Peter Reynolds

First of all, I want to say thank you to all who voted for me and to the membership as a whole for placing its trust in me. I take the leadership on as a serious responsibility. This is the dawn of a new era and of what I’m calling for now,… “New LCA”.

I intend to work by consensus with both the management committee and the membership. We will carry forward the plans that I set out in my manifesto. However, even before that, my first priority is our registration as a political party. The membership voted for that before it voted for me.

I have reviewed all the information from the Electoral Commission. The most important part of registration is the submission of the party’s constitution. The existing constitution is not suitable for a political party with a leader and so it will have to be revised. This then is the time to review all aspects of the constitution and so include the plans I put forward in my manifesto which the membership voted for.

I have co-opted Stuart Warwick on to the management committee. The members of the committee are now: Don Barnard, Mark Palmer, Peter Reynolds, Stuart Warwick and Janice Wells.

The committee is now working together to produce a draft constitution for New LCA. It will consider everything about our future strategy including our name and identity. I anticipate that there will be a formal committee meeting in two or three weeks when we will publish the new draft constitution. We will consult widely as we go along. If possible, I am going to try and build in a formal consultation process so that members can comment or propose amendments to the draft. Then there will be a new ballot of the membership on the committee’s proposals.

Clearly, we cannot contest the Barnsley by-election on 3rd March. The Electoral Commission requires a minimum 20 working days to process a registration. We must plan to have completed the consultation, ballot and registration process in time to contest the May elections.

There is an exciting new campaign in development on the theme of “Reform. Regulate. Realise”. I am working with independent scientific experts to ensure the credibility of our message. I promise you will see the details soon,

Other important matters for consideration by the committee will include the website, the forum and the level of membership fees. Anyone, member or non-member, is welcome to write to me with their views, ideas or proposals. Email me at peter@peter-reynolds.co.uk.