Category Archives: Conference

Anything relating to the spring or autumn conferences

Sal Aziz

From Devon to York: why the Conference Access Fund matters

By Sal Aziz | Mon 23rd March 2026 - 1:05 pm

I arrived in York late on Friday night after a long drive up from Devon, tired but excited. By Saturday morning, that excitement had to do some heavy lifting, the journey had taken its toll. But a gentle drive through the Yorkshire countryside, past Selby and into the city, was enough to reset my energy. Conference weekend had begun.

Walking into the Barbican, I was immediately struck by the scale. Having attended Welsh conferences before, I thought I knew what to expect, but this was something else entirely. Busier, louder, and full of excitement. I started in the exhibition hall, spending some time at the Liberal Democrat Disability Association (LDDA) stall, before taking a lap of the venue to get my bearings (a necessary task, as it turned out!).

One of the first things I did was head across the city to a training session on “Winning against the Greens.” We rightly spend a lot of time discussing how to challenge the far-right, but this session explored another growing political reality: the rise of left-wing and far-left support. As a trade unionist, I see this shift up close. With disaffiliation from Labour being discussed increasingly in some unions, there is a real opportunity, and responsibility, for the Liberal Democrats to present a credible alternative: rooted in evidence, compassion, and liberal values, not populism.

Back at the Barbican, it was time for one of the moments I had been most invested in: the debate on policy motion F12. As a member of the Liberal Democrat Psychoactive Policy Group, I had been involved in work behind the scenes to strengthen the motion, particularly to include pharmacologically assisted therapies, such as psilocybin. When I was unexpectedly called to speak early in the debate, it became my first speech at Federal Conference. I spoke from lived experience, both as a mental health patient and as someone working within mental health services, about why these treatments matter, and why this is a fundamentally liberal approach to policy. I also referenced the recent Welsh Liberal Democrat motion supporting medical cannabis patients, highlighting how our party can lead with compassion and evidence.

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Paul Walter

Paul’s conference diary part two

By Paul Walter | Sun 15th March 2026 - 3:37 pm

Emergency motion – for my sins, I once got an emergency motion (on the situation in Fiji, since you ask) onto the ballot at a Bournemouth conference. Baroness Ludford was very sympathetic to it. It wasn’t chosen in the ballot but it gave me an appreciation of the work and energy involved into putting forward an emergency motion to conference. So, well done to the Young Liberals for getting “A Liberal Future for Under 18s” into the hall for debate. The Tories are proposing an outright ban on social media for under 16s following the ban in Australia (the home of compulsory voting). The answer to any such ban is three letters: VPN. It takes away a lifeline for teenagers discovering their identity, throwing the baby out with the bath water. This motion sensibly proposed a film style age rating system.

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Paul Walter

The best chance of voting reform in a generation

By Paul Walter | Sun 15th March 2026 - 8:30 am

Invigorating. That’s the best word to sum up the LDER (Liberal Democrats For Electoral Reform) fringe last night.

The panel, brimming with optimism and passion, was (L to R in the photo above): Chair Keith Sharp (LDER), Emma Harrison (Make Votes Matter), Lena Swedlow (Deputy Director, Compass), Lisa Smart MP (Cabinet Office spokesperson & Vice Chair Fair Elections APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group)).

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Paul Walter

Paul’s conference diary

By Paul Walter | Sat 14th March 2026 - 3:36 pm

Arriving in York, I was reminded of what a wonderful city this is. To watch the beautiful Ouse meandering amidst some wonderful old buildings, is enough to raise anyone’s spirits.

On Friday evening, at the historic Mason’s Arms, it was great to see old friends and enjoy marvellous food.

Today, I did a tour of the exhibition hall and bought my customary LGBT+ badge, signed up for Liberal Democrats for Electoral Reform and supported Liberal Democrat Friends of Hong Kong.

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Tony Vickers

Pensioners are a Deadweight Loss

By Tony Vickers | Mon 9th March 2026 - 11:35 am

And I’m one of them: sitting in a Band E 4-bed house worth £600k.

Yet all we get at York this week is another “hand wringing” motion on local government finance (F19), same as we got two years ago. It’s pathetic. It’s not “making policy”, which is what I always thought Conference was for. Sure enough what was then called a crisis in local government funding is now an emergency. We seem no closer to publicly declaring we have a solution.

