I’ve unveiled exclusively to Lib Dem Voice my top tips for the things to watch out for in Brighton this week!

When I first heard it suggested that the UK should hold a referendum on remaining in the EU or not, I was sceptical about the idea. Referendums do have their place, but I don’t generally think they are the best way of making government decisions.

But the more I’ve thought about it, the more and more I have come round to the idea that asking the public, basically, whether they want Britain to do the Europe thing or not, is a good idea.

Essentially, the case for such a vote is straightforward. There clearly are different views among the British public about whether they want the UK to be part of the EU or not - so why shouldn’t we ask them?

The European Reform Treaty is mainly made up of provisions about detailed procedure, which I think the public are entitled to think are what they elect politicians to worry about, rather than have to read the whole thing themselves.

And in fact, of course, the great majority of the public would do no such thing, and simply vote on a much more basic feeling about what they think about the EU (I’ve written before about the evidence for this). So in fact if we did have a referendum nominally on the Reform Treaty, in fact what people would really be voting about would be a vague general sense of what they thought about the EU.

So why don’t we actually have a vote on the real question, whether Britain wants to be part of the EU or not? Read the rest of this entry »

In a pre-conference interview yesterday, Ming told the FT that he doesn’t believe a referendum on the European Reform Treaty is necessary. I think he’s absolutely right: this treaty does not justify one of the very very rare occasions when the UK deviates from a system of Parliamentary democracy.

Firstly, for me it is clear that it is strongly in the interests of the UK to continue to play a leading role in the European Union. It seems to me massively in our interest to work together effectively with our neighbours on crucial issues such as cross-border crime, terrorism and climate change.

But this certainly does not mean that I think the EU is perfect. Indeed for many years I and we as a party have been arguing for reform of the EU to make it more accountable and effective. We have basically won the argument on many of these points, which are now actually embodied in this treaty. I think everyone should welcome these reforms and I very much hope they are implemented.

Clearly some anti-European groups do not agree and hence they have launched a campaign to hold a referendum on it, which they obviously hope to win.

And indeed there is perhaps a case to say that pretty much any time anyone requests a referendum on any subject, it should be held so that the public can have their say (which is not too far from the Swiss system).

Read the rest of this entry »

Getting more members involved in policy-making means making it easier - but also needs members actually to engage

There’s been some discussion on Lib Dem Voice about how the party can engage members more in making policy decisions if they are not able to come to Conference (and also in the LDV members private forum).

We are all proud of the fact that it is party members at Conference who take the decisions about the party’s policy - the only party which does so. This already puts us ahead of other parties in member decision-making over policy.

But there are of course some who are unable to come to party conference. They should also have the opportunity to participate too. It is however quite difficult to know how to do this - for example I don’t think we are quite yet at the stage where actual decisions about the party’s policy could be made remotely by everyone down an internet connection from their sofa at home.

However there are a number of things we have been doing to make it easier for people to contribute, mostly through using the internet.

Read the rest of this entry »