My Plan to take Liberal Reform’s policy to the next level in 2021–22

I’m still relatively new to Liberal Reform, and yet in a short space of time it’s become such an important part of my life. Since being co-opted onto the board in early 2019 I’ve met some fantastic people, I’ve had the opportunity to do things I never though I would do (like speaking on a conference stage!), and I was even able to pass a couple of policy items during the last Young Liberals conference.

However to be honest, there have also been times when this little part-time job has been pretty frustrating. This summer I spent a great deal of time and energy on a carbon tax proposal (alongside the Green Lib Dems), and on my emergency motion for those excluded from government support, only to have them both rejected for debate at conference. This hurt. And in fact the vast majority of my submissions so far have met a similar fate. While I did manage to get a couple of amendments through in Bournemouth last year, they unfortunately failed to pass as well.

I was brought onto the team to improve our conference input, that was my job and I’ve tried to carry out that task to the best of my ability. However I’ve been forced to conclude that after trying for nearly 2 years, focusing entirely on conference submissions doesn’t work.

The committees that manage the conference agenda are very selective about what they’ll approve, so what makes it through is usually either very bland and/or a regurgitation of what the leadership is already saying. The reality is that it’s almost impossible to get anything transformative or controversial through this bottleneck. Sitting in a traffic jam for hours on end is pointless if nothing is moving, and if LR is ever going to reach our goal (getting as many economically liberal policies into the next manifesto as possible), then there comes a point where we need turn around and find an alternative route…

I want us to start approaching how to do policy differently, and looking beyond the conference hall. So with this in mind, here is my 3 point plan setting out what I want to achieve over the next 2 years:

Firstly, I would like us to establish a vision that we can promote over the long-term.

This summer I came up with The Opportunity Agenda which set out a clear set of values that we would be using to judge the two leadership candidates. I think this worked pretty well, and we were able to use this as a framework for our Q&A. Having this kind of template that sets out simply and clearly what the purpose for our organisation is and what we believe in, is something I believe we should stick with.

I’ve often found it difficult to explain to other people what Liberal Reform stands for. We’re obviously Lib Dems and we believe in those principles first and foremost, but which of these values should we emphasise? Where do we differ? And what issues in particular do we campaign on?

I’d like newcomers to easily be able to find out, be it with a glance at our website or 30 seconds of conversation at our conference stall, who we are and what we’re about. A clearer long term vision will help establish this. It will provide us with that elevator pitch that we’ve so far been lacking, as well as acting as a blueprint for all the other work that we want to do going forward.

I’d also like us to start running longer campaigns on one particular issue lasting for six months or a year, as opposed to just submitting motions to conference every time and hoping that they get selected. How about for example, if we were to spend a whole year promoting a carbon tax? We could do a fringe discussion in Spring, set up a working group and reach out to experts & other organisations over the summer, then submit a motion to Autumn conference accompanied by a rentless social media campaign? If we’re ever going to get anything passed, I think that’s how we will do it.

But more than that, I also think that we need to move away from passing conference motions as our absolute goal. Fringe events, articles and social media campaigns are all tools we could be using to promote our values and to change minds, that we are arguably underutilising. If LR are to steer the party in the direction that we want, then conference motions alone aren’t going to be enough, our approach needs to be multi-faceted.

Being reactive during conference season is sometimes going to be necessary of course. We’ll still need to speak out when for example, the Federal Policy Committee tried to sneak minimum alcohol pricing into the manifesto without a proper debate in 2019, and when dreadful motions are selected, like that one on planning reform this year which did nothing to tackle the root causes of the housing crisis. Stuff like will come up that we’ll need to respond to and we will, don’t worry!

However if we actually want to influence party policy over the long term, we need to be proactive, not just reactive. A clear framework of values that acts as our blueprint, as well as longer lasting campaigns on the most important issues, will enable us to do that.

Secondly, we need to start cooperating more with other groups within the party.

In preparation for Autumn Conference this year I started working with the Green Liberal Democrats on two amendments related to carbon taxation and the polluter pays principle. And while the amendments weren’t selected I enjoyed working with them and I was really encouraged by the progress we made.

Why isn’t Liberal Reform doing more of this? Well I think we should. Policy making is a collaborative effort and if we want to truly make a difference then we can’t do it on our own, we need allies.

I already have an idea of where to start too. The Green Lib Dems have expressed interest in working with us long term on carbon taxes and I’m definitely keen to do that. Their knowledge on environmental issues is unparalleled within the party and I really want to see LR talking more about the climate emergency, probably the biggest issue of my lifetime, so I hope that collaboration can continue!

