I thought I would take a break from the usual local news to give an update from the Scottish Liberal Democrat Spring Conference that I attended over the weekend.

From my own personal point of view, one of the highlights for me was the opportunity I took to put an amendment to an animal welfare motion. This gave me the opportunity to speak to Conference about my amendment, which sought to broaden much of this motion from dogs to other pets. I felt this ensured animals would get further protections and was pleased that both my amendment and the motion itself were passed unanimously.

On Friday morning, alongside animal welfare, Cervical Cancer screening and Police Reform were discussed. I was delighted my fellow Dunfermline Liberal Democrat member Wendy Chamberlain made an excellent speech in favour of Police Reform in light of the botched Police Scotland merger that has taken place under the SNP. In the afternoon motions included the Benefits of Immigration, a subject close to my heart as my wife is Belgian, and Establishing a Real Freedom of Choice on abortion.

Alongside these motions we were able to enjoy speeches from Edinburgh West MP Christine Jardine and our leader Willie Rennie, and I also attended an interesting Fringe event on housing issues, which I felt would benefit my role as a Councillor.

On Saturday there were less motions, which included an emergency motion on Syria, which our Deputy UK leader Jo Swinson moved. We also saw motions on allowing 16 year olds to be candidates in elections and Support for Local Economies, which included an interesting debate on whether the Government should intervene to stop RBS from closing rural bank branches. Later in the day there was a discussion on Education which provided interesting points of view.

The day ended with our UK leader Vince Cable giving a speech, and overall it remained a lively and interesting Conference.