{"id":4460,"date":"2026-09-19T09:55:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T09:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/19\/the-house-article-urban-lib-dems-fear-their-party-is-too-focused-on-the-blue-wall\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T09:55:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T09:55:38","slug":"the-house-article-urban-lib-dems-fear-their-party-is-too-focused-on-the-blue-wall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/19\/the-house-article-urban-lib-dems-fear-their-party-is-too-focused-on-the-blue-wall\/","title":{"rendered":"The House Article | Urban Lib Dems Fear Their Party Is Too Focused On The Blue Wall"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Illustration by Tracy Worrall)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Can the Liberal Democrats break through in big cities again? Noah Vickers reports on the party\u2019s bid to sharpen its \u2018national brand\u2019<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Ed Davey was triumphant on May 8 as the results of the local elections in England rolled in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re on for historic gains. This would be another record eighth year of consecutive gains in local elections for the Liberal Democrats \u2013 that\u2019s never been done before,\u201d he told Sky News.<\/p>\n

The party enjoyed a net national gain of 155 councillors, continuing an upward trend that began under Sir Vince Cable\u2019s leadership in 2018.<\/p>\n

But not all Lib Dems shared Davey\u2019s upbeat assessment. A deeper analysis revealed that, while the party had made further in-roads in many of the formerly Tory blue wall areas it won at 2024\u2019s general election, progress in other places \u2013 especially in England\u2019s biggest cities \u2013 was more limited.<\/p>\n

On Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester city councils, the party failed to gain any seats and saw its vote share fall. While consolidating its grip on south-west London\u2019s prosperous suburbs, the party also failed to gain any new boroughs in the capital, including its main target of Merton.<\/p>\n

In inner London specifically \u2013 where, back in the 2000s, the Liberal Democrats controlled boroughs like Camden, Islington, Lambeth and Southwark \u2013 their vote share fell to its lowest since 1978. Instead, the chief beneficiary of anger towards Labour from left-leaning, urban voters was the Green Party.<\/p>\n

\u201cLambeth and Southwark are perfect examples of this, where it would have been entirely reasonable to expect two or three times as many Lib Dem councillors to get elected as were,\u201d says a Lib Dem activist in London.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of our candidates worked extremely hard and, quite often, they got beaten by Greens who did nothing. That\u2019s unbelievably frustrating, because the central party message is very often \u2018if you work hard, you\u2019ll win\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Annous, a strategic communications associate at More in Common, says that while the party is not actively turning off urban, progressive voters, \u201cthe broad problem is that there basically is not much of a national brand for the Lib Dems\u201d.<\/p>\n

In areas where they had a positive local record, this barrier was overcome, he argues. But in big cities, where populations are more transient and residents are likelier to vote on national issues in local elections, it proved a hindrance.<\/p>\n

The Lib Dems\u2019 particular enthusiasm for door-knocking as the chief way of connecting with voters locally was also less effective in urban areas dominated by high-rise flats, where concierges often refuse entry to canvassers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe party\u2019s handbook of how to win elections isn\u2019t working in these sorts of cities right now,\u201d says Victor Chamberlain, Lib Dem deputy leader of Southwark council, where the party has gone into coalition as a junior partner to the Greens.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are telling us there\u2019s no national message; they don\u2019t know what we stand for. We articulate it really strongly at a local level, but they don\u2019t know what the national party is necessarily speaking to them about and I think that confuses voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cUnfortunately the party has tried to nationally identify us as \u2018the party of middle England\u2019 a bit too much. I\u2019m really proud of what Ed Davey\u2019s done over the years to get us to the highest number of MPs ever. But it has meant that we\u2019ve almost become a bit too associated with just one part of the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rob Blackie, the Lib Dems\u2019 2024 London mayoral candidate, argues that the party must \u201ctake more risks\u201d in its pitch to voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying it safe is actually very dangerous,\u201d he tells The House. \u201cAt the last election, we got 72 MPs elected, which was a fantastic achievement, but [it was] because we were perceived in those constituencies to be the best anti-Conservative party\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThe danger for us is that now that the Conservatives are no longer in power, being anti-Conservative is less motivating for people,\u201d he says. \u201cYou have to positively encourage them that it\u2019s worth voting for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blackie argues that a higher risk, higher reward approach should mean reclaiming \u201cour heritage as being the honest party who are willing to say things that the other parties are too scared to do\u201d \u2013 including on taxation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be clear that we are a centre-left party. That means that we know that to get better public services, it\u2019s going to require higher taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds that the Lib Dems should also speak in more direct, less technocratic terms about rejoining the EU, and should adopt a more \u201centhusiastic\u201d stance on housebuilding as a way of helping renters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe national party has given the impression, a lot of the time, that they think the problem with housing is that it\u2019s too easy to build it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the formal policy, which we debated at conference a couple of years ago, is very pro-housebuilding in a very good way, the tone of a lot of what we have done has implied that we are sympathetic to people who don\u2019t want houses built, rather than the people who are paying extremely high rents.\u201d<\/p>\n

