Preparations for the LDEG fringe event the this year's autumn Party Conference continue apace and will be annouced during the second half of August.

Until then please reserve Saturday 26 September from 1 pm to 2 pm in your diary.

Access to our event is only possible as part of access to the wider on-line Party conference platform.

Our Annual General Meeting this year will now take place on Saturday 19 September from 10.00 am using an on-line platform.

This date replaces the event planned for 14 March in York that was postponed due to the cancellation of the Party's Spring Conference.

Joining instructions and other details will be circulated in due course.

As leadership voting opened this week POLITICO sent both contenders 'quick-fire' questions including " Should the UK rejoin the EU?"

On that Ed replied: "I'll always believe our best place is in the EU, but our job now is to convince the country of that. If the opportunity ever arises for us to rejoin, and we can take the public with us, I'll be at the frontline of that fight."

Starts at 3:30

The opening part of Wednesday's hustings on international affairs concerned the UK and the EU. The questions, the same to each candidate, were:

1. How would you promote a close relationship with Europe without disrespecting the views of Leave voters? (at 04:50)

2. How can we best align with the EU on the issues of trade. climate and defence? (at 08.00)

Last week's leaked letter by Liz Truss to her colleagues Michael Gove and Rishi Sunak has caused so much fun among the Brexit commentariat it is worth reproducing here in full. Reading it makes for a freshing change to all the pro-Brexit guff so-often declaimed by Conservative ministers.

The Sunday Times reported that, following the leak, Truss had recieved a "b*llocking" from the PM's chief advisor Dominic Cummings and, that as a result, she may get fired in an autumn reshuffle. I am tempted to think Truss may already be planning her exit from the government before things take a turn from bad to worse at the end of the transition period.

The latest edition of Never Mind the Barcharts, the podcast by party president Mark Pack, explores with Duncan Brack of the legacy of Jo Grimond, Liberal Party leader from 1956 to 1967, including his firm support for joining what was then the European Economic Community. Click though to Mark's page here for more details or subsrcibe on your usual app.

Commons Chief Whip and International Affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael has written this opinion piece for Alliance of Liberals & Democrats for Europe website. While it publication was delayed until last week, it is still worth recording the Party's opening position on the future UK-EU relationship.

Yesterday's Business Insider scoop of a leaked letter from Trade Secretary Liz Truss to two Cabinet colleagues is a major crack in the Brexit edifice.

The story reminds among other things that international law trumps domestic law, be it based on WTO, EU or any other treaty-based agreement, and that such commitments can land a country in trouble if they are not met. It also shows how replacing all the benefits of our EU membership by the end of this year continues to be a Tory fantasy.

Last week NFU deputy president Stuart Roberts and ALDC chief executive Tim Pickstone co-hosted a one-hour webinar on topics faced by rural communities post-Brexit and post-Covid that is now available to replay.

Further details and links to related resources here.

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Liberal International President of Honour, First Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly and former leader of the Alliance Party Lord (John) Alderdice will give a talk on Re-imaging the United Kingdom on Monday 13 July from 6pm on-line. Further details and Zoom registration here.

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