Scottish Libertarian Party
Annual General Meeting Minutes
Saturday 23rd September 2023
Location: Merchants House, Glasgow
1. AGM Opening
Housekeeping rules were read out by the AGM Chair Liam Harkness. All present members were welcomed with no special visitors in attendance. An introduction was performed of the leadership present at the table.
Present – Jonathan Rainey, Cameron Milne, Katrina Angus, Liam Harkness, Calum ‘Caz’ Paul, Peter Sidor, Thomas Laird, Anthony Sammeroff, Daniel Fraser, Ross Hagen, Morgan Fraser, Johnny Monaghan, David Laird and Harry Christian.
Apologies/Absent – Mark Meechan (family commitments), George Morton (health issues), Gary Smith (health issues), Sandy Wallace (work commitments), Joshua James (abroad), Alan Findlay (abroad), Bryce Hope (attended anti-LEZ protest in Aberdeen), Ross Gibson (reasons unknown) and Logan Clark (reasons unknown).
No matters were raised from the previous AGM Minutes.
2. Party Business
Membership Update by Membership Secratary Peter Sidor
Peter Sidor (Membership Secretary, “PS”) gave an update on membership. We have seen a steady rise in members, with peaks in joining around the Marcus Meechan affair and around election times. After the upheaval of the previous year, the party had 226 members, down from the previous year’s AGM 266.
Treasury Update from the Treasurer Liam Harkness
The Party Treasurer gave the Treasurer’s update. Finances in the year were good, with income of £4k and net income resources of approximately £2k. These added to previous years’ surpluses to build resources of over £7k at year-end. At the time of the meeting, we had approximately £6k in reserves.
LRH noted that our premises in Kilmarnock were an onerous lease now that Stephen McNamara was no longer involved with the party. The premises are not practical but we are locked into the lease until October this year. They cost £217 per month. Antony Sammeroff and others asked whether we had considered moving to other premises. Antony suggested the desk he leases in Glasgow as an example of what could be opted for. The leadership team acknowledged that it was one of a number of options being considered whereby the party could keep a postal address whilst minimising costs.
LRH also noted that the McNamaras had financed the party for a number of years, but not everything they spent money on would be continued, as he felt it was not a good use of party resources. Consensus was that this was the right approach.
The financial statements and the update were passed to members for approval and were voted on with unanimous approval.
Election Update
Observations were made by the Nominating Officer Tam Laird about the then-upcoming 28/09/2023 Easter Ross & Tain by-election, why the party chose not to stand a candidate for the 5/10/2023 Rutherglen & Hamilton West Parliamentary Constituency by-election.
With permission from the Nominating Officer (NO), Harry Christian, the candidate who ran in the by-election, gave a talk on updates surrounding the lead-up to the election itself.
Concerns were raised from a member about vote-splitting if small alternative parties do not come to an agreement soon about who should stand in Wards or Constituencies that have a contest for 1 seat. The NO acknowledged the concerns but replied that some members who are known to certain areas won’t be asked to stand down for other candidates and that many liberty-minded people still attending various pro-freedom protests should ideally get behind the Scottish Libertarian Party. The NO also pointed out that so far there were no real efforts from any of the other small parties to cooperate in this way.
Update from Constitutional Committee
A report about the work of the Constitutional Committee (CC) over the past year was delivered by CC member Peter Sidor. Only one issue was addressed during that year, namely a request from a departing member to use the ‘right to be forgotten’.
3 members from the Constitutional Committee (CC) were present with 1 absent. The absent member Logan Clark was out of contact for reasons unknown with concerns raised from other members of the Constitutional Committee. The last contact was in late 2022 after the Edinburgh AGM.
The Party Leader made an insistence to all members that they must maintain contact with the party and update their contact details with the party as soon as anything changes. The Leadership of the party must adhere to the party’s constitution.
No vote was held for replacements and re-elections until the foreseeable future.
3. Debates and Voting
No policy was put forward in advance and no policy suggestions were discussed.
Meet-ups were discussed including how they should be renamed to Freedom Meet-Ups in order to attract more liberty-minded people. The Party Leader pledged to attend more of the meet-ups, including especially in Glasgow and Dumbarton.
Anthony Sammeroff gave a talk on Healthcare Alternatives where debates amongst the audience & Anthony on peer pressure also took place.
No Lion of Liberty award was given, though the shield was handed back from 2022 Winner Jonathan Rainey, and Libertario wine was given to Mr Rainey instead. Mr Rainey pledged during his acceptance speech that he would give the bottle to his parents given that he is teetotal.
A date for next year’s AGM was agreed to be on Saturday 21st September 2024. No place was agreed for definite but a range of places including Glasgow, Perth and Edinburgh are being considered, with Perth preferred.
AGM Close by AGM Chair
A quick wrap up and thanksgiving speech was given by AGM Chair Liam Harkness.
Closing Speech by Party Leader
Tam Laird gave a closing speech where he emphasised why not just him but many others who attended the AGM as party members got involved in the fight for liberty because they morally thought it was the right thing to do, even if the activist campaigns had their drawbacks. He and the leadership along with the other members of the party will do their utmost on raising the profile of the party. He again pledged to do his best to attend meet-ups. He and the party will greatly keep an eye out for any by-elections and prepare for the upcoming 2024 UK Parliamentary General Election. He noted that Television appearances on channels like GB News have dried up, likely because of the problems the channel has been having with Broadcast Regulator Ofcom. In the final part, he warned that if many people do not peacefully vote out the tyranny that awaits us, including centralised Digital Ids and Central Banking Digital Currencies, we will never escape from it.
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