Young Liberals (UK)

Young Liberals is the youth and student organisation of the British Liberal Democrats. Membership is automatic for members of the Liberal Democrats aged under 30.^[5] It organises a number of Fringe events at the Liberal Democrat Conference, which is held twice each year.

Young Liberals
President	Luisa Porritt
Chairperson	Harvey Jones
Founded	December 2016
Preceded by	Liberal Youth (2008—2016) Liberal Democrat Youth & Students (1990—2008)
Headquarters	Top Floor 1 Vincent Square London. SW1P 2PN
Ideology	Liberalism (British) Social liberalism[1] Internationalism[2] Pro-Europeanism[3][4]
European affiliation	European Liberal Youth (LYMEC)
International affiliation	International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY)
Colours	Orange
Mother Party	Liberal Democrats
State Party	English Young Liberals Scottish Young Liberals Welsh Young Liberals
Website
www.youngliberals.uk

Young Liberals exists to campaign on issues affecting young people and students, with branches across the UK. The organisation is run by young people and acts as a pressure group within the Liberal Democrats.^{[citation needed]}

Social liberalism, economic liberalism, social justice, internationalism and pro-Europeanism are important components of the group's political philosophy.^{[citation needed]}

The constitution of the Liberal Democrats requires an affiliated youth and student wing.^[6] Accordingly, Young Liberals is a Specified Associated Organisation (SAO) of the party. It is granted voting rights on various Liberal Democrat committees, such as the Party's Federal Board.^{[citation needed]}

Young Liberals is affiliated to both the International Federation of Liberal and Radical Youth (IFLRY) and European Liberal Youth.^[7] Its predecessors include Liberal Youth, founded in 2008, and Liberal Democrat Youth & Students, founded in 1990. The earliest organisations were the National League of Young Liberals (NLYL), founded in 1903 and the Union of Liberal Students (ULS), founded in 1920.

Organisation and structure

Federal organisation

The Young Liberals are a Federal organisation composed of three equal components:^[8][9]

• the Welsh Young Liberals in Wales,
• the Scottish Young Liberals in Scotland, and
• the English Young Liberals in England.

This mirrors the Liberal Democrats own Federal Model, with each British nation possessing a corresponding 'State Party'.^[8][9]

Executive

The Executive is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the Young Liberals, ensuring the organisation's operations are compliant with its own and the Liberal Democrats constitution, ensuring that the organisation is compliant with all relevant laws, and maintaining affiliations, branch accreditation and electing representatives to outside bodies which the Young Liberals are given representation on.^[9]

Members of the Executive also have their own portfolios, which each officer being responsible for a certain area of the organisations operations. Members of the Executive, barring the LDCRE representative, are elected annually by the general membership. If a vacancy arises during the term of the Executive, it is filled either through a co-option process or a by-election.^[9]

Honorary roles

There is an Honorary President and six Honorary Vice-Presidents of the organisation, who are elected by the membership to work alongside the executive to support the organisation, advise and often act as a form of institutional memory as well as give the Executive guidance and to act as spokespeople within the wider party.

Role	Name[10]
Honorary President	Luisa Porritt
Honorary Vice-President	Eleanor Kelly
	Cheney Payne
	Julius Parker
	Nathan Hunt
	Sean Bennett
	Arthur Wu

Committees

In addition to the Executive, there are seven committees that are responsible for the administration, direction and implementation of policy and strategy corresponding to their area. These committees have a membership consisting of the relevant Federal Officers, representatives of the three states, and directly elected members who are elected alongside the Federal Executive every year.^[9] The State representatives are also elected by the memberships of the state organisations - English Young Liberals, Scottish Young Liberals and Welsh Young Liberals.^[11][12]

The current committees are Finance and Resources Committee, Elections Committee, Communications and Campaigns Committee, Events Committee, Policy Committee, International Committee, and Diversity Committee.^[9][12]

Branches

Young Liberals Branches are organised under regions and nations. They are small scale local groups often centering on a particular university, or local Liberal Democrat Party.^[13] Branches provide an opportunity for Young Liberals to socialise, network and campaign on a local level.^[13] There are over 30 active Branches across Great Britain including the Cambridge University Liberal Association and Oxford Students Liberal Association^[13]

History

The Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) each had their own separate student and youth wings, including the Young Liberals and the Young Social Democrats. In 1988, the Liberal Party and the SDP merged to form the Liberal Democrats.

Within England, the National League of Young Liberals merged with the Young Social Democrats to form Young Liberal Democrats of England. Additionally the Union of Liberal Students merged with the Students for Social Democracy to form the Student Liberal Democrats. Within Scotland, a separate organ was formed from the Scottish Liberal Students, the Scottish Young Liberal Democrats, which also included students of all ages.

