High Peak Liberal Democrats

In the mean time I have been standing on the town hall steps, speaking with constituents and pondering how such an aspiring egalitarian Party concentrates power and decision making into two exclusive weeks each year that leave the majority of the Party disempowered and without any voice. During the other 50 weeks of the year we have a plethora of committees, sub-committees, special interest groups, local, federal and membership involvement to the nth degree. All this ends as soon as soon as Conference begins.

Let's face it - it's expensive….

Ordinary members, who may be on a limited income, simply cannot afford to attend. Believe it or not some members have jobs, childcare responsibilities and mobility limitations. We (and our families) already subsidise the LibDems by paying for our travel, accommodation and subsistence for being involved in everyday Party business in addition to incalculable donations of time and energy. Well-meaning suggestions about selective bursaries, offers of sleeping on someone's floor for a week or cadging a lift are, frankly, insulting and do not resolve the fundamental flaws of Conference week.

The week-long event is disproportionately attended by Spads - those special advisers who are neither elected nor accountable - and paid staff who are there to encourage and cajole, wheedle and berate the delegates into toeing the Party line. Surely Conference should be for the LibDems whose subscriptions pay for those salaries and for people who truly represent the membership's views - i.e. the members!

Conference must include genuine discussion, debate and the exploration of contrary views and alternative options. It should not be a pre-determined, self-satisfied booze-up that admits Party apparatchik at the expense of any gainsayer.

But it's not just about inclusivity….

Back at the town hall it is business as usual. Constituents' issues and council decision-making don't stop for Conference. While the cat's away the mice will play. How many councillor-conference goers will return home to find their comfortable majority has been temporarily annulled whilst they were in Glasgow and the opposition have taken advantage of their absence?

In the run-up to Conference HQ's focus is purely on that one week in Glasgow, York or Brighton. Practically no work gets done for at least a month before and the self-congratulation goes on for a month afterwards. Throw in the fact that we have two of these shindigs each year, Christmas closure and "nothing happens during the school holidays" and I begin to wonder how any business ever gets done, any decisions ever get made or anyone ever gets elected.

So what's the solution?

We can now watch Conference from home or on the move as it is increasingly and more widely broadcast. It's a small technological leap from that to enabling a member in Cornwall or Caithness to contribute to that debate by videoconferencing. It's a tiny adaption of existing technology but a massive leap in really democratic process to enable remote (and secure) voting on debates.

Instead of trying to shoehorn the membership into outmoded practices why don't we enable more people to participate, and better reflect society, by using the tools we already have available?

What do you think? Vote now on the comments below:

1. I'd like to enable membership participation and have a Virtual Conference option.

2. I'd like to keep Conference as a piss-up with my mates.

* Ruwan is a Liberal Democrat English Party Diversity Champion and councillor in Newbury