Things making the headlines in the City of Brighton & Hove
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Today is the last day of the conference and, with Norman Lamb and Vince Cable's speeches on the agenda, it will end on a high note. However first I support Kelly-Marie Blundell (Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Lewes) and Daisy Cooper (Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for St Albans) in voting in favour of their 'Protecting Small Businesses' motion.
When I reach the Highcliff Marriott Hotel, which hosts conference events, there is a massive queue that reaches all the way through the corridor and around the corner from my destination on this sunny morning. James Chapman seems to be a very popular guest at this Fringe event titled: "Can Britain's Relationship with Europe Be Saved?".
On a bright, warm September day we joined the many thousands of people marching through Brighton & Hove for the StopBrexit march. The event was organised by Brighton & Hove for Europe, timed to coincide with the Labour party conference in Brighton.
Exit from Brexit pretty much sums up how much the Lib Dems trust Theresa May to make a success of this constitutional experiment that Great Britain embarked upon. I don't think anyone in this party is particularly thrilled about inflation and the rising cost of living resulting from the Brexit uncertainty. Every day I hear stories of researchers whose projects have already been excluded from European cooperation, friends telling me about a reluctance to invest and further cuts within their companies, and accounts of non-British European friends who have (wrongly!) been told to leave the country. No one has a viable solution how to deal with the Irish border without threatening the peace process. So far, I am not digging this Brexit thing. As a creative person, I am disappointed that it is lacking the promised excitement of building a new better country which will be reformed so amazingly that the rest of the world goes green in jealousy.
Getting up at 7am on a Saturday kind of hurts, but I have a good reason - today is the first day of the Liberal Democrats Autumn Conference. A few Brighton & Hove members already made their way to Bournemouth last night in time for the pre-Conference Lib Dem Pint, but I saved my energy for the weekend and am meeting the remaining Brighton conference goers, including the two George Taylors (yes, there are two of them) on the train to Bournemouth.
Today I joined 3,000 Liberal Democrats at Hyde Park Corner. EU flags were waving, placards were being held aloft and there was an abundance of stickers.
