In July, the Liberal Democrats achieved their best ever general election result with 72 Members elected to the UK Parliament. They held all their seats, including four outstanding by-election victories, unseating four Cabinet Ministers and winning in three Conservative ex-Prime Minister’s seats. Lib Dem Europe Spokesperson James MacCleary MP outlines the winning strategy behind the party’s success.
This article was originally published in ALDE Party's Liberal Bulletin in December 2024. Click here to read the full publication.
In this historic election, we in the Lib Dems prioritised winning seats over the national vote share, a big change that had huge practical implications in our first-past-the-post electoral system.
For most of the previous 70 years, we needed to secure more than 100,000 votes to win just one seat in Parliament. In 2019, it took us more than 300,000 votes to win each seat. This year, winning a seat took us just under 49,000 votes.
Under Ed Davey’s leadership, our campaign was praised as the most successful in British political history by several political commentators. It successfully combined stunts, policy and personal stories to connect with voters, with our targeted literature and door-to-door canvassing playing a crucial role.
In an election that mostly turned voters away from politics and was dominated by Rishi Sunak’s gaffes and inability to connect, Ed’s natural ability with people, with warmth and generosity, was a welcome contrast.
Over six weeks, Ed travelled the country. He fell off paddle boards, careened down waterslides and even bungee jumped. But he used these fun stunts to talk about the real issues facing people across the country – the cost of care, sewage dumping by water companies and the Tories bringing the National Health Service to its knees. His campaign got noticed – and set people across the country talking about us, proving that we were listening to their concerns.
Our campaign approach was a definite risk. But we took it thanks to our unprecedented ability to listen and respond to what was happening on doorsteps across the country.
Our volunteers knocked on 2.7 million doors and spoke with 877,489 people. We talked to our top canvassers daily, giving us an immediate sense of what was cutting through. And we adjusted our campaign directly and quickly in response to what we heard.
Our financial strategy over the past four years was another important factor. We cut spending in many other areas, invested in field support for our top local parties and match-funded literature wherever possible. Crucially, we increased our number of local councillors to 3,100 across the country, leading 68 councils and jointly running another eight.
This result had been four years in the making. As the largest third party in UK history, we will use our increased influence with 72 MPs to be the effective opposition to the Labour government, encouraging them to fix Britain’s broken relationship with Europe. Through our membership of ALDE Party and Liberal International, we will continue to work closely with our liberal sister parties and stand up for our values.