Activities
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Stunning turnout at Bournemouth fringe meeting
The fringe meeting ‘Shouldn’t we be doing better? – the need for bolder messaging’, hosted by the New Liberal Manifesto at the Liberal Democrats’ 2023 autumn conference in Bournemouth, attracted a stunning turnout. Even several minutes before the meeting was due to start, the room was filled to twice its recommended capacity, with the queue stretching well down the corridor. Numerous people were turned away.
To see Professor John Curtice’s presentation to the meeting, click here.
To see the BBC website’s report on the meeting, click https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66902610
To watch a recording of the meeting, click
(part 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9XA9F05Qe8
(part 2) https://youtu.be/ZT1t-AoKRIQ?si=cwNGS5BuV3Bpwv5Q
(part 3) https://youtu.be/PhS2GVwpQvQ?si+cjzm-z-a2dEas8hw
Fringe meeting at Bournemouth conference
The New Liberal Manifesto is hosting a fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrats’ federal conference in Bournemouth over the third weekend of September.
The meeting is the result of the concerns of a number of Lib Dem activists who met informally at the party’s spring federal conference in York. Their primary concern is that, while the party has many good policies, the leadership is not promoting them, and thus the public finds it difficult to know what the Liberal Democrats stand for.
The main speaker will be John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, whose polling suggests the Lib Dems would do a lot better with clearer messaging. But in order not to make the meeting an echo chamber, and to keep the discussion within the practical bounds of the leadership’s requirements for the next general election, the second speaker will be Dick Newby, the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, who is chair of the group preparing the Lib Dem manifesto; he is sympathetic to the need to communicate what the party stands for but also understands the reality the leadership is working to. The event will be chaired by Layla Moran, the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon and Lib Dem spokesperson for foreign affairs.
Anyone wishing to attend must be registered for the Lib Dem conference. It is hoped to film the meeting and make the recording available online after the event.