Federal Conference Committee

Posts and reports related to my work on the Liberal Democrats' Federal Conference Committee, 2014-2019

I was an elected as a member of the Liberal Democrats’ Federal Conference Committee in 2014, and as one of it’s two vice-chairs in 2015. This is the committee which runs the twice-yearly conferences of the party including selection of mostions and amendments. I held this post until I resigned from the party in late 2019.

Although some of the work of the committee is confidential, concerning commercially sensitive items such as venue negotations, I was elected on a platform of transparency following the earlier “Keep Conference Liberal” campaign. These posts, hosted initially on my own blog and Facebook and later on LibDemVoice, are part of that transparency work. Details on motion and amendment selection had not previously been made available to the wider membership.

  • Autumn Conference FCC Report

    As well as setting out the agenda for this Autumn, we also discussed future venues for Spring 2020 and beyond. We know many of you are eager to book travel and accommodation as soon as possible but this is the one area where the committee observes strict secrecy until an official announcement can be made – when it has leaked out before we have found commercial companies block-booking accommodation in advance, putting the prices up for ordinary members. Staff are in the process of finalising arrangements to ensure favourable rates and the venues will be announced as soon as this is completed.

    10 July 2019   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/autumn-conference-fcc-report-61408.html

  • FCC Report: The Amendments selected for Conference

    With Spring Conference just days away, Federal Conference Committee met on Saturday for the almost-final selection of amendments and Emergency and Europe motions.

    12 March 2019   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/60190-60190.html

  • What will the party debate at Spring Conference?

    The party meets again at its Spring Conference in York on the 15th-17th March, and if you have not registered yet there is still time! Federal Conference Committee has also now met to decide the agenda so we can reveal what topics will be up for debate.

    24 January 2019   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/what-will-the-party-debate-at-spring-conference-59768.html

  • What will the party debate in Brighton?

    Federal Conference Committee met this weekend – unusually at Amnesty HQ in London rather than LDHQ – to set the Agenda for Autumn conference in Brighton.

    18 July 2018   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/what-will-the-party-debate-in-brighton-58089.html

  • Federal Conference Committee Report Back

    Firstly, Andrew Wiseman stepping down as Chair of Federal Conference Committee (FCC) and Geoff Payne’s subsequent election as his replacement left a vacancy for one of two Vice Chair slots on the committee. As has been reported previously on LibDemVoice, Nick da Costa won the subsequent election and joined me as Vice Chair.

    06 June 2018   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/federal-conference-committee-report-back-57686.html

  • Federal Conference Committee Report: Amendments and emergency motions selected

    Federal Conference Committee (FCC) has now selected the amendments and emergency motions for spring conference. The full text of selected amendments and emergency motions will appear in Conference Extra and Conference Daily, which may well have been published by the time you read this.

    10 March 2018   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/federal-conference-committee-report-amendments-and-emergency-motions-selected-56894.html

  • Federal Conference Committee report – January 2018

    Just over a week ago, Federal Conference Committee met at LibDem HQ to set the Agenda for Southport in March, now just under six weeks away.

    29 January 2018   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/federal-conference-committee-report-january-2018-56496.html

  • Federal Conference Committee Report – amendments and emergency motions for Bournemouth

    Federal Conference Committee (FCC) met on Saturday to discuss amendments and other issues for debate in Bournemouth this weekend.

    11 September 2017   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/55231-55231.html

  • Federal Conference Committee report on selection of motions for Bournemouth

    Federal Conference Committee met again last weekend to select motions that will be debated when we meet in Bournemouth. 41 motions were submitted, and usually selection proceeds in rounds. Motions are first eliminated on the basis of drafting, debatability and other such issues before subsequent rounds trim the agenda further based on time constraints.

    17 July 2017   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/federal-conference-committee-report-on-selection-of-motions-for-bournemouth-54884.html

  • Federal Conference Committee Report

    Federal Conference Committee (FCC) met this afternoon to go through the amendments, emergency motions and topic issues submitted for spring conference.

