The extraordinary conference in Wolverhampton made a truly historic decision. After more than a decade of rancour over reform and a succession of collective failures to bring our National Union into the 21st century, you did what many said was impossible. You did it.

Thank you

From July, we will be implementing the new constitution for NUS - a fresh start for our National Union. As early as National Conference in April, you will be electing new officers, new representatives and a new set of trustees. This is just the beginning. With structural change must come a cultural change - one that puts students' interests ahead of petty politicking and makes NUS a union that all students can truly feel proud of, and part of. In the coming months we will be working with students' unions to start making that culture a reality. The tools are there, students' unions must continue to take leadership of their National Union and use them effectively.

To those who gave up their time and energies to make reform a success, thank you. You have made a real difference to your union. To those of you who presented concerns and arguments against the proposals from the outset: I know some of you are happy with the outcome and some of you aren't. I said at the first extraordinary conference in November, that we had been too quick to dismiss those concerns last year. This year, thanks to your input, we made real changes and will continue to review the structures in action. There is a role for you to play in this process and always a role for dissenting voices and discursive debate in a truly democratic and member-led union.

The ugly scenes on the day

Some delegates chose to voice their dissent last week on a different matter: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the NUS position on this. Let me be clear: in NUS, as in colleges and universities across the country, there must always be space for students to voice their views and engage in political debate and protest. Last week, however, a line was crossed. Earlier in the day, a peaceful protest was held outside the conference venue. Activists were free to air their opinions and raise awareness of their cause and delegates were free to engage with that debate, or not.

The occupation of the conference stage during the conference session was entirely inappropriate. Moreover, it violated NUS' own policy on safe space, led to the intimidation of delegates, restricted access for disabled students (including our own National Disabled Students' Officer), caused disruption to the democratic process and physical injury. It saddens me that some delegates have written to me to say that they plan on never attending an NUS event again.

There can be no excuse for this kind of behaviour - in NUS or on our campuses. In order to calm the situation and expedite a return to the debate, I urged conference floor to allow the occupiers to make a statement in return for their departure from the stage. I regret this decision entirely and apologise to those who disagreed with that decision on the day. I made that mistake once and will not do so again: disruption to our democratic debate and violations of our Safe Space policy will not be tolerated in the future. I ask the occupiers to reflect on their own behaviour and issue a public apology to their students' unions and to NUS.

There are, of course, avenues to raise complaints through formal complaints procedures and the democratic process. The National Secretary and I are working through the complaints already received. Please address any further complaints to the NUS National Secretary, Richard Budden.

Moving forward together

I know that the reform debate has been divisive at times and the events of last week were no less controversial. The decision has been taken, the matter is settled. We will undertake an Equality Impact Assessment now and again in the future to review the impact of our new processes and make changes where necessary. You are also free to submit further amendments for debate at National Conference, now and in the future.

But now, with enormous challenges ahead for our members, it's time to unite, move forward and win for our members.

Wes

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