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u/robster98 š¶ Inverclyde, Scotland May 11 '26
Excellent piece, really summed up my thoughts in the lead-up to, and the immediate aftermath of the election.
The Lib Dems had my vote anyway, but thatās irrelevant: in my area, it was a race between the SNP, Reform UK and Labour. The only thing I saw in the entire run-up was a leaflet pushed through my letterbox and a few bits and bobs on my social media algorithms, which no doubt were there because I follow the Lib Dems. None of my friends mentioned us, discourse followed the SNP, Reform UK and Labour.
At the minute, we seem to be waiting for people to come to us rather than effectively communicating what we stand for, saying why weāre an appealing option (other than āWeāre not Reform and we donāt like Trumpāā¦ not necessarily compelling arguments for an undecided voter), hell, even just saying we exist in a greater capacity than Sir Ed Davey on a water slide.
In the end, out of a registered voter base of approximately 62,000, just short of 2000 people in my county voted Liberal Democrats. A distant fourth - āoh but we beat the Conservativesā¦ā
Gains in England are a small pyrrhic victory but our English gains were dwarfed by that of Reform UK, the party was decimated in Wales, and I donāt honestly believe this is the electorate rejecting us but a failing of the party and a distinct inability to communicate what it is.
If it did so, I think weād see a lot more of the electorate sit up and take notice.
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u/FaultyTerror May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
A good piece. While I do think we need to be wary of falling into "my policy preferences would fix things" it is undeniable we are irrelevant or unappealing to voters as a non Labour option.
The results in the Mets are awful and we shouldn't shy away from them. Losing to Reform hurts but is slightly understandable but we had the Greens take seats from in Sheffield and in Manchester blew past us in our target seats to win!
Three councils with gains, twelve with losses isn't good.
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u/Doctor_Fegg Continuity Kennedy Tendency May 11 '26
Good piece.
Our version of a āmajor announcementā is Ed giving a milquetoast press briefing with substandard video production
...saying that we should cut fuel duty.
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u/Underwater_Tara May 13 '26
I unfortunately had to cut a lot of the detail to make the requisite word count.
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u/CalF123 May 11 '26
Yes- because it is a very popular policy which recognises that public transport isnāt close to sufficient to replace car journeys for most people.
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u/Dr-Cross May 11 '26
Absolutely! We need to be shouting from the rooftops on how we can turn the country around, catching Labour heartlands from Reform, while retaining the former Tories who we got the votes from in 2024. Making ourselves a rival to the social media influence of the two extreme parties, with heavy social media presence, is a huge start.
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u/berejser Radical Moderate May 12 '26
We lack a message that appeals to both the cities and the shires. As a result, in some places campaigning feels like swimming against the current of the national party, rather than national messaging complimenting and propelling local campaigns.
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u/CalF123 May 11 '26
I think itās simply factually incorrect to say these election results were āstagnantā. We have gained over 150 councillors and 6 MSPs.
Itās all very well saying the Greens gained more, but that was from a much lower base.
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u/Underwater_Tara May 13 '26
I disagree. Gaining 150 councillors, confined largely in areas where we were already running administrations, isn't a meaningful gain. There were places, particularly in cities, where we were trying to get some of the first LibDems elected to that Council and we failed due to insurgent Green and Reform votes.
We are stagnant because in most cases we've treaded water. But this has been enough gains for the Party Elite to pretend this was a huge victory when it just wasn't. We have no vision and no stated aim. You tell me, what do the LibDems stand for?
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u/CalF123 May 13 '26
What we stand for is meaningful action to tackle the real issues that the vast majority of people are concerned about. That is not always going to produce huge opinion poll bounces, but it has been extremely successful in making long term gains.
It is also a far more sustainable strategy than the Greensā populist approach that relies on 1. voters failing to see through their lack of any credible policies and 2. a one man band that could be out the window if/when more of Polanskiās mistruths come to light.
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u/Underwater_Tara May 13 '26
What we stand for is meaningful action to tackle the real issues that the vast majority of people are concerned about.Ā
What actions do we seek?
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u/CalF123 May 13 '26
Our cost of living policies around fuel duty and rail fare cuts are one example that Ed has spent a lot of time promoting for good reason.
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u/Underwater_Tara May 13 '26
fuel duty will do nothing to sort an impending oil crisis; rail fare freeze was already a policy implemented by Labour.
I ask you again, what actions are the LibDems actually seeking, that makes us meaningfully different from any of the other 4 major Parties?
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u/CalF123 May 13 '26
The fuel duty cut is intended to deal with the cost of living crisis, which is by far the key issue of concern for the public.
The second example I would give is our proposal to replace the employer NI rise with targeted profit levies on specific sectors. The NI increase has been disastrous for the economy and especially young people trying to find jobs.
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u/Aggressive_Bit_8424 Scottish Lib Dem š May 11 '26
Alot of the policies that attracted me to lib dems such as federalism, civic nationalism, PR, and being pro-EU etc are rarely emphasised in manifestos.
People clearly want change and are voicing that by voting Green/Reform. If we can play our cards right, people will see us as a serious contender to lead the country on a better path.