Brexit will kill jobs, risk protections for the environment and working rights, tear away people's freedom to move, work, live and love across a whole continent, and put huge sectors of our economy and tax base at risk. We believed it was wrong last year, we believe it is wrong now, and we will not stop saying so.
This is a brief emergency summary of amendments and emergency motions for spring conference 2017. It is supplementary to our main conference briefing, which can be found here.
On the EMERGENCY MOTION BALLOT:
We can now launch the Radical Association's Spring Conference 2017 briefing. This briefing is publicly available to provide members and other Liberal Democrats with the RA's take on the motions being put before conference, in a helpful two-page summary. The briefing is primarily meant to give our assessments of motions, from which readers can then take our concerns and thoughts to the conference floor to give them a better grounding in the debates.
This is to announce that the RA's election procedure is now starting.
This year we are pursuing a somewhat condensed electoral timetable, with the aim to vote on the week from the 5th March onwards. Candidacies may be filed by any RA member until that date with the support of at least two seconders, by email to office@radicalassociation.org. If you want to stand, second, or vote, but are not an RA member, Join the Association today for free.
The facts are clear on immigration: it benefits the economy, strengthens our public services, and gives Britain the diversity that helps to make us a global cultural powerhouse.
The campaign of fear against migrants, though, has now infected the heart of Britain’s government and society – which is why Liberals and their allies from all parties must stand against the rising normalisation of xenophobia.
Summary: The welfare motion that recently passed Liberal Democrat conference, whilst committing the party to campaign for important and positive changes to the current welfare system, falls short of being a much needed vision for a radical overhaul of social security for the 21st century. Nonetheless, we welcome the improvements made to the party’s policy by the motion, and look forward to this being a stepping stone towards the adoption of a bolder, more forward-thinking policy in future to overhaul the welfare system at a fundamental level.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah89FM-5R3Y
Leading Labour MPs are calling for the UK to leave the single market in order to end free movement with the EU. But doing so would mean devastating our economy and destroying thousands of jobs - inevitably hitting the poorest the hardest.
Those in the auditorium for Tim Farron's closing speech at Lib Dem autumn conference were witness to a speech that was inspiring, powerful and full of conviction.You can watch the speech below and if you're a Liberal Democrat it's very likely that it'll leave you deeply moved and fired up.
This weekend the picturesque beaches of Brighton will be swamped with lanyard wearing liberals. But if you can pull yourself away from the sunny skies for a few hours, in the dingy Brighton centre there are going to be some very important (and contentious) debates at this conference. Remember every party member who has paid to attend conference gets a vote. So for the perpetually unprepared, here is your guide to what the must-see debates are:
Saturday
At Liberal Democrat conference, party members will have the chance to debate policy motion F31 on Monday 19th September from 3.15pm to 4.45pm.
The Radical Association urges all party members to vote AGAINST this policy motion.
Motion F31 is proposing new policy on welfare for the Lib Dems. However, despite being called ‘Mending the Safety Net’, the motion does nothing of the sort. It actively endorses the current welfare system which is failing so many vulnerable people.
We believe the motion needs to be voted down on the following grounds:
