Serving on a committee is one of many great ways you can support the Party, and we are always keen to encourage new talent. The Party website has lots of information in the internal-elections hub.

We have upcoming Federal elections for:

• The Federal President
• The Federal Vice President responsible for working with ethnic minority Communities
• 3 members of the Federal Board (note the reforms to the structure of the Board summarised here)
• 21 members of Federal Council
• 15 members of Federal Policy Committee
• 12 members of Federal Conference Committee
• 6 members of the Federal International relations Committee
• 10 Delegates to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

With our Brighton conference approaching (agenda and registration here), I've recently written the latest report back to conference on the Board's work. Here is a slightly expanded and updated version of that report.

The next general election

With a new Conservative Party leader nearly upon us, the range of plausible dates for the general election is wide open. As it now may well be much sooner than seemed likely at the time of our last conference, the Federal Board has been reviewing our general election plans.

We need bold and urgent action to help families pay their bills and heat their homes this winter. There is no other choice.

Families and pensioners across the country are in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis. We have already seen energy bills rise by £700 this year. They simply cannot afford another, even bigger rise of £1,400 in October.

Following a meeting with former FCO official Duncan Spinner, who is working to get Ukrainians safely to Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today set out a series of steps that the Scottish Government should take to improve the Ukrainian refugee scheme.

Mr Cole-Hamilton is calling for:

Scottish Liberal Democrat deputy leader and North East Fife MSP Wendy Chamberlain has written to the Scottish and UK governments to raise the concerns of park home owners facing the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.

Currently in Scotland there is no cap on park home pitch fees and increases are calculated using the retail price index (RPI). Ms Chamberlain has been contacted by constituents from Rosebank Park Homes concerned that ground rent will go up by 25% in a 12-month period. This will mean that they are paying more than their mortgage on ground fees.

Commenting as nine Scottish Conservative MSPs declared their support for Liz Truss to be the next leader of the Conservative party, Liberal Democrat cabinet office spokesperson Christine Jardine MP said:

"The Scottish Conservatives have finally come off the fence but only after checking who was winning. They're like a footballer who changes strips at half time.

Responding to figures from Public Health Scotland showing the crisis in our A&E departments continuing, with just 65% of attendees at A&E services admitted, transferred or discharged within 4 hours, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP commented:

"The SNP's target for A&E waiting times is for 95% of attendees to be seen within 4 hours, we are currently seeing figures of 65% and we haven't seen a figure above 70% since May. These kinds of extreme wait times puts lives at risk.

Responding to his inclusion on a list of politicians, journalists and business people sanctioned by Russia, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

"One day, after Putin's army has been defeated and his government swept away by the tides of history, I hope that I will have the chance to visit and meet with those who have bravely stood up against the Russian regime. Until that happens, I will wear this ban as a badge of honour.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today called, once again, on the Scottish Government to get to grips with the social care crisis instead of devoting their efforts to independence, after new figures showed a 36% year-on-year increase in delayed discharges.

In June 2022 there were 50,340 days spent in hospital by people whose discharge was delayed - up 36% compared to June 2021 (37,136 days.)

Responding to Liz Truss describing Nicola Sturgeon as an "attention seeker" and the SNP's outraged response, Scottish Liberal Democrat deputy leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

"The people of Scotland deserved to be governed by grown-ups.

"Nicola Sturgeon will be secretly glad of these comments because it allows the SNP and the Conservatives to spend their time on a silly and undignified war of words, rather than focus on the difficult and complicated issues that both of their governments are failing to deal with.