Cancelling Lib Dem membership

[DepartingLibDemmer]

I've been meaning to do this for ages but just had an email reminding me to renew and thought I'd seize the day.

I responded to the email simply asking how I could cancel and got one back saying

"Thank you for your email which comes to me as Membership Officer.

I am very sorry that you have decided to cancel your membership and we are obviously very sorry to see you go. May I ask if there is a particular reason you have decided to cancel your membership and if there is anything that could be done to persuade you to stay."

I am currently laid up in bed with a flu type illness and cannot put together a beautifully worded response detailing the issues with the LBTQ twitter feed, the taking on of Aimee Challenor despite the Veritas report casting doubt on Aimee's decision making abilities, Lynne Featherstone's call for women to get out of the Lib Dems if they don't support TWAW but would like to take this opportunity to let them know why.

Can I be very cheeky and ask if anyone's got a similar letter they've already crafted to hand so I can edit accordingly? My cotton wool stuffed head isn't up to the task at the moment!

Even more cogent than the earlier version Pain. I was looking at a thread about Sarah Brown earlier. Can’t understand why any political party could encourage that sort of member in favour of you and other similar people who are leaving.

Haven't quite got to the end of the thread but I would've told you to save your time, to be honest...

I wrote a similar email when I cancelled my membership and got a one line response back. I still receive their emails so they can't be bothered to remove me from their mailing lists and I still get invited to local events despite me saying more than once that I was no longer interested due to their stance on women's rights.

Don't get me wrong - it's an excellent email but I doubt it will even get read let alone considered as a reason why you've left.

Sorry - just pissed off with the fact no political party gives any shits about women

They are sending you stuff after to have cancelled your membership and hopefully requested for the ‘right to be forgotten’. But then I can only assume that they approach GDPR with the same vigour as they do safeguarding.

Yes Fekko - it hadn't really occurred to me until the recent thread that they are seriously breaching GDPR... at the same time, it's a good way to see what they're up to.

Although when I got the lovely email from the Baroness telling me just how unwelcome I am, from the party I have supported for over 20 years - it's pretty depressing.

Ok - so not as all right with it anymore.. just had an email from Hatch who proudly state: We are no longer a Lib Dem organisation.

WTF are they doing contacting me.. how the hell do they have my details? I have sent yet another shitty mail through and if I continue to get emails, I will actually raise this as a GDPR failure. Unbelievable

Well done. I simply didn't renew. The organisation I joined at 16 is a fucking disgrace.

I find Sarah Brown's recent advocacy of pre-emptive violence an interesting progression of LibDem policies.

I had a response! And a quick one too - twenty minutes after I sent it.

Thank you so much for your thoughtful and honest email. Speaking on a personal level I share a number of your concerns and I know you are not alone in your views.

I am obviously sorry to see you leave but completely respect your reason for doing so.

I would very much like to share your email with colleagues and with HQ if you are happy for me to do so.

Please do keep in touch if you would like to discuss anything further.

With best regards and once again thank you for taking the time to email about this.

I am so pleased that other people have these concerns and that they might be taken seriously. I doubt it'll have any actual impact but the more emails they get, the harder it'll be to ignore.

That's far better than I would have expected. Well done OP. At least you've had your say.

That sounds positive, OP.

I emailed to say it was fine to share and got a response back

Thanks XXX. I do hope we see you return. We need women like you in the party. I will definitely share this (though I see that you have already copied in help@). I think it's important that womens voices are heard and that the party understands why people feel so strongly about this issue. Whether or not we all agree with each other I think debate and dialogue is important.

Take care and always get in touch if you want to discuss anything

This is so encouraging. I really didn't think I'd get anything other than a brush off so to get a response talking about the need for women's voices is just brilliant. I don't think I'll hear anything from them now (as I won't be replying to the last email) but if anything more does arise, I'll keep you posted!

Well done, let's hope it gets a discussion going

Oooooh. Dissent at LibDem HQ!

My guess is there may be a gap between woke politicians ready to shoot their mouths off, or perhaps look into people's souls, and those whose job it is to encourage memberships and donations. And that some of the latter are worried.

Will their politicians listen to them? Or has the entryism gone too far. I would not be surprised is Labour has the same problem.

Who is responsible for running LD HQ and things like membership and donations? Sal Brinton or Tahir Maher?

Wow that response 🥳. Sounds like a mole!

Blimey. That's was far more receptive of concerns than I expected you'd get. Actually, I thought you probably wouldn't get a response (despite your excellent email) which addressed your concerns, more of a 'sorry to hear that, bye then' type. So well done OP, that's encouraging!

Thanks for sharing the response with us. I hope others within the party will read it thoughtfully without dismissing your concerns as "transphobic". You laid out all the issues so well.

Was that someone from your local party or someone from the central party?
Great response though!

Yes, that is good. I hope it has a much wider readership within the party.

Interesting response, and fantastic letter. I was also expecting a one line brush off, possibly calling you transphobic, so its good to see that there seems to be some common sense, buried deep within the lib dems!

I am actually quite shocked at that response. Shocked, in a good way

It was a local party member - the original email was sent by the chair of the local group so that’s what I responded to. I think I’d have been much less likely to get a response from the national team

Great response from them. Inspired by your letter, I've written to my Lib Dem MP today to see if the Scottish Liberal Democrats agree with Lynne Featherstone or not.

That was an excellent response, Pain - far better than I expected given my experience. And for them to openly state they agreed with your points was also a surprise..

Here's hoping the madness stops soon so I can return to the party that has always felt like my natural political home!

So in a strange twist of fate or coincidence, I think know the person who responded to you pain. She is an old school friend (was my BFF In our teenage years) and we have been chatting loads about this offline. She said she'd had a very thoughtful email with concerns like mine and was going to raise with HQ. She is listening. And others are listening.

(She is not a MNer but I sent her a link to this thread - if you are reading old friend soon!)