Yet the Party has a solution waiting in the wings. In 2013, our policy paper “Fairer Taxes” included a promise to “Launch a consultation to determine how to implement Land Value Taxation”(LVT), which would be completed in the next Parliament. Not “whether” but “how”.

Subsequently, Andrew Dixon, ALTER member and founder of the Party’s Business Forum, steered our policy to reform Business Rates onto a land value base through conference in 2018. The next year, his similar proposal to replace council tax failed to pass FPC/FCC scrutiny. Businesses don’t vote. Home-owners do.

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Mark Valladares

The ALDC Liberal Democrat Town and Parish Councillors Conference – at the coal face of local democracy

By Mark Valladares | Mon 20th October 2025 - 8:31 am

4 parallel white vertical lines on orange background ALDC logoSaturday saw the third annual ALDC online Conference for Town and Parish Councillors, an event which has developed as an opportunity to reach out to the Cinderella tier of local government, although we’re more likely to have the budget for a glass slipper than our principal authority colleagues do these days.

Opened by Sarah Green MP, Town and Parish Councillors from across England, including some pretty heavy hitters at the National Association of Local Councils (NALC), came together to discuss some of the big issues that face the sector – Local Government Reform, the accelerating devolution of valued local services to the sector – and how to use the opportunities of local power to promote the Party, build campaign teams and win elections at principal authority and Parliamentary levels.

Sarah spoke passionately about how success in elections for Amersham Town Council just before her famous by-election win laid the platform for the campaign that followed, establishing the Liberal Democrats as the best option to defeat the Conservatives, and how town and parish councillors across her constituency act as an “early warning system” for issues that affect residents.

The Conference then broke out into three sessions;

  • the impact of national change on town and parish councillors, with Justin Griggs from NALC;
  • social media best practice for town and parish councils, with Dan Purchese from parish consultants Breakthrough Communications; and
  • building the Lib Dems at a town and parish level, with Councillor Hannah Perkin (ALDC) and Councillor Sam Potts

Conference was fortunate enough to have Justin Griggs, NALC’s Head of Policy and Communications, to take delegates through both the key aspects of Local Government Reform but also to explain how NALC was responding to the various strands of current proposals.

After a critical break for refreshment, delegates came together for a roundtable on how Liberal Democrat Town Councillors have used the platform of their councils to make real change in their communities, chaired by Baroness Ros Scott in her usual ebullient manner. Ros has been NALC’s President for three years, having been a former President of ALDC, so she knows the sector well.

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Mark Valladares

Alex Cole-Hamilton’s speech to Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference

By Mark Valladares | Sun 19th October 2025 - 11:15 am

Conference, when I first met Adam he introduced himself to me as a former pirate. Not the strangest introduction I’ve had from a Liberal Democrat, but it’s up there.

While living and working in London, Adam was a homework volunteer with The Hackney Pirates. They help disadvantaged kids, often from single parent families with their schoolwork in the evenings.

He’s worked as a Deliveroo driver, a RADA-trained actor, and a charity worker fighting to secure life changing treatments for cystic fibrosis patients. But he always found time to offer mentorship to those adrift from school or at risk of offending.

That speaks to a community spirit that has punctuated his approach to life and politics.

Adam is now raising a young family where he grew up, just up the road in Bishopbriggs. So go and knock doors for him. Susan Murray won the equivalent seat last year, and like then it’s a straight fight between us and the SNP.

Because he’s on the verge of making history, as the first ever Liberal Democrat representative for Strathkelvin & Bearsden in the Scottish Parliament.

It’s great to be back in Glasgow. Home to one of our country’s greatest seats of innovation, creativity and learning, and the alma mater of Charles Kennedy, and of course our dear friend Ming Campbell.

Three weeks ago, Ming slipped away from us. A giant of our party and a regular at our conferences since the 1970s. He grew up in a flat a short walk away in Kelvinbridge.

Conference, my first political act of any kind, took place on the morning of the 1987 General Election. I was nine years old.

At 4am my father woke me from my sleep and bundled me out the door to help him deliver Good Morning leaflets to the entirety of our village in Fife. They were for Ming Campbell.

I did so without complaint because Dad had taken me to his adoption meeting a few weeks previous.

