FOREIGN POLICY/DEFENCE

Motion One – Libyan Crisis

1. This assembly welcomes the decision of the Liberal Party NEC to support
2. NATO intervention to protect those communities in Libya calling for a
3. democratic revolution.

4. This party welcomes and credits the structure of NATO and the key role of the
5. USA, UK, Canadian, Norwegian and French forces to limit the suppression by
6. brutal forces of the dictatorship.

7. This Assembly notes that Europe and North Africa would have faced
8. horrendous refugee problems had the democratic forces been defeated and that
9. the previous government in Libya had supported various terrorist attacks in the
10. UK and Europe against legitimate democratic governments.

Steve Radford
Daniel Wood

Motion Two – Defence Cuts

1. Assembly notes the increasing burden being place on all three branches of HM
2. Armed Services, in particular the recent involvement of UK forces in the
3. Libyan Crisis at a time when such forces are already stretched by ongoing
4. commitments in Afghanistan and a residual commitment in the Persian Gulf.

5. Assembly notes that much of the capability used in the Libyan crisis is to be
6. cut under current government spending plans.

7. Further, assembly deplores the redundancy notices issued to personnel in the
8. Army and Royal Air Force on their return from active service.

9. Assembly believes that the UK’s Armed Services have now been cut to a level
10. which is below that which is consistent with the effective maintenance of
11. national defence and international obligations.

12. Assembly calls for an immediate cessation of the implementation of further
13. defence cuts and, insofar as is possible, a return to pre-2010 levels of
14. manpower, capability and funding as a first step, such increase in spending to
15. be financed as a result of the immediate decommissioning of the UK’s nuclear
16. weapons capability.

Daniel Wood
Steve Radford

Scottish Independence

1. Assembly reaffirms its support for devolved Scottish Government within the
2. Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

3. Assembly notes, however, the majority currently enjoyed by the Scottish
4. National Party within the Scottish Parliament and the stated intention of the
5. SNP Government in Scotland to hold a Referendum on the issue of
6. independence for Scotland.

7. In any such referendum campaign assembly affirms that the Liberal Party
8. would campaign for the continuation of the Union and Scotland’s devolved
9. Government within that Union.

10. In such circumstances where the people of Scotland vote in favour of
11. independence in any such referendum Assembly would urge HM Government
12. at Westminster to respect such a vote and make the necessary arrangements
13. for a smooth transition to Scottish Independence.

Policy and Assembly Committee

TAXATION

Motion One

Reduce and/or Eliminate “Enterprise Taxes”

1. Assembly believes that ways need to be found to reduce and possibly
2. eliminate “Enterprise taxes” and that the target should be to scrap taxes on
3. enterprise both personal and private ie: NI “contributions’ for both employer
4. and employee, income tax and corporation tax. Consideration should be given
5. to replacing lost revenue with alternative forms of taxation such as land value
6. tax and property taxes should be brought in to replace them.

7. To this end Assembly supports the setting up of a working party to evaluate
8. the proposal and report back to conference next year with practical and costed
9. suggestions to introduce the change.

10. The working party will be asked to produce an interim report within 6 months
11. to inform the party of progress to inform debate ahead of Assembly 2012.

Brian Hall
Bill Weights

Motion Two

Business Rates

1. Assembly notes that the economy is still faltering following the 2009
2. recession, and is not yet on the road to full recovery.

3. Assembly reasserts the Liberal belief in free trade and believes the way to
4. bring recovery is to encourage small businesses to open and bring wealth in
5. the economy. However, Assembly believes one of the biggest barriers to the
6. success of small businesses is the high level of business rates.

7. Assembly believes that the hardest year of any new business is the first year of
8. trading and many new enterprises fail within the first twelve months.

9. Accordingly Assembly calls for business rates to be waived in the first year of
10. trading of new companies, and believes this will act as a stimulus for the
11. whole economy.

