Lib Dems - Why don't they have a chance?

FPTP would have made recent Scottish elections absolutely hilarious. 90+ SNP MSP's in a parliament of 129.

It would have seen the back of pointless grifters like Murdo Fraser and Annie Wells, so perhaps not entirely a bad thing.

I've always thought there was a lot to say for some form of proportional representation but recent events in Scotland have given me pause. The SNP government has been propped up by the batshit Scottish Greens who have ended up with power and influence far beyond the proportion of the Scottish electorate who voted Green. The first past the post system means you are voting for a person as well as their party and you can consider whether the candidate is a fit and proper person to be an MP. All forms of PR mean some people get elected from a top up list and they are not subjected to anything like the same amount of scrutiny during the election campaign.

I now think that like democracy itself the first past the post system is the least worst system we could have for our elections.

IMO (and in my area) they've never got the balance right in terms of establishing their political identity. They do not look convincing and so people don't listen.

They might have good ideas, but they prioritise secondary issues or what they think people ought to be concerned about, instead of focusing on what they are actually concerned about.

In towns like mine, where most people are mentally and politically lazy, they are invisible.

After some of the people that the Tories made Ministers I don't think that last argument will wash.

If enough of us vote tactically to get the Tories out The Lib Dems could well end up being the se I d biggest party in the House of Commons and firm the official Opposition who ask Keir Starmer questions at PMQs on Wednesdays. They will also be the Shadow Ministers for everything and get all the briefings from civil servants.

There are also Opposition Days where they can put forward their own legislation.

IF we vote Lib Dem enough in all the places they can win.

I do too but I'm voting with my head this time. The tactical vote in my constituency is Lib Dem. Labour and Green are nowhere so if I want one less Tory MP in Parliament then I need to vote Lib Dem and I flipping well am. With knobs on.

Labour are a better conduit for left wing politics in this country, which is why they are the party we must all get behind. A shame for the Lib Dem’s because their policies on turning round Brexit and LQBTQIA+ rights are far more admirable than labour even, but somebody has to fall by the wayside.

They have a chance of being the Opposition party and having Shadow Ministers and being the party on the benches opposite Keir Starmer at PMQs

The important thing is to vote for them where they can win.

I have to say I don’t understand this.

in 2010, the conservatives had the most seats. I would have thought it to be extremely wrong for Ld to have formed a coalition with labour - meaning that the (conservative) party who got the most seats was not actually in government at all.

Ld were reasonable and rational to enter that coalition imo. My dh always votes Ld and the coalition didn’t change that.

Because they don’t know what a woman is and Clegg’s shady dealings with Facebook/Meta are Tory-like behaviour. Voting for LibDems is voting for Tory-lite corporate-political blob.

In my constituency, Labour don't have a chance. It's Conservative or Lib Dem here.

That's the problem with a first past the post system. If you don't vote for one of the "top two" parties in your constituency, then your vote is essentially wasted. So you always tend to end up with two dominant parties.

Having said that, it's not impossible that Lib Dems will be the second biggest party after this election. Unlikely, but not impossible. Currently being predicted by electoral calculus!!!

Because we have a FPTP system, rather than proportional representation.

I'm still wavering as I know the Lib Dem candidate in my constituency doesn't have a chance of getting in, but we are a really marginal seat, and my desire to vote for them is not quite as strong as my desire to make sure we don't get the current Tory incumbent in again.
There's very little I've heard from the Labour party (locally nor Nationally) that is making me want to vote for them, and in my heart of hearts I think we should all vote for the candidate we want.

I've always voted Lib Dem but struggle with some of their manifesto (specifically around gender) so am going social democratic this time. Ive been told every time I've voted (often by more than one person) that I'm wasting a vote - to me it's important to vote on who you want not to consider tactics.

If you'd like to vote LibDem but don't want to waste a vote, you could try vote swapping? https://www.swapmyvote.uk

I don't think we know how many people would vote for LibDem if we didn't have a FPTP system and they knew their vote would count.

In my constituency LibDem always get less than 10% of the vote and the Tory guy usually gets about 60%. This year there is a very faint hope that if lots of Tory voters vote Reform and everyone else votes Labour, the Labour candidate might just squeak in. It's a faint hope. The LibDems really honestly do not have a hope.

Where do you live? If you live in a Labour /Tory marginal then yes, a vote for the Lib Dem candidate is a waste. If you live in a Lib Dem /Tory marginal then a vote for the Labour candidate is a waste. If you live in Clacton then you have my sympathies and for god sake don't vote Lib Dem.

tactical.vote

If every LD MP was committed to their constituency like Daisy Cooper is to St Albans, then I think they would.

My LD candidate lives a 2 hour drive away. And doesn't have a clue about my town.

I've seen Daisy Cooper twice in 2 St Albans pubs in the last 6 months just having a pint.

Every time I've done a vote for policies quiz I've ended up with Lib Dem. I voted for them at the last election (first time voting) and while they didn't stand a chance, their percentage doubled in my old area that year . I thought it was a waste of time before going, then realised that's probably why the turnout is so low. I wonder how many non-voters checked, matched with a minor party and then decided not to bother .

Lib dem do have a chance in many areas. Probably depends on average age of the population in the area. E.g. for my area, it's only Labour or conservative because there are many in that generation where they are the historic choices.
If you visit Stop the Tories.vote , at the bottom of the page click 'browse constituencies' and select Lib Dems, it will show you all the seats where lib Dems are likely to get a seat.

Ed Davey is awful and acts like a wally on repeat.
if we want a clown to run the country we would bring back Boris

They just don’t seem to be able to get their act together.

Over the last 18 months, three different members of my family tried, at different times, to volunteer for them and to get involved in the party. There was no interest shown at all. In two out of the three cases there wasn’t even an acknowledgement or response.

If they can’t organise themselves at that level, how on earth would they be able to run a country?

That's because Brown had a tantrum about Clegg.

If Brown hadn't then it would have been a Labour and Lib Dem with the Green MP coalition.

I haven’t voted liberal since their total and utter U turn on the tuition fees. I haven’t forgiven them yet, but I would vote for them if if would get the Tory’s out. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen in this area. Lots of very rich elderly people in this constituency. The local mp could sacrifice a baby in Waitrose and still get voted in.