Rural Communities working group - so, let the fun begin…

It would be fair to say that even my best friends wouldn’t describe me as a policy wonk. Yes, I’ve been known to come up with a compromise or two at ALDE Party events where policy making can resemble speed dating for ideas, but actual serious policy making is not an area of the Party’s activities that has been graced by this liberal bureaucrat.

That is, until now.

A few weeks ago, having read a piece in Liberal Democrat Voice seeking applicants for places on a new Rural Communities policy working group, it dawned on me that someone from the town and parish council sector ought to be included. And, given that I’ve held roles at local, county and national levels (and still hold many of them), I concluded that I might toss my hat into the ring, so to speak.

To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting very much. Like most people, I assume that policies are formulated by experts - academics and sector professionals - because, in truth, that’s a pretty good way to make policy. I don’t consider myself to be an expert. Frankly, Ros knows more about rural communities and how they work than I do and has the track record to prove it. I suspect that she’s forgotten more than I know.

And so, it was with some surprise that I received an e-mail from Party HQ, advising that my application had been successful and that I was invited to a meeting to discuss the remit and meet my fellow working group members.

There was a moment or two of doubt - my underlying sense of imposter syndrome is still there after all these years - but I was rather committed, and there would be a bunch of experts to lean on, so nothing too bad could happen, right?

The meeting took place on Wednesday evening, with an introduction from our Chair and a Policy Manager, then a brief commentary from a Parliamentary spokesperson. The members present then introduced themselves, and a varied bunch they are too, from a broad spectrum of locations and backgrounds. I focused on my parish council experience, my interests in rural transport and the implications of devolution of services to the town and parish council sector.

And so, the work begins. We’ll start by taking evidence from sectoral organisations and interested parties and, over the course of a year or so, draw up a policy paper for Conference to adopt. Hopefully, I’ll be able to contribute effectively to that process but there’s a learning curve to be navigated along the way and relationships to build.

It promises to be challenging and intellectually stimulating, which is perhaps just what I need at this stage of my life. But we’ll see how it goes.

Wish me luck!

A transition plan emerges…

I am in the midst of what I self-mockingly describe as a Frank Sinatra-esque farewell tour from the Town and Parish Council sector. What with my tenure on Creeting St Peter Parish Council fated to be terminated next May, I’ve taken the view that an organised handover of my various posts was a necessity, predominantly for the organisations concerned.

And so, I advised my colleagues on the Board of the Suffolk Association of Local Councils (SALC) that I would stand down as our representative on the National Assembly of the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) on 31 July, allowing me to attend one last meeting to say my goodbyes. Given that I couldn’t make the September meeting anyway, it gave time for a successor to bed in whilst I was still available to support them.

It also meant that I could attend one last meeting of NALC’s Smaller Councils Committee - I serve on the basis that I am an eligible member of National Assembly, which I have now done.

I remain Co-Chair of NALC’s Micro Council Network, representing the 4,000 or so smallest Parish Councils, for the time being, and I’m still on the SALC Board until elections take place in the autumn.

There was, and is, the question of what I’m going to do instead. I don’t really have what you’d describe as hobbies, although I do like to travel, keep up with current events and play computer games (mostly badly but nonetheless…).

Fortunately, as has often been the case, something has turned up. In my guise as an experienced Returning Officer, I’ve delivered committee elections for the Federal International Relations Committee and the Liberal Democrat European Group and have the Social Liberal Forum on the blocks. I’ve also delivered the easiest Returning Officer gig ever, as the Scottish Women Liberal Democrats had no contested positions and thus left me with nothing to actually do.

And now, one of the Party’s Regions has approached me to see if I’d be happy to act as their Returning Officer in the autumn. Admittedly, some of their current Executive might not be wildly keen on my appointment but I wouldn’t be terribly upset if it fell through.

I’ve also been asked if I’d take up the position of East of England representative on the Executive Committee of the Liberal Democrat European Group, to which I’ve responded positively. I am, and always have been, pro-European, in the sense that I see the advantages of pooling sovereignty in pursuit of economic and social advancement. And, whilst it isn’t entirely clear what I’d add just now, I do see an organisation which can influence the Party’s policies across the piece, not just in terms of the relationship with the European Union.

There is, however, something else which was rather more unexpected… but I’ll save that for another day…

Long, long ago on a Policy Working Group far, far away…

I am reminded this week of one of the more quirky items on my political CV, something I did at a time when I was rather (incorrectly) more confident in my views than perhaps I am now.

Back in the days when I was a young Liberal Democrat, indeed Secretary of the Young Liberal Democrats, our then International Officer concluded that, in order to protect his budget, it was a good idea to send the organisation’s Chair and Secretary to a LYMEC (Liberal Youth Movement of the European Community) seminar entitled “Youth Culture in a Coca-Cola World” in Aarhus, Denmark. And whilst he probably wouldn’t have listened his budget anyway, it sounded like fun and so, off we went.

Much alcohol was consumed, and friendships made, and whilst my appetite for European politics was greatly enhanced, I didn’t think that it would lead to much.

That was, however, until Peter Ladanyi, our then Chair, was asked if he’d be willing to serve on an ELDR policy commission on culture. In those days, the European Parliament political groups were funded for policy making activity, and ELDR (now ALDE) had been granted funds for a culture policy working group. And, for reasons that never entirely became clear to me, Peter passed the invite onto me. With no real idea as to what I was getting myself into, I accepted without hesitation and became the European Liberal Youth representative on the ELDR Commission on European Culture.

It wasn’t an onerous task, consisting mostly of relatively short meetings in Brussels broken up by long and generally excellent lunches. And, after eighteen months of discussion during which we barely defined the meaning of culture, we broke up without reaching a meaningful conclusion.

My primary “partner in crime” on the policy commission was the Liberal Democrat representative, Dame Penelope Jessel, a former International Officer of the Liberal Party and one of the “grande dames” of the Party. Penelope chain smoked, thought nothing of travelling across the Sahara with the Polisario Front and was ever so slightly daunting. I suspect had I known more about her past, I’d have been rather more daunted. Our Chair, Professor José Augusto Seabra, learned quite quickly that we weren’t exactly seeing things the way he did, and tended not to push ideas that Penelope wasn’t convinced by.

Whilst the policy commission itself wasn’t a success, it did teach me a lot about collaborative policy making and how politics varied across Europe, lessons I occasionally put to good use later on.

And now, thirty-six years later, it looks as if I have another opportunity to use those skills again…