Opinion: Lib Dems Are Up For The Fight to Rebuild

Published on: 16 Oct, 2015
Updated on: 16 Oct, 2015

Sue Doughty, former Lib Dem MP

Former Guildford MP and local party chair Sue Doughty attended the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth. The Guildford Dragon asked her to report…

Party conferences are when members come together to debate policy for the future, to plan their own future and of course to meet old friends.

NHS, refugees, social justice, housing, human rights and Europe where all on the agenda.

Despite the general election the Lib Dem conference, covering a wide range of topics, left members energised and enthusiastic. Free from the shackles of coalition, members took the opportunity to build on our core beliefs.

Local Lib Dems were to the fore, with George Potter successfully leading a prime time debate on the Government’s attacks on the less well off in our society. “The government should be supporting the most vulnerable and not the most wealthy,” he said. Kelly-Marie Blundell led a lively debate on the future of Trident too.

Housing is a key issue in Guildford, not only the problem of the greenbelt, but also the sheer challenge of finding a decent home that you can afford to live in.

We agreed with many others who have commented that extending Right to Buy to social housing and Housing Association housing will be a disaster locally where building land is at a premium and, like council houses sold in the past, it will be almost impossible to replace them.

There are many people in Guildford who will never be able to afford to buy their own home and who need settled accommodation where they can live and bring up their families.

The Lib Dem conference 2015

Many of our new members attended conference. For someone of my generation it is great to see fresh faces coming along who share our beliefs but bring new thinking. They didn’t join to influence the leadership vote, but to have their voices heard in our political structure and to help the Lib Dem fightback.

For many years the party has worked on a system of locally elected representatives who can vote at conference, but, following two years of work on behalf of the Federal Executive of the party I was delighted to bring forward changes to our constitution so that all members will now vote on our policy at conference as well as for membership of committees.

Of course after a difficult election we needed to discuss what happened, but with a clear five years to the next election we have the time to develop our policies not only at national level, but for local communities.

There were tears. A moving tribute to Charles Kennedy, our much loved former leader who died too young last May left many deeply saddened.

Our new leader Tim Farron, who has done so much on a personal level recently to make it clear that refugees must be treated as decent people, not as animals, made a truly moving speech following his visits to meet people in Calais and understand their problems.

Leader Tim Farron at the Lib Dem Conference

His call to rebuild the party to work towards taking power in the future and to provide an opposition that is economically credible, radical and liberal now brought the hall to their feet.

Outside of debates there are fringe meetings and debates, chances to meet up over dinner with colleagues, and perhaps my big regret was that I didn’t make it to the disco where DJ Lord Paddy Ashdown was rocking into the small hours.

For me, as a former MP and candidate conferences are always uplifting. What however really heartened me despite the election results was to watch the party pulling together in difficult times, looking forward to the future with a strong new leader, and planning to come back at all levels.

We know it will be tough but it is a fight we Lib Dems are up for.

Cllr Paul Spooner who attended the Conservative party conference was also invited to write an article.