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:

Watch our new video.

The use of the word Radical in our name is a deliberate choice. It symbolises two things.

Firstly, it symbolises that we are radical in our goals. We ultimately want the Liberal Democrats to become the largest party in the United Kingdom and we're in favour of radical action to reform the party - such as organising in internal elections, reforming the party institutions and not being afraid to criticise the party establishment when they get it wrong.

The Radical Association welcomes the announcement today of the new Lib Dem plan for Britain in Europe.

We don't shy away from constructively criticising the party when it goes wrong but this is a case where the Liberal Democrats have got it absolutely right.

By committing the party to continue supporting EU membership, and to campaigning for a referendum on the terms of Brexit proposed by the Conservative government, the Lib Dems are well placed to reach out to the millions of Remain voters who continue to oppose Brexit and who have no other party to speak for them.

In the latest edition of Ad Lib, the new Liberal Democrat Director of Campaigns and Elections Shaun Roberts has outlined his priorities from the party as a campaigning force going forward.

For those who have not received their Ad Lib yet or – worse – not read it (tsk!), he outlines them as follows:

Last week the Lib Dems announced a policy which got (relatively speaking) a lot of media attention - a proposed 5p tax on coffee cups to discourage waste.

There are two big problems with this.

Firstly, although the policy isn't a bad idea in itself, it is not about an issue which many people would consider to be a major challenge facing the country and the proposed tax is such a bland idea that it says nothing about core Lib Dem values.

This article was written by Kevin McNamara and is reproduced here with his permission.
The Liberal Democrats are seen as the party of splitting the difference — this must change.

Tragically, many people have this faithless, wishy washy mindset, which causes them to lose the battle in their minds before they ever fight it in the world. - Craig Groeschel

The Radical Association has been founded out a sense of frustration at the state of the Liberal Democrats and a genuine fear that the party will fail to miss a once in a generation opportunity to define a unique role in British politics. We exist to enable members to work together to reshape the Liberal Democrats to be the radical, distinctive, pro-European and liberal movement which we know it can be.

A unique opportunity being missed