English Liberal Democrats

English Liberal Democrats
Chair of the English Party Steve Jarvis [1]
Founded 1988
Headquarters 8-10 Great George Street,
London,
SW1P 3AE
Youth wing Liberal Youth England
Ideology Liberalism
Social liberalism
Social Democracy [2]
Economic liberalism[3]
Political position Radical Center to Centre-left
International affiliation Liberal International
European affiliation Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party
European Parliament group Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group
Colours Yellow
House of Commons (English Seats)

Decrease 4

43 / 533

[4]

European Parliament

Decrease10

1 / 59

[5]

London Assembly

Decrease1

2 / 25
Politics of England
Political parties
Elections

The English Liberal Democrats is the state party within the Liberal Democrats that operates in England. It is a federation of the eleven regional parties in England which are further divided into local parties. The party currently holds 43 of the 533 English seats in the UK House of Commons,[6][7] 2 of the 25 seats in the London Assembly [8] and one of the 59 English seats in the European Parliament.

Structure

English Council

The English Council is the sovereign body of the English party. It consists of the chairs of regional parties, representatives elected by regional party members, a representative of youth and members other interest bodies that operate within the English party. The Council meets twice each year and elects the English Council Executive.[9][10][11] A Finance and Administration Sub-Committee which is chaired by a Treasurer manages the finances of the English party.

English Council Executive

The English Council Executive consists of members elected by the English Council. Its membership is as follows: [12]

Elected office holders in the English party
English party representatives at federal level
Liberal Youth

Regional parties

The English party is a federation of the eleven regional parties which follow the boundaries of the English Regions, with the exception of South East England and South West England which are each divided into two regional parties.[13] Each regional party is governed by a conference and AGM held in the autumn of every year. The conference elects a Regional Executive, led by a Regional Chair. The regional executive includes all Liberal Democrat Members of Parliament representing constituencies within the region, all Members of the House of Lords who are members of the regional party, all Liberal Democrat Members of the European Parliament representing areas in the region, ordinary party members elected from within the region, and additional members co-opted by the executive.[14]

The regional parties within the English party are:

Policy and functions

The English party has responsibilities for the organisation of local parties, co-ordination of the activities of regional parties, resolution of disputes between regional parties, selection of English representatives to federal bodies and establishing the rules for selection of party candidates.[10][15]

The English Party constitution states that the Liberal Democrats in England "shall determine the policy of the Party on matters affecting England which fall outside the remit of the Federal Party" This can be achieved by structures established by the English Council.[16] As no policy making structures are currently in place, policy making has been passed up to federal level and English policies discussed at federal party conferences.[17]

List of Chairs of the English Council

Chairs are elected in November and take office on 1 January the following year.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.libdems.org.uk/committees_organisations
  2. ↑ URL=http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jan/20/liberal-democrats-fight-election-independent-party
  3. ↑ Laws, D., Marshall,P., (2004), The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism, Pocket Books, London (ISBN 1-86197-797-2)
  4. ↑ Election 2010 United Kingdom – National Results BBC News
  5. ↑ URL=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/events/vote2014/eu-uk-results|title=Lib Dem Euro Election 2014 results|accessdate=9 August 2014|publisher=BBC
  6. ↑ "Geography - Westminster parliamentary constituencies". Statistics.gov.uk. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  7. ↑ Česky. "United Kingdom general election, 2010 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia". En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  8. ↑ "London Assembly Liberal Democrats". Glalibdems.org.uk. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  9. ↑ "The Constitutions of the Liberal Democrats" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2012.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "The English Party welcomes careful, and discreet, participants…". Libdemvoice.org. 2010-06-08. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  11. ↑ "If English Council meets and nobody knows, did it really meet?". Libdemvoice.org. 2010-07-05. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  12. ↑ http://www.libdems.org.uk/english_council_executive
  13. ↑ http://member.libdems.org.uk/~members/liberaldemocrats/node/25?tid=19
  14. ↑ "North West Liberal Democrats « Lib Dems in Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside". Cix.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  15. ↑ Valladares, Mark (2009-10-18). "The view from Creeting St Peter: Game on for leadership of the English Liberal Democrats". Liberalbureaucracy.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  16. ↑ http://www.libdems.org.uk/siteFiles/resources/PDF/Constitution.pdf
  17. ↑ "The Liberal Democrats, How We Make Policy". Libdems.org.uk. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 http://www.cix.co.uk/~rosenstiel/ldelections/

External links

Regional parties within England