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Mark Valladares

18 October 2025 – the Scottish Conference press releases

By Mark Valladares | Sat 18th October 2025 - 10:00 pm
  • Scottish Liberal Democrats set out radical plans to end ferries fiasco for good
  • Lib Dems call for a fair deal for rural Scotland
  • Scottish Lib Dems back proposals to support night-time economy
  • Lib Dem conference backs new plans for dementia support
  • Scottish Lib Dem conference backs measures to tackle violence against women and girls

Scottish Liberal Democrats set out radical plans to end ferries fiasco for good

Scottish Liberal Democrat conference in Glasgow has today backed plans put forward by West of Scotland MSP Jamie Greene to end the SNP”s ferries fiasco for good.

It follows a consultation run by Mr Greene which heard from local people, workers, ferry experts and businesses who have been messed around.

The party”s new plan calls for a series of measures including:

  • A new Ferries Bill within the first year of the new Parliament which guarantees that island communities are served by a reliable network, which listens to the needs of island communities and empowers them in decision-making.
  • New requirements to replace ageing vessels and produce a rolling 30-year strategy for ferries and port infrastructure, so no community is ever left without a viable lifeline service.
  • Restructuring the current tripartite governance arrangements of Scotland”s maritime assets, making them independent of government and putting community voices at their heart.
  • Expanding the compensation scheme for those affected by the SNP’s ferries fiasco, removing the current arbitrary limits that are unfair to so many businesses in island and coastal communities.

Jamie Greene said:

Islanders and coastal communities have paid the price for the failure of the Scottish Government to provide the ferries they need, manage maintenance, and procure new vessels on time or on budget.

They deserve better than SNP ministers who’ve shown that they don’t understand local needs and can”t be trusted with lifeline links.

We need to get Scotland moving again. By backing this motion, conference has sent a clear message that we have a realistic plan to get things done.

We will end the ferries fiasco for good through a new Ferries Bill that puts fairness for these communities at its heart. They deserve a new strategy that guarantees vessels are replaced in time and a real say on how their ferries are run, on top of proper compensation for the disruption they”ve suffered.

We are poised to beat the SNP in seats where their ferries fiasco has hit hard, but wherever you are a vote for the Liberal Democrats on the peach ballot next year can fix the ferries for good and get Scotland moving again.

Lib Dems call for a fair deal for rural Scotland

The Scottish Liberal Democrat autumn conference has today backed proposals from Highland Liberal Democrats which would ensure that all legislation works for rural communities.

The motion also calls for a review of the shape and size of rural local authorities and funding formulas – subject to their request – to ensure local services are properly resourced and meet the needs of local communities.

It was put forward by the party’s candidate for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross candidate David Green and candidate for Ross, Skye and Lochaber Andrew Baxter, and backed overwhelmingly by conference.

Caithness, Sutherland and Ross candidate David Green said:

Scotland’s rural communities are vital to our economy, our environment, and our culture – but are too often left behind by the SNP’s centralised, urban-focused policy. People in the Highlands are tired and frustrated with always feeling they are at the back of the queue.

Many rural communities have a wealth of opportunities but also face significant challenges, including depopulation and the loss of young people; a chronic shortage of affordable housing and childcare; and poor transport connectivity.

Liberal Democrats successfully championed legislation to ensure that the needs of island communities are considered in every piece of legislation. That same consideration should apply to Scotland’s rural communities.

Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch candidate Andrew Baxter said:

Highland council covers an area almost the size of Belgium. People living in Skye, Wick and Aviemore don’t necessarily have exactly the same interests. Meanwhile it is distant SNP ministers in Edinburgh who are making decisions about what local services should look like. That’s not good enough.

The motion also calls for the Scottish Government to enable a review of the shape and size of rural local authorities – subject to their request – and funding formulas to ensure local services are properly resourced and meet the needs of local communities. If communities want to see local authorities broken up then they should be able to decide that for themselves.

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Paul Walter

Paul’s Conference diary #2: Gleeing oneself hoarse, our Yorkshire Devonian friend, a lizard and the appalling threat of renumbering the constitution

By Paul Walter | Tue 23rd September 2025 - 6:19 pm

Late Sunday

To ease the full on assault on my bank balance, I had a burger and chips at a fish and chip shop on the way back to my room. Straight out of the fryer, piping hot, the first few mouthfuls were the most delicious things I have eaten for a long while.

