English Liberal Democrats

The English Liberal Democrats is the state party within the Liberal Democrats that operates in England. It is a federation of the eleven regional parties in England which are further divided into local parties. The party currently holds 7 of the 533 English seats in the UK House of Commons and one of the 25 seats in the London Assembly.[11]

English Liberal Democrats
ChairGerald Vernon-Jackson[1]
Founded1988
Headquarters8–10 Great George Street,
London,
SW1P 3AE
Youth wingEnglish Young Liberals
IdeologyLiberalism[2]
Social liberalism[2][3]
Classical liberalism[4][5]
Pro-Europeanism[6][7]
Political positionCentre to centre-left
European affiliationAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
International affiliationLiberal International
ColoursYellow[8]
House of Commons (English Seats)
7 / 533
[9]
London Assembly
1 / 25
Local government (England)[10]
2,439 / 17,728
Website
englishlibdems.org

Organisation

English Council

The English Council is the sovereign body of the English party. It consists of the chairs of regional parties, representatives elected by regional party members, and representatives of the organisation representing youth and student members within the English party. The Council meets twice each year and elects the English Council Executive.[12][13][14]

English Executive

The English Council Executive manages the running of the English party between English Council Meetings. The English Council Executive consists of the Chairs of the 11 English regional parties, 12 members directly elected from the English Council, the English Young Liberals Chair, and English representatives on the Federal Executive, Federal Policy Committee and Federal Conference Committee. The English Council Executive meets 6 times a year.

The English Council Executive has two sub-committees; A Finance and Administration Sub-Committee which is chaired by a Treasurer manages the finances of the English party and the Regional Parties Committee.

The composition of the English Council is as follows

RoleName
ChairGerald Vernon-Jackson
English Candidates Committee ChairPrue Bray
English Representative to Federal BoardSimon McGrath
English Representative to FPCLucy Nethsinga
English Representative to FCCAlistair Calder McGregor
English Representative to the Federal Campaigns and Elections Committee
English Representative to the Federal People Development Committee
English Representative to the Federal International Relations Committee
English Executive Members

Regional parties

The English Liberal Democrats is a federation of the eleven regional parties which follow the boundaries of the English Regions, with the exception of South East England and South West England which are each divided into two regional parties.[15] Each regional party is governed by a conference and AGM held in the autumn of every year. The conference elects a Regional Executive, led by a Regional Chair. The regional executive includes all Liberal Democrat members of parliament representing constituencies within the region, all Members of the House of Lords who are members of the regional party, all Liberal Democrat Members of the European Parliament representing areas in the region, ordinary party members elected from within the region, and additional members co-opted by the executive.[16]

The regional parties within the English party are:

Policy and functions

The English party has responsibilities for the organisation of local parties, co-ordination of the activities of regional parties, resolution of disputes between regional parties, selection of English representatives to federal bodies and establishing the rules for selection of party candidates.[13][17]

The English Party constitution states that the Liberal Democrats in England "shall determine the policy of the Party on matters affecting England which fall outside the remit of the Federal Party" This can be achieved by structures established by the English Council.[18] As no policy making structures are currently in place, policy making has been passed up to federal level and English policies discussed at federal party conferences.[19]

Elected Representatives

Members of Parliament

London Assembly members

Directly elected mayors

Members of the European Parliament

The Party had 15 MEPs following the European Parliament elections in 2019:

List of Chairs of the English Liberal Democrats

Chairs are elected in November and take office on 1 January the following year.

  • Paul Farthing (c 1994–2000)
  • Dawn Davidson (c 2000–2004)
  • Stan Collins (2004–2007)[20]
  • Brian Orrell (2007–2010)[20]
  • Jonathan Davies (2010–2012)[20]
  • Peter Ellis (2012–2015)
  • Steve Jarvis (2015–2017)
  • Liz Leffman (2017–2018)
  • Tahir Maher (2019-2020)
  • Gerald Vernon-Jackson (2020-present)

See also

References
  1. "Gerald Vernon-Jackson elected new chair of the English Liberal Democrats". Mark Pack. 20 February 2020.
  2. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2017). "United Kingdom". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  3. Hans Slomp (2011). Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics [2 volumes]: An American Companion to European Politics. ABC-CLIO. p. 343. ISBN 978-0-313-39182-8.
  4. Alistair Clark (2012). Political Parties in the UK. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 86–93. ISBN 978-0-230-36868-2.
  5. Andrew Heywood (2011). Essentials of UK Politics. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 126–128. ISBN 978-0-230-34619-2.
  6. "Brexit". Liberal Democrats. 17 April 2018.
  7. Elgot, Jessica (28 May 2017). "Tim Farron: Lib Dems' pro-European strategy will be proved right". The Guardian.
  8. "Style guide". Liberal Democrats.
  9. "Election 2019: Results". BBC News. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  10. "Open Council Data (England)". Jon Lawson. 13 February 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  11. "London Assembly Liberal Democrats". Glalibdems.org.uk. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  12. "The Constitutions of the Liberal Democrats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2012.
  13. "The English Party welcomes careful, and discreet, participants…". Libdemvoice.org. 8 June 2010. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  14. "If English Council meets and nobody knows, did it really meet?". Libdemvoice.org. 5 July 2010. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  15. http://member.libdems.org.uk/~members/liberaldemocrats/node/25?tid=19%5B%5D
  16. "North West Liberal Democrats " Lib Dems in Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside". Cix.co.uk. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  17. Valladares, Mark (18 October 2009). "The view from Creeting St Peter: Game on for leadership of the English Liberal Democrats". Liberalbureaucracy.blogspot.com. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  18. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 November 2010. Retrieved 2 November 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. "The Liberal Democrats, How We Make Policy". Libdems.org.uk. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  20. "CIX site migration". Retrieved 8 May 2015.
Regional parties within England
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