The Halliwell Centre at The University of Wales Trinity Saint David in Carmarthen hosted the second of 3 hustings to take place across Wales, for the position of Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats. The hustings took place on Sunday 15th October

The Halliwell Centre at The University of Wales Trinity Saint David in
Carmarthen hosted the second of 3 hustings to take place across Wales,
for the position of Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats.
The hustings took place on Sunday 15th October and members present,
had 2 hours to hear from the 2 candidates – Jane Dodds and Liz Evans.
Both candidates were each given 10 minutes to make their pitch, before
the floor was opened up to members to put questions to the candidates.
The Welsh Liberal Democrats Returning Officer, Lord Mike German was in
attendance to oversee the whole event, whilst the hustings event was
chaired by Andrew Lye, Chair of Carmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire
Liberal Democrats, and Secretary of the Welsh Liberal Democrats
National Executive Committee (NEC) Andrew Lye explained why members
were present today, explaining that the constitution rules were
changed at our Autumn Conference in Llanelli, 6 weeks earlier, which
opened up the Leadership to approved Parliamentary and Assembly
candidates. The rule changed also opened the way to 2 candidates
agreeing to stand on a “Dual Leadership” platform, if they so
wished.
Andrew Lye said “My role was to ensure complete fairness for the 2
candidates and ensure that all members had the opportunity to ask
questions. For almost 90 minutes, approximately 16 questions on a wide
ranging set of subjects was put to Jane Dodds and Liz Evans. I opened
the Q & A session by proposing we dealt with any possible questions on
Brexit, before moving onto other issues, but there were none. Members
are more than clear on the Welsh Liberal Democrats stance on Brexit
and our call of “Exit From Brexit”.
Andrew Lye went on to explain, ” with Jane Dodds and Liz Evans, we
have 2 very capable candidates. Both with unique qualities to bring to
the role. When the result is announced at the end of October, we will
have a Leader who is not an Assembly Member or Member of Parliament,
who also has to take on the duties as Party Leader. Jane Dodds lives
in Welshpool and was our Assembly candidate in the 2015 election. Liz
Evans is a Town Councillor in Aberaeron and a former Mayor. Liz is
also the County Councillor for Aberaeron on Ceredigion County County
and she stood in 2015 as Welsh Liberal Democrat candidate for the
Ceredigion Welsh Assembly seat”.
Andrew Lye concluded “That the last few years have been difficult for
the Liberal Democrats. But we have been described as cockroaches that
could survive a nuclear bomb. We have been busy rebuilding the Party
and we are now largely volunteer based, but with Brexit in the news on
a daily basis and seeing the damage that is being perpetrated to the
economy and the future of our nation, we are determined that like
Arnie, ‘We will be back’. With Jane or Liz at the helm as our new
Party Leader, our rebuilding will continue as we remind everyone of
the benefits of a liberal society, particularly after all the hate we
seem to be seeing in the last year or two I look forward to working
with either Jane or Liz, when the result is announced at the end of
October. Most people in Wales may not know who Jane or Liz are, but
with the next set of elections not due until 2021, our new Leader will
have the time to get a profile in the media and to get our message
out, to the people of Wales.”