Youth group beneficial for Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrat Youth and Students (LDYS) is the youth and student wing of the Liberal Democrats in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

All members of the Liberal Democrats in England, Wales or Northern Ireland who are either under 26 or students are automatically entitled to join LDYS.

Liberal Democrat Youth and Students is the fully autonomous Youth and Student branch of the Federal Party of the Liberal Democrats (UK). LDYS was formed in 1993 by a merger of the Young Liberal Democrats of England and the Student Liberal Democrats (covering England and most of Wales).

Both predecessor organizations, created at the time of the Liberal-SDP (Social Democrat Party) merger in 1988, have been working increasingly closely together after early years of rivalry.

LDYS is now known as one of the Liberal Democrats' foremost campaigning and policy-making organizations.

A strong record of success in elections of LDYS members to Federal Committees has also improved the organization's standing in the Party giving the Party the strength of a broader base on which to make its decisions.

Right from the start, LDYS proved to be a campaigning organization. Student votes helped deliver several seats at the last General Election. In school mock elections with campaign packs provided by LDYS, the Liberal Democrats did far better than in 'real' General Election.

In university and other college students' unions too, LDYS members have a record of success where they made a significant impact on the policy of the National Union of Students.

LDYS has written more of party policy than anyone else but the party's own Federal Policy Committee. Challenging and building on party policy, LDYS has often acted both as the Party's conscience and as its practical campaigning policymakers.

LDYS has been highly successful at Federal Conferences, with a consistent emphasis on issues such as rights at 16, student funding, civil liberties and equal opportunities adding to issues as diverse as workers' rights and the United Nations.

Young people and students are rarely represented in politics, and so often interested more in single-issue groups than in the political parties, which ignore them.

LDYS has been highly effective in representing young people and students within the Liberal Democrats, and in "selling" the Liberal Democrat message to those students and young people it rarely reaches.

The Liberal Democrats are organized "federally," meaning that decision-making and organization is decentralized down to the lowest practical level.

Local party coordinates Liberal Democrat activities across one or more parliamentary constituencies. This includes campaigning in local authority elections, recruitment, fundraising and of course feeding into national campaigns such as the General and European Elections.

The most successful LDYS branches tend to work very closely with their corresponding local parties. Indeed many of the most successful local parties to a large extent depend on LDYS branches to provide them with enthusiastic young activists, candidates and organizers.

LDYS organizes many other activities. One of them is Westminster Day. Running since 1985, Westminster Day is a unique opportunity for young people from around the UK to engage with senior political figures and make their voice heard.

Although the event is entirely underwritten and organized by LDYS alone, it is operated on strictly cross-party political lines.

Young people feel disenfranchised and distanced and need to feel that the politicians are listening to them.

LDYS also organizes tours of Parliament for school groups and involve dozens of other political organizations in an exhibition area.

"There are four things that are fundamental to being a Liberal Democrat. We're the champions of good-quality schools, universities, hospitals, trains and buses, supported by a fair, transparent and honest tax system," said MP Charles Kennedy, the leader of the Liberal Democrats during Westminster Day, February 2002.

"We're champions of civil liberties and human rights. We're champions of internationalism - there are so many problems in the world that can't be solved by nation states acting on their own," he added.

Kennedy also said, "We're champions of the environment - we don't want to see the one earth's resources irretrievably dam aged before they're handed down to the generations of the future."

Group activities include designing, planning and launching a campaign from scratch, presentation skills, around the Liberal Democrats in 60 minutes, press and media skills, an outdoor event, and the chance to meet other new members and some of the people who run LDYS.

LDYS holds two conferences a year, one in the autumn and one at spring. At these LDYS meetings, members decide the LDYS policy, hold the executive and other committees to account, get to meet Liberal Democrat politicians and participate in consultation sessions, workshops and training courses.

The Federal Party also holds two conferences a year. In recent years, LDYS has brought forward a number of conference motions that have gone on to become Party policy.

LDYS has its own conference representatives, who are normally elected at the autumn LDYS conference for the following year.

LDYS has also active participations in The British Youth Council (BYC), an umbrella organization for the many Youth Councils spread across the country, and National Union of Students (NUS) Conference. In both LDYS have been successful in getting policy passed and people elected.

Libdems are key partners in the campaign to win the right to vote for 16 year olds. They work actively to increase young people's participation in the political process, making direct contact through school, youth organizations and the media.

Libdem Youth and Students are working to become the natural place for radical and socially aware young people. They promote the fact that young people are taken seriously in the party, as agents, candidates and on key party committees.

They are establishing themselves, uniquely in British politics, as a group that provides real influence in a major British political party, and a powerful route to political office. They actively work to build the UK Youth Parliament, as a voice for young people which the Government cannot ignore.

Libdems campaign to abolish student tuition fees, restore benefit entitlement and equalize the minimum wage. They promote the fact that Libdems are the ONLY British political party that treats young people as first, not second class citizens.

Internationally, LDYS is a member of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform group of parties in the EU and also Central and Eastern Europe.

LDYS is affiliated to LYMEC (European Liberal Youth Organization) They are also members of Liberal International and its youth wing, the International Federation of Liberal and Radical Youth (IFLRY).

"The twenty-first century is a new Liberal Century. The last century in the UK was one of class struggles, which is a major reason that the Liberals did not widely hold power. The battles of the twenty-first century are returning to key and fundamentally liberal ground; economic divergence between rich and poor, equality, and most of all freedom. The first evidence of the re-emergence of this struggle at the center of the political forum is found in the anti-capitalist protests seen over recent years.

Low turnout in elections is also a cause for concern. LDYS will examine what these changes mean for a young and vigorous Liberal Democrat Party, and what action might be taken by a Liberal government to truly Herald a New Liberal Century" LDYS quotes.