Introducing the New (2026-28) Federal Council

by Simon Robinson, 06 Feb 2026

Last Tuesday, 27 Jan, was the first meeting of the newly elected Federal Council. I believe we need more transparency about what the various LibDem internal committees are doing, so I’ll be trying to write up reports of each meeting.

What is Federal Council?

(Proviso: I’ve only just been elected to it, so I’m still to some extent learning how it will go – so I hope the following is correct) Well the Federal bit refers to the National Party. The LibDems have separate party structures representing England, Scotland and Wales, and above them is the Federal Party. What about the ‘Council’ bit? Well the purpose is perhaps a bit more mundane than the name suggests: It’s basically a scrutiny body. The idea is a separate body called the Federal Board makes decisions required for running the national party, and the Federal Council scrutinizes those decisions. If sufficient Federal Council members feel a decision requires scrutiny, we can require a member of Federal Board to come and explain the reasons why they made that decision. We cannot overturn a decision, but – if the systems works properly – it’s possible that Federal Board might reconsider a decision if Federal Council members provide good reasons. So in other words, Federal Board makes decisions. Federal Council keeps a bit of oversight to (hopefully) ensure decisions are made rationally and are sensible.

Who is on Federal Council?

There are 41 members, of which 21 are directly elected by the entire national LibDem membership, 3 are elected to represent each of: The English Party, the Scottish Party, the Welsh Party, the Young Liberals, LibDem councillors, and the LibDem Parliamentary group. Then there is one Federal Board observer and the chair of the Federal Accounts and Scrutiny Committee (FASC). The FB observer and one of the Parliamentary Group reps are currently vacant. In theory the system should be reasonably democratic: If you’re a LibDem member, then you get to vote for the 21 directly elected members (for the remaining members who represent various party bodies, that will depend on the processes that body has for selecting members). But in practice, few members bother: Turnout in the most recent FC elections was well below 10%. The current members are:

• Abrial Jerram
• Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett
• Aidan Van de Weyer
• Anne Williams
• April Preston
• Candy Piercy
• Caroline Leaver
• Caron Lindsay
• Charley Hasted
• Christine Murdoch
• Claire Waller
• Daisy Cooper MP
• David Radcliffe
• Dominic Martin
• Donna Harris
• Edward Sainsbury
• Fraser Graham
• Gareth Roberts
• Hannah Perkin
• Harvey Jones
• Harvey Thomas-Benton
• Humaira Sanders
• Janice Turner
• Jenny Wilkinson
• Jon Burree
• Keith Moffit
• Rachel Barker
• Richard Cole
• Sarah Cheung Johnson
• Simon McGrath
• Simon Robinson
• Stephen Harte
• Sudhakar Achwal
• Teresa Cooper
• Thalia Marrington
• Tim Pickstone
• Toby Keynes
• Victor Chamberlain
• Wendy Chamberlain MP

In theory, you should be able to see the members and their bios at https://www.libdems.org.uk/members-area/federal-committees/federal-council. However at the time of writing, that page hasn’t been updated and is still showing the previous (2023-25) Federal Council. UPDATE 19 Feb 2026: The page now shows current Federal Council members, although in some cases without bios and photos.

One thing I have noticed is that very few people remain from the previous Federal Council. As far as I can make out, the people who were on the previous Federal Council and have been reelected to serve on the current one are: Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett, Candy Piercy, Caron Lindsay, Daisy Cooper MP, David Radcliffe, Ed Sainsbury, Jon Burree, Sarah Cheung Johnson, Stephen Harte, and Wendy Chamberlain MP. Just 10 people, or about ¼ of the Council. I’m not sure why that is – whether people didn’t want to carry on or whether previous council members stood and failed to be elected, but it does seem a shame that so few people have continued.

What Happened at the First Meeting?

Not a lot actually. It was largely taken up with familiarising everyone with what FC does and how it works, and then electing the Chair and two Vice-Chairs. Tim Pickstone was the only candidate for Chair, so he was elected by default. For the Vice-Chairs, we had 5 candidates: Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett, Caron Lindsay, Humaira Saunders, Toby Keynes, and Victor Chamberlain, although Toby Keynes subsequently withdrew, so that election has gone to a separate online STV ballot of committee members. UPDATE: Caron Lindsay and Victor Chamberlain were elected.

The FC meets about 6 times a year, and real business will presumably start at the next meeting, when there may be Federal Board decisions to scrutinize.