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English Liberal Democrats

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English Liberal Democrats
ChairLucas North
Founded1988
Headquarters1 Vincent Square,
London,
SW1P 2PN
Youth wingEnglish Young Liberals
IdeologyLiberalism
Social liberalism[1]
Classical liberalism[2][3]
Pro-Europeanism[4][5]
Political positionCentre to centre-left
National affiliationLiberal Democrats
European affiliationAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
International affiliationLiberal International
ColoursYellow[6]
House of Commons (English Seats)
65 / 543
[7]
London Assembly
2 / 25
Local government in England[8]
2,639 / 17,728
Website
www.englishlibdems.org.uk Edit this at Wikidata

The English Liberal Democrats, officially the Liberal Democrats in England, is the state party within the Liberal Democrats that operates in England. It is a federation of the eleven regional parties in England and the English branch of the youth and student organisation. The regions are further divided into local parties. The party currently holds 65 of the English seats in the House of Commons and two seats on the London Assembly.[9]

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 three times a year and elects the English Council Executive.[10][11][12]

English Council 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. The English Representatives to federal bodies also attend. The English Council Executive meets 6 times a year.

The English Council Executive has four sub-committees; A Finance and Administration Sub-Committee which is chaired by a Treasurer manages the finances of the English party, the Regional Parties Committee, the Joint Policy Group of the Regions and the English Candidates Committee.

The English Council Executive is elected annually in November, and takes office on 1 January of each year:

Role Name
Chair Lucas North
Vice-Chair (Regional Parties Committee Chair) Brian Orrell
Vice-Chair (Regional Development) James Read
Treasurer Richard Flowers
English Candidates Committee Chair Margaret Joachim
English Young Liberals Chair Joe Norris
English Executive Members Prue Bray
Richard Cole
Kian Hearnshaw
Brian Orrell
Iain Donaldson
Fergus Ustianowski
James Read
Oliver Jones-Lyons
William Houngbo
Mark Johnston
Rachelle Shepherd-Dubey
Simon Pike
Role Name
English Representatives to the Federal Council Prue Bray, Richard Flowers, Pete Dollimore
English Representative to Federal Policy Committee Sally Burnell
English Representative to Federal Conference Committee Darryl Smalley
English Representative to the Federal Campaigns and Elections Committee Iain Donaldson
English Representative to the Federal People Development Committee Pete Dollimore
English Representative to the Federal International Relations Committee Sean Bennett

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.[13] 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, ordinary party members elected from within the region, and additional members co-opted by the executive.[14]

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.[11][15]

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.[16] 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.[17]

Elected representatives

Members of Parliament

London Assembly members

Directly elected mayors

Appointments

House of Lords

Peer Ennobled Notes
Dominic Hubbard, 6th Baron Addington 1986 (Hereditary)
Lord Allan of Hallam 2010
Lord Alliance 2004
Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville 2013
Lord Beith 2015
Baroness Benjamin 2010
Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury 2004
Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted 2015
Lord Bradshaw 1999
Baroness Brinton 2011
Lord Burnett 2006
Baroness Burt of Solihull 2015
Lord Chidgey 2005
Lord Clement-Jones 1998
Lord Cotter 2006
Lord Dholakia 1997
Baroness Doocey 2010
Baroness Featherstone 2015
Lord Foster of Bath 2015
Lord Fox 2014
Baroness Garden of Frognal 2007
Lord Goddard of Stockport 2014
Baroness Grender 2013
Baroness Hamwee 1991
Baroness Harris of Richmond 1999
Lord Hussain 2011
Baroness Hussein-Ece 2010
Baroness Janke 2014
Baroness Jolly 2011
Lord Jones of Cheltenham 2005
Baroness Kramer 2010
Lord Lee of Trafford 2006
Baroness Ludford 1997
Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames 2011
Lord McNally 1996
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer 1998
Lord Newby 1997
Baroness Northover 2000
Lord Oates 2015
Lord Paddick 2013
Lord Palmer of Childs Hill 2011
Baroness Parminter 2011
Baroness Pinnock 2014
Lord Razzall 1997
Lord Redesdale 2000
Lord Rennard 1999
Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank 1992
Baroness Scott of Needham Market 2000
Lord Scriven 2014
Lord Sharkey 2010
Baroness Sheehan 2015
Lord Shipley 2010
Baroness Smith of Newnham 2014
Lord Stephen 2011
Lord Stoneham of Droxford 2011
Lord Storey 2011
Lord Strasburger 2011
Lord Stunell 2015
Baroness Suttie 2013
Lord Taverne 1996
Lord Taylor of Goss Moor 2010
Lord Teverson 2006
Baroness Thomas of Winchester 2006
Baroness Thornhill 2015
Lord Tope 1994
Lord Tyler 2005
Baroness Tyler of Enfield 2011
Lord Verjee 2013
Lord Wallace of Saltaire 1995
Baroness Walmsley 2000
Lord Watson of Richmond 1999
Lord Willis of Knaresborough 2010
Lord Wrigglesworth 2013

List of chairs of the English Liberal Democrats

Chairs are elected in November and take office on 1 January the following year for a two-year term. They are eligible to stand for re-election, but must not serve as Chair for more than four years in a six-year period.

  • Paul Farthing (c. 1994–1999)
  • Dawn Davidson (c. 2000–2003)
  • Stan Collins (2004–2006)[18]
  • Brian Orrell (2007–2009)[18]
  • Jonathan Davies (2010–2011)[18]
  • Peter Ellis (2012–2014)
  • Steve Jarvis (2015–2016)
  • Liz Leffman (2017–2018)
  • Tahir Maher (2019)
  • Gerald Vernon-Jackson (2020)
  • Alison Rouse (December 2020 – July 2024)
  • Lucas North (July 2024 - Present)

See also

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Alistair Clark (2012). Political Parties in the UK. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 86–93. ISBN 978-0-230-36868-2.
  3. ^ Andrew Heywood (2011). Essentials of UK Politics. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 126–128. ISBN 978-0-230-34619-2.
  4. ^ "Brexit". Liberal Democrats. 17 April 2018.
  5. ^ Elgot, Jessica (28 May 2017). "Tim Farron: Lib Dems' pro-European strategy will be proved right". The Guardian.
  6. ^ "Style guide". Liberal Democrats.
  7. ^ "Election 2019: Results". BBC News. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  8. ^ "Open Council Data (England)". Jon Lawson. 13 February 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  9. ^ "London Assembly Liberal Democrats". Glalibdems.org.uk. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  10. ^ "The Constitutions of the Liberal Democrats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2012.
  11. ^ a b "The English Party welcomes careful, and discreet, participants…". Libdemvoice.org. 8 June 2010. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  12. ^ "If English Council meets and nobody knows, did it really meet?". Libdemvoice.org. 5 July 2010. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  13. ^ http://member.libdems.org.uk/~members/liberaldemocrats/node/25?tid=19[permanent dead link]
  14. ^ "North West Liberal Democrats " Lib Dems in Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside". Cix.co.uk. Retrieved 24 June 2011.[permanent dead link]
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 November 2010. Retrieved 2 November 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. ^ "The Liberal Democrats, How We Make Policy". Libdems.org.uk. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
  18. ^ a b c "CIX site migration". Retrieved 8 May 2015.
Regional parties within England