Monday

Rather than have another fast food breakfast I invested in some eggs, tomatoes and cheese to make one of my microwave omelette-type thingees. I still have the ingredients for another one on Tuesday.

To the Reimagining International Development fringe with a panel including Monica Harding MP and representatives from the Tony Blair Institute. We helped to ensure a 0.7% of GDP spend on ID. That was reduced to 0.5% and now, in a panicky shortsighted move by Keith Starmer, to 0.3% from 2027. And about two thirds of that is spent in the UK on refugees in a bizarre double count with the Home Office budget. That leaves an aid budget of just 0.1% of GDP. Still, there were some refreshing ideas in the room about how to spend the money wisely and how to unlock finance mechanisms and private funds.

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Paul Walter

Paul’s Conference Diary: Gaza, Nick Clegg, Pho and the joy of Goram IPA Zero

By Paul Walter | Mon 22nd September 2025 - 9:34 am

Friday

I arrived early. Good job. The accommodation I had carefully booked because it was near the conference centre turned out to be halfway to Dover. Google Maps had presented me with a chimera when I checked before booking.

No matter. Armed with my exciting new senior bus pass I have been enjoying the splendid Morebus 22 service.

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Paul Walter

Building bridges for Middle East peace

By Paul Walter | Sun 21st September 2025 - 3:00 pm

-That was the title of a Bournemouth fringe meeting today. It was hosted by Liberal Democrats for Peace in Middle East. Their President, Leon Duveen, was on the panel with their Chair, Mohammed Amin.

The panel (above) featured Sharon Booth, who is the Chief Executive and founder of Solutions Not Sides. SNS “is an education programme that exists to provide humanising encounters, diverse narratives and critical-thinking tools in order to empower young people with the knowledge, empathy and skills to promote dialogue and conflict resolution, and to challenge prejudice in the UK.”

Also on the panel were two peace activists who SNS use as mentors in their programme.
They included Hamze Awawde has been leading programmes that bring Israelis and Palestinians together for the last 12 years. He leads YaLa Young Leaders, which brings young people together to break down divisions and barriers.

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The Voice

Conference emergency motion options published

By The Voice | Fri 19th September 2025 - 7:50 pm

The following emergency motions have been submitted and chosen for ballot by the Federal Conference Committee:

-A Liberal Vision for Digital Rights
-Building a Fair Asylum System
-Standing up for the most vulnerable in society
-Trump’s State Visit

Two motions selected by a ballot of registered conference attendees will be debated at 09:00 on Tuesday 23rd September (F41).

The ballot to select the two motions to be debated is now open and will close at 5pm tomorrow, Saturday 20th September.

The motions in full are:

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Callum Robertson

National debt: The (very expensive) elephant in the room

By Callum Robertson | Tue 16th September 2025 - 6:35 pm

Depending on your preference for maritime references or classical musings, the national debt is weighing our economy down like an anchor and hanging precariously above the head of our GDP like the sword of Damocles, ready and waiting to kill stone dead the already sluggish growth that is crippling the economy.

None of this is news to the politicians who look at the budget and to the economists and think tankers for whom it is prescient within their work. However, for one particular groupof people it sails past, untroubled to enter their psyche. That is of course, our political class.

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Larry Ngan

Labour and the British National (Overseas) visa policy: Why is it causing concerns among Hongkongers?

By Larry Ngan | Tue 16th September 2025 - 12:06 pm

There’s no doubt that Labour are concerned about the rise of Reform UK and their drum beat on immigration. Yet, PM Starmer’s immigration white paper and his speech in July has caused a ripple effect on the Hong Kong (HK) community in the UK.

One key area in Labour’s new immigration rules was about extending the path to settlement to ten years. This could potentially affect Hong Kongers’ resettlement in the UK under the British National (Overseas) BN(O) 5+1 route. Furthermore, additional and language requirements may affect the promise that all BN(O) passport holders have the opportunity to safely bring their HK families to the UK.

When being asked whether the BN(O) scheme would be affected, Labour Ministers appeared to be non-committal. Meanwhile, Liberal Democrats MPs are continuously highlighting the need for clarification, such as Pippa Heylings MP’s question on the 7th August 2025, which emphasised that it will be unfair to change the length of settlement mid-journey for a community who have close historic ties and a unique commitment.

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Mark Valladares

F10: the right means to a desirable end?

