Liberal Democrat Youth and Students
Encyclopedia
Liberal Youth is the youth and student group of the Liberal Democrats
, a political party in the United Kingdom.
Liberal Democrat members who are under 26 years old or attending higher education institutions are automatically members of Liberal Youth if they agree to share this information at registration. The group is financially supported by the party and has offices in the Liberal Democrats' London headquarters.
and the Social Democratic Party
, including the National League of Young Liberals
, the Young Liberals of the 1960s and 1970s. Liberal Democrat Youth and Students was created in 1993 from a merger of the Student Liberal Democrats and the Young Liberal Democrats of England who had shared many resources in the run-up. The merger talks were overseen by a committee which included Sarah Gurling, now wife of Charles Kennedy
.
and Union of Liberal Students
). Spring 2008 saw the announcement of the renaming of LDYS as 'Liberal Youth'. The decision to do this was taken at the 2007 Autumn conference. The following spring, Liberal Youth Scotland
and IR Cymru
relaunched as well.
in Wales
, Liberal Youth Scotland
in Scotland
and Liberal Youth England in England
: each represented in their state party. The Convenor of each of these groups organises the regional activity of Liberal Youth.
The current executive is as follows:
ULS:
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
, a political party in the United Kingdom.
Liberal Democrat members who are under 26 years old or attending higher education institutions are automatically members of Liberal Youth if they agree to share this information at registration. The group is financially supported by the party and has offices in the Liberal Democrats' London headquarters.
Liberal Democrats and Liberal Youth
The constitution of the Liberal Democrats requires an affiliated Youth and Student wing. Accordingly, Liberal Youth is a Specified Associated Organisation (SAO) to the party. The Liberal Democratic Party constitution grants Liberal Youth at least one position on local party executives; while federal Liberal Democrat committees such as the Federal Executive, Federal Policy Committee and International Relations Committee each admit an observer from the federal Liberal Youth organisation. In addition, Liberal Youth is also granted a number of voting representatives at the Federal Conference of the Liberal Democrat party based on the number of members, as are local parties. This privilege is extended to the separate Welsh Conferences, Conferences of English regions and to the Liberal Democrats' English Council (the confederal body through which the regional parties of England make joint decisions).Liberal Democrat merger
Liberal Youth is the successor organisation to all the youth and student wings of the Liberal Democrats, the Liberal PartyLiberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
and the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (UK)
The Social Democratic Party was a political party in the United Kingdom that was created on 26 March 1981 and existed until 1988. It was founded by four senior Labour Party 'moderates', dubbed the 'Gang of Four': Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams...
, including the National League of Young Liberals
National League of Young Liberals
The National League of Young Liberals , often just called the Young Liberals, was the youth wing of the British Liberal Party. It was founded in 1903 and by 1906 it had over three hundred branches. In 1934 it called for David Lloyd George to lead a Liberal New Deal revival based on the Yellow Book...
, the Young Liberals of the 1960s and 1970s. Liberal Democrat Youth and Students was created in 1993 from a merger of the Student Liberal Democrats and the Young Liberal Democrats of England who had shared many resources in the run-up. The merger talks were overseen by a committee which included Sarah Gurling, now wife of Charles Kennedy
Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy is a British Liberal Democrat politician, who led the Liberal Democrats from 9 August 1999 until 7 January 2006 and is currently a Member of Parliament for the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency....
.
Regional history
The Scottish Young Liberal Democrats formally integrated themselves into the federal structure in 2002; previously, the two organisations and their predecessors had been completely separate.Renaming
The organisation was formerly known as Liberal Democrat Youth and Students (LDYS) (before that National League of Young LiberalsNational League of Young Liberals
The National League of Young Liberals , often just called the Young Liberals, was the youth wing of the British Liberal Party. It was founded in 1903 and by 1906 it had over three hundred branches. In 1934 it called for David Lloyd George to lead a Liberal New Deal revival based on the Yellow Book...
and Union of Liberal Students
Union of Liberal Students
The Union of Liberal Students was the English and Welsh student wing of the United Kingdom's Liberal Party. The Scottish Liberal Party had a separate organisation, Scottish Liberal Students...
). Spring 2008 saw the announcement of the renaming of LDYS as 'Liberal Youth'. The decision to do this was taken at the 2007 Autumn conference. The following spring, Liberal Youth Scotland
Liberal Youth Scotland
Liberal Youth Scotland is the youth and students wing of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. Reformed from the Scottish Young Liberal Democrats in 2008, the organisation has taken a prominent role in party conferences...
and IR Cymru
IR Cymru
Ieuenctid Rhyddfrydol Cymru , also known as Liberal Youth Wales , is the youth wing of the Welsh Liberal Democrats...
relaunched as well.
Federal organisation
Since 2000 Liberal Youth has been, like the main party, organised on a federal basis, compromising of IR CymruIR Cymru
Ieuenctid Rhyddfrydol Cymru , also known as Liberal Youth Wales , is the youth wing of the Welsh Liberal Democrats...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, Liberal Youth Scotland
Liberal Youth Scotland
Liberal Youth Scotland is the youth and students wing of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. Reformed from the Scottish Young Liberal Democrats in 2008, the organisation has taken a prominent role in party conferences...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and Liberal Youth England in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
: each represented in their state party. The Convenor of each of these groups organises the regional activity of Liberal Youth.
