Social liberalism is right at the heart of Liberal Democrat values, and all Lib Dems, right across the political spectrum, believe in fighting for the rights and needs of the disenfranchised and disadvantaged.
The Social Liberal Forum is a membership group within the party who are committed to making sure that these values drive policy and strategy. Its key aims are to promote social justice and to narrow gaps in power.
This summer will see its fourth annual conference, with the theme ‘Governing as Liberal Democrats’, taking place in London on Saturday 19th July. All party members and sympathisers are welcome to attend. It will be a day when we can recharge our batteries by discussing our fundamental beliefs and thinking about what is necessary to bring about a more just and liberal future.
So far we have recruited a strong list of prominent Lib Dems as speakers, including Tim Farron, who will deliver the William Beveridge Memorial Lecture, following Nick Clegg and Steve Webb in previous years. We will also hear from Vince Cable, Ed Davey, Claire Tyler, Kate Parminter, Julian Huppert, Sarah Ludford, Mike Tuffrey, Kelly-Marie Blundell and many more.
The Early Bird rate still applies, and you can book a place here.
* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.
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6 Comments
Are associate members able to attend the conference? I’m no longer a party member, but I registered as a SLF associate member.
Anyone can attend as long as you buy a ticket.
If “all Lib Dems, right across the political spectrum, believe in fighting for the rights and needs of the disenfranchised and disadvantaged”, then why do you need to set up a little faction within the party?
Dave, we can agree on that as a point of principle; what differs is what we believe the best way to get there it. And as long as we don’t go down the People’s Front of Judea / Judean People’s Front road, it’s OK by me to have those differences.
Hi Dave P. Why not attend the conference, and listen to Lib Dem Secretaries of State, Ministers, the party president, leading thinkers from within and outside the party who share our values debate on matter of real importance, and then decide whether the Social Liberal Forum is a faction? I venture to suggest the speaker list would not be as varied and high-level if we were a faction – the F in SLF stands for forum, meaning we are about discussing issues. It’s an open invitation – I look forward to seeing you there and debating issues, not playing the ball…
Energlyn, as Geoff P points out, all are welcome!
Dave Page:
Unsurprisingly, although I think virtually all people who self-identify as Liberals would agree to that statement about fighting disadvantage (after all, the constitution says our fundamental values are liberty, EQUALITY and community), some would do so with more enthusiasm than others and there are radically different ideas about HOW to fight disadvantage. So there is nothing weird about people who give this aim a high priority banding together. It is also healthy and natural that where there are different, often competing, strands within a party, that some of those strands should be expressed through associations of the roughly like-minded. After all, we now have Green Liberal Democrats, Secularist and Humanist Liberal Democrats, Christian Liberal Democrats… Such groups can form invaluable channels for promoting informed debate and FPC seems to find them useful. Way back int he 1960s, the Liberal Party had fairly clear right (or centrist) and left wings and a senior party often at odds with the Young Liberals. Despite the stresses of power and bad polls, I’m not sure tensions now are greater and maybe civilised debate through “factions” has played a role in that.
We’re a long way from the civil wars of the Labour Party.