When and how do I submit my motion?
You will need to submit your motion a few weeks before Conference starts either in October or November. Emergency motions and amendments can be submitted up to a few days before Conference. Procedural motions can be submitted at any time. You may submit motions for drafting advice a few weeks prior to the submissions deadline. You will be provided with a critique and helpful guidance for how you may improve your motion.

Who can write a motion?
Any member of a local party in the Yorkshire and Humber region can write a motion. However, you will need to get at least ten party members or your local party to back your motion if you want to submit it for debate at Conference. The Yorkshire and Humber Liberal Democrats Policy Committee can also submit motions for debate. Click here for a glossary of terms and rules of Conference debates (known as Standing Orders).

What types of motion are there?
There are several different types of motion, amendment and debate requests that members
can submit:

• Policy motion: a proposal for a particular policy.
• Business motion: a proposal about how the Party works internally.
• Emergency motion: a proposal that relates to a specific development after the deadline for submitting normal policy or business motions.
• Topical Issue discussion: instead of a motion, members can submit a request to have a discussion on a policy issue of significant and topical relevance, conducted without a vote.
• Amendments: a proposal to change a business or policy motion. Emergency motions cannot be amended.
• Separate vote: a vote on a specific word, line or section of a motion.

What happens after that?
All the submitted motions are discussed by the Regional Conference Committee, who then select which motions are going to be debated. You will be emailed by a member of RCC to tell you if your motion has been selected. All selected motions will then be published in the Conference Agenda.

What if my motion is not selected?
You will be told by the member of RCC why your motion was not selected. If you do not agree with this decision, you then have the right to appeal in writing to the next RCC meeting.

What makes a good motion?

LENGTH
There are no official word limits, but it is important to make sure your motion not overly long. The Federal Conference Committee generally looks less favourably on an emergency motion which is more than 250 words or a policy motion that is over 500 words.

STYLE AND CONTENT
Motions should be written as concisely as possible. Facts and figures are important but should be kept to a minimum. If quotations are included, then they should be kept short. References to reports, White Papers, draft bills etc. should be written on the assumption the audience have not read them, and some basic explanation is needed. Check that any factual points are accurate - motions that have inaccuracies are less likely to be selected. You should also not rely on a single source, especially if it is a newspaper article or a campaign. A good source of information on many topical political issues is the set of House of Commons Library Research Papers available online here.

The policy recommendations are the most important part of the motion and what you should give most thought to. A common reason for motions not being selected is that they contain a
lot of criticisms and a detailed description of the problem but are thin, unclear or entirely negative in their conclusions. When writing your policy recommendations, it is better to stick to a few substantial points which make for a coherent plan, rather than a long list of small changes. You should refrain from personal attacks – the law of defamation applies to Party Conference.

In general, a motion is more likely to be selected if it:

• Contains genuinely new and interesting proposals.
• Is on a subject where we do not have much policy and which has not been debated at conference recently.
• Is on a subject of high political salience.
• Is likely to lead to an interesting debate, with amendments and speakers both for and against.

It is less likely to be selected by the Conference Committee if it is:

• A repeat of old policies with nothing really new.
• On a subject which has been debated recently.
• On a subject where we expect an official policy paper at the next couple of conferences.
• Unlikely to lead to a good debate, for example if it is so uncontroversial that no one will want to disagree with anything in the motion. 

Currently and recently passed policy can be found in the YHLD Policy Book.

STRUCTURE
The best motions are structured as follows:
1. Description of the issue or problem which the motion seeks to address.
2. The Liberal Democrat principle(s) which underlie the solution.
3. Highlighting existing Liberal Democrat policies which will contribute to the solution.
4. The further policy proposals which normally conclude the motion and are its most important element.

It is normal to break down each section of the motion into a series points. This makes it clearer, and also easier to deal with amendments later. The first section should describe the issue being addressed by the motion, usually using words such as Conference “notes”, “is concerned by” or “regrets”. The motion can then “believe”, “reaffirm”, “recognise”, “declare” or just list the principles that apply.

Policy recommendations are usually introduced by “calls for”, “calls on the Government to” or even “calls on Liberal Democrat Parliamentarians to press for”, but could also follow from “recommends”, “proposes”, “urges”, “demands”, “insists”, or “resolves”. Please note that under the party constitution elected representatives cannot be mandated. You should therefore avoid language like “Conference requires Liberal Democrat MPs to...”. Something like “Conference calls on Liberal Democrats in Parliament to work for...” would be better drafting.

The content of the motion, from the first to last sentences, should include line numbers throughout, even for line breaks.

The final set of proposals should be listed 1., 2., 3. etc. Previous sections should alternate between different styles of letters and numbers. For example:
1 Conference notes with concern:
2 A.
3 B.
4 C.
5
6 Conference reaffirms the Liberal Democrat commitment to:
7 I.
8 II.
9 III.
10
11 Conference calls for:
12 1.
13 2.
14 3.

What makes a good amendment?

FORMAT
An amendment to a selected motion should maintain consistency with the motion’s format, namely in terms of list style. Text which you wish to include in the motion should be roman or normal, while instructions for it should be italicised. While you do also need to include line numbers in your amendment, it should not reflect changes you want to make the motion as a whole. If your amendment is adopted, changes to the motion’s line numbers will be reorganised accordingly.

CONTENT
Additional or different proposals in an amendment need to be relevant to the subject matter of the motion in question.

ADDITIONS
If you wish to add whole points, you need to identify the last line of the previous point and instruct what you would like to include after it. For example:
After line 14, insert:
4.
Or:
After line 12, insert new 2. and 3.:
2.
3.

If you wish to expand upon an existing point, you need to identify the line and the word before where you wish to insert your text. For example:
After ‘budget’ in line 12, insert:
Or:
At the end of 1. (line 12), insert:

REPLACEMENTS
If you wish to replace whole points, you need to specify which point and lines you would like removed and say what you would like to replace it. For example:
Delete 1. (line 12) and replace with:
1.
If you wish to replace sections of a sentence within a line or across some lines while broadly maintaining the proposal, you will need to quote what you wish to remove and replace it with.

DELETIONS
If you wish to delete a point, say which you wish removed and the lines where they are found. For example:
Delete 1. (line 12) and renumber.
If you wish to delete a point’s specific proposals or certain sections of a sentence, you will need to quote the section in question and give reference to the line or lines where it can be found.