The party\u2019s official policy is to build 380,000 new homes nationally every year, but one London Lib Dem councillor asks: \u201cWill you ever hear Ed Davey talk about that?\u201d<\/p>\n

There is \u201ca bit of a disconnect\u201d, they say, between the party\u2019s formal policies \u201cand what the leadership team around Ed is doing\u201d, adding: \u201cIn our manifesto, we have enough decent policies, we\u2019re just not really using them. We\u2019re just talking about boring, centrism, don\u2019t-rock-the-boat kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

More in Common\u2019s Annous, a former Lib Dem parliamentary candidate himself, says there is a \u201ctension\u201d between the party\u2019s target parliamentary seats \u2013 most of which are Conservative-held \u2013 and the individual voters it is likeliest to win over.<\/p>\n

New research by More in Common reveals that 60 per cent of voters who do not presently support the Lib Dems but are open to doing so in future are currently voting either Labour or Green. Only 36 per cent are currently voting Tory or Reform.<\/p>\n

Over the summer, the Lib Dems have been consulting on a new \u2018party strategy\u2019 document, to be debated at the party\u2019s conference. But in a July email to members, party president Josh Babarinde made clear this was not an invitation to comment on the Lib Dems\u2019 wider political pitch, which remains in Davey\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018party strategy\u2019 guides how we build and resource our party to meet our big, liberal ambitions,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is different but connected to the \u2018political strategy\u2019, which is about driving a vision for the country, and setting out what and who we\u2019re for (and against!). This rightly sits with the party leader. We\u2019re working closely with Ed to drive both forward this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

A London Lib Dem activist reports that members have been frustrated that the party\u2019s official response to the local election results was \u201call very tactical\u201d. The leadership\u2019s approach amounts, they argue, to little more than asking: \u201cCan we tweak our leaflets a bit?\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cPlaying it safe is actually very dangerous\u201d<\/p>\n

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As of June, some 1,500 of the party\u2019s roughly 60,000 members had responded to the strategy consultation, according to a summary attached to Babarinde\u2019s email. When asked what the party\u2019s \u201ckey risks\u201d are, the single most popular answer \u2013 cited by 40 per cent of respondents \u2013 was \u201cunclear identity \/ weak distinctive message\u201d.<\/p>\n

Members keen to help develop that message are not sitting idly by. The House can reveal that a group of 15 to 20 urban Lib Dem councillors and activists began informally organising following the local elections. They are devising a series of recommendations aimed at tackling what they say is an \u201curban political identity problem\u201d for the Lib Dems. Each of the group\u2019s members comes from a different urban authority, including Chelmsford, Hull, Manchester, Liverpool, Portsmouth, Sheffield, Leeds and some London boroughs.<\/p>\n

