Many of us in the capital woke up on the 8th May with mixed feelings. We made significant gains in boroughs like Ealing, Brent and Sutton, but felt short of our ambitions in other boroughs, with the Greens upsetting our momentum and the Labour and Conservative vote proving more resilient than expected.
So what does this mean for our next election? Recent polling shows us at 10% in the mayoral race – one of our best results in decades, yet still last among the major parties. But our success in London shouldn’t be judged on our mayoral results, it should be measured on three things
- London Assembly Seats, where for the first time in history we could become essential to passing the Mayor’s budget.
- Strengthening prospects in target Westminster and council seats, and preventing other parties from obtaining bar charts that steal our momentum.
- Building up on-the-ground infrastructure across London, which remains a key factor to our winning formula.
Our next scheduled election is regional, and our Regional Party will be central to setting the strategy that helps make or break momentum. Having spent two years on the Regional Executive, with campaigning experience across local parties of every size, from Lewisham and Merton to Richmond, I’ve seen how the Region could do more to lift us everywhere.
Building a London Brand
London’s transient population has weakened the effectiveness of localism; London-wide and national issues increasingly weigh more heavily on voters than they used to. We also have to be realistic about our national message: most of our promising prospects remain in the Blue Wall, so we’re unlikely to see the federal party shift that dial in London’s favour.
Since the last GLA election, we’ve doubled our MPs and added dozens of councillors, many fighting on shared priorities for Londoners. Whether it’s Lambeth Lib Dems’ win for tenants on housing disrepairs, Luke Taylor MP championing the Bakerloo extension or Cllr Anton Georgiou calling out Labour’s deal with the Tories. We have the stories and actions, but we must do more to collaborate to turn these into a cohesive regional message.
That’s where the Region must be more proactive, taking ownership of our messaging ahead of the London Elections and getting better at amplifying local successes. Reposting local content isn’t enough. We need to work with local parties to turn their successes into a shared regional narrative, and improve how our councils, GLA team and MPs collaborate.
Digital Campaigning Strategy
On-the-ground campaigning alone is no longer enough to win across London – the air war matters more with each election. The Green Party and Reform UK have shown how social media can be used effectively, with Labour and the Conservatives already catching up. We cannot be left behind.
A London brand with coordinated messaging must include a much-expanded digital presence, particularly on short-form video. Social media is replacing email for many voters, and for London’s younger, transient population it’s often the only channel that reaches them at all.
The Region must equip key members and volunteers across London with the skills and support to produce this content – building on Charlie Clinton’s work on digital campaigning, turning great local content like Southwark and Camden’s into regional narratives, and championing the organic reach already coming from members like Elin Kingston and Sarah Anderson.
Better Coordination, More Effective Cooperation
Not every local party has the resources to run this kind of campaign alone. Earlier this year we tried to coordinate some of our resources and messaging, but only to a limited extent, enough to learn from but not yet enough to rely on. Two things would help to achieve this.
- Expanded use of Campaign Packs and Bulk Buys
Our policing materials, produced after police front-counter closures were announced, showed how we can deliver a common front on an issue residents across London care about. We should do this more often, with plans ready in advance. Many local parties are stretched, and London elections draw less member interest than local or general ones; bulk buys can bring costs down for everyone and incentivise the messaging discipline.
- Improve Campaign Steering
We won’t win the London elections without increasing our vote everywhere, and some areas need extra focus, both to get out the vote and to build our future prospects. The Region should give clear strategic advice and direct resource to where it grows us, including directing surplus capacity to smaller local parties.
The region will need to work closely with local group leaders, because these resources don’t work effectively if there is no buy-in from local parties.
Can YOU be part of the change?
We remain a volunteer-led party, and none of the above can happen without a strong team on the London Region to deliver it.
If you are passionate about London and want to help build a strong regional campaign, consider standing in our internal elections this Autumn (details to come). If you have any questions about the Regional Party, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected] or @joshlm_uk on Instagram.
* Josh Lucas Mitte is the Secretary of the London Regional Executive and former Chair of the English Young Liberals (2024 – 2026).
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19 Comments
When U joined the then Liberal Party in 1964 and then moved in to fight and win council seats in West Yorkshire, our message included local, regional, national and even European stories. Somehow this clear political message has been lost and our leaflets are bland and often boring, focussing ruthlessly on ‘our local champion’ to the exclusion of just about everything else. It just won’t do.
Wherever we promote the LibDems we must be, albeit briefly, saying where we stand on the wider issues of the day. There was also a lot more content in our leaflets, not just loads of pictures and bar charts! Maybe a picture speaks 1000 words, but if they are vacuous what’s the point. So, yes, a national message that promotes Liberalism, not just empty soundbites
We could make a start by putting in some effort in the upcoming Holborn and St Pancras by-election. Resigning ourselves to losing and therefore doing nothing from day one in so many by-elections is rather dispiriting when the result is the inevitable lost deposit and finishing behind the Greens. It’s time we tried to reverse that.
Indeed. It is one of the few seats you can say there is absolutely no excuse for tactical voting. That does of course rule out our major tactic in bye-elections but it also means a positive message could work.
