My goodness, Conference is going to be an absolute blast this year. Our annual jaunt to the seaside takes place from 14-17 September in Brighton will be so much sweeter after our spectacular General Election result.

I wasn’t going to go because of caring responsibilities, but I’ve managed to book a flying visit for 24 hours as I can’t bear the thought of not being with the Lib Dem family in such a special year. I mean who wouldn’t want to be around to congratulate 72 MPs and maybe get  a cuddle with Jennie if she’s off duty? And I can vouch for the fact that she does love a cuddle. If you think I am talking about Jennie Rigg, well, her too.

Before I say anything else, I should make the point very strongly that Federal Conference Committee have even more of a challenge than usual this year because someone decided to go outside on a wet Wednesday and call an election round about the time we’d normally have our motion submission deadlines.  Whether you agree with every decision FCC makes or not, I think it is important to acknowledge the huge amount of work that they do.

So, this request to them comes from a place of love. Registration for Conference opened earlier this week. The Early Bird discount is only available for around two weeks. Until 23 July, a members’ pass to the Conference costs £90. After that, until 13th August, it goes up to £130.

Now not everyone will have a payday during that window. I think there is a strong argument for having early bird open for at least a whole month so that everyone has the chance to have at least one salary drop. This year even more so when so many members contributed to our election result by blowing some of their hard earned cash going to target seats. I know several people who simply are not going to be able to afford to register by 23rd July. So my request to FCC, is that they fix this and basically extend the early bird until 13 August.

Someone alerted me to a report by the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals which shows that the vast majority of people get paid after 23rd.

So, how about it FCC? Please would you extend the deadline? I know you always have people breathing down your neck about budgets, but I don’t think you will lose money on this. I suspect this will be a much bigger Conference than we have been used to in recent years because everyone will want to celebrate.

While I think about it, here are the other deadlines we should all be aware of:

Other conference deadlines you should be aware of:

Motions deadline – 13:00 on 24 July 2024

Amendments and Emergency motions deadline – 13:00 on 9 September 2024

Appeals deadline for Amendments and Emergency motions – 13:00 on 12 September 2024

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings