As I wrote earlier this week, even if everything in Labour’s garden were rosy, the 2017 local elections map is very testing for them. But for Britain’s other opposition party, the Liberal Democrats, the map is much better.
For a start, the Liberal Democrats come into these elections having lost 1,924 seats overall in the coalition years. The only way is up, to be frank. (Though to put the argument that Labour has reached “peak gain” in perspective – that party had equalled the Liberal Democrats’ coalition-era losses by the 2000 locals. When Ed Miliband left post as Labour leader, he had gained just 1768 council seats overall, so Labour has considerable potential for growth even to be back at its local government strength at the peak of Tony Blair’s unpopularity in 2006. But that’s a topic for another time.)
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