The party has announced today that Steve Webb will lead the group writing our next election manifesto.
Steve has pledged to use online consultation to engage as many activists as possible in the process, and according to the Guardian “He hopes that as many as half of the party’s 70,000 members will help to feed in ideas.”
Steve has told the Guardian: “There was a feeling that there was a lot of good policy in our [last] manifesto, but it didn’t tell a story about the kind of party we are and the sort of society we want.”
At this early stage we don’t know what model he is following for the process, but can probably assume that it will be based around something similar to consult.libdems.org.uk
UPDATE: politics.co.uk reports that “Health spokesman Steve Webb will lead a team including leader Menzies Campbell, campaign chief Ed Davey, work and pensions spokesman David Laws and Treasury spokesman Vince Cable.”
UPDATE 2: Party press release here.
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
The Disneyfication of Haley Mills
Survation now put Andy Burnham 10 points ahead in Makerfield
Michael Meadowcroft: A Liberal of Intellectual Rigour and Uncommon Integrity
Debt-ridden graduates claim they are seen as cash cows
Ruth Bright
BigTallTim
Daniel Walker
Richard Good
Matt (Bristol)
4 Comments
Good grief Charlie Brown!!
1 in 2 bearded sandal wearers that smell of stale beer will make policy to lead us to I dare not think what at the next GE…
What will the mechanism be for this? Is this just some idle lip-service to democracy like meeting the challenge was? Or are we really ditching all pretensions of being a sensible political party?
In the words of John McEnroe “You cannot be serious, man!”
I had a brief chat with Steve Webb about it a couple of weeks back and he is very serious about it – it won’t be a ‘token’ consultation. 50% of members participating is certainly a brave claim – I’m pretty sure that’s higher than those who vote in most federal elections.
It is of course good that the Party listens to what Members want to be IN the Manifesto, but lets not get too excited by this. At the end of the day what comes OUT will be decided by the drafters (MPs and Party staff), the Parliamentary Party, and the FPC (at the end of the process).
Anybody who has been involved in any consultation process knows that consultation is about having your voice heard, it’s not necessarily about having it listened to.
what are the elemnets of a good socailly satisfying manifesto?