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cosmolinguistWhat's your name, where are you from, and which committee(s) are you standing for?
Caron Lindsay, from Livingston in Scotland, standing for Federal Board
Are you standing for the first time or restanding? If first time what new thing do you bring that nobody else could; if restanding, what about your record are you most proud of that you think should make us vote you back in?
I've been on the Federal Executive for the last four years. I think I'm proudest of firstly playing a small role in developing the Membership Incentive Scheme. The seeds were sown during a curry in Edinburgh with the then head of membership back in 2012. When it was threatened last year, I helped find a way to save it.
It's just so important to give local parties an incentive to grow membership by giving them money back that they can then use for campaigning. The whole party benefits.
Are you standing for any other committees, if so which ones; and if elected to more than one how do you plan to divide your time?
I'm only standing for Federal Board. If you have any questions you want to ask me, please contact me on caronmlindsay@gmail.com or phone me on 07946 169798.
Are you an active member of any SAOs, and if so which ones?
I'm a long time member of ALDC, Lib Dem Women, LGBT+ Lib Dems and I'm an honorary Vice President of Liberal Youth Scotland and have acted as Liberal Youth's Returning Officer.
If someone asked you on the doorstep, the hustings or on TV to sum up in one or two sentences what the Lib Dems, uniquely, stand for – and then why anyone should vote for us – what are your answers?
Liberal Democrats are here to break down barriers facing people so that they can achieve their full potential, to use the power of the state to bring about social and political fairness instead of poking its nose into people's private business without good reason.
What is your view on diversity quotas for committees? Should they be extended to cover more than just gender, scrapped totally, kept as is or something else?
For me it is most important that the party at all levels seeks to look like the country it seeks to represent.
With politics hurtling towards the homo, bi and trans phobic, racist, misogynistic right at an alarming rate, it is vital that diverse voices inform our thinking and policies.
Quotas may not sit easy with some people, who have as much commitment to equality as I do. I understand that. However, they work. It is only by having that diverse group of voices round every decision making table in the party that we will get the cultural change we so desperately need.
That's why I was proud to propose the Electing Diverse MPs motion in York and why I helped develop the quotas for under-represented groups being introduced in this election. I look forward to the day that such measures are no longer necessary, but we can't just wait for it to happen naturally. Not if we want to see change in our lifetimes.
Secrecy rules prevent the party knowing what committees are doing. What will you do to communicate with members; and in what circumstances is confidentiality justified?
My general rule of thumb is that everything should be published unless there is a compelling reason not to do so. I successfully argued for greater transparency during the General Election Review and the final document is one which was praised in the press for actually getting to the point of the issues.
For me, things like issues of staffing, financial detail and campaigning strategy need to be kept out of the public domain but our members need to understand the rationale behind decisions. Getting the right balance is very important.
I also initiated the principle that there should be a comms plan for every FE decision at the point we take it.
I've used social media, blogging, face to face contact, being generally accessible to people to answer questions and feed back concerns to communicate with people. I am proud to have the endorsement of Daisy Cooper in this election. She said: "Caron is a reformist who senses the mood of our members and channels that into decisions at the highest level."
As the party has now backed the principle of OMOV, how will you ensure all members are represented, not just those who can afford to go to Conference?
The great thing about our party is that any member can get involved in putting forward policies. The first thing I'd do is make sure that people were more aware of how they could do that, how they could develop ideas and bring them forward. The raising of the tax threshold policy in its most recent incarnation came from a member rather than the leadership, so did our ground-breaking drugs policy.
I've been a great supporter of the Conference Access Fund which helps people with the costs of Conference so I'd like to see that greatly expanded. We must also look at ways of making it cheaper generally.
If police accreditation to attend conference was proposed again, would you support or oppose it and why?
Many of you will be unaware of what this was about. When we were in government, all attendees at our conference had to undergo police checks before they were allowed to attend.
For me, it's unacceptable in a liberal society for the police to determine who can engage with politics so it was a red line for me.
I was the one person on the Federal Finance and Administration Committee to oppose it way back when it was first proposed in 2011 and I will always continue to do so.
What is your view on electoral pacts? Should the party make them, and if so, who with?
I am all for working with other parties where we agree on things. I am not persuaded that electoral pacts would help. There is a case for non-aggression agreements and other sorts of working together though.
We progressive types have a huge responsibility over the next few years to change the mood music of politics. The more that we can build a narrative that argues for a generous, open-hearted, diverse, inclusive, fair society where everyone has the chance to get on, the better. That more than anything else will help beat the Tories and stop the havoc that they are wreaking on our economy, liberties and international reputation.
People who have very little depend on us to do that and we Liberal Democrats must play our part - but we also have a unique no Brexit without a say position so we must be careful not to limit our chances to get national vote share either. Again, it's a balance, but the most important thing is building that national mood and changing the political culture.
