Yes, we have an image problem admits the new Lib Dem leader
THE Liberal Democrats’ newly elected leader has confessed the party has lost touch with voters and urged it to ‘wake up and smell the coffee’.
Sir Ed Davey defeated rival Layla Moran by more than 18,000 votes in the contest, it was announced yesterday.
But he used his victory speech to acknowledge that the party had been rejected by the public after a series of poor election results. The Lib Dems have just 11 MPs left in the House of Commons – a far cry from the 62 the party had in 2005 and the role it played in the formation of a coalition government in 2010.
Yesterday, Sir Ed conceded that the party had ‘lost touch’ with voters as he vowed to turn its fortunes around.
He said his job was to ‘rebuild the Liberal Democrats to national relevance’ but added: ‘None of this is going to be easy, none of this is going to be straightforward. And none of it is going to be quick or simple.’
Sir Ed has been acting leader since Jo Swinson lost her seat in last December’s general election. He defeated Miss Moran in the leadership contest by 42,756 votes to 24,564. But in a sign the race had failed to grip even the Lib Dem membership, turnout was just 57.6 per cent.
At an event in London to announce the leadership result, Sir Ed said: ‘We have to wake up and smell the coffee. Nationally our party has lost touch with too many voters.
‘Yes, we are powerful advocates locally. Our campaigners listen to local people, work hard for communities and deliver results. But at the national level, we have to face the facts of three disappointing general election results.
‘The truth is voters don’t believe the Liberal Democrats want to help ordinary people get on in life. Voters don’t believe we share their values. And voters don’t believe we are on the side of people like them.’
The Kingston and Surbiton MP added: ‘Voters have been sending us a message but we have not been listening.
‘It is time for us to start listening. As leader, I am telling you, I have got that message. I am lisuntil tening now.’ It has been a turbulent few years for the Lib Dems, who suffered an electoral collapse off the back of the party’s role in David Cameron’s coalition government.
The party had won 62 seats in 2005. But after joining the Tories in government in 2010 – with party leader Nick Clegg serving as deputy prime minister – they were reduced to just eight MPs in 2015. In 2017 their number rose slightly to 12, but this fell back to 11 last year.
Mr Clegg quit in 2015, his replacement Tim Farron lasted 2017, Sir Vince Cable took over but was gone by July 2019, and Miss Swinson only lasted until last December.
The leader losing her seat capped off a bad night for the party at last year’s general election. Several other former Tory and Labour MPs who switched to the party over Brexit also failed to get elected.
Sir Ed was a former secretary of state for energy and climate change in the coalition government. He has opened up in the past about losing both his parents at a young age, with his father dying when he was four, and his mother when he was 15.
He revealed that as a teenager he had helped to nurse his mother Nina, who died aged 44, as she battled cancer.
His father John had died of Hodgkin’s disease.
He said their deaths ‘made me quite strong... because when you’re young you’re doing things to make your parents happy and I had to realise I had to do it for me’. He also has a disabled son called John, who has a neurological condition, cannot walk or talk and has to be educated at home.
‘None of this is going to be easy’