Chair Stephen Glenn Political position Centre | Headquarters Belfast | |
Ideology LiberalismSocial liberalismPro-Europeanism | ||
The Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats is a local party of the Liberal Democrats that operates in Northern Ireland. Unlike its counterparts in England, Scotland and Wales, the Northern Ireland party is not a state party within the federal Liberal Democrats, though there does exist constitutional provision for it to be established so by conference, but a local party similar to constituency parties in the rest of the UK.
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Elections
The Liberal Democrats do not presently contest elections in Northern Ireland but there is a strong history of support to the Alliance Party, which some people mistake for the two being the same entity.
Members
Several individuals, including former Alliance Party leader David Ford, hold membership of both the Alliance Party and the Liberal Democrats. Alliance members of the House of Lords take the Liberal Democrat whip on non-Northern Ireland issues. Former Alliance Party MP Naomi Long did not take the Liberal Democrat Whip in the House of Commons between 2010 and 2015 as she is not a Liberal Democrat member, and sat on the opposition benches.
As of 23 January 2016, the Chair of the Northern Ireland local party is Stephen Glenn. The previous chair was John O’Neill.