Thinking on: Lib Dems

Plans to review party thinking on public services and democracy have been unveiled by the Liberal Democrats.

Two policy working groups were unveiled by the party ahead of its Bournemouth Conference next week.

Fresh from an election victory that saw the party win a record number of seats, the committees will now consider the policies that party leader Charles Kennedy hopes will help the party overtake the Conservatives. He believes his party can capitalise on a shift to the right by both Labour the Conservatives to become the "serious opposition".

The groups will examine the aspects of the party's ideological inheritance that "have most relevance for the 21st century". Key questions will be the role of the state in providing public services and "moral" issues such as civil liberties and the role of competition.

Other issues under consideration will be the relationship between individuals and communities and whether the UK needs greater decentralisation. An assessment of the other UK parties, current social trends, the aging electorate and the dismal election turnout will also be carried out.

The party's last major policy review was carried out in 1993 though since then Kennedy has mapped out his personal philosophy with his book "The Future of Politics".

The working group on public services will be chaired by Chris Huhne MEP and the group considering liberal democracy will be chaired by Alan Beith.

Senior party members on the committees include the peers Baroness Barker and former EU commissioner Lord Dahrendorf as well as the MEP Nick Clegg. Others involved in the review are Dr Tim Leunig, an economics lecturer at the LSE, David Walter, the party's director of communications and Dr Richard Grayson who is the party's policy chief.

Deputy Leader of the Lib Dems, Alan Beith, said the timing was right for the review.

"New political circumstances in Britain, and the new context of globalisation make this the ideal time to look at how our fundamental principles inspire our policies. The group's work will lay the foundations for our policymaking over the next decade," he said.