Liberal Democrat conference 2011 live – day 1

Follow all the action, debates and issues on the first day of this year’s Liberal Democrat conference in Birmingham Where are the Lib Dems heading? This time last year Lib Dem relations with the Conservatives seemed to be getting warmer and warmer. At the end of their conference in Liverpool I wrote a “10 things we’ve learned” blog which said that the Lib Dems had made up their minds about the coalition – and that they liked it. Twelve months later, after a crushing defeat in the local elections, the mood is rather different. In the Guardian today Polly Toynbee is floating the idea of the Lib Dems turning left . “Behind the scenes quietly better relations are growing between Ed Miliband’s camp and many Lib Dem MPs, softly anticipating a future together,” she writes. It is possible that Labour or the Conservatives could win an outright majority at the next election. But at this point the chances of another hung parliament seem high and, for that reason, it would be nice to know what this battered, much maligned, but curiously resilient party actually thinks. I’ve just arrived in Birmingham for a conference that lasts until Wednesday. Hopefully, I’ll find out. The conference formally starts at 2.30pm. Here’s the agenda. 2.30pm: Paul Tilsley, the deputy leader of Birmingham city council, opens the conference with a short speech. 2.40pm. A debate on party business. Norman Lamb, Nick Clegg’s chief parliamentary will speak. It is possible too that there might be a vote on the party’s decision not to have a proper vote on the health bill. (Evan Harris, who is leading the campaign to rewrite the health bill, has written about this in the Guardian today.) 3.10pm: Delegates will debate a motion on Lords reform saying elections should start by 2015. 3.55pm: Lynne Featherstone, the equalities minister, will speak. She will confirm that the government will consult on plans to allow gay and lesbian couples to get married . 4.15pm: Delegates will debate a motion criticising the government’s plans to limit the amount of time for which disabled people can claim the contributory employment and support allowance. 5pm: Another short debate on party business, including a contribution from Tim Farron, the party president. That’s the end of the formal conference business. 6.30pm: Nick Clegg, Sarah Teather, David Heath, Don Foster and Alistair Carmichael will speak at the conference rally. I’ll be blogging all afternoon and I’ll post a summary after the conference finishes at 5pm. My colleague Paul Owen will then take over the blog to cover the rally and any other late breaking news. Shortly I’ll post a round-up of the best Lib Dem news from today’s papers. Nick Clegg Vince Cable Liberal Democrat conference 2011 Liberal Democrat conference Liberal Democrats Andrew Sparrow guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 17, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.