The list of all candidates who have answered can be found here.
Caron Lindsay, from Livingston in Scotland, standing for Federal Board
Are you standing for the first time or restanding? If first time what new thing do you bring that nobody else could; if restanding, what about your record are you most proud of that you think should make us vote you back in?
I've been on the Federal Executive for the last four years. I think I'm proudest of firstly playing a small role in developing the Membership Incentive Scheme. The seeds were sown during a curry in Edinburgh with the then head of membership back in 2012. When it was threatened last year, I helped find a way to save it.
It's just so important to give local parties an incentive to grow membership by giving them money back that they can then use for campaigning. The whole party benefits.
Are you standing for any other committees, if so which ones; and if elected to more than one how do you plan to divide your time?
I'm only standing for Federal Board. If you have any questions you want to ask me, please contact me on caronmlindsay@gmail.com or phone me on 07946 169798.
Are you an active member of any SAOs, and if so which ones?
I'm a long time member of ALDC, Lib Dem Women, LGBT+ Lib Dems and I'm an honorary Vice President of Liberal Youth Scotland and have acted as Liberal Youth's Returning Officer.
If someone asked you on the doorstep, the hustings or on TV to sum up in one or two sentences what the Lib Dems, uniquely, stand for – and then why anyone should vote for us – what are your answers?
Liberal Democrats are here to break down barriers facing people so that they can achieve their full potential, to use the power of the state to bring about social and political fairness instead of poking its nose into people's private business without good reason.
What is your view on diversity quotas for committees? Should they be extended to cover more than just gender, scrapped totally, kept as is or something else?
For me it is most important that the party at all levels seeks to look like the country it seeks to represent.
With politics hurtling towards the homo, bi and trans phobic, racist, misogynistic right at an alarming rate, it is vital that diverse voices inform our thinking and policies.
Quotas may not sit easy with some people, who have as much commitment to equality as I do. I understand that. However, they work. It is only by having that diverse group of voices round every decision making table in the party that we will get the cultural change we so desperately need.
That's why I was proud to propose the Electing Diverse MPs motion in York and why I helped develop the quotas for under-represented groups being introduced in this election. I look forward to the day that such measures are no longer necessary, but we can't just wait for it to happen naturally. Not if we want to see change in our lifetimes.
Secrecy rules prevent the party knowing what committees are doing. What will you do to communicate with members; and in what circumstances is confidentiality justified?
My general rule of thumb is that everything should be published unless there is a compelling reason not to do so. I successfully argued for greater transparency during the General Election Review and the final document is one which was praised in the press for actually getting to the point of the issues.
For me, things like issues of staffing, financial detail and campaigning strategy need to be kept out of the public domain but our members need to understand the rationale behind decisions. Getting the right balance is very important.
I also initiated the principle that there should be a comms plan for every FE decision at the point we take it.
I've used social media, blogging, face to face contact, being generally accessible to people to answer questions and feed back concerns to communicate with people. I am proud to have the endorsement of Daisy Cooper in this election. She said: "Caron is a reformist who senses the mood of our members and channels that into decisions at the highest level."
As the party has now backed the principle of OMOV, how will you ensure all members are represented, not just those who can afford to go to Conference?
The great thing about our party is that any member can get involved in putting forward policies. The first thing I'd do is make sure that people were more aware of how they could do that, how they could develop ideas and bring them forward. The raising of the tax threshold policy in its most recent incarnation came from a member rather than the leadership, so did our ground-breaking drugs policy.
I've been a great supporter of the Conference Access Fund which helps people with the costs of Conference so I'd like to see that greatly expanded. We must also look at ways of making it cheaper generally.
If police accreditation to attend conference was proposed again, would you support or oppose it and why?
Many of you will be unaware of what this was about. When we were in government, all attendees at our conference had to undergo police checks before they were allowed to attend.
For me, it's unacceptable in a liberal society for the police to determine who can engage with politics so it was a red line for me.
I was the one person on the Federal Finance and Administration Committee to oppose it way back when it was first proposed in 2011 and I will always continue to do so.
What is your view on electoral pacts? Should the party make them, and if so, who with?
I am all for working with other parties where we agree on things. I am not persuaded that electoral pacts would help. There is a case for non-aggression agreements and other sorts of working together though.
We progressive types have a huge responsibility over the next few years to change the mood music of politics. The more that we can build a narrative that argues for a generous, open-hearted, diverse, inclusive, fair society where everyone has the chance to get on, the better. That more than anything else will help beat the Tories and stop the havoc that they are wreaking on our economy, liberties and international reputation.
People who have very little depend on us to do that and we Liberal Democrats must play our part - but we also have a unique no Brexit without a say position so we must be careful not to limit our chances to get national vote share either. Again, it's a balance, but the most important thing is building that national mood and changing the political culture.
The list of all candidates who have answered can be found here.