Rochdale Liberal Democrats

The spring conference motions - explained

Is a full programme of training, events, networking and parties not enough for you? At spring conference this year we have a huge package of policy motions, which all members have the chance to debate, amend and vote on. Here's a quick run-down for you! And if you haven't yet, book your place right here:

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F4 - Hong Kong

This motion introduces new party policy on the human rights situation in Hong Kong. It calls for:

• Extending of the right to abode to all British National (Overseas) citizens
• The government to use its relationship with China to persuade Beijing to not end the protests through military force
• An indefinite suspension of export licenses for crowd control equipment to Hong Kong.

Read the full motion here

F6 - Children's Social Care

(England only)

This motion updates party policy on children's social care. It calls for:

• Extra funding for children's social care
• Higher priority for looked-after children in the education system
• More care places for children who need it
• A new scheme to help older looked-after children find accommodation to transfer into when they are ready to live independently
• The government to review allowances and pay for foster carers
• An exploration into whether an allowance scheme for kinship carers (who look after children of their relatives) should be set up
• A national workforce strategy for social workers and children's home managers

Read the full motion here

F8 - Electoral Reform

This motion updates party policy on electoral reform. It calls for:

• The use of Single Transferable Vote as the voting system for all Parliamentary elections and English local elections
• The voting age to be lowered to 16
• The rights of EU citizens to stand and vote in local elections to be protected, and extended to general elections when they've lived here for 5+ years
• The use of Alternative Vote for elections to single positions like directly-elected mayors in England
• The scrapping of voter ID law plans
• A legal requirement for local authorities to inform citizens of the steps required to be successfully registered to vote. This includes a far greater effort to register under-represented groups

Read the full motion here

F13 - Supporting The Trans and Non-Binary Communities within the Liberal Democrats

This is a business motion (one that deals with how the party works internally). It seeks to improve accessibility to Liberal Democrat events for trans and non-binary people and protect their rights by:

• Requiring Lib Dem HQ and all conference venues (Federal and Regional) to have at least one gender-neutral bathroom
• The option to have your preferred pronouns on your conference pass
• The option to include your preferred pronouns on speaker's cards
• Training for presenters at party events on how to avoid unnecessarily gendered language

Read the full motion here

F16 - Welcoming Child Refugees

This motion calls on the Government to fulfil its existing obligations to provide sanctuary to child refugees, as well as to:

• Extend family reunion rights so child refugees in the UK can sponsor family members to join them
• Provide specialist legal advice for all child asylum seekers
• Resettle 10,000 unaccompanied child refugees from elsewhere in Europe over the next 10 years

Read the full motion here

F17 - Student Mental Health Charter

(England only)

This motion calls on the Government to legislate for universities to ensure a strong provision of mental health support for students by:

• Developing a Student Mental Health Charter for universities in consultation with students, universities and mental health charities
• Including in the Charter guaranteed access to quality mental health support and the recording and reporting of waiting times
• Ensuring all universities have the aim to reach zero suicide

Read the full motion here

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