Ed Davey: Lib Dems set to replace Badenoch’s “sneering” Conservatives as party of Middle England

30 Mar 2025

EMBARGO: 22.30 Sunday 30th March

Liberal Democrat leader to launch party’s local election campaign today [31st March] in Oxfordshire
Ed Davey says Liberal Democrats can overtake Conservatives as second largest party of local government
He says Liberal Democrats are now the “natural home” for voters disillusioned with Labour but who haven’t forgiven the Conservatives

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey will launch his party’s local election campaign today in Oxfordshire with a vow to replace Kemi Badenoch’s “sneering” Conservatives as the “party of Middle England.”

He said the Liberal Democrats were aiming to overtake the Conservatives as the second biggest party in local government, meaning there would be more Liberal Democrat-run councils than Conservative ones. 20 Conservative-run councils are up for election in May, including several where the Liberal Democrats made big gains against the Conservatives at last year’s General Election, such as Shropshire, Devon, Gloucestershire and Hertfordshire.

Ed Davey said the Liberal Democrats are now the “natural home” for voters who are disillusioned with the Labour government but haven’t forgiven the Conservatives for all the damage they did to the country. It comes after a recent survey showed the Liberal Democrats are now topping the polls in the South of England. Over five million voters across the country now have a Liberal Democrat MP after the party achieved its best ever election result last year becoming the largest third party in 100 years.

Kemi Badenoch recently criticised the Liberal Democrats for focusing on issues like “fixing church roofs” instead of being on Twitter. Ed Davey said this “sneering” attitude to the local issues people care most about is why so many voters are turning away from the Conservatives and switching to the Liberal Democrats. He also said that Liberal Democrat councillors are getting the job done and fixing things for their local communities, in contrast to the Conservatives and Labour who take residents for granted.

The Liberal Democrats are also targeting Labour in areas like Hull and East Yorkshire, where the party is hoping to elect its first ever Metro Mayor. Ed Davey said people were “deeply disappointed” by Labour’s failure to deliver the change they had promised, and the Liberal Democrats would continue holding the government to account.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

“These local elections are a chance for the Liberal Democrats to replace the Conservatives as the party of Middle England. We can overtake the Conservatives as the second biggest party of local government, replacing failing Conservative-run councils that take their residents for granted with Liberal Democrat ones that work hard for their local communities.

“Liberal Democrats are now the natural home for voters disillusioned with Labour but who still haven’t forgiven the Conservatives for all the damage they did to our country. People are deeply disappointed with Labour’s failure to deliver the change they promised and are turning to the Liberal Democrats as the party holding this government to account, from the family farm tax to winter fuel payment cuts.

“Meanwhile, Nigel Farage and Reform just don’t care about our communities. They’re too busy fighting amongst themselves to fix the problems we face.

“Liberal Democrats get the job done. Kemi Badenoch may sneer at us for being the party that will fix your local church roof, but we will proudly wear that as a badge of honour. We are focused on fixing the local issues people care about, whether it’s fixing potholes, helping you see a GP or dentist, or cleaning up rivers polluted by filthy sewage.

“At the General Election last year the Liberal Democrats took sixty seats from the Conservatives, elected a record number of MPs and became the largest third party in 100 years. On 1st May, people have a chance to kick the out-of-touch Conservatives out of power again and elect hard-working Liberal Democrat councillors instead.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

YouGov poll can be found here.