Author Archives: Callum Robertson and Simon McGrath

Time for English members to vote on their representatives

By Callum Robertson and Simon McGrath | Wed 17th September 2025 - 5:35 pm

A week ago, Party members in England received an email that may have left some of them puzzled. It asked if they wished to nominate candidates for an election for the English Party representatives to various Federal Party Committees, such as the Federal Policy Committee and the Conference Committee. The unusual thing is that while they can nominate candidates, they don’t get a vote.

Ten years ago, as the Party confronted a disastrous general election result, the Autumn Conference made a significant change to who could attend our twice-yearly Conferences and how people were elected to the Federal Committees that run the Party. It decided that any member could attend Conference and all members would be entitled to vote in the elections to a number of Federal Committee – One Member, One Vote ( OMOV)

It seems extraordinary now, but that wasn’t how things were always done. Before then, each local party elected representatives to Conference, and only they could vote in Federal elections. At the time of the debate, Mark Pack wrote an article for LDV entitled, “Would you abolish One Member One Vote if it was already in place?”

With the benefit of ten years’ experience of OMOV we can see he was spot on.

Following the decision in 2016, Regional Party Constitutions in England were changed to reflect the principle of OMOV in the way Regional Parties were organised, so that all members could attend their conference and vote for Regional Executives. But that change was not reflected in how English reps to Federal Committees are elected.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged conference countdown and english party | 5 Comments

Time for a Co-Presidency: Making the Liberal Democrat Presidency fit for the future

By Callum Robertson and Simon McGrath | Tue 13th May 2025 - 8:57 am

As Liberal Democrats, we are rightly proud of our commitment to pluralism, participation, and fairness—not just in policy, but in the way we run our own party. Yet our system for electing and supporting the Party President falls short of these values. The role is unpaid, heavily time-consuming, and increasingly inaccessible to the very members we say we want to empower. It’s time to consider reform—and a co-presidency model is a logical next step.

Unpaid and Unsustainable

The President chairs the Federal Board, sits on multiple key party committees such as the Federal Policy Committee and Federal Conference Committee.