Tag Archives: federal international relations committee

Alisdair Calder McGregor

Under new management – Federal International Relations Committee report

By Alisdair Calder McGregor | Fri 10th February 2023 - 12:40 pm

On Monday 6th of February, the Federal International Relations Committee (FIRC) met for its first formal session of the new year, and of the newly elected committee.

In a two hour meeting which was kept very nearly to time (an almost unheard of state of affairs in Liberal Democrat committees, in my experience), we dealt with a stack of both policy and procedural issues.

We formally approved the continuance of, and received reports from, our sub-committees on China and Ukraine; we also received reports from several other bodies where FIRC has either oversight or coordinating responsibilities, and from the Federal Party’s International …

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Posted in Europe / International and Party policy and internal matters | 1 Comment
George Cunningham

A job and a half for the new Federal International Relations Committee

By George Cunningham | Tue 22nd November 2022 - 10:48 am

I was very pleased to have been part of the successful Federal International Relations Committee’s (FIRC) 2-hour international marathon at the West Midlands conference last weekend. Full marks to current FIRC Chair Phil Bennion. A FIRC First!

Having just been elected to the new Federal International Relations Committee, I will be encouraging it to focus on four big areas:
• Get our party leadership back on track concerning Europe.
• Mobilise newly enfranchised overseas voters to vote Lib Dem at the next UK General Election, especially in our target seats.
• Keep Lib Dems’ profile up internationally so the party continues to have global and European influence.
• Continue …

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Posted in Europe / International | Also tagged | 25 Comments
George Cunningham

China: What should be our long-term response?

By George Cunningham | Mon 13th September 2021 - 9:25 am

This year’s autumn conference will see the launch of the party’s Federal International Relations Subcommittee on China to help the party and its members understand and deal with the multifaceted challenges of a rising authoritarian China.

In March 2019, when the UK was part of the EU, the Joint Communication EU-China: A Strategic Outlook came out. It defined the EU’s approach to China in the following way:

China is, simultaneously, in different policy areas, a cooperation partner with whom the EU has closely aligned objectives, a negotiating partner with whom the EU needs to find a balance of interests, an economic competitor in the pursuit of technological leadership, and a systemic rival promoting alternative models of governance.

The broad-based nature of the relationship allows us to take such a differentiated approach, although it must be said that the possibilities of cooperation are continually narrowing as China takes more strident positions in the world, backed by its Wolf Warrior diplomacy.

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Posted in Conference and Events | Also tagged | 18 Comments
Phil Bennion

Conference to confirm our internationalism

By Phil Bennion | Mon 26th July 2021 - 3:02 pm

For years now committed internationalists in the party have complained that our reputation for internationalism is fading and that parish pump politics has taken over. Worries are being expressed that we could lose that internationalist core vote that has identified with us for decades. Despite serial attempts at proposing emergency motions on international crises to conference, these have repeatedly fallen way behind domestic issues in the ballot and not received a debate. Similarly droves of new members who joined us as pro-Europeans to fight Brexit have not seen their key issue high enough up the agenda. The good news is that change is on the way.

At Spring Conference our Europe motion which restated our long-term aim of getting back to the centre of Europe kicked off a new international focus. Working with our European allies is fundamental to the UK reclaiming a meaningful international presence. Autumn Conference this year will see several international themes on the agenda, as well as starting a series of detailed motions to give us a road map to the closest possible relationship with the EU, and eventual membership.

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Posted in Europe / International | Also tagged and | 36 Comments
George Cunningham

Everything we do now as a party must have an international dimension

By George Cunningham | Mon 13th April 2020 - 9:47 am

As if Brexit was not enough of an economic self-inflicted wound, the pandemic has struck at our very soul.

It is predicted that the world will have changed after the pandemic with the irony that China, where the virus originated, strengthened economically (although not in perfect shape because of “Belt and Road Initiative” debts owed by others and global supply chains broken), the USA weakened and Britain and the European Union, divided from each other, struggling not to become a plaything of those two superpowers.

However, this is not to say Tom Arms’ recent LDV articles on the crisis should be panda-ring …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 3 Comments
Mark Valladares

A country gentleman attends Federal International Relations Committee…

By Mark Valladares | Thu 9th May 2019 - 8:24 am

I’d spent the afternoon attending a pension seminar (about my own, not about selling them) and there is little to beat a consideration of your post-retirement finances for reminding you that you’re beginning to get on a bit. And so it was a somewhat more thoughtful than usual rural bureaucrat who turned up at Great George Street, the Party’s London HQ, for the year’s second meeting of FIRC.

The meeting started with a presentation from Gordon Mackay, the rather dashing Secretary General of Liberal International, who outlined his plans for reinvigorating this august organisation. Talk of individual memberships, of providing added …

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | 4 Comments
Mark Valladares

Enjoying Conference? Fancy another one… in Madrid?

By Mark Valladares | Mon 17th September 2018 - 2:17 pm

The Federal International Relations Committee is recruiting Congress delegates for the upcoming Alliance of Liberal Democrats in Europe (ALDE) Party Congress later this year. For more information on this process, please contact us!

What? ​Delegation voting-member at the ALDE Party Congress 2018

When? ​8-10 November 2018

Where? ​Madrid, Spain

Who? Staff, parliamentarians, party members, activists, volunteers can apply

About the Congress

The 39th ALDE Party Congress, will take place from 8 to …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged | 1 Comment
Mark Valladares

How would you like to find out more about Federal International Relations Committee?

By Mark Valladares | Mon 4th June 2018 - 2:52 pm

Last week, I was less than entirely complimentary about FIRC. This week, perhaps I should try to be more… helpful. So, having raised the question of communication, and being fairly confident that the Committee’s Chair and Secretary may look in on the comments, here’s an opportunity for you to make some suggestions as to how we, as a Committee, might engage with you all.

First, though, here’s an excerpt from the Federal Constitution, just to make it clear what we do, and what we do not…

There shall be a Federal International Relations Committee (“FIRC”) which shall be responsible to the Federal

…

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged | 4 Comments
Mark Valladares

The totally unofficial Federal International Relations Committee report – May 2018

By Mark Valladares | Mon 28th May 2018 - 1:25 pm

There is a certain irony in that, having written the Committee’s communication plan before I resigned as its Secretary, that the Committee leadership has evidently forgotten that it exists. Thus, this report is wholly my own work. You’ll remember that if I run for re-election next year, right?

The key areas for discussion this time were the workplan and our response to the Alderdice Report on BAME participation within the Party.

The workplan is, I sense, a work of obligation rather than commitment, in that it looks to have been put together because one is required, rather than desired. Federal Board not …

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Posted in Europe / International and Party policy and internal matters | 24 Comments
Paul Reynolds

How much should the Lib Dems focus on UK foreign policy?

By Paul Reynolds | Thu 15th March 2018 - 4:59 pm

I once used the phrase ‘No-one is going to vote Lib Dem because of our policy on Azimstana’. The point is an obvious one; surveys show us that the average British voter is more concerned about domestic issues such as health, education, welfare, employment, immigration and crime. Understandably so.

However, there are three very good reasons why, notwithstanding, we need to invest time in foreign policy, international relations and the global economy.

First, UK foreign policy does from time to time come to the fore in the mind of the voting public and we have to be on top of the issues, …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 6 Comments
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