Simon Hughes MP

Simon's final presidential report to the Federal Executive

This will be my last substantive report as Federal President tabled in person to the Federal Executive, and covers the period from the end of June to the end of November. I shall table a written report on my final weeks of office which will be available for the first FE meeting of the New Year.

I congratulate warmly Ros Scott on her election as my successor and offer my thanks and commiserations to Lembit Opik, my Vice Chair, and to Chandila Fernando. I'm very grateful to Lembit for his support as Vice Chair during this term of office. Congratulations were also been sent to Tavish Scott as our new Leader in Scotland.

I also congratulate all those re-elected to the Federal Executive for the next two years, and those newly elected, and express my commiserations to those who unsuccessfully sought re-election. I have also congratulated those were recently elected in other recent party federal elections.

The politics of the months from the summer to the end of autumn have been dominated by our economy and the financial position of people, organisations and companies in Britain in the context of a tumultuous period in the world's economic order. Although the recent terrorist attack in Mumbai is of real and serious potential future significance, by far the most significant other event of recent months has been the election of Barack Obama to be the next American President, which Liberal Democrats warmly welcome. (I attended appropriate celebratory events on election night, as I hope you would expect!)

The party has been hugely well served over the last six months by Vince Cable's work in putting our economic case and critique, and in his support of Nick as they have jointly and wisely set out the arguments for the cut in income tax for lower and average income individuals from 20p to 16p in the pound to be paid for by those with the highest incomes, and by a redirection of £20 billion of unnecessary government spending to more useful purposes.

Party members up and down the country are really pleased with our strong and clear positions. There is however an awareness that the specifics of our policy - including the specific proposal for the 4p income tax cut - are not yet sufficiently widely understood outside the party. More work has to be done urgently on producing the most succinct summary on this and other key messages, so that in these times of political uncertainty and with a possible close contest between Labour and the Conservatives next time we can hold all our existing ground as well as gain further territory.

At home the fortunes of political parties during the summer and autumn have turned from the serious difficulties for Labour leading up to and following their defeat in the Glasgow East by-election to their much more positive position in recent weeks, as evidenced by the Glenrothes by-election result and recent opinion polls. Neither of the parliamentary by-elections in this period were in fertile territory for us, but the Glasgow East campaign was clearly the more successful of the two, though both (together with the earlier by-elections during the year) leave us with lessons to learn if we are to improve our performance in places where we do not start in first or second place.

Local council by-elections during this period have, generally, been much more positive, and included some notable successes against the Conservatives. The figures for the year up to the end November are in the KPI paper.

As the year has gone on, so thoughts of members have turned to the importance of next year's European elections, and county and unitary elections in England. There is a clear understanding of the importance of holding our ground in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset (and hopefully making further progress in Bristol) while at the same time winning further seats from Labour elsewhere to close the already narrowest ever gap between Labour and us in the number of seats held on principal councils across Britain. Labour now only hold four county councils with a majority and we must try to take this away in every case. Becoming the second party of local government ahead of Labour could and should be very significant for our short, medium and long term prospects.

The elections in Cornwall, which are now likely to be in October rather than June, are extremely important for us and I and others have dedicated some time and energy in assisting the preparations for this campaign. There is of course now the awareness that a general election could come before any of these other elections or at the same time as the elections in June, and the urgency of preparation for this is increasingly understood up and down the country.

Where internal matters are discussed at local level, there is strong support for implementation of the direction recommendations of the Bones Commission and a strong awareness that growing and valuing our volunteer base, seeking to reverse the decline in membership and prioritising diversity and equality in recruitment of members and selection of candidates at all levels are priorities. Supporting campaigns to elect women and people from minority groups and communities in winnable local and parliamentary seats remains an A-list priority for all of us.

I am delighted that the Chief Officers Group has now formally been set up and started to work and that the English Party and the Federal Executive, supported by other arms of the party, have agreed to the trial period of streamlined decision-making through the Chief Officers Group which the Bones Commission clearly recommended.

I have during recent months been to Scotland on three occasions - for the two parliamentary by-elections and for a much sadder event, the memorial service for one of the great liberals of our time, Russell Johnston. I shall be visiting Wales during December, and look forward to congratulating the new Welsh Leader at the forthcoming Federal Executive.

