Stafford and Stone
Liberal Democrats

World Population Day is an opportunity to put reproductive rights and issues of gender equality firmly on the global agenda. This year, period poverty must be front and centre of the conversation.

If the UK Conservative government are serious about eradicating period poverty by 2030 then they must use this opportunity to ensure ending period poverty is in the minds of every single world leader. The Conservative government have a duty to do all they can to end the injustice and stigma surrounding periods in the UK and across the globe.

(What follows is a personal opinion)

It is not an overstatement to say that 2019 has been a momentous year for the Liberal Democrats and the Green Liberal Democrats with the party achieving its best set of local election results since the 1990s and the best European Parliament Election results for 25 years.

When we think of great moments of political upheaval, social change and protests for justice, the images which often come to mind are marches. There is something acutely powerful about seeing so many come together to create, for one moment in time, a community of like-minded people. A crowd which passionately believes in a common cause will have its cause noticed. Marches become beacons of free speech and spawn mass movements which captivate people's attention.

I'm Benny, and I've been a Liberal Democrat since 2017 - but I never really had a chance to get particularly involved.

That changed last week when I headed up to Brecon.

I knew how important this by-election is going in - we can't afford to take it for granted. It's essential as many Liberal Democrats as possible head to Brecon and Radnorshire to support our candidate, Jane Dodds.

This is a strange way to start off this blog post, but please bear with me. In April 2016 I got my first telescope. I didn't spend a great deal, and it took me awhile to learn how to focus it, but eventually one night I caught Jupiter, its red spot and the bright twinkles of the four Galilean moons. It was at that moment I started to believe in Allah again. At around the same time I properly and very bluntly came out to my father - the end of a rather long journey in me accepting that I was a gay woman. Soon after, I popped down to the LGBT inclusive Christian church at the bottom of my road, in a bid to be able to reconcile faith in god with my sexuality. It was welcoming, but it did not feel like my spiritual home.

In a time of political crisis, we have some good news, and an invitation to demand democracy.

I want Proportional Representation

We have signed the Good Systems Agreement, alongside other parties, organisations and public figures.

Together we have achieved something that has never been done in the UK. We're securing broad consensus about the principles that define good voting systems. Most importantly, seats won in Parliament must closely reflect the votes cast. We have also agreed that the best voting system for the UK would ideally be determined by citizens. This could be done through an evidence-based, deliberative process, like a citizens' assembly.

July's edition of Ad Lib Magazine is now out!

We've got a bunch of content for you this time around - talking to councillors, new MEPs and new Lib Dem MP Chuka Umunna amongst others.

Not only that, but we've got the lowdown on the leadership election from both candidates - it's a really good read.

Is there anything you'd like included in the next edition? Don't hesitate to get in touch - let us know at membership@libdems.org.uk.

Party members - check your inboxes!

Ballots for our leadership election have now gone out. If you were a member by the 7th June, you get a say in deciding the next leader of our party.

It's a really exciting time to be a Liberal Democrat - and we're extraordinarily lucky to have 2 solid candidates in Sir Ed Davey and Jo Swinson. Either would be a fabulous leader for our party.

The Conservative Party has spent the whole time since the European elections absorbed in its own internal psychodrama.

The Conservative Party has spent the whole time since the European elections absorbed in its own internal psychodrama.

And once again the future of the country has played second fiddle to the future of the Conservative Party.