Alex Cole-Hamilton's speech to Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference

Alex Cole-Hamilton's speech to Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference

Thank you, Ida.

I am so proud to follow you onto this stage. Because I know you are going to make a fantastic Edinburgh councillor next year.

Look, friends. Politics doesn't actually start in Holyrood. Or in Westminster. Or on the front page of the Edinburgh Evening News.

It starts in your community. At the school gate. In the queue at the chemist. On your street's WhatsApp group at eleven o'clock at night, when somebody wants to know who's parked across their drive.

In the first days of lockdown, when most of us were learning to make sourdough, badly I should add, Ida built something.

A Facebook group for her community in Edinburgh. Six years later, it's still going. Nearly ten thousand members. Hundreds of posts a day.

People finding a plumber. Passing on a cot. Checking in on the neighbour they haven't seen in a while. Local businesses that are still trading, because their neighbours found them there.

And anyone who has kept ten thousand people civil to each other online, every day, for six years, knows this isn't local do-gooding. It's peacekeeping. Worthy of a Nobel Prize!

Ida didn't wait for permission. She didn't wait for a strategy, or a consultation, or a working group. She saw people cut off from each other, and she connected them.

So when people ask me, what are the Liberal Democrats all about? That, Conference. That is what we're about.

And that is why I am so excited about next May.

Because we are going to put people like Ida in council chambers right across Scotland.

People who were serving their communities long before anyone asked them to stand for election.

People who rolled up their sleeves and looked after their neighbours, while Malcolm Offord was working out which party to bankroll next and which yacht needed varnishing.

People who spot problems in their communities, and just fix them.

Without praise. Without payment. Without pomp.

People who practice Lib Dem values in their everyday lives.

Liberty. Community. Equality.

Those are the values by which you can spot a Lib Dem campaigner the length and breadth of this country.

It's not the orange cagoules.

It's not the lanyards, or the rosettes.

It's not the clipboards, or, as is now the case, the iPhone canvassing.

It's the values we see in each other, that brought us together here today.

I totally understand that, to the outside world, it's sometimes hard to see what brings us together.

But it's people like Ida.

And Jennifer Boag.

And Grant Toghill.

And Julie Calder.

And James Calder. And Jack Calder, for that matter.

And the army of volunteers, candidates and campaigners who care so passionately about the communities they live and breathe.

They are the walking answer to the question; of who are the Lib Dems.

We have to work harder than most to have our voices heard, because we do not relish in the extremes of populism.

We relish in sensible, respectful debate that gives us real influence in the corridors of power.

We get out there and speak to people in the real world.

Every door we knocked was a personal reminder to a scunnered public: that, for us, politics is, at the end of the day, all about service.

People know that when we turn up, we turn up in good faith.

And on that foundation, we build something bigger.

So let me tell you what I mean when I talk about liberty, equality and community.

Because as liberals we believe in a Scotland that is open, tolerant and internationalist of outlook.

We believe immigration makes this country stronger. Because in Scotland more people die each year than are born. Every person who comes here to nurse, to farm, to teach, to build, is helping keep our hospitals open and our towns alive.

When others want to pull up the drawbridge, we say you are welcome here.

We believe Scotland's future, and Britain's, lies at the heart of Europe.

And we will push for ever closer ties with our friends in Europe.

I believe the tide is turning on this broken relationship.

We will keep doing everything we can to fix it.

Because we were, we are, and we always shall be the party of Europe in these islands.

We believe in those who strive every day to make a living when the odds are stacked against them.

Buffeted by Trump's war putting up the price of diesel, or Labour's job tax, or the SNP's broken business rates.

We believe in the person who lifts the shutters at seven in the morning every day. The joiner. The hairdresser. The café owner. The freelancer doing their invoices at the kitchen table at midnight.

They don't want sympathy, or a handout.

They want a government that gets out of the way and lets them flourish.

We believe that growth is not a dirty word.

Economic growth pays for the nurse, the teacher and the bus. And it is the surest way anyone has ever found to lift people out of poverty.

But it has to be the right kind of growth. Growth that doesn't cost the earth. And doesn't cost people their rights. That is what sets us apart from the extremes on both sides of that argument.

We believe education is the best investment any government can make. From the nursery to the apprenticeship to the night class.

Life-long learning means nothing if you've been made redundant.

It means nothing if your local college is cutting courses, and staff.

We believe in second chances. Nobody should be written off at fifteen. Or at fifty.

