Lib Dem leader predicts party will do well in next month’s local elections - but won’t resign if they don’t

Party struggling in the polls

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has predicted his party will have a “good night” in next month’s local elections, but insisted he has no intention of quitting even if they don’t.

The polls on May 6, dubbed ‘super Thursday’, will mark Sir Ed’s first real electoral test since he became leader last year.

His predecessor Jo Swinson resigned after the Lib Dems suffered a drubbing at the 2019 general election, a result blamed in part on the party’s ‘revoke’ Brexit stance.

The latest Savanta Comres poll on Westminster voting intentions has the Lib Dems on just six per cent, trailing behind Labour on 38 per cent and the Conservatives on 42 per cent.

But Sir Ed predicted a strong result for his party as he officially launched his party’s local election campaign in Watford today.

He would not be drawn on specifics, describing campaigning during a global pandemic as ‘weird’.

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But asked if he would continue as leader if the party did not have a good night, Sir Ed told the Independent: “Yes. But I think we will have a good night”.

He added: “We think the Lib Dems are on the up in local communities. So, I don’t want to make predictions, but despite the weird year it feels that things are coming our way in different parts of the country”.

He said that by now his party would usually have knocked on tens of thousands of doors and have a good “feel” for how things are going.

The party currently has more than 2,500 councillors across England and controls 26 councils.

“I think in these local elections we can build on this strength,” he added.

He said that the Lib Dems had long been “community champions” who “get things done” for local people, a talent he suggested had been thrown into sharp focus by the pandemic.

The party hopes to make gains against Labour in places like Hull, and against the Conservatives in parts of Sussex and Wiltshire.

Part of Sir Ed’s pitch as leader was that he would win seats from the Tories at the next general election.

Former Lib Dem leader Sir Nick Clegg privately offered to resign when the party suffered a setback in the May 2014 local elections, before eventually quitting after the disastrous 2015 general election.