Presidential candidates Prue Bray and Josh Babarinde have issued a joint statement on the changes to diversity quotas which we are reproducing in full below.
Both of us are deeply concerned by the impact of the changes to diversity quotas for the Liberal Democrats internal Federal Elections that was made on 27th October, the day before voting opened.
We have spoken with countless members who are similarly outraged at the unacceptable consequences of this decision on the dignity of trans and non-binary members of the Liberal Democrats.
Together, as Presidential candidates, we have been urgently working with party colleagues to help find a way forward – within the law and within the constitution – while recognising that options are limited and the road ahead is long.
To move forward, it is essential firstly that the legal basis on which the decision was made was clear and that the art of the legally and constitutionally possible and impossible is also clarified.
Having made this representation on behalf of members, we are able to report that the party has agreed to our request to facilitate a meeting between the King’s Counsel who issued the legal advice in question, and 1 representative of each of the AOs represented on the Federal People and Development Committee (Lib Dem Women, LGBT+ Liberal Democrats, the Lib Dem Campaign for Race Equality, the Lib Dem Disability Association, the Young Liberals).
The party is liaising with the KC to confirm a date for this meeting. The party is pushing for this meeting to happen next week.
We have had discussions with the Chairs of the AOs on the FPDC, who have welcomed this step and look forward to engaging constructively with the meeting the party is working to facilitate.
Our party has a long-standing commitment to protect the rights of members of the LGBTQ+ community, which members reaffirmed at Spring Conference this year via the ‘Free to be Who You Are’ motion that we were both proud to support.
We continue to stand united in our determination to uphold the rights of trans and non-binary people, both within the party and across society as a whole.
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4 Comments
It is great to hear you both stand firm on this issue. It is really hitting members hard across the country those who are still in disbelief, or still only just finding out what’s going on.
The party must find a viable way through this impass that respects the shared views and principles of the majority of members. Standing up for are core values without compromise.
When it does, the elections need to be reset afresh, as the bad timing and poor decisions have already compromised their democratic integrity.
As a councillor, I still sit on the fence with my membership over what has happened and the way it has. I will not be compromised on my values even if the party is. Let’s hope your combined interventions bring a sensible and appropriate resolve.
Surely the solution is to amend the constitution so we have a quota for ‘women and those who identify as women’. If we are clear that the quota is not defined solely by sex, no woman could have grounds to sue if someone not born with a female body was elected as part of that quota.
I would prefer the above approach to merely abolishing quotas which would be a step backwards.
To Jenny’s point, the quota is not for women, although it has rightly typically been used as such – it is for gender, and would be triggered for men should a supermajority of women emerge on an elected committee.
Good to hear what steps you are taking to address this. Thank you.