Liberal Democrat members and activists gathered in Birmingham on Sunday to discuss the coalition agreement negotiated with the Conservatives. The agreement was overwhelmingly supported, with no more than a few dozen of the thousands assembled dissenting.

The debate provided an opportunity for members to express their views on the deal both to fellow activists and to Liberal Democrat MPs and ministers. While concerns were raised about specific issues, the feedback was almost entirely positive.

Commenting on the decisive vote, party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said, "It is five days since I accepted the position of Deputy Prime Minister.

"Just five days, and we now know there will be no ID cards, no third runway at Heathrow, no more fingerprinting in schools without parents' consent, no more child detention.

"Changes Liberal Democrats have spent months, years, campaigning for, are happening.

"Promises we were making to people on their doorsteps just a few weeks ago are becoming realities."

Under the "triple lock" procedure, which has been reported in the media recently, a Conference of this sort is only required if at least 25% of Liberal Democrat parliamentarians or members of the party's Federal Executive committee vote against a coalition agreement. The decision was in fact nearly unanimous. The Conference was called anyway in order to hear the views of members on how we should proceed now that we are a party of government. We are the only major political party in this country in which the leadership can be held to account by the membership in this way.