The Liberal Democrats held their Autumn conference in Liverpool this year, the first time they have visited the city.
Two things struck me about this conference:
1. The sheer amount of security present. I overheard one delegate saying “is this all for us??”, as if he expected there to be another, more high profile event at the same time, in the same place. Only a handful of people were safe from the airport-style entrance security, and from what I saw on Monday morning, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander was not one of them!
2. The amount of young people at conference. The youth membership of our party is at a 5-year high, and it was apparent to everyone present that Liberal Youth is re-establishing itself as a force within the party. Even Liberal Youth Scotland had a good showing – not bad considering it is slap bang in the middle of Freshers Weeks, and a reasonable distance away – there were as many members of the LYS Executive present as Lib Dem MSPs!
Liberal Youth’s presence was certainly felt on the Fringe circuit, with Chair Martin Shapland speaking at a number of fringe events, and Liberal Youth hosting a number of them as well. At one fringe event, a party consultation on the winning and keeping the under 35 vote, Nick Clegg put in a surprise appearance to address the audience, and take questions from young people, showing the importance of young people in the party.
Liberal Youth also made themselves heard in the debating hall, moving a successful amendment to a motion on reforming the Press Complaint Commission (summated by yours truly) and helping to defeat a motion calling for quotas of BME candidates and all-BME candidate shortlists.
The media too could not get enough of the party’s young movers and shakers – I spoke to BBC Scotland for radio and TV, Sky News, the Community Channel and Swiss TV channel SF to name a few. One Liberal Youth member had a personal piece written on her for a Dutch newspaper!
Overall, the atmosphere in the Conference was the exact opposite of how the media would have you believe: overwhelmingly positive. The splits that the media so desperately craved to report just weren’t there. Delegates left the conference with a renewed sense of optimism, re-assurance about the party’s identity, and invigorated for the fight to come next May, in the AV referendum, and the Scottish, Welsh, London and local elections.
But don’t take my word for it, here’s what some of the conference goers had to say…
As someone coming from the relatively small pond that is the Scottish Liberal Democrats, my first Federal conference was quite something. The sheer scale of the number of people, the size of the venue and the number of events was mind boggling. I’ve already pencilled Sheffield 2011 into my diary, and can’t wait for next May!
If you want to help us campaign for Fair Votes, or extend Liberal Democracy across Scotland, or get more involved in your local area, join us here:
Callum Leslie
Vice-President (Communications)
Liberal Youth Scotland
