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A CONFERENCE DIARY
Arrived in Birmingham by the early train in order to go through the lengthy process of being inspected by the local police. Despite having to submit passport details in advance, and despite the party already having a photo, here was another layer of bureaucracy. Told that they hoped to give me my card before the end of the day: panic, as an interview with Sky News lined up for 1230.
In the event, it only took an hour. So, the nation was able to sit around its television sets whilst I gave my views as to the burning issues for the conference.
I pointed out, as you might have expected, that we had a policy which was overwhelmingly supported by the Party at Sheffield, and which had been completely ignored in the Bill.
I have put a similarly worded question in for Nick Clegg's Q and A tomorrow. It will be interesting to see whether it is called.
LEGAL AID TRIUMPH
James Sandbach proposed an amendment to the motion in relation to benefits for the disabled. It included a demand that there should be legal aid for appellants who had been refused benefit: 40% succeed on appeal, so the initial screening must be as bad as claimed.
The amendment was opposed by the bigwigs, using arguments which were as strongly urged as they were spurious. Happily, they were rejected by Conference, resoundingly. So congratulations to James and one can only hope that the leadership take some notice. Legal Aid income is vital for CABs and must be defended.
We will be doing what we can here to promote the Party's policy on Legal Aid / Access to Justice. Don't forget, if you ar at the conference, the three fringe meetings which we will be involved in ( one an EGM designed to amend the constitution so that we retain SAO status.
Speaking of which, you may have been surprised to see a motion suggesting that we should be suspended for non compliance. All I can say is it is a pity that the Party insisted in sending correspondence to an email address which has never existed.
The lights are dimming in the hall and we are being bathed in "uplifting" music, so the rally is about to start. So, no more now, but more tomorrow.
Alistair Webster
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