I was delighted to represent the wider party, with other guests, at the grand event to celebrate 35 years of Alan Beith as MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed; have visited Yorkshire and the Humber to attend the regional conference in Sheffield, campaign in Hull and visit Haltemprice and Howden; the North West on several occasions - for the very successful annual dinner in Westmorland and Lonsdale, for the annual dinner in Rochdale and the great event to celebrate Liberal Democrats becoming the majority group on Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council for the first time (and overtaking Labour as the party holding the parliamentary seat for longest since the last war); and for the North West Regional Executive near Lancaster to discuss the follow-up and implementation of the North West Review by Issan Ghazni, our National Diversity Advisor.

Visits to the East Midlands have included attending a world peace event with Parmjit Singh Gill and colleagues in Leicester; the regional conference with our very successful council group and PPC in Northampton and an official visit to Ashfield constituency to coincide with a Nottinghamshire party dinner in Mansfield. I have also been to Warwick University in the West Midlands to meet with councillor colleagues on the Next Generation Leadership Course. Other regional conferences I have attended have included that of the Eastern Region in Huntingdon and the South Central Region in Woodley near Reading.

In recent days I had a very enjoyable visit to Bath and a recent second visit to Cornwall, this time in North Cornwall, following the very successful campaigning visit to Steve Gilbert and his team in St Austell and Newquay in July where we had very large turnouts at post office campaign meetings. In London, as well as our regional conference, I have been on the streets in local elections north and south of the river.

Two of the largest public events I attended on behalf of the party, together with Nick Clegg as Leader, were the British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall and the Global Peace and Unity Event at the Excel Centre - both with TV audiences of millions!

The other two sad events of recent months have been the funeral of George Thompson and the memorial service for Richard Holme. The party owes them, as it does Russell, a huge debt. I shall also be joining other colleagues in this first week of December to say our very sad farewells to Neil Trafford, after his tragic and untimely death.

Increasing efforts are being made by us to engage and win the support of British residents who are nationals of other EU countries and who can therefore vote in European and local elections. I was very happy to support the latest of these initiatives in our event for the Polish community held at London City Hall during November. In addition to joining our delegation at the ELDR Congress in Stockholm in October - where the manifesto was unanimously agreed (probably without precedent) - I have also attended in Brussels the first meeting of the Parliamentarians Network for Conflict Prevention and Human Security - and did a five-day visit in the summer to encourage maximum participation in the first ever democratic elections in Maldives (where it rained every day!).

Obviously I carried out a full range of engagements at Federal Conference in Bournemouth (including one in the town supporting Annette Brooke) and I'm delighted that this conference was so successful politically and in terms of numbers attending. I am really pleased that the Diversity Engagement Group has been set up and had its first meeting at conference. I'm also looking forward to the EMLD Special General Meeting which will, by the time FE meets, hopefully have amended its constitution to bring about the merger between EMLD and EMETF, which has long been needed.

Radio and TV interviews and press comment have been given as and when necessary. A variety of requests and comments by emails, letters and phone have been dealt with. In addition, every week, I try to speak by phone to all candidates and all organisers in principal council by-elections.

I'm really grateful for all the help given to me personally by party staff over both of my terms of office. Thanks are due, in particular, colleagues in conference and candidates offices whom I have troubled more than others, to Ben Stoneham and Chris Rennard who are always available and wise, and pre-eminently to Kate Heywood who is a most efficient professional as well as a hugely valued party colleague. Chanell Daniels and before her Prashant Yadave have been the recent invaluable links in the chain from my office.

The party is in good heart with more Liberal Democrats involved in government at local level than ever before, more professional staff in the party than ever before and colleagues in Scotland and Wales with recent government experience adding to the significant influence which our group wields in the European Parliament. Our Lords team is as effective as ever; our Commons team more talented than ever, and our party staff more experienced than ever. We are therefore well equipped to move forward.

Striving for gender balance and absolutely prioritising extending diversity are as important in the months ahead as developing our regional and political media presence in England and raising the funds we need to fight a general election which could come as early as next spring. This is a time of great opportunity. As always, it will continue to need the work and the right political judgements to maximise our success.

I thank Federal Executive members for all their personal and collective efforts, and wish the incoming administration great success over the next two years.

Simon Hughes

Federal President

December 2008