Jubilant Lib Dems plan path forward as 'constructive opposition'

From jet-skiing on the Brighton coast to volleyball on the beach, this year’s Lib Dem conference has been filled with Sir Ed Davey’s signature eye-catching stunts.   

But he and his party insist that underneath it all lies a serious message.    

At the last party conference, the Lib Dems had just a handful of parliamentarians. This time round the party has returned as the third biggest party in the House of Commons with more than 70 MPs.   

Sir Ed and his team say the Lib Dems are now a powerful voice in British politics and they intend to use their newfound strength to attack a weakened Conservative Party and challenge Sir Keir Starmer.    

Members here have been keen to reflect upon their landslide gains in the recent election and the mood throughout the weekend has been jubilant.

“There’s been a real buzz in the atmosphere,” one party member told me, adding that they believed the Lib Dems had moved beyond being a small protest party.    

“Many of us have been plugging away for years, as councillors, campaigners, activists,” one newly elected MP told me.  “It’s amazing to see that hard work pay off after all these years”.  

For many years, the Lib Dems have pitched themselves as the “anti-tory” party, criticising key Conservative policies such as the Rwanda asylum scheme. This strategy resulted in electoral success as the party hoovered up votes from dissatisfied Conservatives in key blue wall seats in July.   

In a sit-down interview with Sir Ed Davey, he told ITV News that he was confident that the party could hold onto these gains, given the strength of feeling among former Tory voters.  

“Lifelong conservatives were saying that yes, they were angry with how the Conservatives managed the country and a lot of them were protesting against that,” he said. “But they felt that the Conservatives had moved away from their true values on law and order and rule of law on being compassionate and decent. And they found those values in the Liberal Democrats crowd.” 

Yet one key question now gripping the Lib Dems is how they define themselves and their policy agenda in Starmer’s government.  

The party says it is pursuing a strategy of “constructive opposition” - officials say they will use their parliamentary might to work with Labour on key issues but also press the government on core Lib Dem policy areas such as health and social care.   

Davey describes this as a “new style of opposition” - a far cry from what he describes as the “yah-boo” politics of previous governments.

In recent weeks, the Lib Dems have sought to drive criticism of the government's decision to maintain the two-child limit on benefits and have pitched ambitious health proposals to reform the NHS.

Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning.

“I think a mature opposition, a constructive opposition, has to have the ability to say, yes, we do agree with that. So, for example, investing in renewable energy, we agree with that and we will support the government,” he said.  

“But, you know, there are things we disagree on, and we've already seen that at the withdrawal of winter fuel payment from millions of struggling pensioners when the cost of living is going to get worse, energy bills are going to get higher this winter." 

However, the challenge for the party in the coming months will be communicating in practical terms - to Labour, its members, and the public - what role they intend to play in Parliament and how they will maintain influence under this new government.     

Have you heard our podcast Talking Politics? Tom, Robert and Anushka dig into the biggest issues dominating the political agenda in every episode…