Tag Archives: conference countdown

Paul Walter

Conference Countdown 2015: Human Rights motion – we need to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water

By Paul Walter | Fri 28th August 2015 - 9:42 am

As many will know, there is an excellent motion on Human Rights to be debated at the Bournemouth conference. I have set out the motion below this post.

I have one query which readers may be to help me with.

It pertains to this section of the motion:

Conference resolves to:
…C. Retain the Human Rights Act unless it is replaced with a Bill of Rights which incorporates and builds on those rights set out in the ECHR and oppose any attempts by Conservatives to introduce a British Bill of Rights which does not achieve this.

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Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 16 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Conference Countdown 2015: The first policy debate on creating safe and legal routes for refugees.

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 24th August 2015 - 10:18 am

In the run-up to Autumn Conference in Bournemouth, we’ll be looking ahead to examine the highlights in the debating hall, the fringe and training rooms. You can find the papers here. You can find all the posts in the series here.

The first policy debate of tho year’s Conference is on Creating safe and legal routes for refugees. It will be proposed by Suzanne Fletcher who is one of the founder members of Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary.

The motion is unlikely to be controversial and is particularly relevant at the moment. It is very consistent with the sorts of things that Tim Farron has been saying, especially since he visited the refugees in Calais himself.

However, if there are any developments, amendments can be submitted until 7th September. 

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Posted in Conference, Events and News | 2 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Conference Countdown 2015: The Directory has been on a diet

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 23rd August 2015 - 11:30 am

In the run-up to Autumn Conference in Bournemouth, we’ll be looking ahead to examine the highlights in the debating hall, the fringe and training rooms. You can find the papers here. You can find all the posts in the series here.

The reality of our new circumstances hit when the Conference Directory landed on my doorstep the other day. The Directory lists all the fringe and exhibition activity going on over the five days in Bournemouth. While there is still a huge amount to do and people will still be struggling to choose which  meeting they would like to go to in every slot, it’s noticeable that the fringe is a good deal smaller than it was last year. Mine is a good deal smaller still after my puppy, Hazel, got hold of it and decided to rip it to shreds.

By way of comparison, there were 10 pages of exhibitors last year and only 6 this year, and the balance has shifted so that there is a higher proportion of party stands than we have become used to.

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Posted in Conference and News | 2 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Conference Countdown 2015: How do Conference debates work?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 22nd August 2015 - 9:04 am

In the run-up to Autumn Conference in Bournemouth, we’ll be looking ahead to examine the highlights in the debating hall, the fringe and training rooms. You can find the papers here. You can find all the posts in the series here.

For those of you who haven’t been to Conference before, I thought it might be useful to run through how Conference debates work.

Local parties, groups of Conference representatives and organisations (SAOs) like Liberal Youth and Lib Dem Women can submit motions to Conference. They are then circulated and are open to amendment. This year’s deadline for amendments is 1pm on Monday 7th September, so if you want to amend any of the motions, persuade 10 Conference representatives, or persuade your local party or an SAO to submit it for you. You can submit amendments online here and until next Tuesday at 1pm, you can even get drafting advice from expert motion writers here.

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Posted in Conference, Events and News | 4 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Conference Countdown 2015: #libdemdisco is back

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 21st August 2015 - 2:55 pm

In just four weeks’ time, Liberal Democrats will be flocking to Bourmemouth for our annual Autumn Conference. I’m so looking forward to it because I have never been there.

Every day between now and then, we’ll be previewing the debates, the fringe, the training and telling you everything you could possibly want to know about the event.

As it’s Friday afternoon, we’ll keep today’s preview lighthearted. Many of you will be delighted to see that the #libdemdisco is back. Last year, the event, run by Cambridge Liberal Democrats, was a huge hit. I was lucky enough to be one of the DJs, competing against Tim Farron, Alistair Carmichael and Don Foster. I was pretty surprised to come second in that illustrious field to Alistair Carmichael. Now it’s time to dust off the glitter balls for this year’s event.

“Your proposal for carnage is appealing”

So said the email from one of last year’s organisers. I was determined that as we were in Glasgow, we should do something Scottish. And it went remarkably well, as Paul Walter’s video shows:

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Posted in Conference and News | Also tagged | 3 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • David Le Grice
    Weird that this appears to be the first LDV article about this, and the first time anyone in the parliamentary party has spoken up about it (as far as I'm aware...
  • Jack
    Delighted to see conference overwhelmingly reject the EHRC guidance (they don't deserve three quarters of that name - I accept they are a commission). People ar...
  • Geoff Reid
    Somebody had to say it eventual!y. Thank you Tom for inviting us to be honest on this matter....
  • Hywel
    Important point there Paul. For all the angst about 'lack of cut through' that has pretty much been the case for most of the time the LIb Dems existed except f...
  • Roland
    @Gwyn, I agree with David Raw about relative urgency. However, even in the list of political reforms, I would put changes to voting way below the changes that n...