The left-leaning wing of the party – the Social Liberal Forum – has released a series of potential amendments and emergency motions for the party’s autumn conference. The list is an interesting indication of what the grassroots (the SLF likes to describe itself as the ‘soul’ of the Lib Dems) are most worried about.
There’s an amendment from the irrepressible Lord Oakeshott, which adds a line to a motion due for debate on the Tuesday of the conference, called ‘Tackling Inequality at
its Roots’. The peer’s addition is, surprisingly, calling for a full mansion tax. Another SLF member, Gareth Epps, wants another amendment supporting
Nick Clegg’s call for a wealth tax, but not as a consolation prize for the £10 billion of welfare cuts that George Osborne is pushing for:
‘Conference further believes that wealth taxes are an appropriate response to widening inequality in themselves, and calls on the government to implement wealth taxes in their own right and not as a trade-off for further self-defeating cuts to welfare spending.’
Spectator article in full
