Constitutional tidy–up

Submitted by: Federal Board.
Mover: Jeremy Hargreaves MBE (Vice Chair, Federal Board).
Summation: Lord Pack (President of the Liberal Democrats).

Conference notes the section of the Federal Board’s report to Conference that explains the rationale for each part of this motion.

Following previous changes made to the Federal Constitution and other party procedures and organisational policies, Conference agrees to:

1. In Article 3.6, insert ‘, Mayor candidate’ before ‘member of a local authority’;
2. Add at end of Article 8.5, ‘d. For those party members who the Board appoints to other committees, the Board may make a temporary new appointment where the previously appointed person wishes to take caring or compassionate leave or where the person has been suspended from the party.’;
3. In Article 8.6, delete: ‘The Federal Board shall also have regard to the desirability of establishing a subcommittee responsible for the co–ordination of the Party’s activities.’;
4. Add new Article 20.2: ‘Where this constitution makes the President a member of a Committee of the Federal Party other than the Federal Board, the President may nominate from among other Board members a substitute if they are unable to attend a meeting. The substitute shall have the same voting rights at the meeting as the President would otherwise have.’;
5. Delete Article 21.7(c) and remove ‘; and’ from (b), replacing with a full stop.
6. Delete the Annexe to the Constitution.

To provide greater clarity to parts of the Constitution, Conference agrees to:

1. In Article 3.2(d), replace ‘that the Federal Board considers ought to be entitled’ with ‘to which the Federal Board has granted the power’;
2. In Article 8.4, replace ‘other than those individually specified in the constitution’ with ‘other than those required to be a member of it because they are the sole holder of a post listed in the Constitution as a member of the committee’.
3. In Article 9.9(c), insert ‘non–casual’ before ‘vacancy’.

To ensure the party’s finances can continue in an orderly manner if an Autumn Conference has to be cancelled or postponed, Conference agrees to:

1. In Article 12.6, replace ‘FB’ with ‘Federal Board’ in both places, and delete both ‘each year’ and ‘for the ensuing year’.

In addition, to clarify various rules around holding posts in the party, and to allow the Federal Board to discharge its existing responsibilities to fill posts by using more widely an appointment process involving interviews followed by a Board decision, rather than Board members simply voting between names without information from interviews, Conference agrees to:

1. In Article 2.8, renumber existing text as (a), replace the full stop at the end with ‘; and’, and add at the end ‘(b) Where this Constitution requires an individual to hold a particular post or type of post (either within or outside the party) in order to quality for election or appointment to a role, and after their appointment or election they cease to hold that post or type of post, they shall be considered to have resigned from that role unless the Constitution expressly states otherwise.’
2. In Article 8.5(c), replace ‘elects’ with ‘appoints’ and ‘elected’ with ‘appointed’;
3. In Article 12.2(h) and 14.3(d), replace ‘elected’ with ‘appointed’ and replace second sentence with ‘Casual vacancies amongst this group shall be filled in the same way’;
4. In Article 13.2(i)(a), replace ‘elected’ with ‘appointed’;
5. In Article 16.3(a), add at end ‘or during their term as a member of the committee’;
6. In Article 20.5, replace ‘elected’ with ‘appointed’ and ‘election’ with ‘appointment’.

Conference recognises that the Leader of the Party and the Leaders of the Party in Scotland and Wales are in practice the main public spokespeople for the party, and therefore agrees to:

1. In Article 20.1, replace ‘shall be the principal public representative of the Party and’ with ‘shall be the voice of party members and’.

Following Britain’s departure from the European Union, Conference also agrees to:

1. In Article 1.2(c) and 4.5(a), replace ‘UK Members of the European Parliament’ with ‘members of devolved bodies’;
2. In Article 2.3(c), delete ‘and European Parliamentary’;
3. In Article 3.6, delete ‘MEP,’ and ‘or European parliamentary’;
4. In Article 6.5, delete ‘the Parliamentary Party in the European Parliament’;
5. In Article 9.6, delete ‘for the European Parliament and’;
6. In Article 10.1(a), replace ‘the European community’ with ‘Europe’;
7. In Article 10.3, delete ‘and its manifesto for elections to the European Parliament’ and ‘and with the Parliamentary Party in the European Parliament’;
8. In Article 13.3, delete ‘and the European Parliament’;
9. In Article 13.5, change ‘Westminster and European Parliaments’ to ‘House of Commons’;
10. In Article 15.1(d), delete ‘campaigning for European Parliament elections and’;
11. Delete Article 15.2(i)(e);
12. Delete Article 17.4;
13. In Article 19.1, change ‘Westminster and European Parliaments’ to ‘House of Commons’;
14. Delete Article 19.8.

Conference further believes in neatness and tidiness and therefore agrees to:

1. In Articles 2.7, 4.6(c) and 18.1, change ‘election rules’ to ‘election regulations’;
2. In Article 6.1, change ‘but others may be invited to attend in a non–voting role, including Registered Supporters’ to ‘but others, including Registered Supporters, may be invited to attend in a non–voting role’;
3. In Article 6.2, – add ‘s’ at the end of the last word;
4. Reformat Article 8.1 as a list;
5. In Articles 8.8c, 9.3 and 13.2(ii)(a), insert ‘Federal’ before ‘Chief Executive’;
6. In both Article 13.1 and 14.1, replace ‘accountable’ with ‘responsible’ and delete ‘and shall report to each ordinary meeting of the Board’;
7. Renumber the Constitution and cross–references as otherwise required by the changes in this motion.

Applicability: Federal.

The existing text of the constitution can be found on the Federal party website here.

Mover: 5 minutes; all other speakers: 3 minutes. For eligibility and procedure for speaking in this debate, see pages 6-7 of the agenda. You can submit a speaker's card online here from Monday 15 September up to 10.55 Tuesday 23 September or in person.

The deadline for amendments to this motion is 13.00 Monday 8 September; you can submit amendments online here, see pages 9–10 of the agenda for more information. Those selected for debate will be printed in Conference Extra and Tuesday’s Conference Daily. The deadline for requests for separate votes is 09.00 Monday 22 September; you can request separate votes here, see page 5 of the agenda for more information.

Constitutional and standing order amendments require a two-thirds majority to pass.