Liberal Youth

Infobox Political Youth Organization
name_english = Liberal Youth
name_native =
colorcode = #ec008c

chairperson = Elaine Bagshaw
secretary =
founded = 1993
headquarters = 4 Cowley Street,
London SW1P 3NB
mother_party = Liberal Democrats
international = International Federation of Liberal and Radical Youth (IFLRY)
regional1_type = European
regional1_name = European Liberal Youth (LYMEC)
website = [http://www.liberalyouth.org/ www.liberalyouth.org]

Liberal Youth (formerly Liberal Democrat Youth and Students) is the youth and student group of the UK Liberal Democrats.

Liberal Democrat party members who are under 26 years old or attending higher education institutions are automatically members of Liberal Youth. Liberal Democrat members between 26 and 29 years old can also join Liberal Youth by paying an additional subscription. The group is financially supported by the Liberal Democrat party and has offices in the party headquarters in Cowley Street, London, but retains total operational control over its internal elections, staffing, and campaigns.

Recent history

Spring 2008 saw see the announcement of the renaming of LDYS as 'Liberal Youth'. The decision to do this was taken at the 2007 Autumn conference.

Liberal Democrat Youth and Students was created in 1993 from a merger of the Student Liberal Democrats and the Young Liberal Democrats of England who shared many resources. The merger talks were overseen by a committee which included Sarah Gurling, now wife of Charles Kennedy.

In 1999, the organisation was restructured into the organisation it is today, the process being overseen by then Secretary of the organisation Jo Swinson. The Scottish Young Liberal Democrats formally integrated themselves into the federal structure in 2002; previously, the two organisations and their predecessors had been completely separate.

Their most notable forebears are the Young Liberals of the 1960s and 1970s, who were a significant and radical force within the Liberal Party of the time.

Internal organisation

Since 2000 Liberal Youth has been, like the main party, organised on a federal basis with organisations in different geographical regions having different spheres of influence.

Local branches, which are generally tied to a local party or academic institution such as a university, run local electoral campaigns, conduct community politics and act as auxiliaries to the local party.

The federal organisation of Liberal Youth organise liaisons with other party and international bodies (see below) and represents the organisation to the party and to the public. This comprises the Federal Executive, which operates as the executive committee; the Conference Committee, which operates Liberal Youth conference; the Policy Committee, which examines the policy book and develops policy proposals; and the International Committee, which liaises with foreign organisations.

These committees, barring ex officio members such as representatives from state organisations and delegates from the executive, are elected by the membership of Liberal Youth in an all-member ballot and are responsible to Conference.

Within the Liberal Democrats

As a Specified Associated Organisation (SAO) of the party, Liberal Youth is autonomous and thus occasionally adopts policies which contradict those of the main party; it is then entitled to submit policy it adopts to the party's federal conference. Liberal Youth is, however, largely financially dependent on the party.

The constitution of the Liberal Democrats grants Liberal Youth at least one position on local party executives, while the federal committees such as the Federal Executive, Federal Policy Committee and International Relations Committee each admit an observer from the federal Liberal Youth organisation.

In addition, Liberal Youth is also granted a number of voting representatives at the Federal Conference of the Liberal Democrat party based on the number of members, as are local parties. This privilege is extended to the separate Scottish and Welsh Conferences, as well as to regional conferences within England and to the party's English Council, the confederal body through which the regional parties of England make joint decisions.

International links

LIBERAL YOUTH is a member of two international youth organisations:
*The International Federation of Liberal & Radical Youth (IFLRY), which acts as the youth organisation of Liberal International.
*The European Liberal Youth (LYMEC), which acts as the youth organisation of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party.

Current campaigns

The primary campaign of Liberal Youth for the 2006 Fresher's season was the Homophobia Is Gay campaign, which proved to be a runaway success, with significant third party and celebrity endorsement. Liberal Youth has been significantly involved in the campaign for green taxes. As well as continuing Homophobia is Gay into 2007, Liberal Youth launched the "Save Darfur" campaign, run in conjunction with the Aegis Trust, which puts pressure on the government to take action against the genocide in Darfur as well as halting deportation of Sudanese asylum seekers into Darfur.

Additional campaigns include ongoing commitments to campaign for free education across the entire UK, and to reiterate the Liberal Democrat opposition to the position in Iraq.

List of Chairs

*Elaine Bagshaw (2008-)
*Mark Gettleson (2006-2008)
*Gez Smith (2005-2006)
*Chris Lomax (2004-2005)
*Brian Robson (2003-2004)
*Alison Goldsworthy (2002-2003)
*Miranda Piercy (2000-2002)
*Geoff Payne (1999-2000)
*Polly Martin (1998-1999)
*Hywel Morgan (1997-1998)
*Ruth Berry (1996-1997)
*Tim Prater (1995-1996)
*Phil Jones (1995)
*Alex Wilcock (1994-1995)
*Kiron Reid (1993-1994)

External links

* [http://www.liberalyouth.org/ Liberal Youth]
* [http://www.midrcymru.org.uk/ MIDR Cymru: Liberal Democrat Youth & Students Wales]
* [http://www.ldyslondon.org.uk/ Liberal Democrat Youth & Students London]
* [http://www.united4belarus.org.uk/ United 4 Belarus campaign] : campaigning for democracy in Belarus and drawing attention to human rights abuses of the Lukashenka regime
* [http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/view.php?id=2607 Coverage of Hompohobia is Gay campaign] at pinknews.co.uk