Back from the Spring Conference in York

15 Mar 2016

"Against the politics of division, our message of hope & optimism is needed now more than ever" -- Tim Farron

From the very first Fringe events on Friday afternoon before the opening EU Referendum and conference rally, to Tim Farron's closing speech at lunchtime on Sunday, the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in York was varied, interesting, thought-provoking and engaging.

The Liberal Democrat outlook is not simplistic, and we recognise the complexity of the policy areas under debate. For example, although the party is wholeheartedly pro-EU, fully committed to the Remain campaign, Tim Farron's speech at the opening rally clarified that "Just as we know that Westminster is not perfect, so Europe is not perfect. Just as we want to change Westminster, we should also want to change the European Union. And you don't effect change by storming off in a huff. As any kid who's picked up the ball in a sulk and stalked off home will tell you, that's not the way you make friends, and it's definitely not the way to win the match."

With each member in the auditorium entitled to vote under the new One Member One Vote policy (the first conference to be held under the new rules, following a successful motion at the Autumn conference in Bournemouth), we certainly exercised that right. Amongst other things, we voted on economic policy, we voted on a framework for the legal regulation of cannabis (citing our party's evidence-based policy-making approach as supporting our position), we voted on fracking (dismissing the evidence-based policy-making approach proposed in an amendment), we voted on privacy and security, and we voted on the highly controversial inclusion of all-women shortlists for candidate selection.

A video of the full ten hours of Saturday's main agenda, streamed from the auditorium of the York Barbican, can be found here:

And the video of Sunday's four-hour main agenda is here:

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