By Mark Valladares | Mon 17th March 2025 - 12:15 pm

As a veteran of the Party’s candidates process – Returning Officer, candidate assessor, member of Regional and State Candidates Committees – over more than thirty years, you might not be surprised to find that I’ve been following the debate on this ornate, detailed constitution proposal with some interest.

And, whilst the General Election review published in January was, whether inadvertently or by design, somewhat bruising towards those who have been at the heart of running selection and approval processes over past years, what it stated as desirable outcomes had a lot of merit. Getting candidates in place earlier, finding and developing more Returning Officers and candidate assessors, and increasing transparency and consistency across the piece, are all obviously sensible.

The “solution”, however, appears to be to take responsibility from the structures that currently exist and replace them with a new Federal one, in the expectation that it will do a better job.

This may or may not be true. It does rather depend on who takes on the new responsibilities, how well they are resourced and how well they work with a core group of volunteers who will still be relied upon to do the “grunt work”. For very few people act as Returning Officers and candidate assessors “because it’s fun”. They do it predominantly because someone has to do it, and they fit in it around a range of other commitments.

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Mark Pack

Meet our party award winners

By Mark Pack | Sun 22nd September 2024 - 12:30 pm

As we do each year at both the Spring and Autumn Conferences, we take a moment to celebrate and recognise the inspiring individuals or groups who have provided outstanding service and commitment to the party over the past year.

These awards serve as a small token of our immense gratitude for the hard work, dedication, and passion each has shown.

The award winners this time were:

Belinda Eyre-Brook Award – Lucy Lennon

Lucy Lennon was recognised for her impressive local campaign efforts in Hull. In her first role after graduating from university, Lucy has been instrumental in helping us make strides against Labour in northern England, particularly by retaining control of the local council.

Over the past two years, Lucy has served as the local organiser, managing two local elections and two by-elections. During the General Election, she took on the task of running three Westminster constituencies and acted as agent for all of them.

In addition to her exceptional people skills, Lucy has mastered various technologies, including Fleet, Connect, Lighthouse, and Typeform.

She has even managed with aplomb the tough task of having our Director of Campaigns, Dave McCobb, as one of her candidates!

Her dedication and hard work made her a deserving recipient of this year’s award.

Dadabhai Naoroji Award – West Hertfordshire Local Party and Dacorum Council group

The overlapping West Hertfordshire Local Party and Dacorum Council group has achieved remarkable electoral success by engaging with all areas of their local community. They have assembled a diverse team of councillors and candidates, representing a range of ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, and abilities.

Their hard work has demonstrated that minority communities not only want to join the Liberal Democrats but are also eager to further serve their local areas.

This dedication culminated in the election of the first Liberal Democrat MP of East and South East Asian descent.

The efforts of the group and Local Party show that focusing on improving our ethnic diversity is not something just for large urban areas.

The award was collected by Councillor Simy Dhyani and Victoria Collins MP.

Harriet Smith Award – Rosemary McCrum

Rosemary has been the cornerstone of her Local Party for decades. She has guided them through challenging times, taken on nearly every activist role imaginable, filled in when needed, and often juggled multiple responsibilities at once. Rosemary provided the foundation upon which their success has been built.

Her dedication and commitment were crucial in keeping the Local Party running and played a key role in their achievements this year, including an overwhelming victory in the local elections and the election of the area’s first Liberal Democrat MP.

The Woking party triumphed electorally this year, and nominating Rosemary for this award was a small way of recognising the immense contribution of this modest individual in helping them get there.

Patsy Calton Award – Julia Cambridge

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Caron Lindsay

In Full: Daisy Cooper’s speech to Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 16th September 2024 - 2:57 pm

BBC Politics has a clip of  that incredibly moving part of Daisy Cooper’s speech in which she describes the moment she was told she needed major surgery or she had four days to live. And then the further blow that she was so ill that she would likely never work again.

Watch the whole thing:

Here’s the text of her speech in full:

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Caron Lindsay

WATCH: Wendy Chamberlain’s speech to Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 16th September 2024 - 10:25 am

Wendy Chamberlain gave her keynote speech to Conference on Saturday. Enjoy:

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Caron Lindsay

Saturday at Conference: What’s on?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 14th September 2024 - 7:30 am

Lib Dems are gathering in Brighton and there’s a mood of optimism and celebration. Our spectacular General Election result has given us 74 reasons to be cheerful – 72 MPs, an adorable guide dog and the restoration of our third party status.

