Federal Policy Committee

March 2025.

In the last few weeks FPC has held one regular meeting, plus our annual in-person awayday. This has allowed us plenty of time both to discuss current events and policy development work under way, and look to the further horizon as we plan for the future. 

At our first meeting we discussed the progress of the working group look at climate change, and also our wide-ranging policy review. Both are moving forward well and have published consultation papers which outline how their thinking is developing, seeking views from members here: https://www.libdems.org.uk/members/make-policy/policy-consultations Comments are very actively invited, to policy.consultations@libdems.org.uk The policy review will also be holding a consultation session at Conference at 4.45pm on Friday in the King’s Suite in the Harrogate Convention Centre (climate change held theirs at last autumn conference). 

We also had a good discussion with Daisy Cooper MP, Treasury Spokesperson, around a number of finance and economics questions, especially the ongoing cost of living pressures, the links between the country’s health and economic development, and supporting high streets. We also discussed the General Election review report.

We spent a good amount of time at our awayday looking at some of the biggest-picture challenges facing the UK, and the opportunities and challenges for us as a party in responding to them. In response, one useful perspective was to look at the likely “policy battlegrounds” between us and the other main parties over the next few years, which we spent some time on. 

We have decided to set up working groups on mental health, and high streets & town centres (in both urban and rural areas), to work this year developing policies which will come to spring conference next year (2026). Further information about these groups is available here: https://www.libdems.org.uk/members/make-policy/apply-for-a-working-group. About 100 party members applied to be part of each of these groups by the deadline, and FPC will decide the memberships of these groups shortly. 

The policy review is also looking at current developments and is starting to formulate its recommendations, including proposals for our programme of major policy development areas through this parliament. In consultation with them, we have been discussing starting this by setting up working groups for autumn conference 2026 (which, given the lead time, cannot wait for their final report).

There are of course a very wide range of areas that we could develop policy on, but we have been keen to prioritise areas which are of key importance both to voters and to our party’s opportunities, and to which the particular approach of a policy working group would be most suited at this early stage in the parliament. Following recommendations from the review, there will be many more working groups over the next 3-4 years. 

At this stage we have particularly been discussing areas including the getting the economy and so UK prosperity moving more effectively; responding to the extraordinary developments in international security; restoring trust and making British politics more effective; tackling crime; helping people’s lives through consumer policy; and supporting primary healthcare to meet people’s needs more effectively. 

Please do feel free to give us your views on these ideas, bearing in mind the overall approach set out above that we are taking to creating policy working groups at this point. We expect to be taking decisions on these in the near future, to be followed in the autumn by decisions about the longer-term programme of policy working groups. 

Finally, we finished our awayday by discussing how we can engage more party members more widely in our work and in policy discussion in the party generally. Some ideas are being developed which we hope to be able to say more about soon, including in collaboration with parliamentary colleagues.