Spring Conference - a report back from the Mid Suffolk delegation...

I've just got back after a very pleasant trip to York. Apparently, there was a conference on, although I couldn't say that I was an active participant - I did attend the Conference Quiz and a fringe meeting on the referendum campaign. I wasn't in the hall for the cannabis motion, or the economy motion or even the diversity one. On the other hand, I may have been the only person from Mid Suffolk who got to York at all.

So, what do I put in my report to my Local Party Executive Committee?

Well, we now have a policy to improve the diversity of our Parliamentary Party in the Commons. Of course, we do have a Member of Parliament in Mid Suffolk already, and best of all, she's a woman. Admittedly, Ros is in the Lords, where the relative diversity of the Parliamentary Party seems not to be of interest currently. And, the policy doesn't obvious have any immediate salience to us, as we don't meet the criteria for All Women Shortlists. In general, we try to encourage anyone to do pretty much anything they want to, including candidacy.

There's a new policy on cannabis. I'm not convinced that it's the revenue raiser it is purported to be - look at the proportion of hand rolling tobacco that is smuggled into the country for an idea of how much duty evasion is likely to take place - but I'd rather the police focus their efforts on those drugs that lead to crime, ill health and addiction. Is it a burning issue in Mid Suffolk? I don't think so.

We also passed an economic policy motion, which basically endorses previous policy - reassuring, if not exactly radical. On the other hand, the Conservatives don't appear to have much in the way of coherent policy, so we're ahead of the game there.

The Party is now against fracking in England. In fairness, Suffolk is not an area where fracking is likely to take place, so it isn't likely to be an issue for us. 

We're not in favour of enhanced surveillance powers for the State either - we are sceptical as to whether or not the security services can be trusted not to misuse such powers. Admittedly, given the woeful broadband provision in large parts of Mid Suffolk, they might be better off opening our post instead...

And finally, in policy terms, there's policy on the private rental sector, seeking to protect tenants. Am I sure that it's entirely practical? Or would simply addressing the supply side of the supply/demand equation effectively solve most of the problems the motion seeks to mitigate?

Elsewhere, the fringe was nice. Our Honorary President made a splendid Conference quizmaster, and our Treasurer wasn't a bad assistant either (let's not kid ourselves about the notion of prefixing that word with 'glamorous'), and she also chaired an interesting event about referendum strategy.

I even have an IN campaign t-shirt, which might make a good raffle prize...