I’m on the Liberal Democrats’ English Council for another year

My political activity during 2012 was very limited but one of the few things that I had made a commitment to do was serve on the Liberal Democrats’ English Council for the year.

The English Council is the governing body of the Liberal Democrats in England. It meets twice a year to consider matters of importance to the English Party.

My motivation for becoming a member of this somewhat obscure body was partly to find out just what it does and to see if I could do something to raise awareness of it’s activities amongst the wider party. This led to me also making a commitment to regularly report on the work of the English Council for Liberal Democrat Voice. I hoped that this would be a modest but useful contribution to the Party and a commitment I felt I was able to make.

So during the year I attended both meetings of the English Council and wrote six articles for Liberal Democrat Voice highlighting relevant issues. I believe this has helped make the English Council’s work more visible and there was some lively discussion in the comments to my articles.

Given that I had managed to make good on this commitment — and with a gentle feeling of satisfaction as a result — in November I chose to stand again as a representative of the East of England region on the English Council. Because the English Council had decided to increase the number of representatives from each region that make up its members — which meant that there were more places than nominations — I was again elected without having to go to bother of asking anyone for their vote.

So I get to have another (thrilling and exciting) year as a member of the English Council. What should I do with it?

Well obviously I will continue to raise awareness of the work of the English Council by reporting on its activities through Liberal Democrat Voice.

However, so far in the meetings of the Council themselves I have been nothing much more than an observer. I ought to try to make more of a contribution this year. While I don’t have a particular agenda in mind I would be willing to act as conduit for those who want questions asked or issues raised. In particular I would be happy to highlight the concerns of grassroot campaigners or those who wish to see improvements to how the Party is run and organised.

• Read my posts about the English Council on Liberal Democrat Voice
• Read my posts about the English Council on Strange Thoughts

This content was originally posted on my old Strange Thoughts blog.