David Chappell

If you couldn't make the first online consultation session, fear not!

We've recorded the entire thing - and you can cactch up now:

Saying hello is not difficult. And that is all you essentially need to do if you want to engage with diverse communities and open doors. I was determined to make sure I did that when I started campaigning in West Barnes, Merton.

I am the first BAME councillor to win in the ward's 60 year history. Our team worked hard and we followed all the advice we were given by ALDC and HQ. But essentially it was won through hard work and the willingness to say hello and listen to your residents.

This week is National Inclusion week - a week designed to raise awareness of the importance of diversity and inclusion.

The theme this year is "everyday inclusion" which is looking at the practical ways you can foster inclusion through day to day activities.

As a party, we are working hard to improve the diversity of our own membership and to ensure that our party reflects our society. And our local parties are best placed to reach out to the communities near them.

I'm often asked why I first joined the Liberal Democrats and I have often answered with the word 'Brexit'. But whilst it was true that devastating result of the EU Referendum in 2016 was the catalyst for me joining the party, it really encompasses many wider issues that I wish to make a stand against.

If you also demand better from our country - then come and join us.

On Tuesday 18^th September 2018, I attended for the first time a party conference in Brighton with the Liberal Democrats. This is all thanks to an initiative set by the Patchwork Foundation which encourages and funds young Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME), politically-minded people to attend party conferences and encourages them to be engaged in political affairs.

Party Conference is over, and we have left Brighton after an excellent four days. Over the Conference we have listened, spoken, debated matters fiercely, and voted on party policy.

Over 300 members attended Conference for the first time, and many of them made their first speech in debates on the stage too, making excellent contributions. The Exhibition and Fringes were brilliant too.

The more Theresa May tries to sound defiant, the more desperate she seems.

After her weak and rattled statement in Salzburg yesterday, Number 10 had little choice but to send her out for a second take today. But this latest attempt to cast herself as a leader who brooks no compromise is utterly unconvincing.

Gina Miller's Speech

Gina Miller delivered an impassioned speech on the need to continue with a unified fight against Brexit.

Let's be clear, in the debate we had in 2016 about Europe, there was scant idealism. Lies were told.

Miller called on people to put the national interest ahead of political divisions:

Jo Swinson's Speech

In her keynote speech Jo Swinson declared that the Liberal Democrats are the only party who will put people at the heart of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

When society demanded better, it was liberals who delivered. The Fourth Industrial Revolution gives us the same opportunity, and Conference - we must deliver again.