The move follows the backing of a motion at its annual conference that called for the party to commit to championing out-of-school youth services and for its MPs and peers to speak out on youth service issues.
The motion, put forward by Matthew Hulbert, a party member and co-founder of new group the Liberal Democrats Friends of Youth Services (LDFYS), also called for an urgent review of youth services by government, and for it to be a requirement for youth services to be included in the inspection regime.
Talking to CYP Now following the event, Hulbert said: “As far as I could see, there wasn’t a vote against the motion, so I was thrilled.
“Sometimes things are voted on by conference and you never really hear about them again, and certainly the aim of the LDFYS is to ensure that our campaigners, councillors, and activists around the country can go out and campaign on these matters.”
He added that Lib Dem activists and councillors are now in a position to lobby against cuts to council youth services.
“Councils need to take a longer-term view than they’re currently doing – it might ease their current budget constraints, but how much is getting rid of these services costing the exchequer over the longer run. I think the answer is probably quite a lot.”
The LDFYS will look to remind party campaigners and parliamentarians that youth services is now a Lib Dem policy priority.
“We only have eight MPs, but we have 100-plus peers and I hope they will be raising this issue on a fairly regular basis,” Hulbert added.
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