High Peak Liberal Democrats

Wednesday 23 October 2019 8pm to 9.30pm

at the

Goyt Inn

8 Bridge Street, Whaley Bridge, SK23 7LR

Mike joins us from his current position as Chief Executive of Addaction, a mental health, drug, alcohol and young persons charity, and was previously Assistant Chief Executive at Citizens Advice and through both of which he has extensive experience of managing member-style organisations.

I am delighted Mike will be taking on this crucial role at such an exciting time for the Liberal Democrats. Mike's experience in senior management and at leading organisations will be hugely valuable to the continuing growth of the party off the back of successive election campaigns which have put the Liberal Democrats back in a strong position in UK politics.

During the recent online hustings, the chair Lorely Burt produced a horribly complicated diagram from a few years back showing how the Liberal Democrats are structured. It's a good point - our organisation can be complicated, confusing and even hazardous to navigate.

Looking at the diagram, I did a quick mental tally of how many of the bodies shown on it I've served on at some point in my many years as a party staffer, including running the party's digital operation for Charles Kennedy, and as a volunteer, as a local party officer, regional officer, English party committee member and federal committee member.

Connecting Buxton and Hope Valley lines would transform travel between Manchester, Sheffield and High Peak..

GUY KIDDEY, the Liberal Democrats' prospective parliamentary candidate for High Peak, is proposing a new rail link that would join the Buxton and Hope Valley railway lines.

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The project would involve upgrading signalling on the line that currently only carries freight trains through the centre of Chapel-en-le-Frith, and adding a track spur to this same line just beyond Chapel High School.

Today, Her Majesty The Queen opened the new parliamentary session. But we have exactly the same problems as we did in the last session: a government with no majority, no leadership and no realistic plan for our country.

I used my speech in Parliament today to give a warning to my fellow MPs.

Here's my speech in full:

I know it's tempting fate and that I shouldn't really, but this week I have not been able to resist the temptation to think what life might be like if I were to win the Presidency.

So I decided to think what a week might be like in this possible future, combining my job as MP with the job of President.

Probably the most common question I've had so far in this campaign is 'what's the role of President?' It's an important question because it gets to the heart of what we need to do to be more successful in our ambition to build a fair, free and open society, as it says in our constitution.

One part of the role - being the voice of the grassroots in the room with the party leadership - is one all previous Presidents have taken seriously. But what else they do with the role has varied depending on the circumstances.

Peoples Vote Buxton are organising a coach down to London for the march in October and have asked me to circulate the details below.

Here are details of the Buxton coach to the next national march for a Peoples Vote - Let Us Be Heard - which is going to be huge. March will take place in London on Saturday 19 October. Join us and book your tickets now!

During the next few weeks I am planning to meet as many folks in High Peak as possible to answer your questions and explain Liberal Democrat policies.

Please come along to the following venues.

Wednesday 16 October 2019 8pm to 9.30pm

at the

Roebuck Inn

9 Market Place, Chapel-en-le-Frith, High Peak, SK23 0EN