Rob Brettle
George Gregg

European Union

1. Assembly notes the existing policy of the Liberal Party, but now believes that
2. it is futile to seek to fundamentally reform the European Union from within.
3. For this reason assembly believes the United Kingdom should withdraw from
4. the European Union.

5. Assembly believes the European Union as it is currently constituted to be
6. fundamentally illiberal. For example, assembly notes that between 1973 and
7. 2002 there have been over 100,000 directives and regulations that are legally
8. binding on EU nations. These directives lack any form of democratic
9. legitimacy because only the unelected EU Commission can initiate such
10. directives and no other body has the power to reject or amend any of them.
11. Further, there are so many EU “laws” that no individual or body of any kind
12. can keep up with them, and there is an ever present danger of people being
13. prosecuted for breaking laws which they could not reasonably have known
14. existed.

15. The Liberal Party has campaigned for the creation of a “loose knit”
16. “Commonwealth of Europe”. Assembly believes that the UK would be
17. excellently placed to give a lead in the formation of this form of
18. “Commonwealth” if it withdrew from the EU.

19. The “Commonwealth of Europe” may be a long term objective, but in the short
20. term it is imperative for Britain to withdraw from the European Union and
21. reassert the sovereignty of the democratically elected UK Parliament.

Ben Rae
Daniel Wood

PENSIONS AND RETIREMENT

Motion one:

1. Assembly notes the ongoing debate and public concern over the provision of
2. state and public sector pensions. The current system is blighted by low returns
3. on investment, high costs and unrealistic assumptions on the returns from
4. equity investments. Both public and private pension funds remain under
5. funded with substantial deficits and long-term liabilities.
   
   
6. Many private sector pensions are now closed to both new and existing
7. employees whilst many employees are further excluded by the high proportion
8. of their salary they must contribute to receive a realistic pension in later
9. retirement.
   
   
10. Action needs to be taken to publicize the potential pensions problems and
11. thereby encourage and enable people to make meaningful pension provision
12. during their working life.

Stephen Graham
Daniel Wood

Motion Two:

1. Assembly acknowledges the ongoing debate about raising the retirement age
2. to take into account increased longevity and the needs to grow a sufficiently
3. large pension fund prior to retirement.
   
   
4. Current life expectancy after retirement is now far greater then when
5. retirement ages were originally introduced and take no account of some
6. peoples’ wish to remain active in the wider economy in their senior years
7. Rather than adopting a fixed age of retirement, it is proposed that people are
8. allowed to adopt a more flexible approach allowing them to leave the work
9. force when they feel ready to retire, be this earlier or late than currently
10. proposed under the current ridged system. Provision should also be made for
11. those who retire but who subsequently wish to return to the workplace at a
12. future date.

Stephen Graham
Daniel Wood

BUSINESS MOTION

1. Assembly regrets that the Liberal Party has to define itself by reference to the
2. Liberal Democrats but recognises that this is true.
   
   
3. It applauds the progress of the Liberal Party made in the last year and
4. recognises its activity and strength in several areas of the country.
   
   
5. However it also recognises that in most of the UK, most people, even of the
6. political community, have not heard of the Party.
   
   
7. Assembly believes that public recognition of the Party might be increased by
8. the use of the terms “continuity Liberal party” or “real Liberal Party” and that
9. because of the distrust of the Liberal Democrats, the existence of the party
10. using such terms might interest both the media and the general public.
    
    
11. Assembly also recognises that a by-election campaign would give an
12. opportunity for a more general recognition of the Party to be achieved,
13. especially where the following areas, where policies are different, from those
14. of the “Lib Dems”, are emphasised:
15.  a) public sector expenditure;
16.  b) student tuition fees;
17.  c) nuclear policy;
18.  d) de-centralisation;
19.  e) Europe;
20.  f)  NATO and Atlanticism;
21.  g) leasehold reform.
    
    
22. Assembly, therefore, recommends to the National Executive that the party
23. fights at least one by-election if any arise in the next year.

Roger Jenking
Daniel Wood