Liberal Democrat Christian Forum - LDCF members engaging with the party.

LDCF members engaging with the party.

Written by Christopher Franklin
Monday, 30 April 2007
LDCF members engage with the party in a range of ways... Mark Williams MP If clowns are for circuses then jugglers are for the House of Commons. I think also of those clever people who are able to keep numerous plates spinning at the same time. For me that means my family with four young children back in Ceredigion, defending a tiny majority in a huge rural constituency and my responsibilities in London. It’s a challenging role, very different from the ordered daily life I used to enjoy as a teaching Deputy Headteacher in a small village school, but nonetheless one I’ve grown to thrive on. I fought Ceredigion three times, the only seat I ever wanted to win. It was where I studied at university, where I met my wife, where my Liberal predecessor Geraint Howells gave me my first job. When Geraint was defeated in 1992, I and a small local Party were determined to regain the seat and it took us 13 years to do so. Biased as I am, Ceredigion is the most beautiful part of Wales, but look a little deeper and there are real difficulties and real pockets of deprivation. It is the rural community agenda that I feel most strongly about, responding to a government that all too often dismisses such concerns as whingeing from the sidelines. It is this rural community agenda that I feel most strongly about and most compelled to work on. Ceredigion has proved a community that has given me great strength and so too has my faith. One of the most humbling experiences of the past eighteen months was the formation of a prayer group in Aberystwyth to support me in my work. Each month we meet and pray, and each week when I board the train for London I know I’m not alone. Liz Wheeler - Chair WLD It’s an interesting mix being a feminist, Liberal Democrat and a Christian and one that often raises difficult and challenging questions, particularly on specific issues. My decision to stand for Chair of Women Liberal Democrats was a hard decision to take given my lack of experience both within WLD and the Party but I decided to take a leap of faith and see where it would lead me! I’ve always been interested in women’s role in society; I took women’s studies at University, and subsequently applied for an Internship with the Women Liberal Democrats when I was undertaking my Masters. It was this internship that helped me to learn more about the party, both in terms of women’s role within it and also the specific issues WLD should be trying to promote. Recently WLD raised the important issue of rape, taking a motion to conference and producing a campaign pack on the issue. It is clear to me that a key objective for WLD should be to champion causes which are of huge importance to women and which may otherwise be overlooked in a Party which, perhaps understandably, tends to focus on bigger picture politics. Chairing a Committee is not an easy job and one that requires the ability to motivate, inspire and lead whilst also being prepared to listen, to be diplomatic, and also to have the humility to accept when there are those whose knowledge and understanding of a situation is greater than your own. It’s been a fantastic experience being Chair of an organisation that has such a long and distinguished history, one that was founded in friendship and the desire to make a difference on behalf of women; and these are still the essential elements that underpin all the work WLD does today. Jef Foulger - Policy Group Other parties have focus groups or committees made up of headline catching individuals. Lib Dems develop policy from Party members who have expertise, interest and a heart for the values of the Party. I was a member of the Party Pension Policy Working group for about a year. This involved meetings in Committee rooms in the House of Commons and other Parliamentary buildings, plus an “away day” to an Oxford College. It was a challenge to apply the theory of my Christian faith to the practicalities of policy; for example is it right to concentrate pension tax-relief on the rich, when some people don’t even have enough income to pay tax? The working group broadened my outlook, as many years’ experience of the private pensions industry had left little time to consider statefunding or the international perspective, so it also helped me to understand how doctrinaire approaches to a policy such as benefit means-testing can still be socially divisive. Being on the working group was not dull; who would have thought that a subject like pensions would have filled a large hall on a Sunday before Conference? Finally, I will never forget the privilege it was to be just a tiny part of the democratic process. As I left the House of Commons late one evening and walked through the dimly lit Great Hall, where the first English Parliament met over 700 years before, it was hard not be proud of our democracy’s history and to be concerned about the present threats to our hard-won freedoms. Sal Brinton - FPC V-C It may seem hard to believe, but we Liberal Democrats are extraordinary in the world of political parties’ policy making. We are the only party where the members vote on policy at Conference, and the only party which has a Federal Policy Committee (FPC) elected from conference to work with parliamentarians, specialists and party members in drafting and discussing policy issues. I’m one of three vice-chairs of FPC: Steve Webb MP is nominated by the Commons Parliamentary Party, and two others are elected by FPC itself. Three may seem rather excessive, but FPC is a busy committee, with a large workload, and it certainly helps to share the load. We also liaise closely with the Federal Conference Committee. The Policy Unit staff are amazing in the breadth of their knowledge, and their capacity for hard work. FPC meets about monthly, with extra meetings if necessary. We usually meet in the House of Commons in the early evening, so that MPs and Lords spokespeople can attend meetings whilst parliament is sitting. We set up working groups to consult with the party on policy areas, and then to draft policy papers which will come to conference. FPC plays a key role in commenting on the drafts before they come to conference, and we will see a policy document a couple of times during its creation. As vice-chair I take my turn in chairing the meeting in the absence of the Leader, who is the Chair of FPC. It’s a large meeting, and as you would expect with Liberal Democrats, a wide range of opinion, which people aren’t afraid to voice. I find it stimulating and exciting, and I regularly find it reinforces my beliefs in Liberal Democracy. Even when we disagree on detail, the fundamental and underlying philosophy comes shining through.

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