Personal Statement: 

Born and raised in Lancashire, I came up to Aberdeen to study Economic Science at university in 1995 and never left. I joined the Scottish Liberal Democrats the day after the GE wipeout in 2015. As a mum of four children under the age of 10, I had no time or energy to spare, so I was an inactive member for many years.  
In 2021, I was called by my local Lib Dem councillor, looking for a successor on his retirement the next year. That call marked the start of me becoming an activist and campaigner. Four years on, I’m an Aberdeenshire Councillor, member of the Scottish Lib Dem Women (SLDW) Exec and member of the Green Lib Dems. Aside from Lib Demming and parenting four plus a cocker spaniel, I have a ridiculously large boardgame collection (500+), and have played over 80 different ones (at time of writing) this year. I also have a ridiculously large yarn collection to feed my crochet habit! You can find out more about me on https://melsullivan.mycouncillor.org.uk/, and also my Facebook page Councillor Mel Sullivan, North Kincardine.  
I do my best work as part of a group. I like to have a clear plan, with well-defined areas of responsibility, unambiguous communication and a happy, collaborative atmosphere. My areas of strength – planning, keeping a group on-task, diffusing tensions and finding compromises.  
 
 

What skills/experience will you bring to the role? 

For the past two years, I have been a member of the Conference Committee. I have also been the SLDW representative on Policy Committee. I am Vice-Convener of my local party and both co minutes secretary and co vice-chair of my council group. I am currently standing as a non-target seat candidate for Scottish Parliament, and am part of the North-East region campaign team, with responsibility for our social media. I have experience of chairing meetings and I also have experience of heading up teams running archery competitions, from local to national level, during my student days and up until child number three.  
As an Aberdeenshire Councillor, I’m part of the administration. This means I have experience working and finding compromises with folk of very different viewpoints. From setting a budget, deciding on the council tax rate, planning applications, making horrible choices on what services we can afford to continue, I have a front-row seat on seeing what reasoned decisions, good governance and teamwork (and the contrary) looks like.  
My two years on Conference Committee have been a good learning experience. I’ve pitched in wherever possible, starting as a ‘runner’, then aide, then during this last conference, debate chair. I supported the introduction of mini-motions, suggested the different colour lanyards for conference team and first timers, and asked for the inclusion of training sessions. I made a start on Michael Turvey’s idea of creating a Lib Dem tartan – the process was rudely interrupted by the General Election. I believe I’ve been fair and impartial during the selection of motions for conference.  
I am currently the SLDW representative on policy committee, and hope to continue in that role until the Scottish election manifesto is finalised. Knowing the progress of each manifesto area and where any gaps are will be very useful in the run-up to the 2026 spring conference. As Conference Convener, my intention would be to build on the successes of recent conferences, making use of the full breadth of talent on the conference committee. 

What do you hope to achieve if elected?

I would really push the promotion of the existing offer of a pre-submission check for conference motions. This would give everyone the best chance to get their motion on to the agenda. I would also like to discuss with my team the possibility of standardising feedback to authors of unsuccessful motions, or those asking for pre-submission advice. Is the motion technically correct? If not, why not? Readability – does it use plain English and is easily understandable? Newness – does this develop existing policy, or does it address a gap in policy? Interest – is this topic important, topical, or would generate useful discussion amongst members? 

Our next conference will be the most important during the two-year term. I would ensure that there is a hyper-focus on final additions to the Scottish election manifesto. This won’t be the conference to experiment with too many changes, it will be all about getting great quality policy motions and great quality coverage for our candidates in target seats. Also – one year countdown the council elections. Use conference to inform and encourage members to stand, so we can hit our 150 Rising target. 

Autumn 2026 – investigate the demand for making this a two day conference. We’ll be celebrating our new MSPs, and also looking forward to the council elections the next May. Try out some new ideas – I’d like to see a better tie-in with our affiliated groups, more informal Q&A sessions with our MPs/MSPs/spokespeople, an expansion of our social events – how many of us miss what’s going on in the main hall because we’re catching up with folk? Can we develop our digital offering, or make conference more accessible in any other way? 

Spring 2027 – hyping up our council election campaign teams! I’d bring our current councillors to the fore. What have our council groups across Scotland achieved over the past five years? Wee written reports could go in the agenda papers, or group leaders could come laud their successes on the main stage. 

Autumn 2027 – Time to celebrate our council wins, with training focussed on support for new councillors. We’ll have the opportunity to try more new things – Lib Dem tartan, maybe add a ceilidh, bingo or kareoke to the usual dinner! 

At every stage, I’d be actively looking for feedback from my team, conference goers and those members who don’t attend.