Party conferences are strange places to judge the health of political parties. Spend enough time inside one and almost everybody appears confident they are on the verge of an electoral breakthrough.
Brighton was no exception. However, despite winning 72 seats at the 2024 general election, the Liberal Democrats have struggled to translate that parliamentary success into stronger national polling. Recent YouGov polling found that just over half of Britons described the party as ‘weak’, while 43% said it was unclear what it stood for.
So we went into conference with a fairly straightforward question: are the Liberal Democrats losing their way, or is something getting lost between what the party is saying and what the public is hearing?
The criticism is not imagined. Liberal Democrat figures have questioned whether the party is being sufficiently ambitious following its record result in 2024, while Devon County Council leader Julian Brazil warned that it risked ‘sleepwalking into irrelevance’.
Having spent several days at conference, though, ‘a party with nothing to say’ did not quite describe what we saw.
So what do the Liberal Democrats actually stand for?
Perhaps the most obvious answer was printed behind almost every speaker – ‘Liberty, Equality and Community’.
These are not new slogans, the Liberal Democrat constitution identifies them as fundamental values, alongside a commitment to a ‘fair, free and open society’. Liberal Democrat MP Bobby Dean described liberalism there as a challenge to concentrated power, with the state acting as an ‘active referee’ so that individuals genuinely have the freedom to make choices. Other MPs stressed devolution and pushing power further down towards councils and local communities as points of difference from Labour.
That helps make sense of much of what was discussed in Brighton. The programme ranged from business, defence and democratic reform to primary healthcare, artificial intelligence, violence against women and girls, water companies and food security. The common thread was often about where power sits and what government should do when institutions restrict individual freedom.
Max Wilkinson MP, the party’s home affairs spokesperson, probably delivered the least dry explanation of that philosophy. Amid the jokes, he repeatedly returned to ‘liberty, equality and community’, applying those principles to asylum reform, online crime and the regulation of technology that allows people to be filmed without consent. It was a fairly effective example of liberalism translated into something tangible.
Deputy Leader, Daisy Cooper MP, made the economic version of the argument on Sunday, unveiling a 30-page plan to ‘Get Britain Growing Again’, focused on removing barriers to investment, skills and business growth, alongside a new Growth and Defence Partnership with the EU. Her attack on Britain’s ‘computer says no’ economy was one of the clearest attempts at conference to translate liberal principles into an economic offer.
It landed well in the room. Cooper left the stage to a standing ovation and, despite speculation around the party’s future leadership, gave a confident endorsement of Davey.
The Liberal Democrat paradox
Research published just prior to a conference by King’s College London found in its nationally representative survey of 3,750 UK adults that Liberal Democrat voters were viewed more warmly by supporters of rival parties than those of any other major party.
That relative acceptability carries over into tactical voting. Among Labour voters, 35% said they would consider voting Liberal Democrat if the party had a better chance of winning locally. The Liberal Democrats were also the second choice among Green and Conservative supporters, while Liberal Democrat voters themselves were most likely to name Labour as their alternative.
Yet the same research found that the public often misreads what Liberal Democrat supporters actually believe. Support for higher defence spending is underestimated, for example, while support for increasing immigration is overestimated.
It leaves the party in a curious position. On the one hand, it is perceived as relatively acceptable across several electoral groups and remarkably good at concentrating votes where they matter. But on the other hand, it is still difficult for many voters to see them as a serious contender to challenge the likes of Labour, Conservatives and Reform at the national level.
Ed Davey had something to prove
Those expecting another light-hearted stunt from Davey did not get one. He began his closing speech with a deliberately serious argument about racism, intimidation and the growth of the populist right, telling delegates that they were in the ‘fight of our lives’. Reform UK, and the prospect of Nigel Farage entering government, ran throughout.
The main policy announcement was economic. Davey announced increasing the personal income tax allowance from £12,570 to £15,000, alongside raising the higher-rate threshold. The party estimates the package would cost around £17 billion and says it would ultimately be funded through additional economic growth generated by closer integration with Europe, including rejoining the single market and customs union.
That assumption will inevitably face scrutiny. Politically, however, the proposal connected several strands running through conference, such as Europe, growth, the cost of living and the idea that liberalism should give individuals greater control over their own lives.
Where does the party fit now?
Perhaps the more interesting question leaving Brighton is where the Liberal Democrats fit within an increasingly fragmented political system.
The King’s research points to considerable electoral overlap between Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green voters, particularly when tactical voting is considered. On the right, meanwhile, the Conservatives and Reform are competing for overlapping parts of the electorate.
Davey appears to believe that a more fragmented party system could give the Liberal Democrats greater influence after the next election. Speaking to ITV’s Robert Peston, he suggested that no party may win an outright majority and left open the possibility of the Liberal Democrats entering government, while ruling out cooperation with Reform and signalling little appetite for another deal with the Conservatives.
Substantial differences remain between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, particularly on Europe, electoral reform and the distribution of political power. But there is also evidence of greater willingness among Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green voters to support one another tactically.
For the Liberal Democrats, that creates both an opportunity and a dilemma. They need to remain attractive to moderate former Conservative voters while also presenting themselves as an obvious tactical choice for centre-left voters seeking to prevent Reform winning locally.
Brighton did not resolve that tension, nor did it make the criticism of Davey disappear. The party still has a communications problem when so many voters struggle to explain what it stands for.
But after several days at conference, there was certainly no shortage of answers. Liberty, equality and community, closer ties with Europe, decentralisation, individual rights and opposition to concentrated power all appeared repeatedly.
With Labour Conference next on the calendar, it will be interesting to see whether the growing areas of alignment among Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green voters, alongside continued competition between the Conservatives and Reform on the right, become even more visible.
