For years, Liberal Youth has succeeded against all odds. To reach its potential it needs more funding, not less.
I first got involved in Liberal Youth almost three years ago at the age of 16. The Liberal Youth I saw then didn’t seem like a pleasant place to be at the time, so I left and haven’t come back until recently. The Liberal Youth I see now is one I’m proud of. It is a much improvement on old, with a team who do their best to stick together and push hard for the voices of young people to be heard in an understandably daunting political party in government. While times may have changed during my absence from Liberal Youth, one thing is still glaringly obvious.
The lack of support from the Liberal Democrat party still holds us back. Not LD members in general of course, they’re as supportive as ever, but the people who make decisions on operational matters. For example as a young person when I join the Liberal Democrats, in my membership pack I should have received as much information as could possibly be needed about Liberal Youth. I didn’t. As a Liberal Youth member, national conferences and events should be obvious through a link on the main party’s website and advertised through the national Lib Dem mailing list. They aren’t. Those who represent my interests as a Liberal Youth member should be given enough resources to do just that. They aren’t.
Consistently Liberal Youth has lacked enough finance, staff and support just to function as an organisation, let alone to develop.
I’ve been a part of the student movement for over two years during my break from Liberal Youth, and I’ve learned a hell of a lot along the way. I developed a representative organisation up from nothing and then to one of the most active of its kind. And from my experience, Liberal Youth has barriers in its way that it needs both financial support and guidance from Liberal Democrats far and wide to overcome – a new and improved constitution (including a re-shaping of executive positions), a larger network of active members and more staff support are some examples.
Liberal Youth in my opinion is the best youth wing on offer of any political party. But with more financial support it could be so much better.
So when I saw Tom Wood’s (Chair of Liberal Youth) article in Lib Dem Voice saying that the English Council were pulling finance, I was outraged. But after I had calmed down and had a beer, I just felt let down.
Three years ago, I stopped being an active Liberal Youth member and turned my attention instead to the student movement and local politics as a Liberal Democrat member. Doing so changed my life for the better, but now I want to get back involved in Liberal Youth – to continue developing as a person and help to represent a party I care deeply about. But I’m not the only one – there are countless others. The proposed withdrawal of funding is putting that at risk.
If Liberal Youth doesn’t have the finances to stay afloat, it won’t represent the young members of our party. And if the young members of our party aren’t represented, supported and encouraged to flourish, there’s no future for Liberal Democrats.
Part of English Council? Demand funding for Liberal Youth to remain.
