Sweeping changes to conference motions rules come into force

Here’s the email which has gone out to Liberal Democrat party members today, setting out major changes to how the party’s policy-making process works:

Seasoned conference-goers might have been expecting the Preliminary Agenda for the autumn conference in Bournemouth to have arrived by now. Well, it hasn’t – because conference last year agreed a set of sweeping changes to the timetable for submitting motions for debate. They’re designed to make it easier for local parties and conference reps to submit motions and amendments, and to increase your chance of having a say in party policy.

The old series of three deadlines for submitting motions has been replaced by two, and we’ve scrapped the Preliminary Agenda. So the first deadline for motions for Bournemouth is Wednesday 1 July – they should be sent to motions@libdems.org.uk, or by post to the Policy Projects Team at Cowley Street. A standard form is available on the party website.

We’ll get the Final Agenda out to you as early as possible in August, together with copies of the policy papers to be debated, including the key pre-manifesto paper. Every motion in the agenda will be open to amendment, and the deadline for amendments, and also for emergency motions, will be Tuesday 8 September. You might want to plan a local party meeting for early September to look at the motions and consider whether you want to try amending any. We’ll be circulating copies of the amendments chosen a few days before conference, by email and the party website.

This will definitely be the last autumn conference before the general election, so make sure it’s full of what we do best – stimulating debates on key areas of the Lib Dem message.

Yours sincerely
Duncan Brack
Chair, Federal Conference Committee