One member, Camden councillor Patrick Stillman, tells The House: \u201cWe want to work with the party to develop a clear national story about what Liberal Democrats stand for that resonates with younger, urban voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cBacked by strong digital campaigning, we think the party has a real opportunity to make an inspiring case for modern liberalism, with greater clarity and confidence. That would strengthen our prospects in Britain\u2019s cities, and the party as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davey has meanwhile asked Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Tom Gordon to chair a review of the party\u2019s electoral strategy in the North of England, where the party has only four MPs.<\/p>\n

Gordon is authoring the review \u2013 due to be finished by party conference \u2013 with assistance from Lord (Shaffaq) Mohammed, Baroness (Hannah) Kitching, Sunderland council\u2019s Lib Dem opposition leader Paul Edgeworth, and the North West Lib Dems\u2019 vice-chair for campaigns, Chris Lovell.<\/p>\n

Some in the party are optimistic that their national brand will be sharpened by the appointment of James Holt to the newly created post of \u2018political director\u2019 in party HQ.<\/p>\n

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Illustrations by Tracy Worrall<\/figcaption>
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Holt previously led communications for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and was executive director of their Archewell Foundation. But his new job is something of a homecoming, as he was also Nick Clegg\u2019s comms chief during the Coalition years.<\/p>\n

In response to suggestions the Lib Dems are struggling to reach beyond the blue wall, a senior party source pushes back, pointing to Sefton in Merseyside as one example of where gains in councillors could lead to future parliamentary success.<\/p>\n

They add that over the coming months there will be an \u201cevolution\u201d, rather than a revolution, in the party\u2019s national message, including a focus on forging closer relations with Europe through trade and defence co-operation.<\/p>\n

There will also be more emphasis, they say, on the party\u2019s commitment to climate action, as well as \u201cTrump-proofing\u201d Britain\u2019s democracy through constitutional reform \u2013 further details of which are yet to come. Social care, which has long been at the heart of Davey\u2019s policy offering, has meanwhile been given new relevance by Andy Burnham\u2019s arrival as Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

In the run-up to summer recess, Lib Dem MPs attended \u2018strategy away days\u2019 in London, where the latest data was presented to them on flipcharts and messaging was discussed. The party\u2019s weekly parliamentary meetings have also focused more heavily on wider strategic questions in recent months, according to attendees.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment there\u2019s a lot of goodwill towards the process that has been started inside the party, but people need to see fruit from it pretty soon,\u201d says one Lib Dem MP.<\/p>\n

They add that while there is a collective ambition to take more risks in their pitch to voters, it is also true that if the party could simply hold and grow its seats in and around the blue wall, that could leave the Lib Dems \u201cin an extremely powerful position\u201d in the event of a hung parliament, even if it \u201cmight have felt a bit boring along the way\u201d.<\/p>\n

But they caution that if that approach works: \u201cThe next question is \u2018what for?\u2019 and \u2018do the public understand what for?\u2019 If you\u2019re going to make demands in a hung parliament \u2013 whatever arrangement there might be, if there is one \u2013 then the public needs to understand what your demands might be. That\u2019s a big challenge for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

A party spokesperson tells The House: \u201cThe Liberal Democrats have had extremely successful local election results this parliament after many years of making net gains. Of course there have been some disappointing results along the way, and Ed has been clear that we have lessons to learn in some areas, including inner cities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn much of the North of England we were the only party that stood up against the tide of populism because we are rooted in our communities. We are confident that if we all work together we can do even better in the North of England in the years ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cFundamentally, our party has a moral responsibility to do everything we can to stop Nigel Farage turning our country into a version of Trump\u2019s America. In Parliament and across the country, Liberal Democrats are working incredibly hard to do just that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Illustration by Tracy Worrall) 10 min read3 hr Can the Liberal Democrats break through in big cities again? Noah Vickers reports on the party\u2019s bid to sharpen its \u2018national brand\u2019 Ed Davey was triumphant on May 8 as the results of the local elections in England rolled in. \u201cWe\u2019re on for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4461,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartinvestingschronicle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}