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‘Influx of English voters’ made it harder for Lib Dems to win seats, says former AM

01 Jun 2021 4 minute read
Peter Black. Picture by the Senedd (CC BY 2.0).

An “influx of English voters” has made it more difficult for the Welsh Liberal Democrats to win some rural seats, according to a former AM.

Peter Black, who represented South Wales West in what known as the Assembly, slammed his party for focusing time and resources in these constituencies “at the expense of the rest of Wales”.

The Swansea councillor ripped into the party’s strategy at the Senedd election on his blog, taking aim at the “vacuous national slogan” Put Recovery First, its “poor messaging” and it’s “bland literature that was not even distributed in all constituencies”.

He also criticised the federal party for turning the “Welsh Liberal Democrats from a proud, independent political entity into a client”.

Peter Black said: “The areas of Wales we have always relied on to get us over the line have changed beyond recognition.

“Rural Wales is no longer populated by traditional liberals, while the farming fraternity has always largely voted Tory despite the misguided contrary view held by some ‘senior’ Liberal Democrats.

“A large influx of English voters and the breaking down of tactical voting patterns subsequent to the coalition has made these seats much harder to win.

“In addition there is little all-year round campaigning in any of these areas, and scant work outside election time in those parts where Labour is strong, making it more difficult for us to convince voters there that we are a viable alternative to the Tories.

“Despite that we continue to focus our resources and time into these constituencies at the expense of the rest of Wales, leading to local parties elsewhere becoming moribund and causing an exodus of activists.

“This exodus was exacerbated by the capitulation of the Welsh Party hierarchy to the Feds during the 2019 General Election, when they didn’t just give Plaid Cymru and the Greens free rein in certain constituencies, but did so against the wishes of local parties, undermined key activists and ceded our autonomy as a Welsh Party on key matters such as candidate selection and approval.

“They turned the Welsh Liberal Democrats from a proud, independent political entity into a client of the federal party. It is little wonder that a number of valuable members took that as a cue to call it a day and find other political outlets as independents or in different parties.

‘Mess’

He added: “Despite an unprecedented investment in staffing and campaigning resource, the recent Welsh Senedd elections were a mess.

“Those of us seeking to persuade voters to consider placing their cross next to Welsh Liberal Democrats candidates were hampered by a vacuous national slogan, an anonymous manifesto, poor messaging, a shaky digital presence, and bland literature that was not even distributed in all constituencies.

“This was not the fault of hard-working and committed staff, but a failure in the planning stage to craft a distinctive message and vision which the party could campaign on, and to address the organisational issues that have plagued the Welsh Party for some time.

“The result was £33,000 in lost deposits, £15,000 of which was lost in contesting PCC elections, which were largely treated as an afterthought.

“The slogan on which we staked our future was ‘Put Recovery First’, three words that were repeated ad nauseum in interviews, in literature and on ballot papers, as if it had not occurred to any other party or candidate that this might be a good thing.

“It was a slogan adopted at a time when Labour were reaping the benefits of a successful vaccination programme, were viewed as having managed the pandemic with a surer touch than their counterparts on the other side of Offa’s Dyke, and were dominating the headlines with their plans to move Wales on.

“Why did we think that we could compete with that or appear distinctive through a three-word phrase?

“By and large our policy positions were sound and interesting, they just didn’t attract much attention, mostly because our spokespeople did not talk about them and, with the exception of mental health and a vague unexplained and unfunded promise about the environment, they did not feature on our literature.”


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Steve Duggan
Steve Duggan
2 years ago

Look we (supposedly and put simply) know what the Tories, Labour, and the Greens stand for, the rich and well off, the poor and working class and protecting our environment resepectively. Where do the LibDems stand for? Well they should be in an enviable position, as the centre party they should be a mixture of the other three parties . The Tories are known for nicking the policies of other parties – the LibDems are in the right position politically to do just that and it would not look ideologically out of place. I don’t mean blatantly taking the policies… Read more »

hdavies15
hdavies15
2 years ago

They put their moral compass, if they ever had one, in the bin when Clegg teamed up with Dodgy Dave and did volte face on students fees. After that episode it was very likely to turn out badly for the “hole in the middle”.

Quornby
Quornby
2 years ago

A “client party”. Mmm just like the other London peerage jockeys then? Do they have the gumption to be autonomous? I doubt it.

Steve Duggan
Steve Duggan
2 years ago

A democratic decision in an advisory referendum. The result didn’t need to be acted on and common sense should have made politicians run a mile from leaving. Look at where we are now – fisherman and shortly farmers put out of business, businesses struggling to operate as they can’t get the staff, children denied the experience of living and working on the continent freely, N. Ireland on the brink of going back to violence. And where are the benefits? There never were any, full stop.

Last edited 2 years ago by Steve Duggan
Ciaran Goggins
2 years ago

Voters opt for issues, the Liberals are still waging the (lost) Brexit war and at conference were more concerned about personal pronouns and “racist emojis” than actually dealing with working class problems.

Dafydd Williams
Dafydd Williams
2 years ago

An interesting analysis. I had assumed (with no evidence) that the Liberal Democrats benefited from in-migration in areas such as Ceredigion. But I am not convinced that the measures proposed after the 2019 election would make any difference. The Liberal Democrats are faced with an identity problem – what are they for? On all the great issues – social justice, climate change, nationhood – their competitors offer a clearer stance. I believe those Liberal Democrats who care about Wales should accept that the way forward is with Plaid Cymru. Dafydd Williams

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