    17 March 2017   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/federal-conference-committee-report-3-53671.html

  • Federal Conference Committee Motions Report

    Avid readers of Liberal Democrat Voice will already have seen Geoff Payne’s report on the results of this weekend’s Federal Conference Committee meeting. All those whose motions were not selected should now have received feedback, so we’re able to release the list of motions to be debated in March when the party gathers in York.

    01 February 2017   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/federal-conference-committee-motions-report-53154.html

  • Amendments and emergency motions for Brighton

    Saturday was the final pre-Brighton meeting of Federal Conference Committee, (FCC) in which we selected the motion for the reserved Europe slot, amendments to be debated on all motions and emergency/topical issues for the all-member ballot.

    12 September 2016   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/amendments-and-emergency-motions-for-brighton-51823.html

  • Motions selected for debate at Federal Conference in Brighton

    Whilst UK politics is in barely-controlled chaos, the Liberal Democrat policy-making process rumbles quietly on – with Federal Conference Committee (FCC) meeting in London on Saturday to select motions for Autumn Conference.

    11 July 2016   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/motions-selected-for-debate-at-federal-conference-in-brighton-51276.html

  • Federal Conference Committee report – Spring Conference amendments edition

    Federal Conference Committee (FCC) met late yesterday afternoon to discuss the Amendments and Emergency Motions for York – the full text of accepted amendments will appear in Conference Daily.

    12 March 2016   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/federal-conference-committee-report-spring-conference-amendments-edition-49775.html

  • Federal Conference Committee report

    Saturday yet again saw Federal Conference Committee‘s agenda-setting meeting, this time for Spring conference in York – now less than 6 weeks away. As well asworrying about which motions would be debated, the committee also received a welcome update on the success of the new Access Fund, discussed details of Friday night’s rally and proposals for a new “supporters” conference attendees category.

    26 January 2016   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/federal-conference-committee-report-2-49147.html

  • Zoe O’Connell’s Federal Conference Committee report

    Federal Conference Committee met at Liberal Democrat HQ on Saturday 14th November for a meeting that had, despite press reports suggesting it was called purely to discuss special conference, been in the diary for some time.

    24 November 2015   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/zoe-oconnells-federal-conference-committee-report-48374.html

  • Amendments selected for Conference agenda

    The final meeting of Federal Conference Committee prior to us all heading to Bournemouth took place this Saturday, where amendments were debated and selected. One big difference from the motions selection meeting is that debate is more rapid, with 73 amendments, 9 emergency/topic motions, 12 questions to federal bodies and one appeal to deal with.

    16 September 2015   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/amendments-selected-for-conference-agenda-47478.html

  • Federal Conference Committee report

    Federal Conference Committee (FCC) met on Saturday to decide which of the 52 motions submitted by members should be debated when we go to Bournemouth later this year. I’m sure many of you will be scrolling down to the end of this post to find out the good news, but for those who are new to the party or to FCC machinations, I shall quickly explain what FCC does and how it arrived at it’s decision.

    14 July 2015   ·   https://www.libdemvoice.org/federal-conference-committee-report-46764.html

  • Amendments and Emergency Motions at Conference

    14 March 2015

  • Which 22 motions did not make it to Liberal Democrat Conference?

    04 February 2015

  • 2012 Political Conference Accreditation results

    06 December 2012

  • LibDem Conference Accreditation: The “I am Spartacus” edition

    26 May 2012

  • LibDem Conference accreditation: The monster that refuses to die

    21 May 2012

  • LibDem conference accreditation – meeting the FCC

    23 April 2012

  • Some hard numbers for the conference accreditation debate

    02 September 2011

  • Illiberal conference: Blog post roundup and things you can do!

    03 June 2011

  • First, the US no-fly list. Now, the UK no-politics list

    02 June 2011