In his speech at the Liberal Democrat Conference in York, party leader Ed Davey has called for the UK to rebuild its relationship with Europe and received a standing ovation. Ed said that we must tear down the trade barriers with Europe. The Liberal Democrats in parliament had voted against the Conservatives botched deal when it was brought to parliament - and Ed highlighted that Labour had supported the original agreement.

On Saturday 19 December, Liberal Democrats congregated at Millennium Point in Birmingham.

Major world events such as the war in Ukraine, developments in China, Africa, India, the economic crisis in the west and the world post pandemic as well as references to Brexit and Britain's relationship with Europe were on the agenda.

Liberal Democrat Liam McArthur MSP has slammed the Scottish Government as they once again failed to confirm that a replacement for the Erasmus student exchange scheme will be in place by next September.

Despite years of promises, Scottish Liberal Democrats revealed last month that Scottish Ministers have had no meetings specifically about their promised Scottish Exchange Programme; no funds are currently allocated to it; and it does not even have a confirmed timetable for a consultation process. Meanwhile, a £65 million scheme in Wales has already lined up over 5,000 international exchange opportunities from this September with funding for the next 4 years. In response to a question from Mr McArthur in the Scottish Parliament today, Minister Neil Gray was unable to confirm that such a scheme would even be up and running by next September (2023).

LDEG Constitution

Adopted 19 October 2022

1. Name, Objects and Definitions

1. The name of the Organisation shall be the Liberal Democrat European Group - abbreviated LDEG.
2. The Objects of LDEG shall be:
   1. to seek to achieve the objects set forth in the Preamble to the Federal Constitution of the Liberal Democrats;
   2. to support, directly or indirectly, the election of Liberal Democrats as Members of Parliament and members of local and other elected public authorities;
   3. to admit and actively recruit new members to the Liberal Democrats, and encourage existing members to renew their membership;
   4. to participate in the formulation of the policy of the Liberal Democrats;
   5. to promote diversity of cultures and to represent the interests of under-represented groups;
   6. to seek the closest possible relations with the European Union and other countries in Europe;
   7. to campaign for UK membership of the European Union (EU) and peace, prosperity and liberal values in Europe by informing, assisting and motivating Liberal Democrat Party ('Party') members and the general public;
   8. to promote a European Union democratically accountable to its citizens, respecting the diversity of its peoples and traditions, and able to act effectively on those aspects of policy best handled at European level;
   9. to work with elected Liberal Democrats, Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) MEPs, sister parties and Liberal Democrat Party members in the pursuance of Europe-related work;
   10. to encourage Liberal Democrat Party members to join and operate within cross-party organisations promoting European unity, in particular the European Movement UK, and to influence their work and policies.
   11. to work within ALDE and like-minded organisations in the furtherance of European integration.
3. LDEG may also be referred to as "grŵp ewropeaidd democrat rhyddfrydol" in Welsh or "buidheann eòrpach deamocratach libearalach" in Scots Gaelic.
4. "Federal Party" shall refer to the Federal Party of the Liberal Democrats.

1. Catherine Bearder opened the meeting at 10 am and welcomed the participants
2. Apologies for absence
   Several apologies for absence were received
3. Minutes of 2019 AGM and matters arising (web page)
   These were approved
4. Christine Jardine - currently Treasury Spokesperson - discussed her work
5. Chair's report (web page)
   There was a brief discussion
6. Party review of SAOs and AOs (chair verbal report)
   The party is currently carrying out a review of the SAOs and the AOs.
   LDEG will be making an input.
7. Financial and membership reports (web page)
   These were approved
8. AOB
   Nothing was discussed
9. Meeting ended at 11:30 am.

It has been almost two years since the last LDEG AGM, which took place online on 24^th October 2020. Unfortunately we had to postpone the AGM from its original date in the Spring of this year as I came down seriously with Covid - which was followed by bouts of illness amongst other the members of our Exec, and coupled with the need to avoid disrupting campaigning in Parliamentary by-elections and the summer holidays, we finally settled on this date.

Liberal Democrats sign Dublin Diversity Declaration supporting greater LGBT+ representation in politics.

On 6 June at the recent ALDE Party Congress in Dublin,the Liberal Democrats, alongside 31 of their sister parties from across Europe, signed the Dublin Diversity Declaration, pledging their support and encouraging greater LGBT+ political representation at all levels of government.

ALDE Congress in Dublin

Whilst most of you were celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee last weekend, a number of us travelled to Dublin, as part of the Lib Dem delegation to the ALDE Congress taking place from 2^nd to 4^th June - the first physical meeting of our liberal and democratic sister parties from across Europe since our last get together in Athens in October 2019.

At the Liberal Democrat Conference, a roadmap was agreed to improve the UK's trading relationship with Europe, benefitting British families and businesses, helping counter the threat posed by Putin's Russia. The motion calls for closer ties in education through the Turing scheme and Erasmus Plus. The UK should seek cooperation agreements with EU agencies and work to reach a UK-EU agreement on asylum seekers. It should deep trade with Europe, including by negotiating greater access for UK food and animal products to the Single Market. Eventually, the UK should place its relationship with the EU on a more formal footing by seeking to join the Single Market.

We are pleased to reprint below a copy of a speech made by our Executive Member Graham Jones to the Oxford Branch of the United Nations Association

When Daniel suggested I might like to talk about Britain's new relationship with the rest of Europe, as Chair of Oxford Region of the European Movement and a member of the Movements' National Council, I thought it might be useful to focus on one aspect, and to do so in a way that allowed discussion. Half of us wanted to stay in the EU in 2016. Half of us didn't and my side lost. The narrowness of the vote ensures the issue remains historically unsettled, but for now and perhaps for the next ten to twenty years our future lies outside one iteration of Europe, the European Movement. Our involvement in others continues, from the Council of Europe to the European Broadcasting Union. Everywhere our presence is valued, and nowhere more so than in NATO, which for all that it appears dominated from the other side of the Pond is essential, with a very few exceptions, a defensive alliance of the nation states of our Continent.