15 Comments

• Tim Rogers 14th Nov '25 - 6:39pm

  A somewhat poor week with one direct loss and one first place loss and both to the Green party.One saw our vote fall from 1600 to 100. Add to this the extremely poor turnout for the president election this week. We still seem to be lacking energy, direction and message.

• Ian Patterson 14th Nov '25 - 6:59pm

  Not to put too fine a point on it, our vote fell of a cliff where we stood and even more so in Gwynedd where we didn’t stand at all.

• paul barker 14th Nov '25 - 9:22pm

  The Canterbury & Long Ashton results may be the first sign of The Green Boom on the ground or they may be just Local. We are part of the ruling coalition in Canterbury & in Long Ashton the other Councillor in the ward was a Libdem but resigned from The Party over a planning decision that destroys the last bit of Green Belt seperating it from Bristol.

• David Le Grice 14th Nov '25 - 11:09pm

  I do hope those people who thought the Green surge was only going to affect urban left wing places that we’ve largely given up on are taking a good look at this!
  They are perfectly capable of hurting us everywhere if we continue to allowing them to be the only exiting progressive or liberal option on the ballot.

  And even if most of their rise is currently coming from metropolitan Britain the big boost in their profile that could come from overtaking us in the popular vote and multiplying their parliamentary representation could become devastating for us.

• David Raw 15th Nov '25 - 12:10am

  @ David Le Grice…….. and they seem to have done it without a single bungee jump, hobby horse or marching band.

  Perhaps there really is a market for serious mature political discussion throughout the whole of the UK, David ?

• Caracatus 15th Nov '25 - 5:33am

  The Greens are aiming for 40 MPs, the Lib Dems perhaps 90. So, as both seem to accept neither can win a majority, perhaps its time for a Lib Dem/Green Alliance. Those who remember the Liberal/SDP Alliance might think so. That really would transform the choice for the country – back to Liz Truss with Reform on onwards to a better politics with people co-operating. Do the Lib Dems even believe in proportional representation? I fear the party is heading for 2015 all over again, local champions sweep away by a lack of a relevant national message.

• John Bicknell 15th Nov '25 - 11:59am

  The Greens are a populist party of the left, the equivalent of Reform on the right. They are not presenting ‘serious political debate’, as some on here seem to think, just simplistic answers to complex problems. No-one is yet seriously examining what they are coming out with, but if the LDs were foolish enough to do an electoral pact with them, then Ed Davey would have the embarrassing task of having to defend these proposals in the media spotlight.

• theakes 15th Nov '25 - 1:17pm

  We need a more aggressive approach to the Greens highlighting ‘Polanski’s crazy policies.
  That is not the style of thoughtful ED, step up Daisy Cooper, she was very impressive
  on TV News earlier this week presenting policy on the budget, from the pub bar.

• Tim Rogers 15th Nov '25 - 1:23pm

  Caracatus. Any alliance with the Green party, especially now under Polanski is for the birds. The Green party is no longer the Caroline Lucas type moderates but now hard left high tax anti NATO extremists. The Tory press would rightly lay into us and scare all those moderate Conservatives back to the Tories

• David Allen 15th Nov '25 - 1:39pm

  The Lib Dems are a populist party of the centre, the equivalent of Reform on the right. They are not presenting ‘serious political debate’, as some on here seem to think, just simplistic answers to complex problems. No-one is yet seriously examining what they are coming out with, but if the Greens were foolish enough to do an electoral pact with them, then Zack Polanski would have the embarrassing task of having to defend these proposals in the media spotlight.

  (OK, that’s a little bit over the top, but, no more so than John Bicknell’s posting!)

• Alison C 16th Nov '25 - 9:21am

  @Paul Barker My understanding is that the Lib Dem Councillor in Long Ashton did not resign from the Party, but he did resign from the Council Group of which he was a member, because they did not support the protest over planning permission.

• Alison C 16th Nov '25 - 9:26am

  My experience of the Greens is a very negative one. They can be brutal to opposition and it would do us great harm in allying with them in any way at all.

• paul barker 17th Nov '25 - 1:21pm

  Actually a Green/Libdem Alliance could take off, could win a General Election under the present conditions. The big problem is that neither Party are remotely ready to Govern at The National level. On the other hand, neither is anyone else, could We make any worse of a job than Labour ?
  If we took this route the best time would be Autumn 2028, that way any Bubble would at its biggest around the Election.

• David Raw 17th Nov '25 - 1:51pm

  @ Paul Barker “could we make any worse of a job than Labour ?”

  Yes, I very much regret that unfortunately we could, with or without bubbles. As somebody who paid my first Liberal Party subscription way back in March, 1962 I currently observe a somewhat divided and unpeaceful party on the one hand – and a very inexperienced party on the other.

• Neil Sandison 17th Nov '25 - 3:04pm

  The comments i hear about not working with the Greens are the same comments i heard by certain liberals for not working with the Social Democrats . The political purests can always find an excuse for not sharing their pond .Do they want to be swallowed up by the Reform sharks as we both split the vote .
  Lets see if there is some common ground or policy areas of agreement . perhaps local agreements may keep Reform/ Tories out in some of our recently gained GE seats