Conference kicks off with two brief policy debates on making recruitment fairer and regulating abusive use of the legal system. Then GP services in England before a keynote speech by Max Wilkinson.
After a three hour lunch break for fringes, there’s a debate on supporting people to age well in England, a keynote speech by Jane Dodds and a motion on stopping violence against women and girls in the digital age from Lib Dem Women and Marie Goldman, our Women and Equalities spokesperson.
The day ends with the parliamentary parties’ report and two emergency motions. One is from YL on wildfires and the other is from LGBT+ Lib Dems setting out a way forward after the imposition of the cruel and unworkable EHRC Code of Practice on access to services. Under this code, trans people can be banned from facilities associated with their lived gender, and, for trans men and some non binary people, also from facilities associated with their sex assigned at birth. It also suggests that access can be policed based on how people look so if you are a cis woman who is very tall, or with a deeper voice, you could find yourself being challenged when you go to the toilet.
The motion suggests a cross party committee of MPs to work out a way to fix this to ensure dignity and safety for everyone. All very sensible.
The Young Liberals have also put in a motion on action to tackle wildfires which calls for a number of things including preventative measures, assessing risk, temporary restrictions in areas of high risk.
Here’s the day in full.
You can watch on the livestream here.
09.00–09.30 F25 Policy Motion: A Fair Shot: Reforming
Recruitment
09.30–10.05 F26 Policy Motion: Introducing Anti-SLAPP
Legislation
10.05–11.50 F27 Policy Motion: Patient-Centred, Accessible
and Preventive: A Liberal Vision for Primary
Health Care (Primary Healthcare Policy
Paper)
11.50–12.05 F28 Speech: Max Wilkinson MP
12.05–14.55 Lunch break and fringe
14.55–15.30 F29 Policy Motion: Supporting People to Age
Well
15.30–15.45 F30 Speech: Jane Dodds MS
15.45–16.25 F31 Policy Motion: Stopping Violence Against
Women and Girls in the Digital Age
16.25–17.10 F32 Report: Parliamentary Parties
17.10–18.00 F33 Emergency motions or topical issue
a) Trans rights b) Wildfires
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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4 Comments
Just as a balance to all the Libdems Irrelevant stuff, latest Ipsos Polling has us
1st (ie lowest) on Extremism, Division and crucially “Will say anything to get Votes.”
We also come 2nd on being Out of date.
We are near the bottom on Fit to Govern but we aren’t going to be forming a Government any time soon so that’s not really applicable.
Well Paul Ipsos has us at 8%. General Election 2015 we were at that figure and almost lost all our MPs, ending up with what was it 8. We need a virtual radical overhaul what 300+ seats moribund, no organisation etc. The leadership is too quiet, too complacent with no stimulating message, and at the moment taking us nowhere really.
Oh for a Jo Grimmond.
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 for (a) Iraq (generally beneficial) (b) Brexit (ultimately not so) and (c) The Coalition Years (nuff said!)
And there isn’t some magic policy formulation that can really remedy that. So the thing to do is leverage what the public already have as a positive perception.
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 are free, and should absolutely remain free, to be in any party they like, to speak against any motion they wish, to say precisely what they believe. In that spirit, I believe that if you support the EHRC guidance as presently written, you are not a liberal of any variety.