Quality of Life working group has launched its initial consultation paper:
Party members will have an opportunity to discuss this paper on Saturday 19 September at the Autumn Party Conference in Bournemouth.
The financial and economic challenges of the last few months are surely the best possible reminder that the pursuit of ‘economic growth’ is not the only thing that matters.
In recent years, a new strand of thinking has focussed on whether what we do – both through government and in the private sector - for all its impressive performance against targets, actually improves our quality of life. We might on average earn more now than our forebears, but are we actually any happier than they were? For all of our modern “growth” and “progress”, are we actually living worse lives than those who came before us? This question should surely interest Liberal Democrats most of all, with our interest in what improves the lives of every citizen.
So the Federal Policy Committee has now set up a working group to look at issues around our Quality of Life: what this new area (sometimes called “wellbeing economics”) means; how it relates to Liberal Democrat values; and how it should influence the making of public policy. Please send us your contributions on these and other relevant issues, including personal experiences and professional expertise, or interesting articles to: articles@libdems.org.uk
We will work over the next year or so, and hope that our report to conference in autumn 2010 will set the tone for Liberal Democrat thinking in the new Parliament.
Jeremy Hargreaves
Jeremy Hargreaves
Chair of the Quality of Life Working Group