Conference Report Brighton Autumn 2006

Written by Jo Holland

Thursday, 14 December 2006

It was probably LDCF’s busiest ever Autumn conference this year! We started the week with a service on the beach with the Brighton Salvation Army band and it was great to see so many people there - including many who would not normally come to a more formal service.

As usual, we held morning praise meetings and this year welcomed Sal Brinton, PPC for Watford, Mark Williams MP and Richard Younger- Ross MP to speak to us. On the Tuesday we held a joint Breakfast fringe with a group of Free Church Representatives (Methodists, Quakers, Baptists, URC and Salvation Army).

We held two evening fringe meetings rather than the usual one. At the first (sponsored by Premier radio) we looked at the problem of Human Trafficking with Nick Clegg MP, Mike Kaye from Anti-Slavery International and Revd Dr Carrie Pemberton from CHASTE (Churches Alert to Sex Trafficking across Europe). Following what he had heard, Nick Clegg actually made a policy commitment at the meeting - agreeing to call on the government to sign the European Directive on Human Trafficking. Following this meeting we had a social (sponsored by the Tablet) where members were able to meet members of the LDCF executive and discuss the issues of the day.

Conference was also a key time for the development of the forum with several meetings looking at its future, particularly on financial issues. The new constitution, which gives us a more efficient organisational structure, was overwhelmingly passed and there was a lively discussion on what members would like to see LDCF doing in the future - for more see the following pages!

LDCF AGM 2006 Reporting Back

It was a busy AGM this year as members debated the new constitution and the future direction of LDCF. In the next couple of pages we update you on what happened and ask for your feedback on where we go from here.

Structural changes

The new constitution introduced a number of key changes to how LDCF operates. In particular: - It recognises the role of the management committee which takes responsibility for staffing and the day-to-day running of LDCF. - It makes provisions for employing a staff member. - It changes our accounting year from September-August to the calendar year, bringing us into line with Party practice.

Subscription increases

It was also agreed to increase the membership subscription rates to £20 recommended (or £5 minimum) for individuals and £30 recommended (or £7.50 minimum) for 2 members at the same address. This brings us into line with what other similar groups within the party are charging and will help raise the money we need to grow the forum over the coming years - while keeping the minimum subscription rate low so those people who would struggle to find the new rate are not discouraged from joining.

A heartfelt thanks

A number of executive members stood down at the AGM, and a few decided not to seek co-option following it. Our thanks go to Jef Foulger (Vice-Chair), Faith Ponsonby (Secretary), Lawrie Smithson (Membership Secretary), Simon Wilson (Press Officer) and executive members Stephanie Dearden, SallyAnn French, Bernard Huggins & Viv Parker.

Looking forward

Steve Webb MP led a discussion on what members would like to see LDCF do in the future. Ideas so far include:

An online discussion group Several people asked if we could set up an email discussion group or online forum, to discuss topical questions and more. We are in the process of updating the LDCF website and hope to relaunch it with online discussion forums in the new year - watch this space! If you want to know as soon as it is up and running, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will make sure you are on our email announcement list. --ed: it is now up and running, on this site. If you are a LDCF member, you can register from the front page.

Updating the ‘Why Vote LibDem’ Pack It was suggested that we update the policy information pack we produced for Christians for the 2005 election. This is now in hand and we plan to have it ready to launch at Autumn conference 2007.

‘Something for councillors’ It was suggested that we do more to support the many members who are councillors. This is something we are very keen to do and we are currently looking into producing an adapted version of the ‘Why Vote LibDem’ pack for the 2007 local elections, and setting up a forum for councillors. If you have ideas about what we should put in the pack, or have other suggestions about what we can do to help councillors please let us know!

Newsletter It was suggested that we could email the newsletter out to save money on printing and postage. This is only likely to be cost-efficient if a significant number of members ‘opt-in’ to such a scheme, if you are interested, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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