Steady Eddie and the Arsenal of the political spectrum
Coming into these local elections, the canvassing machines of Reform and the Greens were in full swing – high profile appearance, streamlined socials and headlines in the national press.
It seemed that we would have a showdown between the extremities of the UK political spectrum; Reform vs Green, Farage vs Polanski, flat caps vs garden allotments.
However, while the public discourse clamoured around these two parties, intent on upsetting the apple cart, one party has been steadily chugging along in the background without anyone really noticing.
Centrism forever
The Liberal Democrats might just be the Arsenal of the political world – always been in the top four and have flirted with success, but ultimately the “this is our year” energy has often fallen short.
Granted, supporters of Arsenal might be slightly more disliked than those of the Liberal Democrats who tend to just be quite pleasant – such is the nature of being the supposed most centrist of UK parties.
This said, just like Arteta’s men deserve praise for making it to the Champions League final, it’s about time someone gave Ed Davey and his Liberal Democrats their flowers for quietly making themselves serious players on the national, political stage.
Under the radar
Ask anyone on the street how many seats the Liberal Democrats have in Parliament, and you might struggle to find someone who could give you a close answer.
In fact, the majority of this nation seems to have forgotten that while we debate Farage and Polanski in the national headlines, Ed Davey heads up a party with 72 seats in the House of Commons.
They are very comfortably the third party, making an impressive revival after a difficult period following the coalition years (great name for an album).
The current Commons composition. Credit: Parliament.UK / Adobe Stock
In fact, 72 seats is the most they have ever had in this modern era of politics and they only sit 44 seats away from being the opposition, with the Tories on 112.
They’ve also played their role in Commons too, opposing Labour’s cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance for pensioners as well as campaigning against sewage dumping and water company bonuses.
More notably, they have attempted to hold the powers that be to account, calling for an inquiry into Keir Starmer over the Mandelson affair as well heavily condemning Donald Trump on multiple occasions.
Of course, opposing the incumbent government might be the easiest job in the world, but, to their credit, the Lib Dems tend to do it with a little more grace than the Tories do.
Steady Eddie
Ed Davey loves a stunt. Getty.
On the odd occasion that someone at JOE Towers goes looking for a picture of Ed Davey on Getty, we are often greeted with a collage of a middle-aged bloke paddleboarding, ziplining or canoeing.
It’s a tactic that divides, often being called unserious by some of the big hitters in the press, but ultimately, he embodies that Lib Dem spirit which resonates with their supporters and may who are looking for more down to earth leaders.
Throw in the fact that the Liberal Democrats are the only party to keep any kind of grip on the gains they made in the local elections for the same seats in 2022, and it’s clear we should be renaming Ed Davey ‘Steady Eddie’.
Reform were the clear winners of the day, but the Lib Dems stood firm and even made gains of just under a 10% increase.
They even managed to take a clean sweep of all 54 seats up for election in the Waitrose heaven of Richmond-upon-Thames.
Now, when you compare just how little media and internet attention the Lib Dems get compared to other parties, this achievement becomes even more impressive.
Interest over the last year across political parties. (Key by party colour) Credit: Google Trends / Getty.
Over the past year, Reform have dominated internet searches with a notable spike in the last few days around the local election period.
Labour have, unsurprisingly, also been one of the most mentioned parties, while the Greens have increased notably since last October and have benefitted from a sizeable social media campaign.
The Lib Dems? They’ve just been getting by – not much interest – your friendly neighbourhood voter.
The Green wave
It would not be an overstatement to say that lots of younger people believed the Greens would have done better in these local elections.
While many, in all parties, conflated the purpose and consequences of the locals with a general election, it is important to remember that there is an entire electorate outside of social media.
The Greens have been riding high of their by-election win in Gorton and Denton. Credit: Getty.
While the Greens dispose of countless political and social influencers with millions of followers online (Gary’s Economics, Cody Dahler etc), this space has become a bit of an echo chamber for the younger generations.
Coupled alongside heavy positive and negative media coverage (ourselves included), it’s no surprise many thought the Greens would’ve rivalled Reform – at least it was billed that way.
Let’s not get it wrong, the Greens have done absolutely fantastic, they have more than 150 councillors and have won three times as many councillors as in 2022.
The mayoral win in Hackney by Zoë Garbett is also a watershed moment for the party.
Zoë Garbett. Credit: Getty.
But the Green tsunami that many thought was coming, has ended up being more of a reasonable size tidal wave.
There is no doubt that whatever your thoughts are on the recent alleged antisemitism controversy surrounding the party, this would’ve had an effect too.
The call of the centre and it’s biggest problem
The Lib Dems are cursed by the very nature of their political stance.
Being in the centre, they are often the happy alternative for moderate, disgruntled Tory and Labour voters and offer a similar enough ‘friendly hope vibe’ to the Greens that make them close enough to being most people’s second favourite party.
The issue with this is, they remain the alternative, not the go-to.
The Lib Dems are not everyone’s cup of tea, unsurprisingly finding favour in the more affluent areas of the country and there is a clear north-south divide in their map spread.
This said, there are signs that, under the steady hand of Ed Davey, who of course has his flaws like every leader, the Lib Dems could gear up to become a serious contender in the next general election if they can continue to avoid the snipers in the national press, any serious controversies and appeal to a larger demographic.
This is not an endorsement of the Lib Dems, and the JOE yellow has nothing to do with it!
It is simply an acknowledgement of a party which has mostly avoided controversies, curated a dedicated and stable supporter base and deserved a mention, because sometimes, amongst the teal, green, red and blue, sometimes gold has its allure.
#wasnt #Greens #Lib #Dems
