Daffodils wilt in the spotlight

Prison officers protested outside the conference

By John Knox

Imagine an impressionist painting of, say, a field of daffodils.

This was the Liberal Democrats spring conference, where even the stewards were dressed in yellow.

On closer examination, the flowers were growing in serried ranks inside a huge warehouse, called the Dewar's Ice Rink in Perth, and they were being slowly dried out by the bright lights from the platform and the airy acoustics.

This was the surreal land of politics on the edge.

Charles Kennedy took off his jacket - looking like an uneasy bridegroom, which indeed he is - and declared: "We have won the argument over public services."

Outside the ice rink, the party representatives were delighted to confront their first demonstration in years... a group of prison wardens and their wives who were protesting against the leader Jim Wallace's plans to build three new private prisons.

Inside, in the great hall of the people, 500 earnest souls were stooped over trestle tables... no, not the organising committee counting votes but a meeting of stamp collectors!

In a smaller room next door, far fewer earnest souls - maybe 300 - were debating the future of the country.

The Liberal Democrats UK leader Charles Kennedy took to that bright stage in front of the daffodils on Friday afternoon.

Tricky issues

He took off his jacket - looking like an uneasy bridegroom, which indeed he is - and declared: "We have won the argument over public services."

He welcomed Gordon Brown's Budget - with its billions for the health service - but said it was a pity he and Tony Blair did not have the courage to tell the voters at the last election that they would have to pay more in tax to fund it.

But the Liberal Democrats had to face up to a little reality themselves when the conference came to the tricky issues of genetically-modified (GM) crop trials and those three private prisons.

On GM, Ross Finnie, the environment minister, suffered an embarrassing defeat when the conference voted by two to one to ban crop trials.

Mr Finnie's blustering defence was that he was bound by European rules to allow them to go ahead.

For this he got called at a fringe meeting a poodle of the NFU (National Farmers' Union) and a Pontius Pilot.

Charles Kennedy: "Uncomfortable bridegroom"

But he hit back with a government minister's response: "You cannot be choosy about which European laws you obey and which you don't."

He restored his reputation with the daffodils by later promising to set recycling targets in a debate on domestic waste.

He was only waiting for the 11 area waste strategies from Scotland's councils to be handed in in the autumn.

As for prisons, there was a full frontal attack on Jim Wallace from Edinburgh councillor Marilyne MacLaren : "Profits and prisons don't mix." she said.

But, with some behind-the-scenes manoeuvring by the leadership - another rarity at a Lib Dem conference - a bland motion calling for little more than consultation was passed.

Radical and ambitious

On most of the other business, the exact opposite was the case.

The speeches were bland but the motions passed were radical and ambitious.

On the food industry, a motion was passed calling for "farm management contracts" to replace the £700m of production subsidy currently pumped into the countryside through the European Union's agriculture policy.

There was also a call for a target to be set for a switch to organic farming and for codes of practice to reduce the number of food miles involved in taking produce to market.

On health, the conference called for an increase in the nurse/patient ratio to reduce the risk of hospital acquired infection.

On social policy, the conference voted to grant anonymity to alleged sex offenders.

"Bland speeches but radical motions"

Robert Brown MSP won support for his motion on more funding for Citizens Advice Bureaux.

And he also succeeded in persuading the conference to back away from an outright ban on smoking in public places.

Instead a motion was passed calling for a statutory code of practice to reduce smoking in such places.

There was a long motion passed on the development of voluntary organisations.

It urged councils to involve them more in their day to day work and to give them proper status... namely, an end to the "contract culture" and training and pensions for their full time staff.

And Donald Gorrie MSP added an imaginative amendment calling for some of the new health money to be used to fund small scale enterprises, arts, sports and other community groups to encourage people "to help themselves lead more interesting and healthy lives."

Standing ovation

On education, the conference wanted a reduction in the bureaucracy confronting teachers and more of the new school buildings to include facilities for drama, music and sport.

On housing, there was a suggestion that maintenance logbooks should be established for each house and that a compulsory repairs fund be set up for each tenement.

Finally, there was the expected welcome for the Scottish Executive's white paper on proportional representation for local government.

And the Liberal Democrats again staked out their preference for the STV (single transferable vote) system of proportional representation.

By the time we came to the leader's speech, the daffodils were wilting with the effort of all this government.

But they still gave Jim Wallace a fine standing ovation.

He in turn gave a fine, confident speech.

Spell out achievements

"Seventy per cent of our policies have been or are being implemented. We do what we say we are going to do."

He said the party was better placed than ever before to win seats at the Scottish elections next year.

"For the first time, we will be able to spell out Liberal Democrat achievements in government."

And he listed them - student support, a 23% teachers' pay settlement, free personal care for the elderly.

And he went on to sketch out the manifesto which would, he said, seek to liberate people from poverty, ignorance, sickness and conformity.

He was getting poetic... one had the feeling that the next line would read:

"Then my heart with pleasure fills And dances with the daffodils."