Liberal Democrat Youth and Students (LDYS) was created in 1993 from the merger of the Student Liberal Democrats and the Young Liberal Democrats of England who had shared many resources in the run-up. The merger talks were overseen by a committee which included Sarah Gurling. LDYS reorganised into a federal structure in 2000 and then admitted Scottish Young Liberal Democrats as its Scottish federal unit in 2002—forming a single Britain-wide organisation for the first time since the combined ULS-NLYL committees of the 1970s.

Spring 2008 saw LDYS renamed as Liberal Youth, at an event hosted by the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg.^[14] It was then later renamed The Young Liberals in 2016, the organisation has established a 'Liberal Youth Tax' where it asks older members who mistakenly refer to YL as the Liberal Youth to donate to the organisation ^[15]

Alumni of the Young Liberals include Former Prime Minister Liz Truss,^[16] former MP and leader of the Liberal Democrats Jo Swinson^[17] and current MP Sarah Green^[18]

Conferences

The federal Conference is the sovereign body of the Young Liberals and has power to determine policy and direction. The federal Young Liberals usually hosts two conferences a year, a conference in the Winter and a training weekend known as 'Activate' in the Summer, which also acts as the constitutionally mandated Annual General Meeting. At conferences policy motions which shape YL policy and amendments to the organisations constitution are debated, alongside training and speaker sessions.^{[citation needed]}

In addition, during each conference there is an Executive Scrutiny session, whereby members of the executive submit reports to conference on their activities and actions in their job. After each report motions on officers are debated, wherein any member can submit a Motion of commendation, Motion of censure or Motion of no confidence in an officer. Motions of commendation and censure are non-binding opinions of conference passed by a simple majority, expressing either positive or negative opinion on the actions of an officer. Motions of no confidence are binding motions which if passed have the effect of removing an officer from their position and require a two thirds majority in order to pass.^{[citation needed]}

All Conferences following Manchester 2021, the first in person conference following the COVID-19 pandemic, are held as hybrid conferences. Hybrid conferences allow members to join in debates via Confera, an in-house developed and bespoke software package (and mobile app) which allows hybrid participation and voting in democratic events.^{[citation needed]}

Conference locations

Year	Summer Conference/Activate Venue[citation needed]		Winter Conference Venue[citation needed]		Notes
2002		Warwick University, Coventry	Unknown
2003	Unknown			Cambridge University, Cambridge
2004		Orpington		University of Bristol, Bristol
2005		University of Leeds, Leeds		University of Lincoln, Lincoln
2006	Unknown			University of Essex, Colchester
2007		University of Bristol, Bristol		University of Guildford, Guildford
2010		University of Manchester, Manchester		University of York, York
2011	None			University of Essex	Essex conference called "Autumn Conference" no Activate held
2012		Adversane, Billingshurst		Manchester
2013		Watchfield, Oxfordshire		Cardiff
2014		Cambridge	None
	Winter Conference Venue		Summer Conference Venue
2015		Leeds		Birmingham	From 2015 Winter Conference was held at the start of the year instead of the end
2016		Edinburgh		Bristol
2017		Sheffield		Nottingham
2018		Oxford		Swansea
2019		Glasgow		London
2020	None		Online		Summer Conference was due to be held in Birmingham, but was moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021	Online			Manchester	Winter Conference was due to be held in-person but was moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Summer Conference first conference to be a hybrid conference and allow attendance online and in person. All subsequent conferences have been hybrid.
2022		Edinburgh		Birmingham
2023		Reading		Gateshead
2024		Sheffield		London
2025	Online			Cambridge

Special Conferences

In addition to the two ordinary Conferences, the Young Liberals may also hold additional "Special Conferences". The Special Conferences require a requisition submitted to the Young Liberals Federal Executive signed by 40 full members, including at least 4 members of each State Organisation. The Special Conferences debates business specified in the requisition, although additional business may be taken at the discretion of the Executive.^{[citation needed]}

The threshold of a Special Conference used to be significantly higher, standing at 200 members, however with the success of Online Conferences it was lowered as they could be held online with ease.^{[citation needed]}

Year	Special Conference Venue	Purpose	Notes
2022	Online	"Young Liberals Endorsements for Party President"	Formally endorsed Mark Pack for President of the Liberal Democrats in Liberal Democrat Internal Elections.

See also

• Liberal Democrat Conference
• Liberal Reform
• Social Liberal Forum
• Cambridge University Liberal Association
• Oxford University Liberal Democrats
• Young Labour
• Young Conservatives

Notes