Tag Archives: autumn conference 2022

As we reported yesterday, the Autumn Conference agenda is now out

To help you with Conference planning, here is a list of when the keynote speeches are happening.

Update: I wrote this last night while watching the Commonwealth Games, trying to get ahead of myself in Conference prep. And it is just as well I did. I noticed something odd:

There is one person who isn’t giving a speech that I’m quite surprised about. Usually the Scottish and Welsh leaders both get to do a keynote speech at Autumn Conference. Unless I’ve missed it, Jane Dodds doesn’t seem to be doing one this year. I wonder why that is. I shall make enquiries before deciding how livid I am about this. Watch this space.

When I say that “usually the Scottish and Welsh leaders both get to do a keynote speech at Autumn Conference” I meant that usually there was some attempt by The Powers that Be to cut these contributions. There would then be a barney and both leaders would be included, as they should be.

Except this time that didn’t happen. Apparently those Powers that Be have decided that there is only one slot for the devolved nations which on this occasion has gone to Alex Cole-Hamilton. This is odd, given that there are two devolved nations, each with their distinct political environments.  If we believe in a federal UK, we believe that our nations have equal standing. It follows, therefore, that both leaders should have their chance to tell Federal Conference – and the Welsh, Scottish and UK medias  beyond – where we stand on the key issues of the day.

I do hope that this can be resolved for this Conference. All it would take would be for FCC to ask Conference to add a speech for Jane in as an additional agenda item. I can’t see Conference turning down such a request.  And then in the future, a slot for each leader should be incorporated as standard.

Anyway, here are the rest of the keynote speeches.