We absolutely need to create a distinctive “Metro Liberalism” that speaks to the growing number of voters (particularly younger voters) who have limited attachment to a borough or ward – they’re Londoners first and foremost. Even if they wanted to settle in a particular community, the next rent increase will have them searching anywhere they can afford.
In May it was noticeable in our target wards that we did well in the categories of “local support” and “personal support” as our candidates were well dug in – but in an environment where Greens were talking about Gaza and Reform talking about small boats, we had nothing to say on the same scale.
Very much mirroring Patrick’s post & the planned fringe event ….
https://www.libdemvoice.org/winning-britains-cities-a-liberal-vision-for-urban-britain-80334.html
Agree with Chris. At least run a robust positive campaign in Holborn. You know like the ones the party used to, remember them
Although our target may be the assembly (and specifically the assembly list) the media will report it as purely a contest for mayor. Nothing we say will be reported unless it comes from a mayoral candidate. Can we please get one in place a bit earlier this time.
The political chatterati may view the Holborn & St Pancras by-election as a proxy for the next London Mayoral election, but the locals will just see it as a chance to elect a new MP. That’s the common mistake among the Westminster bubble, projecting their hyperpolitical obsessions onto any election that comes along and getting it wrong because they don’t take account of what’s happening on the ground (c.f. C&A, Bermondsey).
We should definitely run a serious campaign in H&StP. It doesn’t matter how far behind we were last time; we won Brent East from 3rd (but it didn’t apparently help our Mayoral campaign the following year). And it’s safe to say there’s minimal danger of letting the Tories or Яeform in. It would help us gain a profile among the “Metro Liberals” that @Ben refers to, even if we don’t win. But don’t think it’ll affect the 2028 Mayoral election. It’s too far ahead; London is not all Camden, and we’d have to scale that campaign.
We should throw the kitchen sink at it, maximum effort, get our voters out, block the Greens and echo the Newcastle ward by election of last week, 2nd from 5th.
Ideal spot London and South East plenty of q workers available, get a good personable known candidate to contrast with mad Zack and bobs your uncle we are on our way. I will donate and initial £25 once this approach has been implemented.
If we just stand aside or do a very minimal effort I will resign my membership!!
Time to be brave and get stuck in.
I certainly support a hard Lib Dem campaign I Holborn & St Pancras arguing for closer relationships with European states and the EU, strong defence and urgent attention to climate change.
I’m sure there’s a train buff on here who could correct me but I think this is the constituency connected directly to more other stations than any other. No excuses not to be there.
If we want to portray ourselves as pointless, we shall do “nothing”. This is a critical moment for us, It is also one of huge opportunity in so many ways.
Is the party going to rise to the challenge?
Zack Polanski has now said he will stand. We really need to take him on directly.
A golden opportunity to attack Polanski and all his seemingly wild actions and statements.
@Peter Davies: I think you’re probably correct. Checking on MapIt, it looks like the Holborn and St Pancras constituency contains Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross stations. Between those three stations, that gives it a direct train to almost every large town in the Midlands and North of England, as well as quite a few places in Scotland, parts of Kent and Sussex, plus Paris and Brussels as a bonus. And most London Underground lines stop in the constituency too. But it lacks direct trains to the West of England, Hampshire/Dorset, South and Mid Wales, or most of East Anglia.
Away from trivia and being a bit more practical, what’s possibly more relevant is that it’s in central London, which means a LOT of LibDem members would live within less than an hour’s travel of the constituency. Unfortunately, in all likelihood, so do a lot of Labour and Green members 🙂 But on the upside, probably not so many Reform members seeing as London is not exactly Reform’s strongest area.
London isn’t all the same. I think what @Josh says is broadly true of central London out to maybe TfL Zone 4, where much of the population is young, transient, and very progressive minded, and where Labour is now fighting it out with the Greens. But there’s also a huge swathe of outer London – particularly stretching from Bromley to Romford that is politically more similar to Kent/Essex. And then there’s the patch of SW London – traditionally right wing but also pro-EU – where we now hold almost every Westminster seat. I’m not sure how you form a message that can appeal to all those areas.
The problem with targetting is that almost every London constituency where we’re in contention at all, we already hold. For that reason I’d expect the national party to want to focus a London campaign on keeping those seats.
Organisationally, I’d really like our priority to be, reviving the party in those seats where we barely exist. Won’t gain us many seats in the short term, but will make us a lot stronger in the long term.
Simon Robinson “For that reason I’d expect the national party to want to focus a London campaign on keeping those seats”.
Well, one way of doing that would be to insist on a real campaign now and increase our general credibility. Failure to do so fuels the perception that we are a very parochial party without any real message(s) or philosophy.
I agree Graham. I really don’t understand this emphasis on appealing to such a narrow voter base. It’s almost as if there’s a drive to let other opposition parties like the green one step in without any challenge. I would like to see a fund set up for the constituency and how supporters can contribute and not just online please. I would rather pay by cheque.
@Alex Macfie we might not have won the London Mayoralty in 2004 (the year after Brent East) but i was still our best ever result and we elected 5 assembly members which was our high water mark on the assembly . We also got very close to getting a second MEP elected as the European poll was on the same day that year.