Local elections are right around the corner and all is to play for. With the Conservatives still reeling from what looks to be a terminal defeat and Labour having fallen out of favour with the voting public, smaller parties and independents stand to gain big. One such man in particular has big ambitions, with Ed Davey eyeing up a seismic political shift. But does that shift mean the Liberal Democrats’ position on the political spectrum has shifted?
Big, local ambitions
As he launched his party’s local elections campaign in Oxfordshire, Ed Davey said he wants the Liberal Democrats to replace the Conservatives as the “party of middle England”. He aims for the party to overtake the Conservatives as the second-largest party in local government; taking votes from the Conservatives in 20 councils run by Kemi Badenoch’s party but also wants to take votes from Labour as well, describing the Liberal Democrats as “the natural home for voters fed up with Labour and disappointed with its record in government so far.”
But what does the party of middle England mean? Are the Liberal Democrats simply trying to rout the Conservatives from their strongholds there or are they shifting to the ground the Conservatives once occupied under David Cameron before their lurch to the almost far-right?
Soft Conservatives?
In the wake of his big announcement, Ed Davey is already having to deny claims that the Liberal Democrats are becoming “soft Conservatives”. In trying to usurp the Conservatives in their Blue Wall heartlands, this is the label he has received. But is it justified?
The coalition
It seems like a like a lifetime ago that the Conservatives entered government 15 years ago, helped there by the support of Liberal Democrat MPs. The coalition saw the party support then Conservative leader David Cameron enact a cruel programme of austerity, saw the rise in tuition fees for young people and the privatisation of the Royal Mail.
Many argued with me at the time that the Liberal Democrats were holding back the Conservatives, that without them in coalition with them, things would be far worse. Looking at England post-2016, perhaps they were right. But in enabling the Conservatives but stopping them doing their worst, does that not make them soft Conservatives?
Post-2024 policy
“History!” screamed one Liberal Democrat activist during a 2019 general election hustings in Alnwick when the party’s candidate was challenged on the coalition. I called rubbish then, albeit in my own head.
But moving beyond 2024 and perhaps this argument becomes a little more sound. Ed Davey’s party is once again championing electoral reform, something approved by Labour members at conference but vetoed by Keir Starmer, and is championing re-joining the European Union. Electoral reform which would radically make England more democratic and accountable to the people and membership of the European Union which would save us from financial ruin and not punish the workers, disabled or most vulnerable in the process.
Ambitions to make the Liberal Democrats “the party of middle England” does make Ed Davey’s party come across as Conservative. His targeting of their strongholds makes it seem that his appeal is primarily to them and, if that’s the case, then it must mean his party must champion what softer, more centrist Conservatives want. Hence, soft Conservatives. But with some big policies that should naturally come from the Labour Party and an aim to take votes from Labour as well, could the Liberal Democrats actually be a more radical, centre-left force than we think? It’s only early days yet but I’m sure, in time, we’ll find out.
