The Conference Feel Good Factor
October 6, 2004 12:00 AM
By Sarah Teather MP in North West London Newspapers Times/ Chronicle Series
By Sarah Teather MP in North West London Newspapers Times/ Chronicle Series
It is conference season. To those uninterested in politics the annual tradition of political gatherings with their set piece speeches and media razzmatazz in some seaside town must seem a little odd. For political parties, however, they are one of the highlights - or low points - of the year, depending on how things are going!
Conference performs several important functions. For Liberal Democrats, they are the main place in which our policies are made - by delegates on the basis of debate votes (unfortunately this tradition has been largely lost by the other two parties in favour of more stage managed media performances).Conference also offers political parties an opportunity to set out their stall ahead of the General Election with the world watching. But they are also a chance for activists to hear rousing encouraging words from their leader and to feel motivated for the work ahead.
For me, this Lib Dem annual conference had another special feel. It was exactly a year since I had been elected. My last conference was lost in a haze of media interviews following the by-election. There had been a mood of euphoria this time last year. But this year, what struck me was how upbeat and confident the party remains, especially in contrast to the rather sour mood of the Labour conference. It has been a tremendous year for us as a Party and there is a new optimism amongst activists -my colleague Parmjit Singh Gill won in the Leicester South by-election and we came from third to push Labour to the wire in both the Hartlepool and Birmingham Hodge Hill by-elections.
In Charles Kennedy's speech at the conference, he spoke about a new era in British Politics, an era of three party politics. Gone are the days when the fight was between Labour and Conservatives. In huge swathes of the country like here in Brent East, it is the Conservatives who are firmly established as the third party. The third party are now on their third leader in three years. In areas such as Liverpool, Newcastle, Cardiff and Brent it is a Conservative vote that is a wasted vote.
More and more people are backing the Liberal Democrats because they believe in our fundamental principles of Freedom, Fairness and Trust.These are the principles that shape our policies and guide our party. These are the values that I feel are so sadly missing from the Labour Government. Where is the freedom, when thousands of students are discouraged from taking up university places because of tuition fees and top-up fees? Where is the fairness, when elderly people who have worked all their lives are forced to sell their homes in order to pay for their care when they become too ill to look after themselves? And where is the trust in a Labour Government and Prime Minister who took us to war on a false prospectus?
Your can read more about our proposals for the General Election in our pre-manifesto launched at conference. The document contains key proposals such as raising the state pension by £25 per week for pensioners over 75, putting 10,000 more police on to our streets and scrapping the Council Tax. These commitments to the British people our based on our principles Freedom, Fairness and Trust. You can get a copy of the pre-manifesto by downloading it here http://www.brentlibdems.org.uk/resources/index/
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