Conference Highlights

A new politics for Britain
In his leader's speech Nick Clegg made clear that the Liberal Democrats under his leadership are a party who will shake up British politics. He set out proposals to clean up politics, including recall ballots for MPs guilty of serious misconduct. He invited Gordon Brown and David Cameron to join him at his regular town hall meetings. To design a new political system for the 21st century, he called for a citizens’ jury of 100 people to sit in a Constitutional Convention with all the political parties, churches, civil society groups and others, to redesign the way Britain is governed. He called for measures to reduce the influence of rich donors on political parties.

Empowering people over public services
Nick Clegg also explained how Liberal Democrats would reform public services, putting them on a more human scale, devolving control to communities and individual service users. A new health paper, passed at the conference, showed how this translated into policies in a particular area. The plans would give service users new entitlements and powers over the treatment they receive. By guaranteeing high standards via individual entitlements to core services, our proposals remove the need to have distorting central targets and place the health service back in the hands of people. Locally elected health boards would give genuine local acccountability over health services are run. And there would be a guarantee of treatment within a specified waiting time - and a right to private treatment, paid for by the NHS, if the waiting time’s not met.

Towards the next general election
At the conference the Liberal Democrats developed and strengthened our policy platform on issues across the political agenda, in preparation for the next general election. In addition to health, there were debates and speeches in the conference chamber on education, housing, the economy, local government, defence, the justice system, international law and the Middle East. Many more issues were covered on the fringe. In his keynote speech, the party's Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable, pressed the case for fairer taxes, with tax dodgers, particularly those amongst the super rich, brought to book. He also proposed a new policy of raising tax on drinks with high alcohol content to cut VAT on healthy fruit juice.

Highlighting achievements and prospects
The conference was also a showcase for the May elections – the London Mayor and Authority elections, and local government elections in England and Wales. These were be particularly highlighted during the conference rally on Friday evening, during keynote speeches by Party President Simon Hughes and Shadow Local Government Secretary Julia Goldsworthy, and in presentations by Brian Paddick and London Liberal Democrats, and by the party’s ruling group from Eastleigh Borough Council. The achievements of the Liberal Democrats in turning round Liverpool City Council after Labour left it a municipal basket case, and making it European Capital of Culture, were also in the spotlight, with the regeneration of the city centre highly visible to all conference goers.