Not the young person caught in the revolving door of our justice system.

Not the worker who has given thirty years to heavy industry, and now wonders if they're about to be replaced by a robot.

We believe decisions should be made as close to home as possible. Because local democracy matters, and must not be demolished. And we will resist attempts to take power away from the heart of our communities.

And we believe, unapologetically, that people should be free to love who they love, and to be who they are. No ifs. No buts. No caveats.

And we look for the good in people. Evenon a good dayin other politicians.

But strip all of that back, and it comes down to one thing.

People ask me, what do you actually stand for? And it's much easier to answer than you might think.

We care.

We care about people.

We care about our communities.

Where others provoke and divide, we see the best in people.

And we know the difference between a government that oversteps and tramples on our liberty, and one that steps in when it matters most.

From cradle to grave.

We're not shy about saying government has a part to play in our lives:

Before we are even born, when a mother needs help to keep her baby safe.

When she gives birth, and shouldn't be driving for hours in the dark and in the snow to do it.

When the family gets back home, and can't afford to heat or insulate it, and the cold gets into everything.

When we're sick, and stuck on a waiting list.

When we lose our job, and still have decades of working life left in us.

When we struggle with our mental health, or face addiction, and feel like no one cares, or no one can help.

When we get old, have a fall, and spend months in hospital waiting on a care package to get us home.

And when we're lonely, and the only voice we hear all day comes from the television.

Those everyday moments of life that none of us are immune to.

That's the common humanity we Lib Dems always see in each other, and try to help with.

That's what gets us up in the morning.

Not selfish ambition.

Not ideology.

Conference, on the day I became leader of our party, I spoke of the importance of three words.

Three words, for a person to understand about themselves, and to believe to be true.

You are loved.

Because without love, what hope does a child have?

In 2016, Nicola Sturgeon promised a care review that would be revolutionary.

That would strip back the system to ensure that each and every one of Scotland's looked-after children would grow up feeling loved.

I'll always remember the 8-year-old child that I met in a care home, back when I was a youth worker, who had been through 37 failed placements. Eight years old.

It's ten years this week since the SNP promised that change, and thousands of children have grown up in care and not seen any difference.

I came into politics because of my experience of working with these young people. And now our MSP group has gained a world-renowned expert.

If you haven't seen it already, go back and watch Duncan Dunlop's first speech to Parliament.

You could have heard a pin drop.

He read out the names of some of the children our country decided to take responsibility for, who have since died at tragically young ages.

These are children in the care of the state, as such they are the First Minister's children, to whom a promise was made, but never kept.

The government has no means of knowing how many have been failed by the system: how many end up in prison, or on the streets, or die early.

What parent doesn't even know if their kids are alive.

Which is why we are calling on John Swinney to record how many are dying prematurely.

That is just the start.

This government needs to catch-up.

More than 5,000 young people have already grown up and left the care system since The Promise was first made. They deserved better.

The state has a special responsibility to give them the best chance to be everything they can be, with stable, lifelong, and loving relationships they can rely on.

The absence of these relationships is why so many are dying young.

And that moment, when people leave care, and the professionals disappear, is pivotal.

Which is why, today, I am calling for a job guarantee for care-experienced young people.

A guarantee of a traineeship or a real workplace opportunity for everyone at the point that they leave care.

Let's help them into jobs which suit them.

Let's get employers excited about working with them.

Let's give them real hands-on experience, mentoring and colleagues who'll look out for them.

They may not have had the best start in life. But we can surely help them with a good career, and a better chance at adulthood.

We cannot allow young people to age out of care with empty promises.

I want to show Scotland's care-experienced young people, so often ignored, that the Liberal Democrats are on their side.

And that they are loved.

Change with fairness at its heart.

That's what we're about.

And we have the opportunity to shape the course of Scottish politics and influence government.

In the new Scottish Parliament, there are just seven seats between us and the parties in second place.

You may have heard me say that we are now the most influential group at Holyrood.

And I meant it.

Actually, at FMQs this week, John Swinney was urging other parties to take a leaf out of our book on how to get stuff done.

He's telling them to be more like the Lib Dems.

He's telling everyone else that we are players.

John Swinney has been absolutely lovebombing us.

But let me tell you friends, the SNP know they will have to fight to win us over on every vote, and that our price will be steep.

I am not messing around. We are getting stuff done.

In fact I've already set up a budget unit within our party, deep in the bowels of Holyrood.

