National context
There is no doubt that this year is a difficult one for lots of our local councillors and candidates. The Government haven’t yet decided whether or not they want to postpone elections in some of our counties and they seem to be playing the hokey-cokey on deciding whether areas will be reorganised into unitaries or not over the next few years.
The 2021 elections, when we last fought the set of seats that are up in May, was a high point for the Tories. They were riding high on a vaccination bounce and Liz Truss had yet to come in an obliterate the economy. The Labour party had done ok but nothing really to write home about and then we had had a good year.
The 2024 General Election saw the public rightly hoof the Tories out of office, the Labour party won a landslide and we ended up with the groundbreaking number of 72 MPs. Since coming into office the Labour party have done a really solid job of tanking their approval ratings and their by-elections results have been the worst of any incoming Government for decades. With the Tories in disarray and Labour being so unpopular, the Liberal Democrats can show that we are not only the grown ups in the room but also a solid, hardworking alternative to both the main parties at this election. To do that we have to show that we are taking these elections seriously. Fielding a full slate of candidates is a really important part of that narrative and gives everyone that wants to show their support for their local candidates and our shared values the opportunity to do so wherever they live.
What does our constitution say?
A strong local government base is an essential ingredient for strong election results at parliamentary level. People need to get used to voting LD, at all levels of Government. Standing a full slate is part of this picture.
Our constitution makes it clear what we stand for, as does our party’s name. The first sentence of the Preamble tells us that “The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society…” That is something to be proud of, and to do all we can to achieve. Doing all we can to ensure that voters have the democratic choice to vote for LD candidates is a crucial part of our work to build that fair, free and open society. Who are we to deny voters the choice to vote LD if they want.
Our constitution is also very clear that every local party should do all we can to stand everywhere. If local parties believe they have a good reason not to do that, the approach needs to be reported to the region and permission given. Good reason will need to be provided why this will not do harm to our local parties.
What about the Greens or that friendly independent that we like?
With so many areas now being in areas where we have MP’s it is really important that we are not considering standing aside. We have seen across the country that allowing the Greens to establish themselves in our local areas makes things difficult in the long run. Our voter demographic can be very similar and they know that. Once they are in, they often start creeping into other areas and eventually those areas are our target and held wards. Smaller party’s and independents do not share our values or intentions and standing down for them can feel like a stitch up to the voters who value their own ability to make decisions about who they want to support. There is also long term damage in standing aside for friendly independents where they bed in and we become irrelevant. Long story short, don’t do deals.
What if we don’t have enough candidates?
Finding candidates can be hard work, especially in areas where we have local parties that are small and reliant on a few key activists. If your membership has been exhausted, reach out to community activists that are fighting for the same things that we are, talk to your friends, make yourselves visible in your communities, show that with more people we can do more good things. Both Surrey County Council group and Kent County Council group have run successful “introduction to be a County councillor” meetings and away days which have found new candidates. In places like Liverpool and Southwark, community outreach has been key to success in this area.
If you are a local party that has not found all the candidates you need, come along to our “Be a Councillor: Finding Candidates” Webinar on Monday 10 February:
Not everyone is going to win
Even where we are really strong we don’t hold every seat. Even where the Tories are our opposition, or where Labour we previously strong and will be facing the wrath of the voting public, they will still win seats. We will all know wards where we are not going to win. Standing in them too is also important.
This does not mean that we need to fight every seat, having someone in place where we do nothing but put their name on the ballot paper is just as important as fighting to win our target wards. Practical and planned targeting and resource management is important to success, we saw that very clearly in the General Election.
This may very well be our last chance to change the face of local government as it is now and put ourselves in strong position to make the most out of whatever local Government reorganisation comes next. I don’t know about you but I don’t trust the Labour Party or the Tories to produce a system that provides the best services for our residents so don’t let them be the only choices that our residents get, even if we are not going to win.
Standing a full slate is the most powerful way that we have of championing democracy, or giving every resident a Lib Dem to vote for id they want to and for providing our communities with a choice to say no to both the Tories and the Labour party. Stand a full slate, campaign where you can win and fly the flag where you can’t.