According to Adam Price the new MORI poll giving the Tories 52%, Labour 24% and the Lib Dems 12% if turned into seats at Westminster would give the SNP-Plaid group 25-30 seats, making them the third force in UK politics and leaving the Lib Dems in the wilderness. According to Blog Menai the poll leaves the Lib Dems with 8 seats. The silver line in the Lib Dems' cloud is that once again they

A vote for the Lib Dems is a vote for the Lib Dems. It is not a vote for the Conservative or Labour Parties. It is not a way of ‘Letting Gordon in through the backdoor’, or of tacitly consenting to a Cameroonian ‘DIY’ society. It is a vote for the Lib Dems. Since the debates,

With New Labour so unpopular, many members are tempted to vote Lib Dem, in the belief that they would pursue less Tory policies. A story carried by the Birmingham Post highlights how the Lib Dems try to be all things to all people, and are no friends of trade unionists. Not only are the Lib Dems...

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have yet to hand in their account to the Electoral Commission and according to the Electoral Commission "the resulting fine will depend on how late they are".As members of the Lib Dems we are consistently asked for cash to keep the party campaigning, but it must be a real disincentive to Welsh Lib Dems to know the Welsh Lib Dems accounting unit are so profligate with fi...

In some ways the tactical mistakes of the Lib Dems, having decided to go into Coalition, could be put down to experience - the lack of it. The Lib Dem pitch, even before Lib Dems existed, was an alternative. An alternative to what ? Their answer has been "what have you got?" ( with apologies to James Dean ). This tactic has been part of their strategy of building up support from opposition. The pr...

Is this a harmless poll or the grass roots being sounded out? Previous Lib/Lab coalitions are, in my opinion the main reason why the Lib Dems are still the third party in British politics, as when things get bad for Labour the Lib Dems jump in. By accepting coalitions in the past they have sewn themselves into the position of the Third Party. Should the possibility arise, I hope the Lib Dems take ...

This, in the admittedly short life of the Coalition, has been the most difficult week so far for the Lib Dems. The Coalition agreement had the Lib Dems winning huge concessions from the Tories. Afterwards, all the talk was of Lib Dem negotiating skills, what a good deal that they had won for themselves. But after the Budget, the mood was very different. It is now clear that this is, first and fore...

I blame the Tories. Ever since David Cameron became their leader, he’s been determined to ‘love-bomb’ the Lib Dems. Love-bombing is the ingenious tactic by which other parties claim to believe in enough Lib Dem policies without, y’know, actually being Lib Dems. Labour leadership hopeful Ed Miliband was at it last month. Then earlier this

Are the Lib Dems really federalists, whether British or European? Their academic grandees and their think tank boys doubtless are. But the rest of them are local communitarian populists, battlers for pet causes, or both. There is of course absolutely nothing wrong with that. Quite the reverse, in fact. There are many things badly wrong with the Lib Dems. But not this. Under both Tory and Labour go...

Every Tory I have spoken to this week has said the same thing, ‘aren’t the Lib Dems having a terrible time.’ The Tories are particularly happy because they see the Lib Dems’ credibility on economics taking a bartering thanks to the total confusion over Cable’s proposed new tax on million-pound homes. They also think that the new Lib Dem policy will hurt the Lib Dems i...