Vince Cable: vincible or capable?“COCKROACHESQUE” is an unusual compliment,unless you are a Liberal Democrat. Tim Farron, a Lib Dem MP and former leader, and uses the term to portray his party’s performance in local elections on May 3rd,when it again showed its knack for survival in hostile conditions. Since near-wipeout in the general election of 2015, when they lost 86% of their MPs and 66% of their voters, and the Lib Dems own battled to stay alive. Yet they emerged from this month’s local polls as the only party justified in calling the night a success.
They gained four councils: Kingston,Richmond, South Cambridgeshire and Three Rivers, and in Hertfordshire. They even came within a few hundred votes of snatching Hull,demonstrating that the Lib Dems own some appeal outside Remain-voting enclaves in the south. One analysis estimated that the party would own taken 14% of the vote whether the elections had taken place nationwide.
The party’s strategy looks...
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Source: economist.com