The Lib Dems’ national party leader reckons they have a great chance of beating Sadiq Khan or his Labour replacement
The Liberal Democrats can be an electoral force across the whole of London in the coming years, Sir Ed Davey has claimed.
The Kingston and Surbiton MP, who has led the party since 2020, said their recent performance in the capital – electing six MPs in the 2024 General Election and winning an extra 63 councillors across London in May – was a foundation for the future.
The party has traditionally seen its successes in London limited to boroughs in the South West, where it controls Sutton, Kingston-upon-Thames and Richmond – winning all 54 seats in the latter.
But the path to power nationally – likely as part of a coalition, barring a remarkable result – may come about through appealing to various swathes of the capital, as opposed to only the leafy local authorities that many Lib Dem voters call home.
After all, in the 2010 election that led to their only period in office in modern history, the party held the seat of Bermondsey and Old Southwark and won Brent Central against rising Labour star Dawn Butler, now the MP for Brent East and a possible successor to Sir Sadiq Khan.
May’s local elections in the capital saw a tilt back towards the party’s expansion in the capital. Major gains in Brent, Ealing and Southwark – where the party is now in administration with the Greens – have put a spring in the step of party officials.
Sir Ed, whose position has come under threat in recent months, is confident that this is just the start of a revolution for the Lib Dems in London.
He told MyLondon’s new podcast, The London Brief, that effective campaigning on building more affordable housing and reducing crime appealed to Londoners in all 32 boroughs.
“Those are the issues that kept coming off the doorsteps in the campaign, and I think people liked what we had to say about them,” he said.
Lib Dems can win a ‘whole range’ of London seats
Sir Ed also admitted that the party benefitted from unhappiness with former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who ended up resigning from Downing Street two months after the local elections – but claimed his consistent stances on major issues, including Brexit and social care, have attracted wavering voters.
He added: “People were looking for an alternative, and in many areas, that was us. If I look at Ealing, where we haven’t traditionally been strong, we made big gains there. If you look at the Ealing Central constituency, we’d have won that on the vote we got on that night [in May]. So we are moving to new areas, I’m really proud of that.
“[London] is hugely important for us. We are looking at gaining more seats. We may be very interested in North Bermondsey and Ealing Central.
“But there are others on our radar, and we are really excited by the fact that more and more people are looking to us. They’re worried about Reform, they still don’t trust the Conservatives after the disaster they had, and they’ve been disappointed in Labour.
“We are looking across a whole range of seats, some of which we’ve been strong in before – I could talk to Brent or talk about Southwark, but there are other areas where I think there’s huge opportunities for us.
“London is becoming a stronghold already. It does feel like this is a moment where London, a liberal city, could look to the Liberal Democrats.”
City Hall aspirations
Sir Ed recalls being on the Public Bill Committee – or Standing Committee, as it was known at the time – for the passing of the Greater London Authority (GLA) Act in 1999 that created the structure of City Hall as we know it.
He also remembers not being entirely satisfied with the end result, despite the promise of devolutionary powers for an elected London Mayor.
As well as a “fairer” voting system to elect the Mayor and London Assembly, Sir Ed said he would like to “reform” the GLA to boost the voices of London’s councils.
“There has been this tension between London boroughs and the Mayor, and we need to get that into a better place,” he added.
Regardless, the Liberal Democrats will pour resources into the 2028 London Mayoral race. Two candidates have already declared their interest – Richmond Park MP Sarah Olney, and their 2024 hopeful Rob Blackie.
The party has struggled to reach their 2004 heights of 15 per cent of first preference votes with Londoners, despite capitalising on issues like Brexit.
With an even more crowded field in 18 months’ time – as well as the usual Labour and Tory candidates, there will likely be strong challenges from Reform UK and the Greens – there are lingering doubts over whether the Lib Dems should focus any time and energy on this campaign at all.
But Sir Ed claimed that “there is always a chance” that either of the two candidates could win the whole race.
“We’re on the march in London. We’re winning more parliamentary constituencies, we have more councillors, we’re really strong in many more boroughs and constituencies. And that gives us a big springboard.
“The issues we’ve talked about – whether it’s the economy and Europe, whether it’s social care and the NHS – I think they resonate with people.”
Delivering locally
For now, however, Lib Dem MPs have to work directly with City Hall to solve issues in their constituencies – mostly around housing.
As a London MP himself, Sir Ed is also in the position of working in step with his wife Emily, the Portfolio Holder for Housing for Kingston Council, to try and show the way for other London boroughs to quell the crisis.
“We’re regenerating our main social housing estate and building better, much more comfortable, and many more council homes,” he said. “That model should be rolled out in many more areas.
“What we’ve been doing in Kingston is showing practical ways of how we do that, using council-owned land.”
This includes, he says, building swathes of affordable homes on the site of former unused garages, adding: “We’ve really pushed the envelope, and I hope many more London councils can follow that lead.”
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