52% of Britons don’t know what the Liberal Democrats consider the most important issue facing the country. Compared against Labour, Conservative, Green and Reform, the electorate have the poorest recall on what the Liberal Democrats are focused on. I argue that this is a result of political parties moving away from values and visions and emphasising radical policy that draws attention to their cause. Where the Liberal Democrats communicate values and not policy, we risk getting lost in the noise of our evolving media landscape.

Radical policy from both Reform and the Greens hint at their underlying values, drawing attention to an issue that resonates with the voters. Where 39% cite immigration as the most important issue facing the country, Reform throw their weight behind it. The Greens target inequality and cost of living with slogans that hint at radical economic reform. Their weaknesses are a lack of coherence in policy when addressing a broad range of issues. I argue that neither party can coherently describe their values without policy contradiction. Voters don’t hear about the economic consequences of either the Green’s radical economic policies or Reform’s aggressive immigration stance.

Conversely, the electorate better understand the coherence of Labour and Conservative focus areas. The data pulls through their party values and their historic policy focus, however, neither party can be seen to focus on the issues that are most affecting British voters (cost of living and concern for the NHS). The electorate understand who Labour and the Conservatives are and acknowledge that in successive governments they have failed to deliver for the British people. Labour has the impossible task of needing to reinvent themselves whilst simultaneously attempting to govern.

Reform and the Greens are targeting the next general election now, sowing the seeds that they believe will bear fruit in 2029. Recent gains at local elections demonstrate that only Labour and the Conservatives have been held to account for failures in government. We must reject the idea that established political ideas are failing to land with the electorate. Instead, we can learn lessons from both Labour and the Conservatives as they abandoned their centrist values, lurching to the right only to find that they were chasing voters that have already abandoned them.

This positions the Liberal Democrats in a unique and enviable position. We are trusted, we are reputable and we are values driven. We have the coherence in policy to outperform the populists, and we have the trust and reputation to outperform parties from successive failed governments. The challenge we face is in communicating those values to the British people so that they can see the benefits for themselves. I propose three recommendations to improve recall and ensure our messages land with the British people:

1. “Tell me the policies, show me the values”. We should be values driven, not values led. The changing political and media landscapes give us shorter touchpoints with the electorate. By repackaging our communications, we can focus messaging on impactful policy over broader values statements. For each of us, these policies will coherently build a picture of our values that reflect a society that we want to live in, building a trusted connection to the electorate.
2. “Give me the bold policy that I care about”. Demand for change is an opportunity for us to lead with radical policies that get to the root cause of the problem. For this reason, we must continue to be the party owning the narratives for a new UK-EU customs union and an overhaul of social care and NHS services. Although important issues, these policy areas don’t directly address two of the most important issues for the British people; Britons want answers about how the Liberal Democrats will deal with cost of living and immigration. Overhauling the Treasury and refocusing on long-term economic prosperity is fundamentally the right decision but it needs to hold more relevance to the Britons in crisis today. Tethering this policy to taxation reform would give voters the confidence that the Liberal Democrats offer both short-term and long-term solutions.
3. “Remain locally relevant”. As a values driven party with coherent policy, we can choose to target our messaging locally. This isn’t a cynical communications strategy but rather acknowledgement that we have national answers that address local concerns. The Liberal Democrats can be poised to deliver bold policy on multiple fronts that resonate with voters locally.

The Liberal Democrats have an opportunity to capitalise on recent local election successes. Repackaging values, exploiting our coherent policies and localising ourselves will best position the party for success in the future.

* Tom Walker is an active party member from Chippenham. His career has been spent as a leader in the British Army with an education in both Economics and Business.