Chair Liz Leffman Youth wing Liberal Youth England | Founded 1988 Political position Centre | |
Headquarters 8-10 Great George Street,
London,
SW1P 3AE Ideology Liberalism
Social liberalism
Economic liberalism | ||
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 seven of the 533 English seats in the UK House of Commons one of the 25 seats in the London Assembly and one of the 59 English seats in the European Parliament.
Contents
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.
English Executive
The English Council Executive manages the running of the English party between English Council Meetings. The English Council Executive consists of the Chairs of the 11 English regional parties, 12 members directly elected from the English Council, and English representatives on the Federal Executive, Federal Policy Committee and Federal Conference Committee. The English Council Executive meets 6 times a year.
The English Council Executive has two sub-committees; A Finance and Administration Sub-Committee which is chaired by a Treasurer manages the finances of the English party and the Regional Parties Committee.
Office holders within the federal Liberal Democrats
Regional parties
The English Liberal Democrats 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. 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.
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.
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. 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.
List of Chairs of the English Party
Chairs are elected in November and take office on 1 January the following year.