How is federal policy made?
Twice a year, in Spring and Autumn, elected representatives from Local Parties meet at Federal Conference to debate and vote on policies relating to England and the United Kingdom. (Scotland and Wales have their own conferences for policies relating to those nations.)
Usually, most of the main policy motions discussed at conference come from the Federal Policy Committee (FPC). The FPC decides what areas of policy need to be examined, and sets up Policy Working Groups to do this work. Each working group produces a Consultation Paper for discussion within the party, and then later a Policy Paper that is voted on at Federal Conference.
However, Policy Papers sponsored by the FPC are not the only way that policy motions can get onto the conference agenda. Policy motions can also be proposed by:
- Any Local Party
- Any Regional Party (in our case, the West Midlands)
- Any group of 10 Federal Conference Representatives
- Specified Affiliated Organisations (for example, Liberal Democrat Youth & Students)
The conference agenda is controlled by the Federal Conference Committee (FCC). It is the FCC that decides what motions get debated. During the course of those debates, policy motions may be amended, or rejected entirely. The results of the debates are recorded in the Conference Report. The Conference Report is therefore the definitive statement of party policy. (This is important; you can't just look at the Policy Papers, because they may have been amended by conference.) Recent Conference Reports are available on the party website (www.libdems.org.uk), and your Local Party Secretary should also have copies.
In recent years, the FPC and the FCC have been trying to make conference more interesting and engaging for ordinary members, and also to make it easier for Local Parties to submit policy motions.
What would you like to do next?
-
Subscribe for updates
Follow the party's activity on...
- Twitter:
- Liberal Democrats
- Facebook:
- Liberal Democrats
- YouTube:
- Liberal Democrats