On Saturday, 13th March the Federal Conference Committee met to review the amendments, late motions, emergency motions, questions to reports and appeals for this weekend’s next Spring Conference which commences on Friday.

You can still register for conference HERE. We also have a claimants’ rate, and provide support for those who require it through the Conference Access Fund. You can also donate to the Conference Access Fund as part of your registration.

This will be our second online Conference with our partners at Hopin. As always, we would like to thank the Conference Office and wider HQ team for their support and hard work in bringing together our online conference.

There will shortly be a video on the Conference website which will give you a great overview of the features of the online conference, including the auditorium, fringe sessions, exhibition, training and the chat functionality. Based on the feedback from Autumn Conference some changes have been made including the ‘Report’ button, certain emoticons for reactions, changes to the timings of the fringe sessions and making the exhibition more visible.

You can submit speakers’ cards for Conference HERE and you can submit amendments to the late motion on COVID HERE. Please note that you will need to submit your speakers’ cards earlier than usual (16:00 the day before the agenda item). This is because our production partners will need to get in touch earlier to run through technical preparations. As usual we select more speakers than we will be able to schedule, so that we always have a reserve list.

I have included below the list of items discussed at Saturday’s FCC meeting; you will see the amendments, late motions, emergency motions, and questions submitted.

We will also be issuing an integrated agenda early this week; it will contain all of the amendments selected, emergency motions, questions and other updates. In order to make it more user-friendly on screen, we will not be using a separate Conference Extra as previously. All of the information will be in one place.

Please note that the summary of the amendments is my own; I have tried to summarise the amendments as close as possible to what was submitted. 

Regarding amendments they have either been ‘Selected’ for debate, ‘Not Selected’ or ‘Drafted’. Drafted means that the text of the amendment will be added to the text of the motion and therefore not be debated and voted on separately. 

Regarding emergency motions, these need to relate to something that has happened after the deadline for the motion’s submission, and thus are decided by the FCC if they are or are not in order. We also received a number of emergency motions for consideration. Given the number that were in order, we do not think that we need to have a ballot but rather can debate them all in the time we have. The text of those will be released soon.

With regards to questions, we review that they are being submitted to the correct committee. Additionally, time permitting questions may be taken from the chat for the Committee Reports.

There was one appeal against non-selection of a motion, and the appeal was rejected.

If you have any questions please do pop them in the discussion below, or you can also email me at Nicholas.dacosta@outlook.com.

Best wishes

Nick

Since Sarah Everard’s tragic death there has been a huge outpouring of grief.

We must interrogate, why is it that so many women feel so scared of men for so much of the time?

And why are some men so violent towards women?

I’ve been thinking about it all week. I’ve been looking at what other people have been suggesting. And I think everything needs to change.

Welcome to the Lords edition of the Weekly Whip, covering the goings-on in the Upper Chamber in the last week, and a taste of what’s to come in the week to come. 

In the Lords we get to grips with the detail of legislation and improve it; we take part in debates on a whole range of issues, and we question and hold to account government ministers.  

For up-to-date information about the work of the Lib Dem group in the Lords, follow us on Twitter: @LibDemLords

Thanks to our Education Minister Kirsty Williams MS, the Senedd has just passed a new, modern and truly Welsh curriculum for schools.

Recent events in Poland should concern the whole international community. Labelling LGBTQ+ as an ‘ideology’ and suppressing LGBTQ+ people is outrageous and Liberal Democrats will not stand for it.

That’s why, in partnership with human rights campaigners in Poland, the Liberal Democrats have launched a new campaign to “protect our twins”. We’re asking local councils twinned with towns in Poland to enter a period of engagement to reflect the need for education and humanity in the face of the 100+ “LGBT ideology-free” zones created so far in Poland.

As part of the campaign, UK councils paired with Polish towns are being asked to pass motions to begin a formal period of diplomacy. Many twinning relationships date back generations and signify deep cultural ties.

For regions that have enacted these zones, we will ask to end them. For regions considering creating hate zones, we will ask them to stop. For regions that have rejected the hate zones, we will thank them for upholding the human rights of the global LGBT community.