At last year’s general election, the British people voted for change following nearly a decade of chaos under the Conservatives punctuated by austerity, Brexit, mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic, scandal at Westminster, the mini-budget and the cost-of-living crisis. This much was shown by the twenty-point slump in their vote share in comparison to their 2019 result.

Nationwide, our party gained 57 seats to elect a total of 72 MPs to Westminster, our best performance ever and a close parliamentary reflection of our vote share of 12.2%. Because of the distortive effects of First Past the Post, a system whereby winning only one-third of votes casts gave Labour a 411-seat landslide, we had to undertake a laser-focused campaign targeting changeable seats. While our party represents constituencies throughout Great Britain from St. Ives to Orkney and Shetland, nearly 82% of our MPs represent the South of England. This is largely the result of our new MPs being elected predominantly from the dismantled Conservatives’ Blue Wall.

By contrast, there are only four MPs representing the North of England: the incumbent Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) and the newly elected Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove), Tom Morrison (Cheadle) and Tom Gordon (Harrogate and Knaresborough). This is not reflective of our support in the region. Because of FPTP, we won only half of our fair share of seats in Northwest England and only a quarter in Yorkshire and Humber; in Northeast England, our 5.8% vote share won us no seats while Labour won 26 out of 27 seats on 45.4%.

The North of England has historically been considered part of Labour’s Red Wall. However, the loss of many of these seats to the Conservatives in 2019 shows that Labour’s grip on the region is slipping. With Labour now in government at Westminster and their actions and inactions earning them the ire of many, we are presented with an opportunity to make further inroads and resolve a possible North-South disparity within our own party.

At 2025 Spring Federal Conference in Harrogate (21 to 23 March), the Yorkshire and Humber Liberal Democrats will be hosting a fringe event, Increasing the Liberal Democrats’ Northern Appeal. It is a Q&A session where you can ask our panel of elected Liberal Democrats about their experiences in office or on the campaign trail and their views about current Liberal Democrat policy and its possible direction, as they relate to the North of England.

We are proud to present as our panellists:

• Cllr Tim Pickstone, the Chief Executive of the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors.
• Cllr Mike Ross, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Hull and East Yorkshire Mayor.
• Cllr Amanda Hopgood, the Leader of Durham County Council.
• Cllr Paul Heilbron, the Leader of the Salford Liberal Democrats.

It will be held from 13:00 to 14:00 on Saturday 22 March in Meeting Room 2 of the Harrogate Convention Centre’s Queen Suite. Come along and take the opportunity to shape the conversation!

* Samuel James Jackson is the Chair of the Policy Committee of the Yorkshire and the Humber Liberal Democrats and had served as the Liberal Democratic candidate in Halifax during the 2024 general election.