Write for us!
Before the party gets too self-congratulatory (i.e. ‘eight years of gains’), a reminder. In the 48 years since the start of the Thatcher era there have been only eight in which the estimated national vote of the LibDems in local council elections has been lower than in 2026 (and that is if we accept the upper estimate of 16% rather than the lower one, 14%, in which case the number of years is four). Two of those years were 1979 (14%) and 1980 (13%).
The worst run was between 2012 and 2016 when the estimated proportions of the national polls 15%, 13%, 11%, 8% and 14%. In 2021 it was 15%.
On five occasions, the share was as high as 27%: 1982, 1987, 1994, 2003 and 2004. Between 1982 and 2010 the LibDems average percentage share of the national vote at local elections was just over 23%.
Now, in 2026, the party still has some 800+ fewer councillors than in April 2010.
A shrinking base
In London (where I was Area Agent 84-89) the party has nearly as many councillors as in 2010 (246 v 243) but 61% come from just three boroughs, and 75% from six West London boroughs. Seventeen London boroughs (53%) have no LibDem councillors.
Historically, as far as I know, only two London boroughs have never elected a Lib Dem: Enfield and Westminster. But now, with the exception of the lonely and recently elected councillor in Tower Hamlets. there are no LibDem councillors in the ten boroughs of East London, north and south of the river.
In other words, the LibDems are a regional/local party concentrated in the south and south-west with no genuine presence in a large swathe of the country. Indeed, that ‘swathe’ has expanded dramatically with the sudden rise of the Greens.
No unique selling proposition
The party floats along being middle class, warm and cuddly, being relatively efficient at running the local authorities it controls, and not ‘being the Tories’ in areas still unimpressed by Badenoch and her sad clique.
On the other hand, except for a few withering outposts like Sheffield and Hull, the party has abandoned the Midlands, the North, most of East Anglia, Wales, the Scottish Borders to the tender mercies of Reform, the Greens, and crumbling Starmerism.
Am I surprised at that? Not really.
For years I have waited for the party to come up with a USP, a Unique Selling Proposition, which might help it carve out a position distinct from every other party, and which has resonance with a significant proportion of the electorate.
I have waited in vain. I would be staggered if one could find an ordinary member of the public who could name a policy uniquely Lib Dem.
Where are the distinct and radical ideas on health, wealth, democracy, Europe, the public utilities (especially water), and the environment which, yes, might cause controversy but which also might help carve out an individual identity, something which allows people to say, “Yes, the Lib Dems stand for….”.
Apart from the Welfare State, what did the Liberals ever do for us?
In 1909, Lloyd George’s ‘People’s Budget’ started the process which saw the accumulated wealth of the richest 1% collapse over the next 70 years from 70% to 20%. A Super Tax on the wealthy, national insurance and state pensions were just some of the elements which so upset the vested interests of the powerful that it took two General Elections and a major constitutional battle with the House of Lords to resolve.
Nor should we forget that the next major step forward in social policy, the Welfare State, came out of the Beveridge Report. Beveridge was a Liberal.
Being nice is not enough
Where are the radical policies of the 21st Century? The party needs to be prepared to piss off vested interests wherever they may be. To stop being polite because being nice, working hard locally, and ‘not being the Tories’, gets you just so far. And no further.
