My thoughts on "The Retreat from Globalisation: Social Liberal Forum Conference 2017"

On Saturday I attended the Social Liberal Forum 2017 conference: The Retreat from Globalisation. This was a day of debate and discussion about a range of topics from global warming to the recent general election. I only managed to take one picture on the day (above) but that shows how close i was to Vince Cable).

The day started with the William Beveridge Memorial Lecture, given by Lord William Wallace, on the topic of "Is a Liberal and Democratic society compatible with globalisation?".  He argued that impact of globalisation has left a substantial group of "left behind" with justifiable grievances, which led to the Brexit result. Globalisation has mostly benefited authoritarian countries and the super-rich (the real "Citizens of Nowhere"). He argued for more investment in public services, more regulation of takeovers, more mutuals and more co-operatives. Basically, if we are given a choice, we should choose democracy over globalisation and that might mean scaling back on globalisation for now.

The second session was a choice between a talk on Global Conflict by Lawrence Freedman (from King's College, London) or a fringe on Universal Basic Income. The Global Conflict talk covered the history of military interventions since the end of the Cold War, the successes (e.g. Bosnia) and the failures (e.g. Libya). He also covered the situation in Europe, Russia, China and the USA, highlighting the risks and opportunities for the UK. To say it was a wide-ranging talk would be an understatement but he managed to weave a narrative of the current dynamics of global politics.

The third morning session was on Global Warming, by Ed Davey MP and Mark Campanale (from the Carbon Tracker Initiative). Their presentations were quite frankly scary about the long term danger of short-term (<20 year) carbon emissions but also hopeful that the falling price of renewable energy will make the transition  to a low carbon economy politically possible. Ed also highlighted the impact that the UK leaving the EU will have on votes within the European Council on climate issues.

The first session after lunch was billed as a leadership hustings but was basically a one-hour Vince Cable Q&A. He was on top form, highlighting his ability to get coverage and his reputation for economic credibility. He criticised the Tories for re-toxifying themselves by working with the DUP, and the Labour party for being unrealistic. He defended the party's actions on university tuition fees arguing that the policy was mostly right (giving us 8/10) but the politics were badly wrong (giving us 2/10).

Everyone in the audience was encouraged to ask a question, so i put my hand up and was lucky enough to be picked. I asked what he would do between now and the May 2018 elections to help local parties get the share of the vote up (from the 7.5% this year, compared to the 13% in 2014 when the seats were last contested). I had mentioned that I was from Northampton and Vince said he remembered visiting when we ran the Council. He said that we can't just make incremental gains next year, we need to take inspiration from Justin Trudeau's Canadian Liberals and go from third place to first place.

The final two sessions were reflections on the general election. Firstly a panel discussion reflecting on ethnic minority voters (Joyce Onstad), Scotland (Caron Lindsay), the "progressive alliance" (Sarah Olney) and young voters (Daisy Cooper). Whilst there is currently very little data about the voting patterns of different population, each panel member discussed their reality of the general election (the good, the bad and the ugly). The final session was by David Howarth who reflected on the latest data that does exist, the British Election Study’s December 2016 report. His main message was that people didn't really know who Tim Farron was and that that the party has some serious trust issues that need resolving before they will think about supporting us.

In an ideal world (i.e. if speaker's diaries were different), the afternoon would have been structured slightly differently so that the day went:

• Morning - The world is a scary place. The UK is going alone in a world where the threats of trade wars, actual wars or environmental damage are significant.
• Afternoon - The General Election result was a small improvement on 2015 but there is still a huge mountain to climb to overcome the two-party world we are now in. We have trust issues with the electorate.
• Finale - Vince is the man to climb the mountain. He can get the party media exposure that has recently been lacking. It is only when we are heard that people will give us a second chance. Our message on Brexit was right but too soon for us to get the credit. Our time will come again.

The day was really interesting: not just the topics covered by the speakers but the questions raised by the audience and the conversations that continued into the coffee breaks. One underlying theme was the lack of diversity within the party, limiting the appeal to the diverse wider electorate.

More reflections on the conference can be found on Liberal Democrat Voice and on the #SLFConf hashtag on twitter.

I want to finish by complimenting the organisers of the day. The Social Liberal Forum is run by volunteers who managed to put on an informative day despite an unexpected general election and a leadership election - Thank you!