October 03, 2024

What the Parties Are Saying About Europe - Conference Season 2024

Updates October 03, 2024

What the Parties Are Saying About Europe - Conference Season 2024

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With conference season coming to an end, we thought it was high time to tell you all about European Movement UK’s activities over the last few weeks. We were at most of the major UK conferences, minus the Conservative conference and the (at time of writing) yet-to-happen Plaid Cymru Conference.

Following the recent General Election, it’s safe to say that this year’s party conferences had plenty of interesting debates, motions, policies, stories and fringe events.

But what about Europe? How often, and it what ways, did that come up at conferences? And what were European Movement UK and European Movement in Scotland (EMiS) doing to spread the pro-European message?

Here are the answers to those questions.

 

Labour Party Conference

At the celebratory, if rather rainy, conference of the new government, we spent our time networking with Labour contacts, from senior Ministers to ordinary party members from across the country. We also attended - and spoke up at - a dozen or more fringe meetings addressed by impressive panels of eminent politicians and experts.

The subjects of the fringe meetings that we hurried to under the downpours of rain included trade, climate change, defence, industrial strategy, health and the cultural sector. The curse of Brexit was a theme running through all of them – it has left few areas of our national life undamaged.

So even if the Prime Minister and other leading Labour figures preferred to avoid the subject in the main conference arena, the UK’s relationship with the EU was being discussed just about everywhere else.

EU Ambassador to the UK Pedro Serrano struck a very positive tone at the reception he hosted, flanked by Mr Thomas-Symonds and the Europe Minister Stephen Doughty, both of whom had warm words of their own. Nobody could be left in any doubt: trust is beginning to be re-established.

However, it is results that count. Everyone, from the EU delegation and experts on panels to a plethora of speakers from the floor, called for the government to negotiate a youth mobility deal with the EU.

Encouragingly, this call was firmly backed by Stella Creasy, Chair of the Labour Movement for Europe, who was a prominent and positive presence at the conference.

 

Scottish National Party (SNP) Conference

EMiS attended the SNP National Conference in Edinburgh from August 30th to September 1st. Against a challenging post-election landscape for the party, members came to together to plan the way forward for the party.

EMiS hosted an exhibition stall at the conference, engaging members in conversations on how the party can do more to champion Scotland's place in Europe, a subject which has always been core to the SNP's international affairs, especially following Brexit.

We held talk with various senior politicians, including Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, hearing the party leadership's positions on Europe and discussing the necessary steps to build an ever-closer relationship with the EU.

Importantly, we also left the SNP conference with many new EMiS members, ready to join us in the campaign to undo the damage of a botched Brexit and, in time, get the UK back into the EU once again.

[Credit: European Movement in Scotland]

 

Green Party Conference

At this year's Green Party conference in Manchester the party cemented its pro-European position by passing a detailed policy motion calling for closer ties with the EU, including a return to full membership "as soon as the political will is present".

The Green Party also laid out support for re-joining the customs union, greater cooperation with Europe on tackling the climate crisis, re-joining Erasmus+, a youth mobility scheme and removing barriers for musicians and performers travelling between the UK and the EU.

At the European Movement's fringe event on youth mobility, chaired by our Vice-Chair Molly Scott Cato, there was a wide-ranging conversation on the importance of re-opening opportunities for young people, provided by former MEP and academic Catherine Rowett, Madeleina Kay, Youth Engagement Officer at Young European Movement, and Ray Kirtley, chair of the UK Global Learning Association.

[Credit: European Movement UK]

 

Liberal Democrat Party Conference

The Liberal Democrat conference was also a very celebratory affair, as the party welcomed the largest group of MPs in its history.

Pro-Europeanism was a key feature of the 4-day event, with policies and fringes covering many of European Movement UK’s own campaign areas, such as youth mobility, Erasmus+, and easier cross-border movement for musicians.

During the debate on Erasmus+, in which not a single speaker spoke against re-joining the scheme, our own Vice-President Vince Cable took to the stage and cited the work of European Movement UK in his rousing speech in favour of the motion. Many high-ranking parliamentarians also made their support clear, a sentiment that was reiterated with mentions of Europe in Ed Davey's leaders speech on the final day of proceedings. 

European Movement UK ran an exhibition stall, one we shared with our friends in the Liberal Democrat Europe Group and the Liberal International British Group. Throughout the conference, we enjoyed many fruitful discussions with party members about European Movement UK’s work and how they can get involved.

Of particular note was the attendance of European fringe events. At almost every talk, panel and discussion that concerned the EU, it was standing room only, with all of the available seats taken up well before the event began.

It was not uncommon to have every available square-foot of floorspace occupied by an interested and engaged pro-European, making it abundantly clear that the Liberal Democrats remain resolutely pro-EU.

 

So, with conference season now behind us and Westminster almost back at work, what remains to be seen is how the many speeches and panels that European Movement UK saw and participated in get translated into legislative movement.

Rest assured we will be following up on all the work done at the conferences above, and campaigning as hard as ever to see Europe at the top of the political agenda.


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