Author Archives: Victoria Collins MP

Editor’s Note: In November party members will be voting to elect our next Party President. At Lib Dem Voice we welcome posts from each of the candidates – one to launch their candidature plus a maximum of one per week during the actual campaign.

The news that our membership has halved in five years, is not simply a statistic to be dismissed or explained away, it’s a call to action. As Liberal Democrats, we must confront this reality with both honesty and determination.

It’s been at the heart of my campaign as Vice President, because if we’re going to improve diverse representation we must fix engagement. We need to start at our grassroots. 

Let me be clear: this is not about diminishing the extraordinary achievements of our parliamentary team or our incredible councillors. Our 72 MPs and thousands of councillors are delivering real change in communities across the UK, holding this government to account and winning on key campaigns from justice to the environment. But electoral success and organisational vitality don’t always go hand in hand. We can celebrate our electoral gains whilst acknowledging that our membership base requires urgent renewal.

The challenge before us is fundamental. As we’ve rebuilt our parliament party and council base, we’ve treated membership growth as an administrative afterthought rather than the lifeblood of our movement. We’ve assumed that electoral victories would automatically translate into organisational strength. The numbers tell us otherwise. Whilst we’ve been focused,  rightly, on winning seats, we’ve inadvertently allowed our grassroots foundations to weaken.

A thriving membership base is our connection to communities, and our source of renewal. The drop speaks to a hunger for authentic political engagement, for movements that feel genuinely participatory rather than transactional. Many people are seeking parties that offer meaningful involvement, not just occasional requests for donations or signatures on petitions.

As Vice President, I would implement a comprehensive renewal strategy built on three interconnected pillars.