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About

General information about the local party including location and how to join

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Being a Liberal Democrat - the basics 

Every Membership Card issued by the Party carries this extract from the Party’s Constitution:

“The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.”

“Would I feel at home in the Liberal Democrat Party?”

The Party is a broad church, and accommodates people with a very wide spreads of views.

  • You are unlikely to meet people who are intolerant of other people's life styles, unless they are clearly harmful to others. We are against racism and homophobia and similar aberrations not because it is politically correct, but because we believe them to be wrong.
  • We are international in outlook, - this is the party of Gladstone. We support the United Nations and the European Union because we believe that we do not lose control of our own affairs by sharing control with like-minded people. We are far more likely to lose control by isolating ourselves and going it alone.
  • We are deeply concerned for the environment but recognise that environmentalism on its own cannot succeed. We seek sustainability through the entire spectrum of policy and government.
  • We seek to maximise freedom within a context of accountability. We work for transparency, the right to information without which consultation is a sham and informed choices are impossible.
  • We set our own Agenda with democracy at all levels of the Party. We are owned neither by the Trade Unions nor by Big Business, and have to finance ourselves. It is a struggle, but it keeps us free.

Because we concentrate on what needs to be done and try to avoid the yah-boo style of politics we are attractive to people who share our principles.

And for the kind of Conservative uneasy with the stridency of the post-Thatcher Right, and the kind of Labour member who believes there is still life in the public service ethic, and the Green who wants to make things like recycling actually happen on the ground, we are the natural home.
 

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What does this mean in practical policy terms?

The likelyhood of a hung parliament at the coming General Election means that the Liberal Democrats Party in Parliament could have effective control of Government on many issues. We have a very wide range of policies to pursue, and review them regularly at our twice yearly Conferences.

As a taster for a huge range of subjects here are three documents you can download from the Party’s websites:

  • A good way to get an overview in summary of the way we are thinking: it is the Pocket Guide to Policy.  See the Liberal Democrats Pocket Guide to Policy.
  • Focus in on Rural Affairs, an area of policy vital to residents of Torridge and West Devon.   See the Liberal Democrats What We Stand For: Rural Affairs. 
  • A good starting point for young people is to visit the website of Liberal Youth, the youth and student movement for the Liberal Democrats Party.

 

Please send us an or use our message form if you have any questions.