We have had to deal with a fair few lean years so we might be forgiven a bit of shameless gloating.

There will come a time when we have to make decisions about our strategy to deal with the new political environment. Conversations will take place in earnest in bars and fringe meetings. There is a feeling that we were very lucky. We managed to combine an upbeat campaign with a few key messages and we succeeded.  We were a bit light on overall vision and that’s not going to be enough the next time round.  We need to have answers that will work to prevent the country falling back into the grip of populists. We need to show our distinctive liberal colours and show ourselves as a credible alternative to populists, Conservatives and Labour.

So what’s on at Conference today? You can find full details in the agenda here. Don’t forget about the Lib Dem Conf app too – available on your app store.

If, like me, you are stuck at home, you can watch all the main hall action live here.

We don’t have to wait too long for the first of many chances to cheer a new MP. Alison Bennett, our MP for Mid Sussex opens Conference.

We have keynote speeches from Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain, 9 years after she first joined the Party and 8 and a half years after her first Conference in York and from Cotswold District Council leader Joe Harris.

We start the day with a bit of Lib Dem procedural nerdery, changes to the reference back procedure to ensure that requests for references back must be submitted at the same time as amendments.

There are some good policy debates. The official organisation representing women in the party, Lib Dem Women, has submitted a motion on supporting women and anyone giving birth through pregnancy and the neonatal period. There are motions on supporting free movement of young people around Europe, liberalising  the Sunday trading laws (they are already much more liberal up here in Scotland and the universe has not imploded), supporting disadvantaged children and consumer law.

After a day of debate, there’s all the razzle of the Conference rally. Plenty room for a bit of well earned self indulgent celebration there. If I were there, I’d probably spend it in the pub with my friends, though, and watch it back later.

Here is how the day unfolds:

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Caron Lindsay

Caron’s guide to the craziness of Conference, updated for Brighton 2024

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 11th September 2024 - 7:47 pm

In just 2 days’ time, Liberal Democrats will be gathering in Brighton for our annual Conference.  Sadly, for the first time since 2011, I won’t be there.  I was only going to be able to come for 24 hours, but, unfortunately, my husband is ill. He’ll be fine, but now is not the time to leave him.

I’m still scarred by my trip to the Witney by-election in 2016. He hadn’t been well just before but seemed to be on the mend. To cut a long story short, within hours of my return the next evening, he was spirited away to hospital in a blue light ambulance and he was there for 51 nights. The virus we thought he had was in fact an infection in his heart which ate one of his heart valves. Vegetation on a leaflet they called it.  An ironic affliction for a Lib Dem.

However, I have revamped my Guide to the Craziness of Conference for this year. Enjoy. And if you have any questions, ask away in the comments.

Federal Conference is probably the best fun that you will ever have in your life. You will thoroughly enjoy every exhausting moment. If you’re new, it can be a bit overwhelming until you get used to the sensory overload. I had a long break from going to them and when I returned, in 2011, I spent the first day wandering round in a state of wide-eyed amazement,  like a child in a toy shop.

So, with that in mind, I thought I’d throw together a fairly random list of tips and hints for getting the best out of the annual cornucopia of Liberal Democracy. If you have any other Conference survival tips, let me know.

If you have any questions, there are lots of places to get answers. There’s Federal Conference Committee helpdesk in the Brighton Centre. And if they can’t help, ask someone on one of the party organisation stalls in the exhibition – if they don’t know the answer, they’ll probably be able to point you in the right direction.

1. Plan your days

The Conference day has a huge variety of things to do. As well as the debates in the hall,  there’s a comprehensive training programme and a massive fringe.  There are spokespeople Q & As. There are competing fringe choices to be made.  You can guarantee that you will never be bored and that several things you want to see will be on at the same time.  Spend some time now poring over the Agenda (which gives details of the policy motions) and Directory (which has details of the exhibition, fringe and training) to work out what you don’t want to miss. Conference Extra, which has details of amendments will be published shortly.

Don’t forget to pick up the Conference Daily which has news and important information.

Be aware as well that you can eat quite well for free by choosing the right fringe meetings – look for the refreshments symbol in the directory.

