Liberal Democrats
UK centrist party; FCA complaint on Farage crypto-stake filed 14 April while Welsh branch left Reform FM option open.
On 20 August, the Liberal Democrats took St Neots Eynesbury from Reform UK with 47.9% of the vote, extending a summer pattern of targeted local gains.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026 · Appears in 2 active topics
Can the Liberal Democrats hold their anti-Reform message together when their Welsh branch left the Reform door open?
Timeline for Liberal Democrats
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UK Local Elections 2026Background
The Liberal Democrats are a UK centrist political party led by Sir Ed Davey. Their lasting role rests on local organisation and targeted constituency campaigns, which delivered 72 Westminster seats at the 2024 general election. In 2026, the party again framed selected English contests as direct fights with Reform UK.
The party was formed in 1988 through the merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party. It is socially liberal and pro-European, and its political organisation includes separate structures in Wales.
In Wales the party is led by Jane Dodds, and its 14 April Senedd manifesto declined to rule out backing a Reform UK first minister, unlike its English campaign.
In local government, the party held Kingswood in Stroud on 64.0% on 2 September, and in Luton, where Labour's council leader lost a no-confidence vote, the party's Amjid Ali now runs a Coalition, the BBC reported on 16 September.
The party wins tactical contests
On 13 August, the Liberal Democrats gained Almondbury from Reform UK in Kirklees, taking 43.9% of the vote against Reform's 27.0%. The ward had elected Reform councillors on 7 May, leaving the party to show it could convert a recent opponent's seat into a local base.
A week later, the party won St Neots Eynesbury from Reform with 1,024 votes to 647. Its 47.9% share was 29.8 points higher than before, while Reform gained 3.1 points. For the Liberal Democrats, the result showed how a focused local contest can gather tactical support behind one challenger.
Its Welsh branch keeps options open
On 14 April, the Welsh Liberal Democrats launched their Senedd manifesto under Jane Dodds and declined to rule out backing a Reform UK first minister. They became the first Welsh party not formally to exclude that route to government formation.
The position exposed a problem for the Liberal Democrats' wider political message. On 1 April, the English campaign had presented Reform as its main local-election opponent. Wales has separate party structures and electoral pressures, but the contrast required the party to explain two different approaches to Reform within a fortnight.