Liberal Democrat Conference starts today

8.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Sat 16th Sep 2006

Thousands of Liberal Democrats are today heading to Brighton for their annual conference. The two centre-pieces of the week are expected to be the tax reform paper, to be debated on Tuesday, and the report of the Meeting the Challenge Working Group - 'Trust in People: Make Britain free, fair and green', which will be debated on Wednesday.

Three further policy papers will be put to the conference: Annette Brooke will move the motion in support of the new children and families paper, Andrew Stunell will propose the paper on English local government which will free up local government and get councils cooperating across boundaries, and FPC Vice-Chair Jeremy Hargreaves will propose the paper on international rule of law, which puts forward reforms to better deal with problems and challenges that do not respect national boundaries.

In addition to policy motions there will be keynote speeches from a number of leading party spokespeople, including Edward Davey who will set out some of the conclusions of his review of how the party campaigns and communicates. Former leader Charles Kennedy will make a speech on Tuesday afternoon. Finally, the conference will close on Thursday lunchtime when Menzies Campbell will give the traditional leader's speech.

BRIGHTON CONFERENCE DAY BY DAY:

Saturday 16th September: consultative sessions on climate change, crime policy and moving the EU forward

Sunday 17th September: consultative sessions on crime in the community, nuclear weapons, tackling inequality and poverty, and the Power Commission on constitutional reform, plus reports from party committees, standing order amendments and other party business

Monday 18th September: speeches by Michael Moore and Nick Clegg, Menzies Campbell Q&A, communications presentation by Edward Davey, policy paper on children and families, motions on independent living, diversity and equality, and rape convictions

Tuesday 19th September: speeches by Chris Huhne and Charles Kennedy, presentation by Scottish Lib Dems, Q&A on health, policy papers on tax reform and English local government, motions on clean and ethical investment, small business, climate change and management of water resources

Wednesday 20th September: speeches by Vincent Cable, Simon Hughes and Sarah Teather, presentations by Lord Coe and Liverpool Lib Dems, debate on 'Meeting the Challenge' report, motions on hospital nutrition, school headteachers, rural communities, transport and social exclusion, and ending modern slavery and trafficking

Thursday 21st September: speech by Grigory Yavlinsky, policy paper on international law, motion on human rights in the United Kingdom, and Menzies Campbell's leader's speech concluding the conference