One of the strangest features of Britain’s multiparty politics is the lack of scrutiny given to the Liberal Democrats. But now some publications are taking note, including Politico, which looked at the party’s long-term strategy this week.

In case anyone thinks the Lib Dems don’t matter, just remember that at the last election the party won 72 seats, which was its best result in a century. In this sense, the party could easily hold the balance of power in the next election. Despite the Andy Burnham bounce, current polling averages have Labour dozens of seats short of a majority, so a Lib-Lab coalition is a very real possibility at the next election.

As the Politico piece sets out, there’s ample evidence of a growing closeness between the two parties. One Lib Dem MP, Martin Wrigley, is quoted on the subject of new Prime Minister: “I like what he’s doing… I like the way he’s going.” The evidence would suggest that the Lib Dems’ affection is reciprocated. For instance, the PM is clearly keen to work with Lib Dem leader Ed Davey on social care reform, as highlighted by a meeting between the pair on the subject. Burnham’s enthusiasm for localism, plus his aversion to foreign interventionism, also pulls the two parties closer together.

Unusually, Burnham hasn’t appointed a deputy prime minister. That might be to maintain parity of esteem between his chief lieutenants, Louise Haigh and Lucy Powell, but it also has the effect of leaving a seat free around the Cabinet table. The last time the Lib Dems participated in a coalition government, then-party leader Nick Clegg was appointed deputy PM. Conveniently, that position is now ready and waiting for Davey.

There is one key problem, though. The Lib Dems are supposed to be an opposition party. Labour currently enjoys a three-figure majority in the Commons. The party’s primary opponent, Reform UK, has just eight MPs and zero members in the House of Lords. Meanwhile, there are 118 Tory MPs — the lowest total for any official Opposition since the Second World War. For the sake of scrutiny on the governing party, this is no time for the Lib Dems to act as a party of government in all but name.

As indicated by Politico, rural concerns are one area in which there is some concerted opposition from the Lib Dems. However, that only emphasizes the party’s usefulness to Burnham. Lib Dem seats are now overwhelmingly concentrated in rural and suburban southern England. As a result, the party can barely compete with Labour: yellow/red marginals have almost entirely disappeared from the electoral map.

The Lib Dems could be compared to the old bloc parties that were allowed to exist in East Germany and other communist states during the Cold War. In some cases, these were used as representative bodies for certain interest groups — farmers, for instance — but their primary purpose was to maintain the hollow impression of a functioning democracy.

It’s sad to see the Liberal Democrats, which once held Tony Blair to account over the Iraq war, becoming so servile. Yet there is hope that Ed Davey won’t be able to get away with this strategy for much longer. Recent announcements — on locating asylum-seeker accommodation in prosperous communities and forcing housing development around Green Belt railway stations — could result in a rift between the Government and the party which represents the leafy South. If so, the Lib Dems will have to choose between their love-in with Labour and the party’s own voters.

---

Peter Franklin is Associate Editor of UnHerd. He was previously a policy advisor and speechwriter on environmental and social issues.

peterfranklin_

---