East Devon Liberal DemocratsFederal Conference Committee met via Zoom call on Saturday, 10 July for the agenda selection for our Autumn Conference 2021. The meeting was a lengthy one, which was in part due to the large selection of motions received.
A few announcements before the report; as you may be aware Geoff Payne, departed the FCC in early May, and I am delighted to have been elected the new Chair of FCC. All of us wish Geoff the very best for the future. A recount was held for the vacant place on the Committee, and I am delighted that Keith Melton has joined as our new member of the Federal Conference Committee. Chris Adams has also been elected in the vacant Vice-Chair position and will take responsibility for the General Purposes Sub Committee.
This Autumn conference will be held online, via our third-party provider, Hopin. You will be able to find more information about the virtual conference. If you are planning to attend conference, we highly recommend taking part in the interactive exhibitions and the fringes.
If you haven't yet registered for Conference, I would recommend doing so here.
The FCC wants to pay its thanks to the continued amazing efforts of the Conference Office team and members who have worked so incredibly hard. You will see from the timings of Conference that it is slightly different to the usual format, and we hope that this will give more people an opportunity to attend virtually, but also it has meant that we have been able to increase the number of motions selected, we have allowed short breaks between sessions but have also worked hard to include as many of the motions submitted as possible. The agenda for Conference will be published very shortly.
A total of 18 policy motions, plus two emergency motion slots were selected at Saturday's meeting. Additionally, eight business motions, four constitutional amendments and one standing order amendments were taken for debate at Conference. We had several business motions, a constitutional and standing order amendment all relating to Party Body Reforms; FCC decided to take these as one item (with a series of votes).
The agenda will include Committee and Parliamentary reports, the Leaders Q&A, some set-speeches (details to be released later), and the Leaders speech. The full agenda, including text of motions, will be published towards the end of this month.
On the topic of motions selected; we received 38 policy motions, 11 business motions, five constitutional amendments and two standing order amendments. Unfortunately, we cannot always select all the motions submitted to Conference and have tried to include as many as possible within the time available.
Below I have included the list of motions, and whether they have been selected or not selected, please note that the naming of motions may vary between now and the publication of the agenda. With regards to proposed constitutional or standing order amendments these are automatically selected; however, ruled either in order or out of order.
Please note that the next set of deadlines for Conference are:
Drafting Advice deadline for amendments and emergency motions: 13:00 23rd August 2021
Amendments and Emergency motions deadline: 13:00 6th September 2021
Business and Industrial Strategy
Future of Work (Liberal Democrat Christian Forum) - Not Selected
Equality of Opportunity for SMEs (10 or more party members) - Not Selected
Boosting Small Businesses and Jobs in the post-Pandemic Economy (12 party members) - Selected
Communities and Local Government
21st Century Community Housing Act (10 or more party members) - Not Selected
Building homes, protecting Communities (10 or more party members) - Not Selected
Building Communities (44 party members) - Selected
Crime and Justice Motions
Towards a Just Society (18 party members) - Not Selected
Strengthening Our Opposition to Capital Punishment (12 party members) - Not Selected
Police Reform (Young Liberals) - Not Selected
Keeping people safe from fraud and scams (14 party members) - Selected
Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (Lib Dem Women) - Selected
Sexual Violence in Schools (10 party members) - Not Selected
Culture, Media and Sport
Democracy and Public Debate (Federal Policy Committee) - Selected
Economy and Tax
Towards a Fair Global Corporation Tax System (12 party members) - Selected
Wellbeing at Work, Wellbeing in the Economy (12 party members) - Not Selected
International Trade and DIT (14 party members) - Selected
Energy and Environment Motions
Water Management (East Cambridgeshire) - Not Selected
Making the Fight Against Climate Change Accessible to Everyone (11 party members) - Not Selected
The Climate Conference and the UK Government (18 party members) - Accepted
Tackling the Climate Emergency: Liberal Democrat Proposals on Carbon Pricing (Federal Policy Committee) - Selected
Equalities and Civil Liberties
Ban Conversion Therapy (12 party members) - Selected
Dignity, care and choice at the end of life (11 party members) - Selected
Trans Children (Young Liberals) - Not Selected
Upholding Academic Freedom: a bedrock Liberal Value (14 members) - Not Selected
Europe
Rebuilding our Cultural, Artistic and Educational ties with Europe (Federal Policy Committee) - Selected
Health and Social Care
Children in Care and Care Leavers (Young Liberals) - Selected
Protection Patients' Health Data (15 party members) - Selected
International and Defence
Towards a Lasting Peace in Israel and Palestine (13 party members) - Selected
Palestine and Israel - There Is Another Way (24 party members) - Not Selected
Nuclear Weapons Free UK (123 party members) - Not Selected
Nuclear Weapons: Deciding on the Principle (15 members) - Not Selected at second round of voting due to lack of time
The Uyghur Genocide (Young Liberals) - Selected
Miscellaneous
A Fairer, Greener, More Caring Society (Themes Paper) (Federal Policy Committee) - Selected
Principles and Values (Federal Policy Committee) - Selected
Political and Constitutional Reform
A Framework for England in a Federal United Kingdom (Federal Policy Committee) - Selected
Rural Affairs
Reducing Farmed Animal Suffering and Pandemic Risks (40 party members) - Not Selected
Back British Farmers (10 party members) - Not Selected
Transport
Demanding Better Transport in Our North (Young Liberals) - Not Selected
Business Motions
Vice President Election Regulations (Federal Board) - Selected
Party Body Reforms Created under 9.6 (Federal Board) - Selected
Membership Subscriptions and Federal Levy (Federal Board) - Selected
Federal Board Strategy Motion to Conference (Federal Board) - Selected
Party Body Reform - Leadership election regulations (Federal Board) - Selected
Party Body Reform - Presidential election regulations (Federal Board) - Selected
Party Body Reform - Committee election regulations (Federal Board) - Selected
Board governance reform planning (Federal Board) - Not Selected
Name Blind Submission of Motions and Amendments for Conference (10 party members) - Not Selected
Implementation of the Thornhill Review (LDCRE) - Not selected
Electoral Policy (Amber Valley) - Not Selected
Constitutional Amendments
Party Body Reform (Federal Board) - In Order
Young Liberals Age Limit Change (Federal Board) - In Order
Completing One Member One Vote (12 party members) - Not In Order
Empowering Lib Dem Values: for people and planet (215 party members) - In Order
Updating the Constitution's Language on Equality and Inclusion (17 party members) - In Order
Standing Order Amendments
Party Body Reforms (Federal Board) - In Order
Federal Conference Standing Orders Amendment in the selection of policy motions for debate (Basingstoke and Deane) - Not In Order.
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