Welsh Liberal Democrats need more than "stop" politicsIn many ways, the 2026 Senedd election was historic. Wales is the first country in Great Britain to adopt proportional representation, utilising the D'Hondt voting system over a Mixed Member voting system. Its parliament has expanded from 60 to 96 members. For the first time in over a century, Labour is no longer the dominant party in Wales. Plaid is now the largest party, with its leader, Rhun ap Iorweth, becoming the new First Minister of Wales. Reform UK is the official opposition, and the Greens have made their Senedd debut. But for all that has changed, one thing has ... (more) |
Should we even be considering contesting Makerfield?With Josh Simons' resignation on Thursday, the starting gun on the 2026 Labour leadership election was (sort of) finally fired. There is now a theoretical, if muddy, path for Andy Burnham to re-enter parliament and become the next Prime Minister. The Greater Manchester Mayor, a vocal critic of Keir Starmer, has announced he plans to apply to stand in the by-election. Reform UK, buoyed by a second set of astonishing local election results, including across most of Greater Manchester, have responded in kind to say they plan to throw everything they can at the seat. The question being raised internally, ... (more) |
What did the Greens have that we didn't?In the elections on May 7th, Salford Lib Dems suffered an unexpected setback. We lost one of our two councillors (I'm the one who remains), and we came third and fourth out of five in our two target wards. In all three cases, we lost to the Greens. The story was similar elsewhere in Greater Manchester. In only one of the three wards did we face an active Green Party campaign - the other two wards (including mine, where we lost my co-councillor) were won by pretty much paper candidates. The councillor we lost was a fantastically hard working and ... (more) |
The world's first passenger railwayIf you happen to wander into Dylan Thomas Square in Swansea's Marina the first thing you might see is a statue of the poet himself, looking more like Max Boyce than anybody else, but turn around and there is a part of a tram displayed behind glass in a large building. Apart from a few tracks built into the square as a feature, this is all that remains of the world's first passenger railway. As Wikipedia recalls, originally built under an act of Parliament, the Oystermouth Railway or Tramroad Act 1804, to move limestone from the quarries of Mumbles to ... (more) |
Is The UK heading for divorce? An interview with James HawesI referred to James Hawes's The Shortest History of Ireland the other day, and I've just sent Liberator a review of the book by fast orphan. Here Hawes raises wider issues about the future of the United Kingdom, and he's well worth a listen., Among his insights are that "England", to the Conservative Party, ultimately means the South East of England and the elite institutions to which it is home. And that the Reform vote is not working class, but a vote for a more hard-line Tory party. I suspect, though, that a good chunk of it is the sort ... (more) |
Southport Liberal Democrats are on the way backAmid the concern at what this month's local elections revealed about the concentration of the Liberal Democrat vote in the prosperous South, it's worth celebrating one of the exceptions. As the Liverpool Echo reports: In Sefton's local elections last week, Labour's seat share was reduced from 51 of 66 down to 36, while other parties and Independent candidates made significant inroads. The Liberal Democrats went into the election with nine seats on the council, but almost doubled this share to 17 on May 7, taking 15.6 per cent of the vote and only losing out in four of the seats ... (more) |
Latest voting intention and leadership ratings opinion pollsWelcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention polls for the next general election, along with the latest MRP projections and party leadership ratings. If you'd like to find out more about how polls work, how reliable they are and how to make sense of them, check out my book, Polling UnPacked: the History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls, or sign up for my weekly email, The Week in Polls: General election voting intention polls PollsterConLabLDGrnRefLab leadFieldwork YouGov 17% (nc) 16% (-2) 13% (-1) 16% (+1) 28% (+3) -12% (3rd, vs Ref) 10-11/5 GB More in ... (more) |
Popularity without clarity: communicating our values through policy52% 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 ... (more) |
More improvements planned for the River Welland through Welland Park, Market HarboroughThe East Mercia Rivers Trust (EMRT) is to carry out improvement work on the River Welland where it flows through Welland Park in Market Harborough. HFM News reports that the EMRT will increase water flow during the summer by clearing weeds and adding gravel and small structures to the river. It will also create better access points for education and community use and install new interpretation boards. The report quotes the EMRT as describing the Welland through the park as "a heavily modified urban watercourse, with weed growth restricting flow and causing both visual and ecological concerns". So I went ... (more) |
Espensive manoeuvringIn 2016 the television actress Tracy Brabin was elected as Labour MP for Batley and Spen, the constituency in which I live. (It has now been re-drawn to become Spen Valley.). In 2022 M/s Brabin decided she would rather be, or the Labour Party thought she had the best chance of winning the election for, the Mayor West Yorkshire. She did win, so resigned as our MP and was replaced after a by-election by another Labour MP, Kim Leadbeater. The average public cost of a parliamentary by-election is just short of a quarter of a million ponds. (£228, 000 - ... (more) |