Federal Board (Liberal Democrats)

Federal Board
Abbreviation	FB
Chair	Mark Pack
Parent organisation	Liberal Democrats
Website	Federal Board
Formerly called	Federal Executive

The Federal Board is the governing body of the Liberal Democrats. It is chaired by the party president, currently Mark Pack, and includes members of the party-at-large elected every three years in an all-member ballot, as well as representatives from the state parties, MPs, peers, MEPs, and councillors.^[1] Until 2017 it was known as the Federal Executive. From November 2022, it was re-constituted, with a Federal Council added to provide scrutiny to a smaller sized board.

History

In November 2015, the election of Lord Rennard by members of the House of Lords as the Peer Representative to the committee caused a "backlash" from party members, due to public accusations of sexual harassment that had been made against the peer. The complaints triggered a petition calling for a special conference to debate the issue,^[2] and resulted in Rennard stepping down from the body shortly afterwards.^[3]

In November 2016, reforms were passed that resulted in the Federal Executive being replaced by the Federal Board.^[4]

Following constitutional reforms ahead of the 2022 election, the number of directly elected members was reduced from 15, to 3. Following the 2022 election, Lucy Nethsinga came first out of the directly elected members, followed by Neil Fawcett and then Joyce Onstad. Following her resignation from the party, Onstad was replaced by Callum Robertson who won the recounted vote.^[5]

Members of the Federal Board

Chair: Mark Pack
English Party Chair: Lucas North
Scottish Party Convenor: Jenni Laing
Welsh Party Chair: Tim Sly
Leader: Ed Davey
Chair of FFRC and Registered Treasurer: Mike Cox
Chair of FPDC: Claire Hudson
Vice-chair of FPC: Jeremy Hargreaves
Chair of FCC: Nicholas Da Costa
Chair of FCEC: Kath Pinnock
Chair of FASC: Helena Cole
Vice-president: Amna Ahmad
Councillor representative: Chris White
Young Liberals Representative: Janey Little

Directly Elected:

Lucy Nethsingha (Cambridge)
Neil Fawcett (Oxford West & Abingdon)
Callum Robertson (Peterborough & Fenland)

Non-voting Members

Chief Executive: Mike Dixon

Federal Council

The Federal Council was formed following the reduction of the size of the Federal Board in 2022. According to the Liberal Democrats, the Federal Council scrutinises the actions of the Federal Board

Federal Council seat allocation

As of 2024, membership of the Federal Council is allocated as such:^[1]^[6]

21 party members (elected by party members)
3 members from each State Party (elected according to each State Party's processes)
3 principal local authority councillors, elected Mayors or Police and Crime Commissioners (elected by their numbers)
3 members of the Young Liberals, (elected according to the Young Liberals processes)
3 representatives of the Parliamentary Liberal Democrats
The Chair of the Federal Audit and Scrutiny Committee

Members of the Federal Council

The current members of the Federal Council are^[6]

Chair of Federal Council: Antony Hook
FASC Chair: Dr David Radcliffe

Directly elected party members:

Mark Valladares
Alison Jenner
Ed Sainsbury
Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett
Candy Piercy
Chloe Hutchinson
Chris Northwood
Clare Delderfield
Gareth Lewis Shelton
Gordon Lishman
Hannah Perkin
James Gurling
Lisa Maria Bornemann
Mark Johnston
Sally Povlotsky
Sarah Cheung Johnson
Simon McGrath
Stephen Robinson
Terry Stacy
Tim Brett
Zoe Hollowood

State party representatives:

Prue Bray MBE
Richard Flowers
Pete Dollimore
Cass MacDonald
Paul McGarry
Stephen Harte
Jon Buree
Chris Passmore
William Powell

Parliamentary representatives:

Young Liberals representatives:

Archie McCann
Huw James
Oliver Jones Lyon

References

^ ^a ^b "Liberal Democrat Federal Constitution".
^ "Lib Dems to hold special conference over Lord Rennard's election". The Guardian. 16 November 2015.
^ "Lord Rennard steps down from Lib Dem executive". The Guardian. 17 November 2015.
^ Pack, Mark. "A glossary of Liberal Democrat terms". markpack.org.uk. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
^ "The Federal Board". www.libdems.org.uk.
^ ^a ^b "The Federal Council - Liberal Democrats". www.libdems.org.uk. Retrieved 6 June 2024.

[:0-1] "Liberal Democrat Federal Constitution".

[2] "Lib Dems to hold special conference over Lord Rennard's election". The Guardian. 16 November 2015.

[3] "Lord Rennard steps down from Lib Dem executive". The Guardian. 17 November 2015.

[4] Pack, Mark. "A glossary of Liberal Democrat terms". markpack.org.uk. Retrieved 6 June 2024.

[5] "The Federal Board". www.libdems.org.uk.

[:1-6] "The Federal Council - Liberal Democrats". www.libdems.org.uk. Retrieved 6 June 2024.

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