OPINION

The centrepiece of Social Liberal Forum's Conference programme was the debate on Motion F34: Ensuring Fairness in a time of Austerity. Below are the highlights from the excellent discussion that the Motion inspired - full versions of the speeches can be found on our

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Following internal elections over the summer, the Social Liberal Forum are pleased to announce a new Council which will govern the work of the organisation over the next couple of years. The following people will serve as members of the Social Liberal Forum Council 2010-2012: Our governing council is as follows:

• Prateek Buch
• Theo Butt Philip
• Gareth Epps
• James Graham
• David Hall-Matthews
• Simon Hebditch
• Linda Jack
• Pa

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We are delighted to have got this motion onto the agenda of this autumn's Liberal Democrat conference in Liverpool. It will be debated during the morning session on Tuesday 21 September.

F34 Ensuring Fairness in a Time of Austerity 34 conference representatives Mover: James Graham Summation: David Hall-Matthews Conference notes: i) The fragile state of the global economy. ii) That the poor, the young and the vulnerable have historically suffered during periods of

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Anyone would have thought that Mr Gove was the first Secretary of State to have taken an axe to school building programmes. In the great devaluation crisis that played out during the final months of 1967 and early 1968, school building was savaged just as now, along with the raising of the school leaving age from 15 to 16. Here is what Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, said to the House of Commons on the 16th January 1968:

31. Education. Next education, one of the biggest and most rapid

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Former Chair of the Social Liberal Forum Richard Grayson writes:

Check out an e-pamphlet I have written called The Liberal Democrat Journey to a Lib-Con Coalition - and Where Next? which is published today by Compass. A shorter version of it is published in the New Statesman available from newstands in London today and everywhere else in the UK from tomorrow.

The full pamphlet can be found on the

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Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Simon Hughes has announced an intention to amend the budget to promote fairness. He told the Guardian today that:

When it comes to the Budget next week, we will vote for the budget. But if there are measures in the Finance Bill where we could improve fairness and make for a fairer Britain, then we will come forward with amendments to do that, because th

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A brief note, reflecting on the criteria by which I proposed we should judge the budget, now it has sunk in:

• What is the timescale? 5 years, so this is a clear Conservative victory. I am deeply concerned about this, possibly more than anything else, because I think it will damage growth over the next half decade (possibly plunging us back into recession) and thus prolong, not minimise, the pain.
• What is the proportion of cuts to tax rises? I

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Regardless of what Liberal Democrats might like the budget to be tomorrow, we always knew it was going to be a compromise between the Lib Dems and Conservatives in government. The Parliamentary arithmetic always meant that the Lib Dems' game plan in coalition was restraining the Tories rather than getting them to abandon their policies altogether. So the issue with the rumours and hints that have been flying around over the past few days is not that the party isn't winning the argument, but th

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