English Liberal Democrats

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 11 of the 533 English seats in the House of Commons and two of the 25 seats in the London Assembly.[10]

English Liberal Democrats
ChairAlison Rouse
Founded1988
Headquarters1 Vincent Square,
London,
SW1P 2PN
Youth wingEnglish Young Liberals
IdeologyLiberalism[1]
Social liberalism[1][2]
Classical liberalism[3][4]
Pro-Europeanism[5][6]
Political positionCentre to centre-left
National affiliationLiberal Democrats
European affiliationAlliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
International affiliationLiberal International
ColoursYellow[7]
House of Commons (English Seats)
11 / 533
[8]
London Assembly
2 / 25
Local government in England[9]
2,639 / 17,728
Website
www.englishlibdems.org.uk

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.[11][12][13]

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 three 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 and the English Candidates Committee.

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

RoleName
ChairAlison Rouse
Vice-Chair (Regional Parties Committee Chair)Kian Hearnshaw
Vice-Chair (Regional Development)Lucas North
TreasurerRichard Flowers
English Candidates Committee Chair Margaret Joachim
English Young Liberals ChairJoe Norris
English Executive Members Prue Bray
Richard Cole
Kian Hearnshaw
Brian Orrell
Iain Donaldson
Fergus Ustianowski
James Read
Oliver Jones-Lyons
Lucas North
William Houngbo
Mark Johnston
Rachelle Shepherd-Dubey
RoleName
English Representatives to the Federal CouncilPrue Bray, Richard Flowers, Pete Dollimore
English Representative to Federal Policy CommitteeSally Burnell
English Representative to Federal Conference CommitteeDarryl Smalley
English Representative to the Federal Campaigns and Elections CommitteeIain Donaldson
English Representative to the Federal People Development CommitteePete Dollimore
English Representative to the Federal International Relations CommitteeSean 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.[14] 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.[15]

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.[12][16]

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.[17] 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.[18]

Elected representatives

Members of Parliament

London Assembly members
  • Hina Bokhari
  • Gareth Roberts

Directly elected mayors
  • Peter Taylor – Mayor of Watford

Appointments

House of Lords
PeerEnnobledNotes
Dominic Hubbard, 6th Baron Addington1986 (Hereditary)
Lord Allan of Hallam2010
Lord Alliance2004
Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville2013
Lord Beith2015
Baroness Benjamin2010
Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury2004
Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted2015
Lord Bradshaw1999
Baroness Brinton2011
Lord Burnett2006
Baroness Burt of Solihull2015
Lord Chidgey2005
Lord Clement-Jones1998
Lord Cotter2006
Lord Dholakia1997
Baroness Doocey2010
Baroness Featherstone2015
Lord Foster of Bath2015
Lord Fox2014
Baroness Garden of Frognal2007
Lord Goddard of Stockport2014
Baroness Grender2013
Baroness Hamwee1991
Baroness Harris of Richmond1999
Lord Hussain2011
Baroness Hussein-Ece2010
Baroness Janke2014
Baroness Jolly2011
Lord Jones of Cheltenham2005
Baroness Kramer2010
Lord Lee of Trafford2006
Baroness Ludford1997
Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames2011
Lord McNally1996
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer1998
Lord Newby1997
Baroness Northover2000
Lord Oates2015
Lord Paddick2013
Lord Palmer of Childs Hill2011
Baroness Parminter2011
Baroness Pinnock2014
Lord Razzall1997
Lord Redesdale2000
Lord Rennard1999
Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank1992
Baroness Scott of Needham Market2000
Lord Scriven2014
Lord Sharkey2010
Baroness Sheehan2015
Lord Shipley2010
Baroness Smith of Newnham2014
Lord Stephen2011
Lord Stoneham of Droxford2011
Lord Storey2011
Lord Strasburger2011
Lord Stunell2015
Baroness Suttie2013
Lord Taverne1996
Lord Taylor of Goss Moor2010
Lord Teverson2006
Baroness Thomas of Winchester2006
Baroness Thornhill2015
Lord Tope1994
Lord Tyler2005
Baroness Tyler of Enfield2011
Lord Verjee2013
Lord Wallace of Saltaire1995
Baroness Walmsley2000
Lord Watson of Richmond1999
Lord Willis of Knaresborough2010
Lord Wrigglesworth2013

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)[19]
  • Brian Orrell (2007–2009)[19]
  • Jonathan Davies (2010–2011)[19]
  • Peter Ellis (2012–2014)
  • Steve Jarvis (2015–2016)
  • Liz Leffman (2017–2018)
  • Tahir Maher (2019)
  • Gerald Vernon-Jackson (2020)
  • Alison Rouse (2021–Present)

See also

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