Tag Archives: donna harris

Donna Harris

Lib Dem Women: Amplifying women’s voices at Conference

By Donna Harris | Sun 27th September 2026 - 8:55 am

Donna Harris speaking at Autumn Conference 2026I’ve just about emerged from the mayhem of Brighton — and I’m most definitely ready for a break!

But now I’ve had a chance to catch my breath, it has really struck me just how much Lib Dem Women, the official organisation representing women in the Lib Dems,  achieved over the course of conference.

From motions and amendments to our childcare campaign, new bursaries, fringes, campaigning and celebrating the achievements of women in our party, the voice and representation of women was truly amplified throughout conference.

And I’m incredibly proud of what our LDW team achieved.

Standing up for mothers and babies

We started the weekend with our amendment to F4: Mortality of Children in Temporary Accommodation, highlighting the particular impact of poor and temporary housing on mothers and babies and the importance of ensuring families receive the care and support they need.

LDW Executive member Cllr Hina Bokhari spoke powerfully on the issue, helping to ensure that the experiences of women and children were firmly part of the debate.

Jo Swinson and Donna Harris pose in "No Childcare, no changemakers, photo frame.Launching our campaign for childcare at conference

Saturday afternoon gave us our first opportunity to hear reactions to our new LDW Campaign for Childcare at Conference.

LDW has pledged £1,000 to get the initiative started, and we asked members to sign our petition so that we can take it to those with the power to make the scheme happen.

It was a huge pleasure to have Jo Swinson kick off the petition by backing the scheme.

We’re determined that parents and carers should not be prevented from participating fully in our party because they have childcare responsibilities.

Investing in women’s progression

We also announced a new LDW bursary and support programme at conference, designed to help women participate, develop and progress at all levels of our party.

The scheme includes:

  • Conference Fund: £500 each for two women
  • Online Conference Tickets: up to 10 tickets each conference
  • Conference Childcare Fund: £1,000
  • Future MPs’ Weekend: £500 each for two women
  • ALDC Kickstart: £320 each for two women

For me, this is a really important part of what LDW wants to achieve.

It is not enough simply to say we want more women involved. We need to help remove some of the financial and practical barriers that can prevent women from participating and progressing.

Whether that means being able to attend conference, develop campaigning and leadership skills, explore standing for Parliament or take the next step in their political journey, we want to invest in women and give them the opportunity to progress.

We don’t want our money sitting in the bank. We want to use it to support women.

Celebrating the women who built liberalism

Saturday afternoon also saw our long-awaited joint fringe with the History Group: Women for Liberty: Women Who Built Liberalism.

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Caron Lindsay

How Lib Dem Councillors get things done on temporary accommodation

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 19th September 2026 - 8:15 pm

Paul Walter wrote about the Temporary accommodation debate in his diary earlier

It was a great and sobering debate.

I just wanted to highlight two things that Lib Dems have done. Prue Bray spoke about what her Council in Wokingham has done to reduce the numbers of people in temporary accommodation and to make it a lot safer for those who are.

She said:

Temporary accommodation is a subject that could drive us to despair, but I want to give you some hope by telling you how a Lib Dem council is making a real difference. I am really proud

…

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Caron Lindsay

New team at the Campaign for Gender Balance

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 11th March 2026 - 11:47 am

The Campaign for Gender Balance is there to help women develop and stand for public office. They support women through selection processes, provide mentoring, run brilliant training like the Future Women MPs weekends. I have been on the receiving end of their support and they are brilliant.

Their chair and vice chairs are appointed by the Federal Board at the beginning of each three year cycle. Yesterday, they announced that Cllr Julia Cambridge would continue as Chair, joined by Cllr Donna Harris and Cllr Alice Bridges-Westcott as the two Vice Chairs.

Here’s the  Instagram announcement from Lib Dem Women, the official organisation representing women:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Liberal Democrat Women (@libdemwomen)

Donna Harris, who is also Lib Dem Women’s chair, said:

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dem Donna Harris leads Lambeth Council in rejecting committee seat for sex-charge councillor

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 5th November 2025 - 3:34 pm

Headshot of Cllr Donna HarrisWhen a review of Lambeth Council’s committee structure proposed putting a councillor who had been arrested  on charges of sexual assault, exposure and controlling and coercive behaviour on a committee that investigates wrongdoing, Lib Dem leader of the opposition Cllr Donna Harris was having none of it.

