We did it!

The Vagrancy Bill is a blunt outdated instrument that makes criminals of rough sleepers. It hurts the people most in need in our society.

Liberal Democrats have been fighting to scrap it for years. And today, the Prime Minister has been dragged kicking and screaming to a point where even he admits it needs to go.

In collaboration with the Liberal Democrat European Group, the Federal Policy Committee are organising regional events giving members a chance to shape our policy on Europe. We want to hear your thoughts on what our priority areas should be, what solutions you might have to problems raised and how we can continue to promote a close relationship with Europe.

The autumn party conferences traditionally mark the start of the new political season. They are a time to reflect on the past year and set out plans to succeed in the coming year.

Both politics and coronavirus have made it a tough time since the last round of conferences. But we can look forward to this new political season with confidence that if we continue to raise our game, we can prosper. We've seen signs of that already, including with Sarah Green's fantastic win in Chesham and Amersham and also with the latest net favourability leadership polling from Savanta ComRes:

The Federal Conference Committee recently met to discuss the Conference format for 2022.

We considered a number of options for next year's conferences and took the difficult decision to hold Spring Conference as an online conference and only returning to an in-person event for Autumn Conference. The dates of Spring Conference will be 11-13 March 2022 and we will announce the dates and venue for Autumn Conference in due course.

On Monday 18th of October the Board will hosting a surgery for all Party members.

This is an open invitation to everyone, whether you have a burning question for us, would just like to get to know the Board a bit better, or have an issue you'd like to raise. We are all ears.

The session will run from 18:00-19:00, please feel free to drop in and out as best fits your day, and you can register here.

As seats begin to elect new Parliamentary election candidates, now's the time to get your stationary stocked up.

After requests from a number of new candidates, we've worked with Election Workshop to put together a fantastic deal to ensure your candidate has a well stocked supply of letterheads for responding to casework.

This Autumn, we say goodbye to Isabelle Parasram, our Vice President responsible for working with ethnic minority communities.

Isabelle has been a tremendous advocate, leader and example in the Party and she will be greatly missed. We wish her all the best in her new role as Chief Executive of Social Value UK, which has led to her making the difficult decision to step back from the demands of the Vice Presidential role.

The Federal Communications and Elections Committee met this week to discuss some key challenges and opportunities ahead for the Pary.

Campaign innovation

The Campaign Innovation Fund team, supported by ALDC and others, presented to us on the results of a set of experiments conducted to test what does, and doesn't, help us win campaigns.

Nazir risked his life working with the British Forces in Afghanistan as an interpreter from 2009 - 2012.

In 2021, he and his family were forced to leave behind their former lives in Kabul for fear of Taliban retaliation against him and his loved ones.

He can't show his face in interviews because it would endanger his relatives who were left behind.

The President's award

The President's award seeks to recognise people for their hard work, long service, and demonstrable dedication to the party, at whatever level.

This year's winner is Cllr Mel Allcott.

Mel first stood for election to the City Council in 2014 where she received 794 votes, 250 short of the winner. She stood again in the area in 2015 and 2016, increasing her vote share each time, and in 2019, in a by-election, she finally won with 1,307 votes. A fantastic achievement after 6 years of tenacious campaigning, always listening to the voters and focusing on the issues that mattered to them.