2026 Local Elections review: A Liberal perspective" Boys on the corner looking for their supper Boys round the green looking for some slaughter – We used to chase dreams now we chase the dragon Mine is the semi with the Union Jack on" Come to Milton Keynes - The Style Council I start this blog with the lyrics to a hit from 1985 that could very easily apply today. How many flags have been raised in your local area? My corner of Kent was plastered with them in the Autumn, some remain on higher lamp posts as the local admin body is too cowardly to take ... (more) |
The 2026 Locals were a bad result for the party, let's not pretend otherwiseLike many Lib Dems who stood in the 2026 locals, I've spent most of the last year walking around my ward knocking on doors, delivering leaflets and following the strategy that we were told gave us a really good shot. Our data looked great, we were making lots of contacts and many voters told us they were voting for us tactically against Labour. The race seemed like a clear two horse race, the Greens previously had less than half our vote and didn't campaign in the ward. It sounded like we had the perfect chance, right? Well, I thought so ... (more) |
Long-Term Planning in the Age of Weak Government"Long-Term Planning" is a term I hear thrown around a lot about Governance, usually because people feel it isn't happening. This isn't for lack of trying either, in 2024 Keir Starmer was making clear that his Premiership was going to last at least ten years; while that looks unlikely today, it does raise some serious questions about what long-term planning looks like in an era when leadership is highly fragile. To really put this in context, the last Prime Minister to serve a full-term was David Cameron during the Coalition from 2010-2015, and the last Prime Minister to serve a ... (more) |
Bad News: What the Headlines Don't Tell Us[IMG: Copies of Bad News by Mark Pack on a shelf] Buy Bad News from Waterstones, Amazon (paperback and Kindle), Biteback (including ebook) or Bookshop.org (supports independent bookshops).* Bad News: What the Headlines Don't Tell Us is my book about the media. (Though yes, politics and polls do feature too.) It's a popular guide that helps you make sense of the news wherever it appears – print, broadcast or online. Peppered with examples from around the world, the book turns a serious subject into an enjoyable read. Thoughtful and perceptive, Bad News is required reading for anyone who wants to ... (more) |
Ron and Chris re-electedGateshead's opposition Liberal Democrat Group have confirmed that veteran councillors Ron Beadle (Low Fell) and Christopher Ord (Whickham North and Swalwell) will lead them over the next year. Ron, who was re-elected with the highest individual vote of any Gateshead councillor last week, will be Leader of the Opposition because the Lib Dems are the largest of the three opposition (more) |
Vince Cable writes: Escaping the Brexit dilemmaThere is a Brexit dilemma: a growing consensus that Brexit was a bad mistake together with the fatalistic acceptance that nothing much can be done about it. For committed Remainers, there is the smug satisfaction of having been right all along. The predicted economic costs have duly materialised. The less predicted global upheaval has left Britain dangerously stranded in a geo-economic no-mans-land. Public opinion polls are increasingly negative about Brexit. If the mistake is so obvious, surely then Britain can and will re-join, with some urgency? But there is a big difference between the virtual reality of opinion polls and ... (more) |
Scotland's electoral system has reached breaking pointOur biggest success of the May 2026 elections was undoubtedly in Scotland, where the Scottish Liberal Democrats played a blinder to reverse years of challenging Scottish Parliament elections. The Scottish Party won 10 MSPs, up from four in 2021, an outcome that is, surprisingly, our first net gain at any Holyrood election. However, there's a broader electoral issue that needs to be addressed. And that's the disproportionality of the Scottish Parliament's supposedly proportional system. The Additional Member System (AMS) used to elect MSPs at Holyrood gives voters two ballots. One elects their local First Past the Post (FPTP) MSP, with ... (more) |
The Moody Blues: Go NowThis Sixties classic is a cover of a record by Bessie Banks. The singer here is the late Denny Laine, who went on to form Wings with Paul McCartney. (more) |
Londoners need hope - our Party offers noneThese local elections were successful for many, and yes, we should be celebrating. But as someone who fought in Central London — a Zone 1 ward, as central as it gets — I can't honestly say I feel happy. Everyone keeps talking about the Lib Dem tortoise, the slow and steady march forward, but all I can think of is the Blackadder episode where they measured gains on the Western Front with a tape measure. Being a Lib Dem in Central London feels exactly like trench warfare. It feels like we have out-of-touch generals sitting miles behind the lines, poring ... (more) |
Will replacing Starmer make a difference?As I write, Keir Starmer's demise as Prime Minister is looking more and more inevitable. Over 90 Labour MPs have called for him to go, junior ministers are jumping ship and Wes Streeting is no doubt putting the fundamentals of his leadership campaign into place. But would a new leader make such a difference to Labour's fortunes? The Independent reports on the views of one Labour MP, who believes that replacing Starmer as prime minister will solve none of the country's problems: Southport Labour MP Patrick Hurley issued a powerful appeal to his party to "stick with Starmer". Far from ... (more) |