Executive
The federal organisation of Liberal Youth organises liaisons with Liberal Democrats and affiliated organisations. The Federal Executive (current positions: Chair, Vice-Chair, Campaigns Officer, Communications Officer, Events Officer, Finance Officer, International Officer, Policy Officer and two Non-Portfolio Officers,) operates alongside committees for Conferences and Policy. These committees, barring ex officio members such as representatives from state organisations and delegates from the executive, are elected by the membership of Liberal Youth in an all-member ballot and are responsible to Conference.The current executive is as follows:
| Position | Holder |
|---|---|
| Chair | Tom Wood |
| Vice Chair | Matt Folker |
| Campaigns Officer | Catherine Smith/Chris Ward (shared) |
| Communications Officer | Bobby Dean |
| Events Officer | Harry Matthews |
| Finance Officer | Chris Jenkinson |
| Policy Officer | Sarah Harding |
| International Officer | Harriet Ainscough/Sam Fisk (shared) |
| England Convenor | Vacant |
| Scotland Convenor | Sophie Bridger |
| Non-Portfolio Officers | Robson Brown/Vacant (two positions) |
Branches
Outside of universities, Liberal Youth eschews a formal, hierarchical branch structure, instead encouraging members to organise themselves and to use their local Liberal Democratic Party for financial affairs. Active members communicate with their local Youth Chair, who liaises with the parent party's representatives and with the federal Liberal Youth executive. In this way the activities of young and student members remain formally independent from but closely engaged with the Liberal Democrats.International links
Liberal Youth is a member of two international youth organisations:- The International Federation of Liberal YouthInternational Federation of Liberal YouthThe International Federation of Liberal Youth is an international liberal youth organization. It consists of a global membership of national youth organizations. These are often but not exclusively affiliated with political parties that are members of Liberal International.IFLRY continues the...
(IFLRY), which acts as the youth organisation of Liberal InternationalLiberal InternationalLiberal International is a political international federation for liberal parties. Its headquarters is located at 1 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2HD within the National Liberal Club. It was founded in Oxford in 1947, and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties and for the...
. - The European Liberal YouthEuropean Liberal YouthEuropean Liberal Youth is an international organisation of Liberal youth movements - mostly the youth wings of members of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party....
(LYMEC), which acts as the youth organisation of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform PartyEuropean Liberal Democrat and Reform PartyThe European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party is a European political party mainly active in the European Union, composed of 56 national-level liberal and liberal-democratic parties from across Europe...
.
Activity
Liberal Youth passes policy and runs campaigns. Current campaign topics include asylum detention and blood donation restrictions. Past campaigns include 'Homophobia is Gay'. In addition, Liberal Youth run events for their members, from conferences and training weekends.List of Chairs
- Kiron Reid (1993–1994)
- Alex Wilcock (1994–1995)
- Phil Jones (1995)
- Tim Prater (1995–1996)
- Ruth Berry (1996–1997)
- Hywel Morgan (1997–1998)
- Polly Martin (1998–1999)
- Geoff Payne (1999–2000)
- Miranda Piercy (2000–2002)
- Alison Goldsworthy (2002–2003)
- Brian Robson (2003–2004)
- Chris Lomax (2004–2005)
- Gez Smith (2005–2006)
- Mark Gettleson (2006–2008)
- Elaine Bagshaw (2008–2010)
- Alan Belmore (2010)
- Martin Shapland (2010–2011)
- Tom Wood (2011 to present)
Chairs and chairmen of predecessor organisations
NLYL:- George Kiloh (1965–1967)
- Louis Eaks (1969–1970)
- Tony Greaves (1970–1971)
- Peter HainPeter HainPeter Gerald Hain is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for the Welsh constituency of Neath since 1991, and has served in the Cabinets of both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, firstly as Leader of the House of Commons under Blair and both Secretary of State for...
(1971–73) - Ruth Addison (1973–1975)
- Steve Atack (1975–1977)
- Pat Colman (1977–1978)
- Alan Sherwell (1978–1980)
- John Leston (1980–1981)
- Susan Younger-Ross (1981–1983)
- Janice TurnerJanice TurnerJanice Turner is a columnist and feature writer for The Times. Previously she was a magazine editor for several women's titles, and wrote a column about magazines for UK Press Gazette. She was born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire...
(1983–85) - Felix DoddsFelix DoddsFelix Dodds is an author, futurist and activist. He has been instrumental in developing new modes of stakeholder engagement with the United Nations, particularly within the field of sustainable development. Mr. Dodds is the Executive Director of Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future...
(1985–1987) - Rachel Pitchford (1987–1989)
- Jane Brophy (1989–1990)
- Michael Harskin (1990–1991)
ULS:
- Trevor SmithTrevor Arthur Smith, Baron Smith of CliftonTrevor Arthur Smith, Baron Smith of Clifton Kt is a British politician who is currently the Liberal Democrat spokesman in the House of Lords on Northern Ireland and constitutional affairs...
(1950s) - Tony Greaves (1960s)
- (Liz) Elizabeth Barker (1982–1983)
- Andrew Lawson (1983–1984)
- Andrew Lawson/Martin HorwoodMartin HorwoodMartin Charles Horwood is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He is the Member of Parliament for the Cheltenham constituency. He is the founder and current Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tribal Peoples.-Early life:He was born in St. Paul’s, Cheltenham, in 1962. His parents...
(1984–1985) - Harriet Steele (1985–1986)
- Sheila Cunliffe (1986–1987)
- Alun Evans (1987–1988)
See also
- Liberal Youth ScotlandLiberal Youth ScotlandLiberal Youth Scotland is the youth and students wing of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. Reformed from the Scottish Young Liberal Democrats in 2008, the organisation has taken a prominent role in party conferences...
– Scottish wing of Liberal Youth - IR CymruIR CymruIeuenctid Rhyddfrydol Cymru , also known as Liberal Youth Wales , is the youth wing of the Welsh Liberal Democrats...
– Welsh wing of Liberal Youth