 21st March. Before that at midday we in the Social Liberal Forum (SLF) are organising a pre-conference lunch event at the Crowne Plaza hotel near the conference centre.
Last year the spring conference was in York and we organised a similar lunch time event with 3 prospective Lib Dem MPs as speakers; Josh Babarinde, Victoria Collins and Bobby Dean, all of whom got elected last July. This year we invite back Bobby Dean with 2 more new MPs; local MP Tom Gordon and Pippa Heylings who is our spokesperson for energy security and net zero.
They will talk about their personal journey from deciding to join the party to becoming candidates and winning their seats. They will discuss the challenges ahead and how MPs representing the prosperous “Blue Wall” seats may be able to work to benefit people living in the deprived communities in the “Red Wall” seats. They will also share their vision of what it means to be a Lib Dem MP.
This is a great opportunity to meet the new MPs and get to meet other Lib Dem members before conference gets started. Any money raised from this event helps pay for our conference fringe meetings and exhibition stand.
As this is a pre-conference event it is not listed in the conference programme. If you want to attend this event you must book in advance and if you do so now you can take advantage of the early bird rate. Book here: 2025 Pre-conference lunch – Social Liberal Forum
* Geoff Payne is a member of the SLF council
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