It’s that exciting time of the year again!

Party awards time!

Every year at Autumn Conference we hand out prestigious party awards to members who have done some of the most outstanding work in the party. Going above and beyond the call of duty time and time again.

One of our suppliers, Typeform, informed us that on the 3rd May 2018 they suffered a data breach – and data from Liberal Democrat members was among the data affected.

You will have received an email if your data was affected. 

One of my own proudest political moments as a Liberal Democrat was moving the amendment in a parliamentary committee that abolished section 28 – that shocking discriminatory law which banned the “promotion” of homosexuality by local authorities and schools. And with 2018 marking 30 years since the original passing of Section 28 we need to recall the damage that odious law did: it not only led to the LGBT+ community being shunned by some but it also gave rise to homophobic bullying in many communities.

I’m proud our party campaigned successfully to repeal that disgraceful legislation – and delighted we are campaigning today to go further, with our policy to make Sex and Relationships Education fully LGBT+ inclusive. As a party, we are committed to building and safeguarding a country and world where no one is forced to hide who they are or are made to feel ashamed of their identity.

We have never been afraid to speak up for what is just and right, even in the days when arguing for “gay rights” was seemed dangerously revolutionary and certainly wasn’t popular. And that long Liberal tradition of campaigning for equality was wonderfully advanced by my friend and colleague, Lynne Featherstone in the Coalition. She successfully led the Liberal Democrat fight for the introduction of same sex marriage – now our challenge is to ensure the government affords same sex couples with the same legal rights and protections as others.

“At the centre of the last budget was a pledge to build 300,000 UK houses a year to address the ‘housing crisis’. 

We were taken back to the days when a post-war Conservative Government, under Churchill, was elected with this level of ambition, and more than succeeded.

Or to the interwar National Government when, under the much-maligned Neville Chamberlain, when there was a similar level of ambition and achievement in the aftermath of, and as an antidote to, the Great Crash. 

More recently, in 1969, when I was embarking on a political career as a councillor in Glasgow, a record level of 378,000 homes were built.   Large scale house building was then the template of successful local government.

Today, there is a significantly larger number of people per home available. 

The Liberal Democrats have many strengths as a party.

But right now we failing in one key area – diversity. We have too few women, too few people without a university education – and far too few BAME members in our party.

This is not the kind of party we want to be.