And today we have written to the government seeking budget talks, to lay some cards on the table about what happens next.

The First Minister knows that we will focus on things which really matter to people.

Our MSPs are out there speaking to: industry leaders, to people on the frontline of public service and to their communities.

So watch this space Conference.

And if you need more proof of our influence, here it is.

For years, I've watched our motions and amendments go down by 124 votes to 4.

Now, our new group of MSPs are having their proposals passed by Parliament left, right and centre.

We've won votes:

• To improve community benefit for renewable energy.
• To give charities the license to criticise ministers.
• To ensure public funding doesn't benefit companies connected to human rights abuses.
• On remand, on cyber attacks, on corridor care.
• To extend compensation for the SNP's ferries fiasco to coastal towns.
• To grow Scotland's gaming sector, with ideas that came from you, Conference.

And how did we do all of this? We dialled down the political rhetoric and came to the negotiating table with pragmatic solutions.

We work with other parties when it matters, but we don't shy away from holding their feet to the fire either.

We move the dial in Scottish politics by being the grown-ups in the room.

And don't get me wrong, I love Liam and Willie.

But look at our new MSPs:

Morven-May MacCallum,

Andrew Baxter,

Adam Harley,

Sanne Dijkstra-Downie,

Duncan Dunlop,

David Green,

Yi-pei Chou Turvey.

I'm so excited about what they've achieved already, and what you are going to see from each of them going forward.

Pound for pound, they are without doubt the best group in the Scottish Parliament.

And we wouldn't be in that position without you.

We have 10 MSPs because of everyone who stood as a candidate, who made our case across hundreds of hustings, knocked a door, delivered a leaflet or stuffed an envelope.

I want to thank everyone who has been in my spokesperson team over the last five years for the insight that you've brought, and the work you've done.

And I want to thank our brilliant staff, in every corner of the country, for the casework that changes peoples' lives, for the millions of leaflets and social media views, the local and national press and policy work - all of it, every one of our staff, is an important part of our election-winning machine. Thank you so much!

Conference, a little over a week ago, Julie Calder became our newest, Scottish Liberal Democrat councillor.

In the same ward as the SNP Highland Council leader, Julie and her amazing team of staff and activists broke new ground.

They won a by-election in the Highlands outright, and with more than 50% of first preferences.

Conference, it is clear that the Lib Dems are now the official voice of the Highlands!

And what was the secret to her success?

In an interview with the John O'Groats Journal, she rather gave the game away on years of closely guarded Lib Dem campaigning tradecraft.

I like to speak to people, she said.

Conference if you were to list the essential characteristics that define both Lib Dem activists and candidates the country over, you'd probably start right there.

We like to talk, but perhaps more importantly we love to listen and then to act.

It's why I'm so excited about the coming council election campaign, because my heaven is a minivan code and doors to knock.

Getting out into the forgotten and overlooked streets of Scotland. In the cold and in the dark. I absolutely love it.

And remember, we've been thinking about this election for years.

Ever since polls closed on the last council elections, our party has been focusing on this moment. On the promise of those gains, of breaking back into treble digits and securing Liberal Democrat representaion right across this country.

Because the foundations of our movement lie in local government, and when we win there, we win at every level of government.

Conference, our mission is never truly over. With one fantastic set of elections behind us we cheerfully turn to face the next.

Because electing Liberal Democrats to the room where it happens simply makes the lives of people better. It just does.

That's why we want more Lib Dem councillors in the heart of local government.

We need them to be at the heart of where decisions are made. So your bins get collected, your potholes get filled and your schools have the staff they need.

Because we influence those places.

And we do so wisely.

It leads to evidence-led, rational solutions that confront the greatest problems of our time,

and it raises the standard of public debate in this country.

And my goodness conference, don't you think that's needed?

At a time when the extremes of our politics are turning up the heat, and the hate. We need decent hard-working communitarians to rise up.

To proudly speak our truth and to reach for a vision of a Scotland that works for everyone, no matter who you are, or where you come from.

A Scotland anchored in the values that define our party.

Liberty, equality, community.

Values that have never felt more threatened, but never been more needed.

So look to the person next to you, ask each other what you can do over the coming days and weeks to build upon the monumental progress we've made.

And what you can do to take us to the next level.

Bask in the warmth of this hall and the victories you've helped accomplish. And then steel yourself for a winter on the doorsteps in the council battle grounds of this country.

And reach for the promise of a better Scotland.

Thank you!