Believe me, it’s much easier if you sort out your diary in advance. The best laid plans will always be subject to a better offer or meeting someone you haven’t seen for years randomly in a corridor, but it’s best to at least try to get some order into the proceedings. The Conference App is a real help for this. You can download it from whichever App store you use on your phone (search for Lib Dem Conf). Fully updated now for Brighton, it allows you to add events to your schedule and has all the papers loaded on to it.

2. Make time to do the Exhibition properly

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Gareth Roberts

‘Going for growth’ nationally must mean more devolution locally

By Gareth Roberts | Mon 9th September 2024 - 12:45 pm

As a proud leader of a London borough, vice chair of London Councils, and a member of the London Assembly, I am dutybound to declare London the greatest city in the world.

However, the capital faces major challenges.
London is home to individuals with incredible wealth alongside some of the poorest in the UK. Around a third of children in London live in poverty – an appalling statistic.

We are also in the midst of a homelessness emergency, with one in 50 Londoners currently homeless and living in temporary accommodation arranged by their local borough.

And on top of all this, London’s economy is struggling. While the capital remains a key source of revenue for the Treasury, there is considerable evidence that London is underperforming economically and even holding back UK productivity rates.

These challenges clearly have a big impact on the lives of the Londoners I represent – but they also have implications for the rest of the country and for national policy.

Going for growth

The recently elected government has declared boosting economic growth its “most central mission of all”. Get the economy growing and we’ll be in a better position to do things like tackle poverty and homelessness. With growth, there will be more resources available to fix social ills and provide much-needed investment in public services.

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Mark Valladares

It’s official – Autumn Conference has been reinstated*

By Mark Valladares | Mon 27th May 2024 - 4:22 pm

At a meeting of the Federal Board last night, it was decided to reinstate September’s Autumn Conference to its normal length.

As Party President, Mark Pack, stated this morning on Facebook:

The Federal Board met last night and agreed to rescind the cancellation of Autumn Conference in the light of the General Election.

This means we return to the original dates and venue for the event.

As both the key staff and key volunteers who prepare a conference will be working flat out on the campaign, the Board also ask Federal Conference Committee (FCC) to consider using its powers to set later deadlines for

…

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Paul Walter

The humbling gratitude of Ukrainians

By Paul Walter | Tue 26th September 2023 - 10:00 am

One word: humbling. That was my feeling as I listened to the remarkable conference speech by Ukrainian MP Kira Rudik on Monday morning. She is leader of Holos, the first Liberal Party to be elected to the Ukrainian Parliament.

All one’s everyday concerns were reduced to insignificance as we heard of the bravery and tenacity of Ukrainians under the most harrowing conditions. Their belief in the survival and eventual flourishing of their country, their incredible solidarity, is absolutely awesome.

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The Voice

Ed Davey speech: Time to tear down the Blue Wall and end the Conservative soap opera

By The Voice | Tue 26th September 2023 - 7:30 am

Ed Davey will today (Tuesday 26 September) give his first Autumn Conference speech since becoming Liberal Democrat leader, firing the starting gun for the party’s campaign at the next General Election.

Ed Davey will put health and care at the heart of his speech, highlighting how the Liberal Democrats have led the way in proposing solutions to tackle the crises facing the NHS, on GPs, ambulances and dentists. He will accuse the Conservatives of breaking promise after promise on the NHS, from their failure to recruit more GPs to their pledge to build 40 new hospitals, adding that there should be a warning on the ballot paper that “voting Conservative is bad for your health.”

He will emphasise that getting the millions of people stuck on waiting lists or suffering from mental health illness is key to getting the economy back on track, adding that “the Conservatives broke our economy with their carelessness, Liberal Democrats will fix our economy with care.”

Ed Davey will then criticise the Conservatives for being “more like a bad soap opera than a functioning government,” pointing to “the corruption of Boris Johnson, the chaos of Liz Truss and the carelessness of Rishi Sunak.”

Finally, the Liberal Democrat Leader will issue a rallying cry to his party to bring the Blue Wall “tumbling down” at the next election. He will point to the Liberal Democrats’ record as the “strongest campaigning force in British politics,” concluding that “the British people are desperate to see the back of this appalling, out-of-touch Conservative Government, and we are the ones who can make it happen.”

