Monday 9 December 2019 6:00 am
Christian May
https://www.cityam.com/the-lib-dems-deserve-a-bad-night-at-the-polls/
So ahead of Thursday’s election, let’s look back and assess Jo Swinson’s party. The Lib Dems won just over seven per cent of the vote in the 2017 election.
As the electorate coalesced around the two main parties they were squeezed to the margins. Alarmingly, for Swinson, a YouGov poll published yesterday suggests that 23 per cent of those who backed the Lib Dems at the last election are still undecided.
In contrast, just 11 per cent of those who voted Tory or Labour in 2017 say they’re undecided today. The Brexit Party remains an irritant to the Tories in a few seats, but the threat from them has been almost entirely dealt with.
History appears to be repeating itself, with the Tories and Labour set to hoover up the vast majority of votes. Swinson now leads a party languishing on around 12 per cent with just a few days until the vote.
She hasn’t even convinced nearly a quarter of those who voted for her party last time to stick with them on Thursday.
She will certainly pick up some pro-Remain support but she has misread the country, choosing to lead a pressure group rather than a political party – and that was a mistake.
Her failure to break through has been blamed on her own dismal poll ratings. The more people see of her, the less they like her.
This is harsh but true. It is also insufficient to explain her party’s poor showing. After all, Jeremy Corbyn is the least popular leader of the opposition in history and Labour is miles ahead of the Lib Dems.
No, the cause of their looming “also ran” status must be their cynical, illiberal, anti-democratic and absurd campaign to revoke Article 50 and cancel Brexit. Here’s the thing: not all Remain-voters cried when Leave won.
Indeed, not all Leave-voters punched the air. The tears of despair and the shouts of joy were reserved for the fringes of the electorate — and just as the Brexit Party tried (and failed) to launch a national campaign on the backs of a small number of ardent “no-dealers” so the Lib Dems will fail to win big by relying on the votes of those who wave the EU flag and attend anti-Brexit marches.
Swinson’s central policy of cancelling Brexit without even a second referendum is extreme and offensive to many. Recognising this, she has tried to row back, but this should be seen by voters as too little, too late.
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https://www.cityam.com/the-lib-dems-deserve-a-bad-night-at-the-polls/
