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So I'm leaving Liverpool. Not on a Ferry Across the Mersey, but on the Transpennine Express (express only in the loosest sense of the word judging by the journey here).

The Lib Dems are leaving too, and generally they're a happy lot.

But back in the North East there is some trouble.

Away from Liverpool, and one North East Lib Dem has decided enough's enough.

Gateshead councillor Yvonne McNicol has announced her defection to Labour.

She'd represented Dunston Hill and Wickham East since 2004.

She says: "By acting as cover for the Tories as they savagely cut our public services, the Lib Dems have shown they are no longer concerned about the people of the North East."

The resignation won't shake the party to its foundations of course, but it's a sign that away from the largely trouble-free conference there are a small number of Lib Dems who do feel disillusioned.

And even here there are senior Lib Dems who want their party to be flexible.

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP for one.

He's seen as being on the left of the party, and admits he cut his political teeth fighting Thatcherism.

Although thoroughly supportive of the Coalition and Nick Clegg, he has warned of the dangers to the party too.

I was keen in particular to see if he was as signed up as his leader to deep and immediate cuts in public spending.

He told me the answer is, yes, but up to a point.

He accepts the need to bring down the deficit quickly.

But with one qualification. He says that if the cuts beging to seriously damage the economy in Cumbria and the North, then there will need to be a rethink.

If unemployment rises significantly, or the economy slips back into recession, he says the cuts will have to happen slower.

I suppose the question is, will the Lib Dems have enough muscle to rein the Conservatives in, and if so, might it be too late by then to reverse the tide?

You can hear his views on the Politics Show this weekend, as well as those of Redcar MP Ian Swales.

In many ways, Tim Farron's comments mirror the approach of a sizeable number of Lib Dem delegates here.

They believe their Conference has proved that the party can still be in control of its own destiny, rather than becoming an offshoot of the Conservatives.

Policy motions critical of Coalition policy on free schools, Trident and cuts have encouraged them to feel that they can draw a line in the sand.

None of those motions will change government policy, but delegates have told me that they think it will give Nick Clegg ammunition if he needs to resist unwelcome Conservative policies.

The test of that tactic will come soon, when we start to get more details of the individual cuts, and see their impact.

In that regard, there was a really interesting fringe meeting last night organised by the Smith Institute about the North-South divide.

The speakers included , from the thinktank, and John Tomaney from Newcastle University.

Both told delegates there that they believed government policy would worsen the North-South divide over the next 12 months.

They are certainly both left of centre, but insisted they were approaching the issue from a neutral perspective.

Ed Cox said cuts will hit the North worse than the South, and would be compounded by the scrapping of the Regional Development Agencies just at the time when organisations will be needed to generate new jobs.

Both were also critical of Conservative thinkers who believe it will only be possible for the private sector to grow in the North, once the public sector is cut back.

And there they have the agreement of many Lib Dems.

At the same meeting Newcastle's Lord John Shipley, said the North East's problem was not an oversized public sector, but an underdeveloped private sector.

That may be a crucial divide with at least some Conservatives.

John Redwood may not be part of the Government at the moment, but if you check out , you can see that many Conservatives do believe public sector cuts will actually help the economy.

So as the Lib Dem gathering winds up, I'm already looking forward with some anticipation to the Conservative Conference in Birmingham in 10 days' time.

Just how different will be their approach to the issues their Coalition partners have wrestled with this week? These are fascinating times.

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