One of the things that has come to mind as I travel the length and breadth of this sceptred isle with Ros is, how do I report back to my electorate as a directly elected member of English Candidates Committee?
Curiously, I have never been asked to report back, nor has there been any sense that I am expected to. On the other hand, I deeply suspect that my postings on this blog relating to candidate approval and selection have contributed to my being re-elected in recent years. So, what am I up to at the moment?
My key activity is as a member of the new Selection Rules Review Group. As those of you who read my manifesto will remember, I promised to work towards the development of simpler, more proportionate processes for selection of our parliamentary candidates. My main thrust has been to raise the possibility of a two-tier selection system, leaving the mechanics of the current process in place for selections in held and target seats, but moving to a skeleton system for the remainder. I'll expand upon that in a separate posting.
I've also continued to push for a more open and transparent way of doing business. Where possible, I have encouraged wider consultation, including the holding of sessions at Regional conferences - coming to you this autumn.
Finally, I've tried to encourage debate via this blog and via the medium of Liberal Democrat Voice. I've attempted to give honest and complete answers where I feel that facts are missing, introduced some ideas of potential value and generally tried to draw back the curtains on what our committee does.
I will be up for re-election this year, and a manifesto will be issued to members of English Council in October but, until then, any questions you might have will receive as good an answer as I can give.
Mark, here in the boondocks, the whole process seems very flawed. Frankly, you do too much. Everytime a Tory seat comes up around here over 200 applicants apply. We don't have more than 70 PPC's approved for thje whole region, a little over one per seat and many of them are no longer 'available'. We need a lighter regime, where more attention is paid to references and recommendations, done on a more confidential basis. We need reform; something, oddly, the LD's seem very bad at.
ReplyDelete