Donna, who is the chair of  Lib Dem Women, the official body in the Lib Dems representing women, led the efforts to get this stopped. For a week she tried, unsuccessfully, to block the move behind the scenes.

However, when the appointments came to Council recently, she spoke against them and they were ultimately rejected unanimously.

Donna said that the appointmentsent the wrong message to every woman who expects our public institutions to be safe and fair:

I stand here today not only as a councillor, but also as the national party’s Chair of Liberal Democrat Women.
And I must say — clearly and firmly — that what I’m about to raise cannot be ignored.

This must be addressed on behalf of women everywhere who expect their councils to act with integrity, accountability, and respect.

The proposal to offer the independent member a seat on the Investigating Committee is deeply concerning.
It sends entirely the wrong message — to residents, to council staff, and to every woman who expects our public institutions to be safe and fair.

The independent member has been charged by police and faces a pending court case.
I fully recognise, as we all must, that he is innocent until proven guilty.
But while those proceedings are ongoing, it is wholly inappropriate for him to be given a committee seat —
especially one responsible for investigating the conduct of others.

Over the past week I’ve tried everything to prevent this, putting forward constructive alternatives.

The administration may say the current position is lawful — but laws can and should change.

Let’s be clear: this is not about prejudice.

It’s about safeguarding — about protecting the reputation of this council, maintaining public confidence, and ensuring everyone who works in or visits the Town Hall feels safe and respected.

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems react to shocking Police revelations

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 4th October 2025 - 11:22 am

You want to trust the Police. You want to feel like they have your back if you need them. You want to know that if you or anyone you love found themselves on the wrong side of the law, they would be treated fairly and humanely.

You would hope that in a relatively liberal democracy a quarter away through the 21st century all of the above would be a given.

And then Wednesday’s Panorama comes along highlighting yet another utterly toxic culture in a Police station. And of course racism and misogyny features highly.

Some horrific examples of behaviour from the BBC:

  • Sgt Joe McIlvenny, an officer with nearly 20 years’ service in the Met, who was dismissive about a pregnant woman’s allegations of rape and domestic violence, after a colleague raised concerns about the decision to release the accused man on bail. He replied: “That’s what she says.”

  • PC Martin Borg, who enthusiastically described how he saw another officer, Sgt Steve Stamp, stomp on a suspect’s leg. PC Borg laughed when he described how he had offered to make a statement saying the suspect had tried to kick the sergeant first. It was unclear from CCTV footage if the claim was true.

  • PC Phil Neilson, who told our reporter in the pub that a detainee who had overstayed his visa should have “a bullet through his head” and “ones that shag, rape women, you’d do the cock and let them bleed out”.

Senior Lib Dems have reacted to the shocking footage.

London AM Hina Bokhari gave her thoughts on Instagram:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Hina Bokhari OBE AM (@hinabokharild)

She and fellow AM Gareth Roberts called on the Mayor to show some leadership in dealing with these revelations, saying:

The Met Police is broken and the culture of prejudice and abuse within its ranks continues to put vulnerable Londoners at risk.

They called on Sadiq to take concrete action to lead real reform.

Lib Dem Women Chair and Lambeth Councillor Donna Harris said:

The suspension of Met officers over alleged abuse and extremist sympathies shows why our ⁦@LibDemWomen amendment at conference was so vital — policing must be transparent, accountable, and free from prejudice if it is to earn public trust.

That amendment called for three things:

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems mark IDAHOBIT 2025 – we support you, we stand with you

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 17th May 2025 - 10:34 am

The sun is shining, it’s Brussels Pride (where Lib Dem Women chair Donna Harris is today),  Doctor Who Eurovision (the Interstellar Song Contest featuring Rylan) and Actual Eurovision from Basel and it’s IDAHOBIT, the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. Could a day be any more fabulous?

The LGBT community needs a moment of respite. Life for them, particularly our trans colleagues, is fairly unremittingly awful at the moment. I don’t know a trans person who isn’t scared about doing something as fundamental as going to the loo when they are out.  The UK is sliding down the international rankings as a good place for LGBT+ people to live at an alarming rate.

It’s not long after 10 as I write this, and already there have been a fair few good things from Liberal Democrats. Way too much to fit into one post, so there will be a few throughout the day.

First up, is Ed Davey’s video message which sends an unequivocal message to the LGBT+ community: the Liberal Democrats will never stop fighting to build a country where you are truly free to be who you are.

LGBT+ Lib Dems said:

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