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The Voice

Daisy Cooper: Lib Dems have “huge opportunity” to take seats off Conservatives in the Blue Wall

By The Voice | Sun 24th September 2023 - 11:30 am

Liberal Democrat Leader Deputy Leader and Health Spokesperson Daisy Cooper will today (Sunday 24 September) give her first in person speech at the party’s Autumn Conference, issuing a rallying call to party activists to take on the Conservatives in the Blue Wall and deliver a brighter future.

She will also set out bold new plans to give people access to regular mental health MOT checks at key points in their lives where they are most at risk, such as women after childbirth, men aged in their 40s or those in retirement.

On taking the fight to the Conservatives in the Blue Wall, …

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Paul Walter

…and we’re back in the hall!

By Paul Walter | Sat 23rd September 2023 - 10:44 am

Tim Farron makes the first policy speech of conference this morning

The first policy speech of the first in-person autumn conference since 2019 brought a smile to my face and very positively answered the question “What is Tim Farron for?”

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The Voice

‘Tutoring for the millions’: Lib Dems plan booster classes for almost 2 million children

By The Voice | Sat 23rd September 2023 - 7:30 am

Liberal Democrats will offer free small-group tutoring to 1.75 million children a year who struggle with their learning, the party’s education spokesperson will say today (23 September).

It comes analysis by the party shows that more than one in seven teenagers fall behind with English or Maths at secondary school. These 64,000 students meet government reading and maths standards at age 11 but then fail either GCSE English or Maths at age 16.

In her keynote speech at the party’s Autumn Conference in Bournemouth, Munira Wilson MP will accuse Rishi Sunak of letting down these children by “pulling the plug” on school-based tutoring. The National Tutoring Programme ends this year.

She will compare Sunak to Mr Bumble from Oliver Twist for consistently rejecting cries “for more” investment in education when he was Chancellor. Sunak rejected bids from Government advisers and officials for greater investment in COVID catch-up lessons, free school meals and new school buildings.

Instead, Liberal Democrats will call for tutoring to become a permanent fixture in England’s schools. Schools, sixth forms and further education colleges would receive £390 million a year for intensive small-group sessions for students who have fallen behind in class.

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Joe Norris

Bournemouth: a landmark Conference

By Joe Norris | Tue 19th September 2023 - 12:29 pm

Bournemouth is going to be a landmark conference for young people in the Liberal Democrats. This is the biggest opportunity in years for the party to answer the question on every young person’s mind as the general election approaches:

Is the party going to leave us behind?

With three key items on the agenda for young people, Conference will have three votes to decide what message it wants to send to the future generation of the party.

The first comes in the form of Federal Policy Committee’s (FPC) F31: Tackling the Housing Crisis policy paper. As James Bliss writes in Betrayal of a Generation, the Party’s sneaky attempt to abolish the national housing target, only two years after Conference committed to it, is a ‘signal and a big red flag to young people that the Liberal Democrats still aren’t for them’.

The Party could be choosing to send a strong message to young professionals that the Liberal Democrats are the party for them. Instead, the Parliamentary Party is insistent on subjecting the wider Party to the NIMBY policies that they hope will get them re-elected in their hyper-localist campaigns to be super-councillors. They are turning their backs on even pretending to be interested in championing liberal solutions to the nation’s biggest problems, in exchange for shoring up support in areas that are already orange.

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Robert Harrison

Was your car made using slave labour?

By Robert Harrison | Mon 18th September 2023 - 12:27 pm

Last week European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyden, announced a probe into China’s electric vehicle industry which apparently have benefitted from massive state subsidies. But it’s not only such subsidies that should worry us – production in the Chinese car industry ignores human rights and climate change, and the European car industry is complicit.

The global shift in manufacturing from Europe and North America to Asia has been well-documented. As factories have closed in the UK and the EU, the same companies have built up their manufacturing capability in China as well as trained and created a network of …

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Simon McGrath

If you back our immigration policy, you should vote to keep a housing target

By Simon McGrath | Mon 18th September 2023 - 9:23 am

In 2022, the population of the UK grew by 606,000. In the year ended June 2022, 173,520 new homes were built in England. The mismatch between the two figures is one factor in rising rents.

Our Party – more than any other – is the one which has been happy about immigration. We also have a policy on asylum seekers which would mean we were welcoming more asylum seekers to the country. Given that, it seems quite extraordinary that the Federal Policy Committee is seeking to remove a target for new homes from our policy.

They say that …

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Also posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 34 Comments
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