Another group we should work with more is the Young Liberals, with whom we already share a lot of policy goals (increasing house building and opposing sin taxes to name but two), and many LR regulars are also YL members. I’m currently running for YL’s policy committee, and if I’m successful then that will certainly help to forge that partnership. But whether I win or not, I have every intention of trying to work with them over the next 2 years anyway. YL is a huge organisation with hundreds of members and they have guaranteed seats on several internal party bodies, so their support for example on a pro house building campaign will be absolutely vital. (Plus most of the folk involved are nice people, that helps too!)

I don’t plan to leave it there either, I’m open to working with any group that we can find some common ground with. If you have another suggestion, please let me know!

The Lib Dems is (unlike some other parties) a place of open debate and a home for many diverse schools of thought, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But one downside to this is that most discussions happen within a hundred odd small internal organisations that don’t really talk to each other, and we seem to spend more time arguing with ourselves than we do with our opponents! I don’t expect to change these attitudes overnight, but I think at the very least we should try and have these conversations and see where it takes us.

Of course working with others doesn’t mean backing down completely, there are benefits to having smaller groups that specialise in certain things or values, and Liberal Reform should continue to be distinct from the rest of the party where appropriate. But I’ve always been a bit sceptical about our internal factions as they currently operate, and I think in the past LR has unfortunately found itself getting too caught up in these machinations as opposed to working productively. I’m not interested in playing Lib Dem Game of Thrones and frankly, I find most of that stuff pretty tedious.

We have a Conservative government that has made a hash of this pandemic, is preparing to violate international law and that panders to the far-right. Faced with this, I really don’t think that the little fights between LR and the SLF on social media matter all that much. It’s about time that the different factions of the party swallowed some of their pride and started working together productively, and that should include Liberal Reform.

And finally I want to produce a new Orange Book, for the modern age.

We’re probably all familiar with Build Back Better, a booklet full of policy ideas that formed part of Layla Moran’s leadership pitch. I didn’t like all the ideas it put forward, but it was a really impressive effort from all involved and definitely inspired a lot of people inside the party and out. I was actually asked a couple of times if Liberal Reform had an equivalent booklet, so maybe we should?

Over the last 2 years I have passed policy on opposing minimum unit pricing and protecting freedom of movement, as well as written motions on Europe and housing. So the beginnings of a policy platform are starting to take shape, but at the moment all these ideas exist as separate motions or articles, not as a single publication. I think that needs to change.

The original Orange Book was good, but it only covered a limited number of topics and let’s be honest, it’s getting pretty dated at this point. When Orange Book 1 came out Blair was Prime Minister, Bush was president, and most of the current LR board were still in primary school! Since then we’ve had Coronavirus, Brexit, the rise of new technologies, the threat of automation, and so many other new challenges that economic liberals can and should be talking about.

I also think that some bold ideas like UBI, that up until now LR has been sceptical of, merit some further consideration in the post-Covid world. Ultimately we’ve all joined the Liberal Democrats because we aren’t happy with the way things are, and Orange Book 2.0 (or whatever we end up calling it) needs to reflect this. I want this new book to be bold, distinctive, and to challenge established conventions when necessary. “Radical” ideas shouldn’t be the domain of social liberals alone, our side has so much to offer too!

Publishing an extensive policy book will give us a chance to showcase these ideas. It will act as a strong signal to both the rest of the party and the country as a whole, that we really mean business, and that Liberal Reform and our values are still relevant in 2020 and beyond. I’m actually already in early talks with a think tank about this project, and I’m hoping to start publishing chapters from early next year? But we’ll see! I’m aiming for this to be a long term project that LR spends many months on and that we can be truly proud of, not something that I’ll rush out as quickly as possible.

The original Orange Book inspired a whole generation of Lib Dem MPs, councillors and activists, and eventually led to the founding of Liberal Reform itself. I’d like this publication to accomplish something similar, but renewed and rebuilt for the 2020’s and beyond. The party overall is currently undergoing some soul searching after the disaster that was the last general election and we’re crying out for a new intellectual foundation. This book could be that foundation, or at least a part of it.

What I’m setting out here is pretty ambitious I won’t deny that, and it’s certainly not going to be easy. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt over the last two years as policy lead, it’s that facilitating change in this party is hard and often frustrating. However I do believe that I have the determination and the experience to get all of this stuff done, and I’m certainly going to give it my all.

I encourage all Liberal Reform members who are reading this: If you like the sound of these proposals, please join me in making them a reality! I don’t imagine for a moment that I can do all of this on my own, I want input and discussion from all of you every step of the way!

And I’d also like to say to other Liberal Democrats reading this who are not currently Liberal Reform members, please consider signing up, and becoming a part of this next exciting chapter in our history!

I’m proud of what I’ve been able to achieve over the last two years, but over the next two I want to raise the bar much further. If you like the sound of this